How would it be a game of chance, if there is a high degree of game playing skill involved?
Most states in the US have a pretty lenient standard for games of skill, as long as there is no significant factor that mitigates the skill in favor of random chance, then it is legal. Even those "quarter pusher" machines are legal in most states. (if you know what I am talking about)
That said, they will have a hard time complying with the many many different laws in all states and countries. For example, some states require the posting of a bond equal to the prize amount if the prize is over $500, things like that. The laws aren't even designed for this type of thing. It will be interesting to see the upcoming court battles on this one.
Ignoring sales tax and such (sales tax in most states applies only to tangible items. It would be easy to argue that this is intangible....
You would report it federally in the US as "Hobby Income" against which you can take "Hobby Expense" deductions. You however can't take deductions past the amount of income and offset other income with the deductions.
If it became a serious undertaking, you would file a schedule C, self employment income, against which you would pay a very high tax rate, as it would be the normal taxes, plus double social security tax (normally your employer pays half your social security). You can also deduct expenses from Sch C income.
IANACPA, so talk to a real CPA and don't take this as fact or advice for your situation.
If spyware was ever included, there would be an immediate fork without the spyware, and people would just use that instead.
Re:MMORPG's aren't made that good
on
Pay to Play
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Can't really jump in the market with a crappy game, and elevate your status over time with revenue like you could in the old days. Today its mainy super compu global corp feeding your material.
Also, you never heard of a MUD? There have been free "MMORPG"s since before the Internet. Someone could easily start with a free MUD, and slowly build it up over time, getting users, and then switch to a pay model.
One of my companies maintains about 600 computers within 15 different organizations, all running different, badly written software. We get maybe 1 call a month about a BSOD, and even that's overstating it...
People don't call tech support as much anymore about BSODs. 5-10 years ago, they were a new thing, now everyone knows to just reboot, even the idiot newbie in the mail room.
That's their public accounting income statement, taxes are not based on SEC filings.
Maybe I'm going crazy, because I can't find a reference to it, but I remember explicitely the way it worked.
There was this "piracy relief fund" sort of thing, set up by a government (it may have been a state government), and companies would get a percentage of it based on their total software sales. That meant that MS got a bug chunk of taxpayer cash based on fictional losses to piracy.
Please someone tell me I didn't dream this.
As someone else noted, their games with stock options have also allowed them to evade taxes and not pay any, probably to a greater extent than the priacy subsidy I referred to.
The government has helped MS immensely. Basically MS pays a lot less taxes than any real business. They are able to write off huge amounts of "loss" due to software "piracy".
If anything, piracy helped MS become what they are today, so it's doubleplus good for them.
These fictional losses they get to take against their income, and therefore pay very little taxes, relative to real businesses.
The web has started to become "optimized" for Internet Explorer, but the public doesn't really care, because they aren't seeing the huge technological impairment that Microsoft is - they're only seeing the benefits.
I agree with you in all parts but this. It seemed that more during the so called dot-com-boom this was becoming more and more true.
It turns out it was mostly unqualified idiots with frontpage who didn't know how to really write HTML, and those people are now rightfully unemployed.
I see less and less sites that look terrible in Opera or Netscape, and more and more, companies are responsive to my calls and emails when I tell them their site is broken in my browser, and remind them of the w3c validator.
In fact, my broker used to use these incorrectly formatted javascript links (that only worked in IE) instead of regular links for all their navbars, and a couple weeks after I informed them of the problem, they were all converted into normal, working, links. Web sites are more responsive, more functional, and more compatible, now that any Joe off the street with a personal page on Geocites on his resume that he made in Frontpage can't get a job doing anything important.
This recession has been the best thing to happen to the Internet.
