BruceVC

So you would support full contact competitive rugby between men and women?

He thinks he does and he has been able to do it in the past, like Georgia. But Ukraine is different. The West has drawn a line over Ukraine, not a military line. And sanctions will continue to be implemented and Russia will continue to be ostracized from the international community unless it stops interfering in Ukraine

Yes Volo, you clearly respect women. That's why you suggested that men and women compete directly against each other in sport, great respect there

And if you listen to Ukraine and their buddies that is what they've done. As always you have- or state that you have- a basic misconception. Primarily, you mistake a statement or implication of capability with a statement of direct and imminent intent. When for example Putin says he can take Kiev in two weeks it doesn't mean that he intends to, or wants to, it means he is able to if he's pushed to. What he wants is a neutral Ukraine, if they try and change that- as to most practical purposes they did during the February putsch- then there will be consequences. If the agreement with Yanukovich had been honoured none of this would have happened. I agree with this in the sense he did want a neutral Ukraine or a Ukraine that was more favourable to Russia and not the EU and things would have been different if Yanukovych had stayed in power But Putin doesn't get to decide the fate of countries. Even if those countries use to be part of the USSR. I suppose this ideological clash was evitable between Putin and the West. We might as well get it over with now

http://kotaku.com/meet-the-guy-who-spent-seven-months-killing-everyone-in-1629588651 This guy has seriously too much spare time on his hands

Why can't you play Alice because of EA? Is it because of Origin and the fact you don't want to use it. Alice is an excellent game, I loved it

Its just not that kind of game; a bit unfair IMO to criticize the game for something it never tried to do, or even pretended to have (in the same way that its unfair to criticize BG for not having PST's story). from our pov, actual story elements o' iwd were stronger than BG. as noted elsewhere, not only were bg2 released after iwd, but iwd were designed as kinda a low risk, quick development that were s'posed to sate bg fans before bg2 release. actual, a major goal were to get iwd out the door and on shelves with some meaningful time previous to diablo 2, and that didn't happen. what iwd were being marketed as, and sold as, were a limited and far more "linear" dungeon crawl than bg. truth-to-tell, we found iwd to be superior to bg in virtual all respects, and we missed the... companionship (HA!) o' the bg1 premade and joinable party members not at all. iwd looked better. it sounded better. iwd had better combats and more compelling locales. yeah, some level design did become a bit tedious in places, but as 'tween bg and iwd, we have very little difficulty identifying the superior game: iwd. the fact that iwd were so impressive is all the more amazing given the extreme limited and handicapped development iwd faced, but as a purchaser, we ultimate don't care 'bout obstacles. iwd were not a better game than bg 'cause developers were frequent rookies working with a wonky engine o' bioware's design. iwd were not better 'cause it had an abbreviated development cycle. iwd were a better game than bg, period. iwd did more right than did bg, regardless o' obstacles. that being said, we note once more that an obvious and superior enhancement o' iwd would be to give it iwd2 mechanics. oh well, yet another great opportunity wasted. HA! Good Fun! That's an interesting assessment, I didn't know any of that

But Gromnir I want to ask you something, you have alluded in the past that Obama is weak because he hasn't used military intervention is several conflicts around the world, like Syria . Do you think how he is dealing with the Ukraine crisis makes him weak? Should he do something different? a bit of a misrepresentation. syria is actual a good example. the impact o' a limited but forceful US response 2-3 years ago would have resulted in 2014 syria and isis situation being very different. similarly, ignoring putin predation and excess for many years has made the ukranian situation what it is. sanctions today is gonna eventual be effective in hurting russia. well, guess what, sanctions woulda' been effective before today. ask us what could obama do different today is myopic. HA! Good Fun! Okay, so you agree the sanctions are the best strategy?

