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Unread postby Muzozavr » 05 Apr 2009 12:51

And what the fuck is the difference between regular Wikipedia and the "simple" version? Is it for simpletons or something?


The "simple" version is in "Simple English" for those who have English as their second language. At least that's what their main page says.

Why did they remove that link on the regular one, I don't have a clue.
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Unread postby icycalm » 06 Apr 2009 00:17

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Unread postby watatatow » 06 Apr 2009 01:20

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Unread postby icycalm » 06 Apr 2009 10:48

That was actually an interesting read. I see that I need to explain that great games are great both for "casual" (i.e. bad) players, and "competitive" (i.e. good) ones. People seem to have got it in their head that a good game is defined differently depending on the skill level of the player. What a quaint misconception!

Another thing that needs to be pointed out is that the things I say in the forum are worth the same as what I say in articles or reviews. One of the guys in that discussion discounts my forum posts, for some reason, whereas some of the most important things I've said so far have been in forum posts. My forum posts are always several months ahead of my articles, in fact.
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Unread postby icycalm » 06 Apr 2009 15:38

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Unread postby Molloy » 07 Apr 2009 00:06

Every second interview I read with a developer has them making the statement "...and then I realised why are we punishing the player?" It's really quite infuriating. How can anybody have a sense of achievement unless there's the possibility of failure!

I don't see why we can't have two modes in every game. The standard casual mode caters for idiots and has leveling and unlockable achievements. And the expert mode that's challenging, arcadey and replayable. Just cut out all the fat and padding built in to appease the superficial players and give us the juicy bits without the bloat. I can't stand most non-arcade games because of all the filler I have to wade through.
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Unread postby icycalm » 07 Apr 2009 12:20

Something slightly interesting finally came up in my stat reports:

OK, so I've been thinking lately that I wanted to write a blog (I don't write them often). I've had several ideas, one of which was an entry about a guy who calls himself "Alex Kierkegaard," who writes the commentary section of a website called "Insomnia." I've always wanted to delve deeper into post-modernism, and this Kierkegaard guy seems to fancy himself a contemporary Baudrillard (based on the two or three commentaries I read at Insomnia).


http://philosophywithpair.blogspot.com/ ... ision.html

Skimming through his blog, I found out that he seems to be a professor of some kind (philosophy most likely), and he also wrote that Zelda/philosophy book that came out recently. So I skimmed further, and came upon these priceless gems:

This brings me to my next point. The description of the Zelda book on amazon promises to consider a few questions concerning Zelda and philosophy. Note the use of the word "consider." Consider does not mean answer, nor does use of the word promise to provide one.


lolled pretty hard at this. Why the fuck should anyone waste his precious time reading your rubbish book, if you are not even promising to answer anything?

As Bertrand Russell taught, philosophy does not necessarily seek to answer any specific question; philosophy considers questions for the sake of the questions themselves.


Russell had some pretty mad defense mechanism skills. He needed them, too, seeing how crap at philosophy he was.

If this doesn't appeal to you, then, again, you're likely not so philosophically inclined.


How much more ass-backwards can you get? THE EXACT OPPOSITE is true. Whoever is satisfied with just "asking questions" will never achieve anything in philosophy (though he will achieve a great deal in academia). It's the people who will stop at nothing TO GET THE ANSWERS who are best suited to philosophy. This guy's blog is defense mechanisms running amok, lol.

I will be editing a World of Warcraft and Philosophy book sometime in the future, so, if possible, maybe that book can address some of the questions the Zelda book can't. But do remember that no one has read the Zelda book yet!


Seems to be a pretty lucrative market. How about a Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball and Philosophy book next? It seems that reviews are not enough to cover videogames any more -- each game should from now on have its own full length book.

This book is, in some sense, an attempt to bring the best parts of academia together.


The result speaks for itself! This "academia" place seems more and more interesting by the minute!

Some might be thinking that the writers are all ivy-leaguers trying to make money by exploiting yet another pop-cultural icon.


Perish the thought!

One doesn't have to be a philosophy professor to be a thinker.


Yes, but if one is a thinker, one is most certainly NOT a philosophy professor. Schopenhauer has already explained this, but I guess if you are writing ENTIRE BOOKS about individual videogames, you might perhaps not have enough time left over for studying people like Schopenhauer.

One of the goals of studying games, I think, is to figure out what it is about us that attracts us to them.


You don't have to "study" games to figure that out (and you most certainly do not have to spend half your life writing worthless books on individual videogames). Just stop playing games for a year or two. Then see what you miss about them, and how much you miss them. All the answers will be right there.

...

In conclusion, the chances that this dude might have something interesting to say about me are now very close to zero. The initial paragraph made me hopeful, but the rest completely reversed my expectations. Oh well. But if he does end up writing something, perhaps debunking it will provide me with amusement for a few minutes.
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Unread postby icycalm » 07 Apr 2009 12:31

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Unread postby icycalm » 07 Apr 2009 17:00

Regarding the pseudo-philosopher I mentioned earlier, the guy with the Zelda book, I just sat down and read an entire blog post of his:

http://philosophywithpair.blogspot.com/ ... ience.html

It is a typical blog post in that it doesn't analyze anything and doesn't so much as attempt to come to any sort of conclusion. What is it about? Beats me. Apparently, nothing. My guess would be that his Zelda book, and his upcoming World of WarCraft book, are about exactly the same subject. It seems to be a very popular subject with journalists and pseudo-philosophers these days.
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Unread postby icycalm » 13 Apr 2009 00:33

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Unread postby icycalm » 14 Apr 2009 11:29

http://www.smackcentral.net/phpBB3/view ... =1&p=43659

sibladeko wrote:This post was actually an experiment to see how fast I could get banned from insomnia.ac just for having different opinions.