HEY MAN I RESENT THAT STATEMENT. RIGHT N
OW I AM ON MY COMMODORE 64 AND IT WORKS F
INE FOR EVERYTHING I NEED TO DO. 40 COLO
UMNS IS ENOUGH FOR ANYONE. ALSO WHO EVER
HEARD OF PUTTING MORE THAN ONE PROGRAM I
NTO RAM AT ONCE? THATS INSANE! WELL HAV
E A GOOD DAY -- GIGS
Added to get past lameness filter:
the voices in my head tell me to use less caps... well mr lameness filter, that sort of makes my message not very funny without all those caps. I guess it is a form of censorship, when I can't even type what I want to. That's the worst kind of censorship, prior restraint, oh well, more/. hypocracy.
Hopefully by the time we hit that point, there will be novel ways to compute without using electricity directly. For now, smaller is better because light only travels at a finite speed, about 1 foot per ns if I recall correctly, so smaller things are easier to get timed right.
Wow, that's really cyber-insightful. I'm glad we can get such convergence in an e-medium like Slashdot. It allows such synergy of the flow of our ideas. It's a true P2P platform where we find solutions to decrease the turnaround time of conducting internetworked discussions.
I've never played EQ, but from other MUDs and such I've played, there has always been inflation.
I mean, when monsters appear, don't they carry some money you get when you kill them? This would cause inflation. I'm curious to know how the value is being taking out of the EQ system, and still allowing new players to make enough money to get good equipment.
When you are strong, appear weak, when you are weak, appear strong.
All warfare is based on deception. [1:18]
Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. [1:19]
Slashdot Mirror
What's more, you have achieved 100:1 compression on totally meaningless data.
You should have an IPO.
I think his point was they could have just gotten a steel tank, for a lot cheaper.
How would it be a game of chance, if there is a high degree of game playing skill involved?
Most states in the US have a pretty lenient standard for games of skill, as long as there is no significant factor that mitigates the skill in favor of random chance, then it is legal. Even those "quarter pusher" machines are legal in most states. (if you know what I am talking about)
That said, they will have a hard time complying with the many many different laws in all states and countries. For example, some states require the posting of a bond equal to the prize amount if the prize is over $500, things like that. The laws aren't even designed for this type of thing. It will be interesting to see the upcoming court battles on this one.
Ignoring sales tax and such (sales tax in most states applies only to tangible items. It would be easy to argue that this is intangible....
You would report it federally in the US as "Hobby Income" against which you can take "Hobby Expense" deductions. You however can't take deductions past the amount of income and offset other income with the deductions.
If it became a serious undertaking, you would file a schedule C, self employment income, against which you would pay a very high tax rate, as it would be the normal taxes, plus double social security tax (normally your employer pays half your social security). You can also deduct expenses from Sch C income.
IANACPA, so talk to a real CPA and don't take this as fact or advice for your situation.
If spyware was ever included, there would be an immediate fork without the spyware, and people would just use that instead.
Can't really jump in the market with a crappy game, and elevate your status over time with revenue like you could in the old days. Today its mainy super compu global corp feeding your material.
The Uplink guys are doing this and succeeding.
Also, you never heard of a MUD? There have been free "MMORPG"s since before the Internet. Someone could easily start with a free MUD, and slowly build it up over time, getting users, and then switch to a pay model.
So... the question is... Why have we already lost so much computing wisdom?
Why are software techniques shit today compared to yesterday?
Why are several of my C64 games better than modern games in terms of playability and even in music and sound in some cases?
Are we losing what we once had, so quickly?
One of my companies maintains about 600 computers within 15 different organizations, all running different, badly written software. We get maybe 1 call a month about a BSOD, and even that's overstating it...
People don't call tech support as much anymore about BSODs. 5-10 years ago, they were a new thing, now everyone knows to just reboot, even the idiot newbie in the mail room.
That's their public accounting income statement, taxes are not based on SEC filings.
Maybe I'm going crazy, because I can't find a reference to it, but I remember explicitely the way it worked.
There was this "piracy relief fund" sort of thing, set up by a government (it may have been a state government), and companies would get a percentage of it based on their total software sales. That meant that MS got a bug chunk of taxpayer cash based on fictional losses to piracy.
