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Australia. Number 4. What. The fuck. I mean I hope they aren't ranking us high in Political Environment, because if they are they obviously aren't paying attention to the election that's going on (Red-headed she-Brutus vs. speedo-wearing almost-priest).
I guess being the only developed country whose economy didn't go to shit must be worth a lot of points, but that'll auto-correct and we'll be back to ~10 in a year or two.
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On August 19 2010 04:40 Bill Murray wrote: I disagree with America being as low as it is. We still have the most influence of any country in the world.
Just how much has that contributed to your well being?
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On August 19 2010 07:42 RisingTide wrote: Australia. Number 4. What. The fuck. I mean I hope they aren't ranking us high in Political Environment, because if they are they obviously aren't paying attention to the election that's going on (Red-headed she-Brutus vs. speedo-wearing almost-priest).
I guess being the only developed country whose economy didn't go to shit must be worth a lot of points, but that'll auto-correct and we'll be back to ~10 in a year or two.
I highly doubt political enviroment means much more than stability, which we quite clearly have.
It's certainly not their place to make a judgement on our election candidates and rank us off that.
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On August 19 2010 07:39 DCLXVI wrote: So I heard it gets pretty cold in finland... Is climate taken into account for "quality of life"? Sure people can get used to different temperatures, but I would not want to live in cold places (or absurdly hot ones either). On the other hand, we don't really have natural disasters here like earthquakes, hurricanes and what not. But yeah, the climate does suck.
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hmm i thought america would be higher since we've got it pretty good. but not surprised regardless.
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Zurich15305 Posts
On August 19 2010 05:41 Hawk wrote:Show nested quote +On August 19 2010 05:27 Jibba wrote:On August 19 2010 05:18 Clamev wrote: how did they get the date? I think my country(Germany) is pretty reasonable although i realy wonder why USA is above us i mean our Health care system is not good but it´s better than in the US and while our education system has many flaws and is very biased i still think it does a better job. Also our economy is recovering better than any other countries does in eu and us. Anyway if they included surveys like asking people what they think how good the Health Care system, education system etc is than you will always get worse results in Germany, because people like to complain a lot here.
Censorship/NN? "I'll take 4 of them." You'd think the best way to get over your bloody past would be to shoot the hell out of it, not take all the Nazis out of Wolfenstein. I never understood how people can call different advertising for different people by private companies censorship.
Also wtf at this ranking, so wrong, Germany owns!
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On August 19 2010 08:50 zatic wrote:Show nested quote +On August 19 2010 05:41 Hawk wrote:On August 19 2010 05:27 Jibba wrote:On August 19 2010 05:18 Clamev wrote: how did they get the date? I think my country(Germany) is pretty reasonable although i realy wonder why USA is above us i mean our Health care system is not good but it´s better than in the US and while our education system has many flaws and is very biased i still think it does a better job. Also our economy is recovering better than any other countries does in eu and us. Anyway if they included surveys like asking people what they think how good the Health Care system, education system etc is than you will always get worse results in Germany, because people like to complain a lot here.
Censorship/NN? "I'll take 4 of them." You'd think the best way to get over your bloody past would be to shoot the hell out of it, not take all the Nazis out of Wolfenstein. I never understood how people can call different advertising for different people by private companies censorship. Also wtf at this ranking, so wrong, Germany owns! I thought the German government still censored some stuff related to Nazis. Like it would be really illegal there to release a game where you play as a nazi soldier shooting russians.
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On August 19 2010 04:12 SilentCrono wrote: Australia ranked higher than US? wtf
Yeah seriously what a joke. You have crappy public healthcare and an economy that is tiny compared to ours, and very few freedoms (for a first world country)... No guns, tons of media censorship, no concrete guaranteed freedom of speech, etc.
The only thing that matters to me is freedom, anyway. I'd live on some godforsaken wild frontier if it was the only place I could be free... Oh wait, thats how America got started. Too bad there is no frontier left.
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The list actually looks pretty accurate. China will always be #1 in my book though =)
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Zurich15305 Posts
On August 19 2010 08:53 Luddite wrote:Show nested quote +On August 19 2010 08:50 zatic wrote:On August 19 2010 05:41 Hawk wrote:On August 19 2010 05:27 Jibba wrote:On August 19 2010 05:18 Clamev wrote: how did they get the date? I think my country(Germany) is pretty reasonable although i realy wonder why USA is above us i mean our Health care system is not good but it´s better than in the US and while our education system has many flaws and is very biased i still think it does a better job. Also our economy is recovering better than any other countries does in eu and us. Anyway if they included surveys like asking people what they think how good the Health Care system, education system etc is than you will always get worse results in Germany, because people like to complain a lot here.
Censorship/NN? "I'll take 4 of them." You'd think the best way to get over your bloody past would be to shoot the hell out of it, not take all the Nazis out of Wolfenstein. I never understood how people can call different advertising for different people by private companies censorship. Also wtf at this ranking, so wrong, Germany owns! I thought the German government still censored some stuff related to Nazis. Like it would be really illegal there to release a game where you play as a nazi soldier shooting russians. There has been no ruling on this. Publishers tend to take the safe route and preemptively censor their own games so nobody complains.
