This is my take on the matter. I'm not concerned with the budget to make the game, I'm concerned with the fact that (here in Australia), a game that's been out 3 months is still sitting on retail shelves for $80 or more. That's for a game that I may play for a fortnight, or may not. I can get two weeks' worth of beer for the same amount and I _know_ that will deliver.:P
The stellar success of companies like PopCap shows that you don't have to ride everything on big budget, heavy hitting titles.
That has to be one of the coolest things I've seen on youtube in a long while.
Back on topic, in answer to "what if a harmful mutation starts to breed like there's no tomorrow ?" - "breeding like there's no tomorrow" is what most living creatures do, especially the small ones such as mice, rats, bugs, bacteria (HALP NANOBOTS), and 12-year-old English boys.
You know the cool thing about MMO games? There's so many different things to do and different ways to play the game that however you do it, if you're having fun, you win.
In your case, you assume that "the game" is questing and levelling. In my case, "the game" is running dungeons and raids, and PvPing. In my wife's case, "the game" is making money and levelling professions. All three are totally different playstyles, but we all have fun.
Difference is, levelling your N'th alt to the level cap so you can take part in the bits of the game you find fun is not always, in itself, fun. It's annoying and boring to those of us who like living at the level cap, just like raiding or grinding gold or levelling professions or PvPing are annoying and boring to someone who mostly enjoys playing low level alts. Sometimes it's worth it to go through the boring bit in order to get to the bit that is "the game" to you.
As for QuestHelper, it's great for speeding up your levelling if you just want to get your levelling grind over with. I've already got two 80s, two 70s, a 67 (who I'm levelling now), two 60s, and a bunch of lower alts. I don't really need to read the quest text or look up what drops what, but it's nice to see all the areas for the quests I have on me on the map so I can come up with an optimal route to get them all done fast.
Wait, didn't we make the leap from "allow you to update your friends" to "everyone's location will be mandatorily broadcast for easier surveillance^H^H^H^H^H^Hyour convenience"? I thought we were talking scary big brother world, not nifty new feature world.:P
Well, I dunno about you but *I'd* be afraid of some guy browsing Facebook, discovering a picture of my wife, then using a GPS mapping system to predict the best time/place to assault or kidnap her... and yes, there are many guys who troll social networking sites and try to crack on to any decent looking woman (clearly states on both our pages that we're married and not looking for anything, she still gets one or two a month saying "hey baby you up for a fling"). It's not that much of a reach to say that the small percentage of them who are actually psychotic and not just sleazy will find this sort of thing very useful indeed.
Well... $15/month * 10 (assuming you rock at the game and you quitting really WOULD cause 10 people to quit) is still only $150/month. That's not much even for someone in council housing. Hell, that couldn't pay for my Mi Goreng addiction let alone the booze and internets.:P
OK, how about another one: A distributed network of microphones linked by radio.
I believe I've read about similar things being developed/trialled for deployment in Iraq, precisely for the purpose of pinpointing sniper shots. They just airdrop a bajillion little gizmoes that are basically a GPS, a radio and a mic. They detect a gunshot, and squeal their position and the exact timestamp of the shot. Any radio listening can triangulate gunshots much faster than a bullet (or the sound front) can move.
So the first question that comes to my mind when someone says "solar powered cellphone" isn't "does it have a pedometer", but rater "how long does it take to recharge and how long does the battery last".
I think the second part is important, especially as high temperatures tend to dramatically shorten the lifespan of Lithium batteries. Leaving your phone in the car or in direct sunlight on a hot day can make it very hot, I can't imagine it would be very good for a battery to be in a small black enclosure that's regularly left in the sun.
What gives is that modern Australians aren't the same hardass cons that built the country. Life's so good and easy and comfortable here that people have nothing to really worry about, so they make shit up and worry about that.
Half the equation is that Australia's population is aging badly, and most old people think that everything is too fast, too loud, too dangerous and too untidy. This is a problem when a sizable portion of the voting public makes up this group.
The other half of the equation is, as I said first up, that life's too good here. We don't worry about getting shot at or knifed. The worst we generally have to contend with is bushfires (just had a doozy but it's been a few years since the last big one before that) and poisonous native animals. Out of work? No problems, Centerlink will pay for your cask wine and internets.
When people spend too long without serious threats to life and limb, their brain adjusts to see trivial things as big and important. Humans do that, our brains are great at adapting to their circumstances... but in this case, people rate their top 3-4 concerns as "life threatening" even when they are things like "my neighbour plays music after 7pm" and "my kid might see a digital nipple if he plays this M-rated game".
