Even though you'll probably be flamed, I wanted to throw my agreement in here. Most developers DO smell bad. I know it sounds like an unfair generalization, but in my experience it's true.
HEY! there's something to be said for personal hygiene, people. TAKE A SHOWER!!! Please, I beg of you!
Which bring the question, if YOU don't like what you're getting from these Open Source games, why aren't YOU joining them in development?
Oh, please. Because I expect to get paid for my work.
A lot of this has to do with the quality of the Artists on these projects.
I agree with you there, 100%. That's why Open Source in this case is not a clear win. Under a totally open source / open development software arrangement, I don't think you can get as good of a team of professional artists, musicians, designers, etc. These are people who want to be paid. The way they get paid is to charge for the software. That's Blizzard's business model, it's been successful for decades, and they have a right to keep using it.
I fail to belive that every Nerd on Slashdot has (a) no artisitc ability (b) no time to devote to doolding for a video game in which THEIR artwork will be show cased and (c) inability to give back to the community rather than just take (there is an 'upload' as well and 'download' feature to the networking thingy.)
I guess maybe I don't qualify as a "Slashdot Nerd," because I don't believe that open source/free software is ALWAYS the end-all, be-all of business models. And to make a good game, it takes more than a computer nerd with a casual artistic ability. There are artists out there who have devoted their entire life to learning their craft. If you get a room of those people together, you get a game that transcends the commonplace to become a truly incredible experience. If you get a bunch of casual computer nerds together to create a game, it becomes derivative, nerdy crap. What I'm saying is, the profit motive is what has brought us the greatest games ever designed.
It is not in the Open Source community's best interest to try to strongarm or coerce companies to open their source (or to allow interoperability, or any other changes to their business model).
Blizzard (through Vivendi) is accountable to its shareholders. This means, as a corporation, they are legally obligated to protect their property and assets, and also obligated to select a tested, proven business model which represents a minimal risk and maximal chance of profit.
If you think Open Source is ALWAYS better than Proprietary, then why the hell is Blizzard's software so fucking good? Now that they've proven you wrong, the only way you can rectify the situation is by boycotting the software.
Great software should thrive. Blizzard makes great software. And they have the right to keep their systems open or closed as they see fit. Would it be cool if there was an open version available? Yes. I know there are several open RTS systems under construction on Sourceforge. They don't attempt interoperability with BattleNet, so there is no legal issue. And guess what? THEY ALL SUCK! They all look like derivative, amateurish, sloppy game systems. They lack the Blizzard polish.
And if you're a RTS player who decides not to buy WCIII because of this issue, well then, it sucks to be you!
Supermodel and ersatz space tourist Kate Moss today was killed during launch. She would have been the first supermodel in space.
A NASA spokesman said, "Apparently, the g-forces were too much for her bony, underfed frame and she was ripped in half by the pressure."
"It's just as well, because I don't know how she would have survived a week with those horny, lecherous astronauts on the ISS. Either way, she would have been ripped in half."
Well I suppose you could do that, but he'd ask you to leave. I guess my point is, the fact that you CAN'T do that doesn't make it a monopoly.
Spider-Man: also for sale at a nearby supermarket
on
The Empire Stumbles
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· Score: 3, Informative
Oh please, Katz! The assertion that Spider-Man is somehow less of a "commercial whore" and Star Wars is laughable. My supermarket is filled with Spider-Man cereal! I've even seen Spider-Man in cellphone commercials! THERE IS SPIDER-MAN MERCHANDISE EVERYWHERE!
Katz, did you even do any research about this? Can you back up your assertion with data? I'd love to see, in hard numbers, how many different products Spider-Man has attached its name to. I'm sure it would rival Star Wars -- and possibly surpass it.
As far as the apparent decrease in popularity of Star Wars, isn't it amazing that even though "Clones" is doing so well at the box office, people still see that as a failure of some kind?
I think what happened is this: during the 15 years hiatus in which new Star Wars movies weren't being made, all the Star Wars fandorks convinced themselves that they were somehow involved in the production process of the movie.
