metadigital

I think this is the point I was trying to make at 4.30 this morning (in a not-very-eloquent way). Children are quite astute, they know that Wile E Coyote can die seventy time in a Road Runner catoon hour, and yet the murder of a single girl on the tv news will give them nightmares (and righly so). It is political-correctness parentalism gone mad to start legislating against imaginary violence. That said, violence is (unfortnately) an integral part of our lives, and how we cope with it is a very important (and even defining) characteristic of our existence. So ity makes sense that it is a theme to be managed in a virtual world. To decry imaginary violence as a catalyst for RL violence is lazy, illogical and just bad science. (There was a case in the UK recently where it was claimed that the assault of a young boy by another coincidentally had the attacker with a copy of Manhunt. In actual fact, it was the victim who owned the game. The latter correction was not reported by the tabloid that broke the original rumour.) To propse that shooting a person even remotely resembles clicking a mouse is ludicrous. In a game the target is a green monster. There are much stronger statistical correlations to more mundane yet much more tragic causes for the violence in our society, like violence to children begets violent adults, in a vicious circle. Poll the inmates at Her Majesty's Pleasure, and you will find very few who were desensitized by video games and most who were beaten as children.

Where? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Just above from whence you took the quote!

I certainly will. Seriously. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I not meaning to be condescending -- if that's what it appears -- I was actually recommending the references for the original poster; I expected anyone who was programming in C to have encountered them (especially "Design Patterns") before. Still, it does us all good to get the whinney from the horse's mouth.

"Windows NT is mostly coded in C, with some parts coded in C++. Assembly language, which is platform specific, is used only where necessary." (Source) Look at WinAPI and tell me it is not C. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I am convinced we are arguing the same thing here. I said Windows was C/C++ with a little assembler. You said Windows was mainly C with some C++ and assembler. Yes, probably in USA it is, you should know better. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm not in the USA. That's what I meant. I just emphasized that it is not a good tool for software development, apart from cases like automated testing. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Once again we seem to be in violent agreement. I don't understand why you have corrected my post to agree with everything I said?!

That's not a bad idea, but I actually like the K1 scoundrel, solider and scout initial classes (especially as they had different sized models). Perhaps the non-Jedi classes is the bit you could skip, and be given a vanilla scout, soldier or scoundrel and start at a mid level? (Without all the neat plot-specific stuff you might find if you did that bit.) I wouldn't particluarly like to be a small child with Jedi powers -- although that does sound kinda cool, in a Sonic the Hedgehog kinda way. Still, I would like to see, for example in K2, the ability to skip the dormitories and jump on the Harbinger directly. Just make it more difficult, so there is a much more difficult path with harder obstacles: puzzles and stronger enemies which, coupled with the lesser experience and loot haul, should balance out gameplay.

Sleep is probably a very good idea, I can't believe I'm arguing for the real immolation of Sim babies and the merits of vampiric immunisation. Try explaining that at work tomorrow. "

Updates don't affect the ability to cheat. You need to update the .ini file. Also your keyboard might have a different key for the console, for example, mine is the ` (which is the extreme left top key, just under "Esc"). This should probably be in the Spoilers forum.

Yeah, no argument there. I'll give the example I gave in the other thread: A community mod has a choice for your character to either perform euthenasia on a terminally ill child, or infuse her with vampire blood (saving her from death but cursing her with eternal undeadedness). It is obviously a core dilemma for the game, and it directly effects both the PC alignment and the course of the game. That, I believe, is an appropriate mature content plot line. Having a field full of babies and setting fire to it because there just happens to be a can of kerosene in the middle of that field is not. :D

I just want to burn some Sim babies.

