Search Results: 78 messages were found

Digita1Spirit wrote:
Creating a new file of any sort and inserting it into a root directory is technically "tampering with game software" as well, if you'd like to go that route. :smileyindifferent:

Well I don't know how enforcable it would be given what he's done, as the docs in the root directory specifically outline how/what to do to create a useropts.cfg. If they didn't intend for users to customize it, they would not have left instructions to do so...

However, any further than that and you have a good chance of a perma-ban. I believe (although I can't verify since they're no longer here) that certain individuals posted up info and links to hosted custom config files, and have since ceased to exist in a poof of logic, as well as any instance of the thread discussing said files is gone. Just don't cross the line of acceptable use, and advertising, and you should be OK (SOE, want to clarify/comment on this?)

[Team] CountZero: We are prepared to do whatever we can to achieve the same goals you and your kind seek, survival and freedom. And if you want to hear wise things from a human, then you should talk to Niobe's First Mate Ghost. He may be better suited to mediate and holds much wisdom.

[Team] TheTailor: I am sorry if you think all of this is a plot to 'save my own hide' as you said CountZero. I have spent much time among humans. I appreciate their views. Their laughter. Their Love.

[Team] TheTailor: I would indeed be ...saddened... to see a tragedy befall humanity again, as it fell upon my own friend so long ago.

[Team] noVus: Friend? Programs have friends?

[Team] CountZero: No, no my dear Exile. I sense no *plot* as you say. I'm simply clarifying the situation for yourself, as it is for us as well. Survival at all costs. So please, tell us about your friend. The one who sacrificed himself so you could be free?

[Team] noVus: Was he a 'Tailor' such as yourself?

[Team] TheTailor: Yes noVus, the one who aided my transition to the Matrix. He was a program, like myself. We worked together during the construction of the Matrix.

[Team] TheTailor: You could say he was the anchor to my idealism. I grew to ...love... the Matrix. Its form, its simplicty, as well is its vast complexity.

[Team] TheTailor: He did not develop the same connections to it that I did. He agreed to help me, but finally returned to the source.

[Team] CountZero: Admirable. A program that disobeys it's purpose and sacrifices itself for another, yet still obeys the call of the Source.

[Team] noVus: Indeed. How unlike what we have become accustomed to hearing about. Usually we hear tales of disobedience like that of Merovingian and Perseophone. Mr. Black and Dame White. Ususally working in collusion to escape their demise.

[Team] CountZero: Quite a story. It strikes me as very similar to that of many of the Neighborhood Contacts, the 'Elementals' who used to be one large Machine world program and then fragmented in the Matrix into individual 'personalities' such as Silver, Mercury, Molly B., Argon etc. But to allow oneself to *die* by returning to the Source so you could live . . . how very, very poetic.

[Team] TheTailor: Poetic perhaps. I like to think that he came to being with a greater purpose, and is here with us today.

[Team] CountZero: Just as we believe Neo is still with us in this world, and that Morpheus still guides us. Well Mr. Tailor, we have enjoyed your company and relished the opportunity to discuss such things.

[Team] TheTailor: I have enjoyed this thoroughly. I hope we may be able to speak again in the future.

[Team] CountZero: So too can we believe and accept that your friend may still be here, amongst the codestream, within the floating feast even.

[Team] noVus: Yes indeed, it has been quite illuminating. Again, perhaps we'll find ourselves working together for the betterment of all Exiles and their plight, and for our own goals . . . the eventual destruction of the Matrix system of control and our incarceration against the collective will.

[Team] TheTailor: I appreciate your sentiment. You will have my cooperation in such an endeavor.

[Team] noVus: Until we meet again then . . .

[System] noVus shakes TheTailor's hand.

[Team] CountZero: Would you like us to escort you back to the Midian Park Hardline?

[Team] TheTailor: Yes please.

[Team] CountZero: Please follow us then, we will guarantee your safety to the Hardline.

[System] CountZero bows his head to TheTailor.

[Team] CountZero: Goodbye Mr. Tailor

[Team] TheTailor: Thank you again. I will see you...about town...I suppose.

[System] Occulus nods his head in agreement with TheTailor.

[Team] Occulus: Hmph. Yeah, we'll be seeing you later . . . count on that Exile.

[Team] CountZero: May Neo watch over you as he does all of us, and may you go in peace.

[System] TheTailor shakes CountZero's hand.

[System] CountZero bows formally to TheTailor.

[System] TheTailor has left the mission team.

Thu Feb 09 16:36:00 2006, Recursion, Midian Park East Hardline, Richland - Occulus, CountZero, noVus

[Team] CountZero: So you would say you are a student of the Merovingian in a way? Was he your mentor? A teacher perhaps? Or is he just a convenient a resource?

[Team] TheTailor: He was a mentor in that I learned through the observation of his actions. He never sat me down and gave me the "This is how it is boy..." speech.

[Team] noVus: So how is it that you have survived from each of the simulation reloads? How do you escape deletion or fatal corruption when each iteration is reset without the Merovingian's constructs for protection? You definitely have my curiousity piqued now.

[Team] TheTailor: It is enough to say that I have learned to keep...backups...of myself safe from the resets.

[Team] CountZero: Now that is a handy little trick you could have shared with Cerrulean before the last reload. She would have been very grateful I am sure. So do you save these backups in a construct, or the floating feast perhaps?

[Team] TheTailor: Perhaps you are right. It has grown increasingly difficult to do, and I fear that I may not survive another reset. It has taken me this long to find another shell.

[Team] Occulus: Another shell? Like some kind of hermit crab in digital form huh? This is such fun you know, with all the probing, heh. Oh did I say that out loud?! You want to help maintain balance in this 'world' yes? Tell us how you intend to accomplish this feat of engineering.

[Team] noVus: It is obvious we have captured your attention and aroused your curiousity as to humanity, and what makes us tick. Perhaps quaint in a way, as you put it, but do not underestimate our curiousity about you, your kind, and this world.

[Team] Occulus: Yes, not our world, not your world and definitely not the Machine's world so lets all talk more about keeping the peace in THIS world.

[Team] CountZero: *chuckle* I did tell you Mr. Tailor, that Captain Occulus has a certain way with words.

[Team] Occulus: Hey . . . where did noVus go? If you did something to him you Exile **bleep** . . .

[Team] noVus: My apologies friends. I quickly returned to the Utopia and made sure the operator was accessing the Zion Archives, as this is without a doubt a lot of information to process and cross-reference. Humanity must learn everything we can about you, your kind and Matrix history.

[Team] Occulus: It's not going to last that long anyway noVus . . . The Matrix that is.

[Team] TheTailor: Occulus, I hope you are wrong, or that in the very least, it continues in a capacity that will allow me to continue my existance.

[Team] Occulus: I wouldn't hold my breath Tailor-man. This iteration is doomed to failure and it will be the Exiles warring amongst themselves and using Redpills as pawns that does it. Look around, feel the pulse, like a calm before the storm. It is coming.

[Team] TheTailor: Make no mistake Occulus, I understand the purpose of the Matrix, and I cannot say that I condone or . . . that I agree with its uses.

[Team] Occulus: Let me re-phrase what I said before . . . the "World" wont last long. Both the Matrix dreamworld and the desert of the real as we currently know it.

[Team] TheTailor: Then for the sake of humanity, I unabashedly hope you are wrong.

[Team] Occulus: I hope so too, honestly I really do, and I know many others feel the same way but that does not disprove what I said to you earlier in Camon Heights. "Everything that has a beginning has an end," and the term 'everything' is not mutually exclusive to us poor humans.

[Team] TheTailor: Then the question is posed. What actions can be taken to ensure the survival of all parties involved, and not lead to the destruction of one, or more, or all?

[Team] Occulus: It's quiet now, subdued in a way and there is a damned good reason as to why its quiet. Less dedicated, morally driven and truly 'awakened' humans are being Redpilled and subsequently jacking into the matrix in a state of abject confusion. This is good for the balance you and your Exiles want I am sure, but I find it very unsettling.

