Lets be straight here. Just because none of us have went into armed revolt doesn't mean we haven't stood up to our government, or at least tried to stand up to our government. It only means we haven't went into armed revolt. Nor will we probably anytime in the forseeable future. As for actually fixing anything, what would you have us do? Vote someone else in? I mean really, think about this a moment. With the current way things are set up, if you can get into the house; or the senate; for a single term, just one single term, you'll make more in retirement and retirement benifits than most US citizens make per year. Then add in all the special interest funds you get while in office. Exactly what reasons do our elected officials on the national level have for doing anything we ask them to anymore? Even if we vote someone else in, there is simply no accountability for the new person. That person has already pretty much won the war by being elected in the first place. They have all the perks and benifits and they have them for life. There is no reason I can concievably think of for them do what we say after they have been elected. And we can't exactly force them to do it either, they have all the bombs and rockets. Lets say, hypotheticly, that a group of people actually did stand up in armed revolt in the US over all of this. In what light do you think the media in the rest of the world would show them? As freedom fighters standing up to the US, or crack-potted terrorist reactionaries? The game in the US is currently so rigged we CANNOT WIN. We simply can't. Yet we continue to send letters, make phone calls, and all the rest to our representatives saying we are upset; then get the nice form letters back in response. If, for some reason you ever find yourself in the situation alot of the US citizens are in now, I'd like to hear your views on this whole matter.
But since you aren't here, and its simply a nice mental exercise to you. Please STFU, and spare us your Armchair General strategies on how we should make things all better.
I don't know if it triumphs over the traditional MMO or not, because those games allow the formation and obtainment of goals. I mean, I personally feel better about wasting time in those type of games than I do watching a movie, or simply chatting online BECAUSE I can at least point out to myself that I accomplished something. Niel Stephenson type metaverse is a nice Idea, but I think we are more likely to see a version closer to Tad Williams Otherlands novels. Not exactly gated communities, but somewhere in between that and stephenson's invisioning of it for that book.
Mostly, I think its nostalgia. I can sit down with a final fantasy game, and no matter how much they've updated things; the storyline may have changed, the characters may have changed, what-have-you; I still always know I'm playing final fantasy. They've done an absolutely great job of making the game worlds "feel" the same over the years, even if the characters go from bad to dreadful. And because of that, they can continually cash in on a bit of my childhood. And its not the umpteenth transformers/superhero/whatnot cash in on my childhood, because they never promised it would be the exact same. They never promised the characters I loved would still be there, or that certain rules of magic or combat or movement would be the same. Just that it would be a final fantasy.
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Agree, A Link to the Past was the best Zelda game, and FF3/6 was the best Final Fantasy.
Lets be straight here. Just because none of us have went into armed revolt doesn't mean we haven't stood up to our government, or at least tried to stand up to our government. It only means we haven't went into armed revolt. Nor will we probably anytime in the forseeable future. As for actually fixing anything, what would you have us do? Vote someone else in? I mean really, think about this a moment. With the current way things are set up, if you can get into the house; or the senate; for a single term, just one single term, you'll make more in retirement and retirement benifits than most US citizens make per year. Then add in all the special interest funds you get while in office. Exactly what reasons do our elected officials on the national level have for doing anything we ask them to anymore? Even if we vote someone else in, there is simply no accountability for the new person. That person has already pretty much won the war by being elected in the first place. They have all the perks and benifits and they have them for life. There is no reason I can concievably think of for them do what we say after they have been elected. And we can't exactly force them to do it either, they have all the bombs and rockets. Lets say, hypotheticly, that a group of people actually did stand up in armed revolt in the US over all of this. In what light do you think the media in the rest of the world would show them? As freedom fighters standing up to the US, or crack-potted terrorist reactionaries? The game in the US is currently so rigged we CANNOT WIN. We simply can't. Yet we continue to send letters, make phone calls, and all the rest to our representatives saying we are upset; then get the nice form letters back in response. If, for some reason you ever find yourself in the situation alot of the US citizens are in now, I'd like to hear your views on this whole matter.
But since you aren't here, and its simply a nice mental exercise to you. Please STFU, and spare us your Armchair General strategies on how we should make things all better.
I don't know if it triumphs over the traditional MMO or not, because those games allow the formation and obtainment of goals. I mean, I personally feel better about wasting time in those type of games than I do watching a movie, or simply chatting online BECAUSE I can at least point out to myself that I accomplished something. Niel Stephenson type metaverse is a nice Idea, but I think we are more likely to see a version closer to Tad Williams Otherlands novels. Not exactly gated communities, but somewhere in between that and stephenson's invisioning of it for that book.
Unless you're part of the executive branch, then we'll be happy to sell you this shotgun.
Mostly, I think its nostalgia. I can sit down with a final fantasy game, and no matter how much they've updated things; the storyline may have changed, the characters may have changed, what-have-you; I still always know I'm playing final fantasy. They've done an absolutely great job of making the game worlds "feel" the same over the years, even if the characters go from bad to dreadful. And because of that, they can continually cash in on a bit of my childhood. And its not the umpteenth transformers/superhero/whatnot cash in on my childhood, because they never promised it would be the exact same. They never promised the characters I loved would still be there, or that certain rules of magic or combat or movement would be the same. Just that it would be a final fantasy.