It doesn't have to be an electric device. Looking at a paper map is just as distracting as a screen. I would hope that troopers would pull someone over for reading a map while driving, careless driving is an offense in most jurisdictions. If you don't know where you're going, pull off at the next exit.
Considering the fact that you think the problems in Europe that were caused by monetary policy are the result of austerity, I'm going to guess that you were one of those screaming about the "spending cuts".
Not at all. Balanced budgets are great. But the time to balance the budget is when the economy is healthy. Borrow during lean times, pay it back in times of plenty. It's not that complicated.
Or, we could simply reduce the deficit by that amount, instead of continuing to spend money we don't have.
Yes, because we all saw how well austerity worked in Greece, Ireland, Cypress, etc. Everywhere austerity has been tried it's failed. You have to spend your way out of recessions. If money isn't moving on its own, we have to force it to move. Austerity simply doesn't work.
I'm not following. The point of a business is to make money. You make money based on the number of people who buy your game, not the number of people who play your game. The business should only focus on maximizing the number of people who pay. There is no revenue increase to be had by reducing piracy, only by increasing paying customers.
The US defense budget is 700,000 million. If we reduced the defense budget by.1% (iow, by a factor of.001), we could get another 700 million for this project. If you're concerned about the national security consequences, don't be. We could reduce the defense budget by 50% and still outspend China by more than 2:1.
If it's all nostalgia, we should find games we didn't play "back in the day" boring. I can tell you this is not the case. I too was a Sierra kid, but I love LucasArts adventures. I loved Civilization back in the day, today I'd rather play Master of Magic or Master of Orion 2 than Civilization 5. I played my share of DOOM and Duke3d, and I still find Blood, Strife, and Shadow Warrior to be more compelling than Call of Duty 8 or whatever.
No, I think the late 80s/early 90s were a special time in the games industry. It was no longer the case that an individual in his basement could make a AAA commercial game, but that ethos persisted. Game designers designed for the love of games still, and not to satisfy some marketers checklist. Less effort was expended in producing eye-popping graphics, allowing for more focus on good gameplay. And computer gaming was still the realm of nerds, so games were designed for a sophisticated audience who didn't mind reading the manual. All of these things contributed to a golden age, that we were only lucky to experience when we were coming of age.
I was a Sierra kid, and I have to admit that LucasArts had the edge. Space Quest and LSL were funny, but not Monkey Island funny. I'm actually about 85% through Baldur's Gate right now too. And while I love the gameplay, the storytelling doesn't begin to approach something like The Dig or Loom. LucasArts is revered for a reason, set up ScummVM and educate yourself.
Everything approaching a black hole is being compressed
Really? Don't you accelerate faster as you approach the black hole? Wouldn't that mean your feet would travel faster than your head, pulling you apart like taffy, instead of compressing you?
I've never needed anything more than a campfire to keep me fully entertained for the evening when camping. But if you have to game, a deck of cards will go a lot further than a handheld.
If they have figures showing DRM increases paid-for copies sold by 50%
This is the failure in your argument. No one has ever demonstrated an increase in purchases because of DRM. If DRM actually converted pirates into paying customers, you'd have a fair argument there. But it's just as likely to turn paying customers into pirates, because the pirate copy is not crippled with DRM.
If they had solid numbers, they'd shout them from the rooftops. DRM is controversial, and they'd love to shut critics up. But in reality, DRM is nothing but a security blanket for game execs who aren't confident that they have a product people will want to pay them for.
Other companies want in on this action, it has the potential to make them more money. They adopt the model and soon enough (like we basically see now) ALL gaming platforms have some form of invasive DRM. Well, now you have ZERO options if you want to play a game. (I am aware I am ignoring many smaller companies that do not have this issue) Well, what are people going to do? If you want to play, you have to accept the status quo.
We have 30 years of DRM free video games to choose from. The modern video game industry could die today, and I'd be entertained for the rest of my life.
What exactly have I said here that is not factual in the real world?
You seem to think that taking a plea eliminates all court proceedings.
No, just the constitutionally guaranteed trial.
Taking a plea and going to trial to plead guilty are the exact same thing.
Taking a plea is done under duress. "Take the plea or I'll try to imprison you for a decade" is no different from "Take the plea or I'll try to break your legs".
