[tinkthank]

How bizarre, I went to read this post because I posted the third reply, and see that with the exception of about 10 Posts on how to address the issue (mostly between PvK and Arryn -- my suggestion was a workaround), this thread has become a platform for animosities, which I bet no one really wants. Although I am sure that neither Arryn nor Graeme (or anyone else) is interested in my opinion on this matter, and I certainly don't want to take sides, I'd just like to try to difuse things a bit.
It seems to me as if the "principle of charity" should be applied here more liberally. Thus it seems to me as if
- Arryn is not stating that the game is vastly suboptimal or unfun, but just that some issues could still (reasonably) be addressed
- Graeme is stating that (more) credit should be given the developers for producing an excellent game

It seems to me that both people are correct; it seems to me (who knows neither of you) that both person's choices in formulation and in tone are suboptimal -- and although I do not want to take sides, it seems that Graeme's choice of words and phrasing is (in this thread) most ungentlemanly and poor.

I have no idea of any poll of Arryn's (I havent bothered to look, either), so I can't say whether there were insulting remarks (or implicit speech acts to that effect) previously, but it seems to me that Arryn was not being insulting to anyone in this thread here, nor was he or she (gender of Arryn = ?) indicating that the devs are making serious blunders. It also seems to me acceptable to give constructive criticism where this is due, and anyone giving reasons for this which make sense cannot be considered "insulting". I dont think Arryn is attacking anyone here. This would be a different issue if s/he were to say "What a lousy game; fix this now you lazy dev person! I want this-and-that, and it is my right to demand it from you, oh dev person!" It seems to me as if Graeme is construing Arryn to have said this, and I don't think that is necessary. Arryn did not go out of his or her way to shower the devs with praise for a fine game, and this may lead/may have led Graeme to conclude that Arryn thus believes the devs to have done a poor job -- but this, I think, is not intentional on Arryn's part. I dont think that any serious poster here need continue to shower out praise (although of course praise is nice) when offering constructive criticism in a fair and reasonable tone.

Well, the best to everyone out there -- remember, it's only a game!