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100,430 | I have read a number of threads here similar to but not the same as the problem my group and I are having (including [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/15637/15689) thread, [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/15640/15689) answer, [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/78839/15689) answer to a similar situation, and [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/33948/how-do-i-deal-with-a-bored-or-distracted-player-bringing-down-the-group) question which addresses only 1 person).
I have a question related to dealing specifically with 2 problem players, and would like to explore avenues of resolution other than disbanding or kicking these players out of the group.
After joining a new group recently, I am finding more and more that two people in the group are surprisingly immature, a fact not helped by them both feeding off of each other's behaviour. While this is not necessarily a problem in and of itself (and in theory could actually lead to some fun interactions), it is unfortunately leading to some detrimental effects for the rest of the group (and the DM in particular). these effects include:
* **Slowing the game down** - When these two players get together, they tend to distract one another. This is especially frustrating when playing with a larger group (5 or 6 other players), since in talking to one another they miss what is happening, and we consistently spend time having to catch them up on what other players have done, the state of the battlefield, etc. While not a huge problem for me as a player (though certainly irritating), our DM is getting understandably frustrated having to repeat everything twice, since neither of these two players are paying attention. They also don't think ahead when its not their turns, and since they are both spellcasters, this frustrates us other players a great deal, as our turns often take under 30 seconds, while because of their distracting behaviour their turns frequently take upwards of 5 minutes each.
* **Losing a sense of cohesion** - Their two characters almost exclusively look out for each other, even to the detriment of the rest of the party. While this could make for an interesting dynamic in game, their behaviour is inconsistent, and they appear to show little loyalty to the order our group serves (around which our 2 month campaign has been based; loyalty to this order was the prerequisite for joining the group), our overarching mission, and more importantly the welfare of our group (eg last session they refused to heal our tank because they wanted to save their healing spells for "more important characters"). This is, unsurprisingly, leading to resentment both in and outside of the game.
* **Ruining Immersion** - A large draw for many of us to this group in particular is the role playing aspect of the game. However, the constant bickering and out-of-game discussions among these 2 players is constantly drawing us out of the game. Our DM has tried calling them out at the table for being distracting and taking away from the game, as well as speaking to them privately (though I was not present when this conversation took place). Regardless, the poor behaviour continues, and our DM appears to be at his wit's end.
* **Poor Gameplay** - Before anyone gets upset about me listing this, let me explain. The two players tend to make decisions against the advice of the rest of the group and the DM (which is fine - after all, we are roleplaying). HOWEVER, these decisions (unsurprisingly) often lead to a poor situation for them, to which they respond with resentment towards the group and the DM, consequently leading them to spend the rest of the night complaining about how boring the game is, and further distracting the group. For example, in our last session we were fighting a group of dragons. Rather than mounting their dragons and helping in the fight, both decided instead to head into town and get drunk, even after the rest of us, including the DM, advised against it. When they realized that the rest of us were having a great time slaying Shadow Dragons, they complained that they were stuck in a tavern in town essentially doing nothing, and began berating the DM for not allowing them to instantaneously join the battle. We are unsure of how to handle this behaviour, and their boredom undoubtedly contributes to the distracting behaviour that is frustrating the rest of the group.
Ultimately, the question boils down to this: **How do we deal with 2 immature players who feed off of one another, and detract from the experiences of other players?**
Although simply kicking them out or forming a new group is certainly an option, I figured sharing our predicament with the wonderful RPG community here may lead to some unexpected solutions which may help us actually resolve the problem. | 2017/05/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/100430",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/15689/"
] | I see the question has been resolved, but I would like to add my answer as an additional viewpoint.
>
> I have a question related to dealing specifically with 2 problem
> players, and would like to explore avenues of resolution other than
> disbanding or kicking these players out of the group.
>
>
>
I believe its possible in this situation to achieve the aims you are looking for.
>
> ... **detrimental effects for the rest of the group (and the DM in
> particular).**
>
>
>
Its common to experience moments where members of a D&D group may get annoyed with each other for a variety of reasons. It is when these moments are allowed to detract from the overall enjoyment of the game that action becomes necessary.
There are two rules which I would apply to any D&D group that I participate in:
1. The DM is responsible for the flow of the game, and must take action
to control the narrative to limit those elements of the game which
are not enjoyable, and so allow everyone to focus on those elements
which are enjoyable. These tend to vary from game to game, and
depend largely on the personalities that you have gathered for your
group.
2. The players are equally responsible for action when things are starting to
lose their enjoyment. Players can brush aside uncooperative
behaviour from their fellow players with jokes that let their
friends know to adjust their behaviour while keeping things
lighthearted. If the culprits do not get the hint, then less subtle measures are called for such as stopping your participation in the game immediately until they become cooperative. A player should never tolerate ongoing annoyance in a session, they should speak up immediately and either ask for the players to cease, or for the DM to act to resolve the conflict which has arisen.
The steps for escalation would be
1. immediate, friendly and respectful hints and reminders that
incorporate a sense of humour so that the game is not interrupted, followed by
2. penalties and consequences which apply immediately, without further
warning. Disruptive players don't get second chances. Don't lecture the players, and don't waste time discussing what happened. Make it quick and obvious, and incorporate good humour and lighthearted manner to minimise the impact on the game, and then
3. immediate pause of the game, with a demand for cooperation with
expected standards for everyone's enjoyment of the game. Establish an agreement with all the players, then quickly resume the game with good humour.
>
> **Slowing the game down ...**
>
>
>
This is the responsibility of the DM to enforce. I would allow this to happen once, but at the same time making my thoughts clear that their actions may have an impact on their characters in game. But anything beyond that should not be tolerated by the DM at all.
>
> **Losing a sense of cohesion ...**
>
>
>
This is a basic principle of role playing: that the members of an RPG group need to work together to accomplish their goals within the parameters set by the DM. Beyond that the players are free to let their character expression fill in the gaps as a form of expression. If a player can't grasp this basic principle, they need to be told this by the DM and supported by the players as soon as it becomes an issue, not later on.
>
> **Ruining Immersion ...**
>
>
>
The DM has created a world for the game to exist in, and this effort demands some respect from the players. If this respect is lacking, the DM must confront this issue, and be prepared to pause the game until the players show some respect for the game world. There shouldn't be any discussion of this issue at all. They don't need to appreciate all the fine details, but at the least, their behaviour should not detract from the enjoyment of their fellow players.
>
> **Poor Gameplay ...**
>
>
>
In this situation, the DM cannot reward uncooperative behaviour. Those players will be required to wait out their time while the other players resolve their game actions. The players could be asked to leave the table until their turn arrives. At the extreme situation, they may be required to sit out the remainder of the session. If they continue to be disruptive, they should be asked to leave the location and return later at an agreed time. | In the interim, until more permanent solutions are found, maybe just having them not sit next to each other might help. |
100,430 | I have read a number of threads here similar to but not the same as the problem my group and I are having (including [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/15637/15689) thread, [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/15640/15689) answer, [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/78839/15689) answer to a similar situation, and [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/33948/how-do-i-deal-with-a-bored-or-distracted-player-bringing-down-the-group) question which addresses only 1 person).
I have a question related to dealing specifically with 2 problem players, and would like to explore avenues of resolution other than disbanding or kicking these players out of the group.
After joining a new group recently, I am finding more and more that two people in the group are surprisingly immature, a fact not helped by them both feeding off of each other's behaviour. While this is not necessarily a problem in and of itself (and in theory could actually lead to some fun interactions), it is unfortunately leading to some detrimental effects for the rest of the group (and the DM in particular). these effects include:
* **Slowing the game down** - When these two players get together, they tend to distract one another. This is especially frustrating when playing with a larger group (5 or 6 other players), since in talking to one another they miss what is happening, and we consistently spend time having to catch them up on what other players have done, the state of the battlefield, etc. While not a huge problem for me as a player (though certainly irritating), our DM is getting understandably frustrated having to repeat everything twice, since neither of these two players are paying attention. They also don't think ahead when its not their turns, and since they are both spellcasters, this frustrates us other players a great deal, as our turns often take under 30 seconds, while because of their distracting behaviour their turns frequently take upwards of 5 minutes each.
* **Losing a sense of cohesion** - Their two characters almost exclusively look out for each other, even to the detriment of the rest of the party. While this could make for an interesting dynamic in game, their behaviour is inconsistent, and they appear to show little loyalty to the order our group serves (around which our 2 month campaign has been based; loyalty to this order was the prerequisite for joining the group), our overarching mission, and more importantly the welfare of our group (eg last session they refused to heal our tank because they wanted to save their healing spells for "more important characters"). This is, unsurprisingly, leading to resentment both in and outside of the game.
* **Ruining Immersion** - A large draw for many of us to this group in particular is the role playing aspect of the game. However, the constant bickering and out-of-game discussions among these 2 players is constantly drawing us out of the game. Our DM has tried calling them out at the table for being distracting and taking away from the game, as well as speaking to them privately (though I was not present when this conversation took place). Regardless, the poor behaviour continues, and our DM appears to be at his wit's end.
* **Poor Gameplay** - Before anyone gets upset about me listing this, let me explain. The two players tend to make decisions against the advice of the rest of the group and the DM (which is fine - after all, we are roleplaying). HOWEVER, these decisions (unsurprisingly) often lead to a poor situation for them, to which they respond with resentment towards the group and the DM, consequently leading them to spend the rest of the night complaining about how boring the game is, and further distracting the group. For example, in our last session we were fighting a group of dragons. Rather than mounting their dragons and helping in the fight, both decided instead to head into town and get drunk, even after the rest of us, including the DM, advised against it. When they realized that the rest of us were having a great time slaying Shadow Dragons, they complained that they were stuck in a tavern in town essentially doing nothing, and began berating the DM for not allowing them to instantaneously join the battle. We are unsure of how to handle this behaviour, and their boredom undoubtedly contributes to the distracting behaviour that is frustrating the rest of the group.
Ultimately, the question boils down to this: **How do we deal with 2 immature players who feed off of one another, and detract from the experiences of other players?**
Although simply kicking them out or forming a new group is certainly an option, I figured sharing our predicament with the wonderful RPG community here may lead to some unexpected solutions which may help us actually resolve the problem. | 2017/05/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/100430",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/15689/"
] | Every game has rules mechanics that encourage or discourage certain gaming behaviors. For example, if the only way to gain experience is to kill creatures, then don't be surprised if your party tends to migrate towards the "murder-hobos" playstyle.
Every DM has house rules or ways to act as a DM, that also encourage/discourage some playstyles or table behaviors.
Here, your DM is at their wit's end, but isn't willing to actually do something "real" about it.
---
I suggest the following:
#1:
===
Present the Murky Mirror (Google AngryGM Murky Mirror) to your group (maybe by email). Ask their opinion about it. Personal experience with this is that it simplifies the game a lot and avoid tons of problems like: "My Guy Syndrome", "Metagaming", "Hostile Dark Secrets", and "My PC Can Act Like A Jerk, But I'm Not Him, Honest!" etc.
Say you think it's a good idea, and anybody not answering is basically agreeing fully to add this to the campaign. Since the article is long, copy-paste it and cut it down to max 1 page or so, only what is essential, with a link to the full article.
AngryGM has tons of other useful articles, but don't swamp your group, that would just create a "TL;DR" situation. One thing at a time!
Try to get everybody's contact info. If they ask what's it about: "Not sure yet. Depends. We'll make sure to call you for your opinion." If somebody refuses to give contact info: "Stop with the paranoia, please? You're a part of this group, not standing outside of it, and we value your opinion, you know? If you don't want to be reached, then you have to agree that if something ever gets decided, you accepted it in advance, no complaints later on."
---
#2:
===
After enough time for everybody to answer (2+ weekends), try to meet or phone call or Skype (no email, no text!) everybody, one by one, at a moment that they have time to give (i.e. if you're busy right now just call me later this evening or tomorrow." (and call them back if they don't). Basically go get their input on the Murky Mirror thing, but quickly phase to the "artificial separation" of you feeling that having a party that is seemingly split between 2 sub-groups of PCs, which act as more or less separate entities, instead of as a true team, and how you think this overall feels like something that is quite detrimental to your enjoyment of the game.
You call the other players, then the problem players, then the DM, in that order. Say that you find the situation problematic and not very fun, and ask them what they think and what they suggest could improve the overall fun and positivism at the gaming table, for everybody, seen as a group. A full group. Not a group of 2 plus a group of the rest. Anything they think they could do or suggest to try to improve the overall "group morale" and team spirit.
The idea here is you being respectful and trying to avoid a situation when you "prejudge" these 2 guys (reasoning: "since I find them not fun, thus they're wrong, thus I don't feel the need to include their opinions on this despite they being directly concerned by it."). Avoid projecting your opinions on the rest of the group: Maybe they don't care as much or exactly like you do, so again thinking "the rest of the group thinks" can create way too easily false dichotomies here. It's not "the rest of the group", like some kind of "us vs. them" group-think. It's each and everyone in the group (the 2 problematic guys included) having a different opinion. So go get all of those first.
Don't try to "direct" the conversations. Your goal here is not to convince or harass, but just to say (once) you think that you feel a problem, and that you want their opinion on it. If they ask what you think or suggest, tell them you're just polling everybody's opinions and ideas, not trying to force your own ideas or influence their own ideas. You're merely "getting the pulse" of the group's wants and opinions, that's it. Taking notes. Not debating issues.
Keep it short. If all goes well (i.e. they all answer when you call, and are not busy with something else at the moment - it's important to check that first as you call because you need them at their best mindful ad receptive availability), then you should be able to do the full "round" of everybody in a single hour, no more, and ideally much less. Cut off any conversation that needlessly prolongs if need be. 5 to 15 minutes each, tops. Give more time for the problem players and to the DM to really express themselves, if they wish. Allow also more time for you to express yourself but to the DM only, if he asks.
Maybe just talking will solve the problem. With the DM, you can go into more details (after 10 minutes, ask him if he really want to talk longer about this -- you don't want him to feel swamped with and put in the middle of a huge problem). Maybe give him the link to this answer.
In any case, unless you have the full support of the GM from A to Z, you're doomed to fail and the only choice you have are shutting up or adding up more resentment and fire on the oil slick.
---
#3:
===
After that, beginning of the next game session, with everybody, put the problem in front of the table and ask for a collective brainstorming, because you feel there are some frictions which reduce the overall fun at the gaming table. Ideally, it is the DM that should start it and then, only if he is somebody that is super bad at diplomacy, he should officially say that you will handle the discussions, and that you both already discussed it and you have his full support in this.
Do not do this at the end of a game session with everybody tired and wanting to go home, and able to just leave ignoring the topic, but when everybody is all fresh, when you can have all their attention, and their choice to leave means they're not going to play.
If one of them says "I came here to play, not waste my time with such stupid talks!", anything even resembling that, very early and quickly in the talks, don't push your agenda, but politely say: "Ok, you think such talks are stupid and useless. I respect your opinion. However, I personally don't think so, and I hope you can also respect me as a player, which is exactly the point I'm trying to make with this whole discussion, which is about trying to find ways to behave and respect each other. So, let's vote. Left hand up everybody thinking these talks are important, and right hand up those thinking we should just forget about it." Obviously, if you did your homework properly, all but the 2 guys should vote for your side. "Apparently it seems most people at this gaming table think this issue is indeed important. So yeah we will solve it and play afterwards, because 2 players aren't more important than an entire group of 6, right?" If they decide to leave or become hostile, then they're assholes, and your group is better off without them.
Put emphasis on the fact that it's important for everybody to have fun at any gaming table. Way more important that "My Guy syndrome". For example, maybe it's quite logical in their head for their characters to not have healed the tank. But it should be obvious even to them that saying that the tank is not important enough to be healed, means they are insulting him, which is detrimental to the group harmony and cohesion, both in the game and more importantly around the game table.
However, the personality of their characters is not forced upon the players but fully determined and decided by them. So yeah in face of a PC acting like a jerk, it is 100% the player's fault. If a PC is unlikable, to the point of reducing the overall fun around the gaming table, just change his personality already. Easy. Just change the scribble of the sheet of paper to something less bad. The people around the gaming table are way more important than the sheet-of-paper PCs. PCs are only avatars in a fantasy world of the group's own making. The PC personality is not some kind of holy book falling from the sky that can be used to stomp on the fun of others. Players have a responsibility to adjust their PCs in order to make sure everybody is having fun. Everybody. Not just themselves. Acting anti-team or greedy or selfish is not fun, clear?
If they feel that they have much more mastery and experience, then it should be obvious that they also need to be the leaders that make dang sure that everybody else feels included in the game and can voice his opinions with respect. Everybody comes playing to have fun.
So if there is a conflict between respecting a PC's personality, and the fun of others, it should be obvious which one should is more important. Making mistakes here and there is ok, but if a player's intent is to have fun at the expense of the fun of others, then that is not acceptable gaming behavior.
If a player actually dislikes another player, they should talk about it, try to reach common ground. Definitely not use their PC in order to punish or avoid the PC of the other player. The PCs don't have to be best buddies, sure, but that should be something fully agreed upon between the two players in order to enhance their roleplay. Otherwise by default they should act as part of a real team. Any hostility (or completely refraining to help when asked) should be approved first as being something officially considered "fun" by the very target of the conflict. Otherwise, it's acting like a jerk around the gaming table.
Ideally, in all this, it should not be a "we (rest of group) find you (two guys) guilty, so repent or go away!" aka an "us vs them" mentality. That is just asking for things to deteriorate, a lot. Instead, treat it more like a family trying to solve it's problems, to help each other find new ways to understand each other.
---
#4:
===
The DM has to actually implement some new house rules that will encourage the gaming table behavior he likes, while discouraging behaviors he dislikes. Applying them fairly to everybody.
DM begins each point by telling why he thinks a house rule is needed.
* (1A) Slowing the game down - Making the DM repeat himself:
I want to encourage actually strongly following what is happening in the game. I'm tired of repeating myself.
We'll just use the Murky Mirror. A round is only 6 seconds. In the middle of combat, 6 seconds is crazy short.
So, if a player is not following the action, then his PC is also not following the action, too. The PC will get just as lost as his player.
The excuse "But my PC is as high level hero" is not good. High level doesn't mean perfect like a godlike computer. That super genius wizard that also gives super-wise advice, throwing powerful spells, can be somebody quite absent minded, and so on. If you want your PC to act perfect, then play perfect.
After all, the player drive the PC, it is not an independent entity. So try to cut down on all the side table tangents, try to follow the main action of the game. Else, I'm not going to repeat myself and your character will just end up risking wasting his turn. In short: I'll focus my attention, as a DM, on players that choose to focus on the actual game.
Follow, even when it's not your turn! Especially when it's not your turn! This game is a social game based on acting as a team, and if you do something that isn't fun for others, you're not a team player. Anybody not able to actively and seriously follow and silently listen attentively to what is occurring with other PCs, without interrupting for at least 10 minutes, is basically saying to the rest of the table: I think only my own PC is important, and I don't care at all about any of you!". Rude and, frankly, socially speaking, that's being a jerk. So you also have to follow the actions of everybody, not just your own actions.
From now on, if a player asks "What is going on", and I already did share that info, then his action for his current turn (or his next, if he does that in a turn that is not his turn), will be a quick recap by me of the situation, but that will be his turn. No action, no movement, no interact with an object, no ready an action, nothing. Player obviously wasn't paying attention to the situation at hand at all. Same for his PC, who ends up wasting a few precious seconds. Follow the game or lose your turn.
Note that if at that very instant, the character is over a pit of lava and needed to "grab something" to avoid falling to his death, well, he will get the recap but, at best, will get to make a "roll or die" check at a "you were being inattentive" penalty.
Anything that is not "roll or die" is resolved with the" yo get the recap but lose your turn. A pit trap opens under group, but instead of grabbing dice to roll Dex Save like everybody else is asked to do, the player just says "Huh? What's going on Guys?" Well... You play your character, what he sees and what he hears leads to what he does, and all of it is you, the player, deciding all of it; he's not a remote-controlled puppet acting independently of the player. So that PC also ended up saying "Huh? What's going on?" while everybody else that was paying attention was hurriedly ducking out of harm's way, and the PC gets no save and auto-fails.
Basically, if your PC dies because you weren't paying attention, that's no bad blood on my part! It was all just your own fault, really. Just pay better attention to the game, ok? Because if you aren't even interested in following the game, then why are you even here?
Out of combat, duration will be longer that 1 round. Impose no action and attentive silence on the player for a few minutes. This should be enough to let him catch again the flow of the story. And attentive silence means no talking to the player next to you, no checking cell phone, whatever. If a player can't interest himself in what the other PCs are doing, why should anybody be interested in seeing what he does? That seems only fair. You don't follow the game, then you don't get to play. Simple enough! This is a team game, not a solo game. If what the others do don't interest you, go back to your single player video game.
* (1B) Slowing the game down - Arguing with the DM:
I am the DM, the players aren't. My job is to deal with the rules and the flow of the game, and I use the rules to make a good game, but I am in no way obligated to follow them. They're more like guidelines, really. Your jobs as players is simpler: roleplay your character in a way that makes it fun for the entire gaming table. Not just you: Everybody!
Basically, I don't want to DM a game full of rules arguments. That's no fun. So if a player gets annoyed or contradictory with me, he's trying to do the DM's job instead of trying to do a player's job. That's crazy, right?
So, from now on, it's the Murky Mirror approach: if rules-arguing occurs, relevant PC is Stunned and Immobile for 1 full round's worth of actions, losing even his Reaction. His PC starts to wast his time babbling incoherently like a madman about how reality should work some other way, instead of focusing on what is really happening in front of him.
A player is allowed to very politely ask about a rule, in a "trying to help the DM which seems a little bit lost on a rule here". Once. But anything more than and that's arguing and then it's "Stunned" time.
Outside of combat (or other high speed adrenaline filled events), that "insanity" lasts longer. Again, typically a few minutes of attentive silence by the player.
* (1C) Slowing the game down - Taking too long to decide on your action:
I think a slow pace reduces the overall fun and amount of actions done in the game session. So I'll discourage tasking too much time to decide your actions.
From now on, you really have to realize that a round is only 6 seconds long. I'll adopt the Murky Mirror, so if the player hesitates, his PC too. If you want your PC to know all of his powers by heart, then you the player also need to learn all of them by heart, too.
When I think a player is taking too long to decide what to do, I will say "6 seconds!" (or another quick and clear keyword). Last chance to immediately describe your action, or lose your round.
If even with the warning he still takes too much time, he gets a quick recap of the general situation, but loses his whole turn.
* (2) Losing a sense of cohesion - Group Morale & Team Spirit:
If I start a campaign that said "You are all a group of dwarfs from the same fortress! There is this huge war with the elves going on, too." and then a player joins, either at the start or later, but insists on playing an elf and ignoring said war, well, such a player is really not respecting the campaign table and style and setting much, ain't he?
I as a DM presented this campaign as being one in which the group follows, and is loyal to, this dwarf order. You guys really have to roleplay this, at least a little bit. This is a campaign prerequisite. I'm willing to ignore past actions, but from now on, try to act the part at least a little bit.
I'll make it clearer: I will give a 7th score to each of you: Karma.
Everybody starts at 12: the minimum expected value of putting forth the precepts of your order and teammates happiness.
Following and being loyal to your order's precepts, and favoring actions good for team morale and feelings, translate into higher Karma. The opposite translates into lower Karma. The GM might adjust the Karma of any PC at any time, usually by increasing or lowering by 1 (or 2 points for the really big ones), "towards" the value that he thinks (in his head) the player and/or his character are displaying.
Example: Refusing to heal the tank while also saying it's for "keeping it for somebody more important" is basically saying to the other player: "You're not important!" That kind of rudeness definitely deserves a drop in 2 Karma (unless he was already quite low, then -1 is sufficient). You're a team. The tank is there to take the damage and the first one to take the brunt of the attacks, so of course it is very important to heal him. Anybody thinking otherwise is basically not a team player, and so... bad Karma.
Remember: Murky Mirror! Whatever the player does, the PC does the equivalent. And whatever the player makes their PC say or do, applies to the player, too. If you make your PC act like a jerk to the other PCs, then the player is acting like a jerk to the other players, too. Do you want to be perceived as a friend or as a jerk?
It is important to note that gaining/losing karma is not based only on the "karmatic" actions themselves, but also on the already existing score. Doing something good for karma when you already have a 16 in Karma score, is just that much harder to accomplish. Because you are expected to be a great team player already at nearly all times. Doing something bad to worsen your karma when it's already at 6, is similarly quite hard to do. Your teammates already know you're not worth any respect already, so they don't expect much out of you anyway. A Karma of 20 means basically a PC that always puts the precepts of his order and of the well-being and happiness of his teammates first, 100% to the detriment of his own interests and happiness, 100% of the time. Think giving everything you have and all your time to your church and friends, that is just impossible. Same for selfish behaviors. A Karma is 3 is basically a player so bad it's instant kick-the-jerk-out-the-campaign time. Most players should end up with a Karma between 8 and 16, with maybe one or two of you that are very slightly out of that range. And 12 is a good stat since it gives +1.
Karma needs to be "constantly supported". Every level-up, Karma will move by 1 points towards a score value of 10 (which is a truly neutral stance, putting as much importance on the order and teammates, as on yourself) (clearly your 2 guys act more like something like 8 Karma but you'll start at 12 Karma anyway).
At the beginning of each game session, one after another, everybody rolls a karma check DC 10, clearly stating their Karma modifier before rolling (otherwise it's an instant failure). Success means the character start that game session with Inspiration (or whatever "heroic" mechanic exists in the campaign), failure means he starts without it.
Sometimes the DM will also ask for a Karma Check with some DC, optionally stating why he asks that roll. Just add the Ability modifier from your Karma. Success means getting the relevant benefit or successfully avoiding the relevant penalty. The DM doesn't have to tell in advance what the benefit or penalty will be.
If the DM uses per-player-XP, then Karma could directly impact how many XPs they get. So jerks end up leveling up slower than "good" players.
Basically, the players can play however they want. But the DM is perfectly entitled to encourage and reward what he finds "fun" behaviors that support the campaign style he's trying to run, and disfavor and penalize opposite behaviors.
* (3) Ruining immersion:
The DM really has to put on his pants on here.
whenever the DM says out loud "Focus!", it means:
"Stop with your bickering/arguing/wasting time, right now! Focus on making progress on the main story events."
It's a dire warning to stop diddling around.
Players that ignore the warning, or follow it only for a short while and start again and again and again, i.e. repeated offenses can stack up, then the offending players get some penalty. It could again be the stay silent for some minutes. I had a group of 6 players and I used "You 2, you're too disruptive and don't follow the game, so you go into the living room until I call you back (we played in the kitchen). Your PCs are in "do absolutely nothing mode, not even defend themselves effectively". Well, you can just roleplay with each other, since you seemed to want to do that so much instead of following the action, so you 2 go do that until it's out of your system. And if a fight breaks out, and it did, I called them back only after they took some damage and missed the first half of the fight.
Without any real consequences of rewards and punishments, a DM is no more intelligent than a parent repeatedly saying to his unruly child "I"m telling you to stop this for the very last time, I won't repeat it!"
When its only 1 player, force silence even for 5 minutes, if he is an outspoken player, this can seem like extreme punishment. For 2+ players getting too disruptive because sidetracked, it's obvious their little RP session is more important to them than the game, so let them go and do that. If you count XP, give them a tiny bit less, and if they ask why: "Why do you ask? I had to make you go into timeout mode because you were being disruptive and more interested in your personal PCs discussion, than on the actual game, do you sincerely think I should reward that kind of behavior? You want XPs, then follow the whole game, not whatever seems interesting to you."
Other players may also say *Focus!*, as a friendly reminder (i.e. without real consequences) to do the same thing. Here it's more like saying: "I feel we are getting sidetracked, let's focus on the main story events please!"
---
And if they whine about finding the game boring, just tell them:
It's the first time you say the game is boring. It's noted. Please don't think the game is boring because things didn't didn't go your way. Are your characters actually whining like this every time things don't go like they wanted? You decided what to do, going contrary to what the rest of the group wanted, so you have only yourself to blame. If you find that boring, then it's you who are boring, because you are the source of that. And you're certainly not adding any fun to the gaming table right now.
It's the second time you say the game is boring. I'm starting to think you're not really into this campaign. You job is to roleplay your character in a way that adds fun for the entire gaming table and right now you're definitely not doing that. Tell you what, instead of focusing on your boring resentment, try to add to the fun, focus also on what the others are doing, and next time there is a plan, don't always try to control the decisions, sometimes let them decide how to do it. In fact, as there are 5 PCs, unless you want to look like a control freak, then you should not try to control the decisions more than 20% of the time. In any case, it is your job making the game fun, both for you and for everybody. I have already enough on my plate as it is and I also deserve to have fun and your repeated complaints are just grating.
It's the third time you say the game is boring. That's it, third strike, I've had enough. You have no fun being here, and I have no fun with all that repeated whining. You can just pick up your stuff and go home, and think seriously about what kind of positive contribution you'll be willing to add to the gaming environment next game, if you decide to come back. I'd be sad to lose you, but I can't accept that kind of poisonous gaming table behavior anymore. If he says sorry, sorry. Don't say you're sorry to me, say you're sorry to them (points the other players). It's you who failed to make the game fun, not me. Ok, ok, you can stay, but that was your last chance (and make it really the last chance otherwise the other players won't take anything you say seriously anymore).
It's the fourth time you say the game is boring. Enough is enough. Sorry doesn't cut it anymore. Not for tonight, I'm just too tired. So, for tonight, just go home (they whine some more). I just told you I'm too tired for this kind of sit anymore. Now, either you are sorry and leave silently for tonight without making any more trouble, unless you prefer a permanent ban from the entire campaign instead? Because you really are no fun at all.
Then: Good evening, I really wish you'd try to think about how you could improve, and good night. I'm sure you can do it.
Personally I really prefer big groups, like, 5 or even 6 players.
