Thursday, May 6, 2021

Recent Questions - Arqade

Recent Questions - Arqade

What does it mean for a game to be a skinner box?

Posted: 06 May 2021 03:28 AM PDT

I've recently seen the term skinner box thrown around more often as a derogatory term by reviewers for free-to-play games that use predatory practices to encourage players to spend more money than they actually intend to.

The term seems to originate from the research of a well-known biologist, B.F. Skinner, referring to a device that is used to train animals in biological experiments (such as training mice to solve mazes, or training a parrot to associate a colour with a button). See https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-06434-011 for an overview or https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347270800343 for an example. The animal learns to respond in a certain way to a stimulus and receives a food reward for correctly doing so in a reinforcement learning process.

Some semantic change seems to have happened when this word is now used in the game (review) context. Games don't literally trap people in tiny cages and force them to do certain actions to stay alive (that would be a rather unethical experiment in many ways), so it clearly means something different here.

There are many techniques modern game designers employ in free-to-play (and recently, also in paid) games to encourage users to spend money, from the straightforward to the subtle. Some examples are (with an example game that includes this technique):

  • Allowing the purchase of actual straight up power increasing bonuses (skipping content or in multiplayer having advantages over those who don't), Example game: Maplestory.
  • Purchasing 'cosmetics', making the characters look aesthetically better in some way for those who spend. Example game: Dota-2
  • Unlocking 'more stuff' I.e. the gacha or lootbox system where spending money unlocks additional gameplay options via more available characters or items, but what you get is random. Example game: Genshin Impact.
  • Skipping some kind of progression system by spending money. Example: Bloons TD 6
  • Gating 'game time' in some way, requiring a resource necessary to continue playing and then making more of it available for real money. Example: Candy Crush.
  • Making things happen faster in simulation and strategy games when you spend. Example: Clash of Clans.

It's not entirely clear to me which of these techniques fall under the term, i.e. "which are skinner boxes, and which are not?",or if reviewers are using it more as a blanket derogatory term for those types of transactions they personally emotionally disapprove of. Is there an objective or reasoned definition of which variants/strategies generate the 'conditioned responses' Skinner has written about in his papers?

  • What does it mean for a game to be a 'skinner box'?
  • Specifically: What are the requirements?
  • Is there a generally agreed-upon definition?
  • Could it be that this varies from person-to-person?

Footnote:

How it could be subjective (conjecture): what causes addiction, which is very similar to a conditioned response in some ways, varies from person-to-person, thus which techniques qualify as sufficient conditions for a game to be included in the set of 'skinner box' titles are subjective if this is the correct definition for 'skinner box element':

a to the person reviewing it addictive or enticing element that involves spending real money and conditions them to spend more

Wayfarer Accepted pokestop is not live

Posted: 06 May 2021 03:40 AM PDT

I submitted 2 pokestops on 1 may 2021 and all 2 pokestops got approval in my niantic account, after 24 hours when I checked whether they are live in game or not, I have noticed that the 2nd pokestop nomination is live but the first pokestop nomination, even after being accepted, is missing in the game.

I got an email for the 2nd nomination being live but didn't get any email of first one being live even when it is approved in my niantic wayfarer account.

So what do you guys think? will my first nomination which is accepted but not yet appeared in game will appear sometime later? Or it has been approved but will not come live because of some unknown reason?

The distance between the pokestops are about 150 meters

If the first nomination does not come live in game even after being accepted in wayfarer , can I submit a new nomination of the same place again?

Thank You.

What are these files for in The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky?

Posted: 05 May 2021 07:51 PM PDT

I was downloading EVO Upgrade mods for The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky The 3rd from https://mikutsubasa.wixsite.com/shinelikechestelle/downloads-tc after having used the SC ones. while downloading the Third Chapter Movies and BGM files i saw that the number of batch files didn't match to the number of .avi/.dat files provided.

reading the README.txt file and the code in 05. Install_The_3rd_Evo_ED6_DT50.bat i saw that ED6_DT46EVO.dat from the previous game mod is replacing ED6_DT50.dat while normally the EVO.dat files are replacing the same files (just without EVO)

it got me wondering what ED6_DT46.dat is in The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC which gets replaced with ED6_DT46EVO.dat and likewise with the other .dat files in the mod as the batch files just say

INSTALL THE 3RD EVO ED6_DT## MOVIE

so i am wondering what these various .dat files that the mod replaces actually are.

