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Everything posted by Zoraptor
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Journalism and sexism in the games industry
Zoraptor replied to LadyCrimson's topic in Way Off-Topic
Don't hold your breathe if you expect the left to be the ones to do it. If there is a push back; it'll be from the right. The Gamergate political compass survey was pretty left dominated- not as much as it was libertarian dominated but maybe 3:1 ratio. Though of course that may not be relevant/ directly applicable for universities and the like where most students (by far) are militantly uninterested in university politics- and PC's methodology may not be wholly unbiased- it does suggest that GG at least has been push back from the left. In any case the best approach is to just ignore the left right label and treat it entirely as an authoritarian/ libertarian axis thing. As much as is possible at least- says the guy who was describing Breitbart as at best enemy of an enemy a page ago. -
Grom, your entire premise rests on you proving I said that Russia's economy would be fine, and providing the context. Post Proof Or Retract, Put Up Or Shut Up. No quotes -> Weasel and you arguing with your own imagination. Which logically means the ostrich/ loon hybrid is... you; I guess sub conscious self awareness is better than no self awareness. And yes, timing and quotes/ cites do matter as it provides crucial context and prevents selective. To illustrate: I could dig up posts from people saying that the 'ATO' would be over in August last year with Ukrainian victory. Well, clearly all those people must be ostriches, as it ain't over and Ukraine has lost lots of territory since then. Nope. Anyone who said something like "this will be over in weeks unless Russia intervenes" was correct, broadly speaking and certainly in the consensus of opinion; that is why context and quoting is crucial- and why I suspect you're so frightened of providing actual quotes, you're just regurgitating the first part with no qualifier. If I claimed Joe Bloggs said "this will be over in weeks" and he actually said "this will be over in weeks unless Russia intervenes" I'd be the Weasel because I'm saying he said what I would like him to have said, not what he actually said. But it isn't me doing that. Anyway, since you're clearly not going to provide actual quotes discussion should probably go back to what is happening in Ukraine, where the ceasefire seems to be holding. Or about as well as the last one did, only with Debaltsevo instead of Donetsk Airport (which the UA should have withdrawn from under the first ceasefire conditions but didn't)
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Journalism and sexism in the games industry
Zoraptor replied to LadyCrimson's topic in Way Off-Topic
This reminds me that while Ken Levine didn't criticise games journalists for the SVU thing he did have one of the better responses to it: (minor sexy lady warning on his link; would probably get a KaineParker thread shut down) -
Nope. You've asserted what my opinion is without evidence and are busy 'refuting' that with your 'proofs'. Here's how it works, you find posts that illustrate what my view is, and quote them. Until and unless you do that you're just arguing with your own imagination. For example, these are your assertions from the last two pages: Where?* Where?* Which ostrich routine, where**? Hmm, maybe ostrich means I actually didn't actually reply at all... Which would mean you really are arguing with your imagination. Ah, proof, at last! Except... it's a link to one of your own posts and there ain't a relevant post of mine within pages. Well, except the one I've already proved I'm right about. Actually respond with some proof, links, evidence or whatever that I've said what you claim and what (you think) my views are. Until you do that you've been Weaseling and/ or Strawmanning; repeatedly 'refuting' something I've apparently only said in your own mind. Sheesh, I'm not even clear on what you think I've said due to your lack of actual quotes so even if I wanted to 'refute' your imagination there is, literally, no way to do so. So no, I'm not going to respond to you refuting an imaginary me, it's both pointless and enabling. Come back with the quotes from me and I'll clarify or defend them, I may even admit that I was wrong as that has been known to happen. Without those quotes though... well, no point. *Dates here are significant, too, as: **Oh, June 2014, before the main bank of sanctions in August and before the Russian counter sanctions you were insisting have raised prices independent of the exchange rate. Even if you could provide cites you'd be assuming I'm prescient about those future sanctions.
