Lulipop

Originally Posted by Father Xmas

You know how as a teen you really hated getting clothes your mother bought for you, basing her knowledge of what's "in" by watching TV. Well when you are approaching 50, it still happens. So nothing cool from my Mum.

As for my Dad, who at least understands some of Geekdom (my love of Science Fiction books, TV and movies came from him) but there would be no way he could get a purchase of any type of Geek swag or Tech pass my Mom's intractable insistence of practicality. Why would I need an SSD when what I "really need" is a nice belt and a 6 pack of tube socks.

Friends may get me something mildly geeky to feed my anime, SciFi/Fantasy or City of Heroes addiction but I won't be getting together with them until after the new years.

Originally Posted by Dante

Forgive the cruddy webcam. Had to show off my latest writing impliment, a Sonic Screwdriver pen!

Originally Posted by Lycantropus

So I got a couple of pre-paid game cards for friends and whatnot over the holidays. I would have LOVED to put some Paragon Points cards in my wife and son's stockings.

As others have suggested, I bought a pre-paid credit card (which cost $5 and some change extra to have made- where most game cards are for the value you pay, plus tax) to give to the boy so he could buy some in-game stuff (he's premium 'til he gets a job and has enough money)

After debating it with myself, I figured he probably wouldn't spend it on the game if he just had a card to use on anything, so went into his acct and added the points myself last night.

He hasn't logged in to find them yet, and I look forward to his reaction

All the same, Paragon REALLY needs to come out with game cards. I don't want to spend five dollars and change extra for a thirty dollar card when I could just buy two game cards for fifteen plus tax to get the same result.

I don't know what the cost/profit ratio is on the various game cards but I think, especially with this new Freedom system, Paragon would stand to gain a lot from it that they otherwise wouldn't. I know I'd pick up a $15 dollar card for my premium 2nd account from time to time when I have spare cash (I know this because I do it now, just not for City of... because they don't have any.)


Just sayin'.

Originally Posted by Tenzhi

Thanks, but I'm allergic.

Originally Posted by Rabid_M

Correct.

Originally Posted by OmniNogard

1: Cute and i can see a cat in the background looking somewhere behind you.
2. Prank gift?
3. Can't read which Transformer that is. Don't recall who it is I've only seen parts of G1 due to reruns and VHS.

Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy

K, the OP has been playing this game for a long time. He isn't trolling anyone- He's a real life friend of mine, and I actually reserved all of these names for him. I don't think selling names in a video game is any different than selling anything else (ie: enhancements, recipes) for INFLUENCE. You are trading fictitious items for fictitious money. How is there anything wrong with this thread?

Originally Posted by VoodooGirl

I work in retail. All day long my manager keeps running over to stop me from punching myself. Customers place bets on which arm will win.

I'm right handed, btw.

Originally Posted by Tenzhi

I don't buy gifts and tell people not to buy me any. Saves everyone a lot of unnecessary grief.

Originally Posted by JKCarrier

Not long after I started playing, I got onto a PuG that was running a mission on an office map. Partway through, the leader decided he wanted to do a different mish (or maybe he just wanted to raise the difficulty, I forget), and told everyone to exit. Everyone else made a beeline for the door, but I somehow got turned around, and for the life of me, could not figure out how to get back to the entrance. I was running around in circles while the rest of the team was going "Pls exit so we can reset". I was too embarrassed to admit I was lost, so I finally just said "Gotta go!" and quit the team. Eventually, I found my way out.

Originally Posted by TonyV

Ooh, another. It took me a few days to realize that you can steer by holding down your right mouse button. Until then, I had been using Q and E to turn left or right.

In fact, I had a little mini-game where I would run on top of fences as far as I could without falling off. It was quite challenging, trying to get lined up just perfectly using the course grain keyboard controls... Until I found out about the right mouse button functionality. All of a sudden, my little game became trivially easy.

Originally Posted by sykoholic001

Since when were turrets a mob? I just completed a level 15 newspaper mission in Cap au Diable in which the opposing force was nothing but turrets: Dual Artillery, Quad Howitzer, Hovering Chain Guns, and Pop-Up Anti-Personnel. . . which literally popped up anywhere. There was a warehouse full of them and other than their hostage (the mission objective), there wasn't any "people" involved. The flippin' things even spoke!

I've been playing off-and-on for seven years and this is the first time I have ever seen this so I'm a bit confuzzled.

Originally Posted by dugfromthearth

I finished the 4th SSA and have to say the problem with it is the Freedom Phalanx.

These are not people I look up to, the are squabbling children, incompetents, who are best at standing around training people while Rikti, zombies, and anyone else invades.

What made the SSA a fail for me was that it was not only watching someone else's soap opera, it failed the basic rule of a story. It did not have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It seemed to assume you knew about the characters and some of the story before you started. And it did not make you care for or about any of them - it assumed you already did.

First Ward was much better in that the whole story was there (at least at the beginning). I was introduced to the characters, learned the story, and was part of it. Then they started bringing up existing characters I'd always ignored and it lost it's appeal.

I like much of the content that is done in the game - but please tell a whole story. Don't try to bring in recurring characters that we may not know anything or care anything about. Don't make the story be about those other characters with us just standing watching them argue.

I want to be the hero of my own story. If I wanted to watch other superheroes squabble I'd just watch the Avengers on Netflix (it's on streaming).

Originally Posted by Flame_Strike

I think the problem isn't that it's inappropriate, it's that it's not inappropriate. As Zombie-Man pointed out there was no cartoon drawing of a shirtless man in chaps to promote the Gunslinger costume pack. Due to society's "enlightenment" regarding sexism and racism, the language has become more subtle. Children and teenagers are bombarded with images that support the idea that women are merely objects of male desire. The constant conditioning is so severe that even women will defend these images because subconsciously (or consciously) they believe they should be objectified.

Also, I'm not saying that people who like this image or see nothing wrong with it are bad people either. We've all been socialized to support the idea of the subservient woman and the successful/heroic man. In fact, had Zombie-Man not pointed this out I would have missed it myself. I'm not an advocate of censorship but I do think that we need to be aware of what we're putting into our heads and how it affects us.