Since the overwhelming majority of people neither play, or possibly even understand, computer games, its a soft touch for some 'fear inducement' followed by 'and I can save the children from it'.
Really? My XBLA downloads mostly consist of turn based board game remakes and the like. I don't think I've even demo'd a shooter on XBLA, let alone bought one...
Whereas for me, I though Mirrors edge sounded interesting, downloaded the demo and realised I was mistaken. After working out how to move and jump, I realised that the game was going to consist of nothing but more of this, and that simply wasn't compelling enough to make it worth the purchase. Though to be fair, this is a game I was unlikely to buy/unless/ the demo blew me away.
Since getting my 360 recently, and having quota free content downloads from it with my ISP, I just grab any demo that looks vaguely interesting, and that has already made several sales and will be making several more. The thing they all had going for them though was gameplay that hit my sweet spot when I played the demo.
Yet again you are incorrect in that you can chose a second choice and third and so on in the AU system so if your candidate is eliminated then you vote is counted for your next best choice
So I'm meant to have meaningful input in the relative rankings of 40+ candidates? That's not entirely realistic. You may have answers that are/technically/ correct in regards to the issues I've raised, but in no way do they do much to actually address the frustration I feel with the system, because even if I do it and don't make a mistake invalidating my entire vote, it's still really just a vote for one of the major parties. Having the ability to technically do something does not ease my frustration when the results of doing it are nothing but a drain on my own time and resources without any other tangible changes.
Here you are incorrect currently one alternative(the greens) has the power to and is blocking this bill in my understanding that THAT IS RELEVANT
Sure, in this once instance, it might be technically relevant. But in general they are an irrelevancy, as are the independants and other minor parties. If they're lucky enough to get the balance of power, they can block things they don't like, but they can't drive policy even then.
Yes you do vote for an independent or small party in the senate that supports some of your issues and a party or independent the supports other issues in the house of reps
And as long as we have an entrenched two party system, it will continue to be as useless as it is now. I vote for someone who doesn't get in, my vote is wasted and I'm lumped with one of the two parties, or I can suck it up and vote for one of the two options that I dislike the least as that's the only realistic way my vote will have any influence on the outcome.
The real problem here is that people become disenfranchised because they don't involve. After all why should I care about you because all you do is complain, whine, etc.
Not really. We have an institutionalised two party system in Australia. People become disenfranchised because they're left choosing between two options they don't want, or wasting their vote on an alternative that will never get in to a position relevancy.
Personally, the last government did nothing but undercut and take away things I care about. The new government, whilst being generally one I prefer, has this little bombshell, which ensures they won't get my vote in spite of otherwise being inline with my desires.
There are no other meaningful alternatives, and I have no way of effectively voting to show my support for some of the current policies of the government and my strong displeasure at others
If you are against censorship fight that issue not technical problems in its implementation. The argument shouldn't be "censorship makes my internet slower therefore it is wrong".
Why would you do that? If you're against censorship you're never going to convince someone who is for it, making the whole exercise futile. If the one thing you can potentially convince people on is the technical limitations of the pro censorship suggestion, then it's only common sense to use that angle
True, but somewhat beside the point in this context. He was using EVE as an example of a "pure" PvP game as an extension of his idea that there should be pure strains of the various game types. I was simply pointing out that EVE wasn't as pure in this regard as he was making out. Whether or not that PvE can be interrupted with some non consensual PvP doesn't alter the fact it is still PvE
I'm a casual player myself. I put in maybe and hour 3 or 4 nights a week, and then whatever time I can get on the weekends. I get by just fine. Unlike most games, Eve lets you train your skills when you're not logged in, so being a casual player is less of a problem than in many other games.
That being said, being a casual player in an NPC corp can be very hard (read as boring). Pick up groups are hard to find in EVE, so you end up doing a large amount of stuff by yourself, and often without much assistance. If you've got friends who play the game or can join a corp that has similar interests to you (and there are those out there who will take new players) the game changes hugely. The social aspect, the fact that you now have goals and things to achieve for a reason other than simply making money etc make the game what it is.
Since the price of death is so high in EVE, you never really get to see too much PVP.
I don't know when you last played, but since the introduction of faction warfare, PvP is fairly easy to find, and you can get away with using small disposable ships if you want as well, because plenty of others are doing the same.
You can't really talk up EVE's immersion too much because when you run the exact same mission 18 times you should begin to think: "Didn't I already destroy this NPC pirate stronghold?"
