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 Real Lives is an educational game produced by the aptly named company Educational Simulations. To be honest, Real Lives barely meets the definition of a game. What it does is let you live out the life of a randomly generated human being, with events and choices occurring based on a reasonably deep simulation based on real world statistics. While there is little gameplay to speak of, this obscure little toy definitely deserves to be shown off, if only to help us appreciate our own comfy lives a little bit more. The game does have a bit of Oregon Trail-feel to it, sometimes. I'll do my best to include informational links as we go along, to maximise the amount of edutainment we experience! During the course of a lifetime (or several), you fellow LP goons will help decide the important decisions of our characters' lives! Will we live a prosperous life in a first world country, or die at birth? Who knows!  The current life begins here!Important stuff: The graveyard, where our dear departed are remembered.  Huge thanks to Cathode Raymond for this! Table of contents: The life of Hang Yu, part one The life of Hang Yu, part two The life of Hang Yu, part three The life of Hang Yu, part four The life of Hang Yu, part five The life of Hang Yu, part six The life of Hang Yu, part seven The life of Hang Yu, part eight The life of Hang Yu, part nine The life of Hang Yu, part ten The life of Hang Yu, part eleven The life of Hang Yu, part twelve The life of Hang Yu, part thirteen The life of Rasuna Irawan, part one The life of Rasuna Irawan, part two The life of Rasuna Irawan, part three The life of Rasuna Irawan, part four The life of Rasuna Irawan, part five The life of Rasuna Irawan, part six The life of Rasuna Irawan, part seven The life of Rasuna Irawan, part eight The life of Rasuna Irawan, part nine The life of Abdul Hakim Imran Khan, part one The life of Wang Young-Bum, part one The life of Wang Young-Bum, part two The life of Wang Young-Bum, part three Thread art:  By Comrade Koba Goiter art:  By some guy on the Internet  Also by some guy on the Internet Covski fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Jul 13, 2016 |
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Feb 18, 2016 23:56
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Let's be born, shall we? The life of Hang Yu, part one  We're a chinese baby boy  Being born in China is no great surprise - as far as I know the only more likely birthplace is India, with 1 in 5.4 odds. You'll play as a lot of Indians if you spend some time with this game. Of course, we don't get to pick our own name. There is an option to customise a new life, which we might try out in later playthroughs. A table breaking view of the full game interface, just to give you an idea of what the game looks like. The map screen indicates our place of residence - we will have the option to move somewhere else or even emigrate to a different country later on. The fact that the map says we live "near" Louyang indicates that we are rural dwellers, and not living in the city proper. Let's go through the different windows in detail.  The political state of our country of residence, showing us the level of political rights (PR), corruption, civil liberties (CL) and level of government social services (as a function of HDI and PP). 1 is the best, 7 is the worst. It seems that China isn't the best place to be born, but to be fair we had little choice in the matter.  Societal stats: Birthrate, male/female levels of literacy (ML/FL), purchasing power (PP), wealth per capita (WPC), the Gini coefficient (a measure of economic inequality), persons per telephone/radio/vehicle (PPT/PPR/PPV), and finally the percentage of urban population and Human Development Index. Red is bad, blue is good. It's worth noting that I'm running the 2007 edition of the game, so the statistics may or may not be quite obsolete at this point.  Health stats: Male/female life expectancy (MLE/FLE), infant mortality (IM), the percentage of the population suffering from severe malnutrition, and stunted growth from lack of protein, goitre due to a lack of iodine. Next we have the percentage of the population with access to safe water (SW), sanitation (S) and modern health services (HS) in urban (U) and rural (R) areas respectively. We're living in a rural village right now, so things could be better. The WWW tab lets you access real life information sources on your current nation, quite educational!   Our household. Our parents are rather old, but I guess that means we won't have any siblings to compete for attention with. (The Chinese one child policy is not a thing in this game, as far as I've been able to tell.) Our poor mother is among the 9% of the population suffering from goitre it seems  She's a home-maker currently, but luckily our father is earning enough in the mines to support the family. For reference, 4660 yuan was slightly less than 700 dollars in 2007. We can also see the health and disease resistance of our household members - ours are low because we are literally a newborn babby and will increase soon enough. Our parents aren't really in great shape for their age though. A whole lot of stats about ourself, most of which are self explanatory. Our intellectual and artistic skills are great, although we're lacking in the physical department. We're a handsome baby though It's worth noting that we are rather wealthy compared to the population at large, and we've both a decent house and plenty to eat. (we'll get a closer look on what the levels of diet and shelter mean once we have a household o our own.) Our family is also atheist, interestingly enough. As you can see, our village has access to healthcare, but safe water and sanitation is lacking. We're also given a helpful diary of important events in our life. Not much has happened as we were, as you may recall, born just a moment ago. Not much to do now except age a year, so let's see what happens. Age 2  mom what are you feeding me  1 in 6 per year sounds like a lot of baby food poisonings to me, but what do I know? Throughout the game, we are also given tidbits of information about our country.   Basketball being a big sport in China was rather suprising to me, what with the average Chinese person not being built like an average basketball player.  We are growing up to be a healthy toddler, although being fed lead breast milk might have taken a toll on us. Age 3  mooooom not agaiiin  By the way, anyone with more knowledge than me can feel free to chime in on whether or not these factoids are complete fabrications or not! We're all here to learn after all. Age 4  The game is quite heavy on the triva in the first years. I suppose it helps fill out the often rather uneventful toddler years.  Some interesting geographic facts. 13% of the country being arable land sounds a bit low to me, but I have no real frame of reference. Age 5  Bad Luck Beards is a decent name for an indie band I guess.  It seems our family are good party members, what with the whole atheism bit. Age 6  Hooray, time to get a-learnin'!  It's a good thing we were born a boy I guess   Housing facts!  This one amuses me, because it reads a lot like chinese propaganda if you click the "less info" button. Age 7 Nothing of note happens. Age 8  Our first chance to influence our life! Our amount of leisure time depends heavily on a lot of factors, but for now it is plentiful.  For now, we can choose up to 5 activites. Most correspond directly to our personal stats. We also have the option to pick less than five, which as far as I understand will have a greater effect on our stats due to us being more focused on our choosen activities.  Our current stats. You may note that our family has splurged on a second radio since we were born. Two radios for three people seems wasteful, doesn't it?  You may also notice that we now have safe water, an important progress since we were born!  So thread, our first choice! Pick up to five leisure activities for Yu! I'll try to follow the general spirit of the thread for these votes, so don't be too concerned with the format of the votes. Covski fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 18, 2016 23:57
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So far, it looks like Yu will be committing to being the hardest studying, music playing, art painting pretty boy he can be! Will update in a few hours, so still time to get some votes in if you feel like it.gbuchold posted:Your spending is creeping up. uuhuuuuhhhhg Suspect Bucket posted:Oh man, I loved this game. Then I randomly simulated an American, though I hit the jackpot, but then realized my character only spoke spanish. And there's no way to learn a new language. Booooo An interesting note: During the course of a lot of games, I've *never* been born i a "first world" country when generating a random life. I get the feeling I'd probably die at birth if I did, though. Still, sorta makes you appreciate your luck in the real life birthplace lottery. Xerophyte posted:You do realize you really need to generate the president of a small central american country at some point, right? I'll... I'll really have to do that, won't I? It actually took me a surprisingly long time to understand that reference, glad to see that people remember my legacy of LP superstardom 
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Feb 19, 2016 10:54
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The life of Hang Yu, part two Okay, I may have run into an issue with saving and loading the game, so it's possible that we didn't get to pick leisure activities for now. No biggie, as long as it resolves itself later on. I'll figure out a way to avoid it in the future. Age 9  This one was interesting, I had no idea about marriage age restrictions. Interestingly, they seem to have had the opposite effect to what was intended. Age 10  Famine rears its ugly head in the country.  Luckily our family, being reasonably well off, is not affected. I've never actually starved to death in this game, for what it's worth.  We are, however forced to move into a less fancy house to cope economically.  Our housing is still "moderate", so apparently we moved into a fancier place for a few years without the game telling me. Huh. Age 11 Nothing of interest happens. Age 12  Toiling away in the literal mines seems to have taken a toll on our poor father's body. Arthritis is some nasty stuff.  Our parents are getting old, actually. Should our father pass away, we would find ourselves in a difficult situation indeed. Yu is a healthy and active twelve year old, but his disease resistance is looking so-so. I suppose getting poisoned repeatedly in your infancy will do that to you, huh? You'll note that we are still spending a bit more than we're earning, too.  Surely biking everywhere is helping out our physical condition. Age 13  Ah, young love Yu is crushing pretty hard on a girl in his village. Truth be told she is average in most respects, a rather sad girl from a family much poorer than our own. Yu himself is an intelligent young lad, although with a remarkably weak moral compass. (Conscience is roughly defined as a character's ability to tell right from wrong, and can be improved by doing nice things in your free time and making good moral choices) It seems we've moved back into a nicer house again, too. With our intelligence, we might have a shot at going to college, if we can keep it up and circumstances allow. So, let's talk about love! To keep things moving along, let's decide on a policy for romantic relationships. Vote for one of the following: A) Yu, isn't picky at all. All comers are considered. In fact, he'll strive to be in a relationship as constantly as possible. B) Yu would like to have a girlfriend, but won't actively pursue relationships. C) Yu feels that the single life is the life for him! At least for now. (Or maybe he's too much of an awkward goon?) If you vote for A or B, feel free to define criteria for me to follow when considering potential partners! (ie rich girls only, no ugly chicks, only intelligent girls, etc) Or, maybe Yu has no standards whatsoever? Note: As it is impossible to save the game when pop-up choices like these are active, the vote will run for as long as I can be arsed to keep the game open/until we have an arbitrary number of votes/until I feel the thread has reached some for of consensus, which ever comes first. So vote early, vote often!
