BruceVC

Good to know you reaching out in a reasonable way and you do have SM interaction which is a form of contact . I remember allansch very well, he was always one of my favorite members. Is he still at Bioware? Pidesco do you know what would be nice, if I lived in Gothenburg I could at your house every weekend enjoying that delicious Portuguese cuisine, did I ever tell you much I love Portuguese food ? I eat everything that is considered Portuguese food and we have a vibrant and established Portuguese community in SA that sustains and creates its own food unique to the culture I have eaten and love flame grilled sardines, gizzards, livers and anything similar Every year in JHB, expect for the current pandemic, their are numerous Portuguese food festivals. I use to go every year religiously to this one. It had the best variety of authentic food served in numerous food stalls and food tents https://lusitoassociation.org.za/lusito-land

But one thing that really matters, their behavior and actions as a company can undermine their history of success and any positive views people may have of them as gaming company that we want to support . And whats worse about this latest scandal is its real, it was avoidable and its 100 % self-inflicted

Well done for meeting someone you know from the forum in RL, it sounded like a really nice gathering Their is no one active in SA from this forum and in all my years of gaming and the games I play, including MMO, that has always been the case but I have always been surprised how no one on this forum has generally met other members when members live in the same city. I wouldnt necessarily expect people to travel to other states or cities. I would definitely be keen to meet some forum members if we lived in the same city but thats just me I understand that their would be various reasons for this lack of RL interaction and that is fine and justified But I do find it unusual from a social perspective that when people have been chatting on forums for years and have things in common they have no interest in meeting in RL ..even occasionally ? Does anyone know or can anyone explain why that is from a personal perspective?

You authors are clever with your words and usage of English, good one

https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/the-lord-of-the-rings-tv-show-release-date-and-first-image-revealed/ In this age of brilliant fantasy TV adoptions, like GoT and the Witcher , their now is a Lord of the Rings series in the making Im excited but its set before the Hobbit and Lord of Rings main narrative....Im not sure about what that will mean and will it be entertaining?

I didnt recognize this game so I looked it up.....it was released in 1993 !!! So I assume you joking because that cant be accurate .....they have released very successful games like Diablo after that ?

Raising taxes is definitely not theft, its the primary way that all governments fund their numerous expenses and the way all our governments function. Unless you have profitable state owned institutions , like the Norwegian state owned oil company, I am not sure how anyone expects any government to be functional ?

But how can you trust anything that comes from the CCP, you literally have no way of corroborating anything as factual that they say because they simply control access to information that the outside world knows about For example let me give you an example, has the CCP admitted Corona originated from China? Just that one acknowledgement .....surly that would be an easy thing to admit and take responsibility for, ....not the spread in other countries but you can admit the your own complicity

I always suspected that, hi Oby

You make a good point about the importance of us using our imagination as an effective part of the overall RPG journey But I just dont know if close-up scenes negate that....I really am not sure it does in my gaming experience

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/how-blizzards-reputation-collapsed-in-just-3-years/ Here is good link that discusses the various levels of decline at Blizzard that lead to the current scandal

https://www.mmorpg.com/news/former-blizzard-and-co-founder-of-arenanet-jeff-strain-calls-for-unionization-in-the-games-industry-2000122682 I respect and admire Jeff Strain so what I am about to say is not a personal criticism of him outside of his current suggestions to the Activision scandal He is suggesting unionization as a solution to this office misconduct? Why do you need to unionize to deal with blatant sexism that is already addressed in normal office codes of conduct that everyone should sign and be aware of when you join any listed company. I have worked 22 years in white collar jobs in listed companies and not once has it even been remotely discussed in the SA media narrative that we need unions to deal with bigotry So this idea for Activision makes no sense to me?

I dont know, it sounds interesting to me? But I definitely need to get out more though

Yeah they not that organized in the traditional military sense, you right. But they dont need to be organized to kill Afghan translators, bomb schools that educate women and continue to destabilize the country now that the US is leaving But its time to leave as much as I have real concern for the future of Afghanistan

Wormie you making more and more sense as time goes on....dont stop making sense

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/citing-taliban-violence-us-expands-afghan-refugee-program-79212440 This is an excellent initiative from the Biden presidency and definitely the right thing to do considering the targeting of anyone in Afghanistan from the barbaric Taliban who helped the US in the last 20 years The Taliban will execute people like any Afghan translators they find out about so this granting of citizenship to certain refugees is understandable Well done Biden for doing the right thing !!!