NOTE: i am only asking about the files that the mods replace/backup. not every .dat file that's found in the game folder

Is there any way to play Unity games that were released as only a .exe and have not been updated to include a UnityPlayer.dll in the download?

Posted: 05 May 2021 10:46 PM PDT

I don't know if this is the right place for this question, though if it isn't, I'd kindly ask you to redirect me to where I can ask it.

I need to play an obscure small-scale indie game called Offbeat for a school project. It's at https://gameheads.itch.io/offbeat. But when I downloaded the files and clicked on the offbeatv2Windows.exe file in the game folder it gives an error saying that UnityPlayer.dll could not be found. I found that in newer versions of Unity the game build is split into the .exe for the game and the UnityPlayer.dll file for the engine, so both of them need to be included in the download for the game to run. But the creator of this game has moved on and hasn't added it to the download so I can't play it. Downloading a UnityPlayer.dll file from the internet just gave a different error. Could anyone tell me if it is in any way possible for me to play the game?

Why isn't this give command with a display name working?

Posted: 05 May 2021 09:24 PM PDT

enter image description here

I don't understand how to fix this or what this error means.

How Do I make A steel Door Usable by All/Chosen Players?

Posted: 05 May 2021 02:11 PM PDT

I like the look of steel doors, but my other friends cannot open the door. How do I make it so that they can open it? I've heard of making keys, but I'm not sure how that works in Minetest, or if it is even practical. Is there a command privilege perhaps?

Is there a way to play a SWF/Flash game that required server login/connection

Posted: 06 May 2021 12:33 AM PDT

So i recently found files (all assets, all swf files and source code) of an old Multiplayer/MMO game (Ninja Saga) i used to play on facebook years and years ago.

And my question is is there a way for me to play the game locally since the game used to require an account to play with. I have tried running it with JPEXS flash decompiler and the game did start up but it would get stuck on loading screen loop right before the login page.

Im assuming that id have to set up a local server or change the code (currently im looking into that) but just wanted to ask if there is an easier way to do this.

Thanks

Mouse Cursor on my MacBook Won't Work on a Full Screen Application on Google

Posted: 06 May 2021 01:37 AM PDT

I try to play the shooting game 'masked io unblocked' over at this site but all it does is just sit over the game, I can shoot and stuff but it won't lock into the game. It is visible but just won't work.

How to make mobs not attack each other?

Posted: 05 May 2021 03:53 PM PDT

I'm making a custom boss battle where it spawns mobs to fight for it, but the skeletons attack each other. How can I prevent this from happening in Minecraft 1.16.5?

How can I remove the Damage Flash?

Posted: 05 May 2021 01:33 PM PDT

I would like to remove the Damage flash in Minetest. There does not seem to be any setting in the game to remove it.

I am trying to remove the damage flash by removing that code from the files that are contained in the Minetest directory. I was able to use this method to remove the blood particles. The problem is that I am not a coder, and although I have a reasonably good gist of what the code is doing, I cannot find the code that creates the damage flash for every time you take damage.

Could someone help me find this code? If not, do you know of another way to remove the damage flash from the game? Thanks!

Is there any difference between research level 3 and max level in New Pokémon Snap?

Posted: 05 May 2021 03:08 PM PDT

I maxed out the research level of the first stage, but I didn't notice any difference. Does anything change?

Fallout 4 - Cannot Select Base SPECIAL Perks

Posted: 06 May 2021 12:06 AM PDT

Fallout 4 universe.

