The Ranting/Debate Thread [Archive] - The Unofficial LineMarvel Forums

Obeliskos

11th June 2009, 04:52

Kind of like the hate thread, only you have to type rants to back up why you hate something. Doesn't have to be an essay or anything, just a paragraph or two (or more if you're feeling extra rage) about why you hate [enter subject here]. Debates over said subject welcome.

Word of the Day: Emos.
(Note: May stray off subject, fuck you if you feel like pointing out if I did.)

I fucking HATE emos. The only thing I hate more than emos are emos that consider suicide despite having nothing to commit suicide over. Hell, I hate ANYBODY willing to consider suicide an option. Whoever is willing to put their loved ones through the grief of taking their own life is a selfish little fuck, especially so if they have a family and/or house. Extra worthless-little-pussyfuck-points if they also have luxuries like heating, cable, internet, video games, and any other forms of entertainment. Little whiny ass pussies who complain about how hard they have it on their stupidass blogs on their goddamn MySpace despite getting four square meals a day, having a family that loves them, shelter, food, and water. How about I send you dumbass fucks to a fucking third world country where you can sleep on dirt and starve? While I'm at it, I'll have a poisonous snake biting you on the sack just to remind you how fucking easy you have it over here.

The only people I let get away with this stuff are people who actually have a shitty life (see: the opposite of the conditions which the above people live with). Thing is, people can usually deal with this kind of stuff. Meanwhile, the little fucker across the street is whining on his VLog about how he scratched his cell phone.

I know the youth is the future and whatnot, but there is no future in these little fuckers. Anyone who can't take the HORRIBLE PAIN of teenage drama wouldn't be able to handle the real world, and need to get over their dumbass "LIFE SUCKS AND NOBODY UNDERSTANDS BE" phase.

While I'm at it, I hate the "NOBODY UNDERSTANDS ME" thing, because apparently, somebody DOES understand you, because you have an emo pussyass fucker just like you on your goddamn friends list. By the way, your parents understand you too, because 10 to 1 they lived an even harder life than your dumb ass, and they got through it. Thank God they didn't pussy out like you're considering, or else you wouldn't be here. Yeah, you're not just hurting people in the present, you're also fucking over what could be your future family. Nice going, fuckface.

And holy fucking shit, the emo I hate the VERY most are emos who live a bad life because of themselves. The only excuses they have for a bad life is because their lives at school suck ass. Why do they suck ass? GEE FUCKING WHIZ, MIGHT BE BECAUSE YOU HAVE LONG BLACK HAIR, WEAR MASCARA, AND ARE MOST LIKELY CONSIDERING NAIL POLISH. I WOULD BEAT ON YOUR PUSSY ASS TOO IF I SAW YOU. I COMMEND THOSE BULLIES FOR KICKING YOUR SORRY ASS. Too bad emos are like trolls and, like attention, use getting ass kickings to their advantage by being able to having even MORE to complain and whine about.

I also hate goddamn fuckers who act like being emo is something to embrace. As if their shitty taste in fashion, long hair, and makeup isn't enough to get the message "I'M AN EMO FUCKNUT" across, they seem to enjoy plastering stupid fucking shit all over their MySpaces and write out stupid emo mottos like "IM EMO CUZ I WANT 2 BE OLOLO BALLS GO IN MOUTH NOW" on their fucking textbooks. THAT'S why you get beat up. That right fucking there.

A message to all emo fucks: Cut your FUCKING hair, wipe off that FUCKING make-up, close down your stupid ass FUCKING MySpace, find some better FUCKING music, and stop being A GODDAMN WORTHLESS PUSSY ASS LEECH ON FUCKING SOCIETY, YOU GODDAMN PUSSYFUCKS.

FUCK.

http://i40.tinypic.com/v6uupy.png

Nunu

11th June 2009, 05:06

Obeliskos, telling it how it is.

i should make the distinction of people who have natural (professionally diagnosed) chemical imbalances towards depression. i mean its no reason to go emo but at least it's A reason.

gameguru777

11th June 2009, 05:30

Rants you say? Obe... my friend... you have no idea how long I have been waiting for this... why I didn't make one myself... meh... not important...

ON TO BUSINESS!!!

To respond to Obe's post... I agree with everything he said. THE MAN SPEAKS THE TRUTH!!!

And now for my rant... obviously on a gamer like topic. And for me it is...

SONIC THE GOD DAMN HEDGEHOG!

What happened to you man... I mean come on. We we were young we had so much fun! Running at near mach speeds through a colorful world to save the world from a bad guy. It was platforming at it's greatest. And though I have only recently been turned on to the comic series, I find them highly enjoyable. The television series (the one that actually had a plot, not that the other one wasn't without it's insane charm) was a masterpiece of animation! I watched them when I was young and I now have the whole series on my computer and THEY STILL ROCK!

Game wise, I just with you into the 3-D realm with Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. Both games were great! I had a blast with your new 3-D self. I was actually excited for Sonic Heroes... how foolish I was... It is bad when the best part of the game is THE FUCKING INTRO SONG!!! AND EVEN THAT WASN'T THAT GREAT! (Damn catchy though...)

I waited with baited breath when Shadow the Hedgehog came out, hoping that it would redeem the franchise... but no... each game seems to be a continual circus if disappointment. Now they have you wielding a sword... A GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKING SWORD!!! ARE YOU NOT THE SAME HEDGEHOG THAT COULD CUT GIANT METAL ROBOTS IN TWO JUST BY SPINNING?!?

Everything else you do seems to fail as well... cartoons... Sonic X sucks balls...

But who do we blame for this? Well... I know exactly who... the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the people at Sonic Team. Think about it, they are actually trying to kill off their mascot. With a little investigation, it started around the end of Sonic Adventure 2. Anyone else notice how the stages became... meh... near the end? Then the trend continued into Heroes! Shadow the Hedgehog doesn't even have Sonic as the main character, but instead his emo (see Obe's description above) counterpart. In later ones, they seem to take out all the speed from the little red sneakers.

You know what Sonic Team... let me lay it out for you... Here is the game I want... I want to play as Sonic, and before you ask, no... I do not want to have a fucking gun... I do not want to have a god damned sword... and I do NOT WANT TO TURN INTO A FUCKING BEAST FOR HALF OF THE GAME! Sonic is a cool enough character, he needs no "weapons" Second... KEEP HIS FUCKING FURRY FRIENDS OUT OF IT! Shadow is too emo, Rouge is too slutty, Knuckles... well... he is alright... same with Tails... those two may stay... BUT THE REST OF THEM, NO! And I want the game to have fast platforming (read well done platforming) action, no fucking little treasure hunts, no "Defeat X number of enemy Y" Just running, Jumping, and finding cool secrets in the levels.

Anyways... I'm gonna wrap this up... I yearn for the day the blue hedgehog comes back with a kick ass game... but if Sonic Team is still in charge... I don't think it will happen. I mean... look at Mario... Most of his games are still good...

Obeliskos

11th June 2009, 05:34

^Agree with that post to the fullest extent. I miss the good old Sonic. Adventure 2 Battle was the sex by the way. Best 3D sonic, IMO. DX wasn't too shabby either.

Also forgot to leave out an extra factor to my hate of emos: YOU PEOPLE MADE HAVING LONG AND DARK HAIR A STEREOTYPE. I HAVE NATURALLY DARK BROWN HAIR AND I LIKE HAVING MY HAIR TO MY EARS. I WON'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY. THANKS FOR MAKING ME, A PERFECTLY NORMAL AND SENSIBLE PERSON (lol irony aren't I hilarious), COME OFF AS AN EMO BECAUSE OF YOUR GODDAMN STEREOTYPES.

ToxicShock

11th June 2009, 05:59

MUST... STAY.... FAR.... FROM... THREAD

lurker

11th June 2009, 08:02

MUST... STAY.... FAR.... FROM... THREAD

Give in! I'm working on what to do in my rant.... tomorrow!

Sinfulwolf

11th June 2009, 15:06

Also forgot to leave out an extra factor to my hate of emos: YOU PEOPLE MADE HAVING LONG AND DARK HAIR A STEREOTYPE. I HAVE NATURALLY DARK BROWN HAIR AND I LIKE HAVING MY HAIR TO MY EARS. I WON'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY. THANKS FOR MAKING ME, A PERFECTLY NORMAL AND SENSIBLE PERSON (lol irony aren't I hilarious), COME OFF AS AN EMO BECAUSE OF YOUR GODDAMN STEREOTYPES.

Agreed, at least in males. However, even males with long brighter hair are still knocked down pegs because they have long hair. "Makes them look like a girl" when they are very obviously not. "Makes you look like a hippy," when they are very obviously not. "Makes you look emo," when they are very obviously not.

Long hair should be allowed on males, except apparently only celebrities can do it without getting made fun of. Why is this? Its really just stupid. Smacking a label on someone because of the length of their hair is one of the silliest, no... dumbest fucking things I've even seen.

Hentaispider

11th June 2009, 20:36

Agreed, at least in males. However, even males with long brighter hair are still knocked down pegs because they have long hair. "Makes them look like a girl" when they are very obviously not. "Makes you look like a hippy," when they are very obviously not. "Makes you look emo," when they are very obviously not.

Long hair should be allowed on males, except apparently only celebrities can do it without getting made fun of. Why is this? Its really just stupid. Smacking a label on someone because of the length of their hair is one of the silliest, no... dumbest fucking things I've even seen.

Reading that makes me glad I live in Finland. Almost everyone who listens metal has long hair.

Wonderboy

11th June 2009, 22:37

I go in cycles of long and short hair, (I cut it quite short, and then just let it grow for like 5 months...) and because I'm blond I don't get the EMO comment too much, but the few times I do it's like WTF?? I'm a tall guy with blonde hair, always something colorful on me, or at least white. No makeup, no whining... The EMO's are annoying!

Also, I hate it when I'm talking to someone about guitar-playing and someone act as if they're fucking guitar-superstars because they're good at guitar-hero. I mean, seriously, I've been playing guitar for 4+ years, and someone tries to give me advice on how to play based on a fucking videogame that has NO basis in reality, and the creators can't even tell the difference between a bass-guitar and a regular electric guitar, let alone lead vs. rythm guitar...:mad:

Aaaahh... Nice to vent that!:p

Obeliskos

11th June 2009, 23:01

Agreed. I can't play guitar or anything, but I know someone with a guitar in their room that they can't play worth crap but say they're good at it because they're good at guitar hero. On that note, I'm kind of annoyed by people who got into rock and shredding on a guitar only because of GH. Not like getting into rock is a bad thing, but you needed a video game to do it? Really?

Obeliskos

11th June 2009, 23:53

http://i43.tinypic.com/72vvy0.png

I WILL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU.

ToxicShock

12th June 2009, 02:22

Count your points, how many did it minus?

Nunu

12th June 2009, 02:36

And I thought this topic was going well. i bet the person who did it was an emo.

Chibichibi

12th June 2009, 02:59

Oh goody. I have some things that i need to get off of my chest.

Everyone these days feels like kids need to be told that they are just as good as everyone else. That they are still awesome even though they came in LAST PLACE. They hand out participation awards, honorable mention, and up to tenth place. Seriously. What the fuck? When I was in elementary and middle school Honor roll was As only. None of this A/B crap. Kids these days get everything handed to them on a silver platter. Hell, they've even made a "Freshman Academy" Where the 9th graders only have classes with other 9th graders, and only eat lunch with other 9th graders in an effort to kill the dropout rate. Again, what the fuck? You might as well still have these idiots IN middle school. You aren't lowering the dropout rate, you're moving it from 9th, to 10th grade.

Not only that, but everything is SO PC these days like we have to sugar coat everything so we don't corrupt their poor little brains. BULLSHIT. Education is POWER. Education is the way to keep kids off the streets, to keep kids from idiocy, to keep kids from having kids.

Teach sex ed. Don't teach abstinince only, because it doesn't work. Yeah, it's the only 100% sure method, but kids are gonna go out and have sex so why not teach them how to be safe about it? Teach them about teen pregnancy, show them the shock images of STDs, show them what can happen of you aren't safe. Encourage them to ask their parents.

And Parents man, fuck. Take responsibility. Don't shut your goddamn ears off when your kids have questions about life. Educate them yourself. Don't leave it to the schools and then wrap them in cotton and demand everything on the internet, TV, and radio be rolled in sugar. Show them what the real world is like or they will never be prepared! Let them know that there are people out there that can hurt them. Tell them to not talk to strangers. Tell them to not give out personal information on the internet. God, and don't hand everything to your kids on a silver platter. If they want a book, or a toy, or something make them work for it. Don't give your little snot nosed brat everything that s/he asks for.

All of this sugar coating is what is encouraging our devolution as a species. The idiots are having more children and popping out babies that my taxes go to pay for because they don't want to get a JOB. The smart people with degrees are having less children because we understand things like responsibility, overpopulation, and working for what you want.

Jesus Christ, I'm working for what I want. I earn the money to get the books, trips, and other items I want. And when I finally get a real job in this goddamn town I'm going to be paying my own rent, my own food, and my own gas. Yeah, it's nice living with the folks... but I want to be independent. I want to earn my life on the work of my own two hands. The only things my "inheritance" will be used for is to pay off my parents debts, and to put money away for my children for college. Nothing I get from them after I've made it out of college and gotten a job will be used for my own benefit.

And that's the way it should be. Harrumph.

Nunu

12th June 2009, 03:07

*high fives chibi*

one of the things that really gets me is that teacher are no longer able to punish students in primary school. i once heard of a teacher that got fired because she made a student sit in the corner for being bad. Apparently the parents that that was so unfair it should cost a person their job, i mean their little angel could never do anything wrong could they.

When i have children i plan to break wooden spoons over their bums. it happened to me and i think i'm a better person for it.

Goldstein

12th June 2009, 03:24

This seems like fun.

Right, how about radical feminism and feminists.

No, I don't mean like Kenji's theories about a feminist conspiracy and I don't mean that I hate women. I mean writers like Andrea Dworkin (en.wikpedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Dworkin) or blogs like I Blame the Patriarchy (http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/). You know, stereotypical 'feminazis' if I may.

Now, to be sure, it's a moot point as to whether patriarchy forms (or formed) the basis for most if not all human society. Certainly, Western society has become much more egalitarian as a result of the 'first-wave' feminism of the 20th century, and I most certainly agree with and support this feminism. That is, the notion that women should have equal rights, privileges, and responsibilities as men. And, while there are notable exceptions, this has for the most part been accomplished in the West, and is underway in the East and Middle East. But it would be foolish to not recognize that patriarchy was the basis for society in the past, and continues to be the basis in many societies today.

Where I break with radical feminism is in the idea that society was, is, and continues to be structured with the intent of oppressing women. This, I believe, is a foolish and false statement. At least in the case of Western society, I believe that it is fairly obvious that over the course of the past century, great strides have been made in a sort of 'restructure' of society, in order to remove these structures that had acted to oppress women. Things like granting women the right to vote, run for office, own property, contraception, access to abortions, attend any university, etc. Certainly people do oppress women, but I believe it is simply foolish to claim that society in the West is structure to do so.

Well, hopefully that made some sense, and hopefully I didn't tic anyone off too badly.

To respond to some of the above, I wear my (again, dark brown) hair long in a ponytail. Maybe it's just the area I'm in, but even when I just wore it like a metal fan, no one seemed to assume anything or to stereotype me. Oh well.

Chibi, I agree with you completely. I'd also like to add, and this might be a bit unpopular, but we should stop spending so much money on getting the lowest kids up to a minimum standard, and start spending more on the top 10% or top 5% of the classes. The one who will actually fucking accomplish things in their lives, and actually contribute to society in a positive way. And remember, abstinence is not quite 100% effective, don't forget Mary.

Kusanagi

12th June 2009, 04:02

Power Rangers

. . .'Cmon, seriously? This thing is still alive? They've been through time, in space, in the emergency care service, became ninjas... How long does this have to go on? And where did the Black ranger go; well, I guess I understand that. Nobody could top Zack.
Anyways. Last I saw, they were onto 'wild' animals or something...

This thing should have died a long time ago. It should have died in the vacuum of space. Even Rita Repulsa would concede defeat at this point if it meant finally being done.

Or, to put it another way...
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, IT'S DEAD. YOU DON'T MILK DEAD COWS, IT'S CREEPY YOU ASSFUCKS.

Sinfulwolf

12th June 2009, 04:43

Sugar coating... I never had things sugar coated for me. I was hit as a child, I was told about the importance of safe sex, and I was told of the not so pleasant things of the world. If I got in trouble at school, it was a "well, that'll learn ya," not a "Bad teacher." That's just the way I was raised, and plan on raising my own children in the future as well.

On to feminism... or Femnazis of the day. Okay, I had to work my ass off to get where I am in the military and get respect. The infantry is still regarded as a man's man job, and I understand that. Especially with lower standards for women, even though infantry is not an easy job and where weakness can get you killed. So I worked my ass off to become what I did and do what I do.

Equal rights, fucking rights we deserve them.

Finally. Goldstein, not all peoples in the past had patriarchal societies. The Celts, and ancient British let females become leaders. Still that really has no relevance to your rant, so I won't go no further.

Goldstein

12th June 2009, 05:32

Oh, I would defiantly agree that the military is one area in which women still don't have equal rights or opportunities. I simply don't know too much about women's rights in relation to the military (or, to be honest, the military at all), so I was kind of staying away from the topic.

You do have a point about the Celts and Britons. Thanks for reminding me about that.

Sinfulwolf

12th June 2009, 06:09

Welcome, but like I said, not too relevant towards what ye was ranting about.

Goldstein

12th June 2009, 06:51

Hmm. Something I was going to ask. Basically, this person on Livejournal took Firefly and deconstructed it from a radical feminist perspective, so that the end result is about 40 paragraphs worth of ranting about how Firefly is incredibly sexist toward women and how Joss Whedon rapes his wife. It was related to what I ranted on earlier, though more specific, and I went through and snarked/corrected it MST/sporking style (that is keeping the original text and inserting comments every line or few lines).

I would post it, but it's insanely long, and I don't know that anyone would enjoy something like that anyway. Thoughts?

QuirkyQuark

12th June 2009, 08:18

Sounds funny, I vote LYNCH; I mean POST.

Hentaispider

12th June 2009, 08:48

Obeliskos

12th June 2009, 09:00

Count your points, how many did it minus?

Yeah, I thought of that. I was too lazy to look up all the people with 6 rep points though. I tried Members List -> sort by reputation, but it's lame and only sorts by the rollover message like "____ is just really nice". Ugh.

I SWEAR A BLOOD OATH. YOU WILL DIE.

On topic, for the first and most likely only time, I agree with chibi. And now a short rant from the desk of Obe Liskos.

Word of the Day: Feminists.

Didn't mean to generalize it, but "Feminists that say they fight for equal rights yet still make a big deal out of when a man hurts them or something, despite the fact a woman hurting a woman is okay, a man hurting a man is just some dudes palling around, and even a woman hurting a man is cute and funny, BUT WHEN A MAN HURTS A WOMAN, IT'S NOT RIGHT AND ABUSIVE HOLY SHIT!!1" was a pretty long title.

Anyway, that's what my rant is about. I hate women who fight for equal rights and shit but make a big deal out of guy vs girl despite EVERY OTHER pairing of the genders versing each other being alright. Seriously, it gives me the impression that we're still stuck on "guys are tougher than girls". So, um, isn't that what these damn bitches are fucking FIGHTING AGAINST!? Aren't they like "OMG WE CAN BE HURTING PPLZ 2 BALLS GO IN MOUTH NOW"!? WELL THEN.

I also fucking hate women who say "the perfect guy would act cute when I hit him!". Well, the perfect woman would be less of a feminist fuck when I punch her goddamn lights out. With my fucking spiked knuckles. And a bat. Fucking bitches. Goddamn.

FOR MOAR INFORMATION ON FEMINISTS BEING STUPID, SEE MADDOX'S (http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=stupid_bitch) GENIUS (http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=26_things).

Nunu

12th June 2009, 09:21

i know who neg repped him, but i figured if he cared enough to want to know he would find out on his own.

XSI

12th June 2009, 09:27

I once met one of those feminazi's. She started hitting me, trying to hit my head, she did a few times and I got pissed, hit her on the head(Exactly the spot she hit me), and suddenly she's crying all over the floor about how I hit a girl.

Fitting comment I made
"Either get back to the kitchen or accept the whole emancipation."

School didn't like it for some reason, and I got a week punishment of stuff I didn't do anyway(cleaning).

They're always going on about emancipation, but when shit happens, it's women and children first.

Sinfulwolf

12th June 2009, 14:40

While yes Femnazis are bad and don't help the cause of equal rights very much, I hate people who actually believe that women don't deserve any rights. People who actually think that women belong in a kitchen, and cooking and cleaning. It really is a pile of horseshit.

Women are human beings. We bleed just the same, we hurt just the same. But these people think that just because we don't have a fucking dick and a pair of tits that we're the bottom of the food chain. Never mind that if it weren't for women there would be no human race to think of. Never mind that women can work just as hard as men. Nope, they are automatically slammed to be inferior by these bigots, which is horseshit. The people who think like this are cruel, not only that they don't help advance society with that attitude.

Wonderboy

12th June 2009, 16:37

Oh lord... What have we started here?

Anyways, I follow the principle of never hitting a woman, because physically, when it comes to fighting I am superior to the average woman. The thing is, I don't hit weak men either, because for me it's not about one being inferior in principle, but being actually inferior. I believe that the rights of women and men should be equal, and I fully support that. What I do not support, however, is the selective rights. In Norway for example there's a womans rights group that are allways whining about unfair treatment and balances. We also had obligatory enlistment to the military for men until recently. And when someone started contemplating giving them that duty too, they caused a bloody uproar with protests and the whole shabang, I mean, Come on!

There is one argument I do not support in the debate though. Men = Women.

