ewokskick

Watching QO's PA dive the base is a thing of beauty. Even though they won the group, OG looked more beatable than they have in recent months. They'll have a long road through the lower bracket now. I know it's too early to say this for sure, but I think the eastern teams are going to crush this TI.

Definitely. I think be prepared for teams is more important than ever. At other TIs it felt like you could win but understanding the meta better. This time around it seems it's all about understanding the match ups.

MVP just upset OG in game 1. I know that MVP picks aren't in the meta so teams don't want to ban them, but I think giving them dark seer + spirit breaker + PA + Bounty is a bad idea. They basically got all their favorite heroes. I'd rather play against MVP with meta heroes than MVP with MVP heroes. Fly is a great drafter and I don't expect them to get out picked twice in a row.

I'll just be over here bleeding blue.

I think they won't make it two rounds. They look god awful. Maybe they can figure things out, but it looks like they can only win with cheesey huskar picks.

What this person see as the disadvantage of the FPTP system, others see as the advantage. The FPTP system is supposed to promote strong coalitions. Rather than a party becoming just "Gorillas" the parties are supposed to become owl and gorilla coalitions that find common ground and ideally legislative representation. The effect of this is that it tends to promote the more moderate and common ground policies of either coalition. I know in the U.S. this was rather intentionally built into our electoral system (among other checks against extremist candidates such as the electoral college and 100 years of senate appointments). This trends towards incremental change makes it very hard for any minority political ideology to get outright representation. However, it also has made our political system very resilient against extremist democratic take overs. In the 1930s when fascist movements were taking over many of the European governments, similar movements existed in the U.S. (including American Nazi movements and KKK off-shoots). However, due to our electoral system and political culture, these movements largely failed to penetrate our national politics. Sadly, other systems that solve the "spoiler effect" have their own (sometimes) worse problems. The math of instant run off voting can lead to effects where ranking a candidate higher actually hurts them. That means it's a system than can quite literally reverse a voter's intentions. Normal run-offs are expensive. Proportional representation only works for legislators, takes power from candidates and gives them to parties, and tends to diminish geographical representation in favor of party representation. Single Transferable voting forces parties to campaign against themselves, requires higher voter knowledge (since you're usually choosing between many candidates often of the same party), and has the IRV problem of mathematically making it possible to penalize a voter for ranking their preference higher. All of these systems, baring proportional representation also make the actual act of voting more confusing. That might not seem important, but our 2000 presidential election was literally decided by confusing ballots in Palm Beach Florida. I'm not saying FPTP is awesome, but I think that video does the thing where it takes a complex issue and makes it seem like there is a "common sense" solution. In doing so, it hide a lot of biases that the filmmaker has (and in this case may not even know he has). I want him to explain why the "spoiler effect" is a problem and why two party systems are bad. I want him to look at places other than the U.S. that use a FPTP system to see if it leads to two party systems (spoiler: it doesn't). I don't mean to be harsh, but I often think videos like that do more harm than good. They give just enough information to make the viewer feel informed, but not nearly enough for the viewer to actually be informed.

Yeah EU had the best games. NA and China's finals were really good too. Both Bo5s went 5 games and were really exciting.

Ah, I haven't read anything from her. So I guess I am in for something new. I haven't read a short story collection in a few years so this should be a nice change of pace.

It was like there was always a LAN, but not always with good teams and the casual online matches I'd watch for an hour or two basically never have anyone I care about. It's like there is too much dota, but also not enough good dota. Personally, I am not sure majors have actually made anything better. Jenna said it'd be better with one fewer major and I think that would help. I also would like to see the return of online events like Dotapit and Captains Draft. Being able to watch an event that is spread out instead of taking up a whole weekend+ makes it easier to casually watch.

Is this a novel or a short story collection?

