Problem Machine

Respectfully, I think this is bullshit. First off, I think 'lesser' form of comedy is nonsense to start with: You can make people laugh at things that aren't funny, which is something that references excel at since the 'joke' is basically "Hey you remember how you're part of the same subculture I'm a part of?" but I'd hesitate to call that comedy at all, as often as it masquerades as that. There are a lot of things that make us laugh that aren't jokes. I don't think making a joke using a reference to pop culture or history is fundamentally different than making a joke based on any other form of shared knowledge, such as the English Language. Sure, the concepts are larger and more complex, but that makes it at most a kind of shorthand. The foundations of humor are still the same: Establish an expectation and subvert it. If you make a reference to something, it's funny if the reference is both non-obvious and not-nonsense. If I say that, I don't know, Dan Brown is the Mike Tyson of literature, in that he's well-known, successful, and has the vocabulary of someone with a lifetime of sustained head injuries, it works reasonably well because it establishes an expectation and subverts it. There's no way to make that same joke without the short-hand of complex concepts that comes with those names, and I don't think that complexity makes it inherently a 'lesser' form of humor! For a similar example, see the Stephen Colbert joke at the press correspondent's dinner 8 years ago, when he said the Bush administration was not rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, but rearranging deck chairs on the Hindenburg. This is generally considered a pretty good joke! Do you think it would have been better if he'd replaced them with 'sinking ship' and 'burning blimp'?

I like that too, but it's hard to get alternate goals while maintaining the focus on getting in someone's head. I main spy, and when I'm really on my game it feels like not only do I KNOW what the enemy is trying to do, to some degree I'm CONTROLLING what they're trying to do. It's a remarkable feeling. It's an itch few games can scratch for me.

Disagree. I like a mode that actually lets me get in people's heads, figure out what they're doing, and do something to counter it. You get that in the other modes, but only if your team is organized: In arena you get it regardless. This is also why I tend to prefer less populated servers: Anything more hectic than 8v8 and It becomes less a matter of tracking what's happening and more just trying to be in places where things are statistically LIKELY to happen. Profile linky: Selben Coirlo

Randomizer is a good time, though anything that introduces more chaos into the game tends to make me worse at it -- I usually play spy, and do my best when I can track basically where everyone is and what they're doing on the field, one reason why I like arena, since that's less possible in other game modes. Versus Saxton Hale and Freak Fortress are also pretty fun arena mods, kind of like playing the Tank in Left 4 Dead.

I'd like to get in on this. I've barely played MvM at all, but enjoyed the couple of rounds I did play and would be up for more. I play most classes decently, though I tend to primarily play arena normally (the game mode no one's ever heard of).

Competitive allows some special weapons, depending on the league and format. Almost everyone allows the kritzkrieg, basically no one allows the Pomson, everything else is somewhere in between. There are a few items that are basically straight upgrades from stock -- maybe there's some hidden crit bonus, but I doubt it, and generally play on nocrits servers anyway -- but overwhelmingly stock weapons tend to be the best overall choice. I'd also be into playing, since I tend to put an hour in every day or two anyway.

You would be the F2P man finding out Jake bought keys. This is a garbage situation. I can only hope some good comes from the ensuing conversation, though considering the way most large outlets want to steer it towards crazy-shaming and loneliness as convenient explanations makes me skeptical.

Cat on the is trying to decide how to deliver some heavy news. Cat on the left is worried about how you're going to react.

Stuff comes up. A patrol car full of guys will drive up and try to run you down while you're scoped in, or some smart-ass with an RPG will try to explode you, or you'll just come into a base with enough dudes that need killing that you run out of ammo and have to run into the base to get more. Enemies also become noticeably better equipped as your reputation level goes up. You can usually survive most encounters with good awareness and caution, but I wouldn't say it's easy, and nasty surprises do happen. Traveling IS the game, or at least it was for me. The most enjoyable part of the game for me was figuring out the best route to take, figuring out how to hit the fewest checkpoints and re-acquire a vehicle at any points where it was most expedient to abandon mine. Fast travel is convenient for sure, but it is downright destructive to any sense of atmosphere and world-space a game tries to create.

The wizard is dead to language.

I guess there's like a 5-second rule for rape then?

I like that on a casual or careless reading this at first appears to say something involving Nintendo. I think that adds a layer of frustration. Well done. I really appreciate when people can manage to gain a certain amount of critical distance like this. I enjoy the content (LP and criticism) that Northernlion puts out precisely because he tries to see the best in every game, while fully acknowledging and stating outright whether he personally enjoys it. I see a lot of comments on his videos complaining that he isn't harsh enough on 'bad' games, but it makes me sad and sick to see people tear apart games that people spent years of their life on for the sake of a few cheap laughs. It's sad that this is such a rare commodity in humorous games criticism. Then again, mean criticism is always the easiest and most popular, so it's not like games are unique in that regard.

Super Whack Man was actually the development title of Super Smash Bros, but when they added in all of the Nintendo branded characters they renamed it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granfalloon

In terms of feminism specifically, it's definitely a much more nuanced, interesting, and grounded take on the whole princess trope, and the relationship between the sisters is a good narrative focus, but it still bothers me that they get Generic Disney Girl bodies and faces compared to the much more varied and evocative male characters.

It hadn't occurred to me until now, but it's true that the way super good and similar phrases can seep into one's vocabulary can be kind of gross. It's the worst.

I dunno it depends on which track you're listening to. I'd say it ranges maybe from a 3 to a 9?

I made an album of instrumental electronic musics.

Hm. I only played the original WoW and first expansion, so after my time I guess.

I think the book reads a lot differently once you've read Eden Express by Mark Vonnegut (Kurt Vonnegut's son), an autobiographical piece detailing his break down into, and eventual recovery from, schizophrenia. I suspect that processing that experience is where a lot of BoC came from.

Okay: What?

Wait, The Avengers is basically Ocean's 11 with superpowers? ... crap now I want to see it.

Okay, this is getting semantically specific enough that I'm not actually sure whether we disagree with each other or not any more. I guess that's a good place to wrap it up.

I certainly didn't mean to imply that this is how offense is always or even often created, just that the fact that it's possible to intentionally offend someone because you know that something you can say would be hurtful means that the presumption that it's their choice whether or not to be offended is self-serving.