JFSOCC

If it is, yes. Sometimes It expresses slightly differently in women, which is why it's not as obvious and well known, but it's suspected the rates are about the same. As for epidemiology. I hear many different rates bandied about, some go as high as 15% of the population. I don't know about that, but it IS widespread and much more common than we think. It's just something society has managed to live with, probably for centuries, possibly millenia and only fairly recently has the problem been specified and identified. Which is not to say it isn't a real problem, just that in the past those with ADD got no sympathy and a raw deal more often than not. I imagine it's much like when dyslexia first got identified, people with dyslexia had been around for a long time, but until people figured it out, it was simply thought that they were stupid, or had bad eyesight. ADD is suffering from being a new diagnosis of an old ailment.

thank god you're not in control then.

Bunch of sheep shaggers, the lot of em, those New Zealanders. To quote Ben Croshaw, "But it was made in Japan and we all know what xenophobic d*cks they are!"(irony) OI! :D

there's a lot more to it. there's a whole giant bunch of symptoms, and you need most of them before you get the diagnosis. (at least if it is done right)

then it was never there in the first place.

I agree

The inverted mountain city of Mercadia from the Mercadian Masks set in Magic the gathering spoke to me. The Pocket plane of Rath as well. (staging area for the invasion of a world) The world rife with natural magic known as Kamigawa was a great inspiration as well. Magic the Gathering has had some very interesting settings.

ADD is genetic (and the same disorder as ADHD, the H is the symptom of Hyperactivity, which not everyone shares) it's also dominant. so you'll be seeing it more and more. it's also a recent diagnosis (20 years ago it used to be called minor brain damage disorder. bah) Which means a lot of people previously undiagnosed are suddenly all finding out about it. which leads to a lot of disbelief in society "suddenly everyone has it" and also quite a bit of misdiagnoses (it takes place in a brain region whcih has a lot of overlap with other disorders in the same region: the frontal lobe. I'd been misdiagnosed with borderline before the correct diagnosis of ADHD came about) Finally, there's a who lot of misinformation and common misconceptions about ADHD. (one I find the most damaging is the notion that it's just a label for busy and loud children. it's not. it's a real condition)

sticky?

Oh man, I keep coming up with others I should add to the list. lol Halo(1, not the others) and Alpha Centauri, both great games. Halo is probably the game with the best difficulty settings in the universe. Finished it on easy, then normal, then heroic, then legendary.