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Journalism and sexism in the games industry
Zoraptor replied to LadyCrimson's topic in Way Off-Topic
Probably should be noted that he is, iirc, a former WoW developer, albeit main designer of vanilla. I can't see many currently involved industry people except perhaps some of the east europeans saying something so critical of the press since they mainly want them on their side still. -
le sigh. They have a near trillion dollar sovereign wealth fund- I did kind of mention it. With a population of, what, 5 (?) million that gives the best part of 200,000 USD per capita in reserves. And really, it's your example, you should at least have some basic knowledge if you're going to try and prove a point with it instead of relying on me all the time. As for other countries that depend on oil they either have major other historic problems and currencies that were already severely depressed/ controlled (Venezuela, Nigeria; which has dropped by roughly a third from their already low level anyway) or they're gulf (or equivalent like Brunei) states that have massive cash reserves (both absolute and p/capita) and, most importantly, very cheap production costs that mean they make money even at $50 a barrel. And still no links to me saying what you claim. Well, if you can't win an argument any other way making up stuff you wished the other guy said is one way... well no, it really isn't. Post Proof or Retract, Put Up Or Shut Up etc etc. Until you do, it's classic strawman. If you do actually bother to look- and I suspect you have and just plain didn't find what you wanted- you'd probably find something along the lines of what Gorgon posted a few posts above: the sanctions won't do anything to stop Putin because he sees Ukraine as being existential to Russia. It would explain things if you simply stopped reading at 'anything' and then built your entire premise on that, though.
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I think the point is more that Kotick would laugh in Walker's face then (metaphorically) drive off in his gold plated Bugatti Veyron if asked those style questions; or never give the interview in the first place rather than Kotick not deserving any criticism. Molyneux is an easy target as he has no credibility to destroy and no power whatsoever, one of his major problems has always been that he does answer questions and has a distinct tendency to over egg his responses and promises, so it is easy to ask those questions of him. It would be significant if Walker asked the 'hard questions' of someone with actual power or who he actually likes, but I find it difficult to see him asking, say, Tim Schafer if Starbase wotsit etc makes him a pathological liar.
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Bruce, dear fellow, you agreeing with me is one of the things that would get me to question whether I was right. Fortunately, your opinion just reinforces that I am accurate. Gromnir know! Gromnir not need to prove! Man, what an utter, utter cop out. You asserted so either provide the evidence that I said what you claimed- or admit you're a Weasel and in future refrain from asserting what you cannot prove. Since you brought up Norway: here's the graph of the krone over 1 year. It too mirrors the oil rate pretty closely, without sanctions. There are a few articles about it, but the big difference is that Norway is a small country of a few million with the best part of 1 trillion dollars in its sovereign wealth fund. And yet they still saw their currency tank. You can't pick a good example to save yourself.
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So far- for some reason- you've linked to what you've said only and the sole semi relevant post by me nearby was stating that Russian counter sanctions would have minimal effect on Russia and more on the producers sanctioned. Which you have spectacularly and utterly failed to show was incorrect. All you're doing now is mere assertion that I said something you want me to have said. I see no reason to respond to your strawmanning with anything other than simply ignoring it. It is, after all, quite easy to use the 'quote' function or links to show what someone actually said, indeed I do so below. You want to show what I actually said instead of what Grommy's mind version of zor said- then I'll defend or clarify my views. So let's recap what you've actually and provably said before you started, again, digging up the goalposts and shifting them/ making assertions with no proof. At current rate of spending- your words, not mine; your fault, not mine- reserves will last far, far longer because the current burn rate is around 10 billion a month and they have 376 billion in reserves. I'd be perfectly happy with the general consensus of 18 months to 2 years, but you had to go all in on hyperbole- even when given the opportunity to clarify you doubled down, cutting it to the least optimistic six months. Followed by laughable economic ignorance about the exchange rate's effects, utterly laughable. That it is apparently mirrored by 'experts' is no real excuse- it just shows a lack of critical faculty and need to appeal to/ kowtow to authority. Fundamentally, you have to show how having western food imports would improve prices and you simply cannot due to the exchange rate change. FFS, even imports from non sanctioned countries like Brazil will have increased in price because of the exchange rate. I'll throw in a complementary extra illustration: Bloomberg chart of rouble to oil prices- sanctions and counter sanctions applied March and August. As anyone can see sanctions had sweet asterisk all effect, the exchange rate almost perfectly matches oil prices- which is independent of sanctions.
