BruceVC

LOL I have very little doubt after this that you are an alt/caricature of someone else. Seriously, good job. Yet if you try to understand what I'm saying you'll realize I'm right...it just doesn't sound right but it is The generals\ringleaders didn't implement Prism to enrich themselves, they aren't using it for industrial espionage. Prism was design to capture large amounts of data and then enable the NSA to analyse that data in order to look for certain patterns and similarities in order to prevent attacks against the USA and its allies. What part of this don't you agree with?

Punishing criminals is a good thing. Revealing criminality is a good thing. What Snowden did was criminal. You work it out, sparky. AFAIK, there is very little room to argue that Snowden couldn't be tried for treason and espionage under US law. Whether he's a criminal or not would depend on the verdict. I have no idea how extenuating or aggravating circumstances (if any) would apply to the case, and maybe Enoch or Gromnir could share their expertise. Now, what happens if exposing criminality is also a criminal offense? I remember reading that, in the intelligence community, analysts and operators often cannot discuss certain matters with their immediate superiors because of how the mindboggling clearances game is set up. This madness reaches the highest levels of the hierarchy, with four-star officers not being allowed to know about the tools their subordinates use. So if you can't discuss stuff with someone whose job is to supervise and coordinate your work... is there any hope of revealing wrongdoing by a state actor without breaking the law? When was the last time Congress uncovered and acted against secret illegal government initiatives? Honest question, btw. They don't have Snowden so they can't try him. But they do have the NSA ringleaders, and nothing has been done about it. What is up with that? Snowden should be tried for treason, I'm not sure why this is even a debatable point? But I don't understand how you can possibly find some kind of similarity between the generals\ringleaders who implemented Prism for example and Snowden...it stupefies me The former did it to protect there country in a very strange period of time where the USA is at war with a nebulous and amorphous enemy, Islamic fundamentalism. This is not a conventional war and groups like Al-Qaeda have tactics and strategies that require using technology that can intercept what they are doing and then prevent them from doing it. Hence Prism, it was not designed to target Americans and if you dispute this please produce some links to show me how the evidence from Prism was used to prosecute American citizens. Prism is an important tool in the this modern age Snowden took as much confidential information about the security mechanisms that protect the USA and basically gave it to the Chinese and Russians. What he did could ,and probably has, have harmed the entire USA. His deed was reprehensible, cowardly and treacherous. You can't possible think the generals\ringleaders need to charged with anything.....they were protecting there country

Wow, so you really think that such a high profile person as Snowden when he is eventually captured will somehow just disappear? Tinfoil hats anyone.... And yes he did betray his country, I fail to see how you can see what he did in any other way

I dunno, I thought the good pacing of scary moments added a lot to the atmosphere. Actually being able to go around in a situation you know is totally messed up for quite some time without anything extraordinary happening builds up a lot of "Omg omg, it's been too long since **** went down"-pressure for me (Dead Space 1 also managed this fairly well). Most games just go overboard with rubbing it in your face (Dead Space 2 and FEAR2 both fail in my book in this respect, so don't get your hopes up too much about FEAR2, I'd say. The first one is the best one, by miles) I'm not sure how much you learn about Alma in the first one, I thought it was quite a bit if you were as OCD as me about finding all the telephones in the office buildings, and, of course, the mystery obviously also adds to the atmosphere... (btw, did you play the DLC? They're worth it imho, just keep in mind that most things that happen in the DLC get retconned in FEAR2) Personally still going strong in Diablo 3, added Adria to my list of bosses my Wizard took down on Torment 1 difficulty (so far Belial and Urzael were the hardest two by far, haven't tried Malthael yet though, putting that off for later, much later) You have raised some good points around F.E.A.R, don't get me wrong I did get scared in several situations and now that you mention it I agree that too many scary scenes would have made the impact less significant. I did listen to as many phone messages as I could but I still didn't enough information around Alma. But I have subsequently done some research on the story so now it all makes sense This is my first F.E.A.R game so I haven't played any DLC yet, I think I'll move onto it next when I'm ready for another F.E.A.R episode

