Article header did not mention this salary survey only applies to system administrators. I got to page 2 before I figured it out myself. This is what you get when you let system administrators submit articles.
Neither the header nor the survey itself mentions if this is US only. This is what you get when you let system administrators create surveys.
I've installed Java software that comes with the JRE on the CD. Makes perfect sense. I've built installers like that for Java software I've written.
I've also installed software that includes a link to the JRE in (native Windows) installer. Just because you write something in Java doesn't mean you can't have a native Windows installer - that makes it easier for your Windows users.
It should be easy for people to find and install the JRE, but you shouldn't have to go somewhere to download software to install your software in the first place.
This question was worded in a fairly confusing manner, either hotmail is blocking him because he's mailing 600 people, or it's blocking him because his emails sound like spam.
If your emails sound like spam, fool around with them until they no longer sound like spam. Mail your own test hotmail address and see how it's received. Hotmails spam blocking may not be perfect, but I'm sure it's not out to get you specifially.
If you're emailing all 600 people in one batch, that's idiotic and email each person individually. I would write a script to do this, but I'm sure there are less geeky tools available as well. This seems very unlikely, but I'm including it just in case.
Apple has agreements with their parts manufactuers to warrenty parts. I learned this while talking with an apple CSR after my brand new powerbook arrived with a defective screen. Because the screen was flawed, apple wanted to capitalize on their warrenty with the screen manufacturer (Samsung). I don't know if this means they got the new screen for free, or what.
Given this kind of arrangement I don't think you have much chance in convincing them to give you a brand new machine.
My own powerbook (15" 1.25Ghz) has been in for servicing 3 times since I got it in November. In general apple's customer service has been terrible. I'm trying not to let it get to me though, but I'll think carefully before I buy my next apple product.
They haven't shifted anything, you can choose to not do any quests, and instead just kill monsters. That's a valid way to advance. I would say most people prefer doing quests.
Certainly to advance you do need to either complete quests or farm xp, there is no third option for advancement. If you don't enjoy doing either, you won't enjoy advancement.
It's not clear to me from your comment exactly what it is you find unenjoyable about WOW questing. You describe the quests as not meaning much to your character. The quests definitely are race and locale specific, they tell stories, they have plot lines. I would say the quests are mostly well written and meaningful. I'm not sure how exactly how an MMO quest could be made fundamentally more meaningful.
I have never, not once, stood around camping something or roaming a small area, just to get xp.
The time to finish a quest varies between 30 minutes and 3 hours in general I'd say. There are small quests, and big quests. The hardest are instance dungeon quests, where there is a very real possibility in trying to complete the quest that you will fail and have to start over.
I've been playing WOW for 4 months now (alpha tester). It isn't a leveling treadmill. Leveling treadmill is generally used as a term to refer to killing monsters cyclicly to advance.
In WOW your focus is quests. I am level 30 (max level) and I have never once done the xp treadmill. All I do is do quests.
Like any game, WOW is what you make of it. In this case, the mechanics of the game strongly support quest based advancement.
I've been Alpha testing this game for four months, now that the beta is out my NDA is lifted.
I suppose I should say something meaningful now, but all I can think to really say is that if you like fantasy RPGs, and questing, it's definitely worth giving it a try.
I've been having a lot of fun, and after four months, I'm still excited about playing.
I was pretty much set to say MMOs can't be skill based, but reading the article, I can see some room for it.
Specifically in a traditional dungeon based MMO I'd propose something to the extent of each player can choose to be in active mode, or passive mode. The key being giving players choice.
Players in active mode would essentially gain the opportunity to be 10-20% more effective, but would run the risk of being 10-20% less effective, based on how well they interacted with a skill based interface.
Players in passive mode would be baseline.
This would present a really nice mix. It wouldn't alienate the passive players. It would give the skilled players a chance to be better through application of skill. PVP could require the active mode (no passive PVPing). High level encounters would demand people be in active mode, to better their chance of defeating the difficult encounters.
It's a neat idea, I'd like to see something like that. It would require a lot of interface work though to make it intuitive.
I have two cats and a bunch of computers in my one bedroom apartment. Cats don't bother cables. I'll support the parent, a second cat could improve things.
If you get second cat, a kitten of the opposite gender is usually a good pick (of course make sure your cat is spayed or neutered first).
You could also try bitter apple it supposedly is for dogs but apparently works for cats. I would need about 10 galons of the stuff to cover all my cables so I didn't bother trying.
