Re:Are Quests in MMOGs doable?
on
Quests
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· Score: 1
Graphics isn't the bottleneck, and neither is AI. If anything is the bottleneck, as you say, it's hardware, both for servers and home. The same hardware advances that make server AI feasible are the ones that trickle down to home hardware and make penultimate graphics possible.
Graphics is an easy sell for games, AI isn't. Pretty screenshots on the back of the box are self evident, a dialog box isn't: it can't visually portray the dialog as between the player and a capable AI, rather than the player and a script. Besides, how many people will only consider the visual appeal of the dialog, rather than the text in it? Graphics is the favored child, because it's more obvious and easier than AI. Once graphics can't mature any more, what's left? Game play, user interface, and AI.
Re:Are Quests in MMOGs doable?
on
Quests
·
· Score: 1
Currently, no.
Literary quests are have an inherently epic scale. The journey is long, the dangers are formidable, and the amount of interaction with the populace for research/clues/guidance is high. Often, the story is the narrative of the quest.
MMOG's are limited by their premise that 100% of the players represent 1% (at best) of the population of a functioning society: the adventurers or heroes. At best, 1% of the characters in any MMOG (the NPC's) are supposed to represent 99% of the population: farmers, craftsmen, solders, bookkeepers, children, hermits, prisoners, what have you.
Then there are the enemies, which can outnumber the "normals". This leads to an artificial economy based on monster slaughter. Kill monster, get gold, suffer through stilted interaction with normal to spend money on equipment. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Every MMOG operates under this model, and every tiny movement away from that to a functioning society is seen as a huge improvement. Until the normals have sufficient AI to have functional existences (sleep, eat, shit, get drunk, etc) rather than just waiting to spew their scripted dialog, game society is stillborn, and MMOG's are little more than first person shooters on a grand scale.
Sadly, this won't change until photo-realistic real time graphics are achieved and game developers are forced to concentrate on making the world functional.
Thank you, COMON$, for not using the letters RPG in your question.
If you have a spare machine and only a few machines on your home network, you might as well have a dedicated machine for development.
Any distro will work... if you are familiar with Ubuntu already, that's fine. Install Apache, MySQL (and/or your preferred database), your scripting languages of choice (PHP, Python, Ruby, Perl, etc), and whatever else you need. Learning real system administration never hurts.
I have my dev box set up to use vhosts. I handle DNS via HOSTS files on each box, as I only have about a dozen sites on my dev box. If you want a good challenge, try setting up a local install of the W3C validator.
There's no clear win for McCain with her. She takes the experience argument off the table. She accentuates McCain's age. She won't deliver any more states in the election. She'll raise focus on the Ted Stevens indictment. She has her own ethics problems. She won't bring in the Hillary delusionals when they find out she's pro-life. The only thing she does is excite the shriveling GOP base for a couple weeks.
Biden will wipe the floor with her at the VP debate.
She angered Big Oil in Alaska, maybe she was forced on McCain to get rid of her. If McCain is elected and doesn't complete his term, she might be very malleable to the hidden hands in Washington, which are much stronger than those in Alaska.
XHTML2 may be a political mess, and while it flatlines, HTML5 (a technical mess) is being prepared to be forced down our throats... get ready to choke on a big mouthful of bloat, tag soup, and presentational tags.
At least the ISO has some authority (rotten as it is), but the W3C is impotent, and has been for years.
You've just described the bloated, inconsistent, semantically-challenged, XML-cleanliness-optional-because-we-hate-verbosity-waaaaah design model of HTML5.
Programming is a means to an end. Ask him what he wants to program, then determine how to go about that, which may not be a direct route.
For (a really roundabout) example, there's a good chance he's interested in video games. Download Blender and turn him loose on that. Eventually he'll need some Python knowledge to put Blender's game engine to use, and probably want to make textures for his models, so GIMP enters the picture.
A car analogy: Good luck buying a Jaguar XJ220 direct from Jag. It's an older model. They don't make them any more.
