Descent is Teh Smart

[Dakatsu]

Is it me, or is everyone in this board seem smart. Sure we have different political views, but to me it seems everyone here is inteligent, and can collect their thoughts and debate.

Now, I stumble onto a Halo board and it goes like this:
Well f*ck u, Bush sux
No u suc, Bush rulz
F*cking fags, grrr fags ur all fags!

So I am wondering, are Descenters smarter than the average gamer? (Or Halo gamers are just numbnuts, or both!)

[Sedwick]

Perhaps the age of the game and thus of the gamers themselves has to do with it? I imagine most of us have outgrown the thrill of typing like hyperactive kindergarteners. Or maybe the skills and patience required for Descent are possessed mainly by smarter, more patient gamers? Whatever it is, I have noticed that this board consistently features posts made of coherent sentences with correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It's a welcome relief from the unfiltered chicken scratch littering other public areas of the Internet. Which reminds me, it's about time I started contributing to the StupidFilter.

[Krom]

I would put it more on age then intelligence. Also the fact that this forum isn't as large as some other popular forums it doesn't get as dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.

[TIGERassault]

1: The average age of people on this forum is rather high for a videogame forum.
2: The videogame in question is pretty much dead from modern culture, so the forum is only visited by people who stay dedicated to their games. Regular people don't do that.
3: Descent3 wasn't marketed towards the casual dont-care-about-stuff kinda teenagers.
4: Barely any new people come in, so there's less newbies coming in that don't know how to use a forum properly.

I'd say the only exception to the very-intelligent trend here is the Japanese guy that comes by here every so often. But that's not really his fault, as he isn't fluent in English.


I'd also say that the people in the post you quoted are actually smarter than the average person. Or else it's because I'm still a teenager, so nearly everyone I know seems to be a complete and utter idiot!

[Firewheel]

I'd say the only exception to the very-intelligent trend here is the Japanese guy that comes by here every so often. But that's not really his fault, as he isn't fluent in English.

Who the heck is this?

Most of us are older, and have been on this forum and part of the Descent community a long time. I expect that has a lot to do with it.

[Krom]

I think he might be talking about Jonathan Paskiewicz, but I'm pretty sure his native language isn't Japanese. He makes a lot of grammar mistakes, but not the type of mistakes native Japanese speakers usually confuse.

[d3jake]

Age is the biggest part. There have been times in America's Army when I'm in a server and some guy is throwing around some smack talk in the form of leet speak, and there have been times where guys have said \"Dude, quit talking like a 13 year old and play.\" So I'm guaranteed that age play a big role...

[TIGERassault]

I think he might be talking about Jonathan Paskiewicz, but I'm pretty sure his native language isn't Japanese. He makes a lot of grammar mistakes, but not the type of mistakes native Japanese speakers usually confuse.

I coulda sworn he said he was from Japan though.

[Tunnelcat]

The people on this forum seem to be level headed, intelligent and friendly and can hold a good discussion on a variety of topics without sounding like complete idiots.

It must be due to the Descent mindset. You have to think in six degrees of freedom which requires forethought, intelligence and quick on your feet reflexes.

[Sirius]

Is it me, or is everyone in this board seem smart.

Just you? I wouldn't say everyone on this board really is smart - there have been a few "interesting cases" - but on the flipside, because most people are out of high school they aren't total idiots.

I coulda sworn he said he was from Japan though.

Not with a name like Paskiewicz he isn't. That sounds more like Polish or something related.

[d3jake]

because most people are out of high school they aren't total idiots.

Heh, very true. There have been times when a teacher can spend 5 minutes explaining a project, and at the end there are at least 2 students that will say: "Huh? What are we doing?" Which ticks be off, because the teacher is explaining this whole thing, while boy\\girl wonder get to stare off into space...arg!

