One of the most frequent excuses I hear for immoral behavior is that it is “normal”. My response is always that there are many things that are normal and wrong. I think I need to expand on this.
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I’ve started playing the game again, and now feel it is necessary to apologize to all those who have been trying to talk to me in-​game. You see, I’m in a lose/​lose situation here. If I start playing and talk with everyone who tries to message me, the following will happen: A) I will be distracted from the game and unable to play it; B) I will be overwhelmed by everyone who tries to message me and will therefore give curt responses which people may think are rude; C) I’ll invariably send a number of mis-​tells which could cause some rather hilarious situations. Any of these outcomes will disappoint a fan who tries to talk with me and I may alienate him.

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There has been some recent discussion within the machinima community about leadership, as in who is fit to be a leader in machinima, who wants to be a leader, and who dœsn’t want those who want to be leaders to be leaders. I think this conjures up some unnecessary angst, for really, this isn’t something we should be worried about. In the end, becoming a leader is not up to the person who wants to be one.

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I mentioned in my recent essay on comedy that many authors resort to vulgarity in order to get a laugh. They do this because it is a tried and true method — exploit that which is taboo. It takes little skill and creativity to resort to swearing, graphic sexual humor and toilet humor, which is why it happens so often. Just like with all jobs, it is often tempting to take the easy way as opposed to doing it right the first time.

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