A lot of people make the moral argument against copyright infringement. As well and good as that may be, and as much as I may agree with it, that argument is pointless and naive.
For every "pirate" they arrest, ten spring up in his place. For every p2p network that gets shut down/investigated/compromised, ten faster, more secure, more anonymous networks spring up in its place. Furthermore, many developing (and some developed) nations have absolutely no incentive whatsoever to enforce copyright law.
Bandwidth is increasing. Users are becoming more and more techno-savy. The technology is getting better.
This cannot be stopped. Legislative measures end at national borders, and do not effectively deter (see the drug war). Technological measures will always be circumvented. Moralistic measures have no power of enforcement.
It's not a matter of whether this is right or wrong. It's not a matter of whether intellectual property is legally protected.
It's a matter of technology existing that cannot un-exist.
Entities that rely on intellectual property protections have only two viable long-term paths at this point:
1) Adapt to this new world. 2) Be destroyed by it.
Yes, it may be wrong. Yes, it may be stealing. Yes, it will put people out of work. The sad fact, however, is that these points are irrelevant in the face of the simple truth that it can not and will not be stopped.
There comes a point in any losing battle where you cut your losses, step back, and re-evaluate your situation. We passed that point long ago.
Oh joy! Now I can pay a monthly fee for better graphics on what are essentially implementations of Progress Quest coupled with a chat room of some sort.
At least Progress Quest automates the leveling treadmill.
I mean, yes! I killed enough blue slimes to buy the red sword. Now I can.. kill red slimes! With larger numbers of hit points and damage!
Yea, go to his door. Not mine. I'm a wuss, and I really don't want to be arrested.;^)
Funny. Apreche always said he WANTED to be sued by the RIAA back at Uni. Wanted to fight them in court and all that. Now he wants the same thing from the SS.
I don't know if he's brilliant, insane, or just has a death wish...;^)
I hereby and formally state that the above comment was made as satire, and was entirely in jest.
My point is that there is an enormous noise-to-signal ratio on the internet as more and more information becomes available at a higher rate. Continuing the policy of automatic investigation of "any" written threat regardless of context will become an increasingly expensive, resource-consuming enterprise, and will furthermore become less and less effective due to the massive increase of false-positives.
Basically, if the SS actually knocks on my door, we're in a sad state here in these United States.
This comment has been removed since it was clearly in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 871 (Threats Against The President) and / or Section 875 (Interstate Communications: Extortions / Threats). You can Read More Here. We're sorry to have to do this, and while we don't necessarily agree with this, it is still the law. When the Secret Service gets involved, we don't have many options. We appreciate your understanding in the matter. Please call (202) 406-5000 if you have any questions.
I guess I'll have to stop playing mp3s on by BSD boxen..
I frankly don't see mp3 going anywhere in the near future. It's ubiquitous, open, and of high quality. Despite what many "audiophiles" will say to the contrary, a 224 capped VBR0 mp3 will not be perceptibly different from even a the most perfect "lossless" method for 99% of music.
My 486 can play mp3s. My crappy DVD player can play mp3s. My old-as-hell CD-based mp3 player can play mp3s.
Sure, someday there will be a switch. Maybe for multi-channel audio, maybe for special neural orgasm stimulation, maybe for quantum compression. But for the time being, no file format exists that has enough of a net benefit over mp3 to warrent a mass-exodus.
Why should people be allowed to insult Islam, a sincerely held belief that hundreds of millions of people agree with? We would not put up with anyone insulting Christianity.
The First Ammendmend (in the US at least)
Hell, we don't even let people burn our flag!
Yes, we do. Flag-burning is protected speech, and the ammendment proposed to change that fact was shot down.
When will you Atheists realise that your beliefs are just as much a religion as anthing you find in the Bible or the Quran?
Heh.. Freedom of speech. If you don't like us, speak your mind. If you speak your mind, don't be surprised if we speak right back.
I suppose I'll get shot down in flames for pointing this out,
Yes.
but the levels of Islamophobia and general religious intolerance at slashdot are staggering.
Hmph.. So there's a vague coorelation between technological savy and intolerance of religion? Fancy that.
This is a hypothesized region farther down on the peiodic table where extremely heavy elements become stable and long-lasting, albeit with interesting properties due to the large number of sub-elements of which they're comprised.
