The Ninja Mod's Lair

Issues, Issues everywhere!

2011-12-20T20:47:00.000-08:00

So it's been a crazy busy year. Between launching You-fic with my sister, an assortment of convention trips this year, and the Issues Editor Contest #2 drawing to a close (and barely squeaking in under taking me a full bloody year to do!) I've been just a tiny bit busy.

Oh the bright side, however!

Our pool of issue editors is now up to 5, and the new guys all seem to be pretty gung-ho about helping crank out some new issues for the game! On top of that, I'm joined in these efforts on the moderator side by newly-GMed mod Sedgistan as well as the returning Frisbeeteria. It's amazing how much less tedious the entire process seems when you're not trying to slog through it solo.

Which brings me to the fact that two new issues went into the game tonight. One was edited by Glen-Rhodes (I know, I know, I promised to get to that AGES ago!), the other was Sedge's attempt to prove to the Powers That Be that his "Accept" button in the issue editor widget is ready to be activated. So while he shows as author and editor of it, I still had to give it a final once-over and approve it for him.

The system for how issue editors get issues from the mods to work on, and submit finished ones back to the mods has been given a desperately needed overhaul with the addition of a new subforum. Much more efficient and streamlined than trying to do it all by email, with the added bonus of making it very easy for issue editors to collaborate and check out eachother's work.

Freed until February of university obligations, I've already got a third issue at final review and stats-tweaking, and luck willing that will be going into the game in a few days. Plus I've got some other ideas knocking around that right now only exist as a rough flow-chart in the margins of my cinema and art history notes... Let's just say that project currently stands at a projected 10 issues, and will probably sneak up toward 15 before everything is said and done. Unfortunately, no ETA on that yet; priority is getting the Issue Editors settled in and slogging through the issues submissions queue.

A very large backlog, too. The techies just dropped another 400+ submissions into the editor for us to sift through out of a roughly 2,000 submissions total. The oldest ones in there right now date back to January 2010, so that's just shy of a full 2 year lag time between submission and our getting to it. Hoping that between Fris, Sedge, and I, and with the help of the new editors that 2012 will see a much better turnaround time on getting new issues into the game!

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
Friendship is magic, but science tends to make a lot more pretty explosions!

So, issues...

2010-09-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

With real life keeping Siro out of the action, I'm trying to take up some of the slack on the issues backlog. So far I've got two issues sitting on a final double-check before they go into the game; one edited by Glen-Rhodes, and the other as Kandarin's final issue submission as he too, is falling victim to that real life thing.

However, while I'm in the middle of the initial cull where I get rid of the obviously unusable issue submissions in the current batch, I am making plans. Yesss, plans!

So, yeah. Keep an eye out, I'm probably going to be setting up another issue editor contest akin to what Siro did last year to get a couple new editors on board to help with the load. ;)

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"Needs more drills!"

The Olympics Kicked NS in the Nuts?

2010-02-07T01:48:00.000-08:00

So in case you hadn't noticed, Nationstates has been down for several hours.

No, I don't know when it'll be back up. Soon, hopefully, but according to an email passed along to the mods from the admins from the site's hosting service...

"There has been an unprecedented breakage in upstream fibre optic cables
owned by Bell Canada that has caused a network interruption to all of
Western Canada. We assure you that Bell has the full force of their
network operations department on this issue, and we expect resolution of
this issue shortly. We are unsure at this time if the breakage is
related to the upcoming Vancouver Olympics."

Or in plain English analogy for the less-than-tech-savvy: somebody up the river from us screwed up and accidentally dammed up the works so the water's not flowing.

Hopefully things will be fixed soon, though if it is related to the Olympics, who the hell knows?

So remember folks:

DON'T PANIC

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"Don't believe in yourself! Believe in me that believes in you!"

A little help for the family?

2010-01-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

Long time, no post! And this one isn't even Nationstates related, it's just some shameless plugging to help my sister.

My Favorite Photo (I've Ever Taken) 2
Brickfish

And my personal favorite of the lot:

My Favorite Photo (I've Ever Taken) 2
Brickfish

Warning! Warning! Backup Yer Threads!

2009-04-06T23:19:00.000-07:00

Gee, I had such high hopes for NS2...

I tried to maintain a positive outlook throughout the closed beta even when the dev team didn't seem to do anything, let alone acknowledge feedback.

I tried to grin and hope that it would get better soon, even when the closed beta went to open beta, heedless of the cries of those of us that tested it that it wasn't ready yet.

I gave up and left when it became clear that it wasn't going to happen. All my NS2 nations should as of now be defunct, and I haven't even done anything on them in the past several months.

So what's this got to do with anything? As you may know, NS1 has departed Jolt's servers in search of greener pastures and freedom from corporate influence, leaving NS2 to flounder in Jolt's care. The problem? The forums haven't - yet. Word from on high is that Max wants to get NS its own forum away from Jolt (and away from Jolt's downright intrusive, annoying, obnoxious ads.) However, they have been... oh, how to put it in the least offensive manner possible?

Okay! Jolt's been sluggish, bordering on downright uncooperative on facilitating this transition. What this means is that they could decide to pull the plug on the NS1 forums tonight, and we're screwed up the behind as far as taking our posts and user data with us.

We're trying to prod Jolt along in giving us our forum database stuff so we can pack up and get the hell outta Dodge, but for various reasons I probably shouldn't elaborate on, NS/Jolt relations are... ah... strained. So there is a possibility that we won't be able to take a nice, neat backup of the forums with us.

Sirocco's blog contains an excellent walkthrough however, on how users can make their own HTML backups of favorite threads. If you have any threads on the forums that you cannot bear to lose, I strongly recommend backing up your own copies.

Given that the Nationstates forum accounts for something like 80% of Jolt's forum activity (and thus the lion's share of the ad revenue, though I should hope you're all running Firefox with AdBlock Plus!), I'd like to think they won't just spitefully wipe the forums and destroy six-someodd years of NS history, but there are only two kinds of paranoia:

Absolute, and insufficient.

So get to backing up anything you fear losing! I've already got my relevant nation history threads, the Bastard NS Mod from Hell saga, and an assortment of other threads I'd rather not see lost in limbo.

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"BLOOD OR CHOCOLATE!"

Nationstates 2 and a new email!

2008-05-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

So if you've logged onto NS in the past month or so, odds are you've seen the telegram with the Big News: Nationstates 2 is announced!

Okay, well, it's been "announced" almost as long as NS has been running. But as vaporware, rumor, a distant "Gee, wouldn't it be cool if...?" rather than anything remotely tangible. Well... there's still nothing tangible... but there is a website! With a FAQ, even! And a blog by the programmers and stuff that are, as we speak, forging a game from the raw ore of Max's ideas.

.... And damnit, it'd be nice if he'd share those ideas with his moderators! Honestly, we work our butts off to keep his game running, you'd think we'd be entitled to some sort of insider info. But nope, we get tantalized and taunted just like the rest of you. Still, if I do get told anything new and cool, I'll share it here. Odds are though I'm gonna be watching the NS2 blog just like you guys though for my info.

Additionally though! Remember that for awhile, my Nationstates email address was "RepProdtheMod@gmail.com"? Well, not anymore! It only took the Powers That Be.... what, five years? to issue us fancy new @nationstates.net emails! So now it's "RepProdtheMod@nationstates.net".... isn't that all slick and fancy now?

And finally, for you issues hounds out there- hell may just freeze over and pigs fly alongside the wingless flying hippos. The issues submission list, at last check there are 594 issue submissions in the backlog. Which is down from well over 1,000. Out of those remaining few hundred, maybe a handful will make it into the game. A few of those issues still waiting to be processed are in the vicinity of a year old, but I would personally estimate the current backlog to only be about six months. So we might actually, just maaaaybe catch up on those!

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"People are like slinkies. Bascially useless, and yet it's so amusing to watch them fall down the stairs."

Empty Threats

2007-05-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Y'know, empty threats amuse me, as do the people that make them. It's something I deal with on a regular basis on Nationstates, rulebreakers that get their nose bent out of shape and try and make threats, promising dire retribution unless the NS mods submit to their demands. It's like watching a little yappy dog throw a hissy fit, and it's really rather entertaining. Especially when they try to carry out those threats and find they aren't getting anywhere.

Usually it goes something like this:

Player A breaks a rule
Player A gets warned for it and complains that the rule isn't fair/doesn't apply/OMG MOD BIAS/OMG 1ST AMENDMENT
Moderator B listens to Player A for a bit and reasonably explains why the player was warned and why the rule is in place/applies/has nothing to do with bias/they have no 1st amendment rights.
Sometimes Moderators C, D, and E also weigh in and repeat step 3 with the player.
Player A breaks some more rules, feeling contrary, and gets his account deleted.
Player A makes a new account, bitches to the mods to restore his deleted nation or else he'll bring the site to its knees!
Player A becomes nuisance enough that the moderators declare him "DOS", short for "delete on sight." If applicable/useful, IP bans may be used as well.
Player A tries to carry out the threat, creating new accounts/getting around IP bans/spamming/etc.
The mods keep deleting him, often spotting the patterns quick enough to start bagging his new accounts before he even has the chance to DO anything with them.
The player eventually gets bored and gives up.

It seems the people who make the loudest threats are the ones with the least power. What CAN they do? Ban the NS staff from their own dinky little forum? I can tell you, I've lost no sleep over not being allowed to view Player A's Personal Online Dictatorship. They can't bring the site down- many have tried (some of them very persistent), and all have failed.

Heck, in one memorable case we ended up temporarily banning all of New Zealand from the site because the kid's ISP wasn't responding to complaints about the problem user after 6+ months of nightly spam attacks. After thousands of complaints to that ISP from the NZ users who were also effected by the ban, the ISP dealt with it. Kid came back from another address, which we tracked to a Catholic high school and got in contact with the principal; after which it was tracked to the single student responsible and led to his parents finding out. As far as I'm aware, he's still not permitted unsupervised use of a computer anywhere.

So yeah, when I see somebody growling like a little puppy all "I'm warning you, you'd better do what I say!", it makes me smile.

A tired ninja mod

2006-10-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

Holy crap, it's been awhile since I updated, hasn't it?

Anime Expo went well, I was in a car accident and had to get my rear bumper replaced, school's started... what else?

