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Miss Springfield Hostess Bundle, Chippy and Premium Scratch-R. What do you guys think? I might spring for the Hostess Bundle, since I missed out on the Barney and astronaut suit "bonus rebate" in a previous event. Not sure if any other bonuses are gonna come out, though.
Just won $1550 at a casino. I'm wondering what trees related items I should purchase?
So I have a Pax, MFLB, SpaceCase Grinder and a nice bong with an activated carbon filter. I'm wondering if a Volcano is worth it (since I already have a Pax). Any other recommendations? Thanks!!!!
I've taught college-level investments classes, and I think a lot of you people would benefit from some of what we talk about in there. It's important for you to understand what exactly risk is, in the finance sense. Watch this video and think about how you would react in this scenario. The expected value (average value of all possible outcomes) of the case is $500,000.50. I have a feeling that if you sold that case on the market you'd find a market price below that; the difference between the expected value and the market price (assuming a fully liquid market) is the risk premium A central concept of finance and investments is this: the more risk you take, the more return you get. The safest thing you can do is convert your holdings to cash and stick it in your wallet, but you would get zero return (and lose purchasing power due to inflation over time). Technically, sticking money in a savings account is riskier, though interest rates on savings deposits is essentially zero these days and deposit insurance removes most of that risk. Any market play that gets you massive returns is putting a bunch of capital at risk (think about that WSB guy who put $700,000 into GME options; imagine what happens to the guy if the price doesn’t move). The reason the most common investment advice is to fire everything into low-cost index funds is because it’s low risk and low cost (active management of mutual funds rarely justifies the extra cost, but that’s a different discussion entirely). If you’re undertaking extra risk, you theoretically should be getting extra return to justify that risk. Think about a lottery ticket. If the jackpot is high enough, the expected value (the averaged return you get from all possible outcomes) of a lottery ticket is higher than the price you pay for it. However, given the limited set of outcomes that a lottery ticket gives you and the likelihood of the worst case scenario (you lose your entire investment), the risk is too high for most people to seriously invest in (and if you do “seriously” invest in the Powerball, you’re probably not having a good time). Another important consideration is liquidity. If you're selling a Stradivarius violin, you're going to have to spend a lot of time searching for a buyer who will pay full price OR you’ll have to sell it for less than it’s worth. In the market, this tends to be reflected in the bid/ask spread. We like to think about the market as a monolith, but in reality it’s just an aggregation of all the investors out there. That means liquidity isn’t a problem when it comes to most stocks on the NYSE and NASDAQ (eg. At the time of this writing the bid/ask spread on AAPL was $.01 for a price of $136.79), but when you head to OTC territory you might start seeing bid/ask spreads that can be up to 10% of the price for some of those real “no man’s land” stocks. That means that the price you pay (the ask price) and the price you can sell at (the bid price) can be wildly different. That also means that any “at current market price” order you send (especially in pre-market) may be filled at a price different than the price you think it’s going to be filled at. A third concept to think about is market efficiency. The central idea of market efficiency is that the price reflects all available information (different forms of efficiency consider private/public/historical info). A truly efficient market will react instantaneously and accurately to any new information that is created/released, eg. A firm releases earnings and beats expectations, therefore the price jumps up. If market efficiency is a product of investors discovering information and acting on it, that means your best opportunities are in places that are less visible to the aggregate investing public. That’s where pennystocks comes in. Do a search on most of the tickers listed here, and you’ll see a bunch of summary stock profiles and not much else. Do a search for any S&P 500 company and you’ll find an incredible amount of news, branding, and other information. If you’re looking for “good” penny stocks to buy up, you’re looking for an information advantage over the “average” investor. However, there is the hazard (that’s been around long before the internet) of bad or fake information. Remember that the market is an aggregate of all the investors out there, and those investors are subject to psychological biases, differences in personal attitude, and individual risk tolerance. That’s why you see some interesting reactions to events: remember when TSLA stock dropped because Elon Musk was smoking marijuana? There’s nothing about the CEO smoking marijuana that should change the fundamental value of the company, but investors collectively seemed to think this was a negative for the long term prospects of TSLA. A few common investor biases: • Losses are treated as more impactful than a gain. Think about if you buy into a stock and it immediately drops $.10. Compare this to how you react if you buy in and it immediately jumps $.10; the average investor is going to react more strongly to the former. • We all hate having made a “loser” trade. The effect is usually that investors hold on too long to a poorly performing stock in hopes that it will rebound. • Investors tend to anchor their perception of a stock’s performance based on their entry price. A $.10 drop in price hits worse if it takes you below your purchase price • Playing with “house money” (ie. your gains) is treated differently than your initial principal. In practice, this means that an investor that has done well recently is more risk-tolerant (and not always in a good way) • Investors are susceptible to "herding" behavior, where they follow what someone else is doing not because they know what that someone else is doing is good, but because they think that someone else knows something they don't. Stock prices are subject to the principles of supply and demand, ie. increased demand will raise the price, and people looking to sell more than buy will lower the price. This is especially important when it comes to momentum (the principle that an increasing stock price will continue to increase and a falling price will continue to fall). This is why you see overreactions to news items and a subsequent reversal; a news item creates a buying/selling frenzy that pushes the price until cooler heads walk in and say “maybe this price is wrong”. This is where swing traders try to profit: among other things, they look for stocks that have a drop that is unjustified in material info or in the degree of drop, buy up at “downward momentum” prices and sell after the reversal. Day traders also try to benefit by buying stocks with positive momentum and selling the second that momentum reverses. So what does this mean for us at pennystocks? A few considerations that are unique for penny stocks: 1) I already mentioned it, but liquidity is a big consideration: Bid/ask spreads may be larger than normal and many brokers either don’t let you trade below $.01 or make you pay a fee to do so. This also means that options covering penny stocks are either sparse or nonexistent. 2) Information coverage: information can be hard to find, and sifting through good and bad info can be a chore 3) Low market participation: The smaller number of traders means that it takes fewer people to influence the price in a material way. This is what makes penny stocks susceptible to pump and dump schemes: A bad actor just needs to convince a (relatively) small number to buy in to a stock to bump up the price, then the dump can crater the price leaving a bunch of bag holders in their wake. This also means that the price is subject to more psychological bias on the part of investors. 4) There are a lot of biotech firms in penny-stock land. The fortunes of these companies rest entirely on the outcomes of drug trials and/or acquisition by larger firms, which means you can see massive swings in price. This scene from The Wolf of Wall Street should be required viewing for anyone wanting to jump headfirst into penny stocks. The modernization of trading means that commissions are drastically reduced, but the lessons here still apply. I’m not saying “don’t invest” because there are some mighty gains to be had if you do it right. I’m saying “be cautious” and certainly don’t trade on emotion. Understand that what we’re doing here is speculation, and that many stocks with penny prices are trading at penny prices for a reason. Increased volatility in the penny stocks market is going to make you feel a lot of things, but it’s important to compartmentalize this emotion and trade logically. The moment you start treating it, consciously or unconsciously, like a casino, you’ll get casino-like returns (spoiler alert, the house always wins in the end) A few closing thoughts: • Like another recently popular post here said, don’t be afraid to walk away for a few days to cool off. • FOMO is the gains killer; there will always be a New Moon in terms of penny stocks. • Pay attention to the sector you’re buying in and understand how that might influence the volatility of the stock’s price. Be especially wary of anyone trying to sell you on a “sure thing” biotech firm. • MLFB to the moon! (Just kidding, don't rely on me to tell you what to buy) (EDIT: By Request 🚀🚀🚀) And finally • Do your own research! There are some legitimate DD threads on here, but you should do your own research and make sure they’re legit. Some threads here sound a lot like Jordan Belfort in the video above. Further reading: Wikipedia’s very long list of cognitive biases Efficient markets hypothesis Behavioral finance
TL;DR I created a laundry list of high-level tenets that drive the game design of specific genre I coined the World game based on Brad's famous quote. These aim to be applicable to any game that would scratch my old school MMO itch. What tenets would you choose? Preamble The MMO community is, to some degree, divided by the different expectations and desires of its player base. Even an MMORPG can mean so many things to so many different people. I wanted to get to the root of what a good MMO is to me, and in the process, I found that the ambiguous label of MMO is likely getting in the way. Passionate players across the board seem to complain about the same issues. Ease of difficulty. Cash shops. Single-player focus. Theme park design. Players of these games either leave the genre, ultimately disenchanted with the thin veil over Skinner box design, or they continue to search for something better, because they know it is possible. Maybe this is intentional. Developers piggy back on the MMO genre to hook the player-base before extracting as much as they can from the whales in their glorified casino. So, here, I present the tenets of a specific game genre: the World genre. The focus on world over game is not a new idea. Brad McQuad famously said, “I want to make worlds, not games.” That focus can be seen right there in the name of Visionary Realms. And without the right language to describe what we are after, the community is continually bit by games that fit the abstract label but disappoint in the details. The goal with these tenets isn’t to create a template so much as it is to create rough guidelines. In fact, these guidelines probably wouldn’t do a game designer much good in creating a solid design. But they should help in evaluating different options and validating an existing design. Certainly, none of the tenets get as specific as the theme or even the existence of combat. They should apply equally well to a game set in feudal Japan, The Sims Online, or the next zombie apocalypse. Some tenets are broad, while others more specific. Some tenets are rigid, others more malleable. Some tenets are critical pillars of the genre, while others are less important. Tenets frequently conflict, creating tension. A note on intuition The tenets below are driven by the principle that they should be intuitive. The World genre is trying to capture something deeply human, buried in our brains because of the way we have interacted with ourselves, each other, society, and our planet over millennia of evolution. There is no right or wrong answer. When in doubt, we err on the side of realism. A note on ownership Establishing reasonably prescriptive tenets on the World and gameplay highlights the necessity of strong ownership and vision for this style of game. This is particularly true given that many of these tenets go explicitly against what makes a great game in general. For example, how many games would actually benefit from less player matchmaking? This also does not lend itself well to player-generated content, where those tenets can be easily violated. The tenets of immersion TENET 1 The player should be directly represented in the World The World genre requires the player to form a direct relationship with the World, not with the character. This is a key difference between Eastern of Western RPGs (both of which I love) and so this may be controversial. The player should be able to insert themselves into their avatar. On the flip-side, it precludes certain mechanics, such as squad-based designs. TENET 2 The World should be realistic in both form and function That is, the World should minimize the need for suspension of disbelief. It should pull the player in naturally. I have always felt conflicted by WoW’s appearance. I absolutely loved the cell-shaded look of Wind Waker, but instinctually disliked the cartoon-like nature of WoW. This goes back to immersion. That doesn't mean the visuals have to be photorealistic. They just have to pull you in. It may be possible to get around this through the setting. For example, if the setting is a digital afterlife, you may be able to get away with a more abstract appearance. TENET 3 The player and World should interface only through the player character The player should only be able to influence the World through their character. And the World should only be able to influence the player through the character. This means, respectively, no cash shops and a first-person camera. It also means no GPS — unless, of course, the setting supports it. Taken to an extreme, this precludes voice chat, at least without something like racial voice filters. TENET 4 The player should directly engage with the World around them The key here is “direct”. No minimaps, no waypoints, no fast travel. Of course, these are not absolute deal-breakers. The key is that the player is able to establish a connection with the World around them. The player should, over the course of the game, develop a strong mental model of the World and its relation to their character. The tenets of freedom TENET 5 The player should not be assigned a story The World itself can (and should!) have a story to tell. But the player character’s story should be their own. The player must have the freedom to make their own place within the World, eschewing the rails that a story provides. Side quests are lesser evils, but still evils. The more choice the better. TENET 6 The player should be able to pursue multiple forms of progression The choice should not just be in how to progress. It should be in which ways to progress. The most obvious example is crafting, but this can also include loot, skills, the economy, faction, or even — maybe most importantly — growing in strategy and skill. TENET 7 The World should be demanding, but not prescriptive This is an extension of the idea of a lack of story. If the game is too prescriptive, it becomes a job. A chore. To combat this phenomenon, the player needs significant choice at all times. This may, in fact, be the primary draw of the World genre: to provide an environment where players are purely driven by their own will. It is equally important to avoid visibly and overtly influencing the player’s decisions. The player’s incentives and motivating factors should be an organic part of the World. No daily XP boosts, for example. Alternate forms of progression can help here, because even once a player is motivated to progress, they have the choice of which dimension of progress to pursue. TENET 8 The World should encourage downtime The player should not feel compelled to move forward at all times. There should be joy simply in existing in the World, experience it moment to moment. Even better, progression itself can require downtime; this is related to the notion that players should be encouraged to play any game in the most fun way possible. This can be accomplished with world design, such as guard-protected cities or social taverns, or mechanics, such as fishing, firework shows, and waiting in queue for a boat. This is effectively the white space of gameplay. And it is all but lost in modern MMOs. TENET 9 The World should be dangerous Choice is meaningless without consequence. With real, negative consequence, comes danger. This not only gives weight to the player’s decisions, but also helps to establish the intricate give-and-take relationship between the World and the player. Looking at you, death penalty. If a World game is about finding your place within that world, then danger and risk makes this a meaningful pursuit. If that tension between risk and reward does not exist, even at the start of the journey, it undermines those goals. Note that this is different than challenge — and challenge itself is not enough. TENET 10 Players should be encouraged to explore the World This doesn't mean that players are constantly seeking some never-before-seen point of interest, but it does mean that players get out and move. In other words, the world provides resources across its footprint, and you must seek those out. Most forms of progression should require you to get out and explore. This also does not necessitate baubles scattered around the landscape to find. The tenets of impact TENET 11 The player’s actions should be worn like a badge You should be a product of your choices. Your reputation, gear, and skills should tell a story about where you have been and what you have accomplished. Your spoken languages can tell a story of what cities you have spent the most time in. As you spend time in different climates, you may develop a natural acclimation to those environments. Imagine you walk into town and one of the NPC gnomes recognizes the scent of the nearby crystal caverns you have been exploring. This is interesting because it relates to life; the player’s accomplishments should come with artifacts. This also means that auction houses should be limited, as they create an artificial divide between adventure and outcome. TENET 12 Players should have something unique to offer The ways that a player can help others in their progression should be relatively unique to that player. As much as possible, they should tell a story about adventures undertaken; e.g., a proc from an item dropped by a famous mob. Of course, classes and class-specific skills are one way to accomplish this, but the more ways the better. For