PM me. I'll drag my consumptive butt down the pub and ask the regulars. I can just imagine you asking a bunch of drunk strangers "which would you prefer intergalactic heroes to fight, an intelligent virus or robots?" Would you believe me if I tell you that I have spent many years perfecting the art of asking very random questions to complete strangers and getting a response sometimes? I do it because I am a student of human behaviour and I am fascinated by how people respond to different questions and situations Yesterday in a supermarket I asked this lady in front of me in the line for the till if she minded paying for my groceries, well specifically I said "do you mind if I add a few items to your basket, its been a hard month" She responded really well and she ended up paying me a compliment saying how its nice to meet " friendly people that you don't know in supermarkets" ... And then you chain those people into a room with a saw. You understand the South African mentality well

I finished F.E.A.R last night and its a very simple but thoroughly enjoyable FPS. Its deserves nothing less than a very well deserved 68/100 on the much respected "BruceVC gaming barometer rating system" As mentioned previously the AI is very impressive. I would have preferred more scary moments and they didn't elaborate enough around Alma, the primary antagonist, but I imagine that will come in the sequels. I highly recommend it to people who enjoy there FPS

Please, please, point out to us uneducated peons the general legal principle that allows for the dismissal of the HoS outside of the legal procedures outlined to that end in the Constitution or ancillary legislation. "Bailing on the people" is not a reason or motive that you will find anywhere in the Ukrainian Constitution, among other things, because it makes no sense. The ****ing Head of State doesn't "bail" on the people unless the "people" (read: fascist militias) are out for his blood, which is exactly what happened. This is the very definition of a coup. The President does not "lose constitutional legitimacy" at your leisure, he is removed from office after he has been impeached, declared medically incompetent, or dies only. So what are these "higher provisions" you speak of? This is a really, really tired debate, especially because the point was already discussed to death in the other thread(s): No offense 2133 but that's not how I remember the debate you and Tagaziel had. I remember you guys discussed various interesting points for several days and despite the fact Tagaziel proved conclusively that he was right around the fact that Yanukovych wasn't removed from power illegally you refused to acknowledge this But you are right, this has been discussed to death. I would like us to focus on the current destabilization of eastern Ukraine by Russia. Is there any justification for it and what is the realistic outcome to the situation? Do you accept that Russia is playing a major part in the protests and occupation of Ukrainian government buildings?

PM me. I'll drag my consumptive butt down the pub and ask the regulars. I can just imagine you asking a bunch of drunk strangers "which would you prefer intergalactic heroes to fight, an intelligent virus or robots?" Would you believe me if I tell you that I have spent many years perfecting the art of asking very random questions to complete strangers and getting a response sometimes? I do it because I am a student of human behaviour and I am fascinated by how people respond to different questions and situations Yesterday in a supermarket I asked this lady in front of me in the line for the till if she minded paying for my groceries, well specifically I said "do you mind if I add a few items to your basket, its been a hard month" She responded really well and she ended up paying me a compliment saying how its nice to meet " friendly people that you don't know in supermarkets"

Malc have you ever cried watching a movie before?

I don't know but your post just seems to me some indirect way to get some kind of rape example into an RPG and have a way to justify it. Like when you say "that the girl having deliberately broken several taboos before the rape" I know RPG can contain mature topics but any example in any game where the developers try to position the rape as " the victim may have deserved it" I would find highly offensive and unacceptable. And the reality is no gaming studio would position rape in such a way You missed my point entirely. In order to have an interesting conflict, you have to both parties feeling justified for their actions. After all it, is all up to the player on what to do in that situation and the consequences those actions provide. In no way did i insinuate that the developers were pro-rape. It is all in your head. I never said you said that? But why would you want to have a subject like rape in an RPG where there is chance if not done properly, and since I know you don't place much credence in deep and meaningful writing in RPG as you mentioned around your view on Romance (well I think you said that ), it would lead to an unintentional trivializing of this serious social issue Well Alan brought up all those horrible stories that were even worse than my example, and consequently i thought how that could be repressented in an RPG in a serious manner...well atleast tried to. As for romance, i do not like it in an RPG since it is handled like a vapid romantic comedy, which i hate with a burning passion. Love however, would be great in an RPG though, think of the interaction that would be at par of "The Eternal Sunshine and the Spotless Mind", "Lost in Translation" or "Her". Okay thanks for explaining, I may be overreacting