Last I heard (a few years ago now), Jaguar had at least 24 XJ220's in a warehouse, the result of canceled pre-orders based on the prototype car having a V12 engine and all wheel drive. The production version had a turbo V6, rear wheel drive, and a 30% price increase.
This Congress was elected to stop crap like this. I wonder how the roll coll correlates with recent donations from telecom lobbyists.
Article I, Section 9 and the Fourth Amendment are gone. The only part of the Constitution which is truly safe from BushCo is the 21st Amendment (repeal of Prohibition... duh-bya likes his drink).
I was going to donate to Obama, but I think I'll give to the ACLU instead. They deserve it.
Vista proved this. Even though it dropped Win16 support (iirc), that turned out to be inconsequential, since no one's really been doing Win16 development for over a decade.
Which leaves Win32, going all the way back to NT4, then 95, 98, 2k, XP, 2k3, Vista, and 2k8. Eight releases which changed, added to, and muddled the Win32 API, but very little is deprecated, and even less has been removed, all for the sake of the legacy apps. Not much design improvement during this time either, as the industries based on Win32's flaws (ie, anti-virus) continue to thrive.
If Windows 7 is not a shining, slimmed down beacon of flawlessness, Windows and MS are doomed to be crushed under the weight of the legacy they have nurtured over the years.
The most egregious fraud on electronic voting machines is completely out of your control, and most likely happens out of sight of any precinct level election official: in the software that is installed on the machines. Unless you have the authority and knowledge to inspect many thousands of lines of code on each machine, you are powerless in this regard.
However, most machines have some type of USB, SD card, or other hardware interface that might be protected with some type of tamper proofing, like the foil seals on aspirin bottles. This is probably beyond your authority to put in place, though.
The only thing you can do is pay attention to the tabulations, if you get to see them.
I recommend you watch Hacking Democracy for insight on what to watch for.
I remember sometime last year when the script was given to Lucas for review. He hated it, and demanded a lot of rewrites. For whatever reason, Spielberg capitulated.
How many more movies does Lucas need to ruin before he's labeled with the obvious anti-Midas touch?
Based on the snip that Ton posted, I get the impression that MS doesn't comprehend what Blender is, or how it works. File formats? That's low on the list of Blender's issues with Windows. Never mind that OOXML's status as an ISO standard is debatable.
If MS wants to support Blender (and lots of other FOSS software) on Windows, they need to put real effort into supporting OpenGL. FOSS developers don't generally bother with supporting DirectX and OpenGL, and most of the time supporting Windows at all is an afterthought.
But, MS won't do it because that would make it easier for games to be developed for Windows and anything else.
CSS3 got cut up into modules, and there was a long period of bickering about them, and CSS3 still isn't here.
Putting the product manager of the least compliant browser in charge of the next generation of HTML is like appointing a career street criminal as Attorney General.
I have no trouble believing that HTML5 is being delayed so that MS has enough time to implement it correctly.
The masses will accept nearly anything put in front of them which is intuitive enough, and familiar enough, for them to comprehend. Eventually, Linux will take over. When it takes over is up to the hardware manufacturers.
This has two components. When the OEMs gather up enough courage to escape Microsoft's shackles, and when the device makers decide that developing open drivers is worth their time, Linux will flourish. Until then, every year will continue to be the "year of the Linux desktop". How many of these are we up to, 12?
The two main culprits right now are Dell and Nvidia. Dell needs to release the sales numbers of their Linux desktop systems, and Nvidia needs to abandon their binary-only driver approach.
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Graphics isn't the bottleneck, and neither is AI. If anything is the bottleneck, as you say, it's hardware, both for servers and home. The same hardware advances that make server AI feasible are the ones that trickle down to home hardware and make penultimate graphics possible.
Graphics is an easy sell for games, AI isn't. Pretty screenshots on the back of the box are self evident, a dialog box isn't: it can't visually portray the dialog as between the player and a capable AI, rather than the player and a script. Besides, how many people will only consider the visual appeal of the dialog, rather than the text in it? Graphics is the favored child, because it's more obvious and easier than AI. Once graphics can't mature any more, what's left? Game play, user interface, and AI.