example, if one form of progression is fishing, then fish should be useful to others in many ways. A cooking skill is obvious. More creatively, certain kinds of fish could be used as powerful but low-level weapons. A butcher could extract gills or eyes to, in turn, be used as reagents for spells. TENET 13 There should be no end game Even the name “end game” is problematic for several reasons. It suggests a hard limit to progression. It suggests a hard divide in the way the World is experienced once the player reaches this limit. It also suggests that the focus is no longer on the World, but on the game — which is to say, the core promise of the genre is lost. This doesn’t mean to eliminate raids or AA points. It just means that those things should be included in the game proper. This tenet also implies that progression should be relatively limitless. Skyrim is an interesting example of this. One way to accomplish this is to create exponential progress; for example, having each level take 10% more experience than the last. Granted, this is a much harder problem than the simple discussion here suggests. TENET 14 The player should leave a mark on the World itself Can a World be meaningful if there is no way to make an impact on it? Of course, their character is one such mark. It is easy to imagine statues erected in town, or NPCs chatting about the first character to hit max level. But there should be a means for all characters to leave some lasting impact. Given that players can already say whatever they want in chat, breaking immersion, a simple example is the ability to leave a journal. These could even be curated. Other possibilities include geocaching, naming items, plaques that can be erected in various places throughout the world. Player-owned housing is perhaps the most obvious. TENET 15 Power, fame, and fortune must be possible A world game should be able to provide all three of these drivers. As with reality, these should not be the only reason to play. Fame is largely supported by communication; fortune by economy and loot. Power can be found even outside the game, in the player’s mind, as they grow in skill and strategy. TENET 16 The player should have a home Can you have a world without a home? Some place in the world should feel like your own. Where even the NPCs tend to be supportive of you: merchants give discounts and trainers more assistance. This could simply be your birthplace, your hometown. The tenets of socialization TENET 17 There must be no explicit matchmaking Players must find each other. In fact, a World game should ideally employ the opposite of matchmaking: some players should have barriers preventing that connection. This makes it all the more meaningful when these seemingly unlikely relationships form. There are many ways to accomplish this, including separating players by distance or climate or language. Allowing certain players to engage in PvP is another. TENET 18 There should be risk in trusting others Trust can only exist when that trust can be violated. Otherwise there is no trust — just a cold, lack of consequence. By allowing negative consequences through socialization, we enable trust, and so enable more meaningful relationships. For example, a player might grief the group, log out at the wrong time, or simply lack the skill to effectively play their character. They might steal your loot. TENET 19 Players must be able to communicate with language The purpose of having a World is to allow the player to tell their own story within it. And what story is worth telling that doesn’t involve real connection with others? Connection with others requires communication. And not just any form of communication, but with language. This communication should extend throughout the game, as much as possible. That is, it should be limited to the tavern, but should naturally extend out to the dungeon as well. TENET 20 Players should be able to help each other organically Those that have the means to help should find themselves naturally in proximity to those that might need it. For example, have high-level dungeon entrances in low-level areas. Have new characters start out near big cities. TENET 21 Cooperation should generally benefit progression For example, a blacksmith could gather all of her own materials or rely on other players. In some cases, a blacksmith might actually require an enchanter to lend a hand in creating the best equipment. This is not a difficult tenet to design towards; it is more a warning against designing forms of progression that specifically do not lend themselves to cooperation. In many MMOs, solo combat is so fast-paced and rewarding that there is little incentive to try to find a group. The tenets of the World itself TENET 22 The World should be persistent Things can change, but not so frequently that it harms the connection the player has with the World. This is one reason why Minecraft may not work as a World game, and perhaps one reason why the focus on player-generated content in EverQuest Next did not lend itself well to a fun experience. TENET 23 The World should be shared There should be no instancing. If you need to come up with elaborate lore and mechanics to facilitate this, then so be it. For example, say all of the top tier raid bosses are spirits that can only be summoned by rare relics. And the spirits can only be hurt by those that share a clan sash with the one who summoned them. Obviously this is terribly contrived. But it demonstrates that it is possible to work backwards from the need of a shared world. TENET 24 The World should be big You should move slowly compared to the size of the world. It should always feel as though there is somewhere new to explore. TENET 25 The World should be open Big by itself is not enough. Theoretically, you could create a massive, linear world — imagine Ant Hill: The MMO. But that is not sufficient for a World game. Exploration is critical, and so the specific layout of the space is important. For another example, imagine Destiny but with hundreds of expansions. The game would be large by any standard, but it would not be a World. TENET 26 The World should be alive To some degree, the World should be the main character. Day and night cycles are a simple start. Other possibilities include transient events or even changes to the landscape over time. The World should be full of surprises, unpredictable. You should come across enemies not normally found in the local climate. You should discover loot normally reserved for much tougher mobs. Emergent gameplay can help here as well. The more mechanics and attributes that can be projected naturally to some underlying physics, the greater the chance for interesting and unique interactions. In the same breath, the World should have history. The best example of this is Hollow Knight, a game that tells the history of the World through visual storytelling, environments, enemy design, dialog, secrets, and journals. TENET 27 The World should be consistent The World should carry an underlying consistency through it. The World should feel congruent. Variety, also important, must be tempered. TENET 28 The World should be varied Different places within the World should have an identity of their own, through climate or culture or environment. Different environments should encourage different play styles and behavior, even downtime. TENET 29 The World should have landmarks The World should be defined by the interesting places within it. More than that, the World should have locations that pull players together. Breath of the Wild does an amazing job with this, whereas it is one of the weaknesses of The Witcher III. In EverQuest, the camps themselves often serve this role — think Treants — showing how landmarks can emerge from gameplay rather than, say, visual interest.
[December 15, 2020] – New Content in Grand Theft Auto Online
The Cayo Perico Heist has been added to GTA Online. In this update, players are contacted by Miguel Madrazo who will task them with infiltrating one of the most secure private islands in the entire world, evading or neutralizing the heavily armed security forces stationed there, and escaping with valuable evidence along with as much art, gold and drug money as they can carry. Players must scope, prep, and execute the Heist either solo or with up to three other players and will have the opportunity to access several new weapons and vehicles along the way.
The Cayo Perico Island has been added to GTA Online. The Island consists of several different key locations that players can explore while scoping for the Heist, including a beach party where new DJ collective Keinemusik performs an exclusive set. Upon completing the Heist as leader, players can return to the Cayo Perico beach party at their convenience and invite others along for the journey.
The Kosatka has been added to GTA Online. The Kosatka is a new driveable Submarine property that acts as a base of operations for planning The Cayo Perico Heist. The Kosatka can be customized with Guided Missiles, a Sonar Station, and a Weapon Workshop. The Kosatka also comes with a Moon Pool where players can store the new Sparrow, Kraken Avisa and Pegassi Toreador vehicles.
The Music Locker has been added to GTA Online. The Music Locker is a new Nightclub located underground below The Diamond Casino & Resort, which acts as a social hub and is where players can first meet Miguel Madrazo to learn about The Cayo Perico Heist. The Music Locker is also the venue that showcases new DJs added with this update.
One new DJ has been added to GTA Online. Players can see this new DJ perform at The Music Locker:
Moodymann
A new feature to toggle strobe lights in The Music Locker has been added. In the Style section of the Interaction Menu, the strobe light toggle can be found, listed as “Music Locker Strobes” and can be toggled on or off.
New DJ Request Missions have been added to GTA Online for owners of the Casino Penthouse who have completed The Cayo Perico Heist. Players will earn special rewards for completing these requests.
Two new Radio Stations have been added:
K.U.L.T 99.1 FM
Still Slipping Los Santos
Two existing Radio Stations have been updated with all-new mixes and tracks:
Worldwide FM
FlyLo FM
New Hidden Cache collectibles have been added to GTA Online. Players can find up to 10 Hidden Caches on the ocean floor around San Andreas each day. Players who own the Kosatka Sonar Station can blip the Caches on their radar. Players are rewarded with GTA$ and RP for finding these Hidden Caches.
Nine new vehicles have been added to GTA Online:
Kosatka
Sparrow
Kurtz 31 Patrol Boat
Vapid Winky
Shitzu Longfin
Kraken Avisa
Annihilator Stealth
RO-86 Alkonost
Pegassi Toreador
One new weapon, the Military Rifle, has been added to GTA Online and can be purchased from Ammu-Nation stores.
Additional new weapons have been added to GTA Online and can be unlocked on Cayo Perico.
Over 180+ items of clothing have been added for both Male and Female characters in GTA Online.
Over 30+ Tattoos have been added to GTA Online.
Nine new Face Paints have been added to GTA Online.
Six new celebration emotes have been added to GTA Online, which can be used while dancing:
Crowd Invitation
Driver
Runner
Shooting
Suck It
Take Selfie
Several new Awards related to The Cayo Perico Heist have been added to GTA Online, including the opportunity for players to earn up to 1.4 million in bonus GTA$ for various Heist challenges.
Five new styles of Blackjack tables and four new styles of Three Card Poker tables are available for purchase for players who own a Casino Penthouse and the Private Dealer. They can be purchase from the Casino Shop using Chips and equipped using the Interaction Menu.
GTA Online Fixes
Game Stability and Performance
Fixed several issues that caused game crashes, freezes and other stability problems
Fixed a stability issue that caused high memory usage for PC players, which could have led to pausing/stuttering on low specification hardware
Fixed an issue that may have caused players to get stuck on a black screen during transitions between GTA Online content
Matchmaking & Networking
Fixed an issue that resulted in players getting stuck on the sky camera after attempting to use the ‘Quick Job’ option to enter a Casino Heist lobby
Fixed an issue that resulted in players remaining in the same session after using the 'Find New Session’ option
Fixed an issue that resulted in players getting stuck on a loading screen when accepting a Job invite while inside the Arcade
Fixed an issue that may have caused network errors during the race portion of the GTA Online Tutorial
Fixed position sync issues with the Rune Zhaba vehicle when some players in a GTA Online session are running at a high framerate
Content
Fixed an issue that resulted in the news van getting stuck on a sign stopping Mission progression during the Casino Work Mission – Fake News
Fixed an issue that caused the Casino Heist Prep Mission – Duggan Shipments to end unexpectedly after launching
Fixed an issue that caused the Police Van from the Casino Heist Random Encounter – Patrick McReary to appear during an Open Wheel Race
Fixed an issue that resulted in the Mission starting with 3 seconds on the timer in the Casino Heist Random Encounter – Patrick McReary
Fixed multiple instances of incorrect button prompts that were present in several Arcade Games on the Japanese version of the game
Fixed overlapping text that was present in the Arcade Game – QUB3D
Fixed an issue that resulted in players with restricted accounts being able to see the custom initials of players on the high score screen of Arcade Games
Fixed an issue that caused the Movie Props Hidden Collectibles to be missing from their intended location
Fixed an issue that caused Lester’s car to not be drivable in the Heist Mission: Fleeca Job – Scope Out
Fixed an issue that caused players to be stuck with no functionality in the Heist Mission: Fleeca Job – Scope Out
Fixed an issue that resulted in players getting stuck after trying to launch the Heist Mission: Fleeca Job – Scope Out
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to use the skip trip functionality in the in the Heist Mission: Prison Break – Plane
Fixed incorrect objective text that was present in the Heist Mission: Prison Break – Station
Fixed an issue that caused players to fall through the map during the Casino Heist – Finale
Fixed an issue that caused players to be taken into a Casino Heist Mission after not choosing an option on the Next Job Voting Screen, despite having made no Casino Heist progress
Fixed visual issues that were present after quitting spectator mode during the Adversary Mode – Every Bullet Counts
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to re-equip rebreathers during the A Superyacht Life Mission – Salvage
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to use their weapon wheel during the A Superyacht Life Mission – Salvage
Fixed an issue that resulted in players losing camera functionality in the Gerald’s Last Play Mission – Make Ends Meat
Fixed a button conflict that was present in the Arena War – Game Masters
Fixed an issue that resulted in players falling under the map after modding a vehicle in the Arena Workshop Property
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to deliver Cargo during the Business Battle – Assassination
Fixed an issue that resulted in players getting stuck on the objective ‘Hack the Security Panel' in the Business Battle – Factory Raid
Fixed an issue that caused the Mission to instantly fail after launching a Sell Mission
Awards and Daily Objectives
Fixed an issue that caused the Daily Challenge – 'Participate in the Featured Series' to not register correctly
Properties
Fixed issues that resulted in players’ Arcade set up progress getting reset
Fixed an issue that resulted in players getting stuck after drinking at the Arcade bar
Fixed camera issues that were present when entering the Arcade
Fixed an issue that resulted in players losing movement functionality after storing the Enus Paragon R (Armored) in their Office Garage
Fixed helicopter spawning issues on the Yacht
Fixed visual issues that were present with the Office Garage cutscene
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to exit their Arcade after accepting an invite
Fixed an issue that resulted in players getting stuck on a loading screen after driving into the Arena Garage
Vehicles
Fixed an issue that prevented several variations of vehicle cinematic cameras from appearing for all vehicles
Fixed an issue that caused the Bravado Gauntlet Classic’s trade price to be displayed incorrectly on the Benny's Original Motorworks site
Fixed an issue that prevented Cargobob helicopters from being able to pick up the Vapid Peyote Custom using the hook
Fixed several miscellaneous model and texture issues for the following vehicles:
Invetero Coquette D10
Bravado Gauntlet Classic Custom
Albany Manana Custom
Vapid Peyote Custom
Bravado Youga Classic 4x4
Clothing
Fixed clipping issues that were present with several of the ‘Open Shirts’ and ‘Open Party Shirts’
Fixed several miscellaneous clipping and texture issues for the following clothing items:
Animal masks (and other larger mask options)
Tucked Short Shirt variants
Untucked Short Shirt variants
Sport Shorts
Yacht Captain outfit
Miscellaneous
Reduced the frequency that the player will receive call, text and email notifications regarding content from previous GTA Online content updates
Fixed an issue that resulted in vehicles not arriving after being requested from Ms. Baker
Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to interact with certain activities in the Casino
Fixed an issue that caused the Avenger’s entrance trigger to not be visible to players
Fixed an issue that resulted in spectators being unable to swap filters
Fixed an issue where PlayStation 4 players without a PS Plus subscription would not be directed to the correct menu when attempting to access GTA Online
Story Mode
Fixed an issue that caused some weapon magazines and attachments to be missing during cutscenes
