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Posted on May 16, 2012 via Vivacious with 20,850 notes
Source: vvvivacious
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Dudes. Imagine life here in the US — or indeed, pretty much anywhere in the Western world — is a massive role playing game, like World of Warcraft except appallingly mundane, where most quests involve the acquisition of money, cell phones and donuts, although not always at the same time. Let’s call it The Real World. You have installed The Real World on your computer and are about to start playing, but first you go to the settings tab to bind your keys, fiddle with your defaults, and choose the difficulty setting for the game. Got it?
Okay: In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is.
This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get.
Now, once you’ve selected the “Straight White Male” difficulty setting, you still have to create a character, and how many points you get to start — and how they are apportioned — will make a difference. Initially the computer will tell you how many points you get and how they are divided up. If you start with 25 points, and your dump stat is wealth, well, then you may be kind of screwed. If you start with 250 points and your dump stat is charisma, well, then you’re probably fine. Be aware the computer makes it difficult to start with more than 30 points; people on higher difficulty settings generally start with even fewer than that.
As the game progresses, your goal is to gain points, apportion them wisely, and level up. If you start with fewer points and fewer of them in critical stat categories, or choose poorly regarding the skills you decide to level up on, then the game will still be difficult for you. But because you’re playing on the “Straight White Male” setting, gaining points and leveling up will still by default be easier, all other things being equal, than for another player using a higher difficulty setting.
Likewise, it’s certainly possible someone playing at a higher difficulty setting is progressing more quickly than you are, because they had more points initially given to them by the computer and/or their highest stats are wealth, intelligence and constitution and/or simply because they play the game better than you do. It doesn’t change the fact you are still playing on the lowest difficulty setting.
You can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting. The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on. The player who plays on the “Gay Minority Female” setting? Hardcore.John Scalzi tells it like it is. (Go and read the whole essay, then read the comments.)(via nicoleviciousisdead)
Posted on May 16, 2012 via Neil Gaiman with 3,142 notes
Source: whatever.scalzi.com
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I want this shirt so I can be an American ass!
(via l0ve-swag)
Posted on May 16, 2012 via not you fat jesus ♡ with 19,733 notes
Source: darkandchaos
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Anonymous asked: Lol half of your followers are on tumblrdatinggame(.)com
Well, good for them!
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(via thefrogman)
Posted on May 16, 2012 via Visit ForGIFs.com for more with 17,357 notes
Source: 4gifs
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(via helenedenothing)
Posted on May 16, 2012 via the future is bulletproof with 509 notes
Source: g-h-o-s-t-o-f-y-o-u
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Posted on May 15, 2012 via Wykydtron with 18 notes
Source: wykydtron1
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I want to learn Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons on my uke.
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Reblog if it’s 100% okay to vent to you.
Posted on May 15, 2012 via pigsgoRAWR with 22,018 notes
Source: pigsgorawrr
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A Star Wars fan haiku
Oh man, Lightsabers
I wish I was a Jedi
Wait, aren’t they siblings?
(via growinglionsmane)
Posted on May 15, 2012 via Intricate details with 5 notes
Source: vanitynsanity
I'm Amanda! I'm a 20 year old Ravenclaw- Whovian-Sherlockian-Nerdfighter! I'm starting to do what I love which is photography, learning musical intruments, and creating art!
I love animals. HUGE nerd! Love being a Hobbit. Easily entertained. And love drinking tea. Oh, and I make videos. :]
I love to learn, love to laugh, and I love you :3
Let's be friends shall we?! Allons-y!
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