Moon Colonists: Expect 3000ms pings on Lunar Net

I wasn't taking up the "moral/immoral" argument here - I was simply arguing that it's a recruiting tool. Either it is ineffective, as you claim, or it is effective, which I infer from the fact that it continues to be funded.

I know, I know - the US military is famous for throwing money away, but in the absence of any released statistics (which I expect we will never see), I feel safe in wagering that more than zero people have been recruited by the game.

One unique aspect of America's Army is that it's funded by the real Army, which is entirely funded by the public. Movies aren't funded like this.

So let's say AA3 is your concept, and you're the producer for the project. What kind of grant are you going to write to get funding for this concept? How are you going to justify the expenditure?

I don't imagine the selling point was about "making a great game." They got the funding because the game was supposed to make something happen; I'm guessing they justified it in terms of recruiting. The money for the project might literally come out of someone's recruiting budget.

So, we can argue about what kind of person gets recruited by a game like this... but what I think is beyond arguing is why the game exists, and the reason the game exists is because someone thought it would have an impact on recruiting.

It is also different from a brochure, in the same way that cigarettes can no longer be sold by Joe Camel. The difference between a picture of cigarettes and a picture of a cool smoking camel (it has been argued) is that Joe Camel appeals to kids, and a picture of cigarettes doesn't.

Maybe cigarettes weren't marketed to kids, and maybe they were, but Joe Camel was outlawed. America's Army 3 has more in common with Joe Camel than with the brochure.

...sortof like the intercomm suggestion, what about using this to extend your sound system? My apartment is wired for two phone lines, so I have four wires in the wall (red/green, black/yellow). Each pair would be sufficient for a single audio channel, right? On this basis, it really wouldn't be difficult to create an adapter for a stereo headphone jack to interface with rj-11. Make several adapters with either male or female audio connectors, and you can easily put speakers in different rooms.

Of course, I won't do any such thing because I'm renting, and although we have no voice land line, we do have DSL.

This event has profoundly saddened me, and I want to extend my deepest condolences to the students and families to survive this tragedy. I fully recognize that this is an opportune moment for waxing philosophical on the pros and cons of gun control, but I will refrain from sharing my personal opinion on the matter. Several years out of college by now, I still remember the intensity of attending an engineering school, and it saddens me that such noble intentions to achieve can become so depraved.

I've read speculation that the shooter was an engineering student, and I guess the most constructive item I can offer is this rambling:

When I was 18, I was certain I understood it all upon graduation from high school. Afterwards, I did some of the stupidest shit I've ever thought of.

When I was 21, I was certain I understood it all upon graduation from college. Still, I did the dumbest, most dangerous stuff in my life, even endangering people I love.

I'm currently 25, and I still have trouble remembering that I don't understand it all. I'll learn this one yet, but family members from two generations ago still look upon me as an infant.

So here it is: I'm ignorant for lack of experience, and unless you're a god, then so are you. If you're so sad that you will take your own life, then your frame is entirely skewed, but ultimately it's your choice to seek help. The right of self-determination will not prevent you from committing suicide, but be advised that unless your hardware is damaged (body failing, brain malfunctioning), then the solution is simply a matter of updating your mental software.

With that said, AT NO POINT DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DETERMINE ANOTHER PERSON'S DESTINY. You are not the force of justice in this world, the taker of souls, or the vigilante crusader. You are not isolated on a genetic island. Following the chain enough generations back, and you find you are directly related to every other human on the planet. In my opinion, you probably shouldn't kill yourself, but YOU MUST NEVER KILL ANOTHER HUMAN (limited exceptions exist).

The VT case is not an exception. It is unacceptable. There is no justice in it. There is no society through murder. To the killer, I will pity you only insofar as your ignorance would prevent you from realizing your ability to control your situation and life. I've already thought that thought about the VT gunman, and it passed in an instant. What remains is a deep feeling of loss - the same emotion I feel for other heinous acts committed by our species against ourselves. My loss, your loss. This challenges my ability to maintain control of my own destiny, and I resent the killer for it - the same resentment I feel towards all killers.

This is pathetic, and I feel so sorry for the people directly affected. If there's anything that can correct the situation, it's playing properly to our astonishing intelligence by eliminating ignorance. I hardly know myself, and I've been consciously working at it for almost a decade. I want to know my "self" and I want to know "you." I want to transcend these pockets of isolated information that, through an incomplete gestalt, lead us to destroy intelligence. I want my consciousness to witness the entire planet, and then the entire universe, and THEN the whole rest of it.

So, to put it all another way, it's time to learn more, because my story is that of unfolding ignorance, where the territory stretches vastly beyond the horizon, and I still don't fully grasp the extent of what there is to be ignorant of.