Amidst the sea of concrete snow that the stage had become, egged on by Agnes’ unusual encore request that Metra had agreed to, the killing intent of the self-styled villain and master mixologist had won out against the comparable brutality of the affable mercenary who had tried to take his life with just as much brutality. The crowd, though annoyed by being utterly doused in carbonated everything, literally tossed around, literally watching their fellow partygoers exsanguinated and turned into meat puppets, did not allow it to ruin their fun, cheering on for Metra and her eclectic song choices. Agnes hopped off the makeshift surfboard he’d constructed, his opponent cut to pieces and speared and speared to hell, and it a testament to the sheer resilience of Guy-Manuel Mota that, even in such a gored, pulverized state, his opponent wondered if he was actually dead. Regardless, he wasn’t getting back up, or reassembling, or pulling any more surprises or attempts to play possum. Realizing that it was over, Agnes was shaking. Breathing heavily. Hints of tears started to form in his eyes… but before he had a chance to cry, he arched back, laughing into a sea of concrete snow. He’d won again. “There you go, Metra, your show is saved or whatever,” he said with a mocking flippancy as she left the crowd to meet him backstage, “and I didn’t even kill any of these guys who paid to see you… They’ll just have to deal with sticky-wet clothes and some broken limbs.” “Can’t believe this happened again… And I just had no choice but to keep singing and dancing.” Metra rubbed her hands on her arms, shaking her head. “I’m sick of this shit… I thought it was all almost over, but it’s just going to be forever in this city, huh?” “Probably,” Agnes said, still half-laughing through a strained face, “just a constant, encroaching wave of ‘despair’ every waking moment… Way I see it, either you ride that shit as far as you can, or you let yourself drown. Doesn’t make a difference to me which you do.” He glanced up at the ceiling then, cupping his hands. “Hey, fuckers! I won now! I beat the guy you sent! Get on the biggering or I’ll burn your casino down again!” The game had, in fact, been won, and Agnes and Metra were the first to start to be free of its grasp, along with the spiked and bloodied separated bits of Guy, still pulsating ambiguously. “He’s out for blood.” Tigran declared, warning the others Entertainment District highrollers observing, as he produced a deck of cards. “My Stand can’t hold him at that size much longer… But this whole place is about to be flooded with people, too. Duck into somewhere, and get away in the confusion.” He spoke authoritatively, and even his sole superior, Fox, complied with his wishes after an urgent glance. “I… I’ll come for you! I promise I will!” Tigran didn’t hear much more of that, then, beyond the sounds of Pork Soda’s Stand cry amplified by sonic boosts courtesy of Metra Doria. He fought impressively with little more than a deck of cards, but even then, could only buy his friends the seconds they needed to get away, live to gamble another day. Tigran “Golden” Sins, User of ‘The Grid Retired! Face broken in nearly a dozen places by Agnes and TD/MD, the 48 year-old owner of Heartache Casino would be very quickly interned at Red Clay penitentiary, Metra insisting that her ally not kill him. As thousands of confused concertgoers suddenly grew to full size and began to flood the halls of the Alexander Dickinson Amphitheater, the rest of his accomplices were able to escape the authorities yet again. Despite his extremely infamous protectiveness towards his face, he almost seemed to wear the damage with pride, knowing that this time, it represented having allowed the only man he considered greater than himself to run free yet again. Red Clay Penitentiary - Industrial District “Well, well, well, isn’t this a small world now? Tigran Sins, now in my care… Certainly less of a looker than I’d heard.” A dark-wavy-haired twenty-something sat snickering in the warden’s big swivel-chair, clad in a sleeveless velvet minidress, what of her flesh was exposed covered in flickering tattoos resembling closed eyes, flanked by uncanny-looking guards. “You don’t know me, but I’ve certainly heard of you… Of how you treated someone I hold dear very cruelly. Don’t you understand we’re all Stand Users trying to live our best life, Mr. Golden? I’m not the one who hurt you and threw you in here, and you’re not the one who said that I needed to be kept half-starved at all times so I couldn’t create anything.” “Wh… Wait. Who the hell’re you?” “Did my sweetheart never mention me, or do you just not pay attention to anyone but you and yours?” She leaned forward, bridging her fingers together. “I’m Palmer. I was a drama teacher at a small-town high school, but they kept overfunding football, one thing led to another, and now… I’ve got some serious vision.” Tigran would be the last inmate admitted to Red Clay before a coup months in the making finally came to fruition. Hey, yeah, Palmer! Remember that fun NPC? She was dating Mr. Jones and killed four people for him! Anyway, yeah, adjacent to him, an all-out meanspirited brawl in a sewer is taking place, feat. two chaotic clowns and two very frustrated young women. What rotten luck this had been. That leak, now of all days, when Being So Normal, Cairo Satori’s pet project that they had been slaving away at ever since setting foot in this series, had the deals with the devil that it had been built upon from the very beginning exposed for the world to see, and the city, which had loved every second of it before, had now been divided sharply between the loyal fans remaining and those protesting the entire thing, demanding the resignation of their producer, the cancellation of a show which had been picked up by so many streaming platforms, had already begun to make so much for the people who had made a livelihood of it all. With the connection to Andrew Tiffany’s demise, even the oh-so-loyal Purple Flying Man resigned with only a short argument, and even the damage control removal of Caroline Jeffords, responsible for the worst of it, did little to contain the fact that Cairo knew about this, and Cairo allowed this to proceed nonetheless. What, were they going to just throw it all away at the last minute? Ruin lives, tank companies, get how many people laid off? All over the failures of those close to them? Of course not. “Cairo, dear,” the voice of that ever-troublesome producer, Million Dollars, muttered into a cell phone for them, “I’m going to need to go under the radar for awhile… People are beginning to look into my own affairs as well. But know that, as always, no matter what, you have my support. This show isn’t just a cash cow, Cairo… It’s an example. An example for the world to look to, and something for Stand Users to aspire to be better. I know you’re probably mad at us as well, but… You know that, don’t you?” “Dollars… You’ve got a lot of nerve, trying to plead with me right now,” Cairo answered, tense in what had been their green room, sitting in the mall their producer had owned, “we definitely need to talk about our future… But we need to have one, too. Of course the show must go on… Nothing’s gonna jeopardize that!” Free Viper Strip Mall, Suburban District In recent times, the atmosphere at Free Viper was… somewhat dire. In fact, it had been on a rapid decline since that fateful day a couple months ago when Bert hijacked a ritual meant to challenge fate and did so, while murdering tens of thousands of people and injuring far more than that at the same time. Actually, Black Knight Penitentiary Album’s death and the realization that Remix was a serial killer came before that and weren’t very uplifting either, but what Bert did was somewhat hard to top. Either way, the realization that he found one of the most morally bankrupt groups of people to team up with in Los Fortuna was one that Arthur Lifeson had reached not too long ago, and though it was somewhat of a painful thing to come to terms with, he had no choice but to do so and simply carry on. Bert had died, and the least Arthur could do from here on out would be to do his best to assist the city of Los Fortuna and bring justice to those who deserved it. The city certainly needed it, given all that was occurring right now. For all the time Arthur spent in the city, he hadn’t gotten enough of note done yet… but that was soon to change. He had a plan in mind, one that would help keep the city and the world of stand users as a whole from devolving into further chaos. Before he could put it in place, however, he’d have to get some help. Los Fortuna Shopping District, Sweet FA Mall - The Next Day Nix Ripa had been in this city for months now, and in that time, all he had done was tear down walls, break buildings, break people who had dared to step all over the safety of others, of those too weak to bend fate to their whims. It was despicable to him, and the icy Stand User was seething with hot rage. Those without the power to change the world themselves were pitiable, in their ways, yet at once, he knew they were not above help… That they needed to be driven higher, reach for the stars rather than wave to the heroes they saw in them! When Arthur Lifeson discovered and contacted him, he did not hesitate to make his way to the megamall in which this was all set to culminate. Rather than in the comfortable solitude of the Black Hill Estate, where he could train without disruption, he’d even spent the night in an alley nearby, wanting to be able to spring out first thing in the morning! When he did, then, as if on schedule, the older bearded man who had requested his help stood at the foot of Sweet FA, looking himself quite regal with that increasingly modified Medieval Times getup. “Sir Ripa… It is an honor to meet in person, with yet another warrior of great acclaim.” “Heh… I’ve seen you around,” Nix answered, stretching off the sleeping-on-a-dumpster aches and forcing out his hand, which Arthur, in turn, grabbed firmly, the pair locking fingers tightly and staring one another down intensely. “Did a damn fine number on those guys at this very mall awhile back… And it takes some guts to drive out into the Middle Finger for any reason! The mountains are where I do my most intense training of all!” “Aye, I regrettably was fooled into following the glorious allure of Being So Normal… I lack even your good reason, of how you and your fallen brother-in-arms, Sir Rains, apprehended a true villain in the process of this fight, and even a black knight who would have put a past companion of mine to shame with her depravity.” He looked towards the space and shuddered. “The show, it refused to show the truth, but the wounds from that grueling battle, the burns… They were excruciating. That witch Jeffords, nothing she’s touched can be trusted as a truth to show the world.” “So we’re in agreement then!” Nix said, finally letting the handshake go as Arthur’s hand began to grow numb, rolling his arms around and turning to face Sweet FA. “I looked into this place, their mission statement, their show, their producer… Set a good example my ass! They just want the whole damn world to think there’s nothing better than being a Stand User! That the ground we walk on should be kissed just for what we’ve got! Well… I’m no goddamn celebrity!” “Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” Arthur agreed, “and this mockery… It will not do good for the world to learn of us this way. A knight’s honor is not something we seek for glory, for congratulation, but because there is no greater purpose than to slay evil, to protect those who cannot for themselves!” “Heh… I like you. After this, we’re sparring ‘til one of us can’t move!” Nix led the way in there, then, Arthur feeling pause for a moment at the sheer intensity of his companion. This was not of fear, however, or of a sudden feeling of inadequacy at someone so much younger, yet so much more driven than him. Nay, he had been filled with more righteous determination than ever, and with a battle cry that led to a family with two kids in a stroller staring his way, he ran in after him! … … As soon as they reached the main foyer of the mall, both of them realized, in tandem, and Nix spoke first, “…this place is huge as hell! Where do we even go to smash shit up?” “I… That. That is a good point! Perhaps we should conduct a map kiosk, one which says ‘you are here!’ Ugh, those are always a pain to read…” “I’ll help you.” Both turned, then, to see a very fashionable teenager, clad in a purple aviator cap and goggles, slim and bearing a dour expression on his face. All who had hung around Cairo would recognize the Purple Flying Man from someplace or another, as well as all the extremely online and influencer-following of Los Fortuna. “This show… They’ve done so much to capitalize on my uncle’s death. They’ve actively stopped the truth of whatever might have happened to him from being investigated with their frameup… And this conflict, I have lost two of my brothers to it all over again.” He paused, then, and the two men seemed to trust him. “You won’t be able to erase the show completely… It’s already had a limited run in this city. But masters, extra footage, content they were going to actually send out… There’s a storage space nearby… Most of the show’s data is backed up, of course, but that’s where everything is being saved. If your wish is to sabotage Being So Normal, to ruin its international release before it can cause any more harm to the outside world, that is where you go.” “So you’ve had a change of heart yourself… I am thankful to hear that, Purple One…” Arthur snapped his fingers, then, as if remembering his name. “Right, now I remember! ‘Afton,’ wasn’t it?” Purple’s face faulted. “Erm… N-no, eheh. It, uh… It wasn’t that. I haven’t been anything but ‘Purple’ for a very long time.” “No matter what you’re called, an enemy of this show’s from within is just what we need to make this a little less of a pain in the ass!” Nix declared. “Lead the way!” A Series of Backstage Halls Deep Within Sweet FA Acrobatic and stealthy as he was, after leading the way in for those who had sought out this quest to begin with, Purple hurried along deeper inward, well aware that it was likely this place would not be unguarded, and meaning to scout ahead, maybe even fight a bit if he absolutely needed to. He really, really did not want to, and so far, it wasn’t reassuring to him that nobody had interrupted them. No show staff, no Stand Users, not even some rent-a-cop had yet gotten into the way of this. As he made his way to a security room, quietly bemoaning the fact that he would never live down infiltrating a security room with that damned nickname Bad Apples had given him, his worst fears were confirmed. His friend, his confidante, Cairo Satori was sitting in a swivel chair, watching screens displaying the entire mall and idly leaning their head into a metal baseball bat. “Purp…” They spoke up without even turning to face him. “Wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon! I mean, with everywhere you’ve blocked me, privated your accounts… I was under the impression you needed some time away from the show.” Purple hopped down, then, walking closer towards the chair, clearing his throat and pondering his words clearly. “The show needs time away from the show, Cairo… You know damn well why I brought myself back. Come on. You know this isn’t right… It doesn’t have to be this, and even just delaying could save-” “Delay, huh?” They stood, twirling that bat they’d always carried around. It didn’t worry Purple. He’d never seen them actually using it. “C’mon… You know it’s not that simple, buddy. I’m just trying to make sure everyone has a good time… Already, I’m cutting toxic people out of the show! Even when they’ll make it harder to make anything going forward, Caroline is gone! I’ll keep that producer on a really short leash! I am doing everything in my power to make sure that this goes well… C’mon, can’t you look on the bright side?” “You… You already know my answer to that. You’ve betrayed my trust, Cairo. The trust of my uncle, of everyone you’ve worked with… Of this whole city!” He shifted in place, then, becoming a much more avian humanoid figure with its pose. “I am its lavender courage, and I am your friend! And as both, I cannot abide by-” Cairo swang their bat, and as they did, the arms of a Stand emerged from their own hand and struck it as well, multiple times in quick succession. By the time the bat impacted Purple, it was with enough force for the deeply resilient eternally-young ghost to be sent hurtling towards a wall, literally impacting it hard enough to leave an impression in its form, embedded and unconscious in a single swing. He was alive, and would walk this off, but he wouldn’t be getting back up today. “Sorry ‘bout that,” they said, standing with the bat over their shoulder, ‘Peach Pit’ manifesting more fully by their side (drawn by the artist Boy George, as usual), “but I can tell we don’t have time to chat… I’ll send you a gift basket from the launch party, yeah?” Then, their attention turned towards the others on the security room screens, addressing their Stand in the meantime, “uh, hey, Peach…” “I’m on it,” the Stand answered, “Arthur Lifeson and Nix Ripa… I’m excited for this, honestly.” “And you don’t need to know that I am to, honestly…” Cairo moved to press the intercom button. “I heard violence!” Nix called out, balling his fists. “Purple found someone!” He began to rush forward, then, Arthur preparing to make a blade, only to be stopped by the crackling of an intercom button. “Hello again! Wow, it really isn’t all that often that Being So Normal has repeat appearances, but that’s, what, twice in this promotional cycle alone?” Cairo’s voice rang through, then, and they continued, “I figured we’d see some trouble here, so I gave most of staff the day off… I knew it’d be types like you two who showed up, and honestly, I gotta say, despite the circumstances, I’m a bit psyched!” “Cairo Satori!” Arthur spoke up then, waving his hands. “Put this madness to a close, before I have to put you to my blade! You need not fall victim to this any longer… To fight us is a waste of time!” “Well, I’ve got time to kill, and nobody to talk to, now that my friend’s taking a bit of a nap. And besides, you think I’m gonna just let you destroy everything we’ve been working to build up because you don’t like a couple of the crew members? C’mon, have a reality check here! No way I’m gonna allow that… Especially not right now! Look, why not come talk to me after I’ve completely closed this Netflix deal?” There was silence, then, and then they spoke up again. “Oh, who am I kidding? We both know that this is only gonna end one way! If you wanna stop me from sending this show out for the whole world to know and love, and not just be another little piece of Los Fortuna’s super storied, super amazing history, then STOP me! I’m already sending Peach your way, and there’s no way the two of us will just get walked all over!” Arthur shut his eyes in frustration, but Nix shook his shoulder. “We knew from the start it’d come to this. C’mon… Any more talking this through will be a waste of all our breaths.” “Yeah! This pre-battle stuff goes on way too long, I swear! So much to cut down in post without missing the meat of it… But enough talking shop, yeah? Let’s get to what we’re here for… You wanna say it with me? …no? Okay, suit yourself!” “OPEN THE GAME!” Location: A hallway to several storage rooms in Sweet FA Mall. The area here is 40 by 80 meters with each tile being 2.5 by 2.5 meters. The white tiles are completely out of bounds for this match. The light magenta tiles are the main hallway, the purple tiles are side hallways, and the red tiles are the rooms. Each room has a number associated with it for convenience, as shown by the purple numbers. The ceiling is 8 meters tall. The doorways are denoted by the dotted lines between the rooms and hallways. The players start at the left end of the hallway and Cairo starts in the security room (room 5) to the right of the bottom center. Cairo’s Stand starts in the middle of the main hallway. The grey X marked circles are security cameras on the ceiling that connect to the monitors that are represented by the yellow notched rectangles in room 5. The light blue rectangles in the main hallway are 4 meter tall metal shelves that house stage set up equipment such as stepladders, light fixtures, microphones, extension cables, construction tools, and anything else needed to set up or tear down a stage. All shelves are bolted to the ground. The yellow stars are disks, tapes, harddrives and other recordings of the footage shot by Cairo’s show. The walls are drywall while the floor is ceramic tiled. Now onto the different rooms:
Room 1: Contains racks and cardboard bins of merchandise. The brown rectangles are cardboard bins of plushies and hats. The red circles are racks of clothing merchandise.