Another exacerbating effect of the general pantywaistness of the proletariat is that our political system is, for want of a better word, pan-partisan. Campaigns are based either on smearing the opposition (the last couple of federal elections have done this) or making a stand on the traditional party differences (unions and workers rights vs. tax breaks for businesses, for instance). Any remotely controversial issue is swept under the carpet and then laws about it are ninja-passed at 3am. As an Australian citizen I feel about as far removed from the running of this country as I am from the running of Uzbekistan.
No, we're not. Rats, cats and wild pigs (which admittedly got here via human transportation) are wiping out many of Australia's native animals. The conservationists cry out that we're killing the fuzzywuzzies but really, they're just being outcompeted by the first new species here for tens of thousands of years. Exactly the same thing happened when wild dogs first arrived here, now they're "native" and we call them dingos.
How is "not being selected against" different from "evolutionary fitness"? I thought evolutionary fitness was _defined_ as "living long enough to produce viable offspring"?
Because of the extreme rarity of the white tiger allele in the wild, the breeding pool is limited to the small number of white tigers in captivity, which additionally all descend from a common ancestor. Inbreeding between these tigers often leads to defects. Due to the high market value for white tigers, unscrupulous breeders will still inbreed white tigers to ensure the offspring also exhibit the recessive gene. Some animal rights activists have called for a halt to the breeding of white tigers altogether.
Breeding from a single very genetically similar pair results in a much higher than normal rate of genetic defects, but can still produce enough viable offspring to start the process going.
I think the general "you'd need 100 breeding couples to start a human colony" statement generally has an unspoken "unless you want 1 in 10 children to be born with serious congenital defects". It doesn't mean that the colony can't survive though.
Slashdot Mirror
This is my take on the matter. I'm not concerned with the budget to make the game, I'm concerned with the fact that (here in Australia), a game that's been out 3 months is still sitting on retail shelves for $80 or more. That's for a game that I may play for a fortnight, or may not. I can get two weeks' worth of beer for the same amount and I _know_ that will deliver. :P
The stellar success of companies like PopCap shows that you don't have to ride everything on big budget, heavy hitting titles.
That has to be one of the coolest things I've seen on youtube in a long while.
Back on topic, in answer to "what if a harmful mutation starts to breed like there's no tomorrow ?" - "breeding like there's no tomorrow" is what most living creatures do, especially the small ones such as mice, rats, bugs, bacteria (HALP NANOBOTS), and 12-year-old English boys.
If they ever do implement such a crazy scheme, I bet they codename it "Bad Air" or something.
"You really think these guys spend $1500 on a hammer?"
You know the cool thing about MMO games? There's so many different things to do and different ways to play the game that however you do it, if you're having fun, you win.
In your case, you assume that "the game" is questing and levelling. In my case, "the game" is running dungeons and raids, and PvPing. In my wife's case, "the game" is making money and levelling professions. All three are totally different playstyles, but we all have fun.
Difference is, levelling your N'th alt to the level cap so you can take part in the bits of the game you find fun is not always, in itself, fun. It's annoying and boring to those of us who like living at the level cap, just like raiding or grinding gold or levelling professions or PvPing are annoying and boring to someone who mostly enjoys playing low level alts. Sometimes it's worth it to go through the boring bit in order to get to the bit that is "the game" to you.
As for QuestHelper, it's great for speeding up your levelling if you just want to get your levelling grind over with. I've already got two 80s, two 70s, a 67 (who I'm levelling now), two 60s, and a bunch of lower alts. I don't really need to read the quest text or look up what drops what, but it's nice to see all the areas for the quests I have on me on the map so I can come up with an optimal route to get them all done fast.
Wait, didn't we make the leap from "allow you to update your friends" to "everyone's location will be mandatorily broadcast for easier surveillance^H^H^H^H^H^Hyour convenience"? I thought we were talking scary big brother world, not nifty new feature world. :P
Well, I dunno about you but *I'd* be afraid of some guy browsing Facebook, discovering a picture of my wife, then using a GPS mapping system to predict the best time/place to assault or kidnap her... and yes, there are many guys who troll social networking sites and try to crack on to any decent looking woman (clearly states on both our pages that we're married and not looking for anything, she still gets one or two a month saying "hey baby you up for a fling"). It's not that much of a reach to say that the small percentage of them who are actually psychotic and not just sleazy will find this sort of thing very useful indeed.
So what you're saying is that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistiguishable from annoyance?