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Journalism and sexism in the games industry
Zoraptor replied to LadyCrimson's topic in Way Off-Topic
Dunno, she's making 12k (?) on patreon per month. If I were on 144k USD p/a because of some twitter warrioring I wouldn't care even slightly if I came off as nutty as squirrel poo. If it is madness, yet there is method to it- to paraphrase Polonius. Yeah, it really doesn't matter at all if she's trans, even less so than that Milo's gay. It's far more important that she's done some distinctly questionable things to get her profile up such as sockpuppeting abusive twitter accounts or (almost certainly) faking fleeing her home. Breitbart is pretty terrible. They are, broadly speaking, on 'our' side but it's an alliance of convenience primarily and simply being on 'our' side doesn't make them not terrible; it's more an 'enemy of our enemy' situation. -
That's called projection, bro. I replied to your points and refuted them, you didn't quote my replies because you have nothing to refute with. You picked stupid examples. You asserted that the import bans were hurting Russia more than Europe using the most shonky of logic and not taking the most basic of factors into account; you asserted that Russia would run out of reserves in six months because it's the worst case scenario from a hack piece. You've done it to yourself. And yeah, it is Yellow Journalism when they do things like, on one hand, talk about a large currency devaluation while implying prices would still be the same if they were importing. Because obviously, if they are importing whether non sanctioned Chinese pork or US/ Dutch/ Canadian the price increase of the imported pork would be governed by exchange rate. That's barely even economics 101 and I can only assume it is done deliberately because the alternative is that the writers for wsj forbes etc are utter, abject morons. Or maybe so US centric that they've forgotten there are exchange rates or... well, I don't know at all. None of the interpretations are charitable though.
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Sequel to Ultima Underworld out on Kickstarter now!
Zoraptor replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Computer and Console
It isn't really relevant, but since I dislike incorrect info almost pathologically and he is doing himself what he accuses others of doing: sauce So EA does own the IP, it is only the trademark to Wasteland (2) that InExile owns. -
Top quote is from Grommy's previous post. yep, someone is speaking nonsense, but it ain't me. You're also woefully... innaccurate, shall we say, on the reason for the large food price increases, as I will illustrate below. Yes, such a good example. Along with oats/ porridge you picked two things that Russia produces massive amounts of domestically, and the one you chose to focus on is a luxury item. OK, not a luxury in the US where it's added to everything under the sun since high fructose corn syrup is cheaper than water, but you don't actually need to do that and it isn't actually a staple- it's just corporate welfare that is coincidentally killing rather a lot of people from obesity related diseases. In any case you picked the examples, I didn't, and they're supposed to help your point, not mine. That they were stupid examples that don't illustrate what you thought they did is not my fault, it's yours because you picked them. Meh, your shtick is making you literally incoherent. Let us do an illustration- it's simplistic, but it'll do as an illustration. Russia sells oats at the market price, $1000 a ton. Its exchange rate is 50/USD. The producer gets 50000 roubles. Now, the exchange rate is 100/USD. The producer gets 100000 roubles for exporting it. If, instead, it was imported from the west --------it would still cost 100000 roubles-------- as that is governed by exchange rate. It would cost exactly the same and thus counter sanctions make no effective difference because import prices link to exchange rate. The domestic price might theoretically stay the same, except, of course, they can now export it for twice the amount, hence domestic price increases. And wow, 30% price increase for wheat over 50% currency devaluation, that's less than expected if they were importing wheat- another stellar example you've picked for yourself. To reiterate: if they were importing from Europe it would not help because the exchange rate would still increase prices 50% (~per reality) or 100% per example. And the currency collapse doing the damage was related to the drop in oil prices, not agricultural sanctions on the west- even you admit that. Nope, I said that economic sanctions would not severely impact Russia. The oil price is independent of the sanctions and unrelated to them, it's Saudi taking a dump on frackers. I am, however, sure you'll provide a link to where I said that later in your post. Indeed, I'll reorganise the quotes so your link follows Y'know, I was actually expecting this to be a link at least to one of my posts, or at least one of yours I replied to- instead it's to one of your posts showing your (to be charitable) cognitive dissonance has lasted six months and the only relevant post by me within pages is before yours and says nothing at all about oil prices or Russia's dependence on them but is about the agricultural counter sanctions. Oh my god, the WSJ, that changes everything! Scales fall from my eyes and I repent my apostacy and beg forgiveness at the altar of Rupert! The cite I made was two years just on their liquid assets, and it isn't anywhere near pro Russian, and there are multiple, non Russian sources saying the same, eg Moody's. Murdoch's Yellow Journalism. Right, so let's say that the consequence of not being able to refinance those loans is that Russian firms default. So, when Euros are packing their pants about Greece defaulting on ~550 odd billion somehow 600 billion is chump change that won't effect them because Gromnir says such things will only effect Russia... Hmm, OK. Right, so they've declined ~$150 billion over 18 months, plus about 20 billion over the past two months (pending updates), so fairly steadily. I can see how you think they'll run out of money in six further months on that trend with 'only' $380 billion left, because 6x10 does, after all, equal 380. Sheesh, even at double that rate it's still 18 months worth of reserves. And still has most to do with oil prices and currency speculation (fuelled by Yellow Journalism talking things down, heh) and little to nothing to do with the counter sanctions.
