I quit Everquest when it became clear to me that many game design elements were not merely bad, but actually sadistic. Since then I have one unbendable rule:
If I have to walk/run/do nothing for ten minutes in a row, I uninstall the game and throw it away.
We asked for compatibility to take a back seat to security, and they did it. The end result is Vista. It's best features are either invisible, or downright irritating. It doesn't run a lot of old software. Patches occasionally break things. This is what we said we wanted, and it sucks.
Re:Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow
on
Ender in Exile
·
· Score: 1
Release a collection of his work, with cool extras, maybe some memorable personal photographs to share a small part of what he was like with us. Release a collection of artwork inspired by his work. Release a collection of his favorite charities... whatever, I'll buy it. His fans miss him, and will likely buy whatever is released to help support his widow and daughter, but please.. Don't try and replace him.
Just consider your "ecology" So what happens when a griefer guild shows up and slaughters all the wolves and bears in your forest? How do prevent this or can they even?
-Then the game spawns quests to reward players to repopulate the forest. Go capture wolves and bears and release them in the depopulated forest.
economies: much as I hate to admit it (I like the idea of a player economy as well), player based economies are actually very destructive to game enjoyment. The "Auction Hall" global market with instant results just provides massive encouragement for goldselling services and the resulting rampant inflation. The more resources and money supply is controlled by the publisher, the more the econommy winds up in control of the goldsellers.
-Only when the game spawns wealth and creatures infinitely, in an open ended way. If there is a closed cycle economy, the system doesn't create inflation.
However, the idea of allowing players to have a real impact on the game world is a good one, but once again darn near impossible in an MMO. Making real changes requires that new content be constantly generated to replace that which is no langer valid. Example: THe players have finally ended the zombie chicken infestation at Farmer Brown's. No longer will zombie chickens trouble the farm. Ever. So what new content do you propose for the beginning characters?
-How about guarding chicken deliveries?
Just ramp up those examples for "end game" content and you get a glimmer of the problem. It just takes too long to come up with new storylines/adventures. So players making real changes in games like this will be best done as solo games.
-The future of MMO's will include dynamic world simulations. It is only a matter of time.
All that work for nothing, because the game will be terrible. How can you tell? A focus on 'quick time' events. This type of game play is not even remotely fun. Please developers, stop using this aged and pointless game mechanic.
You say your are pleased with yours, but the DV6000 series is plagued with serious problems, related to heat primarily, but can also kill the slot used to hold the wireless card. Some discussion groups claim that as many as 1 in 7 have had serious issues requiring motherboard replacement.
Gleemax is another casualty of Wizards of the Coast's tough reorganization this year.
Other changes that are percieved to be aimed directly at the bottom line:
Ending the Junior Super Series (Magic events where young players could win scholorship money. ) Ending State Championships for Magic. Cancelling a Pro Tour event, and making that change permanent. Relocating Worlds to be held in the U.S. Releasing Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. Changing the card rarity in Magic to include 'Mythic' rares, a card twice as rare as 'Rare' Changing the way Prerelease tournaments are run by encouraging more local events, reducing the cost of their support.
Many of these changes are part of their restructuring of the Organized Play program, and a change in focus to attempt to aquire new players. Spending money on Gleemax doesn't get new, younger gamers away from World of Warcraft, Pokeman, or Yugioh. Many of these changes were met with negative comments from the existing players, but may in the long run prove to be beneficial to Wizards and the players alike.
Create a 'Tea Party' hosts file addition, and put all websites that support the RIAA and MPAA on it and point them to a Tea Party web page, describing why we refuse to support business that support them.
Seriously, they are happy to include CD burning, DVD playback, 3d transparent windows, ad nauseum. A seemingly endless stream of technology that a significant portion of computer users have no interest in at all is mashed in there as long as it competes with someone else's product, yet a basic spellchecker that almost *every* computer user wants is left out because they want to sell Office. Knock it off. If you really want to add features that people use, put in a spellchecker.
The perceived problems with Vista are largely from functionality we asked for. We wanted greater security, since the security problems of Windows XP essentially launched the multi-billion dollar spyware industry. Vista attempts major security improvements, and the people howl.
Frankly, it's been so long since a major OS change, people forgot what a nuisance it can be. Where Vista falls short is that it lacks obvious compelling reasons to change.
If the next operating system change is worse for backwards compatibility, it will be hated even more then Vista.
A Corporation's rights and responsibilities should be listed in a charter, and failing to uphold their responsibilities should cause them to lose their rights.
