Chapien

Sniffles jumped slightly in surprise and stared at the figure in front of him. For a moment he remained silent, staring at the figure with a curious gaze, his eyes moving up and down, his nose sniffing the air slightly. The figure appeared to be one of those pony-things from the south, but if he remembered correctly, ponies certainly did not have stripes... or did they? Sniffles had never really been known for his memory - his mind wandered so often that he found it a bit difficult to remember unimportant details, such as whether or not ponies had stripes, or if climbing trees was really a good idea, or what he ate last night.

After roughly a minute of simply staring, he responded, [colour=#008000]"Are you some type of pony or something?"[/colour]. He continued to glare at the "pony" for a moment, before grinning and running towards her on all fours before standing back up and grinning widely at her.

[colour=#008000]"Well! Usually, dragons don't climb trees, but I'm special!"[/colour] he said, with a smile,[colour=#008000] "Or did they say that I was unusual... ah, nevermind! It is great to meet you, Ms pony-thing! My name is Sniffles, Sniffles the dragon! And what brings you here to the land of dragons on this simply beautiful morning?"[/colour]

As someone entering the game industry, I've done a lot of research into copyright law and whatnot and though I do not pirate or anything (law is still, well, the law), I do think the law should be changed and that copyright law needs radical reform, at least, in terms of the game industry (I can't really speak for other industries). The statement that the companies lose money for piracy is true - but the statement that the people who made the games loses money is entirely false. The way the video game industry works is entirely broken - most games are published through a big publisher (ie Activision, EA, Ubisoft). When a developer agrees to have his game published by a publisher (something that used to be necessary but is gradually fading away with the advent of steam and other methods of distribution and advertisement), he forfeits 100% of his intellectual property rights to the game - that means if the developer wants to make a sequel, but the publisher doesn't, then, well, they can't. If a publisher wants to put a series in the freezer, it is well within its rights to do so. In addition, anywhere between 80% - 95% of all profits for a game (depending on the publisher and the game) will go to the publisher - NOT the developer. The publisher, mind you, had little to no involvement in MAKING the game. Usually, the publisher is in charge of either funding or marketing. In short, publishers don't make games. They are businessmen. The developers are the real artists/brain behind the game.

So, the real thing stealing from game designers, is not piracy. Piracy will hardly dent the sales of games. The real thing stealing from developers is their own publishers. Until this system is completely reformed and changed, I do not view piracy in a negative light. I myself will not pirate, but I will not condemn or attack those that do so because I no longer can support a system such as this.

Sometimes, publishers just beg for piracy. Usually, if a customer can get a game for full price without any hastle, with everything working, with working multiplayer, no DRM, etc. they WILL buy - even if a free, pirated copy is available - simply because purchasing the game is easier and more convinient. But when a publisher actually makes the game HARDER to get, when they load it with always online DRM, when they load it with activation key after activation key... well. Let me give an example. Ubisoft's servers went down. Everyone who legitimately bought the game cannot play it, but those who pirated it CAN play (because they don't have the always online DRM to go through). In these cases... I'm afraid to say, I do not feel sorry for the publisher. In fact, in these cases, I feel that the publisher is so pathetic, and has made such a massive mistake, that they almost deserve the piracy that they get. When someone can provide your service more conveniently and at a free price... I'm afraid to say that people will go for the free route.

The reason that this doesn't apply as much to the music industry is largely due to iTunes, Google Play, etc which were a successful reaction AGAINST piracy. So far, everything the gaming industry has tried to discourage piracy has flopped on its face and only ENCOURAGED piracy. I actually know someone who pirated a game not because he couldn't afford it - he actually wanted to buy it - but because of the horrible DRM that the game required.

These are some really cool results, guys! I wonder what would happen if you tried to answer the test in terms of a FiM character or your OC... It would be too hard for me to do anyone but Flutters or Twi because I don't even understand what it's like to be extroverted.

Already been done:

I'm Pinkie Pie.

