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Face of Mankind: Exclusive Beta Contest!
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MMORPG.com is proud to announce that we have teamed up with Duplex Systems and eDimensional to bring you another incredible and terrific contest! On January 5, 2005 at 9PM EST we will draw the winners for the first week of the contest. The grand prize will be a set of eDimensional Wired E3D Glasses and a beta testing account for Face of Mankind! There will also be 49 secondary prizes of a beta testing account for Face of Mankind.
This contest has a slight twist from our normal contests here at MMORPG.com. To be eligible to enter this contest you will have to correctly answer 3 questions about The Face of Mankind. All of the answers can be found at the official site for Face of Mankind. Answer very carefully, because once you submit your entry you cannot change them!
We will be holding 2 more contests after this! The next one will be on January 12, 2005 and the last on January 19, 2005!
To enter this contest, click here!
Good luck to you all!
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Comments
I don't mean to grief here, but I just spent HOURS on the official FoM site and two of their main listed fansites and the 3rd answer is highly unclear. Mentionings of "important characters" and vague references to the FoM new definition of GM are hinted at, so I had to actually guess my 3rd answer. I don't think I'm allowed to post what those answers were, so I won't.
I do ask that FoM info be made more clear in regards to the contest.
My beef: It seems like an extremely Anti-American game, highly concerned with politics (which taint the fun factor used in this extreme). I don't mean because it is German (come on, there's an American military base in Frankfurt where FoM is made!), but because of the fictional future they painted of America invading and killing 20,000 innocent civilians in an Israeli camp "because they want to help the Palestinians too", which makes little sense. There appears to be no avenue to debate this reasonless notion, even though it is fiction, they really paint a dark and evil America. Europe is depicted as making up rules it ignores itself and just tries to grow bigger to overpower America for no particular reason (it appears to be in preparation for WWIII). The two spread vastly, absorbing territories surrounding them, and begin WW III. Dissolving NATO, because they can't see eye to eye on a single thing so bad that there is no longer a treaty (no exaggeration, just read it on the website). It's like a big stab at America. It says America blows up London even though EU headquarters is in Brussels (which is what it would probably actually attack if such a war ever transpired versus the European Union)... (though it is unclear on exactly why American soldiers blew up the Israeli civilian camp of 20k innocent people and how exactly the EU attacks them in "revenge" or even why. It even says the EU condoned the war and put forward the whole idea to destroy Israel. But then the EU declared WW III, because of America's attack on the camp?)
I noticed the dev team is very small and the Engrish varies from British English to American English, a lot of words are misspelled and you might as well throw editing out the window when it comes to punctuation. It was like they didn't spend much time proofreading at all and spent all their time making the site look pretty. There are no Search options except for the FAQ and Forums.
If someone wants to flame me or thinks I am being opportunistic, consider the following: It just smells funny to me, I'm not sure I want to play now. I'm an American living in Britain with a British husband, I'm hardly anti-European. I was born in West Germany as a U.S. Army brat in Heidelberg, not far from Frankfurt (where a lot of my American friends had been stationed and went to school, Americans like Frankfurt very much from what I am told); so there goes any opportunity to flame me based on my experience with Germany. It was a good experience for me and those I know that lived there.
I don't want to politically debate, I don't have much taste for it. I just think FoM is biased against Americans and it is very obvious they have all the answers to the world's problems and it doesn't end in peace, because of the big, bad Americans that want to blow everything up for no reason at all. It isn't a journey into progress, it seems to be a journey into war. Some of the ideas, like implants, seem great, I'm seeing a very Anarchy Online Choose-A-Faction beginning for a dev team that frequently uses the buzz word "different". It has a rank system, rather than levels, you can go up to 7 ranks. And they insist it is "caporal", not "corporal" and even make a note of how it is all spelled correctly...
Oh, dear.
"Define me by my personality, not my nationality or the politics related to any nation I may live in."
"...the enchantment of error that you put on me I must wear forever in your eyes. We are not always what we seem and hardly ever what we dream."
