clyde

What is the benifit of westernizing? And what does that look like as a mechanic? Is it just establishing a trade route with Europe or something like that?

This morning, I'm thinking about the situation in Syria. I'm concerned that I view the circumstances and possible international intervention in a false-dichotomy of limited alternatives. Currently, I see the two options being [allow chemical weapon attacks to continue (through inaction)] and [military intervention which ultimately results in our backing of a dictator who is willing to ignore the concerns of the Syrian people to appease international interests]. I'd like to play a strategy game that will demonstrate that there are more options. I've been considering what such a game would look like and so I've had to consider things like victory-conditions; the best I've come up with is having a human-rights violation par-score that I'm trying to get below, scored 100 years after the conclusion of my last action. So basically, at the end of the game, the simulation continues for 100 years without my involvement, then quantifies total human-rights violation throughout the world, subtracts it from par, and that's my score. I'd like this game to include the abilities to do things like [create and provide incentive for a coalition consisting of both Syrian government supporters and Syrian rebels] then be able to provide incentives to various factions to encourage peaceful negotiations between those parties. As far as I know, Crusader Kings II is the game most capable of letting me do these types of things because in that game, governments consist of various people with their own motives and you can interact with them individually. Any other recommendations?

Love Batman, the person; destroy torture, the behavior.

Skip the guitar, go straight to the digeridoo. Is recreational use legal in Arizona?

I had a pinball dream. I love pinball dreams because there aren't many machInes within a reasonable distance from my house and I love Pinball! So we were at a gas station on a rural highway. The place was the type where most of the sunlight is blocked out because the sun-bleached displays for merchandise that has not and will never sell, is taking up most of the windows. The type of place that has tons of merchandise, but only replenishes cigarettes, beer, and beef jerky. So we are in there and it's that infamiliarity-experience of stopping for gas on a long trip.; and I discover a pinball machine! It is dinosaur-themed and looked like it was made around 1979-1985. In the dream, I felt that I had played this particular game before. The long-haired brunette chain-smoking 40-something clerk informed me that the machine was in poor condition and she didn't want to have to give my money back, so she handed me a clay dice that was to be inserted into a cubic slot near the coin-feed. I played my first ball and it was super fun. The playfield was mostly a velvet red color and the incandecent lights gave the transparent portions of the playfield a yellowish color. The playfield design was similar to Pinball Fx's Iron Man table, but there was a lot more space in the lower and middle part of the playfield. At some point the white, plastic flippers started vibrating ans buzzing and I was concerned that the machine would recieve further damage, so I climbed under the machine and flipped the small metal toggle to turn it off. I love how most of my pinball dreams involve machine-maintenance.

I agree. I understand that genre expectations can be detrimental to the consumation of media, but it can also provide clues for how to go about appreciating it. If I buy a visual novel and find out that it is a kinetic novel (meaning that there are no branching narratives or choices), I'm disappointed because that is not the experience I was trying to have or thought I was having. I spend the first fifty pages wondering if the novel is kinetic, rather than enjoying the story. When a list of visual novels does not include the distinction of whether or not it is kinetic, it's a useless list for me. I know that Idle Thumbs consists of various people and various opinions over time, but let me see if I understand an argument that seemed to be made over the course of a few podcasts: [Genres can detrimental to the final product because they both reduce the idiosyncratic synergies of a game to a re-themed duplicate of a comparison, and because genres imply the inclusion of mechanics, theme, and presentation that may diffuse the expressive capability of the product.] This may not be the opinion of any particular person on the podcast, but it's the one I'm going to respond to. I agree that describing a game by categorizing it by a few precedent mechanics or themes can lead to the audience dismissing aspects of the game that would otherwise be valued, but I also believe that the opposite is sometimes true. Genres are template expectations that the consumer will typically have as a foundation when appreciating the art. If you were to listen to a cover of a song without previous knowledge of the original (or the many covers which have come before) you may enjoy the song, but there are certain aspects that contextual tools are necessary for enjoyment of. Thelonious Monk sounds awesome, but when you know the standard he is playing, there is this sense of "Wow, I can't believe that he actually managed to get back to the original theme in a method conducive to the crazy path he was taking!". The standard has created expectations that are foundational for appreciating a certain aspect of the product, much like genres can. Another great example of this ability specific to genre categorization is Charlie Kaufman's use of the biographical framework in Adaptation. That is all I can say about that, you know what I'm talking about if you have seen that film (hopefully). But of course, genre definitions can create a checklist that game designers may include at the detriment of the experience. It's like everything else, it's not the tool, it's how you use it.

