Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[BANANABANANA]

hehehe i know some girls gamers (which includes myself) who sometimes pick guy characters to avoid all the jackassery....

[Thewanderer]

Why does their IRL sex have to match their in-game sex? Be cause a few losers can't use MMORPGs as an online dating service?

What the hell is the point of an RPG if you can't roleplay as the opposite gender? <.<

[Omfgbbqwtf]

Kind of going overboard on this one..well, I guess people can still tell one of their boy-friend to sit in front of the webcam and send the picture. Funny indeed, but very odd at the same time.

[WanderingKnight]

Why does their IRL sex have to match their in-game sex? Be cause a few losers can't use MMORPGs as an online dating service?

What the hell is the point of an RPG if you can't roleplay as the opposite gender? <.<

True that, but also take in mind that the amount of true RP'ing going on in MMORPGs is close to zero. Too much "OMG I ROKZORZ U FAG!!!". That's why I stopped playing them.

[TinyRedLeaf]

First of all, I'm not sure how seriously to take the report because I can't seem to find corroborating articles.

Secondly, having once been an avid fan of FFXI (I played a Hume male Red Mage), I'd say that it is usually quite easy to tell the difference between a male or female gamer. Because, as WanderingKnight observed, the amount of true RP'ing is close to zero in MMORPGs, and you'd need to be a very gifted actor to fool everyone about your true gender, all of the time.

Thirdly, if the report were true, I'd be amused and slightly irritated at the same time. Irritated because it's just another sign of homophobia, albeit disguised in a different form. There are plenty of people who are disturbed by the idea of guys experimenting with female roles, ie, they're scared of promoting effeminate behaviour.

[Vexx]

I've run into a Korean game or two that tried to enforce this bullshit (can't remember) but yeah, it appears to be mostly homophobic angst.

I'm with Wandering ... if I have to stare at someone's butt for hours on end, I'd rather it be female. It also makes for more interesting roleplay... after a few thousand "r u rly a gurl?" I usually roleplay that I am but am their mom's age (my sons and their girlfriends go along with the charade... hell, sometimes my son's girlfriend and I babble about shopping escapades at the auction house ). Thinking they're running a raid with someone's mom has a hilarious effect on their language til they realize I'm not going to wash their mouths out with soap. I also don't think many young twits realize just how many adults and parents play these MMOs anymore.

The point is... you're not an Orc in real life, I'm not a Troll, so what the hell is really an issue about gender. Someone is going to write an MMO with a sci-fi setting and a 4-gendered alien race... wtf then?

[Thewanderer]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I've run into a Korean game or two that tried to enforce this bullshit (can't remember) but yeah, it appears to be mostly homophobic angst.

I'm with Wandering ... if I have to stare at someone's butt for hours on end, I'd rather it be female. It also makes for more interesting roleplay... after a few thousand "r u rly a gurl?" I usually roleplay that I am but am their mom's age (my sons and their girlfriends go along with the charade... hell, sometimes my son's girlfriend and I babble about shopping escapades at the auction house ). Thinking they're running a raid with someone's mom has a hilarious effect on their language til they realize I'm not going to wash their mouths out with soap. I also don't think many young twits realize just how many adults and parents play these MMOs anymore.

The point is... you're not an Orc in real life, I'm not a Troll, so what the hell is really an issue about gender. Someone is going to write an MMO with a sci-fi setting and a 4-gendered alien race... wtf then?

I totally agree Vexx(except maybe the staring at your character's butt thing... but that's beside the point)

I mean it's not like you're playing MMOs to go find a date. It's a game for crying out loud. Plus, it don't matter who the gender is of the one controlling the character. You're interacting with the character, not the player. If a guy is controlling a fem character, it'd just be like a guy's mind in a girl's body. She's still a female no matter how you look at her.

And personally, I play genders 50/50 in MMOs, and I always tell everyone that I'm whatever gender I'm playing IRL too. It helps that I'm a decent actor too, so it wouldn't work for everyone. I try to avoid IRL friends that'd let my IRL gender slip too

Anyway, stupid game rule. They should concentrate more on enforcing character names to actually look like names. Everyone seems to think the names are just like screennames account names...

[aohige]

My "main" is usually a bearded male, but all the characters I make after that one is usually female.

The reason is same as everyone: If I'm gonna spend majority of the time watching the hind of my character, I like to have it easy on my eyes.

As for "roleplaying", I'm not against it, but I'm severly annoyed if I have to live with silly roleplaying, so I usually choose servers that's not geared for roll playing. Thankfully, WoW gives this option. If the game doesn't have that option, and the community of that game is largly role-playing base... then I either live with it, or simply move on to another game.