Men and women differ greatly in the way the brain works and are subject to very different hormonal cycles and so on so fourth. I did not want a woman to become the president of the United States, because in my long experience with very hormonal women I have learned that PMS and power is a bad mix.
That is not to say, that a woman could become a great president apart from that, and if Obama had not been part of the equation, I would have been hoping for Hillary without any doubt, given as she would probably choose a good panel of advisors to help her through those three days every month.

Oh, this opened up possibilities for a side rant. Hillary lost, and feminazis were screaming that she lost because she was a woman. Perhaps, but keep in mind that Obama has been labeled one of the 5 greatest political talkers of the past 45 years.

Oh, shit, this post seems a bit sexist after all doesn't it?

Oh well, I'll conclude with this:
Women and men are different, but they are worth the same.

Sinfulwolf

12th June 2009, 16:55

dmronny

12th June 2009, 17:12

Sinful has a point there not all women act the same during PMS. For example my fiancee is actually easier to get along with during hers, the rest of the time is when she's grouchy.

If they can get through the exact same training any woman should be allowed in a combat job. I still don't understand why the US won't allow women in combat MOS's myself. I mean sure most of the women I know in the US army couldn't do the combat jobs, of course most of them had trouble doing the pogue jobs. Then again there's alot of guy's who were combat arms who shouldn't have been in the army at all. Luckily I was able to drum a few of them out. Anyways yes women are perfectly capable of doing the same things as men, just so long as they don't expect special treatment because they're women that is.

Sinfulwolf

12th June 2009, 17:25

Anyways yes women are perfectly capable of doing the same things as men, just so long as they don't expect special treatment because they're women that is.

No, and that's a point I was trying to raise earlier. Especially for combat jobs.

Goldstein

12th June 2009, 18:40

I... I'm actually hugely stunned by some of the phrases in this. I don't even want to get into how pissed off this actually makes me. A woman shouldn't be president because of fucking PMS? Never mind fucking menopause, never mind that anything in the government take more than three fucking days, never mind that not all women act the same way during their period, never mind that...

You know what. Fuck it.
This. So women go through regular hormonal cycles. I don't know of any evidence that says this actually disrupts their abilities to, say, govern or make decisions.

I never disputed that women and men are different biologically; I acknowledge that. What I think is that the two should not be treated differently due to biological differences. Different, but equal if you will.

@Quirkyquirk, alright. I'll probably post in on a Blank Page thread, if that sort of thing is allowed? For the record, this (http://users.livejournal.com/_allecto_/34718.html) is the original post. Warning: Firefly spoilers, mainly of the pilot.

Chibichibi

12th June 2009, 19:01

No, and that's a point I was trying to raise earlier. Especially for combat jobs.

Engineering jobs are the same. You can have two people that are equally qualified for the job but the man will get paid more. They just recently passed a bill here in the US that specifically states "Equal Pay for equal work." It's a bit long in coming I think.

There was a black woman in some office I can't remember, I think she was a Senator, that someone asked how much flak she caught for be black. She told them, "I've caught more insults from people for being a woman, than i ever have for being black."

Wonderboy

12th June 2009, 19:02

Different, but equal if you will.

This was the point I was trying to make, but made very clumsily. As I said, I would much rather have Hillary Clinton for president than McCain. My point is that men and women can all do the same, but that doesn't mean they should. We need female leaders, and we need male leaders. I have no idea how Hillary is responding to menopause or such, and I honestly don't care, 'cause I'm a Barack supporter. I only used her as an example of a situation where the hormonal changes might be a dis-advantage to the greater good. I know plenty of females that are genuinly friendly during PMS, I even know one that has very bad cramps, but doesn't even get cranky from that. The fact still remains, that I know some women that turn into the human version of some very unstable uranium isotope. We should all have equal rights, but there are some things that are done better by some than others.

In the olympics for example it is common knowledge that african genes have a higher chance at winning the sprint than caucasian. And then there's allways this one dude from wales or ireland or something that bashes everyone's expectations.

He might not be the best suited from a biological viewpoint, but he gets his chance and he proves himself.

(I think I should probably withdraw from this thread now, as my texts keep turning into something I don't intend them to do.

Stop... Typing... Damnit!)

Newbie

12th June 2009, 19:19

They just recently passed a bill here in the US that specifically states "Equal Pay for equal work." It's a bit long in coming I think.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you here. It has not been long in coming because it shouldn't have been necessary in the first place. We shouldn't need fucking congress to tell us we're equal, we should have figured this shit out some forty years ago if not sooner.

Affirmative action, in all of its forms, is bullshit that highlights and prolongs the issue. Every time we congratulate ourselves for steps forward we've failed, because paying it so much attention brings the issue back to the forefront.

Chibichibi

12th June 2009, 19:55

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you here. It has not been long in coming because it shouldn't have been necessary in the first place. We shouldn't need fucking congress to tell us we're equal, we should have figured this shit out some forty years ago if not sooner.

Affirmative action, in all of its forms, is bullshit that highlights and prolongs the issue. Every time we congratulate ourselves for steps forward we've failed, because paying it so much attention brings the issue back to the forefront.

True. I agree that it never should have been an issue but unfortunately that's how people operate. Everyone has a superiority complex and feels the need to establish that by hurting someone else.

Momiji

12th June 2009, 20:21

And I thought this topic was going well. i bet the person who did it was an emo.

Don't you have the ability to find out who did it?

lurker

12th June 2009, 21:06

(I think I should probably withdraw from this thread now, as my texts keep turning into something I don't intend them to do.

Stop... Typing... Damnit!)

This is why I don't rant online.

Hentaispider

12th June 2009, 21:20

Engineering jobs are the same. You can have two people that are equally qualified for the job but the man will get paid more. They just recently passed a bill here in the US that specifically states "Equal Pay for equal work." It's a bit long in coming I think.

There was a black woman in some office I can't remember, I think she was a Senator, that someone asked how much flak she caught for be black. She told them, "I've caught more insults from people for being a woman, than i ever have for being black."

I so don't want to get into this debate. But I seem to remember reading about study that showed that men ask for higher salary than women, even if they're equally qualified.

Goldstein

12th June 2009, 22:02

I really shouldn't get into a debate about affirmative action, since I readily admit that I benefit from it, and am rather happy that I do benefit from it.

Nunu

13th June 2009, 00:36

Don't you have the ability to find out who did it?

As I said I already know, but you have that ability to, you just have to believe in yourself.

Obeliskos

13th June 2009, 01:09

As I said I already know, but you have that ability to, you just have to believe in yourself.

Well, if I cared enough, I could narrow it down to just the users with 6 rep. From there, I can check which have been active since I made this topic. That's about it though. There's probably more than one person that falls into that category.

Nunu

13th June 2009, 03:27

alternatively you could click the user cp button

ToxicShock

13th June 2009, 04:24

I think that's how he found out how many points he got minused in the first place. You can't tell who reps you.

Nunu

13th June 2009, 04:33

it tells me though...

ToxicShock

13th June 2009, 04:34

haha, well we're not you :p

In all fairness, it's anonymous for a reason so if you don't think it's your job to tell someone who negged them, I don't think you have to.

Obe can search his feelings for what he knows to be true.

Kusanagi

13th June 2009, 04:58

What I loathe are people who hide behind these 'equal rights' bullshit bills.

I have no issue in getting passed over for a job because someone is better qualified than I am. I have issues getting passed over because a place needs to fill a 'minority quota'. That's bullshit. I don't care what race or gender you are; if you're a bad pick, you should get passed over. Of course, then these people bitch to the supreme court that they got passed over because they're black, or asian, or hispanic, or women, or w/e the hell they are, and because people are idiots, they all rally to bash the company - and I make a distinction between people and the individual; the individual is very knowledgable and generally nice, whereas people are fuckin' stupid (George Carlin).
Anyways.
I acknowledge that people should be treated equally, no matter their gender or race, but for fuck's sake, if you want to be treated equally, quit bitching when you get passed over because you're not as good as the person who got picked.

Oh, yeah, and religion shouldn't matter either. I forgot about religion; people bitch about that, too.

Caulder

13th June 2009, 05:31

ToxicShock

13th June 2009, 06:23

The problem being that both sides are cold reality. People DO often get passed over for race/ethnicity/sex, while anything like affirmative action is probably the most racist thing I've ever heard.

Chibichibi

13th June 2009, 07:19

My mother got passed over for a supervisor job even though she had worked for the Hunter Army Hospital for more years, worked as a paramedic in general for more years, and had more experience working with the system than the guy that beat her out had. Affirmative action gave him the job because he was black.

And then if that wasn't bad enough, he got my mother fired on a technicality (She didn't ask a dying man if he wanted to be saved because he was passed out cold from a car accident), when she wouldn't sleep with him.

All I want to see is equality. Not "Equal but you get special treatment because someone somewhere did something bad to your ancestors" treatment. And I hate when people pull the race/gender/religious/sexual orientation card in an argument. And I wish that people could see that we're all the same despite those differences.

Sinfulwolf

14th June 2009, 02:44

Wonderboy

14th June 2009, 21:49

Also, wonderboy... I'm just going to ignore your posts in this thread.

Thank you!

Kusanagi

14th June 2009, 22:56

And then if that wasn't bad enough, he got my mother fired on a technicality (She didn't ask a dying man if he wanted to be saved because he was passed out cold from a car accident), when she wouldn't sleep with him.

Well, I guess it's time to break out my second secret identity: Justice Guy!

http://i12.tinypic.com/3yrewyc.jpg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiIbsEE-Cz8)

Chibichibi

16th June 2009, 07:25

After getting drug out of bed to watch the news, I have this to say about America, Obama, and the policies that we have enacted as a country, blind to the lies of our government.

Recently The President Barack Obama fired the Inspector General of AmeriCorps, but he did not give him any reason. This violates a rule set up so that if the president wants to fire an IG he has to send it through Congress and wait 30 days, and give a reason. Now this IG was investigating some money fraud done by one of our dear president's friends. The IG, Mr. Walpin, was called on wednesday night and told, "Resign or be fired" well he refused to resign especially because he was investigating Kevin Johnson for misuse of AmeriCorps funds. Johnson is a good friend on the president and the mayor of Sacramento, and was using these funds to hire people to get his lunch and other trivial messes. Now, keep in mind that Walpin was DOING HIS JOB, and only because of Johnson's relation to the president was Walpin terminated.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=69b_1245111992

Now. You know things are getting bad when people are defecting from their parties left and right. (lolpun) People on both sides of the fence are saying their party doesn't represent their best interests. Well gee, that doesn't surprise me. Isn't the government supposed to protect the interests of the people? Well, the government is protecting the interests of it's collective ass.

And onto the third point that you probably haven't heard about. Two Japanese men were seized on the Swiss border with 134BILLION dollars in US bonds. If their fake, that's bad. Because who, other than another government, would have the kind of equipment to print things like this? (Hell, it could even be our own government) And if it's real? Well that's even worse. Some government, somewhere, whether our own or not, was trying to dump 134BILLION dollars into our economy.

http://watchingthewatchers.org/article/18160/case-134-billion-seized-bearer

...
Hello economic collapse how are ya? We would be like Germany after WWI. Tanked economy, inflation out the yinyang, and society as we know it would collapse. Poof. Gone. Buhbye interwebs. Buh bye decent jobs, and goodbye to anything remotely resembling security. This would make us easy pickings if someone decided to come after us. Or for our own government to step in and smile brightly, and turn us into a socialist dictatorship.

So. I ask my fellow americans who are sick of the two party system, who are sick of people bowing to the demands of their parties without any regard for the PEOPLE... I ask you, are you ready to stand up and change things? Are you ready to listen to someone who isn't affiliated with a party? Someone who won't sugarcoat the truth?

If you are, there's a Tea Party going on, on Independence Day this year. Look for the coverage on youtube, on the news, anywhere you can find it. It'll be held near the White House. Find it, and stand up for our goddamn rights before we're trampled and overrun by our greedy, corrupt, eggsucking government.

Who's ready to join the revolution? I know i am. But first? Sleep. xD

Goldstein

16th June 2009, 07:52

While I certainly wouldn't a legitimate alternative to both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, I doubt that we have the same alternatives in mine. In my opinion, the US would be better off both without the electoral college and with a major social democratic party. Sadly, since socialism is still a scare word here, I doubt the second will happen any time soon; nor do I believe that the first will happen either.

Yes, Obama has done things that have disappointed me. But then, I didn't expect him to be a crusader for the left. He ran on a centrist platform, and that's what he is.

Your first story, I haven't heard, and I hope that you will forgive me for not wishing to listen to Glenn Beck of all people. The second I had heard, but I haven't read much about it. I'll certainly look into it.

Again, injecting some (more) socialism into the US would not necessarily be a bad thing, in my opinion. Finally, the tea parties are nothing but a joke, and they shot themselves in the food using teabags as their symbol.

Disclaimer: It's very early in the morning here, so this may or may not have made sense.

Chibichibi

16th June 2009, 08:03

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Gerald-Walpin-speaks-the-inside-story-of-the-AmeriCorps-firing-48030697.html there, now you aren't listening to Beck :P

Wonderboy

16th June 2009, 08:22

Chibichibi

16th June 2009, 08:26

You know, 134 Billion is a lot of money, but in the context of the US economy it is not enough to break it. Besides, to introduce money to an economy is hard, and it's very unlikely whoever it is that has them will be able to purge it in without at the same time strenghtening certain industries, and therefore stabilize the economy slightly. What would make the economy crash, however, is if everyone thinks it will.

Why am I posting here? I... can't... stop...

*nods* I see what you mean, but introducing that amount of money into the economy would in fact cause a lot of inflation. What really bugs me the most is the lack of reporting about it.

And fuck sleep now. I can't sleep, Politics will eat me.

Kusanagi

16th June 2009, 22:59

Oh lord. Now I've gone and thought of this:

http://pix.motivatedphotos.com/2009/5/3/633769792003780145-captainamerica.jpg

@ Obama helping his friend: Absolute power corrupts absolutely. If Obama truly bypassed a law that was put in place to stop the abuse of his powers as president, there needs to be some investimigating done.

@ 134 BILLION DOLLARS (ala Dr. Evil): wtfux O.o ? If it's fake, then someone's getting their ass kicked. If its real. . . I really dunno.

@ Teaparty: lol, teabag.

While I am all for a government that actually protects the rights of the people and does what's in the interest of the people that put the officials into office in the first place, I'm really not sure how to go about doing that. All governments are inherently corrupt because of the amount of power they're able to wield.

I think I'll simply end with a quote from good ol' Churchill: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

Chibichibi

17th June 2009, 13:13

I'm stealing that picture Puppy. *grabbyhands*

Newbie

18th June 2009, 04:18

Here's the original of that:
http://ulmf.org/bbs/picture.php?albumid=18&pictureid=1504
Also, I figure the word bubble is large enough you can probably put whatever you want in there.

Chibichibi

18th June 2009, 05:45

I like the "fuck you" a lot better, lol. It fits my attitude right now.

Kusanagi

18th June 2009, 06:00

I'd like to fuck the world as well :3

waitaminute...

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EDIT: ARGH. I just can't win. When I'm in school, everybody's on when I'm in class. When I'm out of school, everybody's on in the afternoon and I can't get on because of peeping eyes. FUCK, SHIT, BUSH, ... MATT DAMON >:[

Chibichibi

18th June 2009, 12:57

ILU Puppy?

Alias

19th June 2009, 02:44

Another thread reminded me of how much the Twilight movie killed me. It was a few months ago, but my rage just fired up again.

Long story short, I've never read the books, but my girlfriend has. She hated them. We wanted to watch the movie to see how awful it would be. We were expecting it to be awful. Boy were we in for a shock.

It had to be the WORST movie I've EVER seen. Granted, I'm not a movie buff, but HOLY BART'S ASS that movie was gawdawful. Plot holes that had to be explained to me through the people who had read the books. Yes, I say books. Some of the stuff that didn't make sense in the FIRST movie wasn't explained until the SECOND book. Here's an example: the girl is totally turned on by the boy, but there is zero flinching away from him during the incredibly awkward "sex" scenes when his skin is supposed to be as cold as ice and hard as rock. I'm sorry, but I don't find an ice cube cuddly. I just don't. Here's another example: I didn't know what the fuck was going on with the baseball scene until it was explained that the only reason they can play in the storms is so the thunder masks the loudness of their bats hitting the ball (because of their super strength). Fuck you. That sort of force against an ordinary aluminum bat would simply break it, the ball, or both.

The acting was by far the worst acting I'd ever seen in any major film. The whole movie made me feel fucking AWKWARD. Do you know how hard that is, for someone else's awkwardness in an obviously fictional setting to actually make YOU uncomfortable? I kept wanting to say something along the lines of "Welll.... I'll be going outside now" to relieve the tension!

The "romance" was even worse than Mass Effect. The two trade calf-eyes for a while and then all of a sudden they're lovers. Who don't have sex. Because the author is a Mormon, and sex is bad. Do you know how she resolves sex in the later books (apparently they don't have sex until the fourth book)? She has the girl (whose viewpoint it is written from) black out until they're done. How retardedly lame is that? What the FUCK is a romance novel without the SEX?

The special effects were fucking shitty as fuck. A ten year old with an ordinary home camera could do the exact same thing; all they did was

The people defending the movie say that "Oh well you didn't like it because it wasn't your typical vampire movie. You were obviously expecting an action/horror flick, when this is a romance story. That's what makes it great."
FYI: FUCK YOU. Romance between human and [insert incompatible other race here] has been DONE TO DEATH. Vampires, werewolves, elves that will live fifty times the lifespan of their partner, IT'S ALL BEEN DONE BEFORE. This story is 100% UNORIGINAL. STOP treating it like it's the Jesus' second coming because this dilemma is in at least half of the fantasy books I've ever read, and I own SHELVES of them.

Here's the kicker. I was expecting this movie to have a retardedly low budget, considering how bad it was. But when I look it up, it cost almost $40,000,000. That's right. Almost half the cost of the first Matrix. I've seen movies that had a tenth of that budge that were better. I have NO IDEA where the fuck they put all that money. There weren't many sets (although I will admit that some of the sets they did have were gorgeous), the actors came out of some homeless wino's asshole, the dialogue was atrocious at best, and the special effects might as well have not been in there for how shitty they looked. Apparently this movie was shot in a little under a month, with a week of preparation.

Here's a hint, jackholes of film production: IT SHOWS.

This movie makes me want to bash my skull in.

Nunu

19th June 2009, 02:58

a nice comparison is that firefly had a slightly lower budget (39 mil) and they did a lot more with it.

Alias

19th June 2009, 03:03

I've heard that Firefly was really really good. But like I said I'm not a movie buff... can you give me some basic info? general plotline, genre? I might download it if it sounds interesting.

Goldstein

19th June 2009, 03:27

I've heard that Firefly was really really good. But like I said I'm not a movie buff... can you give me some basic info? general plotline, genre? I might download it if it sounds interesting.
Firefly was the television series. Serenity was the film set after the end of the television series.

Firefly was created by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear. It was a science fiction series with many elements of westerns, combining traditional scifi elements such as space travel, terraforming, and the like with western elements such as fronter settlements and lawlessness. It's kind of unusual in that there aren't any aliens whatsoever, and that there is no faster-than-light travel. It was very well written, by most opinions, and combined elements (again) of both comedy and drama.

A generalization of the background is that Earth became uninhabitable, and we migrated to a new multi-star system, terraformed those planets, and settled there. At some point, there was a war between the inner, richer planets (Alliance) and the less settled and less tamed rim planets (Independents) over whether the Alliance should be allowed to rule those outer planets. Firefly follows the crew of a ship captained by one of the soldiers from the losing side, the Independents.

Did I do that right?

ScrewDriver

19th June 2009, 04:50

As this is a ranting/debate topic, I shall abuse my right to rant on a different topic.

I have never, in my entire life, wanted to vandalize/violate a website so badly. A pal of mine came across this web page from MicroScat (M$) that compared their newest browser (Internet Exploder 8) against Fire Fox and Chrome. The "facts" as they call them, are so wrong and misleading that it feels as though some troll created this page.

Really, it's just M$ marketing crew trusting that the remaining percentage of non-tech-savvy people will buy into their bull crap.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/get-the-facts/browser-comparison.aspx

Goldstein

19th June 2009, 04:58

Heh. I was wondering if anyone would post that here. I agree, by the way.

Alias

19th June 2009, 06:54

That's so weird. I knew about Firefly the tv series. I could have sworn there was an unrelated movie though that people said were good. Maybe I'm just remembering wrong.

The "facts" as they call them, are so wrong and misleading that it feels as though some troll created this page.
QFT.

Whatever FF doesn't do that IE does, someone has written an extension that does do it. Or you can write your own. Meaning customizability is literally unlimited.
Unfortunately, most people using computers are retarded. So they actually will buy right into this shit.

QuirkyQuark

19th June 2009, 16:02

M$ pisses me off a little bit more everyday. I'm always hearing of their shenanigans.

Some people still seem confused about the firefly movie. It's called Serenity.

As for the worst movie. The award clearly should go to Dragon Ball, not twilight. If I had the time I'd write a rant.

dmronny

19th June 2009, 19:42

I would say Battlefield Earth has the title of worst movie, but to each their own. It was so bad a rant isn't even neccesary as that would mean the movie was worth it. Though I'm sure both of the others are probably just as bad. I'm just lucky enough to not have tried to watch either of them.

Sinfulwolf

19th June 2009, 22:38

ToxicShock

19th June 2009, 22:49

:( I didn't hate battlefield earth
Though it coulda used more Travolta dancing

Alias

20th June 2009, 01:54

Have any of you seen the recent movie Blindness?

Apparently it was even worse than Twilight and BFE together.

