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I removed something from my blog today. Well, from the sidebar, actually. All right, all right — that is hardly the Times relaunching, I am aware of that, but it is still noteworthy for two reasons : one, it was the most recent addition there. Two, I removed it as a matter of, well, exorcism will have to do.
The item I removed was a pretty inconspicuous link to the AideRSS ranking of my blog’s feed items. I you missed Kit Meredith’s post extolling its virtues, AideRSS is a free web service that will swallow your blog’s feed (any feed, really, it doesn’t need any kind of subscription) and, after some rumination, spit out a ranking of your posts, which it calls PostRank. The FAQ tersely states that « PostRank™ is a scoring system that we have developed to rank each article on relevance and reaction [my emphasis]. ». The idea is to define sub feeds of, say, the top 10 % posts, so people can subscribe to these instead of the whole feed. Which sounds rather neat.
So what’s wrong with it ?
Nothing at first sight, which is exactly why I included the link in the sidebar (the much more informative widget provided is unavailable for wordpress.com hosted blogs, as it requires JavaScript to work). After all, if it helps my readers, it’s a good thing.
What made me wonder if that was the thing to do was the ranking I discovered when I had a look at what AideRSS considers my « top 20 » posts (click on the screenshot for a larger picture) :
I mean, I can more or less agree on the inclusion of four posts among the top five. The reaction numbers (which AideRSS computes from the number of comments, Google blog search hits, Diggs and del.icio.us bookmarks linking to your post — although oddly enough, its count is slightly off from the ones the services themselves provide) are mostly corroborated by the reader statistics of wordpress.com. The fifth one, my interface rant, is the odd man out. Obviously, that is one case where AideRSS does its magic computing relevancy. Independently from any feedback numbers.
So why remove the link ? Was I miffed by some patent pending, trademarked Google-ish algorithm showing me it knows more about my posts’ relevancy than I, as the author, do ?
Wish it was that.
I removed the link because I was frightened — frightened to death by seeing what AideRSS considers the seventh most relevant post on my blog. Ever :
Vote to create huge prims in the browser. And to fix the annoying bug where editing any dimension of a huge prim causes it to snap. Since libsl can create huge prims, there is no reason not to put this in the client. Since we presently cannot change any dimension without losing the prim, the option should be grayed out.
Simple... Neh?
Simple... Neh?
Filed under: Paladin, Analysis / Opinion, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It
Auras are an important part of a Paladin's arsenal but are also the most underrated. If I had 1 Copper for each Paladin I've seen rush headlong into battle with Crusader Aura on, I would probably have enough Gold to train for Artisan Riding all over again. Auras are passive area-of-effect buffs that affect the Paladin and her party and cost nothing to cast. Because it is a party-wide buff, it helps to get the Holy talent Aura Mastery for more group utility. Auras can also be toggled in between eating and drinking or while mounted, but not while casting spells. As good as Auras are, however, it suffers from one major shortcoming: it activates the Global Cooldown.
Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Seals, Blessings and Auras part III
Filed under: News items, Mounts, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
- Some Wrath mounts will be able to take passengers (!), and ground passenger mounts will work in the old world as well! This sounds awesome -- although it might be boring to be the one who's not driving, it could also let you take a break. And being able to cart around lower-level characters in the old world will really speed up those instance runs.
- Trainers and AH will stay in the old world. Not surprising, but incredibly irritating. At best, it's a minor inconvenience and burns your Hearthstone timer. At worst, you're stuck in Stormwind for an hour when you could be doing much more interesting things, all because you wanted to respec or buy some mats. Not to mention the leveling-up process -- going back to the old world every level to train was obnoxious in BC, and it'll almost certainly be obnoxious in Wrath.
Continue reading Wrath will have mounts with passengers
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As part of the busiest week of events in Extropia's history, we're holding a special Sophrosyne's Salon at 10 am SLT Thursday morning, in the Central Nexus in Extropia Core.
Our Salon Spotlight Guest will be Tom Bukowski (Tom Boellstorff). Tom is the author of the newly-released book, Coming of Age in Second Life.
Tom is Associate Professor of Anthropology at University of California, Irvine and Editor in Chief of American Anthropologist. He hosted the recent atomic-world conference "Cultures of Virtual Worlds," and has been an embedded anthropologist in Second Life since 2004. His new book is an anthropological study of Second Life's cultures and subcultures. It's challenging, provocative, engaging, and offers much to everyone, casual reader, SL Resident and social scientist alike.
Tom is a delightful, engaging, insightful speaker, and we're delighted to welcome him to Extropia!
Our regular Saturday Salon will feature another very special guest, Universa Vanalten (Erika Vick) of NASA Headquarters. Universa is the coordinator of NASA's extensive activities in Second Life, and will be discussing the space agency's use of virtual technologies for outreach, education, research and exploration. Fresh from the coming NASA Future Forum this week in Extropia and other SL venues, Universa will set out the future of NASA's virtuality efforts, and share some exciting movies and slides of present and future space endeavors!
