My Little Pony XX: Appletastic Treats

[Zevox]

World of Warcraft allows you exactly zero narrative control over the story.

World of Warcraft has a story ? I was under the impression that MMOs in general, WoW included, had little to no story to speak of.

Zevox

[Kindablue]

I also liked the Dr. Stranglove reference. It's made even funnier with that little hat.

I'm inclined to agree with Thanqol. I'm nihilistic to an extent, I will fully admit; but I believe that if you fight hard enough, if you work your flank off from the beginning of your sentience until your dying day, you can just leave an impact on this world, you can just leave it a better place than you found it.

You are the master of your own destiny. The only question is, how badly do you want to make your life have meaning? How hard are you willing to work, to fight?

Where did you get the idea to fight for that idea? Do you decide your own decisions or are you just reacting to outside influences? Yeah, sure, you can change the world, not denying that, and it won't turn out the same way whether you do anything or not, but you don't actually have a say in which of those two options you pick. The future is mostly determined, but that need not lead to fatalism, as the bit about whether you give up or not is already firmly stuck in the determined box. So I pretty much just ignore all that; pretend I have free will and get on with my life. G'night thread!

Everypony, please see this. IT. IS. CONFIRMED.

I always knew we could trust that guy at the TV place!

[Capt. Ido Nos]

The official Equestria Daily countdown ticker for season 2!

Thank goodness, I was wondering what I was going to stare at unmoving and quivering with intense emotion for the next 25 days!

[Dexam]

Everypony, please see this. IT. IS. CONFIRMED.

...

...

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[TheAmishPirate]

Everypony, please see this. IT. IS. CONFIRMED.

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THIS NEEDS MORE ADORABLE HAPPINESSAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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In less exciting news, heading back to college tomorrow! Next mission: How to conceal my pony memorabilia from my roommate until the proper time...

[Thanqol]

Would flavor of nihilism would you like? I think I only have the one here.

[color="deeppink"]I'm inclined to agree with Thanqol. I'm nihilistic to an extent, I will fully admit; but I believe that if you fight hard enough, if you work your flank off from the beginning of your sentience until your dying day, you can just leave an impact on this world, you can just leave it a better place than you found it.

You are the master of your own destiny. The only question is, how badly do you want to make your life have meaning? How hard are you willing to work, to fight?

Nihilism's such an easy philosophy to refute. If nothing we do matters then the only thing that matters is what we do. In a universe with no meaning, we have no higher obligation than to give each other and ourselves meaning. If there is no Truth, then all that matters is Beauty. If there are no souls then kindness means that much more. Just because your deeds don't change the lives of millions doesn't mean that changing the lives of a few is a waste of time.

Nihilism is only permitted when it comes to bureaucracy.

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Everypony, please see this. IT. IS. CONFIRMED.

...

Okay. I'm going to do a dance now.

*Dances*

The fact that it was the middle of a public library was IRRELEVANT.

World of Warcraft has a story ? I was under the impression that MMOs in general, WoW included, had little to no story to speak of.

Zevox

Pretty much. My defining moment in World of Warcraft came with one particular mission: Escort this goblin who had stolen a new machine to a town, where he'd start mass producing them and revolutionise science. He walked about 14 steps while I fought waves of enemies. And then the machine exploded, the goblin shrugged and said WELP, gave me the reward, and then teleported back to where he'd started off, in the magically rebuilt machine and waited for the next guy to trigger the quest.

I shut off and uninstalled the game instantly and my disgust with it remains complete.

[the_druid_droid]

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Everypony, please see this. IT. IS. CONFIRMED.

...

Best early birthday present ever!

[Vent Reynolt]

Everypony, please see this. IT. IS. CONFIRMED.

...

I think your image pretty much covers my entire reaction.

OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh!

Pretty much. My defining moment in World of Warcraft came with one particular mission: Escort this goblin who had stolen a new machine to a town, where he'd start mass producing them and revolutionise science. He walked about 14 steps while I fought waves of enemies. And then the machine exploded, the goblin shrugged and said WELP, gave me the reward, and then teleported back to where he'd started off, in the magically rebuilt machine and waited for the next guy to trigger the quest.

I shut off and uninstalled the game instantly and my disgust with it remains complete.

This seems like the appropriate image to convey your reaction there:

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Also, have 2 more pics of Twilight on a computer:

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[Zevox]

Pretty much. My defining moment in World of Warcraft came with one particular mission: Escort this goblin who had stolen a new machine to a town, where he'd start mass producing them and revolutionise science. He walked about 14 steps while I fought waves of enemies. And then the machine exploded, the goblin shrugged and said WELP, gave me the reward, and then teleported back to where he'd started off, in the magically rebuilt machine and waited for the next guy to trigger the quest.