The lack of a charter has caused corporations to grow to be superior to nations, but with little or no accountability.
I don't know what kind of Mac you have, but the latest Macbook has the easiest drive replacement Apple has ever made. This means removing 24 screws, (not counting the rubber drive mounting screws)completely removing the top cover of the machine, and disconnecting several ribbon cables. Older ones are a complete nightmare.
www.ifixit.com
While this may be a 'snap' compared to other Apples, it's a far cry from the one bolt and pull the caddy designs standard on other laptops.
Star Wars jumped the shark when Lucas had too much control over the films.
While midiclorians are stupid, the real problem was a failure to get performances out of the actors, and then assume that the important part of the movie would be built in post-production. While the effects in the early Star Wars films were groundbreaking, they themselves were not the reason for the movie's success. I have seen good performances from the majority of the talent they got for the later films, just not in Star Wars.
How about the opposite? Keep daylight savings and eliminate standard time?
Where I live, on the shortest day of the year it gets dark at 4:30, which sucks. A little dark in the mornings is fine by me. I understand the arguments for using DST, I just never understood the logic of switching back.
------- ''They've been experimenting on you I'm afraid.'', said Slartibartfast
Arthur thought about this for a second, and then his face cleared.
''Ah no,'' he said, ''I see the source of the misunderstanding now. No, look you see, what happened was that we used to do experiments on them. They were often used in behavioral research, Pavlov and all that sort of stuff. So what happened was hat the mice would be set all sorts of tests, learning to ring bells, run around mazes and things so that the whole nature of the learning process could be examined. From our observations of their behavior we were able to learn all sorts of things about our own...''
Slashdot Mirror
I quit Everquest when it became clear to me that many game design elements were not merely bad, but actually sadistic. Since then I have one unbendable rule:
If I have to walk/run/do nothing for ten minutes in a row, I uninstall the game and throw it away.
Does World of Warcraft now pass this test?
We asked for compatibility to take a back seat to security, and they did it. The end result is Vista. It's best features are either invisible, or downright irritating. It doesn't run a lot of old software. Patches occasionally break things. This is what we said we wanted, and it sucks.
Less then brilliant is a poor slam.
[ED 209] You have twenty seconds to get off my lawn. [/ED 209]
More like insightful.
Release a collection of his work, with cool extras, maybe some memorable personal photographs to share a small part of what he was like with us. Release a collection of artwork inspired by his work. Release a collection of his favorite charities... whatever, I'll buy it. His fans miss him, and will likely buy whatever is released to help support his widow and daughter, but please.. Don't try and replace him.
If you are not *actively passing someone* you should move over to the right.
It isn't the fast lane, it's the passing lane.
That is a perfect example. Who uses carburetors anymore? =D
-Z
Just consider your "ecology"
So what happens when a griefer guild shows up and slaughters all the wolves and bears in your forest? How do prevent this or can they even?
-Then the game spawns quests to reward players to repopulate the forest. Go capture wolves and bears and release them in the depopulated forest.
economies: much as I hate to admit it (I like the idea of a player economy as well), player based economies are actually very destructive to game enjoyment. The "Auction Hall" global market with instant results just provides massive encouragement for goldselling services and the resulting rampant inflation. The more resources and money supply is controlled by the publisher, the more the econommy winds up in control of the goldsellers.
-Only when the game spawns wealth and creatures infinitely, in an open ended way. If there is a closed cycle economy, the system doesn't create inflation.
However, the idea of allowing players to have a real impact on the game world is a good one, but once again darn near impossible in an MMO. Making real changes requires that new content be constantly generated to replace that which is no langer valid. Example: THe players have finally ended the zombie chicken infestation at Farmer Brown's. No longer will zombie chickens trouble the farm. Ever. So what new content do you propose for the beginning characters?
-How about guarding chicken deliveries?
Just ramp up those examples for "end game" content and you get a glimmer of the problem. It just takes too long to come up with new storylines/adventures. So players making real changes in games like this will be best done as solo games.
-The future of MMO's will include dynamic world simulations. It is only a matter of time.
All that work for nothing, because the game will be terrible. How can you tell? A focus on 'quick time' events. This type of game play is not even remotely fun. Please developers, stop using this aged and pointless game mechanic.
You say your are pleased with yours, but the DV6000 series is plagued with serious problems, related to heat primarily, but can also kill the slot used to hold the wireless card. Some discussion groups claim that as many as 1 in 7 have had serious issues requiring motherboard replacement.
