anthonyRichard

The reasoning behind making the animals drop dead after being bumped by anything is super-interesting. I mean that they saw people gleefully murdering animals as being a problem to be fixed. Far Cry 3 handled that ... differently. Also, jeez that guy has been incredibly lucky in his career. I mean, it helps that he's obviously talented and motivated enough to actually take advantage of that luck. But man.

Steve this is really good. Interviews of creative people done by an interviewer who is successful in the same field are completely different than ones done by enthusiasts. There are lines of conversation that are explored that an outsider would never go down because they don't know they exist or how to ask about them. Super valuable.

Campo Santo > Graveyard > Holy Field > God's Acre > The Lord's Pitch

That is some weird phrasing. What is it that you think is going on?

quidnunc is cherry-picking from Pinker (whose book isn't pop-philosophy by any stretch of the imagination, btw) to suit his own ends, and relying on people not to have read it. In the book he is referring to, Pinker lauds the reduction (and abolition in some nations) of torture. He also talks seriously about the effect fiction has on people and its role in changing social norms. The whole thrust of the book is about the gradual changes in societal norms over time that has lead to individuals and societies being less willing to use violence than they once were. He specifically refers to fictions' role in this, by allowing us to explore the interiority of another persons experience, especially those unlike us, making it more difficult to think of them as 'other' and to demonize them. quidnunc is using a book that lauds the use of fiction to allow us to feel empathy for a wider circle of people, to defend fiction that instead normalizes torture against others with only positive consequences. That is weird and gross. Pinker on the role of fiction in changing societal norms (in this example, positively): http://youtu.be/NLHkj450yds?t=1m38s

Yeah I don't want to completely excuse phil here, because he's not blameless. But if you know the kind of personal issues a person has, and the kind of ways they will react to certain things, and you deliberately provoke said reaction, then you are equally responsible for the outcome. If phil were a healthier person he would react better than he does. But he's not, and he doesn't. And to pretend ignorance of this after everything that has gone down in the past and to bait him and hound him and to act shocked when he predictably lashes out ... it's sickening. It's really gross. It's the worst kind of passive-aggressive bullying.

The Malazan books are some of my favourite genre books. I second the recommendation for starting with the second book, it's what I did and I can't recommend it highly enough. The first book is still good and worth reading, but it's the easily weakest one and because of the nature of these books reading the first two out of order doesn't matter much. I would only recommend the Ian Cameron Esselmont books to people who already enjoy the Malazan world. They are enjoyable enough but the writing is far, far weaker. The Erikson books are about ambiguity of experience and compassion and loss. The ICE books just seem to be about the plot and the lore, for the most part. TheLastBaron, unless you are really enjoying the first book, you should seriously consider just stopping and jumping to the second. You can come back to it later if you discover you enjoy the books, but man, it is a bad introduction to the series.

When I started reading this I thought it was about the other Cromwell. Despite having spent about 2/3rds of the book subconsciously waiting for the monarchy to be overthrown, I still really enjoyed it. I'm about to start reading the sequel now.

Got a tooth pulled in what turned out to be an unusually difficult procedure. Lost some amount of blood and was still bleeding a bit when I somehow decided I was fine to walk home. It was a very hot day outside & I had a long way to walk. The cavity started bleeding again. I am a stupid man. Must have appeared to others as some kind of shambling corpse with blood pouring from my mouth before I collapsed. Losing consciousness while being aware of said consciousness draining away against your will is utterly terrifying.

FYI the second session of that talk is (seem like it's the tail end of that session). There is a lot of overlap, but some new stuff, including specifically referring to killing Greenlight (in the context of this newer API-driven approach).I find his conception of the future of Steam to be incredibly exciting. Nobody has even caught up to Steam revolutionizing game distribution last time. This could lap everyone.

Yeah I've just discovered and switched to Sublime because of this thread. Amazing.

