I'm not sure why everyone is so focused on whether he 'invented' the clock. Who cares?
The real issue was the absurd over-reaction of the school administrators and police. Their conduct was pathetic, embarrassing and possibly illegal. I don't care if this kid's father is the biggest douche this side of the Mississippi, its nothing next to the cowardly mindlessness of those school authorities.
You are correct but there is still a big problem with scientology: it enjoys rights that no other religions in the USA enjoy via secret deals its made with the IRS that we are not privy to. This is a source of concern given its history of governmental infiltration & espionage.
'Illegal offshore Internet gambling sites are a criminal enterprise, and allowing them to operate unfettered in the United States would present a clear danger to our youth, who are subject to becoming addicted to gambling at an early age,' says Representative Spencer Bachus, Republican of Alabama and the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee.
And that is why online horse betting is totally OK.
Not to defend the current theocrats, but you do realize Shah was a dictator and already "politically regressed to a very dangerous stage" which is why the revolution happened. The current government is learning that that fever of the revolution has died and people just want to live their lives. The progress will be slow but I have confidence Iranians will increasingly reject the cultural neanderthals within their current government.
I just recently re-read Forever War (as well as Starship Troopers funnily enough), I actually like the ending simply since I think it fits the overall message. That is the 'happiness' of the ending demonstrates how pointless the wars often are. The war is over and the original reasons for are vague and the 'solution' seems equally vague and meaningless. It's simply just over, you can all go on with your lives now, if you were expecting an answer, there really are none.
Maybe I'm giving too much credit for the idea which was intended more as a way to end the book than contribute to its whole theme of disconnection and arbitrariness of action.
Re:Cue the "where are MY games" whining
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The Gym Arcade
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· Score: 1
Not for nothing but who cares what the brain damage cases at gamefaqs.com think? That is hardly a sampling of the 'hardcore gamer' demographic, a nebulous and ill-defined thing at best. Hell, other 'hardcore gamers' might argue that console gamers are the very definition of mainstream. Thus their opinions would be worth the same as people who are addicted to The Sims. Hardcore gamers is a bullshit demographic when you get right down to it, why go on giving it any more validity than it deserves?
Speak on sir! Also whats with the emotional attachment to a tool? Its a tool, not your mom or dog. All have their own weaknesses. Windows? Proprietary shit and the occasional pain in the ass security issue. Linux? Useless except for the most basic desktop usage and server end applications. OSX? Highly restrictive platform, have to pay for everything even OS updates, only useful for basic desktop usage and 2D graphic work for static or film/video.
If I wanted to be a fan-boy retard, I could go on to say Windows at least does everything those systems can do and in 1 box: desktop apps, 2d work, 3d work, gaming, server applications. Except it seriously doesn't matter, since its a tool. When you die, no one will congratulate you on your choice of OS cause no one gives a shit. You either can get your job done or you can't, no one cares what logo you're wearing.
Unless you're incompetent, most people I figure of any skill can run a stable WindowsXP box for the purposes of most things they wish to do. If I can maintain an uptime of 4 months on an XP system that's used every day heavily for Maya & After Effects work and then a couple hours of gaming, then it can't be that bad as these drama queens make it sound. Did I mention its a tool?
This is definitely what anti-rape campaigners want to see more of: frivolous application of the word rape to situations where it doesn't apply at all, further marginalizing real claims of rape. Score one for women's rights online!
However, if people want to take this seriously, I suggest that they take the virtual rapist who stuck his virtual penis in her virtual vagina and put him on virtual trial where he can perhaps be virtually convicted and go to virtual prison. Maybe at that point people would realize this is virtually retarded.
Your points are all correct, however I would like to point out that the Russian's high losses were also due to poor military leadership which placed little importance to the lives of their own men with the usage of outmoded strategies in addition to supply issues where men were not correctly equipped. This is on top of their terrible record with dealing with their own wounded (ie, they didn't) and in general the wide adoption of the old military strategy of 'you 1000 men, storm that hill until you take it'. We will not discuss the aspect where they would cut down their own fleeing troops. This does not speak for the civilian loses which were even higher, and again, in addition to the Germans, the Russian leadership was poor at dealing with that aspect; the order to not evacuate Stalingrad being a prime example due to Stalin's ego.
I do not dispute that Russia's sacrifice did accomplish what you have said, but it is important to recognize that their disproportionate loses have roots in their own failures of leadership in addition to the larger brunt of the attack that they withstood from the Germans.
I don't know, you are pretty stupid if you post to a public place online that can be easily searched, 'I LIKE TO SMOKE BLUNTS AND GET FUCKED UP' since a) pot is illegal and b) the entire sentence shows a total lack of discretion (atleast, in the USA). One of the things about drug 'culture' is that I tend to find two schools of thought, one is the above person who shouts about their habit and probably has stupid pot posters or something, and the second is the type who enjoys all the habits of the first person except they just do it, they dont brag about it or hang up pictures of themselves getting screwed up. This is called not airing your own dirty laundry whether you think other people should be accepting of it or not.
