Pentium100

So, in your opinion, the operation of casinos should be less regulated than it is now?

As for your other arguments, I'll split my response in two parts:

1. Adults getting addicted: Certain people are more prone to getting addicted than others. While squeezing every cent from such a person is very profitable for the casino, it is bad for society. That person will start getting welfare and may turn to crime to get more money to gamble. So, it is bad for me, even though I may never step inside a casino my whole life, since now I'm more likely to get mugged and may have to pay more taxes to compensate for the loss of money from that person. Leaving him to starve to death is not an option, since then he will definitely turn to crime (and I'll either get mugged or will have to pay for his food in jail). Which means that even though I personally may not ever gamble, I would like the government try to protect that person from addiction. Same could be said for alcohol - I don't drink, I do not care if you drink in moderation, but I do not really want to support the career alcoholics. And yet, there is no other option.

2. Children: Children are more prone to addiction than adults on average, which is why alcohol, cigarettes and gambling are forbidden for them. Yes, some find a way to get drunk etc, but fewer than it would be otherwise. An addicted child will end up as an addicted adult (see point #1 for that) and may bankrupt his parents, resulting in more people to support with my tax money. While parents should look after their children and make sure they do not get addicted, not all parents are great. Some parents are addicted themselves, some are plain bad parents. However, if the state took the children from everyone who was less than an ideal parent, first there would be a huge uproar and whatever government proposed this would not be re-elected (assuming they would even survive until the end of the term). Second, it would put a huge load on the state to look after the children. Third, I do not think that growing up in an orphanage is that awesome for children compared to growing up with loving parents, even if those parents are a bit stupid.

What is wrong with my proposal that the loot boxes be regulated (that would include regulating the chance of winning) just like regular casinos? This would mean classifying the games as adult only, just like porn games. Adults would still be able to buy such games no problem, so your choice would not be reduced. Children would not be able to easily get them, which, IMO, is also good. Or do you really want the children to be exploited just so that some big company gets a bit more money?

By the way, in my country, there are strict requirements for food that is sold in schools. The child can go to a fast food place if one is nearby, but is not able to buy unhealthy food at the school.

What do you mean by that? Ending up in the universe of that show and replacing said character or something else? If replacing a character would I have to act the same way she normally does or not?

Well, yes, people do not have self control. Just look at the smokers, alcohol, drug and gambling addicts. Can you change the people  so that everyone has self control? No. So, I guess just sacrifice them to the corporations on the altar of profit then?

Your argument could also be extended to abolish all standards and requirements. Your new TV puts 220V on the case? Well, just don't buy it or use gloves when touching it. Your food contains lead acetate as a sweetener - well, you can just not buy that too (oh, but there are no requirements to put that on the label, so I guess you will have to do analysis on all of your food to find out if it has lead or not).

In my opinion, some protection from the government is needed, because the large companies are much stronger (because they have more money) than people. Addiction happens because people do not have self control and some people are more prone to addiction than others and companies are good at figuring out how to cause an addiction. Children have even less self control and are even more prone to addition than adults (they are children after all), so no company should be allowed to exploit them and get them addicted - whether it's smoking or loot boxes.

And I do not want to ban the loot boxes - just get them regulates the same way as other forms of gambling.

11 minutes ago, The Historian said:

Unfortunately, it's harder to change consumer patterns than it is to legislate the practice out.

Yes, because the companies have very smart people working for them, who know how to market things. If it's a game you really want you may get it despite the loot boxes etc and that's all they need.

1 minute ago, Jedishy said:

Or lets ban hammers because people kill each other with them.

And yet, a lot of things are banned. Devices have to pass certification for safety (if it has a metal case, it has to be grounded etc), there are various requirements on new cars (emissions, safety etc) and  even old cars (every car in my country has to pass inspection every two years - I cannot just drive it until parts a falling off - if they see a rust hole or bad brakes I have to fix them). It is forbidden to sell alcohol and cigarettes to minors and all cigarette packs have to have disgusting images of what my happen to you if you smoke. Minors are forbidden to even enter a casino to watch adults play (in comparison, minors can enter a bar, just they cannot drink alcohol). Smoking is forbidden in a lot of areas.

