286: All That's Shiny is Gold

[Murray Chu]

All That's Shiny is Gold

Jonathan "WingspanTT" Tran earned the envy of many Team Fortress 2 players when he lucked into one of the game's rare Golden Wrenches, but he realized the best thing he could possibly do was destroy it.

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[hyperdrachen]

Hey good for them, doing something constructive with this e-penis fiasco. Though I have kind of a diffrent approach to exclusive digital items. Honestly it's the same as my attitude toward exclusive real items. Oh? I could never afford a ferrari because it exist on a financial plane I cannot access. Well then as far as I'm concerned it doesn't exist... and I don't care. I'm impressed 14 people were willing to shatter thier golden e-penis for charity. Good for them.

 

[Binerexis]

I'm still surprised how few people knew this even happened but, then again, I did play on a group of servers where one of the wrench donors played frequently...

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

That's pretty cool. I like that instead of auctioning off the wrench (is that possible?) or doing something nonsensical it was all for a good cause.

 

[HK_01]

I've never heard of this before I read this article. Personally, I don't think I would have done that though, I don't think the idea of destroying it would have come to my mind in the first place, much less the thought of auctioning off said destruction for a good cause.

 

[Nerdfury]

I feel sorry for today's gamer. To the current generation, the only important thing is getting virtual shit - from items, skins, achievements, etc. For my generation, it's about the game experience. I enjoy getting neat collectibles in games, sure, and I even go for 100% completion where I can, but it's always been about how good the game and plot is.

The fact that kids today get their knickers in such a twist over eThings in games is kinda sad.

 

[gally912]

Wasn't this article posted a while ago?

 

[theultimateend]

In other news, all matter boils down to being finite data that will inevitably become inert.

The Pixels on a screen are no less real than the paper on a table. It's just a matter of our interaction with it. Both will eventually wither away into nothingness.

We seem to give much more credibility to things with lifespans similar to ours or that decay at a rate we can readily understand and experience.

 

[Sevre]

What a hero, I mean Mark Zuckerberg might be a philanthropist, but this guy is a cool philanthropist! Because he's shown that you don't have to be rich to give something back.

 

[AngelOfBlueRoses]

I'm not sure what a golden wrench in TF2 means or does as I've not played the game all that much, but if it helped raise money for charity, it really is golden.

Tran and the other thirteen owners, you guys are awesome.

 

[DiMono]

I may be mistaken, but wasn't this posted on Escapist months ago? Why is it being brought up a second time?

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

The propensity many people have to get absolutely dickish about meaningless trinkets disgusts me.

However, the propensity a few people have to get absolutely creative and turn around that dickishness to help a worthy cause delights me.

A salute to you, Mr. Tran, and all those who took part in this. A golden heart will get you a lot further in this world than a golden wrench.

 

[laryri]

I may be mistaken, but wasn't this posted on Escapist months ago? Why is it being brought up a second time?

Wasn't this article posted a while ago?

This is the "Best Of" article.

 

[Sh1nobu]

That makes me feel fuzzy inside.

Happy new year everyone.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

"turning pixels into a big pile of cold, hard cash."

Why do people insist on citing "pixels" whenever they're talking about video games?
We're at least three generations past the pixel's heyday, the polygon and the bump map rule the day now.

The polygon only exists in the theoretical mathematical space. The 3D image is projected onto a 2d plane where it is represented in actuality by discrete points called pixels.

Until the day where we stop projecting onto a 2d plane, all games will remain inherently 2d. And until the day that we no longer use pixels, the pixel is still the discrete component of the image.

 

[superline51]

Why are we talking about this again?