455 replies to this topic

[A. J. Raffles]

chumloofah, on Nov 13 2007, 09:42 PM, said:

Don't kid yourself, Beef!
The ladies positively swarm over teh gayz.  

There really is no limit to what they can do and i'm about to prove it!

Meh, how does that prove anything? We already knew it dramatically increases your chances of becoming an awesome wizard.

[BeefontheBone]

And if you're staff has a knob on the end, you're quids in.

[gregor]

http://news.bbc.co.u...ogy/7094764.stm

Ok now this is getting crazy....

[chumloofah]

The fools.
People paying real money for pretend furniture.  
Then we have people commiting real crime in order to steal pretend furniture  
And to top it all off, we have a nerd killing a nerd over losing his pretend sword.  

Try ikea, nerds.
It's the real deal.  

"BeefontheBone" said:

And if you're staff has a knob on the end, you're quids in.

The more knobs the better, afaik  

[Japofran]

Well this is the virtual deal it seems.

[Havell]

chumloofah, on Nov 15 2007, 11:15 AM, said:

The fools.
People paying real money for pretend furniture.  
Then we have people commiting real crime in order to steal pretend furniture  
And to top it all off, we have a nerd killing a nerd over losing his pretend sword.  

It might seem strange people buying virtual items with "real" money (money being an abstract concept in the first place and all) but images are waht matters in today's society.  People spend loads of money on designer clothes when they could just go to Primark or a charity shop and get perfectly serviceable clothes for a fraction of the price, or they agonise over which coloured iPod best reflects their personality.

The difference between an Armani shirt and a Primark one is no more "real" than a piece of furniture on an online game.

[chumloofah]

"Havell" said:

The difference between an Armani shirt and a Primark one is no more "real" than a piece of furniture on an online game

Twaddle!  
Buying a shirt, regardless of where it's from or who makes it, is still buying a shirt.
Buying a virtual shirt is buying the idea of a shirt.

And money is a concept, but it's not an abstract one.
It exists to be a way by which a common denominator can be exchanged for any goods or services.
It represents goods/wealth/whatever, y'see?
Giving money in exchange for furniture that can never perform the function of furniture because it doesn't exist seems wacky to me.

You won't find me arguing that people aren't idiots though, with their own personal personality flavoured i-pod and ugly clothes that have logos flashing all over the shop, Nosirree.

[Havell]

chumloofah, on Nov 15 2007, 02:26 PM, said:

"Havell" said:

The difference between an Armani shirt and a Primark one is no more "real" than a piece of furniture on an online game

Twaddle!  
Buying a shirt, regardless of where it's from or who makes it, is still buying a shirt.
Buying a virtual shirt is buying the idea of a shirt.

And money is a concept, but it's not an abstract one.
It exists to be a way by which a common denominator can be exchanged for any goods or services.
It represents goods/wealth/whatever, y'see?
Giving money in exchange for furniture that can never perform the function of furniture because it doesn't exist seems wacky to me.

You won't find me arguing that people aren't idiots though, with their own personal personality flavoured i-pod and ugly clothes that have logos flashing all over the shop, Nosirree.

What I'm saying is that the difference between the two shirts (which will be considerable in money terms) is not in their utility, but in their image, their idea.  You're paying maybe £5-10 for the utility but £60+ for the image.  The only difference with virtual things is the proportion of the price made up by that image.  Besides, virtual things do have some utility, in that you get extra enjoyment from the game with them.

And money is abstract, it's not worth anything in its own right, only what others are willing to take in exchange for it.  Money is no long guaranteed in any way, making it's value entirely subjective, it's value comes from everyone using it, nothing more.

[chumloofah]

Sounds like somebody's bitter about losing out on the gold standard  

And paying £60 for a shirt is every bit as stupid as buying virtual furniture.

[Havell]

Heh, I wasn't saying money being abstract is a bad thing, it's what's allowed the economic boom peroid we've been having worldwide for the past couple of hundred years to happen.

Agreement on the shirt thing.  I've got better things to spend my money on than both expensive shirts and computerised sofas.

[Doubler]

Changing real money into fake money is what really sounds silly, if you ask me.
Of course, the sillyness becomes less apparent or disappears when you substitute 'fake money' for something closer to the intended end result or product, I guess

[chumloofah]

Like that amazing mickey mouse money at disney world.
It's just like real money, except you can only use it in the park and you can't change it back to real money.
Awesome.  

[a1s]

Havell, on Nov 15 2007, 05:56 PM, said:

Heh, I wasn't saying money being abstract is a bad thing, it's what's allowed the economic boom peroid we've been having worldwide for the past couple of hundred years to happen.

actually UK  didn't get rid of the gold standard until the 1910s. the cause of the boom was exploitation of colonial labor and markets. ...and the good old European know-how ofcourse . money has never been the source of any booms to my knowledge, crises- yes , as well as helping to get through them sometimes, but not booms.

[A. J. Raffles]

link
The article itself isn't funny, but the headline is - it sounds like a mass-autopsy...

[chumloofah]

I just watched them.
It wasn't funny either.