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Feb 19, 2016 16:41
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I guess I should talk a bit about the mechanics of relationships, too! Entering into a relationship will always provide a boost to happiness, while being rejected will lower it. I'm not sure if there's some form of compatibility calculation, or if an intelligent and handsome person will always have an easier time pursuing love interests. The relationship will also affect the happiness of the character while it is ongoing, and breaking up with someone tends to lower your mood as well, although less if you are the dumper rather than the dumpee. Besides the random romantic interests we meet as we saw in the update, you can also actively try to find a partner, which generates the same type of event. I'm sure there are some calculations based on the stats of your partner, but the most noticeable effect comes into play when you are married (still a little ways off for Yun), as their stats will affect the partner's job (and thus income), as well as the stats of your children. So we don't *really* have to be too concerned, about the stats of our tweenage sweethearts, but we all want what's best for Yun, right? KennyMan666 posted:Oh, I remember playing this. Apparently the latest version is 2010, should check that out some time I suppose. KazigluBey posted:Whoa, if it isn't good ol' Goiter Simulator! I seem to remember either an older version or some pre-patched version having a glitch in the way it calculated the chance of an individual developing a goiter, resulting in almost every character, even ones in the First World, being super-prone to the affliction. Like, 9/10 games likely, is what I'm saying. Good times, good times. MarquiseMindfang posted:Hahaha, I was going to say something about this game's fetish for goiter, too. Yeah, the goiter bonanza has been toned down, but I'm sure that we won't go many games without seeing that ol' buddy around. (also that was a good pun MarquiseMindfang) aerion111 posted:Hopefully this version has fewer issues with the whole 'only people in the first world can graduate' - the version I'm more used to essentially gave people in third-world countries worse education, which is to be expected, but then judged them seemingly by first-world standards. Covski fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 17:30
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Ahundredbux posted:C) Yu doesn't want a girlfriend at all I think the odds are something along the lines of one in twenty to be homosexual, with equal odds of being bisexual. I usually find it out by blindly getting involved with people and only afterwards realising that I got a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend 
Covski fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 17:35
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The life of Hang Yu, part three B takes it by a small margin. Yu has more important things to focus on for now than getting bogged down in serious relationships unless somebody exceptional comes along. This girl, most certainly isn't.  Sorry Chin-Chih. It's not Yu, it's you.  Age 14  Again we move back into "ample" housing. I think this is an issue with our family's wealth being just on the edge of where we can afford it and not, causing us to bounce between them. I'll ignore these from now on.  The Yu-machine doesn't show respect to anyone though. And drat, that part about the parents not being allowed to openly mourn for their kids is pretty messed up to me, do we have any actual Chinese people in the thread that can confirm that this is true? Age 15  Man this edutainment adventure got really dark all of a sudden   Our first moral choice of the game? Will Yu go down the dark path of deceit and lies!?  Judging from his absolute lack of a conscience to speak of, I think the answer is pretty clear. Still, I'll put it up for a really quick vote for the sake of form, in case any of you feel like you need to take this chance to redeem him before it is too late.
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Feb 19, 2016 18:11
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Lizard Wizard posted:Video games really do engender some great sentences sometimes. Pff, I dare any of you to say it hasn't happened to you at least once or twice!
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Feb 19, 2016 18:12
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I expected as much: Let's lie our pretty butt off! The life of Hang Yu, part four  Of course he did. Who wouldn't believe Hang Yu, master of deceit?   This is an important choice! Here's the thing about trade school: Going there will preclude our going to college later, so it's a bit of a gamble on whether or not our grades will be good enough for a college education. With an intelligence score of 64 we should be good, but there's no telling how it might change in the next few years - and I think the intelligence requirements differ a bit from country to country based on the access to higher education, correct me if I'm wrong.  Also, is Yu a cool enough dude to start smoking at the tender age of 15?  drat, Yu is an immoral bastard!  And apparently, puberty didn't do our looks any favours Double vote: Trade school or bet our grades will be good enough for college? (Edit: Or neither, that's a fair choice too I guess. Smoke, or don't smoke?
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Feb 19, 2016 19:11
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That was unsurprisingly unanimous! The life of Hang Yu, part five  Yu is the coolest kid in the village, leaning against walls and smoking cigarettes while wearing counterfeit brand sunglasses paid for by his father's back breaking labour in the mines. Age 16  Also, food facts!   Smoking might be bad for you, but not for Yu! He is the picture of health! His father is looking more and more poorly though Age 17  I hope you appreciate these facts as much as I do!  Oh dear! Will Yu be tempted by... No, never mind. I'm not even going to put this to a vote, of course he's gonna drink his rebellious teenage head off.  This might possibly be sligthly more difficult though? Do we just say no? Covski fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 19:39
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Yup, guess that was a forgone conclusion too. The life of Hang Yu, part six Doing all the drugs, being cool.  It is a good thing Yu is a loyal Party member!  Oh.   And, uh, that bit about being a good Party member?  I have no idea whether or not our family fortune would be enough to buy us out of this mess. (Honestly, I can't remember if I've actually tried that option) Note that our fathers health is marked in yellow. This is usually code for "you're gonna die any day soon." On the plus side, our smoking and drinking and drug abuse doesn't seem to have affected our own health a bit. The variety of chemicals we have subjected our brain to hasn't done much to improve our intelligence, but somehow we are prettier than when we took up smoking three years ago. Do we report for the draft, ignore the notice, or attempt to buy our way out or apply as a conscientious objector? (That last one is rich, as Yu has LITERALLY NO CONSCIENCE) If you vote for anything besides reporting for the draft: If push comes to shove, would you rather do service or jailtime? Covski fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 20:23
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chitoryu12 posted:Did you really think a guy named "Hang Yu" would be anything good? Thinking about it, the optimal career for him would be becoming a judge.
