Monday, February 22, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
-
How did your night go last night?
How did you do in high school?
How did you get the shirt you're wearing?
How often do you see your best friend?
How much money did you spend last month?
How old will you be at your next birthday?
What is the most important part of your life?
What would you rather be doing?
What's the most important thing you look for in a significant other?
What are you worried about?
What did you have for breakfast?
Have you ever liked someone who had a girlfriend/boyfriend?
Have you ever had your heartbroken?
Have you ever been out of the country?
Have you ever done something outrageously dumb?
Have you ever been back stabbed by a friend?
Have you ever had sex on the beach?
Have you ever dated someone younger than you?
Have you ever read an entire book in one day?
Who was the last person you saw?
Who was the last person you hung out with?
Who was the last person to call you?
Where does your best friend live?
Where did you last go?
Where do you go to school?
Where is your favorite place to be?
Where did you sleep last night?
Do you like someone right now?
Do you think anyone likes you?
Do you ever wish you were someone else?
Do you know the muffin man?
Why are you best friends with your best friend(s)?
Why did your parents give you the name you have?
Why are you doing this survey?
If you could have one super power what would it be?
If you could go back in time and change one thing, would you?
If you were stranded on a deserted island & could bring 1 thing what would you bring?
Would you ever get back together with any of your ex's if they asked you?
Are you happy with your life right now?
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
The last time you were in the fridge, what were you looking for? Water
If science found that beer causes cancer, would you still drink it? I heard the sun causes cancer, but i still go into the sun.
Ever go ghost hunting? Yeah.
If you came home and found a hot super model sitting on your bed eating, what would you do to her? Ask her where the fuck is my sammich. :D
What are your views on abortion? Nothing
What was the last thing that you said to someone that made them go "OUCH" Nothing
Is there someone you wouldn't mind kissing right now? Why not.
Anything you would change about your life right now? Alot
Wheres your best friend? Best can only classified when friends are no longer made.
If your ex said they hate you, you say? Nothing.
Who pissed you off yesterday? Nothing
Were you happy when you woke up today? No
What swear word do you use too much? Shit
Would you ever get a tattoo? Live once.
Have you ever snuck out, almost got caught, lied, and actually got away with it? No
Do you have a Facebook? Yeah
Last person you rode in a car with under the age of 20? Hardly take cars.
What are you looking forward to in the next month? Nothing
Do you think you will be in a relationship 3 months from now? Yes, no, maybe.
Would you ever date anyone with tattoos? Nothing wrong with it.
Who did you last get into a big argument with? I haven't cared about anything to argue about it, in a long time.
What was the last thing you hid? Nothing, i have nothing to hide.
Have you ever watched a movie drunk? Yeah
How many letters are in your middle name? 2
Have you dated people who weren't good to you? Yes
What did you do to get your last detention? Don't remember.
Who were you with at 1 am this morning? No one.
Are you mad at anyone? No
Is smoking one of your turn offs? No.
Do you like the song 'I Kissed A Girl' by Katy Perry? Idm
Do you listen to your friend's advice when they give it to you? Most my friends aren't competent enough to give half decent advice.
Honestly, do you hate the last boy you were talking to in person? No
What kind of pants are you wearing right now? Awesome pants.
Have you ever been searched by the cops? No
When's the last time you've been sledding? Never
Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone? With someone if its cold, if its hot they can sleep under my bed. :)
Do you believe in ghosts? No
When you think about your first kiss, what does it remind you of? Mistake
Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby? Why not hahas.
Are you afraid to die? I had a period in my life where i was at one stage, but afterwards i think i became nihil, and accepted it.
What friend do you tell the most to? No one.
How's your heart lately? s'alright.
What will you be doing in a half hour? Nothing
Do you regret something you did yesterday? Yeah
Are you sarcastic? Extremely.
When was the last time you smiled? Today sometime? ;s
Have you ever kissed anyone whose name starts with the letter M? No
What is wrong with you right now? Everything
Is there someone you know you should hate, but you can't? No.
