Most MMOs are split into servers of a few thousand people, and you only really interact with the dozen or so in your group or guild. There's nothing 'massive' about most MMOs.
Yeah, well I doubt these are the sort of people who make several times the average wage in some cushy white-collar career. They're probably crack-heads, and the goods have already been swapped down some dark alley.
Btw most crimes like this don't result in anyone being caught. The police aren't going to throw that many resources at a stolen ipod.
When people talk about 'gamers', it's best to remember that the biggest-selling games are things like the Sims and World of Warcraft. These people are as much gamers as people spending a thousand dollars to play Crysis with all the sliders turned up.
It already has millions of players in Asia, and it's been a long time since Blizzard was constantly crowing about its subscriber numbers.
If you're a new player looking for an MMO, you're not going to get WoW. It's incredibly dated, the graphics are ugly and the 'kill ten boars' quests are laughable archaic. Plus, you're eighty levels behind everyone else and have no-one to group with.
It seems that being ganked isn't exactly a feature people look for in games.
That's your opinion, millions of others disagree. Your WoW guild might not like it, but there's a selection bias there. In WoW, even dying is a mere several-second inconvenience, so they're never going to like a game with difficulty and set-backs.
At any rate, people who decide they don't like a game without even playing it are the sort who would never like it anyway, as it isn't exactly like everything they're used to. Like a child screwing his face up at a new food before it's even in his mouth, your guild-mates would find any excuse not to like Aion. If not the 'ganking', then the combat sytem not being exactly like WoW, or the quest-givers not having huge question marks over them, or not being allowed to install add-ons to walk you through quests without the player having to put any thought or effort in, or a million other things.
At least now the 'ganking' will turn off the WoW-tourists so they won't flood the chat channels and forums with whining about how every little thing isn't exactly like how they want it.
But I seem remember that about 80%-90% of my time spent in public school I was bored out my mind to damn near the point of insanity after 15 years of it. Granted, I am in the top 1 percentile intelligence-wise. But a school system that sacrifices the very best students in an effort to cater to the very worst - that isn't a good strategy for any society.
So what's the relevance of your anecdote for us bottom 99% mere mortals?
I don't know why she doesn't just go find another job, instead of this silly lawsuit... oh wait, greed, that's it... a $17,000 award, nice. Guess who coughs up for that... people like us who don't abuse the system:/
No, it's paid by the company that fucked her over. It took its time, but this thread is finally being flooded by Americans (probably libertarians) outraged that the system actually looked after the little guy rather than the corporation.
Seriously Americans, stop worshipping corporations, they won't return the favour. I don't see how anyone can be against laws that stop companies arbitrarily taking away people's livelihoods. Only in America I suppose...
Clearly the BBC is no Pravda (not this year, anyway, or yesteryear), but can any nation trust its government enough that having a taxpayer-funded news service a good idea in the long run? I think that's a question worth thinking about.
Define 'long run'. The BBC has been around for 87 years, if it's going to turn into a instrument for government propaganda, it's taking its time.
I'm also personally concerned with the notion of a "television license". Call it paranoia, but it makes me think of the "secret radio!!" plot in Jakob the Liar -- a government powers to restrict your receipt of telecommunications are not very comforting.
Are you American by any chance? They seem to be paranoid about the government doing anything at all, so I'm not sure whether to take them seriously or not.
According to de Tocqueville who traveled the U.S. and documented what he saw, the literacy rate during Thomas Jefferson's term (circa 1804) was nearly 100%.
I wonder how he had time to test millions of people in that era of slow transport and communication. And I wonder how so many people had time to take literacy tests when they spent all day working in farms and mills.
The main problem is that not a single MMO designer has any imagination. Every one that comes out is basically diku with better graphics. The whole reason people are whining about how balanced classes are at killing monsters, is that these games have nothing to do other than kill monsters for xp/loot.
Maybe if other classes had different things to do, balance wouldn't be an issue. An assassin wouldn't need to be as good as a warrior at killing dragons, as he wouldn't be killing dragons, he'd be sneaking into a fortress to stab a duke or something.
But that would take more work and imagination than re-making Everquest with a better graphics engine, changing all the names, and maybe adding some voice acting, which is where 99% of MMO development is headed.
Bear in mind, a 'contemporary' PC is six years old with on-board graphics. And that the biggest selling PC titles are things like WoW and the Sims which don't use much graphical power at all.
Maybe PC gaming would be in a better state if they made more games like those, and fewer like Crysis and Oblivion which are pretty much just graphic-card bench-tests.
Slashdot Mirror
Most MMOs are split into servers of a few thousand people, and you only really interact with the dozen or so in your group or guild. There's nothing 'massive' about most MMOs.