Are cyborgs as concerning?

Apophenia. I can't believe your friend told you that. It seems like the kind of thing that you would personally believe, but never tell anyone because they will confront the delusion. I asked a lady on a streetcar if she thought that her concerns about being brain-washed by color television and being followed by the CIA and her story about her family under going secret experiments by government agencies somewhere in South America after a car crash were just her mind's way of dealing with a normal car accident where she lost her family. It didn't go well. Now I don't give my opinion on such things unless asked for it.

Dragon Age is actually an example I really like, and I think it's because I played as one class and them watched a playthrough of another. I played as a rogue in Origins and the mage/templar thing seemed like just some boring lore, but then my wife played as a mage and the bits I picked up from that playthrough made me see it as the main story-thread. It might have been because my wife was frequently vocal about the many situations in which she felt she wasn't getting fair treatment due to her heretic nature. It hadn't occurred to me that I might not know how well this is done unless I play the game multiple times as different characters. I kinda like that. If only the story of games like Dragon Age could engage me multiple times, but I rarely do anything twice.

Now that I think about it, the most satisfying experience I've had with this in a game was in the Walking Dead, I'm not sure if it was intentional, but that's irrelevant.

I love the idea of being treated differently based on how wealthy you appear. I seem to remember a few missions in the GTA series where you have to buy a suit or maybe show up in a nice car; and I'm pretty sure that the Elder Scrolls games have some quests that involve wearing expensive clothing to get into a party(?) Oblivion had some sort of thing where you could wear expensive clothes to get a discount at shops. But I can't think of a satisfying experience that tried to do this. Walking into a hotel and being mistaken for the help (but not like "Hey, here is a key to room 207 that you will need for a mission, this place has great service") or being pandered to because people have been gossiping about how much you threw down on a dog-race would be cool. Maybe an Elder Scrolls game had this and I missed it, but I would include situations where you get treated as one-of-us because someone knows you sip on the skooma. I want to be asked "How much?" because I am playing as a female wearing a short skirt, or having a pedestrian ask "what's wrong with you" because I just parked a stolen car with handicap-tags. Are there any games that do that well, rather than treating a suit as a simple keycard?

I sometimes getting a small adrenaline rush by doing something visibly odd in public, such as stacking 10 or so grocery-items (no liquids) upon each other and then risking all. People look at me as if I am blatantly breaking some social contract as I make my way through the parking-lot to my car like some sort of spinning-plate acrobat.

If you bring your own bags, and you hold on to them, the bagger will have to ask you if you want help and you can non-chalantly say "No thanks, I can get it."If they start bagging your groceries with store bags, just say "Oh, don't worry anout bagging, I have my own bags."

I want to be able to romance the leaders of the other civs. Dido is looking hot and I didn't get introduced until the 14th century so she's got an exotic appeal. I feel like she isn't willing to trade with me because she just hasn't had a chance to get to know me. I was thinking that I could invite her to the National University I've built in Seoul and see what she says. I'm not concerned about the possibility of her stealing a technology, I just want to get to know her better. I won't bring up any serious issues on our first date, like that Casmir seems to be expanding his military-might by waging an unjust war with England. I feel a little bit responsible for it because I supported his war with France when Napolean was feeding on Venice. But now Casmir is becoming a bully and I'd just like to have someone to talk to about it, someone who might understand. I wouldn't mind putting together a military-escort if she can't afford her own, not that I'm saying she can't, I just don't know (she hasn't even accepted my embassy). I can't imagine that Venice would attack her envoy as she passed by, but in this world of politics, one must take precautions. Even if things didn't work out, I'd be cool with it. I might say something wrong or she might just not enjoy Korea. I would understand if I saw "Had a terrible time on your date" in red whenever I moused over her "neutral" status. But who knows, I'm not expecting a defensive pact or anything, just a chance at... I don't know, maybe a declaration of friendship?

Batman has anger management issues.

When I read in my dreams, sometimes I try to re-read a line and it is the next sentence. If I just glance back to re-read a word, sometimes the beginning of the next word combines with the ending of the former. I wonder if that's why you got "The Milary Comodium" Was it Bjork? I love Bjork dreams. I got to watch an entire concert in a dream once. It was awesome.

