*SIGH* I didn't buy the theatrical version of FoTR. I also encouraged my friends to not buy it. However even though Newline explicitly said they were releasing an extended version in November it was overshadowed by the massive amount of advertising for the initial release. Most people don't read home video magazines, and most people had no idea that there was going to be a second release later. One of my posts even relates my experience at Suncoast where the sales person wasn't even aware of the second edition coming out later.
I'm not saying that newline was evil, or that they even did anything wrong. However the majority of movie studios don't mention the fact that they have plans on releasing multiple versions of a movie. In the case of newline you had to know where to look to find out that there was a special edition of the movie to be released on in November.
Finally, with FoTR you have to remember that a LOT of people rushed out to buy this movie that wouldn't normally rush out to buy a movie. These types of people aren't going to be aware of all of the home video sources, or care for the most part.
We're up to $115-ish so far, wonder why the industry's so big?
I don't wonder one bit. I just wish they would announce plans to release "special edition" DVD's to begin with so those of us that are cost concious can save a few bucks and get what we actually want. Of course that'd probably be considered the same as stealing $40 billion from the industry and we certainly can't have that.
I did the same with FoTR. However, my point was that many (most) people didn't know. I was at suncoast buying Rob Roy back when the FoTR theatricle release pre orders first started and the guy at the register tried to get me to pre order the movie. I explained I had no desire to pay for it twice and would just buy the release in November. He asked me "What release in November?" At this point it became crystal clear to me why this is such a successful practice. Even if you do plan on releasing two copies of a movie the majority of people will never know about it until they are both released.
You mean like every other movie out there? I love how the James Bond box set was released right before the theatre release of a new movie. Hmmm, maybe so they can sell an updated boxed set later on? Or X-Men 1.5. If I had known they were going to release a special edition before X2 came out I would have waited. Instead I'm just going to be happy with the original release. Of course most of my friends rushed out and bought 1.5.
It's all about gouging the customers for an extra $40. I can't tell you how many people I know didn't realize that a LoTR:FoTR special edition was going to be released in November. They rushed out and bought the theatrical release and then bought the special edtion later for the extra footage. Of course the theatrical release will sit on a shelf collecting dust, but the studio got their extra $20 so who cares right?
Anyway, I seriously doubt you will find wireless access anywhere in Reno that doesn't require using someone elses connection covertly. Or swing by my place I don't care if you use my access point.
Although, the proximity of Reno and Placerville makes me wonder why one would even want to stop except to get gas. I'd just pass right through town without thinking twice.
Also, beware the trip through Reno, there is currently road construction on I-80. Starting monday the west bound lane will be reduced to one lane and several exits/entrances will be closed through September.
This exact topic has come up serveral times, and was somewhat implemented by AO with the random mission generator. You could group and enter a building with your group to do a quest. A differant group entering the same building for a differant quest got a differant quest. You were basically shipped off to differant mission servers the content was either tailored to the individual or the group. The biggest problem was that the missions looked the same after a very short while.
And I played AC a lot. Quite an unhealthy amount also.
Yeah yeah, I was pretty pathetic. Everyone has their moments of weakness. That was mine. But my point is, EQ is a drug. It's a drug where there are no warning labels, no program during high school to tell you the consequences of becoming addicted. It just looked like a game, no one knew at the time that playing it would slowly entice you into a downward spiral.
Anything done in an unhealthy amount is bad. This is common knowledge. EQ is NOT a drug and neither is any game. Some people are susceptible to addiction. Some are alcoholics, others junkies, some can't control thier gambling and others can't step away from a game. These are common of people with this particular trait.
The lack of education is the problem. You can bitch and moan that people should have personal responsibility all you want, but you can't blame them if they don't know. Nor can you blame people for wanting to put the word out on the street.
You didn't know? People have been saying the SAME thing about MUDs for years. They said the same things about Ultima Oline. Again, doing anything to excess like playing EQ, is unhealthy. This is common knowledge.
Designing a game where you psychologically induce people to play 40+ hours a week is akin to producing cigarettes. In fact, I would argue it's even worse in the MMOG industry because the public isn't educated about the psychological impact.
The comparison doesn't hold a lot of water. There isn't a lot of public education about the troubles with gambling yet there are plenty of people that gamble responsibly and plenty of people that are addicted to gambling and can't control themselves.
It's very easy for those of you who've never suffered from an addiction to sit on your high horse and say "Well, you should've just quit." You have no clue how much mental anguish one has to go through to make a break from something so addictive.
