waru

Hm, well, this thread doesn't appear on the "ask" section of HN, only in "new", so I think I may have missed something if there's a way to control that.

Rationality can definitely lead to pessimism if you're not careful, but I think most pessimism is actually quite irrational. Rationality can also be used to support optimism (for example, it's rationally possible that I become really successful). So I try to live by what I call "optimistic rationality" (if that hasn't been coined already. :) )

I have tried Judo, Aikido, Kendo, and Muay Thai, and done Karate and Tae Kwon Do extensively.

Personally, I'm doing it for the physical training and the sense of accomplishment more than practical fighting abilities, since I don't plan on getting into a street brawl.

Aikido didn't really feel like exercise to me (I barely broke a sweat in training), but it's a lot more focused on energy and focus, which is also cool. Judo is great if you are short and stout, but I'm too tall and skinny. Muay Thai was a little too harsh and physical.

For me, Tae Kwon Do and Karate combine strength/stamina/flexibility training with the calm, focused side of things that I also like about martial arts. Tae Kwon Do focuses almost only on kicks, while Karate includes both kicks and punches. I have really stiff legs, so Tae Kwon Do actually turned out to be great training.

The beginning can be the hardest part to get through if you start in really poor condition, so my advice is don't give up! You will get stronger and surprise yourself if you stick with it.

Overall, learning to have control over your body and move swiftly, powerfully, and efficiently is a great feeling. Martial arts groups also tend to be open, supportive, and a great source of stress relief, in my experience. Good luck!

What if you tell them one specific thing to work on (whatever their major downfall was), and then be vague about the rest? Then, even if they insist that that one problem area was actually good, you can point to the part that vaguely says something like "Though your game is not a suitable match to our site for a few reasons, [we suggest you work on blah blah blah]..."

I don't have any experience with rejecting people in this situation, but I know it would be nice as a developer to have something to try to improve after a failure/rejection.

I'm so old-fashioned as to play Super Nintendo RPGs!

I've played all the famous and popular ones like Final Fantasy 3 & 6, Chrono Trigger, and Breath of Fire, etc, so for the past few years I've been discovering all the little-known hidden treasures, which there seems to be an endless supply of.

An English patch was just released for Lennus 2, which, along with its predecessor Paladin's Quest, pretty much take the cake for originality, creativity, and world design in an SNES RPG. So I'd have to strongly recommend both of those. I have to warn you that Paladin's Quest's graphics are not everyone's cup of tea, and some people hate the game. But Lennus 2 is a lot more polished. ("Paladin's Quest" is the official English release name for Lennus 1, but Lennus 2 never had an official US release, only the recent fan translation, which I hear is really good.)

I'd like to check out Master of Magic, but it looks like it's PC-only, and I use a Mac. : (

I play good old-fashioned one-player Japanese RPGs. I just can't get into stressful fast-paced calculations/button-mashing, or extremely complicated long-term planning of minute details (no offense to games that can be described as that, it's just not stress-relieving for me). I can handle Sim City and Starcraft though, I'm just afraid to start playing Starcraft 2 for fear of addiction.

I guess if you're the kind of person who thinks that art can be a worthwhile and meaningful part of someone's life (and I do), and that games can be art (which hopefully most people recognize by now), then they can be seen as changing people's lives to some extent.

I can't argue that a game could be more effectual than something like Google, obviously, but I think games are a lot more than a way to pass or waste time, and definitely can provide a lot to people.

I'm hoping to get funding to start a game development start-up, and I was wondering the same thing. I think there's plenty of room for indie game development. You can't compete with huge companies in terms of making a game that costs millions of dollars with a massive team, but there's plenty of other games to make. The game industry has gotten to a point where it takes so many years and massive amounts of money that they can scarcely try anything that's not a surefire hit, and companies get entrenched in continuing series of already popular games (instead of something new). So I think independent game developers might start to be more recognized as crucial to keeping things fresh and innovative.

Also, non-state-of-the-art games are getting more and more popular with the Wii and iPhone, while more and more people start to play games, people who don't demand hyper-realistic graphics and who want to try new ways of having fun.

To me we're still on the tip of the iceberg of game development; it has lots of potential and places to go for independent teams of hard-working, creative hackers.

Meditating regularly improves my quality of life and ability to think clearly by about 100%. Sometimes I stop doing it for awhile and forget how much better it is, but then I get back into it and realize, "Woa, this just makes life easier." So I've been meditating 20 minutes everyday for awhile now and highly recommend it.

Good food, karaoke, and a social life are my only other cures for stress. For me, when I feel the busiest and think I can't spare time for those things is usually when I need to do them the most.