It already is where we need it. With the internet and wireless technology we can interact with information systems almost anywhere in the world. With Satellite phones we can be anywhere (except maybe deep underground - and people who are in that environment on a regular basis would have technology to deal with it).
For example, I keep all of my files on a central server. I can access those files via an HTTP connection from any machine in my network - and if I wanted to - anywhere in the world via a VPN portal into my network.
I don't think I will be writing a paper, or reading email from my blender or toaster anytime soon; there will always be a place for a 'console' type machine with a keyboard - whether its a PDA/cellphone (tricorder, anyone?), a laptop, a tablet or a traditional desktop PC. Which brings up an interesting point - will the keyboard go the way of the dinosaur?
I don't think so. I have tried using magnetic tape, and more recently digital recorders with mixed results. I have found that I tend to be more self-conscious when I use a voice recorder - so I don't record the true words I might normally use in a text. For example, if I were writing a novel about terrorists, I would feel very reticent to vocalize the flow of dialog while waiting in an airport lounge. Also, some environments where there is noise create a loss of fidelity on the recording - sometimes to the point of being indecipherable. Finally, recordings still need to be transcribed; voice recognition software is nowhere near ready to handle flawless automated transcription. Given that - I would rather have a laptop than a voice recorder any day - and thereby cut out the middleman.
What about critical services, such as 911 service? Are going to equip all of your customers with backup generators to power their VOIP phones and other network devices (router) during a power outage?
You might say to me, "well, people today use cellphones as their primary means of communications - and they are responsible to ensure it is charged up in the event of an emergency". That may be true. However, everyone does not have cell phone service - or wants cell phone service for that matter. As a common carrier, phone companies have a responsibility to provide dialtone for everyone who wants it - and as a result provide emergency services.
It is also prohibitively costly to provide fibre to every location - particularly in rural areas. Given that, broadband service will not be available to drive VOIP solutions.
If we decide to drop copper as an alternative, then we will lose big when some event occurs that prevents a VOIP user from getting a critical emergency call through - and the resulting lawsuits and regulations will stifle growth and acceptance of VOIP as a viable universal solution.
ummm - I think the issue is that he does not want to upgrade. The lack of coverage is forcing him to upgrade.
In my mind, if the phone company decides to upgrade their sites to different technology, they should either upgrade their customer's phones to match for free - or buy out their remaining contract (which monies could then be used to upgrade or move to another carrier that does have the old technology that matches their current phones).
Phones are a big investment; pulling the rug out from under the customer is not a good business plan - particularly with the various mobile phone companies out there.
On a non-PVP server you can not be killed by another player directly. However, petulent players have been known to drag mobs over to groups who are camping the spot they want in order to clear them out - which happens either by the mobs being too big for them to handle - and they either run, 'gate' (magicians can 'pop' into their last bind point), or die to the MOB.
Your character doesn't 'die' forever, unless you delete it yourself. However, you do lose experience points, and can de-level if you 'die' enough times - so there is impetus to stay alive at all costs, if possible. On a PVP server you can be killed by other player-characters, by MOBs ('mobile objects' - i.e. monsters), or by doing something stupid (like falling from a height. There is no aging of the characters - they are forever 'young', so to speak. On a non-PVP server, you can be killed by MOBs and by doing something stupid - but as I mentioned, a player can 'drag' a bunch of monsters to your location in order to have the MOB 'agro' (agrivation level - determines whether a monster gives you its attention - or some other player - or another MOB for that matter) on you. You faction (how you are percieved by different groups of creatures in the world) effects whether a MOB agros on you on site or ignores you.
I hope that answers your questions. Once you get the hang of it (particularly faction) you can avoid unnecessary problems (and laugh while a clueless noob dies attempting to drag a mob on you that you have good faction with...lol).
An egg is an embyonic chicken - so in essence by consuming the egg you are killing the chicken. I will concede milk.
However, most of the 'nutball' (aka Vegan?) cases are the zealots we are talking about - the ones who hypicritically avoid 'all animal and animal products' - but then allow themselves to intake B12, knowing its probable source (I never saw B12 specified as 'derived from milk', 'egg' or any other designation - so, more likely than not it was derived from whatever the cheapest method was for the bakery - probably animal byproducts).
Actually, you can use the idea - you just have to pay royalty/licensing fees to the patent holder for its use - provided you sell or distribute your product publicly.
On the other hand, you can build whatever you want using whatever ideas that are available in your own home for personal use without any concern for patent issues. That is why I am not too concerned about this.
