Bay 12 Games Forum

Will let LB clarify (or not, as he pleases) his own position, but... are they? Almost certainly they're going to be inefficient -- how much gets thrown out on a daily basis, how much goes to waste, that could be avoided if it were a single operation (or they collaborated, which may have actually been happening)? How much less would the startup and maintenance costs have been if there was only one shop instead of several? And absolutely they're redundant, since you've got several providers of the same service in the same area... that's pretty close to the definition of redundancy.

Whether they're pointless or not... insofar as that goes, for what it's worth, I'm fairly sure LB was referring to the sort of thing that goes on more in the states, than the situation you're more familiar with. Work situation in a small mom and pops or whathaveyou can be considerably different than in a chain store or somethin' (though I don't believe that's the point LB was making, re: pointlessness). But... as a mental exercise, try to justify their existence. What's the point of the businesses being there, and how is (is?) that point intrinsic to the business itself? Is it an insult to question that?

In any case, there's just... not really insult in calling something redundant and pointless if it largely is, y'know? And I personally wouldn't hold it against people if that's what they end up having to do to get by. More criticism for the systems that forces people in that situation than the people forced into them. Don't conflate the businesses with the people runnin' 'em, yeah?

And to caveat things, I'm not saying that what you were familiar with was pointless. I don't know the situation enough to say either way, really. S'just... maybe you might be overreacting a titch, M? Reading more into what LB's saying than he was saying.

... wasn't it exactly like that the last time DFG got nerfed?

... probably muddling reading comprehension, but. I have to say. If murder was all it took to cause the temperature to drop below freezing, north Florida would be seeing a steady population decline.

I don't get why Al Bhed, the fakest Final Fantasy language ever, is a legit language option in the game's setting AND is present in the storyline. But hey, this isn't the kind of game you ask questions in, it's just too cool for explanation.

Ah, Al Bhed. I will forever remember its existence because of that prank translation of Tactics Ogre, haha~

Yes. Yes, there is a version of Tactics Ogre out there that is 100% translated into Al Bhed. It was good joke!

All of those are, well. Actually scarce, if you're talking from a "true" perspective. Digital property takes (scarce) physical resources to create, store, and propagate. Electricity, varying hardware materials, human effort, etc., so forth, so on. It doesn't just manifest from the aether.

Solar energy takes (scarce) resources to be able to collect and utilize. Even biological sources (plants) consume soil fertility and water, both of which are definitely scarce resources, in the long run (and, in some cases over history, the relative short run, too.). Even beyond that, the sun's reaction is, well. Limited. It won't go on forever.

There's just... no such thing as free, really. There's direct and indirect costs, so to speak, sure -- the direct cost of digital property may be functionally non-scarce (you can copy endlessly, assuming the situation doesn't change), but the indirect costs (what allows that copying to occur) definitely aren't. In regards to that, at least, Palau is speaking flat and absolute truth. Everything has a cost to it, and everything is finite. There's no such thing as a limitless resource, at the moment. S'actually one of the larger problems with capitalism, t'be honest. It by and large assumes that resources are infinite in amount, if not necessarily intake speed. Which is kinda' MSH's point on resource depletion.

Now, effectively non-scarce, as MSH notes... that's more of a thing, yeah. Anything that we can't deplete over the course of a few tens of thousands (/millions) of years is probably effectively non-scarce, ferex. But truly non-scarce? Nah. Even the sun'll burn out, in due time.

I'd probably be interested if game time lands somewhere between thursday and sunday night. If we go pathfinder and there's room... well. Would like to see about clearing some stuff. Still got some things laying around for a (homebrewed) witch archtype I was hoping to play for greatorder's game. Still haven't actually managed to join in on a pathfinder game. Or... anything but shadowrun, actually. Kinda' new to actual P&P sessions.

... incidentally, would someone more familiar with pathfinder be willing to glance over the thing for anything blatantly silly, from a mechanics point of view?

EDIT: Wait, no. This is the OOC thread. Didn't notice, sorry, discussion bad, redacting.

... yeah. Yeah, I'd play that. Especially if it were backed by the production values/experience of something like Valve.