Currently, no.
Literary quests are have an inherently epic scale. The journey is long, the dangers are formidable, and the amount of interaction with the populace for research/clues/guidance is high. Often, the story is the narrative of the quest.
MMOG's are limited by their premise that 100% of the players represent 1% (at best) of the population of a functioning society: the adventurers or heroes. At best, 1% of the characters in any MMOG (the NPC's) are supposed to represent 99% of the population: farmers, craftsmen, solders, bookkeepers, children, hermits, prisoners, what have you.
Then there are the enemies, which can outnumber the "normals". This leads to an artificial economy based on monster slaughter. Kill monster, get gold, suffer through stilted interaction with normal to spend money on equipment. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Every MMOG operates under this model, and every tiny movement away from that to a functioning society is seen as a huge improvement. Until the normals have sufficient AI to have functional existences (sleep, eat, shit, get drunk, etc) rather than just waiting to spew their scripted dialog, game society is stillborn, and MMOG's are little more than first person shooters on a grand scale.
Sadly, this won't change until photo-realistic real time graphics are achieved and game developers are forced to concentrate on making the world functional.
Thank you, COMON$, for not using the letters RPG in your question.
Let's face it, Sony threw a lot of money at Blu-ray's opposition and it away.
Last I heard, DVD media and equipment was still outselling both of the "next gen" formats.
If you have a spare machine and only a few machines on your home network, you might as well have a dedicated machine for development.
Any distro will work... if you are familiar with Ubuntu already, that's fine. Install Apache, MySQL (and/or your preferred database), your scripting languages of choice (PHP, Python, Ruby, Perl, etc), and whatever else you need. Learning real system administration never hurts.
I have my dev box set up to use vhosts. I handle DNS via HOSTS files on each box, as I only have about a dozen sites on my dev box. If you want a good challenge, try setting up a local install of the W3C validator.
There's no clear win for McCain with her. She takes the experience argument off the table. She accentuates McCain's age. She won't deliver any more states in the election. She'll raise focus on the Ted Stevens indictment. She has her own ethics problems. She won't bring in the Hillary delusionals when they find out she's pro-life. The only thing she does is excite the shriveling GOP base for a couple weeks.
Biden will wipe the floor with her at the VP debate.
She angered Big Oil in Alaska, maybe she was forced on McCain to get rid of her. If McCain is elected and doesn't complete his term, she might be very malleable to the hidden hands in Washington, which are much stronger than those in Alaska.
XHTML2 may be a political mess, and while it flatlines, HTML5 (a technical mess) is being prepared to be forced down our throats... get ready to choke on a big mouthful of bloat, tag soup, and presentational tags.
At least the ISO has some authority (rotten as it is), but the W3C is impotent, and has been for years.
You've just described the bloated, inconsistent, semantically-challenged, XML-cleanliness-optional-because-we-hate-verbosity-waaaaah design model of HTML5.
Long live XHTML2.
If MS kills Windows as we know it an replaces it with Midori, it'll take at least 5 years to happen, and Midori will still be called Windows.
MS is a slow, lumbering marketing company, not a fast, agile technology company. They'll never walk away from the Windows brand.
This was my first reaction, too. I wonder if this creates a loophole in the Do Not Call list, since they're not actually calling the numbers?
Programming is a means to an end. Ask him what he wants to program, then determine how to go about that, which may not be a direct route.
For (a really roundabout) example, there's a good chance he's interested in video games. Download Blender and turn him loose on that. Eventually he'll need some Python knowledge to put Blender's game engine to use, and probably want to make textures for his models, so GIMP enters the picture.
This is a weak article about a specific set of open source projects designed to keep CIO's and CTO's from jumping off the Windows turnip truck.
FUD... it's what's for dinner.