If you do, mind the rapists in SA. Malc that is cheeky...very very cheeky I'm not going to let your parents know because I don't want you to get into trouble but all I will say is " you naughty naughty boy"

I don't know but your post just seems to me some indirect way to get some kind of rape example into an RPG and have a way to justify it. Like when you say "that the girl having deliberately broken several taboos before the rape" I know RPG can contain mature topics but any example in any game where the developers try to position the rape as " the victim may have deserved it" I would find highly offensive and unacceptable. And the reality is no gaming studio would position rape in such a way You missed my point entirely. In order to have an interesting conflict, you have to both parties feeling justified for their actions. After all it, is all up to the player on what to do in that situation and the consequences those actions provide. In no way did i insinuate that the developers were pro-rape. It is all in your head. I never said you said that? But why would you want to have a subject like rape in an RPG where there is chance if not done properly, and since I know you don't place much credence in deep and meaningful writing in RPG as you mentioned around your view on Romance (well I think you said that ), it would lead to an unintentional trivializing of this serious social issue

Orog, there are people in the feminist movement who are extremists IMO and I can understand your concern, but they don't represent what the feminist movement is suppose to stand for. It does much more good than bad

I thoroughly enjoyed season 1, it was easily the most emotional game I have ever played and the ending brought me to tears. It amazed me that a game could have such an impact on me

I don't know but your post just seems to me some indirect way to get some kind of rape example into an RPG and have a way to justify it. Like when you say "that the girl having deliberately broken several taboos before the rape" I know RPG can contain mature topics but any example in any game where the developers try to position the rape as " the victim may have deserved it" I would find highly offensive and unacceptable. And the reality is no gaming studio would position rape in such a way

I disagree that Yanukovich was removed illegally, but lets say you are correct for argument sakes. It is a strange justification for Russia to now use surreptitious methods to effectively annex parts of Ukraine. This is about the sovereignty of Ukraine and the fact that Russia wants to create a buffer zone between it and an EU friendly Ukraine. I want to ask you another question, lets say a country has an internal coup and particular government is overthrown. In your books does this now mean other countries can basically invade the country and challenge the new government. I am interested in your comment " take power by force you're fair game in international relations"

Why is it a fail in your opinion?

This is because you are playing the Australian version of the game and its much more restrictive and critical around your players actions

I'm looking at this from a Russian perspective because that perspective is lacking in this discussion but I'm not thrilled by anyone destabilizing a sovereign country that is already in dire straights (economically) because I know what this spells for the Ukrainian people. Don't worry there is a very vociferous Russian perspective on these forums. Members like Zora, 2133, Oby, Vals and Sarex all support the Russian perspective and have similar views to you. So the Russian view is heard clearly, its just that many of us disagree with the reasons given for Russian involvement in Ukraine

No Nep, I have never had this discussion before..ever You must be suffering from sort of cognisant hallucination, it must be stress related. Come to South Africa for a holiday, you can stay with me for free

Well for me I don't like to ignore anyone because if I blocked everyone who had a different or dissenting view to me I would have very few people to debate with and often the discussions are interesting

I never cease to be amazed by the justification that supporters of Putin go around the Ukraine crisis, your post highlights an aspect of it So now we have a situation in eastern Ukraine where several cities have there government building occupied by well organised and armed Russian speaking militias. This is a situation that no government in the world would accept These are legitimate Ukrainian government buildings outside of Crimea. It is obvious that Russia is fermenting and encouraging insurrection against the Ukrainian government with an end goal to force a federal system of government in parts of Ukraine that is favourable to Russia You are an intelligent person, are you really going to sit there and tell me that you think Russia is not directly involved in this social unrest. And I mean outside of Crimea in other eastern parts of Ukraine They're as involved in this unrest as the EU and US were in the Euromaidan. The west overthrew the legitimately elected government (Yanukovich won his elections fairly) because it said "no" and installed an illegitimate one. European heads of state were parading in the street, supporting insurrection while protesters were burning Kiev. Now that your side has achieved its goals (at the expense of quite a few dead Ukrainians) you want the situation to stabilize and go back to business as usual. Except the Russians can't let that happen and everyone knew they wouldn't. The Russians feel their vital interests are threatened by this. Its a fair concern, the two countries do share a border after all. Is what the Russians are doing okay? No. But its important to note that everything that is happening is a reaction to the US and EU destabilization of the region. You make some good points around the Wests involvement in the overthrow of Yanukovich and the result of that but was the West that directly involved? My understanding is that an EU aligned Ukrainian government replaced Yanukovich. But were there Western soldiers in Kiev and were there Western government's actively controlling the anti-Yanukovich movement ? So in other words Russia's current involvement in Ukraine is much more direct than anything the West did around the removal of Yanukovich. I understand why Russia is doing it but that doesn't make it more right or acceptable

