Slashdot Mirror
MMORPGs, Are You There Yet?
maddugan writes "CNN recently posted a story about a company by the name There and their opening of a public beta for their 'Virtual Universe'. One of the key element is that you can buy virtual Levis and Nikes for your Avatar. " Hemos & I have been playing The Sims Online- Come visit the Slashdot Charisma Sweatshop on the absolute west edge of the Mt Fuji City and say hi. I got my real nick for once too! I love MMORPGs and 'There' looks like another wrinkle on taking Sims type games online. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.
frist psot
MMORPG is gay.
Whereever you go, There you are!
--- Do you believe in the day?
When the hell's Chris DiBona's (aka ChrisD) so-called "company" going to release their so-called "best game ever"?
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
MMORPG's are fine and they cater to a very select market. The fact the that select market is rather huge is irrellevant.
I have not started playing Everquest, Anarchy Online, There, Sims Online, EOA, or any of the others that I might have missed. I have no plans to either. I play a mud. Text. Requires reading... I know, what a pain in the ass.
/(bb|[^b]{2})/
specially this kind. I hope nobody gets hooked on to this, and forget to eat/sleep and end up unconscience like that guy in Korea(i think).
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
Almost had it! A first post for NINNLE!
The greatest Linux distro yet!
Yep, it's a dupe.
Come on CmdrTaco, that's two dupes you've posted on today's front page... go for the hat-trick!
--
Karma: Chameleon (you come and go)
This is such an interesting story! Just like when it was posted two days ago! :)
This is a dupe. The original Slashdot article can be found here: "Metaverse Launched?".
What the fuck's Ninnle anyway?
e ni nnleninnle
Sure sounds funny though, when you say it ten times really fast!
ninnleninnleninnleninnleninnleninnleninnleninnl
Try it!
From Damage Studios' site:
As far as The Game goes, we're on track for meeting our prototype deadlines, which makes everyone pretty buzzed. We had our second art review on Friday, and the concepts are really coming along. I don't want to go too far into that, because I don't want to ruin the anticipatory magic.
Apparently, you can get frequent updates by signing up for the mailing list.
Nice work so far, Chris.
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
2 dupes in under 10 minutes.
4 20 8
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/08/131
I sure do!
you can "travel" from sims online to there, as in a vacation, pick up some stuff for the kids, and so on.
After all, we don't all live in the same town but people do visit from time to time.
Let's all burn down the Slashdot Charisma Sweatshop!
Your powers are useless there. muahahahaha
OMG, I think CmdTaco and I are neighbors in Mt. Fugi.
I hold a patent on sigs...
It's good to hear that some gamers are having a good time in the Sims Online - other user reviews have been less excited about the experience.
Here's a short piece about the fallout in reaction to this most-touted game release: Sims Online: Be a PAYtester?
I'm very hesitant after seeing how people get emotionally attached to stuff like this. I was at Radio Shack last year, and the guy behind the counter was foaming at the mouth over that microsoft game. It was kind of scary.
What is the value of a dollar? The answer is that a dollar is worth as much as the government says it is worth. Money is a game we play to create scarcity in the face of abundance; it is a means of keeping track of something imaginary. So what is a Karma point worth? Well, it's worth whatever CmdrTaco says it's worth. Karma is an imaginary thing that has gained value through an electronic construct. sound familiar? The truth is that Slashdot is in many ways the first of the Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Games. Before the first castle in Ultima Online, there was a user with the most Karma to blow.
Slashdot has changed quite a bit since those days. We have a strict levelling system defined now. Here are the various levels you can achieve, and the powers you are granted at each level:
Levelling up
Last I checked, here are the various levels in the vast Role Playing Game that is Slashdot:
(Your score in the game is called 'karma'):
Player killing
So how do you turn a Sword Saint into a Ghost? Well, player killing is alive and well on Slashdot. I'm not going to go into the details of player killing in this article, but suffice it to say that it is possible to defend yourself from normal players but not from Editors. The best way to defend yourself is to create as many separate accounts as you can, and continue levelling them up. This is very time consuming, and it's one way to keep you 'hooked' on the game.
Guilds
Guilds are a recent addition to the game of Slashdot, and they were retro-fitted and bolted on in much the same manner that many MMORPG's added guild support after product launch due to massive player demands. Basically, Guilds allow you communicate more easily with your allies and gain bonuses to your attacks when attacking enemies, though these bonuses are temporary and cannot be used for player killing.
How do I win the game?
Before addressing how to win the Slashdot MMORPG, it's important to look at how other similar games are won. For instance, how do you win at Ultima Online? I believe the answer to that is that if you play, you have already lost. The only people winning in the MMORPG market are Origin, Microsoft, Verant, et al, i.e. the people taking your money. The more time you spend playing, the more time you spend losing. While you are questing for karma, trying to get just one more level, you are losing. Perhaps the only way to win is not to play.