While much of what Piers Anthony has written is crap, he has written several books which I would personally consider good science fiction:
* Macroscope * The Apprentice Adept (books 1-3 only) * Incarnations of Imortality (books 1-4 only)
I'm omiting from this list books that were entertaining but not really good, and books that are clearly fantasy and not sci fi. Of this list only Macroscope is what I'd call pure sci fi, containing no fantasy elements, but it was really quite good, one of his first.
Most of his sci fi is really quite tollerable and an enjoyable read. When in doubt skim the first chapter, and if the word panties is mentioned skip the book.
I did of course also quite like his lighter fluffier stuff, it was a staple of my reading from ages 12-17 when I bought anything he wrote.
I'm still gaming as much as when I was in highschool, more probably. I'm 30. I am doing different games than when I was in highschool. I own two console systems, there are way more fun games to play than there is time for me to play them.
Maybe you don't want to game as much any more. If you want to, and if you look, I think you'll find there is tonnes of innovation and entertainment out there.
Pick up a game cube for the best innovation bang for your buck.
This isn't rocket science. Outright ban is a deterrant. The goal is not specifically to keep the ladder clean, it's to have a tough face against griefers, map hackers, and other people who make playing on battle.net less enjoyable.
Enjoyable battle.net play helps sell future blizzard games, i.e. make them money. Even if deterrants don't work, they convinces the non-griefer players that blizzard is trying, as opposed to ignoring the problem. This encourages people to keep buying blizzard games.
The development house I work at has a primary goal of our applications working on any of our major supported browsers. The major supported browser are based on Web statistics on the browsers our customer actually use. We dropped Netscape 4.7 finally a few months ago (thank god).
This seems a sensible approach, unless you can force you customer to use a specific browser, you need to make sure the app works on their browser. Standards compliance is one way to shoot for compatibility, but knowing the quirks of each browser, and testing on each browser, is the only way to ensure things actually work.
In general this approach results in standards compliant work that will work on future browsers. For example, when Safari came out we only had to make minor adjustments to our CSS files to make everything look perfect on Safari.
Lots of games programming is being done partially in eastern europe now. Grand theft auto for example. Outsourcing games programming to eastern europe is a big trend right now.
This is classic SOE management. They will release some goal to the playerbase that is extremely hard to reach. A small portion of the playerbase will work extremely hard, and reach that goal.
The process of working so hard, makes the goal have a high social value. People are impressed, amazed, they want to reach that goal too.
Enter round two, the difficulty of reaching the goal is significantly downgraded. Now a large portion of the paying game playerbase, who were unable to reach that goal before, can go for this highly coveted goal.
Round three, they make it even easier.
It's all about making players want something bad, and eventually making sure all (or most) players can get it. It's a good way to ensure your $9.89/month keeps coming in.
Note, they've just announced this. It's not live yet. But I bet a bunch of people who are bored with SWG, who might cancel their accounts, will stick around now because now they can hope they'll become jedi.
My basic formula was a 1500 calorie a day diet + burning 400-450 calories a day via DDR workout mode. Doing this Iost about 20 pounds in two or three months. I was 160 before, I'm 140 now, height is 5'10. The entire process was easy and pretty fun. 20 pounds was a lot of weight lost for me, as I wasn't really overweight to start.
Note the calories burned estimate from workout mode is probably not accurate, but that doesn't really matter, what matters is I was burning about the same amount of calories every day.
Some tips:
- Turn off freeze arrows in workout mode, you can do this by holding down the upper right button right after song selection, to access the song options menu
- Don't play DDR in workout mode 7 days a week, at least not ideally, I think it's better to do it 3-4 days a week and do other exercise on other days
- Use tempo to control your exertion level, play songs that will keep your heart rate high, and if you're exhausted fall back to an easier song for your next song. You can sort songs by tempo.
My group is now managing all secure certificates within the company. If you are currently managing a secure certificate, please inform me so I can arrange for a transfer of management. To better ensure company security, a single group managing certificates will be company policy from now on.
Seriously, why do you need to be so controlling as to seek out rogue certs.
MMOs are not like traditional design and ship games. With a design and ship game, you generally aim for having all content done, so the game will sell as many copies as possible.
With an MMO, you plan to release a complete enjoyable game, and continually add new content. This content takes many forms, including new game features, like player housing.
It's perfectly reasonable for Blizzard to release a non-core feature, like player housing, after the initial release. It would be unreasonable to release a core feature, like the zones for hunting from levels 25-35, after release.
Slashdot Mirror
Everyone knows that clarity (the mana regen buff of the enchanter class) is the original addictive MMO drug.
Article header did not mention this salary survey only applies to system administrators. I got to page 2 before I figured it out myself. This is what you get when you let system administrators submit articles.
