Most slot machines run in this fashion utilising simple Fixed Odds Betting. Most (all?) casino table games use the same principle with varying rates of odds. Blackjack with 1 deck is normally the highest payout at about 98% IIRC. Slots hover around 90% and some thing like bingo can go as low as 80% with people still playing happily. There are laws that govern payout percentages (Nevada is something like 75% IIRC). In the UK, slot machines do not always run this way as there are laws in place (recently updated) which require the slot machines to run more like a scratchcard does, with a guaranteed win every X plays, so you could watch people playing and then know that there is a win due soon and step in to play and win:)
From here in London, I sometimes get the impression that south africa as a beacon of development and stability will slowly spread progress to the north through Africa country by country, raising living standards (after all anything that has to get to South Africa has to come down through or past or close to many other african countries). As a South African do you think that this is true/possible/likely, or is South Africa's situation so radically different from the nearby northern countries that their corruption or systemic failures will not allow them to progress to a similar level any time soon? There seem to be some great cities growing on the continent and I am just curious if you are optimistic about the continent as a whole?
This is how some houses are sold here in the UK too (including the one we bought). It is annoying as anything but ensures fairness and value for the seller in a short timeframe when the property is in demand and I think that they certainly do reflect fairly on the "right" market price as well.
I must say that the microsoft mice which I have are so good that I have been using them for close to 9 years now (2 computers) and will get another microsoft mouse if one ever breaks. They are comfortable, responsive and have lasted longer than all the other mice I have ever owned combined. Cant stand the 'natural' keyboards though, but that simple statement might lead to a flamewar so I should validate people by stating that I do know plently of people who still swear by them:)
Ripping a head off someone's body with their spine dangling down would only be bad in mainstream censorship society if the person was naked whilst doing it. I refer you to episode s8e01 of south park for the best commentary ever done on this topic.
I'll add a 'me too' in that I also agree. I worked in a small startup which was great fun and gave me loads of control and interesting projects across the whole IT spectrum. Unfortunately we were all too good at our jobs and the company grew larger and larger until multiple IT specialists were required. Although adapting into a single role is easy enough, I found it much more boring than how things were when there was more scope to explore, so left to find new pastures and dont regret it at all.
One of the things that really makes me slap my forehead and say 'doh' regarding the quake mod is the large number of GW players who got into the miniatures from the computer games - especially Dawn of War. People are normally going to buy a branded, similar game if there is a decent fan-created game out there which spreads interest around, and at the end of the day GW need interest to help sell their miniatures. They could even license and improve good fan games in a similar fashion to what happened with Counterstrike. GW made a killing from the interest gained from Lord of the Rings so why not do it in reverse and encourage the spread of their IP with fan created content... oh yes you already said it... they are retarded.
now I'm thinking they may start bleeding money again.
They already are - you think they would learn but they are just going to do some cost cutting and tighten the IP reigns a bit. There is no lord of the rings to bail them out this time though.
You joke, but did you know that one of the lead Warhammer 40K designers - Andy Chambers, is now one of the lead designers for Starcraft 2 and the creative director of Blizzard? I assume you did know judging by your username so I'll explain it for everyone else;) GW is dying but hopefully a better company will buy it out and make it good once more.
Check out Flames of War as a good alternative to games workshop. It is 1/100 scale WW2 and seems to be growing in popularity faster than the other major alternatives (such as hordes, warmachine, etc). The IP is WW2 as well so there is a lot more freedom for fans.
Games workshop are a company which are hated by their fans as well as their foes and this is largely because of the arrogance of the management. The company has a large legal department which cracks down heavily on anyone who has anything relating to their content anywhere online. For example, they state in their legal documents that you are not allowed to have ANY income from a site with GW content (want banner ads? nope sorry GW will send you a cease and desist and other 'legal' threats). Want to do any fair use stuff whatsoever? No chance! The bizarreness of GW is that the fans in the lower parts of the company (store workers, game designers, writers, etc) love most of the things that have been online and GW even push it themselves for their specialist game range, yet as soon as anything gets popular it gets crushed by GW's fierce IP protection policy. I wonder why GW has freefalling profits and a declining share price! The one thing that many fans are hoping for is that GW gets bought out by a decent company or shareholders get angry enough to boot out management (although one of the things that will hurt this chance is the massive golden parachute offered to the CEO to bring him in last time they had a fall in profits).
The real question which everyone is missing is what does it smell like? Everyone knows moondust smells of Gunpowder so does martian dust smell of some other medieval technology (perhaps mead?)
