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Last updated: 1 May, 2016.
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Along with thumb sucking, childhood teeth grinding is one of the top concerns anxious parents bring to their dentists. It's so prevalent, though, many providers consider it normal behavior—the sleep-disturbing sound it can generate is often the worst consequence for the habit.
But that doesn't mean you should brush aside all concern, especially if the habit continues into late childhood. Long-term teeth grinding could eventually damage the teeth and gums.
Teeth grinding (or clenching) is the involuntary movement of the jaws when not engaged in normal functions like chewing, speaking or swallowing. The action often produces higher than normal chewing forces, which over time can accelerate tooth wear, cause fractures, or contribute to loose teeth, all of which could increase the risk of dental disease. While it can occur at any time it's most common among children during nighttime sleep.
While stress is the usual trigger for teeth grinding in adults, with young children the causes for the habit are more complex and less understood. Most doctors hold to the theory that most pediatric teeth grinding arises during shifts from lighter to heavier, rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. The child's immature neuromuscular chewing control may engage involuntarily during this shift. Teeth grinding is also prevalent among children who snore or mouth-breathe, or who take anti-depressant medication.
But as mentioned before, there's usually no cause for concern unless the habit persists beyond about age 11. If the habit isn't fading, you should speak to your dentist about ways to reduce it or its effects. One way is with a custom-made night guard worn during sleep. The smooth, plastic surface of the appliance prevents teeth from making solid contact with each other during a grinding episode.
You might also seek treatment from an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist if your child is having issues with airway obstruction, which could also relieve teeth grinding. And children experiencing stressful situations or events may find relief both emotionally and physically from psychological therapy.
At younger ages, you can safely regard your child's grinding habit as normal. But if it persists, it's worth looking for ways to reduce it.
If you would like more information on your child's teeth grinding habit, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article "When Children Grind Their Teeth: Is the Habit of "˜Bruxism' Harmful?"

subset: commoncrawl


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The last total lunar eclipse of 2011 — and the last one until April 15, 2014 — occurs Saturday morning.
And though those of us in the eastern U.S. won't really be able to enjoy it, NASA says that some folks in western states will have "a rare way to begin the day." If the sky is clear, they'll be able to "face west to see the red [eclipsed] moon sinking into the horizon" as the sun rises behind their backs to the east.
The best part of the show should be between 6:06 a.m. and 6:57 a.m. Pacific time.
The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog notes that it might not seem possible for anyone to be able to see a rising sun and a fully eclipsed moon at the same time because "by definition, a lunar eclipse occurs when the sun and moon are 180 degrees apart, with Earth moving between them to form a straight line."
But, thanks to atmospheric refraction, the rare view will be available if you're in the right place.
"Atmospheric refraction causes astronomical objects to appear higher in the sky than they are in reality. For example: when you see the sun sitting on the horizon, it is not there really. It's actually below the edge of the horizon, but our atmosphere acts like a lens and bends the sun's image just above the horizon, allowing us to see it. ...
"The same holds true with the moon, as well."
There's even a name for when an eclipsed moon sets just as the sun rises: it's a selenelion (or selenehelion, Space.com says).
Among cities where Space.com says the effect should be visible, assuming the skies are clear: Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver and Winnipeg. It has a chart showing some cities and their selenelion times posted here.
Other good views of the eclipse (though not a rising sun at the same time), says ABC News, will be "from places like Hawaii, Alaska and Guam, where it will be the middle of the night, and from eastern Asia and Australia, where (remember, they're on the other side of the International Date Line) it will be Saturday evening."
Regular Two-Way readers know we do enjoy a lunar eclipse.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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A few days back I ran into an issue with a network device that required a "restart" from my C# service. Seemed simple enough, and while I was aware that this type of operation could be performed by spawning a new process and running the infamous "DEVCON", I really couldn't see why I wouldn't be able to wrap those same calls from my C# application. Maybe I'm funny that way. But, I already had a C# library I created a while back to monitor devices being added or dropped from the Windows Device Manager, so the enumeration portion of the equation was already in place. Really how hard could it be?
Honestly I expected that within an hour or two of actually starting, I'd be kicked back in the chair patting myself on the back while my application happily enabled and disabled devices until it's little heart was content. That was not the case. After digging around in the DDK and the SDK for a couple hours, I was reminded once again how humbling a career field we software engineers have chosen. Not one to give up, I banged my head on the table, left a five and a quarter inch floppy under my pillow for the code fairy, and scoured the news groups most of the weekend.
Not surprisingly eventually I had a headache and I never did catch sight of the code fairy. But finally scouring the news groups turned up a couple clues that got my foot in the door. From there it was just a matter of brute force. The result is a helper library that can both monitor devices being added to or removed from the system, as well as a method that can successfully enable or disable any node on the device tree. After so much trouble for a seemingly simple task I figured why not share that library with you, my fellow code warriors. So without further ado, say hello to my little friend, the HardwareHelperLib.
There isn't really a lot of background required for you to use the library I've provided. The heart of HardwareHelperLib is the unmanaged SetupAPI.DLL that is part of the platform SDK. Properly declaring and marshalling the API was the tough part and the whole reason I'm posting this code is so you don't have to spend your whole weekend banging your head against the table too. It's ALWAYS helpful to understand how an operating system interacts with the hardware and if you've never looked at the source code for DEVCON or some of the other drivers in the DDK it certainly wouldn't hurt you, (well it might hurt a little if you've strayed from C++ in favor of C# for a few years), but regardless whether you understand the inner-workings of the class or not you still should be able to use it. The example is very simplistic. The only prerequisite assumed is that you are at least somewhat familiar with Windows messages.
To use the HardwareHelperLib, just add the HardwareHelperLib.csproj file to your solution, and then reference that project in the studio. Add a using clause to the beginning of your source file and you will be ready to go.
using HardwareHelperLib;
The next step is to declare a single global instance of the class for your application. Yes, I could have made the class a singleton pattern but let's face it, I was writing it for something fairly specific to what I was doing and as such wasn't all that worried about how someone else might choose to use or abuse it as the case may be. If you absolutely can't stop yourself from declaring two instances of the HardwareHelperLib, feel free to implement a Singleton or any other design pattern of your choosing. In the mean time the following should suffice.
HH_Lib hwh = new HH_Lib();
Once we have our helper lib, there are basically only four exposed methods. The first is GetAll which returns an array of strings. The result set contains an inventory of all the hardware devices present on your system. These are devices that are physically PRESENT (or at least Windows believes are physically present in the case of software only or virtual devices). It does not matter if the devices are enabled or disabled in the local or global device profile. The syntax is straight-forward.
string[] HardwareList = hwh.GetAll();
It's now easy to loop through and display the same text description for each device that you would see if you opened the Windows Device Manager. In the example below, I'm doing just that, adding the text to a standard list box.
foreach (string s in HardwareList) { listBox1.Items.Add(s); }
Having an initial list of all the hardware installed on the machine, we will now begin monitoring the system for any hardware changes. This is just a matter of overriding the default window message handler, and then calling the appropriate method in the class. I should note here that while according to the SDK you should be able to hook a window handle or a service handle, I was unsuccessful in getting the latter to operate properly. I have no doubt it can be done but as luck would have it in my service I only needed to enable or disable the devices, not monitor the addition or removal of them, so at the time I chose not to stress over it.
protected override void WndProc(ref Message m) { switch (m.Msg) { case HardwareHelperLib.Native.WM_DEVICECHANGE: { if (m.WParam.ToInt32() == HardwareHelperLib.Native.DBT_DEVNODES_CHANGED) { listBox1.Items.Clear(); string[] HardwareList = hwh.GetAll(); foreach (string s in HardwareList) { listBox1.Items.Add(s); } label1.Text = listBox1.Items.Count.ToString() + " Devices Attached"; } break; } } base.WndProc(ref m); }
As you can see, when the WM_DEVICECHANGE message arrives, we simply reload the entire list. There is no fancy method of determining which device was added or removed at this time, though I guess if reloading the entire list is a problem you could modify the library to keep up with the hardware list and simply pass the changed items as an event argument.