Consider for a moment that when you mark another account as a foe, you assign a numeric penalty to that person's comments which causes you to never view them again. This means you have judged everything this person will ever say in advance, and deemed those future words not worth viewing. You have prejudged them. You are engaging in automated prejudice. How do you explain that to your kids?
The only way to win is not to play
The game is a construct not just to waste your time but to manipulate what you say. If you have ever altered what you post to Slashdot because of fear of karma retribution or the possiblity of a karma reward, then you have bowed to the pressure of an artificial system, a plastic reality placed upon you in order to control you.
I challenge you to break free of the system. You can still post comments to Slashdot without playing the game. You can do it very easily. Just post everything as an anonymous coward. How will people know it's you? Use you public key to sign your comments. If everyone did this, the game would be over, and everyone would win. It's a huge prisoner's dillema, to be sure, but only if you are still worried about getting a high score.
This journal is probably being read by quite a few Sword Saints thinking to themselves 'how can I afford to stop attacking with my +2 bonus??'. Stop thinking inside the box. It's probably harming your brain.
Interesting thing with MUDs seems to be that more reading they require, the less there are people that you'd rather play without. Another thing I like with MUDs is that once there is no need to get as big audience as possible, there need not be such compromises on the gameplay, which generally mean better game.
Software should be free as in speech, but if we also get some free beer, all the better.
I thought this would be a fitting UF comic, considering how Slashdot is supposed to be pro-freedom/anti-corporatism. Have fun SimPeddling your SimAss to EA for SimDollars. Go to the SimMac and have a SimHeartattack or buy a SimPentium4 with SimHyperthreading!
Hate me!
Does it take you two weeks to earn enough virtual money to buy the latest Nike Jordans like in real life?
the byproduct of years of oppression by the white man
I played a MMORPG from beta until the second year of it, the game had no structure.. we just stood around and talked. Max lvl is 48 and most people are 40, its taken them a year to get there. http://www.legendofmir.net/ -linkz/UniTY
I've left to find myself. If you happen to see me, please, keep me there until I return.
I played a MUD. The administrators were about as corrupt as an average politician and it was all being led by an unemployed welfare-supported hippie who wouldn't even recognize a "Bad Thing"(tm) if it hit him in the face at mach 2. Most of the players we're afraid to say anything and the few who did only droned out the words "I agree!" or something similiar to whatever ons of said administrators cried out in a fit of utter stupidity. That, and the basic idea of "You're not paying, so if you don't like it, go to hell." aren't very appealing to me. IF I would even want to play an online RPG every again, I'd either play one that's not massively multiplayer or one that is administrated by decent, unbiased folks.
Hate me!
I would entirely have to agree, based simply on the fact that in my last 14 years of mudding, some of the most fun I've had has been on a mud with 5-6 other people on it. I'm really not fond of the Massively Multiplayer Online Games. The only graphical online game I've ever played and liked was Medal of Honor:Allied Assault. But, it's not exactly the type of game that concentrates on interplayer relationships. Just go shoot someone. I used it to clear stress. I can't honestly think of a graphical interface that would work for most muds that I've played, for the reason that unless they're drawing the graphics from my mental images of the descriptions, it's not the same MUD.
.02
Just my
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10 seconds later, at the Slashdot Charisma Sweatshop...
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|First post!|
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I applied for There's beta testing program, and have been accepted. Apparently they invite new players "on a weekly basis" -- I'm still waiting impatiently for my invite! :-)
Do we really need all these duplicate posts, telling us that the article is a dupe?
Bad enough that it's a dupe in the first place without having to read fifty posts telling us so over and over again.
...so please tell me what the big deal is? Sure, the fact that it's a graphical rather than a textual "viewport" to the virtual world might appeal to some (it may also keep the bad spellers et al. away from the MUSHes, not necessarily a bad thing), but let's face it, the screenshots looked pathetic even to me, and I don't consider myself to be an overly visually-oriented person to begin with...
To paraphrase, if you need a visual "crutch" for your imagination, this is sadly inadequate. If you don't, I fail to see what kind of value this service adds.
U.S. Decision On Iraq - How Policy Was Set
By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, January 12, 2003; Page A01
On Sept. 17, 2001, six days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush signed a 21/2-page document marked "TOP SECRET" that outlined the plan for going to war in Afghanistan as part of a global campaign against terrorism.
Almost as a footnote, the document also directed the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq, senior administration officials said.
The previously undisclosed Iraq directive is characteristic of an internal decision-making process that has been obscured from public view. Over the next nine months, the administration would make Iraq the central focus of its war on terrorism without producing a rich paper trail or record of key meetings and events leading to a formal decision to act against President Saddam Hussein, according to a review of administration decision-making based on interviews with more than 20 participants.
