BruceVC

Once again you seem to be avoiding a direct question so I'll ask it differently " do you personally feel that the UK can say it believes in free speech. Can you say you feel you live in county that allows free speech"

Can you answer my question because it is relevant. In the UK they charge people for Twitter comments, do you think the UK believes in free speech?

Simple opinions are usually the most dangerous. Especially when applied to complex concepts such as freedom of speech. I'm not about to discuss in detail the politics of SA, which has its problems like everywhere else except writ large. Poverty, corruption, crime, HIV, the legacy of the ANC... if it's so great why is London full of South Africans who hate the place? My point is what works for you in SA might not work for everyone else. Or should they just shut up? Then you don't believe in free speech. It's like saying, 'we believe in hamburger, but not in eating cows.' You have no right to be not offended. Assaulted, sure. Offended? No way. Under your definition Martin Luther would never have nailed his declaration to the door. Troll or child-like naivety? Only you can decide. Oh Monte stop using Strawman arguments to support your view that words don't have an impact on our dignity. When did I ever say that South Africa is a paradigm of social perfection? When I ever say we don't have high unemployment? In fact how are those points in anyway relevant to my statement. I said " the South African Constitution allows free speech but not if it impacts the dignity of a person". You can dismiss what the South African Constitution says but 48 million people will disagree with you This is not uncommon, in fact in the UK people have been charged for making derogatory racist comments on Twitter. So lets address your own country and how you feel about that law. Is it unfair that numerous people are prosecuted for there opinions on Twitter...those are just words after all?

Thats a different type of Pizza. I don't normally have seafood on Pizza but it sounds tasty

Why anyone would believe anything O'Reilly says about any topic is beyond me

I'm surprised that any website can cause you to feel it's looking down on a particular group? Don't you think that you judging RPS, isn't this about the importance of free speech...shouldn't we just not have any opinions on how we feel about a particular website and there perspective? Or does ths only apply to our opinions on ..I don't know...lets say RPGCodex ( sorry Nonek I couldn't resist, you know I love you ) And what about free speech rights of the creators of the games, which RPS tramples over Unless either RPS or this forum suddenly became the government, I don't see what free speech has to do with it. Well we have had this debate on different levels and we all have our own views. My opinion is a simple one and its based on what I see works in South Africa and is in our constitution. We believe in free speech but not if it impacts the dignity of a person. So in other words say what you want but don't say it in way that is offensive or hurtful. Its obvious to me and I don't understand why people don't emphatically agree with me

Okay thanks for explaining. I see the point and how it could be applicable but that wouldn't work for me for a number of reasons. But I see what you mean

I'm not shouting at all. It's about opening your mind to the possibilities. I know that's kind of hard for you to do. It's never too late to give up your prejudices. You've shown at least once (and I can only recall once) in WoT that even after pages and pages and hundreds of comments by fellow posters, you can accept a different view point, even if it takes hundreds of posts to convince you. Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. This is where you seem to be. The measure of intelligence is the ability to change. Something to ponder over. Yes I do consider myself someone who is prepared to change there mind if you can present facts and a logical perspective. I just haven't seen this around "why there shouldn't be Romance in RPG" This is not the same as accepting there won't be Romance in the first PoE

An oxymoronic statement made by a sociopathic moron. Putin is playing the PR game as well as the World Chess game, he's good at it, and generally he is winning it. I would never accuse him of being thin skinned. At that level of politics almost no one is. Well we don't know the true motives of Putin, I will say that he is insecure around how Western powers view Russia and wants to restore the hegemony of Russia in the region. He is not all bad, like when he gave the West a way out of invading Syria which no one wanted to really do, but he does seem to make concerning decisions at times. How do you think he is winning this metaphorical PR game around world opinion?

It was pretty obvious what I was saying. Read my post again. The devs don't need to put romance or romances in the game for there not to be a romance or romances in the game. Do you know what role playing means? Do you know what role playing games are? Perhaps looking it up. Digest what it means. If you're still having trouble with its meaning, then have someone in real life explain it to you. And once you understand, you can get back to me. Why are you in such a mood, I hate it when you shout I still don't get what you are saying, if there is no Romance in a game then how would I have the Romance option as a choice for deeper party interaction. I must see the options for Romance like in DA in order for there to be Romance. I don' think even you understand what you are saying....maybe someone can explain it to me?

