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- 4 Beds
- 3 Full
- 1,836 +/- Sqft
Property TypeResidential – Condo
SubdivisionTHE SUMMIT RESIDENCES
Listing Date02/01/19
Year Built2019
AreaTHE SUMMIT RESIDENCES
Parking2 Car Garage, Underground
Property Description
Luxury Living Meets Mountain Lifestyle. Huge views of Buffalo Mountain and the Gore Range. Four bedroom residence plus Studio Lock-off, huge deck and an additional 11'X14' activity lock-off for all your gear. Rooftop deck offers the best sunset views in the county, along with hot tubs and fire pit. 2 parking spaces per unit in heated garage. Walking/Biking distance to restaurants, Lake Dillon/Marina, amphitheater and more. Only 10-30 minutes to 7 different ski resorts. See it in VR!
Presented By
- Bus Route
- In Town
- Mountains
- Elevator
- Hot Tub - Common
- BBQ Area
- Ski Storage
- On Bus Line
- Cable Available
- Deck
- Fireplace - Gas
- Cross Country Trails
- Golf - Public
- Hiking / Pedestrian Trails
- Cable Tv
- City Sewer
- City Water
- Electricity
- Gas
- Phone
- Snow Removal
- Trash Pickup
- Common
- Radiant
- Hookups Only
Financial Information
2 Beds 2 Baths
3 Beds 3 Baths
1 Bed 2 Baths
2 Beds 2 Baths
1 Bed 1 Baths
2 Beds 2 Baths
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Listing courtesy of LIV SOTHEBY'S I.R.


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Browse Opportunities
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submission price: $10.00
Payout: $3,001 - $5,000
Music Submissions for Sire Records - Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records. We are seeking artists (solo and groups) for label roster consideration.
In the later 1970s, Sire transformed itself into a successful independent record label and went on to sign artists from the burgeoning punk rock and new wave scenes, including the Ramones, the Dead Boys, the Undertones and Talking Heads. Sire switched distribution to Warner Bros. Records in 1977; in 1978, Warner acquired Sire Records. During the 1980s, Sire achieved mainstream status after having launched the recording careers of Madonna (its biggest act), The Smiths, Ice-T, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Pretenders and the Cure in North America. Into the 1990s, the label had continued success with Seal, k.d. lang, Tommy Page and Ministry.
Current roster includes:
Delta Rae, Kill It Kid, Ewert and the Two Dragons, Cold Fronts, Residual Kid, Cyndi Lauper
Please DO NOT contact the industry professional or anyone directly at the industry professional's company. Doing so will DISQUALIFY you from consideration. We only accept submissions via Music Xray
- Sire Records / Warner Music Group
Deal Type: Label Roster Consideration
Decision Maker: We are the final decision maker
Deal Structure: Exclusive
Compensation: $2,000+
Song Quality: Rough Mixes, Fully mastered, Broadcast ready
submission price: $6.00
Payout: $3,001 - $5,000
Bentley Records is an international record label operating since 2013, specialized in building careers of artists. Throughout the years we have laid the foundation to jump start the careers of many artists. We're all about the quality of music and the quality of everything else we do. The artists who work with us are a prime example of this principle. Our roster includes well established, industry standard artists, producers and songwriters. A well experienced team is at your disposal to guide you to take your music to the next level.
Mission: Create stars out of talent!
Clients: Universal Music, Sony BMG, Warner Music, Zooland, Kontor
Experience: We have worked with international record labels and built the careers of multiple artists.
"We don't just make music, we create Classics!"
NYC Based International Record Label
- Troy Beelen - Executive A&R - Bentley Records
Deal Type: Label/Management Signing
Decision Maker: I'm the final decision maker
Deal Structure: Non-Exclusive
Compensation: $3,001 - $5,000
Song Quality: Rough Mixes, Fully mastered, Broadcast ready
Similar Sounding Artists: The Chainsmokers
submission price: $15.00
Payout: $3,001 - $5,000
Hitmaker Polow Da Don and his record label/management company are seeking writers and producers. The company houses artists such as Keri Hilson, Lloyd, Roscoe Dash, Ester Dean and newcomers Veronica Vega, Salo Jackson, MDMA, King and D. Smith. If you think you have what it takes to join us, submit your best track(s) for consideration.
Polow has produced for a variety of artists including Nicki Minaj, Ciara, Chris Brown, Nelly, Christina Aguilera, Kelis, Rihanna, T.I., Will Smith, Keri Hilson and more.
submission price: $15.00
Payout: $3,001 - $5,000
Escape Artist Management Currently seeking producers and writers . Escape Artists looks after respected Writer/Producers/Mixers such as Anthony Killhoffer (Kanye West etc) Dan Frampton (The Script, Olly Murs, Dappy, Ed Sheeran) If you have exceptional talent in these areas please submit and we will review.

subset: commoncrawl


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Liberty News
Hockey team enjoys morning scrimmage at Falwell farm
|Liberty President Jerry Falwell, Jr. shows his stick skills on his lake in Bedford County on Wednesday.
Thanks to the recent cold snap, and the hospitality of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. and his family, members of the ACHA Division I men's hockey team had the chance to visit the Falwell family's Bedford County farm and hold a makeshift scrimmage on their frozen lake on Wednesday.
While the majority of the residential student body was in Convocation, they got proof that the team was indeed playing hockey, and not hooky, when video shot by School of Communication & Creative Arts students was streamed into the Vines Center.
The friendly morning "shinny" in full uniform and gear was a refreshing mid-week getaway for Flames, who are ranked No. 3 in the country.
"A lot of the guys on our team grew up playing on ponds like that, so it was kind of like a throwback to our childhood," said Liberty senior forward and captain Andrew McCombe, who's from London, Ontario. "I think it was just a good way to kind of hit the reset button and get refreshed and just have a lot of fun. It was just a great morning. I think the team really came together. Any time you get out on a frozen pond, I think you feel like a kid again, no matter what."
The Flames held their regularly scheduled practice back at the LaHaye Ice Center in the afternoon in preparation for their final road trip of the regular season this weekend at the University of Delaware. Liberty Head Coach Kirk Handy said the players made the most of the time away to enjoy their sport in a unique setting.
"It doesn't happen every year," he said. "It's a neat opportunity when it does happen to go out and enjoy it and and get back to the roots of hockey. I think that was kind of the fun part for the players and coaches. And then to make it even more fun, it's not only an outdoor setting, but it's a gorgeous setting at our president's house. President Falwell and his wife, Becki, were out there and all their kids were out there, so it was a good time for our players to interact with them."


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Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey held a pre-season marijuana eradication meeting on Thursday to discuss the main issues the county will face this summer and to go over strategies with local stakeholders.
"I think we're going to continue to see an increase in cultivation based upon our overall lack of economic health in Humboldt County and the state of California," Downey said.
The stakeholders included sheriff's office personnel, District Attorney Paul Gallegos, federal representatives with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, Cal Fire representatives, Arcata Councilman Mark Wheetley, 4th District Supervisor Virginia Bass, a representative from Jared Huffman's office, biologists and environmental researchers.
"We will never eradicate cultivation completely," Downey said. "But right now, at this point, it's not controllable. It's gotten too big, too out-of-control."
In a PowerPoint presentation, Downey identified increased enforcement, federal assistance, increased prosecution and seizure, financial commitment from local agencies for eradication and arrest efforts as solutions to the problem.
Law enforcement agencies exterminate grow sites year-round, but the grow season intensifies mid-July through September — when the outdoor grow season kicks off, Downey said.
The sheriff's office has identified 4,100 grow sites throughout the county. Typically, law enforcement is able to eradicate 50 or 60 of those each season.
"It's a daunting task for those of us tasked with dealing with this," sheriff's office Sgt. Bryan Quenell said.
One of the main issues discussed was the environmental impacts marijuana cultivation has on watersheds, local fisheries, algae bloom and endangered species, and how toxins, including rodenticides, are found at grow sites.
"One of the biggest concerns is what to do with the environment, what to do with the watersheds, how that impacts communities," said Tom LaNiver, a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program representative.
Another was the financial impact.
In 2012, $2.7 million in cash was seized, sheriff's office Lt. Wayne Hanson said.
Strategies discussed during the meeting include reinforcing the need to increase cooperation between agencies and targeting sites based on their environmental impact and threat to public safety.
Downey will hold another meeting in October, when the season ends.
Lorna Rodriguez can be reached at 441-0506 or email@example.com.


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Hundreds of single people from across Northern Ireland responded to a love-inspired offer from a pizza chain which promised to help them find a date, and maybe even love, based entirely on their pizza preferences.
Men and women looking for a 'pizza' the action, answered a series of probing questions which revealed their perfect pizza partner and hopefully love match, explained Brian Clarke, Director, Four Star Pizza.
"These days there are many different ways for people to look for a potential love interest, including online, but for many, they just don't work! So Four Star Pizza thought we'd try something different and see if the answers people gave about their pizza likes and dislikes could lead to a date.
"We're delighted to say that pizza proved to be the missing ingredient for six men and six women who we sent on a first date to our store in Carrickfergus where they enjoyed pizza making classes and a candlelit meal for two.
"There was certainly chemistry with some of our couples so we can't wait to hear how it goes with them. We already knew that pizza has the power to bring people together and now we know that pizza can even help people find a date. Another reason to love pizza!"
One of the daters, Bryan Craig, from Newtownards, said: "The night went extremely well, as I made a strong connection with the lady I dated. In fact, I am seeing her again very soon."
But it didn't go to plan for everyone as Bex Paden's date didn't turn up.
Bex said: "My date was a no show but I had an amazing night making my own pizza and chatting to all the other daters. But the best bit was enjoying a delicious Four Star Pizza."
The Four Star Pizza questionnaire provided some other interesting insights into how singletons in Northern Ireland think.
43% of men and 42% of women thought their best attribute was humour and when it comes to what they look for most in a potential partner, 33% of men said honesty and 48% of women said humour.
When asked who they would most like to share a pizza with, 36% of men said Holly Willoughby and 37% of ladies chose Tom Hardy as the dish of the day.
When asked what their single life anthem was, 33% of men said Bon Jovi's, It's My Life, whilst 34% of women chose Cyndi Lauper's, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Size really does matter to pizza lovers with 41% saying they preferred a 12-inch pizza and a hungry 19% of the Northern Ireland public choosing a 19-inch pizza.
One thing almost everyone agreed on however, 97% to be exact, was that pizza makes them happy.