No flame
...... sorry you found the FICTIONAL story line offensive 
however..........
In terms of probability lol .... not far off
Well reelecting the monkey wasnt a good start .....
Can space cadet Bush resist pressing the history eradicator button .... that red shiney history eradicator button...
guess we'll never know .... vrrrrrrrrrrp !!!!!
*scratches nose with his hackmaster +200 Universe Slaying pogo stick of DOOM
*scratches nose with his hackmaster +200 Universe Slaying pogo stick of DOOM
Yeah right, no flame. Whatever. Ladies & gentlemen, the educated and mature answer from Denmark.
I didn't vote for Bush, obviously you don't read well. I'm in Britain with my British husband. And people in America voted for Bush because the other contenders were scarier than Bush is. Criticize it when you pay taxes to the U.S.A. Otherwise I don't see how it is any of your business. Couch critics. And I recount that I understood it was fiction, but in fact it is far flung. You see, America isn't a 3rd world country that blows up its neighbors over religious or cultural differences. We'd have no reason to blow up a camp of 20,000 innocent people -regardless of what country they belong to. You should reconsider how you represent Denmark when you regurge that spoonfed Anti-Americanism. It shows an anticultural bigotry that does not go well with the rest of the civilized world. I wouldn't disrespect Denmark because of one idiot's remarks on the forums. I couldn't anyway, because I've never heard anything of note coming from Denmark. I have no idea about its government, because it isn't significant to the culture I'm in or the culture I come from. No disrespect intended, it is a fact. But at least that gives you a perspective on the trash-talkers we always see on the web, flaming anyone from a more civilized country. It is very sad, but there is nothing I can do about the ignorance of immature under 16's that play Emperor of The World on message boards. At least his spelling was mostly right and it wasn't all in l33tsp34k like the rest of his type.
This isn't the place to voice a popular spoonfed political opinion, it is a place to talk about Face of Mankind. If you're going to flame me, at least try to stay focused enough to stay on topic.
"...the enchantment of error that you put on me I must wear forever in your eyes. We are not always what we seem and hardly ever what we dream."
Yes Ahem
Well, Lets see.... firstly I'm not danish I'm english. I moved to Denmark and married a Dane. I can obviously see that you, like myself are an intelligent and informed person who having travelled and relocated to another country can have a detached veiw of their homeland.
I wasnt flaming you at all, just having a little pun ... as usual at the americans. For my generalisation I do appologise as I obviously did not include the thinking individuals in the colonies
. However, as I myself hail from the UK I understand that although there is some resentment and critisism of the Americans there it is by no means as brutaly honest as it is in the rest of europe .... and indeed the world. I can only poke a little fun here and there at the USA, its government if not its people or else I'd just have to despair at the insanity of the way things are going at the moment. I dont hold individial americans responsible for all the policies of its goverment..... however, someone did re-elect GW... so ultimately who is to blame for the widespread animosity that the states recieves. I suffered a simular fate as an englishman when Thatcher was in power 
and can understand how annoyed you can be for being held responsible for your insane governments actions.
Please take my coments as I intended... a joke, in a forum where apperently all points of veiw are respected.
Anyways living amongst the english you must be able to appreciate humour now
(erm another joke !!!!!)
Soooooo you told me off lol ... and I said sorry
... can we be friends now 
?
*scratches nose with his hackmaster +200 Universe Slaying pogo stick of DOOM
*scratches nose with his hackmaster +200 Universe Slaying pogo stick of DOOM
Well Sci-fi games like this always have a story which ends in WW3, then after everyone lives in mega citys or something along them lines. If you look at other game they have equally as well .. silly explainations on why the world gets blown up (e.g. Neocron). Lets face it, its quite hard to try and depict why such an event would happen but its also a necessary part of the game. I dont think the developers of the game were trying to have a dig at the Americans just trying to come up with some reason why the world gets blown up.
Yeah right, no flame. Whatever. Ladies & gentlemen, the educated and mature answer from Denmark.
