Ú¿ÀÀÙ¿ ÀÚÙÄ Robot Protection Agency ÄÚ¿Ù³Ú¿Ùijij À¿Ú¿ Ú¿ÚÀ¿Ú Ú¿ÙijڿٳÄÀÙÚ Ú¿ÀÀÙÀ¿Ú¿À ÄÙÚ³³Ú¿³ÄÚÀÙ³ Ú¿ÀÙÙÚÙ¿ÀÙÀ ijÚÙÀ³Ù³ÄÚ¿ÀÙ Äij Ú¿ÀÀ¿ÚÀ ÚÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁ¿ ڳĿÙÀijÚÙÄ³Ú Ú¿³³ ÄÀ ¿Ú¿ ³ ³ ¿ÙÚÚÀÙij³Ú¿ÄÙ ÀÙÚÀÚÙÀÙÀ³Ú ³ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ ÚÙÀÀ¿Ù³ÄÀ¿ÙÚÄ Ú¿ÙÀÀ¿ÙÚÀ³Ú ³ ³ Ú¿ Ú¿ ³\ ³ ³ ¿ÙÀÚÀ¿ÚÙijÀÄÙ Ú¿ÙÀ À¿¿³Ù ³ ³ ³\ ³/ Ãij ³ ³ Ú¿ÙÀÚ³ÄÀ¿ÙÚij Ú¿ÙÀÀÙÚÀÙÚÀ ³ ³ ³ ³. ³. ³ ³. ³ ³ Ú¿ÙÀÀÙij³¿ÄÀÚ Ú¿ÙÚ¿ÙÀÀÙÚÙ ³ ³ ³ ³ Ú¿ÙÀÀÚÙ³ÚÄ¿Ù³ Ú¿ÙÀÚ¿ÙÀÚÙÀ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ³ Ú¿ÙÀÚÄÀ¿Ä³Ú¿Ù ÚÚ¿ÙÀÚÀÙÀÚÙ ³ RPA microdevices Made in Barrhaven³ ¿ÙÚÀ³ÄijÄij³Ä ÚÀÙÚÀÙÚÙÀÚ¿ ÀÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÙ Ú¿ÙÀÀÚ³ÚijÄÚ³ ÚÀÙÚÀÙÀÚÀÚ¿ Ú¿ÙÀij¿Ù³ÚÀij Ú¿À ÙÀÄÚÄÚÀÀÚijڳÄÙÚijÙÀÚijڿ³ÄÙÚ¿ÄÙ³ÚÄ¿Ù¿³Ù¿ÚÙ³ÄÀÚ³Ùij¿ÚÄÙ³ÚijÚÙÄÙÀij1Ú³ÄÚÀÀÚ 0Ä1¿ÙÀÚ³ÄÚ¿³¿ÙijÚ0³³1ijÚÄÙÀÚ³Ä0Ú³ÀÙ³ÄÚ³ÄÙÚ¿1ÀijÚÀ³ÄÚÙ¿³ÄÀÙijÀ1ÚÙÄÚÄÙÚÀijÀÙ1³¿³ ³ÄÚ¿Ù³ÚÀ0Ù³ÄÀÚÀÙÄÚÀÙÚ³ÙijÚÀ1³ÄÚ0ÄÙÀijÙÀÙÚÚÙÀÚ0ÄÙÚÀijÀ0ijÙÀ¿³ÙÚÙÚÄÙ0ÙÄÚÀÙijÚÙÀÄ 1³0¿1Ä0À1³0Ú1Ù0Ä1Ú0Ä1À0³1Ä0Ä1¿0Ä1Ú0À1³0Ù1Ä0³1Ä0Ù100Ä1Ù0Ú1Ä0Ù1Ù0³1Ù0³1Ù0³1Ù0³1³ 101001100101111010100101011010010010101100100101011010100101010101010100101010 010101010111101010101001010101101001010100101011010011010101101010010110010101 010 101101 010 10 101010 0101 101 0100 101 010101 10 10 101 10 1 010 10 1011 0 10 01010 10 01 101 01 1 1 0 0 1 01 01 010 1 0 01 01 1 1 01 01 01 01 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 01 0 1 1 1 01 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 01 0 01 1 1 1 1 00 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 11 1 1 1 0 0 10 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1RobotProtectionAgencyMonthlyElectronicMagazineÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ^B============================================================================= +++++ ***** ******** *** +++++++++++++++++NUMBER 1++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++ ** *** *** *** ***** ++++++++++++++++++++++DECEMBER++++++++++++++++++ +++ ** *** *** *** *** *** ++++++++++++++++++++FIFTEENTH+++++++++++++++++ ++ ****** ********** *** ** +++++++++++++++++++NINETEEN++++++++++++++++++ + *** *** *** ********* +++++++++++++++++++NINETY++++++++++++++++++++ *** *** *** *** ** ++++++++++++++++++++SIX+++++++++++++++++++++++ ROBOT<>PROTECTION<>AGENCY<>ROBOT<>PROTECTION<>AGENCY<>ROBOT<>PROTECTION<>AGENC -<[RPAID: 2219A]>- +_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_=-+_ Official RPA cast : Triffid Mother Raz Ruiner Spriggan Nowcaster Strafe CONTENTS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ## Article Author(s) ---- ------------------------------------------ -------------------- 01 |Robot Protection Agency???????????????? | Triffid 02 |PREVIEW: RPA's "Technetium" | Nowcaster 03 |ARTICLE: Confusing anti-America rant | Triffid 04 |ASCII ART | (Various) 05 |VIDEO GAMES.....YEAAAA! | Triffid 06 |Pac Man- the REAL story | Ruiner ---- ------------------------------------------ -------------------- OK then, let's get on with this pornography, drug abuse, and rap music, shall we? ======================================V======================================= ====================================> 1 <===================================== ======================================^======================================= ^B Blatherings from the editor: "What is RPA?" ----------- Hrmm...well, we are a bunch of roudy, troublemaking kids with computers and too much time on our hands. We decided too write an e-zine because it's easy and we all share a lot of interests. The topics covered in our articles vary from breaking science news, to political / philisophical opinions, to H/P oriented informative texts to hopelessly stupid and meaningless rants. Whatever you make of it, we hope you enjoy this months dose. Triffid ======================================V======================================= ====================================> 2 <===================================== ======================================^======================================= ^B PREVIEW: Technetium ---------- Technetium is the RPA born, cyberpunk themed, role playing system, conceptualized, designed and written completely by Triffid and Nowcaster. Those familiar with the works of William Gibson or Bruce Sterling will feel right at home with the themes, storys and even some specific optional characters we threw in for fun. NOT a computer game, Technetium will have a feel similar to Dungeons and Dragons. However, we did NOT simply adopt the complex combat systems of D&D and simply import them to a cyberpunk environment. Yes, TRPS will include origianal character sheets and even a different overall game structure. Now for some specifics... * Even though there are tasks and missions specific