15 years of nonstop Star Wars fantasization later, the fandorks have immersed themselves in scores of SW novels, collectible card games and [awful] fan scripts... and now nothing George Lucas could do would please them.
Re:Choose one mega-corp over another, very rebelli
on
The Empire Stumbles
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· Score: 2
You are right. And unfortunately I don't think it's a joke.
Spider-Man's success is a "... movement away from whorish sellouts?" Holy shit, can't he see what a totally false assertion that is? In my local supermarket, Spider-Man cereal outnumbers Star Wars cereal at least 2 to 1.
His claims are absolutely idiotic. I guess as a "pundit" Katz feels the need to draw some kind of socially significant conjecture, no matter how fatuous it might be.
Your argument about "hollywood" vs "independent" filmmaker doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and sounds a bit elitist to me.
Most people define "independent" to mean "not being funded by hollywood film studios." By that definition, George Lucas is an independent filmmaker (a claim he repeatedly makes).
So your post raises a few questions in my mind:
do you really think independent film makers = quality? I have seen some truly terrible independent films.
do you not agree that a whole lot of people seem to like over-the-top special effects, poor plot lines and predictable endings? if that's the case, why shouldn't they succeed? Apparently, you feel they shouldn't succeed because you don't like them.
I'm not sure i'd agree that Hollywood has a monopoly. First of all, "Hollywood" is not a company. "Hollywood" is a collection of large studios who are all in competition against each other. One thing that does exist, though, is a long-lived, entrenched process to getting a film made and distributed. You have to know the right people, you have to have the right connections, you have to be noticed by the right people. You can't just create a film on your Mac and give it to the night manager at the Cinemark Theater and ask him to show it.
IMO, FPS games are the least creative thing you can possibly develop on a computer these days. The genre has been totally overexplored. Anything you could classify as a "First Person Shooter" has already been done -- just a glorified CPU exerciser. No creativity is needed (and none is being used) generating new versions of this tired, overused and completely uninspired form of gameplay. Please, Big Game Developers, find something new to develop. I beg you.
I have a multi-region DVD player; I purchased it legally in the USA. When I watch movies on it, jackbooted one-world-government United Nations secret police don't come storming through my front door, if that's what you're asking.
Sounds like a bit of a leading question to me, Anonymous Coward.
I'd be willing to bet this kind of thinking is a quirky, unfortunate aspect of human nature and is not entirely removable.
By your comments, I take it you are not American. That's fine. We are ALL going through a time of extraordinary technological change right now. Some people get scared by the change -- their reactions are not as cogent or reasonable as we all would like. This is not limited to the United States. (I'm sure I don't even need to mention Australia's warped approach to internet regulation.)
It's all caused by fear -- fear of change, fear of the unknown. Oh yeah, and fear of losing money. The best way to combat this is education, and tons of it. Get those kids -- get everyone -- educated. Get computers in the schools. Let people make up their own minds, when their minds are full of information. The right decisions will be made.
The reviews have, for the most part, been overwhelmingly positive. Chris Gore's review at Film Threat is a good example. He says AOTC is second only to Empire Strikes Back in quality. (It is important to note that he thought Phantom Menace was total crap, in fact he was one of its harshest critics.)
"And how do we protect such programmers from being dismissed unfairly for standing on principle?"
This topic is asinine, and this question comes frighteningly close to proposing some kind of workplace legislation. (I can't see what else it could refer to.)
Can't anyone see the total, complete hypocrisy in this? Everyone here always screams "keep your laws off my code," when we're talking about the DMCA and other legislation. But when we start talking about stuff that no one likes (spyware, spam programs), there's some kind of moral bandwagon to propose intrusive workplace legislation to "protect programmers from being dismissed".
To solve this problem, people have to stop installing this crap on their computers. Period. There will always be programmers out there who are willing to write this dreck -- and they should be able to, because the bottom line is that programming should be constitutionally protected speech. I thought we were all in agreement on that issue?