Instead, participants said, the decision to confront Hussein at this time emerged in an ad hoc fashion. Often, the process circumvented traditional policymaking channels as longtime advocates of ousting Hussein pushed Iraq to the top of the agenda by connecting their cause to the war on terrorism.
With the nation possibly on the brink of war, the result of this murky process continues to reverberate today: tepid support for military action at the State Department, muted concern in the military ranks of the Pentagon and general confusion among relatively senior officials -- and the public -- about how or even when the policy was decided.............
Read the full article here - How U.S. Policy On Iraq Was Set
if I can get dem air force ones..
I was a compuserve member way back when the internet was hard to get onto (you couldn't access the net from compuserve when I first signed up). They looked deep into my soul and gave me a number based upon the order in which I joined. About when they let me choose a screen name for myself (all_the_good_names_are_taken@compuserve.com I kid you not.) they introduced this thing called Worlds Away which seems eerily like "there."
The keyword you typed at the go prompt was AWAY, so youd type GO: AWAY and be transported to a virtual world which had all the usuall compuserve anal retentive rules to keep everyone playing nice.
I've since left compuserve due to the cost of access and the mountains of rules, but I did hear that worlds away has been replaced by a thing called Dreamscape.
Everything that is old is new again.
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
Is anyone developing a free to use mmorpg, maybe based on a p2p method? I pay enough monthly bills I don't want to pay a monthly fee just to play a game. I don't mind paying for the game though.
I wonder if there's a way to build a mmorpg system that doesn't require central servers, but could exist on thousands of p2p machines. As pc's log on and off, the load is moved around. Sort of a combination of p2p and a distributed.net.
Instead of servers slowing down with more people logging on, the game gets faster when more pc's log in and add their computing power.
...this seems like the same argument that was against television vs. books, and everyone knows TV is better than reading.
My big thing is with how much time commitment a "Virtual World" type game requires. I have never played any type of online static VW game, just things like Battle.net.
My main reason for this is that it seems like the commitment is too great. It seems like one I play I have to keep playing everyday or else my previous effort isn't really useful, like I have to live a second life almost to make anything useful/fun out of the MMOG.
I am currently playing Animal Crossing on the GCN, and while this game is ultimately experienced best if you play a little each day or for an hour or two on the weekends, Or both in my casse, I could stop playing for a while and nothing would go wrong or bad, I would be able to pick right back up. The same goes for the non MMOG Sims. From outside of MMOG it seems like I couldn't do this with those.
Am I off base with my impressions of MMOG? Are there any that exhibit play whenever you want/can better than others without degrading the experience?
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
OT but, which one? I've been looking for a good one.
MUDs are really in a different class as modern MMORPG, they attract a much smaller class of people. I'm sure only a small percentage of people who play a MMORPG have ever heard of MUDs, less played one, and less played one for a long time.
This is, however, a Good Thing(TM), in most cases.
The space unintentionally left unblank.
Wow! That is the best explanation of Free Software that I have ever heard!
Because now I know Where to get one...
"There" seems to require Windows.
Too bad, they follow only that track.
SimsOnline seems OK, but think ahead a few years to how the medium will evolve. The 'There' virtual universe is a snapshot of the screwed up world to come.
We go from text chat where we can let down our social guard, be anything we want to be and let our imagination soar. SimsOnline moves us to cartoonish graphics, an OK bit of fun. The 'There' universe drags us backward to a social environment where we worry about our clothes, hair style, etc. Do I really want to manage two wardrobes?
Virtual universes will naturally evolve into a photo-realistic environment some years from now. Do we want a fake universe in which we have all of today's worries? Yes, you might say, because our virtual lives can be better than our real lives.
What does it mean when I enjoy my virtual life more than my real one?
I'll spend my time using technologies that are not geared toward spending as much time as possible with that technology. What's the point? I enjoy healthier recreation offline.
The Matrix missed the point as a social commentary. Machines won't need to take over the world and enslave us. We are willingly putting on the shackles and forgetting our real lives.
...will be Final Fantasy XI. I just hope that there will be less morons online with the added cost of the game. Until the PC version is released *sigh*
.hack will be my first MMORPG ;P
If somehow FFXI doesn't make it here,
--
My Moderator points just disappeared when I was using them. It says "Use them or lose them", not "Use them and lose them" *sigh*
Karma: Chameleon Shouldn't that be: Karma: Typical male
Typical male? Only if you're a Tina Turner fan.
wasn't there a scene in burning chrome where people who met in cyberspace rented clothes for their avatars?
gibson should've taken out a patent...
f64 : making crack remarks while on crack
What the fuck CmdrTaco? You got a wife but you like to spend your time in some fucking fantasy world! Perhaps some other man will show your wife what fun a man and woman can do together.
