Casual_Player

Oh, whoops!

Yes, my global is indeed @Casual Player

All right, let's go for some honest criticism. You didn't like it when I tried to be funny in a separate thread, so I'll bring my criticisms back home to roost here.

1) You, the community reps, lied to us. Implicitly, not explicitly, but it was there: "We'll give you (the community) a say in what art graces the forums." But you didn't.

You guys are supposed to have our backs here, and build consensus. This thread asked for our input and generated a consensus so clear it was visible from space. AND THEN YOU IGNORED OUR INPUT ENTIRELY.

Zwill fell on his sword, claiming technical difficulties, but there has been no assurance from you guys that you understand the social aspect of this faux pax. No one's mad that you've chosen to alter the art to fit better on certain viewing aspects/ratios. We're mad because our feedback was ignored.

That doesn't build a community, it destroys it. You, The Mods, should Know Better and apologize NOT for making an artistic or technical error, but for making an error in community management.

2) You're promoting sexist art. You're promoting sexist art in a T for TEEN game. You're promoting sexist art in a T for TEEN game and relying on the commonality of female-specific softcore-porn poses in other comic book media to support your position.

The Over the Shoulder Pose has been increasingly and rightfully coming under fire.

No, It's Not Equal (the best article so far, IMO)

When Oversexualization Kills the Story

Escher Girls, which has plenty of examples along with occasional "fixes" that bring these artistically anatomical freaks into line with reality.

I'm going to note here that I had several humorous links all ready to go, but I've eliminated them to keep this discussion appropriate. Google 'male superheroes posed as women' if you want to see visuals that convey what these articles write about in more effective fashion.

In case it's not clear, I'm accusing you, the Mods, of deliberately oversexualizing Penny, just as she is on the splash screen.

One is a mistake. Both at the same time? That's intentionally going for the softcore porn.

You should be ashamed of yourselves.

3) I fully expect this post to get deleted, under the newly-created "Inappropriate discussion of the aesthetics of the human form, subject to moderator discretion" clause. Hmmmmm. I wonder why that clause was instituted just now?

See my conclusion from point 2). You knew you were about to start using softcore porn to sell your product to teenagers, and you decided to institute a policy enabling you to delete or modify the posts that call you out on it.

I re-iterate: you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Wow. Big of you to take the blame for this.

And yet, you couldn't take your decision far enough to cut off the hideous Escher Girl Pose that Penelope is sporting in version #2. Another quarter inch or so would have done it.

Or was this your Yoda-like way of emphasizing to the art team just how awful the #2 Penelope pose is?

There will be nothing quite like watching that broken butt peeking up over the tab bar with every load-in to drive the point home.

Now I have to go find out if Zombie Man's reskin works on macs.

See that guy back there? He's playing Galaga. He thinks I don't know, but no detail escapes the attention of Inspector Monocle!

I try to at least dabble in all the mini-games offered. In the case of superpacks, my sole purchase of packs was with a Reward Token.

The subsequent gameplay ('opening' the packs for the 'thrill' of discovery) was duller than dirt and the rewards were 'meh'. I won't be wasting any more tokens on this nonsense and I'm sure as heck not going to waste Paragon Points on them.

You were hurt deeply by the 70s, weren't you?

I understand.

This kind of thing would do that to anybody:

No, it's just a silly web page, like the Leekspin page Ironblade linked to. It loops catchy music to a very simple animation and does nothing else whatsoever apart from increasing a counter the longer you leave it running.

BUT: That basic achievement, of making a number go up, is what I was referring to as a fundamental of game design. How many games are based on just that simple a concept?

Obviously, installing a button you would have to click occasionally to create some interaction would intensify the 'game' experience. But I think the simple non-action of leaving the page running to increase the 'time passes' number is enough to draw people in.

I think the cuteness of the animation and catchiness of the music also factor in, but that's where aesthetics and personal taste enter the equation and things get tricky. That's the point where some game designer steps in and creates either a classic or a passing novelty.

But what about the CoH Myspace Page?!

Huh?! C'mon, man! You're letting down your trailing-edge peeps just to look cool!

(need I print out the winkie? I'd better: )

I therefore request the forum title of Internet Exemplar!