I hope they call 155 Elerium. That would make my day in ways that are both profound and creepily geeky.
I'm serious. We should petition whoever it is we petition for things like that.
(I'll also note at this time that, if they actually do name it Elerium, I will make it my life's mission to start a corporation called X-Com and laugh maniacally as my alien-possessed squaddies panic and throw fusion bombs into the transport just as it lands...)/best game evar
This seems like the final nail in the coffin for the PSP. After all, what good is amazing, state-of-the-art hardware, if the developers avoid pushing it to its full potential for fear of draining the battery?
Remember the Game Gear? It was lightyears ahead of the original Game Boy. Color, backlit screen, processing power... The bastard took 6 AA batteries and lasted about 4 hours. (There was a trick where you could add a 7th AA to the section of the power supply that handled the backlight and get about 7 hours out of it, but that was little-known and difficult) It sucked batteries like a hoover, while the less powerful Game Boy lasted forever with it's ugly little brown-scale screen;^)
Furthermore, what about load times? The PSP uses discs right? Power consumption concerns will put the kaibosh on streaming from the media, which means LOAD TIMES! That might be well and good on a console, but on a portable? These systems are supposed to be quick-on, quick-off, quick game before class or before the subway gets here.
It won't quite be an N-gage, but the PSP will definitly be "Game Gear 2"
This seems like a good idea. I submit to you that I have a great working knowledge of Fricana, a fictional world in which Quest for Glory, a game I played when I was in middle school, took place. I can tell you all the politics and geography and history and so forth related to this world, and were it real I could probably find my way around it farily easily.
Avid Everquest/SWG/Realm/etc.. players know loads about their respective worlds. Hell, I'd wager some of them have a greater understanding of these virtual civilizations than they do of the real world in which they live!
The key is engagement. Listening to a professor lecture is largely one-way communication, and all interaction occurrs at a meta level. I'm not participating in the French Revolution, I'm asking someone about it and listening to their answers. Watching a documentary is entirely one-way, and again it doesn't engage me directly.
Playing a game wherein I manage the affairs of a noble in France on the eve of the revolution, or a general under Napolean during the European Wars, I am directly engaged. My concerns are no longer retaining information for information's sake, but instead using information to achieve a direct goal.
Engagement forces you to learn, for otherwise you cannot be successful therein. It strips away the layers of abstraction and awakens the deeply-rooted survival mechanisms of the human mind. We're keyed to learn quickly when need be, but if that need is not immediate, it takes much greater discipline to put forth the effort.
Let's face it: Email doesn't (and can't) fill the role it used to.
There was a time when you shared your email address with everyone. It was on your resume, it was on your web page (if you had one), it was in your sig. Email was the universal, simple, fast, reliable communication medium of the internet.
I used it to get my friends together on a weekend. I used it to organize events and meet people. I used it to share information.
Nowadays, IM fills that role. I've realized that nearly everything I used to use email for can be done just as easily over IM. It's reliable, fast, relatively secure, easily encrypted, etc... Furthermore, it is largely immune to spam for a number of reasons.
I find now that I only use email when registering for something (throwaway address), or for confirmation when I purchase something online. Everything email used to do, IM can do (if used properly... Staying online, logging, offline messages, confirmation, not using the AOL client, etc...)
IM is by-and-large safe from SPAM due to the numerous restrictions placed on its use. Rate limits, authentication, etc... These things provide a layer of security, but also a layer of inconvenience.
Were email to incorporate such restrictions, it would remove the last reason in the world to even be using it in the first place! Email is completely open. If email were to be restricted, it would become nothing more than a slower version of the current capabilities of IM.
As Mozilla browsers become more popular, and thus face credible threats on the scale that IE has been facing, this may well be the breaking point for OSS in general.
Business types are afraid of OSS mostly for the fact that it's "unsupported." To them, support doesn't mean having developers on hand to fix problems so much as it does having someone to blame when things go wrong. As long as someone else is fiscally responsible for their technology problems, their customers/shareholders are happy.
They won't admit to believing the above, but it's true: I have first hand experience with it. They'll say that they need the support to protect them from threats and vulnerabilities. They cite Microsoft's patches and updates as proof that the support is useful. They claim that OSS is only safer because no one targets it, and thus the threats aren't as severe. They don't believe any of that, but it's what they use to rationalize their decisions.
