Didn't the Library of Alexandria (the website, not the ancient Library) do this before Amazon got it? I seem to remember seeing it on the web around 1996... maybe earlier.
Bartle's point is not so much that Instancing is "BAD", more that is detracts from the concept of MMO. In an instanced world, you do not reach the same degree of achievement, as all can do it. Your biggest nemesis are not unique, they are just instances of the same monster....and this is different from Spawn Camping, how? Are you saying that Spawn Camping is better because only the dedicated can spend the time to wait in line to kill the uber mob?:)
I think his main contention (which you also touched on) was that instancing detracts from the social aspect of MMORPGs... but aside from the fact that you can instance with friends (and that's social, right there) he fails to adequately explain why well-implemented Instancing is bad design.
I recently had an excellent experience with Crucial's lifetime warranty - and the RAM wasn't even defective, I just needed a single-bank version instead of the double bank I had. They gladly swapped the DIMM for me - no receipt required, either.
Hrm. On the one hand, he says that Instancing is an example of a short term good, long term bad design decision.
On the other hand, if you disagree with him on this, then it's clear that you're one of those players who can't recognise a bad design feature. Yet he fails to satisfactorily explain why Instancing is actually a bad design decision.
Nice argument there, Bartle.
I personally think Instancing is a good thing all round, if it's used wisely. City of Heroes does a good job there, and I can think of ways it could have been used effectively by other MMORPGs (Star Wars Galaxies spring to mind).
Yeah, and I've played around with them, too. But I found the time it takes to fix the framing issues and the huge size (a 1 hr med-quality show is ~1.5 gb) prevents me from considering it a practical solution.
Converting them to divx for a slight loss of quality is easier (AutoGK is da bomb) and results in shows I can store on single CDs. But mostly I just archive occasional stuff off the Replay to my PC's DVArchive, and stream them back to the Replay when I want to watch them.
I have a ReplayTV. I prefer it to TiVo - with DVArchive I can stream shows to/from my Replay, download them easily to my computer, burn them to DivX and watch them on my $70 DVD player.
I also get 30-sec skip out of the box and no goddamn grinning TV icon that tries to record gay porn for me.:)
Of course, ReplayTV has miniscule marketshare and its parent company is trying to get out of the market. Typical! I love my ReplayTV!
Dells are cheap because they save money on parts (volume, choice) and on integration costs (their industry-leading just-in-time manufacturing). They've made their business decision, and the markets tend to agree with it.
That said, I've managed laptop fleets from Dell that have had greater than 100% failure rates. The solution? Warranties. Dell's on-site waranties are pretty good (their completecare line in particular). There's no need to be down for more than a day for a hardware failure. Less, if you want to really spend the cash.
Since each service call must cost Dell at least $100 (plus parts), I assume they lost money on those laptop sales. If that happens enough, their beancounters may demand that the machines work right first time.:)
What if you have to provide your fingerprint to get into a store? That's not a privacy violation, right, as no-one's forcing you to shop there. And you're already in a public place.
What if you have to provide your fingerprint to mail a letter via USPS? That's not a privacy violation, right, as you could always use FEDEX or UPS, or send an e-mail.
What if you have to provide your fingerprint to walk down a sidewalk? That's not a privacy violation, right, as you could always drive. Or stay at home.
If you didn't know about this system, show up with a backpack and your kids, and you suddenly have to provide a fingerprint to get in to the statue with armed cops all around saying "What's the problem, buddy?", what do you do? Refuse to check the bag and walk out? (And hope the cops don't decide that's suspicious and go for the cavity cream) Or provide your fingerprint under duress?
It *is* an intrusion. The bag's already been X-rayed and sniffed - it's clean (supposedly) - so why not use a cheaper, more effective baggage storage system : the key locker. The only reason they went with the fingerprint system is to capture fingerprints. It's not cheaper, it's harder to maintain than a traditional locker system and takes longer to use!
Well, my logic is impeccable. First, my UID is in the 32,000s, while you're in the nine millions, therefore I'm clearly better than you.
And it's not my fault you've not read any anthropology books. If you had, you'd find that human inquisitiveness has been a driving force behind change in human society.
I'm not denying that there were other factors that contributed to the rise of modern society. But I am saying it was inquisitiveness that got us started, and kept us going. I ask you to prove that human inquisitiveness was not a drivin g force behind discovery and invention. You think people invent stuff because they have nothing better to do?
And, finally, I never said it was wanderlust that led to agrarian society. That is clearly 'bullshit', as you would say. I said it was inquisitiveness that took us over the next hill and got us off the plains. That doesn't automatically lead to crop-rotation and chickens.