Personally, I try not to let people take pictures of me doing illegal things and I definitely do not post said images in a public location, nor do I brag about my vices. Between family members and employers, there is really no need to advertise that this goes on since the people I'd want to know about it already do since I am doing it with them. I understand people saying employers shouldnt have any say over your personal life, but posting pictures of yourself & admitting to doing illegal stuff, looking drunk to a public place does not fall under this category. If it was really personal, they wouldn't be able to see it in the first place since you'd have posted it to friends-only or somesuch non-public forum.
Seriously, there is no moral high-ground to stand on here as this is basic common sense; you can keep all your bad habits but just demonstrate an ounce of discretion. If you can't, don't complain about the results since you knew the risks to start with, if you didn't then you're naive as hell.
I've played the sims (both the first and second) and understand the game. I have never looked at any of the fan stuff, however after going to both your links, I think my point still stands since the ages of the people contributing to those sites, they're all teens or older. If you can find me examples of young kids making contributions to those sites, whether stories or whatever have you, then yes, I will agree with you. Otherwise, I do not really see any evidence that The Sims can or does replace dolls with young kids (the discussion at hand).
I agree the sims is a great platform for what you said but I am not seeing anything that makes it leap to being a suitable replacement for dolls. Young kids may play it, but not as a stand-in for their GI Joes, Barbie or whatever have you. You can't bring your sim outside and play with it in the dirt or put it in a lego contraption you built.
I can tell from your nick that you obviously enjoy the Sims, do not take my comments to be a criticism of the sims, but simply that the sims (and no game, period) is going to replace dolls anytime soon; the video game reality is simply too static. But, when they do, the games we'll have as a result will be things we could only imagine right now.
I think the major difference between a doll and any video game where its primarily a character simulation is that the doll is an object through which the child has nearly unlimited freedom of expression where as the video game is an exploration of a character that reacts a set way in a virtual environment. I consider this to be more of a virtual pet rather than a doll. This will show them interactions & their effects, but they do not explore the interactions on their own, they happen regardless since thats how the system works.
Action figures or dolls, I know I put mine in all sorts of roles, ranging from simply good-guy vs bad guy to space exploration, you name it. With friends, you'd extend to roles further to each other, involve more characters, and so on. My roommate was even more into it than I ever was and he'd have his entire toy collection, involved in vast, decently complex plots for a child. The fun was in the fact that you could do anything with the objects at hand and project roles upon them regardless of their origin (Cobra Commander could just be Cobra Commander or he could also be the member of the crowd that gets saved by Voltron, who is actually a robot-alien from a distant planet sent to stop Strawberry-Shortcake from... its limited by your imagination).
Dolls are about role exploration and archetype analysis by children. We read them stories (or they watch TV) which sets up these various character archetypes in their consciousness, which they use the dolls to act out. It is both a learning experience but also a reaffirmation of their character beliefs. The Sims cannot provide this, imo, simply since it is about a very static (compared to what you can do with your dolls) character that has set reactions to all stimuli in the game. Its not like your sim is going to take some new initiative, or as if you can really act out a complex story idea, since the game is too sandboxish & opened-ended for that to happen. One does not so much control as heavily influence their sim. On the other hand, if the child is fascinated by things like antfarms and such, perhaps they may enjoy it. But regardless, I do not see simulations replacing dolls; no, I see emergent game systems with easily creatable content as a place where dolls may get replaced. A game where you can define the world and the objects in it (think Spore meets Gmod meets the user definable gameplay-engine-system we've never seen). The closest we've seen to this is Spore, but while its amazing, its pretty obvious that this is not something that would even meet 1% of those requirements for a child.
... Ebert has a point. If FPSs are 'art', then so is paintball, or playing army when you're 10, or playing army when you're 40 (ever see a "Civil War re-enactment"?).
I think this hypothesis is wrong simply because the act of interacting with the object is not art. The object's artistic nature itself is what is in question. I'd go so far as to say that in the examples you listed, that the objects the games are played with, they could be debated as to whether they were pieces of art. But thats not the argument right now, its about video games, not paintball. If someone wishes to argue that playing the game is art, they can do that, but thats a bit much IMO. As far as quality, just like books, it can range from crappy (a lot of games) to classics (not so many games), so by his argument, the vast majority movies & books are not art. Lastly, claiming that no games are art is a bit arrogant given his lack of knowledge & experience in that area.
Actually, one could argue that technology could have, atleast temporarily, forstalled the inevitable loss of the war for Hitler. Two great examples, the Tiger Tank & the Messerschmitt Me 262 Jet. Both were better than anything else the Allies had at the time in their respective weapon classes, but both were then micromanaged by Hitler such that they lost their purpose. The tiger went from being one of the fastest tanks in the war to being the most heavily armored tank in the war with a giant gun, so much so that its ability to manuever in the Russian geography was terrible. They essentially turned into semi-mobile artillary placements. The Messerschmitt suffered the same fate; it was faster and more manueverable than anything else the Allies had but then Hitler said make it a bomber, eliminating its manueverability & range in favor of dropping more powerful munitions. In both cases, Hitler decided to micromanage these projects, ignored his own scientists and subsequently created weapons that were ineffective at what they were originally designed to do in the first place.