If your employer hires you to write spyware, and then you refuse on moral grounds, then you should get fired. It's that simple. The employer should have the right to do that. Don't take a job at Penthouse Magazine if you don't like nudity. Don't get a job working for Howard Stern if you can't handle drunken midgets vomiting in the hallway. And don't take a job at a mega-ultra-multinational-conglomerate-supercorpora tion (or a squirrelly spyware dev house) if you plan to turn down projects because they are "morally offensive". It's up to YOU to exercise your pie-in-the-sky youthful idealism and don't take the friggin' job to begin with.
There can be NO good legislative solution to this problem. The idea of some kind of "code of ethics" is fine, but I think the best way to handle it is the creation of a new alliance, an industry standard, some kind of brand or label which identifies companies and products which follow that code of ethics. (I guess kind of like TrustE, except not sucking.)
I enjoyed this article, but regarding your statement that "misfiring of a US Patriot missile... caused 28 deaths because of accumulated floating point error", I would argue that the SCUD MISSILE LAUNCHED BY THE IRAQIS caused the deaths, NOT the misfiring of the Patriot missile. The referenced article says that the Patriot "failed to track and intercept an incoming Iraqi Scud missile." Uh... don't the Iraqis deserve 100% of the blame for the deaths here? They launched the damn missile! What software bug caused THAT little problem?
It is true that the Patriot missile did not succeed, but don't ever forget that those 28 people would be alive if the SCUD was never launched to begin with.
THE PANIC ROOM: Jodie Foster and her kid get out of the Panic Room but all the thieves die or get arrested.
STAR WARS EPISODE II: Anakin's mom gets killed by Sandpeople. He freaks out and slays an entire village. Later in the movie, Anakin loses an arm to the evil Count Dooku -- who turns out to be Darth Tyranus. Anakin marries Padme.
CITIZEN KANE: "Rosebud" was his sled.
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: No man is a failure, who has friends.
BRAVEHEART: He arrested, then gets his intestines ripped out to the music of Enya.
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: They all fight a lot. The main guy dies of a poison dart.
- Agreed, the Terminal is decidedly no-frills. I don't need to spend a lot of time in the Terminal though (thanks to those awesome development tools) so I haven't looked very hard for a replacement. For those inclined, there has to be something better available somewhere. Perhaps someone can recommend an alternative?
I am a big time, major Star Wars fan. I am in it for the lightsaber fights, robots, spaceships and the explosions -- that's pretty much it. I don't have any geeky complaints when Lucas decides to change the "timeline" or whatever. If you invest that much emotional bandwidth into it, you are just asking for trouble. Screw all that talk of "mythological archetypes" and other nonsense. Lucas: just keep me entertained, that's all I ask. (I will freely admit that Episode I had some problems in this regard.)
When Episode I came out, I think the expectations were too high. People had this belief that Star Wars was some kind of religious experience, the Second Coming of Jesus or something. I hope you remember it: this was the single most Anticipated Event in cinema history. Don't look to Star Wars for that kind of importance -- you'll be disappointed every time.
I am looking forward to Episode II because it will have lightsaber fights (tons of them), space battles, robots, and evil Jedi.
I also think it's interesting that, with Episode II, Lucas seems to be making a statement about government, use of force, and civil rights. In context after 9/11, it couldn't be more timely. (Yes, I have read the script.) Whether or not you agree with his message (I don't, entirely) it adds an extra level of complexity to the movie as a whole. I think the themes in Episode II will hit close to home for everyone.
If Blizzard can prove the first count, I'd be on their side. Companies should make open source software by choice, NOT by force. Ripping off someone's code and reusing it in your own is a violation of almost every software license, open or otherwise.
But I wonder what really happened? What code is Blizzard claiming was snagged?
use a big marker board in the middle of your office. Hire some migrant workers to keep it updated. We have implemented this here in the Monkey Department offices and boy, does it work.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, it was all the parents' fault!!! This guy has no responsibility for his actions; let's blame it all on the parents!!!