Oh yeah. MikomiCon. Being on the working staff for an anime convention and simply attending one are two vastly different experiences. I thought going to Anime Expo and requiring two hours of makeup to get into costume each morning was exhausting... hah. That was like a light exercise compared to helping run an understaffed MikomiCon. Two days later and I'm STILL trying to recuperate from what I've termed the "convention hangover." No booze involved here, just lots of caffeine, lots of instant noodles, and lots of running all over the place. My head hit the pillow Sunday night, and I was dead to the world for about 12 hours.

Still, initial reports seem to be that people had a good time, so I guess all the effort paid off. Now I think I need to go and pass out again.

~Rep Prod the Con Ninja Mod
"There are two kinds of Stephanies in the world. The really cool ones like my friend Stephanie (CnA), and the really evil bitchy ones like Burke."

Five days until Anime Expo!

2006-06-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

And the Otaku Mod is ready to go! Just finished my costume stuff today, and the guitar for my costume looks positively bitchin'!

I could probably post more, but I'm tired, stiff, sore, and not entirely coherent from giddiness. Look for me at Anime Expo!

~Rep Prod the Otaku Mod
"Time to rock my world! And when I mean my world, I mean MY world!" - Ember Mclain

Spring is in the air... Or maybe that's just change?

2006-04-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

Spring is coming, the hillsides are falling because of sudden storms, and invaders and defenders from all regions are on pins and needles with breathless anticipation of the changes being foreshadowed on Nationstates.

Or maybe that's just the moderators heaving a pre-emptive sigh of relief from the knowledge that we'll no longer have to try and navigate those murky grey waters of the invasion rules?

Some hints, as I'd like to delude myself into thinking people actually read this modblog...

It should eliminate ALL the grey areas of invasion rules as we know it that seem to always piss off certain Nationstates player organizations.
It shouldn't affect the Warzones at all. For those who will likely wish to engage in more "traditional" or even "oldskool" invading/defending.
The mods will probably start placing bets in the OMG SEKRIT FORUM on how long until the first complaints are raised by invaders/defenders who don't like the change simply because it IS a change.
Traditional invasion/defense tactics will need to be rethought, and new tactics developed. Hopefully adding a bit more depth to the invasion game.

Salusa, Pythagosaurus, [violet], and lo, even Max Barry himself are going over the finishing touches as we speak.

Change is coming... are you ready?

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"This isn't about my problems, Valerie. This is about your problems. Namely the fact that you're still breathing." - Jeremiad, Chapter 7

Rep Prod the Cosplay Mod's Guide to Good Convention-going

2006-03-17T14:12:00.000-08:00

A discussion on IRC got me thinking, and hence spawned this. I'm sure you all know the stereotypes about Star Trek nerds (Trekkies), sci-fi/computer nerds (Geeks), and Japanese animation nerds (otaku): fat, smelly, no social graces, etc etc. Like all stereotypes, this is not universally true. So the thought came to me about conventioned (anime ones in particular), and how to make a convention experience enjoyable. Yeah, kinda windy train of thought, but whatever.

Like any collective experience, good convention-going starts with planning. Some things to consider when planning such an outing:

How far away is the convention? How will you get there? By car, by plane?
If you are going with a group, how will transport be arranged? Will everyone drive themself to the convention, or will there be carpooling to save money on gas? How many vehicles will be needed for all the luggage and/or costumes and/or purchases?
How much money can you spend on this endeavor? The less money you have, the more complicated your plans will have to be.
Are you going to bring a costume? If so, how complicated/expensive will it be? How many will you bring?

In an ideal world, you have enough money to afford your own personal hotel room on-site for the entire convention. However, this is not always the case. More often than not, it is never the case. Some guidelines and considerations for choosing roomies, hotels, and dates of arrival/departure.

Regardless of where you end up staying, do NOT try to cram more than 5 people to a single room. The decrease in cost per person is NOT worth the stress and hassle of trying to cram lots of people into a single room for 3-4 days.
If you cannot reasonably afford to stay at an on-site hotel, even with 5 people to one room, DON'T stay on site. In many cases there are less expensive hotels within reasonable walking distance of the convention center, sometimes with far better amenities. The extra walking is worth the peace of mind and saved money.
Choose people you know you can get along with as roomies. If a friend has some annoying habit that just slightly irks you, DON'T share a room with them. Under convention conditions, tempers can often be drastically shortened, and minor quirks can become unbearable.
Can you afford to arrive a day early? Most conventions start early in the day on the opening day, and if you want to get your badge, you need to either arrive a day early or get up early in the morning to get there and get a good spot at the front of the line. Or have a friend who can go a day early and pick up everyone's badges.
Do you want to leave the final day of the convention, or stay an extra night and leave the day after? It costs more, and the final day most conventions are largely shut down by about 3 pm anyway. But if you don't get much sleep, the extra night may be a good idea, as you may not be fit to drive safely. Plus you can avoid the better part of the post-convention crush as everyone is leaving the last day.
What will your eating arrangements be? Many people simply fork over the money to eat out at the various places near the convention, but this can be costly. Some people bring their own food to the convention- instant noodles, soda, and so on. This may be cheaper, but far less healthy, and can contribute to digestive problems either during or immediately following the convention. If you bring your own food, try to include healthier items- fruits and veggies if possible, or at least health bars of some sort. Most people get more exercise at a convention than they do in more than a month, your body requires extra nourishment if you want to stay energetic throughout the event. Don't forget to drink lots of water!
For the love of $deity, keep yourself clean! Brush your teeth, use deodorant, and PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE shower! Daily if possible, but at LEAST one per two days of the convention. You're running around, working up a sweat, and quite possibly wearing the same clothes for 2-4 days. Take steps to minimize your odor!

Now, things get tricky when it comes to cosplay. There are many things to consider, and a great many tips and suggestions for one's behavior regarding cosplay.

Most people cosplay for one of two reasons: To have fun, or to compete, with the former generally massively outnumbering the latter.
Have some pride! Don't just half-ass a costume together and expect to be complimented for it. If anything, you're likely to be scorned and insulted by the self-described "elites" of cosplay if you do.
Use some sense when choosing your costume! Very few people have the figure to successfully cosplay a big-breasted chick in a battle bikini or other skintight suit. If you have ANY doubt in your mind about your body, don't cosplay a girl wearing hardly anything, and avoid spandex. Trust me, you will end the con feeling better about yourself than you would if you try and force yourself into something you don't feel comfortable in. If you're a guy, don't cosplay a character who runs around shirtless or with shorts or whatnot unless you're going to shave/wax/Nair the exposed areas. VERY few male characters in anime have body hair, and most girls are not attracted by it.
Cosplay to your strengths! Maybe you don't have the figure to cosplay a battle-bikini clad hottie. There are plenty of cool characters who wear loose (and more comfortable) outfits! Match eye color, and hair color if possible!
Don't be an ass about it. Even if you think you have the most awesomest costume known to the world, don't keep constantly trying to hog the spotlight or jump in where you're not wanted. Let the costume's awesomeness stand on its own.
Again, don't be an ass about it. No matter how bad you think someone else's costume is, always assume that they put their best into it. Keep your nasty comments to yourself. People cosplay largely to have fun, and getting mean remarks after trying your best is not fun. Think of how you'd feel if someone waltzed up to you and insulted your costume, your efforts, and/or you to your face.
Don't be rude, either. If you see a really awesome costume, don't just pounce the person. If you want a picture with that cosplayer, ask nicely- when asked, most cosplayers will be quite happy to pose with you or permit a picture with you clinging to them in a fangirlish/fanboyish manner.

There's probably more still to cover, but I'll save it for a future edition.
~Rep Prod the Otaku Mod
All aboard the angst train! BOOOOHOOOO!

An Open Letter to the Commander-in-Chief and ol' Buckshot

2006-02-25T14:14:00.000-08:00

If you're still looking for those Taliban guys, the religiously fanatical oppressors of freedom, haters of liberty, doers of evil, etc etc etc, they seem to be alive and well in South Dakota.

I suggest we waste no time in invading and ousting the regime resposible for this cruelty, this injustice against the freedom-loving people of the United States! Besides, it can't go any worse than your current campaign against evildoers, right?

From a Californian who did not vote for you,
~Rep Prod the Pro-Choice Mod
"So a woman gets raped by her uncle. She is then required, by law, to carry and care for this reminder of the sexual and emotional abuse she suffered? I thought we outlawed cruel and unusual punishment."

The Road Begins Anew

2006-02-12T18:29:00.000-08:00

Ah yes. February. A time when choices are made, allies must be chosen, and plans must be laid out. The time for hesitation is past, and one must go forward or fail!

I'm talking about Anime Expo, of course. You may be thinking "Waitaminute, that's not until July!" That's why plans must be laid and executed now! See, costumes don't just make themselves in a week. At least not with my group. No. We start months in advance so that we have enough time to build elaborate and/or complicated props and details! This year, I'm not building a 7 foot tall mecha, but that doesn't mean my costume is any less detailed. I'm doing something a little bit unusual for an anime convention in the US. I'll be in costume as a character from an American cartoon. Ember McLain from Danny Phantom, to be specific. The outfit will be simple enough. The tricky part is in getting a wig in that color and style, building her guitar, and building it to withstand convention use without breaking, and...

Makeup. Lots and lots of makeup.

I refuse to do anything halfway, so damnit, if I'm cosplaying a rockstar ghost girl, I will make sure I have that light blue complexion!

Also, plans must be made now for travel accomadations. Who's sharing a room with who, which hotel, for how long? We also have to coordinate with an out-of-state person, which further complicates things, such as arranging for her costume and for her transport to/from the airport and stuff. Other logistics as well- food supplies, drink supplies, who's bringing what in which vehicle?

We don't just go to these things man. We form a fucking military convoy. Complete with radios and unit leaders and code names! (Well, okay, we often use our online names as much as we do our real names at cons, but....)

~Rep Prod the Otaku Mod
"Dueling dopplegangers, have you lost your half of our mind?!"
"Dude, I'm not the one wearing a bedsheet."

Orange Bundle of RAGE

2006-02-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

I love my school. Really! I do!

HEY! You in the back, I see you sniggering at me! Sit down!

So, as most of you may already know, it's first come, first served when signing up for classes. Well, my registration date for the Spring Semester was last November, I got regged, got all the classes I was hoping to get, 13 units worth. One class I was looking forward to in particular, was my Animation 260 class: Real-Time Video Game Animation.