Once you override the default message handler, you still need to register for the WM_DEVICECHANGE message. I do this in my form load with a simple call to HookHardwareNotifications. The first parameter is a Windows handle (or service handle if I ever get that option working). The second parameter is a Boolean that specifies which of the two the former parameter represents. In other words, true if you are passing a window handle to the method and false if you are passing in a service handle.
hwh.HookHardwareNotifications(this.Handle, true);
That's it for hardware monitoring. If you want to see for yourself, run the sample application and try connecting and disconnecting a USB device. I work a lot in shops that design hardware devices as well as software and so keeping a log of what was added and removed from a particular system is invaluable when troubleshooting.
The other functionality the library provides is that of enabling and disabling devices. Getting access to that feature is just a matter of calling SetDeviceState. In my example, I do this with the selected item from a list box, which I previously populated using GetAll.
string[] devices = new string[1]; devices[0]= listBox1.SelectedItem.ToString(); hwh.SetDeviceState(devices, true);
The first parameter is an array of strings that contains the "match pattern" to let SetDeviceState know which devices are affected. The Boolean that follows is set to true for enabling a device, or false for disabling it.
There are a couple words of explanation required here to accurately describe how "match pattern" works. I realize perhaps it is not the most straight-forward way to select which devices are to be affected, but as I said when I started this I was doing the library for a fairly specific need I had. You are welcome to modify it to match the device criteria differently, or perhaps you'll even want to use the vendor and hardware ID numbers like DEVCON does. However for the purpose of this discussion, I will at least explain how my method works, and why I chose to implement it the way I did.
The array of strings that gets passed to SetDeviceState is a list of non-case sensitive exact string match conditions. And EVERY condition must return true for the device to be selected. The strings you pass in will be compared against an array of strings exactly like that returned by the GetAll() method. Let me give you some examples. Imagine what follows is a partial listing of the hardware tree currently in your device manager.
Network Adapters Intel(r) 82566DM Gigabit Network Connection Intel(r) 82566DP Mobile Network Connection Broadcom Pro 1000 Network Card
Now let us consider that you have arranged an array of "match patterns" to contain the following:
Calling SetDeviceState(match,false) would effectively disable all devices that contained all three match criteria in their description, or the first two adapters. Similarly an array containing:
match[0]="Intel(r) 82566DM Gigabit Network Connection"
will ONLY disable the first adapter in the list when calling SetDeviceState. So far so good. This is probably what you expected and you are wondering why the heck I am spending so much time pointing out what you already deduced. In that case, ponder the following "match pattern" array for a moment.
match[0]="Intel(r) 82566DM Gigabit Network Connection" match[1]="Intel(r) 82566DP Mobile Network Connection"
At first glance, you might expect a call to SetDeviceState(match,false) to disable both the first two Ethernet adapters in the device manager's list. You would be wrong though. In fact NO devices will be affected because NONE of the devices contain exactly both of the above match criteria. Hopefully, this makes it clear why it is important to consider your match criteria carefully. Accidentally disabling a system-level device in your code or a network adapter you are currently using could have some pretty unpleasant side effects.
This might possibly leave you scratching your head asking why I just didn't use something concrete like the VEN and DEV (or VID and PID in the case of USB devices). The answer is again I was using the library for something I was doing, and that specific scenario required some flexibility. My service is running on a large number of servers, all of which have different networking hardware. I needed to disable many different models of a device within one particular family. What I didn't want to have to do was customize the list for each and every server the software was deployed to. So in that respect, albeit it is slightly confusing to explain to others, the "match pattern" array did just that.
With that said, I believe I have pretty much explained all there is to explain about how to use the library. Of course you'll need to turn off the hardware event monitoring before your application exits. I included the following method call in my form closing event.
The call will not fail if you are not currently "hooking" hardware notifications, so be sure you call this method before exiting. I say better safe than sorry. Such methods make use of unmanaged resources and it is important to give them the opportunity to perform a proper memory clean up before exiting.
One final point of interest here is that some devices will require a reboot after enabling or disabling them before the change will go into effect. The unmanaged SetupAPI.Dll has two special flags DI_NEEDRESTART | DI_NEEDREBOOT which get combined with a logical OR operation and passed to SetupDiGetDeviceInstallParams to determine whether or not a reboot will be required. I already knew my devices did not require a restart, in fact if they did, in my particular situation this solution would not have been viable. However, if you want to know whether or not your device state change requires a reboot, I would think you could easily insert this functionality just by taking a look at how it is done inside of the DDK (again see the DEVCON source files).
This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)
Const SPDRP_HARDWAREID As Long = (&H1)
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Condoms or a vasectomy are basically the only contraceptive options currently available for men. But a new gene discovery by infertility researchers at the Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh suggests that the development of a male contraceptive pill could someday be possible.
While studying infertility in mice, the researchers identified a gene called Katnal1 that appears to be critical during the late stages of sperm production. In the testes, Katnal1 regulates a protein needed by cells that support sperm maturation; without it, sperm do not develop properly and the body disposes of them.
In lab studies, the research team found that mice with genetic mutations that interrupted Katnal1 became infertile.
(MORE: Male Contraception May Be a Reality Sooner than We Think)
Although the research is still in the preliminary stages, the authors say that if a drug could be developed to hinder Katnal1, it could potentially serve as a reversible contraceptive.
"If we can find a way to target this gene in the testes, we could potentially develop a non-hormonal contraceptive," researcher Dr. Lee Smith of the University of Edinburgh said in a news release. "The important thing is that the effects of such a drug would be reversible because Katnal1 only affects sperm cells in the later stages of development, so it would not hinder the early stages of sperm production and the overall ability to produce sperm."
As Dr. Allan Pacey, a senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, told BBC News:
The key in developing a non-hormonal contraceptive for men is that the molecular target needs to be very specific for either sperm or other cells in the testicle which are involved in sperm production.
If they are not, then such a contraceptive could have unwanted side effects on other cells and tissues in the body and may even be dangerous.
(MORE: Why Laptop Computing May Not Be Great for Fertility)
Researchers have long sought new forms of male contraception. In January, researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine found that ultrasound waves could be used to zap sperm into oblivion. In their rat study, exposure to high-frequency ultrasound for two 15-minute sessions, two days apart, was enough to kill existing sperm in the testes and stop the development of additional sperm.
"Although other research is being carried out into non-hormonal male contraceptives, identification of a gene that controls sperm production in the way Katnal1 does is a unique and significant step forward in our understanding of testis biology," Smith said.
In the future, the Scottish team hopes to test their findings on humans — if they can guarantee its effect is reversible.
The study is published in PLoS Genetics.


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Armed, dangerous & dead
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 11, 2014
WASHINGTON — So much for the argument that having more people armed in public places will result in fewer gun deaths.
One of the three killed recently by a Las Vegas couple, Jerad and Amanda Miller, was an armed civilian, Joseph Wilcox. Two police officers who were also killed, Igor Soldo and Alyn Beck, were ambushed while having lunch. Seated in a booth, they had no chance to defend themselves, according to witnesses.
Wilcox, 31, was inside the Wal-Mart store when the Millers entered firing and ordering everyone to evacuate. Wilcox, who carried a gun, decided to confront the shooter, apparently unaware that Amanda was with Jerad. After he walked past her on his approach toward Jerad, Amanda fatally shot him.
During an ensuing gunfight with police, Amanda turned her gun on her husband and then herself. Whether they might have killed others had Wilcox not stepped forward — a decidedly brave if ill-advised maneuver — we can't know. What we do know is that a civilian, perhaps emboldened to heroism because he had a gun, is dead.