ToxicShock

20th June 2009, 03:53

Was the entire film black?
LOLBLINDNESS!

sorry

Shrike7

20th June 2009, 03:58

I don't actually remember anything about Battlefield Earth, but I do remember liking it when I watched it :/

As for the fans point, yes Twilight has fans, but so do the Jonas Brothers. It's the quality of the fans that count, not the quantity ;)

Nunu

20th June 2009, 04:06

Of the three horrible movies just mentioned, I've only seen Battlefield Earth.
Ronny is right.
The book was written by L Ron Hubbard for some background on it...
Also... Twilight has fans... Battlefield Earth dosn't even have those.

actually your forgetting about Scientology... there all fans.

that movie annoyed me so much, why oh why can cavemen pilot 500 year old jets and win against alien fighters that decimated the entire worlds defences in like 7 minuets or something. I've seen worse movies to be sure but once you cut away the Scientology actors and money its just a generic c-grade sci-fi movie.

Newbie

20th June 2009, 04:15

I read the book, and it wasn't bad. Granted, it was much longer than the film, and as such better to explain things like how or why. I never got around to seeing the film.

Alias

20th June 2009, 07:56

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081002/REVIEWS/810020302/1023

Apparently Blindness is a book-gone-movie that fails even harder than Twilight or Da Vinci Code. *shudders*

Kusanagi

20th June 2009, 08:48

I dunno about the worst movie of all time, but the Harry Potter movies cut less scenes than that damned Eragon movie they made based off of the Inheritance books by Paolini.

If people are going to do a movie based off of a book/book series, they had damned well better do it right - and they had best make sure the book(s) didn't suck ass, either.

Nunu

20th June 2009, 08:58

needs more running man.

Goldstein

20th June 2009, 22:28

I still say that the Clan of the Cave Bear is the worst movie I've ever seen.

Sinfulwolf

21st June 2009, 03:43

Blindness is horrible? Awww... and I so wanted to see it.

And I liked DaVinci Code (though I didn't read the book. I did giggle at seeing the Louge (sp?) at the beggining. I remember walking where Tom Hanks did so it was fun)

Alias

21st June 2009, 05:20

Chibichibi

21st June 2009, 10:32

I still say that the Clan of the Cave Bear is the worst movie I've ever seen.

Really? I haven't seen it, but the books in the series (Earth's Children) are effing amazing.

Sinfulwolf

22nd June 2009, 01:05

The Louvre? You've been there? That's pretty cool.

And the DVC movie was awful. Read the book. You'll agree. They left out like, 2/3 of the story. Granted it was a long book, but all three LOTR books were long too. And none of those movies made me walk away feeling like they had cut out some of the most important events. And that was before I saw the special edition ones. Even Hanks and that guy who plays Magneto/Gandalf whose name I can never remember (always want to say Elijah Wood, I know it's not that but it starts with an E) couldn't save it for me. =\ I heard the A&D movie was better though.

It was Ian McKellan that played Gandalf. LOTR also cut out all the singing and Tom Bombadil (In my opinion that was for the better). Now, I've never read the DaVinci Code so that could be why I enjoyed the movie.

And yeah, my unit went to France/ Belgium two years back to tour our WWI battle honours, we got to spend a day in Paris. And thanks for the spelling.

Alias

22nd June 2009, 01:12

Ha, no, I was more asking myself that than you, to make sure I had the right spelling in my head, I guess I just forgot to delete it =p

And yes. Ian. That's why I always think it starts with an E. Eeeeean. -_-

Yeah, Lotr made musical would not have been a good idea. Although I was devastated when they decided not to go with Enya for the soundtrack for the second and third ones. Their music just fit so well. That one dirge after the "fall" of Gandalf? That was emotional.

Granted, Howard Shore is the shit, too. I have the Complete Recordings of all 3 movies, and it's all really good stuff. I just wish they'd kept Enya. =(

As a side note, Ian McKellan is also the shit.

Alias

24th June 2009, 20:22

Um. Double post, but completely different topic. Shoot me if you want.

Fucking sunburn dude.

I just drove for 5 hours and got sunburned in the damn car. Fuck that shit. I didn't even think about sunscreen. Shit goddamn. -_-

Loli Defense Force

24th June 2009, 20:41

ToxicShock

24th June 2009, 20:46

Completely fairskinned but I almost NEVER burn. Weird. My job is playing sports for hours on the hottest days of the summer at high noon.

You get burned from just being in a car? LOLTHATSUCKS

Alias

25th June 2009, 01:22

@loli: Yeah.

@toxic: Yeah.

I'm not one of those idiots who claim to be a vampire all the time. But I swear, I could be one. I'm like the kid who always stays indoors and has pale pale white skin and sleeps during the day and only does stuff during the night. And I have a burn time of like 2 hours. If that. -_-

It's been so long since I've been outside, I forgot what it was like. Is that sad?

ToxicShock

25th June 2009, 01:23

HAHA, aside from the summers, the only sun I get is from my monitor.. yet I still have the worst farmers tan.

Don't worry, that's not sad. I hate the summers now, and I want to go BACK to that type of lifestyle. Now THATS sad.

Alias

25th June 2009, 01:27

Heh. One of my old jobs was to teach kids how to sail.

On a lake.

In the sun.

................................................................................ MY FLESHSHH!!! MMMYYYY FFFLLLLEEEEEEEESSSSHHHH!!

I must have gone through more bottles of sunscreen those summers than any 15-year old jock with no girlfriend goes through skin lotion.

Sinfulwolf

25th June 2009, 05:25

I actually really enjoy the outdoors. Up until training for overseas (which started May 1st 2007) I enjoyed going camping, usually with my father. I also worked on a farm during summers, doing haying. So since I was like 15 I've had farmer's tans. Never had a full body tan ever. Always the working girl. Ha.

Though I had a good tan overseas.

dmronny

25th June 2009, 17:59

Yep walked off the plane and in 2 hours I was tanned it was cool. Never burn myself, but thats probably because I spend more time outside then in.

Chibichibi

25th June 2009, 18:13

I've done some reading and research, and I reject the idea of a permanent Hell. The word Hell originally meant grave, and was just time spent away from God anyway. It's evolved into this place of eternal punishment however and that's not right at all.

God loves all of us, even the worst of people so why would he put his children through the eternal damnation of mainstream Christianity? I believe that we are ALL going to be forgiven, even people that don't believe in God. We may not all go to heaven, but I think that we will have a choice whether to stay on the reborn earth, or to journey into heaven, a personal heaven if you will, that reflects what makes us happy.

And if God loves us all, despite our flaws, how can we do any less? How can we not strive to be the best, nicest people that we can? I know I try, and yeah I slip up... a lot. But God knows that and he forgives me for my screwups. And it really burns m e up when I see people using religion as a way to justify the horrible things that they do.

Some of the things I believe are a little hard to put into words... But I also think that God can not be explained with human logic, since we are inherently flawed, everything we do is flawed... especially our logic. So when people try to logically explain the absence of God... well it doesn't work.

If I could teach one thing to my children about God... it would be that he loves all of us. No matter what we do, like a good parent should. And that though he may not always be making everything in our lives perfect... That's what a parent does. He has to step back and let his children make their own mistakes. You can't keep a child sheltered forever, and you can give advice (as he always does) but you have to let them learn. And a father also punishes. When a child does something wrong they have to be punished until they learn from their mistake. It is true that some people never learn, as flawed beings this is certainly possible. That's where the lake of fire comes in, in revelation. The lake of fire is not a punishment, but a baptism. You go through these flames, and come out pure. A spiritual fire, if you will.

And here's where we come to the super controversial part of my opinion :P As a scientist I have to believe in evidence, and the evidence tells me that Evolution has occurred, and is still occurring... Evolution at this point is a fact and a theory. We know that it happened, but we don't really know HOW. We don't know the mechanism. I believe that God is the mechanism. He nudges life from time to time to make it go where he planned for it to go. I noticed in the bible it talks about the creation of the universe, and then the creation of man, and THEN the creation of Adam and Eve. (Adam actually meaning "first" in the original Hebrew)

I believe that God used evolution as his tool to create our world, and then created Adam and Eve to be his special children. Because the Bible also talks about the people that Cain went to live with that weren't mentioned before. And I think that when he sent the flood, it wasn't only to wipe out the sinful, and the Nephilim, but also to purify us back to the descendants of Adam and Eve.

There has been a lot of genetic studies done, showing that all people are related to a Genetic Adam, and a Genetic Eve. I don't know the particulars but it's convincing to me.

Anyway, I wanted to get this off of my chest. Hope I didn't offend anyone.

Caulder

25th June 2009, 18:29

Chibichibi

25th June 2009, 18:39

I, for one, am offended.

Just the idea of the fact that people who don't believe in god, and commit crimes, are going to get a free pass into heaven eventually? That scares me.

I don't want to go to heaven if it means I have to go there with people like the man who killed my father, or serial killers, or child molesters. If that IS the real heaven, then I'd rather go to hell.

But after you've also been through the spiritual baptism you won't care anymore. You'll see that loving people is the most fulfilling thing. Everyone can be redeemed. Everyone has a chance.

Love thy neighbor as thyself, remember?

EDIT: "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

Caulder

25th June 2009, 19:05

But after you've also been through the spiritual baptism you won't care anymore. You'll see that loving people is the most fulfilling thing. Everyone can be redeemed. Everyone has a chance.

Love thy neighbor as thyself, remember?

EDIT: "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

I don't read the book, since it's so..........Misleading.

And don't go talking about Revelations. You have no idea what is planned, so don't go around spouting random crap like that.

Back on topic, yes, I know of that. But, does that mean I should put up with their behavior, even if they accept God? NO! It means I should pray for them and hope they change their ways.

And unlike this "Mainstream Christianity" you hate so much, I'm different. I don't force my beliefs on another. I simply say "May you go with the grace of God" and wave to them as they go. If people are offended by that? Then I simply shrug it off and tell them "Hey, I have a right to my religious beliefs. If you don't think I should have that right, then you don't deserve it either."

On another note, Fanatics. They're such assholes. Discuss.

Chibichibi

25th June 2009, 19:28

Let me go point by point on this one

I don't read the book, since it's so..........Misleading.

Misleading? How so? It's a history book with lessons built in.

And don't go talking about Revelations. You have no idea what is planned, so don't go around spouting random crap like that.

You're right, I don't know, but it's what i believe, and that's all that matters isn't it?

Back on topic, yes, I know of that. But, does that mean I should put up with their behavior, even if they accept God? NO! It means I should pray for them and hope they change their ways.

We were offtopic?

Just because you love someone doesn't mean you don't hate their actions. Yeah, I pray for people, I pray for people to find the peace and security that God has given me with his love an acceptance of who I am including all of my faults.

And unlike this "Mainstream Christianity" you hate so much, I'm different. I don't force my beliefs on another. I simply say "May you go with the grace of God" and wave to them as they go. If people are offended by that? Then I simply shrug it off and tell them "Hey, I have a right to my religious beliefs. If you don't think I should have that right, then you don't deserve it either."

I hate the actions of people who use their beliefs as a way to further hate and anger. I sit, and explain, and tell my side of the story, like I did in my post, and hope that people can see and understand my belief structure. If they don't want to see, like you don't want to, or like any number of people here may not want to... well them that's fine with me they can go on their way. You don't have to believe the same things i do. But I still try.

And unfortunately, you ARE offended by a message of love and peace... I simply don't understand why.

On another note, Fanatics. They're such assholes. Discuss.

The only fanatics that upset me are the ones that use religion (Not just Christianity) to further hate, intolerance, and bigotry.

aika

25th June 2009, 20:19

While I'd much prefer everyone went to heaven, Jesus specifically said "The only way to the father is through me." I can only assume that the reason that things are the way things are is that we cannot comprehend the bigger picture.

And in response to the inevitable "the classic christian cop-out, saying that we can't comprehend the reasons why things are the way they are", I just say I personally would much rather live in the comfort of believing there is a higher being up there who is aware of us and wants the best for us rather than there being no god and everything being governed by probability and chaos.

Chibichibi

25th June 2009, 20:24

That being said, we all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ for a second chance, and "Every knee will bow... and every tongue confess..." No exceptions.

And I still don't believe in a permanent place of pain and suffering for all eternity that mainstream preachers teach.

Hentaispider

25th June 2009, 21:22

Let me go point by point on this one

Misleading? How so? It's a history book with lessons built in.

No it's not. It's a fantasy book. And not even a good one.

Goldstein

25th June 2009, 21:30

The Bible isn't quite a history book. More along the lines of corrupted cultural memory and legend. Certainly there are good moral messages in it, however.

I reject the idea of Heaven, Hell, God and the rest because there is virtually no reliable evidence for any of that existing. Nothing we know about the universe indicates that there is any sort of God, or afterlife, or anything. I belief that there is nothing after we die. Death is the end of life, and of awareness. I would call myself an agnostic atheist, simply because it is impossible to prove a negative.

I believe, based on the facts and the evidence, that evolution is the best explanation we have for the diversity of life in existence today. I believe it to be a true explanation, I believe that it occurs today. I'm not as certain as to abiogenesis, but the Miller-Urey experiment is probably close (though I'm not going to count out panspermia, it is however wildly unlikely).

Momiji

25th June 2009, 21:37

No it's not. It's a fantasy book. And not even a good one.

actually, while I won't say it's strictly fantasy, I sure as fuck don't believe that a book that has been passed down for generations hasn't been fucked with or changed at least a little. And it's not history, because if it was, Christianity would be the only religion.

Chibichibi

25th June 2009, 22:27

Well you're all entitled to your opinion certainly. Nothing I say will change your minds, I just felt like sharing a little of what I believe, and the reasons behind some of my behavior.

^^

Alias

25th June 2009, 22:37

I just hate religion in general. So, the Christians believe that the ancient Egyptians, one of the most advance (if not the most advanced) ancient cultures - every single one of them went to Hell because they didn't believe in God? If my timeline is right (and I generally ignore anything that has anything to do with history so bear with me), the Egyptians all went to Hell a thousand years before Christ "the savior" showed up.

That's fucked up, dude. They were condemned because they didn't happen to know that the particular religion existed? And what about all the other religions? How about Native Americans? Their culture is one of the richest, most interesting cultures I can imagine... and they all went to Hell because they believed in forest spirits?

Religion is nothing more than a guidebook to tell you what is right and wrong. The various holy books (Bible, Torah, Koran) lay down rules or commandments that are actually very similar - don't kill. treat others as you want to be treated. don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat. blah blah blah. There is some variation to these rules (some are harsher on women than others), but the general idea remains the same: be good, and you will be rewarded. In fact, all religions have this idea, even the ancient Egyptians with the scale that weighed your heart against the feather or whatever. Or the Greeks: if you were good you got to chill with Zeus, if you were bad you got sent down to Hades.

When you look at the big picture, and how pretty much every religion (yes, even SATANISM!!) is just a how-to-guide on being a good person, it's really hard to believe that one of them is correct and that there is(are) a God(gods). It's much more plausible that they're simply fantastic story tales that someone made up based on truth. I think Jesus existed. I don't believe he walked on water. I think he was probably a great person, preaching all these things like brotherly love. I think the romans really did publicly crucify him. The rest of it is a load of crap, some storyteller's license embellishment. It's even harder to believe in one of them when you look at how later religions pick and choose elements from earlier religions to copy. A lot of people picture God as a wise old man. Guess what Zeus looked like? Satan is often depicted with a pitchfork or trident. Check out some pictures of Poseidon some time. (or Jupiter/Neptune respectively.)

I do however believe I am an agnostic atheist like Goldstein said; I don't believe any of that exists, but I'm willing to accept the possibility that it may. The problem lies in deciding which one does, if any.

If I did believe in the afterlife, I would probably think that it was whatever you wanted it to be. Christians get to go to Heaven. Greeks get to go to Mt Olympus. Nordics get to go to Asgard. Why can't they all exist is a corollary to the question "why can't none of them exist."

Anyway I've rambled too long. Hope some of you actually finish reading that wall of text =p

Chibichibi

25th June 2009, 22:46

I'd honestly like to thank you for sharing that.

As for your second paragraph, I've brought that point up with several preachers in the past, the general response i get, is that because they didn't know and/or Jesus hadn't been born yet, as long as they were good people they have a free ticket to heaven. The bad people on the other hand will have a chance to repent. they went into a little more detail than i can remember, but that was the gist of what they told me.

Pale

25th June 2009, 23:17

Obviously.. religion is a big question. A lot of people would say it's THE big question. For the rest of us, we also have politics, and art. Supposedly the three big no-nos we want to avoid, if we want to agree with each other all the time.

Now, this is of course because everyone has a different view of religion. Both their own, and that of other people. I think we can very quickly see that in this thread. It fills a lot of different roles, and provides a lot of different things for people.

That brings us onto the first point I wanted to make. Religion as an excuse. Either for a certain set of views, or, for actions. Historical examples include the Crusades, the completely-unexpected Spanish Inquistion (yes, you can laugh here). Another common modern one is using a religion to condemn homosexuality. Or anal sex. Or eating particular kinds of foods. Or women going around in public without every inch of skin covered.

I think this is an intellectual cop-out. If a person had a divine vision, or one he/she believed was divine, telling him or her.. that they couldn't eat pork. I'd be okay with that. That applies to an individual, and more, it doesn't affect others. However, when it comes to large bodies of people following the same dogma - this just seems fundamentally wrong to me. Especially when this dogma is contained in a religious text written down hundreds, if not thousands, of years before.

This is because the nature of what is right and wrong shifts dramatically. Perhaps, in tougher times for the human race, when survival was a more important priority, homosexuality would be a seriously bad idea - survival of the species is more important than individual preference, and, in honesty, what would a physically weak woman do to support a family? Or maybe there was a plague in the pigs of the time, making them dangerous to eat? We can see all sorts of perfectly reasonable explanations for why the precepts were sensible at the time.

But that's me wandering off my original thread of argument. The problem with using religion to justify things is often that people get their priorities wrong. I'll take Christianity as an example. In this religion, "Love thy neighbour" is actually more important, and more relevant to the modern Christian than any "Smite the infidel" or similarly, anything pertaining to homosexuality. Because this takes precedence, Christians should aim to love homosexuals equally. And, in fact, it goes even further.

If someone is -not- a practicing Christian - say they've never even heard of Christ, but they -are- a homosexual... then a lot of people who hold Burrito's views here would say these people are pretty screwed. Actually, though - they can still live by the most important part of Christianity - charity and love. By generally being kind to those around them, improving the lives of others, helping people (Something quite a lot of people do, or at least, try to) - they can be a "Good Christian". I.E, they can be a Christian, without being Christian.

I think a person in this situation would still be admitted to whatever Heaven one can say exists. That's the fundamental aspect of it. Sexuality, diet, what you say with your mouth - those are the little things. The trimmings. The really important tenets are the simple ones. Being kind to other people.

Of course, the problem posed is "Is there a Heaven". Using the above idea, one could conceivably live in a way that would qualify one for most of the Heavens promised by existing religions in the world today. I think it doesn't matter. To really follow the "Being good" ideal, one has to ignore the promise of reward. To do an act of goodness in order to be rewarded with Heaven - is not really good at all.

Whether or not Heaven exists, doing good is still crucial, even to Christians. That is to say, even if Jesus wasn't the Son of God, and at death, we all just vanish like guttering candles.. doing good is still the best way to live. I have this.... naive belief, that everything comes full circle in the end. Actions are returned to you. Like karma, almost. Treat people well, and be treated well yourself. If there is a judgement of Christ, it happens in every single moment, with every single action.

I'm aware I've rambled all over the place here, and probably utterly misrepresented myself and my beliefs, so in summation..

You don't have to be a member of a religion to follow it.
Following a religion just for the benefits is often contradicting the basic idea behind it.
When it comes down to it, most religions are very similar.
Actually, the "fine print" is unimportant.

P

Alias

25th June 2009, 23:28

Good post, Pale! That's something I didn't think about mentioning, although I do hold the same viewpoints. I don't think, though, that the original creators of whatever religion intended it to be used as an excuse, it's just that people come along later who can exploit certain loopholes in said religion. Do you agree?

@chibi: you're welcome, I guess >.>
But if I had a chance to talk to those priests (or rather was forced to) I would probably tell them that answer was a load of crap too. No matter what era somebody lived in, if they're good (and christianity happened to be the religion that was the 'true' one) they should get a free ticket to heaven, no matter what they believed. Modern day pagans shouldn't be condemned any more than the Egyptians simply because the bible was written between then and now. Yeah, sure, now the word is out and ignorance isn't an excuse anymore, but that doesn't change the fact that there are good people who aren't christian.
Just a note: I'm well aware that there are people who think that if a person is good they will go to their religion's afterlife no matter what that person believed in. I'm only talking about the people who condemn others to damnation, no matter how good of a person they are, just because they think god has a different name.

Pale

25th June 2009, 23:36

Loopholes is almost right. It's more that people are either misinterpreting things, looking for things that aren't there - or they're spotting the things added in by the Chinese Whispers effect, since the original ideas have been handed down over a very long period of time.

There's other stuff, though. People like to be told the answers. I.E, they like a very precise description of how to live. It makes the world easier. So "Take communion every week, confess regularly, and be straight" is more popular than "Be good."

P

Chibichibi

25th June 2009, 23:38

Pale have I mentioned lately how much I love you?

Alias... those are the people that I feel sorry for. Like Pale said much better than I could, People that use religion as an excuse to hate make me angry, and I have to pity them.

God is everything people have thought of him as and more. Undefinable by logic and reason.

aika

26th June 2009, 01:12

Goldstein

26th June 2009, 02:17

@nunu: True.

I imagine that religion originated as a means of controlling the behavior of a population. If you convince your people that there are god controlling the afterlife, exploiting fear of death, and then tell them that certain behaviors are against its will and will prevent you from going to the 'good' afterlife, you would have a very effective means of ensuring that your population would, for the most part, not behave in that way.

Kusanagi

26th June 2009, 02:34

RAWRGLE FRAWRGLE.

Anyways.

My opinion on (any) Religion: self-serving man-made bullshit stories.

Now before anyone goes bitching, I would like to point out that yes, good things have come out of religion: the sense of right and wrong, encouragement to play nicely with others, etc.
I would also like to point out that I DO in fact believe in a higher power: whether it's any specific god/gods/goddess/goddesses/god(s) and goddess(es), I don't know.

