maudlin27

Reply to Boycott Against McDonalds in Current Events JoeUser Forums

IMO the whole issue is fairly simple: The beauty of the market is that it allows consumers to vote with their money. So, if you disagree with McDonalds stance on the issue and how they're promoting a particular agenda, you can vote by not giving them your money in future. Just as if you support their stance you can vote by giving them your money and buying some cheeseburgers etc.. As such I don't see any problem with such a boycott. If some people believe that marriage should only be be

Reply to Alternative Energy Solution in Politics JoeUser Forums

Why spend money on it now, when it's not needed? It would cost a fortune, use up lots of fuel just to get the spacecraft up there, and likely not be worth considering for hundreds of years. If that money was instead invested into renewable energy, then the whole problem could be solved sooner, and for much less! I mean consider the fortune spent by NASA over the years to land on the moon, or launch various shuttles/probes etc. to far off planets. What have we got to show for that? What

Reply to Obama: Income Redistribution in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]"Windfall profits" implies an unusual event such as we have now in the gasoline crisis. In these times it is not asking too much for the profiteers to give back some of the spoils.[/quote] Why should they? Say for example you're a small gold mining company (i.e. you're a price taker not a price maker), and the price of gold suddenly shoots up as people are worried about how reliable the currency is, and various other reasons, meaning you then make more money. Should you then be e

Reply to Obama: Income Redistribution in Politics JoeUser Forums

It's this decision which has really made me reconsider whether I want Obama to win. Taxing a company because they've made 'too much' profit is a terrible way to go, and will wreck havok with market incentives. In effect, it means companies will have little or no incentives to make sure they're efficient and cut their costs, since doing that will increase their profit, which they'll then lose to a windfall tax. It also makes investments much more uncertain - e.g. you could spend lots of money in

Reply to I'm not one who believes PC gaming is dying...HOWEVER... in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Sadly true. I really want to play mass effect, for example, but am put off by all the baggage the PC version comes with. Unfortunately I don't own a 360 (I foolishly chose a Wii, only to find that a year and a half later it STILL has a hopeless selection of games) so that means I have to decide just how much I want to play the game. Atm I've decided it isn't worth it. I'll no doubt have another hard decision when Spore is released, and am cursing EA for ruining so many great games with their DRM

Reply to Offshore Drilling Is Bogus in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Do you really think this offshore drilling will have an effect on oil prices? No. The US consumes about 23,000,000 barrels per day (domestic 9200000 b/d 40% and imports 13800000 b/d 60%). Now, let’s say, within the next 15 to 20 years, the US double its production of oil. Would this reduce the price of oil? No, because according to the Energy Information Agency of the U.S. government, world demand for oil is expected to increase by 54 percent in the first 25 years of the 21st ce

Reply to Dou you believe in the Free Market? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Free markets result in the most efficient outcome that maximises the net benefit of society (assuming an absence of imperfections+failures). The case of market imperfections+failures there can be a case for government intervention to correct them, and result in the most efficient outcome being chosen, but the markets are still needed to achieve this. The alternative extreme, that is completely state controlled markets (i.e. communism) is terribly inefficient and destined to failure.

Reply to Cheap Labor: The Rule of Men in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]"Everyone takes advantage of cheap labor wherever they can." Right, screw humanity.[/quote] Ah, but in the case of cheap labour wrt other countries (e.g. sweatshops), is it more humane to give say 1000 people a good wage and leave the other 9000 to starve, or to give 10,000 people a very poor wage (but one that they can just about survive on)? It's the irony of people who argue for sweatshops to pay higher wages on the arguments of fairness, or on 'this item of clothing

Reply to Simple explanation of inflation. in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] An increase in price is not automatically inflation, though Obama liberal media supporters would like you to think so [/quote] ? If prices on average increase, you've got inflation. That is, the purchasing power of $1 after the price increase is lower than before. Of course measuring the actual rate of inflation is a much tougher prospect. Typically what is done is to take a 'basket' of goods for the average individual and look at how the prices on those goods change over time. You a

Reply to The Failure of Capitalism! in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Capitalism only works when society keeps it in check through government [/quote] Not necessarily (depending on if you mean society keeping it in check in all situations, or some) - there are some situations where it is far better for government not to intervene in the markets, since they can end up making things much less efficient and make everyone worse off as a result. There are other cases where the market failure is so great that government intervention, although not perfect, wo

Reply to Know a great RPG? in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote] Quite, which is why I prefer semi recent games. Often we remember good games very fondly but if we ever go back and attempt to play them again suddenly they seem blocky and awkward [/quote] Don't dismiss Deus Ex outright because of this - I've been back to replay it a number of times (including recently) and yes, the graphics aren't amazing, but they're not so bad that they ever get in the way of the game, and you quickly adjust to them. The sound meanwhile is still good - every sing

Reply to Diplomacy is broken in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

Huh? Usually if I want a planet from the AI even if I offered almost every planet I own, along with all my fleets, techs, gold, influence etc., they'd still say no. I would agree that it's quite cheap to make them go to war with each other, but equally they can end the war fairly soon as well. Also I don't see much wrong with being in a strong position if you can get all the diplo techs, the 2 diplo wonders, and on top of that manage to stay ahead of the AI technologically. My only

Reply to Know a great RPG? in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Can anyone recommend a Great Story Driven Game?[/quote] May Payne 2 - a brilliantly told story, and I've yet to see a game do better (storywise). It's also a good game aside from the story part, of course.