Not quite what I mean though... :P
PS, be manly (or girly... Hey, it's 2003!) and don't use AC :)
Hate me!
"name There and their opening"
Hehehehe, love the use of there you got goin there.
The sheer possibilities for marketing here are amazing - I used to play a game called Diaspora run by a company called Altitude (a cloan of it can now be found at http://www.rillaspora.com). Basically a space-trading game,the company was trying to sell advert space in the online bars I believe. They failed.
You could have a virtual McDonalds, Starbucks, and then have virtual anti-capitalists to break the windows in Starbucks whilst ordering a latte.
And how long before the citizens of the virtual community have their own computers and networks? Imagine - virtual LAN parties! woohoo!
Yet if you were a 14 year old British girl, you might appreciate Habbo Hotel (Shock Req.)
Were you a Finnish (Suomi) teen, you might appreciate Hotelli Kultakala (Shock Req.)
I hate Grammar Nazi's
Can you kill someone for a pair?
FRA: STFU GTFO
In the virtual world, eating McDonalds hamburgers COULD be good for you! Just imagine - If McDonalds paid the GMs for the priviledge, eating at a virtual McD's would increase all your stats 10% for a few hours after ever meal. Using Colgate toothpaste really would make you better looking. And if your sim drinks Bud Light, your sim really would become irresistable to the opposite sex for a few hours!
This has potential even in games like Ultma Online, where wearing Levis under your armour might convey you some mild form of magical protection. Wearing Nike's lets your character run 10% faster. Just think of the possibilities...
My rights don't need management.
The day I can log in to a non-proprietary virtual network, and I can build my own software/avatars or create my own code to provide interactions, is the day I'll play one of those damn addictive things... I don't just want to play, I want to create little bot-avatars that can go do things for me.
meh
So CmdrTaco runs windows? Shock horror!
--Joe, "Joe v.s. the Volcano"
Except this way, people are actually paying. But that's the way, isn't it? Corporate evil is nothing if not efficient, (in all the 'right' places, at any rate). Render them impotent, trick them into living in bullshit misery and debt-ridden servitude, then sell them a subscription to some lame version of 'escape'.
"Oh, and Smithers, tell our engineers to make it highly addictive."
"Yes sir. The people will know what hit them, but they won't care."
-Fantastic Lad
Im not virtually cool enough to have a machine that will 'play/run' there software
www.cokemusic.com
It's stuff like that that's been keeping me alive until the sims online gets into my price range...
To be honest, I'd settle for any open-source RPG at this point.
I really like Neverwinter Nights, but was disappointed in its third-person perspective.
I really like Morrowind, but am pissed off that there's no multiplayer component.
I believe if one could create a first-person CRPG that could be extended easily by users--not developers--to create modules, I think it would be fairly successful.
That's not to say that I don't think NWN is worth paying for, it's just that there's something compelling to me about doing a open-source first-person RPG with module-creation toolsets.
I'd work on it, but I just don't have the programming experience to undertake such a venture. I know next to nothing about game programming.
To American Youth on the Eve of War
by Kevin Alfred Strom
American Dissident Voices Broadcast of January 11, 2003
Welcome to American Dissident Voices. I'm Kevin Alfred Strom.
Today's program is for you, the sons and brothers and young fathers of
America. It is a message to the young men being asked to die for their
country in the upcoming war on Iraq being planned by our enemies.
America's sons -- and I have two sons who will be of "military age" in
the next decade, so I have a personal stake in this -- are being
manipulated into becoming cannon fodder for Israel in the most sickening
display of hypocritical moralizing cant that I have ever witnessed in my
life. Today's program is for you, my sons. I don't want you to die. And
I don't want you to be hired killers.
The politicos, like Boy George Bush, who speak of "patriotism" and
"defending America's freedom" are all either knowing cynical liars or
psychopaths who can program themselves on some level to actually believe
their own Jewish speechwriters.
A few days ago president Bush spoke to 4,000 young soldiers at Fort Hood
in Texas. He broadly hinted that the second report from the weapons
inspectors in Iraq, due on the 27th of this month, will signal an
American invasion. His advance knowledge of the contents of a report
that hasn't yet been written is even more amazing than his instant
analysis of the inspectors' earlier 12,000-page report which he declared
contained "proof" of Iraqi violations of UN decrees almost the instant
it was issued. One can be sure that Bush and his overseers have decided
in advance that there will be some pretext for war, whether the
inspectors actually find anything or not. Bush's handlers are now
floating the idea of Bush's declaring this new crusade during his State
of the Union speech, to be delivered the day after the inspectors'
report is due to be released. An unnamed "senior administration
official" was quoted by the Washington Post last week as saying that
Saddam Hussein's "time will have run out" on that very day. U.S.
