unfair advantage

recently I have been seeing advertisements of products touting good performance to gamers, in the form of less lag, less ping, increased accuracy, faster response time etc... with this tagline "gain an unfair advantage over your friends/opponents/enemies" - which led me wondering, why are these services/products unfair? you pay more for your internet connection to get better connections, you buy a better mouse/keyboard to help you aim better... it's not something that your friends/opponents cannot buy, nor is it against any specific rules or ethics of online gaming... It is advantageous to have better hardware to play with, but it is not like using a map-hack, a aimbot or a scriptbot.

in my era (I guess I am old...) when playing as a child, we would shout "Unfair!" if someone was cheating in a game... it usually (almost definitely) has a negative connotation to it. however, if I were to take the marketing tactics into context, youths (/gamers) of today do not think that being unfair or cheating is something bad. In fact, it is a secret desire of them to have an "unfair" advantage over their peers so that they can be superior over them? or how else should I interpret the marketing slogan?

playing games is all about fun and enjoyment. yes I had my share of exploiting exploits... but the fun came from figuring how to exploit the system and not about using cheats and exploits to be #1 in the server... which is why games which are easily exploitable quickly become obsolete from my playing collection... once I figure out the exploits and use the exploits a few times I quickly get bored of the game. On the other hand, skill based games or story based games held my attention much longer than games which just focuses on grinding and grinding and grinding... do the gamers of nowadays think that having the unfair advantage would enable them to derive more pleasure out of the game? I cannot answer for them but my answer would probably be no.

On a side note - I am still very amused by Leticia's insom-nom-nom-nom-nia.

Goodnight world.

the company of myself

a game i played quite a while back... suddenly thought about it today... i like the music.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/518729

weekends

should be a period of time where one recharges and do the things that they want to do but have no time to do in the weekdays, due to work or other commitments.

I think a superior should not give you last minute work (especially if it is their own work), expecting the subordinate to finish within 3-4 hours just because "it is due on the day itself, and I am busy in the lab". And if the subordinate has prior commitments on that day itself, the superior should not ask the subordinate to finish it over the weekend. Several reasons why.

1) It IS the superior's work. The subordinate is clueless about what the superior is doing, will have to spend some time reading about it before being able to start work on it. - It is very inefficient, and even if the subordinate manages to complete the work on the day itself, it will be a lousy job unless the subordinate has full knowledge of the matter.

2) If it is due on the day itself, asking your subordinate to complete it for you at the last minute shows that you a) don't care about the work that needs to be completed; and/or b) have a lack of planning skills, asking someone less well-versed to complete your work.

3) If it can be done over the weekend, why can't the superior do it himself? He is not going to stay in the lab the whole weekend right?

It leads me to conclude that the superior does not care about the work that needs to be completed, nor does he care about his subordinates as a human being - to him, they are probably tools that can be used to complete tasks.

Of course, all of these are in the point of view of a disgruntled subordinate. It is definitely biased, and the whole world can say "welcome to the working world" for all I care. I do not believe in these kind of working habits and environment, especially when they are constantly enforced on the subordinate.

The superior also attended the event that the subordinate was preparing the whole afternoon for, refusing to acknowledge receipt of the subordinate's reply that finishing the work during the weekend is impossible as he has a whole day event on during Saturday. The superior also ignored the subordinate's presence in the event, preferring to mingle in the presence of higher ups.

心は大切だから

見失いで

Park Amsterdam - Sakamoto Maaya

one day, sitting in a tree
i couldn't help but notice you there in the park
you weren't like all the others
you could fit me in your pocket
and just seemed so large

but then you really tried to talk to me
we chatted all about your mom and everything
and if somebody pointed out the fact you have no wings...
wouldn't mean a thing

and like a dream we saw the world together
"goodbye" to differences
"hello" to each other
harmony
unity
day and night
you and me
and paradise

met the queen of hearts
while out dancing on the lake
and she asked us to a party
"you can bring some friends
but don't be late"

climbed aboard a bus
and it drove us to the castle
but we didn't have to pay
cause the driver was the jester's brother

sadly sighed the king
cause somebody took his cake
so we gave him some of ours
and he smiled so wide
he at his plate

he asked you to sing
and i won't forget the faces
or the awful melody
you and jester singing out of key

not a better time
could be had for all the moment
the king beamed, "allow me please"
"let my ballon take you across the ocean"
(you and me across the ocean,
in his ballon, you and me and harmony)

didin't try to put me in a cage of your convenience
like some others have
instead you took me to your favorite garden in Manhattan
and we had a laugh

along the way i fell in love with you
don't think i could ever get enough of you
and if somebody pointed out the fact that you can't sing...
wouldn't mean a thing