If Mozilla continually and expertly deals with these vulnerabilities, that argument will fall flat. They'll either have to admit just what they're -actually- paying for when they claim "support," or they'll at least begin to look into OSS alternatives.
People who are spending real money for in-game advantage through third parties should be shot in the street for being so stupid.
Now, why is that exactly? Let's look at the situation.
Person A spends 20 hours a week playing MMOX to build up his level 245 Necromancer Dark Elf Paladin. He then enjoys playing the game as such.
Person B spends $200 on a level 245 Necromancer Dark Elf Paladin. He then enjoys playing the game as such.
Frankly, I don't see any objective difference between the two. Granted, the specific gaming experiences for players A and B are different, but externally they're the same. One spends his time, the other, his money. Both to play A GAME! IT'S A GAME! GAME!!! It's supposed to be FUN! FUN! GAME!
Games are NOT serious. Player B didn't enjoy working through a level grind to get the character he wanted, or maybe he makes enough per hour to justify the expense. Either way, it's all for the sake of fun. Just because he has fun with the result, while you have fun with the process, doesn't mean he's any different from you.
You see, these are GAMES. You play them to have FUN. Not everyone has fun in the same way.
So, my question is basically why does this suck for the game, and for the people playing games, if the purpose of a game is to have fun?
How could something this -dumb- happen? Seriously, I'm baffled. Wouldn't the conversation have gone something along the lines of:
Bob: blah blah blah. Steve: blah blah blah there's a bomb in the building. Bob: Blah.. What? Steve: Oh, just talking to my kid. Bob: Ahh.. Anyway, blah blah blah...
They don't give us enough information, but judging from that fact that two intelligent, rational people would have had a conversation similar to the above, I can't but determine that at least one of the people involved was indeed a complete moron. A tool, if you will. One of the parties involved had to have overreacted in the extreme. There was absolutely no possible excuse for this getting out of hand, and one of both of these gentlemen are asshats of the highest (lowest?) calibre.
Sorry, I'm just really -really- tired of people being dumb. It's been a long day, and it isn't even lunchtime yet.
I'm done with consumer/residential broadband. Blocked ports, slow connections, poor customer service, arbitrary limitations on use... It's just not worth it anymore. I've dealt with dead lines and clueless techs for too long.
Instead, I'm springing for commercial/business class service. The support is better, the speeds are higher, and the service is usually excellent (since businesses won't put up with the same garbage residential users will).
Consider this: a cable modem usually costs about $40-$50 a month for residential service including a single IP address and bandwidth caps. I can get 1536k x 256k commercial DSL for about $80 a month that includes web hosting, DNS, and 5 IP addresses. The extra $40 is not much, and you can offset that by selling access to your neighbor if you're so inclined (perfectly ok with most providers).
The above costs about as much as most people pay for a cable modem and cable TV, and quite frankly, I've found that lots of bandwidth is far more entertaining than lots of TV stations.
I'd list some companies that offer comparable service plans, but I don't want to look like an astroturfer. Hit Google and you'll find lots of nice options (as long as you live somewhere civilized ^_~)
Every time I remove this crud, I explain exactly why they had it to begin with. I tell them Comet Cursor , Gator, Bonzai Buddy, and the like are VIRUSES. Absolute VIRUSES. I tell them not to download them, and the problems will never come back. I set their IE security settings to not allow Active X as well.
Within days, they're all back. "But I LIKE my Comet Cursor! I didn't think it would happen this time."
The problem here is that many people today lack basic problem solving skills. They see a problem with their VCR, they fix it. (Clock's off, let's say). They see a similar problem with their computer, and they freeze up and assume they can't fix it even though, in the case of the clock for example, it's the SAME PROBLEM with nearly the SAME SOLUTION.
People don't seem to apply their own basic intelligence to computers. Nor do they seem to learn from their mistakes. "Why did you install Spambar again?"
"I wanted the -feature-. How was I supposed to know it was bad?"
"Because it caused this SAME PROBLEM THE LAST THREE TIMES YOU INSTALLED IT! I HATE YOU! DIEDIEDIE!"/works for tech support
My roommate and I noticed something the other day at CompUSA. Most people don't have anything against Linux and open source per se, they're just uninformed.