It was a rather beautiful morning in the Badlands. The sun was rising over the mountains, and the trees seemed to sparkle from the sun's light reflecting off of the condensation from last night. The land seemed empty and quiet for miles around, with pine tree after pine tree covering the landscape, mountains jutting out in the distance. A small stream gurgled nearby, and birds chirped in the sky- but beyond that, the forest had the appearance and sound of being wholly lifeless. Except, of course, for one little creature.

At the top of one of the infinite trees of the forest, a green baby dragon snored, soundly asleep in the canopy, a small, brown blanket pulled tight over him. He was sleeping rather soundly and didn't show any sign of waking up any time soon. He probably would have slept all day - until, of course, a bit of melting snow dripped off of the branch above him onto his forehead, causing him to wake up with a brief yelp immediately, jumping up and very nearly falling off of his branch.

Rubbing his forehead, Sniffles moaned and stretched. He grabbed his blanket and rolled it up, before stuffing it into his make shift pack. Strapping his pack onto him, and checking to make sure that he wasn't leaving anything behind, Sniffles began his swift, yet careful, descent down to the surface. Landing on all fours with a quiet thud, Sniffles sniffed around in the air, a smile on his face. Today was going to be a great day - he simply knew it!

Picture Perfect glanced at Photo Finish and smiled slightly, replying quietly, "Ze equipment is in the suitcase just over there." He gestured behind him, where a somewhat large case sat, large enough to contain a camera, tripod, and a small flash, though not much else. Picture Perfect knew that Photo Finish would be working with very minimal equipment on this little expedition, and he also knew that Photo Finish's complaints were inevitable. No matter. He was very much used to Photo Finish's... behavior... by now, and knew exactly what to expect out of her.

He then turned his attention to the fashion designer, whose designs would be used on the model and would be the true highlight of the show (a fact Photo Finish would probably never admit to). He approached her and offered a hoof. "I am Picture Perfect, und I am Photo Finish's associate, as she said. Und you are...?"

Sure, this sounds fun. Not sure which character(s) I can/should involve yet, though it would likely be my baby dragon Sniffles (although he hasn't been properly introduced yet, I must admit).

I've taken this test before but decided to take it again. And I got the same result as always.

Extroverted (E) 81.82% Introverted (I) 18.18%

Intuitive (N) 75% Sensing (S) 25%

Feeling (F) 62.16% Thinking (T) 37.84%

Perceiving (P) 67.65% Judging (J) 32.35%

Your type is: ENFP

ENFP - "Journalist". Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama. 8.1% of total population.

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I'm pretty happy they are making this into a trilogy! It means they won't miss anything - I'm still rather disappointed at how much the LOTR movies had to ultimately leave out (Tom D: ), though the extended editions fixed most of this (still no Tom, though). But now with three parts, they have no excuse!

Picture Perfect hated being late. This was rather unfortunate, as it seemed that the fates had conspired against him to ensure he would not arrive to the fashion show on time. Picture Perfect had been in Hoofenheim, visiting his family, for the past two weeks, and it was a long train ride from Hoofenheim to Manehatten. He had gotten the earliest possible ticket to Manehatten, and when she had finally arrived at the train station (two minutes early, mind you!) the train was... delayed! Apparently there was something wrong with the steam engine or something or other. He made a mental note to complain to whoever ran this railroad on his disappointment, and had boarded the train nearly two hours after when she was supposed to have left.

The train ride itself was horrible. A foal sitting behind him would not stop kicking his seat, and when the train finally did arrive in Manehatten, it took thirty minutes for her to retrieve all of his equipment and art supplies from the train, and then, the typical Manehatten crowd took literally an hour to navigate. By the time He had arrived to the fashion show, He was already exhausted. He quickly showed her pass to a rather big looking stallion, and was admitted to the back stage area, where his friend Photo Finish and whoever the fashion designer was were presumably waiting.