This discussion reminds me of the relationship between porn and sex. Porn is filmed in such a way to make it look visually stunning, it is sex intended to pleasure a third-party viewer. Many people have difficulty obtaining information about sex and end up using their exposure to pornography as an educational means. But the problem is that many people get no pleasure from porn-sex, pleasurable sex for them is a type that is incredibly boring to watch on a screen. Action movies and games are framed in such a way to make it look visually stunning, it is a series of actions intended to pleasure a third-party viewer. Many people have difficulty obtaining information about national security methods and end up using their exposure to movies and games as an educational means. But the problem is that the visually stunning series of actions are not effective in the case of actual national security. Effective national security methods are incredibly boring to watch on a screen.

Besides ethical considerations, I think that a lot of the argument about torture involves the perceptibility of results. Pro-torture can point out instances where torture has obtained information that was then corroborated for accuracy. This is much more easy to document and show as evidence than the evidence in favor of the anti-torture argument which depends on wider perception of national identities and the complexities of relationships over time. I get the impression that those who support torture have an inflated impatience and urgency involved in their arguments saying things like "We need results fast!", but they are ignoring a more systems-based view where more of the implications are considered such as public trust and symbolic reputations. From my perspective, when the State who claims moral high-ground as their agenda uses torture, the terrorists win. If only there was an art-form that was based on procedural systems; we could make art that would begin to demonstrate the enormous web of cascading pros and cons involved with actions such as torture. I'd love this, because moral arguments are sloppy.

I wonder if there is a Twilight mod for Oblivion where you can feed off of deer instead of people; and you sparkle.

Some people are vegetarian because they view meat production as a wasteful use of limited common resources. Also, I get the impression that some people eat meat in such a way that they are actively stating that animals have no value beyond human dominion or that they as consumers, cannot be told what to do or how to be ethical (sometimes with a defense of their cultural traditions or a religious argument).Then there is the whole GMO thing, the rise of localvores and the slow-food movement. What I'm interested to see in a game is where players choose between consumables which are necessary, based on a balance of convenience, economy, and the fiction or narrative of what the production and distribution of the consumable necessitates. Soylent Green, the game would be an excellent example if the player had a choice of how to sustain themselves. Actually I just thought of two examples: -Fallout 3 -Vampire, the Masquerade.

I finally had a chance to try Versu out on a friend's ipad. Your depiction nailed my experience playing the Versu story "The House on the Cliff". I mean, you really nailed it. I still find myself excited about Versu for its potential (your eye-rolls are understandable). There were moments when the game was able to express fickle, momentary favoritism. I also got a very particular perspective on how groups of people make decisions together that will stick with me for a while. I don't think that the system depicts small group-politics accurately, but it makes me think about them in a cynical and reductive way (which I value). But it sure was rough. It was a struggle to play through for the reasons you enumerated.I also played "The Unwelcome Proposal". I played as Mr. Collins and it wasn't an enjoyable experience for me because I couldn't bring myself to make decisions that he wouldn't make in Pride and Prejudice; and if I could, there didn't seem to be any selectable choices with which I would be able to do so. I'm looking forward to playing with it more when I have a copy, but my baseless hopes for a believable relationship-sim are dashed. Now, I'm just excited about having a sim in which I can experiment with making friends and influencing people. I haven't played anything like it. The game is so different than anything I've played, that I had a hard time figuring out what I could influence and what I could not. But Versu needs some work for the reasons you mentioned.

Parents are a really interesting form of authority to me. They aren't authorities that you voluntarily submit to like peer-groups, but they still have a face and the idiosyncracies of another human (unlike a religion or state). For me, my parents often symbolize my default personal policies that intend benevolence, but appear flawed when examined.

Is there a game where your choice of food or an equivalent (like health-packs or ammo) is treated as a political decision? It seems that western-vegetarianism has sucessfully convinced the public that personal diet is a political stance. Are there any games that seem to reflect that idea with their themes or mechanics?

Last night, I dreamt that I was playing Super Monday Night Combat in the hallway of the church I grew up in (an area where adults would greet each other at arrival and also say their goodbyes after the service). I had full juice and my team was going for a final push when my dad unplugged the internet for a moment to get some a/v setup to work correctly (for his men's prayer group or whatever). I was visibly upset for just a moment and said "shit!" and my dad said "Did you just say 'shit' in church?" and I felt both a shame for lacking self-control, but also a sense of injustice. I said "Yeah, I've lost my priviledges to play this game at church, but you knew I was doing something on the internet and it was inconsiderate of my interests and disingenious to unplug it without telling me you were going to do so."