So, all of the geeks will have the cool tools, and all the poor lusers will have to pay 'Acme Software' for their fix.
The only companies that will be able to not only fund the process of registering patents, as well as the legal staff to sue violators will be large corporations.
Small companies will have their ideas stolen, and will have a choice: either fight, and end up going under due to financial burden, or try to compete, and hope that they have a significantly better mousetrap. Given the software patents that I have seen, that is not likely, and the monopolies will win (yet again).
As for Open Source - we have always been targets, and will continue to be so. However, we don't have the deep pockets and there is plenty of prior art on our side (hence only SCO being stupid enough to go after us, thus far, and then having to pick IBM as the surrogate 'deep pocket' for their purposes) - meaning attacks on Open Source will continue to come through FUD, as opposed to patent law in most cases.
IANAL - so don't base any business or personal decisions on my advice.
ELF is inextricably tied with PETA via the president of PETA. Therefore ELF = PETA since PETA endorses their acts publicly - but not to the general public.
(saw that on 'Bull Shit' on HBO - so it must be true)
Also, the argument about vitamin B12 not being available except through animal flesh is correct.
So, while it is correct that you can survive as a vegetarian, it is also correct that you will do damage to yourself if you don't get vitamin B12 - which entails killing an animal - even if you are using vitamin supliments it equates to the same thing; you survive in a healthy state because an animal died.
As mentioned elsewhere, and I would amplify, we should treat our animals with the reverence they deserve as we are stewards of the land: take what you need and no more. This is something that is central to Native American culture, and something Americans of European descent should take to heart. Disregard for the ecosystem is bad, but so too is dogmatic disregard for the reality of nature and the functioning of ourselves within nature.
In all the distributions, both free and paid for, the problems invariably turned out to be some essoteric configuration issue: the default configuration files had a setting incorrect for my box that hours of research finally corrected. Needless to say, further installations on my mini-serverfarm were informed by that research - making things go much smoother.
I never had to rebuild kernels, build or find drivers, except in one case: Debian. The 'out of the box' stable (Woody) Debian distribution did not support sound at all - which would require a kernel rebuild. I could have used one of the 'unstable' versions - but wanted the security and stability that the stable version offered.
I ended up falling back on, for me, the tried and true: Slackware (my first distribution was Slackware, by the way - back in 1992).
I do agree with the writer's thesis: if you are advertising your business as a particular 'fit' for a hardware set, you best have all the kinks worked out of the distribution, or else a support team that can quickly help the customer through the configuration 'work around' on a consistent basis. I can't blame a customer expecting an equal level of support for the money (either through the software 'just working' - or a technical support apparatus that makes fixes quick and simple for the user).
Instead, it should be seen as an opportunity to modernize the industry...
Sadly, most industries (and I put the few that are not on a very short list that is tatamount to statistical error) are too short sighted to care about their actions over long periods of time beyond their annual profits. They always end up being pulled, kicking and screaming, into improvements - and as a result never put the level of creativity and productivity used for their primary 'business' into it.
Shouldn't our 'business' be about leaving our children a better world than we inherited? In almost every case significant standard of living improvements have been the result of people demanding the improvements after long periods of neglect. Unless there is a buck to be made, or a direct threat to its survival, industry turns a blind eye.
The issue with not using a cell phone in flight has to do with possible interference with radio navigation signals used to guide the plane through the air. Such interference could cause the aircraft to be erroneously flown in the path of obstructions (such as other airplanes in flight - or during the takeoff/landing phase, into structures on the ground - such as buildings or radio towers).
That is why airlines do not want you to use your cellphone - or any device, for that matter, that emits electromagnetic radiation.
In order to survive on this world we must eat living creatures - be they plant or animal. For a balanced diet we must have animal flesh; plant food just doesn't hack it alone. To get animal flesh we must kill the animal. Similarly, these same creatures can serve us in other useful ways (seeing eye dogs, carrier pigeons, and Gambian rat mine detectors) that is certainly more 'humane' than being food.
Given the above, as long as these giant Gambian rats are treated well until their eventual explosive demise (which is a quicker cleaner death than some of the destruction and death caused to humans by PETA fanatics), I don't have a problem with it.
What I get angry about is people who don't treat their animals well: they don't feed them, care for them, or provide an environment that is enriching for the animal during its life. The wanton destruction through neglect is really the problem - not animals used in testing, or Gambian rat mine detectors. What is worse is when people decide they have to abandon an animal 'in the wild'.