Even as we honor Wilcox appropriately, his death should give pause to any who insist that having more armed citizens is the best defense against a would-be killer. Even if one person were to stop a killer in his tracks, it is not logical to extrapolate the occasional success story as proof of the argument.
It may also be unfair to extrapolate that one failure means that having guns in civilian pockets can't ever be helpful. Having an experienced, well-trained person armed with a gun in the right place at the right time might well thwart a slaughter, though inarguably, not everyone with a permit to carry meets those qualifications. Recall that the would-be hero in Tucson, Ariz. — when Rep. Gabby Giffords and others were shot — was an armed young man who almost shot the wrong person.
Joe Zamudio unlocked the safety on the gun in his pocket, rounded the corner prepared to shoot, when he saw a man holding a gun. Thinking he was the shooter, Zamudio was seconds from shooting when he decided to slam the man into a wall rather than draw his gun, in part because he feared being mistaken as the shooter himself. It turns out that the man was holding the gun he had just wrested from the killer.
"I was very lucky," said Zamudio of his split-second decision. As for his training? He grew up around his father's guns.
To be effective with a gun in a crisis situation requires not just instinct but training. Police officers and military forces go through extensive instruction for good reason. It isn't enough to knock a few beer cans off a fencepost or to accurately line up a deer in a rifle sight. Though Zamudio made the right call, he came close to being a coldblooded killer himself.
The fact is, permission to carry also grants implicit permission to use the gun as one deems necessary. Essentially, we've deputized thousands of private citizens without training them. Taking a shooting class at the local firing range may improve your reflexes and aim, but it doesn't prepare you for the adrenaline-fueled intensity of real-time, close-range combat, which is what the Wal-Mart encounter and Tucson events essentially were.
In both instances, moreover, the perpetrators were deranged and/or delusional. The Millers were so over-the-top anti-government that they were tossed off the ranch of Cliven Bundy, the cattle rancher who staged an armed stand-off with government agents. There's anti-government — and then there's crazy.
What does the average gun owner know about the minds of domestic terrorists? The Millers were fighting for freedom, they said. Would this include the freedom that allowed them to own guns in the first place?
But no. Freedom is for sound minds and adult dispositions. We can't weed out all the rebels looking for a cause. Nor do we delude ourselves that any but law-abiding citizens will play by the rules or that criminals will come around to lawfulness.
But we can try not to become weirder — and more dangerous — ourselves.
The sensible case isn't that we need to ban guns, as some reflexively would argue. It is that we require reasonable scrutiny of those who wish to own guns, especially to conceal-carry, and require serious training of those who possess them. Even this may be viewed by some as stepping on our Second Amendment rights, but this is an argument without a satisfactory resolution.
What say we hold our fire and give sanity a shot?
Kathleen Parker's email address is firstname.lastname@example.com.


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By Jake Des Roches | February 22nd, 2013
From building some of the first snowboards nearly thirty-five years ago, to ending production almost ten years ago, Chuck Barfoot has seen a lot. He's been around long enough to know the difference between what makes a good board, what makes a mediocre board, and what makes a great board. In re-entering the world of snowboard manufacturing, one thing is certain, Chuck Barfoot is fully committed to crafting great boards.
Beginning in the 2013-14 season, we will once again have the opportunity to ride brand new BARFOOT snowboards. The boards will be produced in small batches, not in lots of 10,000, to ensure quality. The boards will also be hand made right here in the USA, in the factory Chuck's board-building partner, Ernie Delost, owns in San Diego, California.
The benefits of producing at a factory close to home are many, but I say it really comes down to just two, quality and control. Chuck described it to me in terms of red tape; "We can be building that board and have a few people go, 'You know what? We'd like to have the flex changed a little.' And we are able to make that change within minutes, versus months and months of people freaking out. There's a lot less red tape because it's Ernie and I making decisions and we can make them on the spot."
To many, this will come as a relief. A lot of riders (and skiers) out there are simply fed up with cheaply produced (but still expensive) boards and skis that are made in a factory several thousands of miles away, oftentimes in China. But those are big brands that pump out dozens of models of boards, and sell thousands of them worldwide. Luckily for us, that's just not the Barfoot way.
It makes me happier than hell when I've got somebody on one of my boards going, 'Damn! There's nothing that rides like this.'
Next year, BARFOOT will have two boards available to the public. One is a cambered, all-mountain slayer, and the other is a rocker-camber hybrid freestyle board. The all-mountain board will feature a low profile camber and a longer than standard transition between the camber and the nose and tail lift. The freestyle board will feature a slight rocker between the feet, a little bit of camber underfoot, and be coupled with an early-rise nose and tail. BARFOOT has two design features for us that will really set these boards apart.
First, every board at every length will come in a narrow, standard, and extra wide width. Chuck explained why; "So that we can have people who have a size thirteen versus a size seven, but still ride a 158, ride the same board. They can have a board that fits them, rather than have something that they have to wrestle with, or a board with toe and heel drag."
Second, BARFOOT's binding inserts will feature an extended width design. This pattern will allow for a rider's bindings to be mounted with two to three extra inches of variation, which leads to a board that fits each rider better. Chuck explained his reasoning to me again; "Because you know, if someone has a 20-inch stance, someone has a 22-inch stance, someone has a 24 inch stance, they can all ride that same board. It offers a lot of adjustability for your stance, more so than other boards that are on the market." This will also let riders push their bindings way-way back for powder days and re-center them for days when the snow is not as deep.
I tried to get Chuck to go into detail on the materials he will be using. But that is something he wants to keep secret for now. He assured me that all materials from the base, to the cores, to the top-sheets will be of the highest quality, and like I said earlier, will be hand built in Ernie Delost's San Diego factory.
One thing that long-time BARFOOT fans, and those looking for the best performing snowboard possible, will be interested in, are custom-made boards. Sadly, Chuck isn't quite ready to open the custom-shop to the public. But he did say, "Making custom boards available to the public is something we want to do. We do make custom boards for some of our riders now." So all hope isn't lost, especially considering that this man truly loves building boards.
"It's something that I love doing, because we're making a board that fits you like a glove." Chuck went on further; "It makes me happier than hell when I've got somebody on one of my boards going, 'Damn! There's nothing that rides like this.' Or, 'This board is so perfect for me!' Then you hear them talking about pow days or whatever they did, something outrageous, and they landed it, and the board worked perfectly and you're like, 'Yeahh!' It's like you did it yourself."
Reprinted courtesy of Teton Gravity Research


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Wednesday, May 09, 2012
MMO Decline Caused By Move To Small Guilds
The modern MMO decline in subscriptions, as evidenced by World of Warcraft and The Old Republic, is being caused by the shift in the extended endgame to smaller groups and smaller guilds.
Let's look at at World of Warcraft. The decline in subscriptions starts in mid-to-late Wrath, when 10-man raiding starts coming into vogue. In Cataclysm, when 10-man raiding moved up to first-class citizen standing, the decline accelerated.
In The Old Republic, the primary endgame group size is 8-man. It is clear that the SWTOR has real trouble holding on to people at max level. Small guilds, built for a small group endgame, are just not sticky enough for significant player retention.
The one MMO which has shown continuous growth, even over the same time period, is Eve Online. And Eve bucks this trend in group size. Endgame in Eve trends toward larger and larger groups, with hundred-person fleets flying around.
If this idea is true, why would large raids, and the corresponding large guilds, be stickier than small raids?
First, and most importantly, there's a lot more room for "grunts" in a large guild. Grunts are average players who like playing the game, but don't really want to take on extra responsibility like the officers. If you take a 30-man raid size, and break it into 10-mans, I think you end up losing the bottom 10 players, just because there really isn't room for them in the subsequent guilds that form. I think a lot of people just want to play the game, and are perfectly willing to follow orders from someone more dedicated.