As far as your comment on comparing politicians to Hitler, personally, I think this really debases just about any debate since a) most people really don't fully grasp what Hitler did when he was in power, so any metaphor they make is incomplete and quite likely bears no resemblence to what happened under Hitler, and b) theres tons of more moderate and applicable examples than Hitler to be used as reference that do not carry a fuckload of emotional baggage like Hitler & the Nazis do. Its merely used since even the slowest kid in the class knows that Nazis = Bad, and as such, panders to the lowest common denominator. If you think your audience is stupid, sure use the Nazi's, since everyone knows they're bad, but otherwise, show your audience some respect and get a bit of nuanced thinking in there.
The one thing I am not getting is why SL is such a great medium for this, as it seems that even though you can add sexy new models and stuff, there will be no real interactive animations or anything actually controllable beyond the most basic stuff (walking around, sitting, etc). So how does this equate into a non-laughable cybersex medium? I personally find the idea of cybersex to be hilarious and in the end, something of a self-parody, so how is this any different from your average #TeenChat cybersex session on IRC? Is it no less laughable, because from here it looks like someone is using static models & scenery to look at while said session is going on, but otherwise nothing is different or any less ridiculous.
Someone who plays SL, tell me, does the system allow for the interactive type animations you'd need to make this something more than just glorified, equally amusing cybersex? Or perhaps theres something else at work beyond peopls imaginations.
You nailed it on the head, and its pretty obvious from the comments on how few artists there are on Slashdot, with people comparing this with math students moving to calculators. Simply, no, that is not the equivalent of what is happening here since drawing itself is an important, foundation skill for any artist in any line of work. I am a 3D animator/programmer like yourself and I cant tell you the number of time's I've had to explain to clients, friends, and such that you don't do ANYTHING in 3D without concept drawings at a minimum as its a complete waste of time. The end product is simply not going to be good and the amount of time to make it good is going to be greater than if you just spent the time to do the traditional artwork in the first place.
I dunno if the above people (slashdotters who think drawing is an outmoded skill) realize, but those video games they play, the studios hire talented illustrators to do all the concept art, all the character spreads, everything, before its put into a computer. Oblivion for example, it doesn't look that good because they used the most modern process available and removed traditional drawing completely from their process; no. I am willing to bet that Oblivion's stack of artwork is massive, very likely every single item in the game was drawn on paper before it was put in game (game has around 9k items). Penny-Arcade? They sketch every strip before they break out Illustrator and such. The simple fact is that doing drawings of your ideas before you try to make them on the computer (which is not necessarily faster, just more efficient to edit later on) is a necessary step to ensure that you end up with good quality work. Its pretty obvious when someone has skipped this step and decided to 'wing it'.
The only claim I can see of the IDers that is vaugely testible is that God exists and Chaos doesn't. Aside from that basic, they seem to accept every bit of evidence evolution does.
I would actually argue this is exactly where ID shows itself to no longer to be a real theory. Part of the definition of a scientific theory is that it can be proved wrong in some manner, and once such is fulfilled, that theory could be discounted. So I ask these ID proponents, show me how one could go about disproving the existence of God, and the answer is, you can't. Therefore, ID as an actual scientific theory is simply not possible since as soon as you introduce the variable $God, you've got a theory you cannot test and thats not a theory, its basically just your opinion/latest philosophical idea.
I personally have no problem with ideas like this being taught in schools, however not in a science class since its simply not science. If someone wants to teach various concepts of ID in a philosophy or religious studies class, I'm all for it, but don't say this is something it isn't as you merely are doing a diservice to the kids you are supposedly trying to help. However, I personally find many of the ID proponents to be highly intellectually dishonest in the explaination of their intentions, so even then I would be suspicious.
Lastly but not least, the USA has some major problems with its schools, that this is being taken up as some type of torch is very sad for all of us as its effort much wasted that could be spent constructively elsewhere instead of these so-called 'culture wars' (what a crap phrase).
I was able to see this movie last year with fan-made subtitles, and while the movie itself was pretty damn good visually, story-wise, the dialogue left quite a bit to be desired. So I am curious as to how the official translation will compare to the fan made one. Anyone lucky enough to have seen the english version yet and compare? Or perhaps, understood the Japanese version and can comment on the english fan subs.
This is the single exception to the rule, and this is only since deer attacking your character would be completely retarded. Rats attacking for some reason seems less retarded but dumb nonetheless. I can't think of any other passive wildlife besides the horses in the game, atleast that I've seen.