So, I do not see a problem with classifying loot boxes as gambling (since that's what they are) and placing the same restrictions on them as on a casino (online or physical). Adults only, same type of license, the ability of someone to ask to never be allowed in.

16 minutes ago, The Historian said:

To put it more simply, you should feel good about spending your money and actually want to do so, rather than feeling like you've been forced to do so

Yea, too bad it is not possible to put thins into law. However, I still dislike loot boxes because they are essentially gambling (triggers the same parts of the brain as a slot machine). Non-essential non-random microtransactions can be OK, depending on implementation. Buy loot boxes for 0.1% chance of the thing you want - no.

Asking a stunt pilot to organize cheering still may not go very well. Just because someone can fly a plane upside down under a bridge, does not mean that he can organize a show that does not involve flying. I mean if all the cheerleaders could fly Rainbow could probably have put together a good airshow even if the students were not strong fliers.

If I do not have to go to work the next day, then I usually listen to music, watch something or repair/build something trough the whole night and then sleep during the day. And when I have to go to work, I have to get up early, so, I have to sleep at night.

The best would probably be building an amplifier or preparing a new server for use, while listening to some good tapes.

If the show didn't have Twilight in it, I probably would not have started watching it. Not only she looks really adorable, she is the only one out of the Mane 6 with whom I probably would not mind being locked in a room. That is kinda my benchmark - if I was locked in an otherwise empty room with that character, how bad would it be? With Twilight? It may even be nice.

Last TV show I watched, other than MLP, was Elementary. I really liked it.

Rainbow did not handle the situation that great, but then again, Rainbow may be incapable of admitting that she sucks at something. She is always awesome and cool, so if she is not very good at something it's obviously because that something is lame and boring.

While people change somewhat, I do not think they change a lot, unless they went trough a traumatic experience. Or the change is so gradual it takes decades to see a difference. How long do you think would take Twilight to stop overreacting so much?

Currently playing on the radio: Rod Stewart - Some Guys Have All The Luck

Rainbow's reaction is what my reaction is when someone asks me to design a web site. Just because I know how to configure a web server and a bit of php does not mean that I could design a good site for you (since I have zero artistic ability). Thankfully such requests are very infrequent now.

And in the episode Rainbow just took whatever the others were prepared before and managed to get them to perform that without interfering with each other instead of trying to make something new. Something I would have done too, since I would not be able to think of anything else.

Skills can be separate - a great car mechanic, for example, can be absolutely terrible at running a business, since those two things do not have much in common. 

Playing sports and cheering are different things and I felt bad for Rainbow since she was stuck with that job and, worse, she was expected to do great. After all, a coach is a coach, right? I wonder how a basketball coach would do coaching a football team. 

And now writing this reminded me of a certain episode of "Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu". 

@Splashee that's interesting. I usually do not have anything to do with phones, actually it's been a while since I last saw a rotary phone. I have taken some phones apart when I was a kid, but I was mostly interested in the earpiece and the dial mechanism. Normally it's radios, tape decks, amplifiers and an occasional computer power supply, TV or UPS for me :). I prefer stuff with vacuum tubes, it's always interesting to see how they managed to get good results with so few active elements.

I rewatch B5 and SG1 every once in a while. I agree with @Twilight Luna that B5 is under appreciated for some reason.

Such a cute picture...

I agree that Jack was the best in SG1, I like his style of humor. The alternate reality people dying was a bit weird, but then again, "original" reality was the best - they overcame all problems, I guess the alternate realities were what would have been if something failed. Though there probably were some alternate realities where everything was even better, but they had no need to contact the "original" reality.

Normally I would be OK with microtransactions and even loot boxes, but there is a big problem - companies get too greedy. They then design the game around the microtransactions so that the player are "strongly encouraged" to spend real money. Loot boxes and premium currency are ways to trick people into spending more.