Ah yes, the typical whining of the addict. You really should go read up on addiction and or get some couseling if you really feel this way. Addiction is a horrible thing. My father is an alcoholic, my step father is an alcoholic, my mother is classified as an enabler (or co-dependant). I've seen addiction and understand first hand some of it's consequences. My father didn't clean up his act, my step father did. I realize the difficulty, but the only way for it to happen is if the addicted person does something about it. Belive it or not that means JUST QUITTING! Maybe not without help, but that is what it boils down to.
Where am I today? I graduated college and I have a nice job at a software company. I did manage to fix my life, but "personal responsibility" is what got me out of the hole. Don't use it to blame how people got there in the first place.
Wait?!?! You are making my point for me. Personal responsibilty got you out of your hole. So, once you actually _started_ taking some personal responsibility you were able to retake control of your life. Wow, now if only more people would do the same.
I'm not blaming Verant or Sony for my situation. Perhaps they didn't know any better either. But the important thing is, now that we DO know the effects of these kinds of games, the risks need to be made known, to the kids playing these games and their parents. If it takes government regulation to do that, perhaps it is needed.
Verant and Sony are in the business of making money. The fact that you have a problem with addiction is not their problem (no really!), nor is it their fault. They provide a service that you were not forced to play. The same goes for an alcoholic. or drug addicts. You may have become phsycologically addicted to the game, but it is not Sonys or Verants responsiblity to solve that problem for you. The game isn't the problem, the behavior is. The government doesn't need to regulate gaming, players need to exhibit self control. Parents need to be involved in the lifes of thier children and set reasonable limits on how much time they play games like this. Government regulation is not the answer to all the worlds problems.
I'm a libertarian and a card carrying member of the ACLU. I hate the idea of legislating morality, but in this case, I see it more of a case of legislating corporate responsibility.
Once again, this corporations didn't force you to purchase or play the game. The game in and of itself isn't addicting. You exhibited an unhealthy behavior, and are probably predisposed to addiction, that isn't the corporations fault. Nor should they have to take responsibility for thier customers behaviors. ie: Guns don't kill people, people kill people.
God knows some people will take advantage of you anyway they can. Sometimes, unfortunately, the government does need to step in.
You weren't taken advantage of. Though you may feel that way. I strongly recommend speaking to someone that specializes in addiction therapy.
Here is a small text from a wired interview done a while back that I like to use in these discussions about game addiction. MIT's Games-To-Teach project studies how gaming technology can be incorporated into education.
The project's research manager, Kurt Squire, has found that games sharpen players' critical thinking, improve their social skills and increase their empathy (by choosing the opposite sex for their character's gender).
"The notion that games are powerful enough to ruin someone's life is just ridiculous," said Squire. "The main concern people have is that technology is overpowering people and making them helpless. That's happened with every new medium that has come along -- even books were once regarded with suspicion."
In the final analysis, almost anything can be called an addiction if it routinely interrupts life's basic components, including school, work and relationships, he said. The important thing is balance. So align your chakras -- and remember, it's just a game.
Unfortunatly you are seeing a problem with that particular game. I played the first Asherons Call for close to three years. The game started out with tons of low and mid level content. Then as the game got older and the majority of the populace started to gain higher levels there seemed to be nothing but high level content. A few months before I stopped playing the game for good they finally started adding low level content again. Unfortunatly you could get to the highest levels in no time at all so many people never saw the low level content that was added without starting new characters. The content issue is probably the hardest one.
They shouldn't be regulated for one very good reason.
Personal responsibility!
Maybe you've heard of it. Your grades are slipping because you play too much EverCrack? Too bad, quit playing EverCrack. Can't quit playing EverCrack? Seek out addiction counseling, it's availabe, often for free. Your ass is getting fat because you've eaten too many cheeseburgers? Quit eating cheesburgers every day.
A little common sense and some personal responsibility seem to be sorely lacking in the populace today.
You have to remember that Caldera and SCO are one and the same now. Caldera used to sell their own version of Linux. Now SCO is a part of United Linux. I would guess the number came from Caldera but still sticks because of their involvment in United Linux.
Read the Bruce Perens comment posted above and then the list of companies that the Canopy Group is a part of in a post below his. There are plenty of ways to hurt the Canopy Group through boycotts.
I run multiple monitors on my workstations off of a combination of AGP and PCI cards. That is the biggest reason right there. I recently helped a friend build a workstation capable of dealing with capturing multiple video streams on one PC, again the PCI bus was one of the limiting factors in his original rig (along with IDE disks) a move to some 64 bit pci capture cards that he found, a server class mother board, and SCSI drives solved the majority of the problems.