ambassadors have just been instructed to request help from their host
countries during the planned occupation of Iraq. No presidential travel
at all has been scheduled for February. [Washington Post, January 4th,
2003]
And American troops are massing in the Persian Gulf region. 60,000 are
now acknowledged to be there, a number that is expected to double in the
next few weeks. Unless something happens to upset the Jewish war plans,
the number that will return will certainly be a smaller one. Not only
will Americans be killed in the war, but many more will become victims
of terrorism at home as outrage against the American invasion and
occupation -- and American support of Israeli genocide -- and American
support of puppet governments -- boils over in the increasingly Third
World and increasingly Moslem population of our homeland. Not only will
Americans be killed in the war, but as we become more and more of a
garrison state in response to terrorism and perpetual war for
perpetually elusive peace -- as we become more and more like our
masters, the Israelis -- we will also kill the freedom that made America
worth defending and life here worth living and which our race needs for
its healthy development. I don't want America to become another Israel.
I don't want my sons to die needlessly. I don't want the murder and
enslavement of whole populations on my conscience, and I don't want to
pay for them with my taxes. I don't want this war. My sons, you are
being lied to by your leaders. You are being tricked into betraying
America under the guise of "patriotism."
I have absolutely no attachment to Saddam Hussein or Iraq (in fact I
think we of the White West need to be ever vigilant against incursions
from the Arab/Moslem world), but the media hoopla and politicians'
double-talk which designates Hussein as some kind of threat to America
or exemplar of "evil" is ridiculous. His regime has surrendered and
bowed down to U.S. and U.S.-engineered U.N. demands for over a decade.
How many other countries agree to limit their weapons development to
what a hostile foreign state decides is allowable? How many other
countries agree that foreign states may decide where their planes may
and may not fly over their own sovereign territory? How many other
countries have peacefully accepted an embargo that even their enemies
concede has resulted in the deaths of about half a million of their
children? How many other countries have been willing to let enemy agents
talk publicly with their top weapons scientists? Iraq's submission after
its defeat and the mass incineration of its retreating troops in 1991
has been almost total. Yet it is slated for destruction, occupation, and
the installation of a puppet regime. Why?
1. By Middle Eastern standards, Iraq is a large, advanced, and powerful
country. It is located near Israel. This in itself makes it a potential
threat to Israeli domination of that region.
2. Even though Iraq is a secular state and the government there
generally dislikes, distrusts, and disapproves of Islamic
fundamentalism, it is naturally sympathetic to the plight of the
oppressed Palestinians, to whom it is tied by blood and religion. This
also makes it a potential threat in Israeli eyes.
3. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 provide a pretext for war against
all of Israel's enemies. The Jews want to use 9/11 for all it's worth
and make war against those they see as even potential future threats as
soon as possible, while American dislike of Moslems is high and the
memory of the World Trade Center attack is still fresh. There's a lot of
evidence that Israeli intelligence knew of 9/11 in advance and did
nothing, or possibly even influenced events to make it happen, knowing
of the tremendous propaganda victory it would be in getting Americans
pepped up to kill Arabs.
4. The Jewish media and the lapdog politicians tested the ignorance and
gullibility of Americans with the war in Afghanistan. First, they
transferred the blame for the attacks from Osama Bin Laden to the
government of Afghanistan, which had nothing to do with the 9/11
attacks, on the pretext that that's where Osama, a Saudi, was living at
the time. When Afghanistan refused to waive all of its laws when
American Jews commanded them to do so, Afghanistan was attacked,
invaded, and a puppet government friendly to Jewish interests and
well-oiled by American dollars was installed. Now that they have seen
how easily the American public can be buffaloed into thinking that any
"camel jockey" (as long as he lives outside the U.S.) is an enemy of Mom
and Apple Pie and is somehow to blame for the recent terror attacks on
American soil, why not take the even more absurd step of claiming that
destroying one of Israel's biggest worries is somehow part of a "fight
against terrorism." Never mind that there is not a molecule of evidence
that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11. Never mind that the current
Iraqi government loathes Islamic fundamentalism, which it regards as its
adversary for political power in the Moslem world. Never mind that Iraq
had and has no use for Bin Laden or the Taliban. All that is irrelevant.
"Camel jockeys" knocked down our buildings. That's all that matters. The
media spinmeisters do the rest. If there is still some steam in the
misled and misdirected American "patriots" after the body bags start
arriving, you may be sure that Iraq will not be the last victim of this
9/11 sting operation. The leaders of Iran and Saudi Arabia better be
making some serious contingency plans.
