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Post by adurot on Sept 11, 2023 11:18:38 GMT -5
On the subject of driving habits, I was reminded how much I hate it when you go to pass a person and they speed up.
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Post by pacific on Sept 12, 2023 5:33:45 GMT -5
Yeah I think people need to admit that that boat sailed many years ago. I was a staffer about 20 years ago, and even back then it had switched from the classic image of couple of guys with long hair sheltered in the back of the store rolling dice with heavy metal playing, while a mother fearfully enters the story and wonders what the hell her kid has started to take an interest in.. in fact, that was probably the key moment things really accelerated, as the LoTR boxsets were flying off the shelves almost faster than they could be restocked, and GW moved from 'growing' to 'massive'.
There is the quote from Rick Priestly (who I had heard was literally just promoted to a point where he was sat in an office with very little to do) which itself must be probably 20 years old: the sales/marketing teams dictate everything. I think there are a core of creatives who love the games and the universe and are designing new things, but everything is run through the lens of a massive sales & marketing team, supply chain, production facilities, all working to make that new product available for potentially millions of customers. It's exactly the same as every other 'big business' artistic vision, be it Marvel, Disney, Ubisoft or whomever else you can think of.
So while this scaling up brings some benefits, it also unavoidably means that it has lost some of the 'human' side of a bunch of guys who love games making something for their friends. It loses the almost artisan touch that comes from small production volumes and a smaller number of filters between the creative types and the eventual product. And I guess, even though it has been many years, some people can still not accept that that has gone. Personally, I think that like with other types of leisure activity and consumable media, there is room for both GWs output and for games from smaller companies. Sometimes I want to just watch a new Marvel or Mission Impossible film, sit back and enjoy it, as much as I like to watch smaller indy or small release foreign-language films. I'll just listen to a pop-hits playlist (don't judge me..) and something that has been streamed tens of millions of times, to an album that you struggle to find on streaming and have to get a CD.
We are very lucky we have the choice between a 'big market' game and other games from different manufacturers and creatives (Which is definitely the argument against monopolies, and GW becoming so successful that everything else within the industry goes out of business!)
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Post by pacific on Sept 12, 2023 5:36:10 GMT -5
On the subject of driving habits, I was reminded how much I hate it when you go to pass a person and they speed up. I have noticed this happens a lot more now with automatic and adaptive cruise control. A car in front of the person you are overtaking moves lane, suddenly the way is clear and so the car accelerates. It's definitely a reason to be super careful when you are overtaking, and making sure the car underneath you hasn't suddenly gone 10+mph faster, and is now a potential collision risk.
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Post by dabbler on Sept 13, 2023 1:07:03 GMT -5
On the subject of driving habits, I was reminded how much I hate it when you go to pass a person and they speed up. I have noticed this happens a lot more now with automatic and adaptive cruise control. A car in front of the person you are overtaking moves lane, suddenly the way is clear and so the car accelerates. It's definitely a reason to be super careful when you are overtaking, and making sure the car underneath you hasn't suddenly gone 10+mph faster, and is now a potential collision risk. The amount idiots turn off because "it's okay, I've got cruise control" makes me wish it didn't exist. And I've done some really bloody long drives.
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herzlos
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Post by herzlos on Sept 13, 2023 3:46:51 GMT -5
I'm sure it was renamed speed control after some American in a campervan turned it on, went into the back to make a coffee and then flew off the road, but I digress.
On that note, it annoys me how so many drivers just disengage brain when they enter a car park, as if it's not still technically a road and they aren't still driving 1500kg of metal.
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Haighus
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Post by Haighus on Sept 13, 2023 5:14:18 GMT -5
Interesting to note this thread has mostly been related to transportation.
Anyway, none transport: People sending MSteams links incorrectly such that they don't get added to my calendar, or only sending occurrence instead of series for repeating meetings. Means I miss them.
