1
The Docks / Re: Quack Quack, it's Duck Time
« on: June 02, 2014, 01:52:17 am »
What a majestic beast!
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2
Community Events / Re: Guns of icarus tournament with prize1
« on: May 19, 2014, 11:00:14 pm »
Hi zoidberg. An issue I have with this is that drive-by linking your event in another section of the forum without any further elaboration/information or answers to the legitimate questions that have been asked in here is not really a very good look.
Because we don't have anything to really go on, before I knew what binary beast was I actually thought this was some kind of spam.
The competitive community is EXTREMELY player-run, so we do love our tournaments and leagues. However, at the moment we are in quite a busy time, it seems like we have about 2-3 separate leagues starting up - and player fatigue is indeed a thing.
Please provide us with more information if you want this to be taken seriously among the other current events, as those organizers have put a lot more effort into the planning and presentation of their events and have been very interactive with the community.
Because we don't have anything to really go on, before I knew what binary beast was I actually thought this was some kind of spam.
The competitive community is EXTREMELY player-run, so we do love our tournaments and leagues. However, at the moment we are in quite a busy time, it seems like we have about 2-3 separate leagues starting up - and player fatigue is indeed a thing.
Please provide us with more information if you want this to be taken seriously among the other current events, as those organizers have put a lot more effort into the planning and presentation of their events and have been very interactive with the community.
3
The Lounge / Re: Skinner Box or Video Game?
« on: May 17, 2014, 08:20:49 pm »
I once explained the quest/grind/reward/ system of World of Warcraft (which was the big one at the time) to one of my psychology professors who was teaching us about operant conditioning and she was horrified to hear that such a thing exists and takes money from people.
4
The Gallery / Re: Pyramidion model.
« on: May 12, 2014, 11:06:54 pm »
Whoa.
I want one please!
I fully second Redia I am totally up for talking price and shipping :p
I want one please!
I fully second Redia I am totally up for talking price and shipping :p
5
Community Events / Re: Titles, who has them, and what they do.
« on: May 04, 2014, 04:19:44 am »
Unfortunately the thread got de-railed a bit. However it looks like the last title to officially change hands (as someone put in a claim for it here in the thread) was on the 24-25th of April by Brick Hardcastle representing BFS. So not actually that long ago - it's on the previous page.
From looking at the thread, the titles do seem to be pretty active. Here's a quote from Brick regarding the title they picked up that day:
I hope I didn't take you out of context here Brick and that you don't mind that I use you as an example, you basically sum up what I'm trying to say here. Let me know.
I also know that the Ducks and Overwatch have a weekly scrim and titles are often involved. I think a match involving a title may have actually happened as recently as today. Can someone from Ducks or Overwatch let us know if a title was involved, taken, or defended?
We do however have an issue as to what constitutes a match where titles can be challenged for, such as practice scrims vs official competitive scrims. This is something we are attempting to define, but so far, titles have been involved in both. I think someone (Redria?) did call for a new (and stickied) thread.
Also, Keyvias, there are difficulties in answering your question because there are some events that do not acknowledge the title system, so titles cannot be fought for during those events. What that means is that the players have to organise the competition for titles themselves without a competitive structure. Which I think people (big thanks to Shink here) have been doing successfully, if a little wonkily (which is understandable). Also, I think players get pretty fatigued while events are happening, so if titles aren't able to be in play between event-matches, they might not be in play during the week because people may be taking a bit of a break.
I speak for myself here, but personally I love watching the titles change hands. I don't play a lot now because of grad school so it's a cool way to see what clans are been upto and what kind of successes they've had.
It just seems like a fun and rewarding way for clans to fight each other. And it's an officially sanctioned system.
From looking at the thread, the titles do seem to be pretty active. Here's a quote from Brick regarding the title they picked up that day:
http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/487822565138953287/A8A6439BB2956202513B787B81F6A3BE948075DF/1024x819.resizedimageI take this to suggest that people who currently hold titles do expect to have to defend them in the future.
Yeah, I was kinda under the impression that titles could change hands in scrims as Ducks and OVW seem to swap them about during their weekly scrims. I hope I haven't been too presumptuous. Hatters and Gents could very well win it back off us next week anyway.
I hope I didn't take you out of context here Brick and that you don't mind that I use you as an example, you basically sum up what I'm trying to say here. Let me know.
