BruceVC

It's a valid Observation, but I'm not sure it's universal truth that Romances automatically = more memorable characters. People will remember NPCs who are well written and who are prolifically represented in a video game. (read: lots of lines either spoken or text) Whether they're romanceable or not makes little difference. Romances are certainly a way to make a character memorable. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. What IS in dispute is whether it's the best way. I happen to be in the camp of people who say it's not. And for my argument, I can say this. In my years of gaming the characters I remember most are: 1)Irenicus 2)Morte 3)Fall-From-Grace 4)Serevok 5)Neeshka 6)Viconia 7) Roche ^And only one of these is romanceable. Fair enough I do remember most of those characters but I particularly remember Grace because I did attempt to Romance her

That doesn't really mean anything other than you have prejudices and don't have an open mind. And using sweeping generalisations. So do you think there are good trolls Bruce? Or are you going to be evasive too? "prejudices and don't have an open mind"...ouch . Someone got out of the wrong side of bed this morning, what happened? Did the pet kangaroo go on a rampage and upset your sheep from there daily frolicking in the outback? I thought my view on trolls was unequivocal..unequivocal !!! All Trolls are bad and need to be sent to some jungle prison camp for hard labour. We must aspire to eradicate this world of the menace of the Internet Troll, once this is done liberty and freedom will reign !!!! PS : After reading some of the comments about what a "good troll" is, like what Zor said, I have to concede there is such a thing. I just don't think I have experienced it.

To me a so-called "good troll" would presumably lie in a grey area of interpretation, so it is unclear if there definitely are such entities. Why are you being so evasive? And it goes back to what I said. "you think there is never a good troll and if there is, it's called something else and not a troll?". So even though you didn't say it, it's what you're implying. And this confirms it. Your posts come across as there is no such thing as a good troll. And consider a few posters in this thread have said there are good trolls (posts), so you basically disagree when them as well. If you open a thread for discussion, holding fast to one opinion and deny the concept of good trolls when there are good trolls and being evasive when questioned, then it truly baffles me. And it goes back to strawman, sweeping generalisations and inherent bias which you seem to accuse me of a couple of pages ago. The view I have is that "bad trolls " have caused so much animosity and consternation through the years that the concept of a "good troll" is foreign to most people. If you publicly announce that you are a troll most people will immediately assume you are there to disrupt discussions and can offer nothing positive. That's the reality we live in and its understandable

Trust me once you get into Rugby you will realize what an absolutely exciting game it is

I CTD'd in Skyrim three times in one session, for the first time, immediately after installing last Tuesday's Windows Update. After powering down and rebooting, it hasn't happened since. My hourly total now is only 110, but that's in addition to 600 hours on Xbox. There is nothing more satisfying than the explosion of light and sound after killing draugr with Dawnbreaker. KABOOM Holy Smoke, 700 hours + on Skyrim is a very impressive amount of time to spend on a game. Nice one, you must know Skyrim backwards by now ?

...tell me where ye've been outside o' Canada ta flap yer gob 'bout this, dwarf...cuz I's been all o'er the world, when I's in the military, an' we Canadians be beloved worldwide cuz we ain't arrogant pieces o' crap, like some other countries...beloved...worldwide...some o' the crap that leaves yer gob should be shoved back in 'er... ...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!... Yeah, Canadians seem pretty arrogant I find, mainly about them being humble and nice (passive aggressive, really). But then again, this is a nation whose national spirit is entwined with a coffee chain and a beer company. Malc I am going to be honest you live in one of the most stable first world countries in the world. you live a country that has some of the most beautiful nature in the world your government is run well and levels of corruption is relatively low compared to other places your country has invested in infrastructure and education you have a strong economy and your country is a migration destination dream for millions of people Your biggest issue is some obese mayor of a major city smoking crack. You guys really have a good deal and its not like your country expects you to anything for it except for paying taxes and not being a social delinquent. And yet you and people like Volo still can't find it in yourself to do one thing that most people would do willingly...support your country in an international sports event..sorry to sound harsh but I think its a shocking attitude to have and I encourage you to look at yourself introspectively and change your view

That's a very good post and you make some relevant points And you have made me realize something else, I remember very few characters in my party through the various RPG I have played but I do remember the characters I shared Romance with. So for me another benefit around Romance is the obvious deeper interaction you have with people and this allows you to not just remember them as faceless people in your party but someone of significance in your memory of the game. This is a very valid observation