Yeah I was thinking this while listening to the discussion. Rothstein in Boardwalk is almost literally the same person as Wolfsheim, but the portrayal of Rothstein seems more honest, in that he has all the same characteristics and the same history, but he is portrayed like an actual person and not a cartoonish stereotype.

With the whole new crowd-funding thing people seem on edge, eagerly/fearfully waiting for what seems like the inevitable company or person that scams everyone and pulls a legit Kangaroo Jack, or perhaps worse, subverts the short-term goodwill of the public for their shady and cynical business model. Even the appearance of impropriety -- caused by misunderstanding the purpose of a thing for example -- can set off some peoples stressed hair trigger. It's an interesting quirk, and I think we'll see more of it as the crowd-funding phenomenon grows.

'It makes you feel like you're wearing a three day old t-shirt' is the best description of Hotline Miami. I've enjoyed playing it a lot but I'm not going to finish it because it just makes me feel too gross. I don't regret playing it at all, though.

I had the exact same experience as Jake in the dishonoured bar. Saw guy dressed in same uniform of the enemies I just spent hours avoiding. Sneak behind the bar, hit trigger volume, cue confusion/realisation/tolerant disappointment. I agree with the notion that if you are going to get a game-over when you kill a narrative-protected NPC, then that should just be telegraphed. Lowered weapons is the most elegant way I'm aware of to do that, with the caveat that it's not actually particularly elegant on the whole. Forcing authored narrative into an otherwise systems-driven game necessitates loads of artifice.

Okay I put this book down and I don't see myself picking it up again. I like Chabons other stuff. Yiddish Policemans Union is good, and Kavalier & Clay is fantastic, but man ... I really didn't like this book at all. I don't mean that I had some sort of negative reaction to it or anything in it, I just mean it failed to capture my interest on any level. Reading it, I would just get bored and my mind would wander, losing the thread and having to re-read paragraphs. The characters are well-realised, in that they seem like real people, but they just aren't interesting to me. I don't have any context for the pop-culture references, so those are all falling flat. I'm not getting anything out of this book at all. I'll still listen to the cast, maybe it will convince me to go back it it.

Coincidentally, I watched his 'Google Authors' talk on youtube a few days ago and his argument seems pretty solid. It's true that more people die in total in modern times due to violence than in previous centuries, but when we think of violence in the world it seems like the real underlying question is 'how likely am I, or anyone I know to die of violence?', and proportion of violent death to total population seems to be the most salient way of addressing that.

Regardless of the intentions of the people who created these things, I understand that many women find that kind of depiction of them to be off-putting and to contribute towards a general culture that makes them feel unwelcome or uncomfortable. That even when there are 'strong' female characters they are almost always as seen through the lens of a man, for other men. That this kind of thing emphasises an asymmetry in the culture that is gross and unhealthy. I like boobs and I like looking at that poster, but I think I would rather have games that are more welcoming, or at least not actively hostile, toward half the population. Maybe where there is a question about whether something is or isn't sexist, or when creating something that, on reflection, might be considered sexist, we should perhaps take into account the context of the society and especially the industry in which we exist. Where there is huge amounts of vitriol and contempt for women, who are casually and regularly objectified or talked down to. Maybe it might be a good idea, just in terms of compassion, to behave as though things that might not be intended to be sexist, but might or might not actually be sexist, are acting on the culture just the same as if they really were sexist. If we are to take the most generous interpretation of the poster, then if a game wants to comment on the issue of sexism, maybe it should take into account that context and not just do it so casually and ambiguously and try to say something more substantial or thought provoking than "haaa, boobs. That photographer was a sexist." (sentence structure, you have defeated me)

That poster exists within the same game as ... The 'about sexism, not sexist' interpretation seems extraordinarily charitable.

When I saw that in a loading screen tip I thought it was a (not especially) subtle hint. Next time I saw a Treasure Goblin I didn't attack, just chased him until he opened the portal, then I ran straight after him into it. Nothing happened.