> As far as I'm concerned, if a game where you hit > people or monsters contains blood, you can say > that the game is violent WITHOUT context and > should be rated appropriately.
Yeah, but this leads to some crazy decisions in game design... you're allowed to obviously blow people away in WWII FPS games, but strangely, there's no blood. Why? Because showing blood somehow makes killing people "worse". This is nutty and just plain makes no sense, and if anything, seems to make the killing less realistic and more "sanitized".
If you're gonna do a war simulation where shooting people in the head is part of the game, and such a shot results in an exquisite "ragdoll" effect of the victim flying through the air, you might as well show the true results of this.
To use a movie analogy: the opening sequence to "Saving Private Ryan" was stupendously brutal, largely because it pulled no punches on the true violence involved. Yet no sane person would compare that with, say, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"... the context is different, and while one has something meaningful to say, the other is pure titillation. (Neither is suitable for children or other easily-impressionable people, of course...)
Furthermore... he claims, "The scientific evidence from thousands of studies strongly suggests that your premise is wrong."
Yet he fails to cite even a single specific study that has been done on this topic.
Perhaps if he could provide links to even a few of these "thousands" (ahem) of stuides done, I might be more interested in listening to his argument... but as it is, it smells a lot like yet another knee-jerk "Protect The Children!!!" argument...
You hit the nail on the head. In theory, the ITMS is something I'd really like to be able to make use of, but I'm not going to do it until I know I'll have free (but fair) use of the music I purchase.
Geez, even a waitress trusts me to tip her. Why not trust the consumer will be fair enough to still be profitable?
Oh yeah. I agree totally. I have (and like) an iPod, but I'm really not wild about iTunes, and if I want to buy their tunes, that's all I can use.
I've decided to "Just Say No" to DRM'ed music... their price is fair, but I want to be sure that, 20 years from now, I can still play the music I buy today.
This sales "person" (and I use that term loosely) is clearly part of the problem, not part of the solution.
When* I become Emperor of the Universe, responding to spam will become a capital offense. (Spamming itself will be a worse-than-capital offense that includes lots of enforced listening to Celine Dion records.)
"The Macromedia Flash Player team is looking for a highly motivated Senior Software Engineer to take ownership of the Linux version of Macromedia Flash Player."
"A flying saucer creature named Zog arrived on Earth to explain how wars could be prevented, and how cancer could be cured. Zog brought the information from Margo, a planet where the natives conversed by means of farts and tap-dancing. Zog landed at night in Connecticut. He had no sooner touched down than he saw a house on fire. He rushed into the house, farting and tap-dancing, warning people about the terrible danger they were in. The head of the house brained him with a golf club."
If this article is true, the Israeli government seems to be strong-arming Microsoft to implement a feature that doesn't make economic sense.
May not make economic sense for MSFT, but it surely makes economic sense for Israel. They need software that works in Hebrew, and MSFT isn't providing it.
For further scary information about Comcast (re: privacy, or the lack thereof), check out this:
http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/
I was all set to switch from DSL to cable, but seeing the above two "issues" creeped me out too much.
Really, is it too much to ask for a broadband provider that just sells me bandwidth... no offers to build a "relationship" or do crazy marketing shit with me, just a simple money-for-bits exchange? Anyone? Anyone?
Better yet: what if my cat (who likes to hang out on my desk) steps on my mouse/keyboard, clicking the OK button? Does that make it legally binding for me? (Or perhaps for the cat?)
Hops are a relatively recent addition (historically)... only a few hundred years ago, certainly less than a thousand. The ancient Mesopotamian (etc) beer was hopless.
Yeah, but there was also another father-son venture producing electric vehicles (www.corbinmotors.com)... they just recently filed for Chapter 7, and are now subject to various lawsuits for investment fraud.
(Not saying that the Tango guys are in any way involved in shady dealings, just that you have to be careful...)