So here we are in February. School starts in FOUR DAYS. I get a notice in the mail from the college. "We are cancelling the above class(es)." I look, and woe unto me! ANIM 260 has been most thoroughly sacked like $employee at Zephyr Holdings! Shit, that puts me at 11 units! 1 unit short of full-time status! I have to find some other class that doesn't conflict with the rest of my schedule, isn't already packed solid, and will propel me back to my previous lucky 13 units!

Some paniced thumbing through the college online registration later, and I've locked in my seat for CIT 173 - Website Design /w Dreamweaver.

Bastard college bureaucracy. Now I've got three night classes a week instead of just one!

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!"

The Ninja Mod's review of Company

2006-01-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

I should really know better by now. I really should. Staying up until 4 in the morning reading when I have to get up at 7 for work makes for a sleepy Ninja Mod. But since I was soooo close to finishing reading my copy of Company, I just had to stick it out and the hell with sleep deprivation!

Besides, that's what caffeine is for, right?

Now, the trick is how to write my own little review that doesn't spoil anything, particularly the big twist after page 80 or so that Max mentions in his blog. Despite my bastard mod alter-ego and claims to the contrary, I'm not a mean person who ruins books for people who haven't got to read it yet.

First and foremost, if you or someone you know works in any job remotely tied to corporate BS, you will probably enjoy it, if only because you can identify far more with the characters and situations.

For those of you who RP in the Nationstates forums, you might notice the book is primarily written in a present-tense format. An interesting choice, and if you're more used to the more common past-tense format of most books, it does take a little bit of getting used to.

At first the book almost feels like an episode of the Twilight Zone or something- you know there's something definately weird going on, but can't pin down what exactly, and it's just a little bit creepy and a little bit disturbing. Then there's the aforementioned Big Twist and things go from "Huh?" to such acts of sheer bastardness as to make Simon Travaglia weep tears of joy. Really. My bastard mod alter-ego was crowing with wicked delight- Eve Jantiss is Reploid Seductions' idol now, I swear it. I wish I could tell you why, but you'll just have to find out for yourselves.

The characters seem a little bland at first, but quickly develop their quirks. Well, the main characters at least- a lot of the minor secondary characters seem to be a bit two-dimensional. Given the corporate setting and theme of the novel however, this fits nicely into the story. The "hero" of the tale is lovably naive, while the antagonist(s) are suitably sick, twisted, and evil, but you can't help but adore them for their sheer wickedness.

It's not a long read, just as Jennifer Government before it wasn't. But this is a good thing- it doesn't take days in seclusion to finish, so even the most casual of readers can pick it up and enjoy it, perhaps over morning donuts at the office.

In short, I really really really recommend Company. It's a lot of fun, and delightfully twisted =)

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"The moral of today's story is.... whatever you do, don't fuck with the guy with the donut fixation.

Meeting the Boss

2006-01-25T22:53:00.000-08:00

As some of you might know, Max has his whole snazzy little book tour thing going on for his new book Company. (SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: BUY COMPANY! MAKE MAX A HAPPY AUTHOR!) With a tour stop in Los Angeles, I was practically honor-bound to attend, what with that whole "I help moderate his online game for the past three years!" deal.

And besides, for my efforts, I got a free copy of the new book. (I'll probably buy a couple copies for my friends though!)

Despite Max whining on IRC about "I've done that book store like, three times and I think my record is ten people! Wah!" the place was pretty packed. A lot of Nationstaters from the show of hands, but nobody I knew besides Goober. Who's a lot taller than I thought he'd be. But hey, there should be pics online soon of Max, the Ninja Mod, and the NS Wiki admin guy.

We hung around, we chatted. I had to explain the sword thing to the non-NSers present, and a pleasant evening was had by all. I get the feeling Max wasn't much liking the California weather though. =p

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"Hey, Boss! I have the sword with me, honest! I just left it in the car for the moment!"

An Interesting Concoction

2006-01-14T21:15:00.000-08:00

Well, your ninja moderator has returned safe and sound from visiting her grandmother in Phoenix, Arizona. All in all, not too bad a trip, awkward as it is dealing with the extended family.

-Got to go to Kartchner Caverns again, which I highly recommend. There's something inherently awesome about seeing a 5-story tall stone column nature built with a little water and a metric fuckton of time and limestone.
-Got to go gambling at one of the casinos. Managed to lose $20 over the course of an hour. Discovered that my new purse was tearing along one of the straps. Got annoyed at it.
-Got to do some shopping. But I'm sure you guys don't care that I got some jewelry, a new new purse, some new pants, and a nice new shirt.
-Went swimming. In January. In winter. The weather in Phoenix is actually quite pleasant this time of year. Warm but not too warm during the day. Really cold at night, but nothing that some warm sweaters couldn't deal with.
-Dealt with routine sleep deprivation. The sofa bed my sister and I were relegated to is not comfortable at all, and my shoulders and back are going to be hating me for weeks.

The "fun" part was the drive home today. Being as my father came down with a real nasty head cold yesterday, I insisted that I handle all the driving. (No way in hell I was going to let him drive while sick and having had less rest than I had. His driving can be bad enough when rested!) I generally don't have trouble with long drives. Four hour trek up the coast to Cambria? Awesome!

But 8 hours driving while sleep deprived.... I used Sobe's No Fear power drinks to ensure my wakefulness. So sleep deprivation plus caffeine overdose. Most of the drive is through mind-numbingly boring, flat desert terrain. So sleep deprivation plus caffeine overdose plus road hypnosis!

Then the weather gods had fun with it, too. Mostly wonderful weather until we get to Palm Springs. Now, there's this one mountain pass through there that is generally pretty windy. You can tell this because somebody built a whole ton of wind-powered electrical generator dohickeys. Wind farms, pretty much. Well, there's a bit of a winter storm sitting over Southern California. So we're talking sustained winds in the vicinity of 40 miles per hour through this pass (catching the car broadside and trying to blow my little car all over the road), and gale-force gusts. So we can add arm and shoulder cramps from keeping a white-knuckle grip on the damn wheel. If my tiny little Saturn was damn near getting blown all over the road, the truck drivers with those big clunky high-profile trailers have massive amounts of my respect.

The coup de grace, of course, was catching up to the aforementioned winter storm and getting rained on for the final hour or so of the trip. By now, the combination of sleep deprivation and caffeine overdose and road hypnosis and arm cramps left me in a rather zombified state from which I have not quite fully recovered yet. I'm sleepy from the lack of sleep and exhaustion, but still very twitchy from the caffeine. And I imagine when I wake up tomorrow afternoon (I fully expect to sleep clear through until at least 1 in the afternoon), my arms, shoulders, and upper back will probably be reminding me of all the abuse.

......... Damnit, and I still need to get that sword done for the 25th. And clean my room. Augh.

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"Jesus Christ, how in all the hells do these truckers keep those things straight?! I'm damn near getting blasted all over the highway!"

Word Doodle!

2005-12-27T13:28:00.000-08:00

Something I haven't subjected anybody to here as of yet. Sometimes I'll just take my notebook and write stuff. I call it by a range of names, depending on the content: crapfiction, doodle-prose, word doodles, etc. Sometimes I write out some really awesome story ideas. Usually I get a bunch of half-formed thoughts and a lot of total and utter crap. But it's a good way to let off excess creative energy. (I swear, a half-baked good idea will get stuck in my head and I can't sleep until I get rid of it.) This little tidbit isn't part of any story I've written thus far, though I imagine those of you who follow some of my RP storylines in the forums might notice some similarities to existing characters. Without further ado, I present to you one of my word doodles.

Chaos Storm
Not like this-! She cringed when her back met the cold pavement, her momentum enough to crack the hard surface, though she only counted several new bruises from the impact. She hit the ground hard enough to snap a human's spine in two, but she had long since ceased to be precisely human. Wincing, she heaved herself back upright, snapping her wings open and leaping skyward in a blaze of gold, her weapons materializing mid-flight. Too much hung in the balance for her to lose here- defeat was simply not an option. The battle raging above the strangely silent city continued while she rose to rejoin it- flashes of green and tendrils of an impossible black twisting and coiling about in a chaotic dance as powers clashed.

It wasn't that she didn't trust her young ally's abilities, it was that he was still so young, with so much to learn, whereas she had been serving her role so long that she no longer gave time much thought. This was something simply beyond him and his fledgling otherworldly powers. I should never have gotten you involved, kid. She silently mused as she caught up to the maelstorm, holding the gleaming gold length of her lance to punch through the outer turbulence. She caught sight of a brief blur- little more than a lighter shadow against the pitch dark of the elemental's power.

"Behind you!" His voice was nearly lost in the wind, but it was enough. She whirled, lashing out with the silver length of chain, smiling with a cruel satisfaction when the enchanted length burned away the blackness, entangling the source of it briefly.

"You chose to mess with things you can't understand, elemental." She hissed through a wicked smile, wiping some blood from one of her fresher injuries.

The black creature writhed in the coils of chain, apparently not much fazed by her threat. "This world is mine, little puppet. You and your little tagalong won't stop me-!" This last was punctuated by a surge of the creature's shadow magic, snapping the chain and repelling the gold-winged figure and the black-clad youth backward several hundred feet. "Now die!"

She recovered more rapidly, just in time to see the shadow elemental gathering a sphere of dark power, aimed at her still-reeling accomplice. Look out! Her mind screamed uselessly as the shot was released, crackling with black lightning as it surged toward its target.

"Get outta the way, kid!" She shrieked, leaping forward and pouring on all the speed her powers could muster, a golden blur chased by a dark coil. Gotta make it there first, he can't survive a hit like that!

The explosion lit the sky with an eerie sort of non-light, the flash obscuring the results. The boy finally regained control of his trajectory, surprised to find he hadn't been vaporized. His relief was short lived however, when he saw the winged woman in front of him, her four wings held forward as a shield, black scorch marks covering her body and dulling the glow of her mangled wings. "You... you saved me..."

She failed to respond, her posture going limp. Wordlessly, gravity staked its claim over her and she plummeted through the cloud deck. He shouted her name, the word lost in the wind rushing past as he dove after her in a desperate but futile effort to reach the ground before she did and somehow soften the fall. The shadow creature above cackled at the attempt. "Such concern for a puppet! Ha! She just wasted her best and only hope of stopping me, and on what?"

He cried out when he saw her hit the ground and struggle to get back to her feet, only to fall to her knees and then to all fours, collapsing with a pained gasp. He landed gently next to her, immediately checking her body over for injuries.