text:
Waiting for the Ferry
This charming limited edition landscape print by Fred Cuming features rich energetic colour.
This print has been produced using around 20 different silk screens, necessary to give the prints the look, feel and depth of the original oil painting. Fred supervises the entire production process closely, concentrating particularly on the last few screens, which determine the final adjustment of tone and colour.
47.5 X 47.5cms
- Advanced screen printing
- Printed on heavyweight, hand-made paper
- Signed by the artist
Fred Cuming was born in 1930 in London and trained at the Sidcup School of Art between 1945 and 1949. After National Service he studied at the Royal College of Art for four years and was awarded the Abbey Travel Scholarship to visit Rome. In 1969 he was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Academy, becoming a full member in 1974. At that time, he was the youngest member ever elected. Fred has also been a member of the New English Art Club since 1960.
Fred has exhibited widely since his first one-man show at Thackeray Gallery, London, and has work in private and public collections internationally. In 2001 he was given the honour of being the 'Featured Artist' in the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, with an entire gallery of his own. In 2004, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts at the University of Kent in Canterbury.
Fred Cuming was commissioned in 1996 to paint a portrait of Stephen Hawking. This portrait is now part of the National Portrait Gallery collection and was most recently exhibited in 2006


text: Can you spot the clever chick? It apparently escaped from its confines, and its owner feared the cat had eaten it—until he saw that the chick had, in fact, managed to make itself one with the cat. For his part, the gentle kitty seems quite content to let this strange little beast hang out on its leg. Perhaps this is the beginning of a beautiful inter-species friendship.


text: Senior Judge. b. Texas. Attended Fox Tech High School and San Antonio Junior College, A.D. (Data Processing); received B.B.A. (Accounting), University of Texas, Austin, 1972; attended State University of New York, Buffalo in 1st year law school, 1975; J.D., University of Houston Law Center, 1977; LL.M., Taxation, New York University Law School, 1978. Admitted to Texas Bar, 1977. Certified in Tax Law by Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 1984; Certified Public Accountant Certificate from Texas, 1976, and California, 1974. Admitted to United States District Court, Southern District of Texas, 1982, and Western District of Texas, 1985, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1982; private practice of tax law, in San Antonio, TX, 1987-April 1995; partner, Leighton, Hood and Vasquez, 1982-87, San Antonio, TX; Trial Attorney, Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, Houston, TX, 1978-82; accountant, Coopers and Lybrand, Los Angeles, CA., 1972-74. Member of American Bar Association, Tax Section; Texas State Bar, Tax and Probate Section; Fellow of Texas and San Antonio Bar Foundations, Mexican American Bar Association (MABA) of San Antonio (Treasurer); Houston MABA; Texas MABA (Treasurer); National Association of Hispanic CPA's; San Antonio Chapter (founding member); College of State Bar of Texas, National Hispanic Bar Association; member of Greater Austin Tax Litigation Association; served on Austin Internal Revenue Service District Director's Practitioner Liaison Committee, 1990-91, chairman, 1991. Appointed by President Clinton as Judge, United States Tax Court, on May 1, 1995, for a term ending April 30, 2010. Reappointed by President Barack Obama on October 13, 2011, for a term ending October 12, 2026. Retired on June 24, 2018, but continues to perform judicial duties as Senior Judge on recall.


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55 Interesting Social Media Infographics
Infographic punches the idea into one's processor almost immediately because of the way data is presented is neat, simple and less words more fun. Hence, it is important to always make sure your inforgraphics is simple but informative, fun and reliable. With these criteria, your Infographics will not fail your audience. As you get a hang of it, you'll realized that you can easily convert any ideas into Infographics presentation.
Fantastic news for all you social media addicts out there because we've complied a total of 60 infographics that are related to social media! Here are some of the interesting one "How are mobile phones changing social media", "Journey of a Tweet", "Evolution of Twiter" and a lot more. Prepare to get information overwhelmed. Full list after jump!
Recommended Reading: More Infographic related posts.
The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions
Age Distribution on Social Network Sites
Balance Your Media Diet
10 Levels of Intimacy in Today's Communication
A Day in the Internet
Breakdown of the Blogosphere
Building a Company with Social Media
China's Social Media Map
Conversation Prism
Facebook Vs Twitter
Facebook was a Country
Google Buzz Twitter Reactions
Google Facts and Figures
How are Mobile Phones Changing Social Media
How Companies are Leveraging Social Media
How People Share Content on the Web
How The World Spends Its Time Online
How Twitter Got Attacked By A DDoS
Inside the Political Twittersphere I
Inside the Political Twittersphere II
Jazzy WordPress
Make Social Media Work For Your Company
Popular Site Demographics
Profiles of a Twitter User
Social Marketing Compass
Social Media Addiction
Social Media In Business
Social Media Spending
Social Landscape
Spam Infographic
The Art of Listening
The Biggest Shift
The Boom Of Social Sites
The Internet Undersea World
The Journey of a Tweet
The Life Cycle of a Blog Post
The Meteoric Rise of Twitter
The Prolific WordPress
The Revised Social Media Effect
The Rise Of The Social Networking Ad Spending
The Social Media Effect
The Story (so far) of Twitter
The World Map of Social Networks
The World Of Facebook
More Truth About Twitter
Twitter Territory
Visualizing 6 Years of Facebook
Web Trend Map
Who Participates Online
Women In Social Media
Gender Balance on Social Networking Sites
The Evolution of Twitter: 2010
The Rise of Facebook Mobile: 2010
More Infographics:
Here are more infographics related articles we've prevoiusly published:


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trevors333 needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 56 designs submitted by 23 freelance designers.
We are looking for a modern corporate logo which will be used on several of our cashback sites. eg 4CashBack.com, 1800CashBack.com CashBack.com eCashBack.com
No Tagline
Desired Style:
No color preference yet. We will have multiple sites maybe with different color schemes.
Accepted File Formats:
The logo should have the domain name in a text layer so we can modify the name eg 4CashBack, CashBack, eCashBack and 1-800-CashBack.
Contest winner will be paid by their preferred method.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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A Little Loco...
Just the ramblings of a crazy Mom of two beautiful girls (and YaYa to many children that I adore) navigating through my snafu'd life. This blog is my way of 'clearing the cobwebs' and trying to maintain my sanity.
I have a chaotic life full of kids, rebuilding after our house burnt, coffee, my best girls, mornings in my breezeway, blogging, a full time job, screaming kids, laundry, remodeling, Asperger's/OCD Big'K, mowing, taking the trash out, Bipolar w/psychosis and RAD Lil'K, a crazy family, more kids thrown in the mix, bad plumbing, laughing until I pee my pants, electrical malfunctions, and everything else the Big G thinks He needs to throw at me on this ride we call life, all the while trying to survive being a single mother. Because let's face it...every day that I wake up, I am outnumbered!
Loco YaYa's Snafu'd World
Just a mom of two kids. Big K and Lil K. Who make me loco on a daily basis. I have a ton of other kids that call me 'YaYa'. They are my 'stray cats' as my great aunt refers to them. Once you start feeding them they won't go away...and apparently i'm a great cook!
The things I say will not always make sense. I am funny. I am sarcastic. I am educated. (Sometimes I forget this and the ghettoredneckcoonass comes out. I cannot help it. Hushitup!) I am a smartass. I do not sleep a lot. I may be off color at times. I am also harmless. You may not get my style and that is not my fault. This blog is not meant to be anything other than my thoughts. What I say belongs to me and at the end of the day...it's just words. Get over yourself. If you are offended, go away. You have been warned...
Blog Archive
- ► 2013 (11)
- ► 2012 (15)
- ► 2010 (42)
- ▼ August (5)
© Copyright Loco YaYa's Snafud World. All rights reserved.
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Cameron University-Duncan will celebrate the arrival of spring with CU-Duncan SpringFest, a fun-filled evening for the entire family, on Thursday, April 24 from 5 to 8 p.m. The event takes place at CU-Duncan, 3100 W. Bois D'Arc, and is open to the public at no charge.
"We hope to see families from throughout the area at CU-Duncan SpringFest," says Susan Camp, Director, CU-Duncan. "In appreciation of the continuing support we get from the community, we invite the public to enjoy this family-friendly event."
CU-Duncan SpringFest will feature activities for all ages. An inflatable obstacle course, Twister and bounce houses will be on hand for those with energy to burn. Face painting and balloon animals will appeal to children, and a variety of outdoor games will give everyone a chance to test their skills.
Live entertainment will be provided by the Pan Express, Cameron's steel drum band, beginning promptly at 5 p.m. The repertoire will include fan-favorites such as "Oye Como Va," "Brazil," "I Can See Clearly Now," "Under The Boardwalk" and a host of other familiar tunes.
Free food and beverages will also be provided.
CU-Duncan SpringFest is made possible through funding by Cameron University Lectures and Concerts.
April 14, 2014