Second, larger guilds and sub-communities are more likely to have people playing during off-hours. They can feel less lonely, which contributes to people sticking around.
Third, turnover is more easily managed by larger groups. People leaving and joining is not as much of a big change to the group. A larger guild is also more likely to be able to absorb a smaller group of players. This is also true when a guild breaks up. It is easier for three or four 30-man guilds to each absorb a faction of players from the dead guild. In contrast, asking a 10-man guild to absorb 5 players strains the resources of that guild.
Fourth, the intra-guild bonds don't have to be as strong in larger guild, as they are in a smaller more tightly-knit group. They don't require the large effort to create, to maintain, and don't cause as much damage when they break. I think this is actually an advantage for a lot of players. They just want a casual, light relationship with their guild, not an intense one. I think this also makes it easier to apply to a new guild, and form bonds which are "strong enough".
Fifth, large group endgame requires a greater focus on technical performance by the developers. Does anyone believe that the SWTOR engine could handle 40-man raids? Whereas WoW could handle that 8 years ago. If 40-man raids had been a development requirement, SWTOR would have had to optimize earlier and harder. And that would have a lot of trickle-down performance improvements, especially for low-end machines and the performance of the levelling experience.
For these reasons, I think larger groups are just stickier and better for the extended game than smaller groups. Smaller groups are easier on the officers and the devoted, definitely. However, I think they cause a lot of the grunts to be unable to find a home at endgame, and thus they unsubscribe and fade away.
24 comments:
That's a lot to think on, and I guess I'll get started in reverse.
I think that last statement is a very big assumption, and much of what you say is predicated on it. I don't think it's false, but surely not the only reason people unsubscribe.
I think there's also the constant class redesigns, the technical difficulty of modern raiding, the imbalances in PvP, and the reduced amount of content compared to previous expansions to consider. That's just what I can think of off the top of my head.Nah, WoW's decline was the dev's ill-conceived pivot toward catering to an audience they wanted, but no longer existed in appreciable amounts, e.g. high-difficulty endgame raiders.
In a way, you're still right though. Smaller guilds aren't equipped to handle lack of progression well, as a single ragequit can sever entire guild social bonds. Plus, just like with 40m raiding, the game used to tolerate groups of varying skill levels - you could bring your friends with you to a raid, even if they weren't as good. There is LFR now, and WoW's figures are stabilizing, but we'll see if it was enough.Truly it is something to think about. I daresay it's actually a lack of focus on content? Past MMOs like Lineage 2 or DOAC had an emphasis on group co-operation. You needed to chip in or it would fail miserably. Examples would be Castle sieges in both games, everybody had a common goal to work towards and even little grunts can help contribute by providing mats. In most of Today's MMO, we don't really see that.
Possibly Tera Online might be able to reverse the trend with it's large scale political system but it's a bit too early to tell for the US/EU release so far.My point is, are they even in decline? Especially after the news that WoWs population has stabilised.
SWOTR subs is hardly surprising... Of course when cold hard cash comes into play people will leave. 1.3 million is still a lot of people. WoWs subs of 10.2 million is hardly an example of a decline per se. There is more choice these days so companies will get less slice of the cake each. If you took MMOs subs as a whole, I think you will find it very healthy indeed.
Nick- Anonymous10:57 PM, May 09, 2012
Wow's subscription stabilized because of one reason.
Scroll of Rez.
We've seen a metric-ton of old players back thanks to this. Not to new content. But to free mounts!
I agree. Small just doesn't cut the muster. Personally I think the most note worthy thing here is that when given the choice between 10man and 25 man they choose 10man. There is more loot per person in 25man so you must assume that 10man raiding is simply more fun. This isn't just an accessibility thing either. Guilds able to foster 25 man teams choose to break them into 10mans more frequently in my experience then combining into 25man raids.
My opinion is that 10 man raiding is more fun. This is not to say that it isn't incredibly harsh on the social aspect of guilds that would otherwise support the more fun 10 mans.
What I would like to see is 10 man raiding in normal modes to have low skill jobs designed into them for 2 players. Allow the raid leader to give their low skilled people simple jobs like aoeing down mobs or clicking siwtches. I'd like Blizzard to assume that in the average social guild that might clear a normal mode, that they are going to be bringing 2 fire dancers and to adjust their design accordingly so everyone can have fun without trivializing the game for the other 8 players.- Jumina1:24 AM, May 10, 2012
Interesting post but the question here is wheter raids really form the core of the MMO audience. Some people claim the raiders are less than 20% minority.
I think we should not underestimate the fact WoW has less content outside of raids in Cata than it had in WotLK or TBC. Even if it was just a slower leveling. - Anonymous1:38 AM, May 10, 2012
"Personally I think the most note worthy thing here is that when given the choice between 10man and 25 man they choose 10man. "
And if you gave them the choice between 10 man and 5 man raids, they'd probably pick 5 man. And if you gave them the choice of raiding solo with some NPC raid companions, most of them would pick that.
It's about convenience as much as anything. Plus easier to organise suitable schedules. One other thing to ponder, and one of the main reasons I think the raiding population is declining is the how much more complex the characters are to play at a reasonably high level than they were in the past.
Since when I level up the monsters I face level up as well, the only thing that really changes is the number of cooldowns and such I need to weave together to do my job.
Now, don't get me wrong, there is a level of skill there. I was one of those that still wove his own shots even as a Hunter back in TBC.
That doesn't change my thought that many people are turned off by what could be called complexity for the sake of complexity.- sleepysam5:18 AM, May 10, 2012
I think you are on to something here. I would put myself in the semi-casual boat. I just could not commit to a raiding schedule. But, if 40 man raids were still viable, I am sure I could cycle in and out of the last 10-15 spots with others, and not be stuck on the sidelines as often, making me less likely to quit. Definitely one of the factors.
ReplyDelete Considering the relatively low number of progression raiders in WoW, or in any MMO for that matter, I really don't agree with your hypothesis. I'd guess that the largest group of players that are unsubscribing are casual players that are just bored and they weren't in an active guild to begin with.
Blizzard probably stopped the bleeding with their scroll of resurrection and the free Diablo 3 deal.Maybe my information is wrong, but I understood that there was quite a population boom during Wrath? That the current 10.2 million subscribers is larger than (or at least similar to) the subscriber base at the height of BC? If that's the case then it undermines the claim that subscriber fall-off increased along with the implementation of smaller raid sizes and suggests that there was some other element of WotLK that attracted subscribers in numbers different than any other expansion.
ReplyDelete- Felcat6:13 PM, May 10, 2012
I'm not sure if comparing Eve's stable population is really a good metric.
They are sitting around what, 400k-500k? Which compared to WOW's current pop is well, pretty small.
Finding and keeping a small group that are looking for a specific niche game is going to be easier then trying to maintain over 10 million active world wide subscriptions. Especially because Blizzard is holding tight to the effort to try and give play options for so many styles. (how successful they are at it is obviously questionable.)
I doubt any single MMO will balloon to the size WOW had at it's peek, but I'd wager you could maintain small, solid core of small group oriented player with the right world. That seems to be the likely fate of SWTOR, a bit more shrink until it hits a size the game will coast on for years. - Anonymous10:08 PM, May 10, 2012
I think it is time commitment. The number of people willing to schedule 3 hours 4 nights a week is dropping. The appeal of solo > 5 > 10 > 25 is not [just] in game content but all the OOG scheduling and conflict. I think the goal of MoP scenarios is to get over needing a fixed number of the appropriate classes to do content.
It is true that 2000 hours of hard leveling to max level cap in EQ made for a much better community. It is also true that today a game like that would fail or be a very niche game.
I.e., it might be that going to 5s & 10s contributed to the decline. But trying to stay at 25s might have caused a much larger decline. The market has moved on. Certainly EVE is a niche game. They had layoffs after monaclegate so I am not sure it is even profitable (although the losses could just be due to investing in DUST.)