"To save the life of some insignifigant child, more useless than she is! Come at me, child, you must be thirsting for revenge!"

"It'll... take a lot more than that... to kill this bitch off." She gasped, clutching at her ribcage. "Kid, it's up to you."

She held out one hand, a faint golden aura lighting it with a gentle glow. "What that damnable elemental doesn't seem to realize is that a chaos agent can be literally anybody. Us former or sorta-humans are especially good at it, what with that... free will thing..."

"But what about you?" He asked fearfully, taking hold of the offered hand. "Your injuries-!"

"Pheh... this'll mend in time." She closed her glowing gold eyes, the golden aura suffusing the immediate area with a strange warmth. He watched with mixed wonder and horror, her injuries were terrible, and that last fall had to have shattered countless bones, or worse, punctured vitals. "What matters above all else... is stopping that shadow elemental before she stifles this world and who knows how many others."

"But you need a doctor!" He protested even as he felt the comforting caress of the chaos energies she was radiating. "I can't hold a candle to her!"

She smirked up at his youthful, worried face. "Dun worry. You've been takin' care of this world for a long time before I got here." She patted him on the head, ruffling his unruly mop of pale hair. "And you'll keep on takin' care of it after I've moved on to new assignments. Do me proud, kid."

The golden aura faded, as did her full form. The bright wings dissolved to nothing, and glowing gold eyes faded to dull grey as she fell into the blissful release of unconsciousness. He turned to glare skyward at the elemental, the monster responsible for all this. For hurting his dearest friends, for nearly destroying his home and his family, for everything.

"I thought she'd never shut up." The shadow floated lower, a cruel smirk on its black face. "Well now, fledgling. You going to throw your life away as well?"

He scowled, his eyes narrowed to glowing slits as he flexed his hands briefly, manifesting his own rendition of the fallen chaos agent's lance. The shaft shot upwards, glowing gold entwined with green. With a scowl, he pointed the weapon at the elemental. "We'll see who's throwing what away, you witch."

He shot upwards, a blur of black and gold and green, the wind tearing the angry battle cry from him as he ascended into the storm to finish what the chaos agent had started. She could no longer protect the balance of his world, so he would. No elemental was going to stand in his way.

Yay word doodles!

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"Void above me, and death below. Shimeki keep me, here I go."

OMFG.

2005-12-04T17:36:00.000-08:00

My birthday was yesterday (24 years old, whoo), and I swear I have some of the best friends ever.

I was informed that my combination birthday and X-mas present from EVERYBODY is a new computer just for me, tricked out for video and rendering and stuff. AND a copy (a legit purchased copy, no less!) of Maya 7.0 Unlimited.

My friend who works at Sony also mentioned that they'll be looking to hire a bunch of new 3-D artists in early 2006, so if I get my act in gear and get some more practice in on Maya, I should be able to land at least a paid internship.

Holy crap. My friends kick ass.

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"Now I have a reason to clean my room!"

Assorted random updates

2005-11-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

Let's see.... first of all, I still lack regular computer access, hence my relative lack of activity on Nationstates. That should hopefully be fixed in the next week.

Now, I'm sure many of you are aware that Max Barry has a book tour coming up in January 2006, and that he will be stopping in Los Angeles on the 25th. As a Nationstates Moderator, I am practically honor-bound to attend. What I'm wondering is who else will be there? I spoke with Max about it, and he desperately requested of me that I bring my friends, that this will be like, his third time doing this particular book store, and his personal record is in the vicinity of ten people. Now, I will be there, my sister will be there, and judging by the forums, Goober will be there. Surely there are more of you people within reasonable driving distance of the LA tour stop? Make Max a happy author! =D And besides, there is a good chance there will be booze involved.

For those wondering, I will likely be clad in all black, and I should have Kiritateru Teikoku with me. Yes, the real "Sword of DEAT". I plan on building it after finals are over for this semester. It will be fun, as I have not built myself an oversized prop weapon before. I figure the blade will be in the vicinity of 6 feet long, excluding the hilt section. So it should look pretty impressive in the hands of somebody who barely tops 5 feet ^_^;;

And Anagonia, just saw your post. Worship gives me the warm fuzzies ^_^ Very well written Bastard Player post =p

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"If at first you don't succeed, try orbital bombardment."

Got Questions?

2005-10-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

So, ganking from certain Livejournal circles, I'm gonna toss an "Ask a Character" sort of post up here. Ought to give a good sense of how many people actually read this thing, I suppose.

Here's how it works: I'll list a bunch of my Nationstates characters/personas, and people can post comments asking them questions, which will then be responded to in-character. Pointless and silly, yes, but hopefully somewhat amusing =)

So without further ado, the lineup!

The Bastard Squad
Reploid Seductions, Bastard NS Game Moderator from HELL
The Evil Business Manager
Misc. Luser Du Jour (the nameless oppressed)

Roleplay characters- Present day
Firefury Amahira
Tsume Dragonis
Leona Dragoon-II
Najoedo
Pirika Drakos
Zeroel Archangel
Morphin Minerva
Sierra Menolimi
Skyraider Skypeace
Dart Amahira
Kiara Alson

Roleplay characters- Historic
Northwind Windrider
Dawn Lifesaver
Dr. Nekura
Aurora Koneko
Alpha Labor-One
Beta Labor-One
Naginata Blademaster
"The Guardian"

Granted, this is just a tiny sampling of my 100+ characters that have been used on Nationstates, but they're among the most developed of my cast. Don't hesitate to ask any sort of question. If you want to, say, ask Dawn why the hell she is such a sadist, go ahead! If you want to ask the Guardian what the answer is to Life, the Universe, and Everything, feel free! Get inventive, I want a challenge in how my characters think =p

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"I HATE Jack Thompson."

Smells like burning!

2005-09-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

For those who watch the US news, you might have heard about a brushfire in the Los Angeles area. First, no, it is not threatening my home- it started near my area and has since moved further away. Two, I promise pictures if the area near my home does light up.

But geez, I hate fire season. The wind shifted direction yesterday, pumping all the smoke and airborne ash from the 25 square mile blaze into my area. Everything positively REEKS of burning brush. Made for a very pretty sunset last night (I swear, nothing gets quite the same shade of red as smoke), but at the cost of sore throats, stiinging eyes, and runny noses from all the crap in the air. My clothes and my car are going to stink for weeks after this.

One mild Santa Ana wind condition and ALL the goddamn pyros come crawling out of the woodwork.

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"Remember me, mine kindred! Remember me, when the day is won, and the night is but a memory. Remember me, in the halls, in the lands grown soft at long last. Remember me, that none may forget this day, when blood fought blood, and one sought to do that which should not be done, and his life was the price for his folly. Remember me, that no babe borne must witness another battle such as this!" -Najoedo, prototype verse of The Journeys of the Far-Searcher

This week is brought to you by.... Murphy's Law

2005-09-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

Holy crap, this whole week so far has been one long example of Murphy's Law in action. Who the heck did I piss off Upstairs, anyway? I must have really cheesed off the karma police. x_x

To recap for your amusement:

Tuesday
- Couldn't find parking prior to my aquatic aerobics class. Ended up parking in the more distant lot with all of 5 minutes to get to the locker room, changed, and to the pool for class.
- Jumped into the pool wearing my glasses. Came up without them. Had to call the lifeguard to dive for them, and will be hearing about how stupid that was from my sister for the next however many weeks.
- Walked my dog with my sister and our neighbor's dogs. Maxi went one way, Coco went another... snagging her leash on a neighbor's mailbox and pulling it down before I could stop her.
Wednesday
- Had a speech due for communications studies. Being late to class was NOT an option. So, get ready to go, head out at 4:30 pm. Car sounds a bit odd, is making bad noises. Turn right back around and limp it back home. End up taking the minivan and arriving almost late to class, had to give the speech all winded from running and frazzled. Got a 90/100 on it at least.
- Made road pizza out of a skunk with the minivan coming home from class! Minivan positively REEKS of skunk, has to be parked outside and hosed down with the high-pressure hose nozzle to de-stink it.

Thursday
- Well, my car seems to have died- had to have it towed to the repair place.
- Confirmed the skunk kill from the previous night. (Dead skunk stinking up the road a little south of the college... yick.)
- Smashed my knee on the minivan steering column
- Smashed my knee on the pool step in Aquatic Aerobics
- Smashed my knee on a desk in Philosophy 101
- Smashed my knee on a desk in Psychology 240
- Hear from the repair place that my car is back in working order. Get in the minivan with Mom to go get it. The brakes on the minivan start to stink, then smoke. Took over 45 minutes to limp that the two miles back home due to avoiding hills (of which there are many) or going very fast, stopping to let the brakes cool back down, and so on.
- Left knee takes offense to the abuse, and goes "Fuck you, bitch!" the rest of the week.
And there's still Friday and Saturday in which Murphy's Law can continue to kick my ass! =D At least I get to watch Advent Children tonight at my friend's house on their absolutely awesome entertainment system.

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"Anything that can go wrong, WILL go wrong."

Help somebody

2005-09-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

Good Goddess Shimeki... I've been gawking at the newspaper most of this morning, at the pictures of what could easily be mistaken for some third-world country. It's shocking to see, and heartbreaking to hear stories about the chaos in the region stricken by Katrina. I can't even begin to imagine the sheer spread of the destruction- my mind just shuts down trying to comprehend it.

But there is hope, and already stories of people going to great lengths to help others. At least two of our own players- Keruvalia and JMayo- are volunteering and joining the rescue efforts despite the dangers to themselves. The very least the rest of us can do is donate what we can. Every little bit helps- instead of getting yourself a new CD or video game or pair of jeans or what-have-you, donate to the Red Cross. It's not hard to do, and they desperately need all the help they can get.

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
" This heart still believes
That love and mercy still exist" -Garth Brooks "The Change"

DON'T PANIC!

2005-08-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

What a surprise when I woke up and toddled over to NS this morning!

First off, people, READ THE ANNOUNCEMENT! We are aware of all the problems and are doing what we can until the game admin types can take care of it. It's probably a disk space problem (again), so your nations can be restored from the last backup!

Second, remember these words of wisdom, printed in big, friendly letters:

DON'T PANIC!

~Rep Prod the Game Mod
"Awfuck."

Beware the small furry demons that are.... cuddly puppies?

2005-08-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, even the mastermind behind Reploid Seductions, Bastard NS Moderator From Hell has a weakness. Puppies. Cute, cuddly, happy, playful fuzzy puppies.