So, most of my complaints are with video, but as we start seeing more devices that are high traffic the PCI bus will be pushed to its limits, and some of us are already pushing it to its limits. I'd rather start moving to something else now than wait till joe consumer starts having the same troubles. It's not like the alternatives aren't already out there (PCI-Express, etc).
As you can see from some of my other replies you'll notice that I was also glad to see ISA go, I had limited experience with MCA so can't comment much about it. I am just ready for PCI to go away since it is time.
Of course I certainly could have picked on something a bit more annoying like the floppy drive;) I just didn't think of it because I don't use the damn things any more!
Believe me, I remember the ISA -> PCI transition;) However it was certainly worth it. I think the move from PCI to the next step will also be just as worth it.
Most of the hosting I have seen for Joe Sixpack beer comparison of the week type websites have throttling. Where either the maximum transfer rate is throttled so that you can't go over your limit in a month or the site gets shut off when the bandwidth limit is reached. However, in these economically taxing times even small and medium sized business can be hurt terribly by giant bandwidth bills. They may be able to take care of a two or three hundred dollar jump in bandwidth, but certainly not a $20k bill. Many people have made comparisons to water utilities where if you can prove that it was a leak and that you've fixed it the horrendously large amount is forgiven either partially or entirely. In the case of attacks being recieved maybe a similar approach can be taken.
Now, the problem with only focusing on outbound traffic is this. Who charges the customer for outgoing bandwidth? The isp of the person that originated the traffic. How does that cover the expenses of the ISP that recieved all of the traffic? Regardless of who sent the traffic it still ended up somewhere and someone had to pay for the bandwidth to be available to recieve the traffic. Those people are not compensated in this situation even though they are paying a price for it. Maybe you could elaborate on your thoughts to deal with this point.
Slashdot Mirror
*SIGH* I didn't buy the theatrical version of FoTR. I also encouraged my friends to not buy it. However even though Newline explicitly said they were releasing an extended version in November it was overshadowed by the massive amount of advertising for the initial release. Most people don't read home video magazines, and most people had no idea that there was going to be a second release later. One of my posts even relates my experience at Suncoast where the sales person wasn't even aware of the second edition coming out later.
I'm not saying that newline was evil, or that they even did anything wrong. However the majority of movie studios don't mention the fact that they have plans on releasing multiple versions of a movie. In the case of newline you had to know where to look to find out that there was a special edition of the movie to be released on in November.
Finally, with FoTR you have to remember that a LOT of people rushed out to buy this movie that wouldn't normally rush out to buy a movie. These types of people aren't going to be aware of all of the home video sources, or care for the most part.
We're up to $115-ish so far, wonder why the industry's so big?
I don't wonder one bit. I just wish they would announce plans to release "special edition" DVD's to begin with so those of us that are cost concious can save a few bucks and get what we actually want. Of course that'd probably be considered the same as stealing $40 billion from the industry and we certainly can't have that.
Good grief I'm in a bad mood today =(
I did the same with FoTR. However, my point was that many (most) people didn't know. I was at suncoast buying Rob Roy back when the FoTR theatricle release pre orders first started and the guy at the register tried to get me to pre order the movie. I explained I had no desire to pay for it twice and would just buy the release in November. He asked me "What release in November?" At this point it became crystal clear to me why this is such a successful practice. Even if you do plan on releasing two copies of a movie the majority of people will never know about it until they are both released.
You mean like every other movie out there? I love how the James Bond box set was released right before the theatre release of a new movie. Hmmm, maybe so they can sell an updated boxed set later on? Or X-Men 1.5. If I had known they were going to release a special edition before X2 came out I would have waited. Instead I'm just going to be happy with the original release. Of course most of my friends rushed out and bought 1.5.
It's all about gouging the customers for an extra $40. I can't tell you how many people I know didn't realize that a LoTR:FoTR special edition was going to be released in November. They rushed out and bought the theatrical release and then bought the special edtion later for the extra footage. Of course the theatrical release will sit on a shelf collecting dust, but the studio got their extra $20 so who cares right?
You forgot about the part where the network doesn't give a damn what you think or want. It's all about ad revenue.
Reno has a cafe with Internet access? Where?
Anyway, I seriously doubt you will find wireless access anywhere in Reno that doesn't require using someone elses connection covertly. Or swing by my place I don't care if you use my access point.
Although, the proximity of Reno and Placerville makes me wonder why one would even want to stop except to get gas. I'd just pass right through town without thinking twice.
