A Quote Worth Sharing

Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous

Found here. I haven’t had that problem so much here… But I’ve been on the internet long enough to have seen conversations that mirror the quote precisely. People do funny things when they think no one is watching.

Back on the Loot Treadmill

At the End of Act I

Despite coming out more than a decade ago Diablo 2 is still the best at what it does. What does Diablo 2 do? It convinces you that wandering around drab areas clicking wildly at badly pixelated beasties is a good use of time. I’ve beaten the game at least twice before (first time as a Barbarian second time as an Assassin) this time I’m going with an Amazon. This time instead of guessing my way through the best way to play the game, I’ve just used the vast accumulated wisdom of those who have been playing the game near non-stop for 11-odd years. Seriously, google “Diablo 2 builds” or “tips” some of these people playing this game down to an exact science.

Current Items, which mean nothing to you cause none of them are highlighted... It's okay stuff, I guess. I don't really know. This is a long caption, huh?

I don’t know how long this Diablo 2 kick will last. I assume at least until I kill Diablo, maybe I’ll be able to go all the way this time and make it through the expansion as well. I’ve never done that, yet. I’m also playing on-line for the first time (Diablo 2, not video games in general) Nowadays Blizzard deletes your character after ten days of non-activity. That is good incentive to keep playing, especially once a few hours have been invested into the character.

I suppose the real question is why hasn’t the industry been able to replicate the crack that is Diablo 2? No game since has been able to so perfectly ensnare players. No game has walked the  fine-line between pleasure and grind as well as Diablo 2. I almost wonder if Blizzard is up to the task with Diablo 3.

I can’t end this post without “thanking” the man who is responsible for getting me to reinstall the game (curse you Bungle! I have a life now! I don’t need this). A poster on the best forums on the internet started a group Let’s Play of the game this month and invited us all to come along. So, thanks Bungle.

PS – my wife hates you now =P

PSS – If any game designer types stop by I’d love to talk to you about how Diablo 2 got so much right in its design. Maybe, together we can figure out just what exactly they did that makes a fairly mindless game so addictive and rewarding.

Decluttering and Amazon

Only a small sample of the problem

I’ve talked before about the clutter in my house… Mostly the accumulation of books. Recently, I based an entire month of giveaways around that fact.  Despite, giving books away to friends and donating them to libraries and non-profits my house is still full of the things. Sometimes no one wants to take a book off your hands… or a videogame, or piece of electronics.

Until now, these things have just been sitting in closets or on shelves, making me feel guilty every time I look at them. Then someone on-line reminded me of the Amazon Trade-in Store which buys books, electronics, video games, and DVDs! I rounded up all the books and such that had been lying around forever and started scanning them in. Amazon ended up taking almost all of them (they were interested in four books.) and I ended up with $70 of credit with Amazon (which is pretty much like real money anyway, is there anything you can’t buy on Amazon?)

They Take Everything

Even nicer, Amazon pays for the shipping and anything they don’t buy from you gets mailed back to you free of charge as well! This first round was quite successful, so much so that I find myself looking for other things to sell to them

Now I Feel Like Doing Something!

Khorne: helping you get things done since forever

I don’t know how many of you will get this… But, I found it strangely motivating.

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