I started a new playthrough of Fallout 4, one of my favorite games in the Fallout series, (despite me having to send Marcy Long to the pillory all the time,) and everything was peachy for a few good levels into the game. However, I realized that to upgrade my laser musket, I need the Science! perk. Ok then, I take my new level point and I try to upgrade my intelligence in the base SPECIAL perks tab at the top so I can unlock that perk next time I level up, but it tells me that the "requirements are not met." To be honest, I didn't think there were requirements to upgrade the base SPECIAL perks.

I'm not too upset after this, because there are still plenty of perks I can access. However, as I get more skilled and gain more levels, the perks that I can't get for some reason begin mocking me. Once again, I try upgrading my base SPECIAL perks, but it still tells me I have not met the requirements to do this.

Now, judging by the lack of other questions on this website about this issue, I am guessing this isn't a very common thing, so it must be something rare that I did to trigger this. One idea I have is that I had a few mods loaded. The unofficial bug patch mod, (of course,) and a few others for improving the night sky, better sound effects for the weapons, etc. Unless something about this caused my base SPECIAL perks to lock me out, (for some inconceivable reason,) I have no idea why this would happen. If someone could offer advice about what I should do to fix this, I would very much appreciate it!

P.S., I would add a picture to help explain what happened, but I am playing on Xbox and writing this question on PC. Maybe the console I'm using might be part of it, who knows. 🤔

How to increase Drop rates in a minecraft spigot server

Posted: 05 May 2021 04:09 PM PDT

I have made a spigot 1.16.5 server, but I was wondering that is there any plugin/setting/anything that I can do in order to change the drop rates of mobs.

I have seen many custom drop plugins but none of them have had an option to change the drop rate (Or at-least I didn't find such a option).

What I really wanted was as drowned spawning with tridents is already really rare, so I wanted to keep and 80% chance of trident dropping instead of the scarce chance that Mojang set up. I wanted to do the same with enderman drop rates.

Any help would be appreciated, and I am not just sticking to plugins, I am ready to achieve this in any method except for deleting my current world as I have good progress on it.

Thanks.

Execute summon item command issues

Posted: 05 May 2021 06:04 PM PDT

I need some help with the execute summon item command and here is a example I made from the same type I am using for my server but cannot seem to get it to work.. any chance anyone knows what I did wrong?

/execute at @a run summon Minecraft:item ~ ~ ~ {type=item,nbt={Item:{id:"Minecraft:Wither_skeleton_skull"}}

It doesn't seem to work. any chance you know how I could fix this command to properly operate?

I am sure this is a issue with the way I have used the commands.

I believe the spot between Minecraft:item and the end is the place where the issue happens. I have messed with it and googled for a hour or two now and haven't really got any help from modern commands, only the old ones.

I now have it so that there are no errors, but it summons air. I will try to link or post a image of this:

This should now be a working image

The death score is for the rest to function but it doesn't seem to work regardless of if it is there. even if I just do @a... but now there are no errors and all my text has Nice colors.

Does the New Republic's Repair Droid work differently than the Imperial?

Posted: 05 May 2021 02:13 PM PDT

While playing Star Wars Squadrons I noticed an odd behavior with which Google couldn't help me:

If I target a teammate with my TIE Reaper with the repair droid equipped after a short option the target is marked in green and I can fire an auto-targeting repair droid at them to give tham an instant repair and repair over time.

Now when I tried doing that with the U-Wing I could only "force" my droid out by double-tapping the key. But there was no green target acquisition on my teammates and I was never offered to fire off the droid so it could make a targeted flight to them.

What I tried to remedy this:

  • Target teammates with extremely low health - didn't help
  • Continuously follow a target at <500 distance for a long period (20-30s?) of time with center of screen focused on them
  • Target teammates with currently low shields and low hull - didn't help

So, I had to wonder, is there a functional gameplay difference between the New Republic's U-wing repair droid and its TIE Reaper counterpart?

Do the basic Xbox One models (non-X) support enhancements in the backwards compatible Xbox 360 games?