I never cease to be amazed by the justification that supporters of Putin go around the Ukraine crisis, your post highlights an aspect of it So now we have a situation in eastern Ukraine where several cities have there government building occupied by well organised and armed Russian speaking militias. This is a situation that no government in the world would accept These are legitimate Ukrainian government buildings outside of Crimea. It is obvious that Russia is fermenting and encouraging insurrection against the Ukrainian government with an end goal to force a federal system of government in parts of Ukraine that is favourable to Russia You are an intelligent person, are you really going to sit there and tell me that you think Russia is not directly involved in this social unrest. And I mean outside of Crimea in other eastern parts of Ukraine

Because human beings do a better job of displaying that they don't let violent media make them violent, while they don't seem to do as well with not taking ideas and imagery and disassociating them. I also feel that violence is better socialized against in other ways. Because you don't understand the terms. Rape culture is NOT "all men are rapists." Rape culture is a term to describe a culture in which prevalent attitudes and practices normalize, excuse, tolerate, and even condone rape. This is from the very first line in the wikipedia article. The second sentence is this: "Examples of behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, sexual objectification, and trivializing rape." For instance, someone suggesting "rape victims should just not make a big deal out of it because it gives power to the rapist" is an example of victim blaming, as well as rape trivialization. IIRC, this is what you actually said to me. It's not up to you, or me, or anyone else to tell someone how they should or should not deal with an assault like that. So yes, I consider a statement like that to be one that contributes to rape culture. No, I do not consider you a rapist. Some extra reading from a place like here. One thing they point out is how rape culture is a culture that feels rape is inevitable. Think about some people getting upset because what a woman was wearing and where she was walking was focused on during a rape, and how she shouldn't be there and certainly not wearing that? How many people go "well yeah, of course she's taking a risk." Soon it becomes her fault that she was raped. As for other examples of rape culture: Look up Stubenville. Some high school boys raped a girl. Adults obstruct justice to protect the boys and the school's football program, and there's a healthy degree of focus on how this is tragic for the boys because they had promising football careers and how they may not even get into college now if a conviction is made. There's another case of Raeteah Parsons from Nova Scotia. Very similar to Stubenville in that boys raped a girl and took videos/photos, and the girl was the one ostracized for it by her peers (she tried NOT coming out with an accusation to start too). She was bullied out of school and harassed by other boys that wanted to have sex with her. The family tried moving, but the bullying eventually caught up with them again thanks to social media... and the girl was driven to suicide. Saratoga High School had a similar thing, which some consider worse than Stubenville, where again guys took advantage of a drunk woman, took dozens of pictures of her being abused, and would share it with the student body. There's an article here in Rolling Stone. Harvard's Crimson posted an editorial from a Havard Student (kudos to the Crimson doing this... I consider that a positive thing). Until 1983, in Canada it wasn't possible for a husband to rape his wife. That doesn't mean that all husbands raped their wife. It did mean that society's codified laws meant that it was not something seen as possible (which is absurd as far as I'm concerned. If a spouse isn't interested in having sex, forcing that spouse, man or woman, same sex or otherwise, it's absolutely rape). That's rape culture. (rectifying this by altering the laws is an example of eroding that culture, which is something that I support) But there's still issues: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/how-canadas-sex-assault-laws-violate-rape-victims/article14705289/?page=all * Most judges now attend courses to become more sensitive, but still hand out sentences, Prof. Boyle of UBC says, that suggest victims invited trouble by how they acted or dressed while out on a date, or with those closest to them. * For example, in October, 2009, the Ontario Court of Appeal imposed a 10-year sentence on a man convicted of assaulting a woman who was working a night shift at a convenience store. The same month, it ruled on a man who had tied his wife to a bed, covered her mouth with duct tape, punched her in the face, cut off her underwear with a knife and threatening to slash her vagina before trying to rape her. Only on appeal was his sentencing increased to 21 months – and even then the sentence was conditional, so the man, by this time out of jail, didn’t have to go back. The man fitting the "typical" image of a rapist: 10 years. The atypical rapist... 