I didn't vote for Bush, obviously you don't read well. I'm in Britain with my British husband. And people in America voted for Bush because the other contenders were scarier than Bush is. Criticize it when you pay taxes to the U.S.A. Otherwise I don't see how it is any of your business. Couch critics. And I recount that I understood it was fiction, but in fact it is far flung. You see, America isn't a 3rd world country that blows up its neighbors over religious or cultural differences. We'd have no reason to blow up a camp of 20,000 innocent people -regardless of what country they belong to. You should reconsider how you represent Denmark when you regurge that spoonfed Anti-Americanism. It shows an anticultural bigotry that does not go well with the rest of the civilized world. I wouldn't disrespect Denmark because of one idiot's remarks on the forums. I couldn't anyway, because I've never heard anything of note coming from Denmark. I have no idea about its government, because it isn't significant to the culture I'm in or the culture I come from. No disrespect intended, it is a fact. But at least that gives you a perspective on the trash-talkers we always see on the web, flaming anyone from a more civilized country. It is very sad, but there is nothing I can do about the ignorance of immature under 16's that play Emperor of The World on message boards. At least his spelling was mostly right and it wasn't all in l33tsp34k like the rest of his type.
This isn't the place to voice a popular spoonfed political opinion, it is a place to talk about Face of Mankind. If you're going to flame me, at least try to stay focused enough to stay on topic.
I apologize for contributing to this hijacking, but I simply cannot allow this American point of view to go unchallenged.
Let me say first that I am an American who lives and pays taxes in America. I vote here too, incidentally. As a voting American, I am disgusted by this individual's contention that the election of the President of the United States, who is sometimes called the "leader of the free world," is of no concern to anyone but Americans. It's simply preposterous; surely it is obvious that a great many Iraqis would still be alive and going about their normal lives today had the outcome of the 2000 election been different, so I think it could be said that the outcome of that election was and should have been their business, whether they had a voice in the matter or not, at least, especially since Bush cohorts Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz were part of a group which advocated military action in the name of regime change in Iraq as long ago as 1998. (You can read about this on their own site: http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm ) Regime change was one of the many justifications for this war in Iraq, and many Americans supported the removal of an Iraqi leader whom they perceived as brutal, dishonest and dangerous. I hope you had the consistency to tell those people that they would be free to criticize the leader of Iraq when they pay taxes there. (Full disclosure: I'm no fan of Hussein, but I was and remain against the war in Iraq. I foolishly hoped that the full weight of our military would be used to relentlessly pursue and bring to justice the man who actually did attack us rather than a random lunatic who may possibly, someday, attack us.) Aside from Iraq and its citizens, many countries are affected by the policies of the United States, whether directly or indirectly. Examples of such include the withdrawal from the Kyoto Accord and the renunciation of the International Criminal Court.
It is either dangerously ignorant or willfully misleading to suggest that "people in America voted for Bush because the other contenders were scarier than Bush is." I cannot see in what way, if any, Kerry would have appeared "scarier" to anyone, but then I am not convinced that many of those who voted for Bush actually bothered to learn anything about Kerry. I think many votes for Bush were cast purely for religious reasons and in utter disregard of his actions as President beyond such frivolous matters as gay marriage and anti-abortion rights. I think many votes were also cast out of unenlightened, short-sighted, nationalistic admiration for the contempt Bush has shown for the international community in general and for the United Nations in particular. Many other votes were cast in the name of prejudice, or in support of the anti-minority beliefs Bush represents, with regard to gays in the form of the opposition to gay marriage and with regard to racial minorities and women in opposition to Affirmative Action. This is the America where I live, and it is becoming uglier and more hate-filled every year.
