Hypothetical Question...

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hypothetically speaking - lets say you have an opportunity to win $1,000,000 in a contest. To win - you must choose from one of the following five options:

“Punch” option ---- You will be punched in the face, just once, by a big fat man. The punch is guaranteed not to be fatal nor to cause brain damage, but you will likely sustain a nasty injury such as a split lip, black eye or perhaps even a broken nose. After being punched - you will be given the $1,000,000!

“Bomb” option ---- Nothing will happen to you. However, you will start the countdown on a huge bomb that is hidden deep inside the center of the Earth. The bomb is large enough that, when detonated, it will cause devastating earth quakes and floods all over the planet. The bomb is completely undetectable and can not be disarmed. However it will not detonate until exactly 5,000 years in the future. As soon as the countdown has started - you will be given the $1,000,000!

“Insults” option ---- Twenty people will shout terrible insults and obscenities at you for one full hour. These people will not come into physical contact with you nor harm you, but they will say all sorts of horrible and upsetting things to you. After one full hour of intense verbal abuse - you will be given the $1,000,000!

“Magic” option ---- Your personality and ethical convictions will be painlessly altered in some unknown way by a magic spell. The alteration will be instantaneous and will not affect your memory, cause brain damage nor result in any physical harm of any kind. After the alteration - you will be given the $1,000,000!

“Nothing” option ---- None of the above. Nothing happens to you or anyone else, but you will NOT be given any money.
Which option would you choose first? Second? Third? Etc…???

Please list them like so … (with “1” listed as your first choice, “2” as your next choice, and so on…)

1 - option name
2 - option name
3 - option name
4 - option name
5 - option name

2

1 - Insults

It’d be like grade school again, but with profit potential.
No second choice, you said “choose from one of the following five options”

3
  1. Punch
  2. Insults
  3. Bomb
  4. Nothing
  5. Magic

I’m not happy about having the Bomb up as it is, but since it is sooo far off, I think Id say, “Fuck it”. If the timeframe was changed to be much shorter, a few hndred years, I’d move it to #4. But at the rate we’re going now, it seems like the tidal waves might be a good thing.

4

Punch in the face, for these reasons :

  • I want the money
  • It heals, while the magic option doesn’t
  • I’m pretty sure humanity will survive on earth for at least 5 000 years (no matter the extent of global warming/cooling or nuclear apocalypses, there’d still be livable areas) , if you said 50 000 years I would have picked this option though

and finally : I doubt anyone [or very few] is able to sustain a full hour of non-stop cacophonic noise without going at least midly crazy (I think most people would go crazy being left alone in silence without anything to do/look at for an hour…with constant insults it can only be worse)

If I had to sort them, it would be :

  • Punch
  • Magic (I guess I’ll still be able to live with my new self)
  • Bomb
  • Insults
  • Nothing
5
  1. Insults
  2. Punch
  3. Nothing
  4. Magic
  5. Bomb

1 : Like ParentalAdvisory, it’s just like school with money at the end; and they aren’t allowed to attack me, or even spit on me or rob me; a step up from school, actually. And like most people I’m way less sensitive than I was as a kid.

2 : It’ll heal. Rather like a typical job IMHO, except faster and with a bigger payoff.

3 : Because anything below is unacceptable to me.

4 : I’d rather die. Money wouldn’t begin to make up for such a thing; not a million, not a hundred billion.

5 : I have no right to cause so much indiscriminate harm for money.

6

If I thought the offer was genuine, I’d easily choose the insults, but none of the others (except the ‘nothing’ one, of course), I think (so there’s no point trying to put them in order).

But how about you just pay me for the hours of insults I’ve stood and taken already?

7

1: Insults. I call that Monday anyhow.
2: Punch inna Face. That’s Saturday.
3-N: Nothing. Bomb isn’t ethical, and I’m not really up for insanity.

8

I would choose to put a poll in our Forum for polls, IMHO.

[ /Moderating ]

9

Can I get a look at the guy who is going to hit me first?

1 Insults (I’m shouting insults at myself all day in my head, this wouldn’t be a big deal.)
2 Punch
3 Nothing

Magic and insults are off the table, although a million dollars would probably change my personality in some way.

10

Ditto

11

None of the above. I don’t want the money, and I sure as hell wouldn’t sacrifice anything to get it.

12

The only tough choice is the punch or the insults. I’d probably with the punch. A good insult can linger for days and there’s no advil to make it better, except ice cream.

so…
1)Punch
2)Insults
3)Magic
4)Nothing
5)Bomb

13

My first choice would be the insults. As I understand it, nothing in the rules say that you can’t respond to the insults.

14
  1. Punch - I’ve been punched in the face before, it’s no big deal.
  2. Insults - Been there done that. Ok, not for an hour but I’d probably just laugh the first 10 minutes then get bored.
  3. Bomb - I don’t have kids and never will so I don’t really care about the future of humanity.
  4. Magic - I don’t much care for the idea of being altered since I’d no longer be me.
  5. Nothing - Well, it’s nothing, I’d rather have the million.
15

How many forums are you posting this to? I just read it over on the IGDA website a few minutes ago. I thought I was losing my mind when I saw it here under exactly the same user name … .

16

:confused: Got kids?

Are you kidding me? On some days, I’d pay $1 million for this! :smiley:

17

My standard reply to “Would you do X for a million dollars?” questions is always “Put the cash on the table and we’ll talk.”

But to avoid the appearance of a drive-by, I’ll say insults (I can hum the Star Bangled Banner in my head for an hour for a million clams) , then the punch (no permanent damage), then nothing. Pass on the magic and bomb options.

18
  1. Insults - They mean nothing and 1,000,000 can buy alot of therapy if they did
  2. Punch - A borken nose hurts for a while and then I would have to live with the new look or deal with more pain to go back to where I am now but richer.
  3. Bomb - The Earth has to end eventually why not in 5k years heck by then we might not even be on this planet.
  4. Nothing - No better No worse
  5. Magic - I wouldn’t be me and I like me no thanks.
19
  1. Insults. I’m divorced. Twice. Anyway, it sounds like a couple of jobs I’ve had that paid much, much less.
  2. Punch. Been punched. Didn’t like it. Didn’t hate it a million bucks worth. Do I get a free swing at the guy after I get my money? I’ll probably take one anyway, I’m just trying to plan for costs.
  3. Magic. What the hell? (See Number 1)
  4. Nothing. Nobody else gets hurt.
  5. Bomb. I’d never choose this one.
20

1 - Punch. Pain is temporary.
2 - Insults. This would suck royally, but I’d get over it eventually.
3 - Nothing. I don’t have a million dollars now, so…yeah.
4 - Magic. I really, really don’t like the idea of changing my personality, but it’s still better than potentially killing people.
5 - Bomb. See previous answer.