I also know that the Ducks and Overwatch have a weekly scrim and titles are often involved. I think a match involving a title may have actually happened as recently as today. Can someone from Ducks or Overwatch let us know if a title was involved, taken, or defended?
We do however have an issue as to what constitutes a match where titles can be challenged for, such as practice scrims vs official competitive scrims. This is something we are attempting to define, but so far, titles have been involved in both. I think someone (Redria?) did call for a new (and stickied) thread.
Also, Keyvias, there are difficulties in answering your question because there are some events that do not acknowledge the title system, so titles cannot be fought for during those events. What that means is that the players have to organise the competition for titles themselves without a competitive structure. Which I think people (big thanks to Shink here) have been doing successfully, if a little wonkily (which is understandable). Also, I think players get pretty fatigued while events are happening, so if titles aren't able to be in play between event-matches, they might not be in play during the week because people may be taking a bit of a break.
I speak for myself here, but personally I love watching the titles change hands. I don't play a lot now because of grad school so it's a cool way to see what clans are been upto and what kind of successes they've had.
It just seems like a fun and rewarding way for clans to fight each other. And it's an officially sanctioned system.
6
Community Events / Re: Titles, who has them, and what they do.
« on: May 03, 2014, 11:46:48 pm »
Why not? They don't impact the larger scheme of organised events, and people seemed to be enjoying having tangible things that can be passed around from clan to clan, and it's not limited just to people who win events - titles are vulnerable ALL the time, which is exciting! Besides, events don't often give out rewards, and this is something that players can actually hold on to, to show that they've earned it. It gives people something else to fight for when its outside of organised events.
It's also a Muse sanctioned community activity, and I don't think they unsanctioned it. Seriously, what's the harm?
I mean, if people want, it can be developed to be a bit more structure if people feel it's too loose at the moment. But it's not really impacting on anything at all.
It isn't only available to "some" groups, it's available to everyone who wishes to be involved. That's what I feel is great about it.
It's also a Muse sanctioned community activity, and I don't think they unsanctioned it. Seriously, what's the harm?
I mean, if people want, it can be developed to be a bit more structure if people feel it's too loose at the moment. But it's not really impacting on anything at all.
It isn't only available to "some" groups, it's available to everyone who wishes to be involved. That's what I feel is great about it.
7
Community Events / Re: Saturday tournament scheduling: 3pm EST or 4pm EST (or other)?
« on: February 14, 2014, 12:25:40 am »
I too request that Saturday stay at 4pm. From my personal example, that's a 5:30am start for me, I need to get up at 4:30am for these events if I'm going to warm up. That's not THAT bad - well okay it sucks but I can get to bed early and get up in time for it - it's doable. However, a 3pm start means I'm getting up at 3:30 now, it's too late to stay up for it, and it's too early to get any kind of decent sleep before hand. It locks me out entirely, and I think it might be the same way for some other Australians and perhaps some Japanese.
I know there's more Europeans than others, but still, I've always thought 4pm was a decent compromise so that everyone (or at least most people around the world) can attend.
I know there's more Europeans than others, but still, I've always thought 4pm was a decent compromise so that everyone (or at least most people around the world) can attend.
8
The Signal Tower / Re: Ducks vs Cake eSports Presentation w/ The Rob and Dan Show!
« on: December 19, 2013, 07:28:48 pm »
It is always a fun challenge to face off against Cakes (and Overwatch yesterday). I hope we get to rumble more!
9
The Lounge / Re: Mod (and Dev!) approved Psychology Survey for Honours Thesis - Please consider
« on: December 19, 2013, 04:01:26 am »
Indeed! It is time for hibernation.
System Shutdown.
System Shutdown.
10
The Lounge / Re: Mod (and Dev!) approved Psychology Survey for Honours Thesis - Please consider
« on: December 18, 2013, 11:44:11 pm »
Hey everyone! Sorry I took so long to do this write up. I've been quite busy with stuff after my semester ended and this fell on the back burner. But for those who are interested - better late than never - here we go!
My thesis was received quite well, and the grade it was given was the lynch pin in my efforts to qualify for masters level postgraduate study. I have since been applying and interviewing at places from all over the country, and found out the other day that I got in to my local university! So THANK YOU guys. Your support was a factor in the success of this thesis.