To quibble, EVE certainly has not shown "continuous growth". IIRC, the monocle gate decline was 11% in a short period. The numbers from CCP were over 400k in April fanfest and recent MMOdata.net was "361k subs, so they can celebrate their 9th anniversary knowing they are back on the rise." EVE has done a good job of being a stable niche player with some extremely loyal fans. I am not sure it is a business success. "mostly because I would like it to be true, and that is always a dangerous sign."
Is very wise of you. It is dangerous, indeed.
I notice you done completely skipped over the change from 40-man raiding ta 10/25 what came in TBC. If'n yer arguements was correct, should there not have been a drop in subscriptions then? Afters all, it hit a lotta raidin' guilds hard, and hardest hit were the 15-or-so grunts what (accordin' ta conventional wisdom) was bein' carried. Leaders, not so much. So how's come the subscription numbers went up?
I also notice what you says 10-man raidin' came "into vogue" in mid/late-Rash. What does this mean? It started showin' up on magazine covers? I mean, 10-mans was more popular in terms of numbers of buggers startin' in Kara, and this never changed. 25-mans had better rewards all through the end of Rash of the Itch King, an' still offer a greater quantity. So is yer "in vogue" claim fer that point in time based on anythin' objective, or did ya fall inta a trap of "well, that's when subscriptions done peaked, so that musta been when 10-mans became more stylin'."?I don't think that the drop from 40 to 25 really changed the "nature" of guilds. To put it another way, a 40-man guild is closer in structure to a 25-guild than a 25-man is to 10-man. A 25-man guild will maintain sub-groups like healers and tanks and ranged dps. But a 10-man generally only has the main group, with no subgroups. A 25 is far more likely to have formal loot structures, where a 10 will be mostly ad hoc.
Qualitatively, I would say that their is a point where a guild flips from "large" to "small" and that point is somewhere between 10 and 25. An interesting question might be 15-mans. Would they feel more like 10s or 25s?
Keep in mind that the guild needs more than the bare minimum. A 25-man guild is really more like 35 people, and a 40-man is closer to 50 or 60.
As for the timing, I don't think that Karazhan changed the nature of guilds. Everyone knew that future raids in TBC would be 25 man, so they temporarily bent their structure to accomodate Kara.
But I definitely think that around Ulduar, guilds started to internalize the idea that 10s were viable. Structure started shifting to accommodating 10s. Large guilds started forming subgroups, almost subguilds, that ran the 10s together.
In my view, it all comes down to structure. The structure of 40s is very similar to the structure of 25s. But that is different than the structure of 10s. Ulduar-ish was the time that guild structure started changing permanently.
I just think the 40/25 structure was more conducive to retention than the 10 structure is.I was reading something just the other day that said the subscription started declining during ToC, spiked again at the launch of ICC, declined over that year, then reached its all time high right before the launch of Cata. But I didn't look for links to the hard numbers so it could have been completely wrong.
ReplyDelete- Anonymous4:20 PM, May 11, 2012
I imagine 10man is more fun because having 24 other people coordinate is invariably harder and takes fun away. Smaller guilds equate to less social connections.
I'm mystified as to why MMOs insist on restricting social connections when the lesson of social networking/facebook is stickiness comes from maximizing social connections through multiple grouping. Part of the reason why ffxi still survives is because people know lots of people and inhabit multiple groups for different purposes. - Anonymous2:01 AM, May 12, 2012
"I'm mystified as to why MMOs insist on restricting social connections when the lesson of social networking/facebook is stickiness comes from maximizing social connections through multiple grouping. "
I've never understood why they don't experiment more with this.
One example is when WoW imposed the same raid locks on 10 and 25 man raids at the start of Cataclysm. It's like they didn't realise that a lot of people raided those places with different groups, and it kept a lot of more casual 25 man raids going because their more hardcore members could do hard modes in 10 mans on off days. In my own opinion, I'd personally prefer raiding in a 25 man or 40 man raid if I could with the type of people in my guild. However, I think the big problem is wow has become more casual friendly, and so many players now are casual as opposed to the "Hardcore 40 man raiding" days (which I was never a part of myself)
Most of the time it isn't an issue of what's more fun 10, 25 or 40 because I know many of us in my guild always say "the more the merrier!" there's just too many people not willing to make room in their lives for a raid in WoW that doesn't go along with their real life schedule. Aligning so many people into a certain timeslot can be very hard, so 10 mans come into play more often because there's less people, therefore less colliding time schedules.Someone mentioned 15-mans - I always thought that 15-18 that might really be the 'sweet spot' for raiding in WoW. I always found that when we did Sartharion or easy parts of Naxx with that amount that it just seemed like the right amount: a bit larger and more flexible than 10, but not as complicated and with more individual input than 25.


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Chronic Kidney Disease
Parents of kids who are diagnosed with a chronic kidney disease have many questions about what might happen next, how their child might feel, and what treatments are likely to be involved.
Four major areas of concern are blood pressure, diet, anemia (low red blood cell count), and growth. Kids may feel sick at times, need to take medicines, and watch what they eat and drink.
Read on to learn about treatments for kidney disease and what parents can do to help.
Treating Kidney Diseases
Treatment begins with dietary changes and medicines. Your child may need to take several medicines, including vitamins, calcium, bicarbonate, and blood pressure pills. So, medication management can be a major challenge.
If your child has trouble remembering to take medicines, consider getting a medicine clock, which has two cardboard clocks — one for each 12-hour period — with a picture of the medicines posted on the the times they need to be taken. These clocks can provide valuable cues for kids who need to take several doses of different medicines throughout the day and evening. Also, alarms can be set to remind kids to take their medicine.
If your child must take so much medicine that it affects his or her appetite, call your doctor for advice. Try to find the most acceptable forms of medicine (smaller pills, capsules, or more concentrated liquids, for example) and simplify the schedule under your doctor's guidance.
Injectable medicines are available for treatment of anemia and growth failure in some kids with chronic kidney disease. Erythropoetin can increase the red blood cell count, which often improves energy and activity levels in kids with kidney failure. Many kids with chronic kidney disease will grow more normally with the help of human growth hormone injections.
Children with chronic kidney failure may not have any symptoms until about 80% of their kidney function is lost. Then, they may feel tired, have nausea or vomiting, have difficulty concentrating, or feel confused. Fluid build-up appears as swelling in the skin, fluid congestion in the lungs, and high blood pressure. At this stage, two treatment options are available — dialysis and transplant.
Nearly all kids with end-stage kidney disease eventually receive transplants. If a living related donor can't be found, dialysis may be required until a donor kidney becomes available.
The two forms of dialysis are hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis:
- In hemodialysis, blood is cleansed outside the body through a machine. These treatments take several hours at a time and usually need to be done three or more times a week. In most cases, hemodialysis is done in a dialysis center, but in some cases it can be done at home.
- Peritoneal dialysis uses the body's own peritoneal membrane — beneath the outer layers of the abdominal wall — to filter the blood. Two forms of peritoneal dialysis are available: continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis (CCPD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). CCPD uses a simple machine called a cycler to perform the dialysis at night; CAPD is done throughout the day and no machine is needed. CCPD requires the assistance of a parent and is most suitable for younger children; CAPD is performed by the patient and may be more suitable for older kids and teens.
Both types of dialysis, but particularly hemodialysis, require dietary limits with regard to fluids, phosphorus, and salt. With fewer dietary and fluid restrictions, peritoneal dialysis can mean more lifestyle flexibility, and children tend to grow better.
Helping Your Child
Kids with chronic kidney disease often need dietary changes. Making sure that they get enough calories and nutrients can be a challenge. Supplementing your child's diet with extra carbohydrates and fats might help to increase calorie intake.
