FPS Stress

Is there known cheating in bf2? Not "WTF, I shot him like 10 times he must be cheating!" I mean actual factual hacks or cheats. I know about statpadders who constantly kill\heal for points. That doesn't bother me if they can be killed like the rest of us. Man, what a letdown if it's true. I guess it's a fact we must accept... if it can be engineered it can be reverse engineered and there are a ton of smart unscrupulous bastrds out there who will do anything to get ahead*









*shot.
;)

I jumped exactly the same way when I saw the little girl Lone! That is something i'm looking for in an FPS and so far, BF2 gives it to me. I get to play with friends and shoot the bad guys (red team.) While it isn't very scary, there are plenty of cloe-call moments to keep me on the edge of my seat. Even after playing Gulf of Oman (my second most played map aside from Karkand) such a great deal, I find that it is possible to enjoy the map becuase people are so good at it, I have to better myself and become more sneakier, devising and efficient.

I have not detected or heard of cheats in BF2 papajoe, yet. Yes, there are exploits that people are using and apparently the new patch will take care of that. I am talking more about EA games and how they might be cheating us by releasing the poor patch and by releasing the next expansion so soon. I believe it would be better if we were offered some free content before the expansion came out. As soon as BF2 was finished the Canadian team began work on the expansion and the Swedish team worked on the original and it's patches. Am I complaining about EA lining their pockets with quick expansions? Perhaps. We'll see when we get there.

So, cheating comes in many forms and it is does not always appear as some form of hack. I will be talking about many forms of cheating from many different games but that will be revealed in time.

A note on the statpadders and hacks: you (papajoe) said that cheating is something we have to accept. Untill a company spends enough time and money to make an unbreakable piece of code, then yes. We will have to accept those crafty individuals and their programming skills. Look at World of Warcraft or Everquest 2. There are cheaters about there. Every 10th person you meet in Diablo 2 is using some form of hack. The "Someone stole my ******* Cloudsong" incident in Dark Ages of Camelot is apparently a hack or cheat. It's ubiquitous and unfortunatly here to stay. Only server admin rights and however long it takes untill the next patch to arrive can clear it up for now.

If anyone does not understand what I mean by "Someone stole my ******* Cloudsong" bit here it is in it's original glory:

http://wowseriousbusiness.ytmnd.com/


Note: If this clip is not allowed I do not mind this post being deleted. On second thought. I'm not sure if a moderator would care if I mind or not.

Ruly, nice column and keep it going, but why do you work in a grocery store? Someone with a university degree and your skills could get a much more challenging job. I understand that you need to have a living, and a philosophy diploma is not attractive on the market (I have a very unattractive diploma as well, so I know how hard it is ;) ). But you say that you play FPS-games about 2 hours a day to relieve your frustration. If you used those 2 hours a day, for a year, you could get a new diploma that can get you on track for a better job.
I surely don't mean this in a negative sense, but I don't understand why you satisfy with a job below your capabilities?

I am the man. I am the man who reduced my $21,000 debt to $7,000 in under 2.5 years. I just got the degree 4 months ago and am looking for full time jobs every day. The grocery store job allows me very flexable hours and an a-okay rate of pay (for now) for me to live semi-comfortably.

I did not detect any negative tone or slander in your comment jan the man (I had a Phil professor named Jan Narveson) so no worries! I acquired my degree because it was what I wanted, not because it could get me a job. I love philosophy, the writing and the arguments. Yes, I understand that a B.A. in Philosophy will make it more difficult, but hey. I like the challenge ;)

Yes, I have made a few mistakes along the way and my station in life is not the greatest, but it is not the worst either. I'll make it... eventually. ;) I'm happy with where i've been and where I am going.

Again, questions are important so ask away!

(Yes, this is my day off... so on these days... i'll be writing and responding more :P)

FPS Stress!

Installment 3: Battlefield 2 and Those Sweet Treats

I usually play with two other people in a squad. I'm either Anti-Tank or Assault while the other two switch between Medic, Engineer and Assault as is needed. We do pretty well, but when we play with lower ranked players our squad leader (I hate being commander) becomes commander, and he gets to deliver some sweet treats to the enemy. It begins with a supply drop in an enemy intensive area. Think of the defenders base in 32-player Karkand just after it's been overtaken. That is a key point since it holds a tank and quite a few vehicles, not to mention the destroyable goodies that can render a commander useless. After the supply drop, a UAV will usually show the enemies flocking to the crate and then boom! The guns of Navarone descend upon them. It's really quite a neat strategy, and it produces a good feeling, knowing that you are pitting people natural tenancies against them. But it doesn't work all the time. But if you don't hear "Supply drop at your position!" Watch out! someone wants to give you their Sweet Treats!

That's what I want to talk to you about today. Natural tendencies.

People play first person shooters to have fun and gain reward. That reward is (other than being with friends) the kill. The ability to own (or pwn if you wish) someone else in a game is part of what makes the game fun. Reducing graphics settings and spending mucho denaro on hardware to increase your frames-per-second aside, people are on an equal playing field when it comes to the natural tendency to enjoy winning. We all remember the slogan "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." That can be true for daycare and little league, but when it's him or me out there in the Gulf of Oman, i'd rather it be me! So let's make our own slogan, shall we?

