I think this was hugely skewed by the announcement of the pirated version "feature". People see the pirated version as a novelty. If I were to buy this game, I'd go grab a pirated copy just for the kicks and giggles of seeing this. I'd hazard a guess that a ton of people downloaded it just to see the (awesome) implementation of DRM.
Now, if they had just released the game, and then in the support forums people started noticing this, and eventually they 'fessed up to the shenanigans, then maybe I'd believe the pirated/legitimate stats. But because they announced it, the stats are horribly skewed.
I can't speak for the "hoops" bit, but the user interface of Unity is never going to work for me. Here's why. First, it was designed for a touch interface. Large icons, restricting multi window arrangements, integrating the program menus into the system menus, the list goes on.
When I want to run four applications, each in their own window, possibly multiple instances of each, I don't want to have to click on the individual window to switch the system dropdowns to my program's dropdowns so I can access them. I don't want to have to play with the menus in my primary monitor, I want to use them wherever the application window is, which may be in any of my 3 monitors.
This isn't the only set of reasons, and sure, I can configure it to work differently. But I get it without any config in xUbuntu.
I'm regretting spending my mod points earlier today, as this is exceptionally insightful and informative, cutting through the BS and posturing normally surrounding the DRM discussion and focuses on reality.
But a game without a storyline can leave the actual gameplay without a direction. Without a reason to do what the game wants you to do. A good solid storyline can make a game work in ways that no amount of graphics improvements can. And a railroaded story without any moral or emotional conflict is barely worth playing.
This is the key point that gets lost in the win8 hate. Windows 8 is a touch interface. And as such, it makes sense. What doesn't make sense, and is the huge mistake that is costing MS marketshare is trying to push a touch screen interface onto ALL devices.
No, Ubuntu post-Unity is an abomination, and it's NOT OK. I'd run it before win8, but only just barely. I've been running xUbuntu and kUbuntu (and even fUduntu, no that's not a typo), but not Ubuntu with that Unity crap.
Yeah, I definitely shouldn't have said hours. Maybe I should have delved into the the content/duration ratio. Or (re)playthrough value. Something to identify that some games provide hours of gameplay via grinding, others provide hours of gameplay through content or creativity. Grinding=bad, at least in general.
Depends on if you see it as a complete game, or a massive ground level framework for mods. Personally, I've got over 100 mods installed at the moment, and I'm on (at least) my 5th playthrough. So far, there's been no grinding. Maybe I'll try that "grinding" thing on my 6th playthrough?
I'm honestly surprised that anyone took the time to do that. And, for doing so, you won 1,000 brownie points.:-P
Maybe I should have said 10 games. Or, maybe I should have just made my point and moved on with life. Basically, what I was saying is that the majority of games don't focus on a rich storyline, or even one with multiple branching options.
I remember with great fondness my hours spent playing text-based RPGs. Or shucks, even something like the current Stone Soup. Things that were made on a shoestring budget, but still delivered hours of enjoyable (though at times somewhat frustrating when the grue eats you for the eighteenth time) gameplay.
Did you actually play Skyrim? Or any of the Elder Scrolls series, like Morrowind? Yes, they have parts (*cough* catecombs *cough*) that repeat. But generic they are not.
Granted, I mod my games. Mods are what make Skyrim from a good game into a fantastic game. Things like a more advanced blacksmithing system, or a complete overhaul of spell damage and functionality to make a spellcaster more balanced.
people buy console games to play console-type games: 20+ hours of gameplay, with detailed story lines, excellent graphics, good music (don't underestimate the impact of this), and reasonable level of control.
With the exception of Skyrim, very few (if any) games have actually delivered more than 10 solid hours of gameplay, much less 20. If you can name me 5 games from this list that are both a console game and 20+ hours of gameplay, I'd be really surprised.
Not exactly what I was meaning...but definitely important.
What I was actually meaning was that the important thing to take out of this is that the wordpress attacks are a smoke screen, a stepping stone, one gear in a machine rolling towards some unknown destination. Whoever is behind this has a plan beyond hacking blogs. The power available to them with this number of compromised machines is vast. Whatever their target is, it's going to get hit really hard.
I'd be interested in seeing someone do a code analysis on this. The actual software that is loaded into a compromised machine, what is it capable of? Can it update itself? Is it static, with only certain functionality built in? Is there a command and control server? Can it be counter-hacked to reveal the attacker? what is the architecture of the compromised machines interactions with eachother?