I had this experience while reading Orhan Pamuk's Museum of Innocence while in Istanbul. It's not Pamuk's best book, but being in the city while reading it certainly made a pretty big impression on me. I wonder if people in NYC who, like you said, must have this experience constantly become numb to this. I'll also add that some books do a better job of generating this surreal feeling than others. For example, I just read We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves by Kathryn Joy Fowler which takes place in Davis and features the university and many other landmarks I went to while reading it. However, it didn't leave me wonderstruck. It just felt like a fun connection to me. Edit: Also I am a big fan of TMITHC, I wonder if I need to read it again...

Yeah, as an occasional Lich picker I am still happy. He's definitely more viable in this patch than in the last couple even with the nerf.

Yeah they already nerfed Lich.

It ends when you've listened to a few specific clips that will kind of explain the case. I think this is an interesting theory, but I don't get why Gone Home is taking place in the moment, but something like Everyone has Gone to Rapture isn't. In both cases, your actions basically just uncover the story. I think you're onto something though. I don't think a story taking place in the present is essential to walking sims. I do think it's one good strategy to get player buy-in. Other strategies can work too. I think of Gone Home as the perfect example of how using layered and compelling environmental story telling is enough to get player buy-in. Firewatch does it through the instantaneous interactions with Delilah. Stanley parable does it with interactive narration. The Beginner's Guide does it with unreliable narration about a past relationship. Dr. Langekovksy does it with humorous narration. Amensia: AMFP uses mood and the suggestion of risk. I think there are a bunch of ways to get player buy-in. Some of those I listed involved active story participation. Others focus on story presentation. I think there are a myriad of strategies that developers can use to generate player interests. The problem with a game like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is that it requires a very compelling narrative to make the player willing to slowly lumber between story bits. If that story doesn't hit with the player they will hate it. On the other hand, that's an opportunity for a developer. If you're that confident in your story then adding puzzles or monster sneaking (I'm looking at you SOMA) may just distract and detract from the appealing part of your game.

I really like the discussion of "walking simulators." I think that they hit the nail on the head about there needing to be some interactive component to the narrative and/or a really compelling story to pull you along. I'm definitely a fan of what games like Tacoma seem to be trying where they make the landscape traversal in a walking sim fun in its own right. Great episode.

This looks like monument valley, but instead of charming it decided to be immature.

I went to a church in Oklahoma (sorry if that means I'm not educated enough for you!) that allowed openly homosexual and transgendered. It was the location where the PFLAG chapter in my community met. It has participated in and hosted LGBTQ activism including pushing for change within the United Methodist Church as a whole. They've been a very progressive force in my community. And you're going to tell me that these people shouldn't allow their religious values to motivate their politics? Do you think it was wrong for the civil rights movement to have been organized through black churches? I don't know if you are unaware or just don't care how condescending you seem. In this thread, you've argued that red state democrats (especially black ones) are less educated and less thoughtful. Do you even understand how that sounds? I can't even comprehend it. It's the worst case of subtle racism and not so subtle elitism parading as progressivism I've seen in a long time. I'm sure you're a good person, but I feel like you've attacked myself and a lot of people I know and love in some very ignorant ways. Oh well, I'll probably just have to stay away from this thread because it is so toxic. A rarity on this board.

Almost out of time to join. It's a pretty fun way to get into college basketball even if you barely watch.

That looks pretty bad. I hope Valve finds a new partner in China if those accusations are true.

Definitely. Judged purely on film adaptations, his work definitely doesn't fair very well. There is a lot of mediocrity and some just plain crap.

If you expand the list to include things inspired by PKD: A Scanner Darkly, Total Recall, The Matrix, Blade Runner, The Truman Show, and most things by Kaufman or Cronenberg. Outside of film, he inspired some of Crumb's comics, some cool art installations, and novelists like Haruki Murakami and Ursula le Guin, and probably a lot more.

Weird that you think this. I can think of more things inspired by or adapted from Philip K Dick that are great than anyone but Shakespeare.

Wrong Thread