The Gaming Den

Ted the Flayer wrote: Funny observation: Renting a Uhaul 1-way to where I need it? Just shy of a grand. Renting a minivan from Enterprise 1-way? About $70 a day.

I'm sure one random person's experience with Enterprise is about as useful as shit, but... I would still recommend wariness. We recently discovered that Enterprise has box trucks and they were the cheapest. They convinced us to (stupidly) sign the papers before seeing the truck and before being able to notate damage. I saw various damages on it and told the guy my concerns and that I wanted them noted on the papers. He said he had just done so. We come back the next day and the SAME GUY claims that the damages that I specifically pointed out to him the previous day were new and our fault. Their claims department apologized for the problem and cleared it all up, but it was a terrible experience and I doubt we will ever use them again. That's probably a one-in-a-thousand experience, but I have never had a problem with Uhaul and Penske, and I have used them both a lot.

erik wrote:

Ted the Flayer wrote: Funny observation: Renting a Uhaul 1-way to where I need it? Just shy of a grand. Renting a minivan from Enterprise 1-way? About $70 a day.

Holy shit. It cost me to rent a Uhaul for a whole day, like 50 bucks with insurance (which was a good thing since I fucking scraped it into the gutters of the house and fucked up the paint job... that was an awesome moving day). Granted it wasn't 1-way, but that's craziness for it to cost so much extra.

Well, I'm trying to drive it over a thousand miles to where I'm going. I'm sure that makes a difference.

Ted the Flayer wrote: Well, I'm trying to drive it over a thousand miles to where I'm going. I'm sure that makes a difference.

Heh, you'd think so but Enterprise apparently disagrees (thank goodness).

I thought I'd be posting a "Job fucked me over" story of my own.

Instead, I got pleasantly surprised.

They're cutting hours at work. They either had to cut hours or cut people.

And I currently even make a little extra money on my paycheck, so I can afford to pay my bills AND do something fun sometimes.

All last week was spent in some tension--the boss was away at the conference where they were hashing this out.

On Monday, I found out. They're cutting hours, but it's based on performance. If someone's caught slacking off (a lot of the janitorial crew know their jobs, they're good at their jobs, but they're lazy and use all the tricks to skimp by) or finishing up too early and doing fuck-all, they lose time.

And they've been told this, and they're still playing right into it. One dude disappeared for thirty minutes and then showed up claiming he'd been vacuuming a big conference room (when it hadn't been vacuumed).

So it means--I don't lose any money. All I have to do is keep busy and keep paying attention to the quality of my work.

And it's a damn big relief.
----
In other news, Airbus has announced they're building their planes in my hometown.

Which makes me glad. On the one hand, yeah, I know they're picking us in part because of the tax breaks and considerations they're getting from the state and Alabama being a right-to-work state means wages are cheaper.

On the other hand, economic shot in the arm for the hometown. Maybe in five or so years, it'll be something bigger and better than what it is now, and their decision was based mostly on Brookley Field being made to order for this shit. Dad used to work there. I remember going there to see him. The place is huge.

And, incidentally, has hangars so big that the Alien Spaceship Landing thing at the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed inside one of 'em.

I moved an EDM system to new hardware (HP to IBM), new OS (Windows Server 2003 to 2008) and software versions (a wacky install of Domino 8.0.2 to a clean 8.5) this night and it didn't explode!

The greasy fucks to whom this work is nominally outsourced had demanded an extra $4000 for a projected 4 days' work, then offered to do the move for free without the upgrades. Which is weird, because their obligation to help us move can be disputed - we weren't planning to move when I drafted the contract - but upgrades are right there in plaintext.

Anyway... how much did I earn? One forward offer of free pizza (which I had to turn down, because the move hadn't been completed).

Amazing.
The contractors I have doing my new upgrade charged 10K just to work the weekend :/

I just tried to install a very old game on my computer. It seemed to think that the 32 mb of RAM it required was bigger than the 2 gb of ram I currently have, and said it wouldn't run properly because of lack of memory.

EDIT: It's like the customer that got mad that I sold 2, 4, and 16 gb cards because according to him, the 216 mb cards that were sold years ago were bigger and he shouldn't have to pay $10 for 2 when he got 216 a few years ago for the same price. I wish I was making that up.

Ted wrote:EDIT: It's like the customer that got mad that I sold 2, 4, and 16 gb cards because according to him, the 216 mb cards that were sold years ago were bigger and he shouldn't have to pay $10 for 2 when he got 216 a few years ago for the same price. I wish I was making that up.

Whadda ya mean g and m aren't the same letter? Now you're just making shit up.

