Searching is not the only application to consider here. By organizing the books hierarchically, you allow a user who is looking for a certain piece of information (rather than a certain book) to browse all books on the subjectwithout having to wander all over the place. Even if books on the subject are split into two or three areas (as in your example), it is vastly more convenient than hunting down every single book by author.
Bushido Blade - Man, this game got incredible reviews. Shame that it's about as much fun as waxing a flaming Pontiac with your tongue.
Chrono Cross - Don't get me wrong, this is a fucking good game. But it really didn't live up to Chrono Trigger, or the hype overdrive before its release.
Turok - What were people thinking?
Dungeon Siege - Fully moddable Diablo Clone. Imagine how cool it would be if someone did it right?
Diablo 2 - Buggy and imbalanced since its release, some 4-5 years ago. And yeah, the lack of modability is a big problem in this day and age.
Every Final Fantasy Game Since III (Except Maybe IX) - The story would hardly hold a shitty movie together, and the gameplay reminds me of obsessive/compulsive disorder. So overrated that I can smell it from here.
Daikatana - Hahahahahahaha.
Black and White - Heh.
Mortal Kombat III - After actually pulling off a pretty decent game with MKII, Boon and Tobias fuck it up by catering to the fanboys. You can thank these fuckers for the "Dial-A-Combo" concept that has plagued fighting games ever since.
A special mention to every game ever reviewed by Nintendo Power. I trusted you assholes when I was a kid.
Also, five bucks says that the Gamespy list includes a pre-1988 "credibility-builder" game, just to show how hardcore they are. Any takers?
Profiling seems like a great idea when you look at it as an abstraction - sacrifice some rights of a very small group of people to improve everyone's safety. Sure, why not? It's a whole different story when you take it on an individual level. I'm an Arab, and an American citizen, and I've lived in the United States since I was two years old. Most people assume that I'm white just looking at me; shit, I don't even speak Arabic. I'm no more a terrorist than your theoretical elderly black woman. And let me tell you, getting searched at every. Single. Goddamn. Airport. starts to look a whole lot like racism from where I'm sitting. I'm not suffering because of anything I've done, or even any choices I've made; it's the way I was born that's the issue. Even the most hardcore politically conservative (i.e. pro-equality of opportunity) outlook can't support that. So if it doesn't fit the political doctrine, what could the motivations be? Notice how they didn't start profiling caucasians at government buildings after the Oklahoma City bombing?
That aside, racial profiling was recently proven not only ineffective at hampering terrorists, but actually counterproductive. It's an interesting paper, and a very simple proof, though I somehow doubt that it will change your mind on the matter.
Finally, asshole, your stance here doesn't brand you as a "radical free-thinker" or "defiantly anti-PC", no matter how you might try to paint it as such. It brands you as a fucking racist, and I hope that someday someone gives you the mighty clue-stick bitchslap that you so desperately deserve.
The Diablo/Nethack style "Save and Exit" option seems to be the solution you're looking for (Nethack has the superior implementation). The player can save and quit the game whenever he wants, eliminating the look-for-a-save-point dance, but the save file is deleted when he resumes his game later, preventing him from using the save as a "cheat". If it's a game where you can try again after dying, just have "continue points" scattered about, or let the player make a permanent save file at the end of each level.
NetHack has really taught me the value of player mortality. The game would just be stupid if you could save and restore whenever you like. The system they use forces you to play carefully and thoughtfully, which is most of the fun of it.
Roper did way, way more voice work than that. MANY of the Orc voices in WC2/WC3 were his, including (as I recall) both the Peons and the Grunts. The guy is surprisingly good at it.
