Gold farming is the fault of MMORPG companies
on
China Bans Gold Farming
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I like WOW and I have liked many other games before that.
The problem WOW faces is that gold has to be used to buy one particular feature from a NPC no player can substitute for, epic flying. While "normal" flying and such gets you there, epic flying is so many times as fast that it not only becomes a status symbol it has become a requirement for many people. If they had put the effort into making it obtainable by quests that people could do during the course of their play or even a few group quests they could eliminate much of the gold need.
I know of nothing that causes more "gold strife" than mount costs. Blizzard likes to state that epic flight skill isn't needed, but it is required to fly special mounts that attract a lot of interest from players, specifically dragons. Sorry, they can claim not needed all the want, if that were so they can't justify the price. After all if its just fluff then why is is so expensive compared to other forms of movement.
Throw in rare drops that can be sold and therein comes another source of outside gold. People play these games to have, some play to prove competitiveness, but I don't know of people paying to work again. Consider the time it takes to accrue the required gold just for in game NPC purchases and it makes sense that a market formed to sell it. I cannot make the money at a rate competitive in time to what I could buy it for. Even at $20 per 1000 gold (it spams much lower than that in game - seen 7 to 8 dollars per 1000 gold) it is dirt cheap compared to the time I would have to take away from game play : read enjoyment.
Make gold trivial or strive to eliminate penalties, and the cost is just that. Recently blizzard introduced the ability for players to have two complete talent specifications per character. Cost 1000g! Hence something which has no lore backing, is nothing more than a convenience, yet considered "required" by any serious players again asserts the need to have lots of gold.
you could train your run skill up to silly numbers and just fly across its landscape. Throw in a dearth of portals from location to location and you could get anywhere you needed. When one aspect of unattended play shone in a game, AC had player run portal bots. With the ability of a character with the right skills to link and open to two portals it made for even better fun. Best yet, most portal bots operated as buff bots and would fully load your player with an hour or more of incredible (okay - near game breaking for lower level) abilities.
Throw in the fact it was the first really zone less game and it make running around AC fun.
Still, why not do it? For the simple reason, increasing play time and subscription time.
the secrecy and similar government abuse because it was under a Republican Administration.
Look at all the crap Obama's group is pulling with various IG across the country. Shutting down investigations or attempting to intimidate. He has brought Chicago style politics with him.
I was never really afraid of Bush's abuse. We had the press constantly nipping on his heels. They and a adversarial Congress were are best line of defense against that Administration. Now with ABC fighting MSNBC for the rights to sleep in the White House who do we have? Rush? Sean? Oh, please.
I also cannot stand the comparisons some of those right wingers make with Obama to Carter. At least Carter stood up to his own party, damning himself in the process. Yet he did and he really did try to make it work. Fortunately Reagan was able to pull off of a lot of it, yet again we had a diligent press and adversarial Congress to keep him mostly honest. Same worked for Clinton post 94.
This guy is simply dangerous because he is getting a free pass from the expected watch dogs and worse he knows it and is using it.
Lets see, to get votes from Democrats in heavily affected states Pelosi will force upon us even more years and billions towards Ethanol. It is a 1200 page bill I doubt you will find if a small minority has read it all, let alone understands it. It will embed taxes while vilifying energy producers - the common theme of Washington - raising the cost of EVERYTHING.
The CBO report was hacked to make it look acceptable, real numbers by other groups put the cost from 1800 to 3000 per family.
I guess they have to rush to get their damage done in the two years they will have complete control. Honestly, once these timebombs start going off its going to flip the house and senate back. Maybe then we can have a real President and real Congress - ones so busy fighting each other that we get some protection from both.
As in, bring back a Republican majority in Congress and Democrat President who will fight them. Not this shit we have now where the President lets Congress run the ball and then claims credit for the touch down with the press dutifully cheering on the side lines with their pom poms.
Tax reform will never happen while government lives up the hidden power of embedded taxes.
Because the money spent needs to be factored as, how much could he have made investing it and provided he didn't take a loan to get it all change the equation.
Throw in, what is the change in insurance cost, maintenance of said units, and then determine true savings. I think he will find it will not pay for itself within ten to fifteen years.