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Post by easye on Sept 13, 2023 9:54:56 GMT -5
American Football season has started again, and it really is amazing to me how "on-board" the NFL is with gambling now. The advertising and push for Gambling in the US has really skyrocketed in the past half-decade. To me, this push for more gambling is a symptom of the growing wealth gap and lack of social mobility. People are desperate for "get rich quick" schemes which oddly are targeted mostly at the failing Middle Class.
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mdgv2
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Post by mdgv2 on Sept 13, 2023 10:22:15 GMT -5
Gambling is an odd one for me. Stuff like the Lottery? I play the Euromillions on every draw. £2.50 per draw, two draws per week. Works out to £20 a month or so, give or take. That’s money I can genuinely spare. I play because it would be nice to win squillions and live the easy life, and the price of that flutter is well within my means. But, I am concerned about the ubiquity of Betting Shops on the high street, let alone the plethora of online gambling sites. In my job I see people losing tens of thousands of pounds chasing that life changing win. It destroys lives, and sees families made homeless, because one or other of the adults is pissing it all up the wall. There aren’t enough checks and balances. At all. It shouldn’t be advertised on TV. Social Media sites should not be allowed to carry gambling adverts, especially as that’s how Well Fucking Dodgy sites find victims to utterly fleece. Barney Farmer nailed it in his bleak “Fixed Odds Betty” in Viz.
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Post by pacific on Sept 13, 2023 10:30:03 GMT -5
It's definitely something that is more evident in poor areas of the UK as well. Went through one of the small valley communities in South Wales recently, which have really been hit hard, and amongst the derelict buildings and closed premises, you basically just had a mix of charity shops, vaping shops, and gambling establishments. It's pretty sad, and on top of that you have the sort of reverse-socialism of a lottery, which takes a little bit from everyone, to make a small handful of people insanely rich and give them more money than they can spend. Speaking of Wales, and going back to transport quickly - herzlos noted above about the potential for injury caused by 1500kg of metal. Wales is just about to introduce a 20mph speed limit (by default) in built-up areas. It seems excessive to me; I would rather have seen more targetted/reinforced application of 20mph around areas that need it (schools, busy housing estates, major pedestrian areas) and some sort of kerb on large SUVs with flat panel fronts. I was reading that the type of vehicle can be as important as speed travelled: a standard saloon or car will hit a pedestrian on the leg and bounce them over the bonnet and to one side, with the person likely to have lower body injuries but less likely for it to be fatal. A large SUV (in the same way as a van or bus) hits the person forward and onto the floor, often knocking them to the ground in front of the vehicle so they are run over, and with 2.5kg plus being very common for most Range Rovers, Audi A7 etc. the person doesn't stand a chance - I had read 30-40% additional fatality rate. There doesn't seem to be any acknowledgement of this at all, and instead we seem to have this large blanket policy which will almost certainly just be ignored by a majority.
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mdgv2
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Post by mdgv2 on Sept 13, 2023 10:36:37 GMT -5
Yes but how are middle class mum’s meant to get their precious progeny to school safely, if they’re not allowed to drive the latest Kiddy Killer 10,000??
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Haighus
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Post by Haighus on Sept 13, 2023 10:40:30 GMT -5
Yes but how are middle class mum’s meant to get their precious progeny to school safely, if they’re not allowed to drive the latest Kiddy Killer 10,000?? The irony there is that SUV are also more dangerous for the occupants, as they tend to roll due to the height.
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Post by easye on Sept 13, 2023 15:18:55 GMT -5
Yes, but the perception is they are safer for the passengers, and perception is reality.
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herzlos
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Post by herzlos on Sept 14, 2023 3:30:33 GMT -5
Yes but how are middle class mum’s meant to get their precious progeny to school safely, if they’re not allowed to drive the latest Kiddy Killer 10,000?? The irony there is that SUV are also more dangerous for the occupants, as they tend to roll due to the height.
It's a fashion/status/perception thing. I mean look at how ferocious people in the US are when anyone says anything bad about pick-up trucks despite them being, well, terrible for pretty much everything everyone uses them for. Buying a bulk bag of mulch once a year doesn't mean you need a crew cab F250 to drive to your job at the bank. A bag of mulch anyone with a hatchback and a $1000 trailer could handle better.
