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[Max Damage]

Yasmine's physical existance may have ended, but her conciousness, her memories, her humanity was transferred to a digital form.

She was human. She understood what she had become and kept herself hidden (she would never have been accepted back), but couldn't stop herself from looking out for her brother. She helped Dana because she *should*, not beacuse of any kind of mission parameters.

Smart AI's aren't really AI. They're not coded. They're born - they are humans without the physical constraints. They're the ghosts from the shell.

Yasmine - our fair Princess may have been just a ghost, but it was a ghost of a chance.

We're boned.

Durandal was a coded AI. He went rampant because he had lost all his humanity.

Yasmine was human. She had her humanity - it's whats stopping her from turning into another Durandal. Rampancy with humanity - it could have saved the day.

No longer.

What is 'human'?

If you lose an arm, and replace it with a prosthetic, are you still human?

Lose your limbs and replace them all. Are you human?

Lose your organs and replace them all - are you human? You still feel, think, love, care. Are you human?

Lose your body and become ethereal. Are you human? Are you less than human.. or possibly, just maybe, more than human?

[Grimlockx]

[radiosity]

hey all, (first post, long-time lurker)

I'm running on the assumption that Durga and Mellisa used to be the same AI, however they are now entirely split by whatever shunted Melissa back in time. I see no reason why the destruction of Melissa necessarily equals the destruction of Durga. This AI was created based on the template from Yasmines brain, the frightened little 6 year old girls emotions and memories were not required or used but were locked away in the 'glass coffin', she was set free in the damage caused by the crash. We have heard the little girls voice (ie. the 2552 version of the SP) coming from Durga when she thinks about her past. The Sleeping Princess may well have been deleted from our 2004 AI, but we may still hear the SP's freedom on Sunday, its just not the SP from 2004.

[TheBiggestSean]

I think it's possible that you're full of crap, Max, because until Sunday, or possibly Friday, we have no idea what the outcome will be.

And I think your insulting of other players (despite not naming specifics) is somewhat arbitrary and childish.

I, for one, am in the camp that believes the PMs meant this to happen, or at least, were guiding the game in this direction. The outcome of the story has probably been long pre-determined, the fun of it was in the interaction and the frenetic pace we set for it, not in determining its outcome.

Simple fact of the matter was that people were trying to advance the story, and complete the puzzle by getting the correct pass-phrase in the appropriate amount of time. They had absolutely no idea that they were actually tracking the actions of the Princess, or aiding and abetting Melissa in any way.

Furthermore, actually getting angry at the people who were hardcore enough to be part of a full-scale participation is ludicrous, without them, you'd have no game to play.

Hopefully some of my speculation about the Flea will pay off. Besides, in her latest speech (the 404 bit), Melissa seems way less cold and calculating than she ever did. If anything, she seems more like a normal AI than she ever has in the past.

[kasuta]

I am another lurker who's been here since the beginning, but I have to echo what Sean said above. If you all had been meant to choose between Melissa or the SP, then I believe you would have been offered that choice. You were not. You were offered only a task to complete, which you did admirably. Firing anger at those who completed the task is unnecessary and doesn't make any sense--the task was obviously framed in a certain way, to get a certain result. In the words of Morpheus, 'Know that what happened, had to happen and could not have happened any other way'. Thinking that this ruined, ended or spoiled the game doesn't make any sense.

[sam]

[TheBiggestSean]

Sorry for rising to defense of almost every player here, since Max all but called just about everyone stupid.

Here I thought I was pointing out the obvious by stating that we don't know one way or the other until Sunday/maybe Friday, and there was no point in pushing the opinion that we "lost" until the game is truly over....

.... but I have to admit the aburptness of the ending does kidna feel like a "game over" screen...

[Hyacinthe]

[Gram]

[Max Damage]

[TheBiggestSean]

Definitely true, Gram.

But of course... that doesn't mean it wasn't kind of "wrong", or at the very least, unsettling.


... and, Max, how do you propose they fight against an action they didn't know about?

The examples you offer require pre-emptive knowledge of the course of action being used by Melissa, which we lacked this time. Had we been aware of it, we might have been able to stop Melissa, or at the very least, warn the Princess so she didn't fall for the trap. As it is, we didn't know that the Axons were a piece in the puzzle that would "destroy" dear old Princess.

And it's also not clear what destroyed means. Simple fact of the matter is we don't know exactly what, or rather the details of, what happened INSIDE the server, between Melissa and the Princess, nor do we know what's going to happen.

[sam]

[Grimlockx]

[Max Damage]

When the Princess tries to help Dana, we support her.

When The Queen threatens Dana, players should have tried to appeal to the Princess for help - foil the Queens plan, not lure her into this trap.

A little long-termism. What do we get in exchange for doing this job? We get thanks from an ATI what wouldn't hesistate to kill Dana if she so much as stepped out of line again.

It's not so much a case of 'We weren't given a choice' as 'Nobody even tried', and what we end up is the sound of someone laughing as we hear our sole useful ally in this game dying.

If the PMs want to reinforce the fact that we did something bad, I can't think of a more efficient way to do it.