I saw this same question asked further up the comment line, and I think it's the key. They aren't targeting wordpress blogs. The attacks have to be a smoke screen for *something else*, whatever that something else is. Maybe this is yet another Chinese attack. Maybe it's anonymous (I'll wait while you finish laughing...and yeah, it's not anonymous, they couldn't pull off anything close to this order of magnitude and coordination level), or maybe it's th3j35t3r's evil twin. But it'll be something nasty if/when it ever comes to light.
Yet another reason to specify a non-default administrator username in the original install. And to use passphrases instead of passwords. Easier to remember, and there's almost no way to brute force a thirty character password.
I'm more than willing to pay a dime (or several hundred dimes) if I can actually get easily accessible things that I want to see.
For example, I have a Netflix and Hulu subscription. Why? Because streaming content, my choice of what I see or don't see, no advertisements, and no contract. I'm happy to pay for it, because it gives me what I want, when I want it, and doesn't get in my way.
Conversely, I'll never pay for a cable subscription again. Cable requires (at least in my area) a 2 year contract, gives me 100+ channels of crap with only 3-5 that show something that I'd like to see (but only shows what I want to see at certain times of day), and forces me to watch advertisements. Why would I pay to watch advertisements? I'd be 100% ok with ad supported free channels, but if I'm paying for it, it had better not have ads.
Here's a suggestion for the cable companies out there. Turn your network into the Netflix of TV. Basic premise is that you can watch the last 3, or 5, or maybe the entire season of a specific show. For news, show the last week. Give it to me searchable, and let me pick up from where I was watching last time. Make it available for a reasonable, tiered price (eg, it's ok to charge extra for premium channels like HBO or Starz), and don't force me to sign a contract. Finally, get rid of the advertisements. Or, maybe give people the option to pay 75% the normal subscription price if they'll watch an advertisement at the beginning of the content.
I'd disagree with the "least amount of work" bit. He took the time to write out an extensive explanation of the database schema. Honestly, the site does need an overhaul, and a complete purge is probably the only way to ensure that the new site doesn't fall prey to the same poor design and architecture that made the current site so difficult to manage.
I've linked to the IRC channel webchat in my "welcome to the forums" post. We had a pretty good conversation there this morning about development platforms and overall site design.
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No...people want to see the gimmick in action, so they go download it, even if they have zero interest in the game itself.
I think this was hugely skewed by the announcement of the pirated version "feature". People see the pirated version as a novelty. If I were to buy this game, I'd go grab a pirated copy just for the kicks and giggles of seeing this. I'd hazard a guess that a ton of people downloaded it just to see the (awesome) implementation of DRM. Now, if they had just released the game, and then in the support forums people started noticing this, and eventually they 'fessed up to the shenanigans, then maybe I'd believe the pirated/legitimate stats. But because they announced it, the stats are horribly skewed.
And yet it's a much better summary of the situation than the OP was.
I can't speak for the "hoops" bit, but the user interface of Unity is never going to work for me. Here's why. First, it was designed for a touch interface. Large icons, restricting multi window arrangements, integrating the program menus into the system menus, the list goes on.
When I want to run four applications, each in their own window, possibly multiple instances of each, I don't want to have to click on the individual window to switch the system dropdowns to my program's dropdowns so I can access them. I don't want to have to play with the menus in my primary monitor, I want to use them wherever the application window is, which may be in any of my 3 monitors.
This isn't the only set of reasons, and sure, I can configure it to work differently. But I get it without any config in xUbuntu.
Try xUbuntu. I will admit, it's been a bit since I used a GUI via SSH on my local machine, but last time I used it, it worked flawlessly.
I'm regretting spending my mod points earlier today, as this is exceptionally insightful and informative, cutting through the BS and posturing normally surrounding the DRM discussion and focuses on reality.
Actually, I first installed it (under great protest) when WotC discontinued their DnD character builder application for the Windows desktop.
But a game without a storyline can leave the actual gameplay without a direction. Without a reason to do what the game wants you to do. A good solid storyline can make a game work in ways that no amount of graphics improvements can. And a railroaded story without any moral or emotional conflict is barely worth playing.
Check in the men's section instead. Bigger pockets over there.
And when common sense isn't anymore.
This is the key point that gets lost in the win8 hate. Windows 8 is a touch interface. And as such, it makes sense. What doesn't make sense, and is the huge mistake that is costing MS marketshare is trying to push a touch screen interface onto ALL devices.
No, Ubuntu post-Unity is an abomination, and it's NOT OK. I'd run it before win8, but only just barely. I've been running xUbuntu and kUbuntu (and even fUduntu, no that's not a typo), but not Ubuntu with that Unity crap.
