TrashMan

But we do constantly discriminate. How is that easy to dispute? Just because you don't like a law doesn't make it invalid or wrong, and doesn't make other countries getting involved justified. At the end of the day, all the justifications are done on a moral basis, and peoples morals are not the same.

RPG's generally have a several ways party NPC's are done: - Blank slates. They have no personality and are basicly mercenaries with no meaningfullinteraction... OR you build the whole party yourself - Characters have their own personality and agendas. Now I've seen a few promising kickstarters that try to combine this by having personaltiy traits in character creator that affect how a NPC reacts to certain situations.. However, this is not about that. This is about the amount of influence the PC has over the party. Sometimes it seem they have too much influence - being able to sway any party member to their POV. Sometimes it seems that no one else seems to have any influence on them except the player. that is something I want to avoid. Basicly I desire a party that feels real. NPC's that influence eachother (you say no, the other party member sez yes, the NPC likes him more than you and he does it), have their own agendas and thoughts and aren't there just to be the PC's underlings, or mouthpieces for something.

Do tell, who is the real power-structure in the US? Special interest groups. Lobbies. The military-industrial complex. Banks. Peopel with lots of $$$ run the US in all but name. Presidents change, but they are all their b***es.

True. The inherent danger of free speech is that someone will actually listen to you and maybe *GASP* change their mind. Then we'll have TWO people who share that horrific, distasteful view that must be purged from existence 213374U put it nicely. Love, hate, speech. Those are things the state shouldn't mess with - Legalizing or forbidding

You don't get anything for just existing, other than the right to die. Rights only exist as long as we agree they exist and give them. They are a human construct. Nitpicking. Agreed. One cannot have freedom of speech if one isn't allowed to speak freely. But if you say X it might be offensive? It's not nice? I don't want to hear it? Too bad, because that's EXACTLY what free speech is about - being able to say something, no matter how much someone else might object. And I fully understand people who want to ban some thing, because Lord knows free speech is a double sided blade. And a VERY sharp one. There will always be things we find so wrong, so repulsive, that we will wish them gone forever. Thought and behaviors that we deem harmful to society or soul. And then we will take steps to remove them, thinking ourselves righteous in the process.

FYI, that some news outlets are ctiticizing the president means little. The president is not the real power-structure in the US anyway.

Sanctity of a human mind. I've set to see a constitution that writes "You're not allowed to FEEL this/that or THINK this/that". So yes, I bloody well think it's a human right, given that nobody can take it away from you (yet. Once mind-reading and brainwashing becomes possible, then all freedom is gone forever)

I want to ask you a very important question, do you personally think its right to put someone in jail for life for having consensual same sex? See bolded ^^ Hate never was illegal to begin with. Expression of hate towards specific things may be. But you can't really make hate illegal. Hating whomever you want for whatever reason you want is the basic human "right". Nitpicking here, but I'm bored.

Personally, I never really liked "weird and different" companions. When your party can pass of as a circus/fair attraction, it's time to raise alarm bells. It feels fake... after all, what are the chances that one guy will have followers from the most rare and amazing (sometimes even completely unique) races. For me that uniquness doesn't sell. Honestly, I barely MOTB characters. I recall that bald female monk/mage that I suddenly found out was my chosen girl (despite me trying to get the winged chick and mostly ignoring her. Her declaration of love came out of nowhere.) I can't say I recall any other character. NWN2 ... I liked most characters. The dwarf (Grobnar? Gromnir?) was funny, the mage (Sand?) I loved for his snark/wit. Bishop seemed like a good character, although I didn't use him much (playing Paladin). Neeska was OK, and I liked Elanee (I feel she gets a bad rep because of people overreacting to the "I watched you sleep" bit, interpreting it in a creepy/crazy fashion instead of a concerned/sweet it was meant to be) Casavir was a bit of stick, but then again, some people are in RL too, so having every character be funny/super cool is intself unrealistic. Ammon Jerro and Shandra were great. There was also that little gnome fella who's name I forget. Can't recall other characters from NWN2 atm.

