Blarghagh

Also a big factor. I started most RPGs the first time with a basic fighter class because they are the easiest to understand, thus learn the mechanics with (and although I understood most of the mechanics from playing KotOR, KotOR II took everything a step further). While I didn't minmax myself entirely out of Intelligence and such, I also didn't get any dialogue options out of it nor did I have skill points to get those options out of. KotOR II is an example that I would say goes too far, since the end game requires at least a basic understanding of the plot. My first playthrough got so little exposition throughout that by the end my character was doing plot things railroaded by the endgame that the character should not have been doing due to lack of information or reasonable motivation. EDIT: Alternatively, didn't go far enough as it didn't provide options that my dumb, unskilled and uninfluential Jedi Weapons Master would reasonably be doing.

Yes I know you battle to empathize with some events but feeling you have to empathize now because some nameless anti-GG rabble have insulted TB because they think he is a **** seems like a waste of empathy energy ? And ISIS is much worse...much worse. Its actually silly to even compare the two as ISIS acts on there hatred and people die because of it You misunderstand, I don't empathize with TB because some internet rabble attacked him because I know that doesn't phase him. My empathy for TB and his disease, and my condemnation of their lack of empathy are seperate things. As for ISIS being worse or not, I'd say a lack of education and empathy are the sick festering core of ISIS as they are the sick festering core of these people (and to be fair, this applies just the same to those who hurled death threats at Quinn and Sarkeesian). The only difference is how far the society they live in has enabled them to go. You overstate the difference. Hatred is hatred. "Militant" is a word applied to some of these people for a reason - and sooner or later every militant organization dreams of their own Kristalnacht, whether they realize that is what it is or they pretend it's "liberation". Do you think ISIS believe themselves to be evil? How do you judge a young man who by his upbringing, environment and indoctrination truly believes he is doing the right thing, sacrificing his life because he has no choice but to destroy evil for the good of the world, as he straps a bomb to his chest? I would condemn that man's ignorance and hatred and that of those around him... but I would respect him more than someone from a civilized country who celebrates the painful death of a human being they dislike because he said some bad words on the internet. To be so ignorant and hateful in the civilized world seems worse to me than anything ISIS does, even if the effects are not worse. Okay yes I did misunderstand you, my bad But TN we still shouldn't try to compare ISIS with any online group similar to anti-GG. You are doing a real disservice to the thousands of victims and all the real misery and horror ISIS has inflicted on people and countries There are many educated people from Western countries who have joined ISIS due to the real ideological sympathies so we can't play the old " well ISIS recruits uneducated people ". Its known they have an effective Internet presence and active in social media....all this requires intelligence I don't care what ISIS thinks of themselves, they are a barbaric and reprehensible organisation that justifies complete religious intolerance, beheadings, mass killings, crucifixions and systemic rape. ISIS does use some suicide bombers but there real danger has always been they have a force of men that are prepared to engage in combat ..they also have a known " ISIS controlled region " so they are like a country of hatred for anything that isn't Sunni Muslim Anti-GG is nothing like this. They are just a presence on some parts of the Internet , I understand you are trying to make a comparison as you appalled by the comments but this analogy is a bad one ...and not accurate in almost any way To be fair, my ISIS comment was just a jab at those who early on said #GamerGate supporters were worse than ISIS. It wasn't a true comparison but an ironic statement. Either way, I totally agree that they are a barbaric and reprehensible organisation. I'm saying that I'm able to see how they could justify that sort of behaviour to themselves, not that I think their actions are in any way good. The world will be a better place when ISIS is removed from it, even if it is done violently. Doesn't make the loss of human life that could have been better any less of a shame. There is a difference between realizing and stating that the world would be better off with some people dead, and reveling in such statements and realizations. As for whether you think the comparison is not accurate, that's your opinion. I would say you are wrong. The core of statements such as what was made about TotalBiscuit is the same as the core that formed ISIS. The effects of ISIS on a global scale are, indeed, much worse. But there is more to hatred than just "how many people feel it". If I were to take a single ISIS supporter and ask him why he does the things he does, I'm sure he'll say very similar things as the person who claimed TB should die. "They offended something important to my ideology, so they deserve to die." I've seen militant SJWs claiming such things before, but it's also what sparked the attacks on Charlie Hebdo. The core is the same, the level of extremism is just less. But I recognize we are probably in different opinions on this, as I have enough empathy to say no matter what I believe I would never revel in somebody's pain and disease, whereas you stated: "I would also be saying " I am glad he is dying ' if I was a committed anti-GG." (It's odd that you of all people questioned my ability to feel empathy before since your statements show a complete lack of it.) I do find it interesting that a lot of hardcore free speech proponents who feel online trolling is harmless and people should be allowed to do that find these comments over the line. Not saying I disagree with either sentiment. Just find it interesting. I think cyber-bullying is a problem that should be adressed, it's just that currently nobody has produced viable solutions least of all SJWs (whose solutions often just result in more problems, like the call to remove internet anonymity to remove anonymous cyber-bullying while simultaneously removing every anonymous avenue needed by people struggling with their identities or mental problems to come to terms with things). EDIT: Whenever I have free time, I seem to insit on wasting it writing massive responses on forum threads. I really should stop that.