Ladies and gentlemen, this alleged "war on terror" of which the war on
Iraq is a part promises to be a war without a clearly definable goal, a
war without end. It promises to be a world war. It promises power to the
Jews who, they believe, will crush their enemies and steal their oil
billions, with a few billion crumbs for their gentile collaborators like
the Bush dynasty. But it also promises years if not decades of
unprecedented death and destruction, and huge costs in blood and money
to my people, the White working people of the West, who will gain
absolutely nothing by it. (Even establishment think tanks admit that the
direct costs of war may top $200 billion, and the total economic costs
may be five times that -- one thousand billion dollars. [Washington
Post, December 1st, 2002]) This is, perhaps, the most unjust of all wars
and we must not support it.
The propaganda leaflets are already falling on Iraq. The bombs have been
falling on Iraq for many months now, with the repeated justification
that Iraqis have somehow violated the "no fly" zone or that they had the
temerity to turn on their radar when foreign warplanes were surging
across their skies. In reality, the war on Iraq has already started. It
is the actual invasion that is about to begin.
I recently drove across about half of this continent, and as I did so, I
got to listen to a lot of commercial broadcast radio. All over the dial
are so-called "conservatives" frothing at the mouth for this war, a war
that will kill innocents and harm America. A war that will benefit only
the Jews. A war that will instill a hatred of America in the hearts of
many future generations in the Moslem and Arab world, a hatred that
could be healed if we stop this madness now. And all over the radio
dial, at a far higher density than a few months ago, were announcements
urging teenage boys to register for the Selective Service. That reminded
me of you, my sons. Thinking of you inspired me to speak out.
Recently, a group of actors of various political persuasions called
Artists United to Win Without War issued an interesting statement. They
stated that they are under pressure now to make war movies, and they
resent that pressure.[The Washington Times, December 14th, 2002] Cable
and satellite movie channels have been engaging in a riot of recycled
war movies, many of them dusty propaganda pieces from World War II. I
was astounded one day as I reviewed the schedule of Turner Classic
Movies over the holiday season and found that, instead of the seasonal
classics you'd expect to see at that time of year, the majority of the
films that day were war movies and war propaganda short subjects. And
other channels, owned or controlled by the same ethnic interests, are
marching in lockstep.
Country music artists have issued songs celebrating war, and even
proudly flaunting the ignorance of the singer who, he says, can't tell
the difference "between Iraq and Iran," but clearly implying that he'll
kill anyone Bush -- and by extension Bush's Jewish owners -- tells him
to kill.
My sons, that is an ignorant mentality. I do not want you to be
ignorant. I do want you to see the hypocrisy of those who claim to be
champions of human rights and freedom engaging in a slaughter of people
who have never harmed the United States of America. And I want you to
notice that none except one of the Congressmen who voted to give Bush
his "war powers" has a son in the enlisted ranks of the military. Most
of all, I want you to look at the behavior of those who are the cause of
all this war and conflict -- Israel and the Jewish world power behind
Israel.
Is it Saddam Hussein's government that brazenly shoots reporters who
dare to report stories the government doesn't like? No, it's Israel:
according to the Foreign Press Association, no fewer than twenty
reporters have been fired on by Israeli soldiers while doing their jobs
and reporting on the Israeli response to the Palestinian uprising. A
group of journalists called Reporters Without Boundaries stated that
Israeli Defense Forces had shot forty reporters over a three-year
period. Amazing -- and telling -- isn't it? And doubly amazing that the
media don't choose to highlight this story when their own employees are
being attacked. [Ha'aretz, May 25th, 2001; Reporters Without Boundaries,
May 15th, 2001]
What country in the Middle East uses Christian schoolchildren as human
shields? Iraq? No -- again, it's Israel. According to the San Diego
Union-Tribune of August 31st, 2001, Israeli troops invaded a Lutheran
school in the Palestinian village of Beit Jallah, using the roof of the
school -- with the children inside -- as a base for weapons fire and
military operations against the people of the town. The Lutheran World
Federation protested, the pastor of the church and his bishop protested.
But did you hear about it? Was it on the nightly news? Was it on page
one? Were the talk hosts telling you about this outrage? Were the
Christian radio preachers telling their flocks about this outrage
against Christian children by the Jews? You can be sure that if this was
Iraqi soldiers doing this, it would have been page one material, and
another warrant for war. But no -- the Jews are always innocent, and
their crimes are not to be emphasized or highlighted in any way. It's
sinful to criticize them.
What Middle Eastern country murders children who violate curfew laws? Is
it Iraq and its wicked dictator Saddam Hussein? No. It's Israel. The
Jerusalem Post admitted on last October 16th that in only four months
fifteen Palestinians were summarily killed for mere curfew violations --
and that twelve of the fifteen, 80 per cent., were children.