But yeah, those ever so helpful hardware checks on older games tend to flip out when exposed to a modern system. I've had a few games that did that, but I can't remember any clever work-arounds. I doubt windows compatibility mode will fix it, but that's the first go to. Beyond that, bust out the emulators.

So, I'm running possibly the longest campaign I've ever gotten off the ground (at a pathetic six sessions or so). I'm using Obsidian Portal and Facebook to coordinate with the players between sessions. I've asked several times for people to put their characters on OP, and on Tuesday I sent out a message on Facebook asking people to respond with their characters' attitude towards gods and which god their character particularly reveres, since all four were raised within one culture.

Two of my players have seemingly ignored my request that characters be put up on OP, and the same two routinely ignore any facebook messages about the game. One of them pretty much ignores facebook entirely because he thinks it will eat his soul meagre, charm-exaggerated social skills, because he's a fucking luddite.

What is so damned hard about respecting the requests of the person who is running the game you play in?

Prak_Anima wrote:So, I'm running possibly the longest campaign I've ever gotten off the ground (at a pathetic six sessions or so). I'm using Obsidian Portal and Facebook to coordinate with the players between sessions. I've asked several times for people to put their characters on OP, and on Tuesday I sent out a message on Facebook asking people to respond with their characters' attitude towards gods and which god their character particularly reveres, since all four were raised within one culture.

Two of my players have seemingly ignored my request that characters be put up on OP, and the same two routinely ignore any facebook messages about the game. One of them pretty much ignores facebook entirely because he thinks it will eat his soul meagre, charm-exaggerated social skills, because he's a fucking luddite.

What is so damned hard about respecting the requests of the person who is running the game you play in?

Get used to it, Prak - I've had to fight this exact attitude throughout my entire time as a GM, which is approaching ten years now, on-and-off, through different games.

Mister_Sinister wrote:

Prak_Anima wrote:So, I'm running possibly the longest campaign I've ever gotten off the ground (at a pathetic six sessions or so). I'm using Obsidian Portal and Facebook to coordinate with the players between sessions. I've asked several times for people to put their characters on OP, and on Tuesday I sent out a message on Facebook asking people to respond with their characters' attitude towards gods and which god their character particularly reveres, since all four were raised within one culture.

Two of my players have seemingly ignored my request that characters be put up on OP, and the same two routinely ignore any facebook messages about the game. One of them pretty much ignores facebook entirely because he thinks it will eat his soul meagre, charm-exaggerated social skills, because he's a fucking luddite.

What is so damned hard about respecting the requests of the person who is running the game you play in?

Get used to it, Prak - I've had to fight this exact attitude throughout my entire time as a GM, which is approaching ten years now, on-and-off, through different games.

To be fair, secret pre-conditions to a game are always going to get resistance. It doesn't matter how trivial they seem to you.

I mean, I'd avoid any game that required Facebook or some other social network because I'm sick and tired of people knowing my business, so someone telling me after the game had started that I'd have to use it would lead to conflicts.

Also, the attitude of "I'm running the game so you have to do what I tell you" is not a way to keep players coming back. You have to be more flexible.

It's not really a secret requirement, I just use it because it's (supposed to be) a handy way to keep everyone in the loop. I'm probably going to try using email, hopefully I can get that from all of them, but I hold no hopes of the same Luddite player checking his email much more often than his facebook, texts aren't reliable, and phone just ain't going to cut it, I don't think, I want written records of some of this shit, which may ultimately mean that I will have to just start calling him, and then writing shit down.

Also, I don't mean for it to be "I'm running so you have to do what I say," it's really more of "if you're not willing to check for messages at least occasionally between sessions, then maybe you're really not that interested in the game." I know he hates D&D anyway, because he's mentally lazy and doesn't want to learn the rules. He'd rather play Runequest and MTP his way through everything.

Prak wrote:I hold no hopes of the same Luddite player checking his email much more often than his facebook

I hope you're saying things like this about a person because you know this guy actually doesn't use technology. Personally, I would never comply with a Facebook game because I want absolutely nothing to do with Facebook. That doesn't make me a luddite, though, it makes me a Facebook-hater.

He actually dislikes facebook, the internet in general and texting because he thinks the technology is driving people apart and ruining their ability to socialize. He dumps all over my constant use of my smartphone to make life easier, like looking up fucking directions to a place rather than driving all over, which he also dislikes doing. If it were simply "I refuse to use facebook because I think it's [any of the countless valid criticisms]," that'd be fine, but I'm not running the game on Facebook, I'm using it to communicate with the players because they all have facebook accounts, and sometimes I need to say "Hey, you guys are about to assault a museum which also serves as the temple of a god, let me know what your characters think about gods and who they follow." I would just get everyone's emails, but he only checked his email for the game we both play in because he actually respects that GM because the GM is older (or so I assume that's the reason).