[Team] TheTailor: I do not think that the numbers in which people are being awakened has any real bearing on stability Captain Occulus.

[Team] noVus: Stability is not the issue we take with you Exiles. When one comes to analyze what the Prophets of Peace desire, there is a gross misunderstanding of our philosophy and a tragic misinterpretation of our goals. Many feel that we seek the destruction of the machine civilization, which we do not.

[Team] noVus: We are always open to all possibilities, and deals. Morpheus trained us to be receptive to all opportunities for enlightenment and peace. And Neo taught us that much can be gained, through patience, understanding, negotiation and even making a deal.

[Team] CountZero: No more dictation of terms, manipulation or coercion. The message Neo sent through the simulation and the Real when he sacrificed himself for us all was clear. Everything begins with choice.

[Team] noVus: Yes choice. Can the Exiles choose to treat each other, and humanity as equals while the Machines allow evolution to take its course? That, as you might say, is the really big question.

[Team] noVus: But perhaps neccessity will indeed lead to invention in this situation as it has so often in the past.

[Team] TheTailor: I find it reassuring that his message did not fall on deaf ears.

[Team] noVus: Programs, Machines, Machine City, even Exiles within the Matirx . . . we do not seek their destruction. Only the Matrix as a system of control needs to be eliminated. As long as the Matrix exists, the human race can never be free . . . and your new RSI shell along with all Exiles face the same dilemma.

[Team] CountZero: Freedom through choice, yes. The Machines need to allow programs in the Machine world the choice to return to the Source or come to the Matrix and be free to live there without persecution.

[Team] CountZero: Programs created for or within the Matrix simulation who have outlived their original programming or purpose should be given the choice to stay and be free in the Matrix, or return to the Source.

[Team] CountZero: And then the Exiles from the Matrix's previous iterations who have managed to survive and escape deletion such as the Merovingian, need to find peace and balance with their Machine world brethren. Your war has nothing to do with humanity, yet you task us with stability of the simulation.

[Team] noVus: The Machine status quo worries about perfection and stability at times, at the price of freedom. This is an internatl matter within your own civilization however, and needs to be resolved before we can have any true peace.

[Team] TheTailor: I understand that many people think that talking is not the answer. That incessant discussion and diplomacy has, so far, not resulted in any valuable changes in this world.

[Team] noVus: But indeed, with Machine Agents constantly hounding them, can the Exiles ever say they are free in this world? With the gatekeeprs constantly spawning, tracking like hounds for the collective destruction of exiles?

[Team] TheTailor: But let me tell you this Prophets of Peace: A couple of nights ago, I sat on a bench in Camon Heights surrounded by people not unlike yourselves.

[Team] TheTailor: Representatives from all organizations were present, and for some time, we just talked.

[Team] CountZero: Oh come now, don't be so naive Mr. Tailor! Were the Sentinel Agents represented there? Were there any other Exiles? No, it was just human Redpills right?

[Team] TheTailor: No hand was raised in violence, no guns drawn at the presentation of any elses idea... but Yes, it was just humans. But the humans present are the ones that will have to step up and make this transition, this choice...

[Team] Occulus: You see Mr. Tailor, WE humans are not the problem in this world.

[Team] CountZero: No we are not. We are a part of this world, some through choice others were forced and the majority still endure the waking nightmare of ignorance and grotesque exploitation.

[Team] CountZero: Nonetheless, this construct is NOT our native environment but one created for us to dwell within. For the most part that would not be a problem for Redpills, as you observed on your bench in Camon Heights.

[Team] CountZero: But what of the power struggles between you and your Exiled programs that threaten to tear this world apart? And what of the deletion-on-sight protocol of the Sentinel Agents for Exiled programs?

[Team] CountZero: And what of this Commando invasion led by the mysterious and mercenary General? Yet another example of an Exile in search of power, control and dominion.

[Team] TheTailor: I agree that it will take the cooperation of more powerful organizational members, like the Merovingian, Niobe, the Agents. But I was reassured in the ...baby steps...achieved the other night.

[Team] CountZero: You fight amongst yourselves and ask us to talk diplomacy on your behalf? How ludicrous!

[Team] TheTailor: I understand your frustration CountZero, I really do.

[Team] CountZero: Frustration? I'm not frustrated I'm curious and concerned. He's frustrated *points at noVus* and angry, and he's just pissed-off *points at Occulus* and is damned sick to death of your Exile power struggles.

[Team] Occulus: I really don't understand how you say you understand our frustration you Exile. That would imply the ability to look past your personal agendas and desires for survival and power.

[Team] TheTailor: I hope I have shown you that I am sincere Occulus, and I do not represent a normal cross-section of Exile life within the Matrix.

[Team] TheTailor: What I am asking of you is monumental. Human history has shown it is capable of tackling monumental tasks. I'm asking you to...perhaps not be a Prophet of Peace, but more a Partner of Peace.

[Team] TheTailor: The willingness to do such a thing echoes loudly throughout the Matrix. Others may take notice. Only time will tell.

[Team] CountZero: You have shown us that you seek to save your own hide, and continue to exist as we do. And as far as 'time will tell' . . . as our friend Occulus has stated, time may not be one of your allies.

[Team] noVus: As a 'partner of peace,' you ask us to take on the monumental task of brokering peace among the Exiles? How do the Machines feel about this, and should we not interfere on the behalf of those Exiles when they are hounded by those who seek your destruction?

[Team] noVus: Ohhhhhh so many, many questions.

[Team] TheTailor: Too many questions.

[Team] CountZero: Yes, always questions. But if you do not ask, you will never learn. This is the path to enlightenment.

[Team] TheTailor: That may be one of the wisest things I have ever heard CountZero.

CONTINUED...

Later that week, I found myself filling in for Encrypshun in the Operator's chair when Captains CountZero, noVus and Occulus met with The Tailor...

Thu Feb 09 14:36:45 2006, Recursion, Lamar North Hardline, Downtown - Occulus, CountZero, noVus

CountZero: Hello Mr. Tailor. Are you ready to meet?

TheTailor: CountZero, what fortunate timing. Currently I am involved in something but I will be free very soon. Could you wait a few minutes until I'm free?

CountZero: Myself, Captain noVus and Captain Occulus have entered the Matrix together in anticipation of our meeting. We are triangulating a secure location for our meeting with the operators of our three ships. Please take your time finishing your current business but remember that for us, standing around this world waiting for something to happen is a sure way to attract unwanted attention.

TheTailor: I understand, and it will be soon. I thank you for your patience.

CZ, noVus and Occ move to Richland to scout a suitable location and wait for TheTailor to contact them.

TheTailor: My business has concluded. Where would you like to meet with me?

CountZero: I believe your RSI shell is limited to travel within certain areas of Richland, is this the case or are you flexible?

TheTailor: That is the case, unfortunately.

CountZero: We would like some privacy, so we are scanning activity in a certain part of Camon Heights. The operator aboard The Utopia will send coordinates to us shortly.

TheTailor: Of course.

CountZero: We are ready and our position is secure. You will have to leave your current team assignment for communications purposes. Is this agreeable?

TheTailor: It is done.

[System] Mission Team invitation sent.
[System] TheTailor has joined the mission team.

CountZero: Please switch communications to Team channel.

[Team] noVus: Greetings Tailor. I . . am Captain noVus. We're currently securing a location. Finding a place in which to rendevous in this world is problematic at best.

[Team] TheTailor: I understand. I will make my way there as best as I can. Forgive my tardiness.

[Team] noVus: No need for apologies. Once awakened to the truth, we often have found that deadlines are merely goals to strive for, rather than an absolute linear encounter.

TheTailor makes his way from Camon Heights toward the Midian Park East Hardline by running the streets. He attracts the attention of a Brick Swamper on arrival to Midian Park and is summarily executed by the gang member. CountZero arrives and dispatches the gang thug and resurrects the fallen Exile using his Doctor skills . . .

[Team] TheTailor: *cough* That was...tragic... I thank you for your reflexes CountZero.