The Mods Shall Set Ye Free
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Living In Oblivion
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· Score: 3, Informative
I bought this the day it arrived in stores without hesitation, being a major fan of Morrowind and its expansions and have not stopped playing it since. There is one, MAJOR thing the author forgot in his piece: mods. While the Xbox360 version will ensure that you can play the game smoothly at high graphical settings, the PC version will ensure that you can play the game the way you prefer through mods, which is something pretty major. A couple things I do not like about Oblivion:
1. Interface is gigantic (as it was made for both console & PC but no effort was made to make a smaller interface for PC) and the world map forces you to view it through a keyhole.
2. Magic users imo get too little mana to work with, this is especially fustrating in combat situations
3. Wild life attacks you for no reason; when you (IRL) walk through the forest, rats do not attack you unless theyre rabid or some shit. Same for crabs and such. In Oblivion, all animals harbor an extreme hatred towards people apparently and attack on sight regardless of their place on the food chain. Kinda dumb.
You know whats great about these annoyances? The game has been out for almost 2 weeks and mods have fixed each of these annoyances; theres a mod that makes the interface a nice size for PCs as well as making the map fullscreen, makes wild life act like real animals, and I personally made a mod that gives characters more mana per levels of intelligence (the games mana equation works as such: mana = Intelligence x 2, my mod just changes that multiplier; its a simple fix until I can make a script that involves the actual character level). And these are mostly just tweaks, give it another six months to a year and we'll have some original user content as well; quests, new lands, you name it. This is what made Morrowind go from a game I played for a month to a game I played for atleast 6 months, since I could go online and find new ways to enhance the game when I got bored.
This is a great game and it will only get better with time.
I am not sure if you are being sarcastic. If you are not, I do not know what to tell you since I am not in the habit of linking to warez sites on slashdot (regardless of SF's own actions), but I can assure you Trackmania Sunrise's SF was cracked a good solid while ago. The instructions for doing so are available on a variety of torrent and crack sites, you merely need to look. Be aware that the crack-bypass method for SF will apply to all games using that version of SF, and the 3.x version you mentioned was definitely overcome a while ago.
When I say make it a pain in the ass, I mean for the end-users rather than the pirates. I assume that all games no matter what will be pirated, especially by these experienced relase groups. End-users though, many will walk away when they see what needs to be done to run that game. Their approach does work in this respect; itll stop more end users from pirating the game since they are too lazy/dont know how to crack them. You can see this is the case simply by the number of people on warez forums complaining about how hard SF is to get around, and how they cant be arsed to do all that.
Previously, I have defended starforce on the basis that it does do what it advertises; hell I have seen warez forums where people actually complain about how hard it is to get around it. Its not terribly difficult to get past, but most people are too lazy to go through that much effort to play a game, so their approach does work to an extent; they cant stop piracy but they can make it a real pain in the ass. But having bought GalCiv2 the day it came out via their online-delivery system, this type of shit makes me regret my prior defenses. I have no problem that SF wants to make a copy protection, even if its invasive and overbearing, but once they go out and then take a fairly independant game like GalCiv which doesn't have major publisher backing and then hold it out on a stick as an example of the failure to copy-protect, complete with torrent links, that just means you're a giant asshole who gets no sympathy when people attack your products, legitimate or not.
I'd have to undoubtedly say yes, because if Blizzard is going to say the expression of your real world sexuality is fine, and naming a guild after a real-world advocacy group, then they can't say other groups can't do it as well.
I find it interesting that you draw a link between an advocacy group such as the KKK whom actively goes out and tries to persuade others of their own beliefs and a gay-friendly guild (note that gay-friendly != gay-only) whom actively play a video game; just because a minority group of individuals meets up does not mean they are advocating anything. Where as the KKK is an establish advocacy group who makes no secret of their views and as such, if someone were to start a real KKK guild on WoW, clearly they would be an extension of that advocacy group and thus inappropriate.
Now if the National GLBT Organization were to start a WoW guild, yes, this would be an gay-rights advocacy group, but note how this is not the case with the guild in question. I rather doubt this group goes around shouting pro-gay slogans on public channels; no, they probably talk to each other within their gay-friendly group about life, the universe and everything with little concern for promoting anything beyond civility to each other. No agendas, no secret meetings, its a friggen guild on WoW who's members are not hostile towards gays. If this is advocacy at work, then clearly all real-life related guilds on WoW, ranging from Christian to Muslim to Furries to Koreans are all advocacy groups by their very existence and should be immediately banned under the same rules.
That is the crux of the issue at heart: disparate responses to different real-life groups. The rules that Blizzard applied to this gay-friendly guild also apply to religious guilds but you don't see them banning those. So, if you want to take your position, then be sure whos getting thrown out with the bath water.
That banning all these guilds would be retarded from a business & PR perspective is another story altogether.
Slashdot Mirror
You guys should hire Jon Katz.
Came for the news, stayed for the Jon Katz comments. Though he wasn't all that bad, just kinda annoying.