Room 2: Contains a mountain of chairs and other furniture within a 5 meter tall metal storage fence as represented by the light blue rectangle and the junk inside it. Each side of the fence has a chain locked door.
Room 3: Contains various cooking appliances and peripherals. The white rectangles are 4 meter tall metal storage shelves and the magenta rectangles are 5 meter tall metal storage containers. Basically any appliance that doesn’t fit on a shelf is put into one of the three containers.
Room 4: Contains two long tables as represented by the grey L-shaped rectangles. On these tables are neatly laid out items that were used in Round 2 Match 4, this means Riot Shields, Fireworks Cannons, Magnetic Ray Guns, Grappling Hook Guns, smoke bombs, Tar filled paintball guns, mannequins, body armor, skateboards, net launchers, fire extinguishers, step ladders, marbles, bowling balls, trampolines, shovels, steel chairs, and blankets. Only the crystal ball is missing. The blue circle is a barrel of fencing foils and the yellow rectangle is a banged up motorcycle that while not completely totaled is in pretty bad shape.
Room 5: The security room. It is rather bare, only housing the monitors set-ups to the security cameras and three swivel chairs to go with them.
Goal: RETIRE your opponents! Additional Information: As a reminder, White Tile areas are out-of-bounds for this match. If you willingly traverse through them you will be retired by a pair of mall cops. Here is a shortened version of Cairo’s character sheet with all relevant information, the full sheet is linked below Name: Cairo Satori Age: 21 Gender: None, whose business is that anyways? Species: Human Occupation: Beloved Media Icon Equipment: The newest smartphone, two sets of wireless earbuds for communicating directly with [Peach Pit] quietly, a bag of weed mints, and a baseball bat. User Stats: Strength: 3 (Too much effort to get properly strong- Cairo can throw as much effort into a hit as they need to in order to finish someone off after being brought to near-retirement by [Peach Pit], and that’s about the maximum they need.) Agility: 2 (Never had to run after or from anything.) Endurance: 2 (Not one to hold up under sustained pressure for very long, hoping to duck back from any conflicts except where absolutely necessary.) Conduction: 2 (Able to personally carry their Stand’s damaging energy through them, and has a general knowledge of how to apply it.) Vibing: 3 (It's for vibe checks- the necessity of finishing an opponent off personally, in a fast and hard strike. The full force of their strength, loaded into one moment rather than a series of fests. Also, they do have good vibes.) Stand Name: [Peach Pit] Stand Appearance: On the bulkier side of stand builds, Peach Pit has some resemblance to a knight in plate armor- big, dark metallic pauldrons, a chestplate, an assortment of straps and buckles, etc. The surface of the stand looks very much like a sunset with its colors flipped around. Its face is smooth except for a simple minimalist icon of the sun, and the rest of the head is mostly covered by a knight's helmet as well. A gradient of sorts goes from the head of the stand down to its armored feet, starting with an orange-red and ending in black with white specks like stars in the night sky. About/Oddities: The stand is dangerous, outright. The manifestation of an incredible will for a very specific life gave it incredibly high offensive might, and although Cairo has depleted its very low ‘potential,’ nothing else has decreased in the slightest. Additionally, [Peach Pit] is sentient, and thinks of itself as a close friend and bodyguard to Cairo. Despite being able to dish out high damage, it is very much a friendly, calm and collected individual, having respect even for those it has to fight. As such, [Peach Pit] leaves RETIRING opponents up to its user completely. An enemy can be beaten down, but will still be able to pull together and carry on albeit impeded until Cairo personally finishes them off. This isn't simply a choice- if instructed to keep pressure on an opponent who's down but not out, its strikes can indefinitely inflict serious pain and yet never be quite enough to injure a foe to the point where they're considered RETIRED. Due to the bold weakness in this, for how combat inefficient and easily hurt its user is, Peach doesn't have full damage transference. Instead, it can be destroyed repeatedly- Cairo takes one instance of C power damage upon its destruction, and it can be resummoned from Cairo's position after ten seconds. Peach's presenting identity has been influenced by Cairo's insistence against defining things that way, to the point of being comfortably seen subjectively as anything. Peach will respond to any pronouns without questioning it. Stand Stats: Power: A(The stand can exert a great amount of power in its attacks) Speed: A (Its movements are very fast and its attacks can travel just as quickly) Range: B (50 meters) Durability: E (Subpar durability, however when destroyed the user takes C power damage and the stand can be summoned back to Cairo’s side after 10 seconds.) Precision: C (Generally decent in its movements, but its projectile attacks only move in a straight line once fired and can only be stored within conductive materials. In non-conductive materials it would keep traveling) Ability: Peach Pit lacks a complex ability, as far as one would expect. Rather than intricate effects, its hits themselves can simply be conducted through material similarly the way that electricity does, with distinct variation based on the conductivity of the material. Within conductive material, damage is stored up much like a battery - the moment someone touches the "battery", the damage transfers directly to it on the point of contact. This means that if Peach were to punch a metal rod and someone were to touch it, they would feel the full brunt of Peach's attack the moment they do so. A battery remains charged for up to fifteen seconds, and at any point if it hasn’t been touched and discharged already, Cairo can pick any direction from where the battery is in contact with non-conductive materials to activate the next type of attack. Within non-conductive material, either deployed through battery or direct strike, damage "travels", moving forwards in a straight line at A speed in the same direction it came from. This wave of damage can be seen as it travels, with slight shimmers of light and a crackling sound emanating from where it's currently positioned. Damage cannot travel further than B range from Cairo.
“The thing in Hayato's hand was definitely a handy cam. It doesn't seem to be in this room right now...” This show is a sweet-sounding idea, but it’s so corrupt to its core that you can’t allow it to spread any further than it has. Destroy as many physical backings of the recordings Cairo has made for their show as you can over the course of your strat!
“I even took a video of the cat-like plant you've got in the attic!” This show… You know it’s been an unsavory road, one you wish you could have managed differently, but the good it can do, the way the world might finally begin to understand the ugly and wonderful truths of Stand Users and appreciate them more as a part of their lives… You will celebrate that. Take creative inspiration from actions that took place in matches related officially to ‘Being So Normal!’ That is to say, these 5 matches, R1M5,R1M23,R1M29,R2M4, and R3M8!
Link to the Official Player Spreadsheet Link to Match Schedule As always, if you would like to interact with the tournament community and be among the first to get updates for the tournament, please feel free to PM a member of our Judge staff for an invite to our Official Discord Server!
Heyoo, it’s Cooooooolin ! How was everyone’s Tuesday? Was it a Terrible Tuesday or a Terrific Tuesday!? Let me know, doown belooww! Here’s the new cards for today, thanks as always, EA!
Silver Master Icons
Henri Richard - 90 OVR - MTL / C - (2) BAR , HOW Luc Robitaille - 90 OVR - LAK / LW - (2) H and S , PP Jeremy Roenick - 90 OVR - CHI / C - (2) SPA , SPE
Primetimes
NHL
In honour of Corey Crawford Corey Crawford - 89 OVR - CHI / G - 6’2” / 216 lbs (1) BAR ... * Jesper Bratt - 83 OVR - NJD / LW - (1) HOW ... * Cal Peterson - 82 OVR - LAK / G - 6’1” / 183 lbs (1) SPA ... * Fredrick Gauthier - 80 OVR - ARI / C - (1) BAL , GLA ... leafs will miss youu Michael Del Zotto - 80 OVR - CBJ / LD - (1) DIS , PP ... * Christian Djoos - 80 OVR - DET / LD - (1) H and S , LTL ... * Noah Juulsen - 79 OVR - RD / FLA - (1) SWA , SH ... *
*23H / 30M remaining • Elite Players Pack - 37.5k C / 750 P 10 items, all Gold Players, with at least 8 80+ OVR Players • Elite Pack - 25k C / 500 P 10 items, with at least 5 80+ OVR Players • Players Pack - 15k C / 300 P 10 items, all Players, at least 5 Golds and 1 80+ OVR Player.
Sets
90 Jeremy Roenick UT Req. - 1 x 85 Jeremy Roenick , 8 Icon Collectables —- 90 Luc Robitaille UT Req. - 1 x 87 Luc Robitaille , 6 Icon Collectables or Req. - 1 x 85 Luc Robitaille , 8 Icon Collectables —— 90 Henri Richard UT Req. - 1 x 85 Henri Richard , 8 Icon Collectables ————-
• SB Season Reset - Wednesday at 5pm EST • Rivals Rewards - Wednesday at 5pm EST • HUT Champ Rewards - Wednesday at 6am EST • SB Rewards !! - Thursday at 5pm EST —————
Summary of the day
Quick Read Best Forward of the Day - PT - is JESSPERRR BRAATTT OVR 83 with the syn HOOWWITZZERR Best Defence of the Day - PT - is MIIICHAAEEL D ZOTTTOO OVR 80 with the syn DIISTRIBUTORRR and PAASSSINGG PLAYMAKERR Best Goalie of the Day - PT - is COOORREEYYY CRAWFORDDD OVR 89 with the syn BAARRRAAAGEE • Rivals Resets Tonight - where did you place? ———— —— ——— Cooolin ——— —— ——
Important Notice
It’s the little things in someone else’s day that matter the most, it can be said, or done. Surprise your significant other, a friend, a family or a relative with something that reminds you of them... and some chocolates! I’m sure they won’t expect it, and it will make their day a million times better. Give thanks to the people in your life that matter most - just surprise them! Because everyone deserves to be surprised every now, and then! It doesn’t always have to be something physical — something like a huge text paragraph to make their day, and just making sure that they’re okay. Just let them know that they are loved, because somedays people may not feel loved. And to you, friendly fellow redditor? I love you , too! You should be proud of yourself. Just keep on pushing through the days, you got this!! Everything will work out for the better ! ... what does this mean HUT related? Expect the unexpected, big things are coming from me to you guys!
Interested in Stocks?
EA’s Stock Price, after hours - Jan. 12 $ 139.00 (usd) —- Currency Converter we looked at the stock at $137.54 usd —— That is a difference of ( $1.46 / 1.06% ) — Disclaimer - I am not a financial advisor. It is your money, please do your own due diligence. I am not responsible for your money. This is *not** advice. I added this section for an added educational purposes only. Thanks* —— —— —— —-
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I made this for everyone. I’ll update it whenever I feel like it, but its been often!
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Fighting a Gambling Addiction?
Don’t feel scared to click here. Winning is SO much louder than losing. Know that you are NEVER alone. We are all here for eachother, and it is never too late to get help. I am here for you. This is a VERY important thread, especially if you are new to HUT. Here! ——- 12 / 365 —— —— —— —- —- ——- —- —— —— Thanks for reading. I’m always welcome to feedback, please let me know what I can improve on. If there’s anything missing, please let me know! Take care, happy gaming! 1 DAY TIL HOCKEY COMES!WHO IS EXCITEDD? I am not affiliated with EA. Please don’t message me about your problems about the game, even though I find them rather entertaining. You still can, just I might not be able to help!! • Coolin Killin It (Life is like a puzzle, you just have to find the right piece.)