I find it absolutely laughable for you to presume to tell anyone to consider how he represents his country or to accuse anyone of anticultural bigotry. First, there is a difference between being anti-Bush and being anti-American, so I do not believe you can even rationally accuse this person of being an anticultural bigot. It isn't enough that your accusation was baseless, however. You compounded that by hypocritically engaging in the very behavior for which you criticized another. I think it's safe to say that "I've never heard of anything of note coming from Denmark" would in fact be anti-Danish, and not merely opposed to the policies of a specific individual or group of individuals, and apparently not content with one such subtle insult, you go on to say that their government "isn't significant to the culture I'm in or the culture I'm from. No disrespect intended, it is a fact." Ignorance of the world at-large seems to be a badge of honor among many Americans today, and I find that repulsive. Tell me, did you consider Afghanistan to be significant to the culture you're in or the culture you're from before September 11? I'll venture a guess that you didn't. Perhaps Afghanistan is too obvious, so how about Azerbaijan? Or, as our President would probably say, what about Poland? Which nations' governments are significant, in your esteem? Setting your proud ignorance aside, do you know what the word "fact" means? Surely you don't believe that your opinion as to the significance of the Danish government is accepted fact; if you do believe that, allow me to be the first to correct that particular mistaken notion. Regardless, your attitude is vulgar. Perhaps all countries could live together more agreeably if we all tried to understand each other a bit more, beyond necessity. This would apply particularly to "anyone from a more civilized country" which you seem to arrogantly believe to describe yourself. (By the way, Denmark has been a sovereign nation for something like a thousand years. I rather doubt this "more civilized" United States will last that long.) In any case, since you've taken the liberty of preaching to this individual about how he represents his country, I feel free to do the same: please do not represent my country with your maliciously ignorant, self-absorbed anticultural bigotry. (Hope you don't mind I've borrowed your term!)
I have to wonder why you found those remarks offensive at all, to be honest. Your signature contains the statement, "Define me by my personality, not my nationality or the politics related to any nation I may live in." This would seem to imply some recognition of the miserable nature of current American policy, in that surely you wouldn't mind being identified with your nationality if such identification would cast you in a favorable light. Is it that you disagree with current American policies, but you don't feel anyone outside America has the right to criticize? Or do you want to have it both ways, to agree with how America is conducting itself but not have to answer for your endorsement?
To pay a cursory respect to the topic at hand, I will say that I don't find this game to be offensive nor anti-American. It doesn't paint a flattering picture of futuristic America, but certainly anyone is free to make such an artistic statement without readers concluding that he believes his statement to be true. It is unreasonable even to attempt to conclude that the author is anti-American for having created such a work. However, for the sake of argument, I will assume the author does believe this is a realistic assessment of America. My immediate reaction would not be to screech, "anti-American!" at him, but to wonder why it is that he thinks this way, or that would be my reaction, if I didn't already have such a good idea of what the answer would be. It seems that Americans are happy to dismiss anyone who is critical of America, without even considering whether that person might have a legitimate reason for his feelings, or without remembering that it wasn't so long ago that many of these critics were our friends. Remember the genuine affection and sympathy from the rest of the world on September 11? I was awed by it. Now we spit in the faces of those nations who were so kind to us should they dare to disagree with us. Again, I don't believe this game, nor the post above, constitute anti-Americanism, but it doesn't surprise me to see anti-Americanism, anywhere. What surprises me is that Americans continue to blame everyone else for their anti-American feelings and leave unanswered, even unconsidered, the question of whether we may be giving the rest of the world reasons to dislike and mistrust us.
Yeah right, no flame. Whatever. Ladies & gentlemen, the educated and mature answer from Denmark.
I didn't vote for Bush, obviously you don't read well. I'm in Britain with my British husband. And people in America voted for Bush because the other contenders were scarier than Bush is. Criticize it when you pay taxes to the U.S.A. Otherwise I don't see how it is any of your business. Couch critics. And I recount that I understood it was fiction, but in fact it is far flung. You see, America isn't a 3rd world country that blows up its neighbors over religious or cultural differences. We'd have no reason to blow up a camp of 20,000 innocent people -regardless of what country they belong to. You should reconsider how you represent Denmark when you regurge that spoonfed Anti-Americanism. It shows an anticultural bigotry that does not go well with the rest of the civilized world. I wouldn't disrespect Denmark because of one idiot's remarks on the forums. I couldn't anyway, because I've never heard anything of note coming from Denmark. I have no idea about its government, because it isn't significant to the culture I'm in or the culture I come from. No disrespect intended, it is a fact. But at least that gives you a perspective on the trash-talkers we always see on the web, flaming anyone from a more civilized country. It is very sad, but there is nothing I can do about the ignorance of immature under 16's that play Emperor of The World on message boards. At least his spelling was mostly right and it wasn't all in l33tsp34k like the rest of his type.