Are you a forgiving person? Yes.
Are you talking to someone while doing this? Yeah
Do you think you could last an hour without talking ? Easy
Has anybody ever told you that you're too young to be in love? Yeah
Did you learn anything from the last BIG mistake you made and when was it? Yeah, while ago.
Have you ever been in handcuffs? No
Is there anyone that you care more about than yourself? I guesso, im selfless.
How many times do you talk on the phone a day on average? Once, twice?
What are you doing tomorrow? Haircut
Are you happy? Why not
What do you want right now? Nothing
Think of the last time you stayed at someones house, where is that person? It wouldn't concern me.
Are you starting to realize anything? Yeah
Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend? No
If you were upset , who's the first girl you would go to? It used to be like joanne, mimi, linda in my tb days. Now i guess no one.
Ditched school to do something more fun? No
Do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to? OFC
Is there someone who pops into your mind at random times? Yeah
What features do you find most attractive in the opposite sex? I think i can speak for alot of people when i say; Personality. Things such as looks are contributing factors.
Is it hard for you to get over someone? Depends
Do you think you are an argumentative person? Extremely
Will this friday be a good one? No
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Playing to Win, Part 1
Playing to win is the most important and most widely misunderstood concept in all of competitive games. The sad irony is that those who do not already understand the implications I'm about to spell out will probably not believe them to be true at all. In fact, if I were to send this article back in time to my earlier self, even I would not believe it. Apparently, these concepts are something one must come to learn through experience, though I hope at least some of you will take my word for it.Introducing...the Scrub
In the world of Street Fighter competition, there is a word for players who aren't good: "scrub." Everyone begins as a scrub---it takes time to learn the game to get to a point where you know what you're doing. There is the mistaken notion, though, that by merely continuing to play or "learn" the game, that one can become a top player. In reality, the "scrub" has many more mental obstacles to overcome than anything actually going on during the game. The scrub has lost the game even before it starts. He's lost the game before he's chosen his character. He's lost the game even before the decision of which game is to be played has been made. His problem? He does not play to win.;)
This dog may be playing poorly, but at least he still has his nonsensical internal code of honor.The scrub would take great issue with this statement for he usually believes that he is playing to win, but he is bound up by an intricate construct of fictitious rules that prevent him from ever truly competing. These made-up rules vary from game to game, of course, but their character remains constant. In Street Fighter, for example, the scrub labels a wide variety of tactics and situations "cheap." So-called "cheapness" is truly the mantra of the scrub. Performing a throw on someone often called cheap. A throw is a special kind of move that grabs an opponent and damages him, even when the opponent is defending against all other kinds of attacks. The entire purpose of the throw is to be able to damage an opponent who sits and blocks and doesn't attack. As far as the game is concerned, throwing is an integral part of the design--it's meant to be there--yet the scrub has constructed his own set of principles in his mind that state he should be totally impervious to all attacks while blocking. The scrub thinks of blocking as a kind of magic shield which will protect him indefinitely. Why? Exploring the reasoning is futile since the notion is ridiculous from the start.
Doing one move or sequence over and over and over is another great way to get called cheap. This goes right to the heart of the matter: why can the scrub not defeat something so obvious and telegraphed as a single move done over and over? Is he such a poor player that he can't counter that move? And if the move is, for whatever reason, extremely difficult to counter, then wouldn't I be a fool for not using that move? The first step in becoming a top player is the realization that playing to win means doing whatever most increases your chances of winning. The game knows no rules of "honor" or of "cheapness." The game only knows winning and losing.