Obviously. but if your using a baby as a firebreak then any pretence you are taking the game the slightest bit seriously is gone. ... In order to ruin immerison, one would have to consider how likely that an action would realisticall be. In the example of FO thats certainly something that can happen as a normal part of the game, even if you never intended to shoot one. Using RPGs as some sort of life simulator dosnt strike me as particularly healthy, especially since the situations in them and real life are markedly different as would be the "solutions". <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I disagree. I might be bored one day and choose to burn a baby. It's only a virtual baby, and I don't like little children that much anyway. Burn it. And if it screams in agony, I will either be pleased with myself for doing something novel (and a little horrified at the result), or so disgusted at the sound (thankfully smell-o-vision never took off) that I will not want to repeat it. I doubt whether I would do it again if the whole process was unpleasant (gameplay-wise), like losing the PC to life imprisonment, or having to do some involved button pressing to scroll through pages of weighty dialogue of a court case to get my character back. Or not. Either way, I would never actually burn a baby. And it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

Now you're going off the deep end. Are you telling me that game developers can't be trusted to show that wife-beating will land you in a "jail" or beaten up by a mob, or something? How is that too complex for a) the developers, b) the audience, and c) a child?

Did you ask Kreia about the future? Did you read all the dialogue?

.... and figure out how to use the Search function.

No, I can't let that stand, sorry. Wifebeating is common because children copy their parents, not because one day men decide that they need a bit of sparring practice. That's why women in abusive releationships have generally come from a family where their mother was abused. A game environment strikes me as a perfect place to set up the problem and demonstrate the issues to help teach children how bad and wrong it is, and the consequences. The second MOST important part of teaching manners, good behaviour and ethics is the teaching the repurcussions to the children. Once they can associate a given (bad) result with poor behaviour, they will avoid it. I have seen this work on "irredeemable" children. (The MOST IMPORTANT aspect is mutual respect: children respond to hypocrisy just as adults do. They treat the practitioner with disdain.)

that is precisely why I would never play the Sims. It's pointless. And Fable sounds just as bad.

You need to gain influence with the characters to find out their stories. Yes, all the characters can become Jedi. No, Atton is not Carth (but he can appear in the game if Revan was female LS).

You wouldn't use a baby, because it wouldn't normally be a very good firebreak. The fact you can makes the game stupid and unrealistic, not "safe and comforting", or whatever the designer was going for. Think a little about people without perfect social skills. They might play a game as they act in RL, then they can see how other NPCs react to this behaviour. Then they can load a save and play differently, and see the difference. If you are going to allow heinous behaviour, you necessarily need to have repurcussions.

Welcome in, pick a topic and make yourself at home. Don't forget to search for things before asking!

If your using babies as firebreaks then your not worried about immersion. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That was my point. not many people would use a baby as a firebreak. But if you can, then the game just becomes a poor Tetris. (Except you don't get the dreams ... the dreams of multi-coloured blocks revolving and spinning ryhtmically to clear the level before you are engulfed in the multi-coloured blocks ... blocks, everywhere ...)

Planescape:Torment

No, I don't. You're talking about de facto, cultural censorship. I do not buy the whole evil-video-inspires-evil-children/people argument. I think it is the worst kind of bad science. That said, including it for sensationalist reasons is just as stupid. Even the youngest children can seperate fantasy from reality: you don't see any children trying to emulate Wile. E. Coyote by falling off cliffs (70 deaths / hour in Road Runner, iirc.) Just read all the people who have trouble ROLE PLAYING an evil character (<{POST_SNAPBACK}>), and you will see that this is nonsense. As someone said in one of the previous threads, it's mostly young teens who play out-and-out-pantomime-evil characters -- and that is a form of rebellion against the endless rules that they have to obey without any input into making / agreeing them. If I do some heinous criminal act in an RPG, I will feel the full (bad) feelings and effects of it, as well as feel empathy for the victim (if the story is written correctly). Another thread mentioned that most games have institutionalised murder. Well, as was said there, too, that is not strictly true: the murder is only a kill-or-be-killed transaction. I don't immediately see a plot point to torture or kill or rape a child. And most villains don't engage in p

The funny thing is, that was a better game than KotOR2! It was fun, didn't take itself too seriously, and -- more importantly -- didn't take SW too seriously. It was just plain and simple fun. :cool:

I'll never understand why having two wives is so frowned upon. If you can take that then you probaly should be nominated for Sainthood. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's the bit I've never fathomed; why would you want that sort of political nightmare?

Yep, I like that, too.

Souns like you have gone negative. You should really post this in the Spoilers (or alternatively, the Tech Support) forum.