There was a gentleman about to purchase some software. I forget exactly what, but it was something that most certainly existed for Linux free as in both speech and beer. Scott stopped him and explained very simply about Linux and how he doesn't actually need to pay one red cent for most software. By the end of the conversation, he was all ready to run home and boot a Knoppix CD to try it out. Even his wife was interested.
It wasn't that they were afraid to try something new, it was just that they didn't realize there are alternatives to Windows.
Now, corporations have another problem: the Sunken Cost Fallacy. Managers don't seem to understand that, for most business uses of a computer, there is no real reason to use Windows. They furthermore believe that, since they've already paid for a Windows environment, they'd lose that investment if they switched, and thus continue to pay.
I've found in my professional life that most office workers need very little to do their job. Office Suite, Web Browser, Calendar/Collaboration Software, Email, File Sharing, and maybe a simple Database: that's it.
Granted, there are some applications professionals use that don't currently exist in usable form on Linux, but those users can remain on Windows for the time being. (Or WINE, if they're adventurous). The first step is switching over all the office drones and secretaries who, quite frankly, don't need much software to do their job.
Heh... We're seriously considering standing outside of CompUSA one day and handing out Knoppix CDs and pamphlets. Spread the word. Vive la revolution! Blah blah blah....
Most cell phones are SMALL. They have small screens and long battery lives. Adding gaming to that adversly affects both of these aspects, which happen to be the primary factors in my choice of phone.
I carry my cell phone everywhere. When I feel the need to game (going to the DMV or somesuch), I bring the GBA as well.
If my cell phone had a screen large enough to play a decent game on it, it would be bulkier than I want a cell phone to be. If it had the power to play the kinds of games I like to play, the battery would last a craptacularly short time.
Cell phones will become a viable gaming platform when screens become little holo-projectors that don't require any space.
And just a note, if you paid $30 for a link cable, you must be brain-damaged. The official Nintendo ones run about $12 new and $5 used. 3'rd party ones run about $10. Did you make that number up to prove your point?
The uni I work for (RIT) is working to migrate their entire campus to a Microsoft Active Directory environment. Part of the reason for this is to give users a universal username/password for any and all university services.
Now, they enforce basic password etiquette (minimum length, non-alpha character requirement, etc...), which helps the situation somewhat (aside from the office biddies who write them on post-it notes on their CRTs), but the situation is far from secure.
Students use their webmail (Exchange... I won't even get into that one...) and register for classes (telnet), and generally aren't careful with their passwords. I couldn't tell you how many times I've sat down at a public terminal to find someone else's account all set up for me to exploit. And since the password is universal, I can do anything I want.
Myself, I use a different password for everything I connect to, and thus don't have to worry about being wholly compromised in an instant. Then again, I'm a geek, so I'm not exactly the norm.
Does anyone else see this push toward universal logins/passwords as a problem?
Microsoft will eventually stop supporting Windows 2000. If no one upgrades, they don't make any money. It's in their best interest to phase out their older operating systems, no matter how stable they are.
And how about office? As new versions continue to come out, the old ones will be further and further out of the loop. Try opening an Office XP doc in Office 97.
And servers? Add up your CALs and server license fees, and that's a LOT of money. Can't just refuse to upgrade either, since old versions of the server software are full of vulnerablilties.
I myself didn't get screwed. I work for IBM, and we're in the process of purging all licenced software from our network. The goal is 100% non-licensed software. My Uni got screwed, purchasing a site license for unlimited MS software over the entire campus network as well as the faculty and staff's home computers, including unlimited OS and software upgrades, plus a hefty pile of server licenses. Cost them more than they'd care to admit, plus a recurring fee and penalties for breaking the contract early.
Just a friendly reminder in case there's anyone out there in slashdot land who still doesn't know about it. Works perfectly with AIM/ICQ and Jabber (and those other services no one actually uses ^_~) Even has a Win32 installer.
Slashdot Mirror
A lot of people make the moral argument against copyright infringement. As well and good as that may be, and as much as I may agree with it, that argument is pointless and naive.
For every "pirate" they arrest, ten spring up in his place. For every p2p network that gets shut down/investigated/compromised, ten faster, more secure, more anonymous networks spring up in its place. Furthermore, many developing (and some developed) nations have absolutely no incentive whatsoever to enforce copyright law.
