News Eve Online going free-to-play in November

Clearly! As another clarification: while "murder" and "murdering " are terms very commonly used to describe the act of killing another living being, when I say "I could murder a curry" I am in fact simply stating that I am hungry and have a particular yearning for spiced dishes originating in the east, not that I am planning to kill any person or thing. Just wanted to make sure you understood that!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: I tried to play Eve Online once. Spent a few hours trying to get it running on Linux, failed, struggled to get it running on Windows, then when the damn thing had finally decided to install and boot without crashing the servers told me they were down, so I gave up and played Nethack instead.

Might stick my head in when November rolls around, see what I've been missing for 13 years. Assuming I can get the damn thing to run...

 

Wow. I thought you were kidding about not understanding humour, but clearly not.

Okay, let's break this down.

When someone's trolling and a person reacts, that's known as a "bite," right - as the terms all come from fishing ("baiting" a "hook", "trolling" for a "bite"). You know that, as you've demonstrated, so that's a good start.

If I had been trolling and had deliberately posted a provocative "hook" in the article (as you appear to be suggesting I do, having said you dislike articles being "laced" with "hooks", apparent evidence of which you are free to supply in support of such a claim) then someone reacting angrily would have been a "bite" - or, in other words, I would have "hooked" them with my "bait." I'm going to assume you know this too, so let's move on to the actual humour.

As I wasn't trolling and did not deliberately post a provocative "hook" in the article, someone reacting angrily would have been an unintended consequence. It would also have been, from the angry someone's perspective, entirely indistinguishable from the above scenario. I would have "hooked" them but completely without meaning to.

If you're still struggling to understand, let's try a real-world "meatspace" example. Let's say Bill is out on his bike, and he nearly collides with a good friend of his but misses by swerving at the last minute. They're both absolutely fine, Bill can see that, and with a smile Bill says "don't worry, I'll get you next time!"

Now, in this scenario, please tell me: from Bill's comment, do you believe that he intended to deliberately injure his friend, or that he intends to deliberately injure his friend in the future?

 

And now it looks like you're the one trolling. Oh, and it's "condescending." (What? He already thinks I'm "condecending," I might as well correct his spelling while I'm at it.)

 

The joys of the bottom half of the internet, eh? Now if only I was paid by the forum post, I'd be laughing!

Oh, god, an on-topic post? You've wandered far from home, my friend...

No, but seriously: in November all accounts will become Clones. Lapsed accounts will become Alpha Clones with restrictions in place; currently-live paid accounts will become Omega Clones with no restrictions. If you stop paying, your Omega Clone will become an Alpha Clone; any skills you have that aren't allowed for Alpha Clones will remain but be disabled. If you start paying again, your Alpha Clone becomes an Omega Clone and your dormant, locked skills become usable again.

 

You mean you're not going to comment on any of my future articles?

Do... do you promise? Oh, what a wonderful end to the week!

 

Now I'm confused. That wasn't supposed to be a joke. Are you now saying that you will be reading and commenting on my articles? Bah. I should have known it was too good to be true.