But I'd rather play with 3 good players, than with 6 players but with 2 of them acting like self-entitled asocial misfits.
---
If a DM doesn't take responsibility to really direct and enforce good behaviors, then he is basically the same as a kindergarten teacher that lets them do what they wish without consequences. In real life, this very soon leads to daily chaos and bad stuff. So why would a gaming table be any different? Maturity and respect aren't ingrained, they must be learned, and without any clear incentives to, players lacking these basic social skills will never learn. As long as they can "get away with it", they will continue. Just telling them to stop ain't enough. There has to be actual consequences.
Basically, you see that whenever somebody acts like a jerk or does something I don't want to see in this campaign, wham, you lose. Note that it is always both the player and his PC that get punished both at the same time. In a campaign, one doesn't exist without the other, and so they share the same fate.
Without actual in-game house-rules to encourage/discourage specific behaviors with clear results, this is like a cop running after a bandit, equipped only with a whistle, and only allowed to say, "Stop or I will shout 'Stop' again!"
You want to tame them? Then make it super clear that bad actions have bad consequences.
Otherwise, without actual consequences, it's all good and nice to try to add some focus and discipline, but you're ending up just shooting with blanks.
Now, they will probably object to all of the above. Tell them: Ok, I'm willing to admit that you're more than mature enough to realize that you need to improve, without forcing you to, and that from now on you will provide a better gaming experience for the other players at the gaming table. But if I don't see a dramatic improvement, not starting right now, not just for a few games but for every game, then it means that you really aren't such good players as you think, and that you really need help with these things. So, if that occurs, then I'm going to start using these house rules. Not to punish you but to actually help you become really experienced and better players. I'm not adding rocket science stuff here, I'm merely doing this one this: gaming table behavior is social behavior. These are very basic behaviors that you as an adult should already master anyway. So, I'll let you prove it, otherwise I'll be forced to use this "bad things results in bad consequences" set of house rules. You two aren't the only players around the gaming table, and it's high time that you realize that.
Basically, silk smooth glove (politeness, respect, take their inputs), well fitted over an iron fist (no budging on the importance to change right now).
It's the DM's game. He has to put some firm limits, or else it's normal that some players will think it's ok to trample all over them, and thus over him and over his campaign and over the other players. | In the interim, until more permanent solutions are found, maybe just having them not sit next to each other might help. |
100,430 | I have read a number of threads here similar to but not the same as the problem my group and I are having (including [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/15637/15689) thread, [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/15640/15689) answer, [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/78839/15689) answer to a similar situation, and [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/33948/how-do-i-deal-with-a-bored-or-distracted-player-bringing-down-the-group) question which addresses only 1 person).
I have a question related to dealing specifically with 2 problem players, and would like to explore avenues of resolution other than disbanding or kicking these players out of the group.
After joining a new group recently, I am finding more and more that two people in the group are surprisingly immature, a fact not helped by them both feeding off of each other's behaviour. While this is not necessarily a problem in and of itself (and in theory could actually lead to some fun interactions), it is unfortunately leading to some detrimental effects for the rest of the group (and the DM in particular). these effects include:
* **Slowing the game down** - When these two players get together, they tend to distract one another. This is especially frustrating when playing with a larger group (5 or 6 other players), since in talking to one another they miss what is happening, and we consistently spend time having to catch them up on what other players have done, the state of the battlefield, etc. While not a huge problem for me as a player (though certainly irritating), our DM is getting understandably frustrated having to repeat everything twice, since neither of these two players are paying attention. They also don't think ahead when its not their turns, and since they are both spellcasters, this frustrates us other players a great deal, as our turns often take under 30 seconds, while because of their distracting behaviour their turns frequently take upwards of 5 minutes each.
* **Losing a sense of cohesion** - Their two characters almost exclusively look out for each other, even to the detriment of the rest of the party. While this could make for an interesting dynamic in game, their behaviour is inconsistent, and they appear to show little loyalty to the order our group serves (around which our 2 month campaign has been based; loyalty to this order was the prerequisite for joining the group), our overarching mission, and more importantly the welfare of our group (eg last session they refused to heal our tank because they wanted to save their healing spells for "more important characters"). This is, unsurprisingly, leading to resentment both in and outside of the game.
* **Ruining Immersion** - A large draw for many of us to this group in particular is the role playing aspect of the game. However, the constant bickering and out-of-game discussions among these 2 players is constantly drawing us out of the game. Our DM has tried calling them out at the table for being distracting and taking away from the game, as well as speaking to them privately (though I was not present when this conversation took place). Regardless, the poor behaviour continues, and our DM appears to be at his wit's end.
* **Poor Gameplay** - Before anyone gets upset about me listing this, let me explain. The two players tend to make decisions against the advice of the rest of the group and the DM (which is fine - after all, we are roleplaying). HOWEVER, these decisions (unsurprisingly) often lead to a poor situation for them, to which they respond with resentment towards the group and the DM, consequently leading them to spend the rest of the night complaining about how boring the game is, and further distracting the group. For example, in our last session we were fighting a group of dragons. Rather than mounting their dragons and helping in the fight, both decided instead to head into town and get drunk, even after the rest of us, including the DM, advised against it. When they realized that the rest of us were having a great time slaying Shadow Dragons, they complained that they were stuck in a tavern in town essentially doing nothing, and began berating the DM for not allowing them to instantaneously join the battle. We are unsure of how to handle this behaviour, and their boredom undoubtedly contributes to the distracting behaviour that is frustrating the rest of the group.
Ultimately, the question boils down to this: **How do we deal with 2 immature players who feed off of one another, and detract from the experiences of other players?**
Although simply kicking them out or forming a new group is certainly an option, I figured sharing our predicament with the wonderful RPG community here may lead to some unexpected solutions which may help us actually resolve the problem. | 2017/05/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/100430",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/15689/"
] | Here are some simple tips to minimize issues, without any OOC discussions or problems.
1. To fix the issue of slow decision making, get a one minute timer for battle decisions. If they can't make decisions during that time, no turn. Make sure the DM adjusts combat for the likely fact that they'll be less effective. Make sure to communicate to them that they should be listening to the game actively and planning their moves while others are acting. This has worked well in my games to encourage slow players to prepare, since combat is fun.
2. Make a short list of loyalty rules (heal when asked out of combat or when needed to stop death in combat, don't damage other characters, don't steal from other characters, don't purposely injure allies, don't purposely split the party without good reasons) and if they violate said rules, have your characters abandon them since they clearly are not loyal. They can then reroll more loyal characters.
3. Have the entire group ready to shut down them when they refuse to play. Playing DND is about adventure. If they want to go drinking and dunking donuts and not dungeon delving and dragon fighting, they clearly are not appropriate adventurers. If they bitch endlessly, have the entire group call them out, and discourage them. They were bored because they chose to have boring characters. If they want to have fun, they need to interact with you and dungeon delve. | In the interim, until more permanent solutions are found, maybe just having them not sit next to each other might help. |
100,430 | I have read a number of threads here similar to but not the same as the problem my group and I are having (including [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/15637/15689) thread, [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/15640/15689) answer, [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/78839/15689) answer to a similar situation, and [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/33948/how-do-i-deal-with-a-bored-or-distracted-player-bringing-down-the-group) question which addresses only 1 person).
I have a question related to dealing specifically with 2 problem players, and would like to explore avenues of resolution other than disbanding or kicking these players out of the group.
After joining a new group recently, I am finding more and more that two people in the group are surprisingly immature, a fact not helped by them both feeding off of each other's behaviour. While this is not necessarily a problem in and of itself (and in theory could actually lead to some fun interactions), it is unfortunately leading to some detrimental effects for the rest of the group (and the DM in particular). these effects include:
* **Slowing the game down** - When these two players get together, they tend to distract one another. This is especially frustrating when playing with a larger group (5 or 6 other players), since in talking to one another they miss what is happening, and we consistently spend time having to catch them up on what other players have done, the state of the battlefield, etc. While not a huge problem for me as a player (though certainly irritating), our DM is getting understandably frustrated having to repeat everything twice, since neither of these two players are paying attention. They also don't think ahead when its not their turns, and since they are both spellcasters, this frustrates us other players a great deal, as our turns often take under 30 seconds, while because of their distracting behaviour their turns frequently take upwards of 5 minutes each.
* **Losing a sense of cohesion** - Their two characters almost exclusively look out for each other, even to the detriment of the rest of the party. While this could make for an interesting dynamic in game, their behaviour is inconsistent, and they appear to show little loyalty to the order our group serves (around which our 2 month campaign has been based; loyalty to this order was the prerequisite for joining the group), our overarching mission, and more importantly the welfare of our group (eg last session they refused to heal our tank because they wanted to save their healing spells for "more important characters"). This is, unsurprisingly, leading to resentment both in and outside of the game.
* **Ruining Immersion** - A large draw for many of us to this group in particular is the role playing aspect of the game. However, the constant bickering and out-of-game discussions among these 2 players is constantly drawing us out of the game. Our DM has tried calling them out at the table for being distracting and taking away from the game, as well as speaking to them privately (though I was not present when this conversation took place). Regardless, the poor behaviour continues, and our DM appears to be at his wit's end.
* **Poor Gameplay** - Before anyone gets upset about me listing this, let me explain. The two players tend to make decisions against the advice of the rest of the group and the DM (which is fine - after all, we are roleplaying). HOWEVER, these decisions (unsurprisingly) often lead to a poor situation for them, to which they respond with resentment towards the group and the DM, consequently leading them to spend the rest of the night complaining about how boring the game is, and further distracting the group. For example, in our last session we were fighting a group of dragons. Rather than mounting their dragons and helping in the fight, both decided instead to head into town and get drunk, even after the rest of us, including the DM, advised against it. When they realized that the rest of us were having a great time slaying Shadow Dragons, they complained that they were stuck in a tavern in town essentially doing nothing, and began berating the DM for not allowing them to instantaneously join the battle. We are unsure of how to handle this behaviour, and their boredom undoubtedly contributes to the distracting behaviour that is frustrating the rest of the group.
Ultimately, the question boils down to this: **How do we deal with 2 immature players who feed off of one another, and detract from the experiences of other players?**
Although simply kicking them out or forming a new group is certainly an option, I figured sharing our predicament with the wonderful RPG community here may lead to some unexpected solutions which may help us actually resolve the problem. | 2017/05/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/100430",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/15689/"
] | I see the question has been resolved, but I would like to add my answer as an additional viewpoint.
>
> I have a question related to dealing specifically with 2 problem
> players, and would like to explore avenues of resolution other than
> disbanding or kicking these players out of the group.
>
>
>
I believe its possible in this situation to achieve the aims you are looking for.
>
> ... **detrimental effects for the rest of the group (and the DM in
> particular).**
>
>
>
Its common to experience moments where members of a D&D group may get annoyed with each other for a variety of reasons. It is when these moments are allowed to detract from the overall enjoyment of the game that action becomes necessary.
There are two rules which I would apply to any D&D group that I participate in:
1. The DM is responsible for the flow of the game, and must take action
to control the narrative to limit those elements of the game which
are not enjoyable, and so allow everyone to focus on those elements
which are enjoyable. These tend to vary from game to game, and
depend largely on the personalities that you have gathered for your
group.
2. The players are equally responsible for action when things are starting to
lose their enjoyment. Players can brush aside uncooperative
behaviour from their fellow players with jokes that let their
friends know to adjust their behaviour while keeping things
lighthearted. If the culprits do not get the hint, then less subtle measures are called for such as stopping your participation in the game immediately until they become cooperative. A player should never tolerate ongoing annoyance in a session, they should speak up immediately and either ask for the players to cease, or for the DM to act to resolve the conflict which has arisen.
The steps for escalation would be
1. immediate, friendly and respectful hints and reminders that
incorporate a sense of humour so that the game is not interrupted, followed by
2. penalties and consequences which apply immediately, without further
warning. Disruptive players don't get second chances. Don't lecture the players, and don't waste time discussing what happened. Make it quick and obvious, and incorporate good humour and lighthearted manner to minimise the impact on the game, and then
3. immediate pause of the game, with a demand for cooperation with
expected standards for everyone's enjoyment of the game. Establish an agreement with all the players, then quickly resume the game with good humour.
>
> **Slowing the game down ...**
>
>
>
This is the responsibility of the DM to enforce. I would allow this to happen once, but at the same time making my thoughts clear that their actions may have an impact on their characters in game. But anything beyond that should not be tolerated by the DM at all.
>
> **Losing a sense of cohesion ...**
>
>
>
This is a basic principle of role playing: that the members of an RPG group need to work together to accomplish their goals within the parameters set by the DM. Beyond that the players are free to let their character expression fill in the gaps as a form of expression. If a player can't grasp this basic principle, they need to be told this by the DM and supported by the players as soon as it becomes an issue, not later on.
>
> **Ruining Immersion ...**
>
>
>
The DM has created a world for the game to exist in, and this effort demands some respect from the players. If this respect is lacking, the DM must confront this issue, and be prepared to pause the game until the players show some respect for the game world. There shouldn't be any discussion of this issue at all. They don't need to appreciate all the fine details, but at the least, their behaviour should not detract from the enjoyment of their fellow players.
>
> **Poor Gameplay ...**
>
>
>
In this situation, the DM cannot reward uncooperative behaviour. Those players will be required to wait out their time while the other players resolve their game actions. The players could be asked to leave the table until their turn arrives. At the extreme situation, they may be required to sit out the remainder of the session. If they continue to be disruptive, they should be asked to leave the location and return later at an agreed time. | Here are some simple tips to minimize issues, without any OOC discussions or problems.
1. To fix the issue of slow decision making, get a one minute timer for battle decisions. If they can't make decisions during that time, no turn. Make sure the DM adjusts combat for the likely fact that they'll be less effective. Make sure to communicate to them that they should be listening to the game actively and planning their moves while others are acting. This has worked well in my games to encourage slow players to prepare, since combat is fun.
2. Make a short list of loyalty rules (heal when asked out of combat or when needed to stop death in combat, don't damage other characters, don't steal from other characters, don't purposely injure allies, don't purposely split the party without good reasons) and if they violate said rules, have your characters abandon them since they clearly are not loyal. They can then reroll more loyal characters.
3. Have the entire group ready to shut down them when they refuse to play. Playing DND is about adventure. If they want to go drinking and dunking donuts and not dungeon delving and dragon fighting, they clearly are not appropriate adventurers. If they bitch endlessly, have the entire group call them out, and discourage them. They were bored because they chose to have boring characters. If they want to have fun, they need to interact with you and dungeon delve. |
100,430 | I have read a number of threads here similar to but not the same as the problem my group and I are having (including [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/15637/15689) thread, [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/15640/15689) answer, [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/78839/15689) answer to a similar situation, and [this](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/33948/how-do-i-deal-with-a-bored-or-distracted-player-bringing-down-the-group) question which addresses only 1 person).
I have a question related to dealing specifically with 2 problem players, and would like to explore avenues of resolution other than disbanding or kicking these players out of the group.
After joining a new group recently, I am finding more and more that two people in the group are surprisingly immature, a fact not helped by them both feeding off of each other's behaviour. While this is not necessarily a problem in and of itself (and in theory could actually lead to some fun interactions), it is unfortunately leading to some detrimental effects for the rest of the group (and the DM in particular). these effects include:
* **Slowing the game down** - When these two players get together, they tend to distract one another. This is especially frustrating when playing with a larger group (5 or 6 other players), since in talking to one another they miss what is happening, and we consistently spend time having to catch them up on what other players have done, the state of the battlefield, etc. While not a huge problem for me as a player (though certainly irritating), our DM is getting understandably frustrated having to repeat everything twice, since neither of these two players are paying attention. They also don't think ahead when its not their turns, and since they are both spellcasters, this frustrates us other players a great deal, as our turns often take under 30 seconds, while because of their distracting behaviour their turns frequently take upwards of 5 minutes each.
* **Losing a sense of cohesion** - Their two characters almost exclusively look out for each other, even to the detriment of the rest of the party. While this could make for an interesting dynamic in game, their behaviour is inconsistent, and they appear to show little loyalty to the order our group serves (around which our 2 month campaign has been based; loyalty to this order was the prerequisite for joining the group), our overarching mission, and more importantly the welfare of our group (eg last session they refused to heal our tank because they wanted to save their healing spells for "more important characters"). This is, unsurprisingly, leading to resentment both in and outside of the game.
* **Ruining Immersion** - A large draw for many of us to this group in particular is the role playing aspect of the game. However, the constant bickering and out-of-game discussions among these 2 players is constantly drawing us out of the game. Our DM has tried calling them out at the table for being distracting and taking away from the game, as well as speaking to them privately (though I was not present when this conversation took place). Regardless, the poor behaviour continues, and our DM appears to be at his wit's end.
* **Poor Gameplay** - Before anyone gets upset about me listing this, let me explain. The two players tend to make decisions against the advice of the rest of the group and the DM (which is fine - after all, we are roleplaying). HOWEVER, these decisions (unsurprisingly) often lead to a poor situation for them, to which they respond with resentment towards the group and the DM, consequently leading them to spend the rest of the night complaining about how boring the game is, and further distracting the group. For example, in our last session we were fighting a group of dragons. Rather than mounting their dragons and helping in the fight, both decided instead to head into town and get drunk, even after the rest of us, including the DM, advised against it. When they realized that the rest of us were having a great time slaying Shadow Dragons, they complained that they were stuck in a tavern in town essentially doing nothing, and began berating the DM for not allowing them to instantaneously join the battle. We are unsure of how to handle this behaviour, and their boredom undoubtedly contributes to the distracting behaviour that is frustrating the rest of the group.
Ultimately, the question boils down to this: **How do we deal with 2 immature players who feed off of one another, and detract from the experiences of other players?**
Although simply kicking them out or forming a new group is certainly an option, I figured sharing our predicament with the wonderful RPG community here may lead to some unexpected solutions which may help us actually resolve the problem. | 2017/05/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/100430",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/15689/"
] | Every game has rules mechanics that encourage or discourage certain gaming behaviors. For example, if the only way to gain experience is to kill creatures, then don't be surprised if your party tends to migrate towards the "murder-hobos" playstyle.
Every DM has house rules or ways to act as a DM, that also encourage/discourage some playstyles or table behaviors.
Here, your DM is at their wit's end, but isn't willing to actually do something "real" about it.
---
I suggest the following:
#1:
===
Present the Murky Mirror (Google AngryGM Murky Mirror) to your group (maybe by email). Ask their opinion about it. Personal experience with this is that it simplifies the game a lot and avoid tons of problems like: "My Guy Syndrome", "Metagaming", "Hostile Dark Secrets", and "My PC Can Act Like A Jerk, But I'm Not Him, Honest!" etc.
Say you think it's a good idea, and anybody not answering is basically agreeing fully to add this to the campaign. Since the article is long, copy-paste it and cut it down to max 1 page or so, only what is essential, with a link to the full article.
AngryGM has tons of other useful articles, but don't swamp your group, that would just create a "TL;DR" situation. One thing at a time!
Try to get everybody's contact info. If they ask what's it about: "Not sure yet. Depends. We'll make sure to call you for your opinion." If somebody refuses to give contact info: "Stop with the paranoia, please? You're a part of this group, not standing outside of it, and we value your opinion, you know? If you don't want to be reached, then you have to agree that if something ever gets decided, you accepted it in advance, no complaints later on."
---
#2:
===
After enough time for everybody to answer (2+ weekends), try to meet or phone call or Skype (no email, no text!) everybody, one by one, at a moment that they have time to give (i.e. if you're busy right now just call me later this evening or tomorrow." (and call them back if they don't). Basically go get their input on the Murky Mirror thing, but quickly phase to the "artificial separation" of you feeling that having a party that is seemingly split between 2 sub-groups of PCs, which act as more or less separate entities, instead of as a true team, and how you think this overall feels like something that is quite detrimental to your enjoyment of the game.
You call the other players, then the problem players, then the DM, in that order. Say that you find the situation problematic and not very fun, and ask them what they think and what they suggest could improve the overall fun and positivism at the gaming table, for everybody, seen as a group. A full group. Not a group of 2 plus a group of the rest. Anything they think they could do or suggest to try to improve the overall "group morale" and team spirit.
The idea here is you being respectful and trying to avoid a situation when you "prejudge" these 2 guys (reasoning: "since I find them not fun, thus they're wrong, thus I don't feel the need to include their opinions on this despite they being directly concerned by it."). Avoid projecting your opinions on the rest of the group: Maybe they don't care as much or exactly like you do, so again thinking "the rest of the group thinks" can create way too easily false dichotomies here. It's not "the rest of the group", like some kind of "us vs. them" group-think. It's each and everyone in the group (the 2 problematic guys included) having a different opinion. So go get all of those first.
Don't try to "direct" the conversations. Your goal here is not to convince or harass, but just to say (once) you think that you feel a problem, and that you want their opinion on it. If they ask what you think or suggest, tell them you're just polling everybody's opinions and ideas, not trying to force your own ideas or influence their own ideas. You're merely "getting the pulse" of the group's wants and opinions, that's it. Taking notes. Not debating issues.
Keep it short. If all goes well (i.e. they all answer when you call, and are not busy with something else at the moment - it's important to check that first as you call because you need them at their best mindful ad receptive availability), then you should be able to do the full "round" of everybody in a single hour, no more, and ideally much less. Cut off any conversation that needlessly prolongs if need be. 5 to 15 minutes each, tops. Give more time for the problem players and to the DM to really express themselves, if they wish. Allow also more time for you to express yourself but to the DM only, if he asks.
Maybe just talking will solve the problem. With the DM, you can go into more details (after 10 minutes, ask him if he really want to talk longer about this -- you don't want him to feel swamped with and put in the middle of a huge problem). Maybe give him the link to this answer.
In any case, unless you have the full support of the GM from A to Z, you're doomed to fail and the only choice you have are shutting up or adding up more resentment and fire on the oil slick.
---
#3:
===
After that, beginning of the next game session, with everybody, put the problem in front of the table and ask for a collective brainstorming, because you feel there are some frictions which reduce the overall fun at the gaming table. Ideally, it is the DM that should start it and then, only if he is somebody that is super bad at diplomacy, he should officially say that you will handle the discussions, and that you both already discussed it and you have his full support in this.
Do not do this at the end of a game session with everybody tired and wanting to go home, and able to just leave ignoring the topic, but when everybody is all fresh, when you can have all their attention, and their choice to leave means they're not going to play.
If one of them says "I came here to play, not waste my time with such stupid talks!", anything even resembling that, very early and quickly in the talks, don't push your agenda, but politely say: "Ok, you think such talks are stupid and useless. I respect your opinion. However, I personally don't think so, and I hope you can also respect me as a player, which is exactly the point I'm trying to make with this whole discussion, which is about trying to find ways to behave and respect each other. So, let's vote. Left hand up everybody thinking these talks are important, and right hand up those thinking we should just forget about it." Obviously, if you did your homework properly, all but the 2 guys should vote for your side. "Apparently it seems most people at this gaming table think this issue is indeed important. So yeah we will solve it and play afterwards, because 2 players aren't more important than an entire group of 6, right?" If they decide to leave or become hostile, then they're assholes, and your group is better off without them.
Put emphasis on the fact that it's important for everybody to have fun at any gaming table. Way more important that "My Guy syndrome". For example, maybe it's quite logical in their head for their characters to not have healed the tank. But it should be obvious even to them that saying that the tank is not important enough to be healed, means they are insulting him, which is detrimental to the group harmony and cohesion, both in the game and more importantly around the game table.
However, the personality of their characters is not forced upon the players but fully determined and decided by them. So yeah in face of a PC acting like a jerk, it is 100% the player's fault. If a PC is unlikable, to the point of reducing the overall fun around the gaming table, just change his personality already. Easy. Just change the scribble of the sheet of paper to something less bad. The people around the gaming table are way more important than the sheet-of-paper PCs. PCs are only avatars in a fantasy world of the group's own making. The PC personality is not some kind of holy book falling from the sky that can be used to stomp on the fun of others. Players have a responsibility to adjust their PCs in order to make sure everybody is having fun. Everybody. Not just themselves. Acting anti-team or greedy or selfish is not fun, clear?
If they feel that they have much more mastery and experience, then it should be obvious that they also need to be the leaders that make dang sure that everybody else feels included in the game and can voice his opinions with respect. Everybody comes playing to have fun.
So if there is a conflict between respecting a PC's personality, and the fun of others, it should be obvious which one should is more important. Making mistakes here and there is ok, but if a player's intent is to have fun at the expense of the fun of others, then that is not acceptable gaming behavior.
If a player actually dislikes another player, they should talk about it, try to reach common ground. Definitely not use their PC in order to punish or avoid the PC of the other player. The PCs don't have to be best buddies, sure, but that should be something fully agreed upon between the two players in order to enhance their roleplay. Otherwise by default they should act as part of a real team. Any hostility (or completely refraining to help when asked) should be approved first as being something officially considered "fun" by the very target of the conflict. Otherwise, it's acting like a jerk around the gaming table.
Ideally, in all this, it should not be a "we (rest of group) find you (two guys) guilty, so repent or go away!" aka an "us vs them" mentality. That is just asking for things to deteriorate, a lot. Instead, treat it more like a family trying to solve it's problems, to help each other find new ways to understand each other.
---
#4:
===
The DM has to actually implement some new house rules that will encourage the gaming table behavior he likes, while discouraging behaviors he dislikes. Applying them fairly to everybody.
DM begins each point by telling why he thinks a house rule is needed.
* (1A) Slowing the game down - Making the DM repeat himself:
I want to encourage actually strongly following what is happening in the game. I'm tired of repeating myself.
We'll just use the Murky Mirror. A round is only 6 seconds. In the middle of combat, 6 seconds is crazy short.
So, if a player is not following the action, then his PC is also not following the action, too. The PC will get just as lost as his player.
The excuse "But my PC is as high level hero" is not good. High level doesn't mean perfect like a godlike computer. That super genius wizard that also gives super-wise advice, throwing powerful spells, can be somebody quite absent minded, and so on. If you want your PC to act perfect, then play perfect.
After all, the player drive the PC, it is not an independent entity. So try to cut down on all the side table tangents, try to follow the main action of the game. Else, I'm not going to repeat myself and your character will just end up risking wasting his turn. In short: I'll focus my attention, as a DM, on players that choose to focus on the actual game.
Follow, even when it's not your turn! Especially when it's not your turn! This game is a social game based on acting as a team, and if you do something that isn't fun for others, you're not a team player. Anybody not able to actively and seriously follow and silently listen attentively to what is occurring with other PCs, without interrupting for at least 10 minutes, is basically saying to the rest of the table: I think only my own PC is important, and I don't care at all about any of you!". Rude and, frankly, socially speaking, that's being a jerk. So you also have to follow the actions of everybody, not just your own actions.
From now on, if a player asks "What is going on", and I already did share that info, then his action for his current turn (or his next, if he does that in a turn that is not his turn), will be a quick recap by me of the situation, but that will be his turn. No action, no movement, no interact with an object, no ready an action, nothing. Player obviously wasn't paying attention to the situation at hand at all. Same for his PC, who ends up wasting a few precious seconds. Follow the game or lose your turn.
Note that if at that very instant, the character is over a pit of lava and needed to "grab something" to avoid falling to his death, well, he will get the recap but, at best, will get to make a "roll or die" check at a "you were being inattentive" penalty.
Anything that is not "roll or die" is resolved with the" yo get the recap but lose your turn. A pit trap opens under group, but instead of grabbing dice to roll Dex Save like everybody else is asked to do, the player just says "Huh? What's going on Guys?" Well... You play your character, what he sees and what he hears leads to what he does, and all of it is you, the player, deciding all of it; he's not a remote-controlled puppet acting independently of the player. So that PC also ended up saying "Huh? What's going on?" while everybody else that was paying attention was hurriedly ducking out of harm's way, and the PC gets no save and auto-fails.
Basically, if your PC dies because you weren't paying attention, that's no bad blood on my part! It was all just your own fault, really. Just pay better attention to the game, ok? Because if you aren't even interested in following the game, then why are you even here?
Out of combat, duration will be longer that 1 round. Impose no action and attentive silence on the player for a few minutes. This should be enough to let him catch again the flow of the story. And attentive silence means no talking to the player next to you, no checking cell phone, whatever. If a player can't interest himself in what the other PCs are doing, why should anybody be interested in seeing what he does? That seems only fair. You don't follow the game, then you don't get to play. Simple enough! This is a team game, not a solo game. If what the others do don't interest you, go back to your single player video game.
* (1B) Slowing the game down - Arguing with the DM:
I am the DM, the players aren't. My job is to deal with the rules and the flow of the game, and I use the rules to make a good game, but I am in no way obligated to follow them. They're more like guidelines, really. Your jobs as players is simpler: roleplay your character in a way that makes it fun for the entire gaming table. Not just you: Everybody!
Basically, I don't want to DM a game full of rules arguments. That's no fun. So if a player gets annoyed or contradictory with me, he's trying to do the DM's job instead of trying to do a player's job. That's crazy, right?
So, from now on, it's the Murky Mirror approach: if rules-arguing occurs, relevant PC is Stunned and Immobile for 1 full round's worth of actions, losing even his Reaction. His PC starts to wast his time babbling incoherently like a madman about how reality should work some other way, instead of focusing on what is really happening in front of him.
A player is allowed to very politely ask about a rule, in a "trying to help the DM which seems a little bit lost on a rule here". Once. But anything more than and that's arguing and then it's "Stunned" time.
Outside of combat (or other high speed adrenaline filled events), that "insanity" lasts longer. Again, typically a few minutes of attentive silence by the player.
* (1C) Slowing the game down - Taking too long to decide on your action:
I think a slow pace reduces the overall fun and amount of actions done in the game session. So I'll discourage tasking too much time to decide your actions.
From now on, you really have to realize that a round is only 6 seconds long. I'll adopt the Murky Mirror, so if the player hesitates, his PC too. If you want your PC to know all of his powers by heart, then you the player also need to learn all of them by heart, too.
