Yeah, okay. Video games probably do make an extremely small number of people edge over the line and go psycho killer. But isn't it possible that they prevent just as many? I'm not saying that in a world where I didn't have a nice, harmless way to release my violent tendancies that I definitely would kill anybody....but you know, I really can't say I wouldn't either.
If somebody tries to shoot you but then you shoot them first, it doesn't count as a 'violent crime.' But still, maybe it would have been better if nothing had happened at all.
Honestly, I couldn't care less about what people consider to be a crime. Decreasing 'crime' is not something I care about. Cutting back on real violence, though, that I would like.
Okay, so video games are the abestos, so what are the cigarettes? It's not like it's a great mystery to any thinking person, and it's been discussed to death in the comments here: biology, parents, etc. But you never see that, do you? You never see, "Teen goes on killing spree because of bad parenting!" on the top of the newspaper.
Similarly, nobody comes out and says, "Video games cause all violence," that's right. But they say, "Video games cause violence," and leave it at that. They know they can't get away with saying it, but they DO imply it, as asinine as it is.
There are, in fact, many people in America that think crime is on a huge upswing solely due to the consistent and widespread morphing of American youth into killing machines due to the games they play.
THis brings back memories from a couple years ago when a Devry rep came to talk in my shigh school senior english class...the teacher had us prepared. We basically all collaborated to subtly mock him for half an hour. We were going for that nice method of hinting to the person that you're making fun of them, but never saying anything actually offensive, so they just get really uncomfortable.
I think it worked.
Then we put all made-up info on the forms he made us fill out!
I kinda like how they actually require you to do co-op here. If it were optional, I'd never end up doing it, though I know how great a thing it is to do.
That's actually really good advice, and it's not really very hard to do once you try it out a bit. This is coming from somebody who tends to do most of his driving in five-hour spurts of freeway. For me, keeping alert can be problematic.
Erm...I'm not sure how much OSS is useful in this case. At all.
I run SpyBot and Ad-Aware and I have never detected any real spyware on my computer. That's because I know enough to avoid it even when all my apps are closed-source.
The people with the problems are people who can't examine the code for themselves anyway...which leaves the average Joe precisely where he is already.
Besides, are you telling me that checking on network traffic on an individual machine (I've seen some fabulous programs that do this very comprehensively) is more difficult and time-consuming than decyphering code that's purposefully cryptic?
There are some great and significant things about OSS--but it's not the solution to all the world's problems.
Even in the crazy world of politicians, I'm not sure somebody who wanted to do that could even get so far in the primaries...but then I'm an optimist. From what I hear he wants to keep outsourcing possible, but make it inadvisable, financially, to overdo it. By rewarding use of domestic labor with tax breaks, or by taking some away for use of foreign labor. (Don't they get enough breaks already?)
If you stop outsourcing, your job will not be any safer because your company will become weaker and a stronger European or Indian software market will evolve.
Or maybe the normal, capitalistic thing will happen and the companies will compete, preventing them from hoarding the billions of dollars that they are now thanks to the savings from outsourcing.
The problem as I see it, is that people's entire lives are dependent upon their relationship to the outsourcing firm in question.
That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? Honestly, where the hell is that more than $50,000 they save on each and every outsourced job? It's disappeared! People complain about the $8,000 per worked put into the Indian economy, but the disappearance of that much larger sum is a much greater issue.
Hey, it could be put to use giving an American another, slightly-lower paying job! Would anybody have a problem with that?
I'm actually pretty positive I heard Kerry say something about this. About stripping companies who outsource excessively of their lovely tax breaks, I think.
Since he's currently the frontrunner, I'm damn glad he's at least aware of the issue. Should give him some nice, intelligent-sounding, patriotic lines during speeches, that even sound great to people who have no idea what he's talking about. Something like...uh...something like a speechwriter would come up with.
About the massed units thing...I'm not a fan of that, either. In fact, smaller forces was one of the few things I preferred in Warcraft III over StarCraft. I like that if I attack an enemy with an inferior force, superior management of that force can lead to my victory. With the addition of the hero units, micromanagement became a major focus of Warcraft III, and I love it. Most of the other RTS games out these days don't focus on micro at all, and usually actually make it impractical. I like them anyway, sure, but...ah, well.
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Yeah, okay. Video games probably do make an extremely small number of people edge over the line and go psycho killer. But isn't it possible that they prevent just as many? I'm not saying that in a world where I didn't have a nice, harmless way to release my violent tendancies that I definitely would kill anybody....but you know, I really can't say I wouldn't either.
Yeah, that's right. Here they barely even have to pretend to be fair and neutral.
THe article didn't reach much of a 'conclusion' anyway, it just raised questions.
If somebody tries to shoot you but then you shoot them first, it doesn't count as a 'violent crime.' But still, maybe it would have been better if nothing had happened at all.
Honestly, I couldn't care less about what people consider to be a crime. Decreasing 'crime' is not something I care about. Cutting back on real violence, though, that I would like.