To accurately and concisely describe the state of affairs we are in now, I will offer two quotes (one I got clarified right here at slashdot):
"[populus Romanus] qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, PANEM ET CIRCENSES"
"The people who had once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else now longs eagerly for just two things,bread and circus games." - Juvenal
"A full belly and a diverting show makes a bad revolutionary. Television is the opiate of the people. Long may it be so." -Ned Grossberg, Max Headroom
Reminds me of a Sleater-Kinney lyric, from the song #1 Must Have:
And I think that I sometime might have wished For something more than to be a size six But now my inspiration rests In between my beauty magazines and my credit card bills
But see, you're ignoring the fact that there is a reason for this sort of behavior, and it's not just that it's "fun" or "cool". It's a defense, a protection against exploitation and mockery. Caring too much about something, and investing too much of yourself into it, is a pretty sure way to get yourself hurt. People are apathetic because they've been fucked over in the past, and they won't take the risk again.
It's like the recent divorcee who confides that she feels "too smart to ever fall in love again", except it's on a cultural scale. The only resolution that I can see is for people to stop being assholes to each other - but this, of course, leads us into the prisoner's dilemma, and so it's not really much of a resolution at all.
It would be great if news submitters would provide a bit more context for stories like this. I'd like to be able to get at least a vague idea of what this means without having to read the article. In this case, after reading the little blurb there, I have no idea what or where the Three Gorges dam is (or what its significance is), nor do I understand what accumulating water will do. Yeah, so there'll be a bunch of water back there. Does this mean that it's going to stop generating power, or maybe start? I don't know how a dam works.
I'm not asking for a dissertation here, just a sentence or two telling me what's happening and why I should care.
I believe that this illustrates one of the major differences between Science Geeks and Art Geeks.
Geek of Sciences: "This means what the author intended it to mean."
Geek of Arts: "This means what I think it means."
There is an obvious parallel here between objective and subjective views of reality. The science geek believes that meaning is inherent to the text, imbued by its creator. The art geek believes that meaning is assigned by each member of a work's audience, and the meaning differs from person to person.
I'm personally inclined to believe that each perspective has its merits. Does this make me an arts geek? Hee hee, you tell me.
I don't want minors to receive the message that violence is trivial and even fun.
I don't want minors to get the message that sex is explotiation and gratification without knowing about the responsibilities it entails.
See, here's the thing that nobody seems to get. You don't get to decide what minors do or don't see.You don't have the right, ethically or legally, to impose your views on an entire segment of the population. At the very most, it is a parent's decision. In some cases, even that may not be just. They are younger than you, yes - but they are still people. Not your toys, or science experiments, or however it is you regard them. Take your asshole opinions and shove them. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech.
And for the record - no, I'm not a minor, and I haven't been for a good while now.
Blogging is a concept that is slowly losing its meaning. Software developers are beginning to blog, as are writers, artists, etc. This used to be a truly independant, virtually anonymous medium.
Remember when the phrase "web portal" used to mean something? The same dilution is happening here.
Not that I necessarily agree with that view of them, I don't think I'm informed enough on the subject to really form a solid opinion. But that's what the image says to me.
Every time I see the word "frankenfood", I can't help but crack up. Have any of these people even read the story Frankenstein, or even heard about it?
Because if you're gonna stretch that analogy to its obvious conclusion, then the anti-GM folks are the villagers with pitchforks and torches, so overwhelmed by their terror of progress and change that they can do nothing but blindly assault it.
Ok, what about homosexuality, or multiple personality disorder? Both of these are considered 'diseases' by many people, though most 'sufferers' would certainly beg to differ.
Alternately, where do you draw the line between someone who is "learning disabled" or "mentally handicapped", and someone who is just plain dumb? More to the point, is it just to deny someone something which would clearly improve their quality of life a great deal because others' lives may seem a little less grand in comparison?
If we do eventually modify ourselves to the point where we are barely recognizable as human - why should we care?
Questions that I don't have any answers to.
