It seems that every time there is an article involving a cop, there has to be a crowd of people cry and screaming that the cop was abusive, evil, mean, power-tripping, etc.
Where are the stories about when cops save peoples lives, help keep our families safe, or even respond to domestic disturbance calls and have to deal with two morons fighting each other? You'll never see one of these as an article on slashdot.
I'm not saying all cops are good, but they definitely aren't all bad. I've been caught doing illegal things in my life and I easily could have been arrested, but when I treated the cops with respect they usually just let me go. People give cops so much crap these days, yet they have to do such a dangerous job, I'm surprised more of them don't become bitter.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't question authority when it needs to be questioned, but the cops did nothing more than their job at that rally.
So if they'd told him repeatedly "Stop resisting or we'll pump you full of lead.", they would have been justified in doing so ? No, they wouldn't. However, ending someone's life is a lot more serious then causing a few minutes of pain. Your example is a poor one.
The big picture? Give me break. He just refused to let a store employee look at his receipt. It sounds like he was being a smart ass to the cop as well. If you want the right to be a dick to the cops, then don't be surprised when the cops return the favor.
Please don't compare this guy to Rosa Parks. A few seconds of your time isn't that big of a deal. It wasn't like the cop was asking him to do anything embarrassing, time consuming, or painful.
I'm all about fighting for our freedoms, but we should pick our battles more wisely. If we focus our efforts on stupid crap like this, then other more important rights might slip through the cracks.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Pathways into Darkness by Bungie. The monsters in that game were difficult to kill, snuck up on you, and looked scary as hell. It was a really challenging game as well. I just remember playing it as a kid and jumping out of my seat every time one of those dinosaur things jumped out of a corner.
Besides the submitter of the story, who is saying that is the final chapter? I agree, there is no way this will be the final chapter.
Did anyone else read this bit?
Another case of terrain-sprawl trouble popped up a few months later in one of the upper levels. The level is intended to introduce vehicle combat, with players following a bunch of their fellow marines as they clamber aboard Warthog ATVs and ride out over a wide-open plain. But Pagulayan's data showed that a significant number of players were trudging across the plain on foot. It turns out the designers hadn't put enough vehicles in the scene, and the artificial-intelligence marines were taking them all before players realized they were supposed to hop aboard. The solution: More Warthogs. WTF? You need an advanced data extraction tool to tell you that there aren't enough Warthogs for the player to use? Give me a break. This is what play testing is for, not to mention a little addition and subtraction. I think they are making this Pagulayan guy out like he is going to save the game from bad level design by making a bunch of graphs and charts. A lot of the issues he discovers with his data analysis could be easily solved by common sense.
People may have similar online personalities to their real life personalities, but that doesn't mean they are going to act the same to avoid a real disease that is painful/fatal/paralyzing compared to a virtual disease that causes about thirty seconds of inconvenience.
Also the infrastructures that exist in real-life that aren't in WoW that makes things more complicated, like water systems and sewer systems. Aside from instances (which don't exist in real life), there are no buildings that people can lock themselves in. I just don't see how anyone is going to get useful data from a bug in a MMO.
DirectX is notorious for requiring very complex (and, historically, horrendously inefficient) blocks of code for some simple operations, which are usually done in OpenGL in far less code. Have you programmed games lately? Ten years ago I would say that would be true. DirectX code was a bitch to learn because you had learn the Windows API along with the complex graphics initialization code. However, there are now new tools for developers to quickly get things done: MDX and XNA. Managed DirectX (MDX) is generally done in C#, and much of the cumbersome initialization procedures were thrown into the.Net Framework API. XNA even simplified things even more by providing an API specifically geared towards games on Windows and the X-box.
Yes, you could easily argue that these managed API's are less efficient than unmanaged C++. But that's only if you put the extra work into the unmanaged code. Furthermore, you can make the same argument against OpenGL. In my opinion, if used carefully, DirectX can be much more effecient then OpenGL.
Correction: Most people who buy a Wii aren't aware that graphics and technology contribute as much to gameplay as wacky ideas. What aspect of the Wii is a wacky idea? All the decisions that Nintendo made about the Wii seem much less "wacky" then any of the decisions Sony made about PS3, in my opinion.
"An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and the whole world would soon be blind and toothless."
That being said, the kid should still get a thorough beating and further punishment. But in the end, the parents bare the responsiblity of raising a non-sociapathic kid that knows better than to injure someone permanantly. In my opionon, the kid should be taken away from the parents and they should all be neutered.
