They're not microcosms of the *entire* real world. But they are microcosms of a part of society - the part that isn't all that far removed from the readers of Slashdot. To ignore the opportunity to study a socially semi-isolated population altogether, given the proper caveats, would be silly.
Besides, the differences between the general populace and that represented in MMOGs is already known.
Someone owns a whole bunch of Cisco routers or other miscellaneous equipment. Once the equipment is no longer needed, they retain the license to the software while selling the hardware to someone else. Cisco rep complains, new hardware owner says "talk to the software licensee". When purchasing maintenance agreements and such, the hardware owner pays off the software licensee the cost of the maintenance agreement plus a small surcharge, and the software licensee pays Cisco the amount on Cisco's price list for the maintenance agreement.
The terms of the license agreement are fulfilled - it's just that the on-site location is changed.
Thanks for the heads-up - no, I hadn't heard about it until now.
I'd love to see this concept ported to Forgotten Realms, like the old Gold Box games, but with faithful attention to 3rd/3.5th Edition rules. (I'd also love to see it pay attention to a part of FR other than the Sword Coast. Whatever happened to Cormyr, the Dalelands, etc.?)
"The main problem I have with the article is that it ignores the basic principle of choice."
No, you don't understand - the article is about in-game voice taking away choice from everyone.
Once a game with significant popularity implements voice, then every game out there will put it in. And people will start using it, not just to talk within their guilds, but to talk to everyone out there. That removes the concept of choice from those who don't want to listen to other people, because technology isn't ready for voice-to-text translation (which was Bartle's entire point). It removes a mode of communication by foisting another mode upon everyone.
At least when third-party software is required to get voice, people can't make the assumption that you have voice capability as well, and so text is the default, while voice remains an option.
What about Atlanta? With all those Peach and Peachtree Street/Avenue/Boulevard/Court/etc. I wouldn't be surprised if they just threw all the impossible-to-deliver letters in a big pile and kept the place warm with them.
"If I, or anyone else, went around saying everyone that ows a copy of [insert product] owes me 2 cents [insert company] would force me to put up or shut up."
If I went around saying I was emperor, just because some watery tart had lobbed some intellectual property at me, they'd put me away!
It would definitely be interesting to see what they are planning to work on in the near future. BioWare and Black Isle have each put forth some very impressive games under the D&D license. Maybe a more faithful rendition of the 3rd Ed (or now 3.5th Ed) rules is in the cards.
From the looks of it, though, Obsidian is working on web page design.
In the Western world, we have this thing called an "apartment". With that, keeping your valuables safe is no more complex than activating a device known as a "door lock".
...You all could have gone to see this thing live, except for this:
2003-07-24 18:54:47 Hacker Court: Mock Trial of a MMOG Hacker (articles,doj) (rejected)
Anyway, it doesn't really surprise me that they came up with no decision. It does speak volumes as to how "busy" the American people are, though, that they would attribute value to the time taken to obtain an item garnered from a process that is supposed to be (by design) enjoyable by itself.
Okay, yeah, I was using a little bit of hyperbole for theatrical effect. But I still feel that if I don't have an account with Citibank, I should be able to require them to delete all of the personal information they have on me.
29 July hasn't even been entered into the Congressional Record yet. You can keep an eye on this page and look at that day's information on submitted bills to find a bill number. Then you can search by bill number at thomas.loc.gov.
I'd like to see some corporate accountability added into those sorts of databases. I want to be able to walk into the front door at Citibank and say, give me a printout on all the information you have on me.
Then I want to be able to read the printout, walk back up to the desk, and say, Okay, now delete it. All of it.
I mean, I liked EverQuest as much as the next guy, but Delsyn (who had comments at the bottom of that page) was a bit on the generous side when talking about their customer service.
CS was never perfected in EQ. Rather, it was pretty damn close about a year after release, at which point Sony Online showed back up, put certain people (George Scotto, for example) in key positions, and proceeded to give EQ CS the ass reaming it had been waiting for. To say that the Star Wars Galaxies team has forgotten all those lessons verges on senility. The SWG CS method (filing CS tickets which get answered later whether the player is online or off) is far more efficient, and the only reason CS seems worse in SWG is that SWG is new, and the number of CS tickets filed is way up. Once things settle, CS will likely be slightly better in SWG than in EQ, despite the lack of a volunteer-supported CSR corps.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a little surprised that it took an Adrenaline Vault article now to tell game users about something that's been going on for years.
They're not microcosms of the *entire* real world. But they are microcosms of a part of society - the part that isn't all that far removed from the readers of Slashdot. To ignore the opportunity to study a socially semi-isolated population altogether, given the proper caveats, would be silly.
Besides, the differences between the general populace and that represented in MMOGs is already known.