Are you only counting the ones where American directly intervened, or are you including the ones where the war was fought through the CIA?
A better analogy would be me selling you a gun, then accusing you of being armed and running you over in my tank.
Then killing a hundred thousand people.
And still not finding your gun.
Yeah, well I doubt these are the sort of people who make several times the average wage in some cushy white-collar career. They're probably crack-heads, and the goods have already been swapped down some dark alley.
Btw most crimes like this don't result in anyone being caught. The police aren't going to throw that many resources at a stolen ipod.
When people talk about 'gamers', it's best to remember that the biggest-selling games are things like the Sims and World of Warcraft. These people are as much gamers as people spending a thousand dollars to play Crysis with all the sliders turned up.
And if you look at it in terms of kg of food per dollar, McDonald's is better than a Michelin starred restaurant.
Or maybe entertainment is more about quality than quantity.
It already has millions of players in Asia, and it's been a long time since Blizzard was constantly crowing about its subscriber numbers.
If you're a new player looking for an MMO, you're not going to get WoW. It's incredibly dated, the graphics are ugly and the 'kill ten boars' quests are laughable archaic. Plus, you're eighty levels behind everyone else and have no-one to group with.
That's your opinion, millions of others disagree. Your WoW guild might not like it, but there's a selection bias there. In WoW, even dying is a mere several-second inconvenience, so they're never going to like a game with difficulty and set-backs.
At any rate, people who decide they don't like a game without even playing it are the sort who would never like it anyway, as it isn't exactly like everything they're used to. Like a child screwing his face up at a new food before it's even in his mouth, your guild-mates would find any excuse not to like Aion. If not the 'ganking', then the combat sytem not being exactly like WoW, or the quest-givers not having huge question marks over them, or not being allowed to install add-ons to walk you through quests without the player having to put any thought or effort in, or a million other things.
At least now the 'ganking' will turn off the WoW-tourists so they won't flood the chat channels and forums with whining about how every little thing isn't exactly like how they want it.
By 'we', you mean yourself, comic book guy, and half a dozen other nerds. The typical PC has maybe 1024x768 and onboard graphics.
To a libertarian, eight million people are merely a statistic. They're closer to fascists than they realise.
Patents themselves are government intervention in the market.
Well, one particular orifice is more open.
So what's the relevance of your anecdote for us bottom 99% mere mortals?
Yeah, rule of law is bad for profits. Stick to America, where corporations make the laws, rather than have to follow them.
Why do you worship corporations and hate people? Are you American by any chance?
No, it's paid by the company that fucked her over. It took its time, but this thread is finally being flooded by Americans (probably libertarians) outraged that the system actually looked after the little guy rather than the corporation.
Seriously Americans, stop worshipping corporations, they won't return the favour. I don't see how anyone can be against laws that stop companies arbitrarily taking away people's livelihoods. Only in America I suppose...
Define 'long run'. The BBC has been around for 87 years, if it's going to turn into a instrument for government propaganda, it's taking its time.
Are you American by any chance? They seem to be paranoid about the government doing anything at all, so I'm not sure whether to take them seriously or not.
So the BBC is biased towards the British people who pay the licence fee?
Jesus, these libertarian nut-jobs will oppose absolutely anything, won't they?
Except it's not involuntary.
I wonder how he had time to test millions of people in that era of slow transport and communication. And I wonder how so many people had time to take literacy tests when they spent all day working in farms and mills.
So, if it's all phased, why not just play a proper single-player RPG? Unless I'm missing the point of what an MMO is suposed to be.
Any reason they don't have a permanent free trial like World of Warcraft?
What I find funniest is that you think being a 'hardcore' gamer is something to be proud of, rather than ashamed.
The main problem is that not a single MMO designer has any imagination. Every one that comes out is basically diku with better graphics. The whole reason people are whining about how balanced classes are at killing monsters, is that these games have nothing to do other than kill monsters for xp/loot.
Maybe if other classes had different things to do, balance wouldn't be an issue. An assassin wouldn't need to be as good as a warrior at killing dragons, as he wouldn't be killing dragons, he'd be sneaking into a fortress to stab a duke or something.
But that would take more work and imagination than re-making Everquest with a better graphics engine, changing all the names, and maybe adding some voice acting, which is where 99% of MMO development is headed.
Bear in mind, a 'contemporary' PC is six years old with on-board graphics. And that the biggest selling PC titles are things like WoW and the Sims which don't use much graphical power at all.
Maybe PC gaming would be in a better state if they made more games like those, and fewer like Crysis and Oblivion which are pretty much just graphic-card bench-tests.