I can't count how many dogs and cats have been dropped off at the rural crossroads near my house. If you aren't going to be able to take care of an animal, why have it in the first place? We end up having to kill them anyway when they become a nuisance (hungry, scared and lost, they put pressure on the local ecology and farms - and become dangerous to young children). It would be more humane for these people just to take these animals into their back yards and shoot them in the head in the first place.
This lack of responsibility is immature and disturbing; adults who in many cases hold responsible positions in society - yet stoop so low. Worse is the poor example they show their children - who themselves become poor stewards.
I guess anyone who is rich as a result of predatory practices is to be looked up to?
What a quaint idea...lets just throw away all our common decency and moral fortitude, and instead embrace stupid and destructive activities at the expense of our neighbors.
Lucky!!? They should be criminally prosecuted for their evil deeds (isn't the SEC looking into them atm?)
Additionally, I was explaining what 'appeared' to be happening when you played the game - not the specifics of the mathematic calculations behind the hell level.
It seemed to take longer to kill the creatures and what you did kill gave less experience. Additionally, there were levels where your spells were ineffective against higher level MOBs - due to the fact that you really needed the next higher version of a particular spell to be effective - not available until you reached that higher level (catch-22?!).
So I think what I said applied - and may apply to a certain extent even today (try using a level 1 spell against a level 20 monster - particularly a magic user type - to get my drift).
1. You start off as a 'newbie' at the city of your race with a rusty sword (or similar weapon appropriate for your race and class - magicians, for example, have a wooden staff - my main character was a magician, and I leveled several magicians over time). You are near the newbie area - a monster area near the city with the lowest level creatures in the game - you fight these creatures to level up.
2. The money comes in as a result of 'looting' the creatures you kill. Sometimes they drop money. Most times they drop gear - weapons, equipment, or in the case of 'wild' animals - hides, bones, etc. The items are either sold to AI merchants for cash, or to people who need the items to pursue their trade skills. Over time as you get to higher levels, you amass more money which you keep in the bank (every town has a branch of the bank - which allows you to not only keep money, but serves as a 'safe deposit box' for your extra items that you may have accumulated inbetween transactions - or as needed for your trade skills). You can exchange money and items to other players in game - and so trade evolves.
3. When you want to leave the game you 'camp' - basically this saves the current state of your character and exits you from the game world. Wherever you camped is where you show up the next time you login - which is why you don't want to camp in a 'bad' location (where monsters spawn-in, for example, or on PVP servers where bandits are known to gank players for their items - probably not a problem now with new anti-loot rules for most PVP servers). As mentioned, if you fail to pay your bill, they will save your character until you reestablish your account - up to a maximum time limit (1 year?). At one point I left the game for 6 months and came back to find my characters just as I left them.
This brings up another point: I found it hard to leave the game when I had so much invested in my characters. When I finally left for good, I made it a point to give up all my worldly possessions of my main (high level) character. I then deleted the character completely - thus sealing the deal. This was suprisingly uplifting - the 'death' of this character freed me to move on.
Yeah - I think his numbers are an average over the totals...most people don't get to the high levels - so they average lower levels of PP per hour.
As a 'part time' player, my group of single friends would level away from me, and I would be stuck trying to get pickup groups, or try leveling alone...both making for slow leveling.
As a result, I started several different characters, none of which made it above level 30 - and enjoyed PVP and part-time free play. It was much more enjoyable that way...eventually this allowed me to break my addiction completely and break away from the game. Even 'part-time', each gaming session took way too much of my real-life time.
Its all about leveling your character(s). It is really one giant level treadmill (think of a hamster in a cage running furiously on his little cylinder).
As you kill more creatures (or build your tradeskills) you gain level points. As you increase in level you can more easily kill the lower level creatures; however, you also do not get as much benefit from these creatures, and thus must move on to an area with higher level creatures to allow you to level faster again.
This process continues indefinitely. There are certain levels that are called 'Hell Levels' - mainly due to the fact that your particular character is at a point where there are no monsters that fit the level of your character, or the skills available to your character make it difficult to make headway - so leveling slows to a crawl.
Tradeskills follows a similar pattern, at each level you can build more interesting and/or useful items - that you then sell to other players, which finances further development of your tradeskills.
I found this process to be very boring after awhile. So I migrated to a PVP server (player versus player) - where the players could fight each other, in addition to the monsters. This made it much more interesting. I tried all of the different PVP servers (one allowed free for all, and the other three were team servers of various makeups). This was my downfall...I was glued to the game after that.