Crunch time is an unfortunate necessary of game development (I so wish we didn't have to)
Bullshit. It may be an accepted cultural practice of the game dev industry, but it's not *necessary*.
Intelligent engineering practices and less-insane expectations about product cycles would dramatically improve the situation.
Yes, I formerly worked for a game company, and the sheer lack of professionalism was astonishing, and the 100-hour weeks were the way people made up for it...
If you weren't spending your spare time in the years 99-00 downloading MP3s like a champ, it's likely you were still in diapers or dancing with wolves.
Or maybe we were interested in actually *buying* a legitimate product, rather than ripping it off?
Yeah, the RIAA seems to be run by morons who couldn't find their own ass with both hands and a contour map, but that's no excuse. Don't like the prices or business practices? Fine; don't do business with them.
What about work hours?
on
Ageism in IT?
·
· Score: 1
Overlooked here is the fact that younger workers not only get paid less, but are generally far easier to persuade/intimidate into working long (unreasonably so) hours; most "younger" tech types tend to be single-male-mid-twenties, either unmarried or no kids. Add to this the "not knowing any better factor" and you have an all-too-common scenario (especially in the game industry).
Absolutely. The problem wasn't the activation process per se, but the fact that it was actively annoying to typical users... it's as though they decided on a particular license to enforce, without actually examining how legitimate users were really using the software.
Rule #1 of all DRM schemes should be to make 'em just restrictive enough to keep the honest users honest... since the crooks will find a way to rip you off no matter what.
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> As far as I'm concerned, if a game where you hit
> people or monsters contains blood, you can say
> that the game is violent WITHOUT context and
> should be rated appropriately.
Yeah, but this leads to some crazy decisions in game design... you're allowed to obviously blow people away in WWII FPS games, but strangely, there's no blood. Why? Because showing blood somehow makes killing people "worse". This is nutty and just plain makes no sense, and if anything, seems to make the killing less realistic and more "sanitized".
If you're gonna do a war simulation where shooting people in the head is part of the game, and such a shot results in an exquisite "ragdoll" effect of the victim flying through the air, you might as well show the true results of this.
To use a movie analogy: the opening sequence to "Saving Private Ryan" was stupendously brutal, largely because it pulled no punches on the true violence involved. Yet no sane person would compare that with, say, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"... the context is different, and while one has something meaningful to say, the other is pure titillation. (Neither is suitable for children or other easily-impressionable people, of course...)
Furthermore... he claims, "The scientific evidence from thousands of studies strongly suggests that your premise is wrong."
Yet he fails to cite even a single specific study that has been done on this topic.
Perhaps if he could provide links to even a few of these "thousands" (ahem) of stuides done, I might be more interested in listening to his argument... but as it is, it smells a lot like yet another knee-jerk "Protect The Children!!!" argument...
Washington DC,USA: Guns are illegal. Average elevation above sea level is quite low.
Geneva, Switzerland. Gun ownership is *MANDATORY* for Swiss Armed Forces at home. Average elevation above sea level is rather high.
Conclusion: guns cause high elevations.
Hey, I've offered just as much cause-and-effect evidence as you have.
You hit the nail on the head. In theory, the ITMS is something I'd really like to be able to make use of, but I'm not going to do it until I know I'll have free (but fair) use of the music I purchase.
Geez, even a waitress trusts me to tip her. Why not trust the consumer will be fair enough to still be profitable?
Oh yeah. I agree totally. I have (and like) an iPod, but I'm really not wild about iTunes, and if I want to buy their tunes, that's all I can use.
I've decided to "Just Say No" to DRM'ed music... their price is fair, but I want to be sure that, 20 years from now, I can still play the music I buy today.
The better question is, what's Silbo Gomero for "My hovercraft is full of eels"?
You are my hero. Add to this some way for MC/VISA to take public credit as the "good guys" and we're all happy.
This sales "person" (and I use that term loosely) is clearly part of the problem, not part of the solution.