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Feb 19, 2016 20:24
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The life of Hang Yu, part seven Yu reports for the draft as ordered. Time will tell whether or not three years of kung fu exercises and and juggling live explosives will straighten him out.  Having moved away from his family when entering military service, Yu now has full control over his expenses. It is separated into four categories, the first of which being diet. Spending too little on food will have a negative effect on your health, while a more decadent lifestyle improves your happiness but might lead to diabetes or heart disease. Note that food spending is calculated per person in the household. Of course, with Yu being a single man it doesn't matter right now. We currently earn 2320 yuan per month, so the game suggest a lavish diet gorging ourself on delicious army food and heroin. In fact, Yu is eating better than he ever has been in his life!  The accomodations are simple, but practical. Again, I think this mostly affects happiness but may well have a minor effect on minor stats as well.  Charity spending will improve our conscience (for people who care about things like that), and the game will occasionally give you guilt trip events if you don't give anything at all.  Consumer items are another way to improve our happiness (again, it might have minor effects on other stats and events that are not immediately apparent), and it also affects our rate of acquiring cars and radios and telephones and all that jazz.  We are now a single household pretty much breaking even on our soldier's wages of 2320 yuan, roughly 310 dollars in 2007 exchange rates. Our lifestyle hasn't improved our disease resistance any, but we are in excellent health.  Even as a single person on conscript wages, we are earning slightly more than the Chinese average. And it seems than Yu, bastard that he is, brought his family's television set and two radios with him when he moved out Let's talk about spending! First of all, I'd like your input on how much of our income we should spend for the time being: It's going to cost Yu a lot to afford going through college without being to be able to life off his father. A) Spend it all! Yu will always find some way to make do later! B) Save as much as possible while maintaining a decent lifestyle. C) Live on the edge of poverty: It's just three years, Yu can afford to live lean for a while to ensure success later! Secondly, how should Yu prioritise between the different expenditures? Rank diet, shelter, charity (lol) and consumer goods in order of importance, and I'll work out a reasonable budget. Next update will come some time tomorrow: I've been pushing them out a bit to start off, trying to find a pace that works for the LP, so don't be spoiled by the frequent posts please! Later playthroughs will also feature less micromanagement from the thread, once you're acquainted with all the mechanics
Covski fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 23:20
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Calling it for blowing Yu's entire income with a focus on consumer goods (mainly drugs and drug paraphernalia), and a compulsive aversion towards charity. Hirayuki posted:Oh, man, I'm loving this game! Here I thought Alter Ego was the poo poo back on the C64, but this is way more educational! Glad you're enjoying it! Man, I used to play the poo poo out of Alter Ego when I was a kid. Someone really should LP that, if it hasn't been done already!chitoryu12 posted:I got curious and looked it up. In 2007, the yuan was worth about 7.5 yuan per dollar. Our "lavish" food budget is about $64.14 per month. Comparing the value of money like that is a bit tricky, since you have to take purchasing power parity into account: $64 will simply buy you more stuff in China than it will in the USA. Going by the 2014 Big Mac Index (which has some issues but is easy to understand and use) prices in China are roughly 41% lower than in the US. so Yu's salary would buy him roughly the equivalent of $108 of USA food. Still not a lot, but a fair bit more than the straight exchange rates would imply. With the main issue of the index being that a Big Mac isn't an optimal good to compare (it is more of a luxury food in some countries, cheaper due to cheap beef in others, etc) it might even come out to slightly more than $108, too. Next update coming in a few hours or so!
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Feb 20, 2016 16:02
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The life of Hang Yu, part eight The expenditures are left at Lavish diet, Simple housing, Enthusiastic shopping, and not a single fen being spent on those classless poors. Age 19   Well, it seems the military was able to straighten even Yu out, albeit just slightly.Age 20  Haha, NOPE.   Huh, Yu would lie to his own mother even if he didn't have money riding on it.    Pff, no time for poor girls, even if they are decent looking and rather intelligent.  Yu's father has disgusting parasites living in his bowels. He's 67 at this point, and judging from his poor state when Yu left for the military he probably won't live for much longer. Age 21  Another obvious choice.  Hang Yu,  Really, game? Do you even know who you are asking?  It's a drat shame that all the girls that catch Yu's eye turn out to be way too poor for him.  Called it. Yu's father passes away at age 68 after a thankless life of back breaking labour, his only offspring a total bastard who stole both his radio sets. RIP Hang Xiao-Peng  Thank you for that fact game, if we didn't know that before now this LP might have been a bit confusing. Age 22  After three years in the army, Yu is all too happy to leave. They even made him quit drugs, those bastards.   Yu is furious when his application to college is denied. How can they not see his greatness!? Huh, I was rather sure that our intelligence score of 60 would be good enough. We still have the option to apply later in case we manage to get our intelligence up just a bit, assuming we still want to go that route. I guess we'll have to find Yu a job for the time being.  Currently, our job options are quite limited - there are quite a few factors that limit what jobs we are eligible for: Age, gender and education are the primary ones, but a few careers are also gated behind stat requirements - fashion models, professional athletes and college professors are some notable examples.  Yu is happy to be out of the military, even if it seems he pawned one of his late father's radios off to buy drugs at some point. His wisdom is also remarkably low for his age, for some reason.   Yu's lifestyle is taking a toll on his health, and he desperately needs to find a job to afford basic necessities as his savings would barely last him three months at this point. Let's talk about jobs! Even if the you're qualified for a job there's no guarantee you'll actually get it. Mechanically, there is nothing to stop you from applying for the same positions an infinite number of times until you get it, but for the purposes of this LP I'll limit the number of attempts we'll make to two-three or so. A triple vote! 1) Suggest up to three of the available jobs for Yu, I'll give preference to the vocations with the most votes when trying to find Yu a job. 2) Yu is getting to be a big fish in a small pond in this village: Should we move to the big city (suggestions on which city welcome) or stay in the village? 3) Are we still planning on putting Yu through college, yes or no? Covski fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 20, 2016 21:43
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The life of Hang Yu, part nine Age 22  Yu goes on to pursue his dreams in the biggest city he can find, having to settle for merely the second biggest city in the world. The cities you can move to somewhat randomized, no idea what this is based on.  You'd better hang on to your hat, Beijing! Hang Yu is rolling into town!  Our map is updated to show us the location of Yu's new home.  Living in the big city also means some new, more lucrative, job opportunities! Since the thread wanted Yu to earn as much money as possible, I opt to try to find him a career as a customs official - it should suit him excellently, especially with all the opportunities it entails.  Unfortunately, all his applications are denied. It seems Yu's reputation precedes him, even in a city of 21 million people.  Instead he starts a career as a slimy salesman, in a totally not at all dubious sector of business, I'm sure. (This seemed most in character of all the options, although I realise that Yu becoming a safety inspector would have been another great choice in retrospect. Let me know if you have any suggestions for future career moves based on the new options!) An odd thing about the way jobs work in this game: You can take an action to ask for a raise as often as you'd like, but the base salary when applying for a new job increases quite markedly as you age as well (simulating work experience etc) even though your current salary doesn't, meaning that you'll make a lot more money by reapplying for your own job at regular intervals. This effect peters out at around ~50 years of age or so, when the base salaries start to decline again. I'll be doing this behind the scenes from time to time even if we don't switch jobs.  We finally get to rearrange Yu's leisure activities, which bugged out on us earlier. You may remember that we got to pick five activities when Yu was a kid, but now that he's spending long days  Yu's still clinging on to his childhood dreams of art and music, as if some lost part of him still longs to please his departed father. This, in combination with his hitting the books and excessive preening leaves him little time to socialise outside of his work. Let me know if you want to switch any of his leisure activities as well!  Although he makes more money now than he did as a soldier, the higher housing costs in the city means that he'll have to cut down slightly on food expenditure to support his shopping habits and copious consumption of alcohol and nicotine. Age 23  The girls are prettier in the city, although this one isn't quite pretty enough. It's worth nothing that a potential partners net worth doesn't account for much any more, as randomly generated adults often don't have a job before you enter into a relationship with them. They may or may not get one later, though this isn't guaranteed. Looking at their intelligence stat is usually a better way to determine their potential future profitability, at this point. Age 24  A large famine strikes China again.  Again, Yu is unaffected (physically as well as emotionally, as he has no empathy with starving poors)  Another plain Jane is rejected by the charming, handsome and successful young Yu. Age 25  Haha, no. This event mostly exists to guilt trip you and and give you an occasional loss of conscience, until you cave in an start given a token amount of money to charity. Quite a realistic simulation of real lives, IMO.  What's this? An opportunity for a shady deal with no guarantees and little information to go on beside the insistence of one of Yu's probably completely trustworthy friends!? What would Yu do?  You'll note that the investment is roughly equal to half of Yu's saved cash at this point.  Yu is much the same as he ever was. Intelligent, decent-looking and reasonably talented, but amazingly amoral and in terrible shape. I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but all of the stats except for happiness, conscience, and wisdom, are in comparison to your age group and not an objective measurement, which explains why the can fluctuate quite wildly especially during childhood and adolescence. Quick vote: Should Yu agree to the deal? Also, discussion topics for future decisions: Should Yu find some different leisure activities? Any new career preferences, now that some different options have opened up? Is it time for Yu to find himself a steady relationship, or carry on with his Covski fucked around with this message at 16:01 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 22, 2016 17:34