Even though you'll probably be flamed, I wanted to throw my agreement in here. Most developers DO smell bad. I know it sounds like an unfair generalization, but in my experience it's true.
HEY! there's something to be said for personal hygiene, people. TAKE A SHOWER!!! Please, I beg of you!
Oh, please. Because I expect to get paid for my work.
I agree with you there, 100%. That's why Open Source in this case is not a clear win. Under a totally open source / open development software arrangement, I don't think you can get as good of a team of professional artists, musicians, designers, etc. These are people who want to be paid. The way they get paid is to charge for the software. That's Blizzard's business model, it's been successful for decades, and they have a right to keep using it.
I guess maybe I don't qualify as a "Slashdot Nerd," because I don't believe that open source/free software is ALWAYS the end-all, be-all of business models. And to make a good game, it takes more than a computer nerd with a casual artistic ability. There are artists out there who have devoted their entire life to learning their craft. If you get a room of those people together, you get a game that transcends the commonplace to become a truly incredible experience. If you get a bunch of casual computer nerds together to create a game, it becomes derivative, nerdy crap. What I'm saying is, the profit motive is what has brought us the greatest games ever designed.
Hear, hear!
It is not in the Open Source community's best interest to try to strongarm or coerce companies to open their source (or to allow interoperability, or any other changes to their business model).
Blizzard (through Vivendi) is accountable to its shareholders. This means, as a corporation, they are legally obligated to protect their property and assets, and also obligated to select a tested, proven business model which represents a minimal risk and maximal chance of profit.
If you think Open Source is ALWAYS better than Proprietary, then why the hell is Blizzard's software so fucking good? Now that they've proven you wrong, the only way you can rectify the situation is by boycotting the software.
Great software should thrive. Blizzard makes great software. And they have the right to keep their systems open or closed as they see fit. Would it be cool if there was an open version available? Yes. I know there are several open RTS systems under construction on Sourceforge. They don't attempt interoperability with BattleNet, so there is no legal issue. And guess what? THEY ALL SUCK! They all look like derivative, amateurish, sloppy game systems. They lack the Blizzard polish.
And if you're a RTS player who decides not to buy WCIII because of this issue, well then, it sucks to be you!
Supermodel and ersatz space tourist Kate Moss today was killed during launch. She would have been the first supermodel in space.
A NASA spokesman said, "Apparently, the g-forces were too much for her bony, underfed frame and she was ripped in half by the pressure."
"It's just as well, because I don't know how she would have survived a week with those horny, lecherous astronauts on the ISS. Either way, she would have been ripped in half."
Well I suppose you could do that, but he'd ask you to leave. I guess my point is, the fact that you CAN'T do that doesn't make it a monopoly.
Oh please, Katz! The assertion that Spider-Man is somehow less of a "commercial whore" and Star Wars is laughable. My supermarket is filled with Spider-Man cereal! I've even seen Spider-Man in cellphone commercials! THERE IS SPIDER-MAN MERCHANDISE EVERYWHERE!
... and now nothing George Lucas could do would please them.
Katz, did you even do any research about this? Can you back up your assertion with data? I'd love to see, in hard numbers, how many different products Spider-Man has attached its name to. I'm sure it would rival Star Wars -- and possibly surpass it.
As far as the apparent decrease in popularity of Star Wars, isn't it amazing that even though "Clones" is doing so well at the box office, people still see that as a failure of some kind?
I think what happened is this: during the 15 years hiatus in which new Star Wars movies weren't being made, all the Star Wars fandorks convinced themselves that they were somehow involved in the production process of the movie.
15 years of nonstop Star Wars fantasization later, the fandorks have immersed themselves in scores of SW novels, collectible card games and [awful] fan scripts
You are right. And unfortunately I don't think it's a joke.
Spider-Man's success is a "... movement away from whorish sellouts?" Holy shit, can't he see what a totally false assertion that is? In my local supermarket, Spider-Man cereal outnumbers Star Wars cereal at least 2 to 1.
