Also, the number of loanwords in English is completely absurd. Some other languages resisted borrowing/stealing special terminology from other languages by coming to with their own clever new words.
For example, entrepreneur is a clear loan from French where a salesman is a simple and clear description of a man who sells something. If you don’t know French, you’ll have no idea what the word entrepreneur means, but if you know basic English, salesman should be crystal clear to you.
Many other languages developed lots of these types of clear words in order to make communication easier and less elitist. English is completely wild and there’s no central authority that could reasonably give any recommendations that anyone would listen. This sorts of uncontrolled wild growth and stealing has been going on for centuries, and now we’ve ended up with a complete train wreck of a language.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Wait until you hear about the history behind how spelling and pronunciation became the disaster we have today.
Ok, so games that revolve around superhuman perfect timing are kinda pushing the idea of being a puzzle game. What about gambling games, where it’s all about the RNG instead? All you do is pull the lever and hope for the best.
What’s the name of that mobile game where you tap to shoot an arrow at the exact perfect time so that it lands on the right spot on a spinning circle? Well, that’s the game where I fail to see any strategy. It’s all about perfect timing and tolerating the anger boiling inside your head.
Oh, and there’s this other almost equally infuriating mobile game that I haven’t yet deleted for some strange reason. It’s called Stack, and your goal is to build the tallest stack possible by having supernatural timing abilities in your fingers. Oh, and what about Flappy Bird or the dinosaur game built into Google Chrome? Basically the same idea, but you don’t have a lot of time to prepare for what’s coming. You just need to have lightning fast reaction time and perfect timing. Now that I think of it, there are lots of games where timing takes the center stage.
I think that’s an important distinction to make when exploring what is or isn’t a puzzle game. There are lots of games where flawless execution matters as much as knowing what to do. For example, FPS games lean heavily towards the execution aspect while mixing in some solution identification too.
The purest examples of each game design style are also interesting. For example, you can play chess through snail mail, so being physically able to perform specific actions isn’t really necessary for victory. In the opposite end of the spectrum you have the simplest form of darts, which is all about skill. Just throw all the darts at the center and you’ll win. There are also more complicated versions for those who want to play a game that sits somewhere in the middle of this puzzle-execution specturm. Now that I think of it, most computer games seem to be a mixture of the two styles.
I think I see what’s happening here. There are some pure puzzle games that require no execution skills at all. In the opposite end of the spectrum you have games that are all about skill and execution with no puzzles included. I guess you could call them pure skill games to make the distinction clearer.
Most games appear to be a mixture of the two extremes, so they sit somewhere on this spectrum. In order to win, you have to know what to do and execute your plan well enough. I wouldn’t call them pure puzzle games, but they do have some puzzle elements in them. If the puzzle aspects are central to the gameplay experience, it could make sense to categorize them as puzzle games of some sort, even if execution and skills matter to some extent.
Yesterday I was listening to a podcast which was interrupted by an ad about Ad Block plus.So many things about that situation was just so bizarre, that I listened out of curiosity. I guess some people also listen to that ad, pay a monthly subscription to an ad blocker, so that they don’t need to see ads in their browser any more. The irony is strong with this one…
Imagine if you had a bunch of screenshots of every update you installed. You could compare those dates with the official release dates and figure out if your computer was a test subject.
I would also like to add motivation to the list. If you’re not particularly hyped about any game, playing games isn’t going to feel engaging. Once you do find a game you enjoy, you won’t have much time for doomscrolling any more.
While I was in the shower, I thought of a brilliant idea! Let’s trigger several smaller volcanic eruptions that release a semi-controlled amount of volcanic ash into other atmosphere. That will cool down the atmosphere, which should buy us some time to fix our carbon emissions....
Has anyone ever given any thought to trying to capture all the floodwaters that seem to be increasing lately, and moving them to the more drought affected areas?
If you filter the water through some sand, soil etc, it’s clean enough for many uses. There are systems that treat toilet water this way and then release the water into the environment. You just need lots of land in order to filter a small volume of water, so this method doesn’t really scale up very well.
You could think of it in terms of time: online is the exception, while IRL is the default state. Then, what would be the most default state in normal life?
I think awake and sleep could form a pair like that. Being awake takes more time than sleeping, so awake would be the default state. You could also think that various other altered states of mind could be the exception instead of being asleep.
Being high as a kite and being sober form a dichotomy similar to that of being online vs. being IRL.
Oh, that’s a fun new way to look at it. So, if we say that IRL is less social and boring, wehereas online life is more social and fun, then we could compare that with normal workdays and parties.
If the horse heart fails, the human heart might just be strong enough to keep the rest of the body alive as long as you don’t move much. Probably not a long term solution, but it’s better than nothing.
If you like bigger sparks, you can also install a high voltage transformer from an old microwave. As an added bonus, you’ll get pyrotechnic effects on your doorbell for free!
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"Mentioning Xi Jinping leads to a complete block of translation results": Microsoft Bing’s censorship in China is even “more extreme” than Chinese companies’ ( restofworld.org )
Bing’s translation and search engine services in China censor more extensively than Chinese competitors’ services do, according to new research....
Why English language is sometimes "lazy", sometimes not
(non-native speaker)...
Technically, almost all video games are puzzle games.
You could probably make a poptarts are sandwiches alignment style thing out of this....
Book about book bans banned by Florida school board ( www.theguardian.com )
cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/13249285...
I wonder if Windows Recall will track Windows Update
Why does it feel like too much effort just to go from sitting around looking at garbage online to simply watching a film or playing a video game?
this is stupid. something about activation energy? are there any activation energy hacks?
Use volcanic ash to reverse global warming
While I was in the shower, I thought of a brilliant idea! Let’s trigger several smaller volcanic eruptions that release a semi-controlled amount of volcanic ash into other atmosphere. That will cool down the atmosphere, which should buy us some time to fix our carbon emissions....
Flood water use
Has anyone ever given any thought to trying to capture all the floodwaters that seem to be increasing lately, and moving them to the more drought affected areas?
Using a notification badge to make me look at an ad should be a felony
What would the IRL (in real life) of "real life"/offline life be?
Centaurs have 2 sets of ribcages & internal organs, which make them more resistant to organ failures/heart attacks.
That's it.
Great Job, Internet: Google’s AI feeds people answers from The Onion ( www.avclub.com )
cross-posted from: https://zerobytes.monster/post/1072393...
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