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The life of Hang Yu, part ten It turns out that you can indeed bullshit a bullshitter. Hang Yu swears eternal revenge on his business associate  As far as I know, this events only exists to be a trap. It is also a rather bad trap, since the game outright says "HEY THIS IS A BAD IDEA DON'T CLICK THAT YES BUTTON YOU FOOL." I've literally never ever had a positive outcome of that event, if any of you who've played this game has gained something from this, do tell! I'll be ignoring this event from now, unless any of you have strong feelings otherwise. Age 23  Yu is literally in too poor physical shape to manage the highly exerting job of looking inside shipping containers or whatever.  It is too bad that he is too fat and lazy to hold an occupation with such great bribe-taking potential.Age 24  This realisation of his pitiful physical shape leads Yu to make an important change in his life: He gives up on stupid boring books, and instead commits to be a lazy sack of poo poo in front of the television. Age 25-28 Little happens in Yu's life. He enjoys his life in the city, taking every chance he can to cut corners in his career, earning a a reputation as a highly effective albeit underhanded and unsavoury force to be reckoned with within the firm. Age 29  While this girl has a hilarious name, she is neither pretty nor intelligent enough for Yu. Age 31  Another heart broken by Hang Yu. Much too plain, and Yu doesn't care for girls who could beat him in a fight with one arm tied around their backs. Age 32  Another famine.  Once again, Yu really doesn't care.  There is a violent uprising in another part of the country. Yu thanks his lucky star that he hasn't been in the army for ten years, and promptly switches the channel. Events like these occur in random provinces of the country: There being heavy fighting in Jiangsu of all places doesn't make a whole lot of sense, to be quite honest. Age 33  Ugly, and too much of a goody-two-shoes. Could in all likelihood kick his rear end, too. Age 34  Ohhhh maannnnn this event  This happens semi-randomly as long as you have a decent income and is probably the most annoying thing in the game. It randomly increase one of the expenditure categories at least one level, usually putting your total expenses way over your income. Not only is it annoying busywork to reduce it again, but it also means you're running a pretty big deficit for the current year. Because your spending is budgeted monthly and every turn is one year, this tends to mean you lose a large part of your saved money.  This time it wasn't so bad, just bumping up his food consumption a bit. With his current income Yu can actually afford it, and it seems in character for him to be unable to hold on to money. Usually the event seems to bump up consumer goods spending, which is terrible since the increments are really large. Age 35  Yu's mother passes away, 78 years old  Any guilt over not calling his mother for several years that Yu might have felt upon hearing the news is quickly assuaged when he learns that he stands to inherit a significant sum of cash. Age 36  The fighting in Jiangsu ends after four years.  An acquaintance and business associate of Yu's is arrested on trumped up charges by the secret police. Yu has an opportunity to help him out, as one of the local party officials owes him a favour after he helped him out by giving him a discount on some goods that "fell off the back of a truck", so to speak. Should he do it?  Yu is rapidly approaching middle age, and the strains of his lifestyle is beginning to show. He has amassed a decent sum of money though, especially after his inheritance. (200 000 yuan is roughly equal to $26 700)  Remember how I snarked about his family owning two radios back when he was a kid? Well, Yu has two television sets and two radios all by himself. Voting time! Will you help protect his neighbour from the government? Also, I know it has been up for a vote many times, but we are quickly reaching the point were it will be too late for Yu to have children. One last time: Should he try to pursue a marriage and possibly a child while there is still time? Covski fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 22, 2016 21:47
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The life of Hang Yu, part eleven gently caress you, Yu's got his.  It was a long time coming I suppose, but you finally got what I know you were hoping for, you bastards!   Age 37 Yu is now officially an alcoholic salesman!  Age 38 Finally Yu gets a chance to commit some petty crime! It would have been a shame if we hadn't gotten any of these events, with him of all people.  Yu gets away with almost $1100 worth of goods!  Age 39   Age 40  Violence erupts again, this time in the Jilin province this time it makes more sense as it is in a border area, at least.  Yu now has a telephone as well, to add to his collection of surplus electronics! He also seems to have developed a slight bit of a conscience in his older years, but maybe that is just the booze talking? Not looking in tip-top shape there, bud! I'll also have to remember to find more stuff to spend money on next update, all that disposable income must be burning a hole in his pocket. Speaking of which, let's talk about investments! During the course of the game, you can place your money in a whole slew of different investment options. This will not only (hopefully) allow you to increase your wealth over time, but also makes you less susceptible to robberies and and burglaries and all that bad stuff. A bank account is the basic form of investment: It gives a very small amount of interest each year, but is also almost completely risk free (though not entirely, as forums user gbuchold kindly informed me). There is really very little point to not constantly have all your money in the bank. Other options have varying amounts of interest and risk, and also carry a slight chance that the investment will lose all its value overnight. Much like real world investments, diversification is a good thing! The full list of options is: Bank account, jewellery, land, high/medium/low risk stock, high/medium/low risk mutual fund, and bond funds. You can also take out loans at varying degrees of interest (potentially useful for say, getting through college), loans are capped at three months' income or a quarter of your total network. I've never seen much reason to take out loans to be honest. This is also a good time to mention that Real Lives has no concept of public pensions (although you can get subsidised food and housing if you're lucking enough to live in a country with decent social security), so if you insist on living to a ripe old age you'd better hope that you saved up enough moolah if you don't want to spend your last years eating dog food or living on the streets. With that in mind, your task for now is to suggest an investment plan for Yu! Tantalising stuff, I know, but this was a good time to break off the episode. I'm unsure if I'll be able to get the next part out tomorrow, but at the rate Yu's going I'd be surprised if he's got very many updates left in him
Covski fucked around with this message at 16:03 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 23, 2016 00:39
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gbuchold posted:Also note that per your college rejection only 5% of high school graduates go on to college in China. It's unlikely 60 intelligence is enough to swing higher education for your boy Yu. TooMuchAbstraction posted:I don't think this is something like "you have to have intelligence of 95+ to be able to go to college". There's presumably confounding factors, like the fact that so many Chinese simply can't afford to go to college regardless of how smart they are. Yeah, I'm wondering what the relationship is between the national percentage of college students and the intelligence requirements - it definitely differs from country to country but I have no idea what the correlation is. I don't think that the stats should be interpreted as the percentile of your age group you're in either. Fuzzy statistics like these hurt my brain a bit  Aithon posted:Now that I think of it, is it possible to just get hit by a car at any point when living anywhere near a road? I think we've only seen random bullshit in the form of illnesses so far. Oh yeah, you can absolutely die in most ways you could think of, although it is much more uncommon than disease. It is also quite jarring when it happens, since accidents are by their nature sudden and unexpected. In one of my test runs before starting this LP I was playing as a poor farmer boy in India who lucked out in being athletic enough to pursue a career as a professional athlete. I had planned for him to move to the UK and everything, but then he randomly drowned at age 23. I also played as a syrian woman whose two-year-old daughter died in a fire gbuchold posted:Bank accounts aren't risk free. It is possible - though unlikely - to have a bank account lose all value. Huh thanks, that's interesting to know, I'll update the post to reflect this! I just remembered being unreasonably annoyed when an investment in a low risk mutual fund (supposedly an index fund) suddenly lost its entire value. Index funds don't work that way
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Feb 23, 2016 01:04
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Antitonic posted:Messed up the URL tag here. Thanks, fixed it!
