The GHZ Forum

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 98&q=spore

This is the greatest thing ever produced by mankind.

I've seen that. Bloody awesome. Although I dread the system requirements.

Let's not have threads like this in the future. Let's not just post random bits of crap with no explanation for them beyond some smarmy tired cliche about it being 'the best thing since boobies' or whatever that offers absolutely zero content or discussion value. And let's not keep on posting things that have been on every other game forum already for days and then expect to be heaped with praise and amazement for regurgating it all once again.

Seriously, linking this is fine-- it looks really amazing-- but can we try and start posting some real opinions, please? Something other than a bland, one-sentence declaration of emotion? Just linking to something old is a really boring and useless post with no grounds for any longevity.

I haven't clicked the link yet, but I'm assuming it's Spore. The specs shouldn't be a problem, proceduraly generated things don't take up much space. There's a procedurally generated FPS that looks beautiful and can still fit on a floppy.

Really? I've been worried about the tech specs for a while. It kind of seemed like something made 20 years from now and brought back through time.

Let's not have threads like this in the future. Let's not just post random bits of crap with no explanation for them beyond some smarmy tired cliche about it being 'the best thing since boobies' or whatever that offers absolutely zero content or discussion value. And let's not keep on posting things that have been on every other game forum already for days and then expect to be heaped with praise and amazement for regurgating it all once again.

Seriously, linking this is fine-- it looks really amazing-- but can we try and start posting some real opinions, please? Something other than a bland, one-sentence declaration of emotion? Just linking to something old is a really boring and useless post with no grounds for any longevity.

Go sodomize yourself with an explosive Bulgarian porcupine.

I doubt i'll enjoy that game too much. I'm not really one for sims, but i will play it.

One thing about it though, it is very inspiring. I mean, a world where you can customise everything in that world. If that concept was put into a more directed game, it could be something truly special.

I wonder if I can make a species that appears to be constantly in the process of being sodomized by bulgarian porcupines?

Zeta. Pop is not speaking as a netizen of the GHZ internets, he's speaking as a mod. Consider what he said a warning.

Anyway, Spore. Good goddamn, that looks awesome. There's just so much to it. I love games that basically just throw stuff at you and let you do whatever the hell you want. The Sims 2 does a pretty good job of that, although you run out of new stuff to do after awhile unless you're really into modding. This, though; this looks like you would take a long, long, <i>long</i> time to run out of new things to do.

The only thing that truly dissapoints me is that unlike other A-Life sims, there is no genetic code or natural seleciton. It seems like there's no way to just let it run and see what develops - every process and mutation has to be executed by the player, which somewhat limits the experience, I think anyways. I remember Creatures was so interesting because there was actual simulated natural selection going on within the game itself, and it could be let run for days and your creatures would evolve and mutate interesting new traits - albiet simplistic ones that would usually never deriviate from the core species template of the game.

Gee, it sure is a good thing that you spoke up, Popcorn. Otherwise we might NEVER have seen this serious discussion of the game.

*pokes at Esrever with a big stick*

Oh baby!

Popcorn wrote:And let's not keep on posting things that have been on every other game forum already for days

I think this has been out for over a year now, actually.

Delphine wrote:Zeta. Pop is not speaking as a netizen of the GHZ internets, he's speaking as a mod. Consider what he said a warning.

Not to get all the mods pissed at me, but Popcorn has barely posted at all in the last several months, and then comes out of nowhere to warn Zeta? Sure it was just a one liner post, but has it not sparked discussion? Even if everyone has seen it, no one has brought Spore to the attention of the GHZ, so now that someone has we are discussing it.

One thing about it though, it is very inspiring. I mean, a world where you can customise everything in that world. If that concept was put into a more directed game, it could be something truly special.

As long as there's enough to do, I don't think that forcing a player to a certain goal is neccessary. The only simesque game I've ever gotten bored with thanks to lack of direction is Animal Crossing, and that was because there was shit all to do once you got past the game's quirky setting, really.

I had not seen it before. So I'm grateful that this thread was made, because it restore some faith in the video game industry for me. I mean, I haven't been properly impressed by a game in years now.

Thank you, Zeta.

Light Speed wrote:

Delphine wrote:Zeta. Pop is not speaking as a netizen of the GHZ internets, he's speaking as a mod. Consider what he said a warning.

Not to get all the mods pissed at me, but Popcorn has barely posted at all in the last several months, and then comes out of nowhere to warn Zeta? Sure it was just a one liner post, but has it not sparked discussion? Even if everyone has seen it, no one has brought Spore to the attention of the GHZ, so now that someone has we are discussing it.

Well, actually, there's a reason that I (and some other notable alumni of this institution) haven't been posting a lot recently: you all suck. However, there have been some underground rumblings happening in the last few days that are going to attempt to get a few well-entrenched balls moving again, and I don't just mean Gibbon's crusty love-plums. Things are going to change around here.

Esrever wrote:Gee, it sure is a good thing that you spoke up, Popcorn. Otherwise we might NEVER have seen this serious discussion of the game.

Whether or not interesting, worthwhile dicussion ever follows from a lazy link is academic to the principle, which is this: making a single post that has nothing in it but a link to something that I've already seen linked in eighty forums in the last three days does not constitute a worthwhile application of anyone's time. If you have nothing to say, say nothing. Let's get with the program here, guys.

You've seen it eighty times in the last three days? Oh noes, you have to see it again! Poor you.

Owen Axel hadn't seen it, and he might not have if it weren't for Zeta's post.

That's not the point. Here, I'll cut out the confusing part:

Making a single post that has nothing in it but a link does not constitute a worthwhile application of anyone's time. If you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Making a single post that has nothing in it but a link does not constitute a worthwhile application of anyone's time. If you have nothing to say, say nothing.

So you want to stimulate discussion on a forum by making it so that nobody's allowed to talk unless you deem it worthy enough?

Good plan, that. This place will be bustling with intelligent discussion any day now thanks to your genius plan!

Well I would've never gotten to see this awesome game were it not for Zeta's post, because it just so happens that not all of us read the same forums that Popcorn does.

And for the record, I do outrank his ass on this board.

But you don't outrank Gibbon's, and it's his website, and his rules.

Zeta: Look, man, it's a good link. Spore's an awesome game and I hope they finish it soon. What some of us are saying is, don't be lazy about it. Tell us what you're linking to, why it's awesome, etc. That's all.

I vote a mutiny. I'm not sure how a mutiny works on the internets. Haxoring may be involved.

Anyway. This is also my first exposure to this game because, unlike Popcorn, I do not post at eighty other forums. I'm interested to see how the character evolves throughout, and whether it is purely based on your actions or whether there is an environmental factor to it, because the video wasn't clear on some points. Does the beast you create get scarred by because attacked by other creatures, or crippled by illness, for example? Can you evolve a whole race of beings or just affect the fate of one? I'm really excited by all this, which is rare for an A-life game, but I hope there is a really global scale to it and not just "look after your monster". I'd love to watch a whole world evolve and change around me, even if the game took years to "complete". Also, I'd rather not have it turn into yet another Sim City, so I hope you don't have to place all the buildings yourself. I'd rather watch the little guys build their own civilisation and surprise me.

One question for you crazy kids - what platform is this for?

Goddamnit, I was in the middle of editing my post you cockwhore.

My best guess is that it's going to be a PC game with a Mac port about eighty years later.

Cockwhore, am I? MUTINY PLZ