A common call of the scrub is to cry that the kind of play in which ones tries to win at all costs is "boring" or "not fun." Let's consider two groups of players: a group of good players and a group of scrubs. The scrubs will play "for fun" and not explore the extremities of the game. They won't find the most effective tactics and abuse them mercilessly. The good players will. The good players will find incredibly overpowering tactics and patterns. As they play the game more, they'll be forced to find counters to those tactics. The vast majority of tactics that at first appear unbeatable end up having counters, though they are often quite esoteric and difficult to discover. The counter tactic prevents the first player from doing the tactic, but the first player can then use a counter to the counter. The second player is now afraid to use his counter and he's again vulnerable to the original overpowering tactic. (See my article on Yomi layer 3 for much more on that.)
Notice that the good players are reaching higher and higher levels of play. They found the "cheap stuff" and abused it. They know how to stop the cheap stuff. They know how to stop the other guy from stopping it so they can keep doing it. And as is quite common in competitive games, many new tactics will later be discovered that make the original cheap tactic look wholesome and fair. Often in fighting games, one character will have something so good it's unfair. Fine, let him have that. As time goes on, it will be discovered that other characters have even more powerful and unfair tactics. Each player will attempt to steer the game in the direction of his own advantages, much how grandmaster chess players attempt to steer opponents into situations in which their opponents are weak.
;)
Sometimes I just don't know what to say.Let's return to the group of scrubs. They don't know the first thing about all the depth I've been talking about. Their argument is basically that ignorantly mashing buttons with little regard to actual strategy is more "fun." Superficially, their argument does at least look true, since often their games will be more "wet and wild" than games between the experts, which are usually more controlled and refined. But any close examination will reveal that the experts are having a great deal of fun on a higher level than the scrub can even imagine. Throwing together some circus act of a win isn't nearly as satisfying as reading your opponent's mind to such a degree that you can counter his ever move, even his every counter.
Can you imagine what will happen when the two groups of players meet? The experts will absolutely destroy the scrubs with any number of tactics they've either never seen, or never been truly forced to counter. This is because the scrubs have not been playing the same game. The experts were playing the actual game while the scrubs were playing their own homemade variant with restricting, unwritten rules.
The scrub has still more crutches. He talks a great deal about "skill" and how he has skill whereas other players--very much including the ones who beat him flat out--do not have skill. The confusion here is what "skill" actually is. In Street Fighter, scrubs often cling to combos as a measure of skill. A combo is sequence of moves that are unblockable if the first move hits. Combos can be very elaborate and very difficult to pull off. But single moves can also take "skill," according to the scrub. The "dragon punch" or "uppercut" in Street Fighter is performed by holding the joystick toward the opponent, then down, then diagonally down and toward as the player presses a punch button. This movement must be completed within a fraction of a second, and though there is leeway, it must be executed fairly accurately. Ask any scrub and they will tell you that a dragon punch is a "skill move." Just last week I played a scrub who was actually quite good. That is, he knew the rules of the game well, he knew the character matchups well, and he knew what to do in most situations. But his web of mental rules kept him from truly playing to win. He cried cheap as I beat him with "no skill moves" while he performed many difficult dragon punches. He cried cheap when I threw him 5 times in a row asking, "is that all you know how to do? throw?" I gave him the best advice he could ever hear. I told him, "Play to win, not to do ˜difficult moves.'" This was a big moment in that scrub's life. He could either write his losses off and continue living in his mental prison, or analyze why he lost, shed his rules, and reach the next level of play.
I've never been to a tournament where there was a prize for the winner and another prize for the player who did many difficult moves. I've also never seen a prize for a player who played "in an innovative way." Many scrubs have strong ties to "innovation." They say "that guy didn't do anything new, so he is no good." Or "person x invented that technique and person y just stole it." Well, person y might be 100 times better than person x, but that doesn't seem to matter. When person y wins the tournament and person x is a forgotten footnote, what will the scrub say? That person y has "no skill" of course.
Depth in Games
No one has ever been as bad at anythng as this man was at being president. At least learn from your mistakes.