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Feb 23, 2016 09:29
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The life of Hang Yu, part twelve Age 40  Yu puts his money in a diverse portfolio of investments, although it is unclear if the gaudy jewellery he insists on wearing on his late night booze cruises with his fellow alcoholic workmates can really be classified as "investments" in the true sense of the word.  He is now earning enough cash to buy everything he could ever dream during his childhood years as a miner's son in a podunk village. So what if he has to cut back on his eating habits a bit? Age 41  The border skirmishes end. Age 42  Then suddenly out of nowhere, near closing time at a fancy bar, he meets the woman of his dreams. She's the most beautiful woman Yu has ever seen, and if she was american her name would literally be Dollar.  Yu is swept off his feet. Luckily she, for whatever reason, feels the same way about him!  Romantic relationships is another factor that can take up your spare time.  Yu finally decides to give up his violin playing, he wasn't even that good anyway. I realise now that I made a mistake here, and accidentally chose socialising instead of fashion out of habit. I'll correct this before the next update. Age 43  Once again, famine strikes.  This time however, riots break out in Beijing as the government imposes strict rationing. Yu's home is caught in the crossfire as riot police and rioters battle it out.  The damages and looting costs Yu almost his entire life savings.  It's a good thing Yu had most of his money stashed away in investments that he now has to liquidate.  (I'm actually rather certain that you never stand to lose more money from these events than your total cash + investments)  As you can see, Yu made a marginal profit from his land investment, a slight loss on the jewellery, and earned quite a bit on his stocks. It might be the case that a high intelligence is a factor when calculating how your investments go, but that is just as likely confirmation bias speaking.  Yu is asked if he would like to help out with reversing the damages from the riots which caused him most of his fortune. He tells them in no certain terms to go gently caress themselves.  However, Yuan has stayed with him through one of his darkest patches, and one night drunk on both love and scotch Yu asks her to marry him on the spur of the moment.  She accepts. Yu passes out on his bed shortly afterwards. Maybe Yuan is the type of girl who wants a bad boy that she can fix? The very next week they are married in a for Yu uncharacteristically simple ceremony.Usually engagements in this game can last for several years, so getting married right off the bat after this event is quite uncommon.  She is four years his junior, and she even has a pretty decent career going for her.  With their combined salaries, they can even afford to move into a much nicer new place together. Age 44  Then, suddenly, she drops the bomb on him.  Together, they are pretty drat wealthy couple! It's a shame a lot of Yu's home electronics were lost in the Bejing riots of 2050.  Yu isn't looking in great shape and his net worth took quite the turn for the worse, but in many ways his life has turned out for the better.  Voting time! Well, Yu's life took an unexpected turn! I was honestly surprised myself, but how could I reject a beautiful girl who was named after the local currency? The elephant in the room, or rather in Yu's wife belly, remains though: Is Yu ready to take on the responsibility of bring a new life into this world? Covski fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 23, 2016 20:22
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The life of Hang Yu, part thirteen Age 44  Yu's child is born, a beautiful baby girl Much like himself, she is born to rather old parents and likely to be an only child. Unlike Yu, her family is quite wealthy and born with all the privileges that come from growing up in a large city rather than a mining village without proper sanitation.(And since the question came up in the thread: No, the game does not simulate voluntary infanticide)  Since I didn't want to call another vote so soon, I decided to name her Xiao-Xia because I thought it sounded kinda cute I tried to do a quick Google search to find out if it means anything, but I mostly got kabbalah sites and the like, so anyone with knowledge of Chinese names, please fill me in! Hey, it's been a while since we got one of these! Many of these trivia popups are triggered by life events in game, which makes sense. Age 45  If you think Yu becoming a father turned him into a bleeding heart, you're wrong though  Xiao-Xia is a healthy baby, and his father's pride and joy. Yu spoils her to no end, being most comfortable with expressing affection through money. His and Yuan's income is enough to cope with the expenses of raising a child without having to make any cutbacks. Age 46   Age 47 Yu isn't quite ready to give up the booze quite yet though, since drinking potential customers under the table is a major part of his sales process.  Huh, it seems poisoning toddlers is a family tradition? Or maybe Yu just confused the baby's bottle with his own. Age 48  The pressures of being responsible for a child turns Yu back to his old methods of stress release. Hopefully Xiao-Xia is still too young to realise what her father is doing to himself Age 49 Little of interest happens. Age 50  They grow up so quickly, don't they? Age 51  Chain smoking for 36 years straight and living in the Beijing smog has finally taken its toll on Yu.  An alcoholic, chain smoking, drug addicted cancer patient. At least his wife and child are in good health. Age 52  Fighting erupts again, but Yu and his family has other things on their mind. Age 53  The struggle with cancer seems to have changed something within Yu, and he gives up drinking entirely. Age 54  Surviving longer than any of his doctors would have expected, he even makes an attempt to quit smoking.  ...but it turns out some habits die harder than others. Age 55  Knowing he hasn't got much time left, Yu takes the last opportunity to provide for his family once he is gone.  Even his lungs slowly filling up with fluid doesn't prevent Yu from pulling off the greatest heist of his lifetime. Age 56 - 57 Yu clings on to life, despite being mostly bedridden. Age 58  Another famine strikes.  But at this point, Yu is barely able to follow the news. Age 59  Yu passes away peacefully surrounded by his family, after struggling with cancer for eight years. In his last moments he feels no regret over the life he lived, but rather frustration that his good run ended so soon. Even so, he dies with a slight smile on his face. Final stats:  In the end, there was some small shred of humanity left in him  His daughter seems to have picked up some of his bad habits, but hopefully she can still do great things in her future. The end. I'll leave it up to you guys to compose a fitting eulogy for our friend, Hang Yu. Also, if any of you artistically minded goons are up for creating a rendition of Yu (at any stage of his life) for the thread's table of contents, that would be swell! As for the future of this LP: I'll run at least one more random life in the same format as I did with Hang Yu, with frequent thread votes. I got to show off most mechanics this run, with the main exception of emigrating to a different country. After that, I'll do a few quicker runs (maybe 3-5 updates tops) where the thread gets to vote for a general personality description I'll use as a guideline, and probably show off the option to manually generate a character as well. At some point, I'll also open up the thread for you guys to show off your own runs of the game, or any other edition off it. I suppose that will go on until I or you guys get bored with this game, whichever happens first. The next life will start some time tomorrow or the day after that! Covski fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 23, 2016 23:16
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Air is lava! posted:I am starting to envy that lucky bastard. Sure his home was razed, but he managed to marry a woman who is among the 6% prettiest in all of China and togeter they earn enough to make become rich again. When I read that thread title I expected more depressing lifes. Maybe goons are just that great at making good life decisions. Don't you worry, we'll have plenty of miserable lives yet! Remember, China is after all a comparatively rich and pleasant country! Aithon posted:This reminds me, there is a distinct lack of computers as a household electronic item. (Or shitposting as an activity.) I suppose this doesn't come up for a large part of the world, though. Yeah, the conspicuous absence of computers is interesting to me, too. The earliest edition of the game that I know of came out in 2004, which seems a bit late for computers to be considered a total luxury good for the richest of the developed nations. As far as I can tell, they are mostly there as sort of an intuitive way to compare material wealth - Remember that the game was developed as an education tool for schools, the game even comes with suggestions for lesson plans! The items may well have some behind the scenes effects though, as the game really is largely a statistical black box. There is no "listen to radio" equivalent to the television, and I'm not even sure what effect television viewing has on your character. I think it increases happiness, hopefully at the expense of your physical stats? It's also very odd to me that when Yu died, he had pairs of both television sets and radios, but not a single telephone? Air is lava! posted:By the way. This is a little nitpicky, but technically the name of the Chinese currency is "renminbi" ("the peoples currency"). Yuan is the name of the unit in which you measure renminbi. It's kinda weird. chitoryu12 posted:That's exactly right. "Renminbi" means "The people's currency", while "yuan" is the primary unit. We don't notice in the United States because the primary unit of the US dollar is the dollar. But just like you don't insist on paying "20 pounds sterling" for a video game, you would just say you paid X amount of yuan. Huh, this is interesting! Is anything except the currency measured in yuan? And as long as I'm no more wrong than as if I'd joked about a british girl being named "Pound", I'm still pleased about that joke
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Feb 23, 2016 23:52
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Cathode Raymond posted:I started a graveyard to memorialize all the runs. (not finished) Now you finally have something to put in that reserved second post! Hey, this is really neat! I'll be adding it to the OP right away! If you wanted to make pretty banner that I can use to link to it, that'd be really swell too!Nietzschean posted:This was a neat read. Please run us through a dozen more of these! I'm glad you all seem to be enjoying the the game so much! The next run will start tomorrow, unless I have spare time and is stricken with inspiration/boredom this evening.
