Another problem is that I would imagine such a system would become closed and very hard for new people to get into. Once groups of bakers and smithies have banded together for mutual benefit, it's going to be very hard for others to break in.
I don't know what it is about these cases that seem to make people want to act like dicks in the court room and then act surprised when they lose the case. Here's a tip when you're in court, no matter how unfair you think the case against you is, don't treat the judge and the court with the same contempt you have for the case. It's not going to help.
Actually, if your services are free to the customer, in order to undercut you your competitors will have to pay his customers for using his service.
Actually, the mistake you are making is thinking that you are the customer from companies like Google or Facebook. You are not, you are the product. The advertisers are the customers.
Yes, this is true, Baldur's Gate II did this as somebody else already pointed out, but I still think the newbie misses out on part of the experience because of this. When they start the game and have to assign 30 levels worth of points right off the bat, it leaves them a bit lost. Part of the fun is starting at the very beginning and learning what various stats, skills and spells mean, slowly, as you grow.
I also remember the old later entries in the Bard's tale series had "starter" dungeons for newbies, but I think that's far from ideal as well. Who wants to spend time in "boot camp" before they get the play the game proper?
"Hey Jefferson, you might want to try keeping it in your pants. I saw that slave girl today and she's starting to show. People will start asking questions."
The problem is that, as others have pointed out, at the end of most CRPG's your character has God-like abilities. So there are several options to make importing your character into the sequel work, none of which are particularly good:
Make the sequel insanely hard so that either your God-like character from the first game has a hard time. This obviously ruins the game for people who didn't play the prequel
Gimp you imported character (take away all their money, items and at least some stats) so they are about as weak as a new character. In this case, what was the point of importing your character in the first place?
Keep the game at normal difficult, don't gimp your imported character and have your character cruise through the entire game in a couple of hours without ever hitting any serious difficulties.
Oh FFS, read the rest of the thread first why don't you? Also, you pay fuel tax for the fuel you burn driving around your ranch as it is. So thanks, you driving around your ranch is already paying for my public roads.
Once again, it has to be pointed out to a dumbfuck asshole who can't engage in a civil debate that agricultural vehicles could be excluded (as they are from fuel taxes now) and other vehicles are currently paying fuel tax (used for repairing public roads) while they drive on non-public anyway, so what's the problem?
Do you want the police coming around to your house because the on-board GPS with link straight back to the government reported that you were parked a block away from where a robbery occurred last night?
Are you just being pedantic, or do I actually need to spell this out? Yes, you could make an exception for the miles you did around a race track. Besides, as it is now, you still pay tax on the fuel that you used racing around the race track and that tax is used to fix public roads, not the race track. So what's the problem?
Do you ever give old clothes to Goodwill? Because every time I've done my taxes, it's turned out the taxman doesn't really give a shit about exactly how much I gave. In fact, Goodwill usually hands you a blank receipt and expects you to fill it in. They don't even look at what's in the bag. Same with the insignificant amount of non-public road usage most people would do. Unless you are claiming something outrageous, I doubt anybody is going to care.
Travel on non-public roads could be claimed back on your taxes. Obviously this would lead to a lot of paper work and mucking around, and is perhaps less than ideal, but the assumption would be if your claim for non-public road miles isn't excessive, they'd be no reason for the government to question it. If you live on a farm and claim 90% of travel was on the farm, they'd have little reason to question it (plus, you could have exemptions for agricultural vehicles anyway). If you try claiming 90% off-road when you live in the city, you'd be looking at an audit.
Wow, you can't spell and you're a asshole. There is no reason you couldn't claim it back. Besides, would you prefer the government track your every whereabouts instead?
All fair points, but I was replying to the parent who suggested a Taximeter, which pretty much no cars (that aren't already Taxi's) have and does the same job as an odometer in this case.
How much of your mileage isn't on public roads? For most people, I'd guess almost none (up and down the driveway doesn't account for much for my trip into work each day). So, tough shit. No system is going to be perfect.
Since it's a federal tax, it doesn't really matter where you drive from the point-of-view of collecting taxes. How you dole out that money for highway projects is a problem however.
Removing the tin-foil hat for a moment, there is one justification for tracking versus just recording raw mileage and that is variable taxes based on which roads you use. If you use already crowded city streets you pay x cents / mile. If you use uncrowded rural roads, you pay 0.1x cents / mile. If you use crowded highways at rush hour, you pay 1.5x cents, use them in the middle of the night, you pay 0.5x cents / mile.
Of course, putting the tin-foil hat back on, the potential for abuse is high enough that it ought to make anybody nervous.
