This report is based on data collected by the U.S. Census bureau, which is notorious for its inability to accurately count the U.S. population. A lot of people don't respond, others are just unreachable. Some don't have phones, some don't have mailing addresses; some have phones but automatically hang up on anyone who sounds like a telemarketer. There are large demographics they're not reaching with this report... people who don't have phones or can't read a census bureau survey probably don't use the Internet. This report is skewed to people who are likely to use the Internet.
What percentage of the population was surveyed? 137,000 individuals and 57,000 households (I assume they only spoke to one person in each of those households), so we're talking about less than 200,000 people. That's less than 0.07% of the population. I'm sure their survey of less than 0.1% of the population is representative of the 99.93% they know nothing about.
Why do people accept these reports as hard facts? The thing that really kills me is the moron who began his comment by calling this "conclusive proof." This isn't conclusive proof of anything other than some government agency had to produce a report to justify some funding.
Conclusive proof that the internet is becoming all pervasive.
Conclusive proof my ass...
The U.S. government can't even get the Census right. What makes you think they know what percentage of that population uses the Internet?
50%+, soon to be 100%
100%, eh? Neither radio nor television have that kind of saturation (unless you're overcounting the people who have multiple TVs in their homes), despite the fact that they cost a tiny fraction of what a computer costs and don't require a subscription to use. Perhaps you're overcounting the people who have seven AOL screen names in their homes... one for each person, one for the dog, and two for your alter ego.
You won't find any activity that 100% of Americans do. Just look at John Walker Lindh.
You are given by me exactly how much money I intend to spend on your product, irregardless of whether a pirated version was available or not! (emphasis mine)
"Rrregardless" is not a word. If it was, the ir- would cancel out the -less and you'd be left with the opposite of the the word I believe you intended. Try "regardless" next time, as in:
A spelling checker would have made your argument more persuasive, regardless of the validity of your argument.
Perhaps they are worried we will put down the controller/mouse/keyboard, leave our homes and get lives if the video games inspire us to explore the real world. That would eat into their profits.
But seriously, I have been concerned about this phenomenon, but not just on PCs. Nearly 10 years ago, Final Fantasy 3 introduced lots of non-linear play. There were about a million things you could do for fun that were not required to finish the game: Magicite to find, exotic items to be won in the arena. Final Fantasy VII took it further, with mini games (Chocobo Racing, Chocobo Breeding, arcade games, etc.) and even introduced enemies that were more challenging than the final boss (anyone ever beat that giant robotic monster at the bottom of the ocean?), but not essential to finishing the game. Final Fantasy 8 cut a lot of that out, and I think FF9 took another step back. I haven't played FFX yet, in part because I'm worried it will be a big disappointment.
Can Metal Gear Solid be considered an RPG? If so, it should win an award for the RPG with the most non-linear potential that still managed to doom players to linear gameplay. I swear I spent more time watching the FMV scenes than actually playing the game. I got so frustrated I returned the game to Blockbuster a day early.
All The President's Men isn't entirely true. There are people at The Post who resent the film (and the book it's based on) because it makes it appear that Woodward and Bernstein did all the work themselves, and cuts out a lot of people who were quite involved.
Don't direct your ire at Slashdot; it was a front page story printed in The Washington Post.
The Post generally has very good credibility because its editors use discretion in deciding which stories are credible enough to run. They went out on a limb with this one and it snapped under them. The price they pay is the next time they cry wolf, you won't believe them. If you blame slashdot, you're giving The Post a license to be sloppy.
Slashdot Mirror
What percentage of the population was surveyed? 137,000 individuals and 57,000 households (I assume they only spoke to one person in each of those households), so we're talking about less than 200,000 people. That's less than 0.07% of the population. I'm sure their survey of less than 0.1% of the population is representative of the 99.93% they know nothing about.
Why do people accept these reports as hard facts? The thing that really kills me is the moron who began his comment by calling this "conclusive proof." This isn't conclusive proof of anything other than some government agency had to produce a report to justify some funding.
The U.S. government can't even get the Census right. What makes you think they know what percentage of that population uses the Internet?
100%, eh? Neither radio nor television have that kind of saturation (unless you're overcounting the people who have multiple TVs in their homes), despite the fact that they cost a tiny fraction of what a computer costs and don't require a subscription to use. Perhaps you're overcounting the people who have seven AOL screen names in their homes... one for each person, one for the dog, and two for your alter ego.You won't find any activity that 100% of Americans do. Just look at John Walker Lindh.
Whoever said we wanted to burn the money? The idea here is just to get rid of the dot commers while retaining the money. :o)
- Large Oven
- $50 Million
DirectionsI also took the liberty of creating a few other topic icons I thought Slashdot could use, and posted them on the same page.
But seriously, I have been concerned about this phenomenon, but not just on PCs. Nearly 10 years ago, Final Fantasy 3 introduced lots of non-linear play. There were about a million things you could do for fun that were not required to finish the game: Magicite to find, exotic items to be won in the arena. Final Fantasy VII took it further, with mini games (Chocobo Racing, Chocobo Breeding, arcade games, etc.) and even introduced enemies that were more challenging than the final boss (anyone ever beat that giant robotic monster at the bottom of the ocean?), but not essential to finishing the game. Final Fantasy 8 cut a lot of that out, and I think FF9 took another step back. I haven't played FFX yet, in part because I'm worried it will be a big disappointment.
Can Metal Gear Solid be considered an RPG? If so, it should win an award for the RPG with the most non-linear potential that still managed to doom players to linear gameplay. I swear I spent more time watching the FMV scenes than actually playing the game. I got so frustrated I returned the game to Blockbuster a day early.
All The President's Men isn't entirely true. There are people at The Post who resent the film (and the book it's based on) because it makes it appear that Woodward and Bernstein did all the work themselves, and cuts out a lot of people who were quite involved.
The Post generally has very good credibility because its editors use discretion in deciding which stories are credible enough to run. They went out on a limb with this one and it snapped under them. The price they pay is the next time they cry wolf, you won't believe them. If you blame slashdot, you're giving The Post a license to be sloppy.
I know what I'm wearing for Halloween next year...