Finally, the fact that my peers were able to level faster (I have a family after all, and couldn't spend the same hours my single friends did in game), stripped me of my leveling party, and it became a boring slog...at which point I was able to extract myself, and go cold turkey...
Been clean and EverCrack free for 3 years now (knock on wood). Of course I am now involved in World War II Online - but I can stop playing at any time and step away - that is the key. A game is just that - A GAME. It shouldn't take your concentration for every waking moment - which EverQuest requires, particularly at higher levels (if you camp out deep in a dungeon, for example, that required your whole group to fight into - when you come back and login again, you will have to fight your way out alone, which might be impossible depending on the monsters in the dungeon - so you can't just stop playing until you are at a relatively 'safe' location).
Hope that helps you get an idea about what the game is about.
These games are so one dimensional (I am a recovering Evercrack addict - so I know what I speak of). Working on an assembly line would be more stimulating than building tradeskills in the game; and the damage model for combat is a points based system - so if you get the math right, you can consistently win (or conversely, get it wrong and lose).
That being said, there was an addictive quality - particularly when playing with the same group of people you know in the real world (many of my coworkers played at the time). I don't know if it was the color scheme, or some subliminal message they strobed in the background between frames; whatever it was, it made it very hard to stop.
Sadly, most online games are built for the least common denominator - for folks who want instant action, and little thought put into the gameplay, with few exceptions.
I have recovered from my addiction - and I warn everyone who considers buying the game: don't do it!
Sometimes it's not good to disturb people around you with your inner thoughts. Sometimes it can even be dangerous to your health...
I had the same idea and acquired one of those digital recorders. Unfortunately, I found it generally useless - unless I was alone - because I would censor what I was saying into it when around others and not get the full impact that writing allows throught the tip tapping of fingers on the keyboard.
I love Ray Bradbury; his writing is superb. However, his choice of metaphor, in this instance, is stretching the truth beyond the breaking point.
While I am glad to be an American, and all that that implies, I can only marvel at the audacity of those first European visitors (if you discount the early Viking visitors) to think of this land as an empty wilderness for the taking; American Indians would certainly have a thing or two to say about that. I would hope that if we encounter sentient beings when we do, finally, arrive at Alpha Centauri, that we treat their inhabitted worlds as their property - and not something we land on as conquering squatters.
I do agree that we should not limit ourselves to grainy images beamed from far away, as our only view of the universe. We must explore - with the firm commitment not to fall into xenophobic intollerance, and resultant destruction. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Earth's population is not ready. Our intollerance is too great, and our ancient superstitions too strong.
I find it exceedingly niave to make broad assumptions about any one methodology as the 'one' methodology. Perhaps we have an inate xenophobia that prevents us from accepting different systems without judgement (look at religeon if you want some examples of how destructive this can become).
The reality is more complex than most of us can comprehend. Additionally, external issues outside of the applications themselves also hold sway (boycotting particular companies due to questionable business practices, for example).
It is not an all or nothing proposition. As time goes on the environment changes, and some activities become more effective than others.
Commerce will not disappear, neither will groups of people working freely for a common goal, without expectation of compensation.
Slashdot Mirror
"The computer will be where we need it..."
It already is where we need it. With the internet and wireless technology we can interact with information systems almost anywhere in the world. With Satellite phones we can be anywhere (except maybe deep underground - and people who are in that environment on a regular basis would have technology to deal with it).
For example, I keep all of my files on a central server. I can access those files via an HTTP connection from any machine in my network - and if I wanted to - anywhere in the world via a VPN portal into my network.
I don't think I will be writing a paper, or reading email from my blender or toaster anytime soon; there will always be a place for a 'console' type machine with a keyboard - whether its a PDA/cellphone (tricorder, anyone?), a laptop, a tablet or a traditional desktop PC. Which brings up an interesting point - will the keyboard go the way of the dinosaur?
I don't think so. I have tried using magnetic tape, and more recently digital recorders with mixed results. I have found that I tend to be more self-conscious when I use a voice recorder - so I don't record the true words I might normally use in a text. For example, if I were writing a novel about terrorists, I would feel very reticent to vocalize the flow of dialog while waiting in an airport lounge. Also, some environments where there is noise create a loss of fidelity on the recording - sometimes to the point of being indecipherable. Finally, recordings still need to be transcribed; voice recognition software is nowhere near ready to handle flawless automated transcription. Given that - I would rather have a laptop than a voice recorder any day - and thereby cut out the middleman.