Neither the header nor the survey itself mentions if this is US only. This is what you get when you let system administrators create surveys.
Single geeky canadian female seeks rebelious anti-bush american geek for marriage and world domination.
Blame the application developer.
I've installed Java software that comes with the JRE on the CD. Makes perfect sense. I've built installers like that for Java software I've written.
I've also installed software that includes a link to the JRE in (native Windows) installer. Just because you write something in Java doesn't mean you can't have a native Windows installer - that makes it easier for your Windows users.
It should be easy for people to find and install the JRE, but you shouldn't have to go somewhere to download software to install your software in the first place.
This question was worded in a fairly confusing manner, either hotmail is blocking him because he's mailing 600 people, or it's blocking him because his emails sound like spam.
If your emails sound like spam, fool around with them until they no longer sound like spam. Mail your own test hotmail address and see how it's received. Hotmails spam blocking may not be perfect, but I'm sure it's not out to get you specifially.
If you're emailing all 600 people in one batch, that's idiotic and email each person individually. I would write a script to do this, but I'm sure there are less geeky tools available as well. This seems very unlikely, but I'm including it just in case.
Apple has agreements with their parts manufactuers to warrenty parts. I learned this while talking with an apple CSR after my brand new powerbook arrived with a defective screen. Because the screen was flawed, apple wanted to capitalize on their warrenty with the screen manufacturer (Samsung). I don't know if this means they got the new screen for free, or what.
Given this kind of arrangement I don't think you have much chance in convincing them to give you a brand new machine.
My own powerbook (15" 1.25Ghz) has been in for servicing 3 times since I got it in November. In general apple's customer service has been terrible. I'm trying not to let it get to me though, but I'll think carefully before I buy my next apple product.
They haven't shifted anything, you can choose to not do any quests, and instead just kill monsters. That's a valid way to advance. I would say most people prefer doing quests.
Certainly to advance you do need to either complete quests or farm xp, there is no third option for advancement. If you don't enjoy doing either, you won't enjoy advancement.
It's not clear to me from your comment exactly what it is you find unenjoyable about WOW questing. You describe the quests as not meaning much to your character. The quests definitely are race and locale specific, they tell stories, they have plot lines. I would say the quests are mostly well written and meaningful. I'm not sure how exactly how an MMO quest could be made fundamentally more meaningful.
I have never, not once, stood around camping something or roaming a small area, just to get xp.
The time to finish a quest varies between 30 minutes and 3 hours in general I'd say. There are small quests, and big quests. The hardest are instance dungeon quests, where there is a very real possibility in trying to complete the quest that you will fail and have to start over.
I've been playing WOW for 4 months now (alpha tester). It isn't a leveling treadmill. Leveling treadmill is generally used as a term to refer to killing monsters cyclicly to advance.
In WOW your focus is quests. I am level 30 (max level) and I have never once done the xp treadmill. All I do is do quests.
Like any game, WOW is what you make of it. In this case, the mechanics of the game strongly support quest based advancement.
Ubisoft also just cancelled the MMO component of Uru. Sounds like Ubi's MMO division is not doing well.
I've been Alpha testing this game for four months, now that the beta is out my NDA is lifted.
I suppose I should say something meaningful now, but all I can think to really say is that if you like fantasy RPGs, and questing, it's definitely worth giving it a try.
I've been having a lot of fun, and after four months, I'm still excited about playing.
Sounds a lot like Space Hulk, one of the many enjoyable miniature games from Games Workshop.
:)
I wonder if they'll have a CTF mode?
I was pretty much set to say MMOs can't be skill based, but reading the article, I can see some room for it.
Specifically in a traditional dungeon based MMO I'd propose something to the extent of each player can choose to be in active mode, or passive mode. The key being giving players choice.
Players in active mode would essentially gain the opportunity to be 10-20% more effective, but would run the risk of being 10-20% less effective, based on how well they interacted with a skill based interface.
Players in passive mode would be baseline.
This would present a really nice mix. It wouldn't alienate the passive players. It would give the skilled players a chance to be better through application of skill. PVP could require the active mode (no passive PVPing). High level encounters would demand people be in active mode, to better their chance of defeating the difficult encounters.
It's a neat idea, I'd like to see something like that. It would require a lot of interface work though to make it intuitive.
I have two cats and a bunch of computers in my one bedroom apartment. Cats don't bother cables. I'll support the parent, a second cat could improve things.
If you get second cat, a kitten of the opposite gender is usually a good pick (of course make sure your cat is spayed or neutered first).
You could also try bitter apple it supposedly is for dogs but apparently works for cats. I would need about 10 galons of the stuff to cover all my cables so I didn't bother trying.