This isn't the place to voice a popular spoonfed political opinion, it is a place to talk about Face of Mankind. If you're going to flame me, at least try to stay focused enough to stay on topic.
Your bio says you're from Denmark. I guess you're just another poor example of British intellect then.
"Define me by my personality, not my nationality or the politics related to any nation I may live in."
http://www.geocities.com/neilgaimanj/pimp.gif
"...the enchantment of error that you put on me I must wear forever in your eyes. We are not always what we seem and hardly ever what we dream."
Yeah right, no flame. Whatever. Ladies & gentlemen, the educated and mature answer from Denmark.
I didn't vote for Bush, obviously you don't read well. I'm in Britain with my British husband. And people in America voted for Bush because the other contenders were scarier than Bush is. Criticize it when you pay taxes to the U.S.A. Otherwise I don't see how it is any of your business. Couch critics. And I recount that I understood it was fiction, but in fact it is far flung. You see, America isn't a 3rd world country that blows up its neighbors over religious or cultural differences. We'd have no reason to blow up a camp of 20,000 innocent people -regardless of what country they belong to. You should reconsider how you represent Denmark when you regurge that spoonfed Anti-Americanism. It shows an anticultural bigotry that does not go well with the rest of the civilized world. I wouldn't disrespect Denmark because of one idiot's remarks on the forums. I couldn't anyway, because I've never heard anything of note coming from Denmark. I have no idea about its government, because it isn't significant to the culture I'm in or the culture I come from. No disrespect intended, it is a fact. But at least that gives you a perspective on the trash-talkers we always see on the web, flaming anyone from a more civilized country. It is very sad, but there is nothing I can do about the ignorance of immature under 16's that play Emperor of The World on message boards. At least his spelling was mostly right and it wasn't all in l33tsp34k like the rest of his type.
This isn't the place to voice a popular spoonfed political opinion, it is a place to talk about Face of Mankind. If you're going to flame me, at least try to stay focused enough to stay on topic.
I apologize for contributing to this hijacking, but I simply cannot allow this American point of view to go unchallenged.
Let me say first that I am an American who lives and pays taxes in America. I vote here too, incidentally. As a voting American, I am disgusted by this individual's contention that the election of the President of the United States, who is sometimes called the "leader of the free world," is of no concern to anyone but Americans. It's simply preposterous; surely it is obvious that a great many Iraqis would still be alive and going about their normal lives today had the outcome of the 2000 election been different, so I think it could be said that the outcome of that election was and should have been their business, whether they had a voice in the matter or not, at least, especially since Bush cohorts Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz were part of a group which advocated military action in the name of regime change in Iraq as long ago as 1998. (You can read about this on their own site: http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm ) Regime change was one of the many justifications for this war in Iraq, and many Americans supported the removal of an Iraqi leader whom they perceived as brutal, dishonest and dangerous. I hope you had the consistency to tell those people that they would be free to criticize the leader of Iraq when they pay taxes there. (Full disclosure: I'm no fan of Hussein, but I was and remain against the war in Iraq. I foolishly hoped that the full weight of our military would be used to relentlessly pursue and bring to justice the man who actually did attack us rather than a random lunatic who may possibly, someday, attack us.) Aside from Iraq and its citizens, many countries are affected by the policies of the United States, whether directly or indirectly. Examples of such include the withdrawal from the Kyoto Accord and the renunciation of the International Criminal Court.