21 month conditional sentence. I don't believe this is endemic to only Canada, however. Here's a cartoonist's take on the discussions regarding sexual harassment I was going to go into your misunderstanding of the term patriarchy too, but I've been writing this for a while and have to go soon. I did point out a study in a different thread of the male and female researchers BOTH critiquing an equivalently qualified woman candidate in a study (only the name was changed) more aggressively than a man. There's *some* reason for this type of assessment, and the idea that society (somehow) has us believe that women are less capable at the physical sciences is one possible assessment. This is the idea of "the patriarchy," which is more of a nebulous, abstract concept of institutionalized ways to reinforce a specific set of gender roles. It's important to note that men can be affected by the patriarchy too, in that they are ostracized if not displaying a suitably masculine image. Men are biased against in custody battles. They are biased against in adoption. I don't know this for certain, but I certainly perceive that they are more likely to be ostracized for being homosexual. (despite Volo's declarations, feminism has nothing to do with acting feminine - although feminism is more of an umbrella that has a variety of perspectives now). I find it troubling that you call out someone for "having a different idea of what feminism is than what is actuallly happening" because it doesn't seem like you actually understand the terms being used. But I'm not sure if it's the other people that suffer from cognitive dissonance on this topic. How many people on this forum point out that the extreme people are just that, extreme? How many people on this forum actually espouse those extreme views? Yet in a thread that I was taking part in, not long after I let it be known that I was a feminist, you post some hateful diatribe of what feminism is. I think you're mistaken about what feminism is. I think there may be some bias in your sampling if you think that feminism is as extreme that you think it is. I actually enjoyed reading a comment from a developer on a RPS talk regarding Manveer's talk at GDC. In response to all the people crying out against compromising artistic integrity, he shared how he knows all too well how much that's affected, as character designs he makes are white washed and altered to appeal to specific demographics. Artistic integrity indeed! But fans don't typically see that sort of stuff so it doesn't happen I guess. Perhaps they should stop compromising their artistic vision based on what the marketing department tells them. As a lead on a AAA game (Sudeki) who was forced to make a black character whiter, for “sales in target demographics (Japan)” I can promise you, the words “compromised artistic vision” ring loud and clear across the whole industry. If it’s made for profit, the artistic vision has already been compromised. Fact. (In response to someone asking why designers should compromise their artistic vision to appease sexual minorities). Super Smash Bros had an example of the designer literally NOT doing what was concepted, at all yet this is what was delivered. Artistic integrity! As for bull**** trivialization and fundamental misunderstandings: Magnificently put! I think for a lot of people, it's mere existence comes across as forced. In ME3, Steve made a casual reference to his husband that passed on. My reaction: "WHOA! He's gay!" I make that reaction because, well, it's not something I'm used to see. But I'll remember that... Makes a casual reference to his wife passing on? Do I even blink an eye? (I actually love Shepard's response to that line, given that it unphases Shepard in the slightest). I'll take this as preemptive support of this post. Thanks! Hi Alan, welcome back Yaaaaaaaaaaaay Good to see you posting again, where have you been? I know you said were taking a break but have just been on BSN?

I know this is no surprise but I agree 100 % with Bryy, there are some topics around social justice that really aren't funny or shouldn't be considered humorous. Jokes about topics like rape and domestic abuse I fail to see how anyone can find them in anyway remotely funny What humour does around these topics is detract from the seriousness of the subject, I'm not saying that just because people laugh at rape jokes that makes then supportive of rape but it doesn't help with the societal problem of addressing the problem at every level