Okay, so video games are the abestos, so what are the cigarettes? It's not like it's a great mystery to any thinking person, and it's been discussed to death in the comments here: biology, parents, etc. But you never see that, do you? You never see, "Teen goes on killing spree because of bad parenting!" on the top of the newspaper.
Similarly, nobody comes out and says, "Video games cause all violence," that's right. But they say, "Video games cause violence," and leave it at that. They know they can't get away with saying it, but they DO imply it, as asinine as it is.
There are, in fact, many people in America that think crime is on a huge upswing solely due to the consistent and widespread morphing of American youth into killing machines due to the games they play.
Feeling nerdy? I can help! My collection of Card novels now totals... [ computing ]...eighteen!
THis brings back memories from a couple years ago when a Devry rep came to talk in my shigh school senior english class...the teacher had us prepared. We basically all collaborated to subtly mock him for half an hour. We were going for that nice method of hinting to the person that you're making fun of them, but never saying anything actually offensive, so they just get really uncomfortable.
I think it worked.
Then we put all made-up info on the forms he made us fill out!
Good times.
I kinda like how they actually require you to do co-op here. If it were optional, I'd never end up doing it, though I know how great a thing it is to do.
That's actually really good advice, and it's not really very hard to do once you try it out a bit. This is coming from somebody who tends to do most of his driving in five-hour spurts of freeway. For me, keeping alert can be problematic.
I use the 'just being a crappy driver' technique.
I swear, it keeps me safer. Nobody's EVER near me. They spot me a mile away.
Yeah, that's true...I bet a lot more people had heard of that than any of the games they actually put on the list.
Plus, like all the others on the list...I'm kinda glad it never came out.
Really? McDonalds will pay me double because of my degree?!?
Ohhh, you mean those jobs. The ones that don't exist.
Actually, student loans can't be wiped out. You die? Sucks to be your next-of-kin.
Mmm...if they do it all drug-bust style, it's actually okay to shoot them if you can do it before any of them flash some kind of warrant-like thing.
But it is easy to use! It invades your privacy with no user input at all!
Erm...I'm not sure how much OSS is useful in this case. At all.
I run SpyBot and Ad-Aware and I have never detected any real spyware on my computer. That's because I know enough to avoid it even when all my apps are closed-source.
The people with the problems are people who can't examine the code for themselves anyway...which leaves the average Joe precisely where he is already.
Besides, are you telling me that checking on network traffic on an individual machine (I've seen some fabulous programs that do this very comprehensively) is more difficult and time-consuming than decyphering code that's purposefully cryptic?
There are some great and significant things about OSS--but it's not the solution to all the world's problems.
Actually, a vaccine is a contaminant.
It's more like an antibiotic full of immune bacteria.
Even in the crazy world of politicians, I'm not sure somebody who wanted to do that could even get so far in the primaries...but then I'm an optimist. From what I hear he wants to keep outsourcing possible, but make it inadvisable, financially, to overdo it. By rewarding use of domestic labor with tax breaks, or by taking some away for use of foreign labor. (Don't they get enough breaks already?)
Of course, Kerry's specifically mentioned his opposition to outsourcing in the past...
If you stop outsourcing, your job will not be any safer because your company will become weaker and a stronger European or Indian software market will evolve.
Or maybe the normal, capitalistic thing will happen and the companies will compete, preventing them from hoarding the billions of dollars that they are now thanks to the savings from outsourcing.
A secretary and an IT professional aren't really very comparable. The difference in skill, in the 'education' sense, is far too great.
The problem as I see it, is that people's entire lives are dependent upon their relationship to the outsourcing firm in question.
That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? Honestly, where the hell is that more than $50,000 they save on each and every outsourced job? It's disappeared! People complain about the $8,000 per worked put into the Indian economy, but the disappearance of that much larger sum is a much greater issue.
Hey, it could be put to use giving an American another, slightly-lower paying job! Would anybody have a problem with that?
That 50 cents the Indians are paying? Yeah, they ARE going out to eat.
I'm actually pretty positive I heard Kerry say something about this. About stripping companies who outsource excessively of their lovely tax breaks, I think.
Since he's currently the frontrunner, I'm damn glad he's at least aware of the issue. Should give him some nice, intelligent-sounding, patriotic lines during speeches, that even sound great to people who have no idea what he's talking about. Something like...uh...something like a speechwriter would come up with.
Then again, Nintendo's stated that their next-gen console will, finally, be backwards compatible.
About the massed units thing...I'm not a fan of that, either. In fact, smaller forces was one of the few things I preferred in Warcraft III over StarCraft. I like that if I attack an enemy with an inferior force, superior management of that force can lead to my victory. With the addition of the hero units, micromanagement became a major focus of Warcraft III, and I love it. Most of the other RTS games out these days don't focus on micro at all, and usually actually make it impractical. I like them anyway, sure, but...ah, well.