Handyman

I am new here, but it does not seem like there is an infrastructure to the community.

PS, define "crazy."

Is PETA really that crazy, compared to a total obliviousness to animal ethics?

waterplant: I suppose you're right about physiological dependence; although that would only worsen the withdrawl, and (depending on the drug and severity) introduce health risks. Excepting the health risks, it's a difference of degrees. one dollar: Experience in general changes the brain. PTSD, for instance, is not a drug.

Actually, there is a great deal of behavioral and molecular research on food addiction. The concept of "addiction" is not firmly rooted to drugs, only prototyped by them. And, eating to excess is the obvious and necessary precursor to an "obesity epidemic." The customers always get what they want; but sometimes, they want crack.

Even phrasing it as an "inability" suggests, well, an inability. And, you had to *learn* how to manage yourself. This is consistent with the theory that addiction is a learning disease. Moralizing may be somewhat effective to a certain subset of people; probably those reared in moralist environments, where morality is seen as a valid instrument of control. However, those who neglect their responsibilities are probably those for whom moralizing will have least of an effect.

Well, either we punish the merchants of these products--which probably doesn't work, all things considered, but would be the point of a punitive lawsuit--or we address the systemic causes of addiction. However, legal products that merely aim to generate and appease addictions--alcohol and nicotine, at the very least--have not been "disincentivized" by punitive laws/lawsuits. Also, given the nature of addiction, companies will exploit psychological research to foster addiction, and should probably cease doing so, or be made to pay for repairs to the social damage they exploit. Nor, for that matter, have punitive laws against alcohol and nicotine trashed the sale of "fine" alcohol/tobacco products. I believe, sir, this is Dikiyoba's neglected argument.

I suppose that works; though it hardly occurred to me at the time. I will try it.

Originally Posted By: Lilith in order to get coffee to the customer more quickly, McDonalds serves its coffee at 90 degrees Celsius, close to the boiling point of water. at this temperature it will cause severe burns within one or two seconds. this is why they were successfully sued! This is why. This has already been said. You should pay attention to things people have said before concluding that all people are stupid; maybe they are reasonably intelligent and you are not paying attention.

The basic idea is that father-daughter incest is a relatively extreme manifestation of male power in the family. The dominance of the father is often hidden by the father, and society collaborates with this. The worst damage to the daughter is incurred by a shattered bond with the mother, and the father forces the family to compete for his affection. When more aware mothers or daughters try to escape, they are blocked by a society and economy that will not give them material/legal aid. Still, most incestuous fathers are reacting to their own abuse, and therefore legally-mandated group therapy has the potential to repair much of their behavior. Anyway, I don't know how well I will be able to appreciate Rasch.

I recently read "Father-Daughter Incest" by Judith Lewis Herman. It puts the nuclear family in an interesting perspective.

Also, the idea that "spilling something" is somehow a sign of stupidity is ridiculous and takes no consideration of how people actually live.

Well, consider gambling. Behavioral addictions have been subject to special legal considerations before. Also, the Japanese government has already declared social isolation to be a national problem. While social isolation isn't the necessary outcome of game playing or even game addiction, it is a systematically likelier one, like use of drugs in the real world.

Originally Posted By: Enraged Slith This would piss me off so much. What did they gain out of duping their customers like this? Some people take these kinds of things very seriously. Pardon me, but if you can't suspend your disbelief in this most basic of ways, then why are you playing video games? Also, I suspect the only reason we might consider this case absurd is because we never expect companies to address their externalities.

Hm. I can't say I found the combat to be too difficult. If you're ok letting your soldiers die, and you focus on the shamans, it's much easier. I don't know what to really say. I guess it's neat for being made in 24 hours. A new user could probably make something equally complex in about a week. I found the design process text file a bit amusing. It was like the designer was saying, "I made this in twenty-four hours while drugged out of my mind. What's your excuse?" Although, from what I've been told, people have taken this design ethic to heart--maybe he should have made a medium-sized scenario in a week instead? ;-) The scenario is thoroughgoingly mediocre and small. [rating]Substandard[/rating]

I'll be sure to finish the rest soon. I'm just not sure what to do when I've found the three objects from the laboratory.

Ok, evidently, the versions I uploaded were mis-matched (PC in Mac link, vice-versa); this is now fixed. So... yeah.

I don't care; I simply released the scenario.

http://blades.ermarian.net/scenario/blades-of-avernum/waterweb Hip, hip, hooray!

Dear Nikki: Tridash may or may not net me delay submitting the scenario. By all means, please play it soon. Ok? :-)

Yeah, that's fine; I'm just taking my time.

That's a shame. I thought these games were decent. But, I suppose everyone has their projects. Anyway, I guess it's amusing, so I'll play whatever's produced that's decent. :-) Does anyone have any plans for a larger scenario on which they are making any progress?

Good lord-- that Dark Idol thing was a pain in the ass! Also, yes, the dialogue was stilted. But worse off was the fact that it wasn't displayed in dialog boxes! Many bosses were challenging, but also very impolite. I would have preferred them to go by more quickly. The combat isn't really that out of the pale, from what I can tell, though. I thought the first mission was a little boring--especially that sloppily-designed statue fight--but I thought its role in the plot was a little more light-hearted. "Demoralizing" is an interesting euphemism for "genociding." Ok, having the philosophy be this blatant was pretty awkward. It was bad to see the two women generals use male terms of abuse. Maybe that's just the way of the military, but the foulness there was way beyond the pale, even in this scenario. Still, some lines were ok: "Time to demonstrate the ambiguity of fortress entrances." Woo, ass-kicking! I don't know how much "philosophizing" there is, it's just kinda flat and lifeless. On the one hand, this fits the theme. On the other hand, it's just kinda flat and lifeless. I mean, I guess there's some life in Spiegelbrecher, but it's like one of Nurse Ratchet's patients: You can only believe it in a certain way. Also, I guess I died. I don't know. On the one hand, it's got its clear flaws. On the other hand, it's substantially longer than most of the scenarios I've played, coming close to the prefabricated ones in terms of length. Scripting is o.k., and there are a few neat tricks. So, I guess, all-and-all, it's [rating]Good[/rating]

Also, out of curiosity, is there a timeline for when various scenarios were put out?

Lots of these custom scenarios seem short! I guess I can't complain too much, since my first scenario is short too, and brevity isn't bad, but I'm surprised more of these plots haven't been extended, or explored more deeply. Does anyone else wonder about this?