I'm not sure why everyone is so focused on whether he 'invented' the clock. Who cares? The real issue was the absurd over-reaction of the school administrators and police. Their conduct was pathetic, embarrassing and possibly illegal. I don't care if this kid's father is the biggest douche this side of the Mississippi, its nothing next to the cowardly mindlessness of those school authorities.
You are correct but there is still a big problem with scientology: it enjoys rights that no other religions in the USA enjoy via secret deals its made with the IRS that we are not privy to. This is a source of concern given its history of governmental infiltration & espionage.
http://www.nysun.com/national/judges-press-irs-on-church-tax-break/70957/
'Illegal offshore Internet gambling sites are a criminal enterprise, and allowing them to operate unfettered in the United States would present a clear danger to our youth, who are subject to becoming addicted to gambling at an early age,' says Representative Spencer Bachus, Republican of Alabama and the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee.
And that is why online horse betting is totally OK.
Not to defend the current theocrats, but you do realize Shah was a dictator and already "politically regressed to a very dangerous stage" which is why the revolution happened. The current government is learning that that fever of the revolution has died and people just want to live their lives. The progress will be slow but I have confidence Iranians will increasingly reject the cultural neanderthals within their current government.
I just recently re-read Forever War (as well as Starship Troopers funnily enough), I actually like the ending simply since I think it fits the overall message. That is the 'happiness' of the ending demonstrates how pointless the wars often are. The war is over and the original reasons for are vague and the 'solution' seems equally vague and meaningless. It's simply just over, you can all go on with your lives now, if you were expecting an answer, there really are none. Maybe I'm giving too much credit for the idea which was intended more as a way to end the book than contribute to its whole theme of disconnection and arbitrariness of action.
Not for nothing but who cares what the brain damage cases at gamefaqs.com think? That is hardly a sampling of the 'hardcore gamer' demographic, a nebulous and ill-defined thing at best. Hell, other 'hardcore gamers' might argue that console gamers are the very definition of mainstream. Thus their opinions would be worth the same as people who are addicted to The Sims. Hardcore gamers is a bullshit demographic when you get right down to it, why go on giving it any more validity than it deserves?
Speak on sir! Also whats with the emotional attachment to a tool? Its a tool, not your mom or dog. All have their own weaknesses. Windows? Proprietary shit and the occasional pain in the ass security issue. Linux? Useless except for the most basic desktop usage and server end applications. OSX? Highly restrictive platform, have to pay for everything even OS updates, only useful for basic desktop usage and 2D graphic work for static or film/video.
If I wanted to be a fan-boy retard, I could go on to say Windows at least does everything those systems can do and in 1 box: desktop apps, 2d work, 3d work, gaming, server applications. Except it seriously doesn't matter, since its a tool. When you die, no one will congratulate you on your choice of OS cause no one gives a shit. You either can get your job done or you can't, no one cares what logo you're wearing.
Unless you're incompetent, most people I figure of any skill can run a stable WindowsXP box for the purposes of most things they wish to do. If I can maintain an uptime of 4 months on an XP system that's used every day heavily for Maya & After Effects work and then a couple hours of gaming, then it can't be that bad as these drama queens make it sound. Did I mention its a tool?
This is definitely what anti-rape campaigners want to see more of: frivolous application of the word rape to situations where it doesn't apply at all, further marginalizing real claims of rape. Score one for women's rights online!
However, if people want to take this seriously, I suggest that they take the virtual rapist who stuck his virtual penis in her virtual vagina and put him on virtual trial where he can perhaps be virtually convicted and go to virtual prison. Maybe at that point people would realize this is virtually retarded.
Your points are all correct, however I would like to point out that the Russian's high losses were also due to poor military leadership which placed little importance to the lives of their own men with the usage of outmoded strategies in addition to supply issues where men were not correctly equipped. This is on top of their terrible record with dealing with their own wounded (ie, they didn't) and in general the wide adoption of the old military strategy of 'you 1000 men, storm that hill until you take it'. We will not discuss the aspect where they would cut down their own fleeing troops. This does not speak for the civilian loses which were even higher, and again, in addition to the Germans, the Russian leadership was poor at dealing with that aspect; the order to not evacuate Stalingrad being a prime example due to Stalin's ego.
I do not dispute that Russia's sacrifice did accomplish what you have said, but it is important to recognize that their disproportionate loses have roots in their own failures of leadership in addition to the larger brunt of the attack that they withstood from the Germans.
I don't know, you are pretty stupid if you post to a public place online that can be easily searched, 'I LIKE TO SMOKE BLUNTS AND GET FUCKED UP' since a) pot is illegal and b) the entire sentence shows a total lack of discretion (atleast, in the USA). One of the things about drug 'culture' is that I tend to find two schools of thought, one is the above person who shouts about their habit and probably has stupid pot posters or something, and the second is the type who enjoys all the habits of the first person except they just do it, they dont brag about it or hang up pictures of themselves getting screwed up. This is called not airing your own dirty laundry whether you think other people should be accepting of it or not.
