There were plenty of stupid (1-click purchasing) patents granted in the previous administration too. Are you suggesting that they too had a political agenda for granting THOSE patents?
Could you send a pointer to something official (or at least semi-official) that says Koster has been put in charge of all SOE games? This link, on his own website, says he's just in charge of the Austin studio where SWG was made.
So, they released some info on how to be a Jedi... turns out that one of the things you have to do is be a master in one of the professions, but not necessarily the one you've been working on since the beginning. There are a lot of pissed off bounty hunters finding that they're going to have to master "entertainer" in order to become a Jedi.
I'm another one that left SWG. I did that yesterday. I gave away 500k credits, a medium sized house, and a lot of resources to a friend. He said he'll probably go another month and quit too.
It's not for lack of interest in MMORPGs... I've played Everquest since near the beginning.
I have to say, I'm quite disappointed in how SWG turned out. I can tell that the SWG team must not have had anything to do with the EQ team, or they wouldn't have made the mistakes they did.
I could write a long list of things to SOE about why I think the game failed, but I think it'll just fall onto deaf ears. It's time to move on to something that's more fun.
If another company decides to look at the MMORPG area, take a cue from Everquest. A system that rewards players little by little, adding to the characters power over a long period of time works well.
Add a ton of content, and I mean a ton. Don't rely on your players for this, because that's not what players will pay to play. It's like going to the movies, only to find that once you get there, you're responsible for entertaining everyone else.
Rewards should be items, not just money. Money should be hard to get. Too much money will ruin the economy.
If people object from this sort of thing in commercial products, then they can't very well turn around and advocate it for this and still have a moral leg to stand on.
And yes, I know it's not an "outfit" the way some of the conservative and liberal "think tanks" are that hand out things like this. It's just really stupid that "awards" are handed out like this. Kinda like Blackwell's worst-dressed list. It's a weasily-veiled ploy to drum up publicity
I submitted something to BountyQuest that clearly proved one of the patents they were looking at had prior art. After the contest ended, I bugged them every couple of months for at least a year (maybe longer), and kept getting the "we're trying to finalize that" run around.
If these people couldn't "finalize" any of the bounties people were looking at, no wonder they went under.
Until SWG, I don't think I played anything else but EQ since nearly the beginning. Very compelling game.
Anyway, during that time, I can honestly say I've saved money, even with the monthly fee. I don't know about you, but before this, I would easily pick up five or six games a year that I would play for a short time and the get bored with them. That's $250 to $300 (or more, if I picked up more games) down the tubes on crappy games.
This is complete FUD. SOE doesn't have the worst record. That would go to Anarchy Online's folks, for sure. Patches on EQ have been fine for a long long time. SWG's team and EQ's team have nothing to do with each other. They're not even in the same city.
The real problem is SWG specifically, not all of SOE's products.
SWG does have problems, mostly because of the way the game is designed, the number of bugs that exist in the game in the tradeskills, and the lack of things to do for the non-combat folks.
EQ on the other hand has had a long run of stable patches and nice upgrades. If you look at EQ at the time where SWG is now, EQ was FAR more stable.
Anyway, the point is, don't go trashing everything SOE is doing, when it's the SWG team's problem.
And when I say "I don't believe you", I mean, IF people that download songs actually go out and buy CDs, it's not a 1 to 1 relationship. These people have a shitload more downloads than they do of the albums they buy.
Anyone who says otherwise is just lying through their teeth, and they know it.
Playing CQ is nothing like playing the one sitting down in front of a screen. You re-adjust when you're playing like this. There's no real movement, other than turning (your head or body) and ducking.
I've got motion sickness justa by sitting down in front of the screen and doing just non-stop running, and that was in Doom. You're not any more prone to motion sickness with CQ than you are with a regular screen, as long as you're the one controlling the action in CQ.
Do yourself a favor and read the link anyway.
Ravitch is a historian of education and research professor at New York University, with political credentials as impeccable as her scholarly ones: Ravitch was a high-ranking official who designed national testing standards in both the first Bush and Clinton administrations.
The censorship this widespread has to be stopped, and NOW.
Slashdot Mirror
What a bunch of FUD.
This patent was filed years ago.
There were plenty of stupid (1-click purchasing) patents granted in the previous administration too.
Are you suggesting that they too had a political agenda for granting THOSE patents?
I didn't think so.
Could you send a pointer to something official (or at least semi-official) that says Koster has been put in charge of all SOE games? This link, on his own website, says he's just in charge of the Austin studio where SWG was made.
So, they released some info on how to be a Jedi... turns out that one of the things you have to do is be a master in one of the professions, but not necessarily the one you've been working on since the beginning. There are a lot of pissed off bounty hunters finding that they're going to have to master "entertainer" in order to become a Jedi.
And, no, I'm not kidding. They really did this.
I'm another one that left SWG. I did that yesterday. I gave away 500k credits, a medium sized house, and a lot of resources to a friend. He said he'll probably go another month and quit too.
It's not for lack of interest in MMORPGs... I've played Everquest since near the beginning.
