putting aside elitism of what is "real" authorship or not, consider definitive criteria for literature, games and toys:
A piece of literature, fiction interpretive or escapist is a single state story. It can be in hypertext or not, but there is a single state. A toy is a multi state device. Either random effects or readers/players choice changes the state of the activity/interaction. A game is a toy with an end state built into the system that defines winners/losers (or draws). Let's hear the rebuttals...
If you're not familiar with it, it stars John Goodman as a B-Movie director. To promote his flick, He set up a Florida theater with "Rumble-Rama," a device to shake up the movie house during disaster sequences.
I made a terse comment which was interpreted as funny, but I was actually serious. I mostly agree with what you say. As we've seen, ignoring bad behavior has not worked, therefore MMO game designers have a tough choice, either insulate players from "villians" or incorporate villainous behavior into the game mechanics, allowing players to act maliciously at will, but with consequences. I see it as an example of the "freedom to" vs "freedom from" dichotomy. It's not totally mutually exclusive, but close enough for some basic analysis. If the players are protected from other players, they gain "freedom from" but lose "freedom to."
The protectionist policy is by far eaiser to implement and seems so far to appease the most players, hence better to the bottom line. But the incorporation policy provides a much richer environment. I see two basic ways to implement game balance to allow malicious players the "freedom" to grief, but also protect weaker players from them. Both involve some sort of policing. Given that there are only npcs (including mobs) and pcs, the police have to be drawn from either. Player character policing requires a strong stable player community and probably an effective justice system. MUDs do well here as there is a small tight knit community, but it breaks down when the population grows. NPC policing is more effective in a larger community, but the rules have to be incorporated in the game "AI," which has it own problems of maintaining balance and fairness. One option is to have the game system record griefing behavior and have kill or capture.
This could be localized to race/alignment. Orc griefing Elf would increase the danger of the orc villian in elf community, but not in the orc community. Orc griefing orc would increase danger.
So the penalties for griefing are built into the game. The players can do it, but at increasingly severe consequences in guarded regions. Perhaps there could be bounty hunters scouring the wild lands for griefers to kill or capture, making the hunters the hunted.
To conclude, I think the current MMO developer community is being unimaginative in implementing game balance. These are just some options. There's got to be plenty more, but what is needed are more creative carrots and sticks to shape player behavior and interaction, ultimately allowing a richer gaming experience.
Re:The multi million dollar question...
on
In Google We Trust
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· Score: 1
doh, grumble, grumble. Hit submit instead of preview. Here is fixed link:
Because Google has more than 500 common stock shareholders, they may be subject to financial dislosure laws. Seems then that Google is much more egalitarian than a good number of the href="http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2003/ 1124/ 174.html">Top 500 private companies
Makes me think of a quote which goes something like, "The sum of human knowledge is stored on mechanical devices sold with one year limited warranties."
This agrees with what I see. My mother-in-law is fascinated with cooking. She collects cookbooks, but doesn't really read them, and she doesn't really cook. But they sure do look pretty sitting there on the shelf.
That which is static is dead. Change IS required to stay alive. The trick is to find that "sweet spot" rate of change. Too slow, you become irrelevant. Too fast, something jams up or breaks apart and you wreck.
This was tha same deal when I was in the US Army. Living in the barracks, a group of us hung out together and we shared and shared alike. So it became cheap beer, generic cigarettes and Pelican Pizza (the non-Domino's local pizza that would take a post-dated check for delivery). We did have our tricks, though. My room-dog and I would order jalepeno pizza. Invariably one of the pack would sniff his way to our room. You could mooch, but you HAD to eat the pepppers.
I also remember them being calls 11 Bang-Bang. As an ex 94Bravo, food service specialist, affectionately referred to as a "spoon", I can say we used to work 18-20 hour days between prep, cooking and cleanup while out in the field. There never seemed to be enough cooks to feed the troops, especially when the generals wanted to show off 3 hots during combined international exercises. I'm certainly glad those days are over.
Slashdot Mirror
putting aside elitism of what is "real" authorship or not, consider definitive criteria for literature, games and toys:
A piece of literature, fiction interpretive or escapist is a single state story. It can be in hypertext or not, but there is a single state.
A toy is a multi state device. Either random effects or readers/players choice changes the state of the activity/interaction.
A game is a toy with an end state built into the system that defines winners/losers (or draws).
Let's hear the rebuttals...
After reading the article and then your comment, I'm reminded of the Salon.com article on tech support. Slashdot link here.
Sony lost their exlusive use of walkman trademark in Austria in 2002.
Read about it here and here.
Or search google for sony walkman trademark case austria
But he doesn't yet have a lifetime muzzle award like Rudolph Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City.
