BruceVC

I know the history of Al-Qaeda perfectly well. Of course their initial formation would still have happened, but after the resolution of the war in Afghanistan they would have played out their role. Do you even know why Osama attacked the US in the first place? Because the US supports the Israeli Zionists and also because they have military bases in Saudi Arabia (yes, apparently that was a reason). AQ has EVERYTHING to do with Israel/Palestine, just look at 9/11, which was largely a byproduct of the Israel/Palestine situation. (Nowadays I sincerely think they get more recruits from the PR they must have gained from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) They say it's because of Israel to gain more popular support amongst Arabs and other Muslims, but Jihad is a lot older than modern Israel, and their goal is to carry out global Jihad to establish a global caliphate, to overthrow current Arab regimes and replace them with revolutionary Islamist ones. US used to be an obstacle to those goals, so we got attacked on 9/11. Al Qaeda isn't fighting Assad because he's not anti-Israeli enough, they're fighting him because he's not Sunni and allied with Shiites in Iran. I was going to comment on the reasons for the formation on AQ, I thought you misunderstood why they were formed Ros but I see you know the reasons. I also wanted to add that during the first Gulf War when Iraq invaded Kuwait Bin Laden wanted the likes of Saudi Arabia to use the newly formed Islamic fighters to address this invasion. But when they asked the West to assist he considered this an insult to Muslims and adding to this the fact that there were military bases in Saudi he felt that the cause of greater Islamic hegemony was being betrayed. He declared many governments in the Middle East as apostate and AQ began there campaign of violence to achieve political change I also don't think support for the Palestinians is as unified amongst the Middle East as people think. The Sunni controlled countries like Qatar, UAE and Saudi are more concerned with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in there countries and the power of Shia countries like Syria and Iran than the plight of the Palestinians. Also many of the extremist groups have objectives in there manifestos outside of the rights of the Palestinians. So even though Islamists do care about the Palestinians its not the only or the most important thing.

I was thinking of a way to explain to some of you guys the reason why I feel rape is unacceptable in a video game yet I accept that gratuitous violence in a FPS is fine. Its difficult and I was hoping someone like Alan would do it for me as he has the ability to make more profoundly intellectual points than I can on these topics. However I have thought of a reason. The violence we see in video games is something that is unrealistic and we all know it. No one is going kill 100 people in a room in 30 minutes and survive being shot many times. But the idea and the act of rape is not, its one of the biggest social problems that face our mothers, wives, daughters, girlfriends and female friends. Also its not just about rape but domestic violence to women that in many countries is still perpetuated and nothing is done about it. So if we start now thinking that's its okay to have games that allow or show rape as "we already allow killing" I think this will detract from the campaign of people opposed to violence against women. On some subconscious level for some people that may not take the subject as seriously as they can. And that's something we don't want to allow to develop. We must be unequivocal in our view and stance around this egregious crime on any level

Wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where we didn't notice that development companies offered options for straight and gay players? It would just be as normal as choosing to play male or female. That's the level of progression I want all companies and people to get to, a level where we don't comment at all about this topic as its so common.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/why-grand-theft-auto-online-is-crazy-enough-to-work-6412714/?tag=Topslot%3bSlot1 Guys take a look at GTA Online implementation, I think it sounds very exciting

Okay that was funny

That's a good idea for a monster

Also equally useless as a message to close the issue with. I agree, they need to explain the reason more RAM can't be purchased or who needs to pay for it

Yes Volo you are right, the same number of men are raped on a daily basis globally as are women. Also domestic abuse of men by women is the same as domestic abuse of women by men. You have solved the problem, please notify all the help-lines and organisations that help abused women that receive hundred of calls a week to say "there is no problem with systemic violence towards women and children because men get abused too" What would we do without your insight on these matters?

I thought you may say this but its not same thing or the same argument. You will never ban killing of people in a FPS but you can ensure that the main character in any game doesn't go around raping women or abusing children.

I helped fund this game on KS but to be honest your view isn't really a positive report of the game. Should I wait till it gets more stable before playing it? Stability isn't the (main) problem. I don't see how much can be done to improve the game. Adding more tooltips and better explanations of things is feasible, but much of the game's problems stem from poor design decisions, and I don't really think that can ever be fixed, barring a complete overhaul of the game. The game reeks of an inexperienced team with some interesting ideas but not the experience to implement them properly or knowledge that some of the thins that look good on paper won't really work in a video game. Whether you play the game now or 6 months from now, I suspect you're in for more or less the same experience. Be prepared for something that is exceedingly rough around the edges. Also, rough in the middle, basically rough through every atom of its electronic mass. If you can get past the shortcomings, and adapt to the awkward controls, and get past the horrific camera , you may get some enjoyment out of it, as I have. Thanks for the feedback, I respect your opinion on games so I'll wait till I have nothing really exciting to play before attempting this one

Sorry I have an issue with this. Our society is beset by violence against women and children and I don't see why this should be included in a game? There are many games that appeal to people due to there gratuitious shooting and gun violence and that's fine but I really think this is a step too far. And I'm not being parochial, I just think some topics need to stay out of games as by including them you detract from the seriousness of them in our modern era.

Clearly you overrate yourself. Having fun with IT today. Server is POSTing with trouble, IT says that 'Well you need more RAM'. I am kind of left wondering what exactly the **** they expect us to do and what is their job They probably mean the if the Business Unit is complaining about speed and the issue is RAM then someone needs to pay for it so it should come from your budget ?

That is weird considering there is no real skill in frying potatoes. Its all about the oil being hot enough, I assume that is what you are talking about. Frying potato chips?

I helped fund this game on KS but to be honest your view isn't really a positive report of the game. Should I wait till it gets more stable before playing it?

