https://thepurge.net/ Thu, 01 Oct 2026 03:09:22 +0000 MyBB https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17397 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 20:40:55 -0400 strife]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17397
Other than basically replacing Google with Copilot(I use copilot the most since it's built into Windows and it does a pretty good job for most of what I do), here are a few of the ways I've used it.

1. Dungeon Master for D&D (just single player, had it be my dungeon master and it built campaigns and ran everything for me)
   
2. Learning Blackjack. Not really learning how to play, but learning how to really use good tactics and running through trials.  
   
3. Design - I do a lot of CNC, Laser, 3d printing design.  I use it quite a bit for helping me with design ideas, helping me with creating flat images that I can import into some of my software for tracing out designs, that kind of thing. I have used it a little bit for actually building 3d models, but I don't really like it for that(and they are all pay to play).
   
4. Advice - I think this is a huge area for it.. I use it a lot for work, but have also used it for dealing with personal situations in my life.  Obviously I'm just using it as a data point and not blindly following it's advice, but I think it does a really good job in this at the very least as a sounding board.  
   

I do a lot of automation and such for work, so kind of avoided that for my non-work life.]]>
Other than basically replacing Google with Copilot(I use copilot the most since it's built into Windows and it does a pretty good job for most of what I do), here are a few of the ways I've used it.

1. Dungeon Master for D&D (just single player, had it be my dungeon master and it built campaigns and ran everything for me)
   
2. Learning Blackjack. Not really learning how to play, but learning how to really use good tactics and running through trials.  
   
3. Design - I do a lot of CNC, Laser, 3d printing design.  I use it quite a bit for helping me with design ideas, helping me with creating flat images that I can import into some of my software for tracing out designs, that kind of thing. I have used it a little bit for actually building 3d models, but I don't really like it for that(and they are all pay to play).
   
4. Advice - I think this is a huge area for it.. I use it a lot for work, but have also used it for dealing with personal situations in my life.  Obviously I'm just using it as a data point and not blindly following it's advice, but I think it does a really good job in this at the very least as a sounding board.  
   

I do a lot of automation and such for work, so kind of avoided that for my non-work life.]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17396 Mon, 31 Aug 2026 18:51:46 -0400 Slamz]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17396
I know we've thought about this a fair bit in general because we like survival games and they do always wear thin. I thought I'd try to assemble some thoughts on the topic. I think it just comes down to needing some sliders that get set just right because if you set them wrong the game will die. And maybe it's not even possible to set them so perfectly that we could play a survival game nonstop for three years.

In particular I think of this in terms of PvP survival games but I'm actually not sure which survival games have made it harder on themselves: PvP or PvE. They both have issues that can very easily turn crippling for the game.

Some factors (sliders?) I'm thinking of....

Staleness vs upheaval.
Transience vs investment.

Obviously people get bored and quit once things go stale, which can happen for any number of interesting reasons:

• You win. You are the top dog and your position is sufficiently unassailable that no one wants to challenge you.
  
• You lose. Someone else is the top dog and their position is sufficiently unassailable that you can't challenge them.
  
• Either of the above especially combined with "moving is hard". We have won or lost and either there is nowhere else to go (as in Conan Exiles) or it's such a pain in the ass to move that you don't want to do it (as in Myth of Empires or Life is Feudal).
  
• You neither win nor lose but it's pretty much the same fight every day forever so if you ever get tired of the combat then you're tired of the game.
  
• The game is PvE content based, you have done all the content, the developers cannot keep up with your pace of consumption.
  
• The game is PvE content based, and to draw it out they made it slow to do, and to make you want to do it, the carrot is a big jump in power, so if you don't do it, you're useless, and now the game is a grind for unemployed sweats.
  

I think in the end, it's the same problem as MMORPGs:
How do you make a game with no endgame, or, maybe more reasonably, how do you make an endless endgame (whereupon, ideally, your entire game is "endgame"), and can it be done.

It's tempting to say it can't be done but I can also think of games that might have easily gotten another 1000 hours out of me, had they not had some fairly specific problem.]]>
I know we've thought about this a fair bit in general because we like survival games and they do always wear thin. I thought I'd try to assemble some thoughts on the topic. I think it just comes down to needing some sliders that get set just right because if you set them wrong the game will die. And maybe it's not even possible to set them so perfectly that we could play a survival game nonstop for three years.