Personally, I try not to let people take pictures of me doing illegal things and I definitely do not post said images in a public location, nor do I brag about my vices. Between family members and employers, there is really no need to advertise that this goes on since the people I'd want to know about it already do since I am doing it with them. I understand people saying employers shouldnt have any say over your personal life, but posting pictures of yourself & admitting to doing illegal stuff, looking drunk to a public place does not fall under this category. If it was really personal, they wouldn't be able to see it in the first place since you'd have posted it to friends-only or somesuch non-public forum.
Seriously, there is no moral high-ground to stand on here as this is basic common sense; you can keep all your bad habits but just demonstrate an ounce of discretion. If you can't, don't complain about the results since you knew the risks to start with, if you didn't then you're naive as hell.
I've played the sims (both the first and second) and understand the game. I have never looked at any of the fan stuff, however after going to both your links, I think my point still stands since the ages of the people contributing to those sites, they're all teens or older. If you can find me examples of young kids making contributions to those sites, whether stories or whatever have you, then yes, I will agree with you. Otherwise, I do not really see any evidence that The Sims can or does replace dolls with young kids (the discussion at hand).
I agree the sims is a great platform for what you said but I am not seeing anything that makes it leap to being a suitable replacement for dolls. Young kids may play it, but not as a stand-in for their GI Joes, Barbie or whatever have you. You can't bring your sim outside and play with it in the dirt or put it in a lego contraption you built.
I can tell from your nick that you obviously enjoy the Sims, do not take my comments to be a criticism of the sims, but simply that the sims (and no game, period) is going to replace dolls anytime soon; the video game reality is simply too static. But, when they do, the games we'll have as a result will be things we could only imagine right now.
I think the major difference between a doll and any video game where its primarily a character simulation is that the doll is an object through which the child has nearly unlimited freedom of expression where as the video game is an exploration of a character that reacts a set way in a virtual environment. I consider this to be more of a virtual pet rather than a doll. This will show them interactions & their effects, but they do not explore the interactions on their own, they happen regardless since thats how the system works.
Action figures or dolls, I know I put mine in all sorts of roles, ranging from simply good-guy vs bad guy to space exploration, you name it. With friends, you'd extend to roles further to each other, involve more characters, and so on. My roommate was even more into it than I ever was and he'd have his entire toy collection, involved in vast, decently complex plots for a child. The fun was in the fact that you could do anything with the objects at hand and project roles upon them regardless of their origin (Cobra Commander could just be Cobra Commander or he could also be the member of the crowd that gets saved by Voltron, who is actually a robot-alien from a distant planet sent to stop Strawberry-Shortcake from... its limited by your imagination).
Dolls are about role exploration and archetype analysis by children. We read them stories (or they watch TV) which sets up these various character archetypes in their consciousness, which they use the dolls to act out. It is both a learning experience but also a reaffirmation of their character beliefs. The Sims cannot provide this, imo, simply since it is about a very static (compared to what you can do with your dolls) character that has set reactions to all stimuli in the game. Its not like your sim is going to take some new initiative, or as if you can really act out a complex story idea, since the game is too sandboxish & opened-ended for that to happen. One does not so much control as heavily influence their sim. On the other hand, if the child is fascinated by things like antfarms and such, perhaps they may enjoy it. But regardless, I do not see simulations replacing dolls; no, I see emergent game systems with easily creatable content as a place where dolls may get replaced. A game where you can define the world and the objects in it (think Spore meets Gmod meets the user definable gameplay-engine-system we've never seen). The closest we've seen to this is Spore, but while its amazing, its pretty obvious that this is not something that would even meet 1% of those requirements for a child.
... Ebert has a point. If FPSs are 'art', then so is paintball, or playing army when you're 10, or playing army when you're 40 (ever see a "Civil War re-enactment"?) .
I think this hypothesis is wrong simply because the act of interacting with the object is not art. The object's artistic nature itself is what is in question. I'd go so far as to say that in the examples you listed, that the objects the games are played with, they could be debated as to whether they were pieces of art. But thats not the argument right now, its about video games, not paintball. If someone wishes to argue that playing the game is art, they can do that, but thats a bit much IMO. As far as quality, just like books, it can range from crappy (a lot of games) to classics (not so many games), so by his argument, the vast majority movies & books are not art. Lastly, claiming that no games are art is a bit arrogant given his lack of knowledge & experience in that area.