Bandwidth is increasing. Users are becoming more and more techno-savy. The technology is getting better.
This cannot be stopped. Legislative measures end at national borders, and do not effectively deter (see the drug war). Technological measures will always be circumvented. Moralistic measures have no power of enforcement.
It's not a matter of whether this is right or wrong. It's not a matter of whether intellectual property is legally protected.
It's a matter of technology existing that cannot un-exist.
Entities that rely on intellectual property protections have only two viable long-term paths at this point:
1) Adapt to this new world.
2) Be destroyed by it.
Yes, it may be wrong. Yes, it may be stealing. Yes, it will put people out of work. The sad fact, however, is that these points are irrelevant in the face of the simple truth that it can not and will not be stopped.
There comes a point in any losing battle where you cut your losses, step back, and re-evaluate your situation. We passed that point long ago.
Oh joy! Now I can pay a monthly fee for better graphics on what are essentially implementations of Progress Quest coupled with a chat room of some sort.
At least Progress Quest automates the leveling treadmill.
I mean, yes! I killed enough blue slimes to buy the red sword. Now I can.. kill red slimes! With larger numbers of hit points and damage!
Yea, go to his door. Not mine. I'm a wuss, and I really don't want to be arrested. ;^)
;^)
Funny. Apreche always said he WANTED to be sued by the RIAA back at Uni. Wanted to fight them in court and all that. Now he wants the same thing from the SS.
I don't know if he's brilliant, insane, or just has a death wish...
I hereby and formally state that the above comment was made as satire, and was entirely in jest.
My point is that there is an enormous noise-to-signal ratio on the internet as more and more information becomes available at a higher rate. Continuing the policy of automatic investigation of "any" written threat regardless of context will become an increasingly expensive, resource-consuming enterprise, and will furthermore become less and less effective due to the massive increase of false-positives.
Basically, if the SS actually knocks on my door, we're in a sad state here in these United States.
This comment has been removed since it was clearly in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 871 (Threats Against The President) and / or Section 875 (Interstate Communications: Extortions / Threats). You can Read More Here. We're sorry to have to do this, and while we don't necessarily agree with this, it is still the law. When the Secret Service gets involved, we don't have many options. We appreciate your understanding in the matter. Please call (202) 406-5000 if you have any questions.
I guess I'll have to stop playing mp3s on by BSD boxen..
I frankly don't see mp3 going anywhere in the near future. It's ubiquitous, open, and of high quality. Despite what many "audiophiles" will say to the contrary, a 224 capped VBR0 mp3 will not be perceptibly different from even a the most perfect "lossless" method for 99% of music.
My 486 can play mp3s. My crappy DVD player can play mp3s. My old-as-hell CD-based mp3 player can play mp3s.
Sure, someday there will be a switch. Maybe for multi-channel audio, maybe for special neural orgasm stimulation, maybe for quantum compression. But for the time being, no file format exists that has enough of a net benefit over mp3 to warrent a mass-exodus.
Why should people be allowed to insult Islam, a sincerely held belief that hundreds of millions of people agree with? We would not put up with anyone insulting Christianity.
The First Ammendmend (in the US at least)
Hell, we don't even let people burn our flag!
Yes, we do. Flag-burning is protected speech, and the ammendment proposed to change that fact was shot down.
When will you Atheists realise that your beliefs are just as much a religion as anthing you find in the Bible or the Quran?
Heh.. Freedom of speech. If you don't like us, speak your mind. If you speak your mind, don't be surprised if we speak right back.
I suppose I'll get shot down in flames for pointing this out,
Yes.
but the levels of Islamophobia and general religious intolerance at slashdot are staggering.
Hmph.. So there's a vague coorelation between technological savy and intolerance of religion? Fancy that.
The ultimate goal is reaching a theoretical Island of Stability.
This is a hypothesized region farther down on the peiodic table where extremely heavy elements become stable and long-lasting, albeit with interesting properties due to the large number of sub-elements of which they're comprised.
I hope they call 155 Elerium. That would make my day in ways that are both profound and creepily geeky.
/best game evar
I'm serious. We should petition whoever it is we petition for things like that.