I shut off and uninstalled the game instantly and my disgust with it remains complete.

So it's not so much that it has no story, as that the stories are stupidly simple and contained solely within quests (which are like side-quests in any normal game). Yeah, sounds about like what I'd heard.

Zevox

[RdMarquis]

Everypony, please see this. IT. IS. CONFIRMED.

...

Between this and my fanfic getting posted, I might have to jump for joy.

[Kindablue]

Would flavor of nihilism would you like? I think I only have the one here.

You've betrayed me for the last time, mind!

[Thanqol]

So it's not so much that it has no story, as that the stories are stupidly simple and contained solely within quests (which are like side-quests in any normal game). Yeah, sounds about like what I'd heard.

Zevox

Not even that they're simple, it's that by definition any objectives you achieve have to be retconned out of existence after you achieve them so the world can reset itself to zero afterwards.


Also, HMM. Have to write a non-pony story for class. This is way harder than it should be, especially as I keep coming up with ideas for pony stories instead.

I guess I can take a pony story idea and write it with humans.

You've betrayed me for the last time, mind!

And that was the last time we ever saw Kindablue.

[Zevox]

Not even that they're simple, it's that by definition any objectives you achieve have to be retconned out of existence after you achieve them so the world can reset itself to zero afterwards.

*shrugs* The nature of the genre I suppose. Can't have the quests only work once when you have millions of players looking to do them.

Zevox

[Thanqol]

*shrugs* The nature of the genre I suppose. Can't have the quests only work once when you have millions of players looking to do them.

Zevox

I fully understand it's the nature of the genre. My point is that I hate the genre with the spite of a thousand suns.

[Grif]

I fully understand it's the nature of the genre. My point is that I hate the genre with the spite of a thousand suns.

Not to spoil the game, but isn't said character supposed to phase out of existance? Or did you play before the Cataclysm update?

(I think I know which goblin you're referring to. The one near the Barrens?)

[Thanqol]

Not to spoil the game, but isn't said character supposed to phase out of existance? Or did you play before the Cataclysm update?

(I think I know which goblin you're referring to. The one near the Barrens?)

Yeah, that sounds like the dude, and I played well before Cataclysm. And that guy certainly wasn't the only everything-you-do-is-pointless faceslap, he was the one that was the most agonisingly direct about it in my playtime.

Bonus spite sources: Reliance on idiot groups to clear instances, level discrepancies being the major factor in most combats, endlessly long walks, uninspired palletswapped enemies, combat that I might as well get a robot to perform on my behalf. It is everything I hate in video games.

Hm. Ponies.

Here.

[Lord Raziere]

*shrugs* The nature of the genre I suppose. Can't have the quests only work once when you have millions of players looking to do them.

Zevox

wait, I have an idea. Why not have players themselves post up quests for other players to do? instead of having to grind all those materials, you post up quests that ask for certain materials for other people to grind them, and when you complete the quest and mail them the materials they requested, the game rewards you the amount of money and experience for completing the player quest, the player himself not even having to pay them!

there would be so many ways for that system to work.....

[Zevox]

wait, I have an idea. Why not have players themselves post up quests for other players to do?

I would imagine because it's probably not an easy thing to do that just anyone could throw together. And even if it was, making sure that the content of player-created submissions of that sort was all appropriate would be damn near impossible given the number of players the game has.

Zevox

[Lord Raziere]

Oh right. MMO players don't spell good and such, to say the very least. yea probably wouldn't work but its fun to imagine a world where it would.

to keep this on topic:

Huh. a Second Season. I'll watch it. [/totally flat and stoic reaction]

[Grif]

Yeah, that sounds like the dude, and I played well before Cataclysm. And that guy certainly wasn't the only everything-you-do-is-pointless faceslap, he was the one that was the most agonisingly direct about it in my playtime.

Bonus spite sources: Reliance on idiot groups to clear instances, level discrepancies being the major factor in most combats, endlessly long walks, uninspired palletswapped enemies, combat that I might as well get a robot to perform on my behalf. It is everything I hate in video games.

Hm. Ponies.

Here.

To be fair, Cataclysm improves the questing system a lot. The world is a lot more dynamic and responsive. The phasing system was a good step forward, phasing out questgivers after you finished their quests and phasing in new characters as you go along a quest chain. They are also experimenting with terrain phasing, though it's less successful IMHO. It makes barreling through the story much easier.

[Kurgan]

*Sniff* So... So proud!

Everypony, please see this. IT. IS. CONFIRMED.

...

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! So awesome!

I still say you just had too much pony for your laptop to handle.

No no no no no! You have it backwards! The computer died because it doesn't have enough pony on it yet! You can't convert a computer to full bronydom and expect it to not want more pony!

