Sunday, August 8, 2010

My computer killed me

Okay, so it didn't really kill 'me', but it is responsible for the first and only death of my warden character on LotRO. I had taken her (level 36 at the time) to do an epic escort quest to save Dori from being held captive in an enemy stronghold. In the middle of this, my computer locked up, but the game kept playing from the server's side and my character, I think (I couldn't see anything happening) stood there and did absolutely nothing while the bad guys surrounding her sliced, hacked and stabbed her to death with their almost trivially weak little axes.

The interesting thing about this is that when I restored my computer to function and logged back into that character, I saw this:

1. Character selection screen (posted location: Nan Amlug West)
2. Loading screen
3. My warden, standing in the stronghold by herself. Time elapsed: maybe one second
4. Another loading screen
5. My warden, standing in a rez circle (posted location: Kingsfell)

The interesting thing is, the game spew said that Dori had been defeated, and that I had succumbed to my wounds, but it didn't say I had been defeated. It also did not give me the standard 'defeat tooltip' that every character sees upon their first death.

So perhaps my character did NOT die. I am conflicted about whether I can still say I have never killed my character, since I technically didn't, and the game may also not think so either, given the weird behaviour exhibited. It's really tough to say. I did wake up in a rez circle. I did not see my warden die. I did 'succumb to my wounds'. I did not get incapacitated.

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About Me

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Anacredenza is a screen name I made up back when I first joined a debate forum. At that time, I was just about finished figuring out what my beliefs are, and the name, which means 'renewed belief' reflects that. I cannot claim to know everything (not even remotely close!), but I'm now comfortable with what I believe, which I discovered were my deep, though covered-up, thoughts all along, and have therefore been renewed. I may be right, or I may be wrong, but at least now I'm being true to myself. After figuring this out, I went back and talked with people who hold beliefs that I used to share, to test my new (and old) thoughts on the matter. After several years of that, I am much more comfortable with what I believe. I don't care very much about what other people believe any more, as long as they don't use their beliefs to justify harming other people. That said, I care a great deal about how people come to their conclusions - thorough, critical thinking skills are important, and if more people just knew how to think, the whole world could be a much less hostile place.