[PA Comic] Monday, February 18, 2013 - The Corollary

Geth · February 2013

The Corollary
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/02/18

Direwolf · February 2013

+1 Friendly

Sterica · February 2013

Reaction to first panel was "No, don't play Karma!"

Henroid · February 2013

I can appreciate this comic. :^:

Kagera · February 2013

Thought this was some kind of reddit comic.

Quid · February 2013

I like this comic. Makes me wish more game companies went to the lengths Riot does.

Tofystedeth · February 2013

Took me until the third panel to get what was going on in the first two, but it was so worth it.

Phantoom · February 2013

Let's play a game called "explain this strip to non LOLers"...

Quid · February 2013

Phantoom wrote: »

Let's play a game called "explain this strip to non LOLers"...

LoL has an honor system where you essentially rate someone's positive contribution to the game. I believe right now it only earns people badges and lets people see how "honorable" you are too.

Edit: The actual page http://na.leagueoflegends.com/honor

InXplotch · February 2013

It's more like: League of Legends has begun to take steps to crack down on poor behavior in the community through various methods, and that being a total dickwad can actually get you kicked out of the game. So, you gotta be nice to your random internet peeps, even if they keep feeding the damn wukong.

Rius · February 2013

Gabe's face in panel 2 is excellent. Mr. Burns level excellent.

Ganluan · February 2013

If the second panel didn't have any text in it at all, it would create quite a different picture.

The Sneak! · February 2013

I had a hard time getting this comic at first because I thought Tycho was trying to convince him to play Karma.

Asharad · February 2013

Even with the two explanations above, I don't get this comic. I don't think its the comics fault though, I just have no experience with the game, so I don't understand the last panel.

Gaslight · February 2013

The joke is that being nice enough to chat "GLHF" (good luck, have fun) as a pleasantry to other players before a match requires a physically painful, almost Herculean effort for Gabe because he is used to being an unrepentant asshole.

Asharad · February 2013

Ha! Okay, thanks.

Hevach · February 2013

Asharad wrote: »

Even with the two explanations above, I don't get this comic. I don't think its the comics fault though, I just have no experience with the game, so I don't understand the last panel.

You know the little Awesome and Agree buttons on this forum? Imagine if there were also Stupid or Bad Person buttons, and if they got clicked too much you could potentially get infractions or even banned. Now imagine comic Gabe as a forum user. How long do you think he'd last under that system?

PMAvers · February 2013

He's playing Wukong, though.

His actions will be of greater assholishness than any of his words.

Smoogy · February 2013

He should have been playing Morde

I haven't played LoL in over a year precisely because of the rage it induces. I completely understand Gabe's feelings here.

Zek · February 2013

I quit playing LoL because the game itself was getting me pissed off whenever we lost, even if nobody was being a dick. It's just too much of an emotional investment.

Darkewolfe · February 2013

Albino Bunny (how the fuck do you @ people with spaces in their names?) got me playing Awesomenauts, which is an easier-mode MOBA with less rage inducement so far.

I still miss LoL, but I think my blood pressure is down.

Commander Zoom · February 2013

not shown, the next line in reply:
"lol u fagit"

Gaslight · February 2013

Darkewolfe wrote: »

Albino Bunny (how the fuck do you @ people with spaces in their names?)

You have to put their whole name inside quotation marks. Quote this post to see what I mean.

@Albino Bunny

Albino Bunny · February 2013

Darkewolfe wrote: »

Albino Bunny (how the fuck do you @ people with spaces in their names?) got me playing Awesomenauts, which is an easier-mode MOBA with less rage inducement so far.

I still miss LoL, but I think my blood pressure is down.

Glad those Gnaw players are really relaxing you

Awesomenauts is actually surprisingly good community wise. Worse you get is taunt spam and the best you get is taunt spam. Because Taunt spam is the correct response to taunt spam.

Also yeah, it's shocking how much people changed in League because someone gave them the chance of shineys for not being ass holes.

Dropping Loads · February 2013

Riot has also done an admirable job of keeping and sharing statistics on this program. Games that have even one "Good Teamwork" or "Friendly" badge holder are 70% less likely to have a negative report occur during the game, and teams that don't have a report are something like 20% more likely to win (adjusted for ELO).

Darkewolfe · February 2013

Albino Bunny wrote: »

Darkewolfe wrote: »

Albino Bunny (how the fuck do you @ people with spaces in their names?) got me playing Awesomenauts, which is an easier-mode MOBA with less rage inducement so far.

I still miss LoL, but I think my blood pressure is down.

Glad those Gnaw players are really relaxing you

Awesomenauts is actually surprisingly good community wise. Worse you get is taunt spam and the best you get is taunt spam. Because Taunt spam is the correct response to taunt spam.

Also yeah, it's shocking how much people changed in League because someone gave them the chance of shineys for not being ass holes.

Maybe it's the shorter games, maybe it's people talking less, maybe it's that people drop in and out, but even getting wrecked by a cheesy Gnaw is still more relaxing than being told to go play in the street by my jungle who missed his gank because I missed my skillshot.

kaliyama · February 2013

Dropping Loads wrote: »

Riot has also done an admirable job of keeping and sharing statistics on this program. Games that have even one "Good Teamwork" or "Friendly" badge holder are 70% less likely to have a negative report occur during the game, and teams that don't have a report are something like 20% more likely to win (adjusted for ELO).

I certainly hope Riot sells it that way, because it gives people a pragmatic reason not to be jackasses, but I think causation there may run the other way - I think if a team is losing, its members are more likely to flip out and do things that get them reported than if they're winning. Adjusting for ELO would suggest that two evenly matched teams playing each other, the team that loses is likelier to do something reportable. Which just means people are poor sports.