Posted: 06 May 2021 01:36 AM PDT

Xbox One currently has 25 "X enhanced games" Xbox 360 games which are rendered at 4K on Xbox One X, a nine-time increase over 360's 720p resolution. Compatible original Xbox games have their resolution multiplied to the nearest native value on all Xbox One models, but are improvements to the 360 titles X-exclusive? According to this Forbes contributor article Red Dead Redemption runs at 1080p on Xbox One S which may suggest that at least the S model benefits from the X-enhancements.

Also, do all the other 360 run at the original resolution (720p) on every variation of the console?

Do critical shots affect legendary effects?

Posted: 05 May 2021 11:06 PM PDT

For example, I have a combat rifle with the 'Explosive' effect, i.e. it lets projectiles explode on impact, dealing additional damage.

If I use a critical shot, does that affect just the base ballistic damage of the bullet, or would it affect the additional explosive damage as well?

Steam: "You are missing the following 32-bit libraries, and Steam may not run: libdrm.so.2"

Posted: 06 May 2021 12:55 AM PDT

It is the weirdest. I opened up my Steam and suddenly received this message when it had been working perfectly fine a couple of days before:

Steam popup 1

Steam popup 2

It was already installed. I tried reinstalling Steam from the package in the Steam website. I also tried purging libdrm2 and reinstalling. I tried just restarting the system. I tried updating and upgrading all components. No change.

No Google results have turned up anything that makes sense in my situation.

I'm running on Ubuntu 14.04 .

Reduce Minecraft Redstone lag

Posted: 05 May 2021 02:37 PM PDT

I've been playing on the same single-player world in Minecraft for about 3 years or more now, and I at some point I began having lower and lower FPS. What was strange was that I only had that issue inside my base.

My computer is good enough to handle that at ~40 FPS (min 35) using an i7 6700K (and it's integrated GPU, HD 530) but on my laptop I can go as low as 10 FPS. However, anywhere else I get a solid 60 FPS even on my laptop with it's integrated GPU selected (i7 3610QM and it's integrated GPU, HD 4000)

I came to the conclusion that all the lag is caused by the insane amount of redstone contraptions that my base is built upon.

My question is: How can I reduce the lag? Is there any way to somehow reduce the FPS lag caused by the redstone/hoppers, while still keeping their functions? If there isn't an "easy" way, do you have any tips for how I can avoid this in the future?

I read some old posts claiming that hoppers are a huge lag source and that there are ways to reduce some that partially, but those posts are very old and possibly outtaded.

Some more context: I have something called "The Vault" which is a huge nicely-decorated, 3-level room with 480 double chests and thousands of hoppers that automatically sort items into each chests (It's like a creative inventory down there, every item worth storing) and also some extra chests for surplus or uncategorised items, and a villager trading station on which I'm still working. I also got some automatic farms nearby but nothing insane. But they do use long hopper lines and a huge item elevator to send the items directly to the Vault.

I believe that "vault" of mine is what causes all/most of the lag, because of all the hoppers that it uses.

Also, there's an item frame for every two double chests in there, so somewhere around 120 of them.

Even more context: My whole base is built inside only a few chunks, because I started on a small island in an ocean. Also most of it is underground but I almost only expanded vertically, because the ocean is very deep. That means that all the redstone is loaded and active at the same time, right?

Can I see an overview of my settlers?

Posted: 05 May 2021 04:42 PM PDT

Is it possible to see a list of the settlers in a given settlement and the jobs they are assigned to? It would make it easier to pick a settler for a new job.

Lobby Selector/Inventory Selector no longer works

Posted: 05 May 2021 05:07 PM PDT

I run Minecraft on a Macintosh using Yosemite (10.10.1). My friend told me to press F3 to display coordinates to find him. After doing what my friend said, I can no longer use Lobby Select or access my inventory.

Minecraft Server - Same Network -> Brother can't connect

Posted: 06 May 2021 03:00 AM PDT

We've been able to get this to work before but now that we've come back after a few months, my brother is no longer able to connect to my minecraft server.