I also think that to speed up his return he needs an energy audit to find out how he is wasting electricity. Perhaps 4k to 5k power bills are the norm, but it seems excessive. I power a nearly 4000 square foot home in Georgia and through purposeful management of electricity and gas I might peak at 3600 if I get silly but tend to be below 3k for the year. My expensive months are winter months where I have to heat the place as gas cost me more than electricity I need to cool the home. Think, ceiling fans, zoned heating/cooling, and tolerance for 78 for summer temperature inside and 68 during winter. I also exploit cool nights with a box fan or two.
they are a COA... putting to shame what HOA's do to people all the time. So how far down the road before we have enforcement of "community standards"? It isn't who is monitoring me that concerns me most, it is who decides what is monitored and what is reported. Who has access to what is recorded and what rights to those recorded are afforded them? Though I do disagree with you in one regard, elected officials tend to be above the law meaning that you have little true voice. At least with a "private" organization you can have the government be your watchdog over them and their actions.
That was how Sony convinced the producers that they had won, by counting PS3's instead of stand alone players. This is no different than some of the Apple people claiming 10% market share but failing to state that it included phones!
Personal account, only one of the circle of friends who has a PS3 have more than two blu ray movies. Most don't even use it to play regular DVDs, it is the "KIDS MACHINE".
HD-DVD loaded faster, have less expensive players, and less expensive movies. It also had some great shows/movies out early that Blu Ray did not. I have both players now, I would have loved HD-DVD to have won. Why? Because of the G-D ads that too many Blu-Ray movies force you to sit through. See, that AD thing is probably another reason movie producers would favor Sony over HD. They could force you to watch their ads for other products because HD stated that that feature was not allowed - not so in Blu-Ray
Well with http://red2blu.com/ I could get the blu-ray versions fairly cheap, but my HD-DVD player is again, faster and less prone to abuse by the dvd creator.
Sony screwed the consumer over by lies and buying off the movie producers. They are getting exactly what they deserve, flat to falling sales. The players are overpriced and worse the movies border on extortionist in pricing. I do not buy new Blu-Ray movies, I rent them on occasion, but if they are higher than standard DVD I will just wait till the price goes down. This has two effects, by the time the price comes down the movie may no longer be interesting to me meaning I didn't need it anyway, the second being that perhaps one day they will get the hint.
it is that many colleges are not setup to deliver people with an education that gives them the skills necessary to work. Oh sure, they know this language or that language and some "college specified" fundamentals but damn it doesn't make them good, let alone god which some come off as thinking they are.
Actually that last line may be more in line with what this guy is really saying : They don't listen. Too full of ideas after a few days on the job they don't give time to understand why things work they way they do they only assume all the old timers are dolts and they could fix everything if anyone would just listen.
because while I have no problem with people buying the best medical care they can I do have one where they can buy innocence or buy off the sentence they deserve.
Regardless, I still am against having other people being forced to pay for my routine medical care. Paying for catastrophic should first be my concern as well but I can see where a medical system setup where catastrophic could be public funded provided it doesn't excuse the person receiving it from making a best effort.
when there are so many people out there claiming that failure isn't their fault. Let alone a government which essentially pats them on the back and tells them that the government will make it all right, the government will take care of them, the government will take money from other, more successful people, and give it to them?
When you have schools which decry any form of testing or proof of ability? When schools and the unions fight tooth and nail to ignore or subvert proof of the schools upholding their education ability?
When you can pass kids because they tried... because "trying" is so easy to prove.
If you want to effect true change you have to put the time and effort in. Politicians rely on APATHY. They know most people will buy whichever person is more effectively packaged and presented to them.
and don't forget the other problem, Congress sucks but my Congressman is one of the few good ones.
So the ability to make threats or derogatory comments without having to take responsibility is a basic human right?
When does responsibility for ones actions apply? Or is it a basic human right not be responsible for what one does or says? Or is that only when the subject agreed upon is mutually acceptable for ostracism?
see that Blackberry the Prez carries... found out he was calling the wife.
well, one thing led to another and...