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Not sure where you're even getting that; it looks more like a RTwP ToEE. The only similarities I see are in the setting and the perspective. ToEE is SP only, TB, 2d. This game is SP/MP, RTwP, 3d and has a DM mode plus mod tools. That sounds (and looks from the thumbnails) a whole lot more NWN than ToEE, even if TB/RT is ignored.
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Lol. Even your yellow journalists have it lasting 18 months to two years, as does simple maths. Exempli, in this case actually, gratia. They even pull the "well actually it's only two years because they cannot convert some short term so will never convert it, yep, that's logic!" trick to get their two years, in true Yellow fashion. Generally the Russians have had the good sense not to defend their currency over much as that is what will eat through their reserves, and that is what is causing the price rises- not import bans on stuff Russia produces craploads (#1 producer, even) of themselves. Lol, sugar. I'm sure that high fructose corn syrup is an essential staple in some places as is sugar but you're actually far better off with as little of it as possible. Yes, I'm sure that ludicrously subsidised Sugar Beet sugar from Europe and the US is a major loss for Russia and not for the Euros/ US who are subsidising that inefficient garbage (cane >> beet) to the tune of millions. Oh noes, the Russians miss out on crappy luxuries, how will a country where only about 10% of people can actually afford crappy luxuries anyway cope? (and of course, roflcopters, we all know who is the largest sugar beet producer in the world, don't we? Next time anyone reads one of those "omg Russians will starve if they don't buy from US/ Europe!" garbage articles remember that, and that Russia produces about as much wheat as the US does too. Seriously, porridge and sugar, I couldn't have picked better examples for you if you were my sockpuppet.) The oil price is doing by far the most damage. But that ain't coming from anything the west has done, nor anything Russia has done. It's Saudi knocking the spigots out to damage their enemies- including all those US and Canadian companies stampeded towards fracking while assuming oil would stay above their $100/ barrel break even point. At $50 a barrel those guys are haemorrhaging money way, way faster than Russia. Meh, most westerners would curl up in a ball if someone took away their sugar for a day- but most of the world makes do perfectly well without much of it at all. Double meh, anything that could even theoretically kill off the ridiculous corporate welfare (in the US) or grossly inefficient agricultural butressing (in Euroland) of subsidies is to be applauded. Triple meh, we'll keep selling our stuff to the Russkies, just won't publicise it much.
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Yes, I hear that Russia is down to their last 376 billion! Always a good laugh, seeing US press (and especially Uncle Rupes' Yellow Journalists) talking their enemies down, you'd think dealing with the 18 trillion dollar (and currently increasing at more than Russia's entire external debt annually) log in their own eye would garner rather more attention. It was all Yanukovich/ Putler's fault, any deviation from that is a conspiracy theory made by paid Russian shills who are something something Munich, something something USSR. Listen and Believe! Funny thing about that article is that there is very little actually new in it at all, the two interviews only highlight what was already known- stuff that has been repeatedly ignored in support of the 'brave democratic freedom fighters' narrative. No doubt most of the protesters believed that themselves; still, seeing all the pro Maidan people at the time contorting themselves in explanations of how so many police were killed (they're shooting themselves! Russian Spetsnaz! Aliens!) will always be a case study in cognitive dissonance.
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They're available from other DD, but they are afflicted with steamworks. As, of course, you do for decades old games that will never be patched again. Still, Herve gave them all away on GOG in a final asterisk you to Bethesda. Which just to show that in a fight between two craplords there can be some collateral benefit.
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Interesting developments in some USA Media circles
Zoraptor replied to BruceVC's topic in Way Off-Topic
Doesn't make much difference- Clinton's 'misrecollection' was over something that happened the previous day, iirc. If you want a really extreme example 'recovered memories' may be absolutely, literally and completely impossible. Doesn't stop the person having them think that are also 100% true though. -
Rationale discourse on current events and putting them in the context of comparable historical scenarios, of course. Heh, that's what I call arguments as well. If you want a purely rational reason to dislike Bethesda intensely there's the constructive bankrupting shenanigans they allegedly made against at least two studios they wanted to buy in order to recoup/ reduce development costs. Worked against Arkane, but not on Human Head. Also, the choice was not between Fallout Online and Fallout3, the contract between Beth and iply allowed for both to be made. The choice was also not between Bethesda and, er, oblivion for Fallout, when Iply licensed (originally) the rights there were multiple bidders, Bethesda was just the highest bidder.
