What scares me is that it's another step on the road to the Zynga-ification of all games.
I don't mind DLC so much, at least that tends to be like mini-expansions, or even cheats. But what happens when the core items/content of a game become for-sale, where it is absolutely no longer adequate to simply buy the game in order to play it, but your enjoyment / ability to partake in the content is driven by how many dollars you put into the game?
Also, note that games like this need to be "balanced". The real money AH acknowledges the gold farmers, and in fact, embraces them. They are now an official part of the balance of the game. How many super rate items show up is now absolutely driven by how many hours the gold farmers log. And given that ActiBlizzard profits from the gold farmer activity, they will tweak the system to encourage their continued and active presence.
Unfortunately, power abhors a vaccuum. Take away government's power, something will fill it. In fact, that's arlready happened in large; the government has surrendered its effective power to the corporations, who still use government for their ends, but with whom the actual power lies.
As a whole, and to some degree, our nation was convinced during the Reagan years that government was somehow inherently evil. We somehow forgot about what the founders thought of it:
"...That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."
In other words, that government is supposed to be the tool of the people, protecting the rights of the people, and being the organization that did those things that were necessary for a health society and nation that wouldn't happen without some sort of organization.
Not everything can be privately owned/controlled/motivated. At the core, that is what feudalism is; a hierarchical chain of ownership. Our government may be badly damaged; its enemies may have convinced the people that should be supporting it and fixing it that it is evil, but it is still what stands between us and a true third world state.
up - jump down - duck left - move left right - move right A - shoot current object (e.g., throw a turtle at a demon) B - strike (punch a demon, or break a brick in front of you. if hit at same time jumping, breaks a brick above you)
unlock super secret key combos for special super moves!
If it is all "property rights based", then money talks the loudest (most property), and the factories will absolutely dump their crap into the rivers.
That's how it was prior to regulation; we already tried your way, and it failed. Now we have relatively clean rivers, and you want to go back to the failed approach?
I fear that approach would just mean that congress would become the practicum for high end jobs in the corporate world.
I don't have an answer; all I know is that we've allowed the center of power to shift from the interests of the people to the interests of the corporations, and made them post industrial fiefdoms.
There has to be a way for the interests of the people to be enacted into law.
Take dumping raw sewage into the river. To stop that, we need law (regulation). This is an example of good regulation.
Then there's this. SOPA regulation is the equivalent of allowing the factory owners to control what gets dumped into the river. And of course, that's going to be a brand new pipeline of proverbial sewage if it passes.
So - it's not all regulation that is evil. Yes, telling corporations that they can't dump sewage into the river may drive some away to places that will allow that sort of thing; on the other hand, what's a job worth when your children are dying of the poisons from drinking the river water?
Which, unfortunately, rather makes term limits also a hopeless cause. No point in term limits if there's a seven figure job waiting for those who vote the right way...
So, you're arguing that peer reviewed scientific theories and religious gospel are equivalent? And acceptance of the peer review process is an indicator of a religious mindset?
The Earth certainly has. But humans have a pretty narrow temperature band in which they can live. Humans sweat based temperature regulation would not have functioned over most of the Earth when the dinosaurs ruled.
But really, this isn't about the Earth's survival. It's about Humans. You're right - we haven't been around that long. And it seems that our refusal to acknowledge that we're soiling our niche will ensure that we aren't around for all that long, either.
I don't "know" in the sense that certain faith based folks "know" that they'll be the ones saved.
I do, however, know in the sense that I've read a lot about it, including impact models ranging from US government predictions (military, civilian), international studies, many of which predict widespread starvation and chaos.
Of course we're going to have an impact on our environment. The difference between us and the first cyanobacteria (that caused massive climatic upheaval when the oxygen levels on earth reached a tipping point where other first generation single celled entities died off en masse) is that we have the ability to reason, if we use it, and chose options that will not be as destructive to the ecosystem that we are a part of, and upon which we rely for our lives.
Describing the impact of global warming as "a bit more war and some starvation" is rather like describing the situation of living living in Pompeii in AD 79 as being "minorly inconvenienced by relatively minor geological events".
Global warming means that we're changing a massively complex system. And like all massively complex system, when you tweak the parameters beyond a certain point, the system as a whole can itself wind up altering other parameters drastically as it seeks a new stable state.
Or, to put it simply, global warming could potentially lead to a sudden and drastic cooling:
Again - I maintain that if you cannot preform your normal day to day activities; activities required to get to work, to feed your family, and to move about the city in which you live without submitting to random searches that you are most certainly not secure in your person.
Consider this case: let's say there was a law that to acquire food, you needed to submit to a search. That would mean that you get searched, or you starve. Most folks would agree that in this case, the letter is being violated.
I'd argue that all that's happened here is that the chain has been extended a bit. To ride the train to get to work to get the check to buy the food, you need to submit to a search.
Also:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
If you look at the text, you'll note that it is actually in direct violation. People are not secure in their persons, and there is no warrants being issued, with our without probable cause, let alone sworn.
With all this said, it probably doesn't matter. It looks to me that we may have passed the tipping point, and I'm probably a fool for even posting this.....
Well, since congress had pushback and delayed the vote until folks got weary of fighting (but the lobbyists won't get weary of lobbying, have no doubt), they probably figure if they can get other Western countries to go all draconian, it'll be easier here..
Slashdot Mirror
What scares me is that it's another step on the road to the Zynga-ification of all games.
I don't mind DLC so much, at least that tends to be like mini-expansions, or even cheats. But what happens when the core items/content of a game become for-sale, where it is absolutely no longer adequate to simply buy the game in order to play it, but your enjoyment / ability to partake in the content is driven by how many dollars you put into the game?
