Nationalities of ICE gamers

[Hawkwind]

Boy that would be a big pole. What are there 167 nationalities now?

Well, FIFA has 207 members - which is quite a few more than the UN - so there should be at least that many nationalities.

Hawk

[markc]

Boy that would be a big pole. What are there 167 nationalities now?

Well, FIFA has 207 members - which is quite a few more than the UN - so there should be at least that many nationalities.

Hawk

See what happens when you are out of college for a while, they up and change the shape of the world.
MDC

PS Thanks for the info.

[Elton Robb]

and one more French guy !

Great, now where are the French girls?? 

I had a french girlfriend.

But she died nearly a year ago.

[Right Wing Wacko]

and one more French guy !

Great, now where are the French girls?? 

I had a french girlfriend.

But she died nearly a year ago.

That's terrible!
Sorry to hear that.

[Elton Robb]

Maybe.  Yes, from a certain perspective.  from another, it's not so bad.

[Right Wing Wacko]

Maybe.  Yes, from a certain perspective.  from another, it's not so bad.

That's a terrible thing to say!

[Elton Robb]

Maybe.  Yes, from a certain perspective.  from another, it's not so bad.

That's a terrible thing to say!

No, it is not. You see, my girlfriend died in a hospital after a car crash.  IF she survived, she would have to undergo a long healing process, and when we'd finally meet she'd probably would not be as attractive (or sexy) as I imagine her to be.  Not to mention, it would have been hard for her to fly to America to eventually marry and live with me.

I see it that it is better for her to move on than to live a long mortal life in a broken body.  Terrible thing to say?  I don't think so.  Death was a blessing, a mercy to Ann; not a curse.

[Thom @ ICE]

You are justifying saying that she is better off dead based upon three issues -
1) She would have to undergo a long healing process
2) You might not find her attractive
3) She would have had difficulty flying to America to be with you

I intend no insult by this, but suggest you take a long hard look at your thought process...
Reason #1 is extremely short-sighted
Reason #2 is selfish and shallow
Reason #3 is both short-sighted and selfish

If I had someone I loved become badly injured in a car accident I would give anything to have them live, even if it meant the healing process would be long and tough (better than being dead), even if our love ended - I would still prefer her to live than die, especially if I loved her once, and again if our love ended it would still be wonderful to have her alive whether she could come to me or not - but then again, planes fly both ways and I would go to her.

[Elton Robb]

You are justifying saying that she is better off dead based upon three issues -
1) She would have to undergo a long healing process
2) You might not find her attractive
3) She would have had difficulty flying to America to be with you

I intend no insult by this, but suggest you take a long hard look at your thought process...
Reason #1 is extremely short-sighted
Reason #2 is selfish and shallow
Reason #3 is both short-sighted and selfish

If I had someone I loved become badly injured in a car accident I would give anything to have them live, even if it meant the healing process would be long and tough (better than being dead), even if our love ended - I would still prefer her to live than die, especially if I loved her once, and again if our love ended it would still be wonderful to have her alive whether she could come to me or not - but then again, planes fly both ways and I would go to her.

Chosen, I'm going to leave it at that.  She died in the hospital before I could know and before I could make any plans to fly to France to be at her side.  Since we met on the Internet and since I was dirt poor at the time, I could not afford to fly there to see her.  I only knew she suffered a terrible car accident before her brother told me the news.

Now, Anne is as much my inspiration to succeed and to attain Financial Freedom so I can fly to France and meet her family without any worries about money.  You can judge me to be short-sighted, shallow, and selfish.  Doesn't matter me, I know what is in my heart.

[Right Wing Wacko]

Chosen GM...
Perhaps we judged Elton too soon and a bit too harshly. We did not know the entire story, and we don't know Eltons feelings. I too thought what he said was callous, but after his explanation, I am not so quick to jump all over him.

Elton...
What you said seemed very callous and selfish to me. However, after your "explanation", I am not convinced you meant it as it came across. I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt...

[Elton Robb]

I can't discuss Spirituality on the boards, Right Wing Wacko.  Even though Spirituality has nothing to do with Religion, discussing my Spirituality would still seem to be religion to a lot of people.  As callous and selfish as my "explanation" seems, it will have to do on a public board about gaming.  It's not the whole Truth about how I felt when she actually died.  In fact, in light of one of the posters' replies about 'nature' I made the right call. 

So, it's callous and selfish for a reason.  If you would like a real explanation, feel free to privately message me.

[Marc R]

I discovered, in attempting another mega-giant poll, that polls will support 255 answers, no more. . . .so it is possible to actually create a "pick your nation" poll. . . .of course, keying it in would well and truely suck, trust me.

It's possible 255 might not make it, and require titles like "French Micronesia". . .there are dependancies, protectorates and colonial remnants that are quazi independant enough to rate their own citizenship which would probably create hundreds more "nations" than one might expect. (And saying you're "French" if you live on a tiny island 300 miles from australia would be less than clear.)

And no, I'm not in Antarctica. . . .that said though, I would not be surprised to find gamers there. . .not exactly lots of nightlife, and most of the folks down there are scientists and grad students, right in our demographic.

[thrud]

+1 to Europe.
I live in Sweden...

[Fidoric]

And now, that makes one European for each other in the world ! According to the poll at least 

[Right Wing Wacko]

Hmmmm...
does anyone else other than me find it interesting that ICE seems to be more popular outside the USA than in it?
See, the reason I started this poll was because I always thought this was the case...
But all the poll does is show more traffic on the forum from overseas...

Anyone else care to comment?

[Fenrhyl Wulfson]

It would a first step to compare Europe's total population and USA's population. That would give a basis for comparison.

[RandalThor]

I don't think population is the answer, I believe....oh my..how to say this politely.....hhhhmmmmmm. Here in America, the gamers seem to want things, uh, simpler. The easier the better, less thinking over more thinking. That is my opinion.

Also, we seem to like success - even when it really isn't success. Making all the "little" rolls that only get you 5-10% there each, seem to make *us* feel good. I mentioned this in another thread - forgot which one.

[Fidoric]

As for populations, European Union total population (that is actually 27 countries) is roughly 500 millions whereas US population is about 300 millions IIRC. So that may count for this result. However, I don't think the number of answers to this poll is high enough to be significant.

[Marc R]

RM in the form of the-game-that-should-not-be-named was the #2 game system for a while, behind only AD&D. . . . .a lot of factors caused major disruption in the US that I'm not sure affected europe. .  .like the strong tie of RPG products to comics at retailers, and the almost total combustion of the comic market in the early 90s that caused most "Hobby" stores to close and liquidate. . . .the shift after that in the US to where Mega Stores dominated the retail market. . .Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart and a couple others. . . .which massively favored large RPG companies over small ones in that small ones either couldn't get their product out at all, or couldn't afford to stock enough shelves to get in, considering all unsold product would be returned after a few months. (If you need to produce enough product to put X copies on Y shelves, where Y = the number of Wal Marts nationwide, your up front first printing run had to be huge, all of them speculative copies, not sold copies.).  . ..Those mega stores also discounted books, often out of profitability for small companies.

Did those factors apply in Europe? I suspect not.

[Fidoric]

I cannot answer you for sure. Living in a backwater village, I have turned entirely to the Internet to purchase RPG products and cannot say how the small retailers fare nowadays. BAck in the nineties, they were flourishing and most of my early products were purchased in those shops.