I don't see why this was marked redundant, it's a fair point that hadn't yet been made.

The problem with the analogy is that repair services are different from currency exchange. The former does need to adapt to new technologies (and potential jerk moves on the part of manufacturers). The latter isn't supposed to print money, simply trade it. Gold farmers are more akin to counterfeiters, producing currency against the best interests of the economy that otherwise wouldn't be a part of the system.

It's not logical, for several reasons.

Say you want to buy an epic flyer in WoW, but don't want to spend the time grinding gold for it. On my server, it's $70 for the 5k gold that would take.

If WoW were the only game worth playing in the world, then it might be logical to spend this money. Wow is not, however, the only game worth playing. For those $70 there are any endless number of titles for the PC alone that could tickle one's fancy, without requiring the player to spend additional money to get through the "boring" parts.

Second, If leveling is boring you're not likely to like the end game anyway. If grinding is boring you're not likely to like PvP or raiding. The fundamentals of leveling and grinding are prevalent in every aspect of the game save for standing around and flexing in trade chat. If you don't enjoy them they will be haunting you whether you spend gold or not.

Third, most of the gold in games which do not support RMT comes from the players themselves, when they're hacked. Logically, buying gold supports these ventures and puts yourself in a situation of increased risk for the same.

Lastly, if we're being purely logical it's fundamentally illogical to do something which is against the ToS to which you agreed. MMOs which do not directly support RMT tend to explicitly forbid RMT in their ToS.

So yes, not logical. If you find the game boring the answer is to not play at all.

If only that were the case.

Rune of Magic is a free to play MMO which makes all of its money on RMT. There are effectively two currencies in the game, one which is used for common everyday stuff such as repairs and professions, and another which is used for all of the best features like mounts and player housing.

The latter is purchased with real money, and if desired can actually be sold on the auction house for the more "mundane" currency. In theory this should kill the market for gold sellers.

In practice it does not. The gold sellers simply offer a better conversion rate and continue to thrive. Perhaps they don't do as well as they otherwise might, but they aren't done away with at all.

This is essentially the truth of the Black Market. If something is illegal, there'll be a market. If something is legal, there'll be a still be a market. As long as there is demand, there are those who will appear with a supply of dubious origins.

My stimulus check went to volumes 1-25 of Berserk, as I had ready them online for free. I recently bought an Eric Whitacre album after hearing pieces of it on Youtube. So some of us do actually purchase based on "try before you buy".

While I don't agree with your guesstimation, I do agree that there are some people who are hypocritical about these matters. But there's little point in calling them on it as they can continue to hide behind anonymity, write false accounts of purchases, or exaggerate the importance of the purchases they did make.

I read the title as "Bikini Patent Case Appealed To Supreme Court".

It's been a long day at work.

I'd like to reemphasize "in this context". Goodness is a common word in the US as well, it just isn't commonly used in this fashion.

I'll also point out that citing a nerdy statistics concept as a point of grammatical clarity is not, in fact, a good way to prove anything beyond the awkwardness of a nerd's grammar. Maybe I'm being facetious.

Now we're getting mired in perspectives, so let's take a step back from the bad analogies (both of ours) and look at the fundamental differences.

Connecting a computer to the internet is a task which, when completed successfully, yields an identical result every time. Regardless of how the connection is accomplished the result should always be the same. The result is easily judged based on whether the connect functions and if so how well.

Writing music is a task which is meant to yield a unique result. Regardless of genre or intent, only someone insane would attempt to write a song that has already been written (although a sane person might rewrite a song looking for a different result). Implicit in mankind's understanding of music, and art in general, is that the completed work is a reflection of the composer's creative skill.

So in the first case the automation of the task using DHCP/Plug-n-Play/etc. makes sense as the process is almost entirely irrelevant so long as we have the right result. In the second case the process is integral in shaping what the result turns out, and cannot be ignored.

Understanding the importance of this difference is important in understanding why we decry that Songsmith "does everything else for you". Crucial decisions that are normally what set different artists apart are instead handled automatically and identically. No one cares if it's an IT professional or a DHCP server that decides what your IP is so long as everything works.

He's not saying the grammar is incorrect, merely that it isn't "good".

"Goodness of music" may be technically correct, but it is also highly awkward. "Goodness" in this case is standing in for "quality" with which most English speakers will be more familiar in this context.

I hate playing "bad analogy cop" but there are many fundamental differences between getting onto the internet and writing a song.

The most obvious is that the one is constructing a tool while the other is constructing a consumable product. The internet is a tool used to accomplish other tasks. Music is a product to be consumed. In this case, Songsmith itself is the tool.

This "bad analogy cop" comment wouldn't be complete without a car analogy. No one brags about being able to move faster than an Olympic sprinter despite the fact we do it every day. That's because it's our cars doing that work. We instead either brag about our cars or our ability to drive them.

Are we supposed to be impressed with your feeble wit detection? Seriously, why did you post that?

Don't confuse a general statement for a personal condemnation, and don't confuse a personal virtue for a general one.

His remark at the end was poorly chosen, but I think its intent was less to stir up controversy and more to highlight what we all saw this election. That is, racism lives on in a significant portion of the Caucasian population (and elsewhere). People admitted to it in surprising numbers during the general election.

You and I and many others may not be racist, but it's incorrect to assume that all people similar to us in color and hue are similar to us in virtue.

It isn't 1960, no, but even as we elect our first African-American president the almost entirely Caucasian senate and house stand as strong reminders that balance is not yet achieved. I wouldn't take it personally.

More importantly, he was selected because he was an important civil rights figure and this is an important moment in civil rights. That doesn't forgive him his poorly chosen words, but I don't believe it was bad judgment to pick him.

And I'm a WASP, so it's not like I don't have a reason to resent his remark.

Ironically the Fox News Stream worked extremely well for me. Not a single hiccup, no silly graphics or cuts to the anchors, and they were careful to avoid talking over speakers.

If you wish to give up on the country and our system of government that is your choice, but the kind of apathy you display is one among many attitudes that has brought us where we are today.

No one man can change things, yes, but ultimately Obama never claimed that he alone could fix everything. From the primaries until now he has emphasize how important it is that we the people stop spectating and start participating. If we do, change is possible.