[roid]

the StupidFilter.

that seems really, stupid. Doesn't that make as much sense as arresting all black ppl on sight?

you can't tell the quality of a comment by it's text and grammer, it's all about context. This is why i find ppl with an elitist-spelling-nazi-streak so trite.

most of the best comments i see around the place are at a glace entirely idiotic - but when you think about their context they are revealed to be genius. Often such comments are DESIGNED to blur boundarys, that's the point, to see wisdom hidden in the ordinary. Those who would ignore this - elitists - are themselves idiots.
Ironic no?

[Foil]

Whatever the reason, the level of the dialogue here is definitely higher than most. It's one reason I've stuck around, but there are more reasons.

I'm relatively new here, at least compared to most of the 'veteran' DBB-goers, but the other thing that keeps me coming back is the quality of the people. To me, the people who make this place unique are:
...the ones who fund and maintain this place with their hard-earned $$ and time...
...those who keep things in order, by moderating or just steering conversation back on topic...
...those who just add thoughtful or insightful or humorous things to the discussion...

I love this place. Whether it's light-hearted or heavy, Descent-related or not, it's always good to come and be able to converse with folk who aren't just well-written and thoughtful, they're cool people.

[Lothar]

A few more reasons the quality of discussion tends to be good here:

1) the length of time the forum has been around. Some of us have known each other for 9 and a half years, and many of us have been arguing for at least 3 or 4 years. Pick any two people, and they will have agreed at least once (even woodchip and Zuruck) and disagreed at least once (even me and Drakona.) I think that makes us respect each other a bit more, rather than viewing each other only as stereotypes.

2) moderated discussion. We simply don't allow \"bush sux\" \"no bush rulz u fagort\" \"f**k you, bush sux\" discussions, or excessive mudslinging or disrespect. If you're the sort of person looking for that sort of discussion, you're not going to enjoy this board, and you're unlikely to stick around.

3) individual effort. There have always been a few people here who try to keep the level of discussion up -- like Sirian, Sup, Birdseye, Vander, Kilarin, Jeff250, and so on. They treat opponents with respect and discuss the issues with a goal of understanding, and when you have a few people setting that standard, it rubs off on everyone.

4) .com. We've always had a few people who wanted to flame everyone, didn't want to show respect to their ideological opponents, and weren't interested in learning or understanding. While they were here, they'd always push the boundaries. Most of them left for .com because it's a bit less strict on that front.

5) we have some genuinely very smart people here who want to be challenged and who like to provide challenges. People like that tend to attract others like that (even from other viewpoints.) It's self-reinforcing. As long as I have guys like Jeff250, Foil, and roid to argue with, I'll keep coming back for the challenge, and I suspect the reverse is true.

[Dakatsu]

Lots of good reasons from all of you guys

I of course meant smart as in backing up opinions with logical points, like this:
\"The Patriot Act allows us to capture and detain terrorists\"
\"The Patriot Act takes away out civil rights\"

As opposed to:
\"Teh patriot act is to keep ameriker saf from fags liek u!\"
\"Teh partirot act is another bush way to kill everyone!\"

4) .com. We've always had a few people who wanted to flame everyone, didn't want to show respect to their ideological opponents, and weren't interested in learning or understanding. While they were here, they'd always push the boundaries. Most of them left for .com because it's a bit less strict on that front.

QFT

[flip]

STFU you buncha Homos

[FormerlySV]

Shut your face holes. I am preparing to speak.

You all have to be huge geeks for hanging around on the same bulletin board for an absurd amount of time. As we all know, being a geek is a good thing. You might want to quibble over whether you're actually a geek or a nerd. But don't be a l4m3r, n00b. You know what I'm talking about. Intelligent people tend to be obsessive about more things than average people. Thus we see how we have the roots of an explanation forming.

I am, unfortunately, exempted from this analysis, since I am the impartial and rational commentator.

p.s. Don't argue with me about my drawing of the distinction between the rest of you and myself. If you think you are more rational or impartial than me, that is just because you are biased towards your own rationality and impartiality. Thus proving that you are both irrational and partial.