An interesting thing about KotOR II is that I didn't understand the story at all until I played it through with an influence guide. My first impression of Kreia was "annoying old hag" so I never took her along, which meant I never heard the interesting things she had to say and all of her exposition was locked behind the influence gate. I was completely lost by the time I got to the end game. I had no clue what planet I was on, what happened to it, why I was fighting Kreia, or what her plan was. The entire thing was lost on me. I wonder how many other people had a similar first experience. It's only because I liked the original so much that I really wanted to like the sequel and pushed on with a second go at the game with an influence walkthrough. Of course, it could be that I was still pretty young when KotOR II came out. I wasn't the smartest 16 year old.

Yes I know you battle to empathize with some events but feeling you have to empathize now because some nameless anti-GG rabble have insulted TB because they think he is a **** seems like a waste of empathy energy ? And ISIS is much worse...much worse. Its actually silly to even compare the two as ISIS acts on there hatred and people die because of it You misunderstand, I don't empathize with TB because some internet rabble attacked him because I know that doesn't phase him. My empathy for TB and his disease, and my condemnation of their lack of empathy are seperate things. As for ISIS being worse or not, I'd say a lack of education and empathy are the sick festering core of ISIS as they are the sick festering core of these people (and to be fair, this applies just the same to those who hurled death threats at Quinn and Sarkeesian). The only difference is how far the society they live in has enabled them to go. You overstate the difference. Hatred is hatred. "Militant" is a word applied to some of these people for a reason - and sooner or later every militant organization dreams of their own Kristalnacht, whether they realize that is what it is or they pretend it's "liberation". Do you think ISIS believe themselves to be evil? How do you judge a young man who by his upbringing, environment and indoctrination truly believes he is doing the right thing, sacrificing his life because he has no choice but to destroy evil for the good of the world, as he straps a bomb to his chest? I would condemn that man's ignorance and hatred and that of those around him... but I would respect him more than someone from a civilized country who celebrates the painful death of a human being they dislike because he said some bad words on the internet. To be so ignorant and hateful in the civilized world seems worse to me than anything ISIS does, even if the effects are not worse.

Yes, because I have a thing called empathy. I don't even have that much of it. I have a hard time empathising with most people, but I would not celebrate the pain of someone I disliked. For example, I don't like Sarkeesian, but it sucks that she gets abuse. And a terminal disease is a magnitude worse than people having an online hate-boner for you. This is a human being who is going to ****ing die, and some people see it as a cause for celebration. That is not a civilized thing to do. That will never be a civilized thing to do, no matter how much you try to rationalize it. That is the kind of thing terrorists do after a succesful bombing run. There's some irony in that - I wonder who is worse than ISIS now?

It's ridiculous and wouldn't have held up in court. The thing is, a tiny game company is not going to go up against them.

I dunno, I'd say Baseball would be much improved by the addition of Katanas.