When I think a player is taking too long to decide what to do, I will say "6 seconds!" (or another quick and clear keyword). Last chance to immediately describe your action, or lose your round.
If even with the warning he still takes too much time, he gets a quick recap of the general situation, but loses his whole turn.
* (2) Losing a sense of cohesion - Group Morale & Team Spirit:
If I start a campaign that said "You are all a group of dwarfs from the same fortress! There is this huge war with the elves going on, too." and then a player joins, either at the start or later, but insists on playing an elf and ignoring said war, well, such a player is really not respecting the campaign table and style and setting much, ain't he?
I as a DM presented this campaign as being one in which the group follows, and is loyal to, this dwarf order. You guys really have to roleplay this, at least a little bit. This is a campaign prerequisite. I'm willing to ignore past actions, but from now on, try to act the part at least a little bit.
I'll make it clearer: I will give a 7th score to each of you: Karma.
Everybody starts at 12: the minimum expected value of putting forth the precepts of your order and teammates happiness.
Following and being loyal to your order's precepts, and favoring actions good for team morale and feelings, translate into higher Karma. The opposite translates into lower Karma. The GM might adjust the Karma of any PC at any time, usually by increasing or lowering by 1 (or 2 points for the really big ones), "towards" the value that he thinks (in his head) the player and/or his character are displaying.
Example: Refusing to heal the tank while also saying it's for "keeping it for somebody more important" is basically saying to the other player: "You're not important!" That kind of rudeness definitely deserves a drop in 2 Karma (unless he was already quite low, then -1 is sufficient). You're a team. The tank is there to take the damage and the first one to take the brunt of the attacks, so of course it is very important to heal him. Anybody thinking otherwise is basically not a team player, and so... bad Karma.
Remember: Murky Mirror! Whatever the player does, the PC does the equivalent. And whatever the player makes their PC say or do, applies to the player, too. If you make your PC act like a jerk to the other PCs, then the player is acting like a jerk to the other players, too. Do you want to be perceived as a friend or as a jerk?
It is important to note that gaining/losing karma is not based only on the "karmatic" actions themselves, but also on the already existing score. Doing something good for karma when you already have a 16 in Karma score, is just that much harder to accomplish. Because you are expected to be a great team player already at nearly all times. Doing something bad to worsen your karma when it's already at 6, is similarly quite hard to do. Your teammates already know you're not worth any respect already, so they don't expect much out of you anyway. A Karma of 20 means basically a PC that always puts the precepts of his order and of the well-being and happiness of his teammates first, 100% to the detriment of his own interests and happiness, 100% of the time. Think giving everything you have and all your time to your church and friends, that is just impossible. Same for selfish behaviors. A Karma is 3 is basically a player so bad it's instant kick-the-jerk-out-the-campaign time. Most players should end up with a Karma between 8 and 16, with maybe one or two of you that are very slightly out of that range. And 12 is a good stat since it gives +1.
Karma needs to be "constantly supported". Every level-up, Karma will move by 1 points towards a score value of 10 (which is a truly neutral stance, putting as much importance on the order and teammates, as on yourself) (clearly your 2 guys act more like something like 8 Karma but you'll start at 12 Karma anyway).
At the beginning of each game session, one after another, everybody rolls a karma check DC 10, clearly stating their Karma modifier before rolling (otherwise it's an instant failure). Success means the character start that game session with Inspiration (or whatever "heroic" mechanic exists in the campaign), failure means he starts without it.
Sometimes the DM will also ask for a Karma Check with some DC, optionally stating why he asks that roll. Just add the Ability modifier from your Karma. Success means getting the relevant benefit or successfully avoiding the relevant penalty. The DM doesn't have to tell in advance what the benefit or penalty will be.
If the DM uses per-player-XP, then Karma could directly impact how many XPs they get. So jerks end up leveling up slower than "good" players.
Basically, the players can play however they want. But the DM is perfectly entitled to encourage and reward what he finds "fun" behaviors that support the campaign style he's trying to run, and disfavor and penalize opposite behaviors.
* (3) Ruining immersion:
The DM really has to put on his pants on here.
whenever the DM says out loud "Focus!", it means:
"Stop with your bickering/arguing/wasting time, right now! Focus on making progress on the main story events."
It's a dire warning to stop diddling around.
Players that ignore the warning, or follow it only for a short while and start again and again and again, i.e. repeated offenses can stack up, then the offending players get some penalty. It could again be the stay silent for some minutes. I had a group of 6 players and I used "You 2, you're too disruptive and don't follow the game, so you go into the living room until I call you back (we played in the kitchen). Your PCs are in "do absolutely nothing mode, not even defend themselves effectively". Well, you can just roleplay with each other, since you seemed to want to do that so much instead of following the action, so you 2 go do that until it's out of your system. And if a fight breaks out, and it did, I called them back only after they took some damage and missed the first half of the fight.
Without any real consequences of rewards and punishments, a DM is no more intelligent than a parent repeatedly saying to his unruly child "I"m telling you to stop this for the very last time, I won't repeat it!"
When its only 1 player, force silence even for 5 minutes, if he is an outspoken player, this can seem like extreme punishment. For 2+ players getting too disruptive because sidetracked, it's obvious their little RP session is more important to them than the game, so let them go and do that. If you count XP, give them a tiny bit less, and if they ask why: "Why do you ask? I had to make you go into timeout mode because you were being disruptive and more interested in your personal PCs discussion, than on the actual game, do you sincerely think I should reward that kind of behavior? You want XPs, then follow the whole game, not whatever seems interesting to you."
Other players may also say *Focus!*, as a friendly reminder (i.e. without real consequences) to do the same thing. Here it's more like saying: "I feel we are getting sidetracked, let's focus on the main story events please!"
---
And if they whine about finding the game boring, just tell them:
It's the first time you say the game is boring. It's noted. Please don't think the game is boring because things didn't didn't go your way. Are your characters actually whining like this every time things don't go like they wanted? You decided what to do, going contrary to what the rest of the group wanted, so you have only yourself to blame. If you find that boring, then it's you who are boring, because you are the source of that. And you're certainly not adding any fun to the gaming table right now.
It's the second time you say the game is boring. I'm starting to think you're not really into this campaign. You job is to roleplay your character in a way that adds fun for the entire gaming table and right now you're definitely not doing that. Tell you what, instead of focusing on your boring resentment, try to add to the fun, focus also on what the others are doing, and next time there is a plan, don't always try to control the decisions, sometimes let them decide how to do it. In fact, as there are 5 PCs, unless you want to look like a control freak, then you should not try to control the decisions more than 20% of the time. In any case, it is your job making the game fun, both for you and for everybody. I have already enough on my plate as it is and I also deserve to have fun and your repeated complaints are just grating.
It's the third time you say the game is boring. That's it, third strike, I've had enough. You have no fun being here, and I have no fun with all that repeated whining. You can just pick up your stuff and go home, and think seriously about what kind of positive contribution you'll be willing to add to the gaming environment next game, if you decide to come back. I'd be sad to lose you, but I can't accept that kind of poisonous gaming table behavior anymore. If he says sorry, sorry. Don't say you're sorry to me, say you're sorry to them (points the other players). It's you who failed to make the game fun, not me. Ok, ok, you can stay, but that was your last chance (and make it really the last chance otherwise the other players won't take anything you say seriously anymore).
It's the fourth time you say the game is boring. Enough is enough. Sorry doesn't cut it anymore. Not for tonight, I'm just too tired. So, for tonight, just go home (they whine some more). I just told you I'm too tired for this kind of sit anymore. Now, either you are sorry and leave silently for tonight without making any more trouble, unless you prefer a permanent ban from the entire campaign instead? Because you really are no fun at all.
Then: Good evening, I really wish you'd try to think about how you could improve, and good night. I'm sure you can do it.
Personally I really prefer big groups, like, 5 or even 6 players.
But I'd rather play with 3 good players, than with 6 players but with 2 of them acting like self-entitled asocial misfits.
---
If a DM doesn't take responsibility to really direct and enforce good behaviors, then he is basically the same as a kindergarten teacher that lets them do what they wish without consequences. In real life, this very soon leads to daily chaos and bad stuff. So why would a gaming table be any different? Maturity and respect aren't ingrained, they must be learned, and without any clear incentives to, players lacking these basic social skills will never learn. As long as they can "get away with it", they will continue. Just telling them to stop ain't enough. There has to be actual consequences.
Basically, you see that whenever somebody acts like a jerk or does something I don't want to see in this campaign, wham, you lose. Note that it is always both the player and his PC that get punished both at the same time. In a campaign, one doesn't exist without the other, and so they share the same fate.
Without actual in-game house-rules to encourage/discourage specific behaviors with clear results, this is like a cop running after a bandit, equipped only with a whistle, and only allowed to say, "Stop or I will shout 'Stop' again!"
You want to tame them? Then make it super clear that bad actions have bad consequences.
Otherwise, without actual consequences, it's all good and nice to try to add some focus and discipline, but you're ending up just shooting with blanks.
Now, they will probably object to all of the above. Tell them: Ok, I'm willing to admit that you're more than mature enough to realize that you need to improve, without forcing you to, and that from now on you will provide a better gaming experience for the other players at the gaming table. But if I don't see a dramatic improvement, not starting right now, not just for a few games but for every game, then it means that you really aren't such good players as you think, and that you really need help with these things. So, if that occurs, then I'm going to start using these house rules. Not to punish you but to actually help you become really experienced and better players. I'm not adding rocket science stuff here, I'm merely doing this one this: gaming table behavior is social behavior. These are very basic behaviors that you as an adult should already master anyway. So, I'll let you prove it, otherwise I'll be forced to use this "bad things results in bad consequences" set of house rules. You two aren't the only players around the gaming table, and it's high time that you realize that.
Basically, silk smooth glove (politeness, respect, take their inputs), well fitted over an iron fist (no budging on the importance to change right now).
It's the DM's game. He has to put some firm limits, or else it's normal that some players will think it's ok to trample all over them, and thus over him and over his campaign and over the other players. | Here are some simple tips to minimize issues, without any OOC discussions or problems.
1. To fix the issue of slow decision making, get a one minute timer for battle decisions. If they can't make decisions during that time, no turn. Make sure the DM adjusts combat for the likely fact that they'll be less effective. Make sure to communicate to them that they should be listening to the game actively and planning their moves while others are acting. This has worked well in my games to encourage slow players to prepare, since combat is fun.
2. Make a short list of loyalty rules (heal when asked out of combat or when needed to stop death in combat, don't damage other characters, don't steal from other characters, don't purposely injure allies, don't purposely split the party without good reasons) and if they violate said rules, have your characters abandon them since they clearly are not loyal. They can then reroll more loyal characters.
3. Have the entire group ready to shut down them when they refuse to play. Playing DND is about adventure. If they want to go drinking and dunking donuts and not dungeon delving and dragon fighting, they clearly are not appropriate adventurers. If they bitch endlessly, have the entire group call them out, and discourage them. They were bored because they chose to have boring characters. If they want to have fun, they need to interact with you and dungeon delve. |
4,813,833 | I work with the application that has to be run in 64 bit Windows and I use OCX control that should be run in 32 bit emulation mode. I can embed this control in Windows Forms Control Library and then add reference to this library to main application in order to set another emulation mode for this control and another for whole application, but it generate another problem. In this case I get an error "Exception of type InvalidActiveXStateException was thrown". I tried to use this Windows Forms Control Library with the project that was also run in x86 and everything was ok.
Do you know in which way I can run application which contains two or more projects that one project would be run in x86 and one in x64? (Right know when each project is in another mode it can't find some assemblies) | 2011/01/27 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/4813833",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/512150/"
] | You can't mix 32 and 64 bit code in the same process. If you absolutely must run this 32 bit control from a 64 bit app then you'd need to do it as an out of process server. Whilst this is probably feasible I don't believe it to be trivial.
Anyway, you may very well not need to do this. Since 64 bit Windows runs 32 bit apps you can make sure that your app targets **x86** instead of **AnyCPU** and then it will run on 64 bit Windows. | I'm not very sure if this is what you're looking for, but you can create two projects for any of your current projects.
Source code lives in one of the pairs and so on, and the X64 or X86 adds all files using Visual Studio symbolic links.
Then, you don't need to maintain duplicate code and you'll only need to configure one project for X86, and the counterpart for X64 and so on.
Symbolic links are created when you try to add an existing item, and you press in the arrow and you choose "add link".
I found that this is not a solution for you (and almost wrong). Thanks to commenters. |
26,105,805 | I am new to flume and hadoop. I have one doubt: Whether we can use flume without configuring hadoop?
Can any one share their knowledge? | 2014/09/29 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/26105805",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/3797438/"
] | Yes Flume can work totally independent of hadoop. However it does have some package dependencies on HDFS. If you are not planning to use HDFS sink, you can use it without Hadoop | Yes! As for my recent flume configuration[source=Twitter, channel=memory], I used a loggerSink to put the streamed 'data' into a log file in the file system(unix file dir), you just need to do something for the data to make sense. There are other sinks available though as part of the flume install(HDFSSink, HBaseSink, IRC, File Roll, check <https://flume.apache.org/FlumeUserGuide.html> for more details and usage), or you can create a new one. |
36,530 | In the Catholic Church history, when, why, and by whom did [the four living creatures](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%204%3A7&version=RSVCE) become associated with the four evangelists?
And what is the reasoning behind this association:
1. Matthew = Man
2. Mark = Lion
3. Luke = Ox
4. John = Eagle | 2015/01/18 | [
"https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/36530",
"https://christianity.stackexchange.com",
"https://christianity.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | The second century church father Irenaeus was probably the first.
Against Heresies: Book III
Chapter XI-Proofs in Continuation, Extracted from St. John's Gospel. The Gospels are Four in Number, Neither More Nor Less. Mystic Reasons for This.
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> 8. It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the Church is scattered throughout all the world, and the “pillar and ground” [ 1 Tim. iii. 15. ] of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life; it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh. From which fact, it is evident that the Word, the Artificer of all, He that sitteth upon the cherubim, and contains all things, He who was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under four aspects, but bound together by one Spirit. As also David says, when entreating His manifestation, “Thou that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth.” [ Ps. lxxx. 1.] For the cherubim, too, were four-faced, and their faces were images of the dispensation of the Son of God. For, [as the Scripture] says, “The first living creature was like a lion,” [ Rev. iv. 7.] symbolizing His effectual working, His leadership, and royal power; the second [living creature] was like a calf, signifying [His] sacrificial and sacerdotal order; but “the third had, as it were, the face as of a man,”—an evident description of His advent as a human being; “the fourth was like a flying eagle,” pointing out the gift of the Spirit hovering with His wings over the Church. And therefore the Gospels are in accord with these things, among which Christ Jesus is seated. For that according to John relates His original, effectual, and glorious generation from the Father, thus declaring, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” [ John i. 1.] Also, “all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.” For this reason, too, is that Gospel full of all confidence, for such is His person. But that according to Luke, taking up [His] priestly character, commenced with Zacharias the priest offering sacrifice to God. For now was made ready the fatted calf, about to be immolated for the finding again of the younger son. Matthew, again, relates His generation as a man, saying, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham;”[ Matt. i. 1, 18.] and also, “The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.” This, then, is the Gospel of His humanity; for which reason it is, too, that [the character of] a humble and meek man is kept up through the whole Gospel. Mark, on the other hand, commences with [a reference to] the prophetical spirit coming down from on high to men, saying, “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Esaias the prophet,”—pointing to the winged aspect of the Gospel; and on this account he made a compendious and cursory narrative, for such is the prophetical character. And the Word of God Himself used to converse with the ante-Mosaic patriarchs, in accordance with His divinity and glory; but for those under the law he instituted a sacerdotal and liturgical service. Afterwards, being made man for us, He sent the gift of the celestial Spirit over all the earth, protecting us with His wings. Such, then, as was the course followed by the Son of God, so was also the form of the living creatures; and such as was the form of the living creatures, so was also the character of the Gospel. For the living creatures are quadriform, and the Gospel is quadriform, as is also the course followed by the Lord. For this reason were four principal (καθολικαί) covenants given to the human race: one, prior to the deluge, under Adam; the second, that after the deluge, under Noah; the third, the giving of the law, under Moses; the fourth, that which renovates man, and sums up all things in itself by means of the Gospel, raising and bearing men upon its wings into the heavenly kingdom.
>
>
>
<http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.iv.xii.html#fna_ix.iv.xii-p39.2>
Cherubim represented the seasons in other Ancient Near Eastern symbolism.
>
> The church Father Irenaeus said the human face of the third beast represented Matthew, the eagle of the fourth the gospel of Mark, the ox of the second Luke, and the lion of the first being John. Victorinus said the man pictured Matthew, the lion Mark, the ox Luke, and the eagle John. Augustine identified the lion with Matthew, the man with Mark, the ox with Luke, and the eagle with John. Athanasius referred the man to Matthew, the calf (i.e., ox) to Mark, the lion to Luke, and the eagle to John. Seemingly, almost every combination has been suggested.15
>
>
> From this passage is derived the familiar symbolism of the four Evangelists; Mark seated on a lion, Luke on a steer, Matthew on a man, and John on an eagle.16
>
>
>
<http://www.spiritandtruth.org/teaching/Book_of_Revelation/commentary/htm/topics/four_gospels.html>
Here is the reasoning of Victorinus in his commentary on the Apocalypse. I think he is the first to match the order you give.
>
> “And round about the throne were four living creatures.”] The four living creatures are the four Gospels.
>
> 7–10. “The first living creature was like to a lion, and the second was like to a calf, and the third had a face like to a man, and the fourth was like to a flying eagle; and they had six wings, and round about and within they were full of eyes; and they had no rest, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord Omnipotent. And the four and twenty elders, falling down before the throne, adored God.”] The four and twenty elders are the twenty-four books of the prophets and of the law, which give testimonies of the judgment. Moreover, also, they are the twenty-four fathers—twelve apostles and twelve patriarchs. And in that the living creatures are different in appearance, this is the reason: the living creature like to a lion designates Mark, in whom is heard the voice of the lion roaring in the desert. And in the figure of a man, Matthew strives to declare to us the genealogy of Mary, from whom Christ took flesh. Therefore, in enumerating from Abraham to David, and thence to Joseph, he spoke of Him as if of a man: therefore his announcement sets forth the image of a man. Luke, in narrating the priesthood of Zacharias as he offers a sacrifice for the people, and the angel that appears to him with respect of the priesthood, and the victim in the same description bore the likeness of a calf. John the evangelist, like to an eagle hastening on uplifted wings to greater heights, argues about the Word of God. Mark, therefore, as an evangelist thus beginning, “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet;”[Mark i. 3. ] The voice of one crying in the wilderness,” [Isa. xl. 3. ] —has the effigy of a lion. And Matthew, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:” [ Matt. i. 1. ] this is the form of a man. But Luke said, “There was a priest, by name Zachariah, of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron:” [ Luke i. 5. ] this is the likeness of a calf. But John, when he begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” [ John i. 1. ] sets forth the likeness of a flying eagle. Moreover, not only do the evangelists express their four similitudes in their respective openings of the Gospels, but also the Word itself of God the Father Omnipotent, which is His Son our Lord Jesus Christ, bears the same likeness in the time of His advent. When He preaches to us, He is, as it were, a lion and a lion’s whelp. And when for man’s salvation He was made man to overcome death, and to set all men free, and that He offered Himself a victim to the Father on our behalf, He was called a calf. And that He overcame death and ascended into the heavens, extending His wings and protecting His people, He was named a flying eagle. Therefore these announcements, although they are four, yet are one, because it proceeded from one mouth. Even as the river in paradise, although it is one, was divided into four heads. Moreover, that for the announcement of the New Testament those living creatures had eyes within and without, shows the spiritual providence which both looks into the secrets of the heart, and beholds the things which are coming after that are within and without.
>
>
>
<http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf07.vi.ii.iv.html> | The [*Catholic Encyclopedia* article "Symbolism"](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14373b.htm) says claims they were prominent in "the art of the early Middle Ages":
>
> For the Evangelists there have been used from very early times certain conventional emblems — a winged man or an angel for St. Matthew, a winged lion for St. Mark, a winged calf for St. Luke, and an eagle for St. John. All these are taken from the description of the heavenly liturgy in Apocalypse 4 and 5 must have been suggested by the vision of Ezechiel (Ezekiel 1:10). In the art of the early Middle Ages these emblems play a very prominent part.
>
>
> |
333,367 | I have looked at the Western Digital website for my product (WDBACX0010BBK) and cannot find how much power the device requires.
The device is not recognized when I plug it into my keyboard's USB hub. The keyboard manufacturer told me that each port supplies up to 100mA.
When I plug the drive into my desktop, it works just fine.
Can anyone link me to a resource that specifies the power requirements for my external hard drive? | 2011/09/08 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/333367",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/37744/"
] | [It does specify the interface](http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?driveID=879&language=1) as USB 2.0 which is 500mA max, the hub that is in the keyboard evidently can only support 100mA, which is common for keyboard hubs, and is most likely a USB 1.1 hub also. USB hard drives that do not have an external power adapter (common for 2.5" sized external hard drives) require more than 100mA due to the fact the hard drive has spinning platters and a motor to drive them.
I have a Dell keyboard with 2 usb ports, I connected my flash drive to one of them and got this message which verifies it is indeed a USB 1.1 hub.
.
Then I went into device manager and found the keyboard hub then I went to the power tab for that hub, which shows the max mA per port.
.
Now here is where I am baffled, I connected my 2.5" usb hard drive to my keyboard and it did not work, no message in windows, nothing, then I connected it to the USB port on the PC and checked in device manager to see what it required for power, it said 100mA, maybe it is some other limitation of the keyboard USB port or device manager is wrong?
.
Next I used a [USB Y cable](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000JIOHDE) to get power from 2 usb ports, connected the Y cable to both keyboard ports, then connected my 2.5" drive, still nothing, the drive was cycling power spinning the drive up and down, then I took one of the Y cable connectors and connected it to a usb port on the PC, plugged in the hard drive and now it works as expected, so it must be some sort of power issue with the keyboard hub.
. | Well, there is a power specification provided by all USB devices.
But if you know the USB protocol well, you will find that the power requirement provided is not calculated by the computer (host). The power requirement must be transmitted by the device to the host. So if a device sends that it needs 100mA, it may still actually need 300mA.
Since the data can be unreliable in many cases, it is better to see what the manufacturer ratings say for the device. Otherwise simply assume 500mA for relatively heavy electronics like HHD or vacuum cleaners, whatever. |
333,367 | I have looked at the Western Digital website for my product (WDBACX0010BBK) and cannot find how much power the device requires.
The device is not recognized when I plug it into my keyboard's USB hub. The keyboard manufacturer told me that each port supplies up to 100mA.
When I plug the drive into my desktop, it works just fine.
Can anyone link me to a resource that specifies the power requirements for my external hard drive? | 2011/09/08 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/333367",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/37744/"
] | [It does specify the interface](http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?driveID=879&language=1) as USB 2.0 which is 500mA max, the hub that is in the keyboard evidently can only support 100mA, which is common for keyboard hubs, and is most likely a USB 1.1 hub also. USB hard drives that do not have an external power adapter (common for 2.5" sized external hard drives) require more than 100mA due to the fact the hard drive has spinning platters and a motor to drive them.
I have a Dell keyboard with 2 usb ports, I connected my flash drive to one of them and got this message which verifies it is indeed a USB 1.1 hub.
.
Then I went into device manager and found the keyboard hub then I went to the power tab for that hub, which shows the max mA per port.
.
Now here is where I am baffled, I connected my 2.5" usb hard drive to my keyboard and it did not work, no message in windows, nothing, then I connected it to the USB port on the PC and checked in device manager to see what it required for power, it said 100mA, maybe it is some other limitation of the keyboard USB port or device manager is wrong?
.
Next I used a [USB Y cable](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000JIOHDE) to get power from 2 usb ports, connected the Y cable to both keyboard ports, then connected my 2.5" drive, still nothing, the drive was cycling power spinning the drive up and down, then I took one of the Y cable connectors and connected it to a usb port on the PC, plugged in the hard drive and now it works as expected, so it must be some sort of power issue with the keyboard hub.
. | Check: <http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=1488>
It indicates that the "My Passport" 2.5" drive series requires a USB 3.0 port with a minimum of 650 mA available.
I don't know how different other drives in the Passport series are but 100 mA is insufficient for most drives in my experience. I think USB 3.0 supports up to 900 mA per port.
I wouldn't trust the device manager properties tab as I get 500 mA quoted on a port that I know supports 900 mA. Go figure. |
101,677 | So I'm guessing you guys know about the speculation that life exists on Titan. To me, this is very interesting but many point out that it would probably only be microbes and unicellular life because the freezing point and melting point of liquid methane is so close together.
But! More complex life could exist in that environment if its temperature never went to either extreme. So let's say there is an Earth-sized planet with all that nice stuff on the surface of Titan that makes life suspected to be able to live there, and it's at the right distance to have all conditions like Titan has. So what conditions would make it so that the planet never had a temperature that reached the freezing or vaporization point of methane? Maybe two moons? | 2018/01/07 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/101677",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/45751/"
] | **A Planet With Stable, Methane Seas**
Distance from a star, atmosphere, and planet rotation are the primary aspects that determine surface temperature of a planet. Even then, in order for a planet to remain at a [constant average temperature](https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/energybalance.html), the total energy radiated from its surface (and atmosphere, if any) must equal the total energy absorbed from the sun.
Even with a maintained temperature, considering that it would generally need to remain between −161 °C (−257.8 °F), methane boiling point, and -182°C (-295.6°F), methane freezing point -- it would be far too cold to sustain any life that we currently know of, [including microbial](https://courses.lumenlearning.com/microbiology/chapter/temperature-and-microbial-growth/).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uu2oo.jpg)
Since water is essential to all known life (which is all carbon based). Without the presence of water, any speculated existence of life is [purely hypothetical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemistry).
Even if a planet were to begin with an oxygen rich atmosphere, the existence of methane seas would completely destroy it. Evaporation and rainfall, of liquid methane, result in a toxic enviroment.
In fact, methane was one of several gases that canaries were used for in coal mines, since they would die before levels reached 5% (the lower explosive limit).
The levels of methane would [destroy any existing ozone layer](https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/methane.html), causing the planet to be completely unprotected from radiation. Over time, the sunlight would break apart methane into carbon and hydrogen and create a thick haze across the planet, which would become [somewhat similar to an ozone layer](https://www.universetoday.com/40242/titans-haze-acts-as-ozone-layer/).
Aside from that, the amount of methane alone would cause asphyxiation/suffocation for any known form of life.
Therefore, even with sustained temperatures, non-volatile, methane seas would still result in extreme cold, unsustainable to life, as well as no water and no oxygen. | Titan is already pretty close to such a world. There is nowhere on its surface where methane actively boils. So I don't know where this speculation that the limited liquid range would restrict organism sizes is coming from. Especially since there are plenty of places on Earth where water either freezes or boils, and complex life clearly gets along just fine in *this* environment....
Additionally, oceans and lakes on Titan, or a larger Titan-like world, are very unlikely to be pure methane. While rain is mostly methane, because of it's much lower boiling point and correspondingly higher vapor pressure, the surface liquid is a mixture of methane and ethane. And ethane has a *much* larger liquid range. That mixture is what any lifeforms are likely to use as their biolsolvent, not pure methane (and a good bit of their metabolism may consist of transforming one into the other, and either releasing or consuming hydrogen), so the liquid range of methane itself is not quite so important.
However, if you want the temperature to remain relatively stable, there are a few general principles to observe:
1. Minimize orbital eccentricity, so the insolation doesn't change much over the course of the year. If the planet always receives the same amount of input, it'll always maintain the same average temperature, modulo major internal changes.
2. Give the planet a large thermal mass. A thick atmosphere and a large ocean, with high heat capacity, are helpful there. This is why coastal regions on Earth have generally milder climates than inland areas--oceans soak up heat during the day and during the summer, and release is during the night and during the winter, smoothing out the variations in sunlight.
3. Make it easy to transport heat around the planet. Again, a thick atmosphere helps here, as does a freely-flowing ocean. If the ocean is broken up by lots of small landmasses, making it difficult for fluid to flow from place to place, you'll have larger temperature variations than if there are large, open avenues for fluid to move all around the planet. A suitably thick atmosphere, such as Venus and Titan already have, may make this moot, but generally you will want some landmasses distributed to force mixing of oceanic currents, or else you might end up with a situation like Antarctica, which is unusually cold because the ocean can circulate continuously around it, and there is little mixing with warmer waters from lower latitudes. Compare the Arctic region, which is warmed by water that's forced to flow north-and-south around the American and Eurasian continents.
So, replace Saturn and Titan with an Earth-sized version of Titan, you've pretty much already got the sort of low-variance environment you want: a thick atmosphere, low eccentricity, and plenty of surface liquid. |
59,294,503 | My class notes have made it clear that these two are not the same. I understand that the Phong Illumination Model is ambiant+diffuse+specular, but where does Phong Shading come into play when it comes to lighting? What about BRDFs? | 2019/12/11 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/59294503",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/9565234/"
] | An illumination model (or reflectance model) tells you for a given surface point, light, and viewer, the amount of light that is reflected towards the viewer. The Phong illumination model does this with the three light components you described and is a special case of a BRDF (only the diffuse and specular part; the ambient part cannot be modeled with a standard BRDF). The illumination model is completely continuous and only defined in physical space (although they need not adhere to a physical illumination model).
A shading model is a strategy to produce an image based on the shape and and illumination model. More specifically, it defines where to evaluate the illumination model and what to do with the result. The Phong shading model evaluates the illumination model at every pixel and uses the result directly as the pixel color. Other shading models evaluate the illumination model only at vertices and blend the colors (Gouraud) or once per face (flat). | Phong Shading is a method used to calculate the shading on an object.
To calculate the shading of a point on an object, the *normals of the vertices* are interpolated.