I have to say, I'm quite disappointed in how SWG turned out. I can tell that the SWG team must not have had anything to do with the EQ team, or they wouldn't have made the mistakes they did.
I could write a long list of things to SOE about why I think the game failed, but I think it'll just fall onto deaf ears. It's time to move on to something that's more fun.
If another company decides to look at the MMORPG area, take a cue from Everquest. A system that rewards players little by little, adding to the characters power over a long period of time works well.
Add a ton of content, and I mean a ton. Don't rely on your players for this, because that's not what players will pay to play. It's like going to the movies, only to find that once you get there, you're responsible for entertaining everyone else.
Rewards should be items, not just money. Money should be hard to get. Too much money will ruin the economy.
I would tend to agree with this thinking.
If people object from this sort of thing in commercial products, then they can't very well turn around and advocate it for this and still have a moral leg to stand on.
Not only that, but it was Chuck Schumer that sponsored the bill!
here's one.
Doh! Didn't realize they did that.
Thanks for the info
If oil drilling in remote reaches of Alaska failed, there's no freakin' way this will pass.
Dotster...It's $14.95 a year (discounts if you do more than one year), and they've done a fine job for me.
And yes, I know it's not an "outfit" the way some of the conservative and liberal "think tanks" are that hand out things like this. It's just really stupid that "awards" are handed out like this. Kinda like Blackwell's worst-dressed list. It's a weasily-veiled ploy to drum up publicity
You know, people with an axe to grind really look stupid when they hand out "awards" like this.
Sounds like this outfit deserved the award they were handing out most of all.
I submitted something to BountyQuest that clearly proved one of the patents they were looking at had prior art. After the contest ended, I bugged them every couple of months for at least a year (maybe longer), and kept getting the "we're trying to finalize that" run around.
If these people couldn't "finalize" any of the bounties people were looking at, no wonder they went under.
I wonder how many other people this happened to?
The game eGenesis bascially fits this category. No combat. Just tradeskills and building things.
OK, so this article says that the FSF got paid $65,000 after going after OpenTV.
Was that all that happened? Was code ever released?
I sure hope so, or this one of those "pay us off, and we'll get off your back" shakedowns.
Until SWG, I don't think I played anything else but EQ since nearly the beginning. Very compelling game.
Anyway, during that time, I can honestly say I've saved money, even with the monthly fee. I don't know about you, but before this, I would easily pick up five or six games a year that I would play for a short time and the get bored with them. That's $250 to $300 (or more, if I picked up more games) down the tubes on crappy games.
This is complete FUD. SOE doesn't have the worst record. That would go to Anarchy Online's folks, for sure. Patches on EQ have been fine for a long long time. SWG's team and EQ's team have nothing to do with each other. They're not even in the same city.
The real problem is SWG specifically, not all of SOE's products.
SWG does have problems, mostly because of the way the game is designed, the number of bugs that exist in the game in the tradeskills, and the lack of things to do for the non-combat folks.
EQ on the other hand has had a long run of stable patches and nice upgrades. If you look at EQ at the time where SWG is now, EQ was FAR more stable.
Anyway, the point is, don't go trashing everything SOE is doing, when it's the SWG team's problem.
And when I say "I don't believe you", I mean, IF people that download songs actually go out and buy CDs, it's not a 1 to 1 relationship. These people have a shitload more downloads than they do of the albums they buy.
Anyone who says otherwise is just lying through their teeth, and they know it.
First, I don't believe you.
Second, it's proving a negative, which is impossible.
If people were paying, then the RIAA sure as hell wouldn't be doing what it's doing.
Besides AO and StarWars, there's also Egenesis, A Tale in the Desert. Interesting cooperative game.
The majority of people here don't want the RIAA suing anyone. The RIAA wants to protect it's property.
So what's the solution?
What do people want? To have the RIAA just not do anything? That's not going to happen.
We know the RIAA would be just happy to keep prices where they were for CDs. People aren't going to put up with that, and want lower prices.
Lowering prices to $10 a CD isn't going to work because there are always going to be people that trade music for free, and never pay for it.
Does the price have to get down to what Apple is charging (99 cents a song) for everyone to be happy? Do people think even THAT is too much?
So what's the real solution that people want to this whole thing that will make both sides happy?
Except, the unhappy customers at Pets Warehouse actually paid money for something, whereas the majority of the "customers" the RIAA is suing, did not.
Playing CQ is nothing like playing the one sitting down in front of a screen. You re-adjust when you're playing like this. There's no real movement, other than turning (your head or body) and ducking.
I've got motion sickness justa by sitting down in front of the screen and doing just non-stop running, and that was in Doom. You're not any more prone to motion sickness with CQ than you are with a regular screen, as long as you're the one controlling the action in CQ.
caveQuake
The guy that did that work is one of the princples of Visbox, a company that does high end displays. They were at Siggraph this past year.
Do yourself a favor and read the link anyway. Ravitch is a historian of education and research professor at New York University, with political credentials as impeccable as her scholarly ones: Ravitch was a high-ranking official who designed national testing standards in both the first Bush and Clinton administrations. The censorship this widespread has to be stopped, and NOW.