Actually, one could argue that technology could have, atleast temporarily, forstalled the inevitable loss of the war for Hitler. Two great examples, the Tiger Tank & the Messerschmitt Me 262 Jet. Both were better than anything else the Allies had at the time in their respective weapon classes, but both were then micromanaged by Hitler such that they lost their purpose. The tiger went from being one of the fastest tanks in the war to being the most heavily armored tank in the war with a giant gun, so much so that its ability to manuever in the Russian geography was terrible. They essentially turned into semi-mobile artillary placements. The Messerschmitt suffered the same fate; it was faster and more manueverable than anything else the Allies had but then Hitler said make it a bomber, eliminating its manueverability & range in favor of dropping more powerful munitions. In both cases, Hitler decided to micromanage these projects, ignored his own scientists and subsequently created weapons that were ineffective at what they were originally designed to do in the first place.
As far as your comment on comparing politicians to Hitler, personally, I think this really debases just about any debate since a) most people really don't fully grasp what Hitler did when he was in power, so any metaphor they make is incomplete and quite likely bears no resemblence to what happened under Hitler, and b) theres tons of more moderate and applicable examples than Hitler to be used as reference that do not carry a fuckload of emotional baggage like Hitler & the Nazis do. Its merely used since even the slowest kid in the class knows that Nazis = Bad, and as such, panders to the lowest common denominator. If you think your audience is stupid, sure use the Nazi's, since everyone knows they're bad, but otherwise, show your audience some respect and get a bit of nuanced thinking in there.
The one thing I am not getting is why SL is such a great medium for this, as it seems that even though you can add sexy new models and stuff, there will be no real interactive animations or anything actually controllable beyond the most basic stuff (walking around, sitting, etc). So how does this equate into a non-laughable cybersex medium? I personally find the idea of cybersex to be hilarious and in the end, something of a self-parody, so how is this any different from your average #TeenChat cybersex session on IRC? Is it no less laughable, because from here it looks like someone is using static models & scenery to look at while said session is going on, but otherwise nothing is different or any less ridiculous.
Someone who plays SL, tell me, does the system allow for the interactive type animations you'd need to make this something more than just glorified, equally amusing cybersex? Or perhaps theres something else at work beyond peopls imaginations.
You nailed it on the head, and its pretty obvious from the comments on how few artists there are on Slashdot, with people comparing this with math students moving to calculators. Simply, no, that is not the equivalent of what is happening here since drawing itself is an important, foundation skill for any artist in any line of work. I am a 3D animator/programmer like yourself and I cant tell you the number of time's I've had to explain to clients, friends, and such that you don't do ANYTHING in 3D without concept drawings at a minimum as its a complete waste of time. The end product is simply not going to be good and the amount of time to make it good is going to be greater than if you just spent the time to do the traditional artwork in the first place.
I dunno if the above people (slashdotters who think drawing is an outmoded skill) realize, but those video games they play, the studios hire talented illustrators to do all the concept art, all the character spreads, everything, before its put into a computer. Oblivion for example, it doesn't look that good because they used the most modern process available and removed traditional drawing completely from their process; no. I am willing to bet that Oblivion's stack of artwork is massive, very likely every single item in the game was drawn on paper before it was put in game (game has around 9k items). Penny-Arcade? They sketch every strip before they break out Illustrator and such. The simple fact is that doing drawings of your ideas before you try to make them on the computer (which is not necessarily faster, just more efficient to edit later on) is a necessary step to ensure that you end up with good quality work. Its pretty obvious when someone has skipped this step and decided to 'wing it'.
The only claim I can see of the IDers that is vaugely testible is that God exists and Chaos doesn't. Aside from that basic, they seem to accept every bit of evidence evolution does.
I would actually argue this is exactly where ID shows itself to no longer to be a real theory. Part of the definition of a scientific theory is that it can be proved wrong in some manner, and once such is fulfilled, that theory could be discounted. So I ask these ID proponents, show me how one could go about disproving the existence of God, and the answer is, you can't. Therefore, ID as an actual scientific theory is simply not possible since as soon as you introduce the variable $God, you've got a theory you cannot test and thats not a theory, its basically just your opinion/latest philosophical idea.
I personally have no problem with ideas like this being taught in schools, however not in a science class since its simply not science. If someone wants to teach various concepts of ID in a philosophy or religious studies class, I'm all for it, but don't say this is something it isn't as you merely are doing a diservice to the kids you are supposedly trying to help. However, I personally find many of the ID proponents to be highly intellectually dishonest in the explaination of their intentions, so even then I would be suspicious.
Lastly but not least, the USA has some major problems with its schools, that this is being taken up as some type of torch is very sad for all of us as its effort much wasted that could be spent constructively elsewhere instead of these so-called 'culture wars' (what a crap phrase).
I was able to see this movie last year with fan-made subtitles, and while the movie itself was pretty damn good visually, story-wise, the dialogue left quite a bit to be desired. So I am curious as to how the official translation will compare to the fan made one. Anyone lucky enough to have seen the english version yet and compare? Or perhaps, understood the Japanese version and can comment on the english fan subs.
This is the single exception to the rule, and this is only since deer attacking your character would be completely retarded. Rats attacking for some reason seems less retarded but dumb nonetheless. I can't think of any other passive wildlife besides the horses in the game, atleast that I've seen.
