Monte Carlo

The world needs to man up. Srsly. Sticks and stones.

...and I believe you can't hand out "freedom" like it was some kind of candy and expect people to appreciate, much less respect the responsibility that comes with something not earned. My bad. The internet was a military application. The world wide web wasn't. There is a discrete difference. As for your last comment, we will have to agree to differ. You don't hand out freedom, it is a natural birthright. And with respect you are missing the point. Shared values that grow out of efficacy work. If people took responsibility for their corner of the internet, not all of it, then the wankers would only have a few places left to go, crude echo-chambers where they could vent their spleen, irrelevant and marginalised. Trying to enlighten them via PC-as-missionary lobby groups just panders to their vanity.

You sort of have that already. Despite assurances of the opposite, there are things you can't say in public. There are things you can't print on paper and there are things you can't say on TV. Why should the internet be any different? Whoah. Stop. Right. There. The internet was designed to be unregulated. The very essence of the internet is it's freedom and extra-judicial nature. This is why dead tree press outlets and media organisations loathe the net and want to control it: they can't harness it for nickel and dime profit so they want to strap it down with the rules they suffer. Tough. The world moves on, law moves on. It's very simple. The net is like a shopping mall. Only go in the bits of it you want to and avoid the rest. I'm a middle-aged guy who goes to work in a suit. If I walked into a bar for twenty-something goths I might want to think about (a) fitting in and being open to their mores or (b) not entering in the first place. It really is that simple. I also support private property rights. A website is private property. This one is policed by Moderators. We either take due regard of their direction or leave... Why is this such a difficult concept to understand? My beef is with services that *should* be moderated but are not (see my post about the Relic servers). The internet is the most amazing phenomenon. I am a passionate defender of it's core mission, which was to create a free forum for interaction, commerce and entertainment free of the dead hand of governments of every stripe (from authoritarian right to wheedling Gramscian liberal-left). 'Gamers Against Bigotry' could easily become 'Gamers Telling You What You Can and Cannot Say.' They should either man up, change their mission to something more sensible or go away.

May I also say that 'Gamers Against Bigotry' sounds too worthy, earnest and crap. I cannot march in step with an organisation with this moniker, as all too often the term bigot is used as a weapon. I think we can all agree that 'Gamers Against Jerks' makes more sense.

The irresistible pull of Godwin's...

I took a fairly long break from it, went back with my monk and it's still pretty good fun.

Can you have a 'romance' with a brutish half-orc anti-paladin?

I want more war movies.

Go to Repulse Bay. If you can get out of the city, dip your toe into the New Territories.

You are a lawyer and I claim per diem fees, lunch and additional costs.

Nostalgia doesn't work with me - it tends to severely disappoint. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

You also must be such a nice guy in real life...? I am a flinty-eyed harbinger of vengeance.

I have mixed feelings. I too, am leery of "enforced civility." The left increasingly use 'isms' to shut down debate they don't like (normally because they are losing), and online is their latest Gramscian battleground. Screw them. Personally, if a group of guys want to have a forum where they bitch about unrealistic nun units and I don't like it then I can (a) troll the hell out of it until I'm banned, just for the lulz or (b) just bloody well avoid it. Getting incensed on someone elses behalf isn't (usually) how I roll. On the other hand, the level of abuse on some online gaming servers is a disgrace, just on grounds of basic human civility. Company of Heroes, for example, is infested with Nazis. The gamereplays.org chatroom is full of racist and anti-semitic BS. Relic should be ashamed of itself for not moderating it. Now, what's the difference between allegedly-sexist-nun-haters and CoH? Well, if I want to partake in the community for a game I bought and which has a EULA specifically prohibiting that type of behaviour then I think I'm entitled to see some standards enforced. The web forum? It's private property, dude, and I support property rights. So I'm broadly supportive of what TN says. Then again, women are getting into gaming in such a big way, the dollars will follow them and the dudes bemoaning the lack of machismo in their games might as well shout at the nearest raincloud to stop pissing on them. There are lots of women's forums that are hotbeds of the type of lazy sexism that they can get away with cuz they're women. If a bunch of crotchety dudes want a web-cave then let them get on with it. Not really my cup of tea, but there you go. Cheers MC

There's something immensely reassuring about writing the same rubbish, incessantly, since February 2004.

The problem with Oby isn't that he's a troll. It's that he's dull. At least LoF wasn't boring.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/07/25/avellone-tempted-to-kickstart-planescape-2-do-it/ OK fan-persons, squeegasm to your hearts content.

It's a shame that list doesn't include murder of dissidents, suppression of free press, electoral corruption, state corruption, overseas assassination programs, alcoholism death rates, institutionalised kleptomania and uber-camp, posing bare-chested politicians. Because Mother Russia would score reasonably well.

Tis a shame you don't have capital punishment for treason. I'd hang this guy. Slowly.

Yes, but better.

Path of Exile really is an incredible piece of work. The social / MP model has some MMO-type ideas (Raids etc) and the crafting / item model is a fresh twist on the stuff we loved about old Diablo. The power-ups and skills are an interesting matrix of items / modal and passive skills and flasks. Flasks are like health / mana potions that have different effects and re-charge the more monsters you kill.... again a fresh twist on life globes. All in all I'd say this was a keeper. If I worked at Blizzard and saw this I'd hang my head in shame, it really is that much fun. It deserves support, folks on this forum will like it I'm sure.

Path of Exile. OK, I've only played a bit of it. I paid a US$10 beta key. For a game that is what D3 should have been. It's like a load of thoughtful gamers not obsessed with money-grubbing designed it. Massive (and I mean freaking massive) skill trees allowing all sorts of theory-crafting madness Nice but not OTT graphics, water effects are nice Some interesting classes (Ranger, Duelist, Witch, Templar, Shadow and Reaver) Great enemies (got attacked by a mob of hungry cannibals who pelted me with rocks and fire bombs Bizzaro crafting / rune system where runes give you different skills (a bit like D&D feats) in your equipment but instead these runes level up too. So you can train runes and swap them between your equipment Trading in the first area involves barter, your character is on a wrecked prison ship so no gold, no merchants Music isn't bad Multiplayer on choice of two servers, it is populated no probs getting a game I have one beef at the moment and that's the awful mini-map, but it's still in beta and I'll be giving feedback. So, if you're after a Diablo fix (and this *is* a clone) but with a game that feels like an older-skool ARPG (esp. D2 these guys are clearly D2 fans) then this might be for you. Recommended.

Have decided to get behind and support Path of Exile, a small indie Diablo-clone from New Zealand (it must get cold and lonely down there). Am downloading it now, will let you know what I think but it looks purdy. Open Beta begins in August. https://www.pathofexile.com/

We already knew that. Somebody who doesn't even know a well known game like L4D2 has an offline portion obviously can't be trusted with the prestigious "Gamer" tag. Nah nah nah. You are brilliant. Seriously. I am glad you are my virtual sort-of-but-not-quite friend.

I am a Gaemer, which is different.

Am clearly not a gamer, as I don't like R* games at all. I don't know what I am if I'm, not a gamer, though. Steam shows me putting in the hours an' all.