League of Legends Preseason 5: Zyra Jungle

Let's talk about what happens when you put a plant in the jungle.

Zyra jungle has always been interesting. Her plants take damage differently from any other pet, based on number and nature of hits rather than having actual health. Because of this, jungle Zyra actually works best if you focus the little minions first, contrary to how some other junglers work.

Zyra wasn't a major jungle pick in season 4, but one of the changes for season 5 is making the jungle much tougher. Because of the unique way her plants work, I predicted that Zyra might not be hit so hard by these changes, and preliminary testing suggests that to be true. She still operates largely as well as she did in season 4. When everyone else is taking a hit and she isn't, jungle Zyra may become a thing.

One of the biggest changes of the preseason is that dragon a much bigger deal. He also has a new attack which is somewhat abusable. Certain champs, like Nidalee, Pantheon, and Fiora, can use either movement abilities or autoattack blocks to take down dragon solo at very low levels. Explaining my Zyra tactics to a friend, he asked if Zyra could take dragon at level 2. Lo,

(burning Flash isn't really necessary, but can be used to avoid river wards)

I'll be giving her a shot this preseason. Let me know if you find any other interesting picks for this new, untamed world!

Statistics and Reality: How They Interact is Weird

I just came across this picture:

(click here to enlarge)

(from here, in case you'd like to know.)

This is a great example of how funky statistics can be, because the answer actually depends on your point of reference and assumptions.

Paragons of Game Design 1: Dark Souls

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Commence a new series of blog entries: Paragons of Game Design.

In these posts, I'll be highlighting games that are examples of outstanding design and highlighting just why they are. First up on our list is one I've hinted before:

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Does Money Make You Mean?

Modeling the Mind

In psychological science, there are different approaches, or perspectives, different people bring to the field. As a science, psychology is descriptive. A true scientist doesn't actually 'prove' anything, they use methodological rigor to seek a consistent result under a particular set of circumstances.

Truth is consistency.

These results then serve as evidence to theories. These theories are what most people think of when describing findings. 'Study shows that sleep is important to memorization.' Well, yes and no. The study showed that people scored higher on a test if they slept beforehand. We extrapolate from that that sleep is important to memorization. (Alternative extrapolations could include: sleep reduces stress, sleep deprivation impairs general functioning, etc. These possibilities are narrowed down by repeating testing the same hypothesis with different methods that control for alternative explanations.)

But then comes the question of how. And in attempts to explain multiple findings and multiple theories, psychologists develop models. Although few scientists will disagree with the raw data of a well-designed study, they may disagree on which model best accounts for results in the larger scheme. Models are statistically tested for goodness of fit, which helps lend some objective credence to them, but ultimately they are based on incomplete information. Most of these models are focused on a concept, and highly abstracted, such as the various models of memory. They look kinda like this. Here's a more detailed explanation of one you may be familiar with.

Damn You Autocorrect

http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com

Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire

Crab Battle

The Emperor Gets a Job

Mumiy Troll - Medveditsa (NSFW... at all)

This video is completely insane. You probably need a certain kind of mind to appreciate it.

The Best/Most Horrifying Skyrim Mod Ever

6 Great Music Videos (For Totally Different Reasons)

In no particular order.

1. Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice

Yes, that's Christopher Walken. Just doing his thing. He's actually a trained dancer, you know.

2. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

I'm not sure just why I love this video, but I do. Probably some symbolic synergy of the Rorschach, that combination of surrealism, symmetry, symbolism, subjectivity, and psychology, all things that strike chords of mine. What do you see in it?

3. Biting Elbows - Bad Motherfucker

Innovation will get you everywhere. This is actually a sequel to the video for their song The Stampede.

4. Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal

With all the publicity he got later for his appearance, habits, and Peter Pan syndrome, some people forget why he was called the King of Pop. Just look at those moves. Thriller gets a mention as well, but although more ambitious, it's as much a short film as a music video, and Smooth Criminal just takes the cake for the style.

5. Dead or Alive - Spin Me Round

Odds are you've heard this song, but the music video makes it so much better. This just may be one of the best dances of all time, for reasons I can't explain.

6. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone

http://video.bobdylan.com/desktop.html
This won't embed here, so just check out the link. Innovation will get you everywhere.

264 Lasers

Sexism, Racism, and Other '-ism's: What's Right and What's Right

Discriminatory issues such as sexism and racism get a lot of attention nowadays. Enough so that I shouldn't need to argue whether or why they are bad, or still a problem. Rather, I'd like to make a meta-argument about the issue.

As a note, this argument is general to all issues of difference between people, not just racism, sexism, or even groups - it also applies to individual differences.

