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Story almost ready. Going to try and coax a friend to give it a read, since I can never spot my own mistakes in time, and will post it once I've had a bit of proofreading done.

And if "gamers" can keep up the meaningless hyperbole for this long without being drained, I'm fairly sure everyone else can. Especially when it comes down to politics.

Aren't gamers the prime example of wearing their superlatives thin? I've seen so many games called "best game ever", in some cases before the game is even out and playable (see: Cyberpunk 2077) that it's become an utterly meaningless phrase. Same for review scores.

Which makes me wonder why it would even be needed to have to say it. 

A pet peeve of mine, seeing words used in ways that devalue them and erode their purpose. Nothing more than that. It's been increasingly prevalent in discussions over certain topics, such as politics, over the past half decade or so, which is why that column I linked to felt especially meaningful as part of this particular conversation. It does people good to have a wider perspective on things, rather than letting their personal biases and loose language lead them to think all the world shares their "absolutely correct" worldview.

Congrats on the job, by the way!

Meaningless hyperbole drains people, though. If everything is "the worst X ever", then eventually nothing is really the worst. Same for "best X ever".
It's all just the same, as people lose perspective, and the same effect is pretty evident in the polarization of the US, where everyone who disagrees with you is either the devil or a nazi or potentially both. The words themselves lose their meaning.

See: everyone who has said 2020 was the worst year ever, when in reality it was a rather inconvenient year, but for the vast majority of people it wasn't all that bad after all.

Plenty of time, now I just need a good idea. Most of my stories are written in a single frantic evening, if the creative mood strikes. Usually if I fail to finish the "chapter" in an evening, I kind of drift away from the idea and it all falls apart.

Definitely going to try something here, though!

Doubtful. I think those people are kind of like flat-earthers and moon landing deniers. They'll always come up with some explanation that will allow them to either keep going or transform into a new movement.

https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000007760512.html

Finnish columnist and historian: "How bad was Trump, really."

In his column he considers certain similarities between Trump and the cold war era figures Nikita Khrushchev and Ronald Reagan. The former as the kind of unthinkably loud and obnoxious figure who still managed to bring about meaningful changes, and the latter as someone who was panned as the worst possible kind of idiot in their own time by the media, but is rather fondly remembered later on. Whether Trumps legacy will actually stand up in similar ways over time, we'll see. The columnist notes that the only area where he thinks Trump will truly be remembered as a negative influence is in the matters of climate change and preservation.

As for evaluating Trump as a leader, he will be judged not only against those who came before, but also those who come after.

To quote: "If Trump is 'the worst there ever was', we'll run out of superlatives to describe leaders far too soon. Will we even know to fear the truly terrible future leaders, who don't simply polarize the voterbase, but actually press the button."

[YOU ARE A PIRATE!]

Wait, why do I only see this thread now?
I could have sworn I checked out several times last week to see if a new one was up and didn't see it!

In any case: YARR, HARR, FIDDLE-DE-DEE! BEING A PIRATE IS ALRIGHT TO ME! DO WHAT YOU WANT 'CAUSE A PIRATE IS FREE! YOU ARE A PIRATE!

My favourite board game Youtube channel has had me intrigued for Oink games for a while now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hcqQZWM5Pk

If you like shorter abstract games, then Tash-Kalar might be a good addition to the collection. Real easy to learn, games take 30-60 minutes (depending mostly on how much time the players spend agonizing over their next move) and it's great fun!

[6!]

Have you heard of 'Stratego'? I manage to lose at this every time.  Another game I liked
was 'Hero's Quest'  It was a simplistic form of 'Dungeons and Dragons'  I have a friend who would love to play this, but
reading books explaining gameplay and rules was a battle in itself. It sounded far too complicated.

I've seen ads for Stratego, but never played it myself. Hero Quest on the other hand is a legend among board games. Sadly, back when it was big in Finland, I was still a little kid and neither understood english nor had a way to own the game. A friends family had a copy, and the older boys seemed really excited to be playing it, though. I just remember it looking really cool!