His claims are absolutely idiotic. I guess as a "pundit" Katz feels the need to draw some kind of socially significant conjecture, no matter how fatuous it might be.
Your argument about "hollywood" vs "independent" filmmaker doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and sounds a bit elitist to me.
Most people define "independent" to mean "not being funded by hollywood film studios." By that definition, George Lucas is an independent filmmaker (a claim he repeatedly makes).
So your post raises a few questions in my mind:
do you really think independent film makers = quality? I have seen some truly terrible independent films.
do you not agree that a whole lot of people seem to like over-the-top special effects, poor plot lines and predictable endings? if that's the case, why shouldn't they succeed? Apparently, you feel they shouldn't succeed because you don't like them.
I'm not sure i'd agree that Hollywood has a monopoly. First of all, "Hollywood" is not a company. "Hollywood" is a collection of large studios who are all in competition against each other. One thing that does exist, though, is a long-lived, entrenched process to getting a film made and distributed. You have to know the right people, you have to have the right connections, you have to be noticed by the right people. You can't just create a film on your Mac and give it to the night manager at the Cinemark Theater and ask him to show it.
IMO, FPS games are the least creative thing you can possibly develop on a computer these days. The genre has been totally overexplored. Anything you could classify as a "First Person Shooter" has already been done -- just a glorified CPU exerciser. No creativity is needed (and none is being used) generating new versions of this tired, overused and completely uninspired form of gameplay. Please, Big Game Developers, find something new to develop. I beg you.
One other thing... you say "nothings been regulated here."
Are you sure about that?
I have a multi-region DVD player; I purchased it legally in the USA. When I watch movies on it, jackbooted one-world-government United Nations secret police don't come storming through my front door, if that's what you're asking.
Sounds like a bit of a leading question to me, Anonymous Coward.
I'd be willing to bet this kind of thinking is a quirky, unfortunate aspect of human nature and is not entirely removable.
By your comments, I take it you are not American. That's fine. We are ALL going through a time of extraordinary technological change right now. Some people get scared by the change -- their reactions are not as cogent or reasonable as we all would like. This is not limited to the United States. (I'm sure I don't even need to mention Australia's warped approach to internet regulation.)
It's all caused by fear -- fear of change, fear of the unknown. Oh yeah, and fear of losing money. The best way to combat this is education, and tons of it. Get those kids -- get everyone -- educated. Get computers in the schools. Let people make up their own minds, when their minds are full of information. The right decisions will be made.
Who gives a shit about any of these film mistakes? I don't even expect that much perfection out of real life!
You'll get no argument from me there. I still visit mostly out of habit, I guess.
The reviews have, for the most part, been overwhelmingly positive. Chris Gore's review at Film Threat is a good example. He says AOTC is second only to Empire Strikes Back in quality. (It is important to note that he thought Phantom Menace was total crap, in fact he was one of its harshest critics.)
If my Tron program was working, that would shut the MCP down...
"And how do we protect such programmers from being dismissed unfairly for standing on principle?"
a tion (or a squirrelly spyware dev house) if you plan to turn down projects because they are "morally offensive". It's up to YOU to exercise your pie-in-the-sky youthful idealism and don't take the friggin' job to begin with.
This topic is asinine, and this question comes frighteningly close to proposing some kind of workplace legislation. (I can't see what else it could refer to.)
Can't anyone see the total, complete hypocrisy in this? Everyone here always screams "keep your laws off my code," when we're talking about the DMCA and other legislation. But when we start talking about stuff that no one likes (spyware, spam programs), there's some kind of moral bandwagon to propose intrusive workplace legislation to "protect programmers from being dismissed".
To solve this problem, people have to stop installing this crap on their computers. Period. There will always be programmers out there who are willing to write this dreck -- and they should be able to, because the bottom line is that programming should be constitutionally protected speech . I thought we were all in agreement on that issue?