RoyalRoad First Next Jen and Sarah spent the next week doing research. The Internet was filled with contradictory information about monetary theory and economics, and neither of them really had the background to evaluate the arguments that everyone was having. However, Sarah reminded them both, they didn't need to look at a perfect system, just one that worked. So, they started digging through Wikipedia articles and online textbooks on the history of money and how they came to be. "Hey, did you know they used to use salt as currency?" Sarah asked as she skimmed through a particularly fascinating documentary about Middle Age East African economies. "Is this some kind of joke about mining salt?" "No, it's real, look. And apparently the word salary is from the Latin word salarium for money used to buy salt," Sarah continued fascinated. Of course, they couldn't use something as simple as salt to represent money. In fact, they couldn't use any commodity either. Over the last week, one of the alien traders caught wind that gold was extremely valuable on Earth, so they'd brought them in by the ton load. Gold was still useful for electronics and some dentistry, but the price of gold, mostly propped up by its value in rarity, crashed hard. The problem with currency in galactic trading, as Sarah discovered, was that there wasn't a single commodity that was equally rare in every system. No, whatever alternative they come up to the laughably outdated barter system had to be built on something far more rare and valuable than gold. Something that even the most powerful human empires in history have struggled to collect. It had to be built on trust. "That's the system most modern currencies are based on," Sarah claimed, "you only accept dollars for work because you trust that you're going to be able to wake up tomorrow and spend it on… everything you need." "Hmm well, we can't just ask them to take US dollars," Jen giggled. This would be so much easier if that weren't true. "Why not?" Sarah asked, playing the devil's advocate. "Well… well, like you said, they won't trust it! I certainly wouldn't if I were a trader! Furthermore, who knows? Maybe they have a printer in their ship that can duplicate money! Maybe we should ask them for that next time we bring Zarko some pears," Jen said, thinking out loud. "I doubt it. The government keeps a lot of secrets about how they make Dollars , and I don't want the Secret Service knocking on my door," Sarah said. Until this week, she hadn't known that this was one of the lesser known duties of the USSS. Now that she knew it, it made the thought of attracting their attention even less palatable, "you're right. What about digital casino tokens? We can produce something that translates to Dollars and have our own system that tracks it all." "Sure, that's not too hard to make. We would have a centralized money supply, where we don't trust each end point…" Jen continued on the brainstorm, thinking in terms of the technical system, "ok, so say we make SarahBucks, and peg its value to the US Dollar. One pound of pears would be worth 1.5 SarahBucks, one pound of sirloin steak is 6.99 SarahBucks at Safeway. That still doesn't explain how we'll get people to use it." "I'm not sure. I need to think about this more," Sarah yawned, tired. "And I hate that name." They agreed that they were stuck, and that SarahBucks was absolutely a terrible name. Livermore Spaceport, Earth A month after the spaceport opening, Sarah noticed that it had become less of a tourist attraction. There were far fewer people standing around gawking at the aliens, and a lot more companies trucking their best-selling products into the spaceport for trade. After their abuse of Jen's cousin's employee pass got discovered by the spaceport authorities, Sarah and Jen had started placing their own bids on getting into the spaceport through the official channels. Thanks to their existing connections with the managers at the spaceport and a growing bank account of value, they could still get in to continue their lucrative trade for magical alien goods. A bit of a rich-get-richer type of situation. The flavor of the month were these Bohor magical air filter machines that aggressively scrubbed the air of… anything you want them to. The Bohor planet is basically the planetary equivalent of a toxic dump. Sure, it had biomes; it wasn't a Star Wars sci-fi planet where the entire planet is either a desert or an ice-cold tundra or a forest. But the entire planet had been polluted so heavily by its occupants that it lowered the life expectancy by half before the Bohors found a solution: They simply filtered their entire atmosphere through air filter machines and then buried the toxins and garbage they got out of it in a very deep landfill, somewhere where very few people lived. Pretty much the kind of solution you'd expect out of a species that created the original problem in the first place. Zikzik, the alien that was the same species as Zarko, overheard a human asking about their rocket fuel and climate change, and brought in a cargo hold of them. It was a massive hit. Earth's climate change problem wasn't nearly as bad as Bohor, but it was relatively simple to program these machines to suck carbon out of its atmosphere and… bury them in a landfill. At first, few of the human traders bought them, thinking that it was going to be at least a while before the problem became big enough that big governments were going to come to them to try to address the issue, but they had it all wrong. Soon as word got out this was an option, big companies and philanthropists started lining up at their doors. As it turned out, literally sucking the carbon dioxide out of the air was easier and cheaper than modifying many of their industrial practices to actually be environmentally green. They didn't need to run more efficient factories to claim to be carbon-neutral; just pump as much carbon into the air in exchange for undoing that by sucking it out of the atmosphere after! Some bean counters at a think tank in DC predicted that a few more shipments of these air filters will fix Earth's climate problems by themselves in about a decade, so every trader had a waiting list of corporations with PR problems willing to buy them. Sarah and Jen had a couple vehicle manufacturing companies on their list who were trying to get Bohor air filters to use in lobbying for looser emission standards for their dirty gasoline cars. Today, there were traders on all the landing pads, and they were all carrying air filters. Zarko's ship was there, and he was loading fruits into his spaceship with an alien looking forklift. Sarah and Jen approached his ship and noticed the truck driver standing there. "Hey Benny, tempting the poor aliens with cherries this time?" Sarah waved good, grinning and looking at his cargo. Technically, Benny is a competitor, or at least he drives for a competitor. The massive fruit conglomeration he worked for, Chuckita, had not neglected to notice the massive business opportunity sitting right here as many others have, and are now delivering straight to the aliens in exchange for massive profit margins. But Benny was a good guy. One time Jen and Sarah were having some trouble finding a buyer for a bunch of legally dubious alien psychedelics. Benny was in his late 50s, not that great with the Internet either, so he'd introduced them to whom he referred to as "my money launderer". Aka, his 22-year-old son, Benny Jr, who had a habit of buying weed and other less than legal items off the deep web. Benny Jr had found a buyer for them within minutes and even generously offered to handle the deal for them to spare them the risk of meeting some psycho hopped up on an alien high in a dark alley somewhere. "Heh! One of the bat aliens loves sweets but has a low tolerance for sour, so they treat cherries as some kind of an odd challenge fad. They eat a random cherry, and it's either so incredibly sweet they start drooling out of the mouths, or it's a sour one, and they freak out," Benny replied, in a low voice as if he were trying to keep it a big secret. "Zarko showed me a video, and it's the most hilarious thing I've ever seen". "I think I've seen that one, have you seen the one where they drink wine?" Sarah chuckled at the memory. Alien videos have been a big hit on YouTube. Some human merchants were trading fruit for aliens to take videos of the galaxy. Which they monetized, of course. "No," Benny's ears perked up. Chuckita doesn't make wine, but if selling wine to aliens was going to be a thing, they were a big supplier of grapes… "Is it gonna be a thing?" "Well guess what we brought today?" Jen also grinning from ear to ear, and holding up a big carton of low-quality box wine. "Awww seems like I'm always one step behind you guys," Benny moaned in exaggeration, "I tried to get my money launderer to tell me what aliens would want but all he does is play video games on the Internet, kids these days." Luckily, Zarko chose this moment to step out to spare them from more good-humored ribbing from the boomer. "Ah Sarah and Jen, you brought the grape wine this time!" "Yup," Sarah beamed, "and I see you've run out of air filters to trade again!" "Sadly yes," Zarko tilted his head in shame, "my ship is overdue for a cargo space upgrade, but I haven't found a port that would do it for fruit yet. Next time?" "Alright! Alright! We'll leave our special wine with you, but you better get us some extra good filters next time!" Jen scolded mockingly. Zarko has gotten a lot more comfortable doling out IOUs since the first time. "Of course. Only the best for you two," Zarko said with a greasy human smile imitation that almost made Sarah laugh out loud. It reminded her of a ridiculous cartoon sloth. "By the way," Sarah asked casually, "how much is a spaceship worth on your planet?" Zarko sobered up his expression and looked at her curiously. It was a question that other humans had asked before. To him, it was a good sign. This meant that they all dreamt of the stars. But he didn't expect such a question from someone as seemingly practical as Sarah. She had a lot of fruit, sure, but fruit doesn't build spaceships. After thinking for a while, he replied honestly, "ships aren't traded for one single item. My family traded for the parts to build mine for generations." He pointed at his spaceship. Zarko proudly explained, "this is the work of eighteen generations of trading. My family was one of the richest on Zeep-zep. For thirteen generations, they traded for each of the parts on this beauty. Then, for the last five, my ancestors traded excess food from the tenant farmers on their land to expert craftsbeings that could put it together." "Wait, eighteen generations?" Jen gasped. Eighteen generations ago, her family were probably peasants on a farm in Korea or something… "Yes," Zarko said, looking at them with a little of pity. "After getting the spaceship, my family has traded in it for twelve generations, through civil wars and disasters." He did some math on his hands, and said, "that's about four hundred of your years. That's why it's very unlikely that you will never go to space." Looking at the stunned expression on their faces, he tried to lighten the mood. Zarko said mischievously, "unless you're willing to part with some more of your fruit, in which case I'll let you sit in the back seat for a whole route!" "Hold on, back up, I'm still stuck on the multiple generations part," Sarah said seriously. "You're saying you're flying on a spaceship that started to be built thirty generations ago? That's… about a millennia for us." "Yes," Zarko answered, "and that's why only thirteen families on my planet have had the privilege of owning one in our long history. No offense, but that's why I think no human will ever own their own spacecraft for at least fifteen more generations." Something is wrong here, Sarah thought. The budget for NASA's FTL spacecraft was in the hundreds of millions. Yes, for a fruit farmer, that would be many generations of work if all their descendants worked in the same industry. But there were over three thousand billionaires on Earth, not including the tens of thousands of corporations that had assets or market value over a billion. And the prices for the spacecraft would surely go down as time went on… For a planet like Zarko's to only have thirteen spaceships over generations of their development… As they were walking away, Benny asked, "have you guys noticed something weird about the way these aliens do business?" "Yes." "God yes." They said in unison. "We've been thinking about it for a while, but these guys not having money is a major problemo," Sarah said, looking around surreptitiously, "Zarko and Zikzik keep talking about not being able to find someone who can upgrade their hulls for fruit. And sometimes they come with nothing good, and we're supposed to just drive our fruits all the way back!" "And if you think about it, if they were human ships, think about truckers who don't own their trucks. We'd have loans or something to deal with the cargo space problems, and they'd be paid for by profits in a few trips," Jen added. "The numbers he gave us for spacecraft ownership seem insane," Sarah agreed. "Your company could probably afford to order one right now, not to mention hundreds of others. They must all be dirt poor!" Benny seemed relieved that he wasn't the only one who was thinking this, "exactly! I'm thinking we just introduce them to the concept of Benjamins and solve all their problems and ours. Would certainly make the return trip a lot easier for me if I didn't have to drive all the way to Berkeley for junior to launder all this crap!" "We thought of that too," Sarah said as Benny pretended to groan again, "but we couldn't figure out how to get them to take money with no intrinsic value." "Oh that shouldn't be too hard," Benny said, who's clearly already thought through this problem in his head, "we play a little game called good cop, bad cop." "Good cop bad cop?" "Sure, it's a mind game the cops play, where they put you in a room-" "Yeah we know what it is, but how does that help us?" Sarah said impatiently, an idea tugging on her subconscious. "Well you see," Benny clearly smugly enjoying this moment where he's thought of something that the duo did not, "you two come with an empty truck next time, and you tell Zarko that you'll give him a wad of clean crisp cash, fresh from the bank, for some of his air filters. And when he asks you why he'd take the cash, you just tell him that he can give it to me in exchange for some of my fruits." "What does that have anything to do with good cop bad cop?!" Jen asked. "That has nothing to do with good cop bad cop," Sarah chimed in, but the idea was beginning to form in her head, "but it's a good start. We don't want to deal in cash. It's too risky. It could get the feds onto us and there's a bunch of laws around it that I'm not sure about." "But what we can do is have an internal money system for traders pegged to the US Dollar!" Jen completed. "Yup, so when Zarko comes back next time, we tell him he has an account with the Bank of Benny, we give him a fancy looking card that has his bank account number and give him a pin code, and we deposit a certain amount of BennyBucks into his account for giving us air filters. Then when you come around, Zarko gives you his card and pin, and gives you BennyBucks for your fruit," Sarah finished. "Aha. And then I come to you two, say, I would like to convert BennyBucks in my Bank of Benny account to good old American dollars," Benny extrapolated, completing that final step. "Yeah! We'll just wire you the money and everyone gets theirs," Sarah exclaimed, happy they've finally thought through the loop and gotten someone on board. "BennyBucks is a terrible name though," Jen said, calming everyone down a little, "and why are we getting so excited over the basic concept of currency? And why haven't aliens figured this out? Maybe it's against some kind of space trading code." "Who knows? Maybe we just try it on Zarko and see if it works out," Benny said, a glint in his eyes, "and then we expand, galaxy-tically." "Galactic credits!" Sarah exclaimed, "that's what we'll call it." They agreed that it was the least worst name that they'd come up with so far. It was boring, but when it came to finances, maybe boring and cliché was a good choice after all. "Explain again. I am trying to understand," Zarko said two days later as he offloads the air filters he'd promised. "C'mon dude, for the fifth time," Sarah exasperated, "it's not that hard. We give you a bank account card and have you set up a secret number…" Jen had spent the last two days coding up a storm. Technically, a simple debit system wasn't that hard, but she had to make a website interface that Benny could go up to and enter his account, Zarko's card information and amount, then let Zarko type in his code…etc. She'd mused that it would have been easier to just do this all in a cloud-based spreadsheet, but that wouldn't scale up if they had more customers. Sarah had the account cards laminated and designed a logo: the letters GC, for Galactic Credit, and a stylized version of a Milky Way in the background. Part of the value in a trustworthy system is to look official, and you can't get much more official than laminated cards. "Yes, I understand that part," Zarko said, clearly displaying his frustration on his facial expression as well, "but I don't understand why Benny would give me his fruit for just entering a number." "Because we have an agreement with him that he'll take it in exchange for fruit!" Sarah was sure this was the umpteenth time she had to explain this, but clearly Zarko was not getting it. "Is it similar to a debt?" Zarko said suspiciously, as if debt was this dark magic that the humans were performing on him, "I have never heard of this kind of debt before." "Yes, it's a debt, of sorts," Jen cut in. The last time he had asked this exact question, they'd said no, and that led to fifty other questions and explanations that went nowhere, so nothing could go worse if they said yes- "Ok. I don't understand," Zarko did his sloth version of a sigh, it was cute, but at the same time frustrating for Sarah and Jen, "But I can try it. I know you two are not trying to trick me. Do I get my fruits before I take off?" "Yes! You go to Benny-" Sarah started. "Yes! And that's it. Benny gives you his fruit," Jen cut her off, knowing that this was about to launch into yet another long, long line of questions they just can't deal with right now. Sarah set up a new account for Zarko, asked him for a 6 digit base ten pin code (thank god Zarko was a ten digit species) which he promptly memorized, and hoping that Jen's prototype website wouldn't fail, showed him how they were "giving" Zarko 40,000 Galactic Credits for 8 Bohor air filter machines into his account ("No, you can't have my iPad. It's on your account card now. Show this to Benny later.") "Well that worked out great," Benny said as he watched them wire him the $25,000 for his truck shipment of fruit. Though his costs were in the low thousands, he could have easily fleeced Zarko for his full 40k. But they all agreed that wasn't the point, which was to get Zarko to see the benefits of using a currency system abstracted from goods and services. "Dude, you weren't there," Sarah complained, "I don't understand why he had such a hard time understanding money. Money equals goods. Bing bang boom. It's like these guys don't have the capability for abstract thinking." "No they definitely do. You can't build spaceships without abstract math and science," Jen said, "but he clearly had a deathly aversion to using money. I think it's tied to some taboo to debt somehow. All the other species must have it because none of the aliens we've met have even mentioned anything close to a real economy." "Whatever it is," Benny sighed happily, "I'm just happy I didn't have to go home with my truck full of weird alien toys." "Yup. The next step is to get all the human traders to take credits. At least they'll have no problems understanding the benefits." Sarah made some calls to the trader licensing office at the spaceport. There she found a manager willing to part with phone numbers and contact information for the other human traders, for an "information fee" of course, and started making calls to the other human traders. It wasn't easy. Some traders were representatives of bigger food companies, and didn't have all the flexibility to make these kinds of decisions. And others no doubt were thinking of copying their system for their own profit. But they all saw the benefits of a unified network of currency debiting because they've been suffering the same problems that Sarah, Jen, and Benny had been. Over the next few days, all the human traders agreed to take galactic credit from the aliens, which they knew they could exchange for cash with Sarah and Jen. "We are officially in business." In economics, there's a distinction made between different kinds of money. There's commodity money, usually gold or silver. There's representative money, which is currency backed by commodities like gold or silver. And then there's fiat money, which is not backed by any intrinsic value, but rather by government decree, hence fiat. Galactic Credits fall into some kind of weird hybrid category between representative and fiat money. They're backed by the Dollar, which is fiat money, but also which makes them representative money. This means that the people issuing them, in this case Jen and Sarah, are not supposed to create them without also having a corresponding US Dollar in their bank account. Of course, Sarah and Jen hadn't signed an ironclad contract with the other human traders that they're always guaranteed to take their galactic credits and exchange for money, so technically that meant that one day Sarah could simply "deposit" a large number of credits in her account and buy all the goods she wanted from Zarko, or potentially the other traders. That would, however, be slaughtering the golden goose for the meat. After all, they didn't want to sell fruit or Bohor air filters. They wanted to sell the concept of money. "Why would I take this over fruit?" Zikzik sniffed. He was known as a sharp one by all the human traders. If there's any new alien fad coming down the pipeline, chances are Zikzik is the first one to touchdown with a cargo hold full of it. Unlike many of the other traders, he was fairly consistent in his dealings. This much fruit is for this much air filters. He knows his price, and he lets you know it too. Everyone suspected he kept careful records of all his selling and buying somewhere in his ship, but he's never brought them out. Maybe he just had a sharp memory. "It's very consistent," Sarah insisted, trying to appeal to his affinity for a stable and predictable exchange, "one pound of fruit today is the same as one pound of fruit tomorrow, and you can deal in fractions." Completely ignoring that most fruits are seasonal, and price changes, and inflation, she thought, let's start here. "Fractions, you say?" Zikzik seemed thoughtful, or maybe he's just scratching an itch on his snout, Sarah could never tell with these aliens. "Yes, fractions," said Jen detecting the slightest bit of opening, "you can trade your air filters for credit. Then you can trade maybe three quarters of your credits to fill your cargo with fruit. The next time you come down here to Earth, you would only need to bring half the amount of air filters as the first trip, combined with the credits you have left, you can leave with a full cargo load anyway!" Is that how that math goes, Sarah thought, but didn't cut in, as Zikzik seems to be nodding, an oddly universal gesture for affirmation. "Five eighths of the credits," Zikzik argued, "The air filters are harder to get now because the Bohor are running low, and they need time to make more." Bargaining! There we go! That's what we're talking about! Sarah almost pumped her fists in the air and gave him a high five, not a great idea given how sharp his claws are as she found out when trying to shake his hands a couple of weeks ago. "Ok, you would still have to negotiate that amount with each human trader," Sarah replied adding, "but they all deal in Galactic Credits." They signed him up for an account, gave him a card, and set up his pin code. It had only taken half an hour to get Zikzik on board, which was significantly faster than the hours they'd taken to explain this to Zarko, despite them being the same species. Was it xenocist that she'd assume it was going to take just as long, Sarah wondered. Looking at the line of traders, she sighed. This was going to be a long day. Luckily, Zikzik accepting the credits made for great advertising. He was known for being a sharp trader, so if he doesn't think it's a scam, it must not be, right? Sarah and Jen managed to get two other traders that day onto credits, and one more who was dipping his proverbial toes into the water. It was a good day. Jen had been working hard. The Galactic Credits website was now on its 16th major iteration. She'd beefed up the security on it, to make sure none of the other human traders got any funny ideas. Backups became more automatic and frequent, and there was now a rollback and dispute mechanism, not that it was being used yet. Sarah had also been working hard. She'd been sitting in meetings all day with legal, finances, and now they had a small army of people who were ready to help out if they got into trouble there. Galactic Credits is now officially a tax paying LLC incorporated in the great state of Delaware. Benny Jr, who had just finished college, had come in as well. He was no good at talking to clients, but he's what the duo would refer to as "street smart". Occasionally, the alien traders would bring in some exotic or ahem, dubiously sourced items, and he would know exactly where to convert that into cold hard cash. On the spreadsheets, his dealings were adding up to a nice fat padding on the margins for Galactic Credits, which to this point, hasn't been making any money other than in the fruit and air filters exchange business. They were now working out of a rented office in downtown Livermore, with a very nice view of a brick-lined pub that offers numerous craft beers and the old railroad that runs through the heart of town. Ironically, there's a Bank of America branch across the street, not far from the office itself, the company that had invented the BankAmericard and started the credit card revolution, seemingly oblivious to this new competitor moving into town, literally and figuratively. They had many brilliant finance experts who were working on something, surely, but established financial institutions are not always great at moving fast and adapting to changing technology. There were many regulations to worry about, and the stakes were a lot higher. There's something very quaint about the town itself. Some people didn't consider it part of the Bay Area metro area itself, but with the latest BART expansion station they recently built, that's been less and less true. Now, it was literally the town where the train tracks ended. And where the final frontier began. For the people in the office, it's also where they dreamt about a new financial revolution in the galaxy. Some people have critiqued this chapter on the grounds that established financial institutions would have thought of this idea on day one. I appreciate the feedback, but that is a rosy view of the velocity at corporations in my opinion. I've personally worked in some of these companies, and if someone brought up this idea, it would probably have taken at least a month to get the idea through various risk audits and legal reviews. In terms of technology, much of banking still operates on software that predates the modern Internet. This is one of the reasons why fin-tech startups have been able to beat them on time-to-market, despite massive institutional or financial disadvantages. It's why companies like PayPal, Square, Stripe, Venmo… etc could compete with the incumbents with the development of the Internet. Sure, an intern in engineering or tools would have a semi-working prototype by week three, but the first line of code would be pushed to production by… month three. A much more likely scenario: some startup beats them to the punch, exactly as it happens here, and the large company offers their founders or investors an obscene amount of money to buy them out. RoyalRoad First Next
Cyberpunk at its core its an amazing game, despite its flaws and bugs
So, I just completed the game from A to Z, cleared everything apart from the baseball bat police icons. And while the game is not a perfect game, due to lack of polishing in many of the existing mechanics, bugs and "missing" features, it was an amazing emotional ride. I just feel like talking about all (since I feel I've exhausted the content but need more), the good and the bad, and what we could expect in the future. I'll be talking about many things, especially story related. If you don't want spoilers, please stop reading now. *SPOILERS AHEAD* First off the bad.
The bugs. Obviously it sucks, but it will get fix gradually so there isn't much to expand on. Made for good moments when it wasn't immersion breaking.
The gear system. I personally hate systems in which gears get outdated by level. Especially when the exact same gear change stat with level. Since we can buy some of the gear, it isn't too bad since it is fairly cheap. But when it comes to unique items, it is impossible to keep them up. Since the upgrade cost scales to infinite, you simply CAN'T upgrade your guns and clothes till the end. Factor in that materials becomes rarer and rarer the higher quality it is, and it is unsustainable. What I suggest is to either streamline the upgrade cost of every item, or simply give them fixed stat. You already gain stats through attributes and mods, there really is no need for stat to scale with level on gears.
The police system. Honestly, what we have now is a place holder, a simple band-aid just to say there is a police system. I believe this will be patched eventually. But at the same time, in games like GTA/RDR, police is mostly just a pain in the ass unless it is mission related. Yes it would be nice to have something more refined: patrols, police spawning out of map and going in, you needed to dodge em... but I don't think it is what will make the game more enjoyable.
The combat AI, is pretty bad, but honestly I can't remember a game where I said "wow the AI is so good it makes the game amazing". I guess the best I've found was the Alien in Isolation. But then again, the AI is too good it just makes everything frustrating. Fixing some things like synchronizing attacks, backing up melee when they engage, and have more awareness overall could help it make better.
The NPC AI, could use help in the city. Having a wider range of response, staying true to their handicaps, not disappearing, actually moving around with Time Skip, driving around your cabike, etc. It would make the experience more enjoyable.
Now on to the good.
The interactions with story NPCs is just outstanding. The best I've played in any type of RPG. The poses we take are so casual and well done, sitting, leaning, eating. The first person makes everything so intimate, and makes you notice all their expressions so well. The amount of time we sit face to face, them talking, looking around, than straight into your eyes, its all so real. Also, the fact that people actually talk over each other before they finish makes conversations super fluid. 99% of RPG games just finish 1 audio before starting the next. The overlapping feels SOOOOOOOO great.
Almost everything that is modeled is just gorgeous. From the city to the model, everything is so detailed. Obviously some things were cut short... looking at you french fries and liquids... but other than that, it is beautiful.
The story actually got to me. I felt wanting more and more. I was actually demoralized to find out how short the main story is because I felt it could be expanded so much more with how massive the world they built is. The character's emotions were too real at times. You can see how much time they spent refining all the endings. They were all pristine. The amount of emotions I felt during my first play through was unmatched in some aspects from any game I can remember. The unease and feeling of sickness when deciding what to do, and when learning about how we are basically doomed. The melancholy of the nomad ending. The shearing fucking happiness from seeing Judy at the camp, and then receiving her message in the credit. The straight up horror and disgust from the corpo ending. How everything is so dark I just wanted to bash everyone. The straight up despair from the suicide option. Seeing Judy in that state and say these exact words made me burst in tears as if I inflicted that pain to someone real life. I felt bad for days, thinking that's how my wife would most likely react. Honestly, just such a wide range, which just shows how I connected with these fictional characters.
The gameplay, while it could use tuning, was actually good. I went a mix of stealth (with breach and quickhand) and exclusively melee. After I found out of the keep my armor stacked up, it was actually very OP and just fun. Maybe too easy even on hard, but still enjoyable.
The side quests were great. The characters are again very unique and authentic. I wanted to expand on every single side quest! I needed more of Kenny, more of the Peralez, more Delamain, more Rogue, more more more. (I count Judy and Panam as main story tbh)
Now to what they could add and refine to make the game we have now better.
As I said, seperate clothes and guns from stats. Clothes with mod slot only, and guns with fixed stat and mod slots. The point is to scale your stats through attributes, perks and cyberware implants only. There are enough to make it works. Just add more mods to fine tune your gains and armor and thats it.
Add more customisation. Some car tuning, mainly color to match your outfits. More outfit choices, especially in color range. It should be easy enough to have what we have more colors. Add a barber for beard and haircuts. Add tattoos and eye customisation to ripperdocs. Just more things to make your character exactly how you envision it. I also believe CDPR will work on that eventually, that it was cut short by management to focus on the main game.
Add more interactions with the characters, especially post story. I think receiving random texts from Takemura, Judy, Panam, Blue Moon, etc. It is easy to add more of them, as it doesn't even require voice actors. Once their mission is over, getting them on and off would be amazing.
More side actions, like mini-games with friends, going to "dates", just a kiss/hug option with your romance once their mission is over, actual repeatable races with actual race AI, a casino with some games (slot machine, blackjack..), I think these could add just enough to decompress between missions and feel more immersed.
Anyway, I just felt like talking about it even though only 3 person will take a look at this wall of text lol. Let me know how you feel and what you agree/disagree, etc!
Well, I'm sure everyone has seen the news. The end of MassForTheDead is upon us. I started in early November. After doing all the story quests and some other things I ended up with only 3 5-star people, and sort of quit because the odds were horrible. I can't remember the exact number of rolls, but I saved every single Choas Stone. I quit around Thanksgiving, it isn't that the game isn't fun, but the odds were horrible and the prices made no sense. I will get into the problems with this game later, but eventually, I started back up before Xmas. I had better luck this time, while I didn't get any xmas people, but I had decent luck getting other 5-stars. It's a fun game, but it has many problems. As a developer, I somewhat expected it to fail, but I really was hoping that it wouldn't. I actually mentioned many of the reasons behind it in my review on google play. I shared my review with a few others, but I didn't actually make a post about it. However now I guess it's the last chance I get. I hope that the creators of MFTD see this... because many of these problems I feel almost anyone could come to the same conclusion as me.
NOTE: My language gets a little spicy, do forgive me for not being PC.
Online Only
One of the biggest problems with the game is it being online only. This means that if the game servers are shut down... simply the game doesn't work. Meaning if the game ends in 3 months (like now) everything you have to spend was pretty much wasted. It isn't like steam where you can buy and sell skins or items... you buy a digital product with the potential chance of it being taken away from you at any time. No one likes this... I would like to blame the devs, but typically it isn't them who make this decision. It's almost always someone higher up, but either way to be honest it was retarded. It should have been an offline game, are at least playable offline people wouldn't have felt so bad by buying stuff, since they could still use it after the servers are shut down.