Reply to Getting 3 Habitable Planets In Your Home System (This Works On The Metaverse) in Modding GalCiv2 Forums

IMO a 'fix' to this would just be to have a set number of 'PQ points' for the relevant race (or the same amount for every race), and that way if this is done the PQ of the planets in the system is adjusted accordingly.

Reply to Pirates are eating themselves! in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote] Steam authenticates every game online whenever you try to run it [/quote] I also thought this was the case (and was incensed by the fact that I needed internet connection every single time I wanted to play half life 2 offline), but you can fortunately disable this option to allow you to play games without connecting to steam first (although you still of course need the initial online authentication to activate the game when you first install it - not much of a problem if you've downl

Reply to Pirates are eating themselves! in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote] The ones Hood stealed from didn't give much or anything for their people. And does this also mean you haven't got anything from the corporations you're stealing from? Finally, the ones Robin Hood gave the stuff to were suffering and starving to death [/quote] I take it you'll be the first to agree with a regressive tax rate where we tax the poor 50%, the middle incomes 30% and the rich 10% then, since if the poor can afford food that's all that matters? Anyway, come back when you und

Reply to Why I love PC gaming in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

My favourite genres are RPG and Strategy. As such although I've had great fun with some console games the PC has always remained closest to my heart. All in all I prefer the console for platorms+first person shooters, and the PC for strategy. RPGs I also find slightly better on the PC (although it depends on the game; nwn and morrowind are best on PC, while games like fable and jade empire are fine on the console). The PC is also great for modding which I like , hence another reason why

Reply to Pirates are eating themselves! in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote] I only assumed that people were all smart, sane, and well-informed [/quote] Still not enough, since plenty of people will purchase a game rather than pirate it if they are smart, sane, well-informed and rational. However it is a step forward that you are at last recognising rationality isn't the only assumption you need to be making! [quote] As long as you aren't from one of the barbarian countries, you are rich. The bum who lives in government housing here lives larger than

Reply to Know a great RPG? in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I've spent a lot of time on morrowind (elder scrolls), and it's a good game. I don't however count it as a great game because it's just to unwieldy/open ended for my liking. If you like almost completely open-ended gameplay then it's very good, but I usually need a bit more of a focus on a storyline to grab me with a game. That and I have huge issues with how they dealt with mages in morrowind (mages are usually my first choice of char in any RPG since they often have access to the most varied t

Reply to Pirates are eating themselves! in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote] Of course, just because a company treats you like a criminal does not mean you have to act like one and prove them right [/quote] It would seem plausible that such an approach would make you more likely to offend however - for example it would be highly likely that you will care less what happens to a company who treats you as a criminal than one who treets you as a good customer, and thus the impact of one of the potential reasons you wouldn't pirate (you like to benefit others/don'

Reply to Pirates are eating themselves! in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote] even when a pirated version of a game has a virus or trojan, the community makes it known and it's always at your own risk to download things from torrent sites or even warez sits(the former being much safer) [/quote] Since Sly has agreed that he is saying pretty well anyone who pays for a PC game is acting irrationally, it means that even if only a small number of pirate games can cause problems when obtaining them, and only for a minority of people, the fact that it is a possibili

Reply to Pirates are eating themselves! in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote] If emotion didn't exist and everyone were perfectly rational, no one would buy games... at all [/quote] Well aside from the glaringly obvious fact that assuming no-one has any emotion is ridiculously implausible, this STILL wouldn't be correct, because 'emotional' reasons are only a few of many as to why you might want to pay for a computer game instead of getting the pirate version for free, as I've already covered. Hence you are still incorrect to say this means people who pay for

Reply to EA Announces Knights of the Old Republic MMO in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Oh dear, why can't bioware stick to what they're best at - single player games? They may very well pull off a good MMO, but with the level of competition in the area I have my doubts if they'd be able to gain enough of a market share; people on one subscription based MMO aren't going to want to get another I wouldn't have thought, unlike normal games where if you have one you are still likely to want another.

Reply to Know a great RPG? in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

World of Warcraft is worth a look if you don't mind subscription based models - it has it's flaws, but you can get a free trail to see if you like it before having to spend anything at all. For older games nwn was great for mods, but the campaign itself was only average - HotU's campaign was much better however. There are some very good online mods for it though which kept me happy for a number of years. The graphics are fairly dated on it now though Baldurs gate 2 doesn't suff

Reply to Pirates are eating themselves! in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Rationality means doing what's in your best interest. I figured you didn't know. Supporting free-loaders, by the way, is not in a man's best interests. Conversely, paying for a game that free-loaders are already stealing makes little sense. [/quote] Again you fail to understand the concept of rationality. It can make perfect sense+be rational to pay for a game that others steal, and your inability to comprehend this simple fact shows your lack of comprehension on the subject.