Quickly regaining his composure, he opened the door, "Here! I am here!" he said, and quickly headed over to Photo Finish's side.

It was fine. Just not the best! XD

I don't think Discord made a choice to be what he is -- he's a manifest of chaos, just as a tornado could be a manifest of wind or a flame is a manifest of fire.

Q from Star Trek was his own character. He regarded all races (not just humans) about the same as we regard viruses and bacteria. His "favors" in a lot of the stories were ultimately the result of him trying to fix his own problems, using humanity as a tool to sate his own agenda. You'd see a lot of this in particular in my personal favorite series: Voyager. The comparison between Discord and Q is a fair one, as they do act similar with omnipotence, speech, and behavior; I don't see the similarity to be disrespectful to Q as a character, and quite fun to see present in FiM. It gave the fans a deeper connection to an actor that is doing a fantastic job representing the community in a positive way.

The reason I still think Discord is hard to classify is because, even so he is a spirit of chaos, remember that chaos can manifest itself in many, many ways. There are good forces of chaos, bad forces of chaos, and then just pure forces of chaos. Though I am hesitant to call Discord "evil", I think he is certainly leaning more towards that than "good".

Also, Voyager. You're doing it wrong.

Changelings themselves are not evil, they were doing what they had to to survive. Now, that wasn't necessarily always moral, but really, if a lion attacks a human, sure, everyone freaks out, but we don't really consider it "evil". I believe someone already stated this earlier in the thread, but I'll state it again: Changelings are to MLP what orcs are to Lord of the Rings. They can't necessarily be evil because, in my opinion, they aren't necessarily fully sentient (well, they are, but they don't necessarily have free will) - they are driven by instinct and by the will of someone both stronger than them and more clever than them.

However, though I do not believe that Changelings are evil - I may argue that Chrysalis is. Why? Well, let's continue the LOTR analogy - if the Changelings are the orcs, simply following instinct and command - then Chrysalis is like Sauron. The Changelings were simply doing what they were doing for food - and though one could argue Chrysalis was doing the same, I doubt that this is true. In the "This Day Aria" reprise, Chrysalis deliberately says that she'll soon control everypony - her intentions were not simply food and survival, but also conquest and domination. She essentially used the Changeling's hunger as a reason to invade Canterlot - so Chrysalis could be interpreted as "evil" (though again, this can be argued from another viewpoint) while the Changelings are just creatures of instinct acting out of the need to feed.

Discord, on the other hand, is simply a spirit of Chaos, and is hard to classify as good or evil. One could say he simply wanted to have fun, but you could also say he deliberately tore Twilight's friendships apart on purpose. Discord is basically a pony version of Q from Star Trek and is thus EXTREMELY hard to classify - perhaps even impossible to classify - as good or evil. If I had to, I'd classify him as Chaotic Neutral (using Dungeons and Dragons alignment terms, ofc) to Chaotic Evil, depending on his current mood and motivation.

It is currently 11:03 AM my time (PST). I am available on weekdays from 4 PM until I sleep, and almost all day on weekends.

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Sparks is, obviously, interested. Count me in!

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... Yes. It is soos. And Robbi.

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I think my favorite so far is Wendy.

Try and guess my favorite.

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Sparks quickly smiled, always happy when someone asked about his work. All of his previous nervousness quickly disappearing, he headed over to the workstation. "Gladly, Miss Flair! If you'll be so kind as to step over here..."

On the workstation was a massive mess of papers, notes, and blueprints for Sparks's complex design, which portrayed a much larger engine of which the sphere was only a small part. Sparks began, "Well, the idea came to me while I was pondering movement and propulsion in general. I began to wonder - why can Pegasi fly, but not Unicorns or Earth Ponies? After a few basic calculations, I realized that, no matter what technology or magic may be applied, Unicorns and Earth Ponies will never attain true flight - Pegasi actually have lighter bones that enables flight," he took a breath, and continued, "Despite this fact, there are methods to propel objects at a greater velocity, as we now know, through use of mechanisms such as engines."