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Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Why does the Reward System Matter?
One of these is a better system than the other. I believe that the Quality System is superior because we tend to value quality more than quantity. Because it has a better natural, even progression. And that it leads to better gameplay and encourages people to constantly improve, while the Quantity System leads to unnatural and counter-intuitive gameplay.
But clearly, many of the commenters clearly don't feel the same way. To them, the Quantity System is superior because it allows people to reach parity gear-wise faster. It also means that all progression options for your character are within reach. You'll never reach a point where you just cannot improve your character because you can't meet the challenge.
It's fairly easy to use either system in PvP or PvE. For PvP, simply slap Rating requirements on the gear. Boom, there's a Quality System in PvP.
To implement a Quantity System in PvE, we could assign ratings to each boss. Attumen would be a 1000, and Illidan would be 2400 or so. The other bosses would be scattered along the spectrum between them. Each week, a PvE player gets a rating equal to the highest rating of a boss defeated that week. For example, a raid that kills Prince Malchezzar might get a 1400 rating. On Tuesday, the Consortium gives you a certain number of Raid Points depending on your rating. You then use these raid points to purchase rewards from the Consortium.
Bosses no longer drop loot. Maybe you could get a title for defeating specific high-end bosses (Coriel the Dragonkiller Killer). The only result from downing a boss is an increase in rating, if the boss had a higher rating than your current rating. Your rating would reset to zero on Tuesday. Every so often, perhaps with the PvP Seasons, Blizzard introduces new raid gear which you can purchase.
Now, there are some fine details to work out. PvE is not quite as granular as PvP, and you can't do swaps as easily, so you have to somehow account for people who sat out that fight. And ratings would inflate over time as gear makes the challenges easier, and would have to be readjusted when new instances came out. But that's a basic Quantity System implemented in PvE.
Is that a better system than we have now? Maybe. I don't think so, however. I think it would lead to stagnation for a lot of guilds, as they would reach a "comfort level" of farming and refuse to try higher bosses on the grounds that the additional rating would not be worth the time and effort, the same way that some people prefer to lose Battlegrounds fast rather than go for a drawn-out win.
But everyone else seems to be solidly in favour of the PvP Quantity System, so maybe we should leave PvP alone and change raiding to match it.
15 comments:
"But everyone else seems to be solidly in favour of the PvP Quantity System, so maybe we should leave PvP alone and change raiding to match it."ReplyDelete
I think more importantly, we should recognize that the players attracted to PvE versus those attracted to PvP are fundamentally different and need their respective systems to work the way they do now. I see nothing wrong with having different methods of loot acquisition for raiding versus Arenas, and neither group should feel compelled to conform to the strictures or ideals of the other.
Arenas HAVE to afford you the best possible gear given the time you put in or PvPers would be at the mercy of PvEers in their superior raid gear. Blizzard also needs to allow PvPers to get "up to speed" quickly or there would be no point to PvPing. Gear is that much of a limiting factor (and keep in mind that BG gear is NOT easy to acquire; it's grueling). And don't forget that Arena-acquired gear, despite often having a slightly higher ILevel than the equivalent Tiered gear, spends a large portion of its item budget on Stamina, Resilience, and even additional armor. That means that Tiered gear will almost invariably be the preferred choice for participating in PvE content.
That means that Tiered gear will almost invariably be the preferred choice for participating in PvE content.ReplyDelete
Not necessarily. The most important stat on gear is your Power Stat, whatever it is. PvP and PvE of similar tier have similar Power Stats. That means that higher tier PvP gear will usually be better and more accessible than PvE lower tier gear.
Honestly, the only way PvP and PvE gear would not have impact on each other is if they used different Power Stats somehow.
I certainly don't have any problem with shifting PVE into a more forgiving loot mode. Badges were a good addition, with that gear at least you got something from every boss.ReplyDelete
Having some kind of Loot vendor out front and then each boss giving pts for that instance seems reasonable to me.
Make points based upon the amount of damage done to the boss, and a bonus for actually killing him, through some kind of diminishing return on so people don't just walk in take a boss down to 1% and wipe just to start again, and you have yourself the beginning of a new style loot system.
We could drop DKP, and reduce guild drama, and life would be better. PUGs would be saner, as you would have guaranteed returns for trying and even failing 3 times a week would still see some kind of progress.
Rohan, you spend post after post after post on this matter. In every single one you have taken extra steps to belittle PvP and its gear aquisition method (nevermind that we keep telling you that gear is the means, not the objective nor the reward).ReplyDelete
And now, no disrespect meant, you sound like a sulking child who has been told he couldn't watch TV.
Just accept that there are two fundamentally different endgames appealing to people with different aims, goals, means and objectives. There is no need to have a one-size-fits-it-all solution. The system needs some tweaking, since you shouldn't be forced to do one in order to get the other since TBC.
As for cross-overs, where the gear differs is in resilience vs +hit (and mana sustainability for casters). Don't tell me your guild takes a team of full S2/S3 clad DPS over T4 to SSC / TK. I don't buy it. You posted one of the more widely known resources on +hit yourself, you know fully well that with the exception of one or two lone pieces to bridge a bad looting luck gap glad gear isn't suitable for raiding.
Eliminating the luck factor from boss loot (as in, the bracers you want will only drop after you crafted / bought something better) through more token-based looting may be a way to alleviate that.
- Anonymous2:56 AM, December 12, 2007
- As someone allready pointed out before, it's static. This means that the variables you have to take into account are limited. Once an encounter is on farm status that is what it is: on farm. You can redo the encounter as many times you want (with the limitation of resets) and the chance of faillure becomes smaller and smaller every time. This also means the more you do it the accomplishment becomes worth less and less every time as well. For those being there on the first kills (within a guild) the time and effort spent really counts, for the ones coming after, there's little merrit, yet the possible rewards stay the same. There are easymode epics as well in PvE. As someone stated in a comment on a previous post, he's in a guild that has nearly 'finished' the game, yet they still run Kara (and whiped on Aran). Why? To get the satisfaction to see these bosses go down every week? I'm not buying that. It's more likely they still run kara to farm badges (and consequently reap the rewards from them), and gear up alts or new additions to the guild. How much effort is there for people running around in BT/MH gear to do a clear of Kara? Not much since the gear at their disposal clearly outweighs the content they face. It will take the mains about 3 weeks to get the item they desire from badges, and the alts that join will have had a piggy back ride picking items up additional to badges. Is this all 'well deserved'? Why not adress this issue? Or is it because these epics are only 'easy' for a limited playerbase, the endgame raiders? In my personal opinion this is fine though you took the time to get the gear, why not use it?
- If you suggest a system where raiding points are earned the points should be calculated taking into account: Average iLevel of the raidgroups gear compared to the content faced and be subject to diminishing returns to keep a drive going towards progress, if not you'll see 'raidingguilds' speedrunning lower tier bosses to get more raidpoints compared to wiping on new bosses, making all vendor bought epics by raidingpoints accessible to a much larger playerbase, taking away even more of the 'shine of your armor/accomplishment' (what seems to be the major concern).
- There are mounts available from raiding afaik. Starting from Baron, then ZG, AQ, Kara, ZA, Phoenix etc... Fancy titles wouldn't work really. As time goes by and more people progress, uniquenes would disapear too, unless you make it only available to the first X people to beat an encounter. But that would probably end up endgame guilds selling the title once everyone of their members has it. The potential drama would be great.
- PvE progress is linear allways up: Once you get to a certain point, chance you'll fall back is negligable, and more dependant on exterior factors (people quiting, guild falling apart) then on faillure. Wiping nights don't have a penalty apart from repairbills.
Dynamic system: When you face opponents and you die, you cant corpserun and fight again with adjusted tactics. The battlefield situation will have changed in BG's, you'll face a diffrent team in the arena. Losing will affect your reward your reward (speed that you get it) in the Arena, not so in BG's but the honorsystem is pretty bad constructed.
- The playing field needs to be as level as possible. Gear matters enough as it is. Making some gear for pvp less accessible would create a geargap where gear >>> skill even more. (Is this why Raiders whine about pvp gear, that they actually would want this to happen and become top of the foodchain free of pvp effort solely based on their accomplishments in pve?)
PvP vs PvE:
- Why compare? They are totally diffrent. Why does it matter for a PvE'er that someone can get high ilevel epics? You know what it took you to get your gear. You probably had fun while getting it. What more is there? Recognition from other players? hmmm ...
- Anonymous6:02 AM, December 12, 2007
"It's fairly easy to use either system in PvP or PvE. For PvP, simply slap Rating requirements on the gear. Boom, there's a Quality System in PvP."ReplyDelete
As I pointed out before, that is essentially the old Honor Rank System revisited.
- Anonymous6:08 AM, December 12, 2007
"That means that Tiered gear will almost invariably be the preferred choice for participating in PvE content."ReplyDelete
As I pointed out in my comment under "Raider Perspective on Awards", that is exactly the case for a shadow priest and warrior tank.
Arena gear is generally inferior for those classes (can't speak for others), except for a couple or three slots -- which again favors the raiders, who only have to PvP grind two or three slots for upgrades, rather than do the PvP grind to 300 resilience to get competitive!
Of course there is a third element to this argument.ReplyDelete
Badges of Justice.
Option 1: You can either PvP and get arena/BG rewards, while I'm not particularly impressed that you can gain an equivalent to T5/T6 through PvP rather than struggling for months on end to get to Black Temple, I ignore that for the most part and don't really care too much, as I don't consider it that useful for raiding and they can only be used for arenas (awaiting backlash!).
Option 2: You raid, you are a member of a raiding guild, you take your turns in raids and build up your DKP and eventually manage to buy the items you need when they drop, and in my opinion these are the superior items as they can be used out grinding as well as whilst raiding.
But then there is the middle ground of Option 3: Now this is what I consider to be the easy way to phat epix (with a mix of PvE, PvP and combined pieces). Now don't get me wrong, I am gonna buy a few badge rewards to expedite a complete set of healing and tanking gear, BUT is this an easier option rather than arena rewards? I think so.
With arena you have to spend lots of time (OK not incredible amounts, but still) PvP'ing and displaying some skill in that arena (excuse the pun) of your gameplay.
With Raiding, you also have to display some skill otherwise you ain't gonna last long in the raid guild or you're always gonna be on the sidelines.
Patch 2.3 hits, Heroic access lowered to Honoured. Now everyone can be a leech on a PUG and pick up some badges and get enough to buy some pretty uber-epics. Have you seen the stats on the 60 and 75 (think those are the numbers) badge rewards???
So Quality/Quantity - who cares? There shouldn't be 2 camps (PvP and PvE) having a slanging match.
Join forces and slag off those PUG leeches that will ruin you're instancing PUG and get rewarded with uber-epics at the same time.
Does that Retardin in green defense gear trying to heal the MT in a Heroic Arcatraz really deserve what he's going to get? I don't think so.
I like how it's slanted Raiding as "Quality" and PVP as "Quantity", when the common public understanding of "Quality vs Quantity" always puts the former in the best light. It's ok, this bias is understandable, my own blog reeks of PVP bias, it's what differentiates writers and makes stuff readable.ReplyDelete
However, what it fails to point out is that the "Quantity" (availability of building a base Resilience set quickly and then upgrading within one Season's duration) ultimately offers better "Quality"---quality in competition that is---a less widened gear gap means teams rely on tactics and counters to come out on top.
Once you realize that competition and besting your opponent is the true reward for PVP (hence why it is different from PVE), it should all be clear. People wouldn't spend X amounts of money and time in the various popular sports if one team had access to shoulderpads, balls, sticks, nets, etc. and the other team lacked the equipment---competition would be simply "LAWL".
I like the idea of raid points being distributed based on what bosses you have beaten that week. Put a minimum raid rating requirement on higher end gear and that pretty much forces guilds to move up to harder encounters if they want better gear.ReplyDelete
The only problem with such a system is that it kinda ruins the D&D lore of killing monsters for their treasure. Then again I think most MMO players are willing to sacrifice tradition in exchange for getting rid of the archaic loot system attached to PvE content.
The problem lies in the fact that there are many PvP rewards that surpass PvE rewards for PvE content, but not vice-versa.ReplyDelete
Take the Merciless Gladiator's War Staff for example. 24hit 42crit 225dmg. A PvE equivalent would be The Nexus Key from Kael'thas (51crit 236dmg.) In a tradeoff between 24hit vs 9crit/11dmg, I'd take the +hit which makes the season 2 PvP staff BETTER than the top Tier-5 level PvE staff, for PvE. Illidan's staff is also pretty even with the season 3 staff, a difference of 24hit/10crit vs 35haste/12dmg.
Imagine as a PvP'er, if you couldn't fill every slot with PvP gear. If there were no vindicator pieces and the best bracers/belt/boots/neck/rings you could get for PvP had to come from PvE. You'd cry foul as well.
I've read several comments about people saying arena gear is laughable in PvE. I'd like to just call BS. Get any class in their appropriate season 2 + veteran's set, and they'll be on-par or often times better than people in full T4/T5 level gear.
- Anonymous12:25 PM, December 12, 2007
I'll have to disagree with the previous poster.ReplyDelete
One slot does not make your argument, sorry.
The main hand and neck slots are the only slots that are a PvE upgrade for my shadow priest, whose prime stat is spell damage -- even over PRE-KARA CRAFTED, REP, HOLIDAY, and BADGE gear!
Then again, the BT-raid shadow priests I've looked up are still equipping their pre-Kara crafted ilevel 105 Frozen Shadoweave and their Badge of Justice ilevel 110 Orb of the Soul Eater.
And my prot warrior will not benefit from PvP gear; there is simply no defense on the items. Compensating with defense gems and enchants just doesn't cut it; believe me, I played with the numbers and it won't wash. Gladiator items aren't even better for serious tanking than Faith in Felsteel!
Try again.
I'm wondering why when I look at raiders in the Armory I don't see them equipping this easy-to-get S2/Veteran and S3/Vindicator gear.
IMO, that belies the "PvP Welfare Epic" arguments.
I know a High Warlord with about 100,000 PvP kills on my server who is also a raid tank. Funny, but in spite of his S2, Veteran's, and Vindicator's pieces, he does a complete gear swap for raid tanking.
Imagine that.
- Anonymous12:53 PM, December 12, 2007
And yet a PvPer has to enter heroics to get gems for his gear. If you don't believe me, check this out:ReplyDelete
Out of that list, only 3 are craftables, of which one is only available from Black Temple (although is BoE), and one is earnable via PvP (which is Unique-Equipped). Should PvPers be up in arms because 7 out of 10 PvP-specific gems are only available via PvE Heroics? Absolutely not.
- Anonymous10:30 AM, December 14, 2007
Just a couple of points:ReplyDelete
The PvP system as it is seems to be working, more-or-less, apart from the constant tweaking to 'balance' things. I think the focus for improving the reward system should focus on the PVE side. What would make Raiding more fun and rewarding?
Second, I believe that there is an inherent contradiction in some of the arguments presented in these threads: PvP progression is not about gear, vs. the desire to keep upgrading gear. I appreciate the point that the changes to gear can shuffle the PvP landscape in new and interesting ways, but there are lots of methods to do that which have nothing to do with gear. I believe that the *exact* same desire for gear-upgrades lurks in the hearts of many PvPers as PvEers; it's just dressed up differently. So I'm not sure how fundamental the difference is, in this respect.
As others have noted, Blizzard has made many choices based on locking players in, vs. giving the optimal game experience.
And finally, to the folks who think that getting phat loot in PVE is just as easy as in PvP, um, no. Just no.
If you can't drop Attumen, you get nothing. The trash before him drops purples loot so infrequently, it's not even worth thinking about. Attumen is pretty easy though... but the trash to Moroes doesn't drop epics either. So a basically incompetent (or horribly under-geared) 10-man group will get virtually nothing out of the experience of endless attempts, except a huge repair bill.
So there is no parallel to a PvP that loses consistently, yet picks up epics. A PvE team (raid) that loses consistently gets nada.
Therein lies a difference.
Yes brock, because learning scripted fights that are on youtube.com or warcraftmovies.com is sooooo hard.ReplyDelete