SUV's are in the same category - they've often got less space than the equivalent estate (station wagon), cost more, use more fuel, have worse visibility and handing, and so on.
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herzlos
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Post by herzlos on Sept 14, 2023 3:36:37 GMT -5
Wales is just about to introduce a 20mph speed limit (by default) in built-up areas. It seems excessive to me; I would rather have seen more targetted/reinforced application of 20mph around areas that need it (schools, busy housing estates, major pedestrian areas) and some sort of kerb on large SUVs with flat panel fronts. I was reading that the type of vehicle can be as important as speed travelled: a standard saloon or car will hit a pedestrian on the leg and bounce them over the bonnet and to one side, with the person likely to have lower body injuries but less likely for it to be fatal. A large SUV (in the same way as a van or bus) hits the person forward and onto the floor, often knocking them to the ground in front of the vehicle so they are run over, and with 2.5kg plus being very common for most Range Rovers, Audi A7 etc. the person doesn't stand a chance - I had read 30-40% additional fatality rate. There doesn't seem to be any acknowledgement of this at all, and instead we seem to have this large blanket policy which will almost certainly just be ignored by a majority.
Edinburgh and a lot of the local Scottish councils have made built up areas a 20 limit and despite all the gnashing of teeth from the usual suspects it's made virtually no difference to anyones lives. It usually just means people now drive at 30 instead of 40, but realistically my average speed in the Edinburgh zone that's gone from 30-20 was about 10mph anyway.
The design of the vehicle is a big deal, as is the street furniture. The big risk with big tall flat vehicles is the blind spots in front of and behind them are huge. Some of the bigger SUV's, especially with smaller drivers, are unable to see the ground for meters in front of the vehicle and couldn't see a child (even as old as about 10) in front of it. The same applies to the back but at least there are often sensors and cameras.
On the street furniture, a lot of it (particularly in the US) is designed to be more forgiving to cars leaving the road - lamposts that shear off on impact for instance, which means that any pedestrians on the pavement have essentially zero protection from vehicles. It's also been proven that the only way to get vehicles to respect non-vehicular spaces is to make crossing the boundaries damaging to the vehicles - cars will happily cross cycle lanes, paths, bus lanes, etc if they are only separated by paint, but will leave them alone of there's a raised border. So Edinburgh at least (I think Glasgow too) have been building their infrastructure in such a way that the cycle lanes are now impossible for vehicles to enter rather than relying on considerate driving.
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herzlos
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Post by herzlos on Sept 14, 2023 3:40:39 GMT -5
Gambling is an odd one for me. Stuff like the Lottery? I play the Euromillions on every draw. £2.50 per draw, two draws per week. Works out to £20 a month or so, give or take. That’s money I can genuinely spare. I play because it would be nice to win squillions and live the easy life, and the price of that flutter is well within my means. But, I am concerned about the ubiquity of Betting Shops on the high street, let alone the plethora of online gambling sites. In my job I see people losing tens of thousands of pounds chasing that life changing win. It destroys lives, and sees families made homeless, because one or other of the adults is pissing it all up the wall.
I'm in the office lottery syndicate, but mostly for the social aspect of it and a kind of reverse mutually assured destruction. I'd hate to be the only one in my team that didn't win and retire. But it costs me £1 a week so no big deal.
There's also nothing sadder than a betting shop, any I've been in have just been miserable, usually quiet apart from a couple of old men who don't look like they have spare money, and I've known people who've had lives ruined by it.
At least in the UK some half-assed measures are in place - I *think* advertising better is banned at sporting venues and TV, and there are groups like gambleaware.org to help people, as well as most betting shops and online casinos having mechanisms for people to restrict their gambling spend or self-banning themselves for a while too.
Sadly it's one of these things that due to human nature if we were to ban it entirely, we'd just shift it into some underground unregulated market that'd have terrible consequences for the addicts.
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