Now, as to why I believe all Religion to be man-made self-serving BS: who wrote these 'Holy' scriptures? Man. Who convinced others to join a specific religion? Man. Who wrote that Jesus was the son of God? Man.
I believe Jesus was a real person. I believe that Jesus wanted us to all get along. I do not believe that Jesus ever called himself the son of God, people simply wanted him to be so badly that they made themselves believe.

Just look at religion today: too many 'corrupt' people in positions of power in these religions. They use the religion as an excuse to commit atrocities and then have the audacity to blame their actions on said religion. Heck, take the Muslim religion for example. Muslims used to be all about spreading knowledge and wisdom; nowadays you only find those Muslims outside of the Middle East or dead. Why? All because some nut jobs gained power, translated the 'holy' text too literally, and decided they were supposed to purge the entire world of the 'infidels'... hmm, sounds like a pissed off follower of nazism(sp?) got into power there or something.

I want to believe that there is truth in these 'Holy' scriptures about the past. I want to believe that someone out there is telling the truth about the past.
Unfortunately, the public has been lied to and kept unaware of so many things no matter what religion it is they belong to, that I find it hard to believe that there is much truth out there anymore.

Don't agree with me? That's okay, you're allowed to believe what you wish, I could really care less as long as you're a decent human being.
Feel the need to bitch me out, or 'set me straight'? Go ahead. If there's a fact I'm missing, I'll gladly look into it.

In my mind, in the end, it matters not what you believe in as far as religion goes; it's your actions that make who you are.
If you were a shitty person in life, then good riddance, let your corpse rot. I could care less where you go in the afterlife, what matters is you're no longer able to do shitty things.
If you were a good person, then I shall remember you 'till the day I am gone as well; maybe even after that, if there is an afterlife and I retain my memories.

Oh my, what did I just post? O.o

Newbie

26th June 2009, 03:30

Very much has been said while I was out, I dare say I will throw in my two cents:

I choose to not actively be a part of any organized religion. I find that when people get organised in such a way that there is a group in the know and a group receiving word from the know one of the two misses some important stuff. The more levels you add the more is left out, and even at step one I am uncomfortable with the idea of being fed an altered message. Even the most basic or religions has at least three levels: From God to the piety to the laity.

I like the idea of a higher power. It is difficult for me to believe that humanity is everything this universe has. I would be disappointed if this were the case.

I like the idea of teaching kids morality but using heaven and hell as a carrot and stick, respectively, does not have the same appeal. They also need to learn responsibility for their actions, and in this regard having an invisible audience helps a bit.

Evolution is a real thing. Science tends to be very reliable in that regard: The things it proves to exist usually do. Anyone who actively campaigns otherwise at the very least appears as foolish to me.

I hate, absolutely hate, people who insist I join their religion. It's all well and good that we compare beliefs, and have the odd discussion. This is not a problem. But I hold the same consideration for conversion as I do homosexuality: You are allowed to ask me once. Please assume my answer will not change.

Extremists are the worst possible thing that can happen to any cause ever. Normally I shy away from such broad declarations as they have a tendency to be false, but this one is true. It is the loudest of your number that is heard, regardless of whether or not they believe in what the rest of your lot do. The word of few can, and has, easily tarnished the name of many and should not be lightly ignored.

There you go.

Momiji

26th June 2009, 03:40

Chibichibi

26th June 2009, 04:20

xD

Look what i started.

It's nice to see all of these opinions without people getting upset and offended. Yay! <3

Alias

26th June 2009, 06:30

Believing that the theory of evolution is correct / is probably correct does not make you an atheist.

I am a Christian scientist. In my opinion science and religion can completely mix, and the simple reason why is that everything that happened before man happened the way it did because God wanted it to. Simple, really.

Just needed to throw that out there. So many people seem to say "No I don't believe in God, I believe in evolution."

I've mulled this around in my head too. It's most of the reason I'm unwilling to say, hands down, there is no higher power of some sort. I mean yeah, we can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that creationism is complete bullshit. But nobody's ever proven that what DID happen (evolution) wasn't a higher power's doing.

This also extends to the fact that I think it's completely silly when people say "well God doesn't exist because it's impossible, nobody can listen to billions of people praying at once, so, no way." Uh... God is supposed to be omnipotent, all-powerful, almighty. Which by definition means he can do whatever the fuck he wants to. Including but not limited to engineering evolution.

Whether or not this God is really a benevolent spirit or just a pack of advanced aliens fucking with us, I guess we'll never know, at least not in our lifetimes.

Hentaispider

26th June 2009, 06:55

Alias

26th June 2009, 07:03

Everyone except Americans knows that already.

That... is kind of an asshole thing to say.

Sadly, it is probably also true. When half the world hates us, you can't really say it's for no reason. =\

Newbie

26th June 2009, 07:19

Everyone except Americans knows that already.
Sadly, it is probably also true.

I was going to post this before Alias had said anything, but I figure I was being overly critical and it was a joke. I no longer care. No. Furthermore, No and fuck you. Half the world hates America because it got itself into an international pissing contest as the only contestant. I get it. But that's a falsehood. I am certain, 100% positive, that somewhere on god's green earth out side of the USA there is a person that is just as stupid or even more stupid than the average American. I am equally certain that there are people as misguided, depraved, morally bankrupt, and rude or more so. The difference is that people are more ready to hate the American douches, due to the aforementioned pissing contest. There are stupid, nasty people in every race, nation, religion, all around the world, and it is simply wrong to single out a group as such when you should be targeting the morons and jerks.

I don't know where most of the people on this forum are from. Some members have shared, and some of those I've remembered. I generally have made a point of not giving a damn. You know why? It doesn't fucking matter.

Alias

26th June 2009, 07:25

I think it's just the fact that I've met more American douchebags than douchebags of any other nationality put together. Obviously, this could be just my viewpoint being skewed as I've never lived anywhere but America for more than a month. But you have to admit the possibility. There has to be a country in the world that has the highest percentage of douchebags. There can't be exactly the same ratio of douchebags in every single country in the world. Why is it hard to believe America is that country?

Newbie

26th June 2009, 07:34

It's not. I'm sure America has a plenty high douchebag ratio. But it's harder to believe that it's also the home of the largest moron ratio, and the largest religious fundamentalist ratio. As you pile on more and more groups it gets more and more unlikely. And people seem to love to pin these ratios on America because of the aforementioned global political climate.

And I don't seem to meet as many douchebags. Maybe it's because I'm an middle-class college student between the ages of 18 and 40 going to a university. Many of the ones I do meet are exchange students who have decided their superiority because of the same fucking attitude we're talking about right now and act as such. Isn't that ironic?

Chibichibi

26th June 2009, 10:28

You know something... you're right Newbie. I haven't actually met many douchebags I just hear about them in the news a lot. Mainly because like you said I'm a middle class college student... that stays out of the bars. :'D

I'm tired of everyone pissing on the US's intelligence and general douchebaggery. I would have to say that Iran has more douchebags and idiots at the moment, due to extremist nutjobs.

Yeah, our extremists picket Military funerals, and shoot up schools, or blow themselves up in some sort of protest... but when was the last time an American Extremest killed over 3,000 innocent people in one go?

it's times like these though that i roll my eyes and go, "Why can't we all just get along!?" why do people have to make hateful comments about anyone?

I keep hearing, "All police are douchebags." I've heard it about soldiers, doctors, college guys, men in general, usually someone in a position of power, "All managers are douchebags." things like that. And then you have the national insults... I think the worst thing I've heard lately is that France is a bunch of Sissies. Seriously. Worst thing I've heard...

But the pattern I'm seeing is that certain groups of people are good people until someone steps on someone else's toes and then it's a namecalling match.

Seriously, we're members of an international forum brought together by a tentacle hentai game. None of us is more superior based on where we live, or what we do in our daily lives. We're all a bunch of FREAKS. I love ya'll... but we are.

this is probably not to coherent at 6AM, but stereotypes upset me. I think I made that clear enough.

Nunu

26th June 2009, 10:40

None of us is more superior based on where we live, or what we do in our daily lives.

Even me? *teary eyed*

Sinfulwolf

26th June 2009, 13:57

I've been seeing the words ratios and percentages thrown around a bit concerning assholes and douchebags and bigots in America. I'd like to point out the simple fact that America may have a fair bit of these people, but the nation's population is much larger than a lot of other countries out there, so technically even if the States did have a huge number as assholes, does not mean that their percentage is high.

Also, because America is one of the major superpowers in the world, and as such have the ability to do things at an international level, it pisses people off. Perhaps its jealousy I don't really know, but its just something to factor in.

Really, I've gotten along quite well with many American's I've met. I worked with them overseas and they were good shit. Sure I've met some assholes, but I've also met asshole Brits, and Canadians, and Aussie's in my life.

Alias

26th June 2009, 16:53

But it's harder to believe that it's also the home of the largest moron ratio, and the largest religious fundamentalist ratio.
This is a good point.

technically even if the States did have a huge number as assholes, does not mean that their percentage is high.
Another good point.

Unfortunately, statistically, when we elect a douchebag moron for our president - and then RE-ELECT him - it tends to point toward the fact that the majority of us are like-minded douchebag morons.

Also, Newbie, I was more referring to online douchebags that I've met. The cover of internet anonymity makes people show what they might hide when meeting them in person (seriously... ever play any mmo? 90% of the population in every mmo I've ever played are either complete fuckwads or retards who can't read their own skill tooltips. It's extremely rare to find players that know what the fuck they're doing AND aren't elitist fuckshits about it, and if you do they're usually banded together in a 'rock against the flood' guild. Then again, I've never played on other countries' servers, so I can see how my viewpoint might be skewed).

when was the last time an American Extremest killed over 3,000 innocent people in one go?

This is another good point. But when was the last time Iran's government declared a war on another country that costed thousands of lives, both military and civilian? I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I think Bush declaring war on terror was childish and stupid, and worst of all, influenced by what his father didn't finish in Iraq. However, the crimes these people commit are either done in the shadows or from the shadows, making them less of a target for global media than an all-out, public declaration of war.

France is a bunch of Sissies.
Well... they DO have a long history of surrendering instead of fighting, and always seeking peaceful solutions. While this is laudable, most of the world thinks with their testicles, and makes fun of them for it. *shrug* it's easy to think of new jokes regarding the French surrendering. It's not easy to constantly praise them. I mean, you praise someone for something, and then.... what? You continue praising them? That's not really realistic. It's much easier to make people laugh over something, because there are infinite ways of making fun of something. The first one that comes to my mind is Pirates of the Caribbean actually.... "Who ever thought up the word 'parlay'??" "That would be the French."

I have a sort of rants about stereotypes, too. I don't understand why people are offended by them. Now, I know this is going to get me into a lot of hot water, but... really... I don't get it. Stereotypical jokes are always made in one of two ways: joking or an attempt to be hurtful. If you're joking, then all parties concerned should know you're joking and that you don't really mean what you say. Example: I sometimes make fun of the French for being sissies even though rationally I know it's retarded to generalize an entire nation of people based on dead leaders' decisions. But it makes people laugh. There's nothing wrong with laughter as long as it's not hurtful. Just like when earlier in this thread someone stereotyped America (and brought up this whole conversation). I'm American and I laughed; I wasn't hurt at all. Some of it was because there's a nugget of truth in that, the other part was that we both know it's ridiculous to generalize the several billion people of this country. I didn't get all butt-hurt about it.
If someone is actively trying to hurt someone else by using stereotypes, racial slurs, sexism, etc, I equally fail to understand why people get upset about this. Clearly whoever is doing it is an ignorant, egotistical ass, and therefore warrents no attention from anybody - especially because people getting upset over what they say is what they want. It's probably not even their fault; they were just raised that way and don't know any other way to act. What is upsetting about that?

Chibichibi

26th June 2009, 18:40

This is another good point. But when was the last time Iran's government declared a war on another country that costed thousands of lives, both military and civilian? I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I think Bush declaring war on terror was childish and stupid, and worst of all, influenced by what his father didn't finish in Iraq. However, the crimes these people commit are either done in the shadows or from the shadows, making them less of a target for global media than an all-out, public declaration of war.
Of course the fact that the extremists and Hussein were committing genocide against a separate sect of the same religion wasn't a good reason *eyeroll* we put Hussein in power in the first war, it was our job to take him out now. If it wasn't for us he'd still be butchering his own people, and starting look farther afield for people to gas. Now I just wish our boys could come home, but nooooo... Obama is sending MORE troops out to the middle east.

I don't agree with a lot of the decisions of the previous administration but people act now as if everything he did was the work of Satan, and Obama is the second coming of Christ. I hate seeing people praise Obama for doing the same things they criticized Bush for. It makes me sick to my stomach.

Alias

26th June 2009, 19:05

There's a very fine line between doing what is right, and doing what is right and responsible.

The fact is, there are more third-world countries out there that genocide is taking place in. Are you saying we should go to all of them and wipe out their governmental structure and replace it with something we like? Yeah, it would be a GOOD thing to do. At first glance. But then the United States becomes the Global Police Force. But we already HAVE a global police force. It's called the UN. If there's an atrocity taking place, it's the UN's job to police it. Not ours. That's giving one country too much power. And when one country has that kind of power, it resembles a dictatorship. And that, of course, is exactly what we want to prevent - dictator's regimes. Democracy has proven to be a better form of government than dictatorships have, obviously, and that's why I heartily disapprove of Bush's rogue, loose-cannon actions. It sets a precedent, tells the world "we can do whatever the hell we want in global affairs, and to hell with the democratic United Nations that was designed for this purpose!" That really worries me.

Unfortunately, the whole situation in Iraq is a complete mess. Our troops stationed over there? The ones Obama won't pull out? They are integral to the country's structure now. It would be like yanking out the foundation of a building; the whole thing would tumble down and there would be anarchy in the streets. The country would turn into a worse mess than it was before we "intervened." The hard truth is, it's better for Iraq for our troops to stay than to come home. That's why Obama isn't pulling anybody out.

And I don't think your comment about people praising Obama for doing the same things as Bush is entirely appropriate. Obama never started a war with anybody; he just got saddled with the one his predecessor left behind. That said, if there's something that I don't know about the current administration doing something the Bush administration did, then that would upset me greatly. The whole issue about Obama going back on laws he wrote to save some friend of his really disappointed me. But, as they say, power corrupts even the best, and our current president is, of course, a politician, which by definition means he's a backstabbing, power-hungry snake. =P So it wasn't completely unexpected.

Newbie

26th June 2009, 19:29

I have a sort of rants about stereotypes, too. I don't understand why people are offended by them.

Go Go Gadget Psych Major!

A stereotype is the perception you have of a group based on your previous experience with them, in any form. This means that even hearing an off hand comment about a group can effect your idea of what this group is supposed to be. It is a mental short cut to save you time and keep you from evaluating everyone you meet because that would take a very long time. There are two steps when you use stereotype: 1-actually remembering the stereotype, and 2- either using that impression or making an effort to work through it and meet the person you've just judged.

People have a tendency to ignore things that don't fit the stereotype by creating a sub group for them, finding some aspect that doesn't fit the mold and using that to excuse it. They have a tendency to treat people according to the type rather than any action taken before hand. This is global, everyone does it.

It can be a useful tool, except that people seem far more willing to remember negative events than positive ones. It can be used for humor, except humor is extremely subjective and often requires a bit of wit or subtlety.

TL;DR: BLARGGAjfJfafavdsadfsdgfvsadvavgafbg

Chibichibi

26th June 2009, 19:38

I see what you're saying Alias, and this is the point where I have to respectfully disagree and step away from the keyboard for a little bit. I get a bit to heated in my discussions and I'm trying to cut down on that. Bad for the blood pressure you know.

Not to mention that we just had a storm pass over and I'm still freaking out. Astrapophobia- Fear of thunder and lightning. x.x

Sinfulwolf

26th June 2009, 19:56

The UN is interesting. Sure its a great idea and it does lots and lots of good for the world. But at the same time, there are countries on the boards that butt heads and prevent things from moving forward. The lack of a focused vision in the UN prevents much from actually getting done.

Meanwhile, NATO steps into Afghanistan. Originally to hunt down Al Qaeda and to take out the Taliban regime that came in after the Russians left. Now, they are there stabilizing the country, giving the people water, providing security, training their police and army so that they can be professional soldiers and cops. Building highways, schools, hospitals. Giving jobs to the unemployed over there. We are doing a lot of good, and there it is only in the territories of Southern Afghanistan that are a hotbed of violence. But, people don't separate between the peaceful Northern areas, or the urban Kabul, they only think desert and violence. People don't even think there is vegetation over there, but I was wading through trees, rivers, wheat fields, pot fields, grape fields, tall grass etc. There is a lot that you will not learn about the situation overseas, and Iraq is included here as well, from the news. The media likes to make soldiers seem like monsters, I've seen it a lot, but we're not.

Anyway, I'm getting way off track there. What I'm getting at is this, the troops are still needed over there to do a job. We leave now, we might as well give the country a gun and a single bullet to end its own life. Again, Afghanistan for my example. Those who fought against the Russians, the Muhjadien (don't think I spelled that right) were pushed to the North by this upstart group of young men who couldn't even read. They wanted Afghanistan to be fully Islamic, and with what I've been told by the locals over there, they brought it back decades. Decades of cultural, economic and scientific progress, brought to shambles by religious fanatics who used their religion to back up their bigotry and hatred. So, civil war raged. When we came in, the people who were not from the same tribe as the Taliban were grateful, and happy. They still are. So when I was over there, I fought alongside and even sat down and played a game of chess with a man who fought the Russians.

We even had Afghan army members at our Christmas dinner. Islamic soldiers, and predominately Christian soldiers sitting together and enjoying a meal during a Christian holiday. Afghan locals would invite us into their homes for bread and tea.

I'd also like the bring up this point about pulling out of the Middle East. Please note that this next portion is somewhat graphic, but I'm sure you lot can take it. When the Russians pulled out of that area of the world, they no longer had pressure on the extremists. Al Qaeda and Taliban decided to take revenge against the Russians, and sent fanatics from Chechnya to a small town in Russia. I cannot remember the name of it right now, it started with a "B", but they got there on the first day of public school, and took the children and parents hostage. For three days the were locked in the gym, and father's and son's were executed whilst mother's and daughter's raped, sometimes with gun barrels. After the second day, the mother's were said they could go home, but only if they left their children behind for more torture and rape. Only one mother stayed. It wasn't until after the third day that the Russian's finally stormed the school and eventually killed the fanatics.

Now, this has also happened in Isreal, and has been threatened against Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. So, yes we can pull out before we're done, but only if you want to fight them here were our own civilians and children will be at risk.

Wow... I got way off course there.

Regardless those are my views gathered from what I've seen and experienced over there and from what I've gathered from intelligence reports and history lessons. If this doesn't influence your opinion at all, fine, I just think you should look a little harder at everything that is happening.

Yes we loose men and women over there, but Canada has lost many more in one month from traffic accidents then lost in Afghanistan over our entire mission. I'm sure it goes the same in the States. (slightly skewed statistic too so don't argue me on this one I'm aware)

Now I need a drink.

Alias

26th June 2009, 20:30

Yeah. Chibi I don't mean to heat your blood up - I just don't think you quite understand the situation over there. I don't really, either, but from what I've read, it sounds like pulling out of the country will cause it to self-destruct. From what I understand, Obama is only doing what he has to, and would like as much as you or me to pull our troops out. The problem is (as I understand it, again, I could be wrong) that that would be even more irresponsible than going there in the first place.

Well, maybe that was a bad choice of words. We did do a lot of good over there, and I don't think most of the Afghani or Iraqi population regrets it. Of course sinful would know more about it than I would. So essentially I'm saying I agree with you, but here's why Obama can't do what we want - not because he doesn't want to, and not out of poor leadership choices.

Sorry to add on to your stress =( I myself suffer from a severe case of arachnophobia. My first year in college, when I was still living in dorms, there was this half-inch big spider in the shower. Not huge, but not small either. I freaked - yelped like a little schoolgirl and almost ran out butt naked.

@newbie: that was actually pretty interesting. good information to know. But if that's the 'real' definition of stereotype, what do you call, say... I don't know... the stereotype that Kenyans are fast runners? what I mean to say is, I know not all Kenyans are fast runners, and in fact I have never met a Kenyan to experience whether or not s/he was a fast runner, and yet I know the stereotype exists. It's like... someone else's stereotype. So how would I refer to my perception of Kenyans? (that question really doesn't make sense. I'm not sure how to word it.. sorry)

@sinful: Yeah, that's the issue with every democracy, and why dictatorships seem so attractive. "If I were in power with nobody to answer to, I could do things right" mentality. That's more an issue with human failing than the UN though, I think.
After reading that, I think I'd need a drink too.

Newbie

26th June 2009, 20:38

that was actually pretty interesting. good information to know. But if that's the 'real' definition of stereotype, what do you call, say... I don't know... the stereotype that Kenyans are fast runners? what I mean to say is, I know not all Kenyans are fast runners, and in fact I have never met a Kenyan to experience whether or not s/he was a fast runner, and yet I know the stereotype exists. It's like... someone else's stereotype. So how would I refer to my perception of Kenyans? (that question really doesn't make sense. I'm not sure how to word it.. sorry)

Someone else's stereotype is someone else's stereotype. If it's an idea that's widely held it's probably more commonly seen, either in real life or (as in your example) through the media. You do not need direct experience with a group to form a stereotype.

Sinfulwolf

26th June 2009, 20:39

@sinful: Yeah, that's the issue with every democracy, and why dictatorships seem so attractive. "If I were in power with nobody to answer to, I could do things right" mentality. That's more an issue with human failing than the UN though, I think.
After reading that, I think I'd need a drink too.

Twas my essential point about the UN... though I don't know if I would call it human "failing". In a way it could be considered as such, but those countries are butting heads because what is good for one nation, is bad for another. Everyone looks out for their own.

Alias

26th June 2009, 22:16

Hmm. You have a point there. I guess I just automatically stereotype (heh) all politicians as bureaucratic douchebags.

