ThunderPeel2001

I hear there's lots of space in the Dixie Square Mall.

Aye, that's fair enough.

elmuerte is right, that's a section you can't get to yet (although you CAN get your character stuck on the stairs if you really want).

I'm not arguing for anything...? I started off asking what Chris was referring to (he seemed to be referring to the proposed Bill, but he described Dewar's solution -- I wanted to make sure he didn't have them confused). The only thing I care about with regards to this discussion right now is that people appreciate that there's a fundamental difference between government sanctioned self-regulation and government regulation -- and that's only because everyone seems to be trying to tell me they're the same. Even if you dislike them both, I think it's important to acknowledge and understand their differences -- even if it's just so you can complain about the right things!

As I said before, you get ALL the bridging levels: Trinket #1, minecarts, zoo, island, and trinket #2.

Yeah, that's true... I was just referring to, you know, Hard Disk fail.

Yep, I know. Being forced to solve (what I've deemed to call) the "bridging" puzzles every time is pretty annoying

I appreciate we're into semantics here, so I'll keep this brief: I think you're getting the definition of "policy" confused. If a governmental regulatory body was created to give ratings to video games, Congress would not have to agree on what games were given an "E" rating, and what games were given an "AO" rating. No policy changes would be necessary for the Executive branch to order them to become stricter with their ratings. To get back to what's being discussed... Here's a good discussion of the pros and cons of what we're talking about, that doesn't devolve into "censorship is bad!!!!11" knee-jerk reactions: http://massively.joy...eo-game-conten/

From The Blackwell Dictionary of Political Science: "'The Government' usually refers to the rulers, that group of people who are in charge of the state at a particular time. Terminology is not universal, even in the English speaking world. In the USA it is usual to call them the 'administration'. (Thus (in 1996) one would write of the Major Government in Great Britain and the Clinton Administration in America.)

Buying a second harddrive and setting up a RAID 1 array is also pretty secure. The chances of losing data then are extremely slim.

Hmm. Maybe we're talking at cross purposes, here. When people complain about their government, it seems to me that they're referring to the Executive branch -- the electable, policy-making, part. As in, "Woo! We just got a new Government!" or "Stupid government! I can't wait until the next election". I've never heard anyone complain about the government and be referring to civil servants...? I've heard people refer to "Congress" (the legislative arm), "The Supreme Court" (the judicial arm) and "The Government". I can't say I've ever heard any American refer to their "Cabinet"...? Edit: Indeed, my dictionary defines "government" as: "the executive policy-making body of a political unit, community, etc; ministry or administration" It does have the other, "technically correct" definition, but I don't think I've ever come across people using that in conversation...? Hmm!

Oops. Double post.

It's still self-regulation, even if it's mandated. The ESRB could rate every single software release "E" and there's nothing the government could do about it. Yep, that's an argument for government regulation. (Some people say that "self-regulation" is as good as "no regulation", given the obvious conflicts of interest.) Unfortunately there's downsides, too: If the government controls the body that regulates things, then there's still the chance of conflict of interest. Any President, even one with a lack of understanding of games, would have the sole power to essentially kill the "Mature" games market -- pushing everything into the harsher category of "Adults Only" if they wanted to. There's pros and cons to both systems. I personally think government mandated self-regulation (which is what we have for films here in the UK) works just fine. But that's just my opinion. This is unrelated. They're publicly controlled. Again, there's pros and cons to privately owned and publicly controlled public services. Here in the UK, our government is trying to privatise everything (they even did trials for privatising the police -- eek). London's public transportation system is also privatised now... and we're considered to have one of the worst underground train systems in Europe. Privatisation isn't the answer to everything.

Seriously? Is this just an American thing? The fact that the policies of that office would change with every administration, that it would be used as a political pawn, is a minor difference? Industry self-regulation is a minor difference to government regulation? I can't believe I'm (apparently) the only one here who understands how massively important that distinction is. PS - Tycho, if your police and courts were controlled by the government, you'd be living in a police state. The government could legally, and with no complaints, direct the police to arrest their political opponents. They could force the courts to find anyone they pleased guilty. The police and the courts are independent to the government -- and that's a huge and important difference, not to mention fundamental to democracy itself.

There's lots of nice touches in this game.

I've updated my Raiders of the Lost Ark meetings e-book: http://bit.ly/RaidersTapesE-Book

This conversation is maddening!

Oh man! Looks good!

Yeah, it sounds like an application specific to your keyboard :-/

Yeah, that well puzzle was counter intuitive. I think I solved everything else myself, though. I've completed it with all the characters (although my achievements didn't pop - annoying!) and it's the charm and personality that allows me to look past its short-comings. Although I do wish they didn't force you to replay the bridging levels (trinket, miner, zoo, island, trinket). And that the beautiful cave paintings weren't so distorted.

Windows has never told me I have Caps Lock on... It's possible that that was a third party program?

Thank you, Chris. (Also, I'm little worried that so few people think there's a difference...!)

I can't believe you're seriously asking me that. Just think about it for a few minutes. Who would you want rating games? Some government office that will change policy with the tides of the politics, or an independent apolitical body that remains comparatively consistent? It's the difference between having the armed forces taking care of law and order (owned by the government, changes policy depending who is in power), and the police and the court system (independent apolitical bodies which the government doesn't control). You really don't see a difference?

*** puts fingers in ears *** La, la, la. I can't hear you! La, la, la.