Regarding Santa Claus

[wayfarer]

Yeah well I'm always a bit sarcastic, well I love the old myths and lore of the different cultures aswell.
They are quite interesting and I don't see a reason why those small perks and believes should be a problem I actual see them as spice as long as everybody accepts them for what they are. Stories.

[boru]

You're confusing Catholicism and Christianity

Ah, but Catholicism is a part of Christianity, so I guess a lot of people would be confusing Protestantism, Evangelism, Mormonism and many other sub-sections with Christianity as well. I see your point though, and won't push this any further to prevent the said flamewar.

Okay I don't want a flamewar either (which is why I've ignored it up to now) but I gotta address this.

Anyone curious about Catholics and their relationship towards saints ought to check out the wikipedia page on saints. In short, we worship God, not the saints.

[artisticdude]

Ah, but Catholicism is a part of Christianity, so I guess a lot of people would be confusing Protestantism, Evangelism, Mormonism and many other sub-sections with Christianity as well. I see your point though, and won't push this any further to prevent the said flamewar.

Okay I don't want a flamewar either (which is why I've ignored it up to now) but I gotta address this.

Anyone curious about Catholics and their relationship towards saints ought to check out the wikipedia page on saints. In short, we worship God, not the saints.

Quite so.

I believed in Santa Claus up until I was six or seven, when my Mom found out my brother had been peeking at the Christmas gifts, got mad, and told us there was no such thing as Santa Claus. And for some reason, it didn't come as much of a shocker.

Although when I was five, I remember looking out of a second-story window and seeing bird tracks in the snow on the roof and thinking the prints were reindeer hoofmarks.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

My family are Christians and as such my parents don't believe in lying to anyone, and that includes to their kids about Santa Clause. They did not, however, have any problems with the actual legends and stories We grew up knowing as much about Santa Clause as anyone; we just realized that he was a legend and not a real person. I don't feel that I missed out on anything. On the contrary, my sisters and I enjoyed the legends greatly and never had to even think about any contradictions between the various versions.

As for the actual character, he's simply the evolution of many stories and legends, including of the historical figure Saint Nicolas. Originally, and I believe this is still true in parts of the world, the Feast of Saint Nicolas and Christmas were too separate holidays held only days apart. They were then merged into one.

As for the Coke A Cola myth, it's just that, a myth. He had been pictured or described exactly that way for a great many years before. There was actually another soft drink company who used a similar image several years before, and it had been in use long before that. It may be true that Coke's ads helped to further popularize Santa Clause and his image, but it did not create it.

It would be accurate to say that the poem "The Night Before Christmas" introduced several elements into the legend that were not there before, however, including details of his appearance that the much later Coke ads incorporated.

[Tonepoet]

Didn't we have this exact same thread last year around this time?

I don't know. I do know we had autopruning last year though, so we may as well not've. Knowing the history of our community's members might be nice.

Anyway yeah I sorta believed in Santa Claus, as we know him today, when I was very, very little. As par usual the adults lied to me, nor had I had any logical reason to suspect that it might be false. With so many accounts of his existence and no knowledge about what's feasibly possible within the bounds of a single night why wouldn't I?

Thankfully I had the telly to set me straight about the truth and the motives behind the propaganda, from blissful ignorance to behavioral modification. Parents and prospective parents alike, heed my words: Never let your children watch Christmas special sitcoms and other such seemingly innocent yet adult targeting shows if you want to maintain your lies. They'll spoil everything with the truth.

Oddly enough I kinda had nightmares about him bullying me for some reason, don't ask me "Why?", so I quite naturally disliked the bloke for quite some time when I was young. This went on even long after I knew he wasn't quite real. Hey you might think it's silly but there's no reason to forgive a man who just so happens to be fake. I mean if anything that just makes the abuse just as real as the character behind it so I have even less reason to forgive him: Furthermore it's also not like he could ever make amends for what he'd done.

Oh well that's all past me now and speaking of Santa I made you guys a little something to wish all you Wesnothians some Happy Holidays. Meet the Santa Giftlobber:



I'd write up a cool little profile to go along with it but I don't think I could reasonably do so without satisfying the "heart" of chr- whoops, force of habit... I meant to say the NRIW policy. I mean, if I write it specifically so I don't offend one group, I think I'll only end up offending another in the process. Sooooo, yeah... I think I'll pass. Le sigh...

Oh and by the way, just so long as its been mentioned, as much as they might like to and as likely as it may seem, Coke can't quite take credit for the modern image of Santa. The red and white fat man has been spotted here and there throughout the course of a few decades prior more or less exactly as we know him.

Later everybody.

[Girgistian]

A troll in off-topic. Now how about that...

[bigkahuna]

Meet the Santa Giftlobber:

Niiiiiiice...

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Actually that unit would make a great Easter Egg for the mainline game. If played on Dec 25, the rocklobber is replaced by this unit, with identical stats. Doubt it will ever be done, but it could be fun. . .

[bigkahuna]

Actually that unit would make a great Easter Egg for the mainline game. If played on Dec 25, the rocklobber is replaced by this unit, with identical stats. Doubt it will ever be done, but it could be fun. . .

Everyone would have to redownload Wesnoth on that day. And you can't make a conditional based on RL happenings.

[Captain_Wrathbow]

Well, it would probably have to be hard-coded into the C++... the game does know the date and time, so I imagine it would be possible.

[bigkahuna]

the game does know the date and time, so I imagine it would be possible.

That would be interesting. Any idea how to acess it? It could be used for persistent events, for example every hour generating a new X. Easter eggs like that throughout the game WOULD be really cool.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Other games, like Civ III, have done exactly that sort of thing. And no, you wouldn't have to download a new version of the game just for that day, the code would remain hidden and only switch that unit at that given date.

At any rate that was just a "it would be cool if" thought, but I doubt it will happen. There are enough other units to worry about.

[Alarantalara]

Well, it would probably have to be hard-coded into the C++... the game does know the date and time, so I imagine it would be possible.

Not necessarily. Lua does have date and time functions, though they're in the os library, which, since it also has functions to manipulate files, isn't included for security reasons. It probably wouldn't be too hard to add them, and once it's exposed in Lua, it's a short step to a WML event that does a portrait swap.

[bigkahuna]

And no, you wouldn't have to download a new version of the game just for that day, the code would remain hidden and only switch that unit at that given date.

Yes, but since it is NOT yet implemented in Wesnoth, it would have to be updated and such for people to view it this year.

Lua does have date and time functions

Ooh

since it also has functions to manipulate files, isn't included for security reasons

Man. I doubt the devs will consider this of any importance anyway...

[Alarantalara]

Man. I doubt the devs will consider this of any importance anyway...

It's not too hard to take the file loslib.c from the Lua source distribution and delete all the dangerous stuff. If you're feeling enterprising, try editing the file and linking it into the latest version from svn. If you succeed, you can submit it as a patch and, since some of the work is done, it might just get accepted.

Edit: Here is a link to the Lua source: http://www.lua.org/ftp/. You've got three days if you want to be done for Christmas!