In my youth, we became more selective, playing mostly Risk, but also different economy games. For some years we had a tradition of playing Monopoly on New Year's Eve, shooting fireworks whenever someone went bankrupt. 

I absolutely love that! I might need to think of a way to incorporate something like that into our games.
My latest purchase is 878 Vikings, which is a game for 4 players. 2 players are vikings raiding and pillaging the English countryside, while 2 other players are Englishmen trying to defend their home. Myself and a local friend of mine are going to play the vikings, since we're both kind of hairy norsemen, while the two english roles will be played by a pair of immigrants from England, so they should feel right at home! 

In more recent years, I'm playing poker with some friends once a week, and we often start off the evening with a board game. The group favourite being Settlers of Catan, due to the frankly endless variations one can make. I've found that games that takes more than say, 90 minutes to play, is a bad investment because they get played to seldom. That means me stearing clear of the more advanced tactical games, of the Axis and Allies sort.

Ufortunately, that means I won't that often get to play some of my favourites. One is Junta, where the players control a family in a fictive banana republic, staging coups and assasinations against each other. The goal of the game is to grab the most of the foreign aid and put it safely into a swiss bank account. 

My home country, Norway, unfortunately isn't a great market for board games for adult people. The market is dominated by classics, kids' games and quiz games. I play a lot of games with my kids, so that part is all good, but the choice in tactical board games is limited. I've found that German games, especially award winners, are to my liking. They are often made with graphical symbols, eliminating the need to read a lot of text, and due to German history, the developers have clearly turned their brains to invent games about something other than war.

I know what you mean here. Longer and more complex games are really difficult to arrange play for, even with just 2 players, let alone 4, 5 or 6! We currently have a tradition of playing board games with a friend of mine every tuesday. Mostly two player games like Twilight Struggle, Clank! in Space, Race for the Galaxy etc, but also occasionally bigger games like War of the Ring. Late last year I actually bought a copy of Axis & Allies, but I've yet to have a chance to play it. I think I need to look into Junta. Never heard of it, but I like the sound of that!

Two or three times a year I try to also arrange a bigger board game event, with five or six people playing something bigger and longer. Last two games were Twilight Imperium and 1830 - Railways and Robber Barons,  both of which can easily take 6 hours to play.

Board games in general have had a bit of a resurgence in Finland over the past five years. There are even dedicated board game cafe's opening up, one even in my home city of Tampere, called Taverna. Pay a few euros to rent a table, get some coffee and snacks or beers if you like, and pick any game off their vast collection to play with friends. It's a good concept, though I still prefer the comfort of my own home when it comes to having friends over to play.

I always found board games a fun way to spend time with people, learning something new together and challenging each other in friendly contest in a way that just felt more vivid and personal than video games ever did. Over the years I've accumulated a bit of a collection of various board games from the simple, casual games like Carcassonne, Ex Libris and Tash-Kalar to the moderately complex ones like 1960 - Making of the President and Combat Commander: Europe to the absolutely insane such as Advanced Squad Leader and OCS: Korea - The Forgotten War (the last one of those says it takes 200 hours to play a full game). Personally I've got pretty close to 40 board games currently sitting on my shelves (which probably means things have gotten a bit out of hand and I should be barred from visiting the local board game shop for a while).

Any other board game or wargame hobbyists around? Tell us a bit about your hobby, your favourite board games and board gaming moments. How have you been able to keep the hobby alive in the age of Covid quarantines, or have you resorted to things like Vassal and Tabletop Simulator for your board gaming needs?

Who knows, maybe we'll end up organizing games or even a little tournament some day, if there are enough people interested in the subject matter.


Image: (last game I happened to play and take a picture of) Combat Commander: Europe

Careful with the words, BarbWire. Keep being sensible like that and the torches and pitchforks might come your way soon! 

Ah, yes, I see the name calling is on the menu once more.
I have no idea why you would think I am sexist, so I'll just have to deduce it's some sort of defensive mechanism on your part.