Siskel & Ebert was from a different time when you could turn on the TV and see two educated people have a lively and respectful disagreement about matters of quality. I don't expect I'll live to see such a thing again.
Yes, it's rent seeking. It's getting paid for doing no work, merely owning something. This is not productive behavior.
Do you know that people can today be part of business and make or lose money with it by loaning money to business (those are called bonds) and that's where the money comes out of to pay the employees?
If the money to pay employees isn't coming from customers, your business isn't profitable and the employees don't deserve to be paid. Bonds are only a tool that are used to smooth out the peaks and valleys in income and they can be replaced by other mechanisms that don't create the idle rich. e.g. labor owned cooperatives that allocate resources to where it best benefits labor. As a bonus, these would be democratic and not totalitarian institutions.
Do you know that if the management stops doing their work properly
Management is a valuable service, and they deserve to be paid well. My beef is with investing.
You think the profits are evil I bet
Not at all. Profiting from your own labor is a great thing. Profiting from someone elses labor (capitalism) is evil.
Unless they are coerced into admitting guilt. A guilty plea made under duress is not valid, and every plea bargain is made under duress. If someone wishes to freely plead guilty, then of course we should let them. But if they truly wish to plead guilty, the trumped up charges are not necessary at all.
There are no valid use cases for plea bargaining. Every single instance of plea bargaining is an injustice.
There's a difference between personal property that is actually used by the owner, and capital that the "owner" holds ransom from the people who are actually going to use it to be productive.
Recall long ago when the US State Department cables thing was going on that Wikileaks said they had something MUCH MUCH bigger. I wonder if this is what they had to offer.
My understanding is that Domsheit-Berg destroyed those documents.
Slashdot Mirror
There's always good old BibTeX.
It doesn't have to be an electric device. Looking at a paper map is just as distracting as a screen. I would hope that troopers would pull someone over for reading a map while driving, careless driving is an offense in most jurisdictions. If you don't know where you're going, pull off at the next exit.
Considering the fact that you think the problems in Europe that were caused by monetary policy are the result of austerity, I'm going to guess that you were one of those screaming about the "spending cuts".
Not at all. Balanced budgets are great. But the time to balance the budget is when the economy is healthy. Borrow during lean times, pay it back in times of plenty. It's not that complicated.
How do you know, the federal government has never actually talked about reducing spending.
That's exactly how I know. It's not like you haven't had your chance on many different occasions since Reagan.
I'd love to, but the fiscal conservatives won't let us.
Or, we could simply reduce the deficit by that amount, instead of continuing to spend money we don't have.
Yes, because we all saw how well austerity worked in Greece, Ireland, Cypress, etc. Everywhere austerity has been tried it's failed. You have to spend your way out of recessions. If money isn't moving on its own, we have to force it to move. Austerity simply doesn't work.
I'm not following. The point of a business is to make money. You make money based on the number of people who buy your game, not the number of people who play your game. The business should only focus on maximizing the number of people who pay. There is no revenue increase to be had by reducing piracy, only by increasing paying customers.
The US defense budget is 700,000 million. If we reduced the defense budget by .1% (iow, by a factor of .001), we could get another 700 million for this project. If you're concerned about the national security consequences, don't be. We could reduce the defense budget by 50% and still outspend China by more than 2:1.
It's a lot easier to find the time for that when you're 12 than it is in your 30's.
I see things the other way around. I don't have time to waste on shallow games.
If it's all nostalgia, we should find games we didn't play "back in the day" boring. I can tell you this is not the case. I too was a Sierra kid, but I love LucasArts adventures. I loved Civilization back in the day, today I'd rather play Master of Magic or Master of Orion 2 than Civilization 5. I played my share of DOOM and Duke3d, and I still find Blood, Strife, and Shadow Warrior to be more compelling than Call of Duty 8 or whatever.
No, I think the late 80s/early 90s were a special time in the games industry. It was no longer the case that an individual in his basement could make a AAA commercial game, but that ethos persisted. Game designers designed for the love of games still, and not to satisfy some marketers checklist. Less effort was expended in producing eye-popping graphics, allowing for more focus on good gameplay. And computer gaming was still the realm of nerds, so games were designed for a sophisticated audience who didn't mind reading the manual. All of these things contributed to a golden age, that we were only lucky to experience when we were coming of age.