It is either dangerously ignorant or willfully misleading to suggest that "people in America voted for Bush because the other contenders were scarier than Bush is." I cannot see in what way, if any, Kerry would have appeared "scarier" to anyone, but then I am not convinced that many of those who voted for Bush actually bothered to learn anything about Kerry. I think many votes for Bush were cast purely for religious reasons and in utter disregard of his actions as President beyond such frivolous matters as gay marriage and anti-abortion rights. I think many votes were also cast out of unenlightened, short-sighted, nationalistic admiration for the contempt Bush has shown for the international community in general and for the United Nations in particular. Many other votes were cast in the name of prejudice, or in support of the anti-minority beliefs Bush represents, with regard to gays in the form of the opposition to gay marriage and with regard to racial minorities and women in opposition to Affirmative Action. This is the America where I live, and it is becoming uglier and more hate-filled every year.
I find it absolutely laughable for you to presume to tell anyone to consider how he represents his country or to accuse anyone of anticultural bigotry. First, there is a difference between being anti-Bush and being anti-American, so I do not believe you can even rationally accuse this person of being an anticultural bigot. It isn't enough that your accusation was baseless, however. You compounded that by hypocritically engaging in the very behavior for which you criticized another. I think it's safe to say that "I've never heard of anything of note coming from Denmark" would in fact be anti-Danish, and not merely opposed to the policies of a specific individual or group of individuals, and apparently not content with one such subtle insult, you go on to say that their government "isn't significant to the culture I'm in or the culture I'm from. No disrespect intended, it is a fact." Ignorance of the world at-large seems to be a badge of honor among many Americans today, and I find that repulsive. Tell me, did you consider Afghanistan to be significant to the culture you're in or the culture you're from before September 11? I'll venture a guess that you didn't. Perhaps Afghanistan is too obvious, so how about Azerbaijan? Or, as our President would probably say, what about Poland? Which nations' governments are significant, in your esteem? Setting your proud ignorance aside, do you know what the word "fact" means? Surely you don't believe that your opinion as to the significance of the Danish government is accepted fact; if you do believe that, allow me to be the first to correct that particular mistaken notion. Regardless, your attitude is vulgar. Perhaps all countries could live together more agreeably if we all tried to understand each other a bit more, beyond necessity. This would apply particularly to "anyone from a more civilized country" which you seem to arrogantly believe to describe yourself. (By the way, Denmark has been a sovereign nation for something like a thousand years. I rather doubt this "more civilized" United States will last that long.) In any case, since you've taken the liberty of preaching to this individual about how he represents his country, I feel free to do the same: please do not represent my country with your maliciously ignorant, self-absorbed anticultural bigotry. (Hope you don't mind I've borrowed your term!)
I have to wonder why you found those remarks offensive at all, to be honest. Your signature contains the statement, "Define me by my personality, not my nationality or the politics related to any nation I may live in." This would seem to imply some recognition of the miserable nature of current American policy, in that surely you wouldn't mind being identified with your nationality if such identification would cast you in a favorable light. Is it that you disagree with current American policies, but you don't feel anyone outside America has the right to criticize? Or do you want to have it both ways, to agree with how America is conducting itself but not have to answer for your endorsement?
To pay a cursory respect to the topic at hand, I will say that I don't find this game to be offensive nor anti-American. It doesn't paint a flattering picture of futuristic America, but certainly anyone is free to make such an artistic statement without readers concluding that he believes his statement to be true. It is unreasonable even to attempt to conclude that the author is anti-American for having created such a work. However, for the sake of argument, I will assume the author does believe this is a realistic assessment of America. My immediate reaction would not be to screech, "anti-American!" at him, but to wonder why it is that he thinks this way, or that would be my reaction, if I didn't already have such a good idea of what the answer would be. It seems that Americans are happy to dismiss anyone who is critical of America, without even considering whether that person might have a legitimate reason for his feelings, or without remembering that it wasn't so long ago that many of these critics were our friends. Remember the genuine affection and sympathy from the rest of the world on September 11? I was awed by it. Now we spit in the faces of those nations who were so kind to us should they dare to disagree with us. Again, I don't believe this game, nor the post above, constitute anti-Americanism, but it doesn't surprise me to see anti-Americanism, anywhere. What surprises me is that Americans continue to blame everyone else for their anti-American feelings and leave unanswered, even unconsidered, the question of whether we may be giving the rest of the world reasons to dislike and mistrust us.