The kidneys cannot easily remove excess water, salt, or potassium, so their intake might need to be limited. Dairy products have to be restricted because they contain lots of phosphorus. Too much phosphorus may lead to calcium deposits in the eyes, heart, skin, and joints and may leach calcium from bones, which can increase the risk of broken bones.
But eliminating dairy foods can make it hard for kids to get enough calcium to maintain bones and support other body functions, particularly those affecting growth.
In kids with more severe kidney failure, reducing the intake of dairy products and other protein-rich foods (such as meat, fish, or eggs) can make the filtering work of the kidneys easier and can sometimes delay the need for dialysis. But it's important to remember that kids do need enough protein for growth — so strict protein restriction (the kind recommended for adult patients) should not be used.
You'll also need to monitor fluid intake. If your child's ability to produce urine is declining, fluid intake needs to be limited. Stay away from "super-size" drinks, and offer slushy beverages or ice cubes to suck on.
Some kids with kidney disease, particularly those with high blood pressure, may need to restrict their intake of sodium, which is found in table salt and many foods. Be careful of salt substitutes, too. Many have potassium in them, which can cause problems for kids with kidney failure. Some other salt preparations (for example, "natural salts," Himalayan salts, etc.) are just as high in sodium chloride as common table salt.
Read food labels and talk to your doctor or a dietitian about the sodium content of various foods. Consult your nephrologist about an appropriate diet that meets your child's need for calories and nutrients while minimizing damage to kidneys and avoiding other complications.
Exercise will help your child sweat, which will get rid of excess fluid and flush out toxins through the skin. Keep TV and video games to a minimum and encourage physical activity instead. Walking and strength training make bones stronger and stimulate muscles and nerves that can help ease "restless leg syndrome" and other nervous system problems sometimes associated with kidney disease.
Beyond these physical concerns, kids should be encouraged to express their feelings. Try to find well-adjusted young adults who had chronic kidney disease during childhood to talk with you and your child. You may find contacts and support groups through your nephrologist or the National Kidney Foundation. It's important for kids to see that the symptoms of the disease can be managed and controlled and that they can live a full life.
Kids whose health is stable should be encouraged to participate as fully as possible in school and activities, which will help them develop their self-esteem.
During hemodialysis treatments, doing homework, reading, and working on art projects are some positive ways to spend the time.
Looking Ahead
As kids with chronic kidney diseases get older, they can take on more responsibility for their own care. School-age kids should know the names of their medicines and how and when they're taken. As they're making the transition to adulthood, teens can share in the responsibility of making appointments. Teens should also have time alone to speak with the doctor and other members of the health care team.
A big step for kids is being able to talk to others — such as teachers, coaches, and friends — about their condition. Teens especially don't want to stand out or seem different. Part of the process of learning and maturing will be identifying limitations and knowing when to ask for help.
Kids with chronic kidney disease might also have problems dealing with the side effects of medicines. For those taking prednisone for long periods of time, these effects can be significant, including weight gain (especially around the face and trunk), moodiness, sleep disturbances, cataracts, and osteoporosis (weakening of the bones). Long-term treatment with these medicines also can slow growth and delay pubertal maturation.
Long-term prednisone treatment can cause acne (or make it worse) in teens. To an adolescent dealing with body image, a clear complexion might be just as important as controlling the kidney disease.
Besides the stress of having a chronic illness, your child is going through the trials of growing up, just like other kids. Treat him or her as a child first, which includes setting rules about behavior. Sometimes, those standards can be relaxed during particularly difficult times; the trick is picking them up again after your child's health improves.
Keep the lines of communication open so everyone knows what's happening and never hesitate to ask for help from your doctor or a mental health professional if you think it might be needed.
Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
© 1995-2024 KidsHealth ® All rights reserved. Images provided by iStock, Getty Images, Corbis, Veer, Science Photo Library, Science Source Images, Shutterstock, and Clipart.com


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Boston Magazine has posted 48 photos taken by Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Sean Murphy on the day and night that Boston Marathon bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured in Watertown, Mass.
As we wrote on July 18, Murphy gave photos to the magazine to show "the real Boston bomber ... not someone fluffed and buffed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine."
At first, Boston Magazine posted 14 of the images. They showed a bloodied Tsarnaev emerging from the stored boat where he was found hiding and emergency personnel treating him for the gunshot wounds and other injuries he had suffered.
Since then, Murphy has been disciplined by his department. According to Boston Magazine, when it went to press with the additional photos for its September issue Murphy was "on restricted duty. He's now been transferred to the State Police barracks in Athol, where he is assigned to the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift."
The 48 images now online include more photos of Tsarnaev and the command center where police gathered on April 19, the day he was captured.
The two explosions near the finish line of the April 15 marathon killed three people and wounded more than 260 others. Authorities say Tsarnaev, now 20, and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan were responsible. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after an April 18 gun battle with police in Watertown. Authorities say the brothers were also murdered a MIT campus police officer on the 18th.
Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal counts.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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By Marlene Kaufmann, General Counsel
During two days in December 2007 a unique meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) occurred in Tel Aviv, Israel. For only the second time in eleven years, Israel was chosen by the OSCE participating States to host the annual Mediterranean Seminar — a meeting designed to encourage dialogue about, and strategies for, improved cooperation between the OSCE participating States and their Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation — Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.
As Special Representative for Mediterranean Affairs of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Co-Chairman Hastings had worked tirelessly to bring the Partners together in Israel for their annual seminar. Unfortunately, official participation by the Partner States was limited, with only Jordan and Egypt sending representatives to the plenary sessions. However, more than seventy delegates from thirty-five countries attended the seminar and robust participation by NGOs from both sides of the Mediterranean yielded spirited discussion and specific recommendations for future OSCE efforts to combat discrimination.
Prior to joining the seminar, the Co-Chairman traveled to Jerusalem for a private meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The two discussed prospects for negotiations toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict following the Annapolis conference, as well as continued threats to Israel's security including Iran's ongoing nuclear program.
Co-Chairman Hastings also met with Jordanian Ambassador to Israel, Ali Al-Ayed, to discuss his country's views on the security situation in the region as well as the impact of the massive displacement of Iraqi citizens, including more than a half million who have sought refuge in Jordan. More than 4.7 million Iraqis have been displaced since 2003, including 2 million who have fled to Syria, Jordan and other countries in the region. This is the largest population displacement in the Middle East since 1948. Co-Chairman Hastings has introduced legislation to address this growing humanitarian crisis which provides aid for Jordan and other countries in the region that are hosting Iraqi refugees.
The Co-Chairman's visit also included a briefing by Israel's Director for relations with the United Nations and International Organizations and a tour of a newly constructed desalination facility in Ashkalon, the largest in the region. Desalination is a critical part of the social and economic infrastructure of the Middle East as it is in the Co-Chairman's congressional district and the entire State of Florida.
Under the broad theme "Combating Intolerance and Discrimination and Promoting Mutual Respect and Understanding," seminar participants examined such topics as the implementation of OSCE tolerance-related commitments in the participating States and the Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation and lessons learned; promoting respect for cultural and religious diversity and facilitating dialogue; and countering discrimination in the OSCE and Partner states.
In his opening remarks to the session on Countering Discrimination in the OSCE Participating States and the Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation, Co-Chairman Hastings pointed out that combating discrimination against individuals because of their race, religion, national origin or gender is a core principle of the Helsinki Process and is essential to stable, productive, democratic societies.
"The reality," said Hastings, "is that none of our societies is immune from the ignorance, indifference or outright hatred that fosters discrimination, intolerance, and ultimately destruction of every sort."
Co-Chairman Hastings noted that hate crimes had increased 8% in the U.S. during 2007 amidst the resurgence of the noose and swastika, unfair equation of Muslims and migrants with terrorism, violent attacks on gays, and the derogatory parodying of minority groups in the media and elsewhere in society.