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298: Who Needs Friends?
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Another excellent read by Mr. Wendig. He spouts vast amounts of equally madness-inducing genius over at his site at terribleminds.com, though more about writing in general and less about games.
I see a lot of replies in this thread that seem to be confusing making friends with already having friends. Most characters in a novel or a movie, for instance, make mention of their past and with friends they had, and quite often the story itself draws on that past and those friends, even while they're making new friends (and enemies) and setting the stage for the story to come. Far too many video game characters seem to have been disgorged from solitary confinement or returned from a twenty year trip to Mars, so that they've got no support or allies and must start anew.
Certainly, some games are tailor made for such a setup, but when it's the default in so many of them, it begins to feel a little lazy on the part of the game's writers, unless the game demands it. I've already seen mention of people disliking their in-game friends, and that's always going to be a matter of taste. GTA IV, for instance, made you feel less like your cousin was a friend and more of a liability, while Alyx, whom I enjoyed, was annoyingly cloying or chatty for some people. Every so often someone does just want to play Mr. No Name Loner Killer, and that's all they're interested in. I had a friend who never wanted to play games where you had to rely on a party or a team, for instance, much less have people from your past come bugging you.
What Chuck is really focusing on is making the game's narrative more compelling, and that requires both an interesting story and interesting characters. A person's past and their previous relationships is a large part of who they are. A secret agent who comes from a wealthy mercantile family and has friends throughout the business world compared to a secret agent who grew up in the slums and spent time in prison are both secret agents that can shoot a gun and save the world, but their stories are going to be so very different for where they came from and who they know.
I would love to see a larger emphasis on story telling in games. It makes the experience that much more amazing. Noticing things like this however shows just how much games can still develop as a storytelling medium. It's been a long road for sure, but we have longer still to go.
In portal a relationship is established with the computer. The computer obviously knows you from before you awoke in the test chamber. It may have turned psychotic and bent on destruction, but it's obviously not the first time you have been a test subject.
Hitman as well has allies. You have a relationship with the women on the other end of the comm, and in the first game several characters know the protagonist, he even enlists help from one.
I don't have a lot of experience with the new PoP games, but the old ones had a fair amount of story laid out in the game manual. Which for all the limitations of the time was as good as it was going to get.
I got her so many dresses before I found out she wanted formal ware. I killed for a dress once. It made it that much better when she got excited about it.
One of the most memorable moments in Half-Life 2: Episode 2, for me at least, didn't include the creepy robots that shoot exploding needles at you or Dog ripping apart a Strider. It was when Dr. Dr. Magnusson said that he would forgive Gordon for the "Microwave Casserole" incident if he was successful in his job.
Also, the scene with Alyx's near death was heart wrenching.
I have to say, I disagree about Desmond Miles being an example of a disconnected character being a bad thing... because he is. He was kidnapped. Considering that in the first game all he could do was walk from room to room, and in II and Brotherhood they were trying to stay hidden, it isn't that far fetched that he wouldn't come across any childhood friends.
Now, with that said, your article is dead right. I think that's why I've recently fallen in love with Dragon Age. No matter what origin story you start with, you have a friend, and when you come across them again in the world, depending on the type of character you're building, it'll be touching, hate-filled, or something else.
If more games put that into the story, instead of just blank-slating it (I fucking hate the complete blank slate) I think that stories in games would be a lot more immersive. Hell, look at Alan Wake. By all other standards, it's just a "good" game, but because of the fact that a couple of the characters know him, and he knows them, it feels real. Well, as real as a game about an author that fights possessed people can feel...
this is true, and even if you don't have friends, you do have people that know you. Like people you work with, or the people that work at you favorite lunch spot, or a bartender at the bar you stop by every now and then.
I can't remember other peoples names for the life of me, but I know that a lot of people know my name, and I'm a nobody.
A fair point. It would be nice to see a character with old friends and see how ht could have an effect on the game.
A very interesting read indeed, and I agree. I think this might actually be why I was able to get into Fallout 3 much more than I have done so with New Vegas. Also, I think that those connections are a major reason why I have turned out to like Ezio in AC2 quite alot, which allowed me to get over my usual dislike for games that force me to play male characters. It would be nice to see more games that made it feel like its characters were part of the world, and had existed before the game began. Or, at least, to take the Fallout 3 approach and give a good reason for why a character would not really know the outside world so much.
I agree with this whole heartedly. Some of my favorite scenes in this game were when you come to talk to one of your group and find them speaking with another one of your group like they are friends as well.
I would rather see a loner character, i find that forced/established friendships with npcs is annoying. Its like this is bob, bob is your best friend, you like bob, there is no real connection when it is forced by the game.
I've said for a while now that single player gaming seems to be catered to and by introverted loners. That's not a jab, I too was once a bit of an introverted loner as a kid, spending a large chunk of time alone. It's also one of many reasons why gaming was so slow to spread beyond that original core of gamers; their focus on single player, not multi--and especially--co-operative gaming was a big turn off to the vast majourity of humanity.
In addition to a possible relationship with Ulysses, there is a dialogue script that indicates that the Courier has been out west in NCR territory before, specifically New Reno.
This is a combination of both personal projection on the part of the player (via a provided dialogue option), and character background that hasn't been entirely revealed in the currently released content. This may indicate that some or all of the character's close relationships (friends) are back west, or are operating in different areas, or dead. Is that fact important to the overall narrative of the game? Not really.
I'm a fan of projecting onto the characters I play, not simply playing by the script known by a few NPCs in the background story created by the developer's writers. But to facilitate that there should be more dialogue options to pursue that. A majority of the time the only dialogue options available equate to:
1. Okay. I'll help you fight the good fight.
Four options is really limited. I'd rather have more options, akin to the nine alignments in AD&D:
1. I'll help you, although it might be illegal, since the law is sometimes unjust.
This would allow more personalization and characterization in the game world, allowing the players to project onto the characters with their own personality. Perhaps I'm content with this due to playing all those mute amnesiac characters in the past.
Some video game characters have friends, but it doesn't help that all but a handful are locked in an underground bomb shelter for the entire game.
Side note: Lucca in Chrono Trigger never built me a jet-bike or powered exoskeleton because there was never a dialogue option to ask her.
Yeah there was always something that bothered me when playing a Bethesda game, especially Oblivion, when it dawned on me that I'm basically playing Jim Carey's character from The Truman Show with the distinct feeling that the in-game world somehow unnaturally revolves around me. And as a fan of immersion I don't like that.
Making things even more annoying, whenever you have a group encounter, like that ruined city early in the storyline where you fight alongside some other guards or later in the sewer when you work with that spy, I long for some sort of connection with the characters so I tediously save & load my way through the encounters to ensure everyone comes out alive, and at the end of it all am reward with the usual blank stares as these characters had no meaning to their existince and it was unimportant if they lived or died.
I thought the lone wanderer in Fallout 3 (at least in my game) had friends. Amata was really glad to see me when I came back to Vault 101 after hearing the emergency message. Even Fawkes greeted me after my escape of Raven Rock by saying something along the lines of: "My friend! It is so good to see you again! Still, this was a really good Issue and I had a lot of fun reading it. Hope you guys keep up the good work!
The article is about "friends", and I brought Portal up because its a game where you have none, but at the same time this doesn't take away from the experience. There isn't any more meaning to the relationship with the computer then Megaman's relationship with the mid game bosses. An obstacle that must be overcome!
Again, throwing mission objectives isn't a relationship. There's more to it, and I can't recall Agent 47's contact ever really crossing that threshold until Blood Money. Thats four games before we get any development.
Meanwhile, you have relationships like that of Agent Smith, which seems more like a running gag in the series. He gets captured, you rescue him, he gives info and leaves. You never see him and 47 getting all buddy buddy in a bar later...
In Halo, Masterchief and Cortana have a relationship because she says more than just mission objectives...
Yeah, but what about his friends? Dude was prince of a whole kingdom and he didn't have his own entourage?
This fit in with the story though since you could immediately tell by the end of the first level he was a douche and completely full of himself.
Having recently played through Assassins Creed II, I can totally agree with this article. Ser Ezio is a much more likable character than Desmond or Altair due to the connections he shares with family and friends; he actually feels like a person.
I think game designes are afraid of using that approach because they think gamers will not like it. To be honest, as I was reading the article I thought that would be its approach as well. 'There's this guy called Rodriguez. He's saying he knows me. What the fuck? I just met him, I don't know who he is, and I would never have become friends with a guy this annoying in the first place. Fuck off, Rodriguez.'
Partly it's one of everyone's main complaints on gaming - they have bad stories. People complain that games don't know how to portray minorities, don't know how to portray women, don't know how to be subtle. And they're all true, but that's all because of a simple thing - they don't know how to set up stories. Characters, particualarly, are very difficult to set up in an enjoyable and interesting way. So in the same way games have to turn to cheap tricks like HUEG plot twists in their narratives they have to turn to simplistic stereotypes to use as their characters. Writing it the Indiana Jones way, as you suggested, is hard work. You have to deliver this in a way that the viewers/players care about what is going on even before they have had time to acquaint themselves with the characters and their relationship. This isn't particularly hard - Indiana Jones is not exactly known for its riveting emotional story - but video game writing just isn't up to par.
Partly it's because of the emphasis modern day games have on 'you are your character, your every action molds your story!' MovieBob complained about it just last week, and he has kind of a point. If you can create a character to be however you like and you want him to be a cynical loner, then knowing that you have an old friend who ate pies with you when you were growing up might spoil the image you have built in your mind. It's too bad that the modern industry seems to think this is what they should aspire to, when it's just another approach, both being just as valid.
And of course partly it's because of what I call the 'Outsider Theory', or the full name, 'The Random One's Outsider Theory by The Random One' (pat.pen.). Under that theory, game characters are often outsiders, foreigners or otherwise ignorant of the gameworld because that's the state the player finds herself in when booting up the game. Since the player will be meeting the world for the first time, the strangeness inherent to the game as you're picking up the controls will match the character's strangeness as he learns how things work in the new world. And of course since you have no prior 'luggage' you're allowed to behave in the world as you see fit. Look around and see how many games go out of the way to estabilish a character that is disconnected to the world and is discovering it in tandem with the player. But, of course, this doesn't mean friendships aren't possible. Your example of Fallout 3 points to this - a vault-born in the Fallout world has a great excuse to be an outsider in the wastelands, but she does have family and associates. Nico Belic is a foreigner who knows nothing of Liberty city, but he does have a cousin. You can have your cake and eat it too.
or "her"
anyway annoying Political correctness aside, I always wondered what was with tthat grafiti in that place? who put it there?
and what happened in dead money? what dose that scene mean? (because I probably wont be able to get it anytime soon)
Really great article.
Perhaps a step in the right direction is the continuity in the Mass Effect series - you know Liars in ME2 because you already knew her in ME1. Wrex also greets you warmly as a friend in ME2.
I think this article explains to me why Persona 4 came across as so different. That game was based on friendships.
Well, the games that portray this tend to make friendship some kind of superpower, not just a bond between individuals. Look at Lord of the Rings. Yeah, Sam and Frodo have been friends for their whole lives, but they don't grant each other any powers or abilities, they just help each other out. They both help carry the burden of the other, and do their best to help each out along.
For the type of games you mean, the ending sequence usually has a piece where the hero/heroine asks for the power of his friends, and everyone he met on his journey lends them some kind of mystical universal chi, or something, as if friendship was a tangible and transferable quality.
Not to be a nitpick, but Ramirez was a U.S. Army Ranger. And even then, they could've written the whole 'magical' transporting C-130 from Afghanistan to Virgina better. "Hey Ramirez, Remember when we got back from being in country? All those houses down by Benning? Reminds me of the one Mary and I were looking at." Little more appropriate. Cue Attack. Cue up other Ranger getting taken down by a burst of AK fire. Part of you dies.
I think that, while yes, most games can achieve a sense of depth far beyond that of the narrative allows. Homefront's beginning sequence, while mediocre, had me so enraged I spent the whole game committing War Crimes on any already dead Korean soldiers. It didn't matter that I didn't know these people being rounded up, nor that I was more focused on just trying to survive. No, When I saw what had to have been the most enraging thing ever (Happens about mid-way through the sequence) I made it my mission to put an extra few rounds into every dead Korean Soldiers body to avenge the treachery.