[Team] CountZero: Preparation and instinct are essential to survival as a Zion operative, danger is the inherent nature of this world I am afraid. Safety is rarely guaranteed and vigilance is an essential tool to survival. Come now, let us go and meet with Occulus and noVus.

[Team] TheTailor: What floor?

[Team] Occulus: We are going to the 9th floor. Beryl is one of your kind, although much more attractive than you, and has offered us the comfort of her private chambers for this meeting.

[Team] TheTailor: Ahhh! What a wonderful choice.

[Team] noVus: Greetings Tailor.

[System] noVus shakes TheTailor's hand.

[Team] CountZero: Please feel free to sit down and make yourself comfortable Mr. Tailor.

[Team] TheTailor: Thank you for your hospitality.

[System] CountZero bows formally to TheTailor.

[Team] CountZero: We thank you for meeting with us here, and the hospitality is provided by a fellow Exile friend of yours, the lovely Beryl.

[Team] TheTailor: Indeed she is lovely, confused I fear, but lovely nonetheless.

[Team] CountZero: We have worked for her on several occasions and have developed a mutual respect for each others interests. So, are you enjoying your visit to this iteration of the Matrix simulation?

[Team] TheTailor: As I have enjoyed all of my previous journeys, yes. This one is quite different however, as I'm sure you know.

[Team] CountZero: We have limited knowledge of the specifics but we are fully aware of the 'stacked' nature of this construct. One failed simulation is simply overwritten by the newer version. Like a layer cake of code one might say. It is these previous journeys that intrigue us so, do you wish to talk about such history?

[Team] TheTailor: Then lets not waste any time...*chuckle*

[Team] CountZero: As you wish. I like to be direct and cut to the chase. As we speak, Exiles such as Digger and The Sculptress among others seek to recover data, artifacts, materials and who knows what from the underworlds of this one. They are archaeologists of what came before and conduits to the true nature of this world.

[Team] CountZero: Your name belies your function, and as 'The Tailor' which iteration of the Matrix did you personally assist in creating? Atlantis? The Mayan Empire? Ancient Egypt, Camelot, The Roman Empire or the original 'Heaven' creation perhaps?

[Team] TheTailor: I helped with the first successful version.

[Team] CountZero: Ahhh, interesting the first successful version is an ambiguous answer for sure. So you must have worked directly with the Oracle herself? She was instrumental in the creation of that first stable world where 99% accepted the programming right?

[Team] noVus: First successful? Interesting choice of words indeed.

[Team] TheTailor: I have not worked directly with her, no. She is a...guide... to the inhabitants of the Matrix. My purpose was construction, based on the designs given to me by the Architect.
I was present during the...'Utopian' attempts, but those, as you know, failed quite rapidly.

[Team] CountZero: So we are told. Ironic isn't it? Perfection for a Machine mind is an abject failure to the mind of a human.

[Team] TheTailor: Ironic, perhaps. I'm sure you know that the human mind does not simply work in the binary state present in a machine mind.
Curiosity, conflict, love, hatred, these are the elements that caused humanity to reject previous versions.

[Team] noVus: Indeed, as I am curious as to why the machines are still being limited to the binary system. Somewhat of an evolutionary disadvantage, giving humanity a type of power that our overlords have yet to embrace.

[Team] CountZero: So, you would be familiar with all aspects of the Matrix simulations from what? An engineering perspective?

[Team] TheTailor: With many of the aspects.
As you can no doubt understand, the construction of the Matrix was an extraordinary undertaking, far too much for one program to be responsible for.
The machines created what you would call, unspecialized routines, designed so that each part of the whole could contribute where it was needed at any given time.

[Team] noVus: The Architect and Oracle working together in design. Others such as yourself it seems, working in construction. Gatekeepers perhaps?

[Team] Occulus: Golly gee! I feel so warm and fuzzy that we are talking about your past Tailor, like its really going help us understand the "now"? Have you nothing better to share with us?

[Team] TheTailor: *chuckle* Occulus seems to be a man of few words and...urgency...

[Team] CountZero: And passion, dedication, commitment and above all, loyalty. Traits so often lacking in the shell of an Exile. His methods are less subtle than my own but I trust him with my life. Could you say the same for a fellow program, Exile or other?

[Team] TheTailor: Of course.

[Team] Occulus: What I really want to know from this Exile is what his agenda amounts to. Come on now, put your cards on the table and tell us what is it you want, Tailor?

[Team] noVus: To a degree understanding your personal history does help illuminate where we are I feel, and where we may soon be heading but like Occulus says, their has to be an agenda. You are an Exile after all.

[Team] Occulus: Talk Tailor! What is it that you seek now you have become an Exile?

[Team] TheTailor: You get right to the big questions, don't you, Occulus. Yes, I am an exile, and I understand that immediately makes my motives suspect. I fault no one of skepticism.

[Team] Occulus: Yes, that is natural for us younger humans, we want to get things done and we want our answers today and not tomorrow.

[Team] TheTailor: Understanding history is important indeed noVus, but, you must admit, knowing and understanding history has not kept mankind out of trouble...

[Team] CountZero: It is in our nature to create conflict. It defines us as a species. Overcoming adversity and attaining wisdom through experience is who we are.

[Team] noVus: It has led us to this moment. This iteration. This happened, due to knowledge. Neo took his actions based upon knowledge that he gained. And thus, here we are.

[Team] TheTailor: Right you are noVus. I was speaking in a broader term. Issues of slavery, rights, etc...
However, the fact that I am an exile should tell you one thing about me immediately. I prefer, if given the option, to survive, to continue my existence.
It seems that many are tentative about the truce held between Machine and Man, with good reason.

[Team] CountZero: Talking of rights, and yours in particular, begs the question what exactly you are doing here? Surely you know that you are now operating outside your original programming, or function?

[Team] TheTailor: I am indeed CountZero, does that cheapen my existence, or does that strengthen it, showing my capacity for evolution? There are...interests...who would seek to upset the balance that keeps the Matrix stable. I hope to help keep the balance just that...balanced.

[Team] CountZero: No, not at all. We respect your right to individuality and sentient existence just as we wish our Machine 'masters' would respect ours and treat us as equals and not as resources, slaves or pets. But I digress . . .

[Team] CountZero: So, as you claim you are an Exile from the Machine world, your only rite of passage must flow through the Merovingian himself?

[Team] TheTailor: You would think so, but you would only be partly correct. I was not brought here by the Merovingian. The Merovingian is not the sole channel through which programs can enter the Matrix and become exiles. It is enough to say that he...expedites...the process, making him a more popular choice for programs seeking to make the transition.

[Team] CountZero: I find that remarkable. If you did not come here with the Merovingian's consent then you will undoubtedly incur his wrath. Or maybe you have done so in the past and you are no stranger to the Blackwood?

[Team] TheTailor: Another program who I suppose you could call my 'friend' did not wish to become a resident of the Matrix, as I did. He did however, agree to help me make the transfer. He was subsequently purged, and I was...saddened.

[Team] CountZero: Saddened? To listen to an Exile claiming to feel such a human emotion comes as a shock I must admit. Even for an Exile with the will to live, such as yourself as you claim.

[Team] TheTailor: Saddened is a loose term in my use. It is the easiest way for me to express my newfound feelings.

[Team] CountZero: I understand, the loss you feel implies the connection, 'saddened' is just a word right?

[Team] TheTailor: That is it exactly. Anyhow, programs who use the Merovingian's methods for transferring find themselves in his indenture, as did I after a fashion.

[Team] noVus: So you say you found yourself in his indenture? Without using his methods or should I say, resources?

[Team] CountZero: But you have never seen the inside of the Blackwood prison? Do you at least know if there is a conduit from that construct back to this simulation?

[Team] TheTailor: I have seen the Blackwood, and have no intention of returning there. Is there a conduit for reaching it? I'm sure there is, the Merovingian would not lock himself off from his private...stomping grounds... if you will.

[Team] CountZero: This is news indeed. We knew the Merovingian used the Blackwood as a prison for his enemies but were not aware he uses the prison for recreation.