The reason that's not much of a problem though is because missions are such a tiny part of what eve is and what you can do. Yes, the repetitive missions do damage the immersion, but the fact that there is an ingame reason for why you respawn when you die that's not available to the entire universe, the fact that you can skill up where you want without the restrictions on a class, the fact that it's got one of the most developed and complex economies in any single MMORPG, the fact that it's a sandbox playstyle game where you largely have to find your own direction and goal etc all make up for the issues with the missions in a big big way:)
You can get in to a tech 1 battleship in no time at all (something like 2 months?) and that's all that's needed to run level 4 missions. And once you can do that, you've got a license to print money, and you will make far more money than you will from mining (unless you're talking about mining in 0.0)
The ability to use IMAP is the/reason/ many people forward their domain emails to their gmail account. If you don't adjust your DNS, then you have to mail forward, which puts you back at square one with the problem of disappearing emails...
I too had my inactive account hacked and re-activated. I found out because I got an email telling me my account had been banned days before I was planning on reactivating it. After many back and forths between me and Blizzard support, I got them to unban the account, but I could not get them to tell me what state my character was in or if they would be willing to restore my stuff if it was gone. They told me to raise an ingame ticket with a GM. I wasn't going to sink money in to re-activing an account that/may/ have been levelled against my will (I was only level 48) and/may/ be able to get my gear back. They wouldn't even look in to it, so I just never bothered re-subscribing.
I am guessing eBat/PayPal forgot there are regulatory bodies they should consult before doing such things.
They forgot nothing at all. They actually submitted notice to the ACCC specifically asking for permission to be excluded from regulations that would stop this sort of thing, as it's "more secure" for the end user, and thus ultimately in the end users benefit.
They have not yet got, and likely will not get said permission, making their decision to broadcast their intentions publicly somewhat strange...
Yes, the smiley would have helped. I thought it was a strange comment, but I took it at face value. A smiley would have helped me not make an idiot of myself:)
Spending "multiple 7 figures" on making a new edition of D&D makes my brain hurt. Maybe he was including the figures after the decimal point in the number "7":)
Slashdot Mirror
Since the overwhelming majority of people neither play, or possibly even understand, computer games, its a soft touch for some 'fear inducement' followed by 'and I can save the children from it'.
Yes, it's not like 97% of American teens play computer games or over 50% of American adults
Really? My XBLA downloads mostly consist of turn based board game remakes and the like. I don't think I've even demo'd a shooter on XBLA, let alone bought one...
Whereas for me, I though Mirrors edge sounded interesting, downloaded the demo and realised I was mistaken. After working out how to move and jump, I realised that the game was going to consist of nothing but more of this, and that simply wasn't compelling enough to make it worth the purchase. Though to be fair, this is a game I was unlikely to buy /unless/ the demo blew me away.
Since getting my 360 recently, and having quota free content downloads from it with my ISP, I just grab any demo that looks vaguely interesting, and that has already made several sales and will be making several more. The thing they all had going for them though was gameplay that hit my sweet spot when I played the demo.
Alright, you've got a point, I'll grant you that :)
You say Anglophone but you really mean American...
For your response to be completely on the money, you actually need to use the word "her" instead of "their"
Yet again you are incorrect in that you can chose a second choice and third and so on in the AU system so if your candidate is eliminated then you vote is counted for your next best choice
So I'm meant to have meaningful input in the relative rankings of 40+ candidates? That's not entirely realistic. You may have answers that are /technically/ correct in regards to the issues I've raised, but in no way do they do much to actually address the frustration I feel with the system, because even if I do it and don't make a mistake invalidating my entire vote, it's still really just a vote for one of the major parties. Having the ability to technically do something does not ease my frustration when the results of doing it are nothing but a drain on my own time and resources without any other tangible changes.
Here you are incorrect currently one alternative(the greens) has the power to and is blocking this bill in my understanding that THAT IS RELEVANT
Sure, in this once instance, it might be technically relevant. But in general they are an irrelevancy, as are the independants and other minor parties. If they're lucky enough to get the balance of power, they can block things they don't like, but they can't drive policy even then.
Yes you do vote for an independent or small party in the senate that supports some of your issues and a party or independent the supports other issues in the house of reps
And as long as we have an entrenched two party system, it will continue to be as useless as it is now. I vote for someone who doesn't get in, my vote is wasted and I'm lumped with one of the two parties, or I can suck it up and vote for one of the two options that I dislike the least as that's the only realistic way my vote will have any influence on the outcome.
The real problem here is that people become disenfranchised because they don't involve. After all why should I care about you because all you do is complain, whine, etc.