Most likely, the IRS seriously fumbled the handling of the issue and instead of getting ahead of it they got caught with their pants down. Since about everyone likes to hate to the IRS and it makes great talk radio ratings they really didn't have much of a choice. Best of all its not a loss either, they were not collecting it so they can't lose money they didn't collect. Everyone wins, the pundits can claim their bringing to the people got it resolved and the IRS can look magnanimous for removing a stupid tax.
whose comments can be summarized as "We care for the people of Iran provided it does not offend the leadership of Iran"
Really, when are the new guys in charge here going to get it, not everyone likes you, not everyone cares if your being nice, and that line in the sand is forever movable.
The sad story is, look how most of the world is reacting, they could roll tanks over people in a square and probably get the 2016 Olympics.
What if its a government book that states you cannot have procedure X because you don't requirements Y, or Z? Or, you can have it, but not until political grouping A and B have sufficient opportunities first?
Religion or bureaucracy, does it really matter if the end result is the same?
The difference between religious and government rules is that the later is enforced at the point of a gun
Of course, if they could prove that sexual preference is genetic I believe we will see some real outrage with "We can guarantee your baby will NOT be gay"
Having to press a key on the keyboard and click has got to be the most entertaining solution I have seen as 'good' in a long time.
I think it is funny the genius bar people practically tell people to get a microsoft mouse.
multiple cable speaker systems, its about time we had a single cable solution for attached speakers that provided easy to implement separation of channels. USB for everything please, or something similar.
It has NOTHING to do with Iraq. Funding is totally driven by votes. The only reason people in Washington bellyache about Iraq is that is means less money to buy votes with. After all, what Congressman doesn't want a library, pool, road, or bridge, named after them to enforce upon the people " I DID THIS "
Sorry, Iraq is a bullshit answer and we all her know it. It is the latte sipping head nodding know-nothing response. It was funny/stupid when Bush was around but it was just as relevant as to why little money goes into science now as it was then - which is it has no effect - but it does make a good excuse for the uninformed.
Look at our budget expenditures, WHERE THE FUCK IS THERE ANY MONEY LEFT? Hell, where does the real money end and the funny money begin?
Battery research gets no votes. NASA gets hardly any votes. If you noticed outside of pandering to specific groups through health research almost all science related grants are for building named sites (named as in after the sponsors)
OK, lets say we come up with some money. Well how long after we start funding research into better automobiles before the EU screams we are breaking rules by funding research the auto companies should do themselves? We see examples all the time with Boeing.
No its not Iraq, it never was. Congress is buried under the din of thousands of screaming special interest groups and they know who keeps them in office.
I love how ambiguous this all is. It really comes down to is "Bob doesn't think this but Rob does" How does the average person on the street know when accurate has been reached?
One could say that the accuracy of the article will suffer even more based on the bias of the site this article was submitted to.
but if you use an artificially short time span you wouldn't see it. I guess that makes the story easier.
In the realm of MMORPG you could claim EQ was original IP when it came out, so was Asheron's Call (very different from any MMORPG then and since - if anything it had many features that need to exist in newer MMORPGS).
Still I can summarize the need for original IP.
Expectations are set to high especially if the IP is well known. Witness LOTRO. They are literally handcuffed by the novels and every feature is measured by rabid fans against whatever they deem as cannon. For Blizzard to create a new IP means that we don't have to worry about Starcraft being crammed into a MMORPG and will see good RTS games on it. Diablo too will not be hammered into some form alien from what made it so fun to play.
The reason to not use original IP. Because it can provide consistency and take care a lot of the work needed to give a world life. Many things can be glossed over relying on the player to know the history from the original IP. Why does mob X do that? Well if you had read the novels, seen the movie, etc, you would inherently know. A few patches in and some NPC might be wise enough. Plus it justifies what otherwise might be considered stupid abilities or traits on npcs/mobs/pcs that exist.
As for other companies, oh well, lets hope someone can figure out the right combination to at least get their original IP seen. The problem with many is they promise the moon and deliver a steaming piile.