My soul belongs to Nintendogs now ^_^ So far I have a husky named Django, and a beagle named Lita. They are absurdly adorable, and both kicking tail at the agility contests. Just watching them play is enough to elicit uncharacteristicly girlish squees of delight. At first, I wasn't interested in the game, but my sister was, and she convinced me to -hold on, Django want's me to throw his squeaky ball... okay- she convinced me to try the game out as well. The devious game immediately seized hold of my long-disused warm fuzzy feelings, and I think -whoops, Lita needs some water... there!- that I am surely doomed to be caretaker and trainer of these adorable pieces of programming code.

Perhaps there's a BNSMfH post to be made from this....

~Rep Prod the Ninja (Puppy-tending!) Mod
"SQUEE!"

WE HAVE TOUCHDOWN!

2005-08-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

Worth staying up all night, too!

Heard the booms a little after 5 this morning Pacific time, and watched Discovery make a textbook landing at Edwards AFB! Beautiful, absolutely beautiful!

~Reppy
"Coco, stop barking. You don't have to chase the Space Shuttle out of the backyard." <-- Me, after the booms to my dog, who freaked out.

Maxchat 4: Beyond Thunderdome!

2005-08-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

Well, today was the fourth IRC-based player Q&A session with Max Barry, more handily called Maxchat 4: Beyond Thunderdome. #Nationstates seized and held the dubious honor of most populated channel on the Espernet server for the duration, topping out at a whopping 91 users.

It sounds simple enough- the guy comes into the chat, and people can ask him questions. Lemme tell you, it's anything BUT simple. I'm sure some of you may wonder why we run the chats the way we do, so I figure I'll take this post to explain some of the process.

As anyone who stuck around after the chat saw, as soon as #Nationstates was set -m, all hell broke loose, and Max hardly said a word in the chaos, likely because it was too much. Over 80 people, most of them all trying to talk at once. You can't run a Q&A session like that, or nothing would get done. Hence the moderators stepping in to establish a process that isn't that different from the way I've seen Guest of Honor panels run at Anime Expo, where it's a similar situation.

Now, three channels total are involved in running a Maxchat. #Nationstates where it's actually held, #Nationstates_QA, where the teeming hoardes can ask their questions and chatter without making #NS an unreadable mess, and the secret modchat, where we coordinate what questions are coming up, when we're ending it, and all that.

So the path a question takes goes something like this:

NationA asks a question in #Nationstates_QA
Moderators see it, debate quickly in the secret room if it's a good question
ModeratorB flags it in secret room's queue in the channel topic.
When it comes up, ModeratorB posts it in #Nationstates
NationA is voiced in #Nationstates to either elaborate or say something to Max
Max answers the question
Max says "done" in the secret room
The next question in the queue is posted
Wash, rince, repeat

I know a lot of people seem to think there was some bias in who got to ask questions, what kinds of questions get asked, etc. In short, we look for "good" questions. Sure, we toss in the occasional seemingly wacky one, but we primarily look for questions that are unique, relevant, and haven't already been asked/answered. Maxchat is not a place to grill Max about policy decisions, moderator appeals, moderator bias, and so on. It's about Max, his books, and vaguely about the game Nationstates. Because Max isn't online as often as we are, he is often not as up-to-date on specific roleplays, invader/defender conflicts, or feeder regional politics, so questions about these things largely will not get posted at his request.

If you want to get a question into a Maxchat, keep it reasonable. I hesitate to say serious, but at least have a serious interest in Max answering THAT question. If you were on, you saw the flood of chatter in #Nationstates_QA- that's a lot to sift through. If you can make your question witty and relevant, so much the better. Wacky questions are fun, but we only have so much time that Max can be online, so the more serious stuff is going to take priority. Granted, we do try to end on a randomly wacky question, but that's only one out of however many we cram into the timespan of the chat.

Soooo... yeah. That's about it.
~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"* Joseph_Benedict_Chifley fires the capital ships main cannons at Makou(which happen to be pinpoint sized)
* ArticCub watches JBC's ships get eaten by a small dog. Thank YOU, Douglas Adams."

Ah, ritual hazing!

2005-08-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of being a moderator (especially being a moderator for a substantial chunk of time) is hazing the new recruits. You see, the process of appointing new mods goes something like this:

The current mods whine to [violet] or to Max himself that the Tasklist is getting out of hand, and OMG WE NEED NEW GMS!
The mods pester [violet]
The mods pester [violet]
The mods pester [violet]
The mods get tired of pestering [violet], and go pester Max
The mods pester Max
The mods pester Max
[violet] or Max bump the most experienced of the current crop of forum mods to Game Mod status
The mods go "OMG! We need new forum mods to fill the vacancies!"
The mods debate and agonize over possible new forum mods
The mods debate and agonize over possible new forum mods some more
The mods forget about it for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months
One of the mods comments we should add new forum mods so we have a good pool of GM candidates
The mods debate and agonize over possible new forum mods AGAIN
[violet] makes some offhand remarks over which names she recognizes
The mods debate and agonize over possible new forum mods in light of [violet]'s commentary
One or two candidates are settled on
If the candidates use IRC, they get invited/ordered to go to the sekrit lair
They get hazed
The mods and/or [violet] pop the question.
Upon acceptance, the great secrets of modhood are bestowed upon the recruit.
Someone commands the new recruit(s) to fetch a danish
The ritual hazing pretitle is applied!
The ritual hazing "warning" tag is applied!
[violet] pesters Jolt
[violet] pesters Jolt
[violet] pesters Jolt
[violet] gets sick of pestering Jolt, tells Max to pester Jolt
Max pesters Jolt
Max pesters Jolt
Jolt FINALLY forum mods the recruit(s)

I realize how long I've been a mod on Nationstates when I think of how many members of the current squad I participated in the ritual hazing of. I think out of the current squad, the only members who've been on board longer than I have are Melkor and Sirithil. Gee, I feel old! =D

But in case you haven't figured it out, appointing new mods is a time consuming and tedious process. We all toss in suggestions, then have to follow up and investigate the histories of the candidates, all the while taking into account any possible nepotism (which is part of why Nathi or Treznor for example will never be mods), compatibility issues, player input, and so on. We've had a few really rockin' debates over some candidates.

And then... the ritual hazing! If you ask just about any of the squad about it, you'll probably be told horror stories of how they thought they'd gotten in trouble or something. And don't forget the ritual hazing pre-titles! Those were especially fun back in the days before players who'd been around long enough could change their own pretitles. Now we play havoc with the warning tags in the Mod Centre. EVERY mod has some kind of screwy warning tag on their nation. Purely harmless fun =)

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod

"One would not know the day but for the presence of the night. The brighter the light, the darker the shadows. In the depths of darkness, even the faintest candle is a bright beacon."

WE HAVE LIFTOFF!

2005-07-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

The first shuttle flight in two years is well on its way after an apparently flawless liftoff! Had to break more than a few speed limits to get home from taking One to school to watch it, but given the chance, I'd do it again.

I swear, that had to be one of the greatest things I've ever seen, especially the final seperation of the external fuel tank with the Earth in clear view in the background. I needed Kleenex, but geez, I'm so happy right now.

My best wishes are with the crew that their return is as flawlessly executed as their departure was.

~Rep Prod the Geeky Mod

Issue #190!

2005-07-20T22:45:00.000-07:00

I'm just kicking some issue ass here =p Issue 190 should be in the game sometime tonight, so here's the useless hints about it.

It has four options.
It makes a vague reference to Ebay.
It makes a reference to the anime/manga series Trigun.
It mentions the legendary Maxtopia.
Iraqstan will really like the fourth option.

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"...... My ass has a cult."

Issue #189!

2005-07-19T18:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, hell has frozen over, someone other than the dynamo team of Sirocco and Myrth is going near the issues submissions list, poking at it warily like it's that wiggly green thing in the back of your refridgerator that was once a tuna casserole!

In short, with Kat and Fris kicking the everloving beejeebus out of the tasklist, here I am on summer vacation, post-Anime Expo, with lots of free time and not a lot in the tasklist. So what's a game mod with access to the issue list to do? Access the issue list, obviously!

So, taking a page from Sirocco's blog and being unhelpfully cryptic about it....

The issue has a painful pun/marketing slogan for the title (this may change though).
The title aside, the description also has a bad pun.
It has three options.
And it can have a serious impact on one of your industries.

With any luck, it'll be in the game sometime tonight!

A Second Disturbing Look Into the Lifestyles of the Ninja Mod

2005-07-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

Well, now that I've slept until noon, had a lot of real food, and spent a great deal of time doing nothing productive, here's the lengthy con report.

DAY ZERO

Not much of interest to report here. We left around 10 am and got to Anaheim in little over an hour, since the traffic gods saw fit to smile upon our voyage. Got to the hotel without incident and went to try and get checked in. In short, the hotel stuff was a fiasco because the place was pretty booked up from this pharmacutical (sp?) convention thing that was ending Friday morning. Apparently our hotel reservation through the Housing Board or whatnot only guarantees a room- the specifications for two double beds is only a "preference". So the way things settled out was that Joel and I got the only available two double room since we had the most luggage what with the Gundam costume. The other two groups (Wes's group and Rumi's group) each had a room with a king size bed and a rollaway. Problem with that though: Wes's group consisted of six people, and Rumi's had five peeps. The hotel could get us all in rooms next to eachother on Friday though, after the crowd from the other convention had cleared out. So most of the luggage was stashed in me and Joel's room. Wes found an old friend of his pretty close to the front end of the huge pre-reg line, so we were able to get all our badges fairly quick, and went for dinner at Tiffy's.

Then we met up with Bulma, 18, and 18's younger brother. First impressions were not in his favor, I must say. Very hyperactive, very nosy, and very immature. The fact he seemed not to recognize any sort of authority was a great big red flag. By the end of the evening I decided to give One a key to me and Joel's room so she could sorta get away from the crowd.

DAY ONE

The hotel room situation didn't get all cleared up until fairly close to normal room check-in time (3pm or so), so things were pretty scatterbrained for most of the day. All the luggage got dumped into me and Joel's room, and everybody in the Tales cosplay had to get all ready in our room. Ayan, One, Rumi, Mura, and Wes all looked absolutely awesome in their costumes though. Way better than the other folks that showed up at the Tales of Symphonia gathering. Alas, some annoying chick with a camera sorta hijacked the gathering, ordering the poses and stuff so she could get her pics and hurry off to some other group. But One and the others had a lot more luck cruising for pictures outside of the gathering.