Hi Hiro I don't understand your post or see how it is relevant to the case for Romance, are you now saying you want Romance in PoE or you only want Romance if our characters are Smurfs? Maybe you could start a thread raising the point "will Smurfs be a race choice" ....I will support you if you make a compelling argument but it will really have to be good as I feel the inclusion of Smurfs will be incongruous to a fantasy setting. Can you explain your point as the analogy is lost on me

For Russia it was a safe bet from the start. Any effective measure I can think off by the EU/US will cause Russia to clamp on EU gas supply or escalate by creating a larger breakaway state in East Ukraine, and no one is going to start a war over Ukraine... Which is why I avoided posting this, so we don't get side tracked, into more westren crap, but now that it is obvious here: With that said , I don't think that Obama statement that there will be consequences to Russia action is funny and some fancy Nato crap or added isolation to that of Syria. Funny enough the EU is putting more pressure on Russia with there latest statement than I expected. Even though the Crimean referendum may seem plausible as a way to end the discussion around " who should Crimea belong to" I don't think the main Western countries or the USA will accept that, so that means ultimately in this case it won't be a viable option.

Venezuela has been facing serious structural economic problems for a while now. The anti-western rhetoric worked to pacify people as as excuse to address the deteriorating economy under Chavez but Maduro just doesn't have the same charisma and isn't as popular. Maduro is trying the old and tired " the protests and instability are caused by Western powers, our country is fine" ..but most Venezuelans don't believe this and want ecomonic and political transformance

Kind of funny coming from you. But anyway, whether these supposed shills are paid for one site or a bundle, this place is a worthless objective for it. Not really, all my comments I can support with multiple sources and links

That statement alone should put to bed the debate around whether Obys opinion in this case is in anyway credible

What if your character was a ghost in the game, how would you feel than about running through NPC's

That made me laugh, I'm going to start using that term

I don't know about that, can we not say both games look equally entertaining?

Wow that trailer looked amazing, I'm so excited about this game

What I think on the subject doesn't matter too much at this point in regards to PoE, but I will say in general that romance in a game is not a black and white issue for me. If this thread is moved out of the PoE forum I'll debate the pros and cons of romance in a game with you. But so long as this thread is here, I'll lobby to have it moved out, as I would any other thread that won't die that has little to nothing to do with PoE. We may as well be discussing the merits of making PoE a POV game instead of isometric, that's how much this subject really doesn't belong in this forum at this point. I actually wonder why the mods haven't moved it out, they are usually overactive in my opinion in other matters, though perhaps the only ones paying attention here are pro-romance. Those are good points but can you say with certainty there won't be Romance in PoE 2, until Obsidian confirms this the discussion is surly relevant on these forums?

Okay great idea, but don't you think that a person can enjoy PoE even if there isn't Romance? Surly thats possible .... Possible sure. But one wonders when this thread and others concerning the topic are still going on despite the announcement there will be no romance. You don't see similar threads on subjects like PoE on the console or PoE as a 3D game despite some on these forums having wanting them in the past. They generally accept what they want isn't going to be in the game after being told so and move on, but not many of those in favor of romance. Why the romance folks can't let this subject die is beyond me. Swallow the loss and wait for PoE2 is what should be done, not clutter up this forum with the banality of this thread. This thread really belongs in Computer and Console though as it has little to nothing to do with PoE at this point. Sounds like you are firmly in the anti-romance camp...it doesn't seem like you think Romance should be in RPG?

Okay great idea, but don't you think that a person can enjoy PoE even if there isn't Romance? Surly thats possible ....

I'm surprised that any website can cause you to feel it's looking down on a particular group? Don't you think that you judging RPS, isn't this about the importance of free speech...shouldn't we just not have any opinions on how we feel about a particular website and there perspective? Or does ths only apply to our opinions on ..I don't know...lets say RPGCodex ( sorry Nonek I couldn't resist, you know I love you )

Ironically, it's precisely RPS' incessant white knighting that puts me off more than anything else. I can usually put up with it (read: skim over it as best I can) because I enjoy their cheesy puns and they do have insightful things to say from time to time. Like with any other reviewers, we don't always (or even often) see eye to eye when it comes to taste in games or things that nag us and things we let go, but that's all part of different people having different opinions, and it's not enough to make me stop reading their work. I don't think I've ever truly felt like they had an agenda... Well, except for their clear desire to score moral justice crusader brownie points. Come now Keyrock lets be resonable, there are dozens of gaming websites that don't care about social justice. Surly we aren't going to judge RPS because they do and they are prepared to admit this? I wish more gaming websites had there perpsective but sadly there aren't.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has me a little worried: I've been worried about RPS for a while. In all seriousness they're at about Kotaku level now, their concerns can be safely ignored. And, of course, their review of FalloutNV was pretty infamous- they just don't like Obsidian much. Some of their guest contributors are good though, and Tim Stone is, as always, awesome. Don't forget the important role that RPS plays in raising issues of social justice. There reviews may be debatably questionable but they more than make up for it with there awareness campaigns around certain issues