Re:The Record Industry is looking for a bail out..
on
Napster Not To Blame
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· Score: 1
You realize, though, that if the $30 billion music industry folded, then cocaine dealers would be lobbying Congress for a bailout, citing their $30 billion in lost revenue.
I remember reading the manual to some old Maxis 'game' (perhaps SimEarth?) where they discussed the difference between a game (i.e. football) and a toy (i.e. a ball). Football has lots of rules covering every aspect of how you go about playing it. A ball has no rules...except the ones you make for yourself. Maxis (at the time) aimed to provide me with a toy. I could play SimEarth (for example) in a variety of different ways that were fun for me. Lego had the same idea (at one point) - give me blocks and I'll build whatever I want with them. Of course, now Lego is more focused on modeling - if I buy an X-Wing kit, I'm probably only going to build an X-Wing.
I think that this is at the heart of the some of the problems with MMORPGs. Right now, the developers are making games which they want to be treated like toys. They're making 'football', saying 'anyone can play with this however they want', and then wondering why people get upset when they go to play with the ball and some 300 lb guy tackles them.
While I acknowledge that there are plenty of people who just want to play a game, I think there's a market of people who want a 'toy' as well - a world where there aren't rules beyond how the world works.
Breaking down the arbitrary rules of these games would go a long way to making them better. I'd much prefer systems I can play with myself - particularly economic, community and justice systems.
Also, it would be nice to give players the ability to deal with problems, rather than letting the 'gods' (the developers do so). For instance, PKs/grief players...rather than create rules (no PK, PK and get 'flagged', etc), let the players enforce some consequences.
An earlier post slammed people for having an expectation of perfection from the police and the government. I agree, expecting anyone to perfect is a bad idea. Clearly, this expectation of perfection was not part of the basis for most Western Democracies - if you could expect the government/police/whomever to behave perfectly, there'd be no need for laws. In the US, the Constitution exists because you can't expect the government to be perfect.
The problem here is not citizens and/.ers expecting the government to be perfect - it is the government and police expecting themselves to be perfect. Or at least trying to make the public perceive them as perfect. Everytime they implement measures like this, the message is 'Trust us, we don't fuck up'. I think it's readily apparent that they do fuck up, as often as anyone else.
I, too, am a Rogers customer. When I moved to Toronto, they were the only High Speed ISP that provided to my area (and I live on the subway line, minutes from Downtown Toronto). Bell is supposed to be coming in August, but I will probably have moved by then. I tried every other option having heard many Rogers horror stories (plus I had Bell HSE/Mpower in Halifax, NS and was very pleased with it).
Rogers has been a problem from day one. I generally experience a day of downtime every week, sometimes more. The worst part is that this almost always occurs during my free time (Friday after work and Saturday). Usually the problem is with obtaining an IP address from their flakey DHCP servers, but there have been a number of other issues as well (I forgive them for the severed line mentioned elsewhere). I don't bother calling their tech support anymore (if necessary, I have my unemployed room mate call them, as he has the 1-3 hours necessary to deal with them) because it's a waste of time and their help desk staff are utterly clueless (just FYI - their HR people want 2 years of experience for these jobs, but they don't check references or even attempt to see if your resume is accurate - I've had qualified friends with no experience turned away, only to hear that the less honest ones made up two years of phoney experience and were hired after breezing through the tech interview).
The kicker of all this is that I've worked with their IT department in a professional capacity. One of their IT guys was unable to change the TCP/IP settings on a WinNT 4.0 workstation from static IP to dynamic, though he had the permissions to do so. These are the 'best and brightest' of their HD staff who get promoted into actual IT jobs.
As for the case - I'd rather see Mr. Rogers make a public apology, though the punitive damages are certainly justified if a credit agency was involved. They aren't regulated to the extent they should be and can damage your credit rating (with no recourse for you) simply by making a call - even by mistake.
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You realize, though, that if the $30 billion music industry folded, then cocaine dealers would be lobbying Congress for a bailout, citing their $30 billion in lost revenue.
What they need is some sort of X-Ray machine concealed in the drivers seat, that bombards the thief's genitals with radiation...