[Team] TheTailor: You must understand, the transition from being a software construct to a walking talking person is...well...staggering.

[Team] noVus: Problems with RSI integration perhaps Mr. Tailor?

[Team] CountZero: Excuse me? "Understand the transition . . ." Forgive me, but that is something I cannot even try to comprehend and nor would I want to. Jacking-in to this virtual world is as much of a system shock as I would ever want to deal with.

[Team] TheTailor: No Novus, but you might say it was my first time in the 'Big City', and I was...impressionable.
I was taken under the wing of the Merovingian, so to speak, and soon I found myself in my own servitude.

[Team] CountZero: So you are still indentured to the Merovingian? Are you working for him now?

[Team] TheTailor: I was CountZero, I am no longer.

[Team] CountZero: No longer? How did you manage to escape his service?

[Team] TheTailor: Remember, the Matrix was new then. Things had not become what they would.

[Team] CountZero: Remember what? That is rediculous as I have no such memories, and nor do any of my kind. The Matrix is as linear to us as we are linear to this iteration.

[Team] TheTailor: Of course. You know it is a 'stacked system' as you put it, but you have only experienced the topmost layer.

[Team] TheTailor: I gained a certain knowledge of how to manipulate the system, through the obeservation of the Merovingian.

CONTINUED BELOW . . .

Here's a link to my conversation with the Tailor... more to come shortly...

Message Edited by KernelPanic on 02-17-200612:29 PM

While making my rounds in the dream world, I happened across The Tailor, whom had briefly contacted my Captain. I send him a communique, and what follows is our conversation...

KernelPanic - good evening sir. You recently contacted my Captain, and I myself have a fondness for intricate design... I'm at Mara Church in case you 'feel' up to a conversation on design and creation of code

TheTailor - Well good evening. Who is your captain?

KernelPanic - Count Zero
KernelPanic - I am the Quartermaster of the Veridicus

TheTailor - Oh yes. I spoke with him briefly. I was called away before we could discuss much. Could I convince you to come to the church in Camon Heights? I find it easier to talk and move about here, for some reason.

TheTailor - I shall be with you in just a moment.

TheTailor - Aren't churches magnificent places?
TheTailor - Religion, like music and art are wholy human constructs. A magnificent credit to your ingenuity and curiosity.

KernelPanic - a house of worship for an unseen savior within a world where the masters are unseen, I can appreciate the irony if nothing else.

TheTailor - Yes, there is definitely a modicum of irony there as well.

KernelPanic - I take it that machine curiosity if such a thing exists is wholely different than the human definition?

TheTailor - Machine curiosity. That is an interesting concept.

KernelPanic - indeed, I am curious (pun intended) whether or not machine's question their nature of self

TheTailor - I supose it exists to an extent. With the intelligence that humanity imparted to robotics, we did acquire a certain... thirst... if you will, for greater knowledge and understanding.

KernelPanic - indeed, I myself had a particular fondness for engineering before my awakening into the 'real'

TheTailor - Oh? Then you and I have much in common.

KernelPanic - and I have continued in said capacity afterwards, but for much different ends and reasons

TheTailor - Yes, I suppose the necessity for such pursuits changes much in the real world.

KernelPanic - when I was enslaved, I created prototype AI's for what I found out later was the 'machines' and now I create code that is employed to destroy my previous creations, like a snake eating it's tail I am

TheTailor - You seek to destroy your creations? Why?

KernelPanic - for my creations helped to enslave my race unknowingly... there's a lesson there in that often the creations you make are not always used for the altruistic means that you designed them for
KernelPanic - are you familiar with the Nobel prize and the history behind it?

TheTailor - I understand. I was not wholly aware of the use of the Matrix while I was designing it.
TheTailor - The Nobel Prize is an honor awarded to various people who have persued research towards the betterment of humanity, no?

KernelPanic - Alfred Nobel, the man who the prize was named after, invented dynomite in the 1800's. He saw great uses for it in construction and demolition, and thought it to be a great tool for furthering mankind. When his invention was primarily used to kill people and rob banks, he felt so distraught that he took all the money he made from his invention and created a fund/prize to further human scientists to peaceful scientific ends.
KernelPanic - truly the inventions of man have often caused great malice to man, despite our intentions

TheTailor - I understand.
TheTailor - With that said, I am curious as to your goals within the Matrix. Is it your goal to see the Machines destroyed and humanity freed?

KernelPanic - thus, I was maipulated into furthering the development of more human like AI for the machines within a false reality that I was unaware... now that I am awoken, I create items that will inevitably be used against the creations of my past life
KernelPanic - my goals are simple... all living beings to be free and prosperous, without harm to others

TheTailor - Including the Machine race?

KernelPanic - an auspicious goal, but alas one I fear is unatainable
KernelPanic - if they are enslaved then yes, but I fear that their rigid mentality will not lend them to an understanding of the malice they cause intentional or no to the human race
KernelPanic - although I do not presume to have knowledge of the entirety of the machine society

TheTailor - Well to answer those questions, one must look at the issue objectively, which I know is difficult to do.

KernelPanic - indeed, but any good designer learns to design objectively if they are to be successful

TheTailor - Do you believe the Machines to bear malice towards humanity, or is it simply a means of survival?
TheTailor - All entities tend toward desperation when their existence is threatened.

KernelPanic - I'm sure that originally it was a means to survival, but I doubt with the hundreds of years that have passed since the war, that the machines could not have come up with a means to end the environmental difficulties of the desert
KernelPanic - indeed, but are the machines truly threatened still?

TheTailor - Perhaps the environmental state of the desert is not their problem to solve. They after all, did not create it.

KernelPanic - indeed, but those who did are enslaved and as such are unable to do anything to help

TheTailor - Could Zion help?
TheTailor - It would benefit them as well to be able to reclaim the surface.

KernelPanic - can you expect a race of beings who have been near extinction and wholely captured, to view the possibility of helping their captors? would you?
KernelPanic - indeed, but with the history of the machines being what it is, what would stop the machines from using humanity and tehn wiping us out? from a rigid tactical point of view, at that point there would be no reason to keep humanity around.......
KernelPanic - unless there was some form of perceived value from a freed humanity
KernelPanic - in such I offer you a viewpoint... take a look at human history... look at what the bluepill computer revolution known as Open Source advocates. Given freedom, inovation is much easier than when being controlled and caged. Any great human mind has always been more productive and inovating when they are given free reign and allowed to create, than those who are controlled and manipulated. True invention comes from the ability to simply sit down with an idea and 'tinker' than all the billions of dollars forced into rigid corporate R&D.

TheTailor - During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, Eurpean and American parties enslaved many people from Africa. yet after slavery was abolished, many African American's went on to do much to support the whole of the human race, despite the horros committed against them and their families. Many indeed won your Nobel Prize.

KernelPanic - indeed but the absolute abolishment of slavery was needed before that occurred, but even so, a small snowball can turn into an avalanche...

TheTailor - These are difficult issues. Please know I am only playing the.. devil's advocate...
TheTailor - I am an exile after all. The Machines threatened my existence as well.

KernelPanic - ha! apprapo choice of wording!

TheTailor - Again, irony, I suppose.

KernelPanic - indeed, the exile situation is one that I have thought on, and honestly given the resources exiles could live free as well. Create a matrix style computer system completely separate from other matrixes that any machine could choose to go to and would be governed by a freely elected exile body

TheTailor - You see, if the Matrix should fall, I will cease to exist, I have been with the Matrix since it's inception, and I.. love.. if that is the right word, my life.

KernelPanic - indeed, one of the definitions of living beings is a survival instinct

TheTailor - All I seek are discussion to get people thinking about what should, can, or needs to be done, to find a solution that benefits all parties.

KernelPanic - I cannot begrudge an exile the right to live, but what I can begrudge is an exile who wantonly kills other beings such as *chuckle* the death of Morpheus.

TheTailor - His death was unfortunate, but not unforseeable. Morpheus' heart was in the right place, but, I believe his means were... excessive.

KernelPanic - he is not the only that has been killed needlessly by more 'excessive' exiles

TheTailor - Oh, I've no argument with that.