I did know you were joking and it was no problem at all. I joke with people as well and I believe that if you are going to do that you must be prepared to take it. Also we sometimes engage in discussions that get heated and emotional as people take there views seriously. I think that is all part of what constitutes healthy and lively debate and is not Trolling by any means

I've been on the internet since the early 90s is some form or fashion. My experience is that it really hasn't changed much in terms of the pro-social behavior, the anti-social behavior and the strata between. I think it depends where you look, if you use the RPGCodex forums as your benchmark then I agree we aren't seeing much progress around how people post and what they are prepared to say. But if you take sites like RPS they take the issue of sexism and the objectification of women in games very seriously. I would say it would be difficult to argue that in the last few years there hasn't generally been more of a raised awareness around issues of Internet anti-social behaviour and social justice.

I've heard this before that people nowadays are more serious and can't take a joke. That may be so or it may be the new online reality we live in where people are less tolerant of anti-social Internet behaviour or people that think its funny to be offensive or for example are dismissive of issues around equality

Excellent series and I am excited to start watching Season 2, thanks for the reminder

I'm rooting for anyone to beat them. The tears flowing here would be awesome. You want your own country to be beaten? Pretty much, yes. Wow the depths of your patriotism never ceases to amaze me Malc But if you don't mind me asking why would you not support your own country?

Very true

My issue with Trolling is more the indifference that we see from people in addressing it. So whenever someone is Trolling the typical reaction is " he is Trolling him, ignore him". There isn't really an attempt to condemn it or to take the person on, so now we know what type of personality defines a Troll that's an important step in people not just ignoring it but dealing with it That's the thing, though, for any forum member other than moderators the proper response is ignoring the troll, outwardly, anyway. Reporting the troll to the moderators via report button is also proper, though no one will outwardly ever see that (other than the moderators). Trolls generally crave attention. Responding to them is giving them exactly what they want, especially if the response is a negative one. That's a good point and I can see the strategy that you referring to. Also as you mentioned its the job of Moderators to take on a Troll, but then it becomes difficult because how do you really know when someone is trolling, I'm glad I'm not a Moderator

Interesting, I don't think I've intentionally ever really tried to reach out to a troll. That's something I may attempt in the future. I prefer to spend time in debates with people that actually enjoy the principles of discussion

That's a good question and one I'm glad you asked ( because most of the time I hate making a point where I offer too much information ) My issue with Trolling is more the indifference that we see from people in addressing it. So whenever someone is Trolling the typical reaction is " he is Trolling him, ignore him". There isn't really an attempt to condemn it or to take the person on, so now we know what type of personality defines a Troll that's an important step in people not just ignoring it but dealing with it So these mysterious people are anyone who allows a Troll to post what he wants with impunity. We don't see this typically on these forums but I have experienced gratuitous and unchallenged Trolling on other forums

That's an accurate and fair assessment of the NWN2 trilogy, nice post. And the dinosaurs were cool

Melk you have a good knowledge of games. I would love to do a survey on these forums to see who has played the most games in there gaming career and who has the broadest knowledge of different types of games. Of course it would be impossible to do because of all the variables but it would interesting to see

I just changed my password too, thanks Gorth

But maybe if people understood the personality traits of what constitutes a Troll they wouldn't be so keen to think that Trolling is okay. A Troll is basically someone who has several dysfunctional mental traits. Its something I would think people would want to change urgently and the article is relevant because its based on a real study and empirical evidence and not just what people think. So even though we all "know" what a Troll is this article substantiates our views

Yeah, I've got SoZ but haven't had the time to get past the party creation bit yet, didn't realise the strategic element was that strong. You've bumped it up my list to finally play. It starts out pretty cool, but ends up being very broken by the end game. Nah, that's not true. Its a good RPG, not excellent but good, and it has a very unique map system that spawns events and random monsters that is great fun. If you haven't played it yet you must

That was quite funny

s Monte lets not debate semantics around this issue, I think we are all in agreement on what the definition of a modern day Troll is? " A person who makes comments to upset people or get an emotional response but has no interest in really discussing topics or being constructive " I'm surprised no one has said " wow BruceVC that's an accurate description of a Troll...you are really insightful around this topic "

You made a very complicated question quite simple and said it in a way that shouldn't offend or confuse anyone but is very true, nice one Let it go people. It is no longer a debate. No matter what is said, no matter what polls are shown, no matter how much you moan, their is no romance in PoE. but..but..."hope springs eternal in the human breast"

I have to be honest, I've also never heard of it ?