Boundaries of Playing to Win
There is a gray area here I feel I should point out. If an expert does anything he can to win, then does he exploit bugs in the game? The answer is a resounding yes...but not all bugs. There is a large class of bugs in video games that players don't even view as bugs. In Marvel vs. Capcom 2, for example, Iceman can launch his opponent into the air, follow him, do a few hits, then combo into his super move. During the super move he falls down below his opponent, so only about half of his super will connect. The Iceman player can use a trick, though. Just before doing the super, he can do another move, an icebeam, and cancel that move into the super. There's a bug here which causes Iceman to fall during his super at the much slower rate of his icebeam. The player actually cancels the icebeam as soon as possible--optimally as soon as 1/60th of a second after it begins. The whole point is to make Iceman fall slower during his super so he gets more hits. Is it a bug? I'm sure it is. It looks like a programming oversight to me. Would an expert player use this? Of course.The iceman example is relatively tame. In Street Fighter Alpha2, there's a bug in which you can land the most powerful move in the game (a Custom Combo or "CC") on the opponent, even when he should be able to block it. A bug? Yes. Does it help you win? Yes. This technique became the dominant tactic of the game. The gameplay evolved around this, play went on, new strategies were developed. Those who cried cheap were simply left behind to play their own homemade version of the game with made-up rules. The one we all played had unblockable CCs, and it went on to be a great game.
But there is a limit. There is a point when the bug becomes too much. In tournaments, bugs that turn the game off, or freeze it indefinitely, or remove one of the characters from the playfield permanently are banned. Bugs so extreme that they stop gameplay are considered unfair even by non-scrubs. As are techniques that can only be performed on, say, the player-1 side of the game. Tricks in fighting games that are side-dependent (that is, they can only be performed by the 2nd player or only by the first player) are sometimes not allowed in tournaments simply because both players don't have equal access to the trick--not because the tricks are too powerful.
;)
There are some limits to playing to win. Not sure if this is one of them.Here's an example that shows what kind of power level is past the limit even of Playing to Win. Many versions of Street Fighter have secret characters that are only accessible through a code. Sometimes these characters are good, sometimes they're not. Occasionally, the secret characters are the best in the game, as in Marvel vs. Capcom. Big deal. That's the way that game is. Live with it. But the first version of Street Fighter to ever have a secret character was Super Turbo Street Fighter with its untouchably good Akuma. Most characters in that game cannot beat Akuma. I don't mean it's a tough match--I mean they cannot ever, ever, ever, ever win. Akuma is "broken" in that his air fireball move is something the game simply wasn't designed to handle. He's miles above the other characters, and is therefore banned in all US tournaments. But every game has a "best character" and those characters are never banned. They're just part of the game...except in Super Turbo. It's extreme examples like this that even amongst the top players, and even something that isn't a bug, but was put in on purpose by the game designers, the community as a whole has unanimously decided to make the rule: "don't play Akuma in serious matches."
My Attitude and Adenosine Triphosphate
I've been talking down to the scrub a lot in this article. I'd like to say for the record that I'm not calling the scrub stupid, nor did I even coin that term in the first place. I'm not saying he can never improve. I am saying that he's naive and that he'll be trapped in scrubdom, whether he realizes it or not, as long as he chooses to live in the mental construct of rules he himself constructed. Is it harsh to call scrubs naive? After all, the vast majority of the world is scrubs. I'd say by the definition I've classified 99.9% of the world's population as scrubs. Seriously. All that means is that 99.9% of the world doesn't know what it's like to play competitive games on a high level. It means that they are naive of these concepts. I really have no trouble saying that since we're talking about experience-driven knowledge here that most people on Earth happen not to have. I also know that 99.9% of the world (including me) doesn't know how the citric acid cycle and cellular respiration create approximately 30 ATP molecules per cycle. It's specialized knowledge of which I am unaware, just as many are unaware of competitive games.
;)
Not everyone has to know every subject. This chart is for biologists and Playing to Win is for those who want to win tournaments.
--Sirlin