I'd like an option on my 1040 to fund or not fund the air that you breathe. Oh, well. That damn social contract's got in the way again!
Possibly. But since there are still viable hunter-gatherer aboriginals in Africa 40,000 years after we first roamed out of the serengeti, I'd say that the basic African savannah lifestyle must at least be viable for humans to survive, even if the occasional famine drove some of us to roam further afield.
"Van Allen comments that 'the only surviving motivation for continuing human spaceflight is the ideology of adventure.'""
Uh...so? The only motivation that got us off our asses and away from our idylic hunter-gatherer lifestyle on the plains of Africa was our desire to see what was over the next hill, what happens if we bash flints together, what happens if we lash a bunch of logs together and float it on the river...
I'd say adventure is a good enough reason to get me my damn spaceship and lunar weekend retreat!
I just posted elsewhere that if you live in Boston you can, in fact, do this. The City of Boston will come to your house and take away monitors and TVs FOR FREE. All you have to do is call them.
Just call them and they'll come to your house and take away old TVs and computer monitors. Costs you nothing, and no heavy lifting!
This is better than Somerville next door, where you have to pay them and visit 2 different locations to drop off your stuff (go to one place, buy sticker for $15, attach sticker to item, bring to dump).
Jeesh, what's with Nokia recently and Ass designs? I just want a phone that looks like a phone, is GSM, and can play MP3. This means it should also be able to take, at a minimum, a 128MB stick of MMC / SD or CF memory.
So the only question that remains is, will this design crash and burn as fast as the NGAGE?
My associates at Vulture Capitalists would like to be $1milllion angel investors in your pencil plan. We envision a b2b synergy in a vertical market with excellent cross-selling opportunities. Our revenue stream of 10c on the dollar guarantees us a stunning IPO...
Are you of Native American descent? No? A recent (less than 300 year old) immigrant family? Oh, I see. So it's fine that your ancestors immigrated to the US, worked hard, and had you, but not fine for others to try the same? That's nice.
Last time I checked, the US owed it's greatness to the vast numbers of immigrants who came here between 1850 and 1950. Please remember that before you go bashing on first-generation immigrant workers.
The bill's description of "Peer to Peer" network can easily be applied to any internet connected device. Only one line mentions routing traffic through a central server (and then it speaks of 'routing', not 'serving'), and that only applies if the central computer is in the US.
In short, this lets copyright owners DoS any internet-connected computer, *unless* that computer is sharing files through a central server located in the US. Pretty bizarre.
Bill admits that all those Windows 2000 Server components (Exchange 2000, MSSQL 2000, Commerce 2000) weren't *really*.NET ready. They just said they were.
From The Register: "Perhaps labeling those.NET products was premature," Gates said."[Since then] We've rolled out additions to those server products and now we have total support for XML and SOAP based capabilities."
And in the reverse, I regularly buy Region 2 DVD from the UK, for use in the US on my hacked Region-Free player.
The funny thing is, they're pretty cheap for me to buy. Amazon.co.uk uses Royal Mail for shipping, so international 5-7 day airmail costs me only about $4 per DVD. Also, Europe has VAT at 17.5%, which as a non-European customer, I'm exempt from. So I get 17.5% discount off the price listed in the store (thanks to the UK habit of showing all prices *including* taxes).
Finally, Amazon UK is linked to the Amazon US customer database, so I use my same account and credit card info without any problems. It's really pretty neat.;-)
Well, in my case, it's because you can't *get* some stuff in US Region 1 DVD. For example, The Prisoner boxed set was originally only Region 2 (and it was a lot cheaper than the eventual US version - I paid $50 US for it from Amazon UK, for my region free DVD player). The same applied to the original releases of Farscape and Buffy, I believe. My current fix has been "Robin of Sherwood", the best treatment of Robin Hood *ever* put on film, which is only available in Europe (even though it's actually a Region 0 DVD according to the box - Amazon UK says its Region 2. They're wrong, I own it, and tried it out in a Region 1 player).
So yes, while I'm sure most of the trade is in US Region 1 DVDs going to modded Region 2 players, there is some trade the other way.
Slashdot Mirror
Didn't the Library of Alexandria (the website, not the ancient Library) do this before Amazon got it? I seem to remember seeing it on the web around 1996... maybe earlier.