I won't number them, they all have different strengths and weaknesses. For me, visual narrative is important, you can infer a lot simply by depicting the environment. Bastion and Beyond Good and Evil are both fantastic in this sense. Both games also had a fantastic sound track. Half life 1 told you a story without many words (Half life: opposing force did it even better) Knights of the Old Republic II was special to me because it spoke directly to me and my philosophy and challenged it. It too was a visual masterpiece, despite crappy graphics. I enjoy colourful games. No greyish brown corridors shooters for me. I enjoy games which don't automatically seem to assume I'm retarded, way too many games do that these days. They get bogged down in tireless exposition, in foreshadowing a child could manage to pick out, or help you out because you can't immediately solve a puzzle. Riven is another formative game for me, every puzzle was part of the world, or part of the environment. They weren't even really puzzles. They were parts of the normal world which you as a foreigner had to understand. Without saying a world you could see that the world of riven was a world in decay, a broken world which once used to be unified. You could see the patchwork mending that had been done by Gehn and this too was mostly visual narrative. You could infer it from using your eyes and mind. It made you explore the story, involved you in it, rather than delivering it through exposition. Warcraft II and III, Both games I sucked at, both I beat only by the skin of my teeth (at normal difficulty too) Warcraft II is nostalgia mostly, as it was my first game on my first own computer, and I played it a ****load with my best friend. Blizzard is a genius at sprite art, the attention to detail, the vast amounts of polish both games had received all worked in their favour. Every unit or building had little sounds which just fit. And, again, the games were rather colourful. I still dream of the music from Warcraft II, it was very atmospheric. Visual narrative and great sound both do a great deal for immersion. All these games also had an element of exploration. Myst and Riven needed to be solved by looking everywhere and connecting the dots, there were no text puzzles (thank god, my English back then was limited) I could spend hours photographing animals in the comfortably paced Beyond Good and Evil, Warcraft III rewarded you with extra treasures on the map (and awesome cutscenes, but I digress) By contrast, I liked morrowind, but after the millionth time hearing the same song, ARHG< headache! The world was always miserably subdued and I had the Xbox version so I couldn't download the better weather patch. Portal had it all: great visual narrative, a themesong I still know by heart, great pacing, and very little handholding. Half of the game was a tutorial, and you didn't even realise it. That's how you do a tutorial. Dreamfall, while it was not a game so much as an interactive movie, was one of the few games which actually had mature content. (and I don't mean violence and ****) It too was a very visually beautiful game, it too was well paced with different challenges and no "DO IT!< DO IT NOW" pushing time limits I resent so much. I was forewarned that it was a short game, so I took my time too, taking it all in. Baldurs Gate II: well, you could do so much, and you couldn't be good at everything. There was always more to do, and you could (mostly) do it at your own pace. I loved the city, lost interest as soon as the game became linear and I couldn't build anymore. I love building up, creating something which last. Getting a stronghold and then having to leave it was a major bummer. Commandos: sucked at this game too, but I played this with my friends in the chairs next to me (we'd take turns, have a member die, reload someone else got to sit in the big chair) We'd try to solve it together. We got pretty far. A game which rewards taking your time and exploring. Team Fortress Classic, 2, great game for getting rid of frustration, go to a server with instant respawns and just go nuts. I miss hunted game mode in TF2. Visual design of this game is one of its strong points, class balance is nearly perfect. I'm not even a big multiplayer fan, but this game, wow. Delta Force (1+2, maybe 3) It's where I get my nickname from. the Vexel engine allowed for VAST game maps at the cost of graphics. I felt like I really was a Delta Force Operator. Missions where open and you could choose to follow the plan or do your own thing. AI sucked but since you were perpetually surrounded and one shot could kill you (sometimes up to three, but never more) it was still pretty tense for me. I remember mailing NovaLogic a question about a "US army grenade case" which was in an enemy camp and not an ammo refill. I asked if it was the policy of the US to supply terrorists, this was days before 9/11. Ouch. Childhood folly. The lay-out of the villages and the maps felt fairly realistic, and it too was an immersive game (are you catching a theme yet?) Quest for Glory V: Another visual masterpiece, and the puns, oh the puns! this game knew not to take itself too seriously, something many games fail at these days. Not to say that the entire game was a farce comedy. It played differently based on the class you picked at the start of the game. And quests had great diversity in challenge and solution. I thoroughly recommend anyone who wishes to make quests in games to play this game. Dancing with the dryads was a magical moment for me, that entire copse, it just bled magic, in this almost twilight. fighting of hordes of armies in diablo 2 doesn't come close to the epic nature of completing smaller scale obstacles with greater challenge. This game got challenge just right. It was a well polished game and the only game I know which has magic which actually felt special and magical, rather than utilitarian. Ceasar 3, Civilisation 3, Medieval Total war(1) Rome Total war. Digital Heroin. I remember starting one morning at 10am at a game of Rome total war, and deciding at 3pm the next day that maybe I should go to the toilet, eat, and then sleep. These games just keep me playing. I actually banned myself from RT:W because I can't seem to stop. Even when I don't enjoy myself anymore. So what do these games do right? They allow you complete freedom in how you build your empire, and I love empire building. There is literally no end to what you can do. And there is always more that needs to be done. So what do I think makes a great game? Well there's no single recipe for success, but I value Great soundtrack. (only bombastic when it applies. nothing breaks immersion like having epic music while having to do the ingame equivalent of tax returns) Attention to detail (polish) Respects the intellect of the player Moddable (whenever possible) Great visual narrative, good visuals (which is not the same as great graphics) unforced pacing. Challenging but not impossible rewards exploration. (doesn't have to be tangible) Community support. (look at all the bethesda games, and the community, the release of modding tools and support of fan forums does a lot in keeping even the older games popular to this day) Humour, especially in serious settings. Makes characters more likeable. There's many more games which I love, but I think these have been the greatest influences for me.