Robot Pirates

Higher quality (audio only): http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/songs/we-are-the-robot-pirates/

The Picard Song

A Day in Dracula's Life

The Mysteries and Truths of Final Fantasy VII

(Note: this article contains massive spoilers)

Final Fantasy VII is a legend. It is frequently cited as one of the best games of all-time, and its reputation is well deserved.

That it still holds up 17 years later is a testament in itself, but it's hard to describe just how incredible it was back when it first came out. For comparison, here's a clip of a fairly well-respected game that came out on the same system eight months after Final Fantasy VII,

Italian Spiderman

The Cloak

What Is a Man?

You are what you do, not what you say.

Do you agree? My answer is 'yes and no'. At its barest, the statement is just 'people lie.' And that's true. But can you not lie in action as well as in words? Some argue that doesn't matter, that motives are irrelevant, only actions count. Motives are internal, they do not affect the outside world, but actions do. It's a very pragmatic view. It's also very self-centered. 

Think about your own existence. Your experiences, your feelings, your thoughts, your opinions. Do you define these as part of you? I believe identity is ultimately subjective, so if you do not then we may have a very different argument on our hands that I will discuss in a later post. But I think most people would say, 'yes, that is a part of me.' So who are we to deny that to others because such things do not impact our world?

And they do impact our world, albeit indirectly. It could be argued that they're irrelevant, as they are only catalysts to action. Thus, we could remove them from the equation and only look at action - the sum and result of all these motives, feelings etc. But not all of these parts of 'you' always manifest in action. We are frequently contradictory in mind, but our actions can only take one course. If you believe in any degree of determinism, it is this mental 'you', and the rest of your biology's interaction with the outside world that determines action. Those thoughts and feelings of that do not noticeably influence our actions are not any less real to us for it. Why should they be less real for anyone else?

That's certainly a more complicated picture. But I suppose, 'you are the sum of your thoughts, feelings, and biology, as influenced by your environment, manifested by your actions, and determined subjectively' just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Some Movies Are Better Out of Context

Dark Souls Challenge

My friend, Massack, and I are huge fans of the Souls series. While Dark Souls has a reputation of being incredibly difficult, this can be misleading to those not familiar with it, because unlike so many other games, it does difficulty right. So, while the game can be tough as nails, with intelligence and learning you can make amazing leaps and bounds in mastering it. Up to the point where we were talking about how it had become too easy and started thinking of a way to reclaim that tension. Enter this challenge. Partially inspired by the Nuzlocke, the idea is to make Dark Souls even more grimdark and gritty-realistic than it already is.

Here are the rules:

1. If you die, you must unequip everything you were using, and may not use that, or anything else you were carrying until you retrieve your bloodstain. If the bloodstain disappears, it is considered lost. You must drop it all and may never touch it again. Items that can not be dropped are exempt from this rule. (i.e. estus flasks, keys, etc.)
2. If you die in hollow form, you are considered to have gone full hollow. You lose.
3. No farming humanity. You get what you find.
4. Summons work like invades, you are allowed 1 summon at a time. If the summon is defeated, you may not resummon until you rest at a bonfire, defeat the level, or are killed.
5. Weapons and armor require that you drop one of their upgrade materials for every 100 points of durability you repair, regardless of method. If you don't have the materials, you can't repair the weapon. I.E. A +6 regular sword would require you to drop large titanite shards for every 100 points you want to repair, while a dragon weapon will require a dragon scale for every 100 points you want to repair. Items upgraded to max by slabs are an exception and may be repaired with chunks of the same type.
6. An item that shatters can never be repaired, and must be dropped. 
7. You can only use your repair box to repair what you can upgrade yourself. Anything that requires an ember to be made can only be worked on at a smith that can use that ember, with that ember, unless you are using Repair Powder or the Repair spell.
8. (No cheating or exploits.)

 It worked.

On Mega Man (Part) 2

As I mentioned in Part 1, Mega Man 2 is a great NES game (remember that when you're reading this, because it will be very easy to forget.) However, I don't think that it's particularly good compared to the rest of the series. And by "compared to the rest of the series" I mean that out of all the genuine Mega Man games I've played (X 1-6, Zero 1-4, Legends 1-2, Mega Man 1-2, & Bass), I'd rank it the worst. Yes, even below the first game.

The reason for this comes down to gameplay design.

On Mega Man and Greatness

So, I've discovered I'm a heretic.

Here's how it went down: I've been on another Mega Man music kick. It happens every now and then because the proper terminology for the series' music is "fucking fantastic". Also, this video might have had something to do with it:

Welcome!

So, you've decided to go back in time and look at my first post. Good job. This one's for you.
<3