Barring any freakish diseases, evolution (as a force) no longer holds any sway over the modernized world. Without willful intervention, the human race now is essentially the final product. There are certainly risks associated with genetic modification - loss of diversity is a big one - but what if those risks could be mitigated? We would have the opportunity to guide the future of our species in an almost unimaginable way. A focused, directed, and wholly intentional evolution...this could be the biggest deal since Homo Erectus. I'm not sure we can rightly pass an opportunity like this up.
Of course, that's probably an awfully utopian way of looking at things. I think it's going to take much smarter people than myself to get this figured out.
I'm still not sure that the parent post is serious, at least with regard to the first two points.
1) Allowing clients to script just about everything possible has given an unfair advantage to the average player.
Yes, let's take control away from the player! I love games where you spend as much time fighting the interface as the enemies!
It's not like scripting is difficult to do. And it allows power players to ignore the minutae and focus on the game's deeper skills.
2) Also, it takes almost 3 months to create a good map. This is ridiculous!!!
Well, it's going to get a hell of a lot worse before it gets any better. If it gets any better.
As engine technology improves and more detail becomes possible, more detail also becomes expected. Back in the eighties, a single programmer could create a whole game - art, music, levels, everything - in a matter of weeks. Artists weren't necessary, because the medium wasn't really capable of much visual fidelity yet. One blob of pixels was as good as the next.
Now it can take huge teams upwards of half a decade and tens of millions of dollars to craft a blockbuster title. The vast majority of that time and money is spent on creating art and world assets. And technology has advanced to such a degree that only the very most talented artists and designers are capable of getting the job done.
If you're complaining about build time now...you're not even using curved geometry, dynamic lighting, deformable geography, surface typing, or any of the other dozens of new technologies that tomorrow's designers will have to deal with. I'd say enjoy it while it lasts.
They've been discussing a possible miniseries, or even a run of occasional TV Movies. Yeah, Joss really wants this show back. Can't say I blame him, it's pretty goddamn good.
Slashdot Mirror
Searching is not the only application to consider here. By organizing the books hierarchically, you allow a user who is looking for a certain piece of information (rather than a certain book) to browse all books on the subjectwithout having to wander all over the place. Even if books on the subject are split into two or three areas (as in your example), it is vastly more convenient than hunting down every single book by author.
Bushido Blade - Man, this game got incredible reviews. Shame that it's about as much fun as waxing a flaming Pontiac with your tongue.
Chrono Cross - Don't get me wrong, this is a fucking good game. But it really didn't live up to Chrono Trigger, or the hype overdrive before its release.
Turok - What were people thinking?
Dungeon Siege - Fully moddable Diablo Clone. Imagine how cool it would be if someone did it right?
Diablo 2 - Buggy and imbalanced since its release, some 4-5 years ago. And yeah, the lack of modability is a big problem in this day and age.
Every Final Fantasy Game Since III (Except Maybe IX) - The story would hardly hold a shitty movie together, and the gameplay reminds me of obsessive/compulsive disorder. So overrated that I can smell it from here.
Daikatana - Hahahahahahaha.
Black and White - Heh.
Mortal Kombat III - After actually pulling off a pretty decent game with MKII, Boon and Tobias fuck it up by catering to the fanboys. You can thank these fuckers for the "Dial-A-Combo" concept that has plagued fighting games ever since.
A special mention to every game ever reviewed by Nintendo Power. I trusted you assholes when I was a kid.
Also, five bucks says that the Gamespy list includes a pre-1988 "credibility-builder" game, just to show how hardcore they are. Any takers?
Yeah, easy for you to say, whiteboy.
Profiling seems like a great idea when you look at it as an abstraction - sacrifice some rights of a very small group of people to improve everyone's safety. Sure, why not? It's a whole different story when you take it on an individual level. I'm an Arab, and an American citizen, and I've lived in the United States since I was two years old. Most people assume that I'm white just looking at me; shit, I don't even speak Arabic. I'm no more a terrorist than your theoretical elderly black woman. And let me tell you, getting searched at every. Single. Goddamn. Airport. starts to look a whole lot like racism from where I'm sitting. I'm not suffering because of anything I've done, or even any choices I've made; it's the way I was born that's the issue. Even the most hardcore politically conservative (i.e. pro-equality of opportunity) outlook can't support that. So if it doesn't fit the political doctrine, what could the motivations be? Notice how they didn't start profiling caucasians at government buildings after the Oklahoma City bombing?