Bartle's point is not so much that Instancing is "BAD", more that is detracts from the concept of MMO. In an instanced world, you do not reach the same degree of achievement, as all can do it. Your biggest nemesis are not unique, they are just instances of the same monster. ...and this is different from Spawn Camping, how? Are you saying that Spawn Camping is better because only the dedicated can spend the time to wait in line to kill the uber mob? :)
I think his main contention (which you also touched on) was that instancing detracts from the social aspect of MMORPGs... but aside from the fact that you can instance with friends (and that's social, right there) he fails to adequately explain why well-implemented Instancing is bad design.
Heh. Fortunately, they changed that policy. :)
I recently had an excellent experience with Crucial's lifetime warranty - and the RAM wasn't even defective, I just needed a single-bank version instead of the double bank I had. They gladly swapped the DIMM for me - no receipt required, either.
Hrm.
On the one hand, he says that Instancing is an example of a short term good, long term bad design decision.
On the other hand, if you disagree with him on this, then it's clear that you're one of those players who can't recognise a bad design feature. Yet he fails to satisfactorily explain why Instancing is actually a bad design decision.
Nice argument there, Bartle.
I personally think Instancing is a good thing all round, if it's used wisely. City of Heroes does a good job there, and I can think of ways it could have been used effectively by other MMORPGs (Star Wars Galaxies spring to mind).
Yeah, and I've played around with them, too. But I found the time it takes to fix the framing issues and the huge size (a 1 hr med-quality show is ~1.5 gb) prevents me from considering it a practical solution.
Converting them to divx for a slight loss of quality is easier (AutoGK is da bomb) and results in shows I can store on single CDs. But mostly I just archive occasional stuff off the Replay to my PC's DVArchive, and stream them back to the Replay when I want to watch them.
I have a ReplayTV. I prefer it to TiVo - with DVArchive I can stream shows to/from my Replay, download them easily to my computer, burn them to DivX and watch them on my $70 DVD player.
:)
I also get 30-sec skip out of the box and no goddamn grinning TV icon that tries to record gay porn for me.
Of course, ReplayTV has miniscule marketshare and its parent company is trying to get out of the market. Typical! I love my ReplayTV!
...no, wait. It appears I have a golf buggy.
Dells are cheap because they save money on parts (volume, choice) and on integration costs (their industry-leading just-in-time manufacturing). They've made their business decision, and the markets tend to agree with it.
:)
That said, I've managed laptop fleets from Dell that have had greater than 100% failure rates. The solution? Warranties. Dell's on-site waranties are pretty good (their completecare line in particular). There's no need to be down for more than a day for a hardware failure. Less, if you want to really spend the cash.
Since each service call must cost Dell at least $100 (plus parts), I assume they lost money on those laptop sales. If that happens enough, their beancounters may demand that the machines work right first time.
What if you have to provide your fingerprint to get into a store? That's not a privacy violation, right, as no-one's forcing you to shop there. And you're already in a public place.
What if you have to provide your fingerprint to mail a letter via USPS? That's not a privacy violation, right, as you could always use FEDEX or UPS, or send an e-mail.
What if you have to provide your fingerprint to walk down a sidewalk? That's not a privacy violation, right, as you could always drive. Or stay at home.
If you didn't know about this system, show up with a backpack and your kids, and you suddenly have to provide a fingerprint to get in to the statue with armed cops all around saying "What's the problem, buddy?", what do you do? Refuse to check the bag and walk out? (And hope the cops don't decide that's suspicious and go for the cavity cream) Or provide your fingerprint under duress?
It *is* an intrusion. The bag's already been X-rayed and sniffed - it's clean (supposedly) - so why not use a cheaper, more effective baggage storage system : the key locker. The only reason they went with the fingerprint system is to capture fingerprints. It's not cheaper, it's harder to maintain than a traditional locker system and takes longer to use!
Well, my logic is impeccable. First, my UID is in the 32,000s, while you're in the nine millions, therefore I'm clearly better than you.
And it's not my fault you've not read any anthropology books. If you had, you'd find that human inquisitiveness has been a driving force behind change in human society.
I'm not denying that there were other factors that contributed to the rise of modern society. But I am saying it was inquisitiveness that got us started, and kept us going. I ask you to prove that human inquisitiveness was not a drivin g force behind discovery and invention. You think people invent stuff because they have nothing better to do?
And, finally, I never said it was wanderlust that led to agrarian society. That is clearly 'bullshit', as you would say. I said it was inquisitiveness that took us over the next hill and got us off the plains. That doesn't automatically lead to crop-rotation and chickens.
I'd like an option on my 1040 to fund or not fund the air that you breathe. Oh, well. That damn social contract's got in the way again!
Don't be so negative!
:)
I intend to be rich and have my own spaceship before I die. And when I do, I won't let you ride in it, so nyaaah!