It is broadly supported. But what has that got to do with morality of putting people in jail for consensual sex? In Rwanda the majority of people also supported the genocide and in Cambodia the Khmer Rouge also had popular support. I believe that the retort to that would be that morality is subjective, and that humans don't have any inherent rights. Of course, I don't believe that, but no one is asking me to make laws. It is a oxymoron in some ways. If you truly believe in a specific morality you feel compelled to enforce it, even tough forcing ones beliefs and values on someone can in itself be inherently immoral. In other words, everyone is self-righteous. Everyone. No exceptions.

It is funny though, to see you get all worked up because some guy decided to troll some anime threads that you created. And? Do you consider that a counter-argument of some kind? Since when am I exempt from the failings of humanity?

Words can hurt...as long as you let them. WE shape the words. WE give them meaning...or should I say, we give them aditional emotional baggage. The more importance you give it, the bigger it's hold over you. As long as you treat word X as unnaceptable, ti will remain like that. And that goes for more than words. Words and meanings change. The Svastika was (still is) a great symbol that suddenly became forbidden because of natzi's. Or the roman eagle - it too is now often seen as hidden natzism. If it can go one way, then it can go another too. Yes, our associations and baggage make that difficult, but it can be done. And it will happen eventually.

Right. I'm not so convinced either way. "Games turn kids into killers" is probably the most extreme example you can make, but there are other scenarios we could consider. For instance, the rise of "happy slapping" and other phenomena that transcend the barriers of the 'nets and affect people's physical lives. This is not the same as suggesting that 'Codex is a nest of rapists because they systematically trivialize rape, but it's difficult to establish whether a certain mindset becoming the norm online can affect individuals' mindsets when they log off. How good are we really at separating our online and RL personas? Social pressure is essential at curbing antisocial (oh, wow, I went there) conducts, but with the internet you have a space where standard social norms no longer apply and may or may not be substituted by something entirely different depending on the community you are looking at. Hm... are you familiar with the psychological practice of getting people to beat eacother up with nerf bats? Supposedly it's there to express/vent frustration and is healthy. Couldn't the same be applied to verbal expression? In other words, does the ability to be TEMPORARILY completely open and free with my speech make me a worse person? Or does it make me a better one, because it provides a valve/release/therapy? Hehe... the funny thing with psychology that pretty much EVERYTHING in it is a glass half full/empty.

Unfortunately, you know nothing. It's a common trait of humans (especially on the internet) to classify people and put them into neat little boxes for their convenience. We construct mental images of persons - or to be more precise, we construct mental images of an average representative of X (republican, gay, black, religious person, feminist, gay activist, whatever) and use many such pieces to construct an image of a persona. The problem is that what is "offensive" can be very well subjective, and that people tend to overreact. I've seen people overreact again and again, on both sides. Heck, on EVERY side of every possible debate. I've seen horrible statements go unchallenged. I've seen people jumping on innocent posters. Of course, being respectful is a must, but some points and opinions really can't be expressed without hurting someones feelings.

It's called dark humor. Look it up. Equating it with being indifferent is a fallacy. Ye gods. It's like middle ages again, where religion-based jokes were not allowed. Except its "this thing X... never, EVER mention this word in any context or purpose except for one I personally approve. Otherwise you are a monster." Yes, this type of humor IS acceptable. And if you somehow think that this makes me a woman-hater or someone who condones rape, then I think you're a retard. And that makes us even.

