Giant Bombcast 547: Smash Bros. Tournament Hygiene

@swisslion: Yep

It's fine to say "the people who sell the guns should be held accountable" but without some regulatory body to enforce this accountability it's a moot statement. It's great to idealize the Jeffersonian concepts of limited government or State focused government, but even he flip flopped on these concepts constantly, and that was back when the idea of limited government or state focused government was actually possible just due the country's size and newness. Gun control can be reasonably better instituted, and by the government. The only real stumbling block is infectious rhetoric bought and paid for by organizations like the NRA, and the money that they provide to get people to promote these ideas (one such is that all common sense gun control lobbyists are still looking to ban all guns, a other is that gun control is government restriction, which isn't any more true than any law being government restriction).

About 31 minutes in to the Cyberpunk demo there was a segment where they pulled out and were driving in 3rd person, did no one else notice that?

@bicycle_repairman: While I agree in theory, in practice it is the same thing. Many regional teams are barely even in that region (players live all around the country, training facilities elsewhere, maybe not even a stadium) and boil down to a brand anyway. That is especially the case as people's mobility has drastically increased over the past century.

For example: I don't really like American Football, but I identify as being a scumbag from Philly even though I live far enough away that visiting family is an entire day in airports. My family identify as New Yorkers even though my mother is an immigrant and my father is from elsewhere: they just spent a decade or two there. So we were expected to cheer for the Jets growing up. The Jets, who are stationed in Jersey (along with the Giants).

So even regional teams boil down to being brands more than anything else.

Some more info on the shooting: The shooting was done with a handgun. The mall where the shooting took place was a gun-free zone. The shooter was aged 24 years and old and was not a resident. Nothing concerning this tragedy has any relevance to Florida legislation.

The shooter brought the gun down with him from his home in Baltimore. Maryland is a state with some of the tightest gun control laws, and the city of Baltimore has additional restrictions on owning guns. The gun laws in Baltimore do a poor job of curbing gun violence.

@midnightgreen20:

You are being very unspecific? Troll?

Creating an account just to post a comment that basically willfully misinterprets literally everything anyone in the comments, or on the Bombcast for that matter, has said. Seems like a very good faith member.

@tikicobra: You don't need to understand what a pull camp or a ahgs is to understand a great underdog story, a great competition. The human element is the same in Dota as it is in any other team sport, and the human story of TI this year was just incredible. That, and the casting is good enough you can get a lot out of the games even if you don't understand anything. I would highly encourage you to watch a little bit of the grand finals if you have the time. Games 4 and 5 are literally some of the best and most entertaining sport I have ever seen in my entire life.

Daily Dota let's go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No. What desensitizes us is the 24/7 news cycle that occurs during tragedies like this. If we remember and honor the victims, but abolish the perpetrators into the realm of obscurity it gives them less power. And power/infamy is what they crave. A lot of them come from broken homes or families. If that isn't the case then they come from shit social situations. Whatever the case they're like a rabid dog in a corner and they use this to get out. To get remembered and known, or to take revenge.

There was a BBC interview some time ago with an FBI profiler after an all to familiar sight like this, but in Germany. The guy essentially said to stop making pariah's out of these... savages. Most of them crave it at this point. Unfortunately the CNN's, MSNBC's, and Fox News' of the world can't do that. The second something like this happens they all start to get a chub and get to work immediately on graphics, soundbytes, and researching what the killers had for breakfast that morning. Then it gets politicized where people essentially stand on still fresh graves to put their fucking message forward.

I'm all for making it about the tragic loss of life and remembering the victims. Not plastering the faces of psychopaths or sociopaths on television screens so the next nut that might crack sees it as a way to gain notoriety.

What survival game was Brad talking about? I can't find the moment in the podcast.

Thank you for making the tragic shooting a topic on the Bombcast and also for taking a stance in favor of sensible gun laws!

Ahh, the old "gun free zone" fallacy argument...

The US as a WHOLE does a poor job of curbing gun violence. Gun free zones do not work as intended when the whole country around them basically drowns in guns. America is sick.

Evil Genius always had some heel-ish qualities about them. From The very heavy monster branding in all of their content back when Red bull was synonymous with energy drinks to Idra & Incontrol high fiving eachother for telling a guy to STFU on a talkshow. Poaching the Starcraft player Huk from Liquid had quite some drama attached to it as well. Arteezy & Sumail have had their dramaqueen moments as well.

The strength of OG winning was that they had a few very experienced dota players that know how to draft, a great coach, and players that can basically play every hero in the game. Like i was watching this draft analysis and in the finals they kept having to dedicate a ban to Skywrath Mage to protect their enchantress. Only because Topson, the pubstar, was known for playing this very unconventional hero. Against other teams, there was no threat of that hero being picked. They also were able to think outside the meta and come up with heroes that are quite bad overall, but turned out to be the exact hero needed for that 1 specific situation. Like Axe was picked 1 or 2 times this tournament , and then won a game basically on his own and kept OG in the tournament. Or the crazy offlane treant protector that was able to stem the bleeding after losing the laning situation by making it impossible for LGD to translate their lead into killing towers off. As well as offering a root to counter the storm spirit.

I think it's fair to say that LGD played a cleaner version dota and were able to win most laning match ups, but when it came to the drafts & item builds, OG was just on a higher level than them.

Seriously. At least give Game 4 & game 5 of the grand finals a look. It's amazing.

@bicycle_repairman: Honestly, i feel like the obsession with the prizepool is mostly to signal the relevance of Dota & The International to outsiders & the community than it's an obsession for the actual players. Especially when you realize that the community itself is responsible for most of that money and are just excited that after all these years the community is still able to generate such a huge prizepool.

At this point, if you play in the International, you'll have a good time regardless whether it's a few millions more or less. But if you're playing at that level, you have played and / or studied everyone in that room for countless hours. There's basically no team that is not capable of winning a game against you. There is no question whether someone deserves respect , because there's this whole year long schedule that brought these players here. Respect has been earned. Even in the interviews , you'll never hear a player call another player bad or garbage. Not even as lighthearted trashtalk.

I also think that it being a teamgame basically forces you to be or become a good teammate. There are only so many teams in a region, and if you turn out to be an asshole, bridges will be burned.

The idea that someone starts playing Dota because he wants to win that money, in the way that the EA e3 presentation played out, is quite insane. After spending thouzands of hours without a team and then learning playing the game within a team will not work out if money is your driving factor. You need to do it for the competive aspect & the chance to play alongside the best players in the game. That you can make insane money if you're on top is what makes it a somewhat viable path.

Maybe it would be viable to get in Dota for the money if there were more weekly 100$ amateur tournaments to play in or something. But with how top heavy the scene is, you won't be able to get far without the competitive spirit other top sport players have.

You can't remember the last generation Pokemon starters? You cannot remember Popplio?

Maryland is in the bottom 50% of firearm deaths in the USA.

One might say that a state by state level of gun control doesn't work, and gun control as a whole on a federal level needs to be addressed. Nobody says an entire ban of guns is the definite answer, but fuck just improve background checks? You can pass a check and get a gun in a day in many states, most other background checks take several days or years if you're getting a clearance.