But seriously, when modded minecraft takes 6+ gigs

Yawn. Firefox alone accounts for anywhere between 1-3 GB with all my tabs.

This is on an i7-5820k and Nvidia GTX 970 with 32GB ram - a PC that ranks 97% world wide in 3dmark.

The plural of anecdote is not data. For example, on my setup, an FX-8320 with 8GB RAM,a GTX760, and not an SSD in sight runs Minecraft just fine with a couple of mods.

Last but not least, while I understand popularity and ubiquity inspire varying levels of contempt (I'm certainly not innocent on the issue), I've never really understood technical arguments against games. Sure, you have your Arkham Knights, which provided insurmountable problems for a not-insignificant percentage of buyers and deserve a critical look at the code.

Then you've got Minecraft, played by literally hundreds of millions of people with little to no problems, including my 8 year old niece on her potato PC.

There are many things which could be improved in Minecraft. Whether it's going to gobble up 2GB of Ram versus 3 or 4 or 6 isn't that high up on the list.

Wrong. Thanks for playing!

but they're certainly not designing lessons, teaching classes, or exploring subjects

Soooo, I'm guessing you've never put a lesson plan together then?

2005 called, it wants its complaint back.

You mean Hitler didn't waste time and energy on quack science and other assorted occult crap?

I can certainly see that there's a definite feminist wave ongoing at the moment which I'm sure isn't going to hurt Hillary, but at the same time, you're never going to go broke overestimating the general stupidity and vulgarity of the average American.

Oh, I guess the fact that the unborn life can't consent to its murder makes it OK?

Call me when a fetus can pass a Turing test then we'll talk. We don't have differing moralities on this, just different definitions, and you treating it the other way like there is no alternative is, at best, an argument in bad faith.

My point being, once you've made pleasure the only guide

Once again, as an actual hedonist, I'm offended that you think any of this has anything to do with it. Maybe in your world, where a glimpsed bare ankle immediately fills your shorts with splooge, anything more daring than that might seem like some sort of overcoloured insanity.

There's a reason they're called other people: They are literally not you.

Dammit, beat me to to it. I cannot wait for the day when conservatives understand the concept of consent.

you're making an absolute judgment on the entire society

Show me where I did that.

makes your arbitrarily determined authority

Again, stop making shit up. There is no authority, but there is such a category as developed countries, which the US belongs to, who all legislate openly such that you can track trends, political movements, ideological shifts, legislation and make comparisons.

And if you can find someone who's job is to track those very things and measure them against each other who will happily assert that the US looks leftist compared to most other developed countries, by all means, please do point him or her out of to me. That would be a rare and welcome treat.

i didn't notice the "arbitrary society {XYZ} is the authoritative definitive determinant of ideology in the world against which all are judged" icon floating above your head

Probably because that never happened, so don't be too hard on yourself.

what international standards? saudi arabia? malaysia?

If you bothered to read a little further, you would have caught the "developed countries" part. HTH.

those are just arbitrary points, not Magical Authoritative Determinators of Ideology, Anointed By God, which you apparently believe for some ignorant reason

Assumes facts not in evidence. Thanks for the bad faith.

the truth is, every society has some who resist change, and some who accelerate it. the center is determined by the center of that society, at that time. and this center is always moving. and it is the only logically valid measure of center, left, and right. for that given society. at that given time

Hence why, currently, and for a a while now at least, the US has been regarded as more conservative than most other developed countries. You're not refuting any points with this.

if you really reached for some magical bullshit measure of ideology globally, rather than society-by-society (the only valid measure), then the usa is actually a moderate middle-of-the-road country

And if you actually bothered to read what's got you frothing so much, you'd find that nothing like that has actually happened. Best of luck.

By international standards, even the Democratic party is to the right on a lot of issues (mostly economic at this point) than the rest of the developed world.

Haven't checked out any polls lately, have we?

The percentage of Americans supporting same sex marriage has been above 50% for a while now.

Your IP traffic has been recorded, comrade.

LOL, like that is somehow remotely new.