Shady Steps

@nsfw-bonbonpony 

Is this what you guys think it means when GMO comes up in conversation?

Do you know what else is a GMO?

Dogs. Literally ALL dogs have had their genetics modified to make them more docile, loyal, trusting, energetic, obedient ect.

Ears of corn used to be the size of your thumb. Through selective ‘breeding’ we chose the strains of corn that were the biggest, fastest growing, most resilient ect. Ect.

THAT is a GMO. I don’t know where the idea that genetic modification meant they’re injecting your food stuffs with chemicals to change its DNA. That’s not how it works.

However, they ARE spraying your veggies with pesticides and that is something you should be worried about.

“A genetically modified organism (GMO), also known as a transgenic organism, is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques.” “Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct manipulation of an organism’s genome using biotechnology.”

“Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant males and females will sexually reproduce and have offspring together.”

There are plenty of environments we did not evolve in that does not make them “bad” on that detriment alone. We did not evolve in space, do you think we should never go there?

“If life (i.e. plants) evolved chemicals that were dangerous they would ever damage themselves or have evolved them as poisons. While, modern chemistry has the ability to create compounds that are not naturally occurring.” 

I don't like the implication that “Natural” is good and “Artificial” is bad but that issue is so far reaching its insane. As for the Plants evolving chemicals that are dangerous... They all do, all plants develop poisons, all plants try to kill the things that eat it even the ones that USE animals eating them to spread there seeds. Animals also evolve over time as plants are evolving and become resistant to the chemicals being used.

“The chemicals that they are referring to are herbicides and pesticides which there is a lot of building evidence are often not safe for human consumption.” 

GMO’s are the subject here and while herbicides and pesticides should be used carefully they are needed to ensure good return on crops to feed large populations.

Besides if you want food that has not been grow in the most effective manor you will need to pay a higher price for the luxury good you are consuming. 

“The chemistry used in horticulture is also what I would call ‘cowboy chemistry.’”

You call it “cowboy Chemistry” do you? I am sure that does not colour your argument at all.  

“With a product like Roundup for example, the only chemicals in the product that need to be tested (by the company itself and NOT independently) are the ‘active ingredients.’ The inert ingredients do not have to be either tested or labeled (to protect the companies IP to their formulas).” 

Yeah the chemicals should be tested by a independent (I would say government) company but lets see where you are going with this.

“The problem is that these ‘inert’ ingredients often do things like increase the active ingredient’s cell penetration. As you can probably imagine, this likely fundamentally changes the active ingredient’s ability to damage cells and thus potentially cause cancers."

Well, nice language there, “Likely, Potentially, Probably” you are trying to frame your argument in a way that makes all chemical use look bad because it “MIGHT CAUSE CANCER GUYS!” 

“There is also issues around testing the interactions between chemicals.”

What issues? you state this and then go onto problems with guidelines... You never expand upon this statement and I find that odd but whatever. 

“In horticulture for example, there is set limits on how much of a particular product/chemical you can use. There isn’t however, strict guidelines about how many different products you can use.”

Yeah I agree that is an oversight.

“And as anyone that has some knowledge of chemistry can appreciate, mixing chemicals can fundamentally change their properties.” 

STOP THE PRESS!

“In short, there are certainly a lot of legitimate issues around the use of chemicals in food production.”

Yeah, legislative ones. 

“As my old horticulture teacher once predicted: in 50 or 100 years people will look back and call this the ‘Chemical Age’ and wonder how we could raise our children in such toxic environments with so little understanding of the long term effects.” 

Wow okay this is gonna be fun, lets break this down step by step cus this is a work of art!

“As my old horticulture teacher once predicted” 

This is an argument from authority, nice starting point as it frames the rest of the paragraph. 

“in 50 or 100 years people will look back and call this the ‘Chemical Age’” 

Will they? Is it like how we look back at the 50s and call it the radioactive age? except we don't :I

“and wonder how we could raise our children in such toxic environments” 

Children have been raised in toxic environments since we developed cities, in fact we are FAR cleaner and safer when it comes to Toxic compounds and chemicals in our air and environment.