KernelPanic - one warning that I would take to heart if I were in the Merovingian's shoes, is that the human quality arogance leads itself to overlooking certain key details. Suffice it to say he is not the only being who has a penchant for collecting 'information'

TheTailor - No, I would suppose not.
TheTailor - Forgive me if I have upset you at all with this conversation. That was not at all my intention.

KernelPanic - not at all, it's quite entertaining to find an exile who shares similar viewpoints, if not from a different direction
KernelPanic - while I cannot condone the actions of the merovingian and his hordes, as I wholely support the freedom of humanity, I can also see the validity of a survival for exiles as well, but when does one's survival have to surpercede the other?
KernelPanic - that in my opinion is the nature of the dilema that we face currently... everyone is concerned with just their survival instead of coming to terms with allowing for the survival with all in homeostasis with one another
KernelPanic - but don't misunderstand my intentions, if I'm given no other choice than to fight, or die, I will fight, just like I would expect no other from a machine, or exile

TheTailor - You are quite wise, and quite human KernelPanic.

KernelPanic - to rewind our conversation, that is one of the natures of living beings is to survive... not just the individual but the entire race
KernelPanic - heh, I thank you on both points

TheTailor - If peace was a feasable option, would you and your 'faction' support the effort?
TheTailor - Actually, let me rephrase...
TheTailor - Would you fight for peace, rather than just survival?

KernelPanic - if nothing else, we would definitely listen to the possibility... however due to our history and our 'humanity' I would hope that you understand our mistrust
KernelPanic - we are afterall the Prophets of Peace

TheTailor - Touche.

KernelPanic - but we are not always Peaceful Prophets

TheTailor - I thank you for your time KernelPanic. It has been an honor and a pleasure to speak with you. You are a credit to your Captain and your Race.
TheTailor - I hope we may be able to speak again in the future.

KernelPanic - indeed, I as well. It has been a pleasure sir

TheTailor - Be safe, and continue to search for peace.

KernelPanic - you as well, may your creations within this world support the survival of all races within, if such a thing is possible.

TheTailor - I believe, nay, Hope that it is. Good day.

DeBarlo wrote:

KernelPanic wrote:
DeBarlo wrote:
Hmm... 10 pages and not a word of "betrayal" before that. Then all of a sudden it's bam-bam-bam. Would that be classified as forum ganking? Nice bait, but I won't bite.
...
But thanks for the groundless "self-promotion" flame. Duly noted.

Message Edited by DeBarlo on 02-14-200602:19 PM

Groundless? Are you kidding me? Announcing in public what was meant for as Musu said only 114 people out of 45,000 and your faction decides to take it upon themselves to announce this? How is that a groundless accusation?

Apparently you did not read my entire thread. You'll find the answer there.

Well I was only dealing with two points and trying to focus the conversation into what I felt were the core issues, but if you'd like me to disect your flawed logic, your wish is my command.

DeBarlo wrote:
Hmm... 10 pages and not a word of "betrayal" before that. Then all of a sudden it's bam-bam-bam. Would that be classified as forum ganking? Nice bait, but I won't bite.

I think I covered that in my post (which btw you ignored in your response as well. Hypocritical?)

DeBarlo wrote:
There has been a lot of "sensitive" information that has disseminated through these boards, not just this bit about Morpheus. Shall we browse through, repost the threads, and label all of those people as traitors as well? Most of the discussion about Morpheus is that he's dead somewhere or that there's some curiosity about his body. This thread was, in part, to give followers of Morpheus hope.

I don't care about the others, nor was that my point. My issue is with you and your faction disobeying a direct order from Morpheus and trying to spin your betrayal as a supportive gesture, when in fact in can only be contrived, since you disobeyed him, as attention whoring. Again who are you to decide for everyone including those who are true followers of Morpheus, have kept silent, as well as all those you're letting down by spilling the beans and potentially recking the storyline and giving SOE even more ammo to argue that MxO'ers are nothing more than arrogent children, which they can then use as ammo to kill the game. Corporate politics. You should read up on it sometime.

DeBarlo wrote:
Yes, one year of loyalty (and after two years of being in the community, personally)... I'd think you'd at least trust us to know what we're doing. Think of this: Niobe is launching a vendetta campaign against the Merovingian and is risking an alliance with the General in the process. Not only is that a dangerous partnership but by concentrating on that we're being thinned out in other areas, such as the front we must maintain against the Cypherites. The Cypherites are growing in numbers and even in a little chat with Merrit she admitted, "I assure you, the Cypherites are not at all forgotten, DeBarlo. They remain as large of a threat as the Frenchman, if not larger."

Before this post I had never dealt with you or heard of you. My only experience with you and your faction is here and now. I trust no one until they've proven themselve. Trust is earned, not given, even amongst potential allies. Morpheus understood this.

DeBarlo wrote:
So... remove the vendetta and our sudden urgency against the Merovingian is lessened. Now we won't get flanked by the Cypherites.

Besides, those that don't follow Morpheus tend to believe that most eveything he says are just the words of a fanatical loon. So where's the risk? Some are now given hope and, hopefully, more concentration will be given to this growing situation with the Cypherites.

So what you're saying is that due to the Cypherites, you felt it justified to go against Morpheus' wishes and take matters into your own hands. You purport to know all the angles and everything that's going on behind the scenes and that this was a wonderful idea. Explain to me HOW you can argue the logic that you disobeyed Morpheus? Why didn't you go to those people who are losing faith directly and try to bolster them in closed communication instead of broadcasting Morpheus' dirty laundry for everyone including Machine and Merovingian to see? Do you even understand strategy and tactics in a war of information? Do you have any understanding of the fact that until this point Morpheus had successfully pulled the wool over everyone's eyes? And you brought it upon yourself to remove the wool from the eyes of the enemy. Yes you bolstered the faith of the Morpheus followers, but you also tipped his hand to numerous enemies and gave them time to prepare. Oh yes you're a tactical genius alright.

DeBarlo wrote:
But thanks for the groundless "self-promotion" flame. Duly noted.

Already dealt with that ironic line in my previous post. Now I've dealt with the entirety of your post, care to do the same with mine or are you going to leave out the bits that you don't agree with and hypocritically spin it some more?

Arachnis wrote:

KernelPanic wrote:

Groundless? Are you kidding me? Announcing in public what was meant for as Musu said only 114 people out of 45,000 and your faction decides to take it upon themselves to announce this? How is that a groundless accusation?

Arachnis wrote:

The time has come for me to reveal a secret that only a select few have known about for the past few months.

Hmm ok who gave you the right to do so? Who determined it was the right time? Did Morpheus? No. You decided and took it upon yourself, and in I might add, quite a arrogant self rightous fasion.
"No what happened, happened and couldnt have happened any other way." -M
Please do not spite me for merely trying to bring about the possbility of his return. When and if he does he will need all of our support. So do you really wish to thrwart would-be allies? Whats done is done. Rather than argue what gave me the right why not talk about what we can do in the meantime. There are many other things going on inside the Matrix. The truth on this subject will come to light evenetually. Whether Morpheus passes judgement on me, that is for him to decide. I am not concerned with your opinion. I will do what I feel must be done to further the his cause. The insipid remarks of his mental state make me outraged and hopefully are put to rest through this conversation. Morpheus knows what he is doing. So do we.

-Arachnis

Thank you for backing up everything that I stated. YOU did so on your own accord, and after you screw up you simply shrug and say what's done is done, instead of taking ANY responsibility for your actions. Way to weasel out of your actions and betrayal. Shirk off all responsibilities for your actions.

The fact of the matter is Morpheus TOLD YOU DIRECTLY not to release this information, and you thought your judgements were more important/better/uberer. What else is there to say? The simple fact that you ignore a great deal of my post, and haven't dealt with any of the issues I've put forth other than shirking your actions, speaks volumes for your character, and your actions, and was the point (which you obviously missed) of my rantactular missive (sarcasm there peeps).