Someone owns a whole bunch of Cisco routers or other miscellaneous equipment. Once the equipment is no longer needed, they retain the license to the software while selling the hardware to someone else. Cisco rep complains, new hardware owner says "talk to the software licensee". When purchasing maintenance agreements and such, the hardware owner pays off the software licensee the cost of the maintenance agreement plus a small surcharge, and the software licensee pays Cisco the amount on Cisco's price list for the maintenance agreement.
The terms of the license agreement are fulfilled - it's just that the on-site location is changed.
Thanks for the heads-up - no, I hadn't heard about it until now.
I'd love to see this concept ported to Forgotten Realms, like the old Gold Box games, but with faithful attention to 3rd/3.5th Edition rules. (I'd also love to see it pay attention to a part of FR other than the Sword Coast. Whatever happened to Cormyr, the Dalelands, etc.?)
"The main problem I have with the article is that it ignores the basic principle of choice."
No, you don't understand - the article is about in-game voice taking away choice from everyone.
Once a game with significant popularity implements voice, then every game out there will put it in. And people will start using it, not just to talk within their guilds, but to talk to everyone out there. That removes the concept of choice from those who don't want to listen to other people, because technology isn't ready for voice-to-text translation (which was Bartle's entire point). It removes a mode of communication by foisting another mode upon everyone.
At least when third-party software is required to get voice, people can't make the assumption that you have voice capability as well, and so text is the default, while voice remains an option.
The question that comes to my mind after watching the video is, can data be recovered from the signals picked up as interference?
Sample size: 1
Unless it was an upper-level manager who fell and struck the wing of the Columbia during takeoff, I think they'll be fine.
What about Atlanta? With all those Peach and Peachtree Street/Avenue/Boulevard/Court/etc. I wouldn't be surprised if they just threw all the impossible-to-deliver letters in a big pile and kept the place warm with them.
;)
It's certainly what I'd do.
"If I, or anyone else, went around saying everyone that ows a copy of [insert product] owes me 2 cents [insert company] would force me to put up or shut up."
If I went around saying I was emperor, just because some watery tart had lobbed some intellectual property at me, they'd put me away!
It would definitely be interesting to see what they are planning to work on in the near future. BioWare and Black Isle have each put forth some very impressive games under the D&D license. Maybe a more faithful rendition of the 3rd Ed (or now 3.5th Ed) rules is in the cards.
From the looks of it, though, Obsidian is working on web page design.
"That would be a great method for "destroying" filesharers' PCs a la Senator Orrin Hatch."
I would point out that this wasn't Hatch's idea, but rather (at least, with regards to Congress) that of Howard Berman.
One of my roommates in college once tried to listen to every Rush album (he had every last one on CD or tape) within the space of one weekend.
Despite his valiant efforts, he failed. And I hated Rush for about three years afterwards.
In the Western world, we have this thing called an "apartment". With that, keeping your valuables safe is no more complex than activating a device known as a "door lock".
...You all could have gone to see this thing live, except for this:
2003-07-24 18:54:47 Hacker Court: Mock Trial of a MMOG Hacker (articles,doj) (rejected)
Anyway, it doesn't really surprise me that they came up with no decision. It does speak volumes as to how "busy" the American people are, though, that they would attribute value to the time taken to obtain an item garnered from a process that is supposed to be (by design) enjoyable by itself.
Not to mention that their Thomas link was to a lookup for the 105th Congress. We're on the 108th right now.
Okay, yeah, I was using a little bit of hyperbole for theatrical effect. But I still feel that if I don't have an account with Citibank, I should be able to require them to delete all of the personal information they have on me.
29 July hasn't even been entered into the Congressional Record yet. You can keep an eye on this page and look at that day's information on submitted bills to find a bill number. Then you can search by bill number at thomas.loc.gov.
I'd like to see some corporate accountability added into those sorts of databases. I want to be able to walk into the front door at Citibank and say, give me a printout on all the information you have on me.
Then I want to be able to read the printout, walk back up to the desk, and say, Okay, now delete it. All of it.
They should get Echelon and the Beast of Brussels networked together.
You know, kinda like this.
corn corn corn corn corn corn Toledo corn corn corn corn corn corn Sandusky corn corn corn corn
I mean, I liked EverQuest as much as the next guy, but Delsyn (who had comments at the bottom of that page) was a bit on the generous side when talking about their customer service.
CS was never perfected in EQ. Rather, it was pretty damn close about a year after release, at which point Sony Online showed back up, put certain people (George Scotto, for example) in key positions, and proceeded to give EQ CS the ass reaming it had been waiting for. To say that the Star Wars Galaxies team has forgotten all those lessons verges on senility. The SWG CS method (filing CS tickets which get answered later whether the player is online or off) is far more efficient, and the only reason CS seems worse in SWG is that SWG is new, and the number of CS tickets filed is way up. Once things settle, CS will likely be slightly better in SWG than in EQ, despite the lack of a volunteer-supported CSR corps.
The download of the API includes a lot of sample code. For DX8, the "samples" subdir contained almost 100MB of material.
This.
Lawful neutral? ;)