Saturday, May 17, 1-2:30 pm, Central Nexus at Extropia Core.
Meanwhile, last week's Salon has been described by many as the best yet - which is saying a lot! Ben Duranske, of the virtual worlds legal blog Virtually Blind and author of the new book Virtual Law, joined us for a terrific discussion of legal issues facing residents and merchants in virtual worlds.Ben has a rare gift for explaining complex matters in an engaging, entertaining and enlightening way, and we were all (33 peak concurrency) treated to a marvelous discussion!
Thanks, Ben, and we hope to have you back in Extropia again!
NOM da hand dat feez u
hao can i nom da hand wen da hand iz in mai face?
picture: dunno source, via our lolcat builder. lol caption: Jenn
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Terra Nova put a quick post up about putting the Blizzard vs. WoW Glider case (and the Public Knowledge amicus brief) in the larger context of whether or not End User License Agreements are "good" or "bad," but even better than the post is the comments section. Lots of MMO heavies, including Richard Bartle, show up to break down just what Blizzard is trying to do with their claim against the botting software, and what they might end up doing to the industry at large.No one is against Blizzard's goal of trying to stop cheaters. But the way Blizzard is going about it puts their stance in jeopardy -- they're saying that cheating in their MMO is a violation of copyright, and that is a completely different issue. Even Bartle himsef says this is an "ends justify the means" argument -- Blizzard is just using the copyright issue to get the judge to say that cheating is bad. As we posted the other day, Public Knowledge believes that any decision that says "yes, Glider breaks copyright law," could then be used as a precedent for calling any EULA violation a copyright violation.
Adam Hyland, in the Terra Nova thread, has the breakdown of outcomes: either a judge rules completely in favor of MDY/Glider (thus leaving every software maker open to EULA violations -- very unlikely), or a judge rules either narrowly in favor of Blizzard (saying that yes, cheating is wrong, but it's not a copyright issue), or wholly in favor of Blizzard (which Public Knowledge fears the most -- if breaking the EULA is a copyright violation, everyone who names their character XXNoobz0rXX is breaking copyright law). We'll have to see what comes out of this case, and hope that it's for the best for both Blizzard and their players.
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Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Expansions, Wrath of the Lich King
A little earlier today, Blizzard has made a new addition to the official Wrath of the Lich King site. They've added The Nexus to the dungeons listing! The Nexus seems to be made up of three wings. The Nexus and The Oculus will be 5 man dungeons, and there will also be a 10 and 25 man raid zone that seems to be currently unnamed. It, most likely, houses Malygos himself.
The description of the zone gives a little more insight into the situation between Malygos and the Kirin Tor, and tells us of something called the Arcanomicon. It is a map of Azeroth's ley lines, which the Blue Dragonflight is using to redirect magic away from those he believes are abusing it. The Nexus will be found in the Borean Tundra, one of the first zones in Wrath of the Lich King. I expect one of the five mans will accompany one of Utgarde Keep's wings as the 'first' dungeons of Wrath.
The description of the zone gives a little more insight into the situation between Malygos and the Kirin Tor, and tells us of something called the Arcanomicon. It is a map of Azeroth's ley lines, which the Blue Dragonflight is using to redirect magic away from those he believes are abusing it. The Nexus will be found in the Borean Tundra, one of the first zones in Wrath of the Lich King. I expect one of the five mans will accompany one of Utgarde Keep's wings as the 'first' dungeons of Wrath.
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Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Economy, Events, in-game, News items, Academic, Virtual worlds
Sessions included the use of online games as laboratories to study human behavior; the interrelationship of virtual and real-world economies; the future of virtual worlds; and why Professor Abercrombie won't let elemental shamans on her Karazhan runs. Well, maybe not the last one. We have some questions of our own. If you could do your real world job in an MMO such as WoW -- would you? And if you did work in WoW, and your boss was dressed in blues and greens he picked up from the Murlocs in Southshore while you were fitted in epics from Black Temple, would you still respect him?
[Via Virtual World News]
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Chances are you'll catch a glimpse of Iron Man adventuring in Second Life, nowadays-- fighting evil doers, cutting through the sky, and acting generally heroic. If you're lucky, you'll also spot him flirting with bar floozies and exotic dancing, or...
Last week, Representative Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) went on the warpath to launch a campaign to ask the FTC to issue a consumer alert about Second Life and ban the virtual world's "rape rooms" from school libraries. "Parents should be worried...
It's certainly not the first time the media has looked at virtual worlds for work--a slew of stories hit around Virtual Worlds 2008 last October--but the LA Times and AP each had a story out over the weekend looking at...