"Elsewhere in the OSCE, the situation is not any better," he said. "A number of European countries have voted extremist political parties into office that openly espouse xenophobic, racist, and anti-Semitic views in the name of preserving national identity and security."
These scene-setting remarks were followed by presentations from a distinguished panel including Slovenian Ambassador, Mr. Stanislav Rascan, European Commission Ambaassador Mr. Lars Erik Lundin, Israeli lawyer Ms. Gali Etzion and Professor Gert Weisskirchen, a Member of the German Bundestag and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on Combating anti-Semitism. Their remarks, and the discussion that followed, focused on combating discrimination through legal measures, including legislative initiatives, as well as implementation by courts; education, in particular for young people; special challenges regarding discrimination against women, including religious laws; and the necessity of continuing dialogue between governments, parliaments and NGOs on ways and means to empower individual citizens.
In his closing remarks, Co-Chairman Hastings strongly urged the participants to focus on implementation of anti-discrimination laws and regulations and promotion of civic programs that encourage tolerance. He pointed out that all of us as individuals, and in particular government officials, have an obligation to combat intolerance and discrimination, as well as promote mutual respect and understanding. Hastings also stated his intention to visit all Mediterranean Partner countries within a year in his capacity as Special Representative for Mediterranean Affairs of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
On May 16, 2008, Co-Chairman Hastings again traveled to Israel, accompanying Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and other senior Members of Congress to mark Israel's 60th Anniversary. Co-Chairman Hastings and the delegation met with President Peres, Prime Minister Olmert, Defense Minister Barak and Foreign Minister Livni, as well as with the leaders of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities in Jerusalem. The Co-Chairman also accompanied Speaker Pelosi on a side trip to Baghdad where they met with Prime Minister Maliki and the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, the Council.
December 2008 offered the opportunity for Co-Chairman Hastings to fulfill his promise to the OSCE Mediterranean Partners Seminar and again visit all the Mediterranean Partner countries. The Co-Chairman traveled to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Israel where he met with parliamentarians and senior government officials. Co-Chairman Hastings also met with Jordanian officials in Egypt and expressed his intention to visit Jordan to complete his tour of the region in 2009. For details of the Co-Chairman's December 2008 visit, see "U.S. Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Alcee L. Hastings Visits OSCE Mediterranean Partners to Advance Regional Cooperation," Helsinki Commission Digest, Volume 40, Number 34.


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Monday, September 24, 2012
REVIEW: Death Love Doom
The copy I own is part of a limited print run of 200 and it's not, so far as I'm aware, available anymore. Instead, you'll have to content yourself with a 20-page PDF (plus two pages of maps) that sells for 3.00€ (about $4 US). The adventure looks similar to previous Lamentations of the Flame Princess efforts, using a simple two-column layout and a variety of "period" fonts intended to evoke the 17th century. The cartography by Jez Gordon, is both attractive and useful. The interior artwork is all the work of Kelvin Green and in his excellent signature style, though the subject matter is quite a departure for him.
On the other hand, Death Love Doom isn't a departure for James Raggi. If anything, I'd say it's probably the "Raggi-est" adventure he's written, being both an unrepentant finger in the eye of those who want roleplaying game products to consist entirely of stuff you can show your mother and a creative exploration of some of his own dark feelings. That probably sounds terribly pretentious and I apologize for that, but it's the most succinct way I can explain the visceral, emotional charge of revulsion I felt reading parts of this adventure. What I felt wasn't just disgust at something I found "icky," though. It was something else I couldn't quite put my finger on, which is a big part of why I initially didn't know what to do with Death Love Doom.
The adventure takes place entirely within the house and grounds of the Foxlowe family, who reside in London in the year 1625. That was the first of several curve balls thrown at me when I started reading. Unlike previous LotFP adventures, this one takes place not in a fantasy approximation of early modern Europe but in early modern Europe itself. Why he did this I have no idea, because, to my mind, there's no obvious payoff in having done so. At the same time, there's no difficulty whatsoever in stripping out the 17th century English references and running the adventure as a "straight" fantasy, so it's more a quirky authorial choice than a serious flaw, but it is odd.
At the start of the adventure, rumors are circulating that the wealthy Foxlowes, including Erasmus, the family patriarch and a successful merchant, have unexpectedly disappeared, possibly traveling abroad. The player characters can thus take the roles of either thieves hoping to rob their estate while it is presumably unoccupied or concerned locals looking to discover just what has happened to the prosperous family. Death Love Doom is thus a location-based adventure whose "plot," such as it is, has already occurred before the PCs step foot inside the Foxlowe house. Something has happened therein, something that has turned their residence into a veritable house of horrors, as the PCs will discover as they investigate it.
What they won't discover, at least not easily, is why the terrible things within the house have happened -- why all the members of the Foxlowe family have been killed in horrific ways or, worse yet, turned into even more horrific monsters. It's not completely impossible, but it does require a fair bit of luck and cleverness. Otherwise, Death Love Doom comes across as little more than grotesquerie for the sake of grotesquerie and that, I think, is Death Love Doom's biggest flaw. Reading the entirety of the module, I know what happened to the Foxlowes and why and it's a very chilling tale indeed. But the likelihood that the PCs will discover this is small. To them, there will be no rhyme or reason behind all the dissected children and genital mutilations and people with limbs cut off and sewn back on in the wrong places.
That's unfortunate, since it weakens the power of the module and contributes to the caricature of Raggi's adventures as being twisted and dark for no good reason. There's a very good reason behind the things the PCs encounter in Death Love Doom and knowing them makes this a much more satisfying (and unsettling) adventure. This reason is known only to a handful of NPCs in the adventure and the likelihood that they'll be in a position to share that information with anyone is not great. I suspect Raggi knows this; indeed, I suspect that the "mystery" of it all is part of the point. But, speaking as a referee, I find this a serious weakness.
Even knowing the truth behind the events of Death Love Doom, I'm not sure I could ever run the adventure. That's not a flaw in the module or its presentation so much as a statement of my own preferences. Death Love Doom is not for the squeamish; it's filled with a large number of disturbing images of the "body horror" variety, ably illustrated by Kelvin Green. This adventure is definitely not for the weak of stomach. Those who aren't so sensitive may nevertheless find it disturbing, since, well, it is. This is an adventure in the grindhouse style Raggi loves so much and should be judged with that in mind.
Presentation: 8 out of 10
Creativity: 7 out of 10
Utility: 6 out of 10
Buy This If: You like your adventures to be disturbing and horrific.
Don't Buy This If: You're squeamish and/or prefer your adventures with a "lighter" tone.
27 comments:
- Martin BrownSeptember 24, 2012 at 6:57 PM
I agree with this assessment. For the players it could easily be walking into a charnel house and then getting out as soon as possible, which ends the module. I am intending to run it, and when I do so it will be modified with transaction records for the necklace or suchlike. I like this, but it needs work to make it the player experience it needs to be as well as for my own playing experience at the table.
ReplyDelete - Jay MurphySeptember 24, 2012 at 7:38 PM
LotFP looks to tread the horror of the dark subconscious and the terror implied in grim existential fantasy. A difficult theme to pull off well. They will have some misfires. This sounds like one of them.
ReplyDelete - ColdstreamSeptember 24, 2012 at 8:50 PM
How do you draw the line between a horrific and disturbing adventure and grotesquerie for the sake of grotesquerie? Seems like an awfully fine line to me and might be easy to fall on the wrong side of it.
ReplyDelete - Brian BinckSeptember 24, 2012 at 9:20 PM
What I thought was interesting about this product was that it is a clever idea and would be great had it been done a little more conventionally. I will probably steal the idea (of the necklace and its property) and just use with less gore.
