This one is pretty easily disproved. Right after you go in the big locked doors there's a number of skeletons on the floor on the left. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more scattered around the archive room itself. :)

Notice though I said he's the only one that has access, meaning credentials. I was more imagining that if anyone was in there it was because Dr. Shin entered his credentials, not that no one else would physically be there. :)

This has happened to me a number of times in IT. Someone has a customized greeting for their system. I login as root, and the startup sound is a customized sound intended for their main sysadmin, but I get the greeting because it was set system-wide instead of based on user.

I haven't seen anyone point out that all the speculation about simulation is kind of hilarious -- BECAUSE IT IS. That's exactly what they are -- previous and next-gen simulations. I wouldn't be surprised if Bungie did all of that just a little tongue in cheek.

He may have known the user ID, but that means nothing.

Even today, User IDs do not have to bear any resemblance to a real person's name.

Even if true, there HAS to be a link between the user ID and Dr. Shim, else the computer that Ghost broke into wouldn't know that it was Dr. Shim...unless, as I postulate, the facility is able to determine a person's identity based on biometrics.

It just seems very limiting to say that our hack-bot was able to break into the computer to open the door, and access "A wealth of information", yet is surprised (and then dismissive) of the way in which he got in. If anything, the mere fact that Ghost had access to all that data means that he either logged in as one of the key scientists, or was logged in as a sort of Admin... or not actually logged in at all.

Now, it's plausible that the Bungie writers didn't know enough to make this completely realistic. However, we break through a lot of doors, and this is the only door where we're greeted on the other side. There are also no other references or reasons in game for Dr. Shim's name to even appear. In the real world maybe the two are only connected by happenstance, but this game was designed, and we were intentionally called Dr. Shim for some reason.

Because it was encrypted via radial A. Ghost didn't know whom he stole the log in info for, just that he had gotten it.

Given the stated dangers of just being in proximity to Vex structures, it is reasonable that the collective took serious measures to keep people from poking around, including encrypting the login data. So even if Ghost decrypted the user ID in order to get access, he would have no idea who the ID was for.

That isn't true, at least not today.

User Names are usually clear text, while passwords are hashed. You may not be able to look at the hash and determine anything from it, but you can look at the user name. On top of that, when systems are "hacked" they usually bypass the authentication system entirely. Brute forcing (rainbow attacks etc) would, if successful, give you the login and password in clear text. Bypassing the authentication entirely would mean that the doors were opened, but the AI wouldn't know who entered.

Having said that, the problems with encryption in use today, are already solved problems, it's just that the world is slow to adopt the solutions. Given the time difference, I would not expect traditional login/pw brute forcing and related "hacks" to be the way of the future. For example, you can simply have a couple incorrect attempts lock out the account. No matter how fast Ghost could brute force, he'd never be so lucky to nail it in the first couple tries.

On top of that, when you break into a system via a REAL login and password, it's usually really simple to figure out who you logged in as, because there is a permission level associated with that person that Ghost would most certainly want to know. Given that he hacked in whole minutes before the Dr. Shim greeting, ghost should have known who he signed into the system as.

He may have known the user ID, but that means nothing.

Even today, User IDs do not have to bear any resemblance to a real person's name.

If the only decent story in Halo 3 were in the terminals, then we'd be upset that they are hard to get to and disappear after seven seconds. As is, most people think the implementation is really cool.

I also remember Black Trillium which I just found out is series, and the Dragon Riders of Pern. Looks like I need to catch up on my reading.

Also a friend of mine wrote a novel that she is trying to get published. It's The Matrix meets any magical fantasy novel. First few chapters are tough to understand and still need some editing, but after that its really good.

Rather OT, but it's actually the Silmarillion that I'd love for Hollywood to tackle. The stories are epic and good enough for a good film, but not so detailed that Hollywood would have trouble conveying everything in two hours.

It'll have to be over Christopher Tolkien's cold corpse, because he still owns the movie rights and he's never going to sell them.

Call me old fashioned, but I really don't mind reading, and think that many stories are told better as text. Do I think TLOTR movies are an incomplete telling of the story? Yes. Do I think all that info should have been squeezed into the movie? @#$% no. If you want to understand more about the movies, go read the books. And if you want to understand the books better, go read the Silmarillion, which is borderline written in Grimoire farm.

and it was the hardest thing I've ever tried to read. The beginning was kinda cool. It started like the Bible, and it also had lineages IIRC. Also it was more of a collection of stories, much like the Bible/Grimoire, not a single evolving story arc.

Your memory is quite good. It was not the kind of material that you'd want to squeeze into TLOTR books, nor is it material that stands on its own very well. But as backstory and context for those that want more detail, it works pretty well. That's how I feel about the Grimoire as a whole, it should not be thrown into Destiny in its entirety.

Rather OT, but it's actually the Silmarillion that I'd love for Hollywood to tackle. The stories are epic and good enough for a good film, but not so detailed that Hollywood would have trouble conveying everything in two hours.

Wait, so just because some people might ignore it, it's better to not give anyone the option? I really can't understand that notion.

Because development is a zero sum game*. You can't have in game Grimoire and not trade off other content that may be more useful for the majority.

*Caveat:
It actually doesn't have to be a zero sum game, but that's only when you have talent sitting unused. You could have a couple devs capable of putting the content into a cool web format, but don't have the skills to put it in game. All those with the in game skills are busy with really important things, and the testers are already over whelmed. Thus, you get Grimoire in a web browser because it requires less testing, far less risk, and doesn't take features away from the paid game.

I'd be afraid Destiny and an in game Grimoire would suffer a similar problem. No matter how good the Grimoire stories are.

I never bought the third. Mainly because of Halo 4.