Filed under: News items, Mounts, Wrath of the Lich King
You know that awesome Amani War Bear? The one that has been sold for 20,000 gold? Well, you'd better work on getting it as soon as possible if you want one, because when Wrath of the Lich King comes out, it will no longer be attainable. Currently you get it as a reward for a time-based challenge in the ten-man raid Zul'Aman: free all four prisoners in time, get bear.Tigole just posted in the official forums that upon Wrath's release, the bear will be replaced with "a very good, epic item," basically to preserve the prestige of having gotten the bear at its intended difficult level. He says they plan on doing a similar thing with the "Hand of A'dal" and "Champion of the Naaru" titles as well. I can understand this move -- it would probably be trivial to get the bear with a raid full of level 80s. And there is still a fair amount of time before Wrath comes out.
However, it makes me sad to see something become impossible to get. I think it would be a better solution if they made it so the bear could only be attained by a raid containing no members above level 70, personally. As Zach pointed out to me, the change that they're proposing now means that no Death Knight will ever be on a bear mount, and that's just sad. Unless, that is, they introduce a polar bear mount in Northrend -- did somebody say panserbjørne?
If this is one of your goals before Wrath, don't forget to check out WoW Insider's complete guide on how to get your own Amani War Bear.
Update: Chances look good for a bear in Northrend. Tigole said: "Polar Bear sound cool?"
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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips
WoWWiki defines the tag as damaging a mob, thereby reserving the monster or NPC for you and your party so that only you may loot or gain XP from it. It also turns the status bar of the mob gray to other players to indicate that it has been tagged by another player. Rufushonkeriv asks an interesting question over at LiveJournal, however, about kill stealing and how it can happen in World of Warcraft. The tagging mechanism, which isn't present in more than a few MMOs, is supposed to prevent kill stealing in the game.However, the poster asks how a mob he has tagged is sometimes tagged away from him and explains how, when attempting the same thing, he only ends up killing a grayed-out mob faster. It is quite possible that the poster uses a DoT spell to get a mob's aggro, only to lose it to another player who deals damage with an instant cast spell. Lag can also sometimes explain how a player might think she damaged a mob first, only to have it turn gray when another player hits it.
Technically, the first player to damage a mob tags it -- it isn't the player who has aggro or the player who first cast a non-damaging spell on the mob (such as Mana Tap or Hunter's Mark). There is some confusion as to the amount of damage needed to secure the tag. For example, if a player damages a mob for 1 point and a second later another player hits it for 1,000... who tags the mob? In theory, it should be the player who hit the mob for 1, because she damaged the mob first. The mechanic is pretty straightforward but in some cases players are confuddled through a mix of lag, lack of understanding about the tagging rules, and just plain old bad luck. As a rule of thumb, when tagging, hit it fast and hit it hard!
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Just ran across this program on SLX called "Second Inventory" http://www.secondinventory.com/index.ph
Has anyone else heard of it/used it/heard anything from anyone using it? If so, please let me know. If it will let you just download and archive your inv, clear up your SL inv so it's not so bloated and then upload items you may want later, I am *so* getting it.
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Has anyone else heard of it/used it/heard anything from anyone using it? If so, please let me know. If it will let you just download and archive your inv, clear up your SL inv so it's not so bloated and then upload items you may want later, I am *so* getting it.
True Games Interactive announced today that it had partnered with Live Gamer to provide an exclusive secondary market for virtual goods in the publisher's upcoming MMOGs. The two will partner for real-money trading support in True Games' free-to-play products, with...
It's not the first virtual world for preschoolers--Disney's BunnyTown launched last fall--but Knowledge Adventure announced today JumpStart Advanced Preschool World. Aimed at 3- to 5-year-olds, the virtual world packages "adventure-based learning" into a 3D virtual neighborhood where users can design...
Filed under: Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Instances, Quests, Classes, Talents
Stitchedlamb on WoW LJ wants to know: how do you do any questing as a healer? One reason WoW is such a popular game is that no matter your spec or role, Blizzard has done their best to make sure every class can play solo. But if you've ever played a Prot Warrior or a Holy Priest, you know for sure that some classes solo a little easier than others. Before the itemization changes hit in 2.3 and 2.4, healers had it pretty bad, and even after, it's tough to push out quests when all you've got is a bunch of +healing and no Shadowform to speak of.I rolled my Shaman to 60 as Enhancement (Windfury while leveling is one of the great pleasures of Azeroth), but when I hit 60 way back when, I switched to Resto -- I like playing in groups, and being a healer makes sure you have groups whenever you want them. But when Burning Crusade came out, I still wanted to play instances, so I leveled from 60-70 as Resto.
How'd I do it?
Continue reading The perils of questing as a healer
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Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Video, Cinemassively, Machinima, Humor
Re: Your Brains, in World of Warcraft machinima form, is a hilarious take on zombies calmly requesting brains, instead of just rushing to get them. Created by Spiffworld, it was his first of many JoCo videos, racking up 1.6 million views so far!
[Thanks, Korrak!]
If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
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sophrosyne_sl- Sophrosyne Stenvaag
- Extropia Core