I'd actually be more interested to see if higher ELO matches have fewer reports period, which would suggest that better players are also more courteous. Or thicker skinned?

ragnarok628 · February 2013

I have a neighbor who is one of the designers on Magic: The Gathering, another person with whom I have interesting conversations, and he explained why many gaming enthusiasts have a hard time with Poker with the phase “Gamers gonna game.”

i'm curious about the news post... after a few tries, i the best parsing i could come up with for the above sentence is that the phrase 'gamers gonna game' is meant to be explanatory of a supposed aversion or difficulty that gamers have to the game of poker? is he saying that gamers not like poker, or that we are we just not good at it? and if that is what he's saying, how does 'gamers gonna game' explain why? i'm confused. someone help.

Pony · February 2013

Its related to the phrase "haters gonna hate"

kaliyama · February 2013

Pony wrote: »

Its related to the phrase "haters gonna hate"

Yes, but what does it mean in context?

ragnarok628 · February 2013

right, because poker is a game, so why does 'gamers gonna game' mean gaming enthusiasts have a hard time with poker? unless 'have a hard time with' means 'get addicted to and lose money'? is that a possible way to understand this?

Smoogy · February 2013

Yeah, his writing leads something to be desired in the whole "clarity to get your point across" department, as readability is lost in his effort to be clever. I don't get what he's trying to do here either.

ragnarok628 · February 2013

i'm sure there is a meaningful Thing in there somewhere. Is gamers Vs. Poker any kind of a thing that the rest of you are aware of? i'd never heard of any controversy or correlation on the subject.

Quid · February 2013

Old but probably explains it:

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/af21

Poker is a relatively straight forward, simple game. Which doesn't mean it's easy, but it does mean that if you like figuring out and exploiting systems Magic probably has a much larger appeal since their system changes every few months.

Cambiata · February 2013

I think the seed of the solution to what he means by "Gamers gonna game" is embedded in the sentence that comes after that phrase: " It means a lot of different things, but among this panoply is the obsessive, deeply trained awareness of systems."

I think perhaps by "poker", Tycho meant "gambling." Gamblers often believe there is a 'system" involved when dealing with strict statistics. "I have lost X many times, so I must be up for a win" that sort of thing. Thus you might have a problem with gambling if you are trying to exploit a system that doesn't actually exist.

(this is just a guess as to what he meant)

ragnarok628 · February 2013

yup, that about clears it up. i guess i should have engaged in some google-fu before bothering you folks about it!

Panda Liker · February 2013

ragnarok628 wrote: »

I have a neighbor who is one of the designers on Magic: The Gathering, another person with whom I have interesting conversations, and he explained why many gaming enthusiasts have a hard time with Poker with the phase “Gamers gonna game.”

i'm curious about the news post... after a few tries, i the best parsing i could come up with for the above sentence is that the phrase 'gamers gonna game' is meant to be explanatory of a supposed aversion or difficulty that gamers have to the game of poker? is he saying that gamers not like poker, or that we are we just not good at it? and if that is what he's saying, how does 'gamers gonna game' explain why? i'm confused. someone help.

It means a lot of different things, but among this panoply is the obsessive, deeply trained awareness of systems.

Adding that at the end, I get something along the lines of gamers trying to 'game' the system - ie, find flaws and use it to their benefit. Like, there's not a lot of flaws in Poker?

Dammit, I was so confident I knew what it meant.

RatherDashing89 · February 2013

I think it has to do with "gaming the system". I would imagine that gamers probably are less likely to enjoy poker, a very simple game whose main appeal seems to come from the psychological aspects and the risk/reward of it all. Since I've gotten into more in-depth board games and strategy games, I have a hard time enjoying games like Monopoly, which are more about the social experience and nostalgia than about playing a balanced or carefully crafted game.

In this context, I think he's saying, "just as a gamer will deconstruct Poker until there's nothing enjoyable left, eventually the Karma system is going to get 'gamed' and exploited until it's another type of stat instead of a social consequence." Either that, or he's saying, "just as gamers are innately interested in the mechanics of systems, to the point where poker holds no appeal, a karma system will hold more clout if it has in-game consequences attached." Two different points, but following the same basic premise.

Ah, to know the mind of Tycho...

achamius · February 2013

Hmm, I found this strip a bit confusing because I thought Gabe's body language in the first panel implied he was trying to avoid typing something abusive, having to physically restrain himself from going through with old habits. Might have found it more amusing if last panel had a mixed message of positive and negative, with Tycho saying something to the effect of "well, that's not a bad start". I was just a bit thrown because usually Krahulik nails body posture (IMHO).

Blake T · February 2013

RatherDashing89 wrote: »

I think it has to do with "gaming the system". I would imagine that gamers probably are less likely to enjoy poker, a very simple game whose main appeal seems to come from the psychological aspects and the risk/reward of it all. Since I've gotten into more in-depth board games and strategy games, I have a hard time enjoying games like Monopoly, which are more about the social experience and nostalgia than about playing a balanced or carefully crafted game.

In this context, I think he's saying, "just as a gamer will deconstruct Poker until there's nothing enjoyable left, eventually the Karma system is going to get 'gamed' and exploited until it's another type of stat instead of a social consequence." Either that, or he's saying, "just as gamers are innately interested in the mechanics of systems, to the point where poker holds no appeal, a karma system will hold more clout if it has in-game consequences attached." Two different points, but following the same basic premise.

Ah, to know the mind of Tycho...

No, the goal of monopoly is to steal from the bank and take money from people with less.

It's an ironic take of capitalism. And it amuses me to no end that it was banned in Russia because they thought it was a pro capitalistic game.

Quid · February 2013

Nah.

They banned it because it's God fucking awful.

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[PA Comic] Monday, February 18, 2013 - The Corollary

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