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Feb 24, 2016 15:49
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nerdpony posted:That's one thing I do kind of wish you could do with the game -- play on another generation or two. I totally get why you can't, given what the game aims to do, but it would be nice. Sometimes you get really attached to your fake virtual person. Actually I think the way death is handled in the game works really well, especially in those cases where you are a bit invested in the character and maybe have future plans for them or what to see what happens to your children or whatever: You can't, because you're dead. The world supposedly keeps going on without you, but you're not there to see it. Death in the game is really understated, but somehow manages to be quite effective imo, what with the finality of it. A large part of that would be lost if you could going on, even if it's with another character. But that might just be me, of course. And yeah I'll absolutely make sure that the next life will take place somewhere else (unless we get an extremely interesting chinese person), and avoid any characters with too similar life situations to Yu - I want to show off as diverse lives as possible, and having to sit through all the China factoids again wouldn't be all that fun. Cathode Raymond posted:Is this ok for a banner or is it too big? Maybe something a bit less tall if possible? It doesn't have to be flashy or anything, just something a bit more visually interesting than a simple link
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Feb 24, 2016 20:43
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That's great, thanks!
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Feb 24, 2016 20:52
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The life of Rasuna Irawan, part one Age 0  A baby girl is born in a small Indonesian village. Her parents name her Rasuna, after the Indonesian national hero Rasuna Said.  She doesn't seem fated to be a very exceptional person, and the village is a pretty poor place to live.  Rasuna is the youngest of six children, with four older brothers and one older sister. This is one of the largest families I've ever been born to in the game.  Rasuna's home.  Politically, Indonesia isn't such a bad place to live, if you ignore the rampant corruption.  While there are very few television sets and cars in the nation, the economic situation is unremarkable. In fact, Indonesia has a quite low economic inequality, as indicated by the Gini coefficient.  The health situation is also unremarkable when compared internationally, but there are a lot of people with too little to eat.  Rasuna's mother finds herself a part time job, earning a bit of cash helping the local doctor take care of the sick people in the village.  Manusama, Rasuna's second oldest brother who confusingly has the same name has her father, begins school. Age one  The family's minimal diet starts to show, as a lack of protein means that none of her older siblings are developing physically the way they should.  Even so, her family has afforded to buy a used radio as well as expand their house a bit. About time, since living eight people in a single room was getting a bit cramped.  Rasuna's sister starts school.  Her youngest brother has a bout of measles, but luckily manages to shake it off, without infecting any other family members. Age 2  Manusama (the brother, not the father), has worms. A lot of worms. Luckily, Rasuna is too young to be disgusted by it.  Her sister gets them as well. Yuck.  Her second youngest brother goes off to school as well. The house starts to feel less crowded now that only Rasuna and her youngest brother are home during the day. Age 3  Rasuna develops a goitre. Thread goitre count: 2  Apparently child food poisonings are a thing in Indonesia as well. You'll note that it seems incredibly rare here compared to China though.  New country, new facts! Counties with a huge amount of spoken languages have always fascinated me a bit, coming from a decidedly monolingual European country. Age 4  Even as a small child, Rasuna is fascinated by the stories of the Indonesian independence, mostly because of having a namesake who was involved in the process.  Fighting breaks out on Bali. Rasuna is still too young to understand much of what they say on the radio.  Her younger brother starts school. Rasuna is now the only child too young to attend. Age 5  Peace returns to the country.   With their children growing up, the parents decide it is time for them to look farther away from the village to find more lucrative work. The children need to eat a lot more now that they're entering their teenage years, after all.  Rasuna's oldest brother catches malaria Luckily he is a strong child, and recovers quickly. The family's woes continue, as Hadjar is hit by a speeding car while playing on the road, suffering quite severe injuries. The doctor says he will be back to full health eventually, but it may take him years to recover fully.  Another quite interesting fact! I can imagine it's not easy to get anything done with such a system.  Geography fact!    Wait, why are we getting hinduism fact? I'm certain that our family was muslim. Are we crypto-hindus?  Age 6  Rasuna has a baby brother! Really, mom and dad? You felt we needed another family member? I blame a lack of contraceptives, I suppose. Rasuna finally begins school! She is very proud to be old enough to go learn things along with all her older siblings.  Now her mother has worms as well. That's what a lack of proper sanitation will do to you, kids!Age 7  Our oldest brother has a girlfriend! Rasuna likes her, because she is also named Rasuna. Unfortunately, she also gets food poisoning. Yep, the game lets you know all the stuff that happens to your siblings' partners as well. For the sake of keeping the updates to a reasonable size, I'll probably cut most of these out unless something particularly  Yup, we still have a goitre. Thanks game! As far as I know, no other health problems have the game reminding you about them the way it does with goitres. It's almost as if the game is being self-aware about its love for thyroid issues   Climate facts!  Growing up in a small house with approximately a gazillion siblings, Rasuna has learned that telling lies and keeping secrets is very difficult. At least for now, she'll be telling the truth. (I didn't want to break off the update for a vote just yet, so I went with what seemed appropriate for her.)  Brother-Manusama also has a girlfriend! She also has worms! As I said, I'll be cutting this out, but it's very fitting to me that the game usually let's you know that your siblings are in relationships by telling you about their disgusting diseases Age 8  Rasuna is now old enough to shoulder the responsibility of deciding what to do with her free time!  The options are the same as always with kids, with the exception of not being able to watch television due to lack of owning a television to watch.  Her family's improved diet finally causes her goitre to subside. Rasuna feels better already! Well, this really doesn't make moving to the city seem like that attractive of a prospect.  More hindu facts. I'll admit the source "www.hindukids.org" is amusing to me for some reason.  My suspicions turned out to be true! Somewhere along the line our family turned into hindus and started speaking another language as well! I've never seen this happen in the game before. While there are hindus in Indonesia, they are a very small minority. Rasuna is a quite sad young girl, possibly due to deep seated feelings of inadequacy due to not really being good at anything. In fact, she's below average an almost every respect, and even as an eight year old she can sense it. The fact that she doesn't get much attention from her parents as they are distracted by the ailments and misadventures of her brothers probably doesn't help either. However, it is very funny to me that she has as much wisdom at eight as Hang Yu had at fifty-nine. The water and medical situation has improved in the village, and the family can now afford to eat properly.  Rasuna and her family are decently healthy, although Hairun's bout with malaria has taken a toll on him, and Hadjar is still hurting from his car accident. Also for the record at 2007 exchange rates the Indonesian rupee is roughly 9100 rupees to the dollar, so our total family income is roughly $275 per month. Adjusting this by the Big Mac index, this comes out to the equivalent of around $500 effectively. Vote time! Pick up to five leisure activities for Rasuna! Covski fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Feb 25, 2016 |
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Feb 25, 2016 15:39
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Clarste posted:What are Xiao's stats, anyway? Can you even check that? I was just wondering if Yu raised a little monster or if she someone ended up alright. Unfortunately, there's no way to see the stats of your children It's a shame, because the children are probably the ones where it would be most interesting.ButtDoktor posted:Also the ascariasis infection that our brother came down with is one of the most horrifying worm conditions. The way the worms get to your gut is that the larva chew their into your blood vessels through your intestines, break out into your lungs, grow for a few days, and then you cough them up and swallow them. If you're particularly unlucky, you can keep getting infected with more until your entire gut is stopped up with a horrible writhing mass of footlong worms. This is a Good Post, as well as a good username/post combo. Please post stuff like this if you have any more disgusting trivia about diseases we encounter in the game! This goes for anyone else with medical knowledge, or really any other knowledge relating to things discussed in the game. The more we can help each other learn here, the better!
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Feb 25, 2016 16:45
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MarquiseMindfang posted:So who had "2 lives" in the goiter pool? Yu's mom had a goitre as well Antitonic posted:Also: Thanks, fixed!