"It's not whether you win or lose, it's how often you win that increases your score."

There. I said it. I like having fun and I like to win. I like watching those little numbers on my screen increase by factors of 2.

There are two main styles of game play in the FPS: The "Run and Gun" and the "Duck and Cover." I understand that there are many more, but I believe that these are the most prevalent

The Run and Gun style matches risk and reward smoothly. If you put yourself out in the open you might get shot, but you might also get that kill. I’m sure we have all seen the tactic of loading up a jeep or dune buggy with C4 and driving it into the enemy base. It takes a bold person to press the shiny red button that blows your vehicle to smithereens along with anyone who is standing close by. It takes a bold person to drive hell-bent into danger. It takes a bold person to risk life and limb. But without people that risk, we’d all be snipers, right?

With respect to the Duck and Cover or Wait and Snipe, you gain a sweet reward for having patience. Unfortunately the wait can be devastatingly long, or you might get bombed. In either case, you don’t get a kill. Most games will see a balance between the two strategies, especially with the complexities of a squad based shooter, where constant motion and interaction is the key. The difference between an offensive and defensive strategy is most often in the amount of points once accumulates. A Run and Gunner will have more kills and usually more deaths than someone who uses patience as their weapon of choice. And that’s what it comes down to at the end of today. Personal choice. It is my personal choice to run up to the first enemy and mow him down with bullets instead of wait for a better moment. Does that get me killed? Yes. Do I have fun. Yes. So it’s a win-win situation... I think.


Next column: Gamer Language

Toodles!

I enjoy your columns, but please, don't grace us with all you have to say in a week and then have nothing more for us!

Save those comments up and stretch them out a bit

I have enough materiel for 27 issues just on FPS' alone.
I will be mixing in some other writing about work.
So no worries, i have lots of materiel ;)

it's good that you have lots of material. so far, your column is a very nice read! :thumbup:
*puts fps stress into fav's*

FPS Stress!

Installment 4: Language - Someone stole my Cloudsong!

Today I put my name tag on. I’m still not sure why we wear one. Everybody knows my name at work and I know enough of their names to get by. Over a hundred people work at my store, and only those in it for the long haul know everyone’s name. I have a little piece of plastic dangling on the right side of my chest. It’s an eyesore that’s what it is. Every customer that comes up to me asks me questions and they use my name as if they have known me for years. I have never seen them before, and if I were to judge most of them by their manners I would never turn a blind eye to them or smile to them on the street. I would rather fuel the fire than pull most of them from a burning building. When I hear my name being used by a stranger, I feel like they are speaking a foreign language. Their lips contort and writhe to mouth the syllables that make up my name that they shouldn’t even be trying to vocalize in the first place; because I am a complete stranger! Though my being a stranger does not hide the fact that I might know where the applesauce is being held. For ransom. I wish. I usually get thanked kindly when I reveal its location. But when I am asked to direct a poor woman, who has been shopping at my store for longer than I have been breathing, to the onion soup, my name get’s used many, many times because we do not carry that particular brand. Which, for some reason, this lady has been purchasing from our store for forty years. I have often wondered– if these customers have been purchasing products for so long, should they not know the store better than I? Now, with my name properly displayed for all to see, I may begin my day.

We use language every day. It, along with our mannerisms, helps us communicate. Our every day vernacular changes depending on who we are with, In a business or school setting it can become quite formal. With our friends and family, it changes and can become quite rude to someone who is not used to how we talk when relaxed. Our stories are enhanced when we move and use gestures. But using Teamspeak or VoIP cuts off that extra ability. As well, a fast paced game does not afford us the luxury of being able to describe to our teammates where someone is precisely. We have to chose our words and make them precise. So we develop our own colloquialisms for the game.

When we die we say words. Some say things like: “oh darn” and “phooey.” Others are really quite nasty and spell out how much they dislike losing their virtual life. The cost of one ticket can make most of us say a bad word. It doesn’t do a lot of harm. But for others, the loss of an item can make them go.. NUTS!

If you have not listened to “Someone stole my ******* Cloudsong” Either listen to it or ask someone to explain it to you. I will not explain it here because it is simply wrong, but quite amusing at the same time and you can afford a chuckle. The language used in that 3-4 minute excerpt of the Teamspeak log astounds me. The language those people use every day is vulgar to say the least and most of the curse words being used, I believe, are not needed.

If I stub my toe I’ll close my eyes and maybe say something under my breath. I am afraid of spiders, so If I see one close and out of the blue, I’ll scream like a little girl and shout a bit.(Yes, I’m afraid of spiders and yes, I’ve had to have girlfriends kill them for me. Yes, they got lots of kisses and one even got a pair of shoes but we don’t need to go into that.) All I want to say is that language of that sort has its time and place and even among friends, I do not believe it need to be used constantly. There are much better words one can use to communicate what they wish to say.


Thank you.

Next column:

- Question period and The Hitbox!

Toodles!