Hit the dealer's hall and did an initial survey. I must say I wasn't really impressed. A lot of the smaller shops that used to come were in absence, and most of the shops that were there all had the same stuff, catering mostly to the "Cartoon Network Otaku" crowd. Usually I have to put a lot of effort into not spending anything on my first run through the dealer's hall. This year, no trouble whatsoever.

18's brother narrowly escaped being beaten half to death by One, by the way. He got a couple of foam daggers at one of the booths, and was dorking around thwapping stuff with them. Like an obnoxious little brother, he smacked One across the top of her ankle. She said something to the effect of "OW! That hurt, don't do that again!" He retorted it's only foam, and proceeded to hit her again in the same place, allegedly harder. By her report, she doesn't quite remember what exactly happened between that and Wes holding her back. The best guess is that she shrieked something and started to lunge. Let this be a lesson, folks. When someone tells you not to do something again, don't do it again. Especially when said person is already irritable from hotel room fiascos and PMS. So Wes and Joel (since this happened in the room Joel and I shared) had a talk with Bulma and 18 about the kid, and hashed out a plan of operations. Wes and Joel would haul the kid aside and spell it out nice and clear: Behave or you're getting kicked out. And do NOT touch One, period, she already wants to press assault charges because her ankle hurts really bad now, and stuff.

Oh yeah, and Joel and I got our masquerade stuff all turned in and stuff. And Ayan managed to snag Wes's AMV contest tickets, so he and I went to the AMV contest. I expected to be disappointed again, as last year's showing was pretty pathetic, but was pleasantly surprised. There was some good stuff in drama, some good stuff in action, but good lord, the comedy category was fucking awesome! I damn neared died laughing by the end of that category! XD

DAY TWO

Not much to report on here. Hit the dealer's hall again, and tracked down a booth that had the ZAFT and OMNI flags from Gundam Seed, and snagged those. Also picked up a nifty Chinese-styled sword for $20 at the Swordsonline booth. It's got a blunt edge, but I got it more for the scabbard artwork anyway. I also found some GaoGaiGar stuff for Mak. Did some more wandering around and got some lunch at the little Chinese place on the corner of Katella and Harbor, and then relaxed in the hotel for an hour or so until Joel and I had to head over to the meeting for Masquerade peoples. Basically that was just a roll-call and briefing on where we had to be, when we had to be there, and so on and so forth.

After that, it was hurry back to the room to get all ready for the masquerade ball, which was supposed to be a formal dance, with ballroom costumes as the big thing. If only. ¬_¬ Most of the people that we saw weren't even in formalwear, let alone in costume formalwear, and few people had masks. Also, they played mostly swing music, and at volumes far, far too loud even for me. I enjoy loud music every so often, but I do like to be able to hear my friend screaming something right in my ear, thanks. One and Wes stuck around a little longer than Joel and I did- we bailed pretty quick and got some chow and hit the spa. While at dinner, we ran into a friend of Joel's, who warned us that the judges this year were a bunch of amatuers from last year, the guys who had done the really stupid "Pimp my costume" skit last year. That didn't bode well.

After that, it was mostly hanging around until bedtime.

DAY THREE

This was the best and kinda most disappointing day of the con. Got up and hit the dealer's hall first thing, since I wasn't likely going to get into there on Monday. Did most of my spending- Zeta Gundam DVD box set, Haro plushie, and some other odds and ends. Yay for keychain bling! Also surprised a bunch of guys at the Bandai booth. One guy was whipping everybody at the new Gundam Seed game, so I walk up to take a crack at it. He was using Athrun and the Strike Gundam, so he had a big advantage. (I coulda done likewise, but figured hell, that'd be boring.), so I ended up with Muu La Flaga and a GINN. (You have to unlock everything in story mode, it seems.) I ended up losing in the end, but only just barely. =} My GINN gave the guy all sorts of hell, and largely for one simple reason: I had watched how he played earlier- never left the ground, only fought in basically two dimensions. I fought in all three dimensions, and kept getting up above him, divebombing him with a volley of gunfire, followed up with a sword attack and a super. Without my handicap, he woulda be schooled =p

So, after that, went to get the backstage passes for Masquerade, and then chilled out in the room until it was time to transport the Gundam to the backstage area around 3 pm. Joel stayed with the costume while I ran back to shower, dye my hair, and get into my costume. Got back to the backstage area and hung around munching pizza until they opened up the LP2 room so the Masquerade folks could get set up in there- we rapidly laid claim to one of the curtained off booths, unpacked, and did a lot of waiting until the judges got to it. We suited Joel up in the Gundam and got judged- they had seemed to be impressed. Joel took a few laps around the backstage room in costume to get a better feel for moving in it, got oohed and aahed by some of the other groups, and then we peeled him out of it to wait some more, since we had a few hours until showtime. Watched Lionel bringing in the guns and bike for the Xenosaga group, and oogled that for a bit.

The Masquerade got started 40 minutes late due to issues with seating in the audience- the entire backstage group was ready to go on time ^_~ There were a lot of walk-ons which sucked, and a couple of really clever groups. The Metal Gear Solid 3 group had some awesome choreography in their skit, and the one guy in the jetpack and stuff looked great. The "Can-Can You Catch Them All?" skit was both clever and VERY well executed- those dresses looked great, the dance routine must have taken tons of work, and the entire idea was innovative.

Anyway, so our turn comes up, group #44! It took some doing to get Joel up on stage, but man! =D I couldn't see worth crap because I didn't have my glasses on (probably a good thing. It's one thing to be told you're going on stage in front of 5,000+ people. It's another entirely to be able to SEE those 5,000+ people!), but god damn could I hear the response! The crowd went nuts as soon as the lights came up, they laughed good and loud at the "I'm a Little Teapot" portion of the skit, but the kicker was when the Megas XLR theme came on. I could feel the stage vibrating from the noise of everybody cheering and singing along with it. And then there was more cheering and laughing when Lacus's song came on in the skit and I clobbered Joel. The crowd LOVED us. One met us backstage saying that a ton of people backstage were hooting and singing along as well. So we thought we were in the running for some award.

If only it were so. The idiot judges, unfit to judge a cardboard box contest let alone an anime costume contest gave all the awards to basically three groups, none of which really deserved it, in my opinion. The MGS3 group deserved one or two, I will admit, but the Moon Sync 3 group just did NOT, if you ask me. The costumes weren't stellar, the performance was unimaginative, and honestly, haven't we seen ENOUGH dancing Sailor Scouts already? ¬_¬ On the upside though, the judges got booed off the stage by the crowd because the Gundam didn't win anything. Joel was feeling really down, but we walked downstairs and did a photo shoot sorta thing- lotta people came for pics and congratulated us on the costume and agreed that we'd gotten robbed. One will probably be remembered as the chick with the obnoxiously loud voice running around on some guy's shoulders shouting about giant robots. =p

After that, we regrouped at the room and had our little room party. I swear to Shimeki from here out I am forever upholding my personal "No drinking booze at con" oath. After all the excitement, lack of real food, and everything, the mixed liqour in the Bulma Bang that I had did me in. So I only got maybe four hours sleep Sunday night because of having had to pay homage to the porcelin altar. >_<

DAY FOUR

Getting out of bed was an ordeal due to the compound effects of lots of exercise, lack of sleep, lack of real food, and booze. But we got up, eventually got everything loaded into the car so we could check out, and lugged the Gundam over in front of the dealer's hall for a final photo shoot before we called it a day. Once again, everybody loved the costume. A ton of kids and teens wanted their picture taken with the Gundam, and damn near everybody who walked by took a picture. (I lost count around 400-someodd within the first 20 minutes.) A lot of people recognized us from the night before, and more folks said we rocked and that we SO got robbed. One guy saw Joel in the Gundam and fell to his knees bowing and crying "I'M NOT WORTHY!". A lot of people asked me about how we'd built it and stuff. Joel managed to hang in there for a little over an hour before we decided to call it because we were gonna go to the "Whose Line is it Anime?" panel that our friend Stephen was part of.

That was a highlight- the WLiiA? group really improved a lot since their last performance. I think all the laughter helped Joel's mood a lot =) Not a bad way to end the con, with a two hour dose of anime-themed improv humor. After that, we loaded the Gundam up and headed for Tiffy's for our ritual end of con dinner. After that, departure for home. The traffic gods smiled again, and we hit no traffic at all- the drive home took less time than the drive to the con!

FINAL THOUGHTS

In hindsight, this Anime Expo was really disappointing compared to previous years, and not just because of the Masquerade thing. The convention has, in my opinion, become a complete corporate whore. The small shops were gone, a lot of the fan-oriented panels were in absence (even the sucky fanfiction author's panel that used to be there every year!), and it just seemed like the con is aiming more at satisfying the corporations than the fans. I think saying that it was trying to appeal to the "Cartoon Network Otaku" is pretty accurate- the newer anime fans who only just got into it via stuff like what's shown on Cartoon Network (hence the term), and who don't know better about prices of stuff and all. (One has a very good example of price gouging in the dealer's hall- the Slayers DVD box sets sell now on the company's website for $50 each, and several dealers were trying to sell them for $100.) I'm sure the newcomers to anime had fun, but the con is increaasingly alienating the more hardcore fans, the people that hung in there and helped make anime more mainstream. I know I didn't have nearly as much fun as I used to, to the point I'm very seriously considering not going next year, and instead putting that money into going to several of the smaller conventions in the state- Animagic, Anime LA, PMX, Fanime (road trip!), and so on. I'm kinda debating whether to give AX one more shot or to jump ship now. If I do go to AX at all next year, I kinda think it'll only be for one day to hit the dealer's hall or something, instead of blowing a bunch of money on hotel and all that. The Masquerade judging seems to be favoring conformity (hence Moon Sync 3 winning like, 5 awards), and quashing innovation. Even the really awesome Xenosaga group only got like, one award, and I think only as a runner-up!

If I'm going to support anime, I'm going to do it at the conventions that still keep the fans in mind, not the profit margins of the corporations- they get enough of my money already.

~Rep Prod the Otaku Mod
"We lost our mother, defeated our father... And yet... We must go on. There's no victory in our fight. Which is all the more reason that we mustn't lose."

T-minus 35 hours and counting....