But it's all after thoughts in the great scheme of things. People want to believe that games can have deeper connections, but as evidenced by some reviewers and critics out there, those are the points in the game that most of them criticize or use as a joke. The Deaths in Modern Warfare 2, meant to be a surreal experience, are the most pointed to example of OVERDOING it.
And I really don't like blaming the devs who don't think of the depth they could convey, It's like how if you stare at a word long enough it'll start looking wrong. They've sunk whole weeks on small sections of this map, what's it to them to not notice points where they could have the moments of surreal.
I thought New Vegas handled companions and friendships much better than Fallout 3.
Plus New Vegas felt much more like a RPG, the courier barely had any backstory which meant it was up to the player to decide what kind of player he/she will be. In Fallout 3 pretty much your whole childhood life and family is explained to you, you have almost no control over your character's life, even if you act like an asshole you still have to find your dad, you still have to help him, you have to activate the purifier and you have to side with the Brotherhood of Steel.
In New Vegas you play as a courier, someone who is constantly moving around and visiting different places which would make permament friendships quite difficult, however, the events that take place at the beginning of New Vegas give the courier a reason to stay a little bit longer, therefore giving him/her a reason to make a couple of friends to get the job done.
Not only did New Vegas do a better job in that respect but it also did a better job with the companions themselves. When you meet the various companions they have different views on you and for some you need to gain their trust (Boone is a good example). Then unlike Fallout 3 where you then automatically become BFF's in New Vegas some companions (like Boone) will still not fully trust you until they witness you doing specific tasks. All of the companions have a "personal" quest which usually involves gaining trust from them or taking them to various places.
EDIT: Oh there's a mistake in this article. In New Vegas some companions do in fact have houses where you can go and they can help you out. Raul is a perfect example, if you go to his house he can provide repairing services. Also although she does not neccessarily run up to you, Veronica is very excited when you propose travelling together.
That was a fantastic read...I'm having trouble describing exactly what my reaction is.
So I'll let Bender do it for me
Yeah, I liked how in persona 3&4 you slowly become friends with people when you want, instead of the regular JRPG which sets a specific time for them to dump their backstory on you.
Ineresting article.
All the talk to the player character being a person in the setting with friends reminded me of Onicron: The Nomad Soul. Though in that case the whole game was based around the concept of "you are borrowing the bodies/lives of these people."
But it was interesting to walk around in the place that was "your" job and have everyone react to you like they'd just talked to you yesterday. Or for me the weirdest part was the fact that the first guy whose life you borrowed, had a wife. She was there in the apartment, you could talk to her or sleep with her and meet her for lunch. She treated you like, and to her you were, her husband.
Not quite the same as "building and breaking relationships" on your own but it was an interesting change from "you are the mysterious stranger who came into town from...Somewhere.
Sometimes you just don't want friends: I cannot imagine Alice (of McGee's fame) with a friend and even that grinning cat is wise to stay well away most of the time.
One point against you here bro, one, the courier does know people, and they know him. By canon the courier isn't from anywhere near there. And in the new DLCs that are going to come out you'll meet one of the people who does meet you, and is part of the reason why the courier happened to be carrying the chip.
Thanks all for reading and digging on the article:
Chupa, I'll just add that -- and maybe this is due to my writing in the article, and for that, I apologize -- my concern isn't that you cannot form connections or friendships in play but rather than you do not begin with any. You enter the world utterly unformed and disconnected. You can create connections, but these did not exist before. Nobody knows the Courier the moment you awaken in Goodsprings.
So, that mistake isn't a mistake, really.
-- Chuck
they do need to be disconnected, because that is how the western hemisphere role models heroes. you're asking a question in which you unravel the notion we have had from the earliest tales of narrative. and you are wrong in that we don't see it in other mediums; the number of same thing happening in books or movies is huge.
heroes are supposed to bring a sacrifice in an imbalanced world; that is their place in the world. they are not accustomed to live in a regular balanced world, and would most likely end themselves if they happened to live in one. it is their disconnection that allows them to succeed where "regular" people fail. and it is because they are not regular people that they do not have friends.
They don't have friends because its cool not to? That doesn't sound right...Get back to me.
Meh, I'd say it makes a game less immersive, personally. If a character comes up and starts talking about pre-game experiences, I can't relate, because I don't know what they're on about, so the character just isn't ME anymore. Friends that you gain throughout the game though, that seems better.
Truly excellent. I had not even really thought about this, but it does explain why I found Fallout 3 to be a very immersive game for totally different reasons than New Vegas.
Keep writing, I'll keep reading!
Good question. It made me think. This is what I came up with:
"Because it would be fake"
If you (as the player) weren't there when the friendship was formed...and you didn't spend time with the characters that are supposedly your friends (no shared experiences)...then those "friend" characters can talk all they want about "that time when..."...it's all the same to you.
I believe friendship works best in an "ab ovo" story...you meet the characters as the protagonist meets them for the first time. Then you all share experiences and establish a bond.
Basically, friendship has to grow.
IMHO, it is wrong for developers to simply assume that the player automatically cares about characters...even the ones that present themselves as life-long friends. It's the developers' task to make the player care....and it is a very difficult one.
Example: you are fighting a war with one of your friends in the same team...he "saves your life" by tackling you into cover just as you would have been hit by enemy fire. Your character mutters "Thanks bro...I owe you big time." Then some time later your friend gets mortally wounded and you get to experience the classic "last words" tearjerker scene.
Two things: both the rescue and the death scene are scripted (which destroys a lot of the emotional impact: it was apparently "meant to be"...you had no hand in it)...and you will not be able to return the favor unless it's scripted that you will. It's fundamentally a matter of choice (exercise of free will)...you don't have it and neither does your AI friend, not within the world of the game because a game is fundamentally totalitarian: whatever the game doesn't allow for...is prohibited.
A developer can make a character very likeable (through writing/ voice-acting)...a developer can make you share experiences with the character...but that character's choices will not be genuine choices (how can they be lol...). They will be predetermined by the developer (or whatever algorithm he constructs to calculate odds).
Such is the limited nature of videogaming...until we start incorporating powerful AI's that have passed the Turing test. By that time we'll probably be playing in a Holodeck/ Matrix like program environment.
Extremely good read.
I'm reminded of the people who bitch about Yosuke Hanamura in Persona 4. Too chatty. Served as your mouthpiece. Too whiney, all sorts of reason. I personally LOVED his presence. He felt like my friend in spite of all his flaws, like a kindred spirit out in the boondocks. I kept him on the front lines all the time because I really felt like he'd have my back in anything. He was always like "Hey, let's meet at Junes" and was always leading the investigation discussion. He truly worked with me as a co-leader and as my, well, bro. We kicked the shit out of each other and finally acknowledged each other as equals. It was an awesome example of a "friend" in gaming.
But so many people bitched! The execution is debatable but the intent is definitely clear when it comes to Yosuke. It was a different dynamic than the constant tension of the main cast in Persona 3. People don't WANT to play as characters with friends. A lot of people playing Persona games just wanna bone every girl, get the strongest Personas, grind to 99, etc. They don't want a "friend," they just wanna be "badasses" and "pimps."
Most of all the reviews I've read for Bioware and Fallout games? The reviewers play as complete assholes! The Destructoid review of DA2 had a guy who went completely out of his way to make his character as reprehensible as possible to the point where three party members left him. Most people I talk to about Fallout 3 mention how much fun it was to blow the hell out of Megaton. People will always take the chance to be a dick when there are no repercussions. Sure, sometimes it may be role-playing, but I see it so often that the generalizing ass in me cries out: "Were you truly THAT badly bullied throughout high school that you need to blow up every game world you see?"
Developers see this, and act accordingly. Hence your loners. Hence your one-dimensional badasses.
An interesting article, except for the point that when Bioware gave you an Origin in Dragon Age: Origins, and an actual family cum background in Dragon Age 2, numerous people were COMPLAINING VICIOUSLY on the forums that Bioware was assigning traits you may not want to your protagonist.
Some people actually *like* the disconnected protagonist, albeit many of the most vocal for reasons I think are stupid--they want to be able to make up their own story about their protagonist and not ever have that conflict with anything they encounter in the game.
Me, I'm well aware that I can't ever play exactly the character I might like in an RPG--I'm limited by the writer's foresight and imagination. This is cool with me. A CRPG is not the same as a PnP RPG. I don't play them for the same reasons. I expect different things. So having a family/friends/whatever in a game is not a problem for me.
Just don't assume that one way is the be-all, end-all of gaming.
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Making Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs)
If you book your table service (TS) meals in advance, you can place a dietary restriction on your restaurant reservations, but as vegetarian and vegan aren't options on the online booking form (for some strange reason), I went for a shellfish allergy! This strategy seemed to work well. All restaurants we had booked for, except Wolfgang Puck Cafe, confirmed details of my 'allergy' when we arrived and all seemed relieved, when I said that my daughters and I were vegetarian and not allergic to anything!
If you're vegan or have any genuine food allergies, I would suggest that you email your requests once you've booked your ADRs, to: email@example.com. State your reservation numbers, where you will be eating each day and what you can/can't eat (one recommendation on Disboards says that it might be a better option to state that you are vegetarian with an egg and dairy allergy, rather than vegan). We didn't do this, as I was confident that we would be able to find something vegetarian that we would all eat in the restaurants I had booked at.
Several non-buffet restaurants were able to vegetarianise meals by leaving the meat/fish part out, but the vast majority of our meals contained some cheese or dairy, so vegans would need to check whether this could be left out of their meals.
If you want to take a gamble, try to find out where Chef TJ is working and book a meal there (apparently he doesn't work in the same restaurant each night). Chef TJ has reputation for cooking great vegetarian food - just Google him to find out more.
Our favourite places to eat in Disney World were:
Table Service
Table Service
- Tusker House, Animal Kingdom - African/Asian buffet with lots of salads, rice, vegetable samosas, fresh fruit etc.
- Boma, Animal Kingdom Lodge - African buffet with lots of hot and cold vegetarian options. Dishes are generally sweet in taste with cinnamon, mild spices and dried fruits.
- Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Downtown Disney - Italian/American with several vegetarian pasta options, plus the offer of making omitting meat from a couple of other dishes.
- Raglan Road, Downtown Disney - Irish pub food which serves real chips (not fries!) and fabulous desserts.
- Sanaa, Animal Kingdom Villas - South Asian/Indian food with a good choice for vegetarians and vegans. Dishes are quite spicy, so might not appeal to children.
- Hacienda, Epcot - Mexican with a separate vegetarian menu including 4 main courses (you need to ask for this as it's not on display).
- Cape May, Boardwalk/Crystal Palace, Magic Kingdom character breakfasts - Similar foods available at both with plenty of delicious pastries, breads, waffles and fresh fruits.
- Crystal Palace, Magic Kingdom lunch/dinner - Lots of tasty salads, fruits, pasta and desserts. Limited vegetarian hot food.
- 1900 Park Fare, Grand Floridian - Great for characters and to sneak a peak at the Grand Floridian Hotel, but generally quite limited vegetarian options (pasta, salads, fruit and vegetarian sushi). Fantastic food if chef TJ is working there.
Counter Service
We weren't particularly impressed with the quick service options available, as the vegetarian options were often limited to one choice. We were very glad that we only got one counter service (CS) meal each day on our dining plan. The quick service dining plan (QSDP) includes 2 CS meals plus 2 snacks per day, which really wouldn't have suited us.
Our favourite CS locations were:
- Earl of Sandwich, Downtown Disney - Sandwiches, wraps and salads with a few vegetarian options.
- Wolfgang Puck Express, Downtown Disney - Vegetarian pasta and flat breads/pizza available.
- Restaurantosaurus, Animal Kingdom - only one vegetarian option (veggie sub with sweet potato fries) but it tasted good and there was a toppings bar available.
- Boulangerie Patisserie, Epcot (cheese tartine) / Main Street Bakery, Magic Kingdom (mozzerella and tomato focaccia roll) - again limited vegetarian savoury options but great pastries!
- La Cantina de San Angel, Epcot - one vegetarian option (cheese empanadas) but it was tasty and filling.
There are plenty of snacks and drinks available if you are peckish or thirsty between meals. The best place to find out what counts as a snack on the dining plans is back on Disboards, where you'll find a snack credit thread which is updated each year. Frankly we didn't use many of our snack credits during our holiday, as we just didn't need any more food! We did enjoy the odd ice cream and frozen lemonade though, and we sometimes used them to buy pastries to eat for breakfast the next day. Snack credits can also be 'spent' on sweets and treats to take home as presents.
To summarise, we were all pleasantly surprised at how good the food was in Disney generally, as we'd expected to see fries with everything. It's perfectly possible to find good quality, tasty vegetarian food, but be prepared to do your research before you go!
If you have any tips or recommendations to add, please feel free to add them in a comment below. Pin It