In comparison, flat shading only uses the normal of the polygon. Phong shading will result in smoother, more curved edges while at the same time not requiring a lot of polygons.
Also see [this article](https://opengl-notes.readthedocs.io/en/latest/topics/lighting/shading.html) and especially the picture. |
59,294,503 | My class notes have made it clear that these two are not the same. I understand that the Phong Illumination Model is ambiant+diffuse+specular, but where does Phong Shading come into play when it comes to lighting? What about BRDFs? | 2019/12/11 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/59294503",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/9565234/"
] | Phong Shading is a method used to calculate the shading on an object.
To calculate the shading of a point on an object, the *normals of the vertices* are interpolated.
In comparison, flat shading only uses the normal of the polygon. Phong shading will result in smoother, more curved edges while at the same time not requiring a lot of polygons.
Also see [this article](https://opengl-notes.readthedocs.io/en/latest/topics/lighting/shading.html) and especially the picture. | The shading model computes the reflected light at a single point, by accounting for the ray and surface directions and reflectance characteristics.
The interpolation method is made to compute the reflected light between points where the normal is known. You distinguish
* Gouraud shading: you evaluate the light color using the reflectance model at the known points, and interpolate on the color;
* Phong shading: you interpolate the normals and apply the reflectance model at every interpolated point.
Phong is more costly but more realistic. |
59,294,503 | My class notes have made it clear that these two are not the same. I understand that the Phong Illumination Model is ambiant+diffuse+specular, but where does Phong Shading come into play when it comes to lighting? What about BRDFs? | 2019/12/11 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/59294503",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/9565234/"
] | An illumination model (or reflectance model) tells you for a given surface point, light, and viewer, the amount of light that is reflected towards the viewer. The Phong illumination model does this with the three light components you described and is a special case of a BRDF (only the diffuse and specular part; the ambient part cannot be modeled with a standard BRDF). The illumination model is completely continuous and only defined in physical space (although they need not adhere to a physical illumination model).
A shading model is a strategy to produce an image based on the shape and and illumination model. More specifically, it defines where to evaluate the illumination model and what to do with the result. The Phong shading model evaluates the illumination model at every pixel and uses the result directly as the pixel color. Other shading models evaluate the illumination model only at vertices and blend the colors (Gouraud) or once per face (flat). | The shading model computes the reflected light at a single point, by accounting for the ray and surface directions and reflectance characteristics.
The interpolation method is made to compute the reflected light between points where the normal is known. You distinguish
* Gouraud shading: you evaluate the light color using the reflectance model at the known points, and interpolate on the color;
* Phong shading: you interpolate the normals and apply the reflectance model at every interpolated point.
Phong is more costly but more realistic. |
9,327,000 | I'm sorry if there is not a whole lot of knowledge backing up this question, but I really want/need to be pointed in the right direction:
I want to develop a simulation of vehicle movement in different 3D landscapes with the "camera" and a limited amount of objects moving in this landscape. The creation of new "landscapes" and new camera and object movements, should be as easy as possible...
So what do I need to look into, to achieve this the best solution?
OpenGL, DirectX, XNA, Certain Game Engines?
Again, the needs for the system:
- Movement of camera in a 3D landscape
- Movement of simple objects in this 3D landscape
- Ease of creating new 3D landscapes
(Or to put it simpler: a driving game without the menus, sound, speed meters, user input and stuff :P) | 2012/02/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/9327000",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1138664/"
] | That's a pretty massive task. I suggest you look at existing 3D engine libraries first such as OpenSceneGraph and Irrlicht, you will also need to learn a graphics API to use those technologies (OpenGL, DX), and to top it all off you will a window and interaction libraries (Qt, wxWidgets, etc).
If you want to visualise data and are not concerned will building a standalone app, I suggest you look at a 3D program that can interpret your model data - Blender, Maya, 3ds max, etc.
As a general rule, anything involving 3D graphics is not easy... | You'll want to use a game engine to do this. Game engines typically have all the features you want, including terrain rendering, camera controls, object physics etc.
There are lots of options in the game engine space, I would personally recommend an open source game engine like [jMonkeyEngine](http://jmonkeyengine.com/) (which is built on top of OpenGL and Java). It has lots of good example code you can learn from or build upon and it certainly [has all the features](http://jmonkeyengine.com/engine/) you are likely to need. |
129,097 | [This Super User question](https://superuser.com/q/1096317/479461) made me ask, is it really a good idea to keep files in quarantine, when you don't know what they are yet? For what I know there are more or less 2 steps that need to be performed for "losing control" of your system. First there has to be some malicious code to be injected to the system and then there needs to be a way to execute it. So what measures does AV software take for "in quarantine"-files to avoid this? I'm assuming, the case where the user is just executing the file isn't the problem. I.e. how to make sure that not a bug is causing some overflow resulting in execution of the code?
In other words: What does AV software do to prevent execution of quarantined files, and can I rely on them not being able to get executed anyway?
**NOTE:** I'm not asking about the ways AV's are performing the quarantine feature. The core of the post is: "What are the ways quarantine features are protecting themselves/quarantined files from beeing tricked/decoded/whatever and getting executed anyways and how likely is it this could happen?" | 2016/07/04 | [
"https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/129097",
"https://security.stackexchange.com",
"https://security.stackexchange.com/users/56061/"
] | The quarantine AV features mentioned in the reply before make sure that the file cannot be executed or accessed while under quarantine. So no, as long as the antivirus is working, there is no danger for the virus to escape quarantine. Practically, some store the file in a different non-runnable format and some just rename the file and deny read/write.execution access to them.
A simple example: you get a standard file with ASCII .exe content, convert that content to binary and re-write it as zeros and 1s into a text file. Nothing can go wrong from there. There's nothing to escape since the file is now binary content saved as text.
-Edit-
So the elements you asked about are Deny R/W/X access and encode the file into anything else but the original format. | It's unlikely that any file would execute without a user having granted that permission. That user could have been someone who prepared the factory image, or you when you ran another program.
To prevent (malicious) content from being accessed, a sure way is to use a completely separate machine to encrypt it using a One Time Pad of the same length as the content, and then keeping the encrypted content and the pad separate until it's time to access the content. Stray execution pointers are rare in stable code, and as such should not execute the malicious content even when it's been decoded. Unless, of course, the decoder was written in an unsafe language and contains a bug that the content knows to exploit. (See JPG exploits.)
If you don't wish to salvage the content, then shredding it from orbit (boot from a secure read-only media) should ensure it never returns... if you use an HDD. SSDs are known to manage their own storage cells in a way that offers no guarantee that the data those cells contain is gone. Even HDDs need multiple overwrites according to army specs, and many companies physically shred the drives to ensure no economical data recovery. |
341,879 | I'm collaborating with a friend to, as a challenge, create a bot that can beat the best human players at a browser-based card / board game called Duelyst. It looks like this:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lb8Kt.png)
It was my original plan to build very basic machine learning from the ground up but he suggested we look into options in [this list](https://github.com/josephmisiti/awesome-machine-learning#general-purpose-machine-learning-10) of JavaScript based machine learning libraries.
The thing is, neither of us know enough about machine learning to know what kind (it's clear there are many different categories / types) we should look into.
Of the items in the list of General Purpose JS Machine Learning libraries there are:
* Deep Learning
* Clustering
* Agglomerative hierarchical clustering
* Decision Tree using ID3 Algorithm
* Digital Neural Networks Architecture
* K-means, fuzzy c-means
* FANN (Fast Artificial Neural Network Library)
* LDA topic modeling
* Logistic regression/c4.5 decision tree
* Support Vector Machine
* Simple and multiple linear regression
* Kalman filter
* Markov Decision Processes
Now obviously my first order of business was to start browsing these different projects and look up a lot of the terminology on Wikipedia but I quickly realized this was such a broad and diverse subject, I would do better to ask an expert to point in the right general direction. The decision making in the game basically involves using one of the few cards you currently have access to (and predicting what cards you have left in your deck which you may gain access to in the near future) and playing them at the right time, moving the minions summoned by the cards around on the field to protect your general and defeat the enemy general.
We already have a fairly good AI developed for playing the game, and I now want to utilize machine learning to predict the opponent's moves and improve the bot's decision making in order to get better at the game with experience.
**Which category / categories of machine learning are relevant to the task of improving the decisions of an AI playing a turn based, card / board game such as the one described?** | 2017/02/09 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/341879",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/262023/"
] | Simply put, [reinforcement learning](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement_learning) studies just that:
>
> Reinforcement learning is an area of machine learning inspired by behaviorist psychology, concerned with how software agents ought to take actions in an environment so as to maximize some notion of cumulative reward.
>
>
>
RL examples frequently involve games; often these models formalize a player's opponent as part of the environment. (Others study all actors, and involve game theory.) Often, the "reward" is related to winning or losing.
It's a very broad, deep field touching concepts in many other areas. E.g. recent advances include applications of deep learning. | machine learning is a broad and difficult subject. if you want to use machine learning in a concious way, i would suggest reading about:
* game tree (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_tree>)
* mini max algorithm (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimax>)
* alpha-beta pruning (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha%E2%80%93beta_pruning>)
and since you can't always use game tree in a pure way (not enough resources in the universe), also about heuristics (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic_%28computer_science%29>).
and regardles of links, wikipedia is a place to start, not to learn. so some book (i learnt about it from "land of lisp - learn to program in lisp, one game at a time") is a must. |
32,158 | My son has just turned 4. He was operated on when he was 2 for squint eyes (strabismus) and his eyes are much better but not perfect. He has to wear glasses to prevent further damage.
He is now very self-conscious about the glasses and friends make comments on them - not nasty, but just out of curiosity. He is fine wearing them, but as soon as it's noticed he wants to remove them, so basically never before other people than family.
I don't want to tell him he has squint eyes, so as not to damage his self esteem, but I need to explain why it is important to wear them. I just don't know what to say. Please help with tips. I don't want him to feel there is something wrong with him. | 2017/10/21 | [
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/32158",
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com",
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com/users/30153/"
] | I have a son who needs glasses for myopia and another who sees perfectly without them. They of course comment on the glasses, mainly because they limit somewhat his activities and require him extra care.
My argument when one or the other asks me why he has to wear glasses (as I do) is simply that one sees better with glasses, and the other without, inasmuch as one is better at running and another at swimming.
Basically, it boils down to the fact that having glasses is like putting a seatbelt for one. Another useful argument is that by wearing glasses he might even see better than the average Joe who apparently does not need them. | My son is going through the same situation (although he is five and just needs them for more typical reasons). He too does not want always wear his glasses.
What we tell him is
>
> The doctor has given you an instruction to wear your glasses all the time.
>
>
>
This way, as the parent you do not have answer technical questions about your child's vision. Perhaps explain in bit more detail why we trust doctors and that their advice is to help us.
The main point you want to drive home will be that glasses are completely normal. Try pointing people you encounter every day that wear glasses. Maybe even pull up some pictures of characters he likes in shows or books.
As far as the friends or other children that he encounters at school or elsewhere, only a simple response is required. Something like
>
> I have to wear glasses because they help me see better.
>
>
>
There is no need for a four year-old to try to (or have to) explain a complex medical condition to other children in his age group. I would doubt they would understand any of it to begin with. |
32,158 | My son has just turned 4. He was operated on when he was 2 for squint eyes (strabismus) and his eyes are much better but not perfect. He has to wear glasses to prevent further damage.
He is now very self-conscious about the glasses and friends make comments on them - not nasty, but just out of curiosity. He is fine wearing them, but as soon as it's noticed he wants to remove them, so basically never before other people than family.
I don't want to tell him he has squint eyes, so as not to damage his self esteem, but I need to explain why it is important to wear them. I just don't know what to say. Please help with tips. I don't want him to feel there is something wrong with him. | 2017/10/21 | [
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/32158",
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com",
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com/users/30153/"
] | Since he's too young for serious explanations, you can just let him know that his eyes are a little more sensitive than those of his friends. Like he needs to wear a sweater in winter, raincoat in summer and earplugs when in a concert, his eyes also need something for their protection and that's what glasses are for. Also, let him know that a few of his friends may also start wearing them if their eyes are found to be sensitive.
My daughter was one of the first in her class to get glasses. We let her select her own frame and then she got to stick whatever cartoon character she wanted on the cover to show her friends. My husband has glasses too so we encouraged her by saying "Now you look just like a grown up" - that made her happy. Gradually, she got used to it and within an year, few other classmates started wearing glasses so she was no longer that self conscious. | My son is going through the same situation (although he is five and just needs them for more typical reasons). He too does not want always wear his glasses.
What we tell him is
>
> The doctor has given you an instruction to wear your glasses all the time.
>
>
>
This way, as the parent you do not have answer technical questions about your child's vision. Perhaps explain in bit more detail why we trust doctors and that their advice is to help us.
The main point you want to drive home will be that glasses are completely normal. Try pointing people you encounter every day that wear glasses. Maybe even pull up some pictures of characters he likes in shows or books.
As far as the friends or other children that he encounters at school or elsewhere, only a simple response is required. Something like
>
> I have to wear glasses because they help me see better.
>
>
>
There is no need for a four year-old to try to (or have to) explain a complex medical condition to other children in his age group. I would doubt they would understand any of it to begin with. |
56,462 | I've recently come across a Rebus puzzle from a friend that I cannot figure out. Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it!! This is what it looks like below
>
> .25.25
>
> .25.25
>
>
>
That is it. Please help! Thank you!! | 2017/10/30 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/56462",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41959/"
] | How about:
>
> [forequarters](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forequarters) as in the front two legs of a quadruped (as opposed to the hindquarters)?
>
>
> | Could it be
>
> Foursquare
>
>
>
Because
>
> It's a square of fourths
>
>
> |
56,462 | I've recently come across a Rebus puzzle from a friend that I cannot figure out. Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it!! This is what it looks like below
>
> .25.25
>
> .25.25
>
>
>
That is it. Please help! Thank you!! | 2017/10/30 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/56462",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41959/"
] | Could it be
>
> Foursquare
>
>
>
Because
>
> It's a square of fourths
>
>
> | Is it
>
> a four square (<http://www.squarefour.org/home>), a game?!
>
>
>
As
>
> all 0.25 are squares of 0.5
>
>
> |
56,462 | I've recently come across a Rebus puzzle from a friend that I cannot figure out. Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it!! This is what it looks like below
>
> .25.25
>
> .25.25
>
>
>
That is it. Please help! Thank you!! | 2017/10/30 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/56462",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41959/"
] | How about:
>
> [forequarters](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forequarters) as in the front two legs of a quadruped (as opposed to the hindquarters)?
>
>
> | The answer is
>
> four quarters in a square.
>
>
>
I got it after checking the markdown of your question and seeing that the two `.25.25`s were meant to be on separate lines. (To force a line break even without a whole paragraph gap, put two spaces at the end of the previous line.) |
56,462 | I've recently come across a Rebus puzzle from a friend that I cannot figure out. Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it!! This is what it looks like below
>
> .25.25
>
> .25.25
>
>
>
That is it. Please help! Thank you!! | 2017/10/30 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/56462",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41959/"
] | Maybe it is a
>
> pound cake
>
>
>
or as we call it in France a
>
> quatre quarts
>
>
>
which is basically
>
> 4 times 0.25, and a cake that requires 4 ingredients in even proportions
>
>
> | The answer is
>
> four quarters in a square.
>
>
>
I got it after checking the markdown of your question and seeing that the two `.25.25`s were meant to be on separate lines. (To force a line break even without a whole paragraph gap, put two spaces at the end of the previous line.) |
56,462 | I've recently come across a Rebus puzzle from a friend that I cannot figure out. Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it!! This is what it looks like below
>
> .25.25
>
> .25.25
>
>
>
That is it. Please help! Thank you!! | 2017/10/30 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/56462",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41959/"
] | In all likelihood, those are
>
> Close quarters
>
>
> | The answer is
>
> four quarters in a square.
>
>
>
I got it after checking the markdown of your question and seeing that the two `.25.25`s were meant to be on separate lines. (To force a line break even without a whole paragraph gap, put two spaces at the end of the previous line.) |
56,462 | I've recently come across a Rebus puzzle from a friend that I cannot figure out. Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it!! This is what it looks like below
>
> .25.25
>
> .25.25
>
>
>
That is it. Please help! Thank you!! | 2017/10/30 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/56462",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41959/"
] | Maybe it is a
>
> pound cake
>
>
>
or as we call it in France a
>
> quatre quarts
>
>
>
which is basically
>
> 4 times 0.25, and a cake that requires 4 ingredients in even proportions
>
>
> | It can be easy math problem.
>
> .25.25 -> quarter of quarter and then using addition
>
>
>
.25.25
.25.25
---
.50.50.50
OR
One Year:
>
> Four seasons (Vivaldi? :)
>
>
>
OR
Poetry:
>
> T.S. Eliot: Four Quartets
>
>
> |
56,462 | I've recently come across a Rebus puzzle from a friend that I cannot figure out. Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it!! This is what it looks like below
>
> .25.25
>
> .25.25
>
>
>
That is it. Please help! Thank you!! | 2017/10/30 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/56462",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41959/"
] | In all likelihood, those are
>
> Close quarters
>
>
> | How about:
>
> [forequarters](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forequarters) as in the front two legs of a quadruped (as opposed to the hindquarters)?
>
>
> |
56,462 | I've recently come across a Rebus puzzle from a friend that I cannot figure out. Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it!! This is what it looks like below
>
> .25.25
>
> .25.25
>
>
>
That is it. Please help! Thank you!! | 2017/10/30 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/56462",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41959/"
] | How about:
>
> [forequarters](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forequarters) as in the front two legs of a quadruped (as opposed to the hindquarters)?
>
>
> | Is it
>
> a four square (<http://www.squarefour.org/home>), a game?!
>
>
>
As
>
> all 0.25 are squares of 0.5
>
>
> |
56,462 | I've recently come across a Rebus puzzle from a friend that I cannot figure out. Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it!! This is what it looks like below
>
> .25.25
>
> .25.25
>
>
>
That is it. Please help! Thank you!! | 2017/10/30 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/56462",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41959/"
] | It can be easy math problem.
>
> .25.25 -> quarter of quarter and then using addition
>
>
>
.25.25
.25.25
---
.50.50.50
OR
One Year:
>
> Four seasons (Vivaldi? :)
>
>
>
OR
Poetry:
>
> T.S. Eliot: Four Quartets
>
>
> | Is it
>
> a four square (<http://www.squarefour.org/home>), a game?!
>
>
>
As
>
> all 0.25 are squares of 0.5
>
>
> |
56,462 | I've recently come across a Rebus puzzle from a friend that I cannot figure out. Anyone who can help, I would really appreciate it!! This is what it looks like below
>
> .25.25
>
> .25.25
>
>
>
That is it. Please help! Thank you!! | 2017/10/30 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/56462",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41959/"
] | Maybe it is a
>
> pound cake
>
>
>
or as we call it in France a
>
> quatre quarts
>
>
>
which is basically
>
> 4 times 0.25, and a cake that requires 4 ingredients in even proportions
>
>
> | Is it
>
> a four square (<http://www.squarefour.org/home>), a game?!
>
>
>
As
>
> all 0.25 are squares of 0.5
>
>
> |
1,885 | I'm writing to ask some advice from those of you working in the game audio/sound design fields. I believe someone other asked a similar question relating to getting a start in the film sound industry, but I'm wondering if anyone out there can recommend some pointers, books, and the like related to game audio?
If I'm looking to work on films, it seems natural to volunteer my services on local productions, but is there an equivalent resource for games or interactive media? I don't doubt there is, but can anyone recommend a particular site or community with independent game developers looking for someone to help out? | 2010/07/12 | [
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/1885",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/users/428/"
] | I'm not a professional yet, but I can at least recommend some books. I see lots of people recommend *The Complete Guide to Game Audio* by Aaron Marks. Gives you the absolute basics of the field.
Also, here is a list of really helpful blogs: <http://www.blastwavefx.com/blog/2009/12/08/10-essential-sound-design-blogs/>
One blog page in particular gives you great beginner's information that I probably couldn't: <http://designingsound.org/index.php?s=sound+design+essentials>
And for networking, there's the Game Audio Network Guild: <http://www.audiogang.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1>. You have to pay for it, but there are alot of perks, like sound design competitions and event discounts.
A free forum is the Game Audio Forum: <http://www.gameaudioforum.com/phpBB3/>. There's a lot of good information there.
I know I listed only websites, so actual sound designers should feel free to add to my list. Good luck! | Karen Collins, Game sound is an essential. This gives a great insight in creating audio for games, also has quite a thorough history. Audio for gaming conference is held once a year or so at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London, you need to be a member of the AES, if you can afford the price for the three days (think its £250 for students and £500 otherwise) you will get to meet some great contacts and the lectures and talks were very informative. |
1,885 | I'm writing to ask some advice from those of you working in the game audio/sound design fields. I believe someone other asked a similar question relating to getting a start in the film sound industry, but I'm wondering if anyone out there can recommend some pointers, books, and the like related to game audio?
If I'm looking to work on films, it seems natural to volunteer my services on local productions, but is there an equivalent resource for games or interactive media? I don't doubt there is, but can anyone recommend a particular site or community with independent game developers looking for someone to help out? | 2010/07/12 | [
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/1885",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/users/428/"
] | I'm not a professional yet, but I can at least recommend some books. I see lots of people recommend *The Complete Guide to Game Audio* by Aaron Marks. Gives you the absolute basics of the field.
Also, here is a list of really helpful blogs: <http://www.blastwavefx.com/blog/2009/12/08/10-essential-sound-design-blogs/>
One blog page in particular gives you great beginner's information that I probably couldn't: <http://designingsound.org/index.php?s=sound+design+essentials>
And for networking, there's the Game Audio Network Guild: <http://www.audiogang.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1>. You have to pay for it, but there are alot of perks, like sound design competitions and event discounts.
A free forum is the Game Audio Forum: <http://www.gameaudioforum.com/phpBB3/>. There's a lot of good information there.
I know I listed only websites, so actual sound designers should feel free to add to my list. Good luck! | Look for Game Developing courses students and offer your work for free so that you come together with a great portfolio! That always works to come up with an interesting reel and the other advantage is that whenever students start working in the area, they may call you for some freelancers jobs if they have to suggest a professional :) It's fun and a great start! |
1,885 | I'm writing to ask some advice from those of you working in the game audio/sound design fields. I believe someone other asked a similar question relating to getting a start in the film sound industry, but I'm wondering if anyone out there can recommend some pointers, books, and the like related to game audio?
If I'm looking to work on films, it seems natural to volunteer my services on local productions, but is there an equivalent resource for games or interactive media? I don't doubt there is, but can anyone recommend a particular site or community with independent game developers looking for someone to help out? | 2010/07/12 | [
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/1885",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/users/428/"
] | Hi there, I'm going to respond as someone who is in the same boat as you are, recently graduating with an Associates in Recording Arts, focusing in Game Audio.
First off, The Aaron Marks book mentioned above is pretty much the bible in the Game Audio community, he (and many other famous sound designers) contributes not only practical information, but theory, and down to earth descriptions of how to handle certain situations. It's an easy read, very eat to digest, and very well written. Oh, also, anything by The Fat Man usually is taken as to be the highest of truths. (just google The Fat Man, you'll find what I'm talking about).
Moving forward, when I gradated (with honors) I thought I was gods gift to the gaming industry, and boy was I mistaken. Since many companies as of late have forced by budgetary constraints to lay off their audio team. Then, they (the game studio) usually end up contracting the same people anyways, just for a lesser cost, as outside contracted work. This makes it difficult for newcomers to find employment in the game industry. Whats more, 2-4 years in college, in fact, does not really give you enough time behind the tools you really need to master in order to flourish making games. For example, my Recording Arts course put me in front of ProTools a lot in the music recording, mixing, and post-production setting, which was fantastic, I learned how to navigate ProTools pretty effectively, learned a whole bunch about frequencies and the Hass effect and doppler and envelopes and gain structure and pitch and phase and timbre and resonance, etc etc etc. I also received some training with programs such as Peak Pro, and Sound Miner, however, I only received about two weeks of FMOD (audio middleware) training. While I did pick up FMOD Designer and Sandbox quickly, the lack of actually being able to make a working build and pass it off to the programming team (how do you do that anyway!?!) didn't help, and neither did not having a finished product to point prospective employers to. What I've found is that simply completing sound asset list assignments doesn't compare to the grueling grind of active game development and the twists and turns and heartbreaks and sweat and tears that it entails.
What I've learned from GDC and AES and from talking on forums such as this one, is that you must start at the bottom and prove yourself as you struggle your way up the ladder. (Again, I am only commenting as someone who is in the same situation as you). Currently, I am contributing (for free) to four separate game mod projects. The place I found these gigs is moddb.com, and indiedb.com, under the "jobs" tab over on the right. These are great websites that host and showcase mods done by teams who build games simply because they love to, and aren't financed by any larger corporation who would publish and release the game. For example, the project I just got hired on, called Renegade-x, is a remake of Command and Conquer Renegade from the early 2000's. Right now it is a mod for UT3, but they are acquiring new talent in order to re build it in UDK and provide a highly polished, stand-alone product. <http://www.renegade-x.com/site/> (shameless, I know, but excited to be on this team) :)
Anyway, I digress
I would highly suggest doing some mod work, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find out how many of your favorite games are the host platform for some pretty impressive mods, with teams that are usually groups of people spread throughout the world, with other "real-life" jobs that keep them busy, and usually families, all coming together for the sake of making something great that the gaming community will appreciate and cherish for extending the life of that franchise ever so slightly. All for free.
Also, as a final note, as I work on these projects, I'm asking the team members to teach me certain programs (such as UDK's audio interface) that I never learned in school order for me to be a more valuable asset to the team, and make myself more hirable in the future. Also, I'm considering focusing mysely into audio programming, rather than straight sound designing, or composing. I asked a question on here not to long ago about just that, and from what I read, the industry needs good, quality audio implementers who want to do just that. I'm trying to relearn FMOD, and other programs such as Wwise, XNA, UDK etc...(I think the Crytek engine is public now too, I believe?) That's an incredible engine that will be churning out some fantastic games in the future.
Oh, and also check out the 'Global Game Jam', and see if you can get in one next year. It's a two day game design crunch mode held usually in a school or studio where participants stay up for 48 hours designing a small game, all designed around the predetermined common theme or topic. Teams from all over the globe participate, and at the end of the 48 hours, you submit to a central source and are judged and awarded and hosted on the Global Game Jam webpage. Sound designers are a rarity in these competitions, and although you'll be getting your butt kicked for 48 straight hours, you'll build some potentially great relationships with fellow game designers.
Sorry about the long post, but I hope this helps, and good luck with your career. | I'm not a professional yet, but I can at least recommend some books. I see lots of people recommend *The Complete Guide to Game Audio* by Aaron Marks. Gives you the absolute basics of the field.
Also, here is a list of really helpful blogs: <http://www.blastwavefx.com/blog/2009/12/08/10-essential-sound-design-blogs/>
One blog page in particular gives you great beginner's information that I probably couldn't: <http://designingsound.org/index.php?s=sound+design+essentials>
And for networking, there's the Game Audio Network Guild: <http://www.audiogang.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1>. You have to pay for it, but there are alot of perks, like sound design competitions and event discounts.
A free forum is the Game Audio Forum: <http://www.gameaudioforum.com/phpBB3/>. There's a lot of good information there.
I know I listed only websites, so actual sound designers should feel free to add to my list. Good luck! |
1,885 | I'm writing to ask some advice from those of you working in the game audio/sound design fields. I believe someone other asked a similar question relating to getting a start in the film sound industry, but I'm wondering if anyone out there can recommend some pointers, books, and the like related to game audio?
If I'm looking to work on films, it seems natural to volunteer my services on local productions, but is there an equivalent resource for games or interactive media? I don't doubt there is, but can anyone recommend a particular site or community with independent game developers looking for someone to help out? | 2010/07/12 | [
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/1885",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/users/428/"
] | I'm not a professional yet, but I can at least recommend some books. I see lots of people recommend *The Complete Guide to Game Audio* by Aaron Marks. Gives you the absolute basics of the field.
Also, here is a list of really helpful blogs: <http://www.blastwavefx.com/blog/2009/12/08/10-essential-sound-design-blogs/>
One blog page in particular gives you great beginner's information that I probably couldn't: <http://designingsound.org/index.php?s=sound+design+essentials>
And for networking, there's the Game Audio Network Guild: <http://www.audiogang.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1>. You have to pay for it, but there are alot of perks, like sound design competitions and event discounts.
A free forum is the Game Audio Forum: <http://www.gameaudioforum.com/phpBB3/>. There's a lot of good information there.
I know I listed only websites, so actual sound designers should feel free to add to my list. Good luck! | On top of *Game Sound* by Karen Collins and *The Complete Guide to Game Audio* by Aaron Marks mentioned above, I'd throw in *The Game Audio Tutorial* by Richard Stevens and Dave Raybould.
I'm still making my way through it, but it's definitely the most practical game audio book I've found so far. Some may say that it's a bad thing that it's a whole book dedicated to using UDK, but I think that makes it more efficient. You're actually learning practical skills that can be applied to any 3D game projects later on. Plus, the overall philosophies of audio in a 3D engine won't change, it's just their implementation techniques that will.
Also, finding mod communities is a great way to go. Or if you're in school, like myself, look for classmates that need projects done. By just saying "I do sound" or "I can be the sound guy", I've garnered a lot of attention since there don't seem to be many of us. Or that could just be where I am...but it's certainly working so far! |
1,885 | I'm writing to ask some advice from those of you working in the game audio/sound design fields. I believe someone other asked a similar question relating to getting a start in the film sound industry, but I'm wondering if anyone out there can recommend some pointers, books, and the like related to game audio?
If I'm looking to work on films, it seems natural to volunteer my services on local productions, but is there an equivalent resource for games or interactive media? I don't doubt there is, but can anyone recommend a particular site or community with independent game developers looking for someone to help out? | 2010/07/12 | [
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/1885",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/users/428/"
] | I'm not a professional yet, but I can at least recommend some books. I see lots of people recommend *The Complete Guide to Game Audio* by Aaron Marks. Gives you the absolute basics of the field.