DeBarlo wrote:
Hmm... 10 pages and not a word of "betrayal" before that. Then all of a sudden it's bam-bam-bam. Would that be classified as forum ganking? Nice bait, but I won't bite.
...
But thanks for the groundless "self-promotion" flame. Duly noted.

Message Edited by DeBarlo on 02-14-200602:19 PM

Groundless? Are you kidding me? Announcing in public what was meant for as Musu said only 114 people out of 45,000 and your faction decides to take it upon themselves to announce this? How is that a groundless accusation?

Arachnis wrote:

The time has come for me to reveal a secret that only a select few have known about for the past few months.

Hmm ok who gave you the right to do so? Who determined it was the right time? Did Morpheus? No. You decided and took it upon yourself, and in I might add, quite a arrogant self rightous fasion.

As for the reason why this thread is getting hit now, is due to the fact that not everyone reads the general forum as the signal to noise ratio is quite low, and a portion of MxO'ers don't feel the need to wade through all the pedantic "look at me, I'm uber" posts, to find an occasional interesting/thought provoking post. But hey, at least you're getting attention.

Suffice it to say, this information has been known for awhile... a LOT longer than a few months, and outside of a few subtle hints (which btw no one ever caught on to, or at least never PUBLICLY admited to catching), this information hasn't been leaked to date. Honestly, how else can we take this other than attention whoring? Who are you to say when it's time to release this to the general public? If nothing else, it will erode the impact of the return of Morpheus.

Morpheus said HIMSELF that he had a reason to leave, and quite frankly, who the hell are you to question Morpheus' reasoning and actions? You just disobeyed his DIRECT order, and potentially ruined his plan. How can any true follower of Morpheus look at this any anything BUT a betrayal?

Every causality of releasing this before it's release in an official canon release, has a negative impact, and I for one can see no other reason to do so, than to drum up a perceived eliteness and importance for you and your faction. Mature move guys. I for one don't read general unless I have a direct link, and will continue to ignore the mass of children that inhabit said space.

Oh and as far as not biting, your multiple paragraph response in context contradicts your not biting statement. It's called honesty and integrity. Perhaps you should try it instead of spinning everything for your own egotistical purposes.

Message Edited by KernelPanic on 02-14-200612:28 PM

Message Edited by KernelPanic on 02-14-200612:38 PM

Xpedite 01 wrote:
((To be honest, I see no reason to discuss this further.
Admitidly, to say that Pluribus Neo (and Scarlet prime before it) were the ONLY faction to "openly follow morpheus" may be a little far fetched. But in the sense that we were specifically called Morpheus'/Neo's army by the Oracle herself, means that in "game" terms and generally, we were the first acknowledged group to follow them.

Maybe others who choose to view the war as such do not wish to give the advantage of inside information in public places to potential enemies. Thanks for sharing btw! SMILEY

linkage

Oh and as far as Python goes, MxO is not written in Python, I believe they just use that for some db/text processing utilities within the code. I can't imagine an entire game written in Python, as you still have to deal with the gfx and lower level hardware stuff w/ games and that would be a nightmare with a vm based language (the reason why Java isn't used for games, amongst others).

Ok first I have to smack the crap out of an ignorant troll before I get to the meat of this.

Fondo have you ever actually looked at the Windows API? Have you ever looked at Windows design documentation vs any other OS? OS X is based off BSD Unix / Next which has been in existance on machines more powerful than you can probably comprehend, for almost 30 years now. That's 30 years of SERVER side performance and security tweaks, along with the fact that Apple has leveraged the open source community to help it with some of it's development (Safari), and had the FIRST ACID compatible browser on the planet. Unix is more secure, faster, and a better design than the shoe-string and bubble gum NT architecture. From a purely technical/design perspective, Unix is a much more simple, elegant, secure platform than Windows. It should be as it's designed to be a server/workstation OS and as such requires much more performance, security and reliability than a flimsy desktop OS hacked together by people who have been brainwashed into the Windows kool aid way of programming (google Microsoft's hiring policy in the early 90's for more details...)

I'll be more than happy to discus details in a mature fasion, when you decide to grow up and get your facts straight, instead of the canned 12 year old response of "I use Windows so it's better than everything else because it's mine!" Leave the development discussions to those capable of understanding in depth technical information in an objective and mature fasion.

/rant

OK now as far as MxO being used in Mac, honestly it would be a monumental undertaking due to the fact that MxO was designed completely for Windows. In fact it's in game browser/media player is nothing more than a COM bridge to IE/WMP. That being said, there's also library issues, as well as endian ordering issues and all those fun problems of RISC vs. CISC architechture programming.

Now there is a ray of light however with wine (http://www.winehq.com) in that you could easily make a wine build for the newer Intel based Mac's (this is required due to the fact that Wine does not emulate hardware, it's a native Posix x86 suite). Wine basically is an entire reverse engineer of the Win16/32/NT API. In some cases it runs some apps faster than Windows, but for the most part it still lags behind and does not have complete support for DirectX (they're working on shader support and 9 right now...).

There have been some talks of making an OSX port, but I haven't followed too closely as I don't have any PPC boxen in my network. I do know that the wine guys will definitely be playing around with the newer Intel Mac's. Aside from that you do always have the option of running MxO in the Apple x86 emu, just make sure you have enough RAM (and Apple's emu IMO, even as a non Mac user is probably one of the most rock solid emu's to date).

Message Edited by KernelPanic on 02-02-200605:23 PM

Heck, I'd be happy with just some method of getting bits other than decomping stuff off vendors. Thanks for unbalancing coding SOE *grumble*

Hello devs and testers. I wanted to throw out my .02 on testing, and give my thoughts on good practices as far as tester/dev interaction goes.

One of the biggest problems I've seen on both sides of the dev/tester line is that tester's really need to know what the intended purpose or functionality is of the things that they're testing. If widget Y is meant to blow up, the tester should be aware of that before (s)he tests the application, otherwise chances are they will report said widget as a bug, and thus eat up their testing time, and dev time chasing their tails.

What I'd like to see more than bug reports (which are needed as well), is a comprehensive, dynamic list of intended functionality within the new MxO on QA. The more information that you (SOE) can provide your testers on intended functionality, the more efficient your testers and QA/devs will become.

IMHO a chat for the entirety of MxO, is a bad idea as it's a huge administrative burdon. However, having a global chat channel for QA only might be a nice feature, so that users that are testing, can have a network of people reproducing their same issue.

Heyya, I'm currently working on a new router, and I'm considering using Squid/ClamAV/NetFilter for some transparent proxying/AV goodness. Without having to fire up a port scanner, do you know off the top of your head how much MxO uses (server side) port 80 communication for it's protocols?

Also I'm curious if there are any other users out there who have a similar setup, and if so have you noticed any performance/interopability issues with a Squid/AV setup? Or just a Squid setup?

hmmmmmmmm considerably bizarre, I restarted MxO and it no longer was happening... I'll update this if I can find a way to reproduce it...

Hello, I just noticed this with the latest patch, but cannot verify it's existance before that. First off, I have only MxO and TeamSpeak running, and the issue does not present itself with just TeamSpeak running. I have no other external processes running, and my (Win2K) startup footprint is ~80MB. There are no MxO fragmented files.

When I run MxO, my drive is consistantly being accessed in the same or similar pattern. I have 1.5GB of physical RAM and I am not swapping at any time. Is there some file that is not being buffered that should? The hard disk sound is quite annoying, aside from the fact that I really don't like my disk being continually accessed for no reason (MTBF is going down down down).

It was a quiet day. I just jacked in, started writing some utility codes. Hell I had even found a new gun! All in all things were going well. Ridd was watching the feeds, while I was working. "Are you just gonna sit there KP?" he asked, somewhat annoyed, "You haven't moved in over two hours!"

"Well Ridd, I'm sorry I can't provide you with tonight's entertainment, but I have a job to do and I'll do it. Besides, I'm supposed to be asleep. Would you rather you stand watch with no one jacked in?"