Sounds like a great squad and fun group as well , always makes a difference

I agree in the sense whenever someone makes a point and says " white people\men" its normally a sweeping and inaccurate generalization that often demonstrates they are doing the same thing they claim to be opposed to ....like fighting " racism\colonialism\inequality ". Sometimes people dont realize they are unintentionally contradicting their own argument and sometimes they dont care ....so I never take that type of commentary in a serious or constructive way But in this case I can ignore that type of framing of the issue at Activision because this has nothing to do with white men but rather real and systemic sexism within the office environment. My annoyance at the generalization is not the same as my concern with the actual issue...which needs to be addressed properly by Activision management

I went to one of my brothers place for a braai\barbeque yesterday. It was a great afternoon and the weather is getting warmer so yay for that My CPT family also had a frank and open discussion about my dads dementia as it got worse during the looting and violence we experienced 3 weeks ago. My dad is going through forms of PTSD which only adds adversely to his general views and overall health But my sister has found as excellent retirement village that offers all retirement services like gyms, walks, restaurants, 24 frailty care and most important they have a specialized dementia unit to care for people suffering from Alzheimer's and other forms of mental ailments. So its perfect for my dad, its only opening officially at the end of 2023 The hard part is going to be convincing my dad this is the right place for him to live at, he has traditionally rejected any kind of retirement village as he values his independence But we dont really have a choice as he will require proper, qualified healthcare as the years go on. But take a look for those interested and ask how you would feel about living here? I think its perfect and its close to all of us in CPT https://www.greatoaksvillage.co.za/

Interestingly enough there is a valid debate about both intentional and unintentional usage and expectation of the words " LGBTxxx" In your example you are raising a legitimate issue how it can be confusing for people not part of this group. I always use the words LGBT and no one including my gay friends and family members has an issue with it and calls me out by saying things like " you must refer to us as LGBTQ+ " or similar. And this is because when you support gay rights as a straight person most gay people support this sentiment and dont nitpick But then people can be dismissive of the broader point of what LGBT stands for and say things like " I dont understand all these complicated names " and intentionally get the framing wrong And then their is a small group within LGBT that intentionally and mischievously call out people who are just confused to make a big deal about it and accuse them of being homophobic But I have never met LGBT like that in RL and none of my gay friends are like that but I have heard them on talk shows and read their comments in different Internet mediums Whats more important is " do you support the same rights that straight people have that gay people should also have " ? Thats more significant that those that want to disrupt that point because of how we frame things. It boils down to a simple question "do you believe that people born a certain way should be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation " And since we dont accept bigotry because of race and gender we shouldnt accept homophobia

Yes, Amentep is right. Please stop hijacking this thread, rather do that on the gaming thread

Good question and an honest and applicable one considering this terrible reality of the virus and how it spreads. " When will it end ".....I deleted my original response which was basically " when we achieve about 80 % herd immunity and the eradication of the impact of the virus on our daily lives " ...because that became somehow false and unconvincing But I do know what is true, the world historically has subdued many pandemics and or viruses over the last 200 years or so . Think about it, our anecestors lacked the understanding and usage of science we now possess yet they ended pandemics and moved on We will do it, that is the absolute truth because of our history and survival as mankind ......but you must just stay the course and accept this new reality for maximum of 2-4 years. Reality means mask wearing and reasonable social distancing and most of all.....taking and continuing to take the Corona vaccine

You make some valid points about the reason for this global general vaccine hesitancy in many countries. I wish it wasnt the case but yes many citizens simply distrust their current and previous governments so you probably 100 % correct that end of the day this is more about bad leadership and the message from that bad leadership than the actual truth or science about the message But you know how I look at it? Because SA has plenty of examples of corruption and mistakes from our new Democratically elected government after Apartheid ended in 1994....but also we have had real successes which is why I still live in SA and have never immigrated. The good outweighs the bad...always try to see life like that because its true So if you think about vaccines and why they make sense, its not actually our governments telling us " take vaccines " .....its the scientific facts that we know as a civilisation that over the last 1000 years has been used successfully. And the idea of vaccines to treat and defeat numerous diseases has been been proven and its historically irrefutable So we need to not think of this as what our governments are telling us....no. They just repeating a message that is globally known and has real evidence of ending pandemics I hope this makes sense ?

I also have gaming OCD where I feel "compelled " to finish games I play....but most of the time I can quit and walk away. Its not a question of rage quitting because that is normally a temporary emotional reaction. I will quit if I feel its not fun anymore and the game is badly designed ....hence my frustration and since their are so many games out their I dont see the point at playing a game that is no longer entertaining. End of the day if we not having fun in a particular game then what is the point ?

Its interesting you mention the design tedium because I do notice that in games