So, here is my attempt at conveying how the thesis went. I hope it makes sense, let me know if it doesn't! I'm leaving for Christmas vacation in a couple days and wrote this up quickly because I'm busy getting ready to leave. I just wanted to let you guys know.
Despite appearances, this write up is actually very brief, it’s possible that my explanation may leave questions unanswered. If that’s the case, please ask and I’ll do my best to answer them. You may want to refresh yourself on the top by reading my OP, however, I will do my best to summarise what the concept of my thesis was here:
Background
The project that I worked on was about the possible psycho-social influences that may affect peoples’ quality of sleep, which may ultimately impact on their health and well-being. The main influences that I investigated were the satisfaction of close relationships and adult attachment styles.
Attachment theory involves ‘attachment styles’ that are psychological processes that involve emotional bonds with an attachment figure (such as a parent) that may help shape personality and social development through infancy into adulthood. For adults, it is said that attachment styles may impact upon peoples close personal relationships, especially as people branch out and obtain new “attachment figures”, such as close friends or romantic partners. Attachment has also been shown to influence other aspects of people’s lives, such as health promoting or health risking behaviour, and of course, sleep.
As you grow up, you develop your own sort of ‘attachment style’ which is a part of your personality and how you may deal with relationships with attachment figures.
They are currently considered to come in 3 styles, which range from low-high on a continuum. ‘Avoidant attachment’ regards the fear of commitment, ‘Anxious’ attachment is a fear of abandonment. These are considered to be ‘insecure’ attachment styles. Finally, there’s ‘secure’ attachment, which is characterised by very low levels of avoidant and anxious attachment. This means you may be easy going when it comes to relationships.
We also wanted to see if these attachment styles may INDIRECTLY influence sleep quality THROUGH relationship satisfaction. In doing so, we wanted to examine whether happy relationships may offset any potential negative impact that insecure attachment styles may have on how we sleep.
This is a very lightly researched area, so the project was novel in several aspects, which is pretty neat.
A bit about the study itself:
We ended up with 511 valid participants (wow) from all over the place, which I was told broke a department record and was about as reflective of the general population as someone in my situation was going to get.
Because we had so many people, we decided to conduct further exploratory analyses based on the reported relationship status of participants. We ended up with 3 groups large enough to study. Those are: Those in committed or defacto relationships, those who are married, and those who are single.
To see if attachment styles indirectly influenced sleep, we used a mediation analysis for anyone who is familiar with this method. However, the way mediation works is that for results to occur, you need to run 3 separate analyses which all require significant results. Such as, ‘insecure attachment contributes directly to impaired sleep’. If that doesn’t happen, you don’t get cool results. I mention this because we used a new method of mediation designed by a prominent expert in mediation, which does not need prerequisite results to occur. Instead of depending on 3 separate tests, the analysis simply tests an ‘indirect effect’ and tells you whether or not mediation occurs.
Here’s what was found:
In the analysis of the overall sample, we found that, the higher someone’s level of avoidant attachment, the worse you sleep. However, anxious attachment did not appear to impact sleep. This actually fits in with the only general population study that exists, which is interesting. I’m not going to go into great detail into the discussion because there’s a lot to talk about, but in short, it’s possible that the concerns that bother people who are attachment avoidant during the day may persist into sleep and contribute to sleep dysfunction. Next, both attachment styles were found to indirectly influence sleep through relationship satisfaction. However, we did find that the happier someone’s relationship was, the less impact that their insecure attachment had on their sleep.
So, even though someone’s insecure attachment style may put a certain amount of strain on their relationship, a healthy, happy, and supportive relationship may assist in alleviating whatever attachment distress they may have, which could lead to better sleep.
In the individual relationship groups, we found that only those within romantic relationships had their sleep influenced by their attachment, and then mitigated by relationship satisfaction. We think that’s because of the proximity of romantic attachment figures, and also because romantic partners may be somewhat dependent on each other for emotional security and happiness within their relationship. This may promote a greater frequency of attachment distress, which may increase mental alertness which may impair sleep. It’s likely that those who are single, don’t have the same manner of relationship with their attachment figure, and may be responsible for their own emotional security.
