age, ageism, maturity...

[Phytotron]

Phytotron, THINK.

Obviously my personal experiences are not the world.

And you really took the comment about being IMMUNE to sunburn literally!? ////o

Coming from you and your reputation? I think this is another case of you doing your Pee-Wee Herman impression from his "Big Adventure." You know, the part where he's trying to show off on his bike to the BMX'ers, then crashes like a dummy, then hops up and says, "I meant to do that."

For those unfamiliar, a video clip for reference (though I think a relevant preceding bit was clipped): Pee Wee's Big Adventure - Bike Flip

You "meant to do that" a lot.



EDIT: And I page break a lot. Woohoo!

[Lord Pein]

Dude, forget it. I shouldn't have started acknowledging you again, my mistake.

[Tank Program]

*cough*

[Word]

Tank, you're getting a chronic bronchitis

[compguygene]

Tank, you're getting a chronic bronchitis

Better bronchitis than abuse of the banhammer, which is a temptation, to be sure.

[oddeuro]

I would say that there is plenty wrong with narcissism. But, I am willing to accept that people willingly choose to be narcissistic. As a Christian, I would have to take the position of disapproving of the inherent sin of said choice, but loving and not judging the person. So, in a way, my position, which at first glance is judgmental and quite the opposite of Chrisd's, really is different, but compatible.

"disapproving of the inherent sin" vs. "not judging the person".... It is not possible to have both attitudes at the same time. They are contradictory. Here one clearly sees why subscribing to any of the mass religions is a very inefficient way of having a spiritual life. All of them immerse the poor sap that falls for them in contradictory beliefs thus weakening that person.

Nope, it is very possible to not approve of something and not have it affect your opinion of someone. There are plenty of examples for this, but I'm not gonna go there, not the thread for it. But not liking something someone does doesn't mean you must persecute someone for thinking differently than you. If you honestly believe that all religions teach this judgemental way of life, especially Christianity, you haven't met any real Christians. There is a big difference between being Christian and running your mouth, misinterpreting the Bible and pretending. Just saying.

Well yeah, and there's a difference between holding people accountable for what they do wrong (judging actions) versus judging someone's heart. It's impossible to judge motives because you don't know what people's true motives really are, unless you are a mind reader. But you're right, not the thread to go off into all this.

Personally, just respecting people shows a lot of maturity. Just because you still read comic books or you like to joke around doesn't make you immature or childish, just means you kept the creativity that children are presented with.

[Phytotron]

Just because you still read comic books or you like to joke around doesn't make you immature or childish....

No one has made that or similar contention. We're all playing a friggin' video game, for crissakes.

[apparition]

I guess I kind of self-validate by describing Arma as more than just a video game (ie. "community").

[sinewav]

I guess I kind of self-validate by describing Arma as more than just a video game (ie. "community").

I find myself doing that too when talking to some people, especially the "older folks." The majority of people in my generation don't quite get the big picture when it comes to games, technology, the Internet... People my age still think of video games as "nerdy time-wasters." But it's somewhat true; I think I'd shoot myself if I played X-Box as much as Armagetron because this is so much more than sitting prone on the couch with a controller in my hand. Sure, X-Box and all the other consoles have a "social" aspect to them as well, but to me Armagetron is primarily a creative media for me to explore. I've learned a lot by messing around with this game, and developed some new job skills in the process. That's a big difference from "just playing video games."

[Jonathan]

I'm going to have to agree with that, sine. Armagetron has a ton of settings to explore (in an emergent way, unlike "change number of flags from 3 to 5"), things to change, and you can mess with the source. Not that I don't end up modding completely closed games one way or another, but Arma encourages and supports it.

[Lucifer]

I've actually gotten work because of my time here. Scored a $45k/year gig for two years based on one of those silly player ranking scripts I wrote a long time ago. More recently, I've gotten numerous job interviews because of my work here, and probably failed to get the job for the same reason (because if you think for yourself, employers don't like you).

Not to mention the outpouring of support I got from the community here during my divorce (which, for those who have had such an experience, is one of the worst time periods of your life).

I agree with the "more than a video game" reasoning here. It is.

[apparition]

To clarify, I totally agree it IS more than "just a video game" (obviously I like spending time on here and discussing the crazy issues that are unique to us ). I guess when Armagetron comes up in my real life (where video-gaming and non-intellectual/academic discussions are weird) discussing the "community" leverages the game (to myself and others) by highlighting the human aspect of the game. This community is full of very interesting and intelligent people and I get to brag about rubbing shoulders with programmers, game designers, graphic and auditory artists, and creative people here in general. Not only that, but all the people from across the globe - it's pretty awesome. I of course completely leave out all the trolls, spammers, and _~R~_/Tx though

[Lord Pein]

I of course completely leave out all the spammers

Clearly jealous of my Tronny award.

This game isn't more than a game to everyone though; and with that, other games are not just games to everyone. Community participation is an option in many games.

EDIT: I should add to that thought. This community differs from many other game communities in the fact that 1 player has a much higher weight than 1 person in games like World of Warcraft, Runescape, and Halo. The developers of AA talk to a much higher percentage of players (not that it is possible for some of those bigger games to personally respond to a high percentage of their players). Also, every player has the opportunity to make an immediate and direct impact on the game (i.e. adding to the game themselves).