When* I become Emperor of the Universe, responding to spam will become a capital offense. (Spamming itself will be a worse-than-capital offense that includes lots of enforced listening to Celine Dion records.)
* Yes, that's "when", not "if"
Well, here's your chance to help improve it: Macromedia is looking for someone to head up Linux player development.
http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/hr/reqs/engin eering/1736hs.html
"The Macromedia Flash Player team is looking for a highly motivated Senior Software Engineer to take ownership of the Linux version of Macromedia Flash Player."
"A flying saucer creature named Zog arrived on Earth to explain how wars could be prevented, and how cancer could be cured. Zog brought the information from Margo, a planet where the natives conversed by means of farts and tap-dancing. Zog landed at night in Connecticut. He had no sooner touched down than he saw a house on fire. He rushed into the house, farting and tap-dancing, warning people about the terrible danger they were in. The head of the house brained him with a golf club."
May not make economic sense for MSFT, but it surely makes economic sense for Israel. They need software that works in Hebrew, and MSFT isn't providing it.
>People will not agree to pay for something they previously had for free.
In the US, tapwater from your home faucet is cheap enough to be "free" for our purposes here, but people buy bottled water.
Doh!
/ ga te/archive/2003/09/24/notes092403.DTL
Sorry bout that, try this one instead:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=
Yep, it was in Philadelphia:
http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-5079624.html
For further scary information about Comcast (re: privacy, or the lack thereof), check out this:
http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/
I was all set to switch from DSL to cable, but seeing the above two "issues" creeped me out too much.
Really, is it too much to ask for a broadband provider that just sells me bandwidth... no offers to build a "relationship" or do crazy marketing shit with me, just a simple money-for-bits exchange? Anyone? Anyone?
What? There's a Progressive Plan for Global Dominance?
And they're not inviting me to the meetings?
Better yet: what if my cat (who likes to hang out on my desk) steps on my mouse/keyboard, clicking the OK button? Does that make it legally binding for me? (Or perhaps for the cat?)
Specific example, please. I'm not aware of any such cases. (At least, that don't involve church-state issues.)
Why bother? Disney did it for them, effectively! Adobe still sold the same number of copies of Photoshop, at zero additional R&D cost to them.
Hops are a relatively recent addition (historically)... only a few hundred years ago, certainly less than a thousand. The ancient Mesopotamian (etc) beer was hopless.
Yeah, but there was also another father-son venture producing electric vehicles (www.corbinmotors.com)... they just recently filed for Chapter 7, and are now subject to various lawsuits for investment fraud.
(Not saying that the Tango guys are in any way involved in shady dealings, just that you have to be careful...)
Actually, the proper saying is: Do you know what the police and emergency services call helmetless motorcycle drivers? Donors.
Bullshit. It may be an accepted cultural practice of the game dev industry, but it's not *necessary*.
Intelligent engineering practices and less-insane expectations about product cycles would dramatically improve the situation.
Yes, I formerly worked for a game company, and the sheer lack of professionalism was astonishing, and the 100-hour weeks were the way people made up for it...
Or maybe we were interested in actually *buying* a legitimate product, rather than ripping it off?
Yeah, the RIAA seems to be run by morons who couldn't find their own ass with both hands and a contour map, but that's no excuse. Don't like the prices or business practices? Fine; don't do business with them.
Overlooked here is the fact that younger workers not only get paid less, but are generally far easier to persuade/intimidate into working long (unreasonably so) hours; most "younger" tech types tend to be single-male-mid-twenties, either unmarried or no kids. Add to this the "not knowing any better factor" and you have an all-too-common scenario (especially in the game industry).
Absolutely. The problem wasn't the activation process per se, but the fact that it was actively annoying to typical users... it's as though they decided on a particular license to enforce, without actually examining how legitimate users were really using the software.
Rule #1 of all DRM schemes should be to make 'em just restrictive enough to keep the honest users honest... since the crooks will find a way to rip you off no matter what.