Blarghagh

In combination with dumb, rebellious teenagers yes, that is about the vague idea I had in mind concerning their identity. In all honesty, it's impossible to be sure but this problem is not limited to simply kicking boundaries to see how far they go. Easy to say, for sure (Adams' is annoying to read with the snark) but I'm not a fan of enforced politeness all that much. But as Gorgon stated, you'll be trying to make a place where people are both anonymous and relatively safe from any retribution to be a civil space. Rather uphill challenge, it'll probably happen eventually though. I'm not sold on it being anonymous. I have no problems with my name being visible, or at least available in some way. RealID hasn't impacted me in the slightest. I use my real name on social media like Facebook and it doesn't matter to me. As for "forced politeness", I'm not saying everyone has to be polite, I don't care if someone calls me a **** in a game, but discrimination and harrassment are another thing entirely. Well is anonymous now, and on most online games you're just a handle (not sure how things are on the console side). The article by Adams seemed to have that aura of enforced civility where you have to 'earn' a right to speak or get fined for 'bad' (defined by who..) behaviour. Hm, yeah kind of. Some people on the internet seem to have crappy parents or weren't beaten enough as children, heh. I have to admit the whole "earn the right to speak" idea is one idea that doesn't sit well with me. It strikes me as "guilty until proven innocent", plus I'm assuming that most people who don't have an agenda to push won't bother anyway.

The assumption there being that this is all rebellious, dumb teenagers, which is simpy not true. It may be a part of the problem, but at least a large portion of the abusive gamers are NOT teenagers or children. In fact, the Cross Assault incident that sparked this debate across the internet recently was about abuse, threat of rape and then defense of said abuse towards a female gamer ("Sexism is a part of being a gamer!") by THIS GUY. (Link if image doesn't work: http://static.guim.c...nd-Aris-007.jpg)

Easy to say, for sure (Adams' is annoying to read with the snark) but I'm not a fan of enforced politeness all that much. But as Gorgon stated, you'll be trying to make a place where people are both anonymous and relatively safe from any retribution to be a civil space. Rather uphill challenge, it'll probably happen eventually though. I'm not sold on it being anonymous. I have no problems with my name being visible, or at least available in some way. RealID hasn't impacted me in the slightest. I use my real name on social media like Facebook and it doesn't matter to me. As for "forced politeness", I'm not saying everyone has to be polite, I don't care if someone calls me a **** in a game, but discrimination and harrassment are another thing entirely. If they were easy fixes for a problem like this it would be long gone by now. While multiplayer games are chiefly aimed at children there is simply no way to change things. Player demographics being what it is mean that one adult cannot force behavioral change on a whole crowd of teenagers. Especially since the latter have a lot more free time. Nobody has attempted to fix it. There are some games with a "report harrassment" button or similar, but they remain mostly unused due to indifference and acceptance of the problem and the consequences are pretty much nonexistent. Ignore buttons don't work because they'll just jump unto a different account or toon or change their name and continue harrassing you. Fair enough. I'm not as willing to accept these things as you are. I agree that gaming has matured, but that doesn't mean that gamers have. Obsidian is actually one of the very few places game-related forums where you actually see mature gamers - and this place isn't exactly a hotbed of activity. I'm trying to raise awareness for what I consider a serious problem. EDIT: And doesn't it bother anyone that the people speak out against this get attacked? Other than simple threats, Youtube videos on the subject get reported as terrorism, the website Gamers Against Bigotry has gotten hacked several times. Gamasutra runs all of Ernest Adams' Designer's Notebook columns but got cold feet on this one simply because of the violent way gamers react to this subject. The feminist gamer who announced a series about the subject became the subject of a game where the entire purpose was to beat the woman up. This is literally people being opressed.

I know a lot of freelance graphic designers and 2D animators hang out at the forums of ConceptArt.org, I think your question will get clearer answers there. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

So you gave up a part of your hobby for these reasons, ergo these reasons have actively influenced you to change what you do in the past, yet they don't bother you at all? If the gaming "community" wasn't like this, is it likely that you would still be playing games online or not?

Not sure if trolling, but here goes: I've stopped playing Blizzard games online despite enjoying the games because having to deal with Battle.net users' particular brand of vile isn't worth it. Competetive games such as League of Legends are filled with abuse and rampant racism. I also know several women who have stopped playing online games they enjoy playing because the moment someone (through name, profile, vent-chat or whatever) figures out they're female they will get nothing but demeaning comments about their gender (being called things that would be censored here) and even threats of violence or rape. This is not a pet peeve, this is a serious problem with online gaming. If someone spits offensive bile at you in a restaurant, would you just take it? How is a game any different? I'm sick of being associated with these people by virtue of my hobby, and I'm also sick of having to deal with it. Here's a question: Why are you being so antagonistic towards an initiative to stop discrimination? It's not that big a windmill to tilt at. Both Ernest Adams' column and the Extra Credits episode give several easy fixes for problems like this.