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Feb 25, 2016 16:59
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The life of Rasuna Irawan, part 2 Age 8  Rasuna is a peculiar girl, rarely seen playing with the other children. Instead, she spends most of her time poring over books, with a particular interest in religious texts and history books. She also becomes an appreciated presence in the village, helping out less fortunate families in any way she can. Age 9  Martial arts with knives sounds like a rather dangerous hobby if you ask me. I'd stick to badminton.  Rasuna has yet another brother!  Her mother is still young enough that she might be able to plop out a few more siblings for Rasuna if she puts her back into it! Economically, the family is put under a bit of strain with the new mouth to feed.  Hadjer, the brother who was hit by the car, has recovered enough to return to his active lifestyle of adventuring. He celebrates by promptly falling out of a tree and hurting his brain Age 10  Baby keeps everybody awake with his incessant coughing for a while, but recovers decently quickly.  Rasuna gets goit again, due to her family's reduced diet. LP goitre count: 3   More interesting hinduism facts! Age 11  Rasuna's oldest brother turns eighteen!  Shortly afterwards, he marries a nice girl from the village.   Together they make ends meet by scavenging and reselling used goods from the local area.  More coughing in the family.  Rasuna's kid brother starts school.  Indonesian food is pretty drat good and I kinda want to have some now. Age 12  Hairun moves out, to start a new scrap collecting family with his wife.  Brother-Manusama has worms again. Rasuna is now old enough to understand how disgusting it is very well.    He also graduates school, and is engaged to be married to his girlfriend for a while although it ultimately doesn't work out for them.  He follows in his older brother's footsteps, helping him out on his scavenging runs to the local garbage dumps.  Rasuna is un-goitered! Age 13  Rasuna falls in love for the first time, becoming smitten with the youngest son of a neighbouring family. He's not much to look at, but Rasuna is kind-hearted enough to see his inner beauty. Does she dare tell him how she feels?  Hadjar is in really bad shape due to his tendency to constantly get into bad accidents. The rest of the family is in decent shape though. With the extra money Manusama Jr is bringing in, they are currently eating pretty well too. Also, kid bro has goitre. LP goitre count: 4  Rasuna is still a melancholy girl, but her hitting the books has paid off, and she is practically on the path to sainthood at this rate. So, time to decide Rasuna's policy regarding relationships. How picky is she? What is she looking for in a partner? Will she actively pursue relationships? Should she try to get married? Also, just in case: Should she try to go to trade school if the option is given? I think it's unlikely, but it's best to be prepared!
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Feb 27, 2016 15:40
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The life of Rasuna Irawan, part three Age 13  Rasuna commits to waiting for the right boy.  Big sis graduates school!  She takes up farm work, like her father. Age 14  While Rasuna and here family are not exactly wealthy, she can definitely spare 100 rupees (around 1 cent).   Manusama takes up nursing, having grown tired of the adventurous life of rummaging through people's junk.  Hadjar's incredible run of bad luck continues. (For those of you keeping track it's: Hit by car, fell and hurt his brains, roundworms) oh god this is the first time i've noticed that the worms can become as thick as pencils my eyes must have glossed over that every time i've read that before  Even so, he has managed to survive long enough to graduate secondary school  Six-year-old Madja, the youngest brother, idolizes his big bro to point of emulating even his most dangerous misadventures, and pays for it with permanent afflictions of his own.  That same year, he begins school. All the other kids call him Limpy. Age 15  Thread goitre count: lost track  Fire strikes.  Luckily, it's on a completely different island. Indonesia has a lot of islands, as we've learned.  I wanted to make a "No smoke without fire" joke here, but I couldn't make one work. Anyway, Rasuna currently doesn't strike me as the smoking type.  He is attractive, but too much of a 'bad boy' type for Rasuna.   Big sis marries and moves out on her own.  Poor Hadjar. (hit by car, fell and hurt brain, roundworms, malaria)  Despite his ailing health, he moves out on his own. Maybe he feels he needs to get away from this unlucky place.  worms worms worms worms worms  Age 16  See you soon!   Rasuna is now old enough to be keenly aware of the injustices of society.  Another fire, again nothing that affects Rasuna.  Another boy is rejected.  After a long hard life, Rasuna's father enters a new line of less physically demanding work.   Another one of Rasuna's brothers, the quiet one who doesn't have horrible thing happening to him all the time, graduates and starts working. Like the rest of his family, he does good honest manual labour. Age 17  There is fighting in another part of the country.  Brother-Manusama moves out. The house is rapidly starting to feel very empty.  Rasuna's first niece is born  The Quiet Brother is engaged to be married.  Shortly afterwards he starts working in the mines, earning a nice paycheck to pay for the future wedding. Age 18  Rasuna graduates from secondary school! You'll note that she wasn't offered to go to trade school, I guess being a girl of mediocre intelligence in a rural part of a relatively poor country will do that. On the other hand, none of her older brothers went on to any kind of higher education either. Time to look for a job!  This is the full list of jobs Rasuna can apply for right now. Her options are quite limited due to being a woman, uneducated, as well as living in a rural area.   With the parents at the height of their life-income cycle and Mahisa-Campaka bringing in a third salary to the household they are decently wealthy, having even been able to afford a television! Oh, and they're Indonesian-speaking muslims now. I don't even know  Votes! First, what should Rasuna do about her living situation? A) Move to the city, she can probably do a lot of good there B) Move out on her own, but stay in the local area C) Keep living with her parents, someone will have to take care them when they grow old Secondly, what sort of career should Rasuna pursue? A general category of jobs is fine, as the specific options will change over time anyway. Thirdly: Rasuna now has the option to spend her leisure time on social/political activism. She already has a large social pathos, but acting against the government might be dangerous. Should she do it? Covski fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Mar 1, 2016 |
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Mar 1, 2016 14:47
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Cathode Raymond posted:I am concerned about her lowish health and especially her melancholic happiness. Is depression a thing that can happen to you? What affects that happiness stat besides relationships? Depression is absolutely a thing, along with a slew of other mental health issues such as OCD and schizophrenia. I'm actually not sure what things directly affect the happiness stats, but I'm pretty sure that consumption and decent amounts of free time helps in keeping it up. Some people just seem to be naturally morose, though. steinrokkan posted:So, is conscience a practical trait like say intellect, or is it just something the game uses to give you points for not min-maxing? I believe that mostly effects the likelihood of some events, as far as I understand. Really, many of the stats are just there (again, afaik) to give you a feeling of what sort of person you are playing as. There's not really a lot of min-maxing to be done, because in the end how do you win at life? If you assume that the way to win is to earn as much money as possible and to live long enough to spend it (a reasonable assumption), you'd absolutely want to maximise intelligence (for better job opportunities) and strength/endurance (to hopefully live longer). Really, making more money is one of the things you have the most control over, and one of the easiest points of comparison if you feel you want to play "optimally". But then again, you can argue that there are a lot of other ways to win: Being happy, being great at music/arts/sports, being pretty and getting all the boys/girls/both, being a really good person, having as many healthy kids as possible, or any combination of these. Much like real life, Real Lives really needs you to set up your own goals if you want to enjoy it Kangra posted:Does the game model skipping school to earn money for the family, or dropping out entirely? I'm guessing we can sort-of do that for ourselves by selecting our focus to shape the stats, but I'd have to think that our siblings in this case would also be doing something like that. As Astrofig said, you can drop out whenever but there isn't really a point as you can't work until you're 13-14. I'm not sure if your siblings ever do it voluntarily, but they/you can also be forced to drop out of school if they are too weak to attend or your family is too poor. ButtDoktor posted:Disgusting things Never stop posting nauseating stuff like this please! Are you actually a literal butt doctor, by the way? Shiki Dan posted:Well, and I guess some of the changes in language and religion make a little bit of sense, in a way... This is a good point, and a great post! Cathode Raymond posted:If this run were a movie, it would be heart wrenching and it would be an Oscar nominee, especially with Hadjar's whole tragic arc. (do we lose track of him now that he moved out? We'll know if he dies, right?) Yeah, we'll continue to receive updates about his misadventures, don't worry!