Though, surprisingly large number of bronies I questioned today wouldn't even touch an MLP mini, much less buy one. I wonder which way the thread swings

Really depends on what they look like. The plastic things with manes....not a big fan of them as they are ugly. A plush doll or stuffed animal (that looked half decent)? I would buy up as soon as I saw it.

Also, HMM. Have to write a non-pony story for class. This is way harder than it should be, especially as I keep coming up with ideas for pony stories instead.

I guess I can take a pony story idea and write it with humans.

You could always rework something from one of your lps. Regale your class on the exploits of Swiss Hitler, the neck and neck campaign between Hugh Man and Jayden Mavel, the the Rise and Fall of the Headmaster.

Just a thought at least.

so...
I find myself in the mood for some fan-fiction and was wondering if you people happened to have any good recommendations?

MidnightNightmare: Fantastic work by our own Esperderek. Make sure to read his earlier Midnight Fics so you know the character though.

[Thanqol]

You could always rework something from one of your lps. Regale your class on the exploits of Swiss Hitler, the neck and neck campaign between Hugh Man and Jayden Mavel, the the Rise and Fall of the Headmaster.

Just a thought at least.

Considered it, same problem, namely context. I start talking about Swiss Hitler to my university teacher and I've either got to go through the abridged History of Greater Switzerland or get a lot of red wtfs written over my work.

So instead I started a story about a guy who's invincible except I still haven't figured out why he's invincible or what he's going to do with it.

[Kurgan]

Considered it, same problem, namely context. I start talking about Swiss Hitler to my university teacher and I've either got to go through the abridged History of Greater Switzerland or get a lot of red wtfs written over my work.

So instead I started a story about a guy who's invincible except I still haven't figured out why he's invincible or what he's going to do with it.

Fair enough.

Hmmm...superpower causes. Could go with the Aberrant model and just have him naturally superpowered, just his powers haven't come to fruition yet. First action once he learns? Skydiving without a parachute! He crashes into a building, which turns out to be a bank in the middle of a robbery, and lands directly on top of the gun-wielding robber. Thus begins the superhero career of Invinciman! He is invulnerable to damage, but with no combat abilities whatsoever, he cannot fight his enemies too well and simply relies on them tiring out from punching him or distracting them until the cops arrive.

[fizmat]

Where did you get the idea to fight for that idea? Do you decide your own decisions or are you just reacting to outside influences? Yeah, sure, you can change the world, not denying that, and it won't turn out the same way whether you do anything or not, but you don't actually have a say in which of those two options you pick. The future is mostly determined, but that need not lead to fatalism, as the bit about whether you give up or not is already firmly stuck in the determined box. So I pretty much just ignore all that; pretend I have free will and get on with my life. G'night thread!

And now ponies started a philosophical debate. Go ponies!

To be honest, that never was a problem for me. I guess I am the thing that reacts to outside influences and decides what to do. I don't separate myself from my "self", so to speak. However, I did have two completely unrelated reasons to be nihilistic.

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1) Scale. And I mean SCALE. I'm just a grain of sand on the beach, which in itself just flies through the void with no other beach in sight. No matter what I do, I can never understand one cell of my own body, not to mention changing the world.

2) Leading from that, nothing I do can ever be correct. I don't know anything. Will me choosing this career/company to work for over that one lead to me being more happy? Or even more rich? Will this bike last longer then that one? In which shop should I buy the bike? Should I pass it and get some shoes instead? Will me talking to this person via butterfly effect lead me away from meeting somebody else, who I otherwise would have fallen in love with and married? Is the world real? What is the world? How can I make the world a better place, if all I have is a distorted image of some aspects of a fraction of it?

Then I said: buck that. If nothing matters, because no matter what I think I'll be wrong, I can just choose what I think and be as wrong as if I'd taken any other option. I choose to think the world is the amalgamation of all the incomplete pieces each person sees. Therefore, to make the world better, you just make everybody happier. It doesn't matter that I can't get everybody or think of everything. I can just work on a little patch around me, it will make my primitive primate brain happy, and the world for people around me a little better. Then, satisfied, I continued to procrastinate (or just do the job I like despite getting less money then I'm "supposed" to by this point in life.). While being nice to people, therefore "making" the "world" a better place.

Lookit that widdle pony. Isn't she pretty? Yes she is, yes she is:

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[Orzel]

Question: What would be the "Rarity" strategy in a game?

If the Mane Cast ponies were playing a board game like Risk or Monopoly, how would Rarity play?

Twilight would analyze the board constantly and try to predict every possible move causing her to play defensive. She would constantly be driven crazy by Pinkie's random play.

Pinkie would play randomly as it's only for fun. She wins by accident.

Rainbow Dash would play aggressive. Buy every property she lands on. Rush for the easiest continent. Short term gains. Late game would be a nightmare.