The next one in the pipe is ITER.
Don't forget Canada and Spain as potential homes.
Just look on eBay for Computer parts
But this supposedly most retarded story got a lot of comments. Pointless as it is, it drew a lot of peeps in, even you.
Your comment reminded me of the movie Matinee
If you're not familiar with it, it stars John Goodman as a B-Movie director. To promote his flick, He set up a Florida theater with "Rumble-Rama," a device to shake up the movie house during disaster sequences.
FYI: Claymores are curved. Convex out, concave in.
I made a terse comment which was interpreted as funny, but I was actually serious.
I mostly agree with what you say.
As we've seen, ignoring bad behavior has not worked, therefore MMO game designers have a tough choice, either insulate players from "villians" or incorporate villainous behavior into the game mechanics, allowing players to act maliciously at will, but with consequences. I see it as an example of the "freedom to" vs "freedom from" dichotomy. It's not totally mutually exclusive, but close enough for some basic analysis. If the players are protected from other players, they gain "freedom from" but lose "freedom to."
The protectionist policy is by far eaiser to implement and seems so far to appease the most players, hence better to the bottom line. But the incorporation policy provides a much richer environment. I see two basic ways to implement game balance to allow malicious players the "freedom" to grief, but also protect weaker players from them. Both involve some sort of policing. Given that there are only npcs (including mobs) and pcs, the police have to be drawn from either. Player character policing requires a strong stable player community and probably an effective justice system. MUDs do well here as there is a small tight knit community, but it breaks down when the population grows.
NPC policing is more effective in a larger community, but the rules have to be incorporated in the game "AI," which has it own problems of maintaining balance and fairness.
One option is to have the game system record griefing behavior and have kill or capture.
This could be localized to race/alignment. Orc griefing Elf would increase the danger of the orc villian in elf community, but not in the orc community. Orc griefing orc would increase danger.
So the penalties for griefing are built into the game. The players can do it, but at increasingly severe consequences in guarded regions. Perhaps there could be bounty hunters scouring the wild lands for griefers to kill or capture, making the hunters the hunted.
To conclude, I think the current MMO developer community is being unimaginative in implementing game balance. These are just some options. There's got to be plenty more, but what is needed are more creative carrots and sticks to shape player behavior and interaction, ultimately allowing a richer gaming experience.
doh, grumble, grumble. Hit submit instead of preview. Here is fixed link:
Forbes top 500 private companies
ZDNet link is currently down, google cache link
/ 1124/ 174.html">Top 500 private companies
Because Google has more than 500 common stock shareholders, they may be subject to financial dislosure laws. Seems then that Google is much more egalitarian than a good number of the
href="http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2003
Existing MMORPGs DO have villians, and plenty of them. They are called griefers.
So are you implying that this is yet another case of pr0n leading the industry?
Or don't bring the map so you can work on your memory skills.
Makes me think of a quote which goes something like, "The sum of human knowledge is stored on mechanical devices sold with one year limited warranties."
This agrees with what I see. My mother-in-law is fascinated with cooking. She collects cookbooks, but doesn't really read them, and she doesn't really cook. But they sure do look pretty sitting there on the shelf.
That which is static is dead.
Change IS required to stay alive.
The trick is to find that "sweet spot" rate of change.
Too slow, you become irrelevant.
Too fast, something jams up or breaks apart and you wreck.
This was tha same deal when I was in the US Army. Living in the barracks, a group of us hung out together and we shared and shared alike. So it became cheap beer, generic cigarettes and Pelican Pizza (the non-Domino's local pizza that would take a post-dated check for delivery).
We did have our tricks, though. My room-dog and I would order jalepeno pizza. Invariably one of the pack would sniff his way to our room. You could mooch, but you HAD to eat the pepppers.
Well, regardless of the story, Baboochi rhymes with a ton of words, wheter you pronounce is i or e
It's much tougher to get spam out of a bottle than a can.
Oh, now I get it. That Police song, All they wanted to say to you was 'SO'
I also remember them being calls 11 Bang-Bang.
As an ex 94Bravo, food service specialist, affectionately referred to as a "spoon", I can say we used to work 18-20 hour days between prep, cooking and cleanup while out in the field. There never seemed to be enough cooks to feed the troops, especially when the generals wanted to show off 3 hots during combined international exercises. I'm certainly glad those days are over.
Why build your own PC?
Why build your own car?
Why build your own house?
Why do any of the above when you can just purchase the finished product outright which might be better than what you could build? Because we can.
For you, the resolute do-it-yourselfer, may I recommend the Dentist in a box
You thought I was joking? its for real, folks
Yup, as a moz user, x10 going out of business totally slipped my radar.