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Most slot machines run in this fashion utilising simple Fixed Odds Betting. Most (all?) casino table games use the same principle with varying rates of odds. Blackjack with 1 deck is normally the highest payout at about 98% IIRC. Slots hover around 90% and some thing like bingo can go as low as 80% with people still playing happily. There are laws that govern payout percentages (Nevada is something like 75% IIRC). In the UK, slot machines do not always run this way as there are laws in place (recently updated) which require the slot machines to run more like a scratchcard does, with a guaranteed win every X plays, so you could watch people playing and then know that there is a win due soon and step in to play and win :)
From here in London, I sometimes get the impression that south africa as a beacon of development and stability will slowly spread progress to the north through Africa country by country, raising living standards (after all anything that has to get to South Africa has to come down through or past or close to many other african countries). As a South African do you think that this is true/possible/likely, or is South Africa's situation so radically different from the nearby northern countries that their corruption or systemic failures will not allow them to progress to a similar level any time soon? There seem to be some great cities growing on the continent and I am just curious if you are optimistic about the continent as a whole?
Sounds like some people need the Civ Anonymous support group at http://www.civanon.org/!
This is how some houses are sold here in the UK too (including the one we bought). It is annoying as anything but ensures fairness and value for the seller in a short timeframe when the property is in demand and I think that they certainly do reflect fairly on the "right" market price as well.
I must say that the microsoft mice which I have are so good that I have been using them for close to 9 years now (2 computers) and will get another microsoft mouse if one ever breaks. They are comfortable, responsive and have lasted longer than all the other mice I have ever owned combined. Cant stand the 'natural' keyboards though, but that simple statement might lead to a flamewar so I should validate people by stating that I do know plently of people who still swear by them :)
Ripping a head off someone's body with their spine dangling down would only be bad in mainstream censorship society if the person was naked whilst doing it. I refer you to episode s8e01 of south park for the best commentary ever done on this topic.
Space Thatcher? Great, as if us comet miners didnt have a hard enough job already!
Are you sure about the stability of glass plates? I hear a lot of people have real trouble with windows stability! Sorry, I'll go now....
I'll add a 'me too' in that I also agree. I worked in a small startup which was great fun and gave me loads of control and interesting projects across the whole IT spectrum. Unfortunately we were all too good at our jobs and the company grew larger and larger until multiple IT specialists were required. Although adapting into a single role is easy enough, I found it much more boring than how things were when there was more scope to explore, so left to find new pastures and dont regret it at all.
One of the things that really makes me slap my forehead and say 'doh' regarding the quake mod is the large number of GW players who got into the miniatures from the computer games - especially Dawn of War. People are normally going to buy a branded, similar game if there is a decent fan-created game out there which spreads interest around, and at the end of the day GW need interest to help sell their miniatures. They could even license and improve good fan games in a similar fashion to what happened with Counterstrike. GW made a killing from the interest gained from Lord of the Rings so why not do it in reverse and encourage the spread of their IP with fan created content... oh yes you already said it... they are retarded.
You joke, but did you know that one of the lead Warhammer 40K designers - Andy Chambers, is now one of the lead designers for Starcraft 2 and the creative director of Blizzard? I assume you did know judging by your username so I'll explain it for everyone else ;) GW is dying but hopefully a better company will buy it out and make it good once more.
Check out Flames of War as a good alternative to games workshop. It is 1/100 scale WW2 and seems to be growing in popularity faster than the other major alternatives (such as hordes, warmachine, etc). The IP is WW2 as well so there is a lot more freedom for fans.
Games workshop are a company which are hated by their fans as well as their foes and this is largely because of the arrogance of the management. The company has a large legal department which cracks down heavily on anyone who has anything relating to their content anywhere online. For example, they state in their legal documents that you are not allowed to have ANY income from a site with GW content (want banner ads? nope sorry GW will send you a cease and desist and other 'legal' threats). Want to do any fair use stuff whatsoever? No chance! The bizarreness of GW is that the fans in the lower parts of the company (store workers, game designers, writers, etc) love most of the things that have been online and GW even push it themselves for their specialist game range, yet as soon as anything gets popular it gets crushed by GW's fierce IP protection policy. I wonder why GW has freefalling profits and a declining share price! The one thing that many fans are hoping for is that GW gets bought out by a decent company or shareholders get angry enough to boot out management (although one of the things that will hurt this chance is the massive golden parachute offered to the CEO to bring him in last time they had a fall in profits).
The real question which everyone is missing is what does it smell like? Everyone knows moondust smells of Gunpowder so does martian dust smell of some other medieval technology (perhaps mead?)