Here is HP's page on the issues.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&docname=c01087277&product=1842155
If yours is under warranty, check your serial number. Either way, installing the latest BIOS update is highly recommended.
While Macs are not immune to quality control issues either, comparing one of their machines to this engineering nightmare isn't terribly fair.
Gleemax is another casualty of Wizards of the Coast's tough reorganization this year.
Other changes that are percieved to be aimed directly at the bottom line:
Ending the Junior Super Series (Magic events where young players could win scholorship money. )
Ending State Championships for Magic.
Cancelling a Pro Tour event, and making that change permanent.
Relocating Worlds to be held in the U.S.
Releasing Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition.
Changing the card rarity in Magic to include 'Mythic' rares, a card twice as rare as 'Rare'
Changing the way Prerelease tournaments are run by encouraging more local events, reducing the cost of their support.
Many of these changes are part of their restructuring of the Organized Play program, and a change in focus to attempt to aquire new players. Spending money on Gleemax doesn't get new, younger gamers away from World of Warcraft, Pokeman, or Yugioh. Many of these changes were met with negative comments from the existing players, but may in the long run prove to be beneficial to Wizards and the players alike.
-Z
Not such a terrible idea.
Create a 'Tea Party' hosts file addition, and put all websites that support the RIAA and MPAA on it and point them to a Tea Party web page, describing why we refuse to support business that support them.
Seriously, they are happy to include CD burning, DVD playback, 3d transparent windows, ad nauseum. A seemingly endless stream of technology that a significant portion of computer users have no interest in at all is mashed in there as long as it competes with someone else's product, yet a basic spellchecker that almost *every* computer user wants is left out because they want to sell Office. Knock it off. If you really want to add features that people use, put in a spellchecker.
The perceived problems with Vista are largely from functionality we asked for. We wanted greater security, since the security problems of Windows XP essentially launched the multi-billion dollar spyware industry. Vista attempts major security improvements, and the people howl.
Frankly, it's been so long since a major OS change, people forgot what a nuisance it can be. Where Vista falls short is that it lacks obvious compelling reasons to change.
If the next operating system change is worse for backwards compatibility, it will be hated even more then Vista.
A Corporation's rights and responsibilities should be listed in a charter, and failing to uphold their responsibilities should cause them to lose their rights.
The lack of a charter has caused corporations to grow to be superior to nations, but with little or no accountability.
I want to follow him around and periodically shout "Try to get your combat multiplier *even higher*! Until the cops drag me away.
Evolution denying Chinese illegally tapping the phone lines of Scientologists causes Global Warming... and it's effect on the iPhone.
Not only because Apple doesn't have a monopoly, but Microsoft has been *convicted* of abusing it's monopoly.
c600g
Nya!
I don't know what kind of Mac you have, but the latest Macbook has the easiest drive replacement Apple has ever made. This means removing 24 screws, (not counting the rubber drive mounting screws)completely removing the top cover of the machine, and disconnecting several ribbon cables. Older ones are a complete nightmare.
www.ifixit.com
While this may be a 'snap' compared to other Apples, it's a far cry from the one bolt and pull the caddy designs standard on other laptops.
What would a chip have to include for VIA to codename it Jesus?
This is notable because it is the largest amount of computer power assembled that will never be used to collect porn.
Star Wars jumped the shark when Lucas had too much control over the films.
While midiclorians are stupid, the real problem was a failure to get performances out of the actors, and then assume that the important part of the movie would be built in post-production. While the effects in the early Star Wars films were groundbreaking, they themselves were not the reason for the movie's success. I have seen good performances from the majority of the talent they got for the later films, just not in Star Wars.
How about the opposite? Keep daylight savings and eliminate standard time?
Where I live, on the shortest day of the year it gets dark at 4:30, which sucks. A little dark in the mornings is fine by me. I understand the arguments for using DST, I just never understood the logic of switching back.
-------
...''
''They've been experimenting on you I'm afraid.'', said Slartibartfast
Arthur thought about this for a second, and then his face
cleared.
''Ah no,'' he said, ''I see the source of the misunderstanding now.
No, look you see, what happened was that we used to do
experiments on them. They were often used in behavioral
research, Pavlov and all that sort of stuff. So what happened was
hat the mice would be set all sorts of tests, learning to ring
bells, run around mazes and things so that the whole nature of
the learning process could be examined. From our observations of
their behavior we were able to learn all sorts of things about
our own
Arthur's voice tailed off.
-------
We miss ya DNA.