2005-06-29T00:04:00.000-07:00

Mwee! Four days of helldesk work and hating the stupid clients at work (and writing BNSMfH posts) are over, the paycheck is in hand, and departure for Anime Expo is 35 hours from now! I must admit I'm really excited now that all the deadlines have been met. Costumes are all set, the audio for the Masquerade skit is ready... all that's left are the usual pre-Expo errands to run tomorrow. (Food run, bank run, distributing luggage among all the vehicles of the convoy...)

Tonight is the annual two-nights-before-Anime-Expo all-nighter, to ensure that no matter HOW hyper I am about the convention tomorrow night, I WILL get a good night's sleep and be fit to make the drive. Especially since the minivan is probably going to be head of the convoy, as I'm part of the early-departure group, and more of a lead foot than the other guys.

I'll report back either from the convention (if I can land a Net connection from my friend's laptop), or after the convention with the results! If yer there, cheer for the Ninja Mod! Entry #46 of 50 in Masquerade on Sunday night!

~Rep Prod the Otaku Mod
"Where monsters rampage, I'm there to take them down! Where treasure glitters, I'm there to claim it! Where an enemy rises to face me, VICTORY WILL BE MINE!"

A disturbing look into the lifestyles of the ninja mod

2005-06-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

On the off chance anybody's wondering where I up and disappeared to, here's the reason in all its geeky glory. Anime Expo 2005 is in less than ten days, and I'm hitting that last minute rush to get costume stuff and all done and ready to go.

Yes, Anime Expo. Japanese animation convention. Geek central, with the Japanophiles out in full costume, the yaoi fangirls running amok with their stupid yaoi paddles... you get the picture. Yes, your ninja mod is a crazy otaku. I will be among the costumed hoardes running wild in Anaheim confusing the crap out of the Disney tourists. Which is pretty fun, actually. All the Disney tourists see all these lunatics in costume and have a massively WTF moment. Kinda like my neighbors did when they saw my friend in his costume-in-progress over the weekend. Apparently their granddaughter recognized the costume as something anime related, and the adults were just all "Whoa." at the size of this costume.

Kyahahaha. The younger generation is already being corrupted to the Way of the Otaku!

So anyway, I'm not only running around in costume this year, but I'm actually competing in the Masquerade contest for fame, glory, and lots of anime loot. (Mostly the loot, but sticking it to some of the elitist cosplay groups has its appeal as well.) If any of you are also going, you'd better go to Masquerade and cheer for the Ninja Mod! It will also be an elusive chance to witness the ass that started a cult in a really short skirt, an event so unlikely, so rare, that Satan is probably skiing in the 7th Circle right now while pigs crowd out the flightless hippos in the sky.

For the record, cosplay is not some silly little hobby. It can be a very dangerous interest, the cosplayer risking life, limb, and political bullshit for the cause! On just the costume project this year, there's already an impressive list of injuries sustain in the name of higher levels of geekdom! In no particular order whatsoever:

Second degree burn, right hand, caused by a spark from the welding torch- Status: Healed, left a scar
First degree burn, left hand, caused by picking up a piece of metal that was still pretty hot even after being dunked in the water bucket- Status: Healed, no scar
Minor cut, left pinky finger, caused by a slip with the box cutter- Status: Healed, small scar
Not-so-minor cuts, right hand, caused by Plexiglass having a sharp edge- Status: Healed, no scar
Almost twisted ankle, left foot, caused by a near-slip in the 7-inch high shoes for the costume- Status: Healed
First degree burn, left arm near the elbow, caused by accidental contact with the hot glue gun tip- Status: Healing, no discomfort, hardly visible
Really bad second degree burn, left leg above the knee, caused by the glue gun cord flipping a piece of foamboard up and planting a great big gob of hot glue on my leg- Status: Really icky looking US quarter-sized blister, currently covered with gauze and stinging rather constantly

Those last two both happened yesterday, so yeah. Owie. Let it be known that you are not a true cosplayer until you've sustained an injury from working on a costume! (Usually caused by a hot glue gun.)

So I'm going to be pretty sparse due to getting ready (the fact my home computer is currently non-functional might also have something to do with this), and I actually depart for the convention Thursday, June 29, with my return from the con being late July 4th. After that, I plan to run away and be a recluse for a few days, since I'm getting sick of being around people. Every weekend, everybody is over working on costume stuff. Plus there's going to be easily 30,000 people at the convention. I'm peopled out. No more people!

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod

"The dark is scary, but around dusk I always think the same thing. It's those dark shadows that allow the world to be so..."

Today is a great Boktai day!

2005-06-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

Obscure video game quote aside, the weather around here took a turn for the icky today. Here I am with the clock steadily ticking down on my prep time for Anime Expo 2005 (look for the Anaheim Electronics engineer running around the first two days if you happen to be there and want to say hi, and I will be in the Masquerade competition with my friend Joel.) So, here I am, trying to work on this costume out in the garage, the sky is clear, the sun is shining, and it's 113 degrees (F) according to one of those informative clock/temp thingies some banks have up. So much for getting much done while feeling nice and clean. Gotta love the weather in Southern California!

Anyhow, I find it strange the things that sometimes find their way into my telegram box. For your viewing pleasure, I've taken the liberty of breaking down my telegrams into a few useful categories, along with a brief description of how each one is handled.

1- The "How do you submit an issue?" Telegram
These telegrams are generally from young nations, usually between 50 and 200 million population. As the title suggests, these are messages asking about how one can submit an issue idea for one of the mods (or rather, Sirocco, as I've fallen horribly behind on issue editting.) to look over. These are generally given a short response explaining that they have to reach 500 million population first, and then they'll find a link to the form. I'll also generally tack on a suggestion to poke around the "Got Issues" section of the forum. These seem to be the most common type of TG I receive.

2- The "Long winded spiel about an existing issue" Telegram
These telegrams have no real age range, but are generally from players who want changes made to existing issues due to some sort of implied racial/ethnic/cultural/political/species bias. Sometimes they are nicely written and offer informed commentary on the subject matter of the issue, sometimes they are borderline flamingly written rants about how offended the writer is. In both cases, these telegrams get the "Check message, click delete" treatment

3- The "Getting Help request" Telegram
These ones are verily annoying. Basically, someone has a problem, sees the moderator banner on my nation, and telegrams me to report the problem. These receive one of two reactions, depending on my mood. The more common reaction is that I will reply with a brief explanation that these requests should be sent to the Getting Help page in the FAQs, and not to a moderator via private telegram, citing that with the GHP, we then have a permenant record of the request and all the moderators can take a look at it. If I'm feeling really cranky (like I tend to after one of the legendary all-nighters of yesteryear spent defending the forums against the Jackson spammer), I'll just delete the message.

4- The "Quick question about the game" Telegram
These are rare messages indeed! In short, someone (usually a new player) has a question about the game, and the answer may or may not be in the FAQs. Often these cover mundane topics such as the UN, regional advertisement, founder rights, and so on. Sometimes they cover slightly more complex topics from the infamous grey areas of invading/defending, roleplay, and the General Forum. These I usually will take the time to either answer, or at least point the hapless player to where they can find the answer. These are preferable to the GHP telegrams. I much prefer helping new players learn how to stay out of trouble, than having to deal with players who break the rules out of ignorance!

5- The "Suicide" Telegram
These are messages, often from new incarnations of newly-deleted troublemakers, taking the time to inform me of what I can do, who I can do it with, where I can put it after that, and what the player has been doing with my mother. They often also contain generous commentary on my sexual orientation and activities, and may or may not imply a most complete knowledge of my physical and/or psychological shortcomings, as well as all my real life problems, social life, weight, and living situation. For some reason, they often also comment on the size of my penis, which I often find to be amusing, being as I happen to be a woman, and therefore lack that particular piece of equipment entirely. Needless to say, these fellows don't survive long. If the nation is still alive when I see the telegram, I check up on them in the mod centre and with my fellow mods. If there's no warning, I issue one. If there is a warning already, somebody deletes the fool. Usually the senders of these sorts of messages are already deleted for numerous other offenses by the time I get online.

6- The "Huh?" Telegram
These messages tend to be random comments that seem to lack any sort of context, or indeed, any sort of meaning. Perhaps the not-so-clever lure of someone to engage in conversation, or some random attempt at being annoying. These telegrams are generally deleted without any further note. Sometimes, such as a recent one which simply said "your fired", I may respond with a suitably witty remark. In the case mentioned, a quick note that I don't recall that nation being my boss, and to have a nice day.

7- The "How do you become a moderator?" Telegram
As the title suggests, these are messages inquiring either simply or with long-winded sonnets extolling the virtues of the sender to the effect of "How do you become a mod?" These are never responded to, and the messages are deleted and quickly forgotten. It's discussed in the forums, and we are so rarely looking for new moderators that it's pointless to ask that question. It annoys most of the mods to no end and usually is the fastest way to ensure you will never become a mod.

8- The "Thanks" Telegram
The rarest of the rare, a diamond of perfect form in a sea of worthless carbon! These almost mythical missives are a cooling salve on the burning rage brought on by most of the other TG types. Sometimes specific, thanking a moderator for handling a particular complaint or something. Ever rarer, just a general note of thanks for doing the job of keeping the game fairly free of obnoxious rule breakers. Sometimes truly geniune, and sometimes you can smell the brown-nosing. Definately a rare beast, on par with the Loch Ness monster and the Yeti.

And there you have it. A mod's telegram box broken down into eight nice little categories. This has been a public service announcement from your local ninja moderator! Cookies to whoever recognizes the title quote and my sig quote!

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"TAIYOH!"

Freeway Philosophy

2005-06-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

Having bravely faced the terrors of the 405 freeway during rush hour on multiple occasions, I have come to several conclusions about people, the cars they drive, and what the number 42 has to do with anything.

First off, people act very strange when traffic is not zipping along fast enough to suit them. Stranger than they do when it is moving, at least. It's as if they get in the car, and their IQ suddenly takes a plunge. I had the distinctive... ah... I'll call it honor for lack of a better term. Anyway, I got to go to E3 a couple of years back with some friends. The catch of course, was that the price of my pass was driving all five of us to and from the place in my little Saturn. Not only did I get to witness the road rage of my passengers when the 101 freeway was a glorified parking lot, but I also witnessed people in cars doing things that are patently contradictory to survival instinct. First off, my passengers. The guy "riding shotgun" introduced me to an entire new world of invectives and vulgarities I had previously not known of, being not prone to road rage myself. If vulgar language offends you, please skip to the next paragraph. Such remarks as "You tart-sucking slowass cockfucker!", "Fatass fucking SUV tailpipe raper!" and "Goddamnit, that fucking ghetto wannabe rice dickhead!" were among the multitudes slung by the guy sitting next to me at the various people all around us, doubtlessly conspiring to prevent our timely arrival.