Also, beware the trip through Reno, there is currently road construction on I-80. Starting monday the west bound lane will be reduced to one lane and several exits/entrances will be closed through September.
This exact topic has come up serveral times, and was somewhat implemented by AO with the random mission generator. You could group and enter a building with your group to do a quest. A differant group entering the same building for a differant quest got a differant quest. You were basically shipped off to differant mission servers the content was either tailored to the individual or the group. The biggest problem was that the missions looked the same after a very short while.
Thank you for this comment. I couldn't remember "tranferance or blame shifting" when I was writing my own response.
That is absolutly hilarious and right on the money. I will have to remember that one for future reference.
I used to play EQ... a lot, an unhealthy amount.
And I played AC a lot. Quite an unhealthy amount also.
Yeah yeah, I was pretty pathetic. Everyone has their moments of weakness. That was mine. But my point is, EQ is a drug. It's a drug where there are no warning labels, no program during high school to tell you the consequences of becoming addicted. It just looked like a game, no one knew at the time that playing it would slowly entice you into a downward spiral.
Anything done in an unhealthy amount is bad. This is common knowledge. EQ is NOT a drug and neither is any game. Some people are susceptible to addiction. Some are alcoholics, others junkies, some can't control thier gambling and others can't step away from a game. These are common of people with this particular trait.
The lack of education is the problem. You can bitch and moan that people should have personal responsibility all you want, but you can't blame them if they don't know. Nor can you blame people for wanting to put the word out on the street.
You didn't know? People have been saying the SAME thing about MUDs for years. They said the same things about Ultima Oline. Again, doing anything to excess like playing EQ, is unhealthy. This is common knowledge.
Designing a game where you psychologically induce people to play 40+ hours a week is akin to producing cigarettes. In fact, I would argue it's even worse in the MMOG industry because the public isn't educated about the psychological impact.
The comparison doesn't hold a lot of water. There isn't a lot of public education about the troubles with gambling yet there are plenty of people that gamble responsibly and plenty of people that are addicted to gambling and can't control themselves.
It's very easy for those of you who've never suffered from an addiction to sit on your high horse and say "Well, you should've just quit." You have no clue how much mental anguish one has to go through to make a break from something so addictive.
Ah yes, the typical whining of the addict. You really should go read up on addiction and or get some couseling if you really feel this way. Addiction is a horrible thing. My father is an alcoholic, my step father is an alcoholic, my mother is classified as an enabler (or co-dependant). I've seen addiction and understand first hand some of it's consequences. My father didn't clean up his act, my step father did. I realize the difficulty, but the only way for it to happen is if the addicted person does something about it. Belive it or not that means JUST QUITTING! Maybe not without help, but that is what it boils down to.
Where am I today? I graduated college and I have a nice job at a software company. I did manage to fix my life, but "personal responsibility" is what got me out of the hole. Don't use it to blame how people got there in the first place.
Wait?!?! You are making my point for me. Personal responsibilty got you out of your hole. So, once you actually _started_ taking some personal responsibility you were able to retake control of your life. Wow, now if only more people would do the same.
I'm not blaming Verant or Sony for my situation. Perhaps they didn't know any better either. But the important thing is, now that we DO know the effects of these kinds of games, the risks need to be made known, to the kids playing these games and their parents. If it takes government regulation to do that, perhaps it is needed.
Verant and Sony are in the business of making money. The fact that you have a problem with addiction is not their problem (no really!), nor is it their fault. They provide a service that you were not forced to play. The same goes for an alcoholic. or drug addicts. You may have become phsycologically addicted to the game, but it is not Sonys or Verants responsiblity to solve that problem for you. The game isn't the problem, the behavior is. The government doesn't need to regulate gaming, players need to exhibit self control. Parents need to be involved in the lifes of thier children and set reasonable limits on how much time they play games like this. Government regulation is not the answer to all the worlds problems.
I'm a libertarian and a card carrying member of the ACLU. I hate the idea of legislating morality, but in this case, I see it more of a case of legislating corporate responsibility.
Once again, this corporations didn't force you to purchase or play the game. The game in and of itself isn't addicting. You exhibited an unhealthy behavior, and are probably predisposed to addiction, that isn't the corporations fault. Nor should they have to take responsibility for thier customers behaviors. ie: Guns don't kill people, people kill people.
God knows some people will take advantage of you anyway they can. Sometimes, unfortunately, the government does need to step in.
You weren't taken advantage of. Though you may feel that way. I strongly recommend speaking to someone that specializes in addiction therapy.
Here is a small text from a wired interview done a while back that I like to use in these discussions about game addiction.