I was a Sierra kid, and I have to admit that LucasArts had the edge. Space Quest and LSL were funny, but not Monkey Island funny. I'm actually about 85% through Baldur's Gate right now too. And while I love the gameplay, the storytelling doesn't begin to approach something like The Dig or Loom. LucasArts is revered for a reason, set up ScummVM and educate yourself.
The point is to reduce piracy. If that means fewer people overall play the game, fine.
What is the business rationale for that?
Everything approaching a black hole is being compressed
Really? Don't you accelerate faster as you approach the black hole? Wouldn't that mean your feet would travel faster than your head, pulling you apart like taffy, instead of compressing you?
Yes, black holes have not only been observed, but super-massive black holes have been discovered at the center of every galaxy we've checked.
I've never needed anything more than a campfire to keep me fully entertained for the evening when camping. But if you have to game, a deck of cards will go a lot further than a handheld.
If they have figures showing DRM increases paid-for copies sold by 50%
This is the failure in your argument. No one has ever demonstrated an increase in purchases because of DRM. If DRM actually converted pirates into paying customers, you'd have a fair argument there. But it's just as likely to turn paying customers into pirates, because the pirate copy is not crippled with DRM.
If they had solid numbers, they'd shout them from the rooftops. DRM is controversial, and they'd love to shut critics up. But in reality, DRM is nothing but a security blanket for game execs who aren't confident that they have a product people will want to pay them for.
Other companies want in on this action, it has the potential to make them more money. They adopt the model and soon enough (like we basically see now) ALL gaming platforms have some form of invasive DRM. Well, now you have ZERO options if you want to play a game. (I am aware I am ignoring many smaller companies that do not have this issue) Well, what are people going to do? If you want to play, you have to accept the status quo.
We have 30 years of DRM free video games to choose from. The modern video game industry could die today, and I'd be entertained for the rest of my life.
Only in your fantasy world.
What exactly have I said here that is not factual in the real world?
You seem to think that taking a plea eliminates all court proceedings.
No, just the constitutionally guaranteed trial.
Taking a plea and going to trial to plead guilty are the exact same thing.
Taking a plea is done under duress. "Take the plea or I'll try to imprison you for a decade" is no different from "Take the plea or I'll try to break your legs".
Siskel & Ebert was from a different time when you could turn on the TV and see two educated people have a lively and respectful disagreement about matters of quality. I don't expect I'll live to see such a thing again.
Do you understand what a loan is?
Yes, it's rent seeking. It's getting paid for doing no work, merely owning something. This is not productive behavior.
Do you know that people can today be part of business and make or lose money with it by loaning money to business (those are called bonds) and that's where the money comes out of to pay the employees?
If the money to pay employees isn't coming from customers, your business isn't profitable and the employees don't deserve to be paid. Bonds are only a tool that are used to smooth out the peaks and valleys in income and they can be replaced by other mechanisms that don't create the idle rich. e.g. labor owned cooperatives that allocate resources to where it best benefits labor. As a bonus, these would be democratic and not totalitarian institutions.
Do you know that if the management stops doing their work properly
Management is a valuable service, and they deserve to be paid well. My beef is with investing.
You think the profits are evil I bet
Not at all. Profiting from your own labor is a great thing. Profiting from someone elses labor (capitalism) is evil.
Unless they are coerced into admitting guilt. A guilty plea made under duress is not valid, and every plea bargain is made under duress. If someone wishes to freely plead guilty, then of course we should let them. But if they truly wish to plead guilty, the trumped up charges are not necessary at all.
There are no valid use cases for plea bargaining. Every single instance of plea bargaining is an injustice.
There's a difference between personal property that is actually used by the owner, and capital that the "owner" holds ransom from the people who are actually going to use it to be productive.
Yes, and if your guests want cake you should let them eat cake.
Recall long ago when the US State Department cables thing was going on that Wikileaks said they had something MUCH MUCH bigger. I wonder if this is what they had to offer.
My understanding is that Domsheit-Berg destroyed those documents.
Rent seeking involves somebody using a position of power that others cannot escape
Such as exclusive ownership of capital backed up by the threat of violence from the government.