(I'll also note at this time that, if they actually do name it Elerium, I will make it my life's mission to start a corporation called X-Com and laugh maniacally as my alien-possessed squaddies panic and throw fusion bombs into the transport just as it lands...)
This seems like the final nail in the coffin for the PSP. After all, what good is amazing, state-of-the-art hardware, if the developers avoid pushing it to its full potential for fear of draining the battery?
;^)
Remember the Game Gear? It was lightyears ahead of the original Game Boy. Color, backlit screen, processing power... The bastard took 6 AA batteries and lasted about 4 hours. (There was a trick where you could add a 7th AA to the section of the power supply that handled the backlight and get about 7 hours out of it, but that was little-known and difficult) It sucked batteries like a hoover, while the less powerful Game Boy lasted forever with it's ugly little brown-scale screen
Furthermore, what about load times? The PSP uses discs right? Power consumption concerns will put the kaibosh on streaming from the media, which means LOAD TIMES! That might be well and good on a console, but on a portable? These systems are supposed to be quick-on, quick-off, quick game before class or before the subway gets here.
It won't quite be an N-gage, but the PSP will definitly be "Game Gear 2"
This seems like a good idea. I submit to you that I have a great working knowledge of Fricana, a fictional world in which Quest for Glory, a game I played when I was in middle school, took place. I can tell you all the politics and geography and history and so forth related to this world, and were it real I could probably find my way around it farily easily.
Avid Everquest/SWG/Realm/etc.. players know loads about their respective worlds. Hell, I'd wager some of them have a greater understanding of these virtual civilizations than they do of the real world in which they live!
The key is engagement. Listening to a professor lecture is largely one-way communication, and all interaction occurrs at a meta level. I'm not participating in the French Revolution, I'm asking someone about it and listening to their answers. Watching a documentary is entirely one-way, and again it doesn't engage me directly.
Playing a game wherein I manage the affairs of a noble in France on the eve of the revolution, or a general under Napolean during the European Wars, I am directly engaged. My concerns are no longer retaining information for information's sake, but instead using information to achieve a direct goal.
Engagement forces you to learn, for otherwise you cannot be successful therein. It strips away the layers of abstraction and awakens the deeply-rooted survival mechanisms of the human mind. We're keyed to learn quickly when need be, but if that need is not immediate, it takes much greater discipline to put forth the effort.
Let's face it: Email doesn't (and can't) fill the role it used to.
There was a time when you shared your email address with everyone. It was on your resume, it was on your web page (if you had one), it was in your sig. Email was the universal, simple, fast, reliable communication medium of the internet.
I used it to get my friends together on a weekend. I used it to organize events and meet people. I used it to share information.
Nowadays, IM fills that role. I've realized that nearly everything I used to use email for can be done just as easily over IM. It's reliable, fast, relatively secure, easily encrypted, etc... Furthermore, it is largely immune to spam for a number of reasons.
I find now that I only use email when registering for something (throwaway address), or for confirmation when I purchase something online. Everything email used to do, IM can do (if used properly... Staying online, logging, offline messages, confirmation, not using the AOL client, etc...)
IM is by-and-large safe from SPAM due to the numerous restrictions placed on its use. Rate limits, authentication, etc... These things provide a layer of security, but also a layer of inconvenience.
Were email to incorporate such restrictions, it would remove the last reason in the world to even be using it in the first place! Email is completely open. If email were to be restricted, it would become nothing more than a slower version of the current capabilities of IM.
As Mozilla browsers become more popular, and thus face credible threats on the scale that IE has been facing, this may well be the breaking point for OSS in general.
Business types are afraid of OSS mostly for the fact that it's "unsupported." To them, support doesn't mean having developers on hand to fix problems so much as it does having someone to blame when things go wrong. As long as someone else is fiscally responsible for their technology problems, their customers/shareholders are happy.
They won't admit to believing the above, but it's true: I have first hand experience with it. They'll say that they need the support to protect them from threats and vulnerabilities. They cite Microsoft's patches and updates as proof that the support is useful. They claim that OSS is only safer because no one targets it, and thus the threats aren't as severe. They don't believe any of that, but it's what they use to rationalize their decisions.