MIT's Games-To-Teach project studies how gaming technology can be incorporated into education.
The project's research manager, Kurt Squire, has found that games sharpen players' critical thinking, improve their social skills and increase their empathy (by choosing the opposite sex for their character's gender).
"The notion that games are powerful enough to ruin someone's life is just ridiculous," said Squire. "The main concern people have is that technology is overpowering people and making them helpless. That's happened with every new medium that has come along -- even books were once regarded with suspicion."
In the final analysis, almost anything can be called an addiction if it routinely interrupts life's basic components, including school, work and relationships, he said. The important thing is balance. So align your chakras -- and remember, it's just a game.
Better than some of the other things people have suggested.
Unfortunatly you are seeing a problem with that particular game. I played the first Asherons Call for close to three years. The game started out with tons of low and mid level content. Then as the game got older and the majority of the populace started to gain higher levels there seemed to be nothing but high level content. A few months before I stopped playing the game for good they finally started adding low level content again. Unfortunatly you could get to the highest levels in no time at all so many people never saw the low level content that was added without starting new characters. The content issue is probably the hardest one.
They shouldn't be regulated for one very good reason.
Personal responsibility!
Maybe you've heard of it. Your grades are slipping because you play too much EverCrack? Too bad, quit playing EverCrack. Can't quit playing EverCrack? Seek out addiction counseling, it's availabe, often for free. Your ass is getting fat because you've eaten too many cheeseburgers? Quit eating cheesburgers every day.
A little common sense and some personal responsibility seem to be sorely lacking in the populace today.
You have to remember that Caldera and SCO are one and the same now. Caldera used to sell their own version of Linux. Now SCO is a part of United Linux. I would guess the number came from Caldera but still sticks because of their involvment in United Linux.
Read the Bruce Perens comment posted above and then the list of companies that the Canopy Group is a part of in a post below his. There are plenty of ways to hurt the Canopy Group through boycotts.
That's what I was thinking. Especially since my Qt licenses are about to expire and would have normally been renewed ..... hrm, what to do.
I run multiple monitors on my workstations off of a combination of AGP and PCI cards. That is the biggest reason right there. I recently helped a friend build a workstation capable of dealing with capturing multiple video streams on one PC, again the PCI bus was one of the limiting factors in his original rig (along with IDE disks) a move to some 64 bit pci capture cards that he found, a server class mother board, and SCSI drives solved the majority of the problems.
So, most of my complaints are with video, but as we start seeing more devices that are high traffic the PCI bus will be pushed to its limits, and some of us are already pushing it to its limits. I'd rather start moving to something else now than wait till joe consumer starts having the same troubles. It's not like the alternatives aren't already out there (PCI-Express, etc).
and have never heard of this. here is a link to some info on it.
As you can see from some of my other replies you'll notice that I was also glad to see ISA go, I had limited experience with MCA so can't comment much about it. I am just ready for PCI to go away since it is time.
;) I just didn't think of it because I don't use the damn things any more!
Of course I certainly could have picked on something a bit more annoying like the floppy drive
I think this is the first time I've ever burst out laughing at something in the comments of slashdot. THat was too damn funny.
Thank You.
True, they have been slipping them onto boards for at least the last ... three years? Very handy when you need 64bit PCI (especially in an X86 server).
Believe me, I remember the ISA -> PCI transition ;) However it was certainly worth it. I think the move from PCI to the next step will also be just as worth it.
64bit slots are still uncommon on moast boards.
While the user may be the slowest part I will be damn happy when the current incarnation of the PCI bus goes away.
Most of the hosting I have seen for Joe Sixpack beer comparison of the week type websites have throttling. Where either the maximum transfer rate is throttled so that you can't go over your limit in a month or the site gets shut off when the bandwidth limit is reached. However, in these economically taxing times even small and medium sized business can be hurt terribly by giant bandwidth bills. They may be able to take care of a two or three hundred dollar jump in bandwidth, but certainly not a $20k bill. Many people have made comparisons to water utilities where if you can prove that it was a leak and that you've fixed it the horrendously large amount is forgiven either partially or entirely. In the case of attacks being recieved maybe a similar approach can be taken.
Now, the problem with only focusing on outbound traffic is this. Who charges the customer for outgoing bandwidth? The isp of the person that originated the traffic. How does that cover the expenses of the ISP that recieved all of the traffic? Regardless of who sent the traffic it still ended up somewhere and someone had to pay for the bandwidth to be available to recieve the traffic. Those people are not compensated in this situation even though they are paying a price for it. Maybe you could elaborate on your thoughts to deal with this point.