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Mar 1, 2016 22:21
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The life of Rasuna Irawan, part four Age 18  Rasuna's volunteering work has placed her in contact with a small NGO, working with poverty relief in the area. Having spent a few years helping them out for free after school, they are happy to offer her a real job. It's mostly shuffling papers and making phone calls, but Rasuna is content to make a living out of her passion for helping others.  It is around this time, however, that her commitment to improving her country begins to change character. She becomes involved with a semi-radical anti-government movement, working to raise awareness of the inequalities of the country. It's little more than handing out pamphlets and making speeches, but her hard work quickly gains her some recognition in the movement.  Her older brother moves out, leaving only Rasuna and the kid siblings in the house along with her parents. It is a strange feeling, being the oldest of the children in the house. Age 19  Hello again! Age 20  Oh, just a short visit, huh?  More interesting facts! This doesn't quite explain Rasuna's religion-switching though. (She is still a muslim at the time of writing this)  I really enjoy these tidbits about the architecture of rural houses. It almost sounds quite quaint, if you imagine away the poverty and worms everywhere.  Peace returns.  Rasuna falls in love with another member of her activist group.  Unfortunately, her rather timid advances are all shot down. She can't even be sure if he notices them  Mother goes back to work at the farm. Age 21  With her mother's new job and the money that Rasuna is bringing in, the family can afford to move to a nicer house where her parents plan to live out the rest of their days.  Then one early morning when leaving for work, Rasuna is picked up by the police. Her interrogator is neither harsh nor amiable as he explains that all they want from her is a confession of their anti-government activities, and a list of names of other people in the organisation. As long as she cooperates, she is in no danger. What should she do?  She is sadder than ever, although this time for obvious reasons  Rasuna is in a difficult position, caught between endangering her friends in the movement and risking her own freedom. She knows full well that if she goes to prison, her parents may not be there when she gets out. Should Rasuna keep quiet or confess?
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Mar 2, 2016 18:15
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The life of Rasuna Irawan, part five For most people it would have been a difficult choice, choosing between your principles and the safety and well-being of yourself and your family. For Rasuna, it isn't a choice at all. She steadfastly refuses to say anything at all to her captors, confident that her famous namesake would have done the same.  After a few hours of fruitless questioning, they let her go unscathed. She is safe, for now, but it is apparent that the government will have their eyes on her from now own. Age 22  The news of her interrogation grants her a status as a minor celebrity within the organisation. A man about her age, Ken-Dedes, is awestruck by her heroism and confesses his love for her. His intelligence and strong morals appeal to her, and she allows him to take her out to dinner.  Over the course of the next few weeks, a serious relationship starts to develop.  They spend a lot of time together and although it means Rasuna has to cut down on her exercises, their late night political discussions make it worth it. Age 23      It is a bad year in Indonesia, with both wildfires and volcanic eruptions striking. Luckily, Rasuna and her family live far away from the affected areas. This a bit too close to reality, as RL-Indonesia was hit by an earthquake only yesterday  Through a friend, Rasuna learns that her arrest last year was orchestrated by one of the large local landowners calling in some favours with the police, out of fear that her activities would cause issues among the workforce. She sets herself to the task of uncovering these corrupt activities.  Then quite suddenly, after a particularly nice dinner, Ken-Dedes proposes to her.  Rasuna has become rather more intelligent in the recent years. All this fighting corruption and combating inequality must be good for her brain!  She is not in the best of health though, maybe because of her biennial goitre flare-ups. (I swear to god, I never used to see this much goitre in the game until you goons jinxed it!) Just a quick update, but an important vote! Is Ken-Dedes the man for Rasuna?
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Mar 3, 2016 18:59
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St Evan Echoes posted:Good thing our brother will walk without rhythm  Cathode Raymond posted:GraveSite got an update! You're doing a great job! Almost makes me wish our characters would die off more quickly!
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Mar 3, 2016 19:01
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The life of Rasuna Irawan, part six Rasuna accepts, and they are engaged to be married.  Saleh turns eighteen, and graduates from school as well. Now little Madja is the only minor in the family, at fourteen. Age 24   Wow, there really are a lot of fires in Indonesia this run. Age 25  Clothing facts! Really, that article was more interesting than I thought i would be.  STOP IT   Later that year, Rasuna and Ken-Dedes are married. The ceremony is a modest affair by most accounts, although a large number of friends and family attend. Rasuna is now Mrs. Rasuna Habibie. It is quite literally the happiest day of her life.  The newlyweds move into a little place of their own, although Rasuna insists on staying in the village to be close to her parents.     It is a simple little home and their lives are very modest, especially since Rasuna's husband is currently unemployed. That doesn't stop them from making an enormous contribution to charity each month. Age 26  Ken-Dedes starts up a small business out of their home, making a variety of handmade goods. He is quite skilled, and manages to bring in a decent sum of money for the family. Things are looking up.  Shortly afterward, the village doctor confirms what Rasuna has suspected for some time. She is pregnant.  Rasuna's happiness was up to 21 there for a while, but now she's back to her old solemn self.  The happy (albeit goitery) couple! I haven't adjusted their spending since Ken got his job, so there are improvements that can be made. Let's talk about babies! First of all, what should Rasuna do with this baby? If we opt to keep it, how many kids are we aiming for? Should she actively try to get pregnant? Also, feel free to provide input on the spending policy! Her giving as much as possible to charity was a forgone conclusion, and I felt she'd prioritise consumer goods lower than food or shelter, let me know if you think differently!
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Mar 4, 2016 14:52
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The life of Rasuna Irawan, part seven Age 26   Rasuna and Ken-Dedes name her Ai.  Unfortunately, tragedy strikes. There complications at birth, and the girl dies shortly afterwards. The young couple is devastated. (This appears to be a bug: Occasionally a child is born with 0 health, and will not age. I *think* this is an issue with the child dying at birth, without being properly flagged as such by the game. Either way, they are effectively not counted as alive by the game )   Even still, life goes on around them. Age 27   When it rains, it pours. Literally in this case, as a major flood strikes the village. Luckily Rasuna's home avoids the brunt of the damage, though it is a cold comfort.   After rain comes fire, though luckily once again it is nowhere near the village.  Rasuna is pregnant again. The parents are understandably very worried after last year's tragedy.    Luckily the child, another girl who they name Raden, is a healthy little bundle of joy. Age 28  More sad news, as Rasuna's brother Manusama learns that he has diabetes. Diabetes is a real killer in this game, in my experience, even in rich countries.  uuuh. Age 29   Rasuna's youngest brother marries, a much-needed happy occasion in the family. Her parents are now living alone for the first time in many years, but Rasuna is close at hand whenever they need help. Age 30   Another child is born, Rasuna's first son. She continues the family tradition of naming children after political figures by naming him Sukarno, after Indonesia's first president.  Raden is an energetic three-year-old, always busy exploring the world. Unfortunately, this exploration also entails eating things she shouldn't.  Poor baby Sukarno has measles, and spends a lot of time keeping the little family up at night, crying from the discomfort. Age 31   Another fire. I'll probably start cutting these out, too.  The family is reasonably healthy, although Sukarno is taking his time shaking off the after effects of the measles. They are also saving up a fair bit of money.  Rasuna's doing about the same as always, although the loss of her first child hit her hard. Let's talk about emigration! We didn't get to cover this with Yu, but you have the option to emigrate to any other country in the world, for a price. It mostly means being able to take advantage of higher salaries and better government services (unless you move to a poorer country for some reason), and is almost always a good investment if you are born in a poor country. The cost to emigrate varies mostly based on the GDP of the destination, though distance might also be a factor? For example in Rasuna's case emigrating to the USA would cost 300 million rupiah, while moving to China would cost a mere 47 million. You also have the option to attempt to immigrate illegally for a tenth of the cost though this carries a quite high risk of being caught and returned to your homeland and losing the money. As far as I'm aware there are no other dangers associated with it, though. Should Rasuna stay in Indonesia or save up enough to emigrate? If you vote to emigrate, feel free to suggest a country and whether or not she should save up the full amount or attempt to enter illegally.
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Mar 9, 2016 19:33
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Sorry about the lack of updates, I had a busy weekend followed by work kicking my rear end a bit By the way, remember when I said Rasuna's starting family was one of the biggest ones I've seen? I got this one when I booted up the game to make this update: 
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Mar 9, 2016 19:36
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Coolguye posted:getting caught up but hold on just got to the second life and now i get to post this image  This had me laughing way too hard in the office, thank you. (I don't know if it was "monthly goiter: 7270" or "from my goiters I have been gifted with the potential for exceptional goiter" that killed me) I guess this means I'll have to get the next update out today, doesn't it?
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Mar 15, 2016 09:10
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Sorry, no update today: I stupidly decided to develop a fever instead. At least it's not goiter vv
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Mar 15, 2016 21:07
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