USA vs. Canada

I know I said I was going to fast until Easter Sunday but I felt the need to say this. To all my Canadian friends, congratulations. That was one helluva game.

 

Now back to my fast.

Posted by HONORBOUND72 @ 6:03 pm EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments

Lenten Fast

I'd always intended on sending out message alerts to let everyone know ahead of time that I would be gone during this time, but for some reason I never got around to it. I really didn't want to just spring this on people. Unfortunately, I left my self with little choice.

This year, as I have every year for the past 4 years, I will be taking a break from all things on-line related for the duration of Lent. So, no forum whoring, no facebooking, no youtubing, no xbox living, et cetera. I will be completely offline until Easter Sunday (April 4th). I will miss you all and I know I will be going through withdrawal. I believe though, that this will help me to reaffirm and strengthen my connection to my faith as it is intended to.

I will continue to be active throughout the day today but as of midnight(pst) I will be completely logged off. So long and be well, and I'll see you all in about a month and a half.

Posted by HONORBOUND72 @ 10:22 am EDT | Permalink | 6 Comments

Cheating, cheaters, and our community

Over the course of the last few weeks, since the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the subject of cheating in video games has once again become a significant topic of discussion. This is not a new subject, as many of us know. Cheating amongst video gamers has been around nearly as long as there have been video games. As a result, it is a subject that seems to bubble up every so often.

It is not an uncommon aspect of our competitive natures to find whatever edge we can in an attempt to place ourselves amongst the best. While I feel that the majority of gamers, like ourselves, prefer to take a course that does not involve the use of exploits or glitches in order to fulfill this desire, that cannot be said of all of us (even within this community). We must acknowledge that there are those who will use those exploits and glitches to gain that edge. How we choose to deal with this knowledge is what truly defines us as both individual gamers and a gaming community.

As an individual, I choose not to use such means to gain an edge. Of course I also don’t attempt to compete with anyone but myself when it comes to my ability to succeed in a video game. That’s just me, and that is how I choose to play.

As a member of this community, I try to do my part to represent 2old2play as honorably as I can when playing against/with gamers inside and outside of this community. I try to be respectful and considerate of others. I am not above using sarcasm and even biting remarks. It is always done, however, with humorous intent, not frustration and/or anger.

I say all this to give you, the reader, a foundation upon which to achieve a greater understanding of what I have to say on the subject of cheating, those who choose to cheat, and how I deal with it.

By what criteria do we define cheating and thus label someone a cheater? Each of us has, I am fairly sure, their own set of criteria by which to determine these things. I choose to define cheating as any attempt to usurp and/or bypass the intended use of the game, which is contrary to the intent of the programmers and the spirit of the game. A cheater is therefore, one who engages in such activities. This is not about passing judgment on those who do engage in such behavior. Just providing my definition. I firmly believe that each of us should only be held accountable to our own sense of values and not the values of others save where those values impinge upon those of others.

I realize that this sentiment is not a widely accepted one, and that even those who purport to feel similarly may not be consistent in its execution. To each there own. I really enjoy being a part of this community. I know that I have something in common with every member of this community and that’s comforting. I also know that I will not see eye to eye with everyone on many things simply due to the size and diversity of this community. Even that is comforting. It is my hope, however, that we can use our common interest to find a way to co-exist civilly. We don’t have to all like each other (that seems an unreasonable expectation) but we also don’t need to “attack” someone just because they engage in behavior that we disagree with. So long as they aren’t violating the TOS or representing this community in a way contrary to the spirit upon which it was founded.

All that being said, I feel that cheating, as I have defined it, is something worth discouraging among our community members. I don’t, however, believe that it necessarily warrants the reaction expressed in the thread (http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=60396) which inspired me to write this post in the first place. As I do not knowingly cheat, I try to avoid playing with people who do. Yes, I will label a person a cheater according to how I define it. I do so because I understand that we are often judged by the company we keep. In the case of playing online, we sometimes don’t get to choose that company. Being a part of 2old2play allows me to build a circle of gamers that approach gaming with an attitude similar to mine and avoid those who do not. In other words, I get to choose the company by which I am judged. For that, and many other things, I am most grateful.

 

Posted by HONORBOUND72 @ 6:18 pm EDT | Permalink | 7 Comments

On this day...

 

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

 

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

 

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

 

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

 

But not only that:

 

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

 

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

 

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Posted by HONORBOUND72 @ 2:10 pm EDT | Permalink | 3 Comments