"...the enchantment of error that you put on me I must wear forever in your eyes. We are not always what we seem and hardly ever what we dream."
No. I am one of the people who did vote for Kerry. I think a plan for withdrawal from Iraq is very much secondary to a plan for stabilization of the current situation there, or a plan for cleaning up the mess that the current Administration has made, in other words. (Nine more Americans killed yesterday, incidentally.) I wasn't knocking you for knocking anti-Americanism, to borrow your phrasing; rather, I was knocking you for a) your Salem-esque (Or McCarthy-esque, if you prefer - I got my history books out, as you suggested!) leap to an accusation of such, and b) the flagrantly hostile, anticultural opinions you exhibited. It wasn't your initial post to which I replied; I found that rather far-fetched but not overtly objectionable. It was your second post I found offensively narrow-minded. I don't "forget that in politics, someone has to be voted for," as you suggest; I simply questioned your explanation as to the reason people voted for Bush. I cannot see a reasonable basis for the notion that I tripped on my own ego nor for the contention that my post was bloated. To be perfectly honest, these collectively sound much like a last-refuge sort of response. You seem unable here and in the remainder of your post to refute any of my contentions or even to address them (excepting the question regarding your signature, which you have answered unintentionally,) so I think you are left with little alternative but to simply state that I was off-topic and long-winded. I suppose you've called me arrogant as a sort of bonus.
Although in your previous paragraph you state that I "avoid[ed] the issue at hand," I did in fact reply to your contention that this game is anti-American, in my final paragraph. In short, as I know what a fan of verbosity you are, this is a work of fiction, and as such, the author is permitted the adoption of a point of view which he might not hold, and might even find contemptible, in reality. By your reasoning, George Orwell was anti-European, anti-Asian and anti-American, as far as I can tell. Perhaps this is amateurish fiction; I'm not the judge of that, but when you start persecuting authors indiscriminately for works of fiction, however poorly done or disagreeable you may find those works to be, you have headed down the path to book burnings, and there are nasty things at the end of that path.
Since you are so concerned with the topic at hand, I might refer you to the topic of this thread. For reference, it reads, "Face of Mankind: Exclusive Beta Contest!" Your discussion of anti-Americanism in FoM is therefore technically off-topic when presented here, as it does not relate to the beta contest itself. There is in fact a general discussion forum for FoM, and perhaps your off-topic opinions would be more appropriate there.
Thank you for your well-intentioned suggestion regarding my posting habits. I must confess, though, I am curious as to who exactly provides the definition of "useful or contributing." I suspect that you think you provide that definition, but I assure you, that is not the case. (To be frank, I suspect that, in a similar fashion, you also believe that you provide the adjudication of what constitutes "off-topic" as well.) For example, does "Deal with it, it doesn't mean you have to trip on your ego..." meet your criteria for useful and contributing content?
Perhaps they will change the storyline again, but if so, I hope it is for their own reasons rather than out of any fear of offending anyone, least of all the sort of person who would be offended by something so trivial.
Do you not find it contradictory that you say "If I see one more retarded posts about 'bloody yanks' this or "this American doesn't support my view and I'm American so it's wrong' post," and yet you also accuse everyone who disagrees with you of some combination of ignorance, arrogance, immaturity and an inability to think for themselves?
I think your statements regarding flames also fall into the last-refuge category. If not for your flame-strewn post to this thread, I would have had nothing to say on this topic; evidently flaming is perfectly acceptable when you are on the giving end. (I must disagree that my post should be called a flame in the first place.) Here's a short history, as I see it: Stableboy posts an anti-Bush message, so you flame him. He posts an articulate, neutral response, and I post an articulate, less neutral response, so you flame the both of us.