What about critical services, such as 911 service? Are going to equip all of your customers with backup generators to power their VOIP phones and other network devices (router) during a power outage?
You might say to me, "well, people today use cellphones as their primary means of communications - and they are responsible to ensure it is charged up in the event of an emergency". That may be true. However, everyone does not have cell phone service - or wants cell phone service for that matter. As a common carrier, phone companies have a responsibility to provide dialtone for everyone who wants it - and as a result provide emergency services.
It is also prohibitively costly to provide fibre to every location - particularly in rural areas. Given that, broadband service will not be available to drive VOIP solutions.
If we decide to drop copper as an alternative, then we will lose big when some event occurs that prevents a VOIP user from getting a critical emergency call through - and the resulting lawsuits and regulations will stifle growth and acceptance of VOIP as a viable universal solution.
ummm - I think the issue is that he does not want to upgrade. The lack of coverage is forcing him to upgrade.
In my mind, if the phone company decides to upgrade their sites to different technology, they should either upgrade their customer's phones to match for free - or buy out their remaining contract (which monies could then be used to upgrade or move to another carrier that does have the old technology that matches their current phones).
Phones are a big investment; pulling the rug out from under the customer is not a good business plan - particularly with the various mobile phone companies out there.
On a non-PVP server you can not be killed by another player directly. However, petulent players have been known to drag mobs over to groups who are camping the spot they want in order to clear them out - which happens either by the mobs being too big for them to handle - and they either run, 'gate' (magicians can 'pop' into their last bind point), or die to the MOB.
Your character doesn't 'die' forever, unless you delete it yourself. However, you do lose experience points, and can de-level if you 'die' enough times - so there is impetus to stay alive at all costs, if possible. On a PVP server you can be killed by other player-characters, by MOBs ('mobile objects' - i.e. monsters), or by doing something stupid (like falling from a height. There is no aging of the characters - they are forever 'young', so to speak. On a non-PVP server, you can be killed by MOBs and by doing something stupid - but as I mentioned, a player can 'drag' a bunch of monsters to your location in order to have the MOB 'agro' (agrivation level - determines whether a monster gives you its attention - or some other player - or another MOB for that matter) on you. You faction (how you are percieved by different groups of creatures in the world) effects whether a MOB agros on you on site or ignores you.
I hope that answers your questions. Once you get the hang of it (particularly faction) you can avoid unnecessary problems (and laugh while a clueless noob dies attempting to drag a mob on you that you have good faction with...lol).
An egg is an embyonic chicken - so in essence by consuming the egg you are killing the chicken. I will concede milk.
However, most of the 'nutball' (aka Vegan?) cases are the zealots we are talking about - the ones who hypicritically avoid 'all animal and animal products' - but then allow themselves to intake B12, knowing its probable source (I never saw B12 specified as 'derived from milk', 'egg' or any other designation - so, more likely than not it was derived from whatever the cheapest method was for the bakery - probably animal byproducts).
Actually, you can use the idea - you just have to pay royalty/licensing fees to the patent holder for its use - provided you sell or distribute your product publicly.
On the other hand, you can build whatever you want using whatever ideas that are available in your own home for personal use without any concern for patent issues. That is why I am not too concerned about this.
So, all of the geeks will have the cool tools, and all the poor lusers will have to pay 'Acme Software' for their fix.
The only companies that will be able to not only fund the process of registering patents, as well as the legal staff to sue violators will be large corporations.
Small companies will have their ideas stolen, and will have a choice: either fight, and end up going under due to financial burden, or try to compete, and hope that they have a significantly better mousetrap. Given the software patents that I have seen, that is not likely, and the monopolies will win (yet again).
As for Open Source - we have always been targets, and will continue to be so. However, we don't have the deep pockets and there is plenty of prior art on our side (hence only SCO being stupid enough to go after us, thus far, and then having to pick IBM as the surrogate 'deep pocket' for their purposes) - meaning attacks on Open Source will continue to come through FUD, as opposed to patent law in most cases.
IANAL - so don't base any business or personal decisions on my advice.
ELF is inextricably tied with PETA via the president of PETA. Therefore ELF = PETA since PETA endorses their acts publicly - but not to the general public.
(saw that on 'Bull Shit' on HBO - so it must be true)
Also, the argument about vitamin B12 not being available except through animal flesh is correct.
So, while it is correct that you can survive as a vegetarian, it is also correct that you will do damage to yourself if you don't get vitamin B12 - which entails killing an animal - even if you are using vitamin supliments it equates to the same thing; you survive in a healthy state because an animal died.
As