A really interesting find was that greater levels of anxious attachment contributed to BETTER sleep quality for those who are married. Research has found that Marriage may have more positive elements than non-married relationships, such as support, equality, trust, etc. We think it’s possible that these positive elements may have helped ease attachment concerns as they arose, so the greater the intensity, the greater the support. This may then have contributed to better sleep.
So there you have it. What we basically found was that happy relationships help you sleep better, and can protect against other pesky psychological nuisances. So get out there, get happy!
tl;dr Happy relationships may assist in mitigating the impact that certain insecure attachment styles may have on sleep quality - but only if its a romantic relationship.
*******Thank you so much to everyone who dedicated their time to take part in the study. I really, really appreciate it. You guys are the best.******
My thesis was received quite well, and the grade it was given was the lynch pin in my efforts to qualify for masters level postgraduate study. I have since been applying and interviewing at places from all over the country, and found out the other day that I got in to my local university! So THANK YOU guys. Your support was a factor in the success of this thesis.
So, here is my attempt at conveying how the thesis went. I hope it makes sense, let me know if it doesn't! I'm leaving for Christmas vacation in a couple days and wrote this up quickly because I'm busy getting ready to leave. I just wanted to let you guys know.
Despite appearances, this write up is actually very brief, it’s possible that my explanation may leave questions unanswered. If that’s the case, please ask and I’ll do my best to answer them. You may want to refresh yourself on the top by reading my OP, however, I will do my best to summarise what the concept of my thesis was here:
Background
The project that I worked on was about the possible psycho-social influences that may affect peoples’ quality of sleep, which may ultimately impact on their health and well-being. The main influences that I investigated were the satisfaction of close relationships and adult attachment styles.
Attachment theory involves ‘attachment styles’ that are psychological processes that involve emotional bonds with an attachment figure (such as a parent) that may help shape personality and social development through infancy into adulthood. For adults, it is said that attachment styles may impact upon peoples close personal relationships, especially as people branch out and obtain new “attachment figures”, such as close friends or romantic partners. Attachment has also been shown to influence other aspects of people’s lives, such as health promoting or health risking behaviour, and of course, sleep.
As you grow up, you develop your own sort of ‘attachment style’ which is a part of your personality and how you may deal with relationships with attachment figures.
They are currently considered to come in 3 styles, which range from low-high on a continuum. ‘Avoidant attachment’ regards the fear of commitment, ‘Anxious’ attachment is a fear of abandonment. These are considered to be ‘insecure’ attachment styles. Finally, there’s ‘secure’ attachment, which is characterised by very low levels of avoidant and anxious attachment. This means you may be easy going when it comes to relationships.
We also wanted to see if these attachment styles may INDIRECTLY influence sleep quality THROUGH relationship satisfaction. In doing so, we wanted to examine whether happy relationships may offset any potential negative impact that insecure attachment styles may have on how we sleep.
This is a very lightly researched area, so the project was novel in several aspects, which is pretty neat.
A bit about the study itself:
We ended up with 511 valid participants (wow) from all over the place, which I was told broke a department record and was about as reflective of the general population as someone in my situation was going to get.
Because we had so many people, we decided to conduct further exploratory analyses based on the reported relationship status of participants. We ended up with 3 groups large enough to study. Those are: Those in committed or defacto relationships, those who are married, and those who are single.
To see if attachment styles indirectly influenced sleep, we used a mediation analysis for anyone who is familiar with this method. However, the way mediation works is that for results to occur, you need to run 3 separate analyses which all require significant results. Such as, ‘insecure attachment contributes directly to impaired sleep’. If that doesn’t happen, you don’t get cool results. I mention this because we used a new method of mediation designed by a prominent expert in mediation, which does not need prerequisite results to occur. Instead of depending on 3 separate tests, the analysis simply tests an ‘indirect effect’ and tells you whether or not mediation occurs.
Here’s what was found:
In the analysis of the overall sample, we found that, the higher someone’s level of avoidant attachment, the worse you sleep. However, anxious attachment did not appear to impact sleep. This actually fits in with the only general population study that exists, which is interesting. I’m not going to go into great detail into the discussion because there’s a lot to talk about, but in short, it’s possible that the concerns that bother people who are attachment avoidant during the day may persist into sleep and contribute to sleep dysfunction. Next, both attachment styles were found to indirectly influence sleep through relationship satisfaction. However, we did find that the happier someone’s relationship was, the less impact that their insecure attachment had on their sleep.
