madhaha

SHIFT = afterburners, used for burst, repels and mines. CTRL = guns, repels and used by windows for many things including CTRL + ALT + DELETE ALT = used for the powerball map and already creates many problems with accidental ALT + TABbing SPACE is used in normal chat. Anything to detract from subspace chat as it is will be unacceptable as many people play purely on a social basis. +- (numpad) maybe... remember that laptops don't have numpads. With server commands you could bind them to macros which would make life fairly simple. SHIFT + LEFT or RIGHT would work but someone suggested that be used for strafe which I think makes more sense.

The statistics don't tell us anything but I'm sure you knew that already. We want firearms related data and a progression so we can see what happens when gun law changes. We also need to know the criteria (are both sets of data evaluated the same way? Politicians and big companies are notorious for thier selective criteria). Are these figures REPORTED crime (do crime rates rise due to increased public awareness or big money lawsuits that show money is to be made) or estimates? How effective do the police believe the laws to be (multiple statements)? This is what I would consider evidence. Zipguns and other homemades are extremely unreliable 1 shot affairs. Many people have been seriously injured while using and even creating them and they are useless in terms of accuracy although that isn't a problem if you only need to take 1 shot close up. How many crimes are commited with homemade guns (its easy to tell because the bullets won't bear rifling marks) in comparison to gun crime commited by purchased firearms? I'd say something like 1:1000 if not more. Home casting of bullets is tricky, especially if you're poor and alone. The knowledge isn't that widespread and its much easier to get target rounds or shotgun s-*BAD WORD*-s.

Mike I'm still waiting for a reply. It is kind of urgent. Online a lot? I haven't played in 17th for almost a week...

Blackice defender seems to have fallen out of favour. Anyone use outpost?

What happened to them? And why is this under bug reporting. someone move it to tech support.

Silly dave

Need more buttons. Which one do we sacrifice to the weapon power control? Or should we use server commands?

Cool. We can close this thread now

Infected hamburgers. Are you proposing biological warfare?

I am !@#$%^&*uming you meant violent crime when refering to "thugs". The primary interest of a "thug" as you call it is not self preservation. Approaching other people with a knife does not help your chances of self preservation a great deal but it would seem that you !@#$%^&*ociate that with "thuggish" behavior. Think about your definition and clarify your opinion because it still isn't clear. With regards to cardboard armour blocking stunguns and mace its basically the same as saying that low calibre weapons are useless because anyone can make an effective ballistic vest (there have been effective homemade varieties since the 1800's) or buy them from army surplus stores. If you spot ANYONE with a knife and wearing a face shield and cardboard body armour you're going to be a tiny bit suspicious aren't you? Again I disapprove of the whole idea of carrying any weapons "just in case" as it tends to cause more problems than it creates. "What were you doing in that alley holding a stun gun?" "There is nothing illegal about that! I was just being careful!". Aileron appears to have misunderstood my point concerning guns being seen as fashion accessories. I am NOT saying guns are fashion accessories in the states (although a lot of them are), I'm saying they have been glorified by the US media and through films and turned into iconic "must have" items for violent people. Here guns were just !@#$%^&*ociated with implements of murder (our police do not routinely carry guns) or the military. Its the stories of ghetto gun battles that have caught the imagination of our youth gangs and now all of them want guns when they were previously satisfied with beating up/stabbing the helpless and trashing up shops/cars/anything freestanding. For a period of time, up north they had to have regular police patrols armed with automatics because of the sudden influx of foriegn arms. Simple vandalism has escalated because these people want to be as "cool" as the gangs of America. I don't blame America for this. I'm saying the cultural ideas stemmed from America. I do not follow your "guns are a good thing" logic at all. Having guns will not reduce crime (do you see criminals retiring because people could buy guns?). It will NOT reduce gun crime. It won't reduce violent crime (the commonest form of violent crime is domestic issues. Now add a gun to the equation and you end up with murder). It will not reduce theft (they take things when you Aren't looking and now they can buy a gun for when things go wrong. More murder.) What you reason is that responsible people won't do bad things with guns. But guns don't offer protection for responsible people and increases the amount of harm irresponsible people can do. Responsible people can already take part in gun sports and can use guns as pest deterence (note that we don't have bears or wolves in the UK). So given all this, why would we want to increase gun ownership?

One day net, you too can achieve that greatness...