Last I heard (a few years ago now), Jaguar had at least 24 XJ220's in a warehouse, the result of canceled pre-orders based on the prototype car having a V12 engine and all wheel drive. The production version had a turbo V6, rear wheel drive, and a 30% price increase.
This Congress was elected to stop crap like this. I wonder how the roll coll correlates with recent donations from telecom lobbyists.
Article I, Section 9 and the Fourth Amendment are gone. The only part of the Constitution which is truly safe from BushCo is the 21st Amendment (repeal of Prohibition... duh-bya likes his drink).
I was going to donate to Obama, but I think I'll give to the ACLU instead. They deserve it.
Since you just mixed nouns and adjectives, which one are you?
/me takes off grammar nazi hat
The k1ddi3z are lazy, abbreviate everything, and don't know what a Greek mu is, much less how to type one.
And it'll be pronounced "gooblogging"... not the most appealing tech term.
Precisely. Other OSes are designed to be used, while Windows is designed to be sold.
Vista proved this. Even though it dropped Win16 support (iirc), that turned out to be inconsequential, since no one's really been doing Win16 development for over a decade.
Which leaves Win32, going all the way back to NT4, then 95, 98, 2k, XP, 2k3, Vista, and 2k8. Eight releases which changed, added to, and muddled the Win32 API, but very little is deprecated, and even less has been removed, all for the sake of the legacy apps. Not much design improvement during this time either, as the industries based on Win32's flaws (ie, anti-virus) continue to thrive.
If Windows 7 is not a shining, slimmed down beacon of flawlessness, Windows and MS are doomed to be crushed under the weight of the legacy they have nurtured over the years.
Two words: Contessa Brewer.
Is nVidia even paying attention to this, or are they just going to let AMD have the majority of the Linux graphics market?
Remember: Diebold changed their name to Premier Election Systems last year.
The most egregious fraud on electronic voting machines is completely out of your control, and most likely happens out of sight of any precinct level election official: in the software that is installed on the machines. Unless you have the authority and knowledge to inspect many thousands of lines of code on each machine, you are powerless in this regard.
However, most machines have some type of USB, SD card, or other hardware interface that might be protected with some type of tamper proofing, like the foil seals on aspirin bottles. This is probably beyond your authority to put in place, though.
The only thing you can do is pay attention to the tabulations, if you get to see them.
I recommend you watch Hacking Democracy for insight on what to watch for.
I remember sometime last year when the script was given to Lucas for review. He hated it, and demanded a lot of rewrites. For whatever reason, Spielberg capitulated.
How many more movies does Lucas need to ruin before he's labeled with the obvious anti-Midas touch?
Based on the snip that Ton posted, I get the impression that MS doesn't comprehend what Blender is, or how it works. File formats? That's low on the list of Blender's issues with Windows. Never mind that OOXML's status as an ISO standard is debatable.
If MS wants to support Blender (and lots of other FOSS software) on Windows, they need to put real effort into supporting OpenGL. FOSS developers don't generally bother with supporting DirectX and OpenGL, and most of the time supporting Windows at all is an afterthought.
But, MS won't do it because that would make it easier for games to be developed for Windows and anything else.
CSS3 got cut up into modules, and there was a long period of bickering about them, and CSS3 still isn't here.
Putting the product manager of the least compliant browser in charge of the next generation of HTML is like appointing a career street criminal as Attorney General.
I have no trouble believing that HTML5 is being delayed so that MS has enough time to implement it correctly.
(XHTML2 > HTML5)
The masses will accept nearly anything put in front of them which is intuitive enough, and familiar enough, for them to comprehend. Eventually, Linux will take over. When it takes over is up to the hardware manufacturers.
This has two components. When the OEMs gather up enough courage to escape Microsoft's shackles, and when the device makers decide that developing open drivers is worth their time, Linux will flourish. Until then, every year will continue to be the "year of the Linux desktop". How many of these are we up to, 12?
The two main culprits right now are Dell and Nvidia. Dell needs to release the sales numbers of their Linux desktop systems, and Nvidia needs to abandon their binary-only driver approach.