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UA Census Counties, 2000 - Connecticut
- Author(s):
- U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Geography Division
- Description:
- This datalayer displays the counties for the state, based on a ground condition of January 1, 2000. The primary legal divisions of most states are termed ''counties.'' Each county and statistically equivalent entity is assigned a three-digit Federal Information Processing Standards code that is unique within the state. These codes are assigned in alphabetical order of county or county equivalent within each state.
- Publisher:
- U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Geography Division
- Place(s):
- Connecticut
- Subject(s):
- boundaries
- Held by:
- Harvard
|Click on map to inspect values


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Witchy Murder Mysteries Worth Reading
If you're anything like me you like a little bit of witchery and a good mystery. The problem? There are a lot of bad murder mystery writers out there. At least in the cozy mystery niche that I enjoy. The good thing? There are some blooming brilliant writers out there too! I've had the pleasure of discovering a few. In this article I've gathered my three favorites. I'm still waiting for someone who will write mysteries without the murders, I mean, do you actually have to kill someone off to write a good mystery? Or could you just be satisfied with thievery and possibly the odd kidnapping? Growing up with Nancy Drew, I consider it quite possible.
So without further ado: three great series that focus on mystery and witchcraft.
The Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic Series by Helen Harper
This series is set in Oxford, England, and evolves around a very lazy witch who suddenly finds herself caught up in murder, mystery and mayhem. This is somewhat inconvenient as it means she has to get off the couch. At least if she wants to prevent whatever lunatic is at large from striking again. She also happens to get involved with a rather brilliant man, who is her polar opposite in many ways: fit, ambitious and rarely ever hanging out on the couch. Of course, he's utterly irresistible.
What I love so much about this series is that it's intelligently written and filled with humor. The humor part is particularly refreshing.
Juliet Blackwell's Witchcraft Mysteries
This series evolves around a witch, Lily Ivory, who picks up on the vibrations of second-hand clothes. As such, it's only natural that she sets up a vintage clothing store — Aunt Cora's Closet.
Growing up in Texas, Lily was bullied for her "witchy ways" and ever since she was run out of town by the scared townsfolk she's lived as a nomad. Settling in San Francisco she learns what it's like to find home and stand up for who she truly is: a witch.
The books are filled with an array of characters that are as quirky as the city of San Francisco itself. For all its supernatural themes, the series is refreshingly down to earth. You actually believe these characters could exist and you could run into them on any given day in San Fran.
There are also elements of humor in the books, such as a familiar who's a shapeshifting pet pig.
Heather Blake's Magic Potions Mysteries
This series is fun. So much fun. Set in Hitching Post, Alabama, where people go to get hitched, these books' leading lady is Carly Bell Hartwell, who owns a shop selling potions. One day Carly finds a dead man in her shop and a certain sheriff has to come investigate. A certain sheriff who she has a past with.
Of course, Carly can't leave the investigation entirely to the sheriff. Not when her reputation is on the line. So she decides to do a little bit of digging herself.
This series is a favorite of mine because of the Southern charm and quirky characters who infuse the books with humor. It's what I call good entertainment.
In Closing
Often when looking for cozy mysteries I've found stories that are about as inspiring as you'd expect a poorly written romance novel to be. That's to say: there are so many unbelievable scenarios (and I'm not talking about the witchcraft and magic) that it's hard to actually sit back and enjoy what you're reading. Therefore, whenever I come across a book that doesn't just have great atmosphere, but also believable characters and an intelligent plot I get excited. The three authors mentioned in this article have all pulled that off, but in very different ways.