Also, here is a list of really helpful blogs: <http://www.blastwavefx.com/blog/2009/12/08/10-essential-sound-design-blogs/>
One blog page in particular gives you great beginner's information that I probably couldn't: <http://designingsound.org/index.php?s=sound+design+essentials>
And for networking, there's the Game Audio Network Guild: <http://www.audiogang.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1>. You have to pay for it, but there are alot of perks, like sound design competitions and event discounts.
A free forum is the Game Audio Forum: <http://www.gameaudioforum.com/phpBB3/>. There's a lot of good information there.
I know I listed only websites, so actual sound designers should feel free to add to my list. Good luck! | Start small, look for indie developers forums on stuff like gamedev.net as there's plenty of (unpaid) opportunities there. It's all about getting the cogs turning, finding the right people/companies will become more of a natural process as long as you're 100% dedicated and you have a clear vision. |
1,885 | I'm writing to ask some advice from those of you working in the game audio/sound design fields. I believe someone other asked a similar question relating to getting a start in the film sound industry, but I'm wondering if anyone out there can recommend some pointers, books, and the like related to game audio?
If I'm looking to work on films, it seems natural to volunteer my services on local productions, but is there an equivalent resource for games or interactive media? I don't doubt there is, but can anyone recommend a particular site or community with independent game developers looking for someone to help out? | 2010/07/12 | [
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/1885",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/users/428/"
] | Hi there, I'm going to respond as someone who is in the same boat as you are, recently graduating with an Associates in Recording Arts, focusing in Game Audio.
First off, The Aaron Marks book mentioned above is pretty much the bible in the Game Audio community, he (and many other famous sound designers) contributes not only practical information, but theory, and down to earth descriptions of how to handle certain situations. It's an easy read, very eat to digest, and very well written. Oh, also, anything by The Fat Man usually is taken as to be the highest of truths. (just google The Fat Man, you'll find what I'm talking about).
Moving forward, when I gradated (with honors) I thought I was gods gift to the gaming industry, and boy was I mistaken. Since many companies as of late have forced by budgetary constraints to lay off their audio team. Then, they (the game studio) usually end up contracting the same people anyways, just for a lesser cost, as outside contracted work. This makes it difficult for newcomers to find employment in the game industry. Whats more, 2-4 years in college, in fact, does not really give you enough time behind the tools you really need to master in order to flourish making games. For example, my Recording Arts course put me in front of ProTools a lot in the music recording, mixing, and post-production setting, which was fantastic, I learned how to navigate ProTools pretty effectively, learned a whole bunch about frequencies and the Hass effect and doppler and envelopes and gain structure and pitch and phase and timbre and resonance, etc etc etc. I also received some training with programs such as Peak Pro, and Sound Miner, however, I only received about two weeks of FMOD (audio middleware) training. While I did pick up FMOD Designer and Sandbox quickly, the lack of actually being able to make a working build and pass it off to the programming team (how do you do that anyway!?!) didn't help, and neither did not having a finished product to point prospective employers to. What I've found is that simply completing sound asset list assignments doesn't compare to the grueling grind of active game development and the twists and turns and heartbreaks and sweat and tears that it entails.
What I've learned from GDC and AES and from talking on forums such as this one, is that you must start at the bottom and prove yourself as you struggle your way up the ladder. (Again, I am only commenting as someone who is in the same situation as you). Currently, I am contributing (for free) to four separate game mod projects. The place I found these gigs is moddb.com, and indiedb.com, under the "jobs" tab over on the right. These are great websites that host and showcase mods done by teams who build games simply because they love to, and aren't financed by any larger corporation who would publish and release the game. For example, the project I just got hired on, called Renegade-x, is a remake of Command and Conquer Renegade from the early 2000's. Right now it is a mod for UT3, but they are acquiring new talent in order to re build it in UDK and provide a highly polished, stand-alone product. <http://www.renegade-x.com/site/> (shameless, I know, but excited to be on this team) :)
Anyway, I digress
I would highly suggest doing some mod work, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find out how many of your favorite games are the host platform for some pretty impressive mods, with teams that are usually groups of people spread throughout the world, with other "real-life" jobs that keep them busy, and usually families, all coming together for the sake of making something great that the gaming community will appreciate and cherish for extending the life of that franchise ever so slightly. All for free.
Also, as a final note, as I work on these projects, I'm asking the team members to teach me certain programs (such as UDK's audio interface) that I never learned in school order for me to be a more valuable asset to the team, and make myself more hirable in the future. Also, I'm considering focusing mysely into audio programming, rather than straight sound designing, or composing. I asked a question on here not to long ago about just that, and from what I read, the industry needs good, quality audio implementers who want to do just that. I'm trying to relearn FMOD, and other programs such as Wwise, XNA, UDK etc...(I think the Crytek engine is public now too, I believe?) That's an incredible engine that will be churning out some fantastic games in the future.
Oh, and also check out the 'Global Game Jam', and see if you can get in one next year. It's a two day game design crunch mode held usually in a school or studio where participants stay up for 48 hours designing a small game, all designed around the predetermined common theme or topic. Teams from all over the globe participate, and at the end of the 48 hours, you submit to a central source and are judged and awarded and hosted on the Global Game Jam webpage. Sound designers are a rarity in these competitions, and although you'll be getting your butt kicked for 48 straight hours, you'll build some potentially great relationships with fellow game designers.
Sorry about the long post, but I hope this helps, and good luck with your career. | Karen Collins, Game sound is an essential. This gives a great insight in creating audio for games, also has quite a thorough history. Audio for gaming conference is held once a year or so at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London, you need to be a member of the AES, if you can afford the price for the three days (think its £250 for students and £500 otherwise) you will get to meet some great contacts and the lectures and talks were very informative. |
1,885 | I'm writing to ask some advice from those of you working in the game audio/sound design fields. I believe someone other asked a similar question relating to getting a start in the film sound industry, but I'm wondering if anyone out there can recommend some pointers, books, and the like related to game audio?
If I'm looking to work on films, it seems natural to volunteer my services on local productions, but is there an equivalent resource for games or interactive media? I don't doubt there is, but can anyone recommend a particular site or community with independent game developers looking for someone to help out? | 2010/07/12 | [
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/1885",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/users/428/"
] | Hi there, I'm going to respond as someone who is in the same boat as you are, recently graduating with an Associates in Recording Arts, focusing in Game Audio.
First off, The Aaron Marks book mentioned above is pretty much the bible in the Game Audio community, he (and many other famous sound designers) contributes not only practical information, but theory, and down to earth descriptions of how to handle certain situations. It's an easy read, very eat to digest, and very well written. Oh, also, anything by The Fat Man usually is taken as to be the highest of truths. (just google The Fat Man, you'll find what I'm talking about).
Moving forward, when I gradated (with honors) I thought I was gods gift to the gaming industry, and boy was I mistaken. Since many companies as of late have forced by budgetary constraints to lay off their audio team. Then, they (the game studio) usually end up contracting the same people anyways, just for a lesser cost, as outside contracted work. This makes it difficult for newcomers to find employment in the game industry. Whats more, 2-4 years in college, in fact, does not really give you enough time behind the tools you really need to master in order to flourish making games. For example, my Recording Arts course put me in front of ProTools a lot in the music recording, mixing, and post-production setting, which was fantastic, I learned how to navigate ProTools pretty effectively, learned a whole bunch about frequencies and the Hass effect and doppler and envelopes and gain structure and pitch and phase and timbre and resonance, etc etc etc. I also received some training with programs such as Peak Pro, and Sound Miner, however, I only received about two weeks of FMOD (audio middleware) training. While I did pick up FMOD Designer and Sandbox quickly, the lack of actually being able to make a working build and pass it off to the programming team (how do you do that anyway!?!) didn't help, and neither did not having a finished product to point prospective employers to. What I've found is that simply completing sound asset list assignments doesn't compare to the grueling grind of active game development and the twists and turns and heartbreaks and sweat and tears that it entails.
What I've learned from GDC and AES and from talking on forums such as this one, is that you must start at the bottom and prove yourself as you struggle your way up the ladder. (Again, I am only commenting as someone who is in the same situation as you). Currently, I am contributing (for free) to four separate game mod projects. The place I found these gigs is moddb.com, and indiedb.com, under the "jobs" tab over on the right. These are great websites that host and showcase mods done by teams who build games simply because they love to, and aren't financed by any larger corporation who would publish and release the game. For example, the project I just got hired on, called Renegade-x, is a remake of Command and Conquer Renegade from the early 2000's. Right now it is a mod for UT3, but they are acquiring new talent in order to re build it in UDK and provide a highly polished, stand-alone product. <http://www.renegade-x.com/site/> (shameless, I know, but excited to be on this team) :)
Anyway, I digress
I would highly suggest doing some mod work, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find out how many of your favorite games are the host platform for some pretty impressive mods, with teams that are usually groups of people spread throughout the world, with other "real-life" jobs that keep them busy, and usually families, all coming together for the sake of making something great that the gaming community will appreciate and cherish for extending the life of that franchise ever so slightly. All for free.
Also, as a final note, as I work on these projects, I'm asking the team members to teach me certain programs (such as UDK's audio interface) that I never learned in school order for me to be a more valuable asset to the team, and make myself more hirable in the future. Also, I'm considering focusing mysely into audio programming, rather than straight sound designing, or composing. I asked a question on here not to long ago about just that, and from what I read, the industry needs good, quality audio implementers who want to do just that. I'm trying to relearn FMOD, and other programs such as Wwise, XNA, UDK etc...(I think the Crytek engine is public now too, I believe?) That's an incredible engine that will be churning out some fantastic games in the future.
Oh, and also check out the 'Global Game Jam', and see if you can get in one next year. It's a two day game design crunch mode held usually in a school or studio where participants stay up for 48 hours designing a small game, all designed around the predetermined common theme or topic. Teams from all over the globe participate, and at the end of the 48 hours, you submit to a central source and are judged and awarded and hosted on the Global Game Jam webpage. Sound designers are a rarity in these competitions, and although you'll be getting your butt kicked for 48 straight hours, you'll build some potentially great relationships with fellow game designers.
Sorry about the long post, but I hope this helps, and good luck with your career. | Look for Game Developing courses students and offer your work for free so that you come together with a great portfolio! That always works to come up with an interesting reel and the other advantage is that whenever students start working in the area, they may call you for some freelancers jobs if they have to suggest a professional :) It's fun and a great start! |
1,885 | I'm writing to ask some advice from those of you working in the game audio/sound design fields. I believe someone other asked a similar question relating to getting a start in the film sound industry, but I'm wondering if anyone out there can recommend some pointers, books, and the like related to game audio?
If I'm looking to work on films, it seems natural to volunteer my services on local productions, but is there an equivalent resource for games or interactive media? I don't doubt there is, but can anyone recommend a particular site or community with independent game developers looking for someone to help out? | 2010/07/12 | [
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/1885",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/users/428/"
] | Hi there, I'm going to respond as someone who is in the same boat as you are, recently graduating with an Associates in Recording Arts, focusing in Game Audio.
First off, The Aaron Marks book mentioned above is pretty much the bible in the Game Audio community, he (and many other famous sound designers) contributes not only practical information, but theory, and down to earth descriptions of how to handle certain situations. It's an easy read, very eat to digest, and very well written. Oh, also, anything by The Fat Man usually is taken as to be the highest of truths. (just google The Fat Man, you'll find what I'm talking about).
Moving forward, when I gradated (with honors) I thought I was gods gift to the gaming industry, and boy was I mistaken. Since many companies as of late have forced by budgetary constraints to lay off their audio team. Then, they (the game studio) usually end up contracting the same people anyways, just for a lesser cost, as outside contracted work. This makes it difficult for newcomers to find employment in the game industry. Whats more, 2-4 years in college, in fact, does not really give you enough time behind the tools you really need to master in order to flourish making games. For example, my Recording Arts course put me in front of ProTools a lot in the music recording, mixing, and post-production setting, which was fantastic, I learned how to navigate ProTools pretty effectively, learned a whole bunch about frequencies and the Hass effect and doppler and envelopes and gain structure and pitch and phase and timbre and resonance, etc etc etc. I also received some training with programs such as Peak Pro, and Sound Miner, however, I only received about two weeks of FMOD (audio middleware) training. While I did pick up FMOD Designer and Sandbox quickly, the lack of actually being able to make a working build and pass it off to the programming team (how do you do that anyway!?!) didn't help, and neither did not having a finished product to point prospective employers to. What I've found is that simply completing sound asset list assignments doesn't compare to the grueling grind of active game development and the twists and turns and heartbreaks and sweat and tears that it entails.
What I've learned from GDC and AES and from talking on forums such as this one, is that you must start at the bottom and prove yourself as you struggle your way up the ladder. (Again, I am only commenting as someone who is in the same situation as you). Currently, I am contributing (for free) to four separate game mod projects. The place I found these gigs is moddb.com, and indiedb.com, under the "jobs" tab over on the right. These are great websites that host and showcase mods done by teams who build games simply because they love to, and aren't financed by any larger corporation who would publish and release the game. For example, the project I just got hired on, called Renegade-x, is a remake of Command and Conquer Renegade from the early 2000's. Right now it is a mod for UT3, but they are acquiring new talent in order to re build it in UDK and provide a highly polished, stand-alone product. <http://www.renegade-x.com/site/> (shameless, I know, but excited to be on this team) :)
Anyway, I digress
I would highly suggest doing some mod work, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find out how many of your favorite games are the host platform for some pretty impressive mods, with teams that are usually groups of people spread throughout the world, with other "real-life" jobs that keep them busy, and usually families, all coming together for the sake of making something great that the gaming community will appreciate and cherish for extending the life of that franchise ever so slightly. All for free.
Also, as a final note, as I work on these projects, I'm asking the team members to teach me certain programs (such as UDK's audio interface) that I never learned in school order for me to be a more valuable asset to the team, and make myself more hirable in the future. Also, I'm considering focusing mysely into audio programming, rather than straight sound designing, or composing. I asked a question on here not to long ago about just that, and from what I read, the industry needs good, quality audio implementers who want to do just that. I'm trying to relearn FMOD, and other programs such as Wwise, XNA, UDK etc...(I think the Crytek engine is public now too, I believe?) That's an incredible engine that will be churning out some fantastic games in the future.
Oh, and also check out the 'Global Game Jam', and see if you can get in one next year. It's a two day game design crunch mode held usually in a school or studio where participants stay up for 48 hours designing a small game, all designed around the predetermined common theme or topic. Teams from all over the globe participate, and at the end of the 48 hours, you submit to a central source and are judged and awarded and hosted on the Global Game Jam webpage. Sound designers are a rarity in these competitions, and although you'll be getting your butt kicked for 48 straight hours, you'll build some potentially great relationships with fellow game designers.
Sorry about the long post, but I hope this helps, and good luck with your career. | On top of *Game Sound* by Karen Collins and *The Complete Guide to Game Audio* by Aaron Marks mentioned above, I'd throw in *The Game Audio Tutorial* by Richard Stevens and Dave Raybould.
I'm still making my way through it, but it's definitely the most practical game audio book I've found so far. Some may say that it's a bad thing that it's a whole book dedicated to using UDK, but I think that makes it more efficient. You're actually learning practical skills that can be applied to any 3D game projects later on. Plus, the overall philosophies of audio in a 3D engine won't change, it's just their implementation techniques that will.
Also, finding mod communities is a great way to go. Or if you're in school, like myself, look for classmates that need projects done. By just saying "I do sound" or "I can be the sound guy", I've garnered a lot of attention since there don't seem to be many of us. Or that could just be where I am...but it's certainly working so far! |
1,885 | I'm writing to ask some advice from those of you working in the game audio/sound design fields. I believe someone other asked a similar question relating to getting a start in the film sound industry, but I'm wondering if anyone out there can recommend some pointers, books, and the like related to game audio?
If I'm looking to work on films, it seems natural to volunteer my services on local productions, but is there an equivalent resource for games or interactive media? I don't doubt there is, but can anyone recommend a particular site or community with independent game developers looking for someone to help out? | 2010/07/12 | [
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/1885",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com",
"https://sound.stackexchange.com/users/428/"
] | Hi there, I'm going to respond as someone who is in the same boat as you are, recently graduating with an Associates in Recording Arts, focusing in Game Audio.
First off, The Aaron Marks book mentioned above is pretty much the bible in the Game Audio community, he (and many other famous sound designers) contributes not only practical information, but theory, and down to earth descriptions of how to handle certain situations. It's an easy read, very eat to digest, and very well written. Oh, also, anything by The Fat Man usually is taken as to be the highest of truths. (just google The Fat Man, you'll find what I'm talking about).
Moving forward, when I gradated (with honors) I thought I was gods gift to the gaming industry, and boy was I mistaken. Since many companies as of late have forced by budgetary constraints to lay off their audio team. Then, they (the game studio) usually end up contracting the same people anyways, just for a lesser cost, as outside contracted work. This makes it difficult for newcomers to find employment in the game industry. Whats more, 2-4 years in college, in fact, does not really give you enough time behind the tools you really need to master in order to flourish making games. For example, my Recording Arts course put me in front of ProTools a lot in the music recording, mixing, and post-production setting, which was fantastic, I learned how to navigate ProTools pretty effectively, learned a whole bunch about frequencies and the Hass effect and doppler and envelopes and gain structure and pitch and phase and timbre and resonance, etc etc etc. I also received some training with programs such as Peak Pro, and Sound Miner, however, I only received about two weeks of FMOD (audio middleware) training. While I did pick up FMOD Designer and Sandbox quickly, the lack of actually being able to make a working build and pass it off to the programming team (how do you do that anyway!?!) didn't help, and neither did not having a finished product to point prospective employers to. What I've found is that simply completing sound asset list assignments doesn't compare to the grueling grind of active game development and the twists and turns and heartbreaks and sweat and tears that it entails.
What I've learned from GDC and AES and from talking on forums such as this one, is that you must start at the bottom and prove yourself as you struggle your way up the ladder. (Again, I am only commenting as someone who is in the same situation as you). Currently, I am contributing (for free) to four separate game mod projects. The place I found these gigs is moddb.com, and indiedb.com, under the "jobs" tab over on the right. These are great websites that host and showcase mods done by teams who build games simply because they love to, and aren't financed by any larger corporation who would publish and release the game. For example, the project I just got hired on, called Renegade-x, is a remake of Command and Conquer Renegade from the early 2000's. Right now it is a mod for UT3, but they are acquiring new talent in order to re build it in UDK and provide a highly polished, stand-alone product. <http://www.renegade-x.com/site/> (shameless, I know, but excited to be on this team) :)
Anyway, I digress
I would highly suggest doing some mod work, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find out how many of your favorite games are the host platform for some pretty impressive mods, with teams that are usually groups of people spread throughout the world, with other "real-life" jobs that keep them busy, and usually families, all coming together for the sake of making something great that the gaming community will appreciate and cherish for extending the life of that franchise ever so slightly. All for free.
Also, as a final note, as I work on these projects, I'm asking the team members to teach me certain programs (such as UDK's audio interface) that I never learned in school order for me to be a more valuable asset to the team, and make myself more hirable in the future. Also, I'm considering focusing mysely into audio programming, rather than straight sound designing, or composing. I asked a question on here not to long ago about just that, and from what I read, the industry needs good, quality audio implementers who want to do just that. I'm trying to relearn FMOD, and other programs such as Wwise, XNA, UDK etc...(I think the Crytek engine is public now too, I believe?) That's an incredible engine that will be churning out some fantastic games in the future.
Oh, and also check out the 'Global Game Jam', and see if you can get in one next year. It's a two day game design crunch mode held usually in a school or studio where participants stay up for 48 hours designing a small game, all designed around the predetermined common theme or topic. Teams from all over the globe participate, and at the end of the 48 hours, you submit to a central source and are judged and awarded and hosted on the Global Game Jam webpage. Sound designers are a rarity in these competitions, and although you'll be getting your butt kicked for 48 straight hours, you'll build some potentially great relationships with fellow game designers.
Sorry about the long post, but I hope this helps, and good luck with your career. | Start small, look for indie developers forums on stuff like gamedev.net as there's plenty of (unpaid) opportunities there. It's all about getting the cogs turning, finding the right people/companies will become more of a natural process as long as you're 100% dedicated and you have a clear vision. |
49,888 | What security software do you recommend for workstation with Win2008R2 ? I need to protect only this one workstation so there is no need to have tons of features that support managing other clients. Can Forefront Client Security be installed in a way it is client that protects one local machine without installing all server infrastructure? Wouldn't FCS be kind of overkill?
Of course I can try with some other vendors solution for Win7 security product or even something like Comodo Internet Security (free version) but since I have MSDN subscription I would like to take advantage of that. | 2009/10/02 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/49888",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/12859/"
] | I have used these [instructions](http://allthingsmarked.com/2006/10/22/howto-instantly-change-your-mac-address/) in the past and they work great
>
> There’s a C++ command-line utility called Macshift that allows Windows XP users to change their MAC address to any other valid address. I’ve written about how to use it and how to create shortcuts to change your MAC address on-the-fly. I’ll first explain how to use Macshift for any MAC change, then I’ll show you how to make Windows shortcuts using the command-line options. I’ve also made a small script to make it easier to use, but the script isn’t necessary.
> Macshift usage
>
> Macshift is a command-only utility, so you need to learn the options to use it.
>
>
> | You don't specify your OS, so I'm assuming a Windows flavor. Here's a [decent writeup](http://www.tech-faq.com/change-mac-address.shtml) of changing MACs on Windows as well as a wide variety of other systems.
Note that that page and Systech's link both recommend a program called [Macshift](http://devices.natetrue.com/macshift/) that's listed as WinXP ONLY. |
49,888 | What security software do you recommend for workstation with Win2008R2 ? I need to protect only this one workstation so there is no need to have tons of features that support managing other clients. Can Forefront Client Security be installed in a way it is client that protects one local machine without installing all server infrastructure? Wouldn't FCS be kind of overkill?
Of course I can try with some other vendors solution for Win7 security product or even something like Comodo Internet Security (free version) but since I have MSDN subscription I would like to take advantage of that. | 2009/10/02 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/49888",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/12859/"
] | I have used these [instructions](http://allthingsmarked.com/2006/10/22/howto-instantly-change-your-mac-address/) in the past and they work great
>
> There’s a C++ command-line utility called Macshift that allows Windows XP users to change their MAC address to any other valid address. I’ve written about how to use it and how to create shortcuts to change your MAC address on-the-fly. I’ll first explain how to use Macshift for any MAC change, then I’ll show you how to make Windows shortcuts using the command-line options. I’ve also made a small script to make it easier to use, but the script isn’t necessary.
> Macshift usage
>
> Macshift is a command-only utility, so you need to learn the options to use it.
>
>
> | Go into properties for Network Connection. Click "Configure" next to desired network adapter and on Advanced tab you should have one field for MAC address. Usually it is named "Address", "Locally Administered Address" or something similar. There you have text box in which you can type desired MAC.
Take care that you turn off original PC (or change it's MAC also). |
49,888 | What security software do you recommend for workstation with Win2008R2 ? I need to protect only this one workstation so there is no need to have tons of features that support managing other clients. Can Forefront Client Security be installed in a way it is client that protects one local machine without installing all server infrastructure? Wouldn't FCS be kind of overkill?
Of course I can try with some other vendors solution for Win7 security product or even something like Comodo Internet Security (free version) but since I have MSDN subscription I would like to take advantage of that. | 2009/10/02 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/49888",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/12859/"
] | I have used these [instructions](http://allthingsmarked.com/2006/10/22/howto-instantly-change-your-mac-address/) in the past and they work great
>
> There’s a C++ command-line utility called Macshift that allows Windows XP users to change their MAC address to any other valid address. I’ve written about how to use it and how to create shortcuts to change your MAC address on-the-fly. I’ll first explain how to use Macshift for any MAC change, then I’ll show you how to make Windows shortcuts using the command-line options. I’ve also made a small script to make it easier to use, but the script isn’t necessary.
> Macshift usage
>
> Macshift is a command-only utility, so you need to learn the options to use it.
>
>
> | It is worth mentioning that in a [MAC address](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address#Address_details) the least significant bit of the first octet is a multicast flag (multicast addresses have it set to 1), so the adapter's address should normally have it set to 0. This means that valid values of the first octet must end with 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, A, C or E.
Moreover, the second-least-significant bit of the first octet is used to distinguish between globally and locally administered addresses (if it is 1, the address is locally administered), and certain adapters (e.g. Intel Wireless) may enforce this by not allowing to change the address to another "globally unique" one. Hence, the value of the first octet must end with 2, 6, A or E. |
49,888 | What security software do you recommend for workstation with Win2008R2 ? I need to protect only this one workstation so there is no need to have tons of features that support managing other clients. Can Forefront Client Security be installed in a way it is client that protects one local machine without installing all server infrastructure? Wouldn't FCS be kind of overkill?
Of course I can try with some other vendors solution for Win7 security product or even something like Comodo Internet Security (free version) but since I have MSDN subscription I would like to take advantage of that. | 2009/10/02 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/49888",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/12859/"
] | I have used these [instructions](http://allthingsmarked.com/2006/10/22/howto-instantly-change-your-mac-address/) in the past and they work great
>
> There’s a C++ command-line utility called Macshift that allows Windows XP users to change their MAC address to any other valid address. I’ve written about how to use it and how to create shortcuts to change your MAC address on-the-fly. I’ll first explain how to use Macshift for any MAC change, then I’ll show you how to make Windows shortcuts using the command-line options. I’ve also made a small script to make it easier to use, but the script isn’t necessary.
> Macshift usage
>
> Macshift is a command-only utility, so you need to learn the options to use it.
>
>
> | A very important note for Windows 7 users:
MAC spoofing only works with windows 7 if the new MAC's second hex digit is one of the following: 2,6,A,E. |
49,888 | What security software do you recommend for workstation with Win2008R2 ? I need to protect only this one workstation so there is no need to have tons of features that support managing other clients. Can Forefront Client Security be installed in a way it is client that protects one local machine without installing all server infrastructure? Wouldn't FCS be kind of overkill?
Of course I can try with some other vendors solution for Win7 security product or even something like Comodo Internet Security (free version) but since I have MSDN subscription I would like to take advantage of that. | 2009/10/02 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/49888",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/12859/"
] | I have used these [instructions](http://allthingsmarked.com/2006/10/22/howto-instantly-change-your-mac-address/) in the past and they work great
>
> There’s a C++ command-line utility called Macshift that allows Windows XP users to change their MAC address to any other valid address. I’ve written about how to use it and how to create shortcuts to change your MAC address on-the-fly. I’ll first explain how to use Macshift for any MAC change, then I’ll show you how to make Windows shortcuts using the command-line options. I’ve also made a small script to make it easier to use, but the script isn’t necessary.
> Macshift usage
>
> Macshift is a command-only utility, so you need to learn the options to use it.
>
>
> | Some network adapters allow you to change the MAC address of a network adapter through their configuration dialog:
An example is shown in [this screencast](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMIM0tCi1R4). But please keep in mind that this doesn't relate to all network adapters! |
11,155,095 | I'm developing a new client-server app (.Net) and have up until now been using WCF, which suits the app's request-response approach nicely. However I've been asked to replace this with a socket-based solution, partly to support non-.Net clients, and future pub-sub/broadcast requirements (I realise WCF is capable, but there are other drivers behind the decision). Having failed miserably at writing my own async socket solution, I'm now looking at ZeroMQ.
My client app has a couple of background threads that periodically request data from the server. Additionally, certain UI actions (e.g. a button click) can trigger a message to the server. WCF made this easy - the code simply called the relevant method on a singleton WCF service proxy (actually I use the Castle Windsor WCF facility which gives me async calling capabilities, but that's probably irrelevant to my question).
I'm not too sure how this approach would translate to ZeroMQ, particularly with regards to managing the sockets - I'm very new to ZeroMQ and still reading the guide. Am I right in saying that I'll need a separate socket for each thread (i.e. the two b/g threads and the UI)? What about socket lifetime - do I create one each time I want to send/receive (presumably inefficient), or create the socket when the thread starts and reuse it for the entire lifetime of the thread? | 2012/06/22 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/11155095",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/981831/"
] | One thing has to be very clear. **ZMQ sockets can connect and talk to ZMQ sockets only.**
This means that if I am building an distributed application whose components communicate to each other, I have liberty to choose any communication approach as external clients are not exposed to it.
Choosing ZMQ Sockets for such means is a good idea. It allows you to instantly build on many communication patterns like req/rep, push/pull, pub/sub etc and also build more complicated topologies using ZMQ devices.
How ever, This constraint is not to be taken lightly when external clients are concerned. This will enforce all external clients to use ZMQ sockets which might not be ideal. If one of the client happens to be a browser consuming your web services then you will need to provide services through regular client.
>
> Is your client app using regular sockets?
> Can it be re-written to use ZMQ sockets?
>
>
> if not then don't use ZMQ sockets for external interface
> but only for your internal component communication.
>
>
>
[Edit: Further notes]
ZMQ is a wrapper over sockets but that does a few things which are hard to get done by hand
1. It manages messaging at higher throughput by batching multiple messages at the same time
2. Optimizes use of socket at the same time
3. A socket can send messages to only one another socket, ZMQ socket can connect to multiple ZMQ sockets
4. ZMQ socket based solution can take immediate advantage of various patterns - REQ/REP, PUSH/PULL, PUB/SUB etc
How ever, it is common to mistake ZMQ to be a messaging queue.
1. Messaging Queue as available has other properties like message persistence and delivery guarantee etc by implementing a queue for storage.
2. ZMQ stands for "Zero Messaging Queue"
I have only been learning ZMQ in recent times and have been very happy to use it.