That aside, racial profiling was recently proven not only ineffective at hampering terrorists, but actually counterproductive. It's an interesting paper, and a very simple proof, though I somehow doubt that it will change your mind on the matter.
Finally, asshole, your stance here doesn't brand you as a "radical free-thinker" or "defiantly anti-PC", no matter how you might try to paint it as such. It brands you as a fucking racist, and I hope that someday someone gives you the mighty clue-stick bitchslap that you so desperately deserve.
The Diablo/Nethack style "Save and Exit" option seems to be the solution you're looking for (Nethack has the superior implementation). The player can save and quit the game whenever he wants, eliminating the look-for-a-save-point dance, but the save file is deleted when he resumes his game later, preventing him from using the save as a "cheat". If it's a game where you can try again after dying, just have "continue points" scattered about, or let the player make a permanent save file at the end of each level.
NetHack has really taught me the value of player mortality. The game would just be stupid if you could save and restore whenever you like. The system they use forces you to play carefully and thoughtfully, which is most of the fun of it.
Roper did way, way more voice work than that. MANY of the Orc voices in WC2/WC3 were his, including (as I recall) both the Peons and the Grunts. The guy is surprisingly good at it.
You're only getting fucked if you think you're getting fucked. If you don't know, or don't care, then it's not a problem.
It is much, much easier to stop caring than it is to effect any real change.
But would it be used on ironic posts, or self-referentially ironic mods?
Reminds me of a Sleater-Kinney lyric, from the song #1 Must Have:
And I think that I sometime might have wished
For something more than to be a size six
But now my inspiration rests
In between my beauty magazines and my credit card bills
But see, you're ignoring the fact that there is a reason for this sort of behavior, and it's not just that it's "fun" or "cool". It's a defense, a protection against exploitation and mockery. Caring too much about something, and investing too much of yourself into it, is a pretty sure way to get yourself hurt. People are apathetic because they've been fucked over in the past, and they won't take the risk again.
It's like the recent divorcee who confides that she feels "too smart to ever fall in love again", except it's on a cultural scale. The only resolution that I can see is for people to stop being assholes to each other - but this, of course, leads us into the prisoner's dilemma, and so it's not really much of a resolution at all.
Are you boycotting apostrophes, as well?
+1, Scary
It would be great if news submitters would provide a bit more context for stories like this. I'd like to be able to get at least a vague idea of what this means without having to read the article. In this case, after reading the little blurb there, I have no idea what or where the Three Gorges dam is (or what its significance is), nor do I understand what accumulating water will do. Yeah, so there'll be a bunch of water back there. Does this mean that it's going to stop generating power, or maybe start? I don't know how a dam works.
I'm not asking for a dissertation here, just a sentence or two telling me what's happening and why I should care.
He said he feels guilty. Whether it's wrong or not is a part of the question; whether it's legal or not isn't.
Like, I can feel guilty about cheating on my girlfriend. Even though it's not illegal.
I believe that this illustrates one of the major differences between Science Geeks and Art Geeks.
Geek of Sciences: "This means what the author intended it to mean."
Geek of Arts: "This means what I think it means."
There is an obvious parallel here between objective and subjective views of reality. The science geek believes that meaning is inherent to the text, imbued by its creator. The art geek believes that meaning is assigned by each member of a work's audience, and the meaning differs from person to person.
I'm personally inclined to believe that each perspective has its merits. Does this make me an arts geek? Hee hee, you tell me.
