Most state athletic programs make the institution money. Football in particular is such a moneymaker, it can subsidize other less prominent sports.

Interestingly I did a little thought experiment: Are there any genres now, for which the average game quality is greater or equal to what it was in 2006? The only one I could think of was Point and Click adventure, since there basically weren't any in 2006. In my mind, I'm not sure gaming really is fine.

This has to do with the attitudes of modern developers now. I was working on the guide for a particular game, and some of the team was watching me play. I ended up using a trick I'd found to skip a large portion of a level, and one of the artists asked me afterward if I was going to put it in the guide. I said of course. He then asked me if I could not, because he spent 2 weeks modeling that area, and he wanted people to see it rather than just skipping it.

Because game developers now are trying to give the player an 'experience', and because costs are so high, the idea of having content be unavailable to players, whether that be because of lack of skill, or because of alternate ways to play, is frighteneing to them, so you end up getting a first playthrough where you really do all you're supposed to do, and see most of what you're supposed to see.

The reason it never caught on was that it's simply not spectator friendly. With a sport, you can see all the player on the field at once and you can tell what they are doing. With an FPS, you can;t really see all players at once, and if you can, it's not clear what they are doing. Sometimes you can only appreciate player skill when you watch in first person, whereas you can easily see physical feats of sports athletes. Starcraft has this in common with sports; a lot of the battlefield is visible, and you can easily see and appreciate the skill involved in controlling the units.

"I know consumers that can keep a PC going strong for 4 - 6 years without issue, and they cost about 10% -20% more, but are consumers willing to pay for that?"

Judging by the number of people who buy Apple computers, probably quite a few. My first mac lasted from 1984 to 1992, the next from 1992 to 1999, the next from 1999 to 2008. In fact, the 1984 mac still works!

I am all for shorter games. Typically games today pad tinges and run out of ideas long before the 10 hour mark. Many people seem to assume that once you beat a game it's over, and so do developers. I play a lot of shmups, and these can easily be beaten in 30 minutes, yet I've played them for hundreds of hours because there's so much to do once you've finished it: practice for a 1cc, or go for a higher score, etc. The idea that games are throwaway experiences only to be played once is killing games more than shorter campaigns.

You're forgetting that often times by being able to make a living with your art you can focus on just your art, and really hone and develop your skills to the point of excellence. There's a reason why professional athletes are at the top of their game, and that's because they are paid to practice every day. It's not something they have to balance out with their 'real' job. This is true with an artist as well. If your art can support you, you can focus exclusively on improving your art. Would you rather work on your art for 8 hours everyday, or have to squeeze it in after your office job?

There's no need to criminalize the speech. If you call for someone to kill someone, and they do, then you can be charged with conspiracy to commit murder if it can be shown that they did so by your request. Shouting fire in a crowded theatre likewise does not deserve to be criminalized. Charge the person with reckless endangerment, and if someone died manslaughter. Badgering someone and repeatedly using racial slurs against them can likewise be dealt with under harassment laws. This is easy people, restrictions on free speech do nothing that can;t already be covered by existing laws.

The government sure as hell CAN be boycotted. If everybody refused to pay taxes, shit would stop really quickly.

Because my generation is narcissistic with a sense of entitlement. We'll bitch about it on the internet, but when the time comes in real life to stand for the principles we just can;t be inconvenienced.

That's why you need a union. Alone you have no bargaining power, but the workforce collectively through the union has much more sway.

It's missing essential features. I literally cannot do my job without MOF and EDL exports, something FCP X removed. I literally cannot do my job without video monitoring, something FCP X removed. These are basic things in an editing program, and it's totally baffling as to why they are gone.

"Would you play completely through a game that had half naked men and only men that were half naked in it?"

If it had good mechanics and was fun, yes.

Paying for yourself not practical? I don't smoke and I'm not overweight, and I pay $150/mo for full coverage. If I stay in the hospital, I'm never on the hook for more than $1500; my insurance pays the rest. Granted I am single and young, but I'm not exactly going bankrupt here. I'm sure if you have a large family or are otherwise unhealthy it can be a a huge burden, but if you can't afford that then it pays to not have kids and just take care of yourself.

Some games work well with touch controls. Turn based games work fine. Touch your unit to select, move the screen, then touch the grid you want to move them too. Point and click adventure games work quite well too. I agree it's not suitable for all types of game, but for many genres it makes perfect sense.