Who recently openly endorsed torture as a political weapon, on "60
Minutes" no less? Was it Moslem extremists, or Saddam Hussein and his
minions, exposed for what they really are on national TV? No, it was
Jewish attorney and militant Zionist Alan Dershowitz, who once defended
O. J. Simpson. Dershowitz has the gall to claim to be a defender of
human rights while not only endorsing the admitted Israeli policy of
torturing prisoners who are captured without charge or trial or hope of
a trial, but who also wants to bring such blatantly unconstitutional
practices to the United States of America. Dershowitz wants judges to be
able to issue "torture warrants" and authorize the insertion of metal
needles under the fingernails and similar practices which cause
"excruciating pain" to people who have never even been convicted of a
crime. Creatures like Dershowitz have no right to call themselves
Americans or live under the protection of our laws and our fighting men.
Most emphatically they do not deserve to have a single drop of American
blood shed to protect them. [CBS News, January 17th, 2002; Jewish World
Review, January 30th, 2002]
What religious denomination has within its ranks prominent advocates of
the extermination of other racial and religious groups? Is it the Moslem
clerics in Iraq, or unrepentant chaplains of the former Taliban? Is it
the most wacko of the Christian fundamentalists on an anti-Semitic
spree? No -- it's a Jewish rabbi in (surprise, surprise) Israel.
According to the Palestine Chronicle of November 16th:
"A prominent Israeli rabbi with thousands of followers said during a
Sabbath homily in the settlement in Kiryat Arba'a Saturday that halacha,
or Jewish religious law, 'essentially supported the annihilation of
non-Jews in Israel.' The rabbi, Rav Leor, said most rabbinic authorities
'of the past and the present accepted the opinion that the lives of
non-Jews don't' enjoy the same sanctity as the lives of Jews.'
'Hashmadat goyem' (the extermination of non-Jews), he said was an
established principle in Jewish theology. The rabbi is affiliated with
the messianic Jewish movement known as Gush Emunim which is represented
in the Israeli Knesset by seven Knesset members. The movement is
represented in the Israeli government by Minister without portfolio Ed
Eifam of the National Religious Party."
That should give you the measure of this people, the Jews, who ask you
to lay down your lives to destroy their enemies. It should also give you
the measure of the mass media in America who do not report or grossly
underplay the outrages of Israel and of the Jewish establishment which
largely controls these media.
I could go on for a hundred programs about the hypocrisy and genocidal
agenda of the Jewish establishment. I could detail for you the Israeli
advocacy of summary state murder of the innocent family members of
accused terrorists. I could document Israel's admitted policy of
assassinating political leaders they don't like. I could show you that
Israel has violated far more U.N. resolutions than Iraq. I could show
you that Israel has the greatest cache of illegal weapons of mass
destruction in the Middle East, and that they are openly producing
nuclear weapons in violation of agreements with the United States, and
that, by law, all U.S. aid to Israel should be cut off because of this
nuclear weapons production. I could recount hundreds of grisly massacres
of innocent women and children by Israeli soldiers. I could show you how
Israel killed American sailors and tried to blame it on the Arabs in the
USS Liberty incident. I could tell you about Israel's brutal invasion
and occupation of Lebanon, which lasted for twenty years and contrast
our reaction to that to our reaction to Iraq's annexation of Kuwait.
My sons, I hope I have told you enough to spur you on to find out more
for yourselves. The information is there for those who would seek it. It
is in libraries, it is on the Internet which still remains free in 2003,
and it can be found on the growing number of radio programs like this
one which dare to break away from Jewish media censorship. I hope you
will be careful, but I also hope that you will exercise your rights to
the fullest legal extent to protect yourselves and the next generation
of our people from participating in or helping in any way this obscene
war that they are trying to start against Iraq. I hope you will not only
oppose this war, but use whatever position of trust and responsibility
you may hold to educate our people to oppose and confound the plans of
the warmongers. I urge you to make friendly contact with White
nationalists and urge them to join us in the National Alliance, and make
plans to continue your contacts even if, in the future, the Internet is
shut down or censored. I urge you to reach understandings with
nationalists of other nations and even races so that the Jewish
establishment's agenda of war and race-mixing and genocide may one day
be defeated and a brighter day will dawn on planet Earth.
One of the key element is that you can buy virtual Levis and Nikes for your Avatar.
Are these items made in virtual sweatshops by virtual children for virtually nothing just like in real life?
Pretty soon the mafia will be delivering pizzas.
Washington Post technology columnist Leslie Walker writes about There in her column today. Excerpt: It's meant to be a destination where people can do lots of things -- race dune buggies, fly on hoverboards, flirt, hang out with their dogs -- but it has no defined objectives. "There" offers tools for people to create their own worlds and virtual lifestyles. The company also hopes to make money licensing its tools to other companies such as ski resorts to create their own virtual environments."
Come on CmdrTaco, that's two dupes you've posted on today's front page... go for the hat-trick!
He has a third one for today!
