geekdom

Whiny fans are whiny

geekdom, science fiction
Published on 1 Comment on Whiny fans are whiny

The best reason to celebrate the fact that Dollhouse Joss “feminist” Whedon’s latest crappy science fiction show with dodgy sexual policies was cancelled, is the giant whingefest its fans went on when K. Tempest Bradford voiced her pleasure at its disappearance. Best bit:

It’s a matter of simple courtesy: when someone’s best friend dies, you don’t say, “Well, it’s for the best–he was a real DOUCHE,” even if it’s one-hundred percent true. Show some respect for the recently departed, or at least show some respect for the recently departed’s grieving friends.

Dear oh dear. The crybaby faction in fandom is alive and well. Fair enough that fans of the show will lament its loss, but to demand that everybody validate them in their grief is just toolish. And actually comparing it to the death of a friend is just plain stupid.

Plugh

geekdom
Published on

Somewhere Nearby is Colossal Cave: Examining Will Crowther’s Original “Adventure” in Code and in Kentucky:

Abstract

Because so little primary historical work has been done on the classic text computer game “Colossal Cave Adventure”, academic and popular references to it frequently perpetuate inaccuracies. “Adventure” was the first in a series of text-based games (“interactive fiction”) that emphasize exploring, puzzles, and story, typically in a fantasy setting; these games had a significant cultural impact in the late 1970s and a significant commercial presence in the early 1980s. Will Crowther based his program on a real cave in Kentucky; Don Woods expanded this version significantly. The expanded work has been examined as an occasion for narrative encounters [Buckles 1985] and as an aesthetic masterpiece of logic and utility [Knuth 1998]; however, previous attempts to assess the significance of “Adventure” remain incomplete without access to Crowther’s original source code and Crowther’s original source cave. Accordingly, this paper analyzes previously unpublished files recovered from a backup of Woods’s student account at Stanford, and documents an excursion to the real Colossal Cave in Kentucky in 2005. In addition, new interviews with Crowther, Woods, and their associates (particularly members of Crowther’s family) provide new insights on the precise nature of Woods’s significant contributions. Real locations in the cave and several artifacts (such as an iron rod and an axe head) correspond to their representation in Crowther’s version; however, by May of 1977, Woods had expanded the game to include numerous locations that he invented, along with significant technical innovations (such as scorekeeping and a player inventory). Sources that incorrectly date Crowther’s original to 1972 or 1974, or that identify it as a cartographic data file with no game or fantasy elements, are sourced thinly if at all. The new evidence establishes that Crowther wrote the game during the 1975-76 academic year and probably abandoned it in early 1976. The original game employed magic, humor, simple combat, and basic puzzles, all of which Woods greatly expanded. While Crowther remained largely faithful to the geography of the real cave, his original did introduce subtle changes to the environment in order to improve the gameplay.

When my dad got his first computer back in ’87 through a work sponsorship deal, he got a diskette from a cow-orker (one of those old floppy 51/4 inch ones) with oodles of classic games, including Adventure. The hours I’ve sat behind the pc with tracing paper and pencil to sketch my way through the maze. Once, when I was really, really bored at a job I might have even downloaded the VMS version of Adventure to the Alpha system I was working on as a way not to die of boredome waiting for something to do…

(Found via Michel.)

Swine flu

geekdom, science fiction, sciencebollocks
Published on 4 Comments on Swine flu

I was somewhat surprised at the wall to wall hysteria about that outbreak of swine flu on display in the free newspapers here this morning. SARS and bird flu has us primed for worry about any novel flu epidemic, but is there really any reason to get so panicky about it? Especially when so far there haven’t been any Dutch cases whatsoever, nor all that many in Europe. So much tosh is talked about these “pandemics”, when the death rates even in Mexico are barely hitting three figures. It’s just embarassing how quickly we get paniced by these stories.

Some people may have ulterior motives for getting all het up about swine flu though, a certain kind of science fiction fan for example. Let Dr Elmo explain:

It is anthropologically interesting that SF fans are among the most eager hand-wringers. I think this is probably because it’s the kind of thing that allows an SF fan to demonstrate how Heinleinian they are–how prepared they are, how authoritative their flu kit is, how they reduce their chance of catching it, how exemplary is their (self!) treatment when they do catch it, compared to the mundanes, who are ignorant and incompetent.