to each game of TRPS you play, the over-all goal for most characters will be to keep alive, keep secure, get money and make friends- in the dark futures of the TRPS story lines, having friends to watch your back will usually keep you alive. Whether your character is a corperate mercenary, a drug fence or a weapons dealer, making money, friends and connections will always be your goals. In Technetium you are NEVER too safe, and it's easy come, easy go. * Before designing characters, the player will select a campaign. There are currently three campaigns, but a fourth will probably be ready for the release date. The campaign wont just affect the story line. In fact, each campaign has it's own character classes- and none overlap between campaigns. * The 'mentor' will play the role that the DM (dungeon master) would play in D&D. * The playing environments will include streets and buildings, as well as cyberspace environments- the internet, bbsing and hacking will all be experienced by the character in graphic representations of space, time and data- in other words, William Gibson's vision of cyberspace. It will be accessable to the character on different levels- from black and white computer terminals to neural electrodes which directly interact with the brain for input (commands) and output (audio/visual representation of the hyperspace environment) The mentor will still govern the play in cyberspace. The finished printed version of the game will consist of about 50 pages including game structure info, tables and charts, backround info, and campaign storylines. We are aiming to release Technetium April 1, 1997. -Nowcaster ======================================V======================================= ====================================> 3 <===================================== ======================================^======================================= ^B ARTICLE: "Yes, I know my enemy..." ----------------------- Zac Delarocha couldn't have said it better. The American dream is the real enemy. Compromise. Conformity. Assimilation. Submission. Ignorance. Hypocracy. Brutality. The elite. One hundred years ago, Karl Marx predicted the end of capitalism and the evolution of autocratic governments into decentralized yet productive anarchys. We like to think of our governments as true democracies. In America, the government represents the will of the people. Yeah...... Of couse, what we don't like to think is that our government controls US more effectively than ANY dictatorship. But how can all of America be controlled SO effectively? Simple. They make us enjoy it. We are made to LIKE American culture, so getting us to carry it on isn't difficult. We have essentially been trained to laugh at people with strange / new idea's and give each other praise for being 'normal'. Of course, we don't THINK we've been trained. We think that we are born with instinctive 'American' values- we just KNOW what is right and wrong, we haven't been taught! ....hrrmmm.... I remember one day in a 20th century hisory course of mine, we were looking at Stalin. Totalitarianism they called it. My teacher explained how Russia under Stalin was held together to achieve it's goal (industrialization) by effectively 'convincing' the people to WANT to work. He described their techniques in controlling the people with the use of propaganda and control of......media??? ....NO! ....what kind of monsters would control us by regulating the media???? The looks on peoples faces in my class really made me realize how MANY people in America think that television exists solely to entertain you and make you feel good about your self. No, there are very few people who understand that companies produce TV for our money, and that the government supports the companies so that they can give us our daily dose of American culture, American opinion, American justice and American entertainment. CNN updates us on who and what 'OUR' enemies are. Fox 29 updates us on how we have fun, and what we find funny. And don't forget Hollywood, who reminds us with their blockbuster 'R' rated movies which examplify our social enemies and show us who NOT to be like, that a little evil is OK, but a real American is a good, God loving man with a nieve, pretty wife and 2.2 kids who say no to drugs. Although our government may be powerful, 'democracy' is beginning to reveal chinks in its big, boastful, beautiful armour. It's biggest threat is the information age. What more and more people are beginning to realize is that our old fashioned ways are becomming obsolete faster and faster. The fact is that as more and more people communicate with greater ease, they are MUCH harder to control. Governments can ONLY work if the people aren't