Checkout my mini tutorial on ZMQ and See if it make sense for you to use it:
<http://learning-0mq-with-pyzmq.readthedocs.org/en/latest/> | Regarding castle integration, check out what Henry's done on his fork:
<https://github.com/hconceicao/clrzmq2/tree/master/src/integration> |
7,072 | With the ability to migrate questions, I have found quite a few duplicates on both SU and MSO due to questions being migrated from others sites.
Do we handle these as normal duplicates or should we just let them be? | 2009/07/19 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7072",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/132480/"
] | I don't know if it should apply to *all* votes after the rep cap is reached. Instead, how about a badge for a non-wiki answer with X upvotes that was posted *after* the author reached their daily cap?
As a side note, this happened to me the other day on SuperUser - I was capped out and I posted an answer that rapidly gained 15 votes. I'm glad it was so well received, but I couldn't help but wish that the question (and my answer) were posted when I wasn't already capped out. | I think this could be potentially refined into something like if you manage to get X amount of upvotes above the rep limit (say +10).
I would call it Pro Bono, which is derived from the act of lawyers and other professionals taking on a case and not getting paid for it. |
7,072 | With the ability to migrate questions, I have found quite a few duplicates on both SU and MSO due to questions being migrated from others sites.
Do we handle these as normal duplicates or should we just let them be? | 2009/07/19 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7072",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/132480/"
] | I think this could be potentially refined into something like if you manage to get X amount of upvotes above the rep limit (say +10).
I would call it Pro Bono, which is derived from the act of lawyers and other professionals taking on a case and not getting paid for it. | I like the concept. The situation happened to me several times, mostly before I got close to the daily cap and posted my final answer for the day. Next day I noticed I did not receive 180 rep from it - I felt cheated and discouraged.
There are one option which could set things strait again: ask for rep recalc and hope you won't loose rep due deleted questions. I guess I'll try it, just to see.
I suggest other names:
* Free advice - you did a good community job for free due The Cap.
* Out of business - you almost received rep from the community after you were out.
* Singularitee - your rep was absorbed by a wormhole |
7,072 | With the ability to migrate questions, I have found quite a few duplicates on both SU and MSO due to questions being migrated from others sites.
Do we handle these as normal duplicates or should we just let them be? | 2009/07/19 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7072",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/132480/"
] | This was implemented with the Mortarboard (bronze), Epic (silver), and Legendary (gold) badges! | I think this could be potentially refined into something like if you manage to get X amount of upvotes above the rep limit (say +10).
I would call it Pro Bono, which is derived from the act of lawyers and other professionals taking on a case and not getting paid for it. |
7,072 | With the ability to migrate questions, I have found quite a few duplicates on both SU and MSO due to questions being migrated from others sites.
Do we handle these as normal duplicates or should we just let them be? | 2009/07/19 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7072",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/132480/"
] | I don't know if it should apply to *all* votes after the rep cap is reached. Instead, how about a badge for a non-wiki answer with X upvotes that was posted *after* the author reached their daily cap?
As a side note, this happened to me the other day on SuperUser - I was capped out and I posted an answer that rapidly gained 15 votes. I'm glad it was so well received, but I couldn't help but wish that the question (and my answer) were posted when I wasn't already capped out. | I like the concept. The situation happened to me several times, mostly before I got close to the daily cap and posted my final answer for the day. Next day I noticed I did not receive 180 rep from it - I felt cheated and discouraged.
There are one option which could set things strait again: ask for rep recalc and hope you won't loose rep due deleted questions. I guess I'll try it, just to see.
I suggest other names:
* Free advice - you did a good community job for free due The Cap.
* Out of business - you almost received rep from the community after you were out.
* Singularitee - your rep was absorbed by a wormhole |
7,072 | With the ability to migrate questions, I have found quite a few duplicates on both SU and MSO due to questions being migrated from others sites.
Do we handle these as normal duplicates or should we just let them be? | 2009/07/19 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7072",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/132480/"
] | This was implemented with the Mortarboard (bronze), Epic (silver), and Legendary (gold) badges! | I don't know if it should apply to *all* votes after the rep cap is reached. Instead, how about a badge for a non-wiki answer with X upvotes that was posted *after* the author reached their daily cap?
As a side note, this happened to me the other day on SuperUser - I was capped out and I posted an answer that rapidly gained 15 votes. I'm glad it was so well received, but I couldn't help but wish that the question (and my answer) were posted when I wasn't already capped out. |
7,072 | With the ability to migrate questions, I have found quite a few duplicates on both SU and MSO due to questions being migrated from others sites.
Do we handle these as normal duplicates or should we just let them be? | 2009/07/19 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7072",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/132480/"
] | I don't know if it should apply to *all* votes after the rep cap is reached. Instead, how about a badge for a non-wiki answer with X upvotes that was posted *after* the author reached their daily cap?
As a side note, this happened to me the other day on SuperUser - I was capped out and I posted an answer that rapidly gained 15 votes. I'm glad it was so well received, but I couldn't help but wish that the question (and my answer) were posted when I wasn't already capped out. | I don't think the Mortarboard, Epic, Legendary badges are quite the same.
Those badges simply award (repeatedly) hitting the rep cap; this question is asking for a badge for going beyond the rep cap
I'm no Jon Skeet, bu on many days, I've received thirty or forty votes for answers given after hitting the cap.
I think that there should be bronze, silver, and gold badges for getting 10, 20, and 40 votes on answers *given* after hitting the cap. |
7,072 | With the ability to migrate questions, I have found quite a few duplicates on both SU and MSO due to questions being migrated from others sites.
Do we handle these as normal duplicates or should we just let them be? | 2009/07/19 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7072",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/132480/"
] | This was implemented with the Mortarboard (bronze), Epic (silver), and Legendary (gold) badges! | I like the concept. The situation happened to me several times, mostly before I got close to the daily cap and posted my final answer for the day. Next day I noticed I did not receive 180 rep from it - I felt cheated and discouraged.
There are one option which could set things strait again: ask for rep recalc and hope you won't loose rep due deleted questions. I guess I'll try it, just to see.
I suggest other names:
* Free advice - you did a good community job for free due The Cap.
* Out of business - you almost received rep from the community after you were out.
* Singularitee - your rep was absorbed by a wormhole |
7,072 | With the ability to migrate questions, I have found quite a few duplicates on both SU and MSO due to questions being migrated from others sites.
Do we handle these as normal duplicates or should we just let them be? | 2009/07/19 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7072",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/132480/"
] | I don't think the Mortarboard, Epic, Legendary badges are quite the same.
Those badges simply award (repeatedly) hitting the rep cap; this question is asking for a badge for going beyond the rep cap
I'm no Jon Skeet, bu on many days, I've received thirty or forty votes for answers given after hitting the cap.
I think that there should be bronze, silver, and gold badges for getting 10, 20, and 40 votes on answers *given* after hitting the cap. | I like the concept. The situation happened to me several times, mostly before I got close to the daily cap and posted my final answer for the day. Next day I noticed I did not receive 180 rep from it - I felt cheated and discouraged.
There are one option which could set things strait again: ask for rep recalc and hope you won't loose rep due deleted questions. I guess I'll try it, just to see.
I suggest other names:
* Free advice - you did a good community job for free due The Cap.
* Out of business - you almost received rep from the community after you were out.
* Singularitee - your rep was absorbed by a wormhole |
7,072 | With the ability to migrate questions, I have found quite a few duplicates on both SU and MSO due to questions being migrated from others sites.
Do we handle these as normal duplicates or should we just let them be? | 2009/07/19 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7072",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/132480/"
] | This was implemented with the Mortarboard (bronze), Epic (silver), and Legendary (gold) badges! | I don't think the Mortarboard, Epic, Legendary badges are quite the same.
Those badges simply award (repeatedly) hitting the rep cap; this question is asking for a badge for going beyond the rep cap
I'm no Jon Skeet, bu on many days, I've received thirty or forty votes for answers given after hitting the cap.
I think that there should be bronze, silver, and gold badges for getting 10, 20, and 40 votes on answers *given* after hitting the cap. |
43,019 | Computer Science PhD admit here.
Is it crazy of me to turn down a top school (MIT/Stanford) for a lower-ranked school (think Cornell/UW/Columbia/Michigan) if I think there is better advisor fit?
Obviously all of these are fantastic schools and I am very lucky to be choosing from them. However, I felt like I got along really well with my would-be advisor at the lower-ranked school than I did at MIT/Stanford. People have told me that it's crazy of me to turn down MIT/Stanford since they are, along with Berkeley/CMU, on a different "level" than the other schools.
(My field is somewhat narrow so there is only 1~2 faculty at each of the schools doing research in the area. So regardless of which school I go to, if the advisor doesn't work out, I would be in a dire position.)
EDIT: Both advisors are well known in the field (and both have produced outstanding graduates), but the MIT/Stanford professor is good deal more senior. Also, talking with their current students, the MIT/Stanford professor is known to be pushy and have a "strong" personality (which may work for some people, but not sure whether it will work for me, as I've never worked with such people before). | 2015/04/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43019",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32039/"
] | There are some aspects of the decision that are independent of your advisor, such as having a large pool of impressive peers to learn from and work with, but the degree of fit with your advisor is certainly a major factor.
If you believe you can't work effectively with the potential advisors at the higher-ranked schools, then there's no point in choosing one of those schools. If the advisor at the lower-ranked school is performing at or above the level of the other possible advisors (as judged by influential papers and successful students), then again you don't have to worry. But your phrasing makes me a little uncomfortable:
>
> I felt like I got along really well with my would-be advisor at the lower-ranked school
>
>
>
This sounds like you are describing how quickly you clicked and became comfortable, but you can learn an enormous amount from someone even if you never develop an easy rapport with them or feel you could be friends. It's worth thinking about whether the less comfortable relationship could nevertheless be productive. Maybe it can't - it depends on the personalities and the details of your interaction - but it's important to distinguish how much you like the advisor from how fruitful the intellectual relationship might be.
I wouldn't stress out too much about this decision, though. My impression is that Cornell and UW are not so markedly far behind MIT and Stanford in computer science. (There's a gap, but not a huge gap.) If one of them feels like a better fit, you are not jeopardizing your career. | As previous responders have already answered, **both your options are top-notch institutions** and no sane future employer will think less of you for having gone somewhere on step lower on a league table. I know I can only present a single case, my own, but **beware of first impressions**! My worst advisor ever, who treated me worse than an unwanted brat, was oh-so charming and pleasant during the one-day interview and during our pre-employment e-mail contact. That said, my best advisor ever was lovely during the interview too, so all I can say is: Beware of first impressions! maybe the MIT guy just was having a bad stressful day?
It is worth looking also at the **breadth of work within realated fields** at the two places too. It is not necessarily great if they are brilliant and have huge teams working on your subject, what would you be doing then? incremental work? if there is a breadth then you can expand and learn from experts in complementary subject too, expand your work and bring a fresh view or implementation for it? Not that I know what you are working with, but it helped me in material science.
Final point: **It's not only the Advisor that counts**. Did you get a chance to talk to others in the dept? it can help to get a feel of the collegiality, how friendly, open and helpful a place is it? or is it super-competitive? Also what are their pet peeves? do they struggle to get instrument time? (or whatever the equivalent is for computer scientists) do they ever get to present their work at significant conferences?
I know this makes for an impossible spreadsheet, you might end up flipping a coin. If you're being offered a place at both MIT and Cornell, you must be a smart dude or dudette! I doubt you'll struggle to get a new place if the first one turns out to be impossible. It is allowed to quit. Worked for me. Then I took a year off to milk cows (über-cool!) and now am happily back in the lab at a better uni than I started :-)
**EDIT::** As previous responders also said, dont' forget the rest of life too. Don't move somewhere you don't want to live. **Friends, family, hobbies**, and/or the ease of travelling to fun places or home at weekends and holidays counts for a lot too! Remember, you'll be living there for at least a couple of years. |
43,019 | Computer Science PhD admit here.
Is it crazy of me to turn down a top school (MIT/Stanford) for a lower-ranked school (think Cornell/UW/Columbia/Michigan) if I think there is better advisor fit?
Obviously all of these are fantastic schools and I am very lucky to be choosing from them. However, I felt like I got along really well with my would-be advisor at the lower-ranked school than I did at MIT/Stanford. People have told me that it's crazy of me to turn down MIT/Stanford since they are, along with Berkeley/CMU, on a different "level" than the other schools.
(My field is somewhat narrow so there is only 1~2 faculty at each of the schools doing research in the area. So regardless of which school I go to, if the advisor doesn't work out, I would be in a dire position.)
EDIT: Both advisors are well known in the field (and both have produced outstanding graduates), but the MIT/Stanford professor is good deal more senior. Also, talking with their current students, the MIT/Stanford professor is known to be pushy and have a "strong" personality (which may work for some people, but not sure whether it will work for me, as I've never worked with such people before). | 2015/04/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43019",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32039/"
] | All of the schools that you are discussing are first-rank computer science schools with global leadership in their areas of specialty. In this area at least, the only real difference between the "top" and "top of the top" schools that you are considering is the *number* of different areas in which the school is a global leader. Thus, if you already have a clear, narrow focus that you know that you want to work in, and there are 1-2 people in that area at all of the schools you are choosing between, the distinction between "top" and "top of the top" is pretty much null.
Furthermore, your graduate career will be primarily determined by your advisor relationship rather than the school within which it will occur. Beware of being misled by first impressions, but a good match with your Ph.D. advisor is worth much more than the incremental difference between schools. | There are some aspects of the decision that are independent of your advisor, such as having a large pool of impressive peers to learn from and work with, but the degree of fit with your advisor is certainly a major factor.
If you believe you can't work effectively with the potential advisors at the higher-ranked schools, then there's no point in choosing one of those schools. If the advisor at the lower-ranked school is performing at or above the level of the other possible advisors (as judged by influential papers and successful students), then again you don't have to worry. But your phrasing makes me a little uncomfortable:
>
> I felt like I got along really well with my would-be advisor at the lower-ranked school
>
>
>
This sounds like you are describing how quickly you clicked and became comfortable, but you can learn an enormous amount from someone even if you never develop an easy rapport with them or feel you could be friends. It's worth thinking about whether the less comfortable relationship could nevertheless be productive. Maybe it can't - it depends on the personalities and the details of your interaction - but it's important to distinguish how much you like the advisor from how fruitful the intellectual relationship might be.
I wouldn't stress out too much about this decision, though. My impression is that Cornell and UW are not so markedly far behind MIT and Stanford in computer science. (There's a gap, but not a huge gap.) If one of them feels like a better fit, you are not jeopardizing your career. |
43,019 | Computer Science PhD admit here.
Is it crazy of me to turn down a top school (MIT/Stanford) for a lower-ranked school (think Cornell/UW/Columbia/Michigan) if I think there is better advisor fit?
Obviously all of these are fantastic schools and I am very lucky to be choosing from them. However, I felt like I got along really well with my would-be advisor at the lower-ranked school than I did at MIT/Stanford. People have told me that it's crazy of me to turn down MIT/Stanford since they are, along with Berkeley/CMU, on a different "level" than the other schools.
(My field is somewhat narrow so there is only 1~2 faculty at each of the schools doing research in the area. So regardless of which school I go to, if the advisor doesn't work out, I would be in a dire position.)
EDIT: Both advisors are well known in the field (and both have produced outstanding graduates), but the MIT/Stanford professor is good deal more senior. Also, talking with their current students, the MIT/Stanford professor is known to be pushy and have a "strong" personality (which may work for some people, but not sure whether it will work for me, as I've never worked with such people before). | 2015/04/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43019",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32039/"
] | There are some aspects of the decision that are independent of your advisor, such as having a large pool of impressive peers to learn from and work with, but the degree of fit with your advisor is certainly a major factor.
If you believe you can't work effectively with the potential advisors at the higher-ranked schools, then there's no point in choosing one of those schools. If the advisor at the lower-ranked school is performing at or above the level of the other possible advisors (as judged by influential papers and successful students), then again you don't have to worry. But your phrasing makes me a little uncomfortable:
>
> I felt like I got along really well with my would-be advisor at the lower-ranked school
>
>
>
This sounds like you are describing how quickly you clicked and became comfortable, but you can learn an enormous amount from someone even if you never develop an easy rapport with them or feel you could be friends. It's worth thinking about whether the less comfortable relationship could nevertheless be productive. Maybe it can't - it depends on the personalities and the details of your interaction - but it's important to distinguish how much you like the advisor from how fruitful the intellectual relationship might be.
I wouldn't stress out too much about this decision, though. My impression is that Cornell and UW are not so markedly far behind MIT and Stanford in computer science. (There's a gap, but not a huge gap.) If one of them feels like a better fit, you are not jeopardizing your career. | All of the above answers are correct. However, do trust your first impressions. I didn't click with my first prospective advisor and picked someone else. That prospective advisor failed to get tenure after his next couple of graduate students opted to switch advisors and start new research projects in the 3-4th year of their theses. These choices were made in spite of the fact that he was a really bright guy and working in a hot research field.
He was apparently a nightmare to work for.
It wouldn't hurt to confirm your first impressions by communicating with people who have worked with and for the advisors you are considering. Former research students, collaborators, et cetera. Being personable and likeable is a moderately positive sign, but there are a lot of different components to being a good PhD mentor. |
43,019 | Computer Science PhD admit here.
Is it crazy of me to turn down a top school (MIT/Stanford) for a lower-ranked school (think Cornell/UW/Columbia/Michigan) if I think there is better advisor fit?
Obviously all of these are fantastic schools and I am very lucky to be choosing from them. However, I felt like I got along really well with my would-be advisor at the lower-ranked school than I did at MIT/Stanford. People have told me that it's crazy of me to turn down MIT/Stanford since they are, along with Berkeley/CMU, on a different "level" than the other schools.
(My field is somewhat narrow so there is only 1~2 faculty at each of the schools doing research in the area. So regardless of which school I go to, if the advisor doesn't work out, I would be in a dire position.)
EDIT: Both advisors are well known in the field (and both have produced outstanding graduates), but the MIT/Stanford professor is good deal more senior. Also, talking with their current students, the MIT/Stanford professor is known to be pushy and have a "strong" personality (which may work for some people, but not sure whether it will work for me, as I've never worked with such people before). | 2015/04/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43019",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32039/"
] | All of the schools that you are discussing are first-rank computer science schools with global leadership in their areas of specialty. In this area at least, the only real difference between the "top" and "top of the top" schools that you are considering is the *number* of different areas in which the school is a global leader. Thus, if you already have a clear, narrow focus that you know that you want to work in, and there are 1-2 people in that area at all of the schools you are choosing between, the distinction between "top" and "top of the top" is pretty much null.
Furthermore, your graduate career will be primarily determined by your advisor relationship rather than the school within which it will occur. Beware of being misled by first impressions, but a good match with your Ph.D. advisor is worth much more than the incremental difference between schools. | As previous responders have already answered, **both your options are top-notch institutions** and no sane future employer will think less of you for having gone somewhere on step lower on a league table. I know I can only present a single case, my own, but **beware of first impressions**! My worst advisor ever, who treated me worse than an unwanted brat, was oh-so charming and pleasant during the one-day interview and during our pre-employment e-mail contact. That said, my best advisor ever was lovely during the interview too, so all I can say is: Beware of first impressions! maybe the MIT guy just was having a bad stressful day?
It is worth looking also at the **breadth of work within realated fields** at the two places too. It is not necessarily great if they are brilliant and have huge teams working on your subject, what would you be doing then? incremental work? if there is a breadth then you can expand and learn from experts in complementary subject too, expand your work and bring a fresh view or implementation for it? Not that I know what you are working with, but it helped me in material science.
Final point: **It's not only the Advisor that counts**. Did you get a chance to talk to others in the dept? it can help to get a feel of the collegiality, how friendly, open and helpful a place is it? or is it super-competitive? Also what are their pet peeves? do they struggle to get instrument time? (or whatever the equivalent is for computer scientists) do they ever get to present their work at significant conferences?
I know this makes for an impossible spreadsheet, you might end up flipping a coin. If you're being offered a place at both MIT and Cornell, you must be a smart dude or dudette! I doubt you'll struggle to get a new place if the first one turns out to be impossible. It is allowed to quit. Worked for me. Then I took a year off to milk cows (über-cool!) and now am happily back in the lab at a better uni than I started :-)
**EDIT::** As previous responders also said, dont' forget the rest of life too. Don't move somewhere you don't want to live. **Friends, family, hobbies**, and/or the ease of travelling to fun places or home at weekends and holidays counts for a lot too! Remember, you'll be living there for at least a couple of years. |
43,019 | Computer Science PhD admit here.
Is it crazy of me to turn down a top school (MIT/Stanford) for a lower-ranked school (think Cornell/UW/Columbia/Michigan) if I think there is better advisor fit?
Obviously all of these are fantastic schools and I am very lucky to be choosing from them. However, I felt like I got along really well with my would-be advisor at the lower-ranked school than I did at MIT/Stanford. People have told me that it's crazy of me to turn down MIT/Stanford since they are, along with Berkeley/CMU, on a different "level" than the other schools.
(My field is somewhat narrow so there is only 1~2 faculty at each of the schools doing research in the area. So regardless of which school I go to, if the advisor doesn't work out, I would be in a dire position.)
EDIT: Both advisors are well known in the field (and both have produced outstanding graduates), but the MIT/Stanford professor is good deal more senior. Also, talking with their current students, the MIT/Stanford professor is known to be pushy and have a "strong" personality (which may work for some people, but not sure whether it will work for me, as I've never worked with such people before). | 2015/04/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43019",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32039/"
] | All of the schools that you are discussing are first-rank computer science schools with global leadership in their areas of specialty. In this area at least, the only real difference between the "top" and "top of the top" schools that you are considering is the *number* of different areas in which the school is a global leader. Thus, if you already have a clear, narrow focus that you know that you want to work in, and there are 1-2 people in that area at all of the schools you are choosing between, the distinction between "top" and "top of the top" is pretty much null.
Furthermore, your graduate career will be primarily determined by your advisor relationship rather than the school within which it will occur. Beware of being misled by first impressions, but a good match with your Ph.D. advisor is worth much more than the incremental difference between schools. | All of the above answers are correct. However, do trust your first impressions. I didn't click with my first prospective advisor and picked someone else. That prospective advisor failed to get tenure after his next couple of graduate students opted to switch advisors and start new research projects in the 3-4th year of their theses. These choices were made in spite of the fact that he was a really bright guy and working in a hot research field.
He was apparently a nightmare to work for.
It wouldn't hurt to confirm your first impressions by communicating with people who have worked with and for the advisors you are considering. Former research students, collaborators, et cetera. Being personable and likeable is a moderately positive sign, but there are a lot of different components to being a good PhD mentor. |
37,959 | If so where can I find the installation? | 2009/09/07 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/37959",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/-1/"
] | It's not installed by default in Mac OS X 10.5. You can install it via a package manager like MacPorts, or from the package on the [MySQL web site](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/mac-os-x-installation.html). | I do not believe it is. The easiest thing to do is to download it from [here](http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.1.html#macosx-dmg) (mysql.com) I install both it and the startup item included in the package. |
37,959 | If so where can I find the installation? | 2009/09/07 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/37959",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/-1/"
] | It's not installed by default in Mac OS X 10.5. You can install it via a package manager like MacPorts, or from the package on the [MySQL web site](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/mac-os-x-installation.html). | It's not installed in 10.6 either.- |
37,959 | If so where can I find the installation? | 2009/09/07 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/37959",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/-1/"
] | It's not installed by default in Mac OS X 10.5. You can install it via a package manager like MacPorts, or from the package on the [MySQL web site](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/mac-os-x-installation.html). | If you follow [these instructions](http://hivelogic.com/articles/compiling-mysql-on-snow-leopard/), you can install MySQL by hand on Snow Leopard. (There are versions of the instructions for Leopard accessible on the site as well). It also contains instructions for registering MySQL with `launchd`, allowing you to just forget about it (it will be running if your computer is running), and also turn it off when you need to do so. |
37,959 | If so where can I find the installation? | 2009/09/07 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/37959",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/-1/"
] | no, it isn’t—only on server version:
<http://developer.apple.com/internet/opensource/osdb.html> | I do not believe it is. The easiest thing to do is to download it from [here](http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.1.html#macosx-dmg) (mysql.com) I install both it and the startup item included in the package. |
37,959 | If so where can I find the installation? | 2009/09/07 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/37959",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/-1/"
] | no, it isn’t—only on server version:
<http://developer.apple.com/internet/opensource/osdb.html> | It's not installed in 10.6 either.- |
37,959 | If so where can I find the installation? | 2009/09/07 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/37959",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/-1/"
] | no, it isn’t—only on server version:
<http://developer.apple.com/internet/opensource/osdb.html> | If you follow [these instructions](http://hivelogic.com/articles/compiling-mysql-on-snow-leopard/), you can install MySQL by hand on Snow Leopard. (There are versions of the instructions for Leopard accessible on the site as well). It also contains instructions for registering MySQL with `launchd`, allowing you to just forget about it (it will be running if your computer is running), and also turn it off when you need to do so. |
108,830 | Given the hype over PWAs, are there real advantages compared to native apps?
How does this as a single platform change the experience? | 2017/06/08 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/108830",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/91465/"
] | PWA = Progressive Web Apps
It may be defined as **Radically improving web user experience**
Just to simplify it - It's the experience of native app which you provide to the user.
**Why Progressive Apps?**
Case 1 : Users nowadays doesn't want to install app every time when they have to get their work done,User doesn't have to wait to download app from a app store then use it.
Instead web apps provide same experience on the mobile browser to complete user's task. - **No more waiting**
Case 2 : In the world of millions apps and 30+ apps already on users phone with an average of 10+ app updates daily it really becomes hard for user to update apps every time there is new version launched, Whereas web apps makes it simpler for user. **Ease of use**
Case 3 : Data bandwith, User who is on mobile with a mobile data and with limited bandwith(2g) or a user from remote area cannot really cannot download app and cannot actually use app with low speed, Whereas in browser with PWA it becomes easier for user and makes the experience delightful.
**Why does companies have both ?**
As PWA is a latest trend the companies which had websites(old) and apps are currently moving towards PWA with a Iterative process\*\*(checklist)\*\* instead of building whole web app with all the features at one shot.
**Look, Feel & aesthetics**
PWA is a inspiration of native app, where the same experience is provided for a user in browser same as a native app.
Here are some links which will be helpful
<http://blog.proto.io/secret-killer-ux-design-microinteractions/>
<https://medium.com/@owencm/designing-great-uis-for-progressive-web-apps-dd38c1d20f7>
<https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/08/a-beginners-guide-to-progressive-web-apps/>
<https://pwa.rocks/>
<https://www.cygnismedia.com/blog/design-progressive-web-apps/>
<https://www.mobify.com/insights/progressive-web-is-the-new-responsive/> | *This is very broad for SE, but I'll attempt a succinct response since I love the PWA movement …*
tl;dr
=====
>
> The reason PWA is the hotness right now is the impressive promises.
>
>
> * **Minimal platform differences**: lower engineering expense, greater experience consistency.
> * **Users don't need to "install"**: lower barrier to adoption.
> * **No performance loss**: this remains to be completely proven out, but it looks good.
>
>
>
The cons …
Apple doesn't like it? |
108,830 | Given the hype over PWAs, are there real advantages compared to native apps?
How does this as a single platform change the experience? | 2017/06/08 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/108830",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/91465/"
] | PWA = Progressive Web Apps
It may be defined as **Radically improving web user experience**
Just to simplify it - It's the experience of native app which you provide to the user.
**Why Progressive Apps?**
Case 1 : Users nowadays doesn't want to install app every time when they have to get their work done,User doesn't have to wait to download app from a app store then use it.
Instead web apps provide same experience on the mobile browser to complete user's task. - **No more waiting**
Case 2 : In the world of millions apps and 30+ apps already on users phone with an average of 10+ app updates daily it really becomes hard for user to update apps every time there is new version launched, Whereas web apps makes it simpler for user. **Ease of use**
Case 3 : Data bandwith, User who is on mobile with a mobile data and with limited bandwith(2g) or a user from remote area cannot really cannot download app and cannot actually use app with low speed, Whereas in browser with PWA it becomes easier for user and makes the experience delightful.
**Why does companies have both ?**
As PWA is a latest trend the companies which had websites(old) and apps are currently moving towards PWA with a Iterative process\*\*(checklist)\*\* instead of building whole web app with all the features at one shot.
**Look, Feel & aesthetics**
PWA is a inspiration of native app, where the same experience is provided for a user in browser same as a native app.
Here are some links which will be helpful
<http://blog.proto.io/secret-killer-ux-design-microinteractions/>
<https://medium.com/@owencm/designing-great-uis-for-progressive-web-apps-dd38c1d20f7>
<https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/08/a-beginners-guide-to-progressive-web-apps/>
<https://pwa.rocks/>
<https://www.cygnismedia.com/blog/design-progressive-web-apps/>
<https://www.mobify.com/insights/progressive-web-is-the-new-responsive/> | The way you've framed the question makes it harder for me to give my answer so I will pretend I just read the **PWA v/s Native app** part.
**PWA** - The best and the only advantage I feel it has is the platform independence. Open any web app (especially on your phone); Outlook, Gmail, even the SE sites and you will immediately notice the lack of performance, lack of fluency, lack of features and there's a general air of uncertainty about the experience.
**Native App** - Yes, you have to install it on your phone but unless you're using it for just once, you'd prefer having it on your device for quick access. App sizes have reduced drastically due to capable APIs and native apps (mostly) have a better UX.
*Time and effort - PWA*
* Open a web-browser
* Type in the URL or visit Google (then click on the link)
* Login isn't usually the first page so click on that
* Enter your credentials and click on Login
* Wait for the API to load
* Now you can use it.
*Time and effort - Native App*
* Open the app store **(just once)**
* Search and download the app **(just once)**
* Open and login **(usually is a single sign-on so again, just once)**
* Use
Like I mentioned in my comment earlier, this might be a personal preference but I have hardly seen a regular user prefer PWA to a native app |
11,493 | Take a look at this communication app I am making for our small company (you might need to open it in a new window to see it clearly):
The application is docked on the right side of the screen. It stays on top, but it never overlaps other windows because I've tricked the computer into thinking that it is a Windows Bar.