Oh well, since it matters not what I say, let us have some light-hearted humor.

EDIT: as someone who has been a victim of domestic violence: don't key your own car.

Ha! I still got my MAGA hat, too! No regrets there, though I've no idea how that's relevant here. Still, thanks for the reminder! 

Where's the injustice that has formed here? Doesn't biology dictate that the man is always the abuser, since he's stronger and more combat ready than the feee-male?
Now if only we had a movement to point out that biology doesn't say that and you should rethink all your naive assumptions about topics you know nothing about.
This has been pointed out to online anti-feminists for years now: feminism also helps men.

Like I said, you're making the point for us.

Also, yes, let's erase humanity as a concept (?? ?) what the fuck are you even talking about? And have you ever heard the phrase that "perfect is the enemy of good"? Just word salad at this point.

I did say I was an egalitarian, did I not? Thus I believe the laws should be just and equal to all humans, and applied thus, and this has always been my stance. Once again you seem to imply that, despite me clearly saying one thing, I must be meaning an entirely different thing somehow. Thus I have no idea what "point" I am making for you, save for my point of equality being good, and if that is the case then I happily agree. 

And yes, some forms of feminism also help men, because they are the kind that strive for true equality. I also call those feminists egalitarian, as that is a far more appropriate term for them than feminist.

As for the concept of humanity and the inherent imperfections therein, I feel that is a separate discussion that doesn't really suit this topic. Though if you wish to discuss the matter in more detail, I'd be happy to have that conversation with you, Khris. Or anyone else for that matter. 

Sure, domestic abuse exists most definitely in western societies, and the majority of domestic abuse is done by men.
However, as laws and practices have tried to take this into account, some injustices have formed as well.

Finland had a case rise up to news a few years back, where a man called the emergency number as his wife was beating him, and the emergency line responder laughed at him on the phone and asked "are you seriously getting beat up by a woman?". This same stigma is believed to also slightly distort the numbers (78% of documented cases in Finland were committed against female victims) as men are disincentivized to report as victims, or to seek medical aid, for fear of ridicule.

And while the law is written as gender neutral, the standard procedure for police responding to domestic disturbances is to cuff and remove the male from the household first (to "defuse the situation"), and only then start questioning people to find out what was happening, even if the man was the victim in that case. This procedure is apparently based on the idea that in case there are children in the household, the mother is best suited to stay with them.

These in no way override or nullify the needs of female victims, but showcase situations where this supposedly male-dominated society is acting in ways that are unequal to men as well. Obviously the goal should be to reduce domestic violence altogether. I won't say eliminate, because human beings are, well... imperfect. A goal of non-violent utopian society where no crimes are committed is a wonderful idea, but if that goal is set I believe it will never be reached without erasing humanity as a concept and replacing it with something else.

Well, since Sweden is so close to Finland I'd expect the crime rate to be similar: can you find cases where forced marriage takes place among native Swedes outside of fringe religious communities?

-AAA, sorry, I meant to edit post above, not make a double-post. Sorry, it's almost midnight and I'm tired!  -

Did you just unironically compare caring for children and doing housework with having mandatory vasectomies? Or am I reading this wrong?
Also: rejoice! Not sure if you've heard but women aren't forced to do those things in any modern western society as far as I am aware. Can't speak for other parts of the world, though.

EDIT: I realised my statement above is a bit too rosy for reality. Even in Finland there are both religious minority group and immigrant communities that have forms of near-enough forced marriages and outdated gender roles that are still strictly enforced. I think religious freedom laws, unfortunately, trump gender equality laws in some areas.

Then do you agree with this text explaining that banning women from bearing arms and learning to fight in earlier cultures has nothing to do with men wanting to protect women?

Not really. To me it rather shows another example that culture can override the underlying biological instinct, which is something I pointed out earlier as well, along with pointing out that female warriors are also a thing in some historical societies. Just as our modern society is altering gender roles, such alterations have happened in the past, with some being more successful than others. I see nothing here that would really refute the underlying idea, though.