Multiple Versions
Having multiple versions of the game is stupid. Simply stupid. It is already hard enough for developers to support Android, Apple, and say the web... but now they need to support Android (jp), Apple (jp), Android (globe), Apple (global). You rarely see this in western games... However, it is pretty common for Asian games. Rpgs especially almost always get a special global version. My only guess is because of location and language... however you should have designed your app to work with multiple languages. This is web dev 101, you space things out or have scroll bars or cut it off with a popup to give the full name or details. There are tons of ways around this... It's the same story with locations, you should have designed the online game from the ground up to be usable with multiple servers. I don't want to go on forever about this, but it's basic things. Just add multiple languages, that was it. All you needed to do, yet tons of games every year get a "global" version just for it to die a few years later. STOP IT. Make 1 version, with servers globally. Not enough people in Germany?... shut that server down and move them to another server. Sorry for the rant on this part, I've played at least 20 games they forced you to play the global version and ended up shutting it down after a year or 2. Honestly, at as dev it drives me crazy they do this. People don't care you have a special ____ holiday or whatever... AWESOME, cool you have a holiday about some cucumber god, ok let us play it, we don't need a second version. I guess what I'm trying to get at... Crunchyroll shouldn't have been involved in the first place. Maybe as translators, but AAAaaah fuck me dude, why do they keep doing this?
Worse than Gambling...
You buy "chaos stones", which give you a chance to roll for people in the game. Aka gambling, but instead of getting a chance for money, you get a digital item that could disappear at any moment when they shut the game down. At least with gambling, you have a slim chance of getting your money back. There have been many countries trying to put regulations on loot boxes in games... I'm pretty sure this game would eventually fall into that category. If they are not forced to change it, at the very least they will probably make it 18+ or the local equivalent. Some countries have been trying to force similar taxes onto these types of apps that casinos have to deal with. Potentially they are going to run into an issue with this game because of the random aspect. They continue to make it worse by having "free" Choas Stones mixed with "paid" Chaos Stones. Honestly, I'm surprised some mom hasn't created a Facebook group about how it's tricking their children. Anyway, I don't care about this, but it is something to note, that this will probably be brought up against them later on. I know some people will probably argue saying baseball cards, or pokemon cards are similar... however you are getting a physical object. You have it forever, you can sell it, trade it, lick it. It's yours forever. Yes, they are both random chances, but as I explained above... at any moment you could lose it. I could go on with other things, but I'm ranting, so we will leave this here.
Price
... do I have to explain this. The prices are INSANE, let's just forget about it being something you could lose at any moment or the random chance. There are many packs and things for $32.99. Let's look at one. 515 paid stones plus some other stuff. That is 1 roll or ten items... WHAT?!? Look at any other game, even the MOST money-hungry games like Clash of Clash or Fortnite are 1/4 of this price... and they are games that have been around for years, with tons of content, and tons of game play, and large player bases. It's like paying $30 goto a movie... or $15 to goto another movie at a better theater, that also in 3d. Don't get me wrong... I LOVE OVERLORD. I love it, I read at least 2 novels a month... but the prices for MFTD are just crazy. Personally, I bought VIP, I think that it's a decent price to support the game and help them developed it... but to be honest for $20 you don't shit. I understand they need to make money, but I 100% guarantee if they cut the price in half, they would more than double their sales. Many of the people reading overlord are younger in high school or college... I can't imagine they are looking forward to throwing down $32 for a roll at 10 cards? (or whatever you call it)... however $16? it far more reasonable. How many of would have bought a "pack" for $16 yet didn't because it was $32? I'm an old (not really old, 31), and I didn't because it's a ripoff. I just feel like I'm getting bent over around back.
Summary / Horrible
LMAO, guys... honestly this game I love it. I love Overlord, but some of the ideas behind it were horrible. It isn't just 1 of them... but when you add them up all altogether I knew it wasn't going to last long. What is even worse... they announced they are closing the game down... YET you can still buy shit. YOU CAN STILL BUY DIGITAL ITEMS that will be gone in 2 months. WHAT THE FUCK?!? Am I'm crazy, or is this just me or is this a total douchebag move? They don't force you to see the notification, nothing pops up... just a quiet little whisper "psst, the game ends April". I will admit, they are at least shutting it down in march... Do they are not a complete scumbag... However, it should have been locked the moment they announced the ending of this game. People love this game, they are dedicated to it. They have spent thousands of hours grinding just to save up for the new stuff coming out next week. I'm sure there are people who just bought stuff yesterday... What is even worse, I'm pretty sure someone knew about this at least a week ago. I can't imagine some CEO just say, yea I'm done, lets tell them today the game ends. There were meetings, discussions, multiple companies involved... probably a public relations person who spend a day to come up with that announcement. I'm going to end it here, while I wasn't surprised I wish it continued or was offline as its a fun little game to play throughout the day.
Background A fond memory of playing games with friends as a kid was Luigi’s Casino. We’d play those stupid chance games all the time and it was so fun. Looking back, I wanted to design a tour around Luigi in his casino costume, so I thought where else a casino was present in Mario games. Of course, I immediately came to Hotel Delfino and the Sunshine version of King Boo. This tour idea is a mishmash these two characters put together. (This tour idea series was inspired by u/WaffleyDootDoot. Please check him out, some of his ideas are great!) New Track Wii Moonview Highway: When choosing the new track, I had two themes in mind; night skies and bustling cities. This track is exactly both of those things and more! Not only do you get to swerve along the city roads, but you also get to take in the amazing views off the side of the highway. This course would also be the second from Mario Kart Wii, taking its place alongside Maple Treeway. New Drivers Luigi (Casino) (Medium, High-End): Luigi turns up in his casino outfit from the Super Mario 64 DS party games! He handles the riches of the casino, as well as acting as a gamemaster. His special item is the Coin Box. King Boo (Sunshine) (Large, High-End): King Boo arrives in his Mario Sunshine style! After hiding under the casino of Hotel Delfino for far too long, he’s more than ready to haunt the race. His special item is the Giant Banana. New Karts Casino Bruiser (High-End): A black and green chequered variant of the normal Bruiser, this ride is sure to match Luigi’s new costume as he goes from riches to races. Its boosted skill is Slipstream Plus. Pepper Pedaller (High-End): A variant of the Banana Master which features a supersize chili pepper. Despite his hatred for spicy food, it does match King Boo’s big, red tongue. Its boosted skill is Rocket Start Plus. Gold Bruiser (High-End): A gold version of the normal Bruiser, this kart is perfect for anyone who wants to express their interest in high fashion. Its boosted skill is Mini-Turbo Plus. New Gliders Spicy Glider (High-End): A red variant of the Tropical Glider; instead of bananas, this tree grows… chili peppers? Its boosted item is the Super Horn. Pipe Spotlights Pipe 1: Luigi (Casino), Casino Bruiser, Fireworks Parachute Pipe 2: King Boo (Sunshine), Pepper Pedaller, Spicy Glider Special Pipe Night Out Pipe: Peach (Vacation), Pauline (Party Time), Rosalina (Aurora), Daisy (Yukata) This pipe celebrates fashion and the lifestyles of those that visit night-time casinos. Peach, Pauline, Rosalina, and Daisy arrive wearing their best outfits! This pipe starts off with 30 items in it. None of the drivers are spotlights and you only pull a maximum of 3 High-End drivers. (UPDATE: Of course, Nintendo decided to go and reveal an amazing new Pauline alt as soon as I’m about to publish this.) Track Selection The 12 tracks of this tour idea feature starry skies and night-time cities as well as a couple of Boo related courses: New York Minute 3 Vancouver Velocity RMX Rainbow Road 1 SNES Ghost Valley 1 SNES Rainbow Road N64 Frappe Snowland DS Luigi’s Mansion DS Waluigi Pinball Wii Moonview Highway 3DS Shy Guy Bazaar 3DS Neo Bowser City 3DS Rosalina’s Ice World Tour Gifts/Gold Pass Normal Gifts: Ludwig, Bullet Blaster, Parachute Gold Pass Gifts: King Boo, Bull’s-Eye Banzai, Gold Bruiser, Plaid Ribbon Thank You Thank you for reading! This tour idea was super unique and some of the ideas took a while to perfect. Of course, my love for Mario Sunshine just had to seep in but there’s nothing wrong with some King Boo love (he needs more alts). I feel like if Nintendo were to do an idea like this, they could pull off something really interesting but it's once in a blue moon we get unique ideas like this. Thanks for reading and have a great day. :) Next Tour… With this hint, you should be able to take a bite at guessing what’s next. I wonder what ideas this plants into your mind…
[Videogames] Zhengtu Online, The Original Sinner of free-to-play gaming and lootboxes
Hi everyone, this is my first contribution to HobbyDrama, I hope this is an entertaining read and also to the community's standards. Let's go!! Brief glossary before we begin (and some foreshadowing) MMORPG: massively multiplayer online role-playing game, MMO for short. A videogame genre that generally invites hundreds, or up to thousands, of players to share a space. Depending on the game, anything from general adventure to large-scale war to economy and politics can be simulated. I find it hard to believe that anyone reading this could possibly not know what this is but it's included anyway. Electro-convulsive therapy: ECT for short, it is a form of treatment where electrodes are "carefully" hooked up to a person's head and a "precise" level of electric shock is delivered, in order to treat major psychiatric disorders. Developed in 1938 when most psychiatric treatments was in their infancy, it is still used today occasionally for serious cases of depression, mania, or psychoses. In its early days however, there were widespread claims of abuse associated with its use. Pt1: The Root of all that is bullshit Zhengtu Online (hereafter referred to as ZT) was an immensely popular MMORPG that was developed in China and primarily served a Chinese playerbase. Released in 2006, at its peak it boasted more 2 million players, which while not particularly impressive relative to World of Warcraft (8mil worldwide at the same time), was a truly insane amount of success in a gaming scene that was very much in its embryonic stage. The game itself was an unimpressive Diablo-style top down fantasy setting, and its gameplay loop primarily revolved around improving your ability to kill various things, but what made it special was the overarching metagame: every player population (sharing a server) was divided into 10 kingdoms. Kings and generals were all individual players, and they dictated politics to their neighbors--primarily in the form of initiating player-vs-player (or PVP) warfare. Most contemporary MMOs had an upfront price plus a monthly subscription fee. In China, such pricing models were mostly replaced by paying oney for a set amount of ingame playing time. Unlike all of them, ZT was completely free to play (F2P). Free to play, however, meant pay-to-win: the best weapons and armor, and even leveling up your character, needed you to pay real money. Since so much of the game was focused on PVP, it also created an eternal arms race between players, each paying for the privilege of not being evaporated by a high level enemy. The way they did this was unique at the time. While F2P online games had already seen their rise in South Korea, equipment was generally priced explicitly via in-game currency and bought in virtual shops. ZT fused this with the sweet, sweet taste of gambling: gear in the game was primarily obtained in loot boxes, and you had to pay for keys to open them. It needs to be emphasized that gambling of any kind was illegal in China, but, in an eerie parallel of American CEOS in the future, ZT's developers said it wasn't gambling because, well, you weren't getting your money back. By combining this with multiple other exploitative practices, such as providing a small amount of premium currency like a casino giving you a free bet on the house, or awarding special items to the player with the highest number of lootboxes opened in a day, ZT was making money like taking candy from a candy-hating baby, and made gaming history. As far as what this means for gamers, this was Eve giving Adam the apple, Oppenhemier splitting the atom, Prometheus stealing fire, Caesar crossing the Rubicon, and goddamn Helen Keller signing "water". If you play any kind of videogames today, you've stepped through the long shadow that ZT had cast. Zynga (developers of Farmville) would be founded in 2007 and focused exclusively on free games with real-money integration. Lootboxes made it into Team Fortress 2 in 2010, one of the first major western-developed games to include them. Similar mechanics (with varying degrees of exploitative practices) came to FIFA in 2010, Mass Effect 3 in 2012, Counter-Strike in 2013, League of Legends in 2016, and NBA 2K in 2017, infecting every genre of gaming under the sun, including the most popular MMO, World of Warcraft. As an aside, corporate defense of lootboxes in Star Wars Battlefront II also led to the most downvoted Reddit comment of all time. Finally someone speaks out The System, an article published in the Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly in 2007, was a hard-hitting expose on the exploitive practices of ZT. It chronicled the rise and fall of a gamer who accidentally becomes the monarch of one of these in-game Kingdoms, her addiction to the game, and final disillusionment when she realized that in-game player behaviour was being explicitly manipulated by its designers for the purpose of creating addicts and selling more lootbox keys. The whole article is worth a read, even if it is sensationalist in a way that immediately tells you the writer was clearly a failed novelist of some kind - describing virtual destruction with the kind of prose most people would consider and then discard for a gang rape, for starters. But it had gotten its point across. It created an explosive backlash against the game in China, and was even translated into English and propagated across gaming forums. The fallout In an act of censorship usually reserved for the CCP government, this article--including its English translation--began to be scrubbed from the internet, with speculation pointing to the immensely powerful CEO behind ZT. I mean, who else could it be, right? This article would light the fire of China's first moral panic regarding videogames. In its wake, swift legislation would be enacted regarding internet gaming addiction as well as online proxy gambling. ZT would heed the new laws and remove its lootbox mechanics in the following years and many other similar games followed suit. Most tragically, the panic (which, to be fair, was fueled by a very real problem) allowed unscrupulous characters such as Yang Yongxin, vice chairman of a hospital in Shandong province, to create "internet addiction centres". With its legitimacy established by a docuseries ("Fighting the Internet Monster") on the state-run television channel CCTV, these centres charged terrified parents exorbitant prices in order to keep teens by force in, essentially, private hospitals and asylums, subjecting them to inhumane conditions and abusive ECT in order to "cure" them of their disease. It was estimated that Yang earned the equivalent of more than $6million USD from his addiction centre in the short space of 2 years. While his centre was eventually closed by state order, he received no punishment of any kind. As for ZT, it limped on until 2018. A mobile game reboot was made in 2015. A tie-in fantasy movie was released in 2020. it was not very good. ~~~~~~ Addendum: how we got here: Of Mice and levers In the 1950s, an American scientist named BF Skinner discovered the following: when mouse is put in a box with a small lever that, when pressed, dispenses a food pellet, they will quickly learn to start pressing on the lever as fast as possible. If you then stop the food from dispensing, the mouse will lose interest quickly after pressing a few times and seeing no food coming out. If, however, you hooked up the lever to dispense food at random intervals, the mouse will be practically glued to the lever and hammer on it nonstop, sometimes long after they become full, and long after any food has been dispensed. This discovery, known as variable outcome operant conditioning, formed the foundation of our understanding of addiction and gambling. Skinner would go on to try and fail to make bombs guided by pigeons, but we're not interested in that here. His research tool--the Skinner Box--would become a descriptor you may have come across when discussing exploitive game mechanics. Summary Once upon a time, a game combined the random outcome of videogaming with real-money gambling. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
Welcome Bosses, Chicagoans and all! Today we bring you great news, crew. See here, we have decided to let the public in on the operation: we are now doing public betas of new patches! This means that if you play Empire of Sin on Steam, you can now choose to opt into playing the latest stable beta build of the game. Here is how to do it:
Open Steam.