Everything is working out great and the CEO loves it, the problem is, the top half looks a bit bland. The bottom half looks nice and professional, the top half just seems... ugly and I can't think of what to do with it.
I've got an option screen that I think looks nice:
I've also got a popup for when you click on the "Choose People" button.
What can I do with the top half to make it look nicer?
**EDIT**
Well, I was going to do Roger Attrill's design, problem was, labels apparently don't have a background image property and it was going to be too hard to overlap controls.
I ended up going with the other two answers. I thought you guys might be interested in seeing the final result:
 | 2011/09/17 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/11493",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/7489/"
] | **For the Application:**
The thick black horizontal lines separating each person are very heavy. Try removing them or making them a light gray. Also, consider using a subtle background texture to add a bit of visual interest. I really like this site for inspiration along those lines: <http://subtlepatterns.com/>
**For the Pop Up:**
Better typography and a few light splashes of color could help you a lot here. Use typography to help out with the visual weighting of the form elements. In particular, make the top radio button choices a bigger font, and make the sub otions a lighter color and a smaller font. | Maybe give every other row a light gray color. Or clean up your "boxes". They don't look as clean as they probably could be. Instead of just bold, make each box header have a color. |
11,493 | Take a look at this communication app I am making for our small company (you might need to open it in a new window to see it clearly):
The application is docked on the right side of the screen. It stays on top, but it never overlaps other windows because I've tricked the computer into thinking that it is a Windows Bar.
Everything is working out great and the CEO loves it, the problem is, the top half looks a bit bland. The bottom half looks nice and professional, the top half just seems... ugly and I can't think of what to do with it.
I've got an option screen that I think looks nice:
I've also got a popup for when you click on the "Choose People" button.
What can I do with the top half to make it look nicer?
**EDIT**
Well, I was going to do Roger Attrill's design, problem was, labels apparently don't have a background image property and it was going to be too hard to overlap controls.
I ended up going with the other two answers. I thought you guys might be interested in seeing the final result:
 | 2011/09/17 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/11493",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/7489/"
] | Without disturbing the overall pale and minimal feel that I assume you're going for - I did this quick mock-up - removing the distracting noise of horizontal lines and introducing a hint of colour into the look - also doing away with the MS System font or whatever it was. I'm sure you can do something with the message areas as well...
 | Maybe give every other row a light gray color. Or clean up your "boxes". They don't look as clean as they probably could be. Instead of just bold, make each box header have a color. |
46,012,298 | I read that dynamic semantic errors cannot be detected by the C compiler as semantic analysis phase catches only static semantic errors.
Then which component of C compiler does the checking of dynamic semantic errors? | 2017/09/02 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/46012298",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5841727/"
] | >
> which component of C compiler does the checking of dynamic semantic errors?
>
>
>
No phase. They are detected at runtime, if at all, by definition.
>
> By dynamic semantic error, I mean accessing an index of array (out of bounds).
>
>
>
There is no such check in C.
>
> I read somewhere that compiler generates code for checking dynamic semantic errors.
>
>
>
Not in C.
>
> I am not sure what it meant.
>
>
>
Nothing in the case of C. Possibly you were reading about some other language. In any case the dynamic semantic check is still executed at runtime, not by any compiler phase. | As for my understanding the dynamic semantic errors can be discovered only during the runtime. C does not have any mechanisms for it, as C does not allow any dynamic semantics at all :) It is not an interpreted or JIT comiled language.
If you provide a real example of the dynamic semantic error in C, it will clarify what you actually mean |
86 | I had heard from someone that Chess evolved from [Chaturanga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga) then [Shatranj](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatranj). Are there any pointers towards this?
I would like to know counter arguments as well, if any. | 2012/05/02 | [
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/86",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/users/105/"
] | Those two games are indeed early forms of chess. The pieces were similar, although their moves were different, and there were some chess rules that had not yet been invented; however, chess evolved from those early games. | Chaturanga indeed is chess. In Hindi language Chaturanga (shatranj in Arablic), is what chess (which is in English) called. |
86 | I had heard from someone that Chess evolved from [Chaturanga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga) then [Shatranj](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatranj). Are there any pointers towards this?
I would like to know counter arguments as well, if any. | 2012/05/02 | [
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/86",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/users/105/"
] | Those two games are indeed early forms of chess. The pieces were similar, although their moves were different, and there were some chess rules that had not yet been invented; however, chess evolved from those early games. | I found this article very informative:
<http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200904/the.game.of.kings.htm>
These sections were particularly relevant:
>
> Chess, however, was not invented in Persia. All early Persian references to chess use the term *chatrang*, from the Sanskrit *chaturanga* (“in four parts”), which describes the four components of an early Indian army: infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. The use of a Sanskrit-derived word for chess in an early Persian romance suggests an Indian origin for the game and not local invention, although supporting evidence is murky.
>
> ...
> The only convincing early Indian mention of chess is in a romance attributed to the sixth century, thus slightly earlier than the first Persian and Central Asian evidence. The poet Subandhu used a chess image to describe the monsoon season:
>
>
> *The time of the rains played its game with frogs for chessmen which, yellow and green in color … leapt up on the black field squares.*
>
>
> A story of the seventh-century Persian king Nushirvan (recorded by Firdawsi in the 11th-century *Shahnamah*, or *Book of Kings*) also supports an Indian origin of chess. An envoy came from India, the story says, “with elephants, parasols, and cavalry” and a chessboard, chessmen and a challenge: If Nushirvan’s courtiers could figure out the basic rules of the game, then unknown in Persia, the Indian king would gladly pay tribute to the Persian monarch. If they failed, however, Nushirvan would pay tribute to the Indian king. Nobles and priests labored without success for a week. Finally, after a day and a night of struggle, Nushirvan’s vizier deciphered and described the game:
>
>
> *The sage has invented a battlefield, in the midst of which the king takes up his station. To the left and right of him the army is disposed, the foot-soldiers occupying the rank in front. At the king’s side stands his sagacious counselor, advising him on the strategy to be carried out during the battle. In the two directions the elephants are posted with their faces turned toward the conflict. Beyond them are stationed the war-horses, on which are mounted two resourceful riders, and fighting alongside them to the left and right are turrets ready for the fray*
>
>
> |
86 | I had heard from someone that Chess evolved from [Chaturanga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga) then [Shatranj](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatranj). Are there any pointers towards this?
I would like to know counter arguments as well, if any. | 2012/05/02 | [
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/86",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/users/105/"
] | Those two games are indeed early forms of chess. The pieces were similar, although their moves were different, and there were some chess rules that had not yet been invented; however, chess evolved from those early games. | Chaturanga is the ancient game that gave birth to board games chess, shogi, makruk, xiangqi and janggi. I believe Chaturanga is the same game as Shatranj or got only slightly varied while moved from India to Sassanid Persia. There is another variation of chess Chaturaji which used 2 dices and 4 players (Ludo style) around 11th century or slightly earlier. The game of chess evolved from Shatranj and got most of the current rules around 15th century in Spain. It was only at late 19th century that Chess as we know of has been formalized. |
86 | I had heard from someone that Chess evolved from [Chaturanga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga) then [Shatranj](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatranj). Are there any pointers towards this?
I would like to know counter arguments as well, if any. | 2012/05/02 | [
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/86",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/users/105/"
] | Those two games are indeed early forms of chess. The pieces were similar, although their moves were different, and there were some chess rules that had not yet been invented; however, chess evolved from those early games. | Chaturanga was evolved 2000 yrs ago. Chaturanga is based on Ashtpaad board (8×8) which was again modified. Many modern variants including Modern Chess are supposedly derived from Chaturanga.
Before Ashtpaad board, Dashpaad board existed on 10x10. If you go through the historical evidences, you will find these boards. On Dashpaad board, Shadyantra or Shatranjan was played. So, Dashpaad is the most ancient board, and Shad Yantra is the most oldest game. |
86 | I had heard from someone that Chess evolved from [Chaturanga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga) then [Shatranj](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatranj). Are there any pointers towards this?
I would like to know counter arguments as well, if any. | 2012/05/02 | [
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/86",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/users/105/"
] | Chaturanga indeed is chess. In Hindi language Chaturanga (shatranj in Arablic), is what chess (which is in English) called. | I found this article very informative:
<http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200904/the.game.of.kings.htm>
These sections were particularly relevant:
>
> Chess, however, was not invented in Persia. All early Persian references to chess use the term *chatrang*, from the Sanskrit *chaturanga* (“in four parts”), which describes the four components of an early Indian army: infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. The use of a Sanskrit-derived word for chess in an early Persian romance suggests an Indian origin for the game and not local invention, although supporting evidence is murky.
>
> ...
> The only convincing early Indian mention of chess is in a romance attributed to the sixth century, thus slightly earlier than the first Persian and Central Asian evidence. The poet Subandhu used a chess image to describe the monsoon season:
>
>
> *The time of the rains played its game with frogs for chessmen which, yellow and green in color … leapt up on the black field squares.*
>
>
> A story of the seventh-century Persian king Nushirvan (recorded by Firdawsi in the 11th-century *Shahnamah*, or *Book of Kings*) also supports an Indian origin of chess. An envoy came from India, the story says, “with elephants, parasols, and cavalry” and a chessboard, chessmen and a challenge: If Nushirvan’s courtiers could figure out the basic rules of the game, then unknown in Persia, the Indian king would gladly pay tribute to the Persian monarch. If they failed, however, Nushirvan would pay tribute to the Indian king. Nobles and priests labored without success for a week. Finally, after a day and a night of struggle, Nushirvan’s vizier deciphered and described the game:
>
>
> *The sage has invented a battlefield, in the midst of which the king takes up his station. To the left and right of him the army is disposed, the foot-soldiers occupying the rank in front. At the king’s side stands his sagacious counselor, advising him on the strategy to be carried out during the battle. In the two directions the elephants are posted with their faces turned toward the conflict. Beyond them are stationed the war-horses, on which are mounted two resourceful riders, and fighting alongside them to the left and right are turrets ready for the fray*
>
>
> |
86 | I had heard from someone that Chess evolved from [Chaturanga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga) then [Shatranj](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatranj). Are there any pointers towards this?
I would like to know counter arguments as well, if any. | 2012/05/02 | [
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/86",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/users/105/"
] | Chaturanga indeed is chess. In Hindi language Chaturanga (shatranj in Arablic), is what chess (which is in English) called. | Chaturanga was evolved 2000 yrs ago. Chaturanga is based on Ashtpaad board (8×8) which was again modified. Many modern variants including Modern Chess are supposedly derived from Chaturanga.
Before Ashtpaad board, Dashpaad board existed on 10x10. If you go through the historical evidences, you will find these boards. On Dashpaad board, Shadyantra or Shatranjan was played. So, Dashpaad is the most ancient board, and Shad Yantra is the most oldest game. |
86 | I had heard from someone that Chess evolved from [Chaturanga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga) then [Shatranj](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatranj). Are there any pointers towards this?
I would like to know counter arguments as well, if any. | 2012/05/02 | [
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/86",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/users/105/"
] | Chaturanga is the ancient game that gave birth to board games chess, shogi, makruk, xiangqi and janggi. I believe Chaturanga is the same game as Shatranj or got only slightly varied while moved from India to Sassanid Persia. There is another variation of chess Chaturaji which used 2 dices and 4 players (Ludo style) around 11th century or slightly earlier. The game of chess evolved from Shatranj and got most of the current rules around 15th century in Spain. It was only at late 19th century that Chess as we know of has been formalized. | I found this article very informative:
<http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200904/the.game.of.kings.htm>
These sections were particularly relevant:
>
> Chess, however, was not invented in Persia. All early Persian references to chess use the term *chatrang*, from the Sanskrit *chaturanga* (“in four parts”), which describes the four components of an early Indian army: infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. The use of a Sanskrit-derived word for chess in an early Persian romance suggests an Indian origin for the game and not local invention, although supporting evidence is murky.
>
> ...
> The only convincing early Indian mention of chess is in a romance attributed to the sixth century, thus slightly earlier than the first Persian and Central Asian evidence. The poet Subandhu used a chess image to describe the monsoon season:
>
>
> *The time of the rains played its game with frogs for chessmen which, yellow and green in color … leapt up on the black field squares.*
>
>
> A story of the seventh-century Persian king Nushirvan (recorded by Firdawsi in the 11th-century *Shahnamah*, or *Book of Kings*) also supports an Indian origin of chess. An envoy came from India, the story says, “with elephants, parasols, and cavalry” and a chessboard, chessmen and a challenge: If Nushirvan’s courtiers could figure out the basic rules of the game, then unknown in Persia, the Indian king would gladly pay tribute to the Persian monarch. If they failed, however, Nushirvan would pay tribute to the Indian king. Nobles and priests labored without success for a week. Finally, after a day and a night of struggle, Nushirvan’s vizier deciphered and described the game:
>
>
> *The sage has invented a battlefield, in the midst of which the king takes up his station. To the left and right of him the army is disposed, the foot-soldiers occupying the rank in front. At the king’s side stands his sagacious counselor, advising him on the strategy to be carried out during the battle. In the two directions the elephants are posted with their faces turned toward the conflict. Beyond them are stationed the war-horses, on which are mounted two resourceful riders, and fighting alongside them to the left and right are turrets ready for the fray*
>
>
> |
86 | I had heard from someone that Chess evolved from [Chaturanga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga) then [Shatranj](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatranj). Are there any pointers towards this?
I would like to know counter arguments as well, if any. | 2012/05/02 | [
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/86",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com",
"https://chess.stackexchange.com/users/105/"
] | Chaturanga is the ancient game that gave birth to board games chess, shogi, makruk, xiangqi and janggi. I believe Chaturanga is the same game as Shatranj or got only slightly varied while moved from India to Sassanid Persia. There is another variation of chess Chaturaji which used 2 dices and 4 players (Ludo style) around 11th century or slightly earlier. The game of chess evolved from Shatranj and got most of the current rules around 15th century in Spain. It was only at late 19th century that Chess as we know of has been formalized. | Chaturanga was evolved 2000 yrs ago. Chaturanga is based on Ashtpaad board (8×8) which was again modified. Many modern variants including Modern Chess are supposedly derived from Chaturanga.
Before Ashtpaad board, Dashpaad board existed on 10x10. If you go through the historical evidences, you will find these boards. On Dashpaad board, Shadyantra or Shatranjan was played. So, Dashpaad is the most ancient board, and Shad Yantra is the most oldest game. |
375,272 | Having been a hobbyist programmer for 3 years (mainly Python and C) and never having written an application longer than 500 lines of code, I find myself faced with two choices :
(1) Learn the essentials of data structures and algorithm design so I can become a l33t computer scientist.
(2) Learn Qt, which would help me build projects I have been *itching* to build for a long time.
For learning (1), everyone seems to recommend reading CLRS. Unfortunately, reading CLRS would take me at least an year of study (or more, I'm not Peter Krumins). I also understand that to accomplish any moderately complex task using (2), I *will* need to understand at least the fundamentals of (1), which brings me to my question : assuming I use C++ as the programming language of choice, **which parts of CLRS would give me sufficient knowledge of algorithms and data structures to work on large projects using (2)?**
In other words, I need **a list of theoretical CompSci topics absolutely essential for everyday application programming tasks**. Also, I want to use CLRS as a handy reference, so I don't want to skip any material critical to understanding the later sections of the book.
Don't get me wrong here. Discrete math and the theoretical underpinnings of CompSci have been on my "TODO: URGENT" list for about 6 months now, but I just don't have enough time owing to college work. After a long time, I have 15 days off to do whatever the hell I like, and I want to spend these 15 days building applications I really *want* to build rather than sitting at my desk, pen and paper in hand, trying to write down the solution to a textbook problem.
(BTW, a less-math-more-code resource on algorithms will be highly appreciated. I'm just out of high school and my math is not at the level it should be.)
Thanks :) | 2008/12/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/375272",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/47135/"
] | For a less-math, more code resource on algorithms than CLRS, check out [Algorithms in a Nutshell](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/059651624X). If you're going to be writing desktop applications, I don't consider CLRS to be required reading. If you're using C++ I think [Sedgewick](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0201350882) is a more appropriate choice. | Heed the wisdom of Don and *just do it*. Can you define the features that you want your application to have? Can you break those features down into smaller tasks? Can you organize the code produced by those tasks into a coherent structure?
Of course you can. Identify any 'risky' areas (areas that you do not understand, e.g. something that requires more math than you know, or special algorithms you would have to research) and either find another solution, prototype a solution, or come back to SO and ask specific questions. |
375,272 | Having been a hobbyist programmer for 3 years (mainly Python and C) and never having written an application longer than 500 lines of code, I find myself faced with two choices :
(1) Learn the essentials of data structures and algorithm design so I can become a l33t computer scientist.
(2) Learn Qt, which would help me build projects I have been *itching* to build for a long time.
For learning (1), everyone seems to recommend reading CLRS. Unfortunately, reading CLRS would take me at least an year of study (or more, I'm not Peter Krumins). I also understand that to accomplish any moderately complex task using (2), I *will* need to understand at least the fundamentals of (1), which brings me to my question : assuming I use C++ as the programming language of choice, **which parts of CLRS would give me sufficient knowledge of algorithms and data structures to work on large projects using (2)?**
In other words, I need **a list of theoretical CompSci topics absolutely essential for everyday application programming tasks**. Also, I want to use CLRS as a handy reference, so I don't want to skip any material critical to understanding the later sections of the book.
Don't get me wrong here. Discrete math and the theoretical underpinnings of CompSci have been on my "TODO: URGENT" list for about 6 months now, but I just don't have enough time owing to college work. After a long time, I have 15 days off to do whatever the hell I like, and I want to spend these 15 days building applications I really *want* to build rather than sitting at my desk, pen and paper in hand, trying to write down the solution to a textbook problem.
(BTW, a less-math-more-code resource on algorithms will be highly appreciated. I'm just out of high school and my math is not at the level it should be.)
Thanks :) | 2008/12/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/375272",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/47135/"
] | For a less-math, more code resource on algorithms than CLRS, check out [Algorithms in a Nutshell](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/059651624X). If you're going to be writing desktop applications, I don't consider CLRS to be required reading. If you're using C++ I think [Sedgewick](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0201350882) is a more appropriate choice. | I must say that sitting down with a dry old textbook and reading it through is not the way to learn how to do anything effectively, even if you are making notes. Doing it is the best way to learn, using the textbooks as a reference. Indeed, using sites like this as a reference.
As for data structures - learn which one is good for whatever situation you envision: Sets (sorted and unsorted), Lists (ArrayList, LinkedList), Maps (HashMap, TreeMap). Complexity of doing basic operations - adding, removing, searching, sorting, etc. That will help you to select an appropriate library data structure to use in your application.
And also make sure you're reasonably warm with MVC - i.e., ensure your model is separate from your view (the QT front-end) as best as possible. Best would be to have the model and algorithms working on their own, and then put the GUI on top. Or a unit test on top. Etc...
Good luck! |
375,272 | Having been a hobbyist programmer for 3 years (mainly Python and C) and never having written an application longer than 500 lines of code, I find myself faced with two choices :
(1) Learn the essentials of data structures and algorithm design so I can become a l33t computer scientist.
(2) Learn Qt, which would help me build projects I have been *itching* to build for a long time.
For learning (1), everyone seems to recommend reading CLRS. Unfortunately, reading CLRS would take me at least an year of study (or more, I'm not Peter Krumins). I also understand that to accomplish any moderately complex task using (2), I *will* need to understand at least the fundamentals of (1), which brings me to my question : assuming I use C++ as the programming language of choice, **which parts of CLRS would give me sufficient knowledge of algorithms and data structures to work on large projects using (2)?**
In other words, I need **a list of theoretical CompSci topics absolutely essential for everyday application programming tasks**. Also, I want to use CLRS as a handy reference, so I don't want to skip any material critical to understanding the later sections of the book.
Don't get me wrong here. Discrete math and the theoretical underpinnings of CompSci have been on my "TODO: URGENT" list for about 6 months now, but I just don't have enough time owing to college work. After a long time, I have 15 days off to do whatever the hell I like, and I want to spend these 15 days building applications I really *want* to build rather than sitting at my desk, pen and paper in hand, trying to write down the solution to a textbook problem.
(BTW, a less-math-more-code resource on algorithms will be highly appreciated. I'm just out of high school and my math is not at the level it should be.)
Thanks :) | 2008/12/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/375272",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/47135/"
] | Heed the wisdom of Don and *just do it*. Can you define the features that you want your application to have? Can you break those features down into smaller tasks? Can you organize the code produced by those tasks into a coherent structure?
Of course you can. Identify any 'risky' areas (areas that you do not understand, e.g. something that requires more math than you know, or special algorithms you would have to research) and either find another solution, prototype a solution, or come back to SO and ask specific questions. | I must say that sitting down with a dry old textbook and reading it through is not the way to learn how to do anything effectively, even if you are making notes. Doing it is the best way to learn, using the textbooks as a reference. Indeed, using sites like this as a reference.
As for data structures - learn which one is good for whatever situation you envision: Sets (sorted and unsorted), Lists (ArrayList, LinkedList), Maps (HashMap, TreeMap). Complexity of doing basic operations - adding, removing, searching, sorting, etc. That will help you to select an appropriate library data structure to use in your application.
And also make sure you're reasonably warm with MVC - i.e., ensure your model is separate from your view (the QT front-end) as best as possible. Best would be to have the model and algorithms working on their own, and then put the GUI on top. Or a unit test on top. Etc...
Good luck! |
375,272 | Having been a hobbyist programmer for 3 years (mainly Python and C) and never having written an application longer than 500 lines of code, I find myself faced with two choices :
(1) Learn the essentials of data structures and algorithm design so I can become a l33t computer scientist.
(2) Learn Qt, which would help me build projects I have been *itching* to build for a long time.
For learning (1), everyone seems to recommend reading CLRS. Unfortunately, reading CLRS would take me at least an year of study (or more, I'm not Peter Krumins). I also understand that to accomplish any moderately complex task using (2), I *will* need to understand at least the fundamentals of (1), which brings me to my question : assuming I use C++ as the programming language of choice, **which parts of CLRS would give me sufficient knowledge of algorithms and data structures to work on large projects using (2)?**
In other words, I need **a list of theoretical CompSci topics absolutely essential for everyday application programming tasks**. Also, I want to use CLRS as a handy reference, so I don't want to skip any material critical to understanding the later sections of the book.
Don't get me wrong here. Discrete math and the theoretical underpinnings of CompSci have been on my "TODO: URGENT" list for about 6 months now, but I just don't have enough time owing to college work. After a long time, I have 15 days off to do whatever the hell I like, and I want to spend these 15 days building applications I really *want* to build rather than sitting at my desk, pen and paper in hand, trying to write down the solution to a textbook problem.
(BTW, a less-math-more-code resource on algorithms will be highly appreciated. I'm just out of high school and my math is not at the level it should be.)
Thanks :) | 2008/12/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/375272",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/47135/"
] | This could be considered heresy, but the vast majority of application code does not require much understanding of algorithms and data structures. Most languages provide libraries which contain collection classes, searching and sorting algorithms, etc. You generally don't need to understand the theory behind how these work, just use them!
However, if you've never written anything longer than 500 lines, then there are a lot of things you DO need to learn, such as how to write your application's code so that it's flexible, maintainable, etc. | Heed the wisdom of Don and *just do it*. Can you define the features that you want your application to have? Can you break those features down into smaller tasks? Can you organize the code produced by those tasks into a coherent structure?
Of course you can. Identify any 'risky' areas (areas that you do not understand, e.g. something that requires more math than you know, or special algorithms you would have to research) and either find another solution, prototype a solution, or come back to SO and ask specific questions. |
375,272 | Having been a hobbyist programmer for 3 years (mainly Python and C) and never having written an application longer than 500 lines of code, I find myself faced with two choices :
(1) Learn the essentials of data structures and algorithm design so I can become a l33t computer scientist.
(2) Learn Qt, which would help me build projects I have been *itching* to build for a long time.
For learning (1), everyone seems to recommend reading CLRS. Unfortunately, reading CLRS would take me at least an year of study (or more, I'm not Peter Krumins). I also understand that to accomplish any moderately complex task using (2), I *will* need to understand at least the fundamentals of (1), which brings me to my question : assuming I use C++ as the programming language of choice, **which parts of CLRS would give me sufficient knowledge of algorithms and data structures to work on large projects using (2)?**
In other words, I need **a list of theoretical CompSci topics absolutely essential for everyday application programming tasks**. Also, I want to use CLRS as a handy reference, so I don't want to skip any material critical to understanding the later sections of the book.
Don't get me wrong here. Discrete math and the theoretical underpinnings of CompSci have been on my "TODO: URGENT" list for about 6 months now, but I just don't have enough time owing to college work. After a long time, I have 15 days off to do whatever the hell I like, and I want to spend these 15 days building applications I really *want* to build rather than sitting at my desk, pen and paper in hand, trying to write down the solution to a textbook problem.
(BTW, a less-math-more-code resource on algorithms will be highly appreciated. I'm just out of high school and my math is not at the level it should be.)
Thanks :) | 2008/12/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/375272",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/47135/"
] | This could be considered heresy, but the vast majority of application code does not require much understanding of algorithms and data structures. Most languages provide libraries which contain collection classes, searching and sorting algorithms, etc. You generally don't need to understand the theory behind how these work, just use them!
However, if you've never written anything longer than 500 lines, then there are a lot of things you DO need to learn, such as how to write your application's code so that it's flexible, maintainable, etc. | For a less-math, more code resource on algorithms than CLRS, check out [Algorithms in a Nutshell](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/059651624X). If you're going to be writing desktop applications, I don't consider CLRS to be required reading. If you're using C++ I think [Sedgewick](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0201350882) is a more appropriate choice. |
375,272 | Having been a hobbyist programmer for 3 years (mainly Python and C) and never having written an application longer than 500 lines of code, I find myself faced with two choices :
(1) Learn the essentials of data structures and algorithm design so I can become a l33t computer scientist.
(2) Learn Qt, which would help me build projects I have been *itching* to build for a long time.
For learning (1), everyone seems to recommend reading CLRS. Unfortunately, reading CLRS would take me at least an year of study (or more, I'm not Peter Krumins). I also understand that to accomplish any moderately complex task using (2), I *will* need to understand at least the fundamentals of (1), which brings me to my question : assuming I use C++ as the programming language of choice, **which parts of CLRS would give me sufficient knowledge of algorithms and data structures to work on large projects using (2)?**
In other words, I need **a list of theoretical CompSci topics absolutely essential for everyday application programming tasks**. Also, I want to use CLRS as a handy reference, so I don't want to skip any material critical to understanding the later sections of the book.
Don't get me wrong here. Discrete math and the theoretical underpinnings of CompSci have been on my "TODO: URGENT" list for about 6 months now, but I just don't have enough time owing to college work. After a long time, I have 15 days off to do whatever the hell I like, and I want to spend these 15 days building applications I really *want* to build rather than sitting at my desk, pen and paper in hand, trying to write down the solution to a textbook problem.
(BTW, a less-math-more-code resource on algorithms will be highly appreciated. I'm just out of high school and my math is not at the level it should be.)
Thanks :) | 2008/12/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/375272",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/47135/"
] | This could be considered heresy, but the vast majority of application code does not require much understanding of algorithms and data structures. Most languages provide libraries which contain collection classes, searching and sorting algorithms, etc. You generally don't need to understand the theory behind how these work, just use them!
However, if you've never written anything longer than 500 lines, then there are a lot of things you DO need to learn, such as how to write your application's code so that it's flexible, maintainable, etc. | I must say that sitting down with a dry old textbook and reading it through is not the way to learn how to do anything effectively, even if you are making notes. Doing it is the best way to learn, using the textbooks as a reference. Indeed, using sites like this as a reference.
As for data structures - learn which one is good for whatever situation you envision: Sets (sorted and unsorted), Lists (ArrayList, LinkedList), Maps (HashMap, TreeMap). Complexity of doing basic operations - adding, removing, searching, sorting, etc. That will help you to select an appropriate library data structure to use in your application.
And also make sure you're reasonably warm with MVC - i.e., ensure your model is separate from your view (the QT front-end) as best as possible. Best would be to have the model and algorithms working on their own, and then put the GUI on top. Or a unit test on top. Etc...
Good luck! |
375,272 | Having been a hobbyist programmer for 3 years (mainly Python and C) and never having written an application longer than 500 lines of code, I find myself faced with two choices :
(1) Learn the essentials of data structures and algorithm design so I can become a l33t computer scientist.
(2) Learn Qt, which would help me build projects I have been *itching* to build for a long time.
For learning (1), everyone seems to recommend reading CLRS. Unfortunately, reading CLRS would take me at least an year of study (or more, I'm not Peter Krumins). I also understand that to accomplish any moderately complex task using (2), I *will* need to understand at least the fundamentals of (1), which brings me to my question : assuming I use C++ as the programming language of choice, **which parts of CLRS would give me sufficient knowledge of algorithms and data structures to work on large projects using (2)?**
In other words, I need **a list of theoretical CompSci topics absolutely essential for everyday application programming tasks**. Also, I want to use CLRS as a handy reference, so I don't want to skip any material critical to understanding the later sections of the book.
Don't get me wrong here. Discrete math and the theoretical underpinnings of CompSci have been on my "TODO: URGENT" list for about 6 months now, but I just don't have enough time owing to college work. After a long time, I have 15 days off to do whatever the hell I like, and I want to spend these 15 days building applications I really *want* to build rather than sitting at my desk, pen and paper in hand, trying to write down the solution to a textbook problem.
(BTW, a less-math-more-code resource on algorithms will be highly appreciated. I'm just out of high school and my math is not at the level it should be.)