Also, note that games like this need to be "balanced". The real money AH acknowledges the gold farmers, and in fact, embraces them. They are now an official part of the balance of the game. How many super rate items show up is now absolutely driven by how many hours the gold farmers log. And given that ActiBlizzard profits from the gold farmer activity, they will tweak the system to encourage their continued and active presence.
Unfortunately, power abhors a vaccuum. Take away government's power, something will fill it. In fact, that's arlready happened in large; the government has surrendered its effective power to the corporations, who still use government for their ends, but with whom the actual power lies.
As a whole, and to some degree, our nation was convinced during the Reagan years that government was somehow inherently evil. We somehow forgot about what the founders thought of it:
"...That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."
In other words, that government is supposed to be the tool of the people, protecting the rights of the people, and being the organization that did those things that were necessary for a health society and nation that wouldn't happen without some sort of organization.
Not everything can be privately owned/controlled/motivated. At the core, that is what feudalism is; a hierarchical chain of ownership. Our government may be badly damaged; its enemies may have convinced the people that should be supporting it and fixing it that it is evil, but it is still what stands between us and a true third world state.
Yes. Though, I'm sure that Facebook would prefer people believe otherwise.
up - jump
down - duck
left - move left
right - move right
A - shoot current object (e.g., throw a turtle at a demon)
B - strike (punch a demon, or break a brick in front of you. if hit at same time jumping, breaks a brick above you)
unlock super secret key combos for special super moves!
... of "Pokemon Pandas: Farmin' the Grind".
If it is all "property rights based", then money talks the loudest (most property), and the factories will absolutely dump their crap into the rivers.
That's how it was prior to regulation; we already tried your way, and it failed. Now we have relatively clean rivers, and you want to go back to the failed approach?
I fear that approach would just mean that congress would become the practicum for high end jobs in the corporate world.
I don't have an answer; all I know is that we've allowed the center of power to shift from the interests of the people to the interests of the corporations, and made them post industrial fiefdoms.
Here's the thing that your argument misses.
There has to be a way for the interests of the people to be enacted into law.
Take dumping raw sewage into the river. To stop that, we need law (regulation). This is an example of good regulation.
Then there's this. SOPA regulation is the equivalent of allowing the factory owners to control what gets dumped into the river. And of course, that's going to be a brand new pipeline of proverbial sewage if it passes.
So - it's not all regulation that is evil. Yes, telling corporations that they can't dump sewage into the river may drive some away to places that will allow that sort of thing; on the other hand, what's a job worth when your children are dying of the poisons from drinking the river water?
Link from TFA:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201201050008
The people aren't hearing about this because those who benefit most are also the keepers of the majority of the nation's information.
Which, unfortunately, rather makes term limits also a hopeless cause. No point in term limits if there's a seven figure job waiting for those who vote the right way...
So, you're arguing that peer reviewed scientific theories and religious gospel are equivalent? And acceptance of the peer review process is an indicator of a religious mindset?
That's right up there with, "if the glaciers melt, people who depend on them for water will actually have more water"...
The Earth certainly has. But humans have a pretty narrow temperature band in which they can live. Humans sweat based temperature regulation would not have functioned over most of the Earth when the dinosaurs ruled.
But really, this isn't about the Earth's survival. It's about Humans. You're right - we haven't been around that long. And it seems that our refusal to acknowledge that we're soiling our niche will ensure that we aren't around for all that long, either.
I don't "know" in the sense that certain faith based folks "know" that they'll be the ones saved.
I do, however, know in the sense that I've read a lot about it, including impact models ranging from US government predictions (military, civilian), international studies, many of which predict widespread starvation and chaos.
Of course we're going to have an impact on our environment. The difference between us and the first cyanobacteria (that caused massive climatic upheaval when the oxygen levels on earth reached a tipping point where other first generation single celled entities died off en masse) is that we have the ability to reason, if we use it, and chose options that will not be as destructive to the ecosystem that we are a part of, and upon which we rely for our lives.
Unfortunately, the Outsiders have yet to show up and teach us how get us off this mudball. So, we're kind of stuck fixing our own problems.
Describing the impact of global warming as "a bit more war and some starvation" is rather like describing the situation of living living in Pompeii in AD 79 as being "minorly inconvenienced by relatively minor geological events".
Except... that isn't quite how it works.
Global warming means that we're changing a massively complex system. And like all massively complex system, when you tweak the parameters beyond a certain point, the system as a whole can itself wind up altering other parameters drastically as it seeks a new stable state.
Or, to put it simply, global warming could potentially lead to a sudden and drastic cooling:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2004/05mar_arctic/
Maybe because of this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15342682
Traveler tried a modular approach, and fell apart because of it. 30 different short rule books just didn't do the trick.
Again - I maintain that if you cannot preform your normal day to day activities; activities required to get to work, to feed your family, and to move about the city in which you live without submitting to random searches that you are most certainly not secure in your person.
I'd say that even the letter isn't.
Consider this case: let's say there was a law that to acquire food, you needed to submit to a search. That would mean that you get searched, or you starve. Most folks would agree that in this case, the letter is being violated.
I'd argue that all that's happened here is that the chain has been extended a bit. To ride the train to get to work to get the check to buy the food, you need to submit to a search.
Also:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
If you look at the text, you'll note that it is actually in direct violation. People are not secure in their persons, and there is no warrants being issued, with our without probable cause, let alone sworn.
With all this said, it probably doesn't matter. It looks to me that we may have passed the tipping point, and I'm probably a fool for even posting this.....
Well, since congress had pushback and delayed the vote until folks got weary of fighting (but the lobbyists won't get weary of lobbying, have no doubt), they probably figure if they can get other Western countries to go all draconian, it'll be easier here..
Libraries are just evil socialist plots to take money out of the pockets of the publishing houses. /snark
Do you have a right to breathe?
What about breathing clean air?