In reply to this comment by NinjaInHeat:
Shiny, lets assume for a moment that you're right, there is an after life, mr. god will judge us when we die and send us to the corner of shame and eternal hellfire to think about what we've done.

Fine, so I guess we can at least agree on one thing: until that day comes I will actually live, embrace life with all its temptation and unholiness, indulge the devil's ways and blaspheme my ass off, live, love, fuck, drink, hate, whatever the fuck I can get away with. And you, you sad little person, when that day comes you'll be as sad as you are today, you and the countless others who are an affront to life it self. And y'know what? I'll pick hellfire with the likes of Hitchens over your divine garden of twats any day.

Happy anniversary! Today marks year number 1 since you first became a Sifter and the community is better for having you. Thanks for your contributions!

Remember this is 1v1 deathmatch... of course it is about timing items and memorizing maps. team games are so much more interesting! Rocket Arena, Action Quake2, etc. were far more enjoyable than regular deathmatch because they were so much less predictable.

fun!

In reply to this comment by NinjaInHeat:
Loved watching this but I gotta say this sorta competitive gameplay frustrates me. Much like researching starcraft build queues and memorizing keystrokes, being able to time exact respawns of items and understanding every single move the opponent can make in a map and trying to beat them to it just was never the point for me (and it isn't why and how I enjoy competitive gaming). I'm not criticizing, just saying I find competitive gameplay much more enjoyable with some (or a lot) of chaos thrown in the mix. When 20 people are running and gunning around a map the skills required to win have less to do with chess-like strategy and more with actual twitch-gaming abilities (and group tactics). The game showed here, while fascinating, seems like a fucking nightmare.

I see what you're saying. I'm sorry you feel that way. I'm not gonna say the world is all tulips and butterflies, but as someone who used to be in a pretty dark place myself and think there was no point to anything, I guess the only thing I can offer is the hope that maybe you won't feel that way forever. In my case, I realized a lot of the assumptions I was making about other people were just plain wrong. They were based on the fact that I'd been hurt pretty bad when I was younger by people I trusted, and I kind of developed this self-defense mechanism of just assuming everyone is an asshat. If you don't ever get close to anybody, they can't ever hurt you right?

I can't say it was any one thing that changed me in the end. Over time I started to become aware of inconsistencies in my perceptions. People I thought were total assholes turned out to be all right. And other people that were actually assholes... I came to understand why they acted that way. Sometimes, knowing how they got there, I couldn't blame them. Plus, I was pretty miserable too believing the worst in people all the time. So I decided to change.

Anyways, I hope you can change your mind someday too.

In reply to this comment by NinjaInHeat:
You're right, about pretty much everything you said, but there's no better or worse here, there's a person and his willingness to make "his world" better. Will I receive less support when I need it most if I turn my back on most people in my community, of course, that is unfortunately not reason enough for me to not do so seeing as I hate my community. I can be a "better" person, I can say hi to my neighbors, I can help people out, I can do lots of shit, I just don't want to in most cases. It's not some fierce ideology, it's just me as a person reacting to how I feel about my fellow man (which is usually disgust). Don't get me wrong, I don't go out of my way to fuck people over, and I'm not an asshole generally, but I will go out of my way to remain passive, just the thought of associating myself with other people in some common goal makes me sick. Human kind is a mass of retarded flesh from which occasionally there gets spewed a decent chunk, a free thinker, someone I can respect. Ignoring everyone but those few can be considered childish, but in my eyes it's not an option, it's either that or to be constantly consumed by rage and frustration, the world of tomorrow doesn't really enter the equation...

Your "world," like mine, is probably composed of friends and relatives. That is what I meant by "world," your personal world. And yes, the "world" (your friends and family) will come and help you when you're in a pinch if you've taken the time to carefully forge those connections (and they won't if you haven't). And in fact the greater world at large may come and help you too--but certainly not if you've been turning your back on it and free-riding the whole time.

I'm not asking you to fix society. I'm simply telling you if you want to live in a better "world" (in the personal sense), you can start making changes right where you are. You could say "hi" to your neighbors and get to know them better. You could help clean up trash in your neighborhood. Basically, you can improve your "local" world. Do something. Do anything. Get other people to do something with you (friends or family). And encourage them to get others to do something. Like I said, doesn't have to be huge or take a lot of time. The thing is, it's those collections of individual choices on a grand scale that shape our society. By improving your local "world" you in fact help improve the world at large as well.

As an aside, there's nothing wrong with being egocentric. That was the whole point of my post. If you truly are egocentric you'll realize your happiness in fact rests a great deal on the stability and happiness of the community in which you reside. It's in your best interest to make sure things don't go down the shitter. And (you'll just have to take my word for this) it actually turns out to be a lot more fun than whatever it was you were doing by yourself.

In reply to this comment by NinjaInHeat:
SDGundamX: The "world" doesn't back you up when you're in a pinch. And yes, individual actions do matter, and the world won't become a better place if people sit around and do nothing. I guess all I have to say is that
a: lucky thing the entire world isn't like myself
b: if you're willing to spend time and energy towards making this world a better place to live in (mostly for future generations as actual change takes bucketloads of time), good for you, I'm not, again, I have more egocentric things on my mind, and I lack the will to try and fix a society I feel completely alienated from.

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dude hit the space bar a little !



In reply to this comment by NinjaInHeat:
You people amaze me, you sound like right-wing politicians...
To rougy: for you a piece of clothing is just a piece of clothing, you barely manage to go 2 sentences without showing your whole point is based on your disdain for Muslims, even if I agreed with you and hated Muslims with all my heart it would still have nothing to do with this discussion, you would not approve of teachers asking someone to remove a Yamaka, a cross or anything else.
As for the rest of you, what the fuck is this bullshit bringing up identification in the class room as a problem? fuck me, you're right, how else would they know it's her? they couldn't come up with some simple solution like having her unveil herself to the teachers in private before the test or any of a hundred other solutions a 12 year old could come up with, no! this is the only way!
Her voice is muffled? she can speak up.
We're not talking about bringing a knife to school where I could see the arguments towards safety of others, we're not talking about shaded gym windows, where it's a case of the subjects forcing their ways actively on others (believe me, Israel is packed full of this bullshit, I would be the last one to argue for it).
Stop treating this issue like children, at the very least understand that this sort of behavior is very clearly the manifestation of bigotry, the practical reasoning behind it is moronic. She isn't some lunatic who made up a religion and its tenets yesterday and is demanding they be recognized. For fuck's sake she is seeking education, how retarded is it to deny it of her? Especially when you understand that she has no choice, when faced with such a restriction she would sooner abandon education than abandon her faith... is that not an appropriate place to draw a line?

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