Go to the Library and right-click on Empire of Sin > Manage > Betas.
Choose the beta branch available in the drop down menu.
You should then be able to download the beta build. No password needed!
And that’s it, you’re good to go, boss! Of course, we would love to hear your feedback on the beta patch. Feel free to let us know in the comments below, in the Empire of Sin Discord or in the Empire of Sin Beta sub-forum. Discord: https://discord.gg/qX2PTYK Forum: http://pdxint.at/3tflvQ6 See below for a full list of Patch Notes for Beta Branch 1.03.
Update Notes - Beta Branch 1.03
Please Remember:
Back up your game save folder to ensure any issues during this test do not affect your main game saves
When reporting issues, please include the build version number in the report. You can find the version number on the main menu, or by dropping down the developer console.
You may be asked to attach a game save or log to a report. You can find your save games at C:Users[username]AppDataLocalLowRomeroGamesEmpireOfSinGameSaves
Player logs can be found at C:Users[username]AppDataLocalLowRomeroGamesEmpireOfSin.... Look for the folder that matches the time the game crashed
If a build update happens while you are playing the game you will need to restart Steam to get the update
Known Issues:
We're aware of an issue where you can receive notifications & loot regarding Big Jims Stash incorrectly. The team is working on a fix for this.
We're aware of some stability issues around the tutorial. The team is working on a fix.
We're aware of rare issue where buildings in the world can occasionally disappear. If you encounter this issue any additional Information you can provide would be very helpful.
Changelog
The Highlights
Safehouses are now hidden
Combat AI has been improved and provides more challenge
An option to avoid nuisance combat demands has been added, a new system will be implemented in the next update (1.04)
Fast travel has been limited
You can no longer attack an Enemy Faction you’re not at War with
General Changes
AI ignores temporary alliances when deciding to break an alliance
Loot crates are now rebalanced
Adjusted racket income filter list to take the prosperity modifier into account
Added separate notoriety gains for raze, ransack, and smash up
Prevented Personality Traits from reapplying every time you save/load
Removed time-free teleporting
Fix disappearing gangsters
UI polish
Locale polish
Prevented alcohol resource errors when ransacking that could lead to inventory corruption
Fixed instances of disappearing actors when upgrading ambience
Fixed severe issues when a game is loaded where "master hotelier" is in effect
Fixed an issue where actors could be sent to the void if two buildings changed their racket type at the same time
Added more building and colour variety in the neighbourhoods
Player cannot scroll the claim list without using virtual cursor mode when using a controller
Gangster Talents need to be unlocked
Fix boss ability items inheriting incorrect modifiers through weapon stats
Add a wait to the flee action so players can see the characters leave the area
Character model improvements
When editing a building name, if player adds a space or lowercase letters, the building name will not be displayed correctly
Adding more building variety throughout the neighbourhoods
Better telegraphing and delay for Hotels Disbanding
Better notifications for players when hotels are disbanded
Fixed a softlock when assigning Lieutenants
Fixed issue where if a character has more than 9 Status Effects on them, the UI will start to overlap. If they receive 28 or more, the icons will start to go off screen
Empire screen filter lists scroll resets on repopulating
The missing synergy icon has been found and returned to its rightful slot
The Crew screen and Black Market now have no whitespace issues when viewed in 4:3
The issue when switching to Asian languages and switching back would cause text to disappear in the tutorial is now resolved
We have updated the hiring costs for the starting gangsters
An issue with Safehouse discovery resetting on load has now been laid to rest
The awkward silences in sitdowns have now been filled with conversation. We Cleared the truce/end war sitdowns when war is removed
Missing translations in the Settings window from the Title screen have been replaced
Increased the difficulty of the difficulty levels
Change Threaten Option in sitdown pop up
Fixed alcohol resource being released twice
Save upgrader to fix older saves not loading from alcohol issue
Saltis issue with rackets being locked fixed
DMJ issue for Thompson not on map in Blues fixed
Capone softlock when talking to Guard fixed
When skipping to Ronnie’s phone call in the tutorial, we didn't have a valid reference to the brewery
Increased the tiers for racket guards for all major factions
The issue with gangster talents not needed to be unlocked has been whacked
Multiple tooltips were missing in the Empire Overview, Finances and Alcohol info screen. We found them
The name of the neighborhood is now added to the surrender dialog options
Various UI fixes
Fixed an issue where sitdown and mission icons stayed fixed on screen if the player pressed 'f' to transition to another neighbourhood
Made sure that the tutorial safehouse doesn't spawn exterior guards while the tutorial is active
Addednew advertisements, see if you can spot them all
Fixed Safehouse Discovered Softlock in Tutorial
Friend In Need mission fix for not completing after killing lodge members
Jaqcues Attacks mission fix for not completing if you upgrade all rackets at once
Fixed crate positions
Increased the sitdown timeout from 5 minutes to 15 minutes
Unknown characters will no longer reveal the faction name if we start pre-combat near them
Mark Target will now work in pre-combat and start combat immediately when activated
Resolved an issue where the AI could initiate combat while a sitdown was beginning. This would result in a soft lock in some cases
Added recruiting time to AI squads
Removed war-free attacks, you want a fight, start a war
Raul is placed so close to a building that his arm was in it
Genna fix for Round The World mission not completing
When the player refuses the police request for cash, their rating with the police is reduced depending on their notoriety. If they pay up, their rating with the police is increased
Fixed a cursor issue when cancelling a load game request
Nicknames should display how you got them in pop up
Fixed issue where all tutorial attacks by player were asking for confirmation
Fixed Issue with safehouse storages being nil
Prevented Moles from being added to selection
Non-tutorial AI Factions now start with a safehouse security level of 2 instead of 1
Fixed bookshelf collisions in bars
Created a Sal's Tips update for 1.03 to advise players in-game as to what the updates are
Updated Large Casino interiors
Different colors for the Explore and the Exterminate Agenda icon outline on the minimap and street view. This change also fixes colors of agenda icons not updating when you encounter a squad from an unknown faction
Fixed Status bar icons overlap with combat status UI
Police now resume patrolling correctly after TurningABlindEye is over in a location
Made all loot in crates uncommon
OBanion's mission POI not updating if racket becomes invalid is now fixed
Duarte's mission racket showing 0 cost for buildings after takeover, CMA mission not continuing
Injured Gangsters are now correctly disappearing after taking over a racket when they become injured
Fix for Word on The Street mission not continuing because combat was starting during a conversation
Various save game fixes
Made prosperity only update on weekly events
Fixed issue where character entered into a t-pose if they travel while paused
Fixed issue where players could end up not being able to move long distances
Combat Fixes/Changes
Issues with the AI not using grenades if they have to step out from cover have been fixed.
Dead combatants can no longer panic during combat
Allowed the boss to gain notoriety if anyone in their faction performs an execution
Ensure AI squads that are about to attack a building are not used by other tactics before they have attacked
Reduce the OW Angle for Dart Gun from 180 to 130 degrees and reduced the OW Angle for LP08 Pistol from 180 to 150 degrees
Suppressed Fire shot does not deal damage to targets
Ensured combat can't start during conversations
Fixed issue where player is able to equip regular rounds on dart gun
Tweaked Last Rites as it can deal more damage than it is supposed to: All attacks with more than one shot would always deal crit damage after the first crit shot
Fixed issue where certain conversations couldn't start combat
Stop heal over time effects being applied when their item is equipped
Fixed a softlock in combat when moving characters who had been revived from bleeding out as the result of an overwatch shot
Fixed Ability & Melee descriptions being truncated during combat
Fixed issue where Gun panel would stay up with no gun icon
Fixed an issue where entering combat during the war tutorial softlocks the game
Remove the drunk animation while in combat to fix characters teleporting across the map
Ensured errors in AI tactics don't block AI behaviour
Fixed softlock related to a primary faction being eliminated in a war
Fixed softlock when a revenge reaction turn was triggered after shooting
Fixed softlock when using batter up on a character that doesn't die
Weapon Balance: Reduced the effectiveness of a number of weapons. Critical hit damage has been reduced across the board. Removed the instant kill modifier from the Funeral Arranger Shotgun and the Deceiver Rifle. Added Knockback and Bleed to the Deceiver
Fixed for knife attack anim freezing
Fixed save games with broken melee weapons after using a batter up reaction attack
Fixed an issue where Knocking Out a character with an overwatch shot would softlock the game
Fixed issue where character can be stuck in the knocked out pose after combat ends
Last Rites ability has limited range, which was not implied by the game in any way
Fixed issue with Remedy not appearing on action bar
Fixed issue with Hair Trigger ability activation popup showing even when character is knocked down
Fixed an issue where certain combat reactions were using stale position / vision data. Could cause an issue where a character would "step out" to an old position several meters away
Time Bomb will disrupt overwatch when thrown
Characters no longer get up after they have been executed if they were put in the BleedingOut state by a critical hit
Fixed issue where Last Rites doesn't indicate that DMJ's Mauser has 10 shots leading people to believe it is bugged
Characters no longer get stuck in the overwatch pose at the end of combat
Characters rotate back to their overwatch direction after getting attacked
Run Away option is displayed in surrender dialogue if gangster is under attack outside
If a gangster or boss will be affected by the exterior combat, the dialogue offering surrender now shows their name
The camera will no longer move after the player abandons exterior combat when the attackers are attacking the outside of a building
AI attacking building exteriors will now attack between 8-15 metres from the building door instead of between 0 - 5 meters
Fixed issue where corpses would block player moving to tiles
Vicekings boss Donovan leaned on us for getting his name wrong in German
The camera will no longer move after the player abandons exterior combat when the attackers are attacking the outside of a building
If a gangster or boss will be affected by the exterior combat, the dialogue offering surrender now shows their name
We have ensured the Run Away option is displayed in surrender dialogue if the character is under attack outside
Added even more variety in the buildings
Made sure characters cant get stuck in the overwatch pose at the end of combat
Characters now rotate back to their overwatch direction after getting attacked
Increased the duration before an AI will declare war without an antagonizing incident
Adjusted weapon ranges and stats
Smooth out the curves for weapon ranges to reduce a number of sharp drop offs.
Lowered a number of critical damage multiplier values for numerous weapon types.
Removed critical hit chance from a number of explosives weapons.
Removed armor damage from rifles
Fixed an issue where the AI would get close to the player
Added new movement parameters that allow the AI to want to move towards the effective range of their weapon
Improved the performance for moving towards enemies and grouping with allies
Fixed an issue with all tiers of Saltis melee racket guard being equipped with Brass Knuckles. Now each tier of Salltis melee racket guard is equipped with appropriate tiers of melee weapon
Wandering thugs and thugs near loot crates will no longer attack the player on sight. They will attack if the player opens a loot crate near them
Guards of major and minor factions will now only attack the player faction characters on sight if they are at war
Melee attacks now trigger the correct animation if the target bleeds out
That combatant who started a battle while in sitting pose, will no longer stay in that pose for the whole fight
Guards in rackets will no longer sit in chairs
Resolved a UI Overlap in combat with large text settings
Further updates to the combat AI to help them move when no targets are visible and stay put when they can do actions from their current position
Made sure bleeding out targets are prioritised correctly in the chance to hit order
Friendly fire no longer removes non-aggression types of pacts (ceasefires/defense agreements..etc)
Fixed issue where Unleash Fury could fail to activate
Reduce the movement debuff from exhaustion from -2 to -1
Fixed an issue where clicking the "Exit Ambush" button did nothing in combat
Character speed returns to normal if Drunk status wears off during combat
Only play Gut Shot sfx when someone
Mission Fixes/Changes
Auto focusing missions that come from quest givers and boss missions
Fixed failing Ryley mission when Alfred dies
Fixed Helen being placed in Dyer mission when placement invalidated
Removed repeated objectives failing missions
Fixed alcohol production being stopped forever in CMA mission and Burned Bozze and Ruined Barley event
Fixed unclickable option for DMJ's mission
Added placement invalidated to RPC missions so they stop failing when a building is upgraded
Moved Kicking the Habit mission to mid game to stop both maria missions spawning together
CMA fixes - Stopping All Good Things on Alt time auto-completing, fix for Jaques Attack and They're on to Us
Boss mission fixes - Stopping NPCs from spawning on band stand, buildings taken over by killing boss now count as conquering and progress mission, fix for DMJ mission Down Hearted Blues
Fixed missions not completing in groups
CMA fixes, Auto accepting mission rewards instead of relying on resolution pop up
Persisting mission npcs that are going to be resurrected to stop them from disappearing, misc boss mission fixes
CMA fixes, body bag removal fix, removing persistent POI over Maria's head, adding do not revive tag to mission npcs to stop them getting up after combat
Moved any mission npcs standing on stages in bars off them
Fixed an issue where interior guards could duplicate themselves after winning a defensive fight
Union mission, family business mission and npc approaching player to talk fixed
Thug Variants
You should now see 13 different thugs
The appearance is randomly selected
Racket Guard Changes
Any old saves that were made before these changes were introduced will keep their previous racket guards until that racket is upgraded or sold and purchased again. Once upgraded or purchased the racket will start using the new guard configs.
With each level of security upgrade the guards will now become much tougher
A new tier of racket guard has been introduced at security upgrade levels 4 and 5
These changes only attribute based. The number of guards has not changed and there has been no changes made to the guard inventories
Fixed issue with racket guards not being replenished
Faction Changes
Allowing the boss to gain notoriety if anyone in their faction performs an execution
Fixing Spiffing Brit minor faction exploit
Faction AI no longer attacks buildings outside of war. Existing attacks outside of war in older saves are cancelled.
The diplomacy option for retribution demands has been removed
Safehouse Changes
Gameplay change to safehouses hiding has been pushed.
Safehouses start out as hidden (white buildings you can't interact with)
Discovery chance increases by 1% a week from meeting a faction
Once a month a safehouse discovery chance checked and the safehouse is revealed if the check passes
Diplomacy screen shows your current discovery chance
Taking over that faction's rackets further increases the discovery chance and checks (dynamic percentage based on faction rackets remaining)
Event fires on safehouse being discovered
Guards don't show up outside the safehouse until the safehouse is discovered by the player
Ensuring taking over safehouses correctly assigns lieutenants
Fixed issue with gangsters flagged as “away” being able to be assigned to a safehouse
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