I will never understand why the herd-men think it's bad to ban someone because of difference of opinion. What other reason is there to ban people for?
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Unread postby icycalm » 14 Apr 2009 16:49

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/sh ... ost8760244

http://www.mundialgamer.com/mensaje27749.html

No idea what they are saying in the second link, but they referenced me a couple of times.
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Unread postby bullethell » 15 Apr 2009 02:09

Icy's Arcane Heart review on useful links:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-40-49-en-70-2xa5.html
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Unread postby icycalm » 15 Apr 2009 11:29

I added that link, lol, a long time ago. I used to add all my reviews to Play-Asia's pages, but can't be bothered any more.
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Unread postby icycalm » 15 Apr 2009 18:02

For a moment I debated whether this should go into the lol thread, but then again this entire thread could easily go into the lol thread anyway (as well as pretty much the entire internet), so whatever.

http://forums.selectbutton.net/viewtopi ... 365#523365

Linking icy articles should really be like debasing the discussion into talk of Hitler and the Nazis. Though icy also talks about Nazis... so.

There are more than a few messages. If we're just talking about survival, the messages dwindle, this is true. But there's also an assumption in the article that nothing in life is meaningful anyway, and I guess if you believe that, jumping off a bridge is a much better option than trying to have a philosophical debate. If survival is the only option, then yes, there aren't many messages, but guess what? Survival isn't the only option. It hasn't been the only option for hundreds of years. As such, thought has changed, not necessarily evolved, the instincts are still there, but people have been able to find meaning for some time now. I now feel that I'm wasting my time, since debating an icy article is somewhat like banging one's head against a wall with a knife attached to it.


The mistake he makes is in talking about "survival". Pure survival is indeed meaningless -- but it was never about survival. It was, and is, and will always be, about domination. And that is where meaning begins -- and ends.
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Unread postby icycalm » 15 Apr 2009 22:08

What I especially like about this case, is that I am being called a fascist by an artfag. I -- the guy who says that all games have messages, and that all games are worthwhile, as long as you are enjoying them -- I am being called a fascist by the guy who wants to tell you that only A FEW games have messages, and that only HE can tell you which ones they are, and that if you are not playing one of them, and are "merely" playing to enjoy yourself, YOU ARE WASTING YOUR TIME.

The internet doesn't have lols big enough. This is something that must be fixed: we need bigger lols.
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Unread postby icycalm » 16 Apr 2009 12:01

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Unread postby icycalm » 17 Apr 2009 11:59

Looks like Wii-bashing of some sort:

http://www.mundialgamer.com/mensaje27865.html#p27865
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Unread postby icycalm » 23 Apr 2009 12:24

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Unread postby JoshF » 25 Apr 2009 14:34

Delete my posts in the old pixel thread because they're stupid.
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Unread postby icycalm » 25 Apr 2009 16:22

It would make part of the thread incomprehensible. Better to simply link the next thread at the end of the old one, so whoever ends up reading it will get a chance to see how your opinion has changed.

I'll soon be bringing out the first thread, then linking it with the other two, then making a fourth one, and linking everything on the frontpage. It's complicated but it'll do the job. You'll see.
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Unread postby icycalm » 27 Apr 2009 12:42

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Unread postby icycalm » 27 Apr 2009 13:27

http://www.eegra.com/forum/showthread.p ... #post16944

Oh, God, I read a few more articles from that insomnia.ac site and that Alex Kierkegaard is a complete idiot. Please tell me that you didn't get the rest of your ideas from that guy, Mr Naruhodo.

There's not a single good analogy there. Every comparison he makes actually disproves his point. I'm suprised that I haven't found an example of Godwin's Law with all the badly written articles there.

That rant on sequels, on art, on RPGs - all good topics, but horrible, horrible opinions. So depressing, and the way it's written in such a dick-ish manner makes me want to hit him. It's like he's just trying to sound smart and doing it loud enough to make people not want to question him.


http://www.eegra.com/forum/showthread.p ... #post17010

I think Kierkegaard has written the most intelligent, clearly-written articles about video games on the internet, by far. If you can't see that, well, I don't care. It's not my job to convince you. But I think it's telling that all of you that have criticized him haven't actually deconstructed any points he's made and proven them wrong, but instead just call him an asshole.


http://www.eegra.com/forum/showthread.p ... #post17041
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Unread postby icycalm » 28 Apr 2009 05:53

Some writers in their manner and stance intentionally provoke challenge and criticism from their readers. Others just invite you to think. Baudrillard's hyperprose demands only that you grunt wide-eyed or bewildered assent. He yearns to have intellectual influence, but must fend off any serious analysis of his own writing, remaining free to leap from one bombastic assertion to the next, no matter how brazen. Your place is simply to buy his books, adopt his jargon, and drop his name wherever possible.


http://denisdutton.com/baudrillard_review.htm

Inferior criticism always adopts the same stance regardless of the level of the work or the critic. It always relies on cheap shots, because when you are outgunned and outmaneuvered, that's all you've got at your disposal.
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