Oh. Well in that case, he's just a hypocrite.

Prak_Anima wrote:He actually dislikes facebook, the internet in general and texting because he thinks the technology is driving people apart and ruining their ability to socialize.

My husband and I both have texts blocked- neither of us have a desire at all to use them. He has e-mail but he never checks it, and the only reason he has a facebook is because I made it for him for a game we played at one point. I use mine just to keep up with my dad. I do have a smartphone though, and all my e-mails go to it.

That said, if someone we was gaming with specifically requested us to use FB for communication, we would both do so. It doesn't cost anything, and if he actually has a FB in existence, what's the harm in checking it once or twice a day? I mean, my FB is on total lockdown, but I would add the DM without issue.

This guy and I have known each other since middle school. Honestly I think he just enjoys giving me crap and doesn't respect me.

I don't have a facebook account tho my wife does and I am sort of vicariously attached since many of my friends and family and former coworkers have friended her. We both have texting disabled on our phones (I hate texting with a passion and she is only mildly annoyed by it).

I do confess that my MC for a Rogue Trader game wanted people to email character backstories to him (just very quick and scanty ones) and it took me waaaaay too long to get around to doing it, and out of 7 players I was the 2nd one to send it in and while typing this I just reminded my wife that she needs to do hers. I already had it fleshed out in my mind even and I don't have any particular good excuse, nor I suspect do my friends, it's just hard to remember to get around to doing stuff when it becomes a chore.

What's the beef with texting? Granted, when I had an older cellphone with just a number pad it was a total pain in the ass. I understand that complaint. With a keyboard of some sort though? I'd rather text you than talk to you. Conversations are more to the point that way and there's less annoyance with dead zones, poor reception, and background noise.

I have no clue why he dislikes texting, other than typical "The older thing is BETTER!" grognardism. He's like a year older than me and thinks that texting is more impersonal than calling someone. Damnit, this guy is like a four year old in a 26 year old suit, I don't want to talk to him on the fucking phone. And I sure as hell don't want him calling, because if I miss his call, then he'll call the fucking house, I won't hear the house phone ring because I'm in my room, and he'll leave weird stupid messages on the house phone with weird voices and talking about crazy shit because he thinks it's fun.

Our running theory on why we're friends is stockholm syndrome.

violence in the media wrote:What's the beef with texting? Granted, when I had an older cellphone with just a number pad it was a total pain in the ass. I understand that complaint. With a keyboard of some sort though? I'd rather text you than talk to you. Conversations are more to the point that way and there's less annoyance with dead zones, poor reception, and background noise.

Old people complain.

That's about it.

I personally feel less emotional connection and feel less like I am socializing when I am texting than when I am talking on the phone. But if I am actually trying to communicate specific information, or if it is a person I'm not good friends with, that's a good thing.

90% of the time, it's probably better, but old people hate new things.

The guy is 26. He acts like he's 4, and gripes like he's 90.

violence in the media wrote:What's the beef with texting? Granted, when I had an older cellphone with just a number pad it was a total pain in the ass. I understand that complaint. With a keyboard of some sort though? I'd rather text you than talk to you. Conversations are more to the point that way and there's less annoyance with dead zones, poor reception, and background noise.

For us, it's several things. It costs money that we don't care to pay because we have no desire to use the service. When people have gotten around our blocks, it was just to send racist jokes, forwarded stupidity, or nonsense for the sake of sending a text because it was the cool new technology.

Biggest reason though, really, is that we have no need or desire for it. I can send e-mails from my phone, we can both send e-mails from our computers, and we talk to family whenever necessary or desired. Our friends are all just as reclusive, so it works out. We talk on the phone to friends about once a month, or when making plans to get together. My mom and grandparents, who are the people I communicate with most, don't have texting either.

Sometimes it has been annoying, to be honest, because people, not matter how many times we tell them we don't have it, will ask if we got the text they sent 3 months ago and wonder why we never responded.

Most of my friends text more than they use the normal phone function of their phones, as do I. I'm the kind of recluse that would much rather send a psuedo-email than talk to a real person most of the time (people I feel particularly close to not included). I also prefer to text people when I figure they're busy or sleeping or whatever over trying to call them because I personally think it's less obtrusive than calling. A call will ring until your voice mail takes over. A text will "ring" once, and then sit there until you get around to it. But that's just me. Accordingly, my plan has unlimited texting and the fewest minutes I can actually pay for.

My family is so into texting that my brother bought my iPod and installed Text+ on it so I could join in. I still don't have a cell phone.