And yeah I was sort of restating your point, didn't mean to come off as trying to give you information you didn't already know =D

Kusanagi

27th June 2009, 07:09

As my friend's cousin once said, "When you grow up, you learn: ALL people are douchebags."

ANYWAYS.

The U.N. is nice in idea, but it's really fucking bullshit. If the leaders would actually get together and come to agreements, it would be awesome; as it stands now, however, it might as well be an IRC chat with everyone trying to make everyone else see that THEY have the biggest penis. And balls. AND tits.
O.o

In all seriousness, I really do hope that there's an alien threat out there in the universe that we're forced to band together against. We'll either finally get along - we don't have to like each other, just get along - or we'll get fucking wiped out / spread out among the stars, like Titan A.E. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_A.E.) or something.

Oh god, I hope lil' Kim-jong doesn't get his own planet o.o

Nunu

27th June 2009, 07:44

As my friend's cousin once said, "When you grow up, you learn: ALL people are douchebags."

i've always measure adulthood by the ability to admit that everyone is retarded and that you aren't any different. Once you realise that you are fallible and that you often have stupid ideas, you can try to identify these things and do something better instead.

Kusanagi

28th June 2009, 07:52

RAGE

Alright, so lately, I've found a new thing to be pissed about: people who just drop off the face of the Earth/Universe/Internet without even so much as a 'Hey, gonna be gone for a bit 'cause of XYZ.'

Usually, I just deal with it, but it's just been pissing me off lately. So far, my favorite fanfic author has disappeared; the guy who does VGcats seems to be missing (it's been too long, even for him); a flash author on NG I lik; and - over the course of the past 4 years - 4 of my friends, a couple irl, a couple from the internet.

It just pisses me off that there are people out there that can just up and leave without really saying anything at all. I realize shit happens, but is it REALLY that hard to keep people updated on what happened/is happening?

IDK. Maybe it's just because it's not in my nature to go missing for very long periods of time without letting SOMEBODY know wtf happened. For some reason, it's just been getting on my nerves lately.

XSI

29th June 2009, 00:16

On a related note to that, I got promoted to officer in a game 6 months ago, but left without saying anything just before that. Oops, at least they knew I had a history with them for 3-4 years of coming on and off at random months, sometimes disappearing for 3+ months.

Besides that, I know at least 8 people, not including authors of flash stuff, webcomics, etc, actual people I know, that disappeared without a trace, only one told me a reason he would be gone a day before he disappeared.
It can be frustrating, I just try not to think on it.

..Anyway, I'm gonna go download that game to at least say hi.

Alias

29th June 2009, 02:47

Hah. Yes. I have this friend whom I love to death. But she talks to me for a couple weeks and then vanishes for months at a time. No getting online, no answering her phone. I naturally get the feeling she hates me. Then all of a sudden she's like OMG HAI! like half a year later.

Chibichibi

29th June 2009, 03:00

I freak the fuck out when that happens. I think they've gotten hurt or something

Alias

29th June 2009, 05:14

yeah me too. but I don't want to be like creepy stalker person who constantly calls.

Chibichibi

29th June 2009, 11:52

My fear of them being hurt over-rides that instinct with me >.>;;

Rule 34

29th June 2009, 13:11

Without having read most of the longer posts above me (I'm sure they were all good though), I'd like to give you my view on religion.
First and foremost I believe that science and religion are not as impossible to unite as most people think. Science (and that includes the theory of evolution) tells us HOW things happen. Not WHY. And when I look around and see the complex structures our world and the entire universe is based on I refuse to believe that all of this has happened by accident. Now I'm not a Christian, but that has other reasons (mostly because of the Roman Catholic view on sexual protection, and several things out of their history). I believe that some form of sentience exists and has nudged us into the right direction now and then (giant dinosaur crushing piece of stone, anybody?), and that its plan is so incredibly vast that humanity doesn't stand a chance to ever comprehend it.

DarkFire1004

29th June 2009, 17:31

and that its plan is so incredibly vast that humanity doesn't stand a chance to ever comprehend it.

*At the beginning of the universe*

God: "Daaaaaamn... That was a wild ass party. Holy shit.. I'm gonna.. gonna... gon-"

*Pukes for seven days straight*

God: "Ohh... Ohh my me... What have I just created? Whoa... Check those lizards out... I should throw shit at them."

*Later when humans formed*

God: "Duuuuude. Those guys are, like, making a civilization. I should totally fuck with their heads!"

*On Earth*

God: "I AM THE SUPREME BEING OF THE UNIVERSE. FOLLOW MY WORD AND I WON'T CHUCK SHIT AT YOU."

People of Earth: "... Was that a voice in the sky? He sounds like he knows what he's doing. Let's worship him!"

God: OKAY, FIRST, I WANT ALL THE GUYS TO BE BADASSES AND FIGHT EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME. ALL THE LADIES, YOU'RE NOW TO WEAR THESE TWO PIECE BATHING SUITS AS YOUR NORMAL ATTIRE. AAAAAAAAAAND ACTION!"

*Today*

and that its plan is so incredibly vast that humanity doesn't stand a chance to ever comprehend it.

God: "Totally. Nobody knows what the hell a drunk omnipotent being's gonna do. Not even himself."

lurker

29th June 2009, 23:15

*At the beginning of the universe*

God: "Daaaaaamn... That was a wild ass party. Holy shit.. I'm gonna.. gonna... gon-"

*Pukes for seven days straight*

God: "Ohh... Ohh my me... What have I just created? Whoa... Check those lizards out... I should throw shit at them."

*Later when humans formed*

God: "Duuuuude. Those guys are, like, making a civilization. I should totally fuck with their heads!"

*On Earth*

God: "I AM THE SUPREME BEING OF THE UNIVERSE. FOLLOW MY WORD AND I WON'T CHUCK SHIT AT YOU."

People of Earth: "... Was that a voice in the sky? He sounds like he knows what he's doing. Let's worship him!"

God: OKAY, FIRST, I WANT ALL THE GUYS TO BE BADASSES AND FIGHT EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME. ALL THE LADIES, YOU'RE NOW TO WEAR THESE TWO PIECE BATHING SUITS AS YOUR NORMAL ATTIRE. AAAAAAAAAAND ACTION!"

*Today*

God: "Totally. Nobody knows what the hell a drunk omnipotent being's gonna do. Not even himself."

Dude, that's soo fucked up it's funny XD

Goldstein

30th June 2009, 00:14

Science (and that includes the theory of evolution) tells us HOW things happen. Not WHY.
Well, science is kinda 'Things happen, man. Dude, there doesn't have to be any why. It just, like, is.' There isn't anything guiding evolution, there isn't any why behind it, it's simply that the next best adapted creatures tends to survive to reproduce.

(giant dinosaur crushing piece of stone, anybody?)
Actually, that is impossible to tell from random chance. Probability says that Earth gets smacked every once in a while, it happened while the dinosaurs were around is all.

its plan is so incredibly vast that humanity doesn't stand a chance to ever comprehend it.
And, sorry, but I really don't see that as anything other than a cop-out. 'Well, there must be a plan, but it's just so complex that we can't understand it. That's why we don't know what it is and don't have evidence for it.'

Also, Mr. Deity (http://mrdeity.com/). Kind of in line with what DarkFire posted.

Newbie

1st July 2009, 20:37

I don't get all the love for batman. I mean, I understand it, but I disagree. I think he gets far too much credit. Yes, he's a bad ass normal in a world of super-powered beings, but there's more than one of those. There's any number of heroes in DC alone that do their job without superpowers. The Question, Green Arrow, Wildcat, most of batman's partners in gotham, the list goes on I'm sure. He's not the only hero to survive by his wits, and he's not even the most original! At his core, he's basically a carbon copy of Zorro. Wealth? Check. Butler? Check. Hidden lair below mansion? Check. Childhood Trauma? Check. Foppish alter-ego? Check. It's one thing to be inspired, it's another to copy the shit out of a previous work.

The thing I've come to hate about batman is how ridiculous it becomes. I can believe 'world's greatest detective', but at some point someone decided he had to be greatest at everything. At this point, the list of his abilities becomes farcical, in league with Superman in the sixties. Suddenly he's an expert in all biology, strategy, chemistry, combat, astrology, astronomy, metallurgy, zoology, anything else that you could possibly think of! I don't know how he has time to learn everything about every field and still be Batman, Bruce Wayne, and remember his parents! I like the films, but they steer clear of most of that bullshit and, in turn, my ire.

Hentaispider

2nd July 2009, 09:11

Why does everyone assume that I want to go out in the middle of the day, while it's too hot to do anything but lay down?

XSI

2nd July 2009, 09:49

I have no idea, but heat sucks for my laptop, the cooling never was very good and this is not helping at all.

aika

2nd July 2009, 16:49

Same here, when my right hand rests on the right hand side of my laptop to type, sometimes it gets properly uncomfortable because it's got so hot. And I'm pretty sure it's slowing down my PC.

Twisted

2nd July 2009, 16:57

First and foremost I believe that science and religion are not as impossible to unite as most people think.

"Science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind." - Albert Einstein

Chibichibi

2nd July 2009, 17:03

"Science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind." - Albert Einstein

Hey! That's the quote I always use xD

ToxicShock

2nd July 2009, 17:04

They answer different questions. Science is "how", never "why." I use the term faith instead of religion, but there's where you can try to find your best "why"

Newbie

3rd July 2009, 04:21

I've also decided to take affront at cinema. I've started loosely following movie news, and it turns out several movies are being made that seem like someone lost a bet. Or several bets. List:

Battleship
Where's Waldo
Stretch Armstrong
Asteroids
Candyland

That's just what I recall off the top of my head, and I'm sure there's more to come. What the fuck? And then I read crap like "The plot is being kept tightly under wraps." Oh, good, because I'd hate it if YOU DON'T HAVE A GODDAMN CLUE WHAT YOU'RE DOING.

wallpaper

3rd July 2009, 14:23

Time to cash in on the people slightly older than me getting a huge wave of nostalgia, no doubt. XD

dmronny

3rd July 2009, 18:24

That's not even right, I can't even think of a movie plot for any of those. Then again Clue is pretty funny, but that at least could lend itself to a plot.

ToxicShock

3rd July 2009, 18:30

i FUCKING LOVED clue!

dmronny

3rd July 2009, 18:36

Yeah Clue was awesome, pretty much anything with Tim Curry is, but Candyland and Battleship I think not.

ToxicShock

3rd July 2009, 18:39

Hell I watched that dumbass muppet movie for Tim Curry.

Everytime I see him as Pennywise (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SiRyx_hrRI) in It, I keep imagining him out of RHPS... and it only makes it scarier.

dmronny

3rd July 2009, 18:48

Indeed he's one of the few actors who can make an incredibly retarded movie watchable.

DarkFire1004

3rd July 2009, 21:56

Candyland and Battleship I think not.

Well I agree with you on Candyland, but if they made Battleship into a rated R movie, I think it might actually have a chance of being decent.

Sinfulwolf

3rd July 2009, 22:33

Hell, find the right person and let them have an R rating and Candyland could be one creepy as fuck movie.

DarkFire1004

3rd July 2009, 22:52

A rated G Candyland movie would be ample creepy for me.

Kusanagi

4th July 2009, 13:48

If they truly do make a 'Battleship', Sean Connery had better be a Submarine commander XD

Personally, I think that Waldo, Stretch, and Asteroids would work out better as animated movies.

Candyland just seems creepy as a movie topic in general >.<
Maybe get Tim Burton to do it :p

dmronny

4th July 2009, 17:43

Yeah I could see a Tim Burton type of Candyland now that you say it. There goes the last shreds of my childhood. As Kusa said I could see animated versions of some of them. Though I can't see full movies.

Every timeI picture a movie about Battleship I just get a picture in my head of getting halfway through the game and my little brother starting to cry because he said I'm cheating. Never did ever finish a game of Battleship. If it's just a war movie, I could see it but why call it battleship surely they could think of a historical naval battle or something.

Goldstein

6th July 2009, 10:03

Global warming denialists. Honestly? It is happening, we are contributing to it, and we do have a responcibility to at least try to change what we're doing about it. How can anyone honestly still think it's fake, or that we aren't causing it, or that the Waxman-Markey Bill is designed to simply "help pay off shitheads like Al Gore" (wtf?) or whatever else is being said. Though it did amuse me that Kucinich voted 'No' because the Bill didn't do enough, in his opinion.

That's what I get for browsing imageboards at 4 AM.

Alias

9th July 2009, 15:49

Rule number one of any social interactions, especially, but not limited to interactions over the internet:
99% of the people you are interacting with are COMPLETE RETARDS (in any massively multiplayer online game, the ratio is even worse). What they say is not even worth ranting over, imo. Retardation is like a train. You're never going to stop it, and trying will just get you brain-fucked. Getting angry over it doesn't do much good either.
I say this even though I share your frustration -_- I just came from reading comments on a particular torrent site about a particular game. I was beating my head against my desk at how many times the same question was asked that had been answered previously (sometimes directly above their post)!
It's pretty rare to find a conglomerate, however small, of people who aren't retarded. One of the reasons I give much <3 to ulmf.

dmronny

9th July 2009, 19:18

We're actually just as retarded as everyone else, we just hide it better than most groups. That and we're all pretty accepting of just about anything.

Alias

9th July 2009, 21:35

I can see the sort of put-foot-in-mouth retardation, especially being guilty of said retardation quite a few times myself even in my relatively short stay here. But most people just cross the line from ordinary accidental retardation to the point where I can't see how they manage it without being deliberate.

This also segues into a rant that I've been wanting to do... here's an example of retardation so unbelievable that I actually got angry.

If any of you ever played Lord of the Rings Online (the MMO made by Turbine), you'll have a better understanding of what I'm talking about. I got into it one summer when I was bored, a couple of my friends played it, and the community was actually the most mature and adult out of any of the other MMO's I've played. Plus it was based on the LOTR universe (the books more than the movies) which was awesome. I played a class dubbed 'Captain,' which is like a support class, jack of all trades, master of none. If used properly, however, they can be a pretty powerful healer. Well, I was in a group one day with a tank friend of mine and not on my Captain, we were running through one of the more difficult instances in the game (yeah, I'm masochistic for running BG with a pug). We didn't have a minstrel in our group (the main healing class) but we did have two Captains. Alright, I say to myself, this should be fine. Captains have one three-second cooldown, single target Heal over Time skill, one slightly longer duration Heal over Time spell that doesn't really have a cooldown (also single target), and one 45 second cooldown group healing spell that can only be used after an enemy has been slain.
That's actually quite a bit of healing, and while it's not quite as much as a single Minstrel can do, and nowhere near the burst-healing capabilities of the healer class, if the group plays smart, even the more difficult dungeons are managable with a single Captain playing healer. We had two - so I figured it would be fairly easy.
Well, after the third time we wiped I started paying attention to what our two captains were doing. We were hardly getting any heals from them at all, in fact, as the non-healer class, I was doing more healing (by tripping conjunctions, if any of you know what that means) than they were. Finally I decided to say something to them, something along the lines of 'hey, we have no healer, you guys have to heal.' One of them responded with 'sorry, only have one heal and can't use it unless an enemy dies.'
It's one of the only times I've ever completely flipped out over an online conflict. It was late, I was getting frustrated by the poor group, and these guys hadn't even taken the time to READ THEIR SKILLS? Yeah, okay, that doesn't justify berating them in caps like a douchebag, but that's what I did. To this day, I can't even begin to figure out how this happens. Whenever I play any game that involves acquiring new abilities, skills, items, whatever, I think to myself 'cool! a new power!' and get all excited about what said new thing does and read all about it. The game has tooltips for a reason, after all. I honestly have no idea how you level to the maximum level of the game, purchase your skills, and aren't even aware that you HAVE them, especially when they're as ridiculously important as heals.

That's the kind of stupidity that I'm talking about. Not the "oops I forgot my bank account only had $700 in it before making a $800 purchase" stupidity, the kind of idiocy that makes you ignore information that is RIGHT in front of you, being SHOVED in your face. Mostly because I don't understand how it happens - and as we all know, humanity in general hates anything they don't understand.

Edit: Wow I got really off track there. What I meant to say went something along the lines of this, dm: Yeah, I know we're all stupid in our little ways, but the kind of stupid that really bothers me isn't found here on this forum. Then I was going to give an example of that particular brand of stupid, and rant about it a little. I got a little distracted by the ranting part though =P

wallpaper

9th July 2009, 22:45

Speaking of ranting about things that some people find dumb that others take for granted, I freaking want to bitch-slap a person when they start going on about how someone who doesn't fit the classic look of 'pretty girl' is automatically ugly as sin. Seriously? Seriously? I don't particularly care if a man is built or skinny or flabby, why should I have to put up with that kind of bullshit in reverse? "Uh oh, I have a stray hair somewhere on my body! -5 pretty girly points!"

XP I don't even like most feminist rantings because they go on tangents about porn that I don't come close to agreeing to, but educating people that the ideal is far and away not the norm and that people are going to come in a range and that can be just fine on the eyes as is... bah. That's one thing I can get behind and then gripe about.

(And no, it's not because I don't look at fella's that way. XD Maybe I just have a wider range of appreciation than most, I dunno.)

XSI

10th July 2009, 00:13

MMO's are known to attract idiots, nothing can be done about it.

~The following may contain spoilers that I am too lazy to hide.~

A rant about games in general.

If your game has controls that needs me to use my nose to press the right combination of keys, then -You're doing it wrong-. Controls should not be what makes a game hard, having hard controls only makes the game less enjoyable. So if someone is driving something, say, a tank, then the least you can do is make sure you can actually drive the damn thing, and if possible shoot at the same time, especially if you give the player that tank so he can drive after and shoot something that's running from him. It is very frustrating if you can't aim the damn thing without having the tank do a fucking backflip and land off the road upside down, or against a building to the side.

Chase scenes, they can be good, but for fucks sake, don't make the thing you're chasing faster then the player can ever be, unless you know exactly what you're doing. It sucks to fail something when the enemy was just faster then you for no reason, just because he was. End of story. That sucks. This is just faking difficulty by crippling the player.

Controls again..If you make something that appears on the screen to show you all the weapons you have to easily select the one you want, don't make the player have to move the mouse in 3 directions at once just to get to a weapon that just happens to be up top. Seriously, I do not want to move my mouse left, right, and then down-left to move the cursor up. I want to just move my mouse up. If you fail to understand that, then maybe you should let others do the thinking.

Boss fights..The one excuse to just get something random a shitton of hp, stats, whatever, and still call it fair. Ok, so it's stronger, better, and a challenge, that's not too bad, they usually have an opening in that impenetrable defence that seems to be there just for the player. That's fine, the player still has to beat it and go on, but seriously, reconsider the whole huge stats thing, if something has 10000 hp, and does 0.1damage, it is not fun to spend time beating on it. Example, prototype, one of the first few bosses, after the first 'boss' the game went downhill for a while, but that's for later in this post, the bosses which I've found so far(Not counting the first) can all be put in 2 classes.
Strong idiots and weak with high hp.
The strong idiots have a lot of attack power, can kill in a few hits, and are in general badass...Except that they seem to have internal bleeding in that head clogging up all the blood, making them unable to think past the classic -Hit stuff with fists-, yep, just keep doing that one attack cycle, I'll be standing right here, just outside of range charging an attack that will kick your ass once you stop the only combo you know.
So, besides that, there was one boss that had a LOT of health to take down, but there was next to no attack power. My cat scratched me once, that means he outdamaged a boss. If you not only get free health potion/shield combo's orbitting you, but also have a boss which does no damage at all, then it's not a fun fight. I felt like I was slowly beating up a toddles with a foam bat. I felt sorry for the boss, and in general, if you can go into one of those boss fights, and come out with more hp then you went in with, something is not done right.

So then on to other stuff, the movies in games.
Fuck. That. There are ways to get cutscenes in your game without screwing up the gameplay, look at half-life 2, scenes, but it works great, sets a good mood, and better still, the cutscenes, with no shooting(In a shooting game), can be -fun-. Compare that to just showing a movie of a couple of characters talking, and in general doing nothing. Get your cutscenes right, it is ok to take a quick the controls away for a little scene, but if I want to watch a damn movie, I'll go get a movie, cutscenes should not, under ANY circumstance be longer then 5 minutes.

Still reading? I doubt it, but anyway, the big, epic boss fights, great, a boss, special action that will hopefully be done right and last a while, first off, no huge monologues, I just spend a while ranting on that(See movies), so at least make it possible to skip that. Besides that, don't make extremely obscure methods the only way to win. I do not want to carefully reposition the entire room's desks, chairs, and tables for a special bouncing toy ball to hit the opponent, strangely completely decimating him and only leaving ashes when I have a huge rocket launcher.
And it's not an epic boss fight if you line up a load of bosses and just get the player to fight them one at a time, that's just boss fights, and instead of going "Wow, this is great, what do I need to do to beat this guy" players will go "Aw crap, another one of those oversized retards, I wonder what kind of lame trick I have to pull to win this time." It's only epic when it's rare, otherwise it's just a bigger version of the random monster you have to club over the head to move on.

Last point, taking away the player's controls, powers, or whatever.
It can be done right, but dear fuck if you are going to take away most of the player's stuff without him being able to do anything about it, leave him an alternative. I do not want to spend a long time on getting a special weapon or unlocking an area just to have everything taken without anything I can do. That's just cheap. From my recent-ish memory, again, Half-life did this right, and Overlord 2* did a good job too. (*Sure, you lose some minions, but you're still a huge man in armour, with a weapon, and you can shoot lightning, and not to mention you get everything back later.)
Randomly fucking with the controls is bad too, if an enemy's special attack exists of changing your keyboard settings, then he sucks. People will always try to avoid these monsters because suddenly the challenge isn't gameplay, it's getting your character or whatever to do what you want them to do. Being stunned isn't fun either, especially if the game had the area designed so that just as you lose the stun you get hit again.

In short, just use common sense, don't fuck up on purpose.

..Well, wall of text, I should probably not post at 2 am.

Alias

10th July 2009, 02:05

=( Wallpaper... I have a feeling that what I was going to say to you would be major foot-in-mouth.