I guarantee you if they decided to aimed for high end computers they would have less subscribers. Having lower requirements increases your possible user base. It's very simple. Your analogy of actor/actresses in movies doesn't even come close to graphics in video games. Way to make no point at all, dude.
If low resource use is indeed the goal, then yes it is in large part the game designers' fault for misusing resources to such a degree. They aren't misusing resources. They are choosing not to use too much resources so people with older computers can play their games. Blizzard has about 5 games that are in the top 20 best-selling PC games of all time. I think they know what they're doing, dude.
My problem with the ACLU is that they aren't liberal enough. Sure they defend my right to surf the web (or drive) anonymously. But where are they when I decide I want to open a bar (my own private property) and put a sign on the door that says "This is not a health club, if you don't like cigarette smoke, I suggest you go somewhere else." There is always a happy medium. If you think that before smoking bans, people could do whatever they want with their own private property, then you're sadly mistaken. Don't get carried away with your defintion of liberalism. It doesn't mean that an individual should be allowed to harm an arbitrary group of people. Using your logic, it should be okay for a government to allow people to create meth labs on their own property. I agree that people should have their freedoms, as long as their freedoms don't harm other people.
Personally, I think smoking bans are great. They just started them at the bars in my city, and I love being able to go to bars being able to breath without my asthma bothering me. I don't have to wash my clothes every time I go out either. If there were no smoking-bans then 99% of all bars will allow smoking. It's not really fair to non-smokers. You can still smoke, just not near a group of people in which about 85% of them prefer not to be around smoke.
Blizzard's only weak link is their actual graphics engine devs. Wrong. Blizzard's philosophy has always been to keep their graphics engines using minimal computer resources, while using very colorful and beatiful art to make up for the lack of polygons/dimensions. I guarantee you the graphic engine devs are excellent and write very efficient code. The designer the graphics engine probably told the modeling artists to keep the poly count extremely low, which has nothing to do with the game engine devs themselves. I'm sure if they wanted to make stellar high-poly, processor-melting, memory-eating, graphics, they could do it.
If anything it's the game designers that you have a problem with. But just because you disgree with their philosophy, doesn't mean they are any less competent.
Jack Thompson is not a fool; he might even be unstable; but he fights for something he believes in, and does so pretty well, albeit via use of questionable methods. To belittle him is to belittle the effect he has on free speech issues wrt gaming, and that is a foolish thing to do. If you consider him an enemy, you should analyze his strengths as much as his weakneses. Most (if not all) of Jack Thompson's cases gets thrown out of court because he consistently fails to follow certain rules and guidelines. He seems like an incompetent lawyer from looking at his history in the courtroom. I wouldn't say he is doing well at all if his goal is to get rid of violence in video games. Furthermore, I think we should belittle him because he lies and is a big asshole to people who stand up to his lies and distortions. Disrespectful people like JT don't deserve respect.
Who, really, is getting hurt by gold-farming? In WoW?
Pretty much nobody. Almost all of the top-notch elite weapons in WoW are bind on pick-up. Which means that once you pick up an item, only you can use it. BoP items are worthless to other players, and can't be traded. The only advantage that rich gold-buyers have over people who don't buy gold is they get access to more potions and buffs and can get an elite mount sooner. This really doesn't ruin the experience for other gamers. In some PVP servers, you are slightly more likely to get ganked a buy a potion-buffed level 70 with an elite flying mount, but at worse it becomes a nuisance. All high-level dungeons/raids are null of PVP.
In other games?
It could really screw over the gaming experience of other players. Macro-miners (the equivilant of chinese gold farmers in WoW) in Eve-Online suck up all the valuable resources in the system before any individual miner can make any in-game profit. The minerals mined from the asteroids is the main resource (along with the in-game currency) in creating other components. This means that minerals that are mined up the macro-miners are flooded into the market, making a large effect on the game's economy. There are no bind on pick-up items in Eve (there are some bind on equip though). So even the highest level gear is effected by the game's economy, which means that the richer-in-real-life gamers can achieve a huge advantage over other players. I can't really speak for to much more MMO's but I think there's a possibility that "gold-farming" can create a shitty experience for other players if the MMO's economy is designed a certain way.
Are you going to be clear to your customers that trading virtual money might get them banned from the MMO they are playing? World of Warcraft's Terms of Service is pretty nasty. It basically reserves the right to ban any account they feel like without providing any reason. Your FAQ says that you realize that some game companies don't want players trading virtual goods while you think it is a gamer's right to be able to trade virtual itmes. I'm pretty sure that statement isn't going to save your customers from getting banned from WoW.