If Mozilla continually and expertly deals with these vulnerabilities, that argument will fall flat. They'll either have to admit just what they're -actually- paying for when they claim "support," or they'll at least begin to look into OSS alternatives.
At least, that's what I hope ^_~
People who are spending real money for in-game advantage through third parties should be shot in the street for being so stupid.
Now, why is that exactly? Let's look at the situation.
Person A spends 20 hours a week playing MMOX to build up his level 245 Necromancer Dark Elf Paladin. He then enjoys playing the game as such.
Person B spends $200 on a level 245 Necromancer Dark Elf Paladin. He then enjoys playing the game as such.
Frankly, I don't see any objective difference between the two. Granted, the specific gaming experiences for players A and B are different, but externally they're the same. One spends his time, the other, his money. Both to play A GAME! IT'S A GAME! GAME!!! It's supposed to be FUN! FUN! GAME!
Games are NOT serious. Player B didn't enjoy working through a level grind to get the character he wanted, or maybe he makes enough per hour to justify the expense. Either way, it's all for the sake of fun. Just because he has fun with the result, while you have fun with the process, doesn't mean he's any different from you.
You see, these are GAMES. You play them to have FUN. Not everyone has fun in the same way.
So, my question is basically why does this suck for the game, and for the people playing games, if the purpose of a game is to have fun?
How could something this -dumb- happen? Seriously, I'm baffled. Wouldn't the conversation have gone something along the lines of:
Bob: blah blah blah.
Steve: blah blah blah there's a bomb in the building.
Bob: Blah.. What?
Steve: Oh, just talking to my kid.
Bob: Ahh.. Anyway, blah blah blah...
They don't give us enough information, but judging from that fact that two intelligent, rational people would have had a conversation similar to the above, I can't but determine that at least one of the people involved was indeed a complete moron. A tool, if you will. One of the parties involved had to have overreacted in the extreme. There was absolutely no possible excuse for this getting out of hand, and one of both of these gentlemen are asshats of the highest (lowest?) calibre.
Sorry, I'm just really -really- tired of people being dumb. It's been a long day, and it isn't even lunchtime yet.
I'm done with consumer/residential broadband. Blocked ports, slow connections, poor customer service, arbitrary limitations on use... It's just not worth it anymore. I've dealt with dead lines and clueless techs for too long.
Instead, I'm springing for commercial/business class service. The support is better, the speeds are higher, and the service is usually excellent (since businesses won't put up with the same garbage residential users will).
Consider this: a cable modem usually costs about $40-$50 a month for residential service including a single IP address and bandwidth caps. I can get 1536k x 256k commercial DSL for about $80 a month that includes web hosting, DNS, and 5 IP addresses. The extra $40 is not much, and you can offset that by selling access to your neighbor if you're so inclined (perfectly ok with most providers).
The above costs about as much as most people pay for a cable modem and cable TV, and quite frankly, I've found that lots of bandwidth is far more entertaining than lots of TV stations.
I'd list some companies that offer comparable service plans, but I don't want to look like an astroturfer. Hit Google and you'll find lots of nice options (as long as you live somewhere civilized ^_~)
Every time I remove this crud, I explain exactly why they had it to begin with. I tell them Comet Cursor , Gator, Bonzai Buddy, and the like are VIRUSES. Absolute VIRUSES. I tell them not to download them, and the problems will never come back. I set their IE security settings to not allow Active X as well.
/works for tech support
Within days, they're all back. "But I LIKE my Comet Cursor! I didn't think it would happen this time."
The problem here is that many people today lack basic problem solving skills. They see a problem with their VCR, they fix it. (Clock's off, let's say). They see a similar problem with their computer, and they freeze up and assume they can't fix it even though, in the case of the clock for example, it's the SAME PROBLEM with nearly the SAME SOLUTION.
People don't seem to apply their own basic intelligence to computers. Nor do they seem to learn from their mistakes. "Why did you install Spambar again?"
"I wanted the -feature-. How was I supposed to know it was bad?"
"Because it caused this SAME PROBLEM THE LAST THREE TIMES YOU INSTALLED IT! I HATE YOU! DIEDIEDIE!"
My roommate and I noticed something the other day at CompUSA. Most people don't have anything against Linux and open source per se, they're just uninformed.