Fluttershy would ask permission before every move. She won't attack and stack up resources. She'll always trade. Then she snaps and buries you under the weight of her massive crazy.

Applejack would play the way the designers intended. No tricks. Never backstabs. Somewhere between Twilight's careful defense and Dashie's suicidal aggression.

But Rarity?
Backstabber? Purposely gives advice to benefit herself? Ms. Diplomacy once the stalemate she created hits?

[Dexam]

Question: What would be the "Rarity" strategy in a game?

If the Mane Cast ponies were playing a board game like Risk or Monopoly, how would Rarity play?

I see Rarity as the alliance builder. In the early game, it's a small favour here, a little loan there, I'll scratch your back now if you scratch mine later. Towards the mid- and end-game she picks a target and starts calling in those early favours and seemingly innocent alliances to overwhelm them.

Her downfall is her obsession with perfection and detail e.g. in Monopoly every property she owns has to have a hotel on it ASAP; in Risk she won't advance until she's 100% sure her exisiting holdings are well defended from any attack.

In about half the games she loses early or mid-game due to Rainbow Dash's agressive play, Apple Jack's willingness to take bigger risks, or Pinkie Pie's randomness. The other half she ends up in a long, drawn-out, head-to-head with Twilight and/or Fluttershy.

[Deadly]

YAY! Season 2!

I hope I'll be able to avoid too many spoilers. Also, I sure hope it'll be on YouTube pretty fast after airing, or I'll be one sad pony.

You could always go with the three pegasus from Sonic Rainboom that kept calling Rainbow Dash "Rainbow Crash".

They could work too, though I don't think they hang around Ponyville much.

I've decided to go with Horte Cuisine, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. And darn I feel so vile after writing that scene. Poor Derpy and Dinky.

I am also reading through Fillystata at the moment, and so don't have a final opinion on it yet.

Grimdark

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Fillystata
"During the festivities of the Fabulous Fabled Filly Fair held in the village of Dappleshore, Twilight Sparkle stumbles upon something from her family's past and is drawn to investigate its dark ties to her. Will she succumb to its sinister power, and will Trixie and Luna be able to set their differences aside to help her when her friends are gone?"

Thanks for mentioning my fic. Opinions of it seem somewhat polarized.

[Strife Warzeal]

I was bored and watching Suited for Success again and right before the fashion show for Hoity Toity, weird name for a pony it seems like his parents new exactly how he would grow up just like Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara and a lot of other ponies... How does that work?, anyways I noticed this in the background:

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It seems a bit lazy using the same two ponies three times each when there has been countless number of onscreen background characters used before, so why use just two? Probably been brought up before but oh well.

I probably shouldn't be looking for random background characters an duplicates in the first place, but like 20 seconds later in another crowd scene, I see 5 6 Colgates, 5 6 Doctors, 3 pink and yellow ponies that look like fluttershy (sort of), a 3 hornless Lyras... The list of duplicates just goes on and on.
It was 5 doctors and colgates but I saw another pair in the back, I really need to stop looking for these kinda things.

[Deadly]

I was bored and watching Suited for Success again and right before the fashion show for Hoity Toity, weird name for a pony it seems like his parents new exactly how he would grow up just like Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara and a lot of other ponies... How does that work?, anyways I noticed this in the background:

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It seems a bit lazy using the same two ponies three times each when there has been countless number of onscreen background characters used before, so why use just two? Probably been brought up before but oh well.

I probably shouldn't be looking for random background characters an duplicates in the first place, but like 20 seconds later in another crowd scene, I see 5 6 Colgates, 5 6 Doctors, 3 pink and yellow ponies that look like fluttershy (sort of), a 3 hornless Lyras... The list of duplicates just goes on and on.
It was 5 doctors and colgates but I saw another pair in the back, I really need to stop looking for these kinda things.

They do that a lot, yes. Try Fall-Weather Friends. Lots of clones running the race.

Occasionally I can understand it, when there are very many ponies visible in the same scene, but the above example is particularly silly.

[Strife Warzeal]

They do that a lot, yes. Try Fall-Weather Friends. Lots of clones running the race.

Occasionally I can understand it, when there are very many ponies visible in the same scene, but the above example is particularly silly.

Yeah the second one is more understandable because it is such a large scene that to have unique ponies in each slot would be crazy.

Looking at the picture again, There are ten ponies there besides Hoity Toity, 6 are Colgate/Derpy and on second look there are two Lyras also one on each side of Hoity Toity. So ten ponies, three are Colgate, three are Derpy, two are Lyra, leaving only two other unique designs that are as far as I know unnamed. That's just getting lazy.
ETA: Correction there are 11 ponies there is what looks like another Lyra behind the far right Colgate.

Got nothing better to do today so I guess I'll give Fall-Weather Friends a rewatch now.