As written SOPA (PIPA) could end Kill Ten Rats, and the countless other MMO blogs you enjoy. We create our posts based on copyrighted and trademarked materials. Screenshots, fantasy race names, locations, characters, etc. are all property of someone else. Sure, even with some criticisms most companies are pretty cool with our [fair] use because talking about their games is usually a good thing. Yet given the huge archive we are sporting, all it takes is one corporate suit angered at one post written three years ago to possibly shut Kill Ten Rats down if SOPA would be enacted.

We are firmly against piracy, as evidenced big time by our ridiculous Steam libraries. Yet, such strong legislation must also be made to strongly protect our free speech.  A “strategic lawsuit against public participation” (SLAPP) is already a thing this century, and SOPA would just make it worse.

Please consider writing a respectful, constructive note to your Congressperson or Senator on SOPA (PIPA) or head to the EFF to learn more. Many have feedback forms on their .gov websites making it fairly easy to have your voice heard.

Sincerely,

The Kill Ten Rats crew

SOPA Kills Ten Rats is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

For any readers who have not reached exponents in their math classes yet, this just means 2×2=4, 2x2x2=8, 2x2x2x2=16, 2x2x2x2x2=32, and so on. Even if you are completely innumerate, you have surely noticed that the numbers 128, 256, and 512 proliferate around computers. These are higher powers of two. Computers are binary (two-based), so everything tends to be in powers of two. We talk about gaming here, and lots of things in games are 50% chances, coin-flips, however they phrase it: it is all 2s, and if you know the basic math behind what is going on, you will better prosper and be emotionally and intellectually prepared for the likely outcomes. There are two that I want to focus on today.

2^5=32. 1 in 32 series of 5 coin flips will be all heads, another 1/32 all tails. If there is a 50-50 chance of something happening, there is a 1/32 chance of its happening (or not) 5 times in a row. That’s roughly a 3% chance: unlikely, but not exactly a rare event when you are doing something hundreds of times, so be ready for it. As a concrete example, if you are playing Tyrant and a Xeno Forcefield comes out, you can probably take it out in one attack. On average, it regenerates (refills its hit points) once, but about 3% of the time, you will need to knock that wall down 6 times before it stays down. Given how much you play whatever game it is, you may hit the 1 in 32 chance every day. Watch for it, plan for it.

2^10=1024. Ten doublings gives you a thousand. This is a convenient bit of quick arithmetic to keep in your head, mostly because it stacks. If ten doublings is one thousand, twenty is one million, and thirty is one billion (American billion or British milliard). Doubling adds up quickly. There is the old story about asking for a reward of a single grain of rice/wheat on the first square of a chessboard, 2 on the second, 4 on the third, 8 on the fourth, and so on. A chessboard has 64 squares, so it will still be a few from the end when we clear 1,000,000,000,000,000,000. Doubling is powerful, and most people lose track of how the exponents work. The easy math to remember is that 10 doublings gives you another set of ,000 on the end of a number. Use this to estimate large quantities.

: Zubon

Powers of Two is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

After the discussion my respect for all real minorities working for real-world change has risen a hundredfold. Questions of “how can they not see” or “how can they not want change” that comes across in real life issues every single day must be damn near insufferable. Here I am the minority of a stupid MMO mechanic’s club.

It’s a tough dichotomy to not only want change but also to assume that people content with what I want changed are not idiots. I’ve always believed that I have been mindful in life of my actions and their effects around me. Yet, I feel like my world view has been a tad solipsistic. And, I especially apologize for my McDonald’s and K-Mart comment.

Our hit counts tell me that I do better to share love, so that’s how I will keep on trucking. Thanks for reading our fine blog. Excuse the mess.

–Ravious

A Word of Thanks is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

Is your dog small or thin enough that a wireless signal can still get through? Will it matter if you have a long-haired cat? Are the essential pieces small enough that they could be sufficiently whole after the plastic case has been devoured? And how much battery life does that thing have?

: Zubon

related

My Dog Ate It is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

I have been playing PC games though. I fell in love with the bargain priced Magic the Gathering’s Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012. I have the usual smattering of first-person shooters headed by Team Fortress 2. I am still not sure why I bought Serious Sam (again), but it brought back memories. Then Trackmania² Canyon. I’ve been playing that enough to warrant a brand new blog. It’s community is so online based that it feels similar to an MMO community, and there are developer updates, mods, and tournaments that keep things rather fresh.

For MMOs though, it’s taking me more and more “activation energy” to care. It’s partly Guild War 2′s fault. It’s impossible for me not to see dire flaws in the old school MMOs by comparison. I have tons of friends playing Lord of the Rings Online, but hours of being tentacle whipped by The Watcher did that game in for me. The upcoming  Stars Wars MMO and The Secret World seem pretty neat. I like what Prime is doing, but like EVE, it’s just not my cup of tea. I am also just not in the mood to pay for the privilege of paying them some more when I already have tons on my plate. So, for the most part until Guild Wars 2 beta comes my way (nudge nudge), I guess I am still on MMO vacation that occurred during my half-cross country move. I hope this does not offend.

That being said, there are still things of interest to me in the MMO world. For example, I am doing a demo of Storybricks tonight with a follow-up interview planned. I am actually really excited about this system/game for reasons I will disclose later. I feel that Autumn will bring with it a new freshness and perspective to my blogging. I am always looking to improve and change. The new Mania Blog is one outlet, but as always I am bound by soul to Kill Ten Rats. Constructive comments are always most welcome.

–Ravious
and then the crystal cracked

Born too Slow (or Bound too Long) is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

A community which cannot or will not realise how insignificant a part of the universe it occupies is not truly civilised. That is to say, it contains a fatal ingredient which renders it, to whatever extend, unbalanced. This is the story of one such community.
— opening lines of Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss

: Zubon

Serious Business is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

“Everyone” was driven home this morning when an out-of-state high school (not a high schooler, the school’s business address) e-mailed our state police criminal background check address asking if we could help it get back from Scotland. The Academy was on a trip when its bag was stolen, and wouldn’t you know it, its passport was in that bag, and it needs to pay for the hotel and the flight home.

On behalf of a records help address, we have heard your personal appeal from a generic business address, and our heart goes out to your difficulties overseas.

: Zubon

Great Moments in Scam Spam is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

Hopefully some time next week, I will have digested my immense reader backlog as well as all the Guild Wars 2 news that has emerged. In the mean time feel free to share below what your summer gaming plans are below, and remember… Brazilian beer, like tequila, never does anybody any good.

–Ravious

*Praise all deities that Shiner, Texas has infiltrated this beer market.

Back in the Bucketseat is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

: Zubon

Engineers Have Turrets Syndrome is a post from: Kill Ten Rats

: Zubon

Steam Summer Camp is a post from: Kill Ten Rats