In particular I think of this in terms of PvP survival games but I'm actually not sure which survival games have made it harder on themselves: PvP or PvE. They both have issues that can very easily turn crippling for the game.

Some factors (sliders?) I'm thinking of....

Staleness vs upheaval.
Transience vs investment.

Obviously people get bored and quit once things go stale, which can happen for any number of interesting reasons:

• You win. You are the top dog and your position is sufficiently unassailable that no one wants to challenge you.
  
• You lose. Someone else is the top dog and their position is sufficiently unassailable that you can't challenge them.
  
• Either of the above especially combined with "moving is hard". We have won or lost and either there is nowhere else to go (as in Conan Exiles) or it's such a pain in the ass to move that you don't want to do it (as in Myth of Empires or Life is Feudal).
  
• You neither win nor lose but it's pretty much the same fight every day forever so if you ever get tired of the combat then you're tired of the game.
  
• The game is PvE content based, you have done all the content, the developers cannot keep up with your pace of consumption.
  
• The game is PvE content based, and to draw it out they made it slow to do, and to make you want to do it, the carrot is a big jump in power, so if you don't do it, you're useless, and now the game is a grind for unemployed sweats.
  

I think in the end, it's the same problem as MMORPGs:
How do you make a game with no endgame, or, maybe more reasonably, how do you make an endless endgame (whereupon, ideally, your entire game is "endgame"), and can it be done.

It's tempting to say it can't be done but I can also think of games that might have easily gotten another 1000 hours out of me, had they not had some fairly specific problem.]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17393 Sat, 01 Aug 2026 21:19:26 -0400 Crice]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17393
https://www.paxautocratica.com/

Build a grand totalitarian colony then personally storm roguelite battlefields with your soldiers. Shape citizens fears, loyalties, bonds, and feuds. Capture enemies, convert them into true believers. Sacrifice the weak. Feed the strong. Wield absolute power and make every life bend to your will.]]>
https://www.paxautocratica.com/

Build a grand totalitarian colony then personally storm roguelite battlefields with your soldiers. Shape citizens fears, loyalties, bonds, and feuds. Capture enemies, convert them into true believers. Sacrifice the weak. Feed the strong. Wield absolute power and make every life bend to your will.]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17392 Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:45:46 -0400 Crice]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17392
"Build a sprawling pirate haven, raise a fleet to explore the high seas, and take on the Crown to keep the Age of Piracy alive! From ale to flintlock pistols, and from scallywags to swashbucklers, you’ll need to manage complex production chains and govern a rowdy crew to reign supreme over the seas"! 

https://x.com/HoodedHorseInc]]>
"Build a sprawling pirate haven, raise a fleet to explore the high seas, and take on the Crown to keep the Age of Piracy alive! From ale to flintlock pistols, and from scallywags to swashbucklers, you’ll need to manage complex production chains and govern a rowdy crew to reign supreme over the seas"! 

https://x.com/HoodedHorseInc]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17388 Fri, 19 Jun 2026 11:13:19 -0400 Crice]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17388
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/...?l=english]]>
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/...?l=english]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17291 Sun, 01 Feb 2026 13:05:40 -0500 Zeddash]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17291
I've had the same feeling playing threes in board games. Even without the verbal creation of alliances, there is sometimes a tenancy to pick on the weakest to get them out of there, which is a very viable strategy and possibly part of the fun (doesn't just need to be 3 players here.)

There is enough balance issues with two factions.

What games do you think did this best, video game or board game?]]>
I've had the same feeling playing threes in board games. Even without the verbal creation of alliances, there is sometimes a tenancy to pick on the weakest to get them out of there, which is a very viable strategy and possibly part of the fun (doesn't just need to be 3 players here.)

There is enough balance issues with two factions.

What games do you think did this best, video game or board game?]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17263 Tue, 11 Nov 2025 13:14:53 -0500 Zeddash]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17263
Forum based discussion is something that I miss now. Reddit dev communities are becoming a slog-fest of bots and look-at-what-I-did posts with no real value or discussions happening. My favourite sub being completely inundated with bots lately. I use Discord but it’s really just walled communities. Who knows, maybe as a society we’ll ‘devolve’ back to forums again, IRC… Gopher anyone?