Sparks put a hoof over the component he had been building, smiling proudly, "However, I have devised a way to create an even faster engine! When I was younger, I did some experiments involving black powder and explosives. The results were... well, explosive, and led to a rather unpleasant situation," he chuckled, "but, I've realized that the volatile materials I was experimenting with could easily be used to build a faster propulsion engine - one that could cause trains to move and perhaps twice their speed, and if it was strapped to the back of a somewhat lightweight pony, it could cause the pony to lift off of the ground very slightly."

He grinned, "Though I wouldn't recommend using it on ponies, despite the fact that this was my original intent - it would be rather dangerous!"

Awww, man. Video ain't there.

The video is blocked outside of the USA for some reason. Sorry!

In the defense of Blueblood, Rarity was only playing him for his money and status. Playa gotta put them mares in their place

This doesn't change the fact that blueblood is a stubborn, spoiled, arrogant brat.

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Today is the 20th birthday of Cartoon Network, and to celebrate there was a massive marathon of every CN show ever on the channel, as well as this simply beautiful commercial! Check it out!

The network has had its ups and towns, but in my heart, it will always remain my first, and favorite, Cartoon channel.

Greetings and salutations, welcome to canterlot! There are cookies and punch by the door.

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Sparks couldn't help but applaud along with the rest of the crowd. It was an extremely rousing speech, and it made him proud to be an intern for who he considered Equestria's greatest technological innovator. Of course, what caught his interest most in the speech wasn't the part about the future plans of the company or how the company was doing or anything like that - it was the Tech Expo she had mentioned! Before now, he had never heard of this event - and now that he did know, it would be an event that he absolutely had to take part in. Ideas were already racing in his mind on what to make, a rather stupid looking smile spread across his face.

When Snowfall returned, he immediately congratulated her, "Nice speech, Miss Snowfall! Really, really impressive! ...Now... about that Tech Expo you mentioned..." he continued, "I believe you have grabbed my interest."

Sparks gulped slightly, and nervously chuckled. "R-right. Of course it doesn't matter." He took a step back, away from Vivid, nervously glancing back at his "engine". The device was somewhat spherical in shape, and appeared to be a mess of metal, chords, wires, and clockwork - clearly NOT an engine, as Sparks grimly realized. His mind raced, quickly trying to think of excuses to come up with.

"Well..." he began, nervously, "Of course it doesn't look like an engine! It isn't an engine - it's a component of an engine!" He began talking with more confidence - he was gradually getting away from his lie and closer to the truth! It was true that his device was a component - and that it was a component of a device that helped cause objects motion - much like an engine. He smiled at Vivid. "It isn't necessarily what NSI asked of me - nor is it strictly part of the Trans-Equestrian Railroad Project - but I assure you, it can prove to be an extremely valuable asset!"

Just as he said that, a rather large piece of the component simply fell off. His smile quickly disappeared. "...It's a work in progress."

Vivid's sudden entrance took Sparks off guard, to say the least. Not only did her entrance startle him, but it caused him to actually jump a little, the delicate piece he was working on shattering into two. "Prokljatie!" he exclaimed, obviously a rather angry statement in his native tongue, before turning around to face Vivid, his face displaying a mixture of surprise, embarrassment, and even a hint of fear. "M-miss Flair!" he began, nervously, "It's, ah, not what it looks like! I'm working on a... a..."

He turned to face his own contraption, obviously trying to think of a 'clever' lie. "An engine!" he said desperately, a painfully obvious lie, and Sparks knew it, judging my Flair's obviously dubious reaction. "For a um... poezd! Er- sorry, train! For a train!" Obviously flustered, Sparks positioned himself between Vivid and his 'engine', hoping Vivid would accept his ruse (if it could even be called that).

Hastily trying to change the subject, he smiled and laughed nervously, "S-so, miss Flair, what brings you out to the lab at this very late hour?"

It looks pretty good!