[Sirius]

The argument goes both ways. :p

Not that I should be speaking, I'm not here often anyway.

[Aus-RED-5]

I think he might be talking about Jonathan Paskiewicz, but I'm pretty sure his native language isn't Japanese. He makes a lot of grammar mistakes, but not the type of mistakes native Japanese speakers usually confuse.

I coulda sworn he said he was from Japan though.

Just to clear things up a bit.
I remembered reading this before. So it didn't take long finding the links.

Anyways, not sure what ethnic he is, but he is American.
Link

Subtitles are not work? It's not fair, cuz I'm Deaf. I don't uderstand what there movies said.

Link

[FormerlySV]

The argument goes both ways. :p

NUH UH.

Seriously though, it does.

[roid]

ahh... Aus-RED-5 that explains a lot.

Sign language can be very different to English. Rather counterintuitively, people who are born deaf and learn sign language before they can read or write - are prone to have trouble learning to read and write english, because the syntax is very different. It's not like english langauge where you write and speak the same thing.
There is no written sign language* - it must be translated to English to be written.


*actually i can't even back that up. There may be a special gesture based written typeset useful for teaching ppl howto speak sign-languages - but i'm sure it's hard to reproduce with pen & paper.


This thread makes me feel that everyone is wearing a monocle and tophat.

[mistercool2]

The reason I joined this BB(my first ever)was to get help with D3 and I was so impressed with the response, I decided to stick around and check things out. I'm one of the newest \"newbies\" and although I haven't participated much, I've been following several topics and what I see here is intelligence, passion and wisdom. I also see, on occasion, a sincere interest in and willingness to accept the ideas, concepts and opinions of others. It's good to find people - young and old(er) involved in a variety of discussions (sometimes pretty heavy) interacting so well. At least most of the time. I think the majority of people here are honest, have a sense of humor and make an effort to \"get along\". And isn't that what we're all here to learn? Oops...sorry...wrong topic.

I can't comment on any other BB's or .com's but I think Lother hit the nail on the head when he said:

people like that tend to attract others like that

I'm glad I found this place.

[Gooberman]

The reason I like it here is because it has been around for awhile. I like having a feel for the personality of a poster before I read a post. I know a lot of your histories, life stories that you have shared, etc. And due to that, whatever you may write, I can interpret with a better understanding then anywhere else.

It is interesting to read views that differ from yours on any given issue; getting a sense for why they have those views makes it all the better.

[d3jake]

Heh, there is a cool2 around, he's been afk for a long time due to a personal situation... That reminds me, I need to e-mail him...

[Gekko71]

...Personally I hang around here because you all have such really amazing racks.

[Top Wop]

I come here because its still around, and its one of the few places on the internet where there aren't people here running on only two brain cells suddenly going \"omg wtf you n00b lol bush sux\".

[Gekko71]

I come here because its still around, and its one of the few places on the internet where there aren't people here running on only two brain cells suddenly going "omg wtf you n00b lol bush sux".

...mmm, even though he does.

[Ford Prefect]

I have had this forum in my bookmarks for almost 7 years and find the posters the same high quality people that gave us the huge number of well crafted levels and the laugh out loud audio taunts that make the game so enjoyable.

[Spaceboy]

It's mostly age. Age and unwritten standards that have been set on this board awhile ago. If someone wishes to post on this board, they'll probably be more inspired to post intelligently because that's kindof the norm here. Age, because ususally with age comes maturity, and the patience to actually write\\type correctly is a by-product of that.
I don't think it's descent, I've encountered enough players that're as bad as the majority of halo players. It just happens that a substantial amount of people who seem intelligent have chosen to keep the game alive, but probably just because those left on the game have the patience to play a dead game for so long. Those left in descent are probably the more mature 1% left from the rest, with a few exceptions.