OrbWeaver

Yeah right. I'll believe you're a metaphysical subjectivist shortly after I believe that oDDity is a practising spirit medium.

Of course you can make such a judgment. The objective reality of the situation is that such superstitious behaviour and tradition is unnecessary. While we might be tempted to forgive ancient and primitive societies for their lack of rationality, I see no reason to accept the same in today's world (which is the context in which I stated that marriage has no value).

Some tradition has a purpose, but it need not. For example, I believe that the reason Jews do not eat pork is because in the hot desert environment it would have been dangerous to do so (due to pork's tendency to give you food poisioning if it is not very well cooked and refrigerated). This is a tradition that once had a purpose. On the other hand, the Aztecs' human sacrifices is an example of a tradition that never had a purpose. It was just superstitious crap that arises from the common human inability to understand logic (the fact that the sun rises after the sacrifices are made does not mean that the sacrifices cause the sun's rising). In fact is is possible to create superstitious behaviour in animals: when training a dog, you have to be very careful to reward only the behaviour you want, otherwise the dog will think that it has to do all sorts of other stuff that it just happened to do before you gave it a reward.

No it's not. Habitual behaviour arises from evolution and, as you say, once had a purpose (for want of a better word). Tradition is specifically defined as a set of customs that is handed down from generation to generation within human society, either orally or in written form. Animals have no equivalent because they have no way of documenting or recording past behaviour, and they act purely from genetic instinct rather than imitation.

I presume this is via the frob highlight rather than an actual finger-snuffing animation?

What traditions do animals have? They have evolutionary traits, but these are ingrained instinctive behaviours, not like tradition which is consciously and deliberately following ancient customs. Unlike evolutionary traits, traditions do not need to arise from any practical purpose. The Aztecs used to sacrifice hundreds of human victims every night because of the superstitious belief that the sun would not rise if they failed to do so. There was never any need to do this, they just continued to do so because they were so frightened of trying something different (like not doing it).

I think Kingers is looking for concept artists for his campaign, if you want something to do.

Why? Humans are generally obsessed with useless and unnecessary things. Assuming that something has a value simply because it has been around for a long time or occurs in lots of different societies doesn't make any sense at all - the same can be said of war, astrology and all other forms of superstition.

If people are going to stick together, they do not need a marriage ceremony to formalise it. If they are not going to stick together, marriage just makes things more difficult and does nothing to improve the relationship. Marriage is totally worthless, except for the legal/inheritance stuff (which shouldn't be based on marriage anyway).

Would this be similar to the "married" that involves a totally unnecessary and expensive ceremony followed by several years of tedious and sex-free cohabitation culminating in a costly and stressful divorce?

Perhaps a different perspective would be interesting, such as playing the leader of a small progressive group of Keepers that is trying to reclaim power from the "One True Keeper" who has mysteriously taken over the city.

Six high-quality completed maps with a consistent storyline satisfies the criteria for a (small) campaign. All it needs is for a writer or two to make sure that the maps fit into a larger story, rather than being a collection of unrelated fan missions.

What sort of state is the campaign in at the moment? Is it out of the picture for the time being, or will it be worked on in parallel with the toolset development?

I'd say the "finished game" would comprise all the necessary coding changes (apart from post-release bug fixes or minor patches) to create the experience. Models and textures can be released in packages either before or after the main release, and can easily be integrated into existing partial maps, unlike updates to code which might required dramatic changes to be made.

I use Bose headphones. http://www.bose.co.uk/headphones/triport/ I got them for about GBP 120 a couple of years ago. They have very good sound quality and fantastic bass (almost indistinguishable from listening through proper speakers). They are also extremely comfortable. The only thing I don't like about them is that the connection cord seems a bit flimsy, and I am worried that I might tug it too hard and it will break (thus wasting 120 pounds worth of headphones just because of a broken cable).

Bah humbug.

Oh yeah, because gun ownership has proven to be a very effective strategy against removal of rights by the US government.

Yup. The Bible is replete with violence, often against innocents, but it rarely mentions the abomination that is sex.

It's not just a stick, it's one of the most gruesomely sadistic forms of torture and execution ever devised by man. I'd rather be sent to a gas chamber than crucified, but if you wore a gas chamber around your neck you would probably be sent to a mental hospital.

I agree entirely. Thief is supposed to be a game of strategy and stealth, not a torture simulator.

I have heard rumours that Tony Blair wants to "reform labour laws" in Europe, which I can only imagine means removing protections for employees and turning Europeans into a load of 80-hour-a-week wage slaves like they have in America.

What a coincidence, I was about to suggest exactly what Springheel described: a two-level blackjacking system similar to the sword.

That's nowhere near as fun though. I think the leader of the "helmets prevent knockouts" camp should volunteer to prove his own theory.

An arch protects whatever is beneath it because it transmits its weight (and the weight of whatever is on top of it) directly into the ground, by which it is rigidly supported. Unless you are wearing a space suit, the helmet is only supported by your head, therefore any force which is not absorbed by the helmet itself (and a metal helmet will absorb almost nothing) will be trasmitted directly onto the skull.

It depends on the type of helmet. The medieval helmet worn by Thief guards is the sort designed for protecting against sword and arrow attacks, which are high in penetration but low in kinetic energy. A heavy blunt object like a blackjack results in a very different form of impact, against which a hard metal layer in direct contact with the skull would provide little protection.