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At Everspring Health, our pursuit of healthy weight involves creating a solid awareness of how stress, diet and sleep influence our body composition. Too often we are made to believe that a healthy body is an extension of healthy weight, when in reality healthy weight is an extension of a healthy body and healthy mind. The people who are credited with the healthiest and longest lives focus on living good and fulfilling lives, they don't chase marketing fads. They eat real food, they relax alone and socialize with friends, they move as a natural part of their day and their weight naturally corresponds with this reality. There is no issue in pursuing healthy weight as a primary goal but the most successful people who pursue this goal embrace the fundamentals of health and build it into who they are and the lifestyle they lead. By creating a foundation of fundamentals it allows us to understand the principles of healthy weight a true reliable resource evolves, one where we can always return to for reliable results. The Everspring Health healthy weight program focuses on awareness in our daily lives, on nourishment of our body and mind, where healthy movement is a natural extension of our day.
The fundamentals begin with awareness. Awareness is focused on three lifestyle factors: stress, diet, and sleep because these three things influence all disease and are primary fundamental principles in the pursuit of healthy body composition. When discussing stress we are looking to reduce inflammatory burden on the body which is demanding on tissues and creates waste products that can interfere with healthy cellular function. As we are able to get waste out of the way, we want to leverage diet to make sure each cell gets the nourishment it needs to optimally function so the body can safely lose weight. Sleep then becomes key time to remove waste from the body and the to make sure the cells and tissues get a change to repair to function at their optimal level.
Once we establish a connection to our body and awareness of how our lifestyle habits influences our body then we seek to understand how movement influences our day. For many, we have the opportunity to move more in our day than we might realize. We should first seek to maximize this opportunity as this fits right into our daily life. From here we can begin to seek other opportunities to move in ways that are both enjoyable and productive. The key here is to seek to move in a way that is sustainable and productive. Too often, our ambitions lead to burnout or injury and our troubled relationship with weight continues.
At Everspring Health we talk about the value of a healthy life and the relationship with a healthy body, mind and spirit. We seek to help you create reasonable health goals and create a lifestyle that results in long-term optimal weight. We use clinical therapies to help improve digestion, regulate metabolism and reduce stress. As movement and exercise plays a more key role, we help you develop a program that will balance workouts with proper rest because that is most productive. We help you develop a personalized dietary plan, which will help you sustain a long term healthy weight and empower you to understand how food influences your life. Ultimately, we create a space where you can be healthy, and then we let your weight adjust to your improved level of health.
The desire to break undesirable habits varies from person to person and thus the programs for helping one quit must also vary. The cornerstone of any program must include the motivation to actually quit and change one's lifestyle for the better. In any addiction body chemistry is highly invested in the chemical pathways on which it has been trained over the course of months or even years. To break these chemical pathways one will inevitably be challenged by the body as it will prefer to reinforce the current habit versus deciding to break from these normalized patterns. It is for this reason that having the desire and motivation to quit is really a key component for changing our lifestyle.
The next key component is to make sure the body is well supported to reduce the demands from both the chemical withdrawal as well as the habitual withdrawal. At Everspring Health, we want to know why and how your habit formed and what enables it to remain a part of your daily life. Does it help alleviate stress? Is it something you do with friends? Is there a pattern to when or where your habit is strongest? Understanding how your habits influence your life helps us build a strategy that will be the most successful for you. As mentioned above we need to both break from the body chemistry as well as the mental or emotional connection with the substance. Everspring's lifestyle, health and healing programs integrate well with any outside program you may be utilizing, including support groups.
Acupuncture, diet and sleep along with herbal therapies can all reduce the intensity and frequency of cravings, and even get rid of them entirely. At the same time we educate you about what the cessation process will be like, and how you can position yourself to be most successful. Ultimately, we help you understand and identify what kind of life you want to create - one that doesn't need to rely on an addiction - and proceed towards creating that experience. By pursuing what we want it becomes much easier to let go of the things we don't want.
Digestive issues cost the US $51 billion a year and are some of the most common challenges individuals face on a daily basis. Many people think that some of these issues are 'normal' and are just a part of life but they don't have to be. The variety of issues individuals experience can be quite diverse: abdominal bloating or pain, frequent gas, fatigue, irregular bowel movements, low appetite, excessive hunger, GERD, IBS, IBD, Crohns disease, Colitis, SIBO, C Diff and many more. Whether you experience mild and uncomfortable symptoms or you have a more severe digestive challenge, these issues can be reduced and often controlled quite effectively.
At Everspring Health, we can usually do something right away to give you short-term relief from your digestive disorder while developing a personalized health program seeking to eliminate to condition as much as possible. We start by learning everything we can about your past and current health history in order to form an accurate diagnosis. You will be educated on how diet and stress affect how you feel, as well as how sleep affects the digestive tract. Herbal and dietary therapies are often a primary strategy, alongside acupuncture and massage. Each person is different – some people will need to come in more frequently, while others will need to return less. We can find a long-term solution with time and patience.
Everspring Health approaches reproductive health in several different ways, the first of which is proactive. Come see us when you've just begun planning a family. It is actually quite common for healthy couples to face fertility hiccups and challenges. These often occur when lifestyle stressors inconveniently line up with natural shifts in hormonal rhythms that could temporarily affect either partner. Most often in this stage challenges are associated with expectations of planning versus actual clinical health conditions.
Engaging with us before planning becomes more targeted means that, at the very least, we can create a program where everyone involved is healthier, more comfortable, and more prepared to greet a new member of the family. Often couples come to us in the midst of their planning calendar which increases stress and often leads to further challenges. Our recommendation is at least 90 days of preperation to help allow for ideal alignment of expectations and natural hormonal rhythms. This time period might need to be increased depending influential factors like extended use of birth control pills as one example. With the right preperatory care, you can increase your chances of a healthy pregnancy, healthy birth and decrease the risk of any postpartum challenges.
On the other side of things, if you are already experiencing problems with fertility, it's important for you to know that nothing is necessarily wrong with you or your spouse: it may just be that you need tools to help boost your health and reproductive processes. We can use acupuncture and massage, herbal therapies, and nutrition to create a better environment for pregnancy without putting the large amounts of stress on the woman's body that reproductive endocrinology involves. Using our integrative approach, we can give your body its best chance to create and foster new life.
Finally, for those already using reproductive support services (e.g. a Reproductive Endocrinologist) we can work to support your current program including providing acupuncture to support ovarian stimulation and before and after embryo transfer.
Chronic fatigue is a syndrome characterized by extreme fatigue that is not linked to another underlying medical condition. The fatigue tends to get worse with physical or mental demands and is often not improved even with sufficient rest.
Chronic fatigue as a syndrome cannot be diagnosed by a single test and in many cases it is a diagnosis arrived at by ruling out all other possibilities. Often chronic fatigue is experienced in association with many other symptoms which furthers the effort to rule out other diseases or instigating conditions. Unfortunately, this also complicates progress as the individual is going untreated as the diagnostics continue.
Conventional treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome focuses on symptom relief, whereas at Everspring Health our integrative therapy focuses on peeling back the layers of chronic fatigue to sufficiently dissolve the issue. Our treatment goes beyond management of symptoms; we develop an integrative program including nutrition, exercise, manual therapy (acupuncture, massage, etc) to provide you with a productive long-term solution. We start by understanding your past and current health history, in order to narrow down the primary influential factors. The benefits of Everspring Health's approach is that most often something can be done to pursue a level of normal of function while diagnostics continue to rule out any other issues that may need to be addressed.
The challenges one should understand when successfully addressing chronic fatigue is that progress may be slow and sporadic until certain benchmarks of time are met using consistent therapy throughout that time. One should be prepared to engage and invest in a program for at least 90 days so that enough progress can be made and then understood to create a lifestyle that can further the program and ideally dissolve the condition while seeking to prevent it from returning.
Quality of life is our mission at Everspring Health. Within that pursuit lies the concept of Everspring Living, a mindful intent to make quality of life an accessible and realistic part of our daily experience. We often view health, or lack there of, as something that gets in our way, something that distracts or detracts from our daily experience. What if we had more energy? What if we had better clarity of mind? What if having better stability in our health enabled us to pursue a more productive and fulfilling path? In order to create this experience Everspring Health provides a model of healthcare that truly focuses on healthy living, prevention and quality of life. Everspring Living is not a practice of trying to catch disease early, rather active practice of mindfulness and awareness that seeks to prevent disease from happening in the first place. Everspring Living is the holistic mindset behind Everspring Health, a mindset for daily living with the intent to cultivate the best possible experience of spirit, mind and body integration.
When considering integrative healthcare, the pursuit of quality of life gives us a benchmark from which to measure and gauge our progress. When dealing with chronic conditions, healthcare protocols integrated with daily lifestyle practices empowers each individual to regain control of their health. Everspring Living is a fundamental part of every program no matter what your original issue might be because it improves outcomes every time. Even if a condition or disease is thought to be incurable, it is entirely possible to live a life less influenced by that disease. This is benefit of true integrative healthcare bolstered by the accessible resource of Everspring Living, a mindset of awareness that enables one to truly embrace each and every moment.
Besides being a part of our standard of care, many clients find that individual sessions for lifestyle consulting, life coaching, healing touch therapy, massage therapy, mindfulness sessions and more are great resources they can leverage in their daily lives. Our focus at Everspring Health is less on which therapy or practice is "mandatory" and more on which therapy or practice is optimal given the needs of the client. Not everything is a nail needed to be pounded back into place. What is important when seeking long-term results is the strategy that is used to develop an integrative healthcare program based on individual needs. By educating our members and guests via our Everspring Living consultations and programs we make sure to achieve optimal results in balance with the most effective investment of your time, money and effort.
Everspring Health members and guests benefit from Everspring Living service programs that are grounded on three key benchmarks within an individual's life – stress, diet and sleep. These three experiences serve as observation points to provide a distinctly personalized feedback system to practitioners as well as to the client. By observing stress, diet and sleep clients have something from which to gauge their daily holistic experience. Creating programs rooted in real life experiences Everspring practitioners can build a more effective program that is less invasive and more affordable. Furthermore the results end up being more empowering to the client because they improve an individual's daily experience.
A mindful focus on appropriateness and customization is what allows us to truly engage each client in their own experience and help them to become empowered in their own health and lives as a whole. Health doesn't just happen and it cannot be imposed even by the best practitioners. The pursuit of health is a partnership between clients and practitioners and this is the service you can expect when you come to visit with us.