If your employer hires you to write spyware, and then you refuse on moral grounds, then you should get fired. It's that simple. The employer should have the right to do that. Don't take a job at Penthouse Magazine if you don't like nudity. Don't get a job working for Howard Stern if you can't handle drunken midgets vomiting in the hallway. And don't take a job at a mega-ultra-multinational-conglomerate-supercorpor
There can be NO good legislative solution to this problem. The idea of some kind of "code of ethics" is fine, but I think the best way to handle it is the creation of a new alliance, an industry standard, some kind of brand or label which identifies companies and products which follow that code of ethics. (I guess kind of like TrustE, except not sucking.)
I enjoyed this article, but regarding your statement that "misfiring of a US Patriot missile ... caused 28 deaths because of accumulated floating point error", I would argue that the SCUD MISSILE LAUNCHED BY THE IRAQIS caused the deaths , NOT the misfiring of the Patriot missile. The referenced article says that the Patriot "failed to track and intercept an incoming Iraqi Scud missile." Uh... don't the Iraqis deserve 100% of the blame for the deaths here? They launched the damn missile! What software bug caused THAT little problem?
It is true that the Patriot missile did not succeed, but don't ever forget that those 28 people would be alive if the SCUD was never launched to begin with.
Oh yeah, by the way:
THE PANIC ROOM: Jodie Foster and her kid get out of the Panic Room but all the thieves die or get arrested.
STAR WARS EPISODE II: Anakin's mom gets killed by Sandpeople. He freaks out and slays an entire village. Later in the movie, Anakin loses an arm to the evil Count Dooku -- who turns out to be Darth Tyranus. Anakin marries Padme.
CITIZEN KANE: "Rosebud" was his sled.
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: No man is a failure, who has friends.
BRAVEHEART: He arrested, then gets his intestines ripped out to the music of Enya.
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: They all fight a lot. The main guy dies of a poison dart.
- Bash IS available for OS X. You don't even have to recompile anything. It took me 5 seconds to find this on Google.
- Vim IS available for OS X. Again, no recompile needed. About 3 seconds, again Google.
- Agreed, the Terminal is decidedly no-frills. I don't need to spend a lot of time in the Terminal though (thanks to those awesome development tools) so I haven't looked very hard for a replacement. For those inclined, there has to be something better available somewhere. Perhaps someone can recommend an alternative?
I am a big time, major Star Wars fan. I am in it for the lightsaber fights, robots, spaceships and the explosions -- that's pretty much it. I don't have any geeky complaints when Lucas decides to change the "timeline" or whatever. If you invest that much emotional bandwidth into it, you are just asking for trouble. Screw all that talk of "mythological archetypes" and other nonsense. Lucas: just keep me entertained, that's all I ask. (I will freely admit that Episode I had some problems in this regard.)
When Episode I came out, I think the expectations were too high. People had this belief that Star Wars was some kind of religious experience, the Second Coming of Jesus or something. I hope you remember it: this was the single most Anticipated Event in cinema history. Don't look to Star Wars for that kind of importance -- you'll be disappointed every time.
I am looking forward to Episode II because it will have lightsaber fights (tons of them), space battles, robots, and evil Jedi.
I also think it's interesting that, with Episode II, Lucas seems to be making a statement about government, use of force, and civil rights. In context after 9/11, it couldn't be more timely. (Yes, I have read the script.) Whether or not you agree with his message (I don't, entirely) it adds an extra level of complexity to the movie as a whole. I think the themes in Episode II will hit close to home for everyone.
Sorry, when I see the word "leveraged" used as a verb, I filter out the entire article, because it's usually marketing robot speak.
If Blizzard can prove the first count, I'd be on their side. Companies should make open source software by choice, NOT by force. Ripping off someone's code and reusing it in your own is a violation of almost every software license, open or otherwise.
But I wonder what really happened? What code is Blizzard claiming was snagged?
use a big marker board in the middle of your office. Hire some migrant workers to keep it updated. We have implemented this here in the Monkey Department offices and boy, does it work.