Rookwood

@gamefreak9 said:

You know I'm being funny sure but... please don't speak in such tautologies... it makes me feel bad because I feel like i'm talking to a 10 year old moron.

Cowardly namecalling is even worse.

If you have a counter-argument state it. If not, try not to be so easily offended.

@martyarf said:

have you considered a dictatorship of the proletariat

That is a means to an end. The end has never been achieved and never will be until humans fundamentally change as a social creature.

@gamefreak9 said:

Well its not ALL bad, maybe you'd get an email warning you about the prompt in a week's time, and then there would be two "channels" a pro and a con side, and you would have various economists go and critique the policy choice and at the end of the week you vote! I think that would be okay.

Mob rule is worse than our current system. Our current system is plagued because people are too ignorant to learn about things like economic systems, global politics, social policies, general philosophy, etc. Instead they'd rather just watch Fox or MSNBC and get superficial confirmation bias. There is no way a purely democratic system would fix this. All logical conclusions point to it being much much worse.

What was he trying to say if it wasn't nigger? haha

Government nig-what?

It's at the least a Freudian slip, imo.

I really enjoyed the Witcher 1 as well. I haven't played 2 yet but it is at the top of my list to play.

Your description of the camera makes me cringe a little, but the issue that truly has me worried is you saying that it lacks atmosphere. That was hands down the greatest thing about the Witcher 1. There are a lot of games set in medieval times but I don't think any game has ever captured it like the Witcher. I would really be disappointed if it is sterilized as you say...

I think the experience boosts are way overblown. We know that it is a fairly easy process to level in the game without them, with 1 level taking about an hour and a half. No one knows, but at least initial impressions suggest that there is plenty of original content for each hour and half long level... IMO, these boosts are for people who really just want to max as quick as possible, basically alts. I don't see a problem with this and I think you will actually want to avoid them in your first playthrough.

The rest of his arguments mostly concern the effects on the overall economy. I don't see it. The MMO with hands down the best economy period has this system essentially. By institutionalizing in-game currency and real money transfers you are essentially backing your faux currency with real dollars, actually making it worth more to everyone. The argument that the economy will be weak seems to lie on the fact that gold will inflate. That's a completely different issue than gems and has little to do with them.

He also seems to think gems are a required investment. Comparing spending on them to working for minimum wage or something. This is an MMO... you are using both your disposable time and your disposable income. You do not have to make either investment if you do not wish.

I agree that there is a potential here for Anet to really screw up. But there's also plenty of room for this to be just fine if they balance everything appropriately.

Meh, I think the QQ is valid, but narrowminded and overstated. People won't be able to buy stats. If they can buy gold, they can only turn that into cosmetic armor because all stats are level. And even then some armor will be exclusive to content.. The only legit problem is that of the buffs that you can buy. That's really up to Anet to balance though. These buffs should be fairly cheap where it's not really much of an issue to buy them just with disposable income you accumulate in the game. Hopefully it will really boil down to time vs. money in this case where both costs are relatively low and inconsequential in the long run.

Rise of Nations

Grandia III

Spore got me as well. Learned the difference between a concept and actual gameplay with that one.

Why are you hating on Sessler? He's a lot like TB. He was one of the first people to do rants about the state of the industry and combine enthusiasm and serious gaming journalism.

As for TB, I don't consider him a hero really. He's a good caster, but I find him very uninspiring at times, he usually has one good rant per video.