I bought this the day it arrived in stores without hesitation, being a major fan of Morrowind and its expansions and have not stopped playing it since. There is one, MAJOR thing the author forgot in his piece: mods. While the Xbox360 version will ensure that you can play the game smoothly at high graphical settings, the PC version will ensure that you can play the game the way you prefer through mods, which is something pretty major. A couple things I do not like about Oblivion:
1. Interface is gigantic (as it was made for both console & PC but no effort was made to make a smaller interface for PC) and the world map forces you to view it through a keyhole.
2. Magic users imo get too little mana to work with, this is especially fustrating in combat situations
3. Wild life attacks you for no reason; when you (IRL) walk through the forest, rats do not attack you unless theyre rabid or some shit. Same for crabs and such. In Oblivion, all animals harbor an extreme hatred towards people apparently and attack on sight regardless of their place on the food chain. Kinda dumb.
You know whats great about these annoyances? The game has been out for almost 2 weeks and mods have fixed each of these annoyances; theres a mod that makes the interface a nice size for PCs as well as making the map fullscreen, makes wild life act like real animals, and I personally made a mod that gives characters more mana per levels of intelligence (the games mana equation works as such: mana = Intelligence x 2, my mod just changes that multiplier; its a simple fix until I can make a script that involves the actual character level). And these are mostly just tweaks, give it another six months to a year and we'll have some original user content as well; quests, new lands, you name it. This is what made Morrowind go from a game I played for a month to a game I played for atleast 6 months, since I could go online and find new ways to enhance the game when I got bored.
This is a great game and it will only get better with time.
For those looking for mods, the two main sites I know of right now are:
Tes Source
PlanetElderscrolls
I am not sure if you are being sarcastic. If you are not, I do not know what to tell you since I am not in the habit of linking to warez sites on slashdot (regardless of SF's own actions), but I can assure you Trackmania Sunrise's SF was cracked a good solid while ago. The instructions for doing so are available on a variety of torrent and crack sites, you merely need to look. Be aware that the crack-bypass method for SF will apply to all games using that version of SF, and the 3.x version you mentioned was definitely overcome a while ago.
Heres a crumb to start your search: http://www.mgforums.com/
Its out there, its just a matter of finding it...
When I say make it a pain in the ass, I mean for the end-users rather than the pirates. I assume that all games no matter what will be pirated, especially by these experienced relase groups. End-users though, many will walk away when they see what needs to be done to run that game. Their approach does work in this respect; itll stop more end users from pirating the game since they are too lazy/dont know how to crack them. You can see this is the case simply by the number of people on warez forums complaining about how hard SF is to get around, and how they cant be arsed to do all that.
You said it.
Previously, I have defended starforce on the basis that it does do what it advertises; hell I have seen warez forums where people actually complain about how hard it is to get around it. Its not terribly difficult to get past, but most people are too lazy to go through that much effort to play a game, so their approach does work to an extent; they cant stop piracy but they can make it a real pain in the ass. But having bought GalCiv2 the day it came out via their online-delivery system, this type of shit makes me regret my prior defenses. I have no problem that SF wants to make a copy protection, even if its invasive and overbearing, but once they go out and then take a fairly independant game like GalCiv which doesn't have major publisher backing and then hold it out on a stick as an example of the failure to copy-protect, complete with torrent links, that just means you're a giant asshole who gets no sympathy when people attack your products, legitimate or not.
I'd have to undoubtedly say yes, because if Blizzard is going to say the expression of your real world sexuality is fine, and naming a guild after a real-world advocacy group, then they can't say other groups can't do it as well.
I find it interesting that you draw a link between an advocacy group such as the KKK whom actively goes out and tries to persuade others of their own beliefs and a gay-friendly guild (note that gay-friendly != gay-only) whom actively play a video game; just because a minority group of individuals meets up does not mean they are advocating anything. Where as the KKK is an establish advocacy group who makes no secret of their views and as such, if someone were to start a real KKK guild on WoW, clearly they would be an extension of that advocacy group and thus inappropriate.
Now if the National GLBT Organization were to start a WoW guild, yes, this would be an gay-rights advocacy group, but note how this is not the case with the guild in question. I rather doubt this group goes around shouting pro-gay slogans on public channels; no, they probably talk to each other within their gay-friendly group about life, the universe and everything with little concern for promoting anything beyond civility to each other. No agendas, no secret meetings, its a friggen guild on WoW who's members are not hostile towards gays. If this is advocacy at work, then clearly all real-life related guilds on WoW, ranging from Christian to Muslim to Furries to Koreans are all advocacy groups by their very existence and should be immediately banned under the same rules.
That is the crux of the issue at heart: disparate responses to different real-life groups. The rules that Blizzard applied to this gay-friendly guild also apply to religious guilds but you don't see them banning those. So, if you want to take your position, then be sure whos getting thrown out with the bath water.
That banning all these guilds would be retarded from a business & PR perspective is another story altogether.