Melkir, that sword looks beautiful. You're very talented at drawing! ...Ignoring, as usual, my belief that the entire concept of a "thieves' guild" is ridiculous, why would these "craftmasters" be part of a "thieves' guild" and not a "crafting guild"? Why would lay craftsmen be capable of creating magic kitsch that teleports "home" at the end of the day? Isn't that, what do they call it.... an en...chantment? Oh, great. Double post, again. Good thing these things can't be deleted! I can see how the term thieves guild is off-putting. It was a rather straight-forward reason though, it's a fantasy staple for any type of organised crime. I don't really care what it's called. Call them the Mafia, the Syndicate, the longfingers, call them the yakaveta family. Whatever you like to call it. The Craftsmasters would be part of the thieves guild and not a crafting guild because the thieves would quickly realise the value of this item, they would then proceed to "make them an offer they can't refuse" And they wound up working for the thieves, who pay them more anyway, and provide protection to their businesses. I suppose we can add a layer to the production, so yes, after the teleporting one is made by the craftsmasters it doesn't yet teleport, a theives guild associated enchanter does that part. would that satisfy you? I'm trying to come up with fun and interesting items to use in your game world, and I admit, I hadn't figured out all the lore. One of these days you got to explain why you're so keen on being so negative, on finding fault with everything anyone here posts. On trying to find reasons why it wouldn't work rather than how it could. Maybe you're just feeling crap and this is how you channel your feelings, but I'm getting a little tired of the negativity. I'm sure it's doing you no good either.

Off topic, but that thing by Mark Twain was a very funny description of culture shock

You're joking right? Tell me you're joking. Racial purity ideals have a rather sordid history. They are the cause of countless genocides across the planet. Not just in places where they were "in other people's territory"

Welcome to the forums T-goblin, I for one, would love to see different opportunities on the road between Big Big City 1 and Big Big City 2, Caravans, bandits, Knights Bridges and forts. It would be cool if you could compete with other trade caravans, or be hired to protect one. Maybe organise a trade caravan guild (as your own faction) uniting the caravans in a single business where each has a monopoly on a separate set of good. (but better executed than the similar option in Fallout 3)

Welcome to the forums Bojohnson, There's been quite a bit of discussion about this topic already. Though perhaps it would be a good thing to find them all and merge them all into a giant thread named "EVIL" The problem, I think, is with the tag 'Evil" in the first place. Evil is a matter of perspective, and while there's majority held beliefs, that does not make them right or wrong. I'd rather do away with 'good' and 'evil' altogether in this game, and let the player judge each character's motivations for him/herself.

If it doesn't cost too much resources, sure.

Sorry. not this time I still regret not pledging for the Shadowrun game, but I honestly forgot that one when it was getting close to its Kickstarter deadline. This one however, I'm very skeptical about the entire concept. I see nothing so far that screams to me "I must have this game!". So I'll wait and see what my Wasteland 2 pledge results in and then judge inxile on those merits Have you seen the video they released for WL2?! I had my doubts but come on - that's just awesome. I'm afraid we're going to have to see a pledge from you, Gorth, there's really nothing I can do. that looks incredibly beautiful and impressive. Did you notice how one ceiling fan was spinning faster than the other? that's attention to detail! how could I have missed this!? I mean I heard some reference to Wasteland 2, but I dismissed it as an older game which I just never played.

that's probably very wise.

So what's your view on this topic, I'm very curious.