exactly sure of what's going on. I'm not saying that the governments decieve us for pleasure and are evil. In fact, most governments, in the long run, see good in what they are doing for the people. I'm just saying that governments are not hyper-intelligent and perfect so they are not fit to rule SO many people. In other words, NO ONE is fit to rule over people. They will make mistakes and short-sighted descisions etc. Now that the people are communicating more, they are realizing that our geat lifestyles are the result of the exploitaion of poorer people in poorer countries. It's not like the whole world is happy, and first world countries are just even happier. Americans live well because other countries don't. Our government tries to convince us that everything is all right- we all live well. They don't tell us that others suffer for our food, clothes, entertainment and and our governments military. America acts to the world the way Americans act in America. On the outside, we look friendly and conform with our neigbors while we are actually fighting for money, power and respect. For the American dream. This capitalist concept has ruled most of our lives. Many of us think we're nothing if we don't have money and power. With the information age, people are beginning to realize their self worth- and power. I saw a shirt that said "WORLD DOMINATION STARTS IN YOUR BASEMENT". How true. People don't REALLY want to be controlled, and only now are they beginning see this in themselves. We are not tools to push the country forward. Nor are we any more important than those that our government exploits to provide us with our high quality lives. We are individuals who have DIFFERENT wants and needs. So if Marx's ideology didn't quite fulfill it's self, how was he correct? What is happening nowdays is more / less the breakdown he predicted for Russia- it's just 100 years late. Less people are being controlled, and the media, first created to build government power, is now turning on them. It is without a doubt, out of control- from the governments point of view. To us, however, the information age holds promise. The huge corperations will always be in the peoples interests (even if all they want is our money) and as the people get smarter and more anti-government, the large companies will keep adapting to suite the consumers' needs. The media messages portrayed by mainstreem television are changing. We are seeing more 'deconstruction' messages and a whole lot of political bashing/satire. As well, now, more than ever we are seeing downright wierd or unconventional media messages that are basically saying "IN YOUR FACE" to mainstream culture (MTV's "Oddities", Marylin Manson) So if the companies will always follow the people, aren't they more powerful than government? They are ALWAYS willing to evolve, change and give people what they want. The fact that they do it for our money is irrelovent because they will always try to sustain a balanced 'we work, they sell us stuff' cycle so they will never upset the balance by charging us too much for their products etc. So although the government still may feel in control over the media, in reality, the mega-corperations have way more power over us, and there is nothing the government can do. And what, you may be wondering, would the difference be between the government controling us and the mega corperations controling us? One word. "UNIFICATION". If the media has one goal, let's say keeping us under control and 'normal', then the people recieve that message exclusively. However, if large corperations were independantly launching their 'media viruses', then the people have choice. They would recognize the different messages and live their lives accordingly. The biggest reason why the media effectively controls so many of us, is that we don't know we're being controlled! If the media gave us different messages to discern through, then it's grip on our personalities and lives would losen considerably. More people would be what they WANT to be- not what America has turned them into. Although the large corperations may be extremely capitalist, the resultant society created by having many forces in 'control', will actually be more socialist. Instead of having one American dream and people judging your worth on what extent you have fulfilled it to, there will be different goals, lifestyles, and jobs to persue making a society where all are equal in value (or at least too hard to judge) but just persuing different goals. So will this deconstruction into semi-communism really happen? Is it already happening? Or is it a just an out of reach fantasy, where the evil mind controlling government collapses into happy, free land? In a sense, all