Yeah, I definitely shouldn't have said hours. Maybe I should have delved into the the content/duration ratio. Or (re)playthrough value. Something to identify that some games provide hours of gameplay via grinding, others provide hours of gameplay through content or creativity. Grinding=bad, at least in general.
Depends on if you see it as a complete game, or a massive ground level framework for mods. Personally, I've got over 100 mods installed at the moment, and I'm on (at least) my 5th playthrough. So far, there's been no grinding. Maybe I'll try that "grinding" thing on my 6th playthrough?
I'm honestly surprised that anyone took the time to do that. And, for doing so, you won 1,000 brownie points. :-P
Maybe I should have said 10 games. Or, maybe I should have just made my point and moved on with life. Basically, what I was saying is that the majority of games don't focus on a rich storyline, or even one with multiple branching options.
I remember with great fondness my hours spent playing text-based RPGs. Or shucks, even something like the current Stone Soup. Things that were made on a shoestring budget, but still delivered hours of enjoyable (though at times somewhat frustrating when the grue eats you for the eighteenth time) gameplay.
Did you actually play Skyrim? Or any of the Elder Scrolls series, like Morrowind? Yes, they have parts (*cough* catecombs *cough*) that repeat. But generic they are not.
Granted, I mod my games. Mods are what make Skyrim from a good game into a fantastic game. Things like a more advanced blacksmithing system, or a complete overhaul of spell damage and functionality to make a spellcaster more balanced.
With the exception of Skyrim, very few (if any) games have actually delivered more than 10 solid hours of gameplay, much less 20. If you can name me 5 games from this list that are both a console game and 20+ hours of gameplay, I'd be really surprised.
This is brilliance. This post. Nothing else is needed to explain TFA.
Not exactly what I was meaning...but definitely important.
What I was actually meaning was that the important thing to take out of this is that the wordpress attacks are a smoke screen, a stepping stone, one gear in a machine rolling towards some unknown destination. Whoever is behind this has a plan beyond hacking blogs. The power available to them with this number of compromised machines is vast. Whatever their target is, it's going to get hit really hard.
I'd be interested in seeing someone do a code analysis on this. The actual software that is loaded into a compromised machine, what is it capable of? Can it update itself? Is it static, with only certain functionality built in? Is there a command and control server? Can it be counter-hacked to reveal the attacker? what is the architecture of the compromised machines interactions with eachother?
I saw this same question asked further up the comment line, and I think it's the key. They aren't targeting wordpress blogs. The attacks have to be a smoke screen for *something else*, whatever that something else is. Maybe this is yet another Chinese attack. Maybe it's anonymous (I'll wait while you finish laughing...and yeah, it's not anonymous, they couldn't pull off anything close to this order of magnitude and coordination level), or maybe it's th3j35t3r's evil twin. But it'll be something nasty if/when it ever comes to light.
Yet another reason to specify a non-default administrator username in the original install. And to use passphrases instead of passwords. Easier to remember, and there's almost no way to brute force a thirty character password.
I'm more than willing to pay a dime (or several hundred dimes) if I can actually get easily accessible things that I want to see.
For example, I have a Netflix and Hulu subscription. Why? Because streaming content, my choice of what I see or don't see, no advertisements, and no contract. I'm happy to pay for it, because it gives me what I want, when I want it, and doesn't get in my way.
Conversely, I'll never pay for a cable subscription again. Cable requires (at least in my area) a 2 year contract, gives me 100+ channels of crap with only 3-5 that show something that I'd like to see (but only shows what I want to see at certain times of day), and forces me to watch advertisements. Why would I pay to watch advertisements? I'd be 100% ok with ad supported free channels, but if I'm paying for it, it had better not have ads.
Here's a suggestion for the cable companies out there. Turn your network into the Netflix of TV. Basic premise is that you can watch the last 3, or 5, or maybe the entire season of a specific show. For news, show the last week. Give it to me searchable, and let me pick up from where I was watching last time. Make it available for a reasonable, tiered price (eg, it's ok to charge extra for premium channels like HBO or Starz), and don't force me to sign a contract. Finally, get rid of the advertisements. Or, maybe give people the option to pay 75% the normal subscription price if they'll watch an advertisement at the beginning of the content.
try the -nosplash option from Grub.
I'd disagree with the "least amount of work" bit. He took the time to write out an extensive explanation of the database schema. Honestly, the site does need an overhaul, and a complete purge is probably the only way to ensure that the new site doesn't fall prey to the same poor design and architecture that made the current site so difficult to manage.
I've linked to the IRC channel webchat in my "welcome to the forums" post. We had a pretty good conversation there this morning about development platforms and overall site design.