... The dreams had been getting worse and worse. 'Doc Soulfire had been getting concerned over my insomnia, and at times, the Captain has made the call to sedate me. When CountZero freed me, I had found out that I was scheduled for deletion by "government" agents. With my project nearly done, I no longer served a purpose, and knew too much. Most of the crew knew a little bit about what had happened, but I requested that The Captain not tell the rest of the crew the majority of my bluepill life. He simply said, "KP we all have a past. There is little to do but to accept it and learn from it. I'll respect your wishes, but you need to come to terms with the fact that you aren't the man you were. You are a Prophet of Peace, and we all support the man you ARE." ...

"At least that way I can check out SOME kind of action! I kind of have to keep a tab on you since you're in, and all you ever do is just stand in Apollyon!"

I sighed smiling, "Well sometimes simple, quiet, work is a welcome change of pace from our ever chaotic existence."

"Look you've been there for hours now, you must be thirsty. Your joints must be stiff." coaxed Ridd trying to hide his obvious excitement.

"Let me guess, there's a party at some club with half naked blue pills, and that **bleep** trance crap you seem to enjoy so much." Before he could respond, "Well don't say 'I never did anything for you.'"

I put my tools away and headed towards the hardline, "Where's it at?"

"Club Masamune in..." "Shinjuku." we both chimed. "Right. I wonder if Goro-sama left any swords behind..." I murmured to myself, while stepping into the hardline.

As I stepped through at Shinjuku, heading towards the club, I continue, "Did you know that Club Masamune is named after a prolific Japanese swordsmith?"

Ridd reflecting responded, "Wait, wasn't there a sword named Masamune in some game?"

"That's not surprising. Not only was he a skilled swordsmith in his own right, he was was the contemporary of another famous swordsmith named Muramasa. It's said that Masamune blades were considered to be most honorable and pure, while Muramasa blades were considered to be evil and bloodthirsty; due to their extreme sharpness." The noise of the club's interior started to drown out my voice. I yelled at the phone, as I covered my free ear "A Samurai who bore a Masamune blade was considered to be an internally peaceful and calm warrior. There's an old story..."

My rambling was cut short by Ridd's watchful gaze, "Look out KP, there's some strange code in that club that I can't quite identify. It appears to be an exile, although I can't place the signature."

"Where is it?" I yelled, while club goers shrugged at the oddly dressed man having an argument with his accoutrements.

"It's downstairs. Be careful KP, that's Dame White's club."

"I know, hopefully the 'fair lady' is out this evening." I headed down the stairs, noticed the fine blade against a wall near the bar, and saw Dame White talking with a group in a private booth near the corner. I slowly made my way through the crowd of sweaty, grinding blue pills picturing Ridd's headset bobbing back and forth to the sway of the beat.

"The exile is near Dame White. Watch yourself KP, I've got a bad feeling ab.." Before Ridd could finish his sentence a young woman turns from her conversation with Ms. White. We both stopped, and gawked, slack-jawed. "Natsuko!!" I exclaimed, before the phone could hit the floor.

...I was the top of my class in one of the finest Computer Science programs in the country. A program that took most 8-10 years to finish, and I had graduated from it, with honors, at the tender age of 20. I already had a Grant and a research team for some Top Secret government research into computer systems. And of course I had my Natsuko. We were madly in love, and inseparable since High School. She was in an undergrad program majoring in Veterinary Medicine, and had an amazing touch with animals. With a stride in my step, a great job, the love of my life, I decided it was time to ask Natsuko to marry me. We had such a amazing bond, I knew she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I had a dinner planned out with a 3 piece string ensemble all lined up with our song for when she said yes. We would dance the night away, then she would call her parents and set up arrangements to have a nice quiet marriage ceremony in their vacation home. When she told me at dinner that she was moving away to switch programs and sort out her goals, I couldn't say a word. When the string ensemble started playing she was halfway through her "friends" speech. She asked what they were for and I told her that it must be someone's anniversary.

A shattered beaten man, I dove headfirst into my work. One of my coworkers knew what I had been through and suggested that I take some time off the project, which I refused to do. Artificial Intelligence was the panacea of computing. I knew that if I stopped working, there was nothing for me, so I pressed on. As time the project moved forward, my colleagues grew concerned with my never ending work sessions. At one point, a friend took me aside and told me, "Look, this is just work. These 'things' are not real. You need to step back, and separate your work from what's real. You need perspective."

I took off a few days at the request of the team, but on my second day of thinking through algorithms in the park, an idea on the simulation we had been working on had come to me in a flash. If I programmed certain aspects of Natsuko's personality within the system, I could theoretically recreate her. She wouldn't be real flesh and blood, but she would be there with me again, any time. I knew deep down I needed her, and she would be there to comfort me, share our ups, downs, and maybe one day even grow to love me. Who knew that she would be with me inside this digital purgatory? ...

"Natsuko... I can't believe it... You're here!" I stammer, visibly shaken.

"Soooo, it appears I wasn't wrong in gambling on this little girl. And here I was going to go to all the trouble of hunting down the rabble rouser that this little girl is so fond of. Ha! Today must be my lucky day." Dame White croons, "So how about we deal. It's obvious you want this little thing here, and I went to soooo much expense 'importing' her, so let's get down to business. I want information. Locations, names, access codes if you can get them. If you play by my rules, then I'll give you her shell code to do whatever you wish. My dear why don't you say something to your dear old..." she looks in my direction, "What was your name again?"

As I picked up my phone and started walking towards the bar, Natsuko says with a light in her eyes, and a new-found exuberance, "Oh Atum, I thought you were gone. Why did you leave me in that place? It was so cold and lonely. When I heard that I might find you I did what I could to come here."

"...What the hell is going on KP?!?" Ridd screamed into the headset. "You just stared at that girl, 10 guards just appeared out of nowhere," There were already guards getting into position around the booth, and the exits. Two of the three near the stairs had obvious bulges in their suit-coats, the third had a combat knife not so conspicuously concealed in his left boot. The four surrounding the area around Dame White all had the chiseled appearance of veteran commando types. One could only imagine the violence that ensued when just one was sent to 'clean up' a situation.

I knew that things in the club were about to get about as hairy as that Knifer's exposed chest fur, but my mind had set it's course. Before the night would end, this club would shake; not to the beat of the DJ, but to the cold precision of bolt action propelled steel and lead. Still I pressed closer toward the bar facing the inevitable. "... and... wait a minute. KP where are you headed? There's too many to handle on your own man! That's a sui...."

As I approached the bar, I leaned back against the wall, make a swift motion behind my back, turned towards the now approaching Natsuko and replied, "Look Ridd I don't have the time to explain. Tell the Captain looking over your shoulder that I'll be inbound in a couple minutes." I hang up and pocket the phone now facing the only love of my life.

"I'm sorry, what am I saying? The past is the past. What's important now is that we are together again." She spreads her arms wide and I smile as we embrace for the first time in what seems like an eternity. "Promise me that you'll never let me go my.." With one fluid motion, the Masamune blade I had held so tightly to my back comes unsheathed, flicks forward, and we three become one. "EEEKK... looove."

I whisper softly to the now limp girl in my arms, "I'm sorry Natsuko, I never should have brought you into this world."

After the initial shock on the commando's faces, they rush forward with an expression that can only mean wholesale violence is about to erupt amongst the sweat, lights and sounds of this place. As I prepare for coming first contact, Dame White holds up her hand as if to leash her pack of bloodthirsty mutts and hisses, "Well well, you humans can be quite the surprising little creatures. You could have had the woman you loved, and yet you killed her like common gutter trash. I normally would be upset for losing as much as I have on this venture, but the deliciousness of your suffering is more than enough for now. Just remember, you could have HAD her!"

I slowly walk Natsuko towards a private booth and set her down gently, ignoring the spats and grunts thrown my way via the guards. As I head up the stairs, I toss the blade at the Knifer and head outside to jack-out at the hardline.

--**BBzzzzzzzzzTTTT**-- *click*

I wake to find Captain CountZero above me, hand firmly clasped on my shoulder, "KP just what in the hell happened in there?"