Well... $15/month * 10 (assuming you rock at the game and you quitting really WOULD cause 10 people to quit) is still only $150/month. That's not much even for someone in council housing. Hell, that couldn't pay for my Mi Goreng addiction let alone the booze and internets. :P
Never send a man to do a machine's job, hey?
OK, how about another one: A distributed network of microphones linked by radio.
I believe I've read about similar things being developed/trialled for deployment in Iraq, precisely for the purpose of pinpointing sniper shots. They just airdrop a bajillion little gizmoes that are basically a GPS, a radio and a mic. They detect a gunshot, and squeal their position and the exact timestamp of the shot. Any radio listening can triangulate gunshots much faster than a bullet (or the sound front) can move.
...been doing this furlong.
So the first question that comes to my mind when someone says "solar powered cellphone" isn't "does it have a pedometer", but rater "how long does it take to recharge and how long does the battery last".
I think the second part is important, especially as high temperatures tend to dramatically shorten the lifespan of Lithium batteries. Leaving your phone in the car or in direct sunlight on a hot day can make it very hot, I can't imagine it would be very good for a battery to be in a small black enclosure that's regularly left in the sun.
( v Y v )
( o Y o )
( ^ Y ^ )
( o Y o )
( v Y v )
(+1, Obscure). An internets for the lols, sir.
My wife won't let me. ;) To save double posting, @sortius below: Yep, I'm basically saying that a bit of HTFU won't go astray.
What gives is that modern Australians aren't the same hardass cons that built the country. Life's so good and easy and comfortable here that people have nothing to really worry about, so they make shit up and worry about that.
Half the equation is that Australia's population is aging badly, and most old people think that everything is too fast, too loud, too dangerous and too untidy. This is a problem when a sizable portion of the voting public makes up this group.
The other half of the equation is, as I said first up, that life's too good here. We don't worry about getting shot at or knifed. The worst we generally have to contend with is bushfires (just had a doozy but it's been a few years since the last big one before that) and poisonous native animals. Out of work? No problems, Centerlink will pay for your cask wine and internets.
When people spend too long without serious threats to life and limb, their brain adjusts to see trivial things as big and important. Humans do that, our brains are great at adapting to their circumstances... but in this case, people rate their top 3-4 concerns as "life threatening" even when they are things like "my neighbour plays music after 7pm" and "my kid might see a digital nipple if he plays this M-rated game".
Another exacerbating effect of the general pantywaistness of the proletariat is that our political system is, for want of a better word, pan-partisan. Campaigns are based either on smearing the opposition (the last couple of federal elections have done this) or making a stand on the traditional party differences (unions and workers rights vs. tax breaks for businesses, for instance). Any remotely controversial issue is swept under the carpet and then laws about it are ninja-passed at 3am. As an Australian citizen I feel about as far removed from the running of this country as I am from the running of Uzbekistan.
The human brain is a massively adaptable, feedback driven, self optimizing, neural network.
Yeah, well MY brain is a neural net processor... a leahning computah!
I seem to recall it being "bee-oh-ess". And your subject doesn't work if you pronounce it "doubleyew-tee-eff". :P
You are very wrong
ASCII boobs are so so hot
Jiggle, asterisk!
"There are levels of survival we are willing to accept!" :P
No, we're not. Rats, cats and wild pigs (which admittedly got here via human transportation) are wiping out many of Australia's native animals. The conservationists cry out that we're killing the fuzzywuzzies but really, they're just being outcompeted by the first new species here for tens of thousands of years. Exactly the same thing happened when wild dogs first arrived here, now they're "native" and we call them dingos.
How is "not being selected against" different from "evolutionary fitness"? I thought evolutionary fitness was _defined_ as "living long enough to produce viable offspring"?
Antidarwinism: n. Survival of the fattest.
Because of the extreme rarity of the white tiger allele in the wild, the breeding pool is limited to the small number of white tigers in captivity, which additionally all descend from a common ancestor. Inbreeding between these tigers often leads to defects. Due to the high market value for white tigers, unscrupulous breeders will still inbreed white tigers to ensure the offspring also exhibit the recessive gene. Some animal rights activists have called for a halt to the breeding of white tigers altogether.
Breeding from a single very genetically similar pair results in a much higher than normal rate of genetic defects, but can still produce enough viable offspring to start the process going.
I think the general "you'd need 100 breeding couples to start a human colony" statement generally has an unspoken "unless you want 1 in 10 children to be born with serious congenital defects". It doesn't mean that the colony can't survive though.