Most Unfortunate Name

Of Voxel Wipes

So when last we were together, I had mentioned that Dave Georgeson had posted a rather lengthy topic about just how the issues with the voxel wipes and how they fixed it.  Since he urged us to get in and build again, I figured I would finally start to plunk back down some of the stone I was saving up into the design for Temple Belghast once more.  As of last night the above image is roughly where I was at in the creation.  The very basics of the first floor were in place along with a porch in front where I would keep my crafting machinery so that anyone who happened to be wandering by could use it.  I was happy with the progress so far, and while I had run dry on stone again it seemed as though I had a clear plan.

So I decided to take a screenshot and post it on twitter, and then bam moments later @Lemanicus informed me that there was another voxel wipe on the way tonight.  I am so amazingly thankful that they spoke up because I would have lost all that stone once again.  Basically at this point my claim has been voxel wiped five times or so, and each time I have lost a bunch of stone in the process.  This time thankfully I was able to create a template and then suck back up all that stone into my inventory.  Interesting thing of note… if you want to recover a large amount of resources that you have already placed down on your claim, you can select the region and hit control plus X at the same time.  Using the windows cut shortcut sucks up all those resources back into your inventory which thankfully means I have all the mats to rebuild this creation once things stabilize.

At this point I just want a real “all clear” to be sounded.  I am not cross or anything because I knew what I was getting into by playing a game in a super alpha state.  In the meantime I can still manage to gather resources and as of last night I crafted the smooth tool and a tungsten pick.  Since the Legendary pick has spoiled me it is my plan to keep gathering resources until I can craft more picks trying to get another legendary.  The amount of material that the legendary quality pick removes per swing is just insane.  For the time being I can simply clear most of the material with my silversteel pick and then mine out what requires the next tier up afterwards. 

As far as the game goes… right now I would suggest players wait for a bit unless they are prepared for some frustrations.  Don’t get me wrong the game is really amazing, and I am loving every minute of it.  Then again I also loved every minute of the early buggy as shit days of minecraft, so it feels like I have lived through this all before.  Getting in right now is not for everyone, so be warned before you plunk down your money hoping to get in on the ground floor of this new game.  The path to success is often paved with the tears of alpha testers.  One of the funniest things about the voxel wipes is that the props remain in the same place.  I find myself going to The Hollows zone a lot, which is a Tier 2 area on the Liberation server.  One of the nice denizens has created a really great crafting station just off the wizard spire.  When the voxel wipe happens the desert reclaims their plot, but you can still see and use the machines that are now half buried in sand.  Thankfully I have been able to recover every prop I have placed apart from my first set of crafting machines that unceremoniously disappeared on me.

Most Unfortunate Name

This mornings factoid is inspired by my wife as we tried to get to sleep last night and wound up being purred off to slumberland by one of our cats.  I am very much an animal person and always have been.  I have three cats and three ferrets currently, but in the past we have had as many as six cats at one time and an assortment of other animals including two sugar gliders, a guinea pig, a rabbit and an extremely spoiled hamster.  All of our animals have been for the most part rescues minus the guinea pig and hamster.  Even then, we got the guinea pig days before that pet store had a fire in which she would have surely died from smoke inhalation… so in a way we rescued her as well.

I tend to give most of my babies “people” names because they are in fact a member of our family.  Our “furkids” are likely the only children we will ever have, so we tend to treat them as such.  We don’t go to the insane lengths some folks do, but this is definitely their house… and we just happen to share it with them.  Growing up out in the country we didn’t have indoor animals, but instead had what is generally referred to as “barn cats”.  The above baby followed us home Thanksgiving 1999 has has been with us since.  Following my normal pattern I gave her the name of Sascha which I have always thought was a pretty name.  The problem is… that unknown to me my wife who is a school teacher had a student named Sascha as well.  Every now and then there is one of those students that teachers absolutely hate… and for my wife it was Sascha.

So over time she found it harder and harder to call the cat by her real name.  At this point she was so tiny, so much so that she couldn’t even climb the stairs to our second floor.  She has also been an extremely curious cat, getting into everything.  She has figured out how to open pretty much any door that is not locked by pressing up on the bottom of it until the latch gives, additionally she opens the cabinet doors and crawls inside.  So as she was getting older there was a constant refrain of “you little shit!” as we discovered whatever mess she had made.  After awhile this just got shorted and stuck as her name… and from that point on she has been lovingly referred to as “Little Shit”.

I say this is an unfortunate name, because really she is without a doubt the sweetest cat we have ever had.  She is always there to curl up and snuggle and tends to sleep on our pillows at night.  Since she has been with us since five weeks old, since simply doesn’t know that she is not a human as well.  So I am sure she has no clue what her name means, because we always say it in a loving way.  The only time she actually gets referred to by her given name is when we have to take her to the vet, which thankfully is not terribly often.  At this point she is old and set in her ways, but she is one of the most precious animals we have ever had.  At this point however it would just feel wrong to try and name her something other than the moniker she once earned.