This is one of the reasons that I enjoy being able to drive my performance cars in the summer. With 450+ HP available at the rear wheels and good handling capabilities, it's much easier to pass 4-5 cars in one fell swoop, safely. With a standard Civic/Camry type of vehicle, there is simply insufficient acceleration capability to do this in a reasonably safe manner.
One of my best friends in the world, who I've known for 11 years now, I met in an AOL chatroom when I was 14 years old. We talked a few hours a day (AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, IRC and telephone) for 4 years, before she eventually took a Greyhound up to visit me, and, a few years after that, moved here.
I certainly took a chance (though, really, she took a larger one, since she came to see me) but I wouldn't trade that friendship for anything in the world. It helps that she's one of the precious few cute females that is actually a competent geek as well.;)
There are online predators, without a doubt, but the ratio of pyscho:"normal" people is not nearly as high as our shock based media would have people believe.
Goldeneye proved that FPS on a console was possible, and even very enjoyable.
In my mind, nothing came near it until Halo came out on XBOX, and, while the graphics in Goldeneye are painful now, the actual balance of gameplay was incredible, and unmatched by any console FPS to this day (at least in my feeble mind).
Perfect Dark improved graphics, added fun new guns, but lost the fun of the "Bond-ness" of Goldeneye, and also managed to break the nice balance that Goldeneye had (with the weapon changes mostly).
In my mind, there are few things better then tossing and detonating a remote mine right in Boris' face while he is chasing you through the archives...
I suppose if you play nothing but basic racing games and shoot-em-ups perhaps.
Any good strategy game is going to require indepth thought of actions, and the effects of those actions on your future needs, ad nauseum; or at least they require that if you want to actually have some chance of winning.
Even a basic FPS game like Halo 3 requires a great deal of awareness of surroundings and analysis of your opponents behaviors and tendencies, as well as constant evaluation of your location vs. your enemies vs. weapon availability. Think of it like chess that requires reflexes. (perhaps a bit of a hyperbole, but the best example I can muster pre-morning caffiene).
This is not to say that you can't sit, braindead pulling the trigger button and run-and-gun your way in video games, as you certainly can. You simply aren't playing them to their (or your) max potential if that is the case.
Myself and another student actually ran the Windows network at my high school. We administered the network and created the majority of the security settings on it.
We were able to do it much more efficiently than the the staff, as the other students had no idea we were in charge. Other students would share their little tips and tricks with us, and we would promptly make adjustments to stop them from happening. Surprisingly, the student body never caught on (but rather thought our faculty to be particularly adept) over the 3 years my friends and I held the position.
Last I heard, our basic setup was still in place, 6 years after leaving. Apparently a "spy" produced system is superior to the best they could concoct.
This is fairly true, however I speak German fairly well (I speak the language well, however do not claim to know enough of the language well to be fluent), and have many times run into German visitors or recent immigrants at my old job as a PC tech (large German faction in this area).
Several times I would catch their accent and simply speak to them in German. Apparently I faked it well enough (or they were polite enough) for them to be quite surprised when I turned to one of my employees and spoke to them in clearly American english. Each time I received compliments on how "correct" my German sounded. I guess I was just lucky they didn't say anything I didn't understand.;)
I speak a small amount of spanish, chinese and french as well, though mostly just enough to help translate the accents of those still learning English (a smattering of understanding of another language can be massively helpful in understanding someone still learning yours).
Here lies the problem with all of these arguments; speed limits are set to the lowest common denominator by necessity.
If they set the limit on the higway at say 70 mph (the limit around here), that means they have deemed it safe for soccer Mom with no avoidance skill and horrible attention span and reflexes in a 4500 lbs SUV to travel at that rate of speed. They are also stating that it is only safe for me, with professional driving experience and a high level of alertness, driving a 2500 lbs car with performance suspension, brakes, tires and tuning to travel at 70 mph.
If it is safe for me to travel at that speed, it should be safe for her to travel at a maximum of, say, 50 mph, since even with equal reflexes and ability her vehicle will not be able to maneuver or stop in anywhere near the distance my vehicle can. Add to this her (or he, let's not be sexist) inability to pay attention and 2-5x longer reaction time, and she should be at 35 mph.
Perhaps a sticker on the plate and a seperate idiot lane is necessary, or, conversly, a special tag and a high speed lane for those with the vehicles and ability to handle ourselves.
I'm not saying that these guys are right for what they did, merely an all encompassing "speeding will kill others, you inconsiderate bastards" is entirely too knee-jerk of a reaction.
Welcome to reality, it's complicated.