As a guy from Croatia (if I remember correctly), it's not very surprising that you don't. But generally there's been a marked improvement in other countries about these issues. I always smile when people belittle this general change in attitude. Society marches on, the definition of what is and isn't acceptable moves, and you can adapt, or, in a few decades, become the racist grandparent whom their grandchildren are ashamed of. In any case, you've already lost, whether you realize it or not Oh look, the "you're a conservative/primitive/redneck/bigot from a stupid/horrible/place and you should be ignored" card. Followed by the "I'm enlightened/progressive/moral/better than you, look at me!" card. Internet at it's finest. Talking smack about s*** you know nothing about..like me or my country. But hey, here I am, defending your right to talk stupid and offensive s***. How horrible of me. Truly I'm a monster. B.t.w. - society constantly changes, and if you think it will stop with you, you're wrong. In 10-20 years, you will be the "stupid grandparent" too. There is no "victory", there is no competition.

Not gonna fall for that bro. You claimed that international treaties infringe upon sovereignty. You have to prove it. Until you do, it's just your hypothesis. The burden of proof is on you. Get with the program and stop using these bull**** delay tactics where you constantly demand that I prove a negative while you continue to make random unsupported claims in return. Doesn't take a genius to see the truth. Treaties are made to benefit the big powers. The laws and deals have loopholes that force you to accept some things you normally wouldn't. Every since Croatia entered the EU, things have only become worse. Everything of worth in the country is now owned by foreign countries and interest groups. And you can't say no. There's talk of a new bill that "for global power market fairness" the cost of electricity and gas in the EU should be the same for all countries. Currently Croatia has the lowest costs there...but we don't earn nearly as much as people in GB or Germany do. Do you know what a price change like that would do here? It would ruin the already over-taxed people.

As a former citizen of Yugoslavia, let me tell you this: - the economy is a pigsty - the political elite is rotten to the core. Politicans are openly robbing the people and bragging about it on the TV, and the apathy is such that people just curse, shrug and go on with their day.

How is forbiding the usage of words not censorship? Sometimes changing the word changes completely what you want to say. We can argue if it's justified or not, we can argue if it's moral or not, but let's call a space a spade. Human society is build on brainwashing, pressure and punishment. Our reasoning changes and what we punish/encourage changes, but at the end we are doing the very same thing.

you funny Trashman I encourage you read all my comments as I am not prepared to explain again IMO why some Trolling needs to be condemned and is in fact offensive and hurtful Grow a thicker skin. You don't have a right to NOT be offended. No one dies. Stick and stone can break my bones, but words leave lasting psychological damage cannot hurt me. Trolling is pretty much playing pranks. Getting a reaction out of someone. A reaction that other person wants to have anyway - if you didn't feel anger at someone talking smack about Superman (or whatever), then you wouldn't respond. You wouldn't care. The sooner people realize that they shouldn't take everything seriously, the better. I know there are people who believe allowing any such behavior or crude jokes somehow promotes and creates bad behavior...for example: if you make a "make me a sammich" joke, you're a sexist pig in RL I personally think it's as much BS as games turning people into killers.

Meh. "Social justice" and raised awareness. Not seeing much of it. More like forums rune like camps lead by paranoid dogmatics that hand out harsh punishment for any percieved or hypothetical infraction. Internet used to be a place of ultimate freedom of speech (and yes, that includes people saying things you'd absolutely hate). It's less so these days. Hardly an improvement.

Meh. Why? It's harmless. People get worked up over nothing.

*shrug* I happened to like NWN2, so I don't see it as a bad thing.

Regarding the face-recognition, it might also be affected by what approach you took to a situation. Maybe you broke in stealthily (trying to go completely unnoticed) and got spotted briefly by people who know you're out of place. The dilemma of "did they get a good look at your face?" problem ensues. OR, maybe you dress and act appropriately enough to blend right in as a lowly servant, and, while you're blatantly walking around everyone, no one bothers to take note of your face. 8P I guess you can handle it with perception vs. stealth rolls, probabilities and maybe you can bring in some other stats into play, like charisma. In 90% of cases, unless you're wearing something conspcious, NPC's you don't interact with would not remember your face. Having an "everyman" face (lowers chances of being recongnized) could even be a trait. I think we're on to something here. With just 2 flags and a list check, we have a system that could handle item/face recognition decently enough.

You're thinking Japan, not China.