While much of what Piers Anthony has written is crap, he has written several books which I would personally consider good science fiction:
* Macroscope
* The Apprentice Adept (books 1-3 only)
* Incarnations of Imortality (books 1-4 only)
I'm omiting from this list books that were entertaining but not really good, and books that are clearly fantasy and not sci fi. Of this list only Macroscope is what I'd call pure sci fi, containing no fantasy elements, but it was really quite good, one of his first.
Most of his sci fi is really quite tollerable and an enjoyable read. When in doubt skim the first chapter, and if the word panties is mentioned skip the book.
I did of course also quite like his lighter fluffier stuff, it was a staple of my reading from ages 12-17 when I bought anything he wrote.
I'm still gaming as much as when I was in highschool, more probably. I'm 30. I am doing different games than when I was in highschool. I own two console systems, there are way more fun games to play than there is time for me to play them.
Maybe you don't want to game as much any more. If you want to, and if you look, I think you'll find there is tonnes of innovation and entertainment out there.
Pick up a game cube for the best innovation bang for your buck.
This isn't rocket science. Outright ban is a deterrant. The goal is not specifically to keep the ladder clean, it's to have a tough face against griefers, map hackers, and other people who make playing on battle.net less enjoyable.
Enjoyable battle.net play helps sell future blizzard games, i.e. make them money. Even if deterrants don't work, they convinces the non-griefer players that blizzard is trying, as opposed to ignoring the problem. This encourages people to keep buying blizzard games.
The development house I work at has a primary goal of our applications working on any of our major supported browsers. The major supported browser are based on Web statistics on the browsers our customer actually use. We dropped Netscape 4.7 finally a few months ago (thank god).
This seems a sensible approach, unless you can force you customer to use a specific browser, you need to make sure the app works on their browser. Standards compliance is one way to shoot for compatibility, but knowing the quirks of each browser, and testing on each browser, is the only way to ensure things actually work.
In general this approach results in standards compliant work that will work on future browsers. For example, when Safari came out we only had to make minor adjustments to our CSS files to make everything look perfect on Safari.
Lots of games programming is being done partially in eastern europe now. Grand theft auto for example. Outsourcing games programming to eastern europe is a big trend right now.
This is classic SOE management. They will release some goal to the playerbase that is extremely hard to reach. A small portion of the playerbase will work extremely hard, and reach that goal.
The process of working so hard, makes the goal have a high social value. People are impressed, amazed, they want to reach that goal too.
Enter round two, the difficulty of reaching the goal is significantly downgraded. Now a large portion of the paying game playerbase, who were unable to reach that goal before, can go for this highly coveted goal.
Round three, they make it even easier.
It's all about making players want something bad, and eventually making sure all (or most) players can get it. It's a good way to ensure your $9.89/month keeps coming in.
Note, they've just announced this. It's not live yet. But I bet a bunch of people who are bored with SWG, who might cancel their accounts, will stick around now because now they can hope they'll become jedi.
Freeze arrows make songs more challenging by making you keep your foot in a fixed position during the song.
In general, songs with freeze arrows will involve less stepping, and thus be less exercise.
The goal in this case being exercise.
Working out will help you lose weight much better if you do some kind of diet.
Working out + diet = the ultimately 2 step combo
Might as well note my own experience.
My basic formula was a 1500 calorie a day diet + burning 400-450 calories a day via DDR workout mode. Doing this Iost about 20 pounds in two or three months. I was 160 before, I'm 140 now, height is 5'10. The entire process was easy and pretty fun. 20 pounds was a lot of weight lost for me, as I wasn't really overweight to start.
Note the calories burned estimate from workout mode is probably not accurate, but that doesn't really matter, what matters is I was burning about the same amount of calories every day.
Some tips:
- Turn off freeze arrows in workout mode, you can do this by holding down the upper right button right after song selection, to access the song options menu
- Don't play DDR in workout mode 7 days a week, at least not ideally, I think it's better to do it 3-4 days a week and do other exercise on other days
- Use tempo to control your exertion level, play songs that will keep your heart rate high, and if you're exhausted fall back to an easier song for your next song. You can sort songs by tempo.
Seriously, why do you need to be so controlling as to seek out rogue certs.
MMOs are not like traditional design and ship games. With a design and ship game, you generally aim for having all content done, so the game will sell as many copies as possible.
With an MMO, you plan to release a complete enjoyable game, and continually add new content. This content takes many forms, including new game features, like player housing.
It's perfectly reasonable for Blizzard to release a non-core feature, like player housing, after the initial release. It would be unreasonable to release a core feature, like the zones for hunting from levels 25-35, after release.