Please someone tell me I didn't dream this.
As someone else noted, their games with stock options have also allowed them to evade taxes and not pay any, probably to a greater extent than the priacy subsidy I referred to.
Man, what's a twink?
The government has helped MS immensely. Basically MS pays a lot less taxes than any real business. They are able to write off huge amounts of "loss" due to software "piracy".
If anything, piracy helped MS become what they are today, so it's doubleplus good for them.
These fictional losses they get to take against their income, and therefore pay very little taxes, relative to real businesses.
The web has started to become "optimized" for Internet Explorer, but the public doesn't really care, because they aren't seeing the huge technological impairment that Microsoft is - they're only seeing the benefits.
I agree with you in all parts but this. It seemed that more during the so called dot-com-boom this was becoming more and more true.
It turns out it was mostly unqualified idiots with frontpage who didn't know how to really write HTML, and those people are now rightfully unemployed.
I see less and less sites that look terrible in Opera or Netscape, and more and more, companies are responsive to my calls and emails when I tell them their site is broken in my browser, and remind them of the w3c validator.
In fact, my broker used to use these incorrectly formatted javascript links (that only worked in IE) instead of regular links for all their navbars, and a couple weeks after I informed them of the problem, they were all converted into normal, working, links. Web sites are more responsive, more functional, and more compatible, now that any Joe off the street with a personal page on Geocites on his resume that he made in Frontpage can't get a job doing anything important.
This recession has been the best thing to happen to the Internet.
HEY MAN I RESENT THAT STATEMENT. RIGHT N
/. hypocracy.
OW I AM ON MY COMMODORE 64 AND IT WORKS F
INE FOR EVERYTHING I NEED TO DO. 40 COLO
UMNS IS ENOUGH FOR ANYONE. ALSO WHO EVER
HEARD OF PUTTING MORE THAN ONE PROGRAM I
NTO RAM AT ONCE? THATS INSANE! WELL HAV
E A GOOD DAY -- GIGS
Added to get past lameness filter:
the voices in my head tell me to use less caps... well mr lameness filter, that sort of makes my message not very funny without all those caps. I guess it is a form of censorship, when I can't even type what I want to. That's the worst kind of censorship, prior restraint, oh well, more
Hopefully by the time we hit that point, there will be novel ways to compute without using electricity directly. For now, smaller is better because light only travels at a finite speed, about 1 foot per ns if I recall correctly, so smaller things are easier to get timed right.
Wow, that's really cyber-insightful. I'm glad we can get such convergence in an e-medium like Slashdot. It allows such synergy of the flow of our ideas. It's a true P2P platform where we find solutions to decrease the turnaround time of conducting internetworked discussions.
Weinberger is a hype machine, feeding off commonly held beliefs about the net, packaging them in a written form, and trying to turn a buck.
Sounds a lot like a certain
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/11/08/232920 7
8 23 8
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/08/24/165
I wonder what brand repeater they used. The article didn't say. The manufacturer should exploit this.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/11/08/232920 7
The Slashdot search is incredibly weak and should be removed, or something.
/.
Just go to google and search for "site:slashdot.org" stuck on your search terms.
That's the way I search
Descartes does "debunk" his evil deceiver theory later on in the book.
The reasons he says it is impossible are pretty lame though, basically he says "God wouldn't let that happen".
I've never played EQ, but from other MUDs and such I've played, there has always been inflation.
I mean, when monsters appear, don't they carry some money you get when you kill them? This would cause inflation. I'm curious to know how the value is being taking out of the EQ system, and still allowing new players to make enough money to get good equipment.
Art of war.
When you are strong, appear weak, when you are weak, appear strong.
All warfare is based on deception. [1:18]
Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. [1:19]
Thanks, it should work now.
IBM wants to work with RHAT, not against them.
Oh, and name the declaration date of a single MSFT dividend, if my statement is so patently false.
A real cash dividend, not a stock split (which is not a disbursement of any sort).
Maybe this will help you.