actually that "...why don't they?" was someone's +5, funny post on another thread just a day or so ago. i thought it was amusing that it would show up on userfriendly.org the next day. maybe they read slashdot.org. (ya think?):)
this is just another technique that corporations are using to wage war on open source projects, whether they threaten said corporations' income or not.
that applies to any organization. whenever they need a new laptop installed for the ceo's assistant or whatever, "just go ahead and install the warez copy of win98", but when the software piracy police come in and find 328 identical copies of win98 and office installed, it's "the actions of a few rogue individuals". all too convenient...
"It's totally promoting animal cruelty,"
Allanach said. "They consider it a sick joke.
People will take it seriously. Animal
cruelty is not funny. Animal torture is not
funny. We would like bonsaikitten.com to be
removed permanently."
they won't even give us credit for being intelligent enough to define parody, humor, or cruelty for ourselves. i'm insulted, and offended. it's totally promoting knee jerk responses from the public. i consider this statement to be a sick joke. people will take it seriously. this kind of political crpa is not funny. i would like their rights to free speech to be removed permanently.
check out flexnet.;) they offer no tech support. if you want someone to hold your hand through everything, you've signed up at the wrong isp. they rock.;)
it seems mildly disturbing that the major focus these days is not necessarily on the super bowl football game, but instead the advertising/media coverage. it makes you wonder if one day, the football game will be phased out entirely. while i'm not a fan of football, i'd much rather watch football than ads...
because now instead of already having player 1's money from his development level 1-50 AND getting player 2's money for his char devel lev 1-50, they get only p1's $ L1-50 and p2's 50+. people who get pre-developed HL (high level) chars on muds (which is all that EQ is) tend to value them less, because their blood/sweat/tears aren't in the char.
(arguably, in this case, if they pay for the char they will value it for that much. admittedly, an important point for which i don't have much of a rebuttal. everything devolves into specifics; ppl involved, specific amount of $, etc.)
in either case, if they don't value the char as much then standard issue punishments such as the threat of character freeze or deletion are much less effective from preventing things that the admins consider inappropriate within the game.
all in all, having p1 either keep playing or quit peacefully and having p2 spend his $ on his own devel is (using fuzzy logic/math) likely to be more profitable for the game company in the long term, as well as keeps much of the behaviour in and out of the game in nice, evenly predictable flow patterns. (it's of course obvious that those in control of a thing always like nice easily manipulable demographics.)
actually IMO one of the better reasons for sony to prohibit sale of EQ stuff/chars is because they make their $ off of monthly subscriptions. if you buy a level 50 char you just saved yourself however much money it would have taken in subscription fees to build a character up. same goes for items.
now, you may of course end up paying the same amount to someone for the char/stuff outside of the game, but the important thing from the game maker's perspective is not the overall amount of money that you're spending, but rather the fact that if you buy things outside of the game like a char over ebay, none of that $ is going to THEM.
Slashdot Mirror
just a nitpick ... it's 'sheer' numbers, not 'shear' numbers. shearing is for sheep.
eudas
oh, and for those of you interested in some more mst3k action, check out this link:
b oo ks/Eye_of_Argon.html
http://brie.bmsc.washington.edu/people/merritt/
it is a truly awful sci-fi story called 'the eye of argon' as it would have been hacked to pieces by the mst3k guys, had they ever actually read it.
eudas
mst3k did rock. i and many of my friends watched it religiously. (some still do; it comes on certain channels still.)
eudas
actually that "...why don't they?" was someone's +5, funny post on another thread just a day or so ago. i thought it was amusing that it would show up on userfriendly.org the next day. maybe they read slashdot.org. (ya think?) :)
eudas
this is just another technique that corporations are using to wage war on open source projects, whether they threaten said corporations' income or not.
it's starting to sound like "Celebrity Deathmatch", only with lawsuits and alphabet soup org's.
eudas
that applies to any organization. whenever they need a new laptop installed for the ceo's assistant or whatever, "just go ahead and install the warez copy of win98", but when the software piracy police come in and find 328 identical copies of win98 and office installed, it's "the actions of a few rogue individuals". all too convenient...
eudas
lol i typo'd. 'crpa' should be 'crap'. :P
;)
now if only slashdot would implement a 'typo filter', the whole site would be more readable.
eudas
eudas
what exactly is a klein bottle?
eudas
www.nucentrix.net
fixed-point wireless broadband using mmds.
eudas
when it comes to well-run networks vs the right domain extension, there's nothing like having your priorities straight, is there?
eudas
check out flexnet. ;) they offer no tech support. if you want someone to hold your hand through everything, you've signed up at the wrong isp. they rock. ;)
http://www.flex.com/
eudas
the above comment warrants positive moderation.
eudas
netslaves figures out that napster probably won't work as well as it hopes.
eudas
if it doesn't melt during re-entry, pick it up after it lands, melt the scrap, and re-form it into a new killsat and launch it back up.
eudas
it seems mildly disturbing that the major focus these days is not necessarily on the super bowl football game, but instead the advertising/media coverage. it makes you wonder if one day, the football game will be phased out entirely. while i'm not a fan of football, i'd much rather watch football than ads...
just my $0.02.
eudas
i don't know if you'd count this as anime (though is it animated), but remember Ren and Stimpty?
eudas
well, yes, for the most part.
they DO get paid to do this, right?
eudas
because now instead of already having player 1's money from his development level 1-50 AND getting player 2's money for his char devel lev 1-50, they get only p1's $ L1-50 and p2's 50+. people who get pre-developed HL (high level) chars on muds (which is all that EQ is) tend to value them less, because their blood/sweat/tears aren't in the char.
(arguably, in this case, if they pay for the char they will value it for that much. admittedly, an important point for which i don't have much of a rebuttal. everything devolves into specifics; ppl involved, specific amount of $, etc.)
in either case, if they don't value the char as much then standard issue punishments such as the threat of character freeze or deletion are much less effective from preventing things that the admins consider inappropriate within the game.
all in all, having p1 either keep playing or quit peacefully and having p2 spend his $ on his own devel is (using fuzzy logic/math) likely to be more profitable for the game company in the long term, as well as keeps much of the behaviour in and out of the game in nice, evenly predictable flow patterns. (it's of course obvious that those in control of a thing always like nice easily manipulable demographics.)
more blah blah blah from
eudas
actually IMO one of the better reasons for sony to prohibit sale of EQ stuff/chars is because they make their $ off of monthly subscriptions. if you buy a level 50 char you just saved yourself however much money it would have taken in subscription fees to build a character up. same goes for items.
now, you may of course end up paying the same amount to someone for the char/stuff outside of the game, but the important thing from the game maker's perspective is not the overall amount of money that you're spending, but rather the fact that if you buy things outside of the game like a char over ebay, none of that $ is going to THEM.
eudas
as the ancient greeks put it, 'right and wrong are only in question between equals in power.'
eudas
it usually takes a few more than two.
eudas
lawyer: 'your honor, etoys has been using etoy's name since 199x, causing much confusion.'
judge: 'which one?'
lawyer: 'etoy's'.
judge: 'er, is that etoys or etoy's?'
lawyer: 'etoy's.'
judge: '...wait, which one are you talking about?'
lawyer: 'i rest my case, your honor.'
eudas
what about galspanic?
eudas