Not really. We have an institutionalised two party system in Australia. People become disenfranchised because they're left choosing between two options they don't want, or wasting their vote on an alternative that will never get in to a position relevancy.
Personally, the last government did nothing but undercut and take away things I care about. The new government, whilst being generally one I prefer, has this little bombshell, which ensures they won't get my vote in spite of otherwise being inline with my desires.
There are no other meaningful alternatives, and I have no way of effectively voting to show my support for some of the current policies of the government and my strong displeasure at others
That is disenfranchising
That's quite an awesome idea actually...
It's actually an Illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator
If you are against censorship fight that issue not technical problems in its implementation. The argument shouldn't be "censorship makes my internet slower therefore it is wrong".
Why would you do that? If you're against censorship you're never going to convince someone who is for it, making the whole exercise futile. If the one thing you can potentially convince people on is the technical limitations of the pro censorship suggestion, then it's only common sense to use that angle
Make the pain stop!
True, but somewhat beside the point in this context. He was using EVE as an example of a "pure" PvP game as an extension of his idea that there should be pure strains of the various game types. I was simply pointing out that EVE wasn't as pure in this regard as he was making out. Whether or not that PvE can be interrupted with some non consensual PvP doesn't alter the fact it is still PvE
Eve-Online has non persistent PvE in the form of missions. It's not PVP only.
I'm a casual player myself. I put in maybe and hour 3 or 4 nights a week, and then whatever time I can get on the weekends. I get by just fine. Unlike most games, Eve lets you train your skills when you're not logged in, so being a casual player is less of a problem than in many other games. That being said, being a casual player in an NPC corp can be very hard (read as boring). Pick up groups are hard to find in EVE, so you end up doing a large amount of stuff by yourself, and often without much assistance. If you've got friends who play the game or can join a corp that has similar interests to you (and there are those out there who will take new players) the game changes hugely. The social aspect, the fact that you now have goals and things to achieve for a reason other than simply making money etc make the game what it is.
Since the price of death is so high in EVE, you never really get to see too much PVP.
I don't know when you last played, but since the introduction of faction warfare, PvP is fairly easy to find, and you can get away with using small disposable ships if you want as well, because plenty of others are doing the same.
You can't really talk up EVE's immersion too much because when you run the exact same mission 18 times you should begin to think: "Didn't I already destroy this NPC pirate stronghold?"
The reason that's not much of a problem though is because missions are such a tiny part of what eve is and what you can do. Yes, the repetitive missions do damage the immersion, but the fact that there is an ingame reason for why you respawn when you die that's not available to the entire universe, the fact that you can skill up where you want without the restrictions on a class, the fact that it's got one of the most developed and complex economies in any single MMORPG, the fact that it's a sandbox playstyle game where you largely have to find your own direction and goal etc all make up for the issues with the missions in a big big way :)
You can get in to a tech 1 battleship in no time at all (something like 2 months?) and that's all that's needed to run level 4 missions. And once you can do that, you've got a license to print money, and you will make far more money than you will from mining (unless you're talking about mining in 0.0)
The ability to use IMAP is the /reason/ many people forward their domain emails to their gmail account. If you don't adjust your DNS, then you have to mail forward, which puts you back at square one with the problem of disappearing emails...
I too had my inactive account hacked and re-activated. I found out because I got an email telling me my account had been banned days before I was planning on reactivating it. After many back and forths between me and Blizzard support, I got them to unban the account, but I could not get them to tell me what state my character was in or if they would be willing to restore my stuff if it was gone. They told me to raise an ingame ticket with a GM. I wasn't going to sink money in to re-activing an account that /may/ have been levelled against my will (I was only level 48) and /may/ be able to get my gear back. They wouldn't even look in to it, so I just never bothered re-subscribing.
They forgot nothing at all. They actually submitted notice to the ACCC specifically asking for permission to be excluded from regulations that would stop this sort of thing, as it's "more secure" for the end user, and thus ultimately in the end users benefit.
They have not yet got, and likely will not get said permission, making their decision to broadcast their intentions publicly somewhat strange...
Yes, the smiley would have helped. I thought it was a strange comment, but I took it at face value. A smiley would have helped me not make an idiot of myself :)
That simple... because the geek community has a very major issue with fanboyismm
Sorry, that doesn't follow. If it did, the primary attendee of a typical gaming/sci-fi con etc would not be geeks, when generally they clearly are.
I have an issue with fanboyism. I'm a geek. I'm also aware that many of my fellow geeks are fanboys and fangirls for various things that interest them