Premium currency decouples the prices of items from real money value, so you do not see that you are spending $10 for something. You spend 400 gems, which you buy for $10, but since the actions of buying the gems and buying the items are separate, it is easier to forget the "exchange rate".

Loot boxes trigger gambling addiction in people prone to them. It does not matter if you can win real money or not, the whole idea is exactly the same. Even if you do not get addicted, you still spend more money on the loot boxes as opposed to buying the item that you want outright. What is even worse is that the odds of getting good items can be changed at will (and can be different for different players - you buy a lot of loot boxes - lower chance for you) and are not mandated by any law. Unlike, say, a casino where the gambling machines have to have a certain percentage of winnings - it would be easy to rig a machine to never pay out anything, but if you get audited and that is found out, expect some large fines.

Children are more susceptible to getting addicted (probably not shocking) and, at least in my country, they are not even allowed in a casino (as a comparison, children are allowed in a bar, just not allowed to drink alcohol) even if it's just to watch the adults gamble.

Game companies know this and they count on it. They know that a lot of people won't spend any money (or very little) on the game, so they want to get the "whales" - people who spend thousands of dollars on in-game items. Games are optimized for microtransactions on purpose - playing the game without spending real money should be just fun enough for you to play and seriously consider spending money on the items that would make it more fun to play: if it's too fun, then you won't spend money and if it's not fun enough you won't play the game at all. 

I think that cosmetic microtransactions are kinda OK, but the game should be rated at least teen (no to getting little kids to empty the bank accounts of their parents). Pay-to-win is not and loot boxes are gambling. If you want to put loot boxes in your game, then it should be rated adult only and placed together with the porn games.

My main PC (the one I use to play games etc):

CPU: 2x Opteron 4238

RAM: 32GB (I have more RAM ready to install at some point when I have to shut down the PC anyway)

GPU: nVidia GTX780 3GB

HDD: 4x 15kRPM 300GB drives in RAID6 for system, 4x 15kRPM 300GB drives in RAID10 for games

RAID controller: Adaptec 5805Z

PSU: Two hot-swap redundant Supermicro PSUs, I do not remember the power rating and do not want to pull one out and look.

Case: Supermicro CSE-747 converted to 4U rackmount

When it's hot (+26C) and especially if it's humid too. Especially if have to leave the room with AC and go somewhere. While I do not like when it is cold (say, -15C) and I have to scrape ice from the windows of my car, making myself warm is much easier than cooling myself down.

A good day for being outside would be no rain and +14C - +18C, overcast would be preferable, but sunny is also OK when it is cold enough.

Rain is nice provided that I can stay inside or in a car where I am not the driver.

Snow is nice provided I do not have to shovel it, clean it from my car or drive on snowy streets.

There are no local AM stations where I live, but I can pick some up from far away (it's better at night). I sometimes try to listen to them, but normally I don't.

I do not think MLP changed my music taste at all. I like some of the songs from the show and have bought a couple of records of them, but that is kind of the music I normally like. My tastes slowly expand (slowly adding new music that I like, but not getting bored of what I liked before).

Thanks for the warm welcome, it will be nice to be able to discuss the show with someone (my friends don't like the show).

@Splashee copper oxide rectifiers - I'll have to look those up, as I only know mercury vapor rectifiers (have never seen one from up close), selenium (some of my radios have them) and vacuum tube (the amps I built have them), well, in addition to the modern ones.

Hi, I am a long time fan of the show, I also read a lot of fanfics - I think MLP actually got me into reading fanfics. Unlike a lot of other fans of the show I have zero artistic ability. In addition to MLP, I like SciFi shows, especially Stargate and Babylon 5. Other than TV, I am interested electronics and old technology in general (steam engines, vacuum tubes, stuff like that). I have some servers as well.

I have watched the show since season 2, but have stopped for a few years (but continued to read fanfics), then came back to season 8 I think. That gave me a lot of episodes to watch instead of waiting for each one. I am usually OK with spoilers and will sometimes go looking for them, so not having seen some episodes, but having them referenced in fanfics was not a problem.

I do not know how active I'll be here, but we will see I guess.