I am not doing a LAN server because my cousins who live elsewhere want to play as well; all of them have been able to connect to my server using my local IP with no problems whatsoever.

Things you should know:

  • We use a Windows 7 Wired Desktop Computer as the Host computer.
  • We use a Belkin Router.
  • My Brother's computer is a Laptop.

I think I've tried everything I found on the internet and it's getting frustrating because it just will not work! I also tried this:

  • Port forwarding
  • I've given my brother my IPV4 & Local IP address but none of that has worked.
  • We've tried using port 25565 and without it host computer a DMZ but that had no luck as well.
  • I've disabled firewalls from both ends and that hasn't worked either.

Is there a reason for this?

What happens if you stay on the monitor the whole time?

Posted: 05 May 2021 02:02 PM PDT

What happens if you stay on the monitor the whole time in Five Nights at Freddy's? Do you run out of power, do the animatronics pull the tablet away from your face, or does time just not pass?

My DSi goes blank after the health and safety message - How can I fix it?

Posted: 05 May 2021 10:01 PM PDT

My Nintendo DSI is not working. When I try to turn it on, the health and safety screen comes on for a second and then the screen goes black, even though the power and Wi-Fi light are still on.

I have been experiencing this problem since I was on a plane and my D.S.I. would not work. At the time I just thought it was the plane, but after I landed it still wouldn't work.

It has not been dropped, damaged or wet and it is fully charged. How can I fix this problem?

I have taken the battery out->put it back in and it works sometimes (for a little while), but then it stops working again. I would like a more permanent solution.

Skyrim instantly crashes to desktop

Posted: 05 May 2021 09:36 PM PDT

Two weeks ago I borrowed an Oculus Rift for the weekend and installed some mods for it, following this guide. Now I'm trying to run it again without the Oculus, and it instantly crashes to desktop.

Behavior

I click on Skyrim in my Steam library, and then click Play from the launcher. A console window pops up for half a second, closes, and the game doesn't run. Sometimes I see a black screen flicker up and then close.

What I've tried

  • Running Skyrim from SKSE. In this case, I see the SKSE console window flicker up, then another console window, and the game doesn't start.
  • Uninstalling all mods.
  • Deleting my Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini files.
  • Reinstalling Skyrim in Steam by clicking Delete Local Content, followed by Install.
  • Running Skyrim in a Window.
  • Praising Talos.
  • Changing Audio settings to DVD quality.
  • Restarting my computer.

System specifications

  • OS: Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40 GHz
  • Drive: Samsung 840 SSD
  • Graphics Card:: AMD Radeon HD 7900
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H ATX LGA1150
  • Monitor: BenQ XL2420T

Solution

Per SevenSidedDie's recommendation, I deleted d3d9.dll, hijackdll.dll, and libfreespace.dll from my Steamapps\common\Skyrim\ folder. It's alive!

Generalized Solution

Uninstalling and reinstalling via steam does not remove the Skyrim folder. If you manually added any DLLs during the modding process, you may have to remove them manually as well. Alternatively, if you don't know which DLLs to remove, uninstall the game, delete the Skyrim folder, and then reinstall. You will not lose your saved games, since they are stored in Users\USER\Documents\my games\skyrim, rather than in steamapp.

Minecraft crashes on ubuntu system

Posted: 06 May 2021 01:32 AM PDT

System Specs:

Intel DH55HC  Intel core i3-550 @ 3.2 GHZ    using Java JVM not openjdk.

Minecraft works for a while but then it crashes, so I upgraded to 11.04 and graphcs are all choping and the crashes still happen.

Link to debug logs.

What determines your spirit guide?

Posted: 06 May 2021 02:36 AM PDT

In Myst IV, what determines your spirit guide? I'm on my second play-through and I got Water again so I was wondering how it can be changed? Just to be clear -- I know what to do after you get your spirit guide and what the spirit guide affects, but I want to find out what choices in the game lead to the protectors giving you a certain spirit guide.
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