OPEN BAR: NO CISNORMATIVE ELVEN PATRIARCHS ALLOWED

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

So today I took all my finals. All of them.

I'm packed and ready and FREAKING OUT. And I think my typhoid vaccine is kicking in, and the goddamn doxy is making me feel like I might die, and there's this BOY WHO IS NOT EVEN THIRTY YEARS OLD sending me filthy text messages which is very distracting.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

What about exile? what if we just dropped our absolute worst in someplace they could theoretically survive, but be extremely difficult to come back to the US and start shit? they'd be dropped somewhere off the Continental US, they'd never be allowed back in and we come compile a list of exiles worldwide to make sure they never return to their home countries again.

Who are we going to saddle them on? Australia? I feel like they've already been to that rodeo.

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

i was thinking either an island in the Pacific, Amazon jungle, or saharan desert. Anyplace where actual survival is a higher priority than revenge.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

i was thinking either an island in the Pacific, Amazon jungle, or saharan desert. Anyplace where actual survival is a higher priority than revenge.

I don't think there are many uninhabited habitable locations. And if there are, what happens when you have multiple exiles? What happens when you have hundreds? Thousands?

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

well, i know there are islands that can be bought for about as much as a decent sized house, except that they obviously lack any sort of infrastructure so people who can afford it tend not to since they'd hafta spend more money installing all the luxuries of home. As for what happens, ...well lord of the flies probably. Granted i somehow dodged having to read that book in high school, but is the possibility of surviving in the wild preferable to a certain death?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

well, i know there are islands that can be bought for about as much as a decent sized house, except that they obviously lack any sort of infrastructure so people who can afford it tend not to since they'd hafta spend more money installing all the luxuries of home. As for what happens, ...well lord of the flies probably. Granted i somehow dodged having to read that book in high school, but is the possibility of surviving in the wild preferable to a certain death?

It's pretty fucking inhumane.

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

Yea, i dunno why, my mind goes into some dark territories on this subject.

you should read the one i didnt write.....actually no, you probably shouldnt.

[Demolition Squid]

You want people to be dissuaded from doing crime, but you don't want the punishment to itself cause harm to society. Killing or exiling people robs society of potentially productive members so, on its most basic level, that is counterproductive.

You also don't want to take moderate criminals and send them to a criminal training camp where they have to become hardened and violent to survive - that's what we're doing for most crimes at the moment.

Other methods should be sought. Being locked up is itself a bad enough thing for most people, but the place we lock them up is seriously flawed most of the time.

Community work doesn't see as much use as it ought, either. I think my preference would be for non-violent crime to be punished with extreme fines and property seizure coupled with years of community service on minimum wage. Violent offenders need to be locked away for the protection of other people as much as anything else, but the focus should be on rehabilitation and providing opportunities for those people not to reoffend when they return to society.

For the very worst cases - serial killers, paedophiles and so forth - I don't think they should be able to return until a panel of criminal psychiatrists are convinced that they won't reoffend. But in all these cases, it is very easy to undo the damage caused by the sentencing if it turns out they are innocent.

With a 1/10 hit rate for false convictions on subjects serious enough to warrant the death penalty, I think that is a vital component for a civilized society.

[Faust]

For the very worst cases - serial killers, paedophiles and so forth - I don't think they should be able to return until a panel of criminal psychiatrists are convinced that they won't reoffend. But in all these cases, it is very easy to undo the damage caused by the sentencing if it turns out they are innocent.

From an entirely reptilian, questionable ethics stand point I think that the death penalty for those kind of cases is one of the most scandalously wasteful answers possible. These people are incredibly valuable, to neuroscientists, to psychologists, even to insight for criminal investigation (Ted bundy was an excellent resource to be tapped).

If rehabilitation or preventing further danger to society is what is desired then destroying these commodities in the name of revenge masquerading as justice is counter productive.

[Khezef]

For the very worst cases - serial killers, paedophiles and so forth - I don't think they should be able to return until a panel of criminal psychiatrists are convinced that they won't reoffend. But in all these cases, it is very easy to undo the damage caused by the sentencing if it turns out they are innocent.

From an entirely reptilian, questionable ethics stand point I think that the death penalty for those kind of cases is one of the most scandalously wasteful answers possible. These people are incredibly valuable, to neuroscientists, to psychologists, even to insight for criminal investigation (Ted bundy was an excellent resource to be tapped).

If rehabilitation or preventing further danger to society is what is desired then destroying these commodities in the name of revenge masquerading as justice is counter productive.

I agree. It would also go against the "theoretical basis" of a modern constitutional state where the two main maximes are/should be 1) justified punishment as and possibility for rehab and 2) preventing further harm for the people by the identified and judged subject.

And if prevention can just be archived by locking up the hopeless cases then those subjects are still a fascinating object for observation and examination why and through what they are what they are.

Khezef

[Cain]

Actually, no, fuck it, I just remembered what else is happening today.

Elder Scrolls Online is dropping its monthly fee, which is basically, other than the whole "having to play it alongside other people" aspect, my only objection to not playing it.  Battlefield: Hardline was also released today, but the only decent Battlefield game is 1942 so eh, whatever.

Pretty sure I called that. And if I haven't said it before I suspect a bag a shite with no real depth. The shift in business model guarantees doom as well. Just wait and watch.

Related rant to follow if I can remember and be arsed.

Depends what you mean by depth.  I mean, it is an MMO, so I dont expect great storytelling from the main quest.

That said, I keep hearing there is actually a LOT of interesting lore in the game.  Whether its information on the Forsworn religion (Molag Bal and Hircine), theories on the Dwemer disappearance (they came from the future and destroyed their own timeline - not entirely seriously proposed, but fun to think about), Meridia's relationship with the concept of relativity, information on the Green Pact and other Bosmer rituals....and that they've bought some of the Kirkbride sci-fi weirdness back into the series.

But I'm also interested in the exploration aspect.  Going to Blackmarsh and Valenwood sounds like a lot of fun. 

[Demolition Squid]

A few friends of mine have had a blast with ESO - I avoided it because of the high price tag, sub and the race/faction restrictions if you didn't preorder.

I'd be tempted to jump in myself but I've been having a blast with Elite and Dragonball Xenoverse both of which probably have months+ of game time left in them so... I can't really justify it right now.

[Cain]

Yeah, it is still massively expensive.  Like, £70 for the Imperial Version of ESO, £50 for the standard (a year after it came out, no less).  Then again, Bethesda are still selling Wolfenstein: The New Order for £39, so I suspect its not going to drop anytime soon.  They have done things to ease the race/faction restrictions in the late game....actually it looks like they've added a hell of a lot of late game content full stop.  High level dugeons and quests, that sort of thing.

But with 80 gig of content, I'm thinking the price tag may actually be somewhat justified.  A little bit.  Maybe.

lol Dragonball Xenoverse.

[Demolition Squid]

The story is terrible, the writing is atrocious, some of the game mechanics are laughable...

... but goddamn it is fun! It gets a huge buy from me for the nostalgia factor, though.

Team Four Star Plays is pretty hilarious. In fact, if you haven't seen it, Dragonball Z Abridged is pretty fantastic too because it is both funny AND a superior version of the story from the show too! A good way to kill a few hours.

[Faust]

I've been mainlining souls for over a month.

Finished dark souls 2, finished dark souls one and played it again up to the point where I could kick Lutrek off the cliff. And I've started into Demon's souls.

I have a problem.