ReplyDelete - David RollinsSeptember 24, 2012 at 11:28 PM
I've played it and I agree that there should be more clues as to what is going on. We found out part of it from one of the characters but when we searched the papers on the main floor we didn't find anything. Had we found another clue we might have pressed on and gone upstairs. As it was we were all too freaked out and just set fire to the place and booked it with as much treasure as we could run with.
As for the tone of the game, it is indeed disturbing but it worked for our group. It's horrific in a way that emotionally affects the players. It messed with our decisions, our play and kept us off balance. We had an intense gaming experience and a lot of fun. Even though one guy said he was going to watch disney cartoons until he felt clean again.
It is certainly not for every group but with the right group it can be fantastic. I found it to be a satisfying gaming experience. When I run it I will definitely add more clues to entice the group to stay in there just a little longer. Thanks for the review, James!
Yes, doing the art for this was quite the departure for me, and I'm not sure it's something I would do again, but I wanted to stretch myself and see what my limits as an artist were. It seems pretentious, and perhaps it is, but that was my motivation.
Also, James Raggi, for all his confrontational public persona and extreme adventure content, is a jolly nice fellow, so when he asked for help I was happy to do so, although I did think he'd made the wrong choice of artist.- Digital OrcSeptember 25, 2012 at 6:25 AM
Nice review. I also bought this module a few weeks ago, but haven't run it yet. If I do, I'll definitely mod it out quite a bit. Especially with setting.
ReplyDelete - Aaron DaySeptember 25, 2012 at 9:56 AM
I wonder why LotFP is considered part of the OSR. It seems very much like a game from The Forge which is about as new school as you can get.
ReplyDelete - Nicholas BergquistSeptember 25, 2012 at 10:36 AM
Great review, and tempts me to pick it up. I think a lot of adventure modules have exactly this problem, building up an impressive back story that the author forgets to provide the keys and hooks to the GM to convey to the players. The number of times I've run a published scenario in which by scenario's end it became clear the players would be completely clueless as to the nature and origin of the module's events is surprising. Sometimes it feels like fellow GMs are writing these for their own interest, forgetting that there's going to be a table full of players who need to be included, too.
ReplyDelete - ironfaceSeptember 25, 2012 at 12:27 PM
I've found Raggi's modules tend to be half baned in parts, but their fun to read and full of great spin off ideas, so I'm looking forward to picking this one up too. I'd love to see him do some tour-de-force "Tomb of Horrors" type adventure one day.
ReplyDelete - Alan De SmetSeptember 25, 2012 at 4:34 PM
I'd be interested in hearing how you feel it's "Forgey", for lack of a better term.
ReplyDelete - Alan De SmetSeptember 25, 2012 at 4:39 PM
For those who have read or played it, how much work would it likely be to add more clues and hooks to give the players a fair shot at understanding the situation? It sounds intriguing enough to maybe be worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteRepliesIt wouldn't be too difficult. A journal entry or letter would do the job, as would talking to a survivor; some very bad things happen to the family at the centre of the plot but not all of them are dead. I can imagine that you could get some quite effective horror out of a conversation with one of them.
- SmiorganSeptember 25, 2012 at 7:53 PM
What an embarassed review!
It seems you dislike this product quite a bit but you do not feel entitled to say so. It's like... "I don't like it and I would never run it, but it's entirely subjective, it's just me... sorry... I'm probably a puritanic, faint-hearted guy, you guys have all the reason to like it!". Why don't you say plain and simple that you don't like dissected childern and genital mutilation in your adventure? And it's not fun for you.
What's the difference from saying you dislike D&D4th grid-based combat and it's not fun for you? Is disliking grid combat a more objective dislike? Less moral? Or one should not speak ill of OSR icons? From what I have read, this post among many others, James Raggi is an exceptional artist and writer and LotFP is a unique and laudable addition for OSR gamers. But I think I fall into the camp that is more Hitchcock than Clive Barker. Maybe more M. Night Syamalan's, "The Village," over Marcus Nispel's "Conan." Maybe it is a personal failing but, while gaming, I think I would rather experience fear, suspense, mystery, and adventure without the grotesque elements.
ReplyDelete- David RollinsSeptember 25, 2012 at 10:44 PM
Not much needs to be added. If you slow down Myrna's inevitable death, the PCs could get some critical info from her. Although as it stands now, quick-thinking PCs might be able to save her and get the info they need.
I would probably just add some clues to the papers in the office to give the party the incentive to keep searching. Because the players are under a lot of pressure from the situation they can't hit a wall without losing hope. If there is something in that office to hook them I think many groups will go upstairs to find the rest of the info.
I might add more to the upstairs as well to keep them on the line once they are hooked. Letters or journals seem like the best way to lay down clues and since it takes time to read them, it gives the wanderers time to catch up with the PCs. - Paul PatinoSeptember 26, 2012 at 11:10 AM
I think the only real issue I have with this review is your Utility rating of 6/10... I think a 3-4/10 would have been more appropriate given the rather controversial nature of this module. Otherwise, I think it's pretty spot-on.
ReplyDelete "As it was we were all too freaked out and just set fire to the place and booked it with as much treasure as we could run with".
I notice this happens a lot anytime people are introduced to Raggi's stuff. Such as in "Death Frost Doom" you would hear stories of players abandoning the adventure even before they got started because they were freaked out by the atmosphere. it's even kinda funny to think that the PC's( i.e. the Players) has no problem going into dungeons and killing orcs, but when he comes across a severed finger lying on the ground or a creepy old man tending a graveyard, it freaks them out.
A module like this BEGS to be explored, so should i ever GM it, I'm going to make sure anytime tries to "torch the place", a ghosty wind will blow out the flame.- ironfaceSeptember 26, 2012 at 11:34 PM
Am I saying you should strong arm the players to keep their PC's in the adventure? No I'm not! You enter some nasty house of hell doesn't man your going to do whatever you want inside and what I'm suggesting is not making it so easy for them. Use your imagination if you have one.


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Mac software
Basic Library
The original library on Mac Classic is the pano12.lib which was placed in the System extensions folder. This library hasn't been updated since version 2.6b1 and does not include the fast transformation or multi processor support. The OS X version supplied by Kekus Digital to run with PTMac is called PanoTools.bundle and has many updates including fast transform by default, multi-processor support, improved optimizer (including Altivec optimizations), etc.
The current version of Panorama Tools on Sourceforge builds on OS X and is basically the same as the version supplied by Kekus Digital, this provides the main library (the libpano12.dylib file), PTOptimizer and panoinfo.
Stitching Software
There are two Panorama Tools front-end applications available for OS X, these are Hugin (Open Source) and PTGui (shareware).
clens, autopano-sift, PTOptimizer, nona, nona_gui, Enblend and panoglview are all available for OS X as part of the Hugin bundle.
Quicktime VR conversion tools
There are two tools for converting equirectangular images into cubic Quicktime VR .mov files:
CubicConverter from ClickHere Design is Mac OSX-native and offers a variety of tools for conversion, editing of cube faces, setting various QuickTimeVR viewing and compression parameters.
MakeCubic is a Classic application provided free by Apple for basic conversion of equirectangular sources to QuicktimeVR cubic movies. MakeCubic is available on Apple's Quicktime developers tools page.
- How to install plug-ins in Photoshop
- The Panorama Tools Plugins are part of the original Panorama tools distribution by Helmut Dersch.
- PTLens free lens distortion correction.
- How to install actions in Photoshop
- Contrast Masking Actions lightens shadows and darkens highlights.
- Contrast Blending Actions combine a bracketed series of images to extend dynamic range.
Plugins for GIMP
GIMP is a sophisticated image editor similar to Photoshop.
There are several panoramic photography related GIMP plugins that can be used to manipulate panoramas.
See also Panorama Viewers.
Non-Panoramic use
PTShift chromatic aberration correction
External Links
- Install and Configure FileZilla on Mac OS. Interesting and helpful articles about Mac OS.