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Interesting developments in some USA Media circles
Zoraptor replied to BruceVC's topic in Way Off-Topic
You could say the same thing about people who say they earned a purple heart but didn't. Or people who claim on their resumes to have worked for IBM, but didn't. Both of those are far more likely to be a deliberate lie though. You're unlikely to think that you have been wounded or worked at IBM for x d/ w/ m/ y incorrectly because both of those things are 'chronic', they take a long time and have direct long term consequences, it's more akin to Williams claiming he has shrapnel scars from the RPG or claiming he was in Iraq when actually he was sitting behind a studio desk. OTOH, being in a helicopter convoy in which the first helicopter is shot at is a short, one off event with no obvious long term consquence. What Williams did is more an exaggeration than a full out fabrication, much as Clinton's was- there was the very real risk of them getting shot at and someone did get shot at, it just wasn't actually them. It is quite a small step from 'this happened to someone nearby' to 'this happened to me'. -
Interesting developments in some USA Media circles
Zoraptor replied to BruceVC's topic in Way Off-Topic
Stewart's been on a bit of a downhill since probably 2007. Still better than most stuff on TV, but worse than it was. I do wonder who will replace him since the obvious candidates are all otherwise employed now. Williams, well who knows. My brother in law is a policeman and he's said that people quite often have absolutely honest, but absolutely incorrect, recall of events especially when they're under stress- people have a habit of putting themselves directly into the narrative, even when it's particularly stupid to do so. I'd put it in the Hillary Clinton 'landing in Sarajevo under fire' class. Both were dangerous situations in which there was a very real, if overstated, risk. Most people don't really have the opportunity to lie in that fashion precisely because they spend their time in a safe environment. As for the media overall, the big problem there is tight budgets and the tendency to just regurgitate press statements and what you're told by 'trusted' sources acritically, plus increasingly reliance on social media (ptooey*). If there's no actual journalism involved, no getting other opinions, no fact checking it simply does not matter whether it's media being deliberate mouthpieces for propaganda or hapless dupes, the end result is the same; regurgitation of PR, propaganda and a failure in the crucial role media should play in keeping politicians honest. Well, as honest as possible. Most people think the state of gaming journalism is terrible but that is where all journalism is heading because proper journalism is expensive and takes time and skill- and the time may even end up being wasted if an investigative story does not pan out. Crap journalism is cheap, you can print first and think later and it has a bigger, in some cases far bigger, audience than quality has. British tabloids are utter crap, but that doesn't stop the 'Fail and the Scum from being the two biggest sellers, indeed they are the biggest sellers precisely because they're crap clickbait equivalents. So, why do quality when rubbish is both easier/ cheaper and has better rewards? That's also extremely convenient for governments, they get their PR spin from a compliant acritical press while being able to talk about how they have freedom of the press and are subject to press oversight. Which is all most people need to nod and decide everything is fine and wow some minor reality star had a car crash when they may or may not have been txting, how very interesting. *Though it can be a good or even great source of information getting that good info from SM takes all the things that journalists no longer have, time, critical analysis etc. Far easier to just do a 'BBC trending' style lol a cat climbed a tree so funneh! or use random tweets to imply interactivity. Yeah, if I want that load of old bollocks I'd just look on twitter myself, I want informed comment not what Barry the waste technician from Eketahuna thinks about Greece's possible default and its ramifications on the world economy. -
Journalism and sexism in the games industry
Zoraptor replied to LadyCrimson's topic in Way Off-Topic
Don't know what it is about narcissists but they almost always end up sounding like they're satirising themselves. Hmm. Most SJWs end up sounding like they are satirising themselves; narcissists end up sounding like they're satirising themselves... hmm. I'm sure it's coincidence. -
And of course, Brink 2 and Star Trek: Legacy HD
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Sequel to Ultima Underworld out on Kickstarter now!
Zoraptor replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Computer and Console
They should have the reputation from both Ultima Underworld and Looking Glass though- and Warren Spector for that matter. They're quite old reputations now, but very highly respected. Personally I'd have gone for a System Shock game (or 'System Shock' game, depending on how the insurance company that owns the IP feels) rather than UU since it's more suited to the sort of modular design that kickstarter's variable funding makes necessary.