Thought I'd give a little update.

So Triple Zero has started to hit the stores, and unfortunately, I don't have it yet. It's been very hard to avoid spoilers, so I'm basically staying away from everything Star Wars-related online for the next few days... though I've already heard a few opinions about the book on Livejournal so word has started to seep out beyond Star Wars communities. I only hope I can get a copy soon. I went out looking for it today in stores, but couldn't find it yet. I've pre-ordered it from Amazon, but it hasn't shipped yet (and probably won't until its official release date, Feb. 28) so I could still cancel it if I find in the next day or so. I might look again tomorrow!

I want it! Though I suppose it's a good thing, because I have a lot of things I'm supposed to be doing the next few days, and frankly... they would not be getting done if I had the book.

There has been some discussion on various blogs recently about the clones and their humanity (or lack thereof). One of the original discussions was here, and Moose summed up exactly what I wanted to say so nicely over here. So I don't really have a whole lot to add, but a while ago I started compiling a list of things I believe about the clones. (This was as a counter to my entry on Battlefront II where I ranted about how the clones were portrayed. As a follow-up to that: I have decided that I will continue playing Battlefront II as if its plot is NOT canon, because I found it was annoying me a LOT and was making me not want to play. So now it's just a happy alternate-universe game to me, and maybe I'll play it again.) Since it's on-topic nowadays, I thought I'd post the list!

This is what I believe about the clones:
- They are fully human. "Clone" is a subset of humanity, not a separate category.
- They are self-aware. They are individuals with their own thoughts. There is no "hive mind".
- They have freewill. They can make their own choices.
- They can feel pain.
- They can feel emotions, such as fear, elation, and guilt. They aren't as experienced at identifying emotion as many other people are (and remember, they're only 10 years old in AotC... non-clone 10-year-olds aren't usually fully in-tune with themselves and the word around them either), but they have the ability to feel the same range of emotions as non-clones.
- They are not "brainwashed". Unless you'd consider military training brainwashing.
- They are capable of disobeying an order, it's just very difficult for them to do so because of their training. Obeying orders is like a reflex to them - in the same way that we all will remove our hand from a hot stove before we even realise what's happening, they will carry out most orders immediately and without question. That's their job, it's not a bad thing.

Ultimately, the clones are like identical twins. That is the real-life analog. While many twins look, sound, and act similarly, they are separate people with separate experiences. Genes do not tell all - the act of living is primarily what makes a person an individual, not what they inherit from their parents at birth.

Note that I make no distinctions between regular clone troopers, Republic Commandos, and ARC Troopers. Some clones were brought up to think in a more independent fashion, and such behaviour was encouraged, but I do think that at a base level, all clones are human and capable of higher-level reasoning. There are no universal differences programmed in at a genetic level, because genes just cannot determine behaviour that precisely. I'm sure there are some regular clone troopers who demonstrated more creative thought than some ARC troopers. Every individual is unique.

And as a final topic, I'd like to share a bit about my experiences playing Republic Commando today. I've haven't played this game in months, really, but today I was a little upset about stuff and wanted just to escape into a game where I can blow crap up without having to think a lot. Anyways, it was interesting because recently I've been playing a lot of Battlefield 2, which is another (non-Star Wars) first-person-shooter game. Thus my gaming abilities seem to have been re-wired for BF2 and I had a few difficulties playing RepCom. Here's what I noticed:
- I kept right-clicking to zoom in. In RepCom, right-clicking throws a grenade, so I wasted a lot of nades doing this.
- I kept using my mouse wheel to select weapons. This does swap weapons in RepCom, but it doesn't change attachments on your primary weapon, which is what I was really trying to do.
- The main gun is SO weak and takes so many shots to kill anything, even the weenie battledroids.
- Oddly enough, I'm better at throwing nades now. (This is odd because I suck at throwing nades in BF2, and therefore rarely do.)
- I'm much better at moving around, shooting when firing, and using natural cover. I don't just run straight at the bad guys anymore!
- I kept trying to sprint by pressing shift. It feels wrong to go out in the open without sprinting for cover, even though you can take many shots without dying (unlike in BF2).
- When I saw a bad guy, I kept trying to crouch (which works, but has no effect) or go prone (which doesn't work) and zoom in (which throws a nade). These are necessary in BF2 to get good accuracy, but make no difference in RepCom. I guess commandos can shoot just as accurately when they're jumping and running as they can when they're still and lying down.
- I've completely lost all my vibroblade reflexes. Enemies rarely get that close in BF2. But I haven't needed them so far in RepCom, because I don't let anyone get close! Though without sprinting, I suppose I'll need these skills back eventually.
- You can't jump as high as in BF2, so some of my ideas of what obstacles one can jump over are wrong.
- I keep forgetting that the clips in RepCom are 'magic' - ie. you can reload anytime and not waste ammo. Unlike in BF2, where you normally don't want to reload if you still have half a clip.

So yeah, I thought that was interesting. I didn't know I could be completely "reprogrammed" in such a short time period! I remember a few months ago, when I was playing Mysteries of the Sith, I was still programmed for RepCom and kept trying to vibroblade stuff. All different now. If you can't tell, controls are one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, hurdle I have to jump in playing FPS games. It's never completely natural for me, though I think I do a fairly good job with what I have. I suck, but I do improve over time.

Aside note: Can't wait for this! What Battlefront II should have been. Battlefield 2 is an amazing game, so a Star Wars mod for it has so much potential.

Well, I suppose that's it for now! I probably won't be hanging around here much until after I get and read TZ (the two events will be quite close together, believe me), so until then... MTFBWY. See ya.