are true. There is little doubt in my mind that this is happening now and will progress into the 'cyberpunk' view of the future, where the big corperations have the power. However, this 'New World Disorder' will be no fantasy land for some people. If we are not being controled and babied by a government, we will find ourselves fending for ourselves in many senses. The strong (which in this case actually means the smart, learned people) will survive. Not to say that the weak will necessarily die, but in my view of the future (which I consider to be an optimistic one) for the first time, your power will be the result of your personality and intelligence, rather than your social class, family, race or gender. -Triffid "So the New World DisOrder- which is all you have left- starts within yourself. It starts when somebody says, "We sould (or shouldn't) fight against Iraq" and you think, "What the fuck do you mean by WE?" -R.U. Sirius, Mondo 2000 ======================================V======================================= ====================================> 4 <===================================== ======================================^======================================= ^B ASCII ART: Tags: ---- >Nowcaster> /\ / *** / \ / __ *** / \/ / \ / *****Triffid***** | / ****************** / \ \___/ ***** **** ( ) ************ \0/################# *********** ***** **** RRRR RRRR ***** **** R R R R ***** **** R R R R R R R R R R R R R RUINER R Misc: ---- ( ( ( ( o ))(( o ) ) ) ) ) | | 0 0 o0 o oo ÉÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍ» o0o o0o o o o o o º O O º 000o0o0o o0 0o o o o ÈÍÍÍÍËÍÍÍÍËÍÍÍͼ 0000oo00 o o 0 o o 0 o o o ÉÍÊÍÍÍÍÊÍ» 0o00o 00000o oo 0 o o o o /͹ R ÌÍ\ / \ º º P º º \ \ º º A º º /\ /\ º º º º / \ / /\ /\ \ËËÍÍËË/ /\ /\ / \ ºº ºº / /\ /\ ºº ºº / / / \ ºº ºº /\ \ /\ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜ / \ / / \ supportyourlocalrobots ======================================V======================================= ====================================> 5 <===================================== ======================================^======================================= ^B VIDEO GAMES: Blah, blah, blah ---------------- I like video games. You can expect this in each months issue, whether you like it or not. Well, since this is the first issue, I guess I'll just give you an overview of what I consider to be some of the truly great games. First of all, I'm not one of those all out retro invadees from back in tha day, who only likes games made in the 70's and early 80's. I like good games. The following 10 games (in NO perticular order) are PRETTY MUCH what I consider to be some of the best. (my opinion varies slightly sometimes but this list is relatively accurate) * River City Ransom (NES) - walk around and beat the snot out of EVERYONE. VERY FUN. * Super Mario 64 (N64) - incredibly fast, fun, surreal, weird virtual reality. GOOD ACTION UNMATCHED GRAPHICS * Super Mario Kart (SNES) - race game with deeper gameplay than ANY other. WHEN MASTERED, INCREDIBLY FUN * Final Fantasy (series) - THE BEST role playing games EVER made. * Galaga - Good action. Deep technique. Fun. * Defender - Simple, yet effective shoot'em up. Delivers pure, alien shooting satisfaction * To Shin Den (PSX) - Crazy, very Japanese 3D fighting. GOOD GRAPHICS, VERY FUN * Street Fighter (series) - The deepest fighting gameplay EVER INTENSE 2 player matches! * Civilization (PC) - Not so deep. Not so pretty. BUT probably the most addictive game of all time. * Tetris (game boy, NES) - If Civ is the most addictive REAL game, Tetris is the most addictive .....other kind of game. Well, I don't really consider puzzle games REAL video games -especially one as simple as Tetris, but BOY, wut a beautiful, mind manifesting experience Tetris is. -Triffid ======================================V======================================= ====================================> 6 <===================================== ======================================^======================================= ^B ARTICLE: Pac-Man: More than a Game I could never play Pac-Man, it triples my blood pressure and causes me to hyperventilate. I swear that if I play Pac-Man one more time I'm going to have a heart attack and die. I can't think of a more stressful game to play than Pac-Man or Mrs. Pac-Man. However, Pac-Man is a meaningfull game that trancends mere entertainment. Pac-Man is not only a game but a lesson in the ways of capitalism and Western Civilization. Pac-Man himself represents the human individual who must struggle through life. It is inevitable that Pac-Man will die because there are just too many forces which are opposed to Pac-Man. This demonstrates the first parallel between