I’m not here either to fish for ideas or get anyone involved, although there are some truly great minds here when it comes to world building and game design. I’m just working alone in a vacuum right now, where historically I’ve mostly worked with teams. Posting… even if no one reads this or cares, makes it a little more real to me.

While I’m not going to make an MMO, this game will be multiplayer and the server will be MMO ‘ready’ as per my design philosophy.

I have a few game design documents made but still not sure where I’m going, I'm fine with this because I really want to get a good multiplayer foundation first. The first idea was to build something like Dwarf Fortress or RimWorld with more RPG elements. In RimWorld you learn that very little is going on behind the scenes outside of the map you’re currently on. It's an effect and fun solution so I'm not knocking it at all. I’m building my own server partially to have a more world-like simulator for NPCs. Building this in a 3D world gets quite complex. The initial idea was one massive 2D world loading in chunks. I was thinking of having a character you control initially as opposed to pure colony sim ‘god mode’, then Dwarf Fortress came out with Hero Mode. I really want to avoid the ‘I’m going to make x game but make it better!’ to a degree. That would be very subjective and also you fall into the trap of players reasoning, ‘why would I play x when I already own y?’ I think so many MMOs over the years fell into this trap of trying to make a better WoW as one example.

So, thanks all! Hope you’re having fun doing whatever you’re doing and wherever you are!]]>
Forum based discussion is something that I miss now. Reddit dev communities are becoming a slog-fest of bots and look-at-what-I-did posts with no real value or discussions happening. My favourite sub being completely inundated with bots lately. I use Discord but it’s really just walled communities. Who knows, maybe as a society we’ll ‘devolve’ back to forums again, IRC… Gopher anyone?

I’m not here either to fish for ideas or get anyone involved, although there are some truly great minds here when it comes to world building and game design. I’m just working alone in a vacuum right now, where historically I’ve mostly worked with teams. Posting… even if no one reads this or cares, makes it a little more real to me.

While I’m not going to make an MMO, this game will be multiplayer and the server will be MMO ‘ready’ as per my design philosophy.

I have a few game design documents made but still not sure where I’m going, I'm fine with this because I really want to get a good multiplayer foundation first. The first idea was to build something like Dwarf Fortress or RimWorld with more RPG elements. In RimWorld you learn that very little is going on behind the scenes outside of the map you’re currently on. It's an effect and fun solution so I'm not knocking it at all. I’m building my own server partially to have a more world-like simulator for NPCs. Building this in a 3D world gets quite complex. The initial idea was one massive 2D world loading in chunks. I was thinking of having a character you control initially as opposed to pure colony sim ‘god mode’, then Dwarf Fortress came out with Hero Mode. I really want to avoid the ‘I’m going to make x game but make it better!’ to a degree. That would be very subjective and also you fall into the trap of players reasoning, ‘why would I play x when I already own y?’ I think so many MMOs over the years fell into this trap of trying to make a better WoW as one example.

So, thanks all! Hope you’re having fun doing whatever you’re doing and wherever you are!]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17236 Sat, 03 May 2025 00:48:39 -0400 Diggles]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17236
Lemme know~]]>
Lemme know~]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17197 Thu, 02 Jan 2025 14:30:47 -0500 Slamz]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17197 don't judge me!). One thing that's kind of interesting is the number of animes out there that are basically:

Guy dies and wakes up in a video game.
Guy falls asleep playing his video game and wakes up in the video game.
Here is a group of adventurers in a fantasy setting with dungeons and monsters but also they have video game stats and it's part of their normal life. Like "Oh, you have 198 agility? That's cool bro. How'd you get it so high and you're only level 15?"

The part that got me thinking is how these shows always incorporate the reality of what's happening as part of the lore of the show.
Like you need a group of heroes to endlessly fight some dungeon. Okay. Why is the dungeon there? Where do these monsters keep coming from? What's the point of it all?

Well, you see, what happened wuz... there's some God-being who spawns dungeon cores and some local monster finds it and becomes a dungeon master and starts summoning in creatures and blah blah blah and everyone wants to kill them to rank up their entirely visible stats that appear in front of them on magical parchment whenever they want to check because why wouldn't they. It doesn't necessarily make sense but it's what's actually happening.