Back in the days when I played UO, I was a non-combatant with five Grandmasters in blacksmithing, tailoring, etc.
Any PK could have my head in a second, since I had almost NO means to defend myself, thus just playing the character was basically role-playing a civilian. Ah... those were the good days... Seeing a red "corp por" being chanted off the screen by some bandit player with the intent to kill and mug all my possessions, and desparately opening my rune book to haul my ass out of there...

Still, we didn't act like we were some medieval peasants.
We still chit-chatted about TV shows and anime with friends in the guild tower and my magnificient two-story villa.

[TinyRedLeaf]

^ Well, you were luckier than me. I usually got killed the moment I stepped out of town. UO had not been a pleasant introduction to the MMORPG genre for me.

Originally Posted by aohige

As for "roleplaying", I'm not against it, but I'm severly annoyed if I have to live with silly roleplaying, so I usually choose servers that's not geared for roll playing. Thankfully, WoW gives this option. If the game doesn't have that option, and the community of that game is largly role-playing base... then I either live with it, or simply move on to another game.

Umm, I stuck around a role-playing server (Argent Dawn) for 3+ months, and hardly ever encountered any "role-playing". But at least the players tended to be a bit more mature and easier to get along with. In any case, MMORPGs tend not to be conducive for "hardcore" role-playing. Not that I'd play along even if it were -- I'm in it to play a game, not to learn how to be a virtual actor.

[User65554]

lol. This is completely ridiculous...

And speaking of completely ridiculous,

A former US intercontinental ballistic missile base in Washington state is on sale on eBay for $1.5m.

A former US intercontinental ballistic missile base - with a network of underground tunnels and silos, but no nuclear warheads - is on sale on eBay for $1.5m (£750,000, 1.06m euros).

Located in a remote corner of Washington state and still ringed by its original barbed-wire-topped fence, the 56-acre site is being marketed as a "gorgeous" property and potential resort.

Bari Hotchkiss bought the former base 10 years ago from owners who obtained the property in the 1970s, after the US government deemed obsolete the Titan missiles it was built to launch.

which is only beaten by

China's former president and opera enthusiast Jiang Zemin has been the first soloist to take to the stage of Beijing's new opera house.

Mr Jiang sang parts of a Western opera and a Peking opera for staff at the National Grand Theatre, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported.

In 2001, Mr Jiang sang O Sole Mio with the late Luciano Pavarotti, after the Three Tenors performed in Beijing.

Mr Jiang likes to recite poetry and plays the piano and the flute.

He also plays the erhu, a two-stringed instrument similar to the violin.

"Mr Jiang was very happy and satisfied with the theatre and sang a few songs during his visit," the South China Morning Post quoted a source in the theatre as saying.

[Takeru]

Originally Posted by VK-Pitt

lol. This is completely ridiculous...

And speaking of completely ridiculous,

A former US intercontinental ballistic missile base in Washington state is on sale on eBay for $1.5m.

Wow, $1.5m is actually really inexpensive for a place like that. I'd hit that if I had $1.5m

[TinyRedLeaf]

US family tries life without toilet paper

BBC News (19 Sep) -

It is mid-afternoon in an airy, lower-Manhattan flat, on the ninth floor of a posh-looking building with a doorman.

It is a bit dark and there are no lights on. There is a strange quiet feel to the flat, perhaps due to the lack of any appliances - no fridge humming, no TV interference, even no air conditioning, though it is hot and humid outside. Walk into the bathroom, and you will notice that there is no toilet paper, no bottles of shampoo or toiletries. In the kitchen, berries and cheese are laid out on the counter and there are candles on the dining table.
This is the home of No-Impact Man, aka Colin Beavan, who describes himself on his blog as a "guilty liberal who finally snaps, swears off plastic... turns off his power... and while living in NYC turns into a tree-hugging lunatic who tries to save the polar bears".

He has dragged his wife, Michelle, and young daughter Isabella, along for the ride. "The concept is that we should have no net environmental impact, which is, of course, technically not feasible," says Colin. "So the idea is that we would reduce our negative impact and increase our positive impact."

Colin is planning to write a book about his year as No-Impact Man - his publishers are looking at sustainable ways of publishing. It may be a worthwhile experiment in the eyes of some, or a total waste of time by a tree hugger for others. But whatever you think of the Beavans, somehow when you leave their flat it feels like there is only one option - to walk down the nine flights of stairs.

[User65554]

A tiny key that might have helped prevent the Belfast-built Titanic sinking has fetched £90,000 at auction.