;^)
There was a gentleman about to purchase some software. I forget exactly what, but it was something that most certainly existed for Linux free as in both speech and beer. Scott stopped him and explained very simply about Linux and how he doesn't actually need to pay one red cent for most software. By the end of the conversation, he was all ready to run home and boot a Knoppix CD to try it out. Even his wife was interested.
It wasn't that they were afraid to try something new, it was just that they didn't realize there are alternatives to Windows.
Now, corporations have another problem: the Sunken Cost Fallacy. Managers don't seem to understand that, for most business uses of a computer, there is no real reason to use Windows. They furthermore believe that, since they've already paid for a Windows environment, they'd lose that investment if they switched, and thus continue to pay.
I've found in my professional life that most office workers need very little to do their job. Office Suite, Web Browser, Calendar/Collaboration Software, Email, File Sharing, and maybe a simple Database: that's it.
Granted, there are some applications professionals use that don't currently exist in usable form on Linux, but those users can remain on Windows for the time being. (Or WINE, if they're adventurous). The first step is switching over all the office drones and secretaries who, quite frankly, don't need much software to do their job.
Heh... We're seriously considering standing outside of CompUSA one day and handing out Knoppix CDs and pamphlets. Spread the word. Vive la revolution! Blah blah blah....
You get my point
Most cell phones are SMALL. They have small screens and long battery lives. Adding gaming to that adversly affects both of these aspects, which happen to be the primary factors in my choice of phone.
I carry my cell phone everywhere. When I feel the need to game (going to the DMV or somesuch), I bring the GBA as well.
If my cell phone had a screen large enough to play a decent game on it, it would be bulkier than I want a cell phone to be. If it had the power to play the kinds of games I like to play, the battery would last a craptacularly short time.
Cell phones will become a viable gaming platform when screens become little holo-projectors that don't require any space.
And just a note, if you paid $30 for a link cable, you must be brain-damaged. The official Nintendo ones run about $12 new and $5 used. 3'rd party ones run about $10. Did you make that number up to prove your point?
The uni I work for (RIT) is working to migrate their entire campus to a Microsoft Active Directory environment. Part of the reason for this is to give users a universal username/password for any and all university services.
Now, they enforce basic password etiquette (minimum length, non-alpha character requirement, etc...), which helps the situation somewhat (aside from the office biddies who write them on post-it notes on their CRTs), but the situation is far from secure.
Students use their webmail (Exchange... I won't even get into that one...) and register for classes (telnet), and generally aren't careful with their passwords. I couldn't tell you how many times I've sat down at a public terminal to find someone else's account all set up for me to exploit. And since the password is universal, I can do anything I want.
Myself, I use a different password for everything I connect to, and thus don't have to worry about being wholly compromised in an instant. Then again, I'm a geek, so I'm not exactly the norm.
Does anyone else see this push toward universal logins/passwords as a problem?
Microsoft will eventually stop supporting Windows 2000. If no one upgrades, they don't make any money. It's in their best interest to phase out their older operating systems, no matter how stable they are.
And how about office? As new versions continue to come out, the old ones will be further and further out of the loop. Try opening an Office XP doc in Office 97.
And servers? Add up your CALs and server license fees, and that's a LOT of money. Can't just refuse to upgrade either, since old versions of the server software are full of vulnerablilties.
I myself didn't get screwed. I work for IBM, and we're in the process of purging all licenced software from our network. The goal is 100% non-licensed software. My Uni got screwed, purchasing a site license for unlimited MS software over the entire campus network as well as the faculty and staff's home computers, including unlimited OS and software upgrades, plus a hefty pile of server licenses. Cost them more than they'd care to admit, plus a recurring fee and penalties for breaking the contract early.
And WINE.
Most of those business specific applications are low-powered database front-ends that would run perfectly in wine.
And considering the cost of training and switching versus the recurring costs of Windows licenses...
I don't know anyone who buys or has CDs. Seriously.
...
I'm the president of a huge club on campus, and I know many, many people. NO ONE has CDs. No one.
We do, however, have two OC-3s and a T-3...
What's the ISBN number for The Daily Show?
www.winmx.com
Gaim
Just a friendly reminder in case there's anyone out there in slashdot land who still doesn't know about it. Works perfectly with AIM/ICQ and Jabber (and those other services no one actually uses ^_~) Even has a Win32 installer.