[MeechMunchie]

1. Breaking down one of my posts, seemingly ignoring the points that myself and other have made, is not evidence of you reading "each post".

Note the "seemingly".

If you're so concerned that I'm missing some important factor, then you might just, say, point that thing out, rather than lamenting over it and decrying me as ignorant.

2. If you can't understand the difference between something being part of the actual story, or art piece, and something being in "the back of the book" or "in the liner notes", there's no point trying to argue with you about it.

If you can't understand the difference between something being part of the flow of a work, and something tacked onto the side as an appendix, then ditto.

3. A personal affront to me in particular? It's a bit disrepectful to all the fans, and I happen to be one of them, which is why I said "as a fan". It frightens me how much you trivialize qualifiers like that, and the significance in difference between a two distinctly functional punctuation marks. By switching them, you transformed my sentence into an "if, then" statement. It also amuses me that you consider "personal stakes" and childish name calling somehow the same.

I'm a fan, and I don't feel disrespected. I'm grateful to have you campaigning on my behalf, though. As opposed to, you know, arguing your own views and opinions, which is what most people would assume.

Ambiguous statements with unfortunate implications are my fault, apparently. If I'd responded with more than a five-word quip, I might even feel guilty.
You also claim to be "frightened" by my editing style, which is probably the best thing I've heard today.

You were acting like JAW were personally offending you. I decided to personally offend you. See, the same!

I'm also going to ask why you've bothered numbering these things, since half of them are replying to multiple parts of my post. It's genuinely odd.

4. The product placement does have a tangible negative impact on the game. Several reviewers commented negatively on that aspect. There's really no arguing that. And the idea that more people putting product placement into their games isn't adding to the problem because it's already all around is ludicrous.

"Negative impact" is a matter of personal taste.

Almost as ludicrous as suggesting that a small instance of a problem is going to inspire greater instances when those greater instances are already present and far more visible! And you're still ignoring the whole "positive example" thing.

Also, we've established that I'm indifferent to the principle of product placement, so any argument that characterises it as an inherent "problem" isn't going to hold water with me.

5. I haven't ever said that JAW didn't have the right to freely make their game how they see fit. Also, acknowledging the creators' decisions does not mean that you must agree with them.

No, you've just stated that all of your suggestions are objectively superior to what they settled with. Because that's completely different.

Gee, where have I heard that second bit before... I'm glad we're finding common ground, but you might want to do it when you're not trying to disagree with me.

6. I'm quite clearly not hiding anything about my argument, as the PM I sent you as it basically restates most of my points from my previous post. I was merely trying to avoid restating the point in the thread, as the PM shifted focus toward the nature of our argument rather than our stances themselves.

You didn't want to repeat yourself in the thread... so you decided to repeat yourself in a PM instead? That's some fun logic you've got there, buddy.

7. I think it's safe to say that most of us here identify ourselves with Oddworld at least a little in some way, and I think you'll find great works of art have that affect on people. You own Oddworld merchandise, and have over 9,000 posts on a forum dedicated to a series that was more or less dead for nearly a decade, so yes, even you identify yourself as an Oddworld fan.

I do indeed. I've also managed to navigate the associated pitfalls, and I encourage you to do the same.
I know what Oddworld represents to me, and can keep that distinct from what it should try to be.
I know how I interpret its various themes, but I also remember that it was dreamed up by a man I barely know, and we won't always agree.
I enjoy the time I spend with the franchise, but I don't obsess over how I liked it most - it needs to try different things to grow and improve, and whether I like those things or not, I shouldn't write them off as failures.
But most importantly, I'm confident that Oddworld is something worth my time, but I accept that it's not mutual. Nothing JAW or OWI do will ever offend, decieve, mislead or insult me, because they have no idea who I am (apart from a couple of the guys at JAW). They wouldn't be able to make an attack on my personal values if they tried.

Also, I hate to break it to you, but 80% of those posts have nothing to do with Oddworld.

Basically, your entire argument is that "JAW has the right to make this game how they want to" - a point I never once disagreed with.

No, you're more of a "claim to agree and contradict it with every other point I make" kind of guy, I can see that.

The thrust of my argument is more along the lines of "what you'd personally find more fitting is not an objectively superior design choice"; something I deliberately stated very clearly and very rudely to get your attention, yet it still managed to slip through your fingers.

If that's a testament to anything, it's your lack of ability to take things at face value.

Oh, sweet irony.

Disagreeing with their decision and claiming that they have no right to make that decision are two completely different things, but your difficulty to recognize nuanced differences like that seems to be a common theme in this argument.

Wait, I really did do this bit in my last post! I know my debate skills are pretty pro, but you might want to check whether my arguments actually support your position before cribbing them.

I'm done arguing now. You would rather the ads be in the main menu. I would rather the ads be in the main menu.

But I accept it as an idiosyncrasy. There's your nuance.