That is exactly how they would like it portrayed. The real truth is we are lucky to have any budget for NASA currently. Considering the reckless, if not criminal, debt being piled up in just the first year I will be surprised if NASA doesn't get bigger cuts going forward. How long can the funny money last? The real threat to scientific investment by the US government is all the new entitlements and "stimulus of the moment" bills coming down the pike. Eventually reality will bite us hard, we cannot print our way into having it all, someone pays the bill.
NASA's budget has always been pitiful. It will continue to be so because it isn't the science of the rich and powerful climate groups who have the money to buy influence to get even more money. I expect NASA money to be directed into more "Climate" areas as a way of funneling money to payoff people who voted right or supported the right people.
Each year we seem to get new reasons to blame NASA's budget shortfall but in the end it really all boils down to NASA is being kept around because they have to keep it. If it were not for other nations reaching for space currently or the military needing to keep progress going I would have had no doubt that NASA would be reduced to unmanned flights.
Until NASA becomes a real public interest it won't get money. NASA generates very few votes. It would probably take a meteor or Extraterrestrial's to get people interested enough to where they get the funding many of us here like.
but I would put more money on another shoe bomber before placing it on a meteor.
As for reporting times and such ruling out a bomb, from 35,000 feet to Ocean Floor isn't instant. Also, all a bomb has to do is damage it sufficiently not to fly... not blow it to bits. The one that came down over Britain, Lockerbie, broke up in flight from a small bomb spreading debris over a very large area (over 800 square miles)
So here is to hoping there is no bomb and simply pilot error. If its the former then someone would have stepped forward already, as for the later, well Air France or Airbus (forget who) already issued new directives to maintain higher speeds in storms.
The real threats are finding out that the composites used are not up the task.
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I like WOW and I have liked many other games before that.
The problem WOW faces is that gold has to be used to buy one particular feature from a NPC no player can substitute for, epic flying. While "normal" flying and such gets you there, epic flying is so many times as fast that it not only becomes a status symbol it has become a requirement for many people. If they had put the effort into making it obtainable by quests that people could do during the course of their play or even a few group quests they could eliminate much of the gold need.
I know of nothing that causes more "gold strife" than mount costs. Blizzard likes to state that epic flight skill isn't needed, but it is required to fly special mounts that attract a lot of interest from players, specifically dragons. Sorry, they can claim not needed all the want, if that were so they can't justify the price. After all if its just fluff then why is is so expensive compared to other forms of movement.
Throw in rare drops that can be sold and therein comes another source of outside gold. People play these games to have, some play to prove competitiveness, but I don't know of people paying to work again. Consider the time it takes to accrue the required gold just for in game NPC purchases and it makes sense that a market formed to sell it. I cannot make the money at a rate competitive in time to what I could buy it for. Even at $20 per 1000 gold (it spams much lower than that in game - seen 7 to 8 dollars per 1000 gold) it is dirt cheap compared to the time I would have to take away from game play : read enjoyment.
Make gold trivial or strive to eliminate penalties, and the cost is just that. Recently blizzard introduced the ability for players to have two complete talent specifications per character. Cost 1000g! Hence something which has no lore backing, is nothing more than a convenience, yet considered "required" by any serious players again asserts the need to have lots of gold.
Not smart.
you could train your run skill up to silly numbers and just fly across its landscape. Throw in a dearth of portals from location to location and you could get anywhere you needed. When one aspect of unattended play shone in a game, AC had player run portal bots. With the ability of a character with the right skills to link and open to two portals it made for even better fun. Best yet, most portal bots operated as buff bots and would fully load your player with an hour or more of incredible (okay - near game breaking for lower level) abilities.
Throw in the fact it was the first really zone less game and it make running around AC fun.
Still, why not do it? For the simple reason, increasing play time and subscription time.
the secrecy and similar government abuse because it was under a Republican Administration.
Look at all the crap Obama's group is pulling with various IG across the country. Shutting down investigations or attempting to intimidate. He has brought Chicago style politics with him.
I was never really afraid of Bush's abuse. We had the press constantly nipping on his heels. They and a adversarial Congress were are best line of defense against that Administration. Now with ABC fighting MSNBC for the rights to sleep in the White House who do we have? Rush? Sean? Oh, please.
