Save and Reload

[Emperor Gum]

I think having multiple save files might be interesting; you could have saves for specials days like your wedding or something, or have multiple lives. Seriously, I think LRR could make an awesome video out of this.

[The Jester]

Or be able to switch between different servers? With each server being in a different genre, maybe. Or at least the person having compleatley different lives on each.

[Re'ozul]

at least two save slots would be awesome (with passwords to rule out accidental overwrite).
save now, password it then use the other until you don't want to live that life anymore, then load the first one.

If I only have one.
go to a place that sells tottery tickets a short time before the last possible time to buy tickets for the next draw. savestate. buy ticket, wait for draw.
If draw = your numbers do savestate.
else load savetstate
(the lottery we have here lets you choose your numbers so this works well)

chaos theory will probably mean you have to do this a lot before actually getting your numbers (thats why you should wait as long as possible)

[InsaneFool]

Yeah, I would totally use it to win the lottery.

Just kinda cruise along, saving before every big jackpot...if it doesn't go to anyone, I would take note of the numbers and reload, buy a ticket with all the winning numbers and be set for life.

[Metcarfre]

A far easier way would be to either play the markets or bet on sporting events etc., depending on how much chaos theory applies.

[Tim]

Massive. Sociological. Implications.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Massive. Sociological. Implications.

More metaphysics really, because reality would almost constantly be revised as regards individuals, so you wouldn't really be able to notice that the world had changed because you'd only ever see the most recent "correct" version.

This is going to make my head hurt if I think about it any more...

[tamaness]

chaos theory

chaos theory

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

In mathematics, chaos theory describes the behavior of certain dynamical systems – that is, systems whose states evolve with time – that may exhibit dynamics that are highly sensitive to initial conditions (popularly referred to as the butterfly effect). As a result of this sensitivity, which manifests itself as an exponential growth of perturbations in the initial conditions, the behavior of chaotic systems appears to be random. This happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future dynamics are fully defined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved. This behavior is known as deterministic chaos, or simply chaos.

Drawings, lotteries, and sporting events are completely unaffected by wether or not one has bet on them. Your changing a bet does not affect the "initial conditions" of a lottery or sporting event, therefore 'chaos theory' does not apply. The butterfly has no effect in these situations. If you played the stock markets the same way, 'chaos theory' would have effects, though.

[InsaneFool]

Wait a minute...

In games, we as a 3rd person are the ones controlling, and decide to change things. But if we were the ones that were actually saving and resetting ourselves...wouldn't we not have any knowledge of why we were reliving a moment, other than a strange sense of deja-vu?

That would completely change everything
/mindblown

[Telaril]

Wait a minute...

In games, we as a 3rd person are the ones controlling, and decide to change things. But if we were the ones that were actually saving and resetting ourselves...wouldn't we not have any knowledge of why we were reliving a moment, other than a strange sense of deja-vu?

That would completely change everything
/mindblown

Maybe that's the secret subplot of Groundhog Day?

[Metcarfre]

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Actually, that's exactly what I meant. I just didn't know whether it applied or not. I apologize for not being a theoretical physicist or mathematician, I won't let it happen again.

[InsaneFool]

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Inconceivable!

[tamaness]

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Inconceivable!

Thanks for catching that.

Actually, that's exactly what I meant. I just didn't know whether it applied or not. I apologize for not being a theoretical physicist or mathematician, I won't let it happen again.

I am neither; I just read too much about things like Lorenz attractors. A good test of wether chaos theory applies is "does doing this affect the outcome?". Does me buying a lottery ticket affect the numbers drawn? Probably not. Chaos theory does not apply.

In your example of "playing the markets," chaos theory does apply. Whevenver you make a trade on a commodity or stock market, it affects the market as a whole system.

[gryffinp]

Getting back on topic:


I would love this so much. Fuck.

You could do ANYTHING, however, I do worry somewhat about the possibility of screwing up and saving over something important and locking yourself in after having done something really stupid. Therefore: I think I'd prefer to have the time power from Braid. Not least because in Braid, when you jump off a cliff and die, you can still rewind to before when you died. Not sure if that would also work with saving.

Or: Someone else erasing your save file. Suck.

[Alterran]

It'd be awesome to do, the only knockdown I can think of aside from those already mentioned is what would happen when it inevitably, as these things tend to do, fall into the hands of evil!

