(no subject)

[meanfreepath]

This came up in a conversation with my advisor yesterday about potential REU candidates. If I say "RPG," are you more likely to think of rocket-propelled grenades or role-playing games?

Comments

[areyououtthere.livejournal.com]

Role-playing-game for me.

I am utterly predictable.

[sildra.livejournal.com]

Definitely role-playing games. But, specifically, probably console games not paper-and-pencil or PC.

[sildra.livejournal.com]

My lab partner wasn't able to come up with anything at all when I asked him what he thought of when he heard "RPG". But he thought rocket-propelled grenades was weirder and more random than role-playing games.

[meanfreepath.livejournal.com]

Really? I'm surprised by that -- I would have thought the military sense of RPG would have been far more well known. Whenever they talk about the Taliban or Al-Qaeda on the news, they invariably show stock footage of people carrying or firing RPG's.

[sildra.livejournal.com]

Ok, I looked up what you were talking about. Certainly I've seen tons of pictures of those, but I (and my lab partner, apparently) always just called those "rocket launchers".

[crystalpyramid]

Is one or the other preferable for REU candidates?

I don't roleplay, but it hadn't occurred to me that there were other things RPG could stand for.

[irilyth]

> Is one or the other preferable for REU candidates?

I'm curious about this too, or about what the context was if it wasn't that. :^)

[meanfreepath.livejournal.com]

We were talking about a project one of the candidates had worked on, which involved building a device to more safely launch a projectile to simulate a rocket-propelled grenade without the obvious risks and difficulty of using a real one. Apparently the student's project was for an industrial R&D project on tracking rocket-propelled grenades, which despite their inherent accuracy limitations can be quite effective at short ranges and are heavily used against US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I liked that the student clearly enjoyed designing and building things, something my REU project involves heavily.

[nightengalesknd.livejournal.com]

The latter.

And I work in a field where TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) can kill. . .

[irilyth]

Role-playing games in which you use rocket-propelled grenades. :^)

[jedibl.livejournal.com]

definitely role-playing games.

[pastwatcher]

D&D.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

RolePlayingGames, and to counter sildra up there, specifically tabletop and not console.

~Sor

[wayman.livejournal.com]

Yes, absolutely just tabletop games. Those console games aren't "RPGs", they're ... just video games. This (http://www.dorktower.com/?p=4637) is a true RPG.

[arctangent.livejournal.com]

When I don't have context to help me, I tend to say "CRPG" to mean the video games. (The "C" can ambiguously stand for "computer" or "console".)

[rose_garden.livejournal.com]

Role Playing Games.

What about you, Jerome? Which do you think of?

[meanfreepath.livejournal.com]

As I mentioned to sildra, I think I'd more readily think of the antitank weapon. In modern shaped-charge variants they can be more effective than one might think; there have been cases of RPG's disabling Merkava and M-1 Abrams tanks, the principal Israeli and American main battle tanks, respectively. But it does depend on context; I know plenty of people for whom I'd immediately think of gaming if they mentioned RPG's.

[ccommack]

Totally dependent on context.

[uncleamos]

Yeah, tbh, in most contexts which is correct is obvious.

[uncleamos]

Games, by a little.

[gallian.livejournal.com]

games

[herbertinc.livejournal.com]

wow, am I the only one who thinks of rocket-propelled grenades?

I always do, even if context means gaming, but I will quickly switch to the latter if it makes more sense. But grenades are always the first thing to come to mind.

[pastwatcher]

I'd never heard of rocket-propelled grenades. Since my mind tends to multitrack the meanings of things people say, I suppose I will now hear both and occasionally make jokes relating one to t'other.

[arctangent.livejournal.com]

You left out the geekiest one of all, Report Program Generator.