I also cannot stand the comparisons some of those right wingers make with Obama to Carter. At least Carter stood up to his own party, damning himself in the process. Yet he did and he really did try to make it work. Fortunately Reagan was able to pull off of a lot of it, yet again we had a diligent press and adversarial Congress to keep him mostly honest. Same worked for Clinton post 94.
This guy is simply dangerous because he is getting a free pass from the expected watch dogs and worse he knows it and is using it.
Lets see, to get votes from Democrats in heavily affected states Pelosi will force upon us even more years and billions towards Ethanol. It is a 1200 page bill I doubt you will find if a small minority has read it all, let alone understands it. It will embed taxes while vilifying energy producers - the common theme of Washington - raising the cost of EVERYTHING.
The CBO report was hacked to make it look acceptable, real numbers by other groups put the cost from 1800 to 3000 per family.
I guess they have to rush to get their damage done in the two years they will have complete control. Honestly, once these timebombs start going off its going to flip the house and senate back. Maybe then we can have a real President and real Congress - ones so busy fighting each other that we get some protection from both.
As in, bring back a Republican majority in Congress and Democrat President who will fight them. Not this shit we have now where the President lets Congress run the ball and then claims credit for the touch down with the press dutifully cheering on the side lines with their pom poms.
Tax reform will never happen while government lives up the hidden power of embedded taxes.
There is only one problem with that goal.
Who chooses.
Even if we could decide it was something we had to do, how could anyone choose and be successful all the while being PC?
Because the money spent needs to be factored as, how much could he have made investing it and provided he didn't take a loan to get it all change the equation.
Throw in, what is the change in insurance cost, maintenance of said units, and then determine true savings. I think he will find it will not pay for itself within ten to fifteen years.
I also think that to speed up his return he needs an energy audit to find out how he is wasting electricity. Perhaps 4k to 5k power bills are the norm, but it seems excessive. I power a nearly 4000 square foot home in Georgia and through purposeful management of electricity and gas I might peak at 3600 if I get silly but tend to be below 3k for the year. My expensive months are winter months where I have to heat the place as gas cost me more than electricity I need to cool the home. Think, ceiling fans, zoned heating/cooling, and tolerance for 78 for summer temperature inside and 68 during winter. I also exploit cool nights with a box fan or two.
there have been numerous stories stating putting the things near where bats dwell in numbers turns it into a massacre.
Regardless where they are put someone will bitch.
Let alone, if we have nearly unlimited electricity what will we do with the heat?
they are a COA... putting to shame what HOA's do to people all the time. So how far down the road before we have enforcement of "community standards"? It isn't who is monitoring me that concerns me most, it is who decides what is monitored and what is reported. Who has access to what is recorded and what rights to those recorded are afforded them? Though I do disagree with you in one regard, elected officials tend to be above the law meaning that you have little true voice. At least with a "private" organization you can have the government be your watchdog over them and their actions.
That was how Sony convinced the producers that they had won, by counting PS3's instead of stand alone players. This is no different than some of the Apple people claiming 10% market share but failing to state that it included phones!
Personal account, only one of the circle of friends who has a PS3 have more than two blu ray movies. Most don't even use it to play regular DVDs, it is the "KIDS MACHINE".
HD-DVD loaded faster, have less expensive players, and less expensive movies. It also had some great shows/movies out early that Blu Ray did not. I have both players now, I would have loved HD-DVD to have won. Why? Because of the G-D ads that too many Blu-Ray movies force you to sit through. See, that AD thing is probably another reason movie producers would favor Sony over HD. They could force you to watch their ads for other products because HD stated that that feature was not allowed - not so in Blu-Ray
Well with http://red2blu.com/ I could get the blu-ray versions fairly cheap, but my HD-DVD player is again, faster and less prone to abuse by the dvd creator.
Sony screwed the consumer over by lies and buying off the movie producers. They are getting exactly what they deserve, flat to falling sales. The players are overpriced and worse the movies border on extortionist in pricing. I do not buy new Blu-Ray movies, I rent them on occasion, but if they are higher than standard DVD I will just wait till the price goes down. This has two effects, by the time the price comes down the movie may no longer be interesting to me meaning I didn't need it anyway, the second being that perhaps one day they will get the hint.
it is that many colleges are not setup to deliver people with an education that gives them the skills necessary to work. Oh sure, they know this language or that language and some "college specified" fundamentals but damn it doesn't make them good, let alone god which some come off as thinking they are.