Hm, a couple of point I missed and I knew I'd regret it. While it is impossible to remove gun ownership and guncrime completely, it is possible to restrict supply to such a level that only the rich, those with deep criminal connections (not your average teenage gang) and hitman are able to get their hands on a gun. I would much rather a dozen hitmen and the major gangs have firearms than every teenager in the country. This is basically the situation that we have now although illegal gun sales have been on the rise a bit due to the US gun fashion culture. I await proof that guns solve more problems than they create. Note that a lot of situations that are "solved" by guns could well have ended peacefully so I'd like hard figures of situations where guns were used as a last resort. I doubt you'll have any. I do not believe that an ordinary civillian could draw, fire and kill a criminal upon witnessing a crime before the criminal either shoots them or runs away. The chain of reaction would go something like this: What was that bang? -*BAD WORD*-! Someone got shot! (at this point the gunman would probably have turned either to kill the witness or to run away) Wait, I have a gun. . . Aileron: Please explain what you mean by "common thug". Are you talking about a teenager looking for trouble who's life ended abrubtly because someone felt threatened?

Host died. Reasons unclear. Someone post here when they have news.

I predict words will be used extensively in World War III.

Why does MilleniumMan want a gun? To "protect" himself and even the ground he says, but he doesn't give an instance of himself using a gun to defend himself against someone else with a gun. The truth is having a gun will not stop you from getting shot unless you can shoot the person attacking you first with the chances of that happening being small. Furthermore, accidents and mistakes are likely to be extremely serious. Having a knife doesn't stop you from being stabbed. Having a taser doesn't stop someone having a taser or a stun gun and mugging you. If it is common for people to bare offensive weapons, illegals (muggers, robbers, whatever) are going to go for something more extreme. This is where MilleniumMan's scenario falls down. If someone really wants to commit murder they'll now use automatics. If they weren't going to do it in the first place but did it for the -*BAD WORD*- of it then surely thats a case against people carrying guns. Possession of an illegal firearm and related offences (selling of an illegal firearm etc.) are treated much more harshly in the UK for this reason: so you don't get your average thug getting their hands on one. Your average mugger or thief will not have a gun so if they get caught they get a lighter sentence. Guns are not the fashion accessaries they are in the US although there is pressure from the US to change that. -*BAD WORD*- even imitation firearms are taken seriously. If you are in a society where most people don't carry around things they can attack you with then suspicious individuals are easier to spot, more likely to be picked up by the police and easier to avoid. Violent crime is also less likely to be lethal because there isn't the pressure to jump someone just in case they pull a gun on you and shoot you. If you live in a violent area where you need "protection", introducing firearms isn't going to solve your problems. If you don't live in a violent area but want to carry a firearm "just in case" then there is a good chance that that weapon is going to be misused. How many times have you heard the phrase "he knew where his dad kept the gun" turn into a nasty accident? How many people die in firearms accidents in the US? How often do you actually need to kill someone in your lifetime to justify having a fully loaded gun "just in case"? I'm willing to bet that more people are killed unnecessarily by guns than lives saved. If you need protection learn self-defence and have the police do their job. Nothing else is going to help in the long term. Thats how things work in the UK anyway. You can still get licenses for guns used in recreation and you're allowed air rilfes/pistols. Farmers are allowed shotguns. Makes sense to me.

Those are our old graphics. You sure thats a Current screenshot?

So why do we want to give them a break again?

Yeah the one thats really ntfx in disguise! *looks innocently at ricebowl*

You forgot the accompanying pic.

Yeah, have the bot prize the person until they get the correct amount of time. It'd be more sensible to have it prize the person again if they reach a minimum time and then flag them as prized until the countdown finishes.

Aw swift! Its a joke article!

Too early to tell. RIAA has a lot of clout behind it and support from within. Anyone heard about Earthstation 5? http://www.es5.com/ I wouldn't recommend their software but their stance made headline news: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030819/lntu006_1.html

A CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbor. A SOCIALIST: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor. A REPUBLICAN: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So what? A DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. You vote people into office who tax your cows, forcing you to sell one to raise money to pay the tax. The people you voted for then take the tax money and buy a cow and give it to your neighbor. You feel righteous. A COMMUNIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk. A FASCIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and sells you the milk. You join the underground and start a campaign of sabotage. DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government. CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull and build a herd of cows. BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, then pours the milk down the drain. AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead. A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows. A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are an eleventh the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You reengineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month and milk themselves. AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch. A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka. A MEXICAN CORPORATION: You think you have two cows, but you're not sure where they are. You'll look for them tomorrow. A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows, none of which belongs to you. You charge for storing them for others. A BRAZILIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You enter into a partnership with an American corporation. Soon you have 1000 cows and the American corporation declares bankruptcy. AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship them.

People tend not to download albums by p2p because they find they could wait days to get the full list. This is especially true with soundtracks. RIAA is also targetting people downloading singles...

So when is this popularity contest comming to a close? This post is starting to drag on a bit