(no subject)

daerr has been helping me move all of undef.jmac.org's services over to his own far more stable server. It's very time-consuming and basically joyless but we're getting there. All the user accounts and most web stuff have been moved over. Maybe we'll be done by tonight.

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Have discovered that Mario Kart's online ratings are a little more like Volity's than I first thought: you score one win for every individual racer you beat (or tie with) in a 4-race match, and one loss for every kart who places ahead of you. So if you place second in a four-person match, you'll rack up 2 wins and 1 loss.

To my shame, I discovered this when I hotheadedly quit a game after I found myself getting lapped in the first race, and when I returned to the game found that I had been stuck with three losses. On the flip side, if someone else bolts, then everyone else in the race is guaranteed one win-point as long as they stick through the whole match. I've probably gotten half of my current wins through letting other people run away.

Interesting social note: when I discovered the emblem-creation feature, I wiggled my toes with delight, and I also said "This is brave of Nintendo, for people are going to abuse this." And indeed, while most racers I've met online have represented themselves pleasantly enough, I've also raced against people with badly drawn swastikas and penises for icons, and against folks with handles like OMG~U~suk. Unfortunately, these types tend to be really good at racing, too; I envision scowling, greasy 14-year-old boys who screeched for their moms to buy this game as soon as it hit the shelves and have not put it down since, schooltime, dinnertime and bedtime be damned. Practice makes perfect, even for slackjawed little shits.

I think I may change my racing handle from "jmac" to "jmac.org", just for vanity's sake.