I suspect otherwise. No I'm sorry , normally I would just ignore this comment but I want to point out how flawed your logic is. Lets say you right, and in fact I don't want you guys to comment on my posts...I'm a bad person...that would leave me being able to debate with ....with ...with.... oh that's right I have already commented that there are no female members. People like you and Amentep are the people I debate with because you are active on the forums and I enjoy our debates, Why would I try to cut you out my posts. Its illogical. It would be like a one legged man in an ass kicking competition. I would be denying myself a great time. So trust me when I say just because we often don';t agree it doesn't mean I don't enjoy our discussions and value your contributions to topics

Please ask your lady friends to join the forums. They won't be treated like a mouthpiece I promise But you post raises an interesting point, they don't like forums in general. They must have had bad experiences?

Not defensive, I dislike the intellectual argument path that this seems to be following. If we're all molded into gender-bias by the patriarchy, then a woman's view has the potential to be just as influenced by patriarchal thinking as a mans; the only value in their view would be if they recognized their own capacity for gender bias. But asking for more women in the thread is not arguing for more self-aware posts by those who recognize the influence their society has towards gender norms and expectations and instead is valuing an opinion simply because it comes from a preferred gender which seems to fly in the face of equality in representation. If we're not accepting the patriarchy induced gender bias, and we accept it is okay for some things to be gender biased, then we're still arguing for a random grab-bag of anecdotal evidence rather than trying to get a gauge of gender groups as a whole. Are you saying that in a topic about feminism that getting a women's perspective would not be pertinent? Do you think we would get the same input and personal views around this topic if it was just men discussing it as opposed to men and women giving there opinions?

Nah, we can, but apparently it's not all that important. Good one, but you know that's not what I meant

Its just not that kind of game; a bit unfair IMO to criticize the game for something it never tried to do, or even pretended to have (in the same way that its unfair to criticize BG for not having PST's story). No I didn't read the description, so therefore I am being unfair for finding fault in something that the game never claimed to offer. My bad

I thought Oby was a guy, but that's my point. Do we even have one active female member ?

Did the former female members tell you they were chased off by us? You started this thread, but expected us to not comment? Wow people are really defensive today, when did I say anything remotely like " I don't want people to comment "? All I said it would be great to get a female perspective

You guys have chased most of the female members away from the forum Malc. So you are right, the chance of us getting a female perspective is unlikely Bruce, you're being unkind. There are a few productive female forum members around here. Have you thought they might just not be interested in gender politics? You right, I apologize. But for the record do you know any active female members on these forums. I only know Squeaky and she hasn't posted in a while? There's a surprise. Who's been chased off and by whom ? Probably too much to expect more detail on that charge from you, but that'd be rather impressive to see someone 'chased' off a forum. And dramatic flouncing off like some PE people did way back, doesn't count. I'm just teasing you, I don't think you had anything to do with the lack of female members on these forums

You guys have chased most of the female members away from the forum Malc. So you are right, the chance of us getting a female perspective is unlikely But I agree with TN, he is not saying our opinions don't matter. But a female perspective would give a different and important context. Its a perfectly reasonable comment

They're frantically trying to backpeddle now, and state that when they said "gamer" they meant only that miniscule minority who were (allegedly) sending death and rape threats, but it was a basic misstep. They revealed their true contempt for the hobby and the players themselves, who are just normal people like everybody else. Like you say Mr Parker it is basically illogical hate mongering and demonisation, mainly to lionise themselves. Can you clarify who exactly is backpedalling? Right from the beginning the criticism was towards " gamers " who are resistance to change in the industry. The term " gamers" refers primarily to white, male gamers who resist inclusivity. Please provide links that indicate that when anyone said "gamer" they meant every single white male gamer. Please provide links that indicate contempt for every single gamer, as far as the various blogs and journalist articles are concerned they only talk about people who refuse to accept changes. You are putting words in peoples mouths and formulating your own conclusions about what gaming journalists are concerned about. Its disappointing that you have such a myopic view of these developments. You are only seeing it in a negative light