Actually that last line may be more in line with what this guy is really saying : They don't listen. Too full of ideas after a few days on the job they don't give time to understand why things work they way they do they only assume all the old timers are dolts and they could fix everything if anyone would just listen.
can we get socialized justice?
because while I have no problem with people buying the best medical care they can I do have one where they can buy innocence or buy off the sentence they deserve.
Regardless, I still am against having other people being forced to pay for my routine medical care. Paying for catastrophic should first be my concern as well but I can see where a medical system setup where catastrophic could be public funded provided it doesn't excuse the person receiving it from making a best effort.
when there are so many people out there claiming that failure isn't their fault. Let alone a government which essentially pats them on the back and tells them that the government will make it all right, the government will take care of them, the government will take money from other, more successful people, and give it to them?
When you have schools which decry any form of testing or proof of ability? When schools and the unions fight tooth and nail to ignore or subvert proof of the schools upholding their education ability?
When you can pass kids because they tried... because "trying" is so easy to prove.
and get on the street and use that shoe leather.
If you want to effect true change you have to put the time and effort in. Politicians rely on APATHY. They know most people will buy whichever person is more effectively packaged and presented to them.
and don't forget the other problem, Congress sucks but my Congressman is one of the few good ones.
W T F ????
So the ability to make threats or derogatory comments without having to take responsibility is a basic human right?
When does responsibility for ones actions apply? Or is it a basic human right not be responsible for what one does or says? Or is that only when the subject agreed upon is mutually acceptable for ostracism?
see that Blackberry the Prez carries... found out he was calling the wife.
well, one thing led to another and...
Most likely, the IRS seriously fumbled the handling of the issue and instead of getting ahead of it they got caught with their pants down. Since about everyone likes to hate to the IRS and it makes great talk radio ratings they really didn't have much of a choice. Best of all its not a loss either, they were not collecting it so they can't lose money they didn't collect. Everyone wins, the pundits can claim their bringing to the people got it resolved and the IRS can look magnanimous for removing a stupid tax.
whose comments can be summarized as "We care for the people of Iran provided it does not offend the leadership of Iran"
Really, when are the new guys in charge here going to get it, not everyone likes you, not everyone cares if your being nice, and that line in the sand is forever movable.
The sad story is, look how most of the world is reacting, they could roll tanks over people in a square and probably get the 2016 Olympics.
What if its a government book that states you cannot have procedure X because you don't requirements Y, or Z? Or, you can have it, but not until political grouping A and B have sufficient opportunities first?
Religion or bureaucracy, does it really matter if the end result is the same?
The difference between religious and government rules is that the later is enforced at the point of a gun
skin color and such to come down the pike.
Of course, if they could prove that sexual preference is genetic I believe we will see some real outrage with "We can guarantee your baby will NOT be gay"
Having to press a key on the keyboard and click has got to be the most entertaining solution I have seen as 'good' in a long time.
I think it is funny the genius bar people practically tell people to get a microsoft mouse.
multiple cable speaker systems, its about time we had a single cable solution for attached speakers that provided easy to implement separation of channels. USB for everything please, or something similar.
It has NOTHING to do with Iraq. Funding is totally driven by votes. The only reason people in Washington bellyache about Iraq is that is means less money to buy votes with. After all, what Congressman doesn't want a library, pool, road, or bridge, named after them to enforce upon the people " I DID THIS "
I can guarantee you will see more money pissed away on climate sciences. You will see all the wonderful funds that could go into research instead piped into ethanol subsidies, bailing out the UAW and a few more unions who spent themselves broke during the election http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124458836591599769.html, you have another soon to be mismanaged payout through the http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124467696781404127.html, and what about the fact there is no money and Congress constantly doesn't even follow their own rules http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124467627264104053.html
Sorry, Iraq is a bullshit answer and we all her know it. It is the latte sipping head nodding know-nothing response. It was funny/stupid when Bush was around but it was just as relevant as to why little money goes into science now as it was then - which is it has no effect - but it does make a good excuse for the uninformed.