So, even though someone’s insecure attachment style may put a certain amount of strain on their relationship, a healthy, happy, and supportive relationship may assist in alleviating whatever attachment distress they may have, which could lead to better sleep.
In the individual relationship groups, we found that only those within romantic relationships had their sleep influenced by their attachment, and then mitigated by relationship satisfaction. We think that’s because of the proximity of romantic attachment figures, and also because romantic partners may be somewhat dependent on each other for emotional security and happiness within their relationship. This may promote a greater frequency of attachment distress, which may increase mental alertness which may impair sleep. It’s likely that those who are single, don’t have the same manner of relationship with their attachment figure, and may be responsible for their own emotional security.
A really interesting find was that greater levels of anxious attachment contributed to BETTER sleep quality for those who are married. Research has found that Marriage may have more positive elements than non-married relationships, such as support, equality, trust, etc. We think it’s possible that these positive elements may have helped ease attachment concerns as they arose, so the greater the intensity, the greater the support. This may then have contributed to better sleep.
So there you have it. What we basically found was that happy relationships help you sleep better, and can protect against other pesky psychological nuisances. So get out there, get happy!
tl;dr Happy relationships may assist in mitigating the impact that certain insecure attachment styles may have on sleep quality - but only if its a romantic relationship.
*******Thank you so much to everyone who dedicated their time to take part in the study. I really, really appreciate it. You guys are the best.******
11
The Docks / Re: CakeWatch: On Patrol.
« on: December 12, 2013, 07:40:23 am »
I'm not actually sure if this has been posted before, but I'm just going to leave this here.
12
Community Events / Re: Saturday Afternoon Rob and Dan Guns of Icarus Online Stream!
« on: December 07, 2013, 10:21:16 pm »
I missed it live because I'm Australian (sleep!) but I caught it later on and thought it was a very entertaining stream. Both with the engaging casting, and the exciting matches. A lot of good plays were had, and were covered well by the casting team.
Great job to everyone involved, especially the players. Looking forward to more.
Great job to everyone involved, especially the players. Looking forward to more.
13
Community Events / Re: Titles, who has them, and what they do.
« on: November 25, 2013, 04:05:26 am »
The Ducks don't even have them all! At the moment they're pretty spread out amongst 3 clans. Plenty to choose from.
By all means though, come and get 'em!
edit:
I just heard that your match against the Ducks in the invitational tournament was based on a title challenge for Paritan? That's awesome. Good competitive spirit!
By all means though, come and get 'em!
edit:
I just heard that your match against the Ducks in the invitational tournament was based on a title challenge for Paritan? That's awesome. Good competitive spirit!
14
The Lounge / Re: Introducing the new CAs!
« on: November 13, 2013, 08:57:52 pm »
Hey guys, I'm new to this part too!
I'm Morblitz, I've been around since just before the Fjords tournament. I really want to see this game succeed and keep getting better, so I wanted to volunteer my services in game to help keep the community positive.
I am Australian so my timezone differs quite widely to everyone else. Although I just finished wrapping up my degree so I am very flexible with my time for the next couple months, and am online and available a fair bit. This means that I'm usually on for parts of the American and Australian prime times.
I mainly play with friends if I am online early enough. However no matter who I'm with I'm more than happy to field questions and help people out. I also enjoy coming on during the quieter times by myself and captaining so I can meet people that are new and give them a positive experience when they are adjusting to the learning curve of the game.
I'm Morblitz, I've been around since just before the Fjords tournament. I really want to see this game succeed and keep getting better, so I wanted to volunteer my services in game to help keep the community positive.
I am Australian so my timezone differs quite widely to everyone else. Although I just finished wrapping up my degree so I am very flexible with my time for the next couple months, and am online and available a fair bit. This means that I'm usually on for parts of the American and Australian prime times.
I mainly play with friends if I am online early enough. However no matter who I'm with I'm more than happy to field questions and help people out. I also enjoy coming on during the quieter times by myself and captaining so I can meet people that are new and give them a positive experience when they are adjusting to the learning curve of the game.
15
The Gallery / Re: GoIO Characters by Miss Nicce
« on: November 12, 2013, 08:26:30 am »
Those sound awesome. Don't worry about us while you do interesting things. We'll still be here when you're done.
Good luck with the dinner theater!
Good luck with the dinner theater!