“with so little understanding of the long term effects.”

This could be it. It could be my ticket to a job I’d enjoy, the very possibility of being recognized for my work makes me wish it could happen even sooner.

But it can’t, and I can’t let it. I have to bide my time and build the best system I can, the best Halo tabletop I can, the best GAME I can.

I really, REALLY pray that people will help me get Release 3 out there, I really want this to be the thing people use. The tabletop to end all other projects I have worked on.

[Screenshot from a Mass Effect 3 menu, with title: “Choose Your Experience”, showing the options ‘action’, ‘role playing’ and ‘story’.]

‘Action’ makes most story choices for you and conversations become straight up cutscenes. ‘Role playing’ is the default experience, both challenging gameplay and character/story building. And ‘story’ has the roleplaying but very easy combat, letting you breeze through it. (You also have a ‘casual’ difficulty setting that’s a bit more rewarding but still pretty easy.)

The thing about video games (particularly RPGs or in general games that allow you to explore or direct the story) is that the interactivity is what makes it different from movies or watching LPs on youtube. And I’ve played games that got FAR stronger emotional reactions out of me simply because I had to carry out the actions myself rather than just watching. And that experience should be more accessible.

Why the hell shouldn’t games let you skip combat if you want to? Why shouldn’t there be a super-duper-easy-peasy mode for everything? No-one is gonna force YOU to play it like that if you don’t want to! Continue to be as hardcore as you like!

I just don’t understand the resistance at all. What we’re talking about is simply having more options for gamers. You’re adding something that would make games more accessible and fun for loads of new fans, and you’re not taking ANYTHING away from existing fans.

“I should be able to enjoy cinema watching a movie”

“I should be able to enjoy music without listening to music”

“I should be able to enjoy theater without watching a play”

And I hate to break it to you, but some games are fucking hard. Like, I have been playing games literally for as long as I can remember, and there are games that I cannot complete and experience.

So how frustrating do you think it is for people who want to get into games later in their lives, that don’t have those skills? Or people with physical disabilities that make it harder for them to play?

A Tourist Mode (as its been called elsewhere) takes NOTHING away from you. It does literally nothing to affect the core gaming experience. It only adds to the potential audience. And hell, I am a Legit Gamer and I *use* Tourist Modes in some games (Dragon Age: Origins, I tend to play on Casual when I just want the story).

What value does the narrative in a game like Xcom have when you can skip the fights? “I just want to experience the story” well then you are going to have to suffer, cities are going to get bombed and soldiers that put there lives in your hands are going to die because you make mistakes, that is the story, its the story that you would not get if you never had a shot miss or never had any of your soldiers die. Its not like having subtitles on movies or skipping a song its like taking a book and removing everything but the dialogue, its like removing everything that makes games what they are.

Yes easy mode is there to be used but its a far cry from just letting you skip parts of the game! An easy game mode needs to be made in such a way that is hard to fail, easy to win, but STILL challenges you. 

What is the point of Lord Of The Rings if you can just skip the long walk and drop the ring into the volcano via griffin? 

Which is complex, the tabletop itself, or the design?

To roll for planets: Size Gravitational Pull Atmosphere Water/Land Percentage (waterworlds and desert planets, anyone?) Continent Count Biomes per Continent

NPC generation and wildlife generation will be next.

The NPC Generation will allow a GM to roll up quick NPCs using:

Race

Sex

Build

Complexion

General Attitude

their thoughts on trans women being subjected to violence, sometimes even death, due to men’s threatened masculinity?

their thoughts on men in politics trying to have ownership over women’s bodies?

their thoughts on reproductive issues for black women choosing not to have kids because of the very real threat of police brutality?

their thoughts on lesbians and queer women being sexually objectified?

Saying “Oh you want gender equality? Feminist! HA CAUGHT YOU!” Is bloody wrong, its not a good idea to go around and tell people what THEY think.