People who disagree with you are not automatically evil, greedy, or stupid.
...on whether you're playing the rich white American or the 3rd world shoemaker ;)
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
as a pathetic and rural computer weenie, i long for a virtual universe like the ones i read about; i read neal stephenson and dream of living at least part time in a nonreal world. yes, i go to parks and hike, but how great would it be to be able to do stuff at 200am without having to drive 4 hrs to a city? There looks like another disguised shopping mall, unfortunately. damn. i'll probably be dead by the time the goods are finally available.
maybe one day i'll be smart enough to come up with a cool sig, too.
I played Anarchy Online once, I pretty much had to convince myself that I had to quit. MMORPGs are just way to addictive. I've heard stuff about Everquest that it was pretty addictive too. People should learn how to not overdo such things. I mean, if you play 10+ hours a day, that can't be good...
I think it would be cool to have some sort of "interface nuetral" environment, where the client does all the all the hard work - for himself and maybe for others.
That way, maybe my interface would be all text - and someone else could have this amazing 3d immersive environment, but the same events happen for us both.
Also, say I have this amazing 3d stuff going on - I might give another's client the option of having me render the stuff for them, if I have all this amazing hardware - that way I can appear to be really amazing to people who don't even have the kind of hardware to see my avatar (or landscape or whatever) the way I want it to be seen.
Read Snowcrash by Neil Stephenson.
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
It's a dupe dupe dupe dupe dupe dupe dupe.
It's a dupe dupe dupe dupe dupe dupe dupe.
It's a dupe.
It's a dupe dupe dupe.
It's a dupe.
It's a dupe.
Thank you.
(This post beat the zlib filter thanks to the letters 'W', "K" and {Q} ).
One thing you wouldn't need to worry about with open source games as long as you have an easy editor is content. There are plenty of people out there who aren't technically oriented who could use an editor to create cool story lines and adventures. It wouldn't be unlike paper roll playing games where you buy modules, except you wouldn't be paying for the modules.
My Blog
correction...people that find are addicted should learn not to overdo such things... sounds like you have some exerience.
Carpe Canem - Seize the Dog
There's a project called Worldforge that has some interesting things going on. You may want to check it out.
I've heard rumors that they want to implement P2P for the game media, but not for the game itself.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
and why exactly did you bother playing this MUD to begin with??
cpeterso
I used Linux. The Linux kernel developers were about as corrupt as an average politician and it was all being led by an unemployed welfare-supported hippie who wouldn't even recognize a "Bad Thing"(tm) if it hit him in the face at mach 2. Most of the users we're afraid to say anything and the few who did only droned out the words "I agree!" or something similiar to whatever ons of said administrators cried out in a fit of utter stupidity. That, and the basic idea of "You're not paying, so if you don't like it, go to hell." aren't very appealing to me.
There is not a game. Sims is. There is designed to be more like 3D IRC.
PlaneShift
:-) ;-)
:-/
Check out the screenshots.
And it's FREE, too.
Let's hope it turns out to be as fun to play as it looks, and that it becomes well-known enough.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
.hack is not an actual mmorpg and will be released in the US next month, well before FFXI
Or maybe you were joking and I look like a dumbass now...
neocron
www.neocron.com
the first 1st person mmorpg out there... with amazing graphics and a flurry of social orders and clans....
its beautiful...
only downside is that it also costs a monthly fee....
why do they try to milk people so... i am not a holstein....
Rabbit, wife of JackZ
JaxBuni in Alphaville
Rabbit in Blazing Falls
Rabbbit in Mt Fuji
a public beta for their 'Virtual Universe'
Cool! I wonder if they'll have the Frogstar?
Note to self: Don't exit through the door!
I'm going to sign-up and hang out my shingle selling car-poons. :-D
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
Not to nitpick, because I agree with most of your post, but I don't think I'd be able to recognize *anything* that hit me in the face at Mach 2...
--trb
I started playing MUDs in college, and when EQ came out, it was promptly dismissed by about 90% of the MUDders I knew. I mean, after all, we were playing online games for free... why would anyone ever pay a monthly fee to play these things?
Addiction. That pretty much sums it up. About a month after "Ruins of Kunark" came out, one of my friends let me play it on his account for about 15 minutes. Hooked, reeled in, and gutted. I got my own account some time later, and was stuck there for about a year. Sheesh, do I regret that loss of time and money.
Of course, I still play online games, but nothing to the point of addiction that I had with EQ.
Kierthos
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
The wise programmer is told about the Tao and follows it. The average
programmer is told about the Tao and searches for it. The foolish programmer
is told about the Tao and laughs at it. If it were not for laughter, there
would be no Tao.
The highest sounds are the hardest to hear. Going forward is a way to
retreat. Greater talent shows itself late in life. Even a perfect program
still has bugs.
-- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"
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