Slashdot Mirror
Another problem is that I would imagine such a system would become closed and very hard for new people to get into. Once groups of bakers and smithies have banded together for mutual benefit, it's going to be very hard for others to break in.
Oh wait yes they are!
I don't know what it is about these cases that seem to make people want to act like dicks in the court room and then act surprised when they lose the case. Here's a tip when you're in court, no matter how unfair you think the case against you is, don't treat the judge and the court with the same contempt you have for the case. It's not going to help.
It's a trap!
Yes, this. Put them on GOG.com and I'll buy them. I want Grim Fandango myself as I missed that one when it first came out. But I'm not touching Steam.
Actually, if your services are free to the customer, in order to undercut you your competitors will have to pay his customers for using his service.
Actually, the mistake you are making is thinking that you are the customer from companies like Google or Facebook. You are not, you are the product. The advertisers are the customers.
Yes, this is true, Baldur's Gate II did this as somebody else already pointed out, but I still think the newbie misses out on part of the experience because of this. When they start the game and have to assign 30 levels worth of points right off the bat, it leaves them a bit lost. Part of the fun is starting at the very beginning and learning what various stats, skills and spells mean, slowly, as you grow.
I also remember the old later entries in the Bard's tale series had "starter" dungeons for newbies, but I think that's far from ideal as well. Who wants to spend time in "boot camp" before they get the play the game proper?
"Hey Jefferson, you might want to try keeping it in your pants. I saw that slave girl today and she's starting to show. People will start asking questions."
The problem is that, as others have pointed out, at the end of most CRPG's your character has God-like abilities. So there are several options to make importing your character into the sequel work, none of which are particularly good:
...Just take better care of your shit.
Oh FFS, read the rest of the thread first why don't you? Also, you pay fuel tax for the fuel you burn driving around your ranch as it is. So thanks, you driving around your ranch is already paying for my public roads.
What part of commercial and agricultural don't you understand?
Once again, it has to be pointed out to a dumbfuck asshole who can't engage in a civil debate that agricultural vehicles could be excluded (as they are from fuel taxes now) and other vehicles are currently paying fuel tax (used for repairing public roads) while they drive on non-public anyway, so what's the problem?
Do you want the police coming around to your house because the on-board GPS with link straight back to the government reported that you were parked a block away from where a robbery occurred last night?
Are you just being pedantic, or do I actually need to spell this out? Yes, you could make an exception for the miles you did around a race track. Besides, as it is now, you still pay tax on the fuel that you used racing around the race track and that tax is used to fix public roads, not the race track. So what's the problem?
Do you ever give old clothes to Goodwill? Because every time I've done my taxes, it's turned out the taxman doesn't really give a shit about exactly how much I gave. In fact, Goodwill usually hands you a blank receipt and expects you to fill it in. They don't even look at what's in the bag. Same with the insignificant amount of non-public road usage most people would do. Unless you are claiming something outrageous, I doubt anybody is going to care.
Travel on non-public roads could be claimed back on your taxes. Obviously this would lead to a lot of paper work and mucking around, and is perhaps less than ideal, but the assumption would be if your claim for non-public road miles isn't excessive, they'd be no reason for the government to question it. If you live on a farm and claim 90% of travel was on the farm, they'd have little reason to question it (plus, you could have exemptions for agricultural vehicles anyway). If you try claiming 90% off-road when you live in the city, you'd be looking at an audit.
True, but we were talking about using the odometer instead of GPS so that the government doesn't know exactly where you are at all times.
Wow, you can't spell and you're a asshole. There is no reason you couldn't claim it back. Besides, would you prefer the government track your every whereabouts instead?
As somebody else already mentioned, exception could be made for commercial and agricultural vehicles.
Fair point. Perhaps you could claim your mileage back on your taxes.
All fair points, but I was replying to the parent who suggested a Taximeter, which pretty much no cars (that aren't already Taxi's) have and does the same job as an odometer in this case.
How much of your mileage isn't on public roads? For most people, I'd guess almost none (up and down the driveway doesn't account for much for my trip into work each day). So, tough shit. No system is going to be perfect.
Since it's a federal tax, it doesn't really matter where you drive from the point-of-view of collecting taxes. How you dole out that money for highway projects is a problem however.
Removing the tin-foil hat for a moment, there is one justification for tracking versus just recording raw mileage and that is variable taxes based on which roads you use. If you use already crowded city streets you pay x cents / mile. If you use uncrowded rural roads, you pay 0.1x cents / mile. If you use crowded highways at rush hour, you pay 1.5x cents, use them in the middle of the night, you pay 0.5x cents / mile.
Of course, putting the tin-foil hat back on, the potential for abuse is high enough that it ought to make anybody nervous.