XSI: Yes. With most of your post. There is nothing more that I hate than a boss fight that is just ridiculously llllooonnnngggg. Actually, the boss fights over in the hentai game thread (I think it was called Fairy Wars?) fit into that. They weren't really a challenge once you figured out what to do, it just took ten minutes of repeating the same thing to kill them. Sure, if you screwed up, you were hurting a lot, but that's not challenge. That's repetition. It's boring. Really boring. Boss fights should be exciting. They should be able to kill you easily. Some of them SHOULD be able to one-shot you, especially if you're playing a finger-twitch dueling game or something. The Prince of Persia bosses were done pretty well (I thought). Also, if you have a Wii, definitely check out No More Heroes. Some of those bosses get into the ridiculously long bit, but they are almost all suitably epic and challenging. The last one is pretty boring. But there's a secret one after that, and he is just fucking awesome. He'll tear you a new one if you're not extremely careful - and he has a one-shot kill move. It's not cheap, it's just there to force you to be on your toes.

I get the feeling a lot of your rant was taken from GTA =P True? Not true?

As for taking away a player's things... example of something that didn't do it right? Not sure what you mean here. But as for stuns... yeah. Did you take a look at Knights of Xentar (in the H-games section again)? If you had four or more enemies, they could pretty much perma-interrupt you, because your attack animation took two frames while theirs took one, and if you got damaged while you were attacking, you'd have to start your animation over again. There wasn't much you could do about it either because combat is automatic aside from items (Haven't gotten to the point where I have any spells yet).

Kusanagi

10th July 2009, 08:31

I've come to realize that I'm seeing more and more of a very stupid thing: poor lighting in video games.

Most video games still do well, but apparently lighting is becoming an issue.

Two examples (and the reasons I'm bitching): Fallout 3 and Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard.

Fallout 3 - Okay, during the daytime, it's okay. But at night, forget about it. I realize it's night, but is it too much to ask for a flashlight that works correctly? The pip-boy light is a joke. Unless something is within melee distance AS WELL AS level with my feet (counters can kiss my ass), the light doesn't do squat. It's especially bad in 'dungeon' areas with little/no other light source.

Matt Hazard - Seriously. I'm stuck trying to run through a dark as hell warehouse, dodge sniper fire, and shoot Soak'Em commandos... with NO REAL LIGHT. I know I'd beat the sniper's ass if I could get to him, but the course you have to run offers up crap for cover about half-way through, and I can't see anything to strategize a way through the one single part I keep dying at - and I keep dying because I can't see the cover I need to run to.

Now, I love these games to death, but dammit, I need to nitpick >.<

XSI

10th July 2009, 10:08

(...)I get the feeling a lot of your rant was taken from GTA =P True? Not true? (...)

Actually, no, I stopped following/playing GTA after vice city(The other seem to all be the same, in different places), the only real fun there was to just go around killing people with cheats on, which can be done a whole lot better with games that actually focus on that.

Besides that, one-shot kills are fine when used right, I like the Touhou series, and you only need to be hit once, by anything, to lose a life. But it's good and balanced, you can dodge it, evade it, shoot most normal enemies before they can shoot, and the bosses are good.
What is not good is when they do a stun attack, and then a one-hit kill. Especially if said stun attack can not be dodged unless you're at long range(When you can only attack at meelee, I'm looking at a certain side-boss from Titan's quest now)

Besides that, I agree that lightning is very important, and for this, I point to L4D, come on Valve, there are games/even mods of your own games out there with the system requirements of tetris that give players flashlights that light up on eachother's screen, and you take that out of L4D because 'It hits the performance'? Seriously?
And agreed on fallout 3's pipboy light, it's useless, turn up the brightness on your monitor or get a bed, and sleep for that well-rested bonus.

On to something else that sucks, the AI.
Oh damn no, don't give me an escort mission, I do not want to escort something that thinks its a good idea to try to punch that swordsman in the distance. I do not want to dodge behind cover when being shot at by a machine gun only to have my escort stand out in the open, looking at me(Presumably while drooling), getting shot and making -me- fail the mission.
So, quiz time, say, you're a soldier tasked to defend an expensive piece of equipment, you have a rocket launcher, and a rifle. The equipment is bulletproof. A single, lone zombie walks up to the equipment and starts scratching it, doing an amazing 0.01% each hit.
You:
A. Shoot it with the rifle, easily taking it out without damage to the equipment.
B. Shoot it with the rocket launcher, doing more damage to the equipment then it could ever have done.

Guess what the AI picks..Every. Single. Time. And no, don't bother taking cover when under fire, it's not like there are bullets being shot at you, just stand right there in the open. What's the worst that could happen, right? Oh, you got shot, I guess you should know on your 5th respawn not to stand out there in the open when the sniper is aiming for you, but noooo, just keep walking there, it's just painting a huge bullseye on your head. Completely basic skills are missing from most/all artificial "Inteligence", but to be honest, a lot of players lack those same skills as well..Especially in MMORPG's.
Story time for the example

So, playing an mmo where you actually lose your stuff by getting killed(Which can easily be dodged, 9/10 times when I played, now more like 99/100 times), me and a small group of friends come across a guy with a really expensive shiny thing we want. Now, we know if we defeat the guy, the thing we wanted would explode and be lost(Only leaving a few bits behind, and he could probably have won if he was moderately ok with the thing), but we engaged anyway. Turns out that the idiot can not only fail to find the "Shoot enemy" button, or even the "Raise shields" button, and before he lost, he drops -all- his stuff, and just leaves. We take his stuff, put it somewhere safe, and laugh, he then returns in something even more expensive, still fails to use any kind of weapon, and again, leaves his stuff as it's about to explode, letting us save it and put it somewhere else. This goes on for 5-6 times, after that he messaged us we were "Evil", "Lame", "Thieves", that we "Took all his stuff", and claimed he didn't even have any equipment at all left. He then logged out, and about a day later one of my friends links me an ebay page where the guy we beat tried to sell his account.
-And this is also why in an MMO, losing your stuff on death is a must for real gaming, it gets rid of the idiots, adds rewards, makes people try to not go on suicides, and in general helps the game economy by keeping demand for new equipment high.

Alias

10th July 2009, 18:20

text

Much laughter ensued. Agree with the Touhou series, I've only played embodiment of scarlet devil, and even though I can't beat the thing on normal (easy doesn't count), I can still see that it's a good, well-rounded game. I really hate it when people say a game is bad just because it's too hard for them. It doesn't matter if you can beat it - actually, the game is better when you HAVE to spend a long time trying to beat it. Remember the old mario games? I still haven't beaten a single one of those without using save states or something. Back in the day, the challenge was to see how far we could get before we had to leave (thus losing our progress) but it was still extremely fun. A lot of game produced now are like, ok I beat this in 20 hours, leaving five hours of extra stuff to do (if that), great, now what?

As for AI.... have you ever tried to program an AI for anything? If not, it's actually a lot more work than you might think. This is one area where I'm willing to cut the developers a little slack. I once built a bot from scratch for UT2k3 for a school assignment. Because I'm a slacker, I didn't get it working quite properly, but I did get two versions: one that could shoot, and one that could move. I couldn't get both working at the same time. But here's the thing - it had perfect aim. One shot kills, every time. Even though it just stood there, it would annihilate anything that came within range, until it ran out of ammo (because it couldn't pick up more). Making a super-powerful AI is easy. Making an AI that humans can beat while still being challenging... I wouldn't even know where to begin retrofitting that bot for any sort of percent error when firing.

Of course, AIs being difficult to program is no excuse for a lot of games (such as anything with escort missions). Here's a hint: If the ai is bad, DON'T PUT IT IN. You don't NEED to supply artificial difficulty just because you fail at programming AI. Just skip the escorts altogether -_-

@ that one guy... ROFL. You made a guy sell his account because he was so bad? That's the funniest mmo story I've heard in a while.

Edit: something I forgot to mention
Yeah I played GTA3 once for about three hours. I can't believe the franchise is as popular as it is. It suffered from many of the same problems you highlighted and like so many others now, is the exact same thing through all its iterations. Meh. At least I know to stay away from it in the future.

XSI

10th July 2009, 22:42

(...) Touhou series, I've only played embodiment of scarlet devil, and even though I can't beat the thing on normal (easy doesn't count), I can still see that it's a good, well-rounded game.

Yes, coming from someone that plays on lunatic, and even finished the game on that setting, it is, it's good.

(...)As for AI.... have you ever tried to program an AI for anything?

No, not yet, though I'm starting school for programming in a few months, so I think I'll find out in the next few years.

(...)fail at programming AI. Just skip the escorts altogether -_-

That was my point, if the difficulty of a mission lies in the "Friendly" AI shooting the player, or the objective that should be defended, then something is wrong, very, very wrong.

@ that one guy... ROFL. You made a guy sell his account because he was so bad? That's the funniest mmo story I've heard in a while.

I liked that game, EvE online, great game, has it's issues, and I really don't like the direction it's going, they should make the world less safe, not safer, last I checked the economy partially collapsed because not enough people were losing equipment, so there was a very large supply, and very little demand.
I have plenty of stories like that from it too, since it was -not- illegal to sell game items on ebay or other sites, and it happened a lot. This means that someone comes from WoW or something, buys high-end things with his real money, and then expects to be the best in the game as soon as he gets it.
Instead, he gets shot down and looted because he fails to understand even the basic controls.

Besides that, more ranting time, today's topic, invisible walls.

I understand you have to somehow limit the player's movement, even if just to save on trying to get an entire world mapped, but there are much better alternatives to being chased by something tough and then running headfirst into an invisible wall, only to get slaughtered seconds after that. it's the same kind of thing as giving the player a missile launcher, explosives, and then having a small, wooden fence mark where the player can't go. So I can use my mininukes to blow up 3 buildings in one shot, but a wooden fence is invincible? I can't even..you know, step -over- the knee height fence?
It's really the same as giving a player special doorbuster explosives, but requiring a key to have him pass the wooden door that leads to the boss, it doesn't make any sense! But ok, that's to keep the story intact I guess, as long as the story is good, that's fine.

But really, even Valve is guilty of the invisible walls, L4D's Dead Air and Death toll campaigns in versus for example, on my first play as infected(Hunter), I jumped against at least 15 invisible walls, not marked, easily reachable, and each tactical spots. I died from dropping mid-air at least 10 of those 15 times. At one point I even found a rooftop without invisible walls around it to pounce from, make the perfectly timed jump, and then in mid-air I bump into an invisible wall that's there for no reason at all, and harmlessly drop down in front of the enemy team. Now, I've played those maps before they 'fixed' them by using the console votes, and the invisible walls weren't there, the map in the 'unfinished' state was better then the finished map. I've already given up on finding a good spot to jump from on those maps, just find the obvious spots and wait to be shot down.

Next topic, sort of fits in a little with the L4D part, making games simpler for the retards to play, and protection for morons.
Of all the things a game can do to fail, this is the worst it can do, sure, simpler controls is good, but changing a large part of the game to make it better for new gamers is not going to work. Nearly every online game did this, or is going to do it, yet they never learn, a few examples.
WoW, it used to be ok, it was a nice game, -War-craft actually had war, and then they decided to change that, because the lower levels(And dumbasses) were getting ganked by a systematic problem that they conveniently overlooked. So, enter the 'honour system', massive guardspawning, and just forget that most of the ganking never actually happened in the towns, and the best part of the game was suddenly impossible. Welcome to World of Peacecraft.

EvE, ok, this is a lot less then the other games, but from what I've seen from updates and chats with friends it's getting fucked over slowly, and it started long before I even joined the game(So I'll skip that part, I wasn't there). Anyway, defence gets a huge bonus already, since they prepare everything, have extra guns(Turrets/platforms), choose the time, and are closer to home. There is more, but I won't list it all. The point is, once a suitably large group takes over an area, it's there to stay and won't move without a gigantic investment of the attackers. So smaller groups of people stop caring for area's, and instead, they just go around, have a good time, maybe shoot some of those idiots that didn't see them coming since 10-30 minutes ago, and in general just have a nice time. But nevermind that, everybody now gets to instantly warp to safety(Unless they really, really fuck up). It was possible before, but add that to the removing of fast ships and there's really nothing that can be done about a group of people living in the so called 'unsafe' areas. And sadly, the most dangerous parts of the world are the places marked as "Safe".

Darkfall
(I only played this one in the beta, a large part of it, and this did not change as far as I know, and I've looked into it)
While being one of the best games for just the ideas used, there are a few parts that aren't really done right.. Like a safe zone in a game that declared it had no safe zones, or having an entire town, but only put in a single NPC, and give that NPC the functions of, but not being limited to:
Quest giver
Quest target
Crafting trainer
Crafting shop
General shop
Guard
Eyecandy

...That's not really a good thing to do when people expect a kind of lively world.

And finally, SWG, a game that wanted to 'be more attractive to new players'. It did so by taking out a lot of features, and completely changing the game, what could possibly go wrong? (Hint, it died a quick but still painful death)

(Extra note on L4D, it actually has a storyline that ties all the campaigns, and even the last survivor map together, but it was removed for some reason, there are still hints, but a lot just got taken out, more details will be provided if asked.)

Alias

10th July 2009, 23:39

Hahaha yeah I heard about the fall of SWG. I can't imagine what they were thinking. I never played it, but the idea seemed pretty cool, you play as some sort of grunt with no really special powers, making it as true to the lore as an mmo can be.

Then they brought playable Jedis in.

Really? Really, devs? lol.

Kusanagi

11th July 2009, 09:40

I'm planning on joining the world of Eve, mostly because it's what my group plays right now. From what I've seen and been told, we're pretty much pirates, because our 'leader' (seriously, he's the only one that knows wtf he's doing... and he's currently the newest player of the group in Eve until I get up and running) likes to PvP alot.
From what I've seen, this is how it goes: either A) we ransom, and they either pay or lose their ship, B) we pull a dick move because the guy thought he was hot shit, or C) we waste time saving our alliance members because their dumbass leader(s) got them into a fight that wouldn't have been worth it in the first place and they're now getting their asses kicked.
The only reasons I'm hopping on it are 1) It's what my group is playing, and 2) I can pay for it with in-game money.
Since I can simply drive to see our 'leader' - only takes 20 minutes - he's been helping me understand it and getting me set up in a trial. So far, I've picked Caldari as the race because of the bonuses, and I've decided on my PvP and PvE ships: PvP, I'm going annoying-litttle-bitch route and using an ECM ship; PvE, I'm going Volley-Sniper with Torps. Once I get a bit more settled in, I think I'll try for a third ship, possibly a mothership/titan or a bomber.
ANYWAYS.
Yeah, I saw the game before and after the Nano-nerf. Speed got decreased like OMGWTF.
Low-sec is still pretty dangerous. The only areas I hate are the high-sec Concord areas where everyone's a care-bear pussy.

AI..... I used to cut people slack, but then I realized how many people most companies have working on that shit. It can still be hard, I'd think, but not as hard as if it was just one or two people.

XSI

11th July 2009, 11:01

(...) C) we waste time saving our alliance members because their dumbass leader(s) got them into a fight that wouldn't have been worth it in the first place and they're now getting their asses kicked.(...)

If your alliance is anything like the ones I was in, this is what you're going to do most. Well, besides just flying around to find non-existent other things.

(...) So far, I've picked Caldari as the race because of the bonuses, and I've decided on my PvP and PvE ships: PvP, I'm going annoying-litttle-bitch route and using an ECM ship; PvE, I'm going Volley-Sniper with Torps. Once I get a bit more settled in, I think I'll try for a third ship, possibly a mothership/titan or a bomber.
(...)

Ok, a few points
Caldari are great for PvE, but not as good as most of the others in PvP, they are however good at the ECM, so as support you will be just fine, and if you can completely jam an opponent solo, you won that.
A mothership/titan is a huge investment of both the group and the player, and these take years to train for and build, do not expect to get in one quickly.
Bombers, those are good, I remember bombing runs on gatecamps with my corp and taking out several ships at low cost, but for anything other then organised bombing the bombs may be too expensive(The missiles are good though). There is also bombers in the large fights with capital ships, which have the bombers doing a lot of damage to everything, but this rarely happens, such fights tend to be very rare, and over very quickly.

Have fun, but remember, highsec space is more dangerous then 0.0 :P

I also have a rant ready, but lost interest in posting it, so I won't..Maybe tonight.

Kusanagi

12th July 2009, 06:13

I plan on pretty much farming for a bit in the start unless I get called on for some PvP. Other than that, maybe look for slave-girls and ponies if they come out with that feature that allows you to hop outside of your ship at stations :p

I know it's a huge investment for the bigger ships. That's why I said that I'd look at them once I got more settled in. Besides, I like to be the support.

My buddy said he'd get me set up with implants to help decrease the training time, as well as set me up with some cash/parts/a ship so that I'm not going in totally helpless >.<

The reason I'm looking at the big ships is because I hardly ever see anyone play them, from my experience. All I ever really see are things like Megathrons, Curses, and drone ships. Maybe a couple of Hurricanes and ... gah, can't remember the name off the top of my head... it looks like it has a spear coming out to the front on the side, like it's jousting or something.
I like to pick stuff that most everybody seems to not use. Now, usually there's a good reason for it, whether it's that it sucks because nobody ever has a group that can work with it right, or because the way the game works it's easy to dismiss it, etc.
The thing is, I can usually find a way to use it that makes people go 'wtf... why aren't I/WE using that ...' :p

High-sec is only more dangerous because of little punks hiding behind Concord. Take away Concord, and most of the people there will drop quick as hell, from what I can tell; only a few seem to know what they're doing. Seriously, I've only seen my buddies fight maybe two people who were from high-sec that knew what to do - the rest were like that guy who kept dropping his stuff and running >.<

XSI

12th July 2009, 11:00

(...) Besides, I like to be the support.

People will love you for that. And you will most likely be targeted first in pvp, most likely getting killed a lot until you find the right setup for staying alive while helping.(Look up logistics cruisers, and cruisers in general, those tend to be support)

it looks like it has a spear coming out to the front on the side, like it's jousting or something.

The Incursus frigate, one of the best ships you can get for a price-efficiency combination. Sadly it's fairly weak. All ships are useful in their own way though, and there are more capital ships out there then people think. The larger alliances will try to hide the number of their capitals, but there are a lot of them, one alliance I know of has at least 15-20 titans, countless motherships, a lot of dreadnoughts, and carriers are common. Most other large alliances will have most likely 5+ carriers, and 2+ dreadnoughts.

(Story time)
As for the Incursus, it's actually rare to see it in action, since it's so small. Everybody moves on to the bigger ships, but I had 10-20 of the things ready to use at all times, usually taking them on long trips which the larger ships couldn't make because they were too slow. This way I found a way into a large hostile alliance's area, passing through an undefended backdoor which was too far from anything to be guarded effectively. In that trip alone, me and my Incursus took down 3 mining ships and a hauler, which was carrying items worth 400 times the price of my ship, not including some blueprints.

After 2-3 of those trips they would always have a group of 2-5 ships ready, specialising in intercepting and taking out small raiding ships like mine, but by then they would have to shoot me down roughly 900 times to break even. Never underestimate the power of small things.
(This is the one time I'm sad I didn't save killmails, would have made a nice addition here)

And a rant, jumping in games.
Now, I understand when you're driving a tank you can't jump, that's fine, makes sense. If you have a racing game that has a small area for a character to walk outside the car, fine, jumping wouldn't be worth the time spend on it, it's a racing game. But if you're making an adventure game, and there are small ledges everywhere, then the least you can do is make sure the players can jump. Seriously, I once played a game where there was no jumping and the damn sidewalk was too high to walk onto from the street, that is not good design. No excuses, if the player is held back by a small ledge people don't even notice when they walk over it, then something is not being done right.
Sure, some games don't need jumping, like overlord, jumping wouldn't add a lot, if anything, to that game, but imagine..Say, Fallout 3 without jumping, not only did you just screw up the immersion and depth of the world, you also missed chances to make a few puzzles, shortcuts, and every single rock will be like a large wall that stops every movement. Kind of a big deal in a world where rocks and debris are everywhere. Besides that, the average fps, every one of them has jumping in a form, it adds to where you can go to pick off your opponents, playing on only one height will get boring after some time, putting in a small thing such as jumping can double, or even triple the lifespan of your game.
Some games have your character automaticly jumping over things when he/she gets to a ledge, that's all fine, until you're in a firefight on top of a building and walk a little too close to the sides...

XSI

12th July 2009, 19:30

Obeliskos

12th July 2009, 19:58

Just wanted to put out a shameless plug.

Made a website archiving some of my rants (http://charismaticstallion.webs.com/). The OP is on there, along with a short rant and two other full fledged ones.

Alias

15th July 2009, 07:59

Double post, but just a short rant.

Just played some prototype, won a mission no problems, final things on my screen is me flying away in a helicopter, mission completed, I'm out safe.
Then suddenly.. random cutscene teleporting me back into the base, cutscene shows my character got shot, and taken captive anyway. Fuck. You.
The least the game can do is acknowledge I escaped the place, no congratulations on a flawless mission, no 'good job, you won', just a 'go fuck yourself, you may have done everything right, but you're getting your ass kicked anyway'. Bullshit, and what else? Well this game seems to be made by the same idiots that designed vista, I need to confirm 3 times before being able to save and exit the game, it's one thing to be helpful and prevent mistakes, but another to completely spam those messages up to the point only a mental retard still likes them.
And for fucks sake, let me skip the damn credits you have to place at startup of the game, I want to play it, not read crap. I understand you want your name on stuff, but seriously, if anybody is interested in it they will go find the old fashioned 'credits' button, if you always jam that name in without being able to skip it before playing the game people will learn to -hate- that name.

Which mission?