Pac-Man and reality. The pellets that Pac-Man must gobble up represent money, and the fruit which appear periodically after Pac-Man collects a specific amount of pellets (money) represents possesions, therefore, as in any capitalistic society, the objective of the individual (Pac-Man) is to aquire as much money and as many possesions as possible before death. The different levels of Pac-Man represent the social classes that exist in a capitalist world, when the game begins Pac-Man is destitute with no money and no possesions and is therefore on the first level, the first level being below the poverty line, with zero of anything, Pac-Man is a member of the lower class. As Pac-Man's wealth increases, he advances in social status until he dies because he succumbs to the ghosts. The ghosts of Pac-Man represent the demons of modern society. (It is interesting to note that the ghosts were later used in a secret level of "Wolfenstein 3d" a game about a soldier who fights through a German castle in the midst of World War Two) The ghosts are somewhat faster than Pac-Man representing how eventually some social demon will catch up with you, whether it be a contagious disease, or the allure of the mafia. There are also many ghosts or demons as opposed to the one Pac-Man because there are many social blights for one individual to handle. The power pellets that Pac-man collects to temporarily neutralize the ghosts represent social programs. Programs that have been established to deter, counter-act, or end social problems, or aid people who have succumbed to social problems. When Pac-Man devours a power-pellet he is now able to send the ghosts back to their point of origin, but, like social evils, the ghosts can not be ultimatley destroyed and therefore always return, there are only so many power-pellets however, and there is also the unrelentless presence of the ghosts. This represents the limitation of resources that these programs have while the evils that the programs have been set to combat are always present and most likely will be even after the resources to end them diminish to nothing. The maze itself represents the unpredictabilty of life and money. There is absolutley no way that the outcome of the game can be predicted or controlled, much like the life of an individual, it is just as possible that Pac-Man becomes the victim of a ghost as me dying as the result of a social demon (IE, automobile collision with a driver who has been drinking and driving) Just as it's possible that Pac-Man navigates successfully through the maze to make it to the next social class. The ghosts twist and turn in an unending, directionless journey through the maze, eventually destroying Pac-Man, much like how social problems have no real aim, but are problems nonetheless. The maze may also represent the workplace because it is where Pac-Man makes his living. It is also interesting to note that Pac-Man is married. Yes, Pac-Man has a spouse, Mrs. Pac-Man who must brave the same labrynthe that Pac-Man must, the game "Mrs. Pac-Man" has all of the same elements that Pac-Man does, pellets (money), fruit (possesions), ghosts (social demons), power-pellets (social programs) and of course, the maze. This makes the Pac-Man's a double income family, and from a capitalistic viewpoint, this is very beneficial to the family. Both husband and wife are at their respective workplaces, both earning money and bringing the family higher in the social classes. Alternately, if Pac-Man and his wife were on social assistance, they would recieve more money per person as a couple, than if they were individuals. From a capitalistic perspective, Pac-Man getting married had many advantages. In conclusion I would like to say that it is very evident that Pac-Man is not merely a game but a lesson in real-world economics and society. Since the early 80's (when Pac-Man was originally released) video games have become very much a part of Western Culture, actually, throughout the 80's a sort of arcade subculture developped complete with arcade terminology. Video games were the next logical medium by which people could communicate with the youth an their level, and it only made sense to develop games with such meaning as Pac-Man has. -RUINER ============================================================================== =================================NEXT MONTH=================================== * SMART DRUGS.....pure, unbiased information. * E-mail to Sook Yin Lee....... end. -- Alpha Trion, sysop: New Times (613)445-1326 H/P BBS Finger for Problems Writer for FHG, iXHS, and RPA Natural Order is a Joke PGP Fingerprint: 80 DC AE 73 6D 26 03 C6 BD 3A 50 C6 87 BC 37 B9 Alpha.Trion@pointbrk.erkware.com dr144@freenet.carleton.ca