Now, on to the cars people drive. Stereotyping lurks ahead, you have been warned. I have concluded that the more people care about their cars, the worse they tend to drive them. I don't particularly care how my Saturn looks, for instance, so long as it runs and has working A/C. Yet since I got my license back in 1999, I have been involved in all of two very minor incidents. I got rearended at a stoplight once, leaving a tiny dent in my rear bumper, and I got rearended by a minivan in a parking lot, with no visible damage. Meanwhile, several of my classmates at the time had gotten nice new cars from their parents and went to great pains to make sure these vehicles were visually appealing and signs of status. As I had last heard, one got wrapped around a tree, one got taken out by a drunk (okay, I guess that doesn't relate to the driver's concern, but still.), one got taken out in a head-on that ws the driver's fault, etc etc etc. This I think explains why you run across asshole drivers in expensive luxury sedans and SUVs and little Japanese economy cars that have been tricked out more often than in minivans, economy cars, and work trucks. The people that buy those sorts of vehicles are the ones who care more about their car's appearance and such and therefore drive with less intelligence.

Lastly, what the number 42 has to do with anything, aside from being the answer to the Ultimate Question. No matter what time of day, day of the week, time of year, weather, season, and so on, traffic on the 405 Northbound between Olympic Blvd and Roscoe Blvd can not physically exceed 42 kilometers per hour. I state this with some degree of authority in the fact I have driven this span hundreds of times, at various times of the day, days of the week, times of year, types of weather, all four seasons, and so on. Not once have I been able to (safely) drive faster than... 42 kilometers per hour.

Which is why I'll sign off now, as it is 4:00 pm, and I need to cover that span and arrive home from work before 5:30 pm

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod
"I don't suffer from road rage. I experience freeway zen."

Where's the flood?

2005-06-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it's the sleep deprivation talking, but I find this quite amusing.

If you frequent the forums, particularly maybe a month or so back, you'd find the rather vocal efforts of one player Sandpit and his ideas regarding how Nationstates ought to be run. I honestly mean no offense here, there's just no nice way of saying this- he had not the slightest clue what he was talking about. His beliefs, while certainly noble and idealistic are just, I'm sad to say, horribly impractical.

But this isn't really about him. It's about one of his ideas regarding giving the players a greater hand in selecting new moderators. Among other ideas he lobbied was that players ought to be able to nominate other players for the position, or that the mods would choose however many candidates and put it to the playerbase to decide.

So, the squad finally decides "Hey, even if we don't end up using it, let's set something up and let the players air their suggestions. It's pretty harmless, gives the players some voice in shaping the squad, is good PR, and hell, they might save us some time on researching possible candidates for the chore of modhood!" So this thread gets posted, throwing the doors to Hell itself wide open, creating a spawning ground for all sorts of recommendations. We all hurriedly built an ark, loaded two of every animal aboard, and braced for the deluge that was certain sure to follow as everyone and their puppet would flood the helpless NominateANationstatesMod@gmail.com account with their ideas on who should be elevated to the lofty status of newbie forum mod.

Several days later, we've found maybe a few dribbles of the apparently mis-predicted flood. Here we are, with this shiny new ark and a veritable zoo, and a whopping 12 emails to show for the efforts. We might as well have used a dinky Hotmail or Yahoo email account, rather than spend a perfectly good Gmail invite on this. Really, where did the oppressed hoardes go? Did they all migrate to some other online game right before the thread was posted? Were the nomination demands too complex or too stringent? Is doing the same sort of research the mods do in selecting people too much for the voiceless masses crying out for freedom to bear? Was the thread not loud enough? Should we put it in a News post maybe? Or perhaps, just maybe Sandpit was wrong about tons of players actually caring one way or the other?

The answer presently eludes me. But for now, just in case, I'm not getting off this boat!

~Rep Prod the Ninja Mod

Long-winded introductions and such

2005-06-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

You may or may not be aware of who I am. To those who know me and that's why you're here, I say "Hi, guys!"

To the rest of you, I present a brief introduction. To most of "teh Intraweb", I'm better known as Firefury Amahira. To the people most likely to be reading this (that is, you folks who play Nationstates), I am Reploid Productions, often shorthanded to Rep, Reppy, or Rep Prod, and so on. I am a Game Moderator for this online game, and still often puzzled as to how exactly this happened. So, a brief history of the Ninja Mod!

A long time ago, in a forum far, far away.... (got to have that fourth period in there!)

I was a sort of irregular member of the official Anne McCaffrey forums in March 2003, and through some planetary alignment and stupid luck, decided to actually look through the forums one day, where I stumbled upon a link to some quirky little online game where you run your own nation and exercise your will upon the populace. Having played my fair share of "run your own country!" freebie games such as Forgotten World (at last check renamed Narmir), Earth 2025, and Archmage (Ah, the days when I relentlessly pursued the utter destruction of the entire world!), I hit the link, figuring "Why not?"

In hindsight, that little question has gotten me into more situations than I care to admit.

So I whipped together Reploid Productions, and went "Huh?" at the results. No armies to maintain, food supplies to worry about... just a description, a population, a tax rate, and some other random tidbits. Dubiously, I stuck with it, founded my own region Space Sector RPRA, and tried to coax my online buddies into taking the plunge with me. A bunch of them did try it, but only a few of them stuck with it. I dabbled in the UN, found it not quite to my liking, and dumped the delegacy of the Sector onto my friend Sneaky Bastards.

Finally, I began to poke around the Nationstates forums, and rapidly learning that they didn't work more often than not. But I persisted, and discovered that while there was no built-in war or trade (something I actually think adds to the game's charm, really, but that's for another post.), people actually roleplayed stuff about their countries. I began to really warm up to the idea, and started developing a history for my nation and dabbling in various stuff.

Now mind you, this was in the Dark Ages, when there were no moderators, [violet] was largely in absence, and [dredd] and [mantle] were both considered either extinct or pure myth. Anarchy ruled, as most everything was posted in the Nationstates section of the forums. General was a largely quiet wasteland, and the Technical and United Nation's forums were similarly inactive. Gameplay, International Incidents, and the Moderation forum didn't exist. Trying to bring order to the chaos, a group of players under the leadership of Automagfreek and The SLAGLands formed to combat the rampant n00bicy and rulebreakers. Armed with such weapons of unparalleled destruction as the Idiot Godmoder Non-continuity Omni-Repellant Eradicator (IGNORE) Supercannon, the Really Freakin' Huge Cannon of Justice (RFHCoJ), the Gringo (A SLAGLandic creation), and really loud voices, this group, later known as the WarMongering N00b Killer coalition (or simply, the WMNK) would do valiant battle against the fearsome likes of n00bs, spammers, flamers, and other idiocy. For some reason or other, I signed on and ultimately ended up in weapons development.

I'll get to how this relates to me in a second, keep yer shirts on!

Perhaps the single most famous WMNK campaign was against a pair of idiots who's names echo down through history, partly for their positively rampant godmoding, and partly for their contribution to Max's decision to appoint some moderators. I'm talking about Perrier and Zoland. I won't bore you with the details of their combined roleplaying stupidity (though Zoland was figuratively reduced to a smoldering crater by orbital bombarment), but I will touch briefly upon the Night of Goatse.

This night, sometime in maybe April or May 2003 (does anyone actually have the date of this?), these two dolts, mostly Zoland, decided it would be great fun to spam the entire forum with the likes of Goatse and Tubgirl. For hours this madness ruled the forums, and may be part of why the General forum began to pulse with activity- the obscene pictures were limited to every single thread in the Nationstates section of the forum, while the other forums were left largely untouched. For hours the WMNK waged a war of spam against these guys, braving repeated exposure to the horrors to spam them off the current pages of many threads.

Apparently enough people wrote loud, angry emails to Max that he finally decided that maybe [violet] needed some underlings to help actually enforce the rules. Thus began the taming of the uncharted wilderness of the forums. [violet] started asking around for candidates, and so the first mods were appointed- Melkor Unchained, Demoness (now retired), and Menelmacar. Apparently I somehow caught the interest of the fledgling squad, and was offered the chance to join the ranks... I forget if I was in the second or third batch of mods. Once again figuring "Why not?", I accepted the dubious honor of modhood and doer of justice and such.

I already mentioned that "Why not?" has gotten me into all sorts of situations.

The moderators were hailed simultainiously as the saviors of the forums and the death of the game. Already having survived similar hailings as the operator of an IRC chatroom, I largely ingored the fuss and set about the forums with a vengence. The WMNK disbanded shortly after the appointment of mods, the group's purpose largely become obsolete and dubiously within the rules with the new addition of active moderators.Gradually the ranks swelled, and given that the game has done nothing but grow since the addition of the squad, we obviously haven't been the death of the game. [violet] and Max eventually created the Mod Centre, and the most senior of the proven forum mods were offered the higher position of Game Moderator so that [violet] could slack off even more in regards to running the game. I'm still not sure why exactly, but I was eventually tasked with the duty of forum administrator (I blame the many late nights spent monitoring the game when a chronic spammer would show up and stuff, personally), and scared the beejeebus out of the players the first time [reploidproductions] appeared in orange in the active users list of the forums. With the move to Jolt though, while I still officially maintain the rank of forum admin, I don't get direct access to Jolt's forum admin stuffs. =<

Anyhow, over time I adapted my moderator image from my Megaman X fancharacter Firefury, creating the moniker of "Rep Prod the Ninja Mod", since I'm heavily into Japanese animation and let's face it, ninjas are awesome. The image of a moderator sneaking about and stealthily deleting people was appealing, and besides, Rep Prod the Ninja Mod just sounds catchy! To go along with this, I created a sword with some Japanese name that should basically mean "Slayer of Nations". For whatever reason, the mod worshippers decided it was blasphemy against the mods and Max to actually call my sword by name, so instead it got nicknamed the "Sword of DEAT".

And that's about it for the long-winded history and such. Obviously this blog will relate to the trials, tribulations, and occasionally odd musings regarding moderating the game. I could prattle on for hours more, but I'll save that stuff for future posts, and besides, I'm currently at work doing stuff I actually get paid for!