Actually, judging by your interpretation of what I said, I have to repeat that you are completely and utterly missing the point, your teen angst about not wanting to conform to popular culture aside. I'm not saying Obsidian people are typical gamer bullies, in fact the reason I'm posting this here is because Obsidian is NOT. As Gorgon so easily establishes, it's the "pfft, it's just the internet" attitude of the smarter and mature people in the gaming community that allows this sort of behaviour to continue and ruin gaming as a hobby for thousands of people.

I'll more than gladly accept that, but thanks for completely missing the point and going offtopic with the first reply in a thread.

I'd go for that if it wasn't 90% of the action genre right now. People seem to have forgotten how to make Action Movies without putting people in a costume.

http://gamersagainstbigotry.org/ Since it's inception, Gamers Against Bigotry has been repeatedly attacked by hackers to the point where game websites will no longer mention them or print articles about it, so gamer forums are the only recourse left. Please support Gamers Against Bigotry and help reclaim the gaming community from filth spewing manchildren. Other sources about Bigotry and Harrassment in the video game community. http://www.designersnotebook.com/Columns/115_A_Call_to_Arms/115_a_call_to_arms.htm A Designer's Notebook Column by renowned Game Designer and Game Theorist Ernest W. Adams about reclaiming the community. Because of it's subject matter and it's mention of Gamers Against Bigotry game website Gamasutra refused to run this out of fear for reprisal. http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/harassment The Extra Credits episode about Harrassment. http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/06/12/feminist-frequency-kickstarter-successful-despite-internet-asshats An article about the towards against women who speak out against sexism in games, and a successor article about the horrendous slander and virtual violence against this person: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/07/12/too-much-hate-anita-sarkeesian http://kotaku.com/5875690/these-might-be-the-most-sexist-gamers-on-the-planet Kotaku article about sexist gamers. http://kotaku.com/5889066/competitive-gamers-inflammatory-comments-spark-sexual-harassment-debate Kotaku article about the infamous Cross Assault debacle. This behaviour is unnacceptable and we, gamers as a culture, are responsible for allowing it to happen. It's up to us to make it stop.

I'm not sure how much graphic designers/2D animators charge, but for finding freelancers go to http://www.aniboom.com/ and start a project, most likely you'll get offers. 2D animators especially are always looking for jobs.

That's weird, I know of at least 12 other people who felt the need to emphasize that they knew people who didn't enjoy the movie either. Harry from Ain't It Cool News had to validate his opinion by saying "see, I'm not alone" too. Why do people need to go on the defensive right away with this movie? Are Nolanites really that bad? *Note that I'm not comparing you to Harry Knowles because that would be a grave insult, and that I expect you have actual reasons whereas Harry's review consisted out of screaming "does not conform to the source material" and subsequently proving to know nothing about the source material by being wrong about every point.

Dark Knight Rises. While Dark Knight set a more realistic universe, Dark Knight Rises takes a slight step back, being more like Batman Begins in feel (and has essentially the same plot*). It's more realistic than most comic book movies, but it's a comic book movie through and through. Still, a fantastic action movie and while it lacks a performance like Heath Ledger's Joker, the performances all around are more solid this time (Christian Bale does a fine job and Anne Hathaway's Catwoman is as close as the movie comes to a standout performance, Tom Hardy's Bane is a physical presence though his acting is hampered by the costume) and the plot felt more cohesive as a whole. A fitting end to the trilogy, but it's still the Return of the Jedi to The Dark Knight's Empire Strikes Back. Also, anyone who complains about Bane's voice being unintelligeble needs to get their ears checked, English isn't even my first language and I understood everything just fine. He's perfectly understandable.

Wasn't the reboot confirmed already?

Len Wiseman didn't direct the new one. He did direct Die Hard 4, which lacked Beckinsale. But he's currently directing the Total Recall remake, which DOES have Beckinsale. The jury's out on that one.

Wasn't this some musical group or something? They seem oddly familiar.

Oh dear lord get it away from me. Hisssss! *makes cross with fingers*

My self-help book on procrastination arrived. I'll read it later. Sadly not a joke.

As much as I hate myself for this, there is only one possible response to that:

Really? I think he's looking like he's using that mechanical toilet that's attached to him.

But probably will pretty soon. Rumor has it the beta'll start at least this summer.

So Blizz said that they overestimated how long gear-hunting would keep people interested as far as endgame content is concerned and will try to add something more sustainable. Intigued!

I hate the ruling that you can resell digital games. Why? Because it's just the push publishers need to turn all games into having access to a service ala Diablo III rather than buying it as property. This isn't a win in the long run.

They're on your account, not your game client, so yeah, I'm figuring indefinitely.

I am having an extreme fighting AND tunnel deficiency! Step up, Monte!