This made me realize why I hate so many computer RPGs, especially so many MMORPGs. I mean, I put thousands of hours into them but for every hour of it there's at least one thing going on at all times that irritates the hell out of me.

The problem is video game RPG lore never matches what's actually happening.

"Adventurer! Save us! There are these wolves and they have already killed my grandmother and taken her necklace! We might all be next! Kill the wolves, retrieve her necklace and save our village!"

And there I stand looking at a field with 37 adventurers standing around waiting for a wolf to spawn. Come back two years later, the wolves are still there. Bro has gotten 159,000 necklaces returned to him. Keeps them in a barn somewhere, presumably. Stacked to the ceiling. Wolves ain't ever taking over the village. Far as I can tell the only thing they're guilty of is being bloody stupid and standing around in a field. And every time I see something like this, which is constantly, it takes me right out of the experience.

We need better lore.

Video game lore. To match the video game. I don't mean "we need deeper lore with tales of old gods and how we are the chosen one meant to save it" but more like the opposite of that. We need lore to match whatever is actually happening around us.

I want to log in for the first time and be unceremoniously handed a sword, a spellbook, a hat, and pointed towards the door because after the first 1200 "heroes" spawned in, the people (NPCs) at the starting area couldn't be bothered to give us all proper intros anymore and treated us as exactly what we were: an anonymous assembly line of cookie cutter level 1 bozos who keep tromping in out of nowhere. If there's a tutorial let it be in the form of some tireless personal imp whose only purpose in life is exactly that. Your sword, your book, your hat, your imp, off you go.

If we are fighting a war without end, don't pretend that it's a glorious fight to save our people (unless, via actual game mechanics, that's actually what it is). Just tell us the Gods are having a contest, and they are keeping score (Imp: "You can see the score on a magical floating parchment if you hit TAB"), and we will respawn when we die, may the best team win, Gods will reset the scoreboard every 3 months because they like to keep things fresh.

Now that's some lore. Now I can play the game and feel like I'm not distracted by some made up stories that are completely out of touch with what's actually going on.

I just want a lore that actually matches the gameplay.

Or vice versa.]]> don't judge me!). One thing that's kind of interesting is the number of animes out there that are basically:

Guy dies and wakes up in a video game.
Guy falls asleep playing his video game and wakes up in the video game.
Here is a group of adventurers in a fantasy setting with dungeons and monsters but also they have video game stats and it's part of their normal life. Like "Oh, you have 198 agility? That's cool bro. How'd you get it so high and you're only level 15?"

The part that got me thinking is how these shows always incorporate the reality of what's happening as part of the lore of the show.
Like you need a group of heroes to endlessly fight some dungeon. Okay. Why is the dungeon there? Where do these monsters keep coming from? What's the point of it all?

Well, you see, what happened wuz... there's some God-being who spawns dungeon cores and some local monster finds it and becomes a dungeon master and starts summoning in creatures and blah blah blah and everyone wants to kill them to rank up their entirely visible stats that appear in front of them on magical parchment whenever they want to check because why wouldn't they. It doesn't necessarily make sense but it's what's actually happening.

This made me realize why I hate so many computer RPGs, especially so many MMORPGs. I mean, I put thousands of hours into them but for every hour of it there's at least one thing going on at all times that irritates the hell out of me.

The problem is video game RPG lore never matches what's actually happening.

"Adventurer! Save us! There are these wolves and they have already killed my grandmother and taken her necklace! We might all be next! Kill the wolves, retrieve her necklace and save our village!"

And there I stand looking at a field with 37 adventurers standing around waiting for a wolf to spawn. Come back two years later, the wolves are still there. Bro has gotten 159,000 necklaces returned to him. Keeps them in a barn somewhere, presumably. Stacked to the ceiling. Wolves ain't ever taking over the village. Far as I can tell the only thing they're guilty of is being bloody stupid and standing around in a field. And every time I see something like this, which is constantly, it takes me right out of the experience.

We need better lore.

Video game lore. To match the video game. I don't mean "we need deeper lore with tales of old gods and how we are the chosen one meant to save it" but more like the opposite of that. We need lore to match whatever is actually happening around us.