Look at our budget expenditures, WHERE THE FUCK IS THERE ANY MONEY LEFT? Hell, where does the real money end and the funny money begin?
Battery research gets no votes. NASA gets hardly any votes. If you noticed outside of pandering to specific groups through health research almost all science related grants are for building named sites (named as in after the sponsors)
OK, lets say we come up with some money. Well how long after we start funding research into better automobiles before the EU screams we are breaking rules by funding research the auto companies should do themselves? We see examples all the time with Boeing.
No its not Iraq, it never was. Congress is buried under the din of thousands of screaming special interest groups and they know who keeps them in office.
What defines accurate?
I love how ambiguous this all is. It really comes down to is "Bob doesn't think this but Rob does" How does the average person on the street know when accurate has been reached?
One could say that the accuracy of the article will suffer even more based on the bias of the site this article was submitted to.
but if you use an artificially short time span you wouldn't see it. I guess that makes the story easier.
In the realm of MMORPG you could claim EQ was original IP when it came out, so was Asheron's Call (very different from any MMORPG then and since - if anything it had many features that need to exist in newer MMORPGS).
Still I can summarize the need for original IP.
Expectations are set to high especially if the IP is well known. Witness LOTRO. They are literally handcuffed by the novels and every feature is measured by rabid fans against whatever they deem as cannon. For Blizzard to create a new IP means that we don't have to worry about Starcraft being crammed into a MMORPG and will see good RTS games on it. Diablo too will not be hammered into some form alien from what made it so fun to play.
The reason to not use original IP. Because it can provide consistency and take care a lot of the work needed to give a world life. Many things can be glossed over relying on the player to know the history from the original IP. Why does mob X do that? Well if you had read the novels, seen the movie, etc, you would inherently know. A few patches in and some NPC might be wise enough. Plus it justifies what otherwise might be considered stupid abilities or traits on npcs/mobs/pcs that exist.
As for other companies, oh well, lets hope someone can figure out the right combination to at least get their original IP seen. The problem with many is they promise the moon and deliver a steaming piile.
They just didn't have an announcement ready.
See the engadget article, while brief confirms its availability http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/08/atandt-well-offer-tethering-on-the-iphone/
That is exactly how they would like it portrayed. The real truth is we are lucky to have any budget for NASA currently. Considering the reckless, if not criminal, debt being piled up in just the first year I will be surprised if NASA doesn't get bigger cuts going forward. How long can the funny money last? The real threat to scientific investment by the US government is all the new entitlements and "stimulus of the moment" bills coming down the pike. Eventually reality will bite us hard, we cannot print our way into having it all, someone pays the bill.
NASA's budget has always been pitiful. It will continue to be so because it isn't the science of the rich and powerful climate groups who have the money to buy influence to get even more money. I expect NASA money to be directed into more "Climate" areas as a way of funneling money to payoff people who voted right or supported the right people.
Each year we seem to get new reasons to blame NASA's budget shortfall but in the end it really all boils down to NASA is being kept around because they have to keep it. If it were not for other nations reaching for space currently or the military needing to keep progress going I would have had no doubt that NASA would be reduced to unmanned flights.
Until NASA becomes a real public interest it won't get money. NASA generates very few votes. It would probably take a meteor or Extraterrestrial's to get people interested enough to where they get the funding many of us here like.
but I would put more money on another shoe bomber before placing it on a meteor.
As for reporting times and such ruling out a bomb, from 35,000 feet to Ocean Floor isn't instant. Also, all a bomb has to do is damage it sufficiently not to fly... not blow it to bits. The one that came down over Britain, Lockerbie, broke up in flight from a small bomb spreading debris over a very large area (over 800 square miles)
So here is to hoping there is no bomb and simply pilot error. If its the former then someone would have stepped forward already, as for the later, well Air France or Airbus (forget who) already issued new directives to maintain higher speeds in storms.
The real threats are finding out that the composites used are not up the task.