See, here's the thing that nobody seems to get. You don't get to decide what minors do or don't see. You don't have the right, ethically or legally, to impose your views on an entire segment of the population. At the very most, it is a parent's decision. In some cases, even that may not be just. They are younger than you, yes - but they are still people. Not your toys, or science experiments, or however it is you regard them. Take your asshole opinions and shove them. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech.
And for the record - no, I'm not a minor, and I haven't been for a good while now.
Blogging is a concept that is slowly losing its meaning. Software developers are beginning to blog, as are writers, artists, etc. This used to be a truly independant, virtually anonymous medium.
Remember when the phrase "web portal" used to mean something? The same dilution is happening here.
If you're not writing in your free time, you're not a writer.
How about asking the couples why they split up.
Couples rarely know why they actually split up. They just know what they think. Self-reporting like this isn't an especially useful tool.
Not that I necessarily agree with that view of them, I don't think I'm informed enough on the subject to really form a solid opinion. But that's what the image says to me.
Every time I see the word "frankenfood", I can't help but crack up. Have any of these people even read the story Frankenstein, or even heard about it?
Because if you're gonna stretch that analogy to its obvious conclusion, then the anti-GM folks are the villagers with pitchforks and torches, so overwhelmed by their terror of progress and change that they can do nothing but blindly assault it.
Ok, what about homosexuality, or multiple personality disorder? Both of these are considered 'diseases' by many people, though most 'sufferers' would certainly beg to differ.
Alternately, where do you draw the line between someone who is "learning disabled" or "mentally handicapped", and someone who is just plain dumb? More to the point, is it just to deny someone something which would clearly improve their quality of life a great deal because others' lives may seem a little less grand in comparison?
If we do eventually modify ourselves to the point where we are barely recognizable as human - why should we care?
Questions that I don't have any answers to.
Barring any freakish diseases, evolution (as a force) no longer holds any sway over the modernized world. Without willful intervention, the human race now is essentially the final product. There are certainly risks associated with genetic modification - loss of diversity is a big one - but what if those risks could be mitigated? We would have the opportunity to guide the future of our species in an almost unimaginable way. A focused, directed, and wholly intentional evolution...this could be the biggest deal since Homo Erectus. I'm not sure we can rightly pass an opportunity like this up.
Of course, that's probably an awfully utopian way of looking at things. I think it's going to take much smarter people than myself to get this figured out.
I'm still not sure that the parent post is serious, at least with regard to the first two points.
1) Allowing clients to script just about everything possible has given an unfair advantage to the average player.
Yes, let's take control away from the player! I love games where you spend as much time fighting the interface as the enemies!
It's not like scripting is difficult to do. And it allows power players to ignore the minutae and focus on the game's deeper skills.
2) Also, it takes almost 3 months to create a good map. This is ridiculous!!!
Well, it's going to get a hell of a lot worse before it gets any better. If it gets any better.
As engine technology improves and more detail becomes possible, more detail also becomes expected. Back in the eighties, a single programmer could create a whole game - art, music, levels, everything - in a matter of weeks. Artists weren't necessary, because the medium wasn't really capable of much visual fidelity yet. One blob of pixels was as good as the next.
Now it can take huge teams upwards of half a decade and tens of millions of dollars to craft a blockbuster title. The vast majority of that time and money is spent on creating art and world assets. And technology has advanced to such a degree that only the very most talented artists and designers are capable of getting the job done.
If you're complaining about build time now...you're not even using curved geometry, dynamic lighting, deformable geography, surface typing, or any of the other dozens of new technologies that tomorrow's designers will have to deal with. I'd say enjoy it while it lasts.
Haha...I'm a fan, that doesn't mean I'm a fanboy.
That's what I was going to say!
They've been discussing a possible miniseries, or even a run of occasional TV Movies. Yeah, Joss really wants this show back. Can't say I blame him, it's pretty goddamn good.
If it turns out the guy is clean, they'll let him go when they know for sure.
That's quite trusting of you.