Thanks :) | 2008/12/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/375272",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/47135/"
] | Try some online comp sci courses. Berkeley has some, as does MIT. Software engineering radio is a great podcast also.
See these questions as well:
[What are some good computer science resources for a blind programmer?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/370976/electronic-computer-science-resources#371557)
<https://stackoverflow.com/questions/360542/plumber-programmers-vs-computer-scientists#360554> | Heed the wisdom of Don and *just do it*. Can you define the features that you want your application to have? Can you break those features down into smaller tasks? Can you organize the code produced by those tasks into a coherent structure?
Of course you can. Identify any 'risky' areas (areas that you do not understand, e.g. something that requires more math than you know, or special algorithms you would have to research) and either find another solution, prototype a solution, or come back to SO and ask specific questions. |
375,272 | Having been a hobbyist programmer for 3 years (mainly Python and C) and never having written an application longer than 500 lines of code, I find myself faced with two choices :
(1) Learn the essentials of data structures and algorithm design so I can become a l33t computer scientist.
(2) Learn Qt, which would help me build projects I have been *itching* to build for a long time.
For learning (1), everyone seems to recommend reading CLRS. Unfortunately, reading CLRS would take me at least an year of study (or more, I'm not Peter Krumins). I also understand that to accomplish any moderately complex task using (2), I *will* need to understand at least the fundamentals of (1), which brings me to my question : assuming I use C++ as the programming language of choice, **which parts of CLRS would give me sufficient knowledge of algorithms and data structures to work on large projects using (2)?**
In other words, I need **a list of theoretical CompSci topics absolutely essential for everyday application programming tasks**. Also, I want to use CLRS as a handy reference, so I don't want to skip any material critical to understanding the later sections of the book.
Don't get me wrong here. Discrete math and the theoretical underpinnings of CompSci have been on my "TODO: URGENT" list for about 6 months now, but I just don't have enough time owing to college work. After a long time, I have 15 days off to do whatever the hell I like, and I want to spend these 15 days building applications I really *want* to build rather than sitting at my desk, pen and paper in hand, trying to write down the solution to a textbook problem.
(BTW, a less-math-more-code resource on algorithms will be highly appreciated. I'm just out of high school and my math is not at the level it should be.)
Thanks :) | 2008/12/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/375272",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/47135/"
] | This could be considered heresy, but the vast majority of application code does not require much understanding of algorithms and data structures. Most languages provide libraries which contain collection classes, searching and sorting algorithms, etc. You generally don't need to understand the theory behind how these work, just use them!
However, if you've never written anything longer than 500 lines, then there are a lot of things you DO need to learn, such as how to write your application's code so that it's flexible, maintainable, etc. | Moving from 500 loc to a real (eve if small) application it's not that easy.
As Don was pointing out, you'll need to learn a lot of things about code (flexibility, reuse, etc), you need to learn some very basic of configuration management as well (visual source safe, svn?)
But the main issue is that you need a way to don't be overwhelmed by your functiononalities/code pair. That it's not easy. What I can suggest you is to put in place something to 'automatically' test your code (even in a very basic way) via some regression tests. Otherwise it's going to be hard.
As you can see I think it's no related at all to data structure, algorithms or whatever.
Good luck and let us know |
375,272 | Having been a hobbyist programmer for 3 years (mainly Python and C) and never having written an application longer than 500 lines of code, I find myself faced with two choices :
(1) Learn the essentials of data structures and algorithm design so I can become a l33t computer scientist.
(2) Learn Qt, which would help me build projects I have been *itching* to build for a long time.
For learning (1), everyone seems to recommend reading CLRS. Unfortunately, reading CLRS would take me at least an year of study (or more, I'm not Peter Krumins). I also understand that to accomplish any moderately complex task using (2), I *will* need to understand at least the fundamentals of (1), which brings me to my question : assuming I use C++ as the programming language of choice, **which parts of CLRS would give me sufficient knowledge of algorithms and data structures to work on large projects using (2)?**
In other words, I need **a list of theoretical CompSci topics absolutely essential for everyday application programming tasks**. Also, I want to use CLRS as a handy reference, so I don't want to skip any material critical to understanding the later sections of the book.
Don't get me wrong here. Discrete math and the theoretical underpinnings of CompSci have been on my "TODO: URGENT" list for about 6 months now, but I just don't have enough time owing to college work. After a long time, I have 15 days off to do whatever the hell I like, and I want to spend these 15 days building applications I really *want* to build rather than sitting at my desk, pen and paper in hand, trying to write down the solution to a textbook problem.
(BTW, a less-math-more-code resource on algorithms will be highly appreciated. I'm just out of high school and my math is not at the level it should be.)
Thanks :) | 2008/12/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/375272",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/47135/"
] | Try some online comp sci courses. Berkeley has some, as does MIT. Software engineering radio is a great podcast also.
See these questions as well:
[What are some good computer science resources for a blind programmer?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/370976/electronic-computer-science-resources#371557)
<https://stackoverflow.com/questions/360542/plumber-programmers-vs-computer-scientists#360554> | Moving from 500 loc to a real (eve if small) application it's not that easy.
As Don was pointing out, you'll need to learn a lot of things about code (flexibility, reuse, etc), you need to learn some very basic of configuration management as well (visual source safe, svn?)
But the main issue is that you need a way to don't be overwhelmed by your functiononalities/code pair. That it's not easy. What I can suggest you is to put in place something to 'automatically' test your code (even in a very basic way) via some regression tests. Otherwise it's going to be hard.
As you can see I think it's no related at all to data structure, algorithms or whatever.
Good luck and let us know |
375,272 | Having been a hobbyist programmer for 3 years (mainly Python and C) and never having written an application longer than 500 lines of code, I find myself faced with two choices :
(1) Learn the essentials of data structures and algorithm design so I can become a l33t computer scientist.
(2) Learn Qt, which would help me build projects I have been *itching* to build for a long time.
For learning (1), everyone seems to recommend reading CLRS. Unfortunately, reading CLRS would take me at least an year of study (or more, I'm not Peter Krumins). I also understand that to accomplish any moderately complex task using (2), I *will* need to understand at least the fundamentals of (1), which brings me to my question : assuming I use C++ as the programming language of choice, **which parts of CLRS would give me sufficient knowledge of algorithms and data structures to work on large projects using (2)?**
In other words, I need **a list of theoretical CompSci topics absolutely essential for everyday application programming tasks**. Also, I want to use CLRS as a handy reference, so I don't want to skip any material critical to understanding the later sections of the book.
Don't get me wrong here. Discrete math and the theoretical underpinnings of CompSci have been on my "TODO: URGENT" list for about 6 months now, but I just don't have enough time owing to college work. After a long time, I have 15 days off to do whatever the hell I like, and I want to spend these 15 days building applications I really *want* to build rather than sitting at my desk, pen and paper in hand, trying to write down the solution to a textbook problem.
(BTW, a less-math-more-code resource on algorithms will be highly appreciated. I'm just out of high school and my math is not at the level it should be.)
Thanks :) | 2008/12/17 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/375272",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/47135/"
] | Try some online comp sci courses. Berkeley has some, as does MIT. Software engineering radio is a great podcast also.
See these questions as well:
[What are some good computer science resources for a blind programmer?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/370976/electronic-computer-science-resources#371557)
<https://stackoverflow.com/questions/360542/plumber-programmers-vs-computer-scientists#360554> | It's like saying you want to move to France, so should you learn french from a book, and what are the essential words - or should you just go to France and find out which words you need to know from experience and from copying the locals.
Writing code is part of learning computer science. I was writing code long before I'd even heard of the term, and lots of people were writing code before the term was invented.
Besides, you say you're itching to write certain applications. That can't be taught, so just go ahead and do it. Some things you only learn by doing.
(The theoretical foundations will just give you a deeper understanding of what you wind up doing anyway, which will mainly be copying other people's approaches. The only caveat is that in some cases the theoretical stuff will tell you what's futile to attempt - e.g. if one of your itches is to solve an NP complete problem, you probably won't succeed :-) |
12,216,990 | I am working on an application that keeps track and uses files stored on the file system. Users are allowed to open, create, delete and move files in the file system. Meanwhile my application is not constantly running so I can't keep track of all changes real-time. Afterwards my application has to find out what file is whom (i.c. as identified in my application).
The most preferred solution for the users is that the application solves every change itself. Each user-interaction is less preferred.
One of my ideas was to use an attribute of a file and assign a key-value to it so when it has been identified once, it can always been recognized afterwards. But I don't know if there is such an attribute. This article didn't give much hope: [There is in Windows file systems a pre computed hash for each file?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1490384/there-is-in-windows-file-systems-a-pre-computed-hash-for-each-file).
Does somebody know if there is such an attribute I can use? And how can I used it in C#?
Is there anyone who is running up against this problem? And how did you solve it?
I'd like to hear good suggestions.
regards, Jaap | 2012/08/31 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/12216990",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/566631/"
] | If your files don't leave NTFS, this is easily achievable by alternative data streams, where you can store your data along with files. This is more-or-less good article about ADS: <http://www.flexhex.com/docs/articles/alternate-streams.phtml>
There is another suitable method - it's very efficient, but also very complicated to use, it requires quite good knowledge about NTFS internals - USN Change Journal; see <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa363798.aspx>. With USN Change Journal, you can "get" very efficiently all files that were changed (even all change events) within specified time period.
Nevertheless, if your files leave NTFS realm, e.g. if it's copied to FAT32, contents of ADS is lost. | Relying on a File attribute is "dangerous" in that some user could alter the attribute while your program isn't running. This could lead you to believe that a certain file is (or isn't) tracked by the program while it really isn't.
I would suggest to keep track of the files in a database, XML, or some other file. When your application starts you read the file/db and check for new/deleted/editted files.
You could store a Hash of the files to find out if a file has been moved/editted. Keeping track of files that are moved AND editted is going to be pretty difficult. (I have no clue how you could achieve it)
PS: Have you considered making your application a Windows service? Having the file-management running in the background no matter if the GUI part of your application is running or not? |
1,810,401 | I have developed a site with google app engine using python and django, now I have another similar project to develop.
Well I have got some well-known problems using the datastore:
* query: there's no "LIKE CLAUSULE" and GQL is not Sql
* documentation is not so clear and easy to find
* backup database is not so trivial
* django support is not so great (I use google app engine patch)
* I'm just a little scared about when my traffic go "into pay mode"
Now, I hope that this site will have a great number of visitors in my optimistic prevision :) so the question is, can an alternative hosting service offer me a professional service like google app engine?
Is it possible to make a professional web site that works starting from a 'conventional' hosting service?
An other stupid question, but I site like this where is hosted??
I'm a little bit confusing about which kind of hosting chosing...
Thanks for help :) | 2009/11/27 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1810401",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/-1/"
] | My individual opinion is that App Engine is ideal for prototyping for these reasons:
* Free. Nowhere else can you run a web app for $0
* Deployment and upgrading is extremely simple
* You don't have to worry about backups or networking or anything besides programming
* GQL is no problem. There are workarounds. It's a reasonable price to pay for free hosting and scaling.
However, once you think your site is popular, and *especially* if it becomes profitable, App Engine is not ideal.
* Yes it scales. But as your site grows, you always wanting new reports on your data to gain knowledge. This is extremely tough in App Engine. You need case-by-case programming and possibly database changes. That takes time and resources. This is my #1 problem for App Engine for startups or small companies.
* You want to control your backup and restore process
* It is bad business to be locked in to a sole hosting provider
* There is nobody to contact if something goes wrong. Forums schmorums. That's for hobbyists and discussion, not for time-critical problem-solving. | If you plan on having something you think will grow decently, maybe you should launch on something like [linode](http://linode.com) or [slicehost](http://slicehost.com), where you have a VPS. That you, you control the instance of django, and have full control over your server. That way, your app doesn't have to contain some of hosting-specific code.
Yes, the initial setup for both may be a little bit of a headache, but you'll be able to create something that is a little more portable |
1,810,401 | I have developed a site with google app engine using python and django, now I have another similar project to develop.
Well I have got some well-known problems using the datastore:
* query: there's no "LIKE CLAUSULE" and GQL is not Sql
* documentation is not so clear and easy to find
* backup database is not so trivial
* django support is not so great (I use google app engine patch)
* I'm just a little scared about when my traffic go "into pay mode"
Now, I hope that this site will have a great number of visitors in my optimistic prevision :) so the question is, can an alternative hosting service offer me a professional service like google app engine?
Is it possible to make a professional web site that works starting from a 'conventional' hosting service?
An other stupid question, but I site like this where is hosted??
I'm a little bit confusing about which kind of hosting chosing...
Thanks for help :) | 2009/11/27 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1810401",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/-1/"
] | My individual opinion is that App Engine is ideal for prototyping for these reasons:
* Free. Nowhere else can you run a web app for $0
* Deployment and upgrading is extremely simple
* You don't have to worry about backups or networking or anything besides programming
* GQL is no problem. There are workarounds. It's a reasonable price to pay for free hosting and scaling.
However, once you think your site is popular, and *especially* if it becomes profitable, App Engine is not ideal.
* Yes it scales. But as your site grows, you always wanting new reports on your data to gain knowledge. This is extremely tough in App Engine. You need case-by-case programming and possibly database changes. That takes time and resources. This is my #1 problem for App Engine for startups or small companies.
* You want to control your backup and restore process
* It is bad business to be locked in to a sole hosting provider
* There is nobody to contact if something goes wrong. Forums schmorums. That's for hobbyists and discussion, not for time-critical problem-solving. | really thanks, for link
yesterday I "discover" that exist IronPython and seems django compatible, or Ndjango for F#, so I love visual studio which one of best developer enviroments (in my opinion) so a good hosting service for microsoft product?
Thanks again I feel you are really an expert developer, so I take really care of your opinion |
11,923,198 | I am using asp.net 4.
i wonder if it will be secure to caching sensitive data?
is it dangerous in manner of security or any other security issues? | 2012/08/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/11923198",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1065769/"
] | As per Microsoft's pattern & practices this what they suggest
[Do not cache sensitive data](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff650867.aspx)
>
> If your service method contains data that is sensitive, such as a
> password, credit card number, or account status, it should not be
> cached. If sensitive data is cached on the client machine, it has
> serious security implications because it leaves interesting data
> available to attackers.
>
>
> Perform the following steps to ensure that sensitive data is not
> cached:
>
>
> Review operations for sensitive data. Review all of your operations
> for usage of sensitive data. This could include but is not limited to:
> Information that either contains personally identifiable information
> (PII) or can be used to derive PII that should not be shared with
> users Information that a user provides that they would not want shared
> with other users of the application Information that comes from an
> external trusted source that is not designed to be shared with users
> Review the operations for caching of sensitive data. Review how each
> operation manages sensitive data and ensure that it is not cached.
> There are three patterns of sensitive data caching that you can review
> for: Custom caching code such as use of a Dictionary or SortedList
> object Use of the ***ASP.NET cache via System.Web.Caching.Cache***. Use of
> an Enterprise Library caching block
>
>
> | It depends what you do with it. The data is held in the memory of the web server. There would be no way to access this data, unless you wrote a way to do it, or the attacker had access to your source code & write access to the web app. |
11,923,198 | I am using asp.net 4.
i wonder if it will be secure to caching sensitive data?
is it dangerous in manner of security or any other security issues? | 2012/08/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/11923198",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1065769/"
] | It depends what you do with it. The data is held in the memory of the web server. There would be no way to access this data, unless you wrote a way to do it, or the attacker had access to your source code & write access to the web app. | I tend to cache the encrypted data and only do decryption at the point of request. Finally zeroing out the memory.
Guess if it was left in memory, in plain text, it would not be too hard for an attacker to work things out from a memory dump. |
11,923,198 | I am using asp.net 4.
i wonder if it will be secure to caching sensitive data?
is it dangerous in manner of security or any other security issues? | 2012/08/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/11923198",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1065769/"
] | Well yes. Inherently holding onto something means there's more chance of someone who shouldn't get it, getting it. If it's sensitive, then it's a newly introduced danger.
The two pertinent questions are:
1. How likely is it to be leaked.
2. How sensitive is this.
Something cached in memory isn't very likely to be leaked, but it's possible.
Something cached in memory and accessible through a session or a cookie is more likely to be leaked (hijack the session or the cookie, respectively).
Something cached in a database is more likely to be leaked (it's easier to steal a file than a memory dump).
Take for a real-world example, websites that have a "remember me" option. This one does, and most social sites do. It increases the risk that someone could get the data necessary to impersonate you, but really the worse that this could mean is they go around Spamming until your account gets banned - annoying but not the end of the world.
Most banking sites do not have a "remember me" option. The risk of leakage is just as low (indeed lower if they insist you confirm before certain operations), but the value of the equivalent data is much higher, and the risk is no longer acceptable.
Edit: One important thing to note in the example I give. Sites that "remember you" do so by remembering in some way that you are logged in, not the user/pass necessary to do so (sites like this using OpenID don't even see a user/pass). If you were remembering a user/pass you risk leaking a user/pass used in lots of sites, rather than risking let someone log in to just your site, so the risk is much higher again. | It depends what you do with it. The data is held in the memory of the web server. There would be no way to access this data, unless you wrote a way to do it, or the attacker had access to your source code & write access to the web app. |
11,923,198 | I am using asp.net 4.
i wonder if it will be secure to caching sensitive data?
is it dangerous in manner of security or any other security issues? | 2012/08/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/11923198",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1065769/"
] | As per Microsoft's pattern & practices this what they suggest
[Do not cache sensitive data](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff650867.aspx)
>
> If your service method contains data that is sensitive, such as a
> password, credit card number, or account status, it should not be
> cached. If sensitive data is cached on the client machine, it has
> serious security implications because it leaves interesting data
> available to attackers.
>
>
> Perform the following steps to ensure that sensitive data is not
> cached:
>
>
> Review operations for sensitive data. Review all of your operations
> for usage of sensitive data. This could include but is not limited to:
> Information that either contains personally identifiable information
> (PII) or can be used to derive PII that should not be shared with
> users Information that a user provides that they would not want shared
> with other users of the application Information that comes from an
> external trusted source that is not designed to be shared with users
> Review the operations for caching of sensitive data. Review how each
> operation manages sensitive data and ensure that it is not cached.
> There are three patterns of sensitive data caching that you can review
> for: Custom caching code such as use of a Dictionary or SortedList
> object Use of the ***ASP.NET cache via System.Web.Caching.Cache***. Use of
> an Enterprise Library caching block
>
>
> | I tend to cache the encrypted data and only do decryption at the point of request. Finally zeroing out the memory.
Guess if it was left in memory, in plain text, it would not be too hard for an attacker to work things out from a memory dump. |
11,923,198 | I am using asp.net 4.
i wonder if it will be secure to caching sensitive data?
is it dangerous in manner of security or any other security issues? | 2012/08/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/11923198",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1065769/"
] | Well yes. Inherently holding onto something means there's more chance of someone who shouldn't get it, getting it. If it's sensitive, then it's a newly introduced danger.
The two pertinent questions are:
1. How likely is it to be leaked.
2. How sensitive is this.
Something cached in memory isn't very likely to be leaked, but it's possible.
Something cached in memory and accessible through a session or a cookie is more likely to be leaked (hijack the session or the cookie, respectively).
Something cached in a database is more likely to be leaked (it's easier to steal a file than a memory dump).
Take for a real-world example, websites that have a "remember me" option. This one does, and most social sites do. It increases the risk that someone could get the data necessary to impersonate you, but really the worse that this could mean is they go around Spamming until your account gets banned - annoying but not the end of the world.
Most banking sites do not have a "remember me" option. The risk of leakage is just as low (indeed lower if they insist you confirm before certain operations), but the value of the equivalent data is much higher, and the risk is no longer acceptable.
Edit: One important thing to note in the example I give. Sites that "remember you" do so by remembering in some way that you are logged in, not the user/pass necessary to do so (sites like this using OpenID don't even see a user/pass). If you were remembering a user/pass you risk leaking a user/pass used in lots of sites, rather than risking let someone log in to just your site, so the risk is much higher again. | As per Microsoft's pattern & practices this what they suggest
[Do not cache sensitive data](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff650867.aspx)
>
> If your service method contains data that is sensitive, such as a
> password, credit card number, or account status, it should not be
> cached. If sensitive data is cached on the client machine, it has
> serious security implications because it leaves interesting data
> available to attackers.
>
>
> Perform the following steps to ensure that sensitive data is not
> cached:
>
>
> Review operations for sensitive data. Review all of your operations
> for usage of sensitive data. This could include but is not limited to:
> Information that either contains personally identifiable information
> (PII) or can be used to derive PII that should not be shared with
> users Information that a user provides that they would not want shared
> with other users of the application Information that comes from an
> external trusted source that is not designed to be shared with users
> Review the operations for caching of sensitive data. Review how each
> operation manages sensitive data and ensure that it is not cached.
> There are three patterns of sensitive data caching that you can review
> for: Custom caching code such as use of a Dictionary or SortedList
> object Use of the ***ASP.NET cache via System.Web.Caching.Cache***. Use of
> an Enterprise Library caching block
>
>
> |
11,923,198 | I am using asp.net 4.
i wonder if it will be secure to caching sensitive data?
is it dangerous in manner of security or any other security issues? | 2012/08/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/11923198",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1065769/"
] | Well yes. Inherently holding onto something means there's more chance of someone who shouldn't get it, getting it. If it's sensitive, then it's a newly introduced danger.
The two pertinent questions are:
1. How likely is it to be leaked.
2. How sensitive is this.
Something cached in memory isn't very likely to be leaked, but it's possible.
Something cached in memory and accessible through a session or a cookie is more likely to be leaked (hijack the session or the cookie, respectively).
Something cached in a database is more likely to be leaked (it's easier to steal a file than a memory dump).
Take for a real-world example, websites that have a "remember me" option. This one does, and most social sites do. It increases the risk that someone could get the data necessary to impersonate you, but really the worse that this could mean is they go around Spamming until your account gets banned - annoying but not the end of the world.
Most banking sites do not have a "remember me" option. The risk of leakage is just as low (indeed lower if they insist you confirm before certain operations), but the value of the equivalent data is much higher, and the risk is no longer acceptable.
Edit: One important thing to note in the example I give. Sites that "remember you" do so by remembering in some way that you are logged in, not the user/pass necessary to do so (sites like this using OpenID don't even see a user/pass). If you were remembering a user/pass you risk leaking a user/pass used in lots of sites, rather than risking let someone log in to just your site, so the risk is much higher again. | I tend to cache the encrypted data and only do decryption at the point of request. Finally zeroing out the memory.
Guess if it was left in memory, in plain text, it would not be too hard for an attacker to work things out from a memory dump. |
38,223 | I will preface my question by stating I am very new to writing and new to this website. I am here for help.
I'm writing a collection of inspirational short stories, as though I was sitting across from someone over coffee sharing my experiences. Because my normal manner of speaking is in passive voice, I am struggling desperately to convert over to active voice, which is basically stifling the flow of my thoughts and words, making them almost stiff and impersonal.
I have been studying the grammar rules and know exactly what needs to be done, but I am stuck - what is the best advice you can offer for someone in my situation? I am not ashamed or embarrassed to ask this but would appreciate your input. Thank you. | 2018/08/09 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/38223",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/32652/"
] | I struggle with this too, so while I can't completely act like I know what I'm doing, I would like to recommend this app:
<http://www.hemingwayapp.com/>
It's a neat little app that will at the very least flag up all the little ways you're using passive voice so you know where you're tripping up. It's useful for minimalist prose in general, but don't take its word as gospel; after all, if everyone was hyper-minimalist, there'd be no stylistic variation.
Note: I'm not sponsored by Hemingwayapp. | Do you know someone who speaks in an active voice?
If so then a simple method is to have that person (In your minds eye) speak your dialogue to you.
Alternatively, if you have a favourite character who uses active voice, then that is another possible person you have speak this dialogue to you.
With this kind of visualisation I find it helpful to be in a quiet room - or have my headphones on - to completely isolate myself from outside stimulus. I will also have my eyes closed. Then I spend some time first getting into the head of the person or character I want to "speak" the dialogue.
Then I will have them do so in my head. For me personally I also find that if I try to do any of this out load it doesn't work very well - the sound of my own voice gets in the way.
Let things slow down - try to frame things a small concept at a time. Once it begins, it will flow naturally. Keep rolling with it and after a while you should be able to begin recording what your character is saying. |
38,223 | I will preface my question by stating I am very new to writing and new to this website. I am here for help.
I'm writing a collection of inspirational short stories, as though I was sitting across from someone over coffee sharing my experiences. Because my normal manner of speaking is in passive voice, I am struggling desperately to convert over to active voice, which is basically stifling the flow of my thoughts and words, making them almost stiff and impersonal.
I have been studying the grammar rules and know exactly what needs to be done, but I am stuck - what is the best advice you can offer for someone in my situation? I am not ashamed or embarrassed to ask this but would appreciate your input. Thank you. | 2018/08/09 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/38223",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/32652/"
] | Don't worry about it in your first draft. It's hard enough to finish a first draft, don't make it harder by trying to write perfectly. Just get your story out and fix it later.
Especially since you're working on short pieces, you can devote your revisions to individual issues. Read through once just to look for passive voice. Read through again just to look for weak verbs. Read through again, listening to awkward phrasing. Rinse and repeat. | I struggle with this too, so while I can't completely act like I know what I'm doing, I would like to recommend this app:
<http://www.hemingwayapp.com/>
It's a neat little app that will at the very least flag up all the little ways you're using passive voice so you know where you're tripping up. It's useful for minimalist prose in general, but don't take its word as gospel; after all, if everyone was hyper-minimalist, there'd be no stylistic variation.
Note: I'm not sponsored by Hemingwayapp. |
38,223 | I will preface my question by stating I am very new to writing and new to this website. I am here for help.
I'm writing a collection of inspirational short stories, as though I was sitting across from someone over coffee sharing my experiences. Because my normal manner of speaking is in passive voice, I am struggling desperately to convert over to active voice, which is basically stifling the flow of my thoughts and words, making them almost stiff and impersonal.
I have been studying the grammar rules and know exactly what needs to be done, but I am stuck - what is the best advice you can offer for someone in my situation? I am not ashamed or embarrassed to ask this but would appreciate your input. Thank you. | 2018/08/09 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/38223",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/32652/"
] | Consider finishing your draft before trying to do active voice and instead changing things to active prose in your revisions.
Active vs passive voice usually reads better, but it does not change the meaning of the text it just makes it seem more energetic and immediate. Therefore it is not like you will have to restructure huge pieces of plots or similar if you want to change it later. So it is good to do it in late revisions.
Improving prose is something that is usally good to save until late revisions. (If you do it in early revisions or in your initial draft there might be large parts you end up not using or you have to rewrite a chapter because the plot doesnt work or you want to change a character and suddenly you have wasted a lot of effort improving prose you are scrapping and rewriting anyway)
And obviously if you just write great from the start you'll have less revising to do in the future, but if trying to write great stops your drafting process there is nothing unusual with saving it for later and just producing the words. | I struggle with this too, so while I can't completely act like I know what I'm doing, I would like to recommend this app:
<http://www.hemingwayapp.com/>
It's a neat little app that will at the very least flag up all the little ways you're using passive voice so you know where you're tripping up. It's useful for minimalist prose in general, but don't take its word as gospel; after all, if everyone was hyper-minimalist, there'd be no stylistic variation.
Note: I'm not sponsored by Hemingwayapp. |
38,223 | I will preface my question by stating I am very new to writing and new to this website. I am here for help.
I'm writing a collection of inspirational short stories, as though I was sitting across from someone over coffee sharing my experiences. Because my normal manner of speaking is in passive voice, I am struggling desperately to convert over to active voice, which is basically stifling the flow of my thoughts and words, making them almost stiff and impersonal.
I have been studying the grammar rules and know exactly what needs to be done, but I am stuck - what is the best advice you can offer for someone in my situation? I am not ashamed or embarrassed to ask this but would appreciate your input. Thank you. | 2018/08/09 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/38223",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/32652/"
] | It is somewhat normal to write a first draft with a passive style.
Here is how you shift writing to a more active voice:
-----------------------------------------------------
**(1)** Search through your document for is/was/were and similar verbs of being. Assess each instance, and decide if that word is part of a passive construction, and reformat to active if appropriate.
**(2)** Part of passivity, though, is not passive voice *per se* but comes about through the addition of qualifying action verbs. **Trying to do something** is less powerful that **doing something**. Scan through your document for any construction as: 'began to x,' 'tried to x,' 'thought about doing x' -- anything along these lines. Basically, such constructions place a weaker verb before a more active verb. (There is no try. Do. Or do not.)
**(3)** Some verbs are inherently considered weak, even 'action verbs,' if they are vague or overused, simplistic verbs. Running is weaker than bolting or dashing. Biting is weaker than ripping into. Thinking is weaker than calculating.
**(4)** Along the lines of 'thinking.' Any verb that you 'can do on your couch' should be critically examined. Looking, thinking, sitting, dreaming, remembering, and so on. Consider deleting any instance of a verb that does not require the character to physically move.
**These are not absolute rules, of course. You must decide on a case-by-case basis. If you make those four editorial rounds on your writing, you'll have a more active piece of prose.** | Do you know someone who speaks in an active voice?
If so then a simple method is to have that person (In your minds eye) speak your dialogue to you.
Alternatively, if you have a favourite character who uses active voice, then that is another possible person you have speak this dialogue to you.
With this kind of visualisation I find it helpful to be in a quiet room - or have my headphones on - to completely isolate myself from outside stimulus. I will also have my eyes closed. Then I spend some time first getting into the head of the person or character I want to "speak" the dialogue.
Then I will have them do so in my head. For me personally I also find that if I try to do any of this out load it doesn't work very well - the sound of my own voice gets in the way.
Let things slow down - try to frame things a small concept at a time. Once it begins, it will flow naturally. Keep rolling with it and after a while you should be able to begin recording what your character is saying. |
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