I want to log in for the first time and be unceremoniously handed a sword, a spellbook, a hat, and pointed towards the door because after the first 1200 "heroes" spawned in, the people (NPCs) at the starting area couldn't be bothered to give us all proper intros anymore and treated us as exactly what we were: an anonymous assembly line of cookie cutter level 1 bozos who keep tromping in out of nowhere. If there's a tutorial let it be in the form of some tireless personal imp whose only purpose in life is exactly that. Your sword, your book, your hat, your imp, off you go.

If we are fighting a war without end, don't pretend that it's a glorious fight to save our people (unless, via actual game mechanics, that's actually what it is). Just tell us the Gods are having a contest, and they are keeping score (Imp: "You can see the score on a magical floating parchment if you hit TAB"), and we will respawn when we die, may the best team win, Gods will reset the scoreboard every 3 months because they like to keep things fresh.

Now that's some lore. Now I can play the game and feel like I'm not distracted by some made up stories that are completely out of touch with what's actually going on.

I just want a lore that actually matches the gameplay.

Or vice versa.]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17142 Sat, 13 Jul 2024 13:08:14 -0400 strife]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17142
Beryl was pretty bad for our area, one of the worst we've dealt with in a while when it comes to wind damage... but not much flooding.  Weird how you can get multiple hurricanes/tropical storms etc, and they are completely different in how they damage the area.  

We were good though, I had a generator that runs my whole house so other than having to head out into the world to find gas for the generator, we were good. Had AC and internet the entire time.]]>
Beryl was pretty bad for our area, one of the worst we've dealt with in a while when it comes to wind damage... but not much flooding.  Weird how you can get multiple hurricanes/tropical storms etc, and they are completely different in how they damage the area.  

We were good though, I had a generator that runs my whole house so other than having to head out into the world to find gas for the generator, we were good. Had AC and internet the entire time.]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17131 Wed, 12 Jun 2024 18:46:04 -0400 TinStar]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17131
I am looking for a solution so that we can stop paying for additional storage (what happens is we have all our email go to gmail and then that adds to gmail storage which is only like 15 gigs).  I was thinking setting up some sort of internal server to upload emails to or some sort of a solution to try and host our email internally to free up the cloud email storage through gmail/microsoft but also want to be able to access the internal emails easily/often/etc.

Does anyone have experience or suggestions for a solution to this?  This isn't like big corporate issues, we have 20 or so company emails but only a few people who have storage issues.]]>
I am looking for a solution so that we can stop paying for additional storage (what happens is we have all our email go to gmail and then that adds to gmail storage which is only like 15 gigs).  I was thinking setting up some sort of internal server to upload emails to or some sort of a solution to try and host our email internally to free up the cloud email storage through gmail/microsoft but also want to be able to access the internal emails easily/often/etc.

Does anyone have experience or suggestions for a solution to this?  This isn't like big corporate issues, we have 20 or so company emails but only a few people who have storage issues.]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17043 Thu, 28 Dec 2023 19:02:17 -0500 strife]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17043
It's not as comfortable to carry as my S&W Shield, but carry's okay. 


]]>
It's not as comfortable to carry as my S&W Shield, but carry's okay. 


]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17025 Sat, 22 Jul 2023 13:30:02 -0400 Arsilon]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=17025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG_v4bb2e4k]]> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG_v4bb2e4k]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=16957 Mon, 27 Jun 2022 13:23:13 -0400 strife]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=16957
I currently run 2 27" monitors side by side.  One of mine went out today so I'm looking to buy a new one... and since I can't have mismatched monitors, will probably replace both of them.

Thinking about going the curved monitor route, because it sounds great in theory... but curious your thoughts on it if you've tried it before(or actively run it).]]>
I currently run 2 27" monitors side by side.  One of mine went out today so I'm looking to buy a new one... and since I can't have mismatched monitors, will probably replace both of them.

Thinking about going the curved monitor route, because it sounds great in theory... but curious your thoughts on it if you've tried it before(or actively run it).]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=16933 Sun, 15 May 2022 21:15:09 -0400 Yorimaru]]> https://thepurge.net/showthread.php?tid=16933