I finished prototype a couple days ago. I actually really liked it. I thought it was one of the more well-rounded games I've played recently. Then and again, I was coming from Mirror's Edge (bleh). I thought the combat system could have been better, and a couple of the bosses suffered from omgtoolongitis, but I loved how I always felt so overpowered, yet still challenged. Nothing like dropping on a tank and making it explode, then hopping into another tank and raping shit. My biggest complaint I think was the rigid combat... there's a lot of stuff you can do but since you can't really change weapons on the fly, you're boxed into one weapon, and your choice of armor or shield, until you're safe enough to switch. Yeah they give you that moment of slow-mo to choose another weapon but the selection, at least with a mouse, is pretty wonky and I always get slammed a couple times before I can highlight what I want.

minor prototype spoilers:

Anyway I ask which mission because if I recall, there's a mission where you destroy a facility of the virus-poison (bloodtox?) and they outline to you several times before you finish that you're supposed to let yourself get caught. If it's that mission you're talking about... well, you can't complain because they did warn you well in advance, gave you a good reason why, and it's not much of an intuitive leap to go from 'I'm safe in a helicopter' to 'I'm now out of the helicopter, letting them catch me.'

XSI

15th July 2009, 08:52

Ah, so that's why it was like that.

It came as a surprise to me because I've found the story to be about as interesting as watching paint dry, and I'm playing in a room where there is almost always someone screaming or something so I wouldn't have heard what they said before the mission anyway.

I like the web thing though, that's somewhat nice to collect and try to put together like a puzzle.

The controls of weaponswitching and such are horrible though, and I really don't like that every other soldier has a rocket launcher which will interrupt every combo that I try. Why bother giving me combo attacks when I can't use them?

Same for the controls of a tank, unworkable. Besides that I've found that for about as far as I came, every mission can be won by just throwing things at objectives, or hitting things at long range with whipfist(Hopefully without missiles flying at me) Exception being the stealth missions, but the AI is really not smart enough to work at stealth missions at all, just run up buildings in front of them, it's ok, everybody can do that.

And one time I died because there were..At least 6 missiles flying after me as I tried to get into a helicopter, it blew up during the mini-scenes, during which I was bashing all buttons to see if there was a stop trying and drop down button. Another time I was standing in between a large group of soldiers, all with rocket launchers/grenade thingys. I was stunlocked to death by them from full health.

Overall I'm finding that the enemy only uses cheap tactics, and the only way to win is by doing the same(Stand on a building out of range, tossing things at them, or whipfist, a few missions actually let you go in to have fun, but I don't see those)

Missions I've found were either as easy as possible, or as mentioned above, instant-death when you get close. (I won't say anything about the part where Prototype seems to randomly chrash/ completely freezes, I assume it's a problem with my own computer)

Kusanagi

15th July 2009, 09:20

The only weapon you need is the tentacle (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/789-Prototype).

Sinfulwolf

15th July 2009, 14:51

But... if some super mutant thing was running around in real life, the military wouldn't actually give a shit about giving it a fair chance. So they'd go after it as hard as possible. So props to Prototype for being quasi realistic?

Alias

15th July 2009, 17:01

Yeah, their detection system is somewhat simplistic. I was shocked to find out that you could sprint, with red shit coming out of your feet, hopping over cars, leaping over buildings, and flying through the air right in front of any military, and as long as you weren't in civvie clothes and inside a base, they wouldn't care at all. It made an even bigger impact coming from playing the first three games of the Hitman series. Wow... what a difference.

But there's a reason for that too. Do you have any idea how long it would take to WALK from one end of manhattan to the other? I'm pretty sure the devs just did that to make it easier on us, rather than more realistic.

Oh and by the way, if you're having trouble with rocket launchers... there's a solution to that. First, air-dodge as much as you can, change directions, be unpredictable. Second... take out the rocket launchers first especially before doing something silly like skyjacking.

Run around and smack the rocket launcher guys, combo, dodge, combo, dodge. If you're playing on a pc, it helps immensely to switch the sprint button to something easy to reach like F, so you can hit it and still have full movement control. Even better, if you have extra buttons on your mouse, use those (Mine never work for some reason). Just tap the sprint button and you dodge/air dodge.

I think you're just approaching the missions wrong, to be honest. I'm having loads of fun, haven't had a hard mission yet, and I'm playing on the hardest difficulty setting. The only parts that have given me trouble were the two main boss fights at the end:

Elizabeth Greene and the Cross guy who turns into the Supreme Hunter

And that was mostly because I was using silly tactics. Example.... I never bought the critical pain devastator. It's SO USEFUL!!! Take out leader hunters in two hits. Having trouble with the timed final boss? Take him down about three times as fast as the blade.

About the freezing... I've had that happen to me once or twice. The most annoying time it occurred for me was right between the cutscenes after the bloodtox mission you were talking about. So I had to redo that entire mission, which was annoying, because the only method I've found so far for doing it isn't all that efficient (steal a heli, blow up a couple and run, repeat until heli is destroyed). But then, I don't remember a PC game that HASN'T frozen once in a while - you can't catch every exception, after all. Hell, even ancients like Warcraft III give me a lockup occasionally.

@kusanagi: is my soul damned if the first thing I thought about when I saw the intro sequence with the tendril barrage devastator was 'man, rule 34 with this guy would be SWEET'?

Kusanagi

15th July 2009, 20:12

No, your soul is damned because you started hanging out on here :D

Alias

15th July 2009, 21:33

Oh. Well that's okay then.

In a side note... fuck the 'men like gods' mission. Twice I've had a bug where as soon as I shot the hive, every goddam military in twenty miles is alerted to my presence and shoots me the hell up before I can say 'boo.' Both times I've had to restart my computer to get it working. Also, fuck allied copters. DO YOU SEE THE BIG THING THAT LOOKS LIKE YOU? THE ONE THAT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU?

DON'T
FUCKING
RUN
INTO
IT

Maybe YOU don't take any fucking collision damage, but I sure as fuck do, and when I have to redo the mission because your stupid fuck ass isn't programmed to NOT FUCKING RUN INTO ME...

well, this is the result.
Seriously. Fuck the devs that thought it was a good idea not to program "AVOID FRIENDLY COPTERS" into the ai.

At least there's plenty of things to do to cool the rage. Like that one 'blow up everything in sight with a supertank' event. Mmmmmm.

XSI

15th July 2009, 22:03

When you get a helicopter, fly up as high as you can, then shoot down those 'helping' allies. You should still have more then enough ammo to take out whatever you have, and just flying really high seems to clear the agro thing.

Edit: A little update on how I'm doing in prototype, I finally finished a mission which I previously could not finish because the game would simply crash at some point during the mission. I figured by then I was about 25-40% through the game, but turns out, after that mission there is the (apparently) final boss fight, no save points in between the mission and the boss(Except for a checkpoint which the game won't remember when it crashes). I just crashed after bringing the boss down to needing only a few more hits, and finding it to be a ridiculously easy boss that's suffering from just having a shitload of hp which makes it take ages to actually bring down.

Chances of me ever playing this game again, even to actually beat this boss are slim at best, mostly because I have other games that are interesting, and do not crash every hour(prototype for some reason never runs longer then an hour, maybe hour and a half if I'm lucky, all other games I have give me no problem at all).

To sum it all up, disappointing.

Alias

16th July 2009, 01:08

Which boss? There's sort of two final bosses. They both have too much hp although on medium difficulty they're both pretty fast. (tip.... blade air-slice does so much damage it must be broken.... one uncharged hit can take out a tank!!! @_@ )

But yeah that crashing problem sounds odd. I'm sure you've tried updating your video drivers, getting the latest patch (if there is one), blah blah blah, so not sure what to tell you, could be your video card just throws you for a loop. That would make any game pretty unenjoyable though, especially having to do some 20-30 minutes of mission over again. I HATE having to do stuff I've already done, it gets me more frustrated than any in-game difficulty mechanic.

Sinfulwolf

16th July 2009, 03:24

Is this all on PC?

Kusanagi

16th July 2009, 07:24

I think they're trying to warn us with the name...

'psst, this is a prototype, not the actual game! we were rushed to produce something, but we're not allowed to say anything, or they'll use the electric flail dildo on us! please, send help to... oh no... oh god no... I-I wasn't d-doing anything, I s-swear sirs! ... no, not the flail, NOOOOOO *krrzztt* *transmission lost*'

Or something like that.

XSI

16th July 2009, 09:33

Yeah, it's on the PC Sinful.

And I know my graphics card is good enough for prototype, seeing as it handles Crysis without too much issues on the highest settings(Even though the highest settings slow down everything by a lot)

And I'm talking about the guy on the carrier, which can be defeated by simply running and getting helicopters to shoot him with, or just running in general to have the random military that seems to spawn every few seconds take him to next to no hp, then hit him a few times.
Seriously, how many men can you jam into a carrier? I know there's a lot of people in carriers, but still, he must have killed 2000 identical looking soldiers.
And who's the smartass ordering planes to lift off while there's a large monster on the runway hitting people, and ripping off parts of concrete?

Shrike7

16th July 2009, 10:55

Yeah, that's my only major problem with prototype, was the last boss. I was hoping for something more like the monster that showed up in times square, that was epic :)

Sinfulwolf

16th July 2009, 14:55

Perhaps it was just a bad port to PC, because I have not really heard anything bad about it on the X-box 360.

But... if the game is bugging you guys so much (and really, I have not noticed a single positive remark at all) why in the hell are you playing it. Really in my opinion you deserve all the frustration for playing it all the way through, instead of going back to the store and trading it in for something better.

If you don't like a game (which is the impression I'm getting, again, not a single positive comment) put it down and play something else. That's what I did with Ninety Nine Nights when I got bored with it, I did it with Jericho, I even did it with Turok (even though I loved the knife and bow in the game, the rest of it was quite "meh").

Perhaps pick up something that does not crash every hour, or something that you can play for a bit without having to find someone and bitch about all the nitpicky details, as well as the overall game itself. However, if you just hate all video games, and can't get over what really can be overlooked fairly easy, try something like, going outside and going for a run or something.

Alias

16th July 2009, 15:57

@sinful:
I finished prototype a couple days ago. I actually really liked it. I thought it was one of the more well-rounded games I've played recently. Then and again, I was coming from Mirror's Edge (bleh). I thought the combat system could have been better, and a couple of the bosses suffered from omgtoolongitis, but I loved how I always felt so overpowered, yet still challenged. Nothing like dropping on a tank and making it explode, then hopping into another tank and raping shit.

Let me reiterate... I reeeallly am enjoying playing the game =D The things I'm complaining about are minor at best. That's why I'm playing it. =)

And, yeah, a lot of the frustration that I find in the game is due to the controls being a bit wonky. I'm convinced it's because of the port issue. The weapon select, for example, seems molded to fit a control stick rather than a mouse, and for some reason it's almost impossible to choose the weapon or ability you want by the time that slow-motion they give you is over. I also have a really hard time air dodging the way I want to. I'm not sure if that's the port or me just being bad though. Since most of the time it happens when I'm in hypermode trying to do something as fast as possible like the movement minigames - those are hard! or running away from strike teams.

Edit for more explanation:
I think most of the reason I'm being so negative about the game when I actually am enjoying it as much as I am is because we're talking about it in the rants thread. So I go, 'well, while we're on the subject, this part sucks!'

@XSI:
Just because your video card CAN display something doesn't mean it your specific configuration of hardware and drivers won't throw an exception that isn't caught. As is evidenced by your crashing problem.

@Shrike:
Yeah the last boss wasn't quite as epic as the Times-Square one, but his identity was supposed to be the shock-value zomg it's HIM! that was supposed to blow you away. That is, if the foreshadowing didn't give it away for you. Overall though I found him to be much easier and faster than TS-boss. The only boss that was easier that I remember was his previous incarnation - wait until he's shooting rockets at you and right-click with whipfist. repeat. easy kill.

@XSI again:
Wow. You used the helicopters? I tried that once and it took me like half an hour to whittle him down, and that was on medium! Then I accidentally flew out of the zone and had to start over. And both times I've fought him (earlier on medium and just now on hard), the military do no damage to him. I see four rockets flying into him and his HP bar doesn't move at all. Are they really doing that much damage to him on your game? IMO in either case it's MUCH faster to run around grabbing and consuming the military and then using the aforementioned tentacle of doom (critical pain devastator) in combination with the blade air strike, which stuns him for more pain. And once he gets down to about 1/8 of his HP, all the military is gone (no more consuming for devastators, no more helicopters). You also have to take that HP off within 3 minutes. How were you planning on doing that part? No helis to steal, no military (allegedly =P ) damaging him for you.
One more question - yes, that's the final boss, but how did you only think you were at most 40% of the way through? Every time you completed a mission it would show you the percentage of the city that was infected... when it got to 100% I would have thought that it was pretty clear the game was ending soon. Did you miss that part also? =P

aika

16th July 2009, 17:51

Yes, coming from someone that plays on lunatic, and even finished the game on that setting, it is, it's good.

Completed any touhou game on lunatic? Pull the other one.

XSI

16th July 2009, 19:05

As for why I was playing prototype, I liked the web thingy, and it was refreshing to actually fight things with a character I control myself instead of all the rts things I've been playing(Or shooters, that's diferent from beating up things). Besides that, the times where the game does work fine it's kinda fun to play, but as mentioned, it's just not working for my computer with the crashes.
It's also nice to sometimes just randomly switch to a weapon other then whipfist and use that for a while, just doing nothing specific, walking around and killing some things. Prototype has it's good points, sure, but this is the ranting thread, so I just picked the parts I could easily rant about.

As for the percentage thing, I didn't think it was a game completion percentage, a lot of games don't just stop when an area is 100% taken over by alliens/disease/hostile forces/anything, they try to reclaim it, I figured I was at most at 40% because of a few other things, mostly that some of the upgrades mentioned they were essential for taking down planes, which I didn't fight yet. I assumed they would come in later, and not just in the last fight, and even then not even the last few minutes. I also assumed so because of how big I thought the game was, I kept thinking more things would keep coming, bigger things, and mostly, more challenging things. Most games get more challenging later on, so basing it off just those things I thought I was at about 40%, and that the bigger parts would happen later.

And Aika, I only finished 7 on lunatic, I can't even finish 8 on normal.
I got close to winning 6 last week though.

On other rants, a short one on multiplayer game balance.
If the game is based around old players beating up newer ones, people will not want to play it, because it's not balanced to have someone always win just because he played longer. That just tells new players to give more money so that maybe they could ruin other people's fun later, and any of those new players that can think enough to buy a game will instead move on to a game where even they have a chance. Sure, a new player shouldn't expect to start on the same level as a 3 year playing veteran, but if the 1 month old players get farmed by anything over 4 months old, which actually prevents the new players from growing then you're doing it wrong.
(Mostly seen in games which put penalties on losing, and then do not give the newer players any protection from being ganked, even worse is if there is a penalty for losing, and the game is set up so that the new player can not win at all.)

Alias

16th July 2009, 21:07

I like to run down pedestrians with the shield. Sprinting at max speed and having hundreds of bodies fly out from the center of your screen is just... satisfying. You can also multitask and do it while moving from place to place, since evading the military chase is easy. Have you played the Prince of Persia games? The combat system in the second one in particular was fucking awesome. Recommended if you liked prototype's combat.

aika

19th July 2009, 23:46

And Aika, I only finished 7 on lunatic

HAX

I have lots of trouble completing 7 on normal.

My girlfriend managed that feat (without continues) before me :(:(

Also she's got pretty damn far through extra, and another of my IRL friends has completed extra :)

Kusanagi

20th July 2009, 03:37

Alright, I know it's a little late, but I just played the demo for Too Human the other night on my 360. IMO, they should have made it an MMORPG on the PC.

That said, once I got used to the controls, it wasn't as horrible as I've been lead to believe; it just seems that the game, as a whole, would have worked better as a MMORPG.

Newbie

20th July 2009, 03:56

XSI

20th July 2009, 10:04

I've been finding a lot of games lately that would just be great in multiplayer form, or just MMO form, but most of the time, there is a huge potential that's just not used.

But, luckily, most games can be modded, and given enough time and interest from a modder(Or large group of modders), the game will, eventually, be online.

Small example, I've heard that after a 2-3 years of work on it, a group of modders managed to make a Rome:TW campaign online, something a lot of the fans always wanted since that was a very interesting part of the game, and the only thing online up to then were just random battles against eachother.
There were still issues with it, but at least it worked.

Before I start ranting again, I'll just press the submit reply button and get breakfast.

Sinfulwolf

20th July 2009, 19:10

Sure... a lot of games could work as an MMO... but what about those folks who don't want to pay every month (unless they go guild wars style... but considering how that caught on not likely), or don't have internet. I don't have that great of an internet capability, so when I see an awesome looking game, then learn its an MMO I get disappointed.

Besides, from my experience playing around in some MMOs, there is a lot less detail than single player oriented games, which is a large chunk of the reason I play them. I'll take Fallout 3 or Mass Effect, over WoW, or Guild Wars (just examples).

Besides, after all the rants in here about stupid people online, why would you want to take away all the details to make the game able to support 10,000 babbling idiots?

Oh, and Too Human wasn't a bad game in my opinion. It just wasn't that good. I got pretty bored even after figuring out all the controls and such. And that was it for me... oh well, helped me get Prototype for free yesterday.

As for that game... the controls on the console are smooth.

XSI

20th July 2009, 22:07

(...)
Besides, after all the rants in here about stupid people online, why would you want to take away all the details to make the game able to support 10,000 babbling idiots?(...)

There are several reasons, some of those idiots manage to provide a better challenge then AI, which speaks to gamers that enjoy challenges.

Another part is that while stupid, they can be creative, which AI can really be.(At least not for another 10 or so years I estimate)

Besides that, it's much more interesting for a lot of players to know others play it too, they can easily compare themselves to others, but most importantly, they can kill eachother's characters or sabotage eachother. That alone is a reason some people buy online games.

Besides that, lots of details and multiplayer is not mutually exclusive. It just takes developpers time to switch from storylines and quests to a system that works better for multiple groups of people, and there are a few games that have a one-time cost, and then allow for private servers to be hosted for them, which solves the monthly cost issue.

And a small rant on Evil Genius, a game I've started playing lately.

It's a surprisingly good game, but I felt like something was missing, it had humour, good controls, nice variety, a good concept, very good scenes, and nice tactics. But I still haven't found the save game button, which means I have to wait for the autosave to kick in every time I want to stop playing (Saves every 10 minutes). I've had the same problem playing Freelancer a bit back, where I could not find the menu at all, but luckily, alt-tab and google helped me find the menu(Turns out it was f1). As for freelancer, I'm stuck on a mission and..That's for another time/rant.

Second point of Evil Genius, special agents and their AI.
Ok, I understand the military invasion squad will shoot targets on sight, but the special agents should not shoot the casino staff on sight. Really, if James Bond would have went into a gun-wielding rage against everything that moved every time he went to some faraway place, he would have been more like Kenny from south park, and less like a spy. Besides that, if an agent is captured, and escapes the cell he's in, trying to blow up the prison block with 7 friendly captives in it is not a good idea, instead, free those people and bust out of that underground lair. I've had a good 30-40 prisoners that were blown to tiny bits due to a single agent that kept bombing the cell he was held in.(He always managed to get himself caught in the blast too, leading to him being easily captured and imprisoned again)
I would have had him killed, but for some reason which I guess I do understand for this game I was not allowed to, after all, supersecret agents and important characters don't just die, they need an overly elaborate slow death while an evil genius laughs at them. Otherwise Luke would have just been shot by a stormtrooper, James Bond was going to be counted as kill #4 for generic evil henchmen bob, and Frodo would have just been ripped apart by wolves before reaching Bree. But the point is, superspecial agents have the game mechanics done right for them, the player has the game mechanics done right, but when they see the harmless hotel valet checking in a guest, or the simple repairman repairing a broken door, they should act their role, not go on a GTA-style killing spree.

Shrike7

21st July 2009, 09:21

Wait, stuck on a mission in Freelancer? Which one, and what are you flying?

XSI

21st July 2009, 09:30

The one with the blood dragons and the planetoid with an arch on it, I'm still flying the first ship, worked so far, but not this mission. Buying the ship the blood raiders have only leads to me getting shot down faster.(No idea why, is it a lot bigger? Maybe just slower? Do the wings break more easily? Does it have a giant bullseye painted on the hull?)

The guns on my ship did get plenty of upgrades and are fairly good.

Alias

22nd July 2009, 04:12

Inconsiderate roommates.

Now, I know that no roommate is perfect. When you're forced to spend half your life in close proximity to another human, you're bound to get on one another's nerves every now and then. But some people take it too far.

Most of the people I now live with are decent. There's an excessively chatty girl, a youngish asian man that teaches at the local college, an older man that is the head of one of the local college's departments, and Dave (not his real name).

Dave does things like put a bunch of cereal in the blender at 5 in the morning, then leaves a trail of shit going from the kitchen counter up the stairs to his room. His bathroom (which I'm supposed to be sharing but I refuse to, I instead use one of the ones downstairs) is covered with a disgusting pink film, and dead insects are liberally strewn throughout it. He regularly leaves the light on outside other people's rooms after they've gone to bed. Blah blah blah. He's a slob, he's a jerk, you know the drill.

But this morning I went downstairs to shower and - remember, I don't use his bathroom - found my toothbrush-bristles sopping wet and smelling of toothpaste.

WHAT. THE. FUCK. The dude actually stoops to using someone else's TOOTHBRUSH??? That's fucking disgusting. Now I have to go out and buy a new one. Prick.

dmronny

22nd July 2009, 04:25

Kill him and feed him to the pigs that's what I did with my last roommate, or at least that's what I did in my mind.

XSI

30th July 2009, 17:51

Reviving this because oh dear fucking god, why do people keep failing at common sense when they design something.(Parts from an otherwise awesome game)
If a boss not only has a shitton of stats for no reason, and his main(Only?) ability depends on the player not knowing how to pause the game(Pausing the game stops all effects of the ability, until he uses it again), then simply put,

You're doing it wrong.