...thereby cutting down on FUTURE dumbasses as well.
I remember reading the manual to some old Maxis 'game' (perhaps SimEarth?) where they discussed the difference between a game (i.e. football) and a toy (i.e. a ball). Football has lots of rules covering every aspect of how you go about playing it. A ball has no rules...except the ones you make for yourself. Maxis (at the time) aimed to provide me with a toy. I could play SimEarth (for example) in a variety of different ways that were fun for me. Lego had the same idea (at one point) - give me blocks and I'll build whatever I want with them. Of course, now Lego is more focused on modeling - if I buy an X-Wing kit, I'm probably only going to build an X-Wing.
I think that this is at the heart of the some of the problems with MMORPGs. Right now, the developers are making games which they want to be treated like toys. They're making 'football', saying 'anyone can play with this however they want', and then wondering why people get upset when they go to play with the ball and some 300 lb guy tackles them.
While I acknowledge that there are plenty of people who just want to play a game, I think there's a market of people who want a 'toy' as well - a world where there aren't rules beyond how the world works.
Breaking down the arbitrary rules of these games would go a long way to making them better. I'd much prefer systems I can play with myself - particularly economic, community and justice systems.
Also, it would be nice to give players the ability to deal with problems, rather than letting the 'gods' (the developers do so). For instance, PKs/grief players...rather than create rules (no PK, PK and get 'flagged', etc), let the players enforce some consequences.
I believe it's under the anti-facism laws. xenu.net could probably provide a more definitive answer.:)
Everything I know about science, I learned from Sid Meier!
The guy playing the doctor sets off my 'gaydar'. I don't know if the character is supposed to be, though.
Isn't Microsoft free to market software that meets these governments' regulations?
Heh...
I'm 23, and think exactly the same thing.
An earlier post slammed people for having an expectation of perfection from the police and the government. I agree, expecting anyone to perfect is a bad idea. Clearly, this expectation of perfection was not part of the basis for most Western Democracies - if you could expect the government/police/whomever to behave perfectly, there'd be no need for laws. In the US, the Constitution exists because you can't expect the government to be perfect. The problem here is not citizens and /.ers expecting the government to be perfect - it is the government and police expecting themselves to be perfect. Or at least trying to make the public perceive them as perfect. Everytime they implement measures like this, the message is 'Trust us, we don't fuck up'. I think it's readily apparent that they do fuck up, as often as anyone else.
I, too, am a Rogers customer. When I moved to Toronto, they were the only High Speed ISP that provided to my area (and I live on the subway line, minutes from Downtown Toronto). Bell is supposed to be coming in August, but I will probably have moved by then. I tried every other option having heard many Rogers horror stories (plus I had Bell HSE/Mpower in Halifax, NS and was very pleased with it). Rogers has been a problem from day one. I generally experience a day of downtime every week, sometimes more. The worst part is that this almost always occurs during my free time (Friday after work and Saturday). Usually the problem is with obtaining an IP address from their flakey DHCP servers, but there have been a number of other issues as well (I forgive them for the severed line mentioned elsewhere). I don't bother calling their tech support anymore (if necessary, I have my unemployed room mate call them, as he has the 1-3 hours necessary to deal with them) because it's a waste of time and their help desk staff are utterly clueless (just FYI - their HR people want 2 years of experience for these jobs, but they don't check references or even attempt to see if your resume is accurate - I've had qualified friends with no experience turned away, only to hear that the less honest ones made up two years of phoney experience and were hired after breezing through the tech interview). The kicker of all this is that I've worked with their IT department in a professional capacity. One of their IT guys was unable to change the TCP/IP settings on a WinNT 4.0 workstation from static IP to dynamic, though he had the permissions to do so. These are the 'best and brightest' of their HD staff who get promoted into actual IT jobs. As for the case - I'd rather see Mr. Rogers make a public apology, though the punitive damages are certainly justified if a credit agency was involved. They aren't regulated to the extent they should be and can damage your credit rating (with no recourse for you) simply by making a call - even by mistake.