Possibly. But since there are still viable hunter-gatherer aboriginals in Africa 40,000 years after we first roamed out of the serengeti, I'd say that the basic African savannah lifestyle must at least be viable for humans to survive, even if the occasional famine drove some of us to roam further afield.
"Van Allen comments that 'the only surviving motivation for continuing human spaceflight is the ideology of adventure.'""
Uh...so? The only motivation that got us off our asses and away from our idylic hunter-gatherer lifestyle on the plains of Africa was our desire to see what was over the next hill, what happens if we bash flints together, what happens if we lash a bunch of logs together and float it on the river...
I'd say adventure is a good enough reason to get me my damn spaceship and lunar weekend retreat!
...but they clearly don't have any financial sense!
I mean, those Macs are 50% more expensive than a functionally-equivilant PC...
http://www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/hazardousw aste.asp
Then just give the City a call, and they will come and collect your old TV or monitor *for FREE* from your home and recycle it.
I just posted elsewhere that if you live in Boston you can, in fact, do this. The City of Boston will come to your house and take away monitors and TVs FOR FREE. All you have to do is call them.
u sw aste.asp
http://www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/hazardo
Of course, if you live elsewhere you usually have to pay money, get stickers and drive the stuff to your local DPW dump.
Just call them and they'll come to your house and take away old TVs and computer monitors. Costs you nothing, and no heavy lifting!
u sw aste.asp
This is better than Somerville next door, where you have to pay them and visit 2 different locations to drop off your stuff (go to one place, buy sticker for $15, attach sticker to item, bring to dump).
http://www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/hazardo
Only eight years ago?
:)
Get with the program, bub - their seminal work, Flood, opens with the lyrics 'A brand new album, for 1990...'. And I remember when it came out.
Flood is a work of genius. Not too keen on their later stuff, though.
Jeesh, what's with Nokia recently and Ass designs? I just want a phone that looks like a phone, is GSM, and can play MP3. This means it should also be able to take, at a minimum, a 128MB stick of MMC / SD or CF memory.
So the only question that remains is, will this design crash and burn as fast as the NGAGE?
My associates at Vulture Capitalists would like to be $1milllion angel investors in your pencil plan. We envision a b2b synergy in a vertical market with excellent cross-selling opportunities. Our revenue stream of 10c on the dollar guarantees us a stunning IPO...
Are you of Native American descent?
No?
A recent (less than 300 year old) immigrant family?
Oh, I see.
So it's fine that your ancestors immigrated to the US, worked hard, and had you, but not fine for others to try the same?
That's nice.
Last time I checked, the US owed it's greatness to the vast numbers of immigrants who came here between 1850 and 1950. Please remember that before you go bashing on first-generation immigrant workers.
The bill's description of "Peer to Peer" network can easily be applied to any internet connected device. Only one line mentions routing traffic through a central server (and then it speaks of 'routing', not 'serving'), and that only applies if the central computer is in the US.
In short, this lets copyright owners DoS any internet-connected computer, *unless* that computer is sharing files through a central server located in the US. Pretty bizarre.
From The Register: .NET products was premature," Gates said."[Since then] We've rolled out additions to those server products and now we have total support for XML and SOAP based capabilities."
"Perhaps labeling those
That was nice, wasn't it? ;-p
And in the reverse, I regularly buy Region 2 DVD from the UK, for use in the US on my hacked Region-Free player.
;-)
The funny thing is, they're pretty cheap for me to buy. Amazon.co.uk uses Royal Mail for shipping, so international 5-7 day airmail costs me only about $4 per DVD. Also, Europe has VAT at 17.5%, which as a non-European customer, I'm exempt from. So I get 17.5% discount off the price listed in the store (thanks to the UK habit of showing all prices *including* taxes).
Finally, Amazon UK is linked to the Amazon US customer database, so I use my same account and credit card info without any problems. It's really pretty neat.
Well, in my case, it's because you can't *get* some stuff in US Region 1 DVD. For example, The Prisoner boxed set was originally only Region 2 (and it was a lot cheaper than the eventual US version - I paid $50 US for it from Amazon UK, for my region free DVD player). The same applied to the original releases of Farscape and Buffy, I believe. My current fix has been "Robin of Sherwood", the best treatment of Robin Hood *ever* put on film, which is only available in Europe (even though it's actually a Region 0 DVD according to the box - Amazon UK says its Region 2. They're wrong, I own it, and tried it out in a Region 1 player).
So yes, while I'm sure most of the trade is in US Region 1 DVDs going to modded Region 2 players, there is some trade the other way.