"Exploration Skills" has a nice ring to it. Hmm, so, if after an evening romancing Vivienne, a female mage character could wake up and freely explore bits of Orlais on horseback ... repairing ancient bridges and excoriating the trolls beneath them, at will. Sounds good. I totally thought you were going to say you were going to use your "exploration skills" to romance Vivienne when you started off (my eyes picked up "Exploration Skills", "Romance" and "Vivienne" before I read the actual sentence). I have to say Vivienne looks pretty hot. She will be first on my Romance list and of course she needs to add value in combat and I want her personality and story to be believable

I am not sure what you mean? No one is arguing that they aren't good games. My point is that in the last 15 years they represent only 5 % (if not less) of the total number of RPG that have been released where you don't have some sort of end boss fight My point is that it's interesting that the RPG games I think are superior to others do not have mandatory end boss fights. Okay I see what you are saying and that is an interesting observation from your perspective, I haven't played Fallout 1 & 2 yet.

A lot of fancy funerals ? Malc think of it this way, in Canada the police probably use highly trained Moose instead of dogs or horse. Imagine the anger if those Moose were killed? Agreed, in South Africa we have major issues with the Police trying to control large amounts of very angry and violent protesters during the seasons of strikes. Only last year the Police killed 30 or so miners in Marikana, a mining area, when they were attacked by thousands of armed and belligerent miners. The police were blamed for being heavy handed and suddenly the miners became the victims. Despite the fact they had killed some Police officers in the days leading to this protest. Its very hard to stay calm and deal with large and dangerous mobs of people screaming at you, I am never surprised by casualties

For starters you could just move-in while Ramadan was celebrated and use tear gas.Or surround the place and deny water. Or use nasty chemicals like you yourself suggested. Or not let them assemble in those numbers in the first place. In the end it doesn't matter because this situation is greatly beneficial to the military. All the international condemnation won't came even close to the benefit of this 'shock and awe'. You have raised some good strategies but I don't think this current situation is viable for the military at all. They have received serious international criticism and more importantly I think they underestimated the level of violent insurrection. They now face the possibility of conflict with hundreds of thousand of Muslim Brotherhood supporters, I can't think how any government would be seeing this as something they planned or wanted?

Planescape: Torment, Fallout 1 & 2 (technically in 2, though one or two people have to die, you just don't have to fight them). I played Torment and I didn't realize you could avoid the final battle, so there are maybe 3-4 RPG over the last 15 years where you get to avoid the final battle. I apologize for only getting it 95 % right So you played everything that you can claim this bull****?? Or how else did you arrive from the "RPG i have played" to "all RPGs"? Calm down Majek, this is just a debate and its my opinion. If you disagree with me then name 10 RPG that have been released in the last 10 yeas out of the hundreds of RPG that have been released where you don't have an end boss fight that you can optionally avoid. Its not hard to understand

If the military wanted to solve this bloodlessly they would have.This was a deliberate show of strength on part of the new regime. In all likelihood this means they are hoping for some insurgency or even a uprising to happen just so they could crush it. If their position is really that strong they are under no danger of losing to MB. That means that the only question left is who will be the new Mubarak. I dispute that this could be solved without bloodshed. Only by releasing Morsi and by allowing him to be reinstated as president would his supporters be satisfied. The Egyptian military won't allow this so I believe there will be bloodshed. The question is how much and how heavy handed the Egyptian military will be

I am not sure what you mean? No one is arguing that they aren't good games. My point is that in the last 15 years they represent only 5 % (if not less) of the total number of RPG that have been released where you don't have some sort of end boss fight

That would work actually but I suppose this is about complete civil disobedience and the protesters would just move to areas where the smoke wouldn't effect them?

Planescape: Torment, Fallout 1 & 2 (technically in 2, though one or two people have to die, you just don't have to fight them). I played Torment and I didn't realize you could avoid the final battle, so there are maybe 3-4 RPG over the last 15 years where you get to avoid the final battle. I apologize for only getting it 95 % right

I don't support the level of violence that the current Egyptian government is using but the Muslim Brotherhood is not some harmless group that are the complete victims in this. We have seen, and as mentioned, they have attacked churches and police stations and they are doing everything in there power to ensure that there camps of protest are not removed. This means attacking the Egyptian security forces, it should be no surprise to anyone that causalities are high. I would expect this considering the circumstances

What? If there's one thing the Witcher games have, it's a strong emphasis on player choice and consequences based on those choices. Or am I unclear on what you're saying? Because it sounds like your complaints are the exact opposite of what the Witcher games actually are. You are correct, Witcher 2 does offer you more choices from an RPG perspective and there real influence on the end game then any RPG I have played I'm not referring only to when choices carry over, but that is a big part of it. But most choices made in each individual game have an immediate effect but nothing long term, with the one exception in TW2 that you pointed out. You just don't have much influence over the story compared to most RPGs, no influence over other characters, and there's only one playstyle in TW2. Good games, but mediocre RPGs at best. Honestly Rhamnetin have you even played Witcher 2? I don't know a single RPG I have played where you have the option to not have some final end game battle with the antagonist that during the game you are hunting. In Witcher 2 you have the choice to not fight Letho, it would be like not choosing to fight the Archdemon in DA:O. You can criticize the Witcher game in other areas but to say you can't make RPG choices is just silly Played it twice. So TW2 is the best RPG because you get to choose whether or not to fight one particular battle? Now that's just silly. How much does a ticket to this make-believe world cost? We going to have to agree to disagree on this one. It seems like every example that someone gives you highlighting why TW2 is a game that offers you RPG choices you dismiss. I stand by what I say that TW2 does offer you RPG choices, you dispute that. That's fine and that's your view. I'm going to move on around this particular debate