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This is one of the reasons that I enjoy being able to drive my performance cars in the summer. With 450+ HP available at the rear wheels and good handling capabilities, it's much easier to pass 4-5 cars in one fell swoop, safely. With a standard Civic/Camry type of vehicle, there is simply insufficient acceleration capability to do this in a reasonably safe manner.
One of my best friends in the world, who I've known for 11 years now, I met in an AOL chatroom when I was 14 years old. We talked a few hours a day (AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, IRC and telephone) for 4 years, before she eventually took a Greyhound up to visit me, and, a few years after that, moved here.
;)
I certainly took a chance (though, really, she took a larger one, since she came to see me) but I wouldn't trade that friendship for anything in the world. It helps that she's one of the precious few cute females that is actually a competent geek as well.
There are online predators, without a doubt, but the ratio of pyscho:"normal" people is not nearly as high as our shock based media would have people believe.
Minority, perhaps, but not alone.
Goldeneye proved that FPS on a console was possible, and even very enjoyable.
In my mind, nothing came near it until Halo came out on XBOX, and, while the graphics in Goldeneye are painful now, the actual balance of gameplay was incredible, and unmatched by any console FPS to this day (at least in my feeble mind).
Perfect Dark improved graphics, added fun new guns, but lost the fun of the "Bond-ness" of Goldeneye, and also managed to break the nice balance that Goldeneye had (with the weapon changes mostly).
In my mind, there are few things better then tossing and detonating a remote mine right in Boris' face while he is chasing you through the archives...
I suppose if you play nothing but basic racing games and shoot-em-ups perhaps.
Any good strategy game is going to require indepth thought of actions, and the effects of those actions on your future needs, ad nauseum; or at least they require that if you want to actually have some chance of winning.
Even a basic FPS game like Halo 3 requires a great deal of awareness of surroundings and analysis of your opponents behaviors and tendencies, as well as constant evaluation of your location vs. your enemies vs. weapon availability. Think of it like chess that requires reflexes. (perhaps a bit of a hyperbole, but the best example I can muster pre-morning caffiene).
This is not to say that you can't sit, braindead pulling the trigger button and run-and-gun your way in video games, as you certainly can. You simply aren't playing them to their (or your) max potential if that is the case.
Myself and another student actually ran the Windows network at my high school. We administered the network and created the majority of the security settings on it. We were able to do it much more efficiently than the the staff, as the other students had no idea we were in charge. Other students would share their little tips and tricks with us, and we would promptly make adjustments to stop them from happening. Surprisingly, the student body never caught on (but rather thought our faculty to be particularly adept) over the 3 years my friends and I held the position. Last I heard, our basic setup was still in place, 6 years after leaving. Apparently a "spy" produced system is superior to the best they could concoct.
This is fairly true, however I speak German fairly well (I speak the language well, however do not claim to know enough of the language well to be fluent), and have many times run into German visitors or recent immigrants at my old job as a PC tech (large German faction in this area). Several times I would catch their accent and simply speak to them in German. Apparently I faked it well enough (or they were polite enough) for them to be quite surprised when I turned to one of my employees and spoke to them in clearly American english. Each time I received compliments on how "correct" my German sounded. I guess I was just lucky they didn't say anything I didn't understand. ;)
I speak a small amount of spanish, chinese and french as well, though mostly just enough to help translate the accents of those still learning English (a smattering of understanding of another language can be massively helpful in understanding someone still learning yours).
Here lies the problem with all of these arguments; speed limits are set to the lowest common denominator by necessity. If they set the limit on the higway at say 70 mph (the limit around here), that means they have deemed it safe for soccer Mom with no avoidance skill and horrible attention span and reflexes in a 4500 lbs SUV to travel at that rate of speed. They are also stating that it is only safe for me, with professional driving experience and a high level of alertness, driving a 2500 lbs car with performance suspension, brakes, tires and tuning to travel at 70 mph. If it is safe for me to travel at that speed, it should be safe for her to travel at a maximum of, say, 50 mph, since even with equal reflexes and ability her vehicle will not be able to maneuver or stop in anywhere near the distance my vehicle can. Add to this her (or he, let's not be sexist) inability to pay attention and 2-5x longer reaction time, and she should be at 35 mph. Perhaps a sticker on the plate and a seperate idiot lane is necessary, or, conversly, a special tag and a high speed lane for those with the vehicles and ability to handle ourselves. I'm not saying that these guys are right for what they did, merely an all encompassing "speeding will kill others, you inconsiderate bastards" is entirely too knee-jerk of a reaction. Welcome to reality, it's complicated.