I'm afraid your post leaves the rails at this point and barrels unchecked into pure absurdity. I have made one post to this topic, yet you believe this constitutes "all [I] have to do with [my life]." This is only my eighth post overall, in four months since I registered; your number is sixty-two, in ten months. This means you post three times as often as I do, which might lead to questions as to what you have to do with your life. (Moral: don't trot out the same old insults every time; try to actually use some that fit each particular situation, if you must insult others at all.) You then refer to "Emperor on the Internet syndrome" which I assume is your name for anyone who appears to be more articulate than you are; this resentment probably also explains your belief that I am egotistical. Why does is surprise you that I haven't resorted to name-calling? Because that is your own tendency? (For reference, in this thread alone, you have called people or groups of people, "idiot," "trash-talkers... flaming anyone from a more civilized country," "immature under 16's," "Emperor of the World," "poor example of British intellect," and "Emperor of the Internet," as well as accusing others of "anticultural bigotry," of possessing "a popular spoonfed political opinion," of being "zombies" who are spoonfed "retarded popular opinions," of writing "retarded posts," and of being unable to read well, primitive, egotistical, jobless, uninformed and unimaginative. You also dismissed an entire nation as insignificant.) From here you again make irrational references to my personal life. I'm not certain, but if you'll permit me to (again, I suppose you'd say) indulge my egotism, I suspect you think that because it would take you a full day to even attempt to write something approximately as articulate as my response was, then it takes me a similar amount of time. This is not the case. That aside, I'm confident I can manage my life without your inspired guidance, so thanks but no thanks for that.
Briefly, your argument that the world is upset with the British and not the Americans is foolish and untenable. Certainly the British are suffering some resentment, but to say that the Americans are not is pure nonsense; again, nine more Americans killed yesterday - was that done simply to send a message to the British? You refer to the "violent and perverse regimes," but by your own reasoning, you have no right to say that, since (I presume) you don't pay taxes in any of those regimes, nor do you physically live there.
Am I one of the "zombies that have posted here"? Is your advice, "learn to think for yourselves, otherwise you just look ignorant," meant to apply to me? I hate to indulge my arrogance again, but certainly you don't honestly believe you're more intelligent or more capable of thinking for yourself than I am, not to mention so much so as to assume such a condescending tone with me. Frankly, your writing and related organizational skills seem poor, and you are apparently incapable of making even the most basic rational response to criticism. (This is, I am sure, because either a) you didn't want to dignify my ignorant ramblings with a response, although you did respond to them, without actually addressing them, or b) you didn't want to discuss an off-topic subject here, aside from the other off-topic subjects you did discuss, that is.) I hope I never consider myself to be better than anyone else, but that is what you seem to do here. You are mistaken.
I believe you stated earlier that you live in the UK with your husband. If that is the case, what is the difference between you and a Brit living there? Do you have some telepathic link back to the motherland that gives you a greater understanding of America than anyone around you? I am not sure what information you think you can access that is closed off to everyone around you. Leaving your anti-German bigotry aside, I think those in other countries form opinions of America based on what they know America to do, by observation rather than by assumption, in other words. This is certainly acceptable. Your logic that someone must live in a country in order to understand it is flawed. By the same reasoning, must a person live in another person's home to understand that person? If I am walking down the street, and I see a grown man beating a three-year-old child with a shovel, can I conclude that he is a bad person, or do I have to live in his house before I can truly know that? Your own apparent position is contradicted by your logic: how can anyone know that it is bad to live under a "violent and perverse" regime, without living there himself? Using your logic, nearly all Americans would be unqualified to say that Hussein's Iraq was a terrible place to live.
You wisely left yourself an out in saying, "If I see one more retarded posts... I'm just not coming back to finish what I started." I would advise you to take this out, because you obviously don't have a defense. (This is your second-best option, incidentally; the first would be to admit you overreacted to Stableboy's comments and to apologize to him. That takes a bit more maturity than you have mustered so far, though.) You state at the end of your post that you don't see any Americans, among others, living in Leicester, but I understood you to be an American. This gets me around to something I've had on my mind every time you've called someone else immature or ignorant: you really need to look in the mirror.