It's about selling more, not censorship.
Another recent example: The billboard ads for The Inglorious Basterds was altered and all swastikas removed for Germany. The movie itself has been left completely unaltered though.
Longer version: + Show Spoiler +Yes, there are hate speech laws in Germany. Part of them ban the use of Nazi symbols including the swastika in public in a political context. They can be used in an educational or artistic context just fine though. Nobody has yet made a case to put computer games in the same category like movies or TV for example, thus no publisher wants to be the first to challenge this. Of course, part of the reason is that video games in general have a rather bad reputation and there are very vocal private initiatives in Germany to get them banned. Putting swastikas into games or ads for games would just play into their hand.
The L4D example is ridiculous though, there is no law whatsover that forced them to change the cover. They just figured it would sell more that way.
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On August 19 2010 08:37 hifriend wrote:Show nested quote +On August 19 2010 07:39 DCLXVI wrote: So I heard it gets pretty cold in finland... Is climate taken into account for "quality of life"? Sure people can get used to different temperatures, but I would not want to live in cold places (or absurdly hot ones either). On the other hand, we don't really have natural disasters here like earthquakes, hurricanes and what not. But yeah, the climate does suck.
The northeast US doesn't have earthquakes, hurricanes, or tornadoes either, and is still a much nicer climate than Scandinavia.
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On August 19 2010 09:00 brain_ wrote:Show nested quote +On August 19 2010 04:12 SilentCrono wrote: Australia ranked higher than US? wtf Yeah seriously what a joke. You have crappy public healthcare and an economy that is tiny compared to ours, and very few freedoms (for a first world country)... No guns, tons of media censorship, no concrete guaranteed freedom of speech, etc. The only thing that matters to me is freedom, anyway. I'd live on some godforsaken wild frontier if it was the only place I could be free... Oh wait, thats how America got started. Too bad there is no frontier left. You have no idea how wrong you are. It's always astonished me how often Americans don't realise how bad they have it.
Your left wing is more right wing than most other country's conservative parties, and yet you denounce anything even slightly socialist as Communism. Our health care system needs work but I would take it any day over the US's system, which is as broken as it gets if you aren't upper middle class+. We can own guns if we live on property, which lets face it is the only place you really need them (don't start on self defense). Sure, we don't have a Bill of Rights, but you know what, my rights have never been impinged upon and nothing in our history has significantly affected our Freedom of Speech that hasn't also affected the rest of the West. You spout on about freedom in a country with one of the highest incarcerated populations in the world and some of the most draconian set of drug laws. Of course our economy is tiny compared to yours, you have 15x the population. And I wouldn't claim that the US has a superior system to ours, considering the financial crisis had about the same effect on Australia as the Y2K bug did. Also, our public school system is leagues ahead of yours, don't even pretend the US has a passable education system.
The USA was founded on the principles of freedom, equality and opportunity for all, and I respect and admire that and what it has done for the rest of the world, but I see Americans taking it for granted and claiming their the best without really knowing why they got to be the best, and because of that your country is floundering and it's a real shame.
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On August 19 2010 09:09 jalstar wrote:Show nested quote +On August 19 2010 08:37 hifriend wrote:On August 19 2010 07:39 DCLXVI wrote: So I heard it gets pretty cold in finland... Is climate taken into account for "quality of life"? Sure people can get used to different temperatures, but I would not want to live in cold places (or absurdly hot ones either). On the other hand, we don't really have natural disasters here like earthquakes, hurricanes and what not. But yeah, the climate does suck. The northeast US doesn't have earthquakes, hurricanes, or tornadoes either, and is still a much nicer climate than Scandinavia. There are definitely a lot of places with nicer climate than scandinavia. ^^
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The only thing that matters to me is freedom, anyway. I'd live on some godforsaken wild frontier if it was the only place I could be free... Oh wait, thats how America got started. Too bad there is no frontier left.
Out of curiosity, how do you think modern Australia came to be?
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United States is higher than I thought it would be, but I guess when your worst problems are a bit of personal debt and faulty over-priced iPhones, you've got things pretty damn good, on an individual basis...
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Judging by THAT criteria ofc the rankings make sense but I don't think those should be the criteria lol.
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I'm a little surprised that Japan is ranked relatively low in the list given its economy (still 2nd largest), life expectancy and low crime rates. But generally, they are in line with what you expect.
Go Canada~
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United States22883 Posts
On August 19 2010 09:06 zatic wrote:
The L4D example is ridiculous though, there is no law whatsover that forced them to change the cover. They just figured it would sell more that way. They weren't directly forced to do anything but after the Counter Strike mess they played it safe. It's not just about selling more since it's not like Germany and Australia are so distinct from their neighbors that the similar product wouldn't sell there. No one knows for sure, but I think the box art change was a response to past censorship, not something to gain sales.
Anyways, Australia is way up on that list so the point is moot anyways. Not sure why Germany is so low, then.
Another important factor they don't cover is food. Pretty damn important consideration, imo. Nordic bastards would get spanked if that were in there.
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damn was hoping for a canada top 5, but given all of the categories 7th is cool
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