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Explore Our Hotel
We're the Best Among Picayune, Mississippi Hotels
Ideally located along I-59 at exit 4, the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Picayune is a great home base for area travelers since it's close to Slidell and a short drive from New Orleans, Hattiesburg, and the gulf coast. Picayune, Mississippi offers our hotel's patrons fascinating natural attractions, close proximity to area businesses and easy access to Stennis International Airport (HSA) and Amtrak. Leisure guests staying at our hotel's location in Picayune, MS can explore local attractions, Crosby Arboretum, historic downtown, terrific golf courses and Stennis Space Center or venture to the Big Easy for a day trip to the French Quarter, the Riverwalk, the Aquarium of the Americas or the New Orleans Convention Center. Pearl River County offers great shopping, too, with antique stores around every corner and the North Shore Square Mall just minutes away. Business guests appreciate our hotel's Picayune, MS location, which is close to Chevron and NASA, as well as Ochsner Health Center. With a 1,070-sq-ft meeting space for up to 70 guests, A/V equipment and a Business Center with services to help guests prepare, we fulfill the needs of corporate travelers. From free high-speed Internet access, an indoor pool and a Fitness Center to a free, hot breakfast, our Picayune, Mississippi hotel's amenities ensure guest satisfaction. "Stay Smart" with us and enjoy the service you deserve at a price you can afford.
- Black-out Shades
- Pillow Menu
- Rollaway Bed/Cot Available
- Crib Available
- Iron/Ironing Board
- Separate Hanging Closet
- In-Room Heating and A/C Controls
Bathroom/Personal Care
- Private Bathroom
- Bathroom Amenities Available
- Hair Dryer
- Bathtub
- Separate/Walk-in Shower
In-Room Features
- Mini Refrigerator
- Microwave
- Coffee Maker
- Flat-screen TV
- iPod Docking Station with Clock Radio
- Work Desk with Lamp
- Desk-level Electrical Outlet
- Free Local Calls
- Cable/Satellite
- Premium Channels
- DVD/Video Rental
- Stereo/Radio
- Direct-dial Phone
- Phone with Voicemail
- Separate Phone Bills for Separate Lines
- Electrical Adapters Available
- Complimentary Morning Newspaper
Added Value
- Connecting Rooms Available
- Complimentary Coffee/Tea Supplies
- Full Breakfast Included
- Breakfast Buffet Included
- Continental Breakfast Included
- Complimentary Coffee in Lobby
- Kids Eat Free
Business Services
- 1 Meeting Room(s) Available
- On-Site Business Center
- Printer
- Copier
- Scanner
- Office supplies available
Internet Access
- Free High-Speed Internet in all Rooms
- Wireless Internet service is free for all IHG® Rewards Club members
- Internet Browser on TV
Entertainment & Recreation
- Indoor Pool
- Heated Indoor Pool
- Indoor Pool Hours of Operation: 9:00 AM - 9:30 PM
Health & Fitness
Complimentary Fitness Center
Weight Bench, Free weights, tredmill and elliptical, with in room television. Connected to the indoor pool
Hours of Operation: 12:00 AM to 12:00 AM
Fitness Center Type: LIMITED
Fitness Center Equipment:
- Treadmill
- Elliptical Machines
- Free Weights
- Stationary Bicycle
Housekeeping & Laundry
- Daily Housekeeping
- On-site Guest Self-Laundry Facilities
Added Value
- Wake Up Calls
- Ice Machine
Hotel Details
1001 Dauphin Street
Picayune, Mississippi 39466
United States
Check In: 3:00 PM
Check Out: 11:00 AM
Check-in Age: 18
Parking + -
- Complimentary Self Parking Available
Accessibility + -
- Public Entrance
- Guest Rooms
- Elevators
- Public Restrooms
- Registration Desk
- Business Center
- Pool
- Number of Accessible Meeting Rooms: 1
Accessible Hotel Areas
- Registration Area
- Accessible Guest Rooms
- Business Center
- Meeting Room
- Exercise Facility
- Pool
Hotel Areas with Accessible Routes from Accessible Public Entrance
- Accessible Self Parking
- Van Accessible Self Parking
- Ramp Access
- Closed Caption TVs
- Telephone with TDD
- Visual Alarm/Alert in Guest Rooms
- Visual Alarm/Alert in Public Spaces
- Communication Kits with Visual Alarms
Provided by Hotel
Pet Policy + -
- Service Animals Allowed
Facility + -
- Smoke-Free Facility
- Number of Floors: 3
- Total Number of Rooms: 67
- Number of Suites: 18
- Number of Non-Smoking Rooms: 67
- Number of Accessible Rooms: 8
- Connecting Rooms Available
Languages + -
Languages Spoken by Staff
- English
- Korean
- Spanish
Credit Cards + -
- American Express
- Visa
- MasterCard
- Diners Club
- Carte Blanche
- Discover


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