Quoting: PhiladelphusThat's my memory, at least, though to be fair that was years ago at this point and I've been thinking of replaying it recently to see how my memory holds up. Perhaps I'd appreciate it more now. Maybe that was just a "phase" of the game and I stopped before it got good, who knows.

I don't think it changes too much after some hours...

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Quoting: Mountain ManThe biggest problem right now is that governments are operating on the logic of "We must do something about X; Y is something; therefore, we must do Y" which is the kind of thinking that leads totalitarian minded politicians to believe that any decision they make, no matter the consequences (both intended and unintended), is morally justified.

Someone else might believe they could do something else is not an argument against anything. (There's even been peopel abusing Darwin's theories, so should we refrain from Darwin's theories?!?) There's real measures against a real threat that can be evaluated.

Quoting: Mountain ManThere was a curious study that was recently published (and then hastily covered-up) by Johns Hopkins showing that deaths in 2020 attributed to the Chinese coronavirus have risen in direct inverse proportion to deaths attributed to other causes like heart disease and cancer such that overall death rates are not significantly greater this year than the year before.

That's why I showed the Spanish numbers. It's quite obvious that (many) more people have died that wouldn't have died normally, and that Covid and other deaths do not sum up to nearly any normal amount of deaths - right? (I'm very surprised that at least here, such numbers haven't been shown in the news.)

Quoting: Mountain ManShould our governments have done something in response to the Chinese coronovirus? Probably. Should they have necessarily done what they've done? Probably not. Like I said from the beginning, it's not the virus that's out of control, it's our governments.

We might find out afterwards that there's been measures that didn't help too much or were not worth it. And/or that there would have been other great measures that would have inflicted less problems. But there's been exponential(!) rise of deaths, way over what's normal, and nobody knew (or knows now) how to best stop it. The king of Sweden, the country which used to be the example of people opposing the measures at least in Europe, recently admited that they've been doing it wrong and payed the death toll. Where ever you are from, the virus in your town is as dangerous as the one in Spain and Sweden. They had to do something serious about it.

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Quoting: wvstolzing(I have to confess the "Mel" game was a bit of a disappointment for me — it wasn't really the 'difficulty'; it was rather the fact that a number of solutions involved subtly breaking the rules the way a speedrunner would, like finding that precise pixel that would allow an otherwise impossible jump, etc. Not the most elegant examples of forcing the player to 'think outside the box'. Make it 'difficult' given the existing rules of the game world; expecting the player to guess (more like brute force) the precise way in which you've bent the rules doesn't really foster creative thinking.)

I'm not sure what you mean. Did you feel like you had to do it overly precise or that you didn't have to (but wanted to)?
I don't think the game calls for precise moves, but for thinking, which I absolutely prefer.

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Quoting: Dorrit

Quoting: Mountain Man"Those who would give up essential liberties for a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

This.

1.5 million people have lost all their liberties.

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Quoting: Mountain ManThe government might be able to reduce certain types of injuries and deaths through regulation, but overall human death rates do not rise or fall based on government mandates.

Deaths are reduced, but death rates do not fall. Aha...

You think the death rates shown for Spain during a lockdown would have been the same without measures?
The scientist in this field seem to disagree. And the data, too.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/12/15/science.abd9338 [External Link]

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Quoting: tuubiThat's fair. For me personally (as an introvert who is married to another introvert and whose income hasn't been affected at all) this hasn't been a huge problem.

The time in one's life where you learn that your style of life is called "social distancing"... ;)

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Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: EikeEverybody who hasn't done yet and is into some serious puzzling, do play Portal Stories: MEL in hard mode.

What's actually different in hard mode? Completely different puzzles or just things like tighter time limits?

Thanks for asking. :D

The hard mode used to be the only mode when the mod was released. (Read: It's The Real Thing!) As it was too tough for many people (I really struggled, too), they made some puzzles easier. The game doesn't have any time limits or such.
A usual circle of Portal Stories MEL was...
* This is impossible!
* Or, maybe...
* I might be able to reach the exit!
* Standing in front of the exit: WTF I need another box here?!?
* This is impossible!
* Or, maybe...
* Level done.
I think they removed the second part of this vicious circle for some levels. :)

It's really, really worth your mon.. wait, it's free! :)

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Quoting: tuubiHaving to stay home a lot for a while (and to wear a mask when I don't) are inconveniences, moreso for some, but worth it to me if it prevents a single death. Same goes for people losing jobs or money, as long as their government makes sure nobody ends up in the streets or has to go hungry. As long as you don't kill off a significant portion of the consumer base, businesses will bounce back and so will jobs.

I'd agree though (and it's probably the only point where I agree with them) that losing your job and the like is not named appropriately with "inconveniences". It's just... that it's necessary.

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Everybody who hasn't done yet and is into some serious puzzling, do play Portal Stories: MEL in hard mode.

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Researchers



People "researching" The Truth on the internet

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