Now, the game is good enough to have people play past the boss, but sadly, he often appears at the same time as other bosses, each having their own ability, most of those other bosses are fairly balanced, but when they get together you will, instead of enjoying the game and having fun in the fight against them, pause every 5 seconds so your entire base doesn't blow up for no reason.
Another thing, if the player is supposedly evil, then why do "The forces of justice" bomb a random hotel just for being near the hide-out? Not only that, they also seem to randomly kill tourists(And hotel staff that's serving drinks at the bar). The surviving tourists then panic and try to escape back home, where they will say they have been attacked, which will bring more suicide bombe- forces of great justice to your base to blow up more tourists. In conclusion, if the player sends soldiers to club seals, is trying to take over the world by force, and steals whatever he wants, yet he still has the moral high ground, then

You're doing it wrong.

So, those things might be just small stuff, but then we have fires, and I am not kidding here, it takes a full term education to learn how to use a fire extinguisher, as only a few select staff members know how to handle them after training. Really, you can have 2 guards watching tv. With the tv on fire. But besides that, they often either do one of two things, firstly, they grab a fire extinguisher, rush to the fire, then burn to death. Or, alternatively, they grab an extinguisher, run to the fire, arrive when it's already exploded for no apparent reason(I really don't think a something like a bed should have the same explosive power as a power generator), they will stupidly look around while before mentioned forces of goodness shoot them.
The same forces of good will also shoot on sight at the technician that came to repair the tv, yes, that same tv that's on fire, it seems repairing a tv is more important then putting the fire out. Why did they shoot him? I have no idea, but picture this:

A great super spy arrives on a distant island, there used to be a hotel there, but he bombed it on his last visit because the roulette wheel looked suspicious, he walks past an obvious entrance into an underground base to inspect a native hut, which he decides to blow up too. Luckily, it seemed to be made of awesomeantium, and is completely invulnerable to everything. He then shoots a valet that was trying to rebuild the hotel, and steals the chair the valet was bringing to the hotel ruins. He then decides his mission there is over, and starts making his way to extraction point, but on the way, he will see a technician repairing a camera still hanging on an outside wall where the hotel used to be, he instantly shoots and kills the poor man, before deciding to use a bomb on the broken camera. He takes cover behind a wall, and blows up the camera along with a group of tourists. But while he was hiding, he spotted another underground base entrance, and why not? He goes in, but gets stopped by a valet that shines his shoes, he thanks the valet and then shoots him. After some more time he explored deep inside the base, having started a fire and killing everybody that tried to put it out, by now his kill count is 1 armed guard that tried to stop him from killing the 24 unarmed fire extinguisher wielding valets, and 6 repairmen that tried to repair a door he broke on his way in. When the object he put on fire(Ironicly, it was a fire extinguisher) exploded, hurting him as he kept close to it, he noticed a room full of beds, and goes in, he explores, sees nothing special, but then... A locker! he instantly decides to rush to it, and starts punching and kicking it, after some time he just walks away after setting a bomb. He repeats this process for 4 more rooms(Another barracks, a library, mess hall, and a staff room) and a camera in the hallway. He then decides his mission is done, just walks out, goes to the edge of the island, and uses his personal jetpack to leave.

He is send back 3 days later to investigate why tourists there kept getting killed, injured, or just disappeared. Surely the work of an evil mastermind?

dmronny

30th July 2009, 21:33

Dear god stop playing this game it's making my brain hurt, whatever it is.

Goldstein

30th July 2009, 23:21

Just, in reply to the bit about pausing the game, that seems like it could be kind of an interesting mechanic used properly. (Though rather similar to a quicktime event.) Maybe if the game revolved around fourth-wall breaking or something.

Kusanagi

30th July 2009, 23:39

Sinfulwolf

31st July 2009, 01:07

What freaking game are you playing?

XSI

31st July 2009, 10:25

Evil Genius, which is in almost all other aspects a really good game, which keeps me playing. The music for example, just the music on the first menu perfectly sets the mood for the entire game, and the game itself is really good at making you feel like the evil genius, nearly all aspects besides the ones I'm ranting about are at least an 8.5/10.

When playing, you can find out a few things while playing, such as why not to capture a superagent, they will most likely blow up half your base, starting with the cells you kept them in. And just as you believe your room designs were perfect, small, but everything fits perfectly, research gives you a new item to put in there. (Also, I assume it's because it's a fairly old game, there is a kinda low amount of maximum units you can have, but that can be modded to have more)

As said, the game is great until you make that one first mistake, and then you either fix it, or start a new game with your new knowledge, and enjoy it much further then the point where you made the mistake.
This works up till when you find the european superagent, which has the mentioned pausing ability, sure, opening all doors and changing your base's alert level makes sense on paper(As well as randomly torching some things, I guess overloading the powergrid or something), but in reality, all you need is to press the pause button, reset the alert level, and then manually go over all your 30++ doors to set them right again, and by the time you find him you probably already knew about fires, and placed extinguishers everywhere, so there you have it, his entire main ability has just been balanced out by you finding the "p" button, then spending 5-10 minutes on all the settings, and then unpausing just to do it all again 30 seconds up to 3 minutes further.
Not fun, and it definitely breaks all the immersion the rest of the game had build up.

At least you can permanently get rid of him eventually, and since you're the evil genius, it will be a slow, painful, and overly elaborate death, I assume it will include giant lasers and evil laughter, but till then, pausing every few minutes.

And since I'm writing now, I also played a bit of painkiller, and in general, well, it's a good game, but this one boss.. I like how they were creative when they placed the location, I like the idea behind it, I also like watching the entire thing fall to pieces and dodging those pieces, but then..
The boss sucks. You only have to look at him funny(With a crappy minigun, or even a starting shotgun) and he just dies, the only thing that makes that boss hard is that when he dies, he breaks the ground, you fall down a few floors and get falling damage, and then he gets up again. (Goes on till ground floor, which is enough to kill the player by falling damage alone)
While I like the idea of blowing the entire place up during the boss fight, and I like going down floors like that, I do not like being defeated by the environment rather then the boss, it felt more like that marioparty game where you tried to get on the right platform because the others would fall down, except that you got a gun and there's a giant demon trying to beat the crap out of you. And instead of having one safe platform where the others fall(Like mario party), they all fall down and you die anyway.
If the area you're fighting in is more likely to kill you then the boss you're fighting, then something has gone terribly wrong.

Obeliskos

31st July 2009, 22:11

I fucking hate this game. (http://www.kongregate.com/games/EdgebeeStudios/sorcery-quest-guest-edition)

But Obeliskos, you charismatic stallion, why do you dislike this game? The shitty, generic name? The fact that it's a demo? Does it cost money to get the good content?

Actually, yes to all of those. But the main reason is the fucking turn regeneration system. Think Kingdom of Loathing, and most zombie browser games. You have limited energy, you wait to get moar. That's slightly bearable since you get like.. what, 50 a day in KoL? But not in this game.

A new turn every 2 hours. EVERY 2 FUCKING HOURS. Like I said, a lot of web games like Kingdom of Loathing suffer from the curse of having a limited amount of turns, but at least you get like, 50 every day and can restore turns by eating food. But in this game, you apparently have to wait 100 hours (about 4 days) to get that very same amount of turns. I read the FAQ topic "Why are there turns" (http://www.edgebee.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1762) and I think DO agree with the casual thing. BUT ONE TURN EVERY 2 HOURS IS RIDICULOUS. And I assume you can't recover turns ANY OTHER WAY can you?

The game looks fantastic and I would love the hell out of it if it wasn't for the incredibly slow turn recovery system. Having a number of turns is BEARABLE. It usually drives me away from most games, but I can live with it if the game is good enough. INCREASE THE GODDAMN TURN REGENERATION. I just hope the developer realizes that the slow turn regeneration is the dominant reason that game doesn't have a 4/5 or more. He most likely cheated himself out of the weekly prize and massive praise. Congratulations.

Also, an earlier comment on that game said you can use EYE ARR ELL moneys to buy more turns. WHAT THE HELL. You can't limit players claiming that "without the turn system,... it would end up being whoever plays day and night becomes the most successful", THEN OFFER MORE TURNS THROUGH SPENDING REAL MONEY. IF PEOPLE ARE RETARDED ENOUGH TO DO THAT, THEN THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS COMPLETELY NULL AND VOID. THE BALANCE IS BROKEN. STUPID RICH PEOPLE EMPTY THEIR WALLETS TO GET AHEAD OF LEVELHEADED PLAYERS. THINK NEXT TIME. REMOVE THE TURN REGENERATION SYSTEM, OR SPEED IT THE HELL UP AND DON'T OFFER MORE TURNS FOR REAL MONEY.

ATTENTION DEVELOPERS. STOP TRYING TO REGULATE HOW I SPEND MY TIME. ESPECIALLY WHEN THE REASON BEHIND IT IS BROKEN.

Rule 34

4th August 2009, 09:25

So I'd like to talk to you guys about BioBricks (http://bbf.openwetware.org/). What is that?
In short, it's a programming language. For life. With BioBricks it's possible to put together standard DNA sequences from different life forms and construct them into an entirely new type of bacteria, amoeba, what have you. The possibilities are almost endless. Want something to find arsenic in water? It can do that. Just slap together a few biobricks (1 to find Arsenic, 1 to change color, 1 to send the signal from brick number 1 to brick number 2) and voila! You've got your very own detector protozoa.
What do you folks think? Opens new possibilities? Going to bring upon the end of mankind?

XSI

4th August 2009, 11:42

The first thing I thought of when reading that was that it seems pretty obvious to me that someone is going to use that to make a tentacle monster sooner or later.

edit for extra debatable things..

http://www.massively.com/2009/07/28/theres-a-er-twilight-mmo-coming/

Sinfulwolf

4th August 2009, 14:09

the Twilight game is not real... yet. Oh rue the day that the tweens get their way.

Goldstein

4th August 2009, 16:52

That's slightly bearable since you get like.. what, 50 a day in KoL?
40 per day, and with the right food/booze, campground implements, and equipment you can easily reach 200.

Honestly, I think a Twilight MMO might be interesting if they dropped everything to do with Twilight.

XSI

4th August 2009, 17:08

So I'm now trying to patch warcraft III so I can play together with some people, ok, should be no problem, right?

Well wrong, the track I needed to follow to get the right patch leads past 5 other patches, one of which patches it back to an earlier version, and then I get to apply another patch, so fuck that, not doing it.

Official site: It has text...A lot of text..But it says absolutely nothing at all, it just says a patch should exists somewhere on the internet, but they don't give out real links, give a number, or even mention the game again. To be honest, they do provide download links for the patch, but every single link leads to the same site, which is even worse then the official site. Now, this one has downloads, but they move at the speed of shit rolling uphill. I am not going to wait 6 hours for 50mb.

This is when I cancelled the download and went to google, which shows nothing except the official site and what it links to, so that doesn't help at all.

Ok, so let's see then, piratebay? Sure, why not, I have next to no hope since not even the official site of the game helps, but what I can do is download the entire game from here, and then only use the small 50mb file that's in a separate folder besides the .iso, and guess what? Downloading 1gb+ from piratebay goes faster then your shitty download for 50mb.

Fuck you Blizzard, get your shit in order, if people can get your patches faster when they download the full game with it then when they try it from your site, then you're doing something horribly wrong.

Kusanagi

4th August 2009, 19:03

Momiji

5th August 2009, 03:52

40 per day, and with the right food/booze, campground implements, and equipment you can easily reach 200.

Honestly, I think a Twilight MMO might be interesting if they dropped everything to do with Twilight.

So....a real vampire MMO?

Goldstein

5th August 2009, 04:38

So....a real vampire MMO?
Well, the werewolves would be alright, too.

Sinfulwolf

5th August 2009, 04:58

Underworld MMO?

Goldstein

5th August 2009, 05:01

Uh, maybe? I've never watched the Underworld films. Anyway, I'm going to rant a bit.

Birthers.

For those of you not living in the United States (or those of you within it who fortuitously have not encountered these beings), the birther movement is a conspiracy group who believe that Barack Obama is ineligible for the position of President of the United States by virtue of the fact that he was not born in the US, and/or was not born to US citizens living abroad. The fact that Obama's campaign allowed members of a non-partisan group access to his original certification of live birth, and that said group photographed it and put the photographs on their website, is dismissed by these birthers as being part of the conspiracy and the photographs as being hoaxes. Though this belief existed during the campaign, it only became widespread during the Summer of '09, probably in response to Obama's growing unpopularity among certain groups of people in the US.

That segues nicely into a complaint about the current health care reform effort here in the US. As I'm sure you're aware, the health system in the United States could be accurately and succinctly summed up as 'broken'. 'Limping', 'ineffective', 'as antiquated as a 486', and 'as useless as a snow shovel in Texas' could also apply. Suffice it to say, the US in my opinion needs substantial reform and would do nothing but benefit from a public option as in Europe, Canada, and other un-American countries. Instead, I'm going to complain about the rampant misinformation regarding the various reform proposals.

There are actually at least three bills that I know of in the House and in the Senate right now, there is no one single 'health reform bill'. So please stop talking about the health reform bill.

Second, none of these propose funding abortions with 'taxpayer' money. In fact, one bill specifically bans that option; most bills don't mention it whatsoever.

None of the bills propose a death age for the elderly, nor do any of the bills ration healthcare for the elderly, nor do any nations with universal health care do anything of the sort (as far as I know, and as far as I would assume).

Finally, it's not the Cold War anymore. Socialism is not a bad thing. Leaving health care as it is, however, would be a very bad thing indeed.

Lucas

5th August 2009, 05:04

Well put, Goldstein. :cool:

XSI

5th August 2009, 09:37

..People are actually still holding on to the birth certificate thing? And they think ..Well

Funding abortions with 'taxpayer' money
Death age for the elderly
Ration healthcare

If they said just one of those, then ok, seems like a misunderstanding, but it's hard to look at that list and not say troll before ignoring it and moving on.
Being from Europe, I can say for sure that 1. We do not have a death age for people where we just kill all old people, that's just stupid.
And 2. Where we pay taxes, and the taxes are used for healthcare everyone can use(Everyone pays taxes), Americans pay insurances for their healthcare, and then by the power of capitalism, the insurance will do everything in it's power to not pay for the doctor.

Rule 34

5th August 2009, 11:59

1. We do not have a death age for people where we just kill all old people, that's just stupid.

We should, though. Maybe put it around 80 - none of my grandparents made it to that age anyway. Retirement with 67 (as they plan to in Germany), another 13 years of enjoying your life (or not, depending how much retirement money you get), and if you haven't died by then you get a painless injection, and that was it. This would lower the rate of old people, which in Germany is an actual problem - we have too many seniors and too few juniors to pay into the retirement pot. If we just kill the old people, the younger have more disposable income. Or the retired people have more retirement money, because there is more to go around. Either way, the economy is stimulated, less ressources are needed and new jobs are created. Everybody wins.

XSI

5th August 2009, 14:50

Sure, it might help the economy, but there is the small problem with 'ethics' about killing people after they worked nearly their entire life, only to be told that "You're old now, go die somewhere".

And killing all the old people is the first step to killing all the disabled..Which leads to killing the people that don't want to work, which leads to killing the ones that are unemployed, which leads to a state controlling who lives and who dies. which is obviously a bad way for any nation to go.

This whole situation of just killing old people will, 9 out of 10 times, lead to a lot of trouble.

As for older people that -want- to die, well, if they want it, that's their choice.

A different solution to the economy could be how the dwarves in dwarf fortress do it, immigrants. They work, they make plenty of food to go around, and even those without money can just get food(Although only the crappiest food). As for a dwarf's retirement funds, that's just all the stuff he bought while he was still earning money, and what he saves for himself, no taxing or forced to pay for others, a game's AI does better then some real people, the dwarves(Which are usually idiots) actually make sure they have things done for later in their life(Which tends to be about as long as an ant investigating a sadistic kid with a magnifying glass).
Alternatively, they just dump the useless and not working dwarves into magma.
And sometimes the useful dwarves get dumped into magma as well.
And sometimes everything else also gets dumped into magma.

Rule 34

5th August 2009, 15:05

Bah, ethics! Ethics have held back the advance of science and society for centuries! Where would medicine be today if its students of the past wouldn't have dug up corpses to do their research on? Blood letting and urine sniffing, that's where the ethics would have kept us!
Please, for God's sake, don't take me seriously. I am hyperbolising my beliefs here.

Sinfulwolf

5th August 2009, 16:05

I know you said not to take your seriously Rule... but Medicine is where it is today because of the lack of Ethics. There was a huge jump in medical science in WWII because of the Nazi experiments during the holocaust.

XSI

5th August 2009, 17:42

Please, for God's sake, don't take me seriously. I am hyperbolising my beliefs here.

If I were to take the ethics thing serious, I would not have given an example of a game where every problem can be solved by dumping a large load of molten rock on it, mermaids are hunter to make trophies out of their bones, and justice implies getting a hammer to the face for blinking the wrong way

Besides that, Fuck you Blizzard, another patch came out, and again, your site was about as useful as earwarmers in the sahara desert.

XSI

5th August 2009, 17:43

Please, for God's sake, don't take me seriously. I am hyperbolising my beliefs here.

If I were to take the ethics thing serious, I would not have given an example of a game where every problem can be solved by dumping a large load of molten rock on it, mermaids are hunted to make trophies out of their bones, elves are canibals that eat their own family, and justice implies getting a hammer to the face for blinking the wrong way.

Besides that, Fuck you Blizzard, another patch came out, and again, your site was about as useful as earwarmers in the sahara desert.

Alias

5th August 2009, 21:28

Are you by any chance trying to play WC3 on a mac? I had some issues with their patch installer when I tried to connect to bnet on my apple, but ten or fifteen minutes of googling/downloading fixed it, no real problems. Never have had any issues with a windows machine.

Rule 34

5th August 2009, 21:46

Besides that, Fuck you Blizzard, another patch came out, and again, your site was about as useful as earwarmers in the sahara desert.

I like that simile. Consider it stolen. YOINK!

Goldstein

12th August 2009, 07:04

To be honest, I'm tired of all the emphasis humans put on sex. It's kind of disappointing to think of all the effort and energy we spend on sex when there are so many other, better uses for that potential. I know it's a false dichotomy, but I don't care. Sex consumes so much of our thought, resources, time, and energy for an act that is ultimately (save for reproduction) pointless, in the sense that we get nothing of value out of it. (Note, I'm not just talking about intercourse in and of itself, I mean things like STDs, sexual paraphernalia, sexual violence, etc.)

I might go so far as to say that the Party had the right idea, albeit for the wrong reasons. (Literally 'abolish the orgasm', and all reproduction through in-vitro.) It seems like we could do so much more if we didn't focus so much on sex.

And yeah, I'm probably a hypocrite, in that I'll have sex, too. And don't bring up not being able to discuss it since I haven't had it. Please.

ToxicShock

12th August 2009, 07:33

Pale

12th August 2009, 12:53

Now, see, this irks me a little. Like everything else in life.. sex is what you make of it.

What I think we're actually seeing is a change in how people treat sex. Somehow, we've gone from the Victorian era of Don't Talk About It, Don't Enjoy It, Lie Back And Think Of England, to the modern day, where people can actually meet, then have sex, within hours.

I think that's the worst thing we could do to ourselves, in honesty, casual sex. If you don't treat it like it has meaning, it has no meaning.

As for that comedian, I think he's representative of one of the other problems we have.. glorification of the female form over the male. Now, I'm not going to say I think men are more beautiful than women.. or that I find men more attractive than women. However, I think we probably ought to address the fact that most men in modern society find it very difficult to see how they can possibly be attractive.

The final thing I want to say - it's not just Blurt. Maybe men should abolish their orgasms.. if they're so pathetic, and just lead to immediate sleep/unconsciousness.. but I kinda like mine. One in the morning == Happy Day for Pale.

Basically.. the sexual urge isn't really one to complain about. After all. You can't get rid of hunger by rubbing your stomach.

P

Kusanagi

12th August 2009, 14:25

Sex... is what you make it... no pun intended.

If you THINK it has no meaning, then to you, it has none. That doesn't mean it has no meaning to the guy/girl right next to you. They could think it's the most meaningful thing in the world.

Thanks to pornography and a general growth of casualness, sex is no longer something only talked about behind closed doors. It has become a part of society, and as such a very hot topic of debate. It's not that hard to find out someone's stance on it anymore, as most people are quite open about their feelings on sex.

Personally, I view sex as more than just something you do with just anybody.

Then again, what would I know, seeing as how I've never gotten any myself, ne?

(Just like I don't know how to run a business, just like I know nothing about safe demoliton, just like I wouldn't know how to build a house, just like.....)

Alias

12th August 2009, 16:48

Sex makes me happy. Making my partner orgasm makes me happy. Making her feel good makes me happy. If sex is meaningless, a corollary to that is that happiness is meaningless.

Is happiness completely devoid of meaning to you, Goldstein?

Goldstein

12th August 2009, 17:35

Is happiness completely devoid of meaning to you, Goldstein?
Absolutely not. Happiness helps to ensure that you continue an activity. If I enjoy something, if I'm happy that I'm doing something or gain pleasure or enjoyment from that activity, I'll be more likely to continue that activity.

Additionally, I never intended to posit that sex is meaningless. I said that we get nothing of value from it, save children in certain circumstances. Value is defined here as either a material gain or a gain in knowledge. We gain nothing from sex that is of benefit to humanity or a society within humanity as a whole. (We could insert an argument here about the effects of sex on interpersonal relationships leading to those persons becoming more productive members of society, and if you want I'd be happy to go down that rabbit hole with you.)

I'll be honest, I was deliberately a bit inflammatory in my post. However, the basic point remains true. I don't understand why humanity focuses so much on sex, and I think it's a bit silly that we do.

I'm not asexual. I feel sexual attraction, desire, etc. I just think it's all somewhat silly. Certainly, I assume I'll have sex someday, but if I don't I would be alright with that.

I suppose you could say that I just don't get what all the fuss is about regarding sex, and therefore don't care. I might not say that, but you could.

I wouldn't ever actually advocate anything like widespread bans on sex or anything, regardless of what I said earlier. Other people certainly feel differently than I, and should be free to do so.