Also, how does your company feel about possibly ruining game experiences for others gamers? Many MMO companies design their game economy around the fact that players can only obtain money through the game mechanics, without any outside effects. If your company destroys the fun factor of a game by ruining the economy, how will you deal with the possible legal action coming from the companies that have a decimated user base?
I just remember that if you blew someone up with the rocket launcher which could shoot 6 rockets at once(just another reason why RotT was so fucking awesome) while the excessive gib-mode was on, blood and party parts would be falling from the sky for at least a minute or two.
Meh, I think that's kind of a dumb reason to not play a game. If you enjoy playing the game, who cares if the devs cheat, even if it alters the whole economy. My problem is that CCP has poor game design concepts, and don't know how to make a fun game.
Cavedog managed to top Starcraft before Starcraft was even released, so it should be too hard for Blizzard to do the same. TA topped Starcraft because a few review sites gave it a slightly higher score? Give me a break. If you compare all the awards and reviews Starcraft has gotten to TA's, Starcraft easilty comes out on top. Not to mention that Starcraft currently the top game in professional gaming in terms of the salary the gamers recieve. Has TA even ever been considered for a professional gaming tourney? Maybe you liked TA better than Starcraft, but the number of copies sold speak for themsevles. Starcraft destroyed TA.
Then again, this is Blizzard we're talking about... Are you actaully that implying that Blizzard has a history of screwing things up? This is the most daft statement I've heard all week. That's saying alot because I watch CNN. Every game they've released, including the first Warcraft, was recieved with huge success. Just go to blizzard.com and check out the reviews/awards each game has recieved, if you don't believe me. Your post should be modded troll. I only wish the other companies would follow Blizzard's footsteps in focusing on the quality of their games, instead of release dates.
Likewise, if they want to win the Iraq war now, they should invade Syria and Iran. Sorry for being pendantic, but what would constitute a "win" for the U.S. in Iraq? People always talk about the need to win this war in Iraq, but never talk about what winning in Iraq actaully means.
Slashdot Mirror
It seems that every time there is an article involving a cop, there has to be a crowd of people cry and screaming that the cop was abusive, evil, mean, power-tripping, etc.
Where are the stories about when cops save peoples lives, help keep our families safe, or even respond to domestic disturbance calls and have to deal with two morons fighting each other? You'll never see one of these as an article on slashdot.
I'm not saying all cops are good, but they definitely aren't all bad. I've been caught doing illegal things in my life and I easily could have been arrested, but when I treated the cops with respect they usually just let me go. People give cops so much crap these days, yet they have to do such a dangerous job, I'm surprised more of them don't become bitter.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't question authority when it needs to be questioned, but the cops did nothing more than their job at that rally.
The big picture? Give me break. He just refused to let a store employee look at his receipt. It sounds like he was being a smart ass to the cop as well. If you want the right to be a dick to the cops, then don't be surprised when the cops return the favor.
Please don't compare this guy to Rosa Parks. A few seconds of your time isn't that big of a deal. It wasn't like the cop was asking him to do anything embarrassing, time consuming, or painful.
I'm all about fighting for our freedoms, but we should pick our battles more wisely. If we focus our efforts on stupid crap like this, then other more important rights might slip through the cracks.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Pathways into Darkness by Bungie. The monsters in that game were difficult to kill, snuck up on you, and looked scary as hell. It was a really challenging game as well. I just remember playing it as a kid and jumping out of my seat every time one of those dinosaur things jumped out of a corner.
I for one, welcome our new ten legged spider overlords!
Did anyone else read this bit? Another case of terrain-sprawl trouble popped up a few months later in one of the upper levels. The level is intended to introduce vehicle combat, with players following a bunch of their fellow marines as they clamber aboard Warthog ATVs and ride out over a wide-open plain. But Pagulayan's data showed that a significant number of players were trudging across the plain on foot. It turns out the designers hadn't put enough vehicles in the scene, and the artificial-intelligence marines were taking them all before players realized they were supposed to hop aboard. The solution: More Warthogs. WTF? You need an advanced data extraction tool to tell you that there aren't enough Warthogs for the player to use? Give me a break. This is what play testing is for, not to mention a little addition and subtraction. I think they are making this Pagulayan guy out like he is going to save the game from bad level design by making a bunch of graphs and charts. A lot of the issues he discovers with his data analysis could be easily solved by common sense.
People may have similar online personalities to their real life personalities, but that doesn't mean they are going to act the same to avoid a real disease that is painful/fatal/paralyzing compared to a virtual disease that causes about thirty seconds of inconvenience.