That sucks. He's one of the few truly pro-consumer voices out there and I hope he gets to stay that way a good while longer.

Eh, sometimes I feel like I do live there. Whatever dumb **** the US of A does, the EU is likely going to follow. Because they're idjits.

Okay, and why would you say that Clinton supporters are undeserving of any credit It's not hard to understand. You want me/us to give Clinton supporters more credit than saying all her support is just because she is a woman. They'll get that when they deserve it, because all the Clinton support is because she is a woman. She herself cannot stop bringing it up because it is the basis of her running. There's also the fact that Clinton is barely progressive. She's a centrist capitalist who used to be on the board of directors of Walmart. I have a very hard time believing she's going to work hard for the working class. Progressives will vote for her because they will feel great about voting for a woman, look how progressive I am. Historically, the only left-wing ideals she consistenly votes are anti-military and gay rights. Economically, she is a conservative. There is no reason to vote for her as a liberal over, say, Sanders, if you discount her gender. As a European, by our standards Hillary would be on the right.

Indeed, but as the article points out some of the alien explanations are generally more likely than most of the non-alien one's, so that's cool.

Based on what? Unless they remove content after you bought it, I don't think there's a lawsuit that stands a chance. If customers don't inform themselves, that's their fault. If gamers keep buying this stuff, companies will continue to make it. They make a game you want, but it has microtransactions in it and that pisses you off so much? Tough luck.

They'll get that when they show they deserve it.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/forget-water-on-mars-astronomers-may-have-just-found-giant-alien-megastructures-orbiting-a-star-near-a6693886.html Astronomers may have just found giant, alien "megastructures" orbiting a star near the milky way. Theoretically related to the idea of a dyson sphere. o.O

I thought this was the funny things thread. That just depressed me.

I don't think that the Ron Paul crowd were all libertarians, at the time the term was pretty unknown and has only come to the light due to Paul politics. That's giving Paul unfair credit. The only reason the general public knows what a Libertarian even is is this guy:

Didn't he bankrupt his company several times?

Are you sure? Hitler, Stalin & Mao didn't use religion as their ideological apparatus (in fact the latter two used atheism as part of theirs), yet their institutions were plenty oppressive. What he said (as quoted by you): religion has served as the dominant ideological apparatus for explicitly oppressive institutions What you read: religion has served as the dominant ideological apparatus for ALL explicitly oppressive institutions There's a minor but key difference.

Whoa, whoa. You want to take my days off away ? Get ready for the pyre, blasphemer! +1 I'm fine with abolishing religion as long as I keep my precious days off.

Vermin and maggots! Young people these days need to learn to fail because the system protects them. Like all problems, this would be fixed by decent education. Sadly that seems to be no priority anywhere. I was the same until I got the mental help I needed because I missed that crucial part of mental development. I don't know how it works in America, but here the high school system has multiple levels of difficulty. I started on a high level, but I didn't feel like the lessons were engaging, stopped studying entirely, and started failing classes. The school didn't talk to me or my parents about it, they didn't find out what was going wrong or try to fix either me or the lessons. No, the next semester I was just placed in lower level classes, where I could get by without ever studying or doing any work. It worked perfectly to make sure I never put in any effort, was bored out of my skull and got completely disillusioned with the world. Most of the people I know have similar stories - instead of wanting you to learn, they want you to get good grades, so they lower you to a lower difficulty. People I know who struggled with real trauma weren't helped but just gently lowered to the bottom rank. Education needs to be a higher priority before any of this will get better. Because with the current generation of parents, and the way the system prioritizes standardized testing over learning, this is only going to get worse.

Looks like the subject of Firedorn still isn't interesting to keep a topic from derailing in less than 3 pages. For so many people saying they care, it seems most of them really care about something else. Closed for derailment. It was surprisingly more civil than last time, however, so props for that to everyone.

One time, I was asked for directions and I had to send someone through a tunnel in my native tongue. But I could only come up with the English word for tunnel, so I didn't know how to explain it to him. I realized half an hour later that the dutch word for tunnel is just tunnel.

Judging people entirely by their race? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's against the forum guidelines.

Where do you work?