The key, with the tag "Crows Nest Telephone Titanic" opened the binoculars store, but was not on the ship when it sailed from Southampton.

It was in the pocket of an officer transferred off the vessel days before its maiden voyage. He forgot to hand it to his replacement as he left.

As a result lookouts had to rely on the naked eye.

Titanic sank on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on 15 April 1912 with the loss of 1,522 lives.

Second officer David Blair held the key during the short journey from Belfast, where Titanic was built, to the south coast.

One of the lookouts on the Titanic told an inquiry into the sinking that with the binoculars the Titanic might have been able to dodge the iceberg.

On the difference the binoculars might have made, lookout Fred Fleet said: "Well, enough to get out of the way."

Mr Blair was disappointed to be moved off the ship at Southampton, but the transfer saved his life. He kept the key as a memento.

[SeijiSensei]

If this story is true, then the crew of the Titanic were not just unlucky, or even incompetent, but just plain stupid.

There was only one pair of binoculars on the ship? If they thought they needed the binoculars that badly, couldn't they have hit the storage container with an axe?

How about the passengers? Did none of them have a pair of binoculars?

Somehow this sounds like one of those myths whose primary purpose is to increase the value of the item at auction.

[Silasj]

Originally Posted by Thewanderer

And personally, I play genders 50/50 in MMOs, and I always tell everyone that I'm whatever gender I'm playing IRL too. It helps that I'm a decent actor too, so it wouldn't work for everyone.
.

Nice

Anyhow on this matter my opinion is the pretty much the same as the rest of you. I more or less always roleplay a girl, because I am in real life a feminine boy, but I don't wanna roleplay a feminine boy, cause they always end up being all gay and stuff :P
Besides, the female characters just always look cooler I mean, I played World of Warcraft, before it was lamoed by a lot of 13 year olds, and I remember having to choose between male or female night elf. And with just one look at the male night elf there was no trace of doubt left in my mind. It's annoying with all those "LOL why do you roleplay a girl if you're a guy?" questions.

[anti-random]

Originally Posted by Takeru

Wow, $1.5m is actually really inexpensive for a place like that. I'd hit that if I had $1.5m

hehe, so would i. mahhawhawhaw.

[User65554]

Yeah, it does sound like something out of a bad evil villain spoof.

"Excuse me sir, I was reading your advertisment in the newspaper for a evil lair former missile base, and wondered if I may enquire as to the price of it?...Is that all? It certainly seems very reasonable...Oh I see, so it doesn't actually come with any missiles...Yes, I was hoping for one that did, I'm afraid...Also, I'm not so sure of the colour. I'm afraid that it's a no this time. Good day."

[aohige]

Staten Island 'Ninja Bandit' may have struck for 16th time
He steals into homes under cover of night through skylights, second-floor windows and sometimes, the front door. His infamy has spread across Staten Island. So when Mary Ann Carlo encounted a masked bandit on the stairs of her home last night, she started screaming "The Ninja is here! The Ninja!"

Police linked last night's incident to a string of other burglaries on Staten Island. It may mark the 16th time the borough's "Ninja Bandit" has struck since June 6.

Female 'Ninjas' Rob Richland Gas Station With Sword, Dagger
RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Police said two women dressed as ninjas were responsible for the hold-up of a Richland Township gas station Saturday morning using a samurai sword.

Police said the two women -- one with a dagger, and the other carrying the sword -- entered a Sunoco station in the 5600 block of Route 8 at about 3 a.m.

According to police, the women tied up the clerk and robbed the store of cash, cigarettes and lottery tickets.

.......Right, Ninjas. NINJAS.
I'm sorry, Mr. Wannabe Ninja, but the only Ninja that uses Nunchucks are mutated turtle that lives under your city.
And the two kunoichi? ...... I'm at lack of words!

"American Ninja" is no longer just a crappy movie series from the 1980s!

[anti-random]

VK-Pitt, As if. You'd buy the base and then ask the 'evil' Iranians to supply the 'stuff'

[User65554]

.......Right, Ninjas. NINJAS.
I'm sorry, Mr. Wannabe Ninja, but the only Ninja that uses Nunchucks are mutated turtle that lives under your city.
And the two kunoichi? ...... I'm at lack of words!

No doubt operating out of their reasonably-priced ex-missile bunker.

"American Ninja" is no longer just a crappy movie series from the 1980s!

Its a crappy way of life as well.

VK-Pitt, As if. You'd buy the base and then ask the 'evil' Iranians to supply the 'stuff'

You naive fool. You think I have to ask the Iranians to supply my bunker?