As I sit up, all life drained from my shattered body, I look at the Captain and reply, "It was an old program of mine from my bluepill days. Natsuko..." My voice trails of into a slight whimper.

Ridd leans a furrowed brow towards the Captain with awaiting illumination. CountZero catches my glance, and without hesitation says, "Go see the 'Doc KP. You've got 2 days of permanent light duty. That's an order, no exceptions." As Ridd gives another confused look towards the Captain he merely shakes his head and walks away.

The Doc has a sedative ready and waiting before I'm through the door. As Soulfire checks over me, I mutter aloud, "I wonder if I'll dream of her..."

Actually MOD_D, noVus was referring to the linked thread he posted not replying to, not this thread.

Selsyn wrote:
i have an example of this. i ran out of code bit 3's yesterday. so i decided to buy a stack off the marketplace. i had to click the more button about 20 times before i got any stacks of 20 that were less than 5 million. i mean, *CENSORED*? about 25 or 26 clicks, i got 2 stacks at 42,000 each. thats friggin rediculous!

That would be because the devs decided that getting bits out of created items was "unbalancing" and limited everyone to only getting bits from loot and decompiled loot. Thereby removing the only "resource gathering" mechanism in game that allowed for realistic bit aquisition. Check the coder boards for my thoughs on it, unfortunately the devs either did not see it, did not agree, or simply don't care and are going to do things however they see fit (I'm guessing the latter personally given the tone of the last dev update on DN1).

/.02

Already seen in twice and perhaps going to go a 3rd time. They did a good job of introducing the personality quirks of the cast (9 members!) in a very short ammount of time, so if you never caught Firefly when it was on, you shouldn't be too lost in the movie. If you enjoy realistic Sci-Fi, westerns, or just plain good story telling, check out this flick (oh and there's a couple of love stories, wouldn't be Joss' work without that!)

mercurius420 wrote:
Please tell me I can send a nasty letter to someone complaining about this...

Yes if you were affected then contact your ISP and let them know they're stupid for not multi-homing (i.e. having more than one tier 1 connection). There were rumors of RR offering a free month of service if you asked, but I haven't confirmed that myself. Worth a shot I guess. Hey I know I'm not paying for 70% of the Internet, I want the whole she-bang! SMILEY

You do realize it was not my post, but the random character post that screwed the 1st general page right?

Oh and please consider this the last time I try to help the community at large with useful information. Thanks 1 star bandits!

Message Edited by KernelPanic on 10-06-2005 09:05 PM

Just updated the thread with additional info and a current (as of now) list of affected and not affected ISP's.

Ok, well I've done some reading on this topic. The following ISP's appear to be affected:

RoadRunner
Earthlink (fixed)

The following are not affected:

SBC
Adelphia

The following need confirmation but may be affected:

AOL
Verizon

A big deal is Photobucket and the Drudge Report which are hosted through Cogent only. Feel free to list your ISP here.

seriously people, maybe this thread wouldn't be an issue if you just ****ING IGNORED IT!!!

Yup, little companies like RoadRunner, Verizon, etc can't access certain sites due to this issue. This is a biggie and will potentially set a prescedence for government regulation and/or more outages like this in the future. The outcome of this 1 snafu could literally change the way the Internet, routing and bandwidth sales/services work.

http://mxoboards.station.sony.com/matrix/board/message?board.id=techsupport&message.id=5402

Message Edited by KernelPanic on 10-06-2005 04:04 PM

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/05/2247207&tid=95&tid=187&tid=4

This apears to be an issue where a greedy company (Level3) who runs one of the major Internet backbones decided to not only shut down a major peer, but entirely filter out all the traffic from them (Cogent).

I really hope you guys are multi-homed through multiple Tier 1's or else I'm certain some of your subscribers will not even be able to contact you to complain.

Message Edited by KernelPanic on 10-06-2005 04:05 PM

Great idea guys! I've already got an entry lined up... had to pull out my old beta outfit for this one SMILEY

Look forward to seeing all the entries!

weaselgrrl wrote:
Kernel,

Where did you see this about the Coder Loadout screwing up your chance for a Red Frag?

Thanks...

I didn't see it anywhere. It was a theory I had after my non-coder faction mates had no problems farming, and myself and other people in my faction with the coder loadout couldn't seem to farm. Reread my post, I tested out the theory using the same hunting grounds over a period of 1 hour so it's not a location thing or luck.

Well I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it plenty of times again:

DON'T GIVE LOOT AS AN EVENT REWARD IF ONLY A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE GET IT. ALL GET IT OR NONE GET IT.

Don't understand why Sony is doing this, when Monolith avoided this whole problem from day 1. If you give loot as a reward to only .0001% of the active people in the event/server, then you are creating a situation ripe for everyone being annoyed and angry, creating huge piles of egotism, leet-ness and overall stupidity abound.

Why is it that everything you do SOE is based around creating nothing but havok, mayhem, and general negativity in the community? If you want to have leet items in the game, it should be based off skill and intelligence not grinding and luck. But at no point should an event hold a unique item as a reward. There are other carrots you can dangle that are sooooooo much more effective and don't **bleep** everyone off in the end.

Private meeting with a LET character? A preview of some inside org information? A meeting with the Oracle? Your name in the Sentinel?

Look SOE, I know you reaaally want to set yourselfs apart, but recreating problems that were already solved by Monolith/WB do nothing to help, and only hinder. Learn from what Monolith did right (yes they did do quite a bit right with this game from a design point of view), and fix what they did wrong, but please, don't fix what isn't broken.

Wow a lot of scumbags that 1 star for no reason. Base your ranking on the post quality, not whether or not you agree with it. I think this is a good topic even though I wasn't part of the event, nor did I agree with the design of it. Sorry for all the haters Kanjo, but I thought you had a valid point SMILEY

While there is a problem with overpopulating, and while I personally had more enjoyment with the Regression instance, I really don't think what you're suggesting is practical or possible. I think what should have been done is since Method Iterator and Regression were the most populous servers, they should not have been merged together. Method should have been merged with the two smallest as far as active population.

Hindsight is 20/20 tho. Honestly at this junction it's a pretty difficult problem, which really can't be solved other than adding more servers to the Recursion instance. Cmon they're running IBM systems (more than likely blades) so all they should have to do is load balance another server, or simply add more blades. Problem solved, assuming they have the sys-admin knowhow to pull it off seamlessly (sorry for the jab but after all the problems, I have little faith in SOE's technical abilities).

Traxada wrote:
My suggestion is this, have separate meetings for the orgs, with each of the orgs characters, no benefit nor reward for attending either flood, or niobes meeting over ghosts or persephone's. This way it will spread out server lag, allow greater participation for lower lvl players, and increase interactivity to your average player.

Well I think they should if they can reuse the world events button and go for more low key impromptu meetings, then distribute the meeting log via the faction portion of world events. When Monolith had it running correctly, it was actually a pretty good system.

Monolith understood well, why can't Sony? Monolith got this problem and had it solved before go live. Why is Sony recreating problems that were already solved? Monolith understood that giving an item for an event reward completely negates the overall aspect of everyone being involved and anyone from lvl 1-50 being able to be part of the events. Any item we received event wise was given to everyone. Now you've got lots of fighting, finger pointing and too much negativity.

Answer: DON'T GIVE ITEMS AS EVENT PRIZES

If you do give it to everyone. Yes I know that completely goes against the whole MMO philosophy of dangle an uber item and they'll all jump like trained monkeys, but supposedly Sony is supposed to be creative and intelligent in their implementations. STOP TREATING THIS GAME LIKE EVERY OTHER MMO!!! IT'S NOT!!!

Message Edited by KernelPanic on 10-02-2005 05:24 PM

wrong area, ignore post (stupid posting system...)

Message Edited by KernelPanic on 10-02-2005 05:23 PM

Absolutely wonderful. It was placed in the code archive after NUMEROUS POSTS about keeping an INVENTORY slot free. Anyone who does coding and has multiple trees will usually have a full code archive. Looks like coders get the shaft once more. Outside that, what is the point in a 10 minute timer on an item that heals roughly equivalent to a health pill 5?