Also the infrastructures that exist in real-life that aren't in WoW that makes things more complicated, like water systems and sewer systems. Aside from instances (which don't exist in real life), there are no buildings that people can lock themselves in. I just don't see how anyone is going to get useful data from a bug in a MMO.
Yes, you could easily argue that these managed API's are less efficient than unmanaged C++. But that's only if you put the extra work into the unmanaged code. Furthermore, you can make the same argument against OpenGL. In my opinion, if used carefully, DirectX can be much more effecient then OpenGL.
"An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and the whole world would soon be blind and toothless."
That being said, the kid should still get a thorough beating and further punishment. But in the end, the parents bare the responsiblity of raising a non-sociapathic kid that knows better than to injure someone permanantly. In my opionon, the kid should be taken away from the parents and they should all be neutered.
I guarantee you if they decided to aimed for high end computers they would have less subscribers. Having lower requirements increases your possible user base. It's very simple. Your analogy of actor/actresses in movies doesn't even come close to graphics in video games. Way to make no point at all, dude.
Personally, I think smoking bans are great. They just started them at the bars in my city, and I love being able to go to bars being able to breath without my asthma bothering me. I don't have to wash my clothes every time I go out either. If there were no smoking-bans then 99% of all bars will allow smoking. It's not really fair to non-smokers. You can still smoke, just not near a group of people in which about 85% of them prefer not to be around smoke.
If anything it's the game designers that you have a problem with. But just because you disgree with their philosophy, doesn't mean they are any less competent.
That's why I consider this exciting news. We are now one step closer to having robots that have the patience to teach slashdotters how to get laid.
I agree that FF6 has the best soundtrack out of all of them.
Here are some more good ones.
FF6 - Kefka's Theme
FF6 - Mystic Forest
FF6 - Johnny C. Bad
FF6 - Spinach Rag
"You're not alone" from FF9 is my all-time favorite.
Pretty much nobody. Almost all of the top-notch elite weapons in WoW are bind on pick-up. Which means that once you pick up an item, only you can use it. BoP items are worthless to other players, and can't be traded. The only advantage that rich gold-buyers have over people who don't buy gold is they get access to more potions and buffs and can get an elite mount sooner. This really doesn't ruin the experience for other gamers. In some PVP servers, you are slightly more likely to get ganked a buy a potion-buffed level 70 with an elite flying mount, but at worse it becomes a nuisance. All high-level dungeons/raids are null of PVP.
In other games?
It could really screw over the gaming experience of other players. Macro-miners (the equivilant of chinese gold farmers in WoW) in Eve-Online suck up all the valuable resources in the system before any individual miner can make any in-game profit. The minerals mined from the asteroids is the main resource (along with the in-game currency) in creating other components. This means that minerals that are mined up the macro-miners are flooded into the market, making a large effect on the game's economy. There are no bind on pick-up items in Eve (there are some bind on equip though). So even the highest level gear is effected by the game's economy, which means that the richer-in-real-life gamers can achieve a huge advantage over other players. I can't really speak for to much more MMO's but I think there's a possibility that "gold-farming" can create a shitty experience for other players if the MMO's economy is designed a certain way.
"Here's Shaving Ryan's Privates: Midget Edition."
"Sweet thanks!"
*Squish*
"...ummm, what the hell. Did you wash your hands?"
"Oops!"
Are you going to be clear to your customers that trading virtual money might get them banned from the MMO they are playing?
World of Warcraft's Terms of Service is pretty nasty. It basically reserves the right to ban any account they feel like without providing any reason. Your FAQ says that you realize that some game companies don't want players trading virtual goods while you think it is a gamer's right to be able to trade virtual itmes. I'm pretty sure that statement isn't going to save your customers from getting banned from WoW.
Also, how does your company feel about possibly ruining game experiences for others gamers? Many MMO companies design their game economy around the fact that players can only obtain money through the game mechanics, without any outside effects. If your company destroys the fun factor of a game by ruining the economy, how will you deal with the possible legal action coming from the companies that have a decimated user base?
I just remember that if you blew someone up with the rocket launcher which could shoot 6 rockets at once(just another reason why RotT was so fucking awesome) while the excessive gib-mode was on, blood and party parts would be falling from the sky for at least a minute or two.
Meh, I think that's kind of a dumb reason to not play a game. If you enjoy playing the game, who cares if the devs cheat, even if it alters the whole economy. My problem is that CCP has poor game design concepts, and don't know how to make a fun game.