User:Ablm578/p1

On Wiki[edit | edit source]

	This user is part of the Cleanup Crew

(1 in 250)	This user hates false drop rates and will happily remove or correct them.

My first impression of the wiki was that it had some of the worst grammer spellin I had ever seen in my life, perhaps because it was also one of the first non-professional internet sites I had seen. This was a major factor in using, er, "other" Runescape help sites over the wiki before 2009. After the release of Dungeoneering, however, it became fairly clear that the Wiki has some of the most up-to-date information, and it would just require tons of cleanup for it to be anywhere near appealing. Thus, I joined the Cleanup Crew...

On Style[edit | edit source]

I believe English (and most other languages) is useful because it communicates information effectively; as such, when people use the words of the English language to compose a sentence that is grammatically correct, but logically stupid, it really irritates me. What do I mean? Take, for example:

Note: Previous paragraph proven to be *wrong* in at least one case.

I forget what page I found it on, but the point is, this is a feeble attempt to inform the reader and only manages to confuse them. If they've read the "previous paragraph" and they read this sentence, all you've done is put a contradiction on the page, which 1) damages the credibility of the page, and 2) really fails to inform the reader of anything.

Second, English teachers often state that you should use the active voice and avoid the passive. Obviously, there are instances where prose written mainly the passive voice creates great drama or other effect, but in this Wiki, I don't see why people use the passive voice so much. Consider:

It is commonly seen in Bounty Hunter worlds due to it being easy to get in the monastery and having a small prayer bonus.

Ok, so "it is commonly seen" isn't so bad because the focus of the phrase could be the monk robe, although I believe it should be the Bounty Hunter worlds. The next part, though? "Due to it being easy to get?" Passive voice gone terribly wrong D: This is both grammatically incorrect and stylistically horrifying, and it's "due to them being lazy editors" that this Wikia suffers so badly.

Enough of the complaining though, what should be done about this? I believe that the this Wiki should put a notice at the top of every edit page that small tidbits of information should be thrown at the talk page, and not hastily mashed into the actual page.

Random Thoughts[edit | edit source]

I disagree with Hobbes in that men are not guided by direct self-interest, and some men have interest apart from their actions (not because they consciously avoid acting for their interests, but because they have cannot access their interests). This leads to chaos...(in the colloquial sense of the word).
I disagree with Brutus (Robert Yates) on representation in a large nation, and believe chaos (but not necessarily confrontation and conflict, as Hobbes believes) should be controlled rather than avoided.
This Wiki is an example of controlled chaos; there is the interest of the people that guides movement, but the personal interests of the people that keeps things...interesting.
Also, the math/cs/physics idea of chaos is really cool. Dang, math and science are so cool once you get past the random loads of junk they give you...
United States public education sucks. Pretty bad. 'specially math =/
Also, with respect to politics: I don't know much. But I'm learning XD

Beliefs I (try to) Live By[edit | edit source]

People deserve second chances. And thirds. And fourths. However many times it takes to get right whatever they screw up.
I'd be a fool to surrender when I know I can be a contender.
You only know whether you'll miss someone when he or she is not there, so... try to be indifferent and stop missing people D<
Cool and hot are not opposites. In fact, everybody should be cool and hot.

On research[edit | edit source]

Note: I refer here to individual research, not research of other peoples' works.

My basic interest in research probably derives from my real-life education, which is strongly focused in math, science, and programming. My research is analysis-based, unlike the "Preserving the phenomena" idea from ancient Greece or the "scientific method" idea found in secondary education. Generally, research begins with a question about nature, or in this case, game mechanics; proceeds with perhaps biased but logical hypotheses for the general structure of the game mechanic being analyzed, just to get an idea of what's going on; continues with the development and execution of a method of best determining the nature of the game mechanic; and then concluding, based on statistical analysis, the general shape of the game mechanic.

On Research Topics[edit | edit source]

Research should generally satisfy the following criteria:

Practicality - It should't take years to observe the game mechanic.

Simplicity - Ideas that are too complex, such as "do strength bonuses behave differently against Dungeoneering bosses," are not useful because we assume that the game mechanics tend toward simplicity and uniformity.

User interest - The idea at hand should in some way interest the user, whether out of pecuniary self-interest or curiosity.

Some of the greater research topics involve ideas that are repeatable, measurable (by discrete outcomes), and not well-explained by the game guide.

Topics discussed well by the game guide or other official sources (J-Mods) include:

Mastyx vs. Experience in Dungeoneering

Maximum melee hit calculations

General effects of Attack, Strength, and Defense in combat

Ore & coal respawn time

Topics not discussed by official sources but well understood by the community include:

Attack speed

Determination of path

Regeneration rate

Salmon vs. trout rate, tuna vs. swordfish rate

Topics not discussed by official sources or the community but individually researched include:

From User:Dromedarii

Probability distribution of hits (3), hit zeros vs. miss zeros (4), intuitive implications of (3) (5)

Walking and running diagonally by an odd number of squares

Silverlight effect

Topics not discussed well include:

Attack frequency probability (and effects of attack bonuses)

Defense frequency probability (and effects of defense bonuses)

Drop probability distributions

Probability of accessing rare drop table and probability distribution within rare drop table

Probability of mining a gem while mining different ores & coal

Intrinsic magic bonus for spells (are there any?)

Topics that we'll probably never know about:

Revenant path determination

Distribution of game ticks required to mine a single runite ore

Exact effect of EP on Corrupt Dragon drops

On Statistics[edit | edit source]

On Logic and Guessing[edit | edit source]

On the Present[edit | edit source]

Currently I am trying to better understand the cockroach soldier drop table. This will take a decent amount of time and is a very specific topic, but I am working on it due to ease of research, decent self-interest, and general interest from other members of the community.