An evil genius could get away with everything because if he/she got caught they could just quickload to a safe zone and try it all again.

Also quicksave/load was the only way I finished HL1 all those many years ago, y'know before I was anygood at FPS

[ecocd]

I think it'd make life a bit dull. It's the uncertainty of life that makes the adrenaline rush. It makes sporting events worth watching. Sure, when I throw a bad shot in curling, I'd love to take it back, but that defeats the purpose of competing in the first place. I might try it for a few days for the novelty, but not as a lifestyle.

[Tim]

It'd be awesome to do, the only knockdown I can think of aside from those already mentioned is what would happen when it inevitably, as these things tend to do, fall into the hands of evil!

An evil genius could get away with everything because if he/she got caught they could just quickload to a safe zone and try it all again.

But then the cops could rewind to a point before the crime had been completed, and they could stop the evil genius anyways!

Right?

[Master Gunner]

I think this is from the perspective of if only "you" can do this.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Yeah, if we assume world-wide application things get really sqewify.

[Dr Evil42]

It would be awesome if you take out a girl and you say something really offensive. You would then reload and try again.

Also, it could be used to win the lottery. Like in that game I would save before a large fight and reload instantly if something went wrong like a weapon broke. This then erasing the problem. So if you save before getting a lottery ticket, you could then hear the numbers, reload and get the right ticket.

[Master Gunner]

It would be awesome if you take out a girl and you say something really offensive. You would then reload and try again.

I remember a scene like that from a play my school did earlier this year, where every time one said something awkward, it would reset until they could move on. Everything they said came from the rehearsals, and it got ridiculous fast (and I'm not counting the "lesbian lover" and "I have a penis" tangents).

[The Jester]

I imagine the save points cannot be over-written, and when you select it to decide whether you want to load it, it displayes all around you what you were doing at the time and where you were. Possibly also letting you know what you were thinking and feeling at the time, maybe in a block of text in a sidebar.

I mean, if we're talking about how cool it'd be to have a power that doesn't exist, why not dictate all of it's peramiters ourselves? Why build with faults we can anticipate?

Also, if you had superpowers like rewinding time a la Braid then, in my oppinion, it's taking things a bit to far. This save/load system is already incredibly powerful. You can play the stock markets and the lottery, never loose a bet, never make a mistake. I know ecocd said that takes all the fun out of life and maybe it does, maybe you'd just stop using the ability if you got bored, but to a certain type of person (I am included in this), removing the possibility of error from our lives is a very attractive option.
True it'd be boring if, during a sports game, you were to simply quicksave/load every missed shot, every physical encounter or tackle but I myself wouldn't use the power like that. That would be boring. A sports game is a sports game, in my mind, and doesn't count as important enough to warrant the use of the save/load ability.
I guess I'm applying my own values to this, and that other people's won't be the same. To some, the outcome of any competative endevour is a major deciding factor in self-worth, but not to me. I suppose I'm saying that I wouldn't use save/load for un-important things, and that my idea of un-important is different to everyone elses.

Tim's comment about socialogical implications is right, though, if I think it applies to what I think it does. Save/loading would have massive implications if eeveryone could do it, but this would also be the case if only one person could do it. The impact that someone capable of doing the things save/load allows on society is potentially incredible. My mind feels as though it's expanding as I type.

What would you do?

[Billy Hero4Hire]

I think this is from the perspective of if only "you" can do this.

Yes, your the only one with this power and you have full memory of what happened. If you and load a game you dont forget what your doing... unless its been a while. Also I would defiantly do the lottery thing.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Well we aren't really talking about going back in time at will, we're really talking about going back in time but only to the most recent point in time where you specifically thought "Save MyLife" or somesuch.

It's like Matt's FF12 game

You can go back to your last save point, but no earlier.

[gryffinp]

I still say that has tremendous uses. I picked up fallout 3 for the first time an a long time. Come on, how many of us haven't gone "I wonder what that particular outfit is called" and then killed the wastelander wearing it and then gone "Oh, ok. It was a Merc Adventurer's outfit. Hey! +2 melee and small guns! I should get one of those" then quickloaded so the rest of rivet city doesn't come down screaming on your ass?

What? Oh. Really?

Oh.