Nah, he has backtracked on several possible militant and decisive actions, he does consider the consequences of his choices. If he was so unconcerned he would have openly invaded eastern Ukraine right from the beginning under the pretense he was protecting ethic Russians. This is something he has always said he would do

Why not just say that then ? You lot always go on on how large the segment of gamers is that consist of non-white and non-male people. Pretty sure well off is a requirement to be a gamer, well either that or really misplaced priorities in life. SJW folk seem to have some fetish for labelling people, I suppose it makes it easy to be victimized and/or rail against people once they are in boxes of your making. ...I'm not sure what your point is? The term being used is ridiculous, expected though, but ridiculous. So just say white males, it's what you mean, no ? I'm confused, I have said several times what the term "gamer" means? It refers to white, male gamers who are objecting to changes in the industry. But this is not my own personal definition. This is what gaming journalists mean when they say "the gamer is dead" Here is the link that I posted earlier, its makes the case in a reasonable way http://dangolding.tumblr.com/post/95985875943/the-end-of-gamers

How far did you get in the game?

You right, the correct definitions of words are important to me. But that's why I said to Volo " "gamers is in the context of this debate" So for the sake of the debate you have painted all gamers to be "white, male gamer who refuses to accept that the gaming demographic is changing and is very vociferous and obstructive". Congratulations. You suck at debating. No, just no. This is just the newest defence by some people in the SWJ crowd. No one is against more games with more diversity. This whole thing is about journalistic integrity and how some indie devs are sometimes literally in bed with reporters. Since they can't defend the act itself this is what they are doing: Gamers are bad. Gamers are misogynist. Gamers are sexist. Gamers are against change. It's bull****, bull****, bull****. I'll repeat this for the third or fourth time and it will be my last. The word "gamers" in this debate doesn't mean an attack on white, male gamers. Its an attack on white, male gamers that refuse to recognise and accept the necessary change that is coming the gaming industry. I can't be more clear than that Do you realize how generalizing, racist and tyrannical that position is? Instead talking about human beings having a hobby, you use the best collectivistic dialectic that one can find from the finest Frankfurter school of cultural marxism. You are creating an imaginary set of people, apply derogatory langauge and negative associations, and finally add that you have to destroy this culture in the name of change and it should bring "Gesundheit" to the public. Sorry, I'll try to do better next time

You sound like a crazy agenda pushing Ideologue "necessary change that is coming the gaming industry"? What the hell. And also trying to derail the conversation debating if the word conspiracy applies or no? who gives a damn. This is exactly the kind of racist, sexist bull**** that Gamers are fed up with. Well unfortunately "gamers" will just have to learn to deal with it, because that's the reality of the situation. Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just trying to explain the situation

our iwd party were almost invariably a 4-man group as it resulted in faster leveling: a paladin, specialist mage (elf or human), gnome thief-illusionist, and half-elf ranger-cleric... typical with the cadaverous or skeletal undead racial enemy. the only problem with this group is that it were a bit over-powered once the mages developed a meaningful spell repertoire. the ranger-cleric were a smidgen less effective at turning undead in dragon's eye than a vanilla cleric would be, but the addition o' druid spells and the dual-wielding dervish o' destruction melee efficacy more than made up for the early limitation. dual-classing could provide a more powerful group, but we never had the patience to babysit effectively under-powered party members til they hit the dual-class sweet spot. our 4-man iwd group (and frequent bg2 group) were allowing us access to pretty much all the potential content in the game, while giving us an extremely capable group. HA! Good Fun! Manifested let me know when you start noticing the fact that there is no meaningful interaction with your party members. That was my primary criticism with the game Frankly, if you'd never played bg2 (just the first one), you wouldn't notice a whole lot of difference. You see that's what I probably did wrong, I played BG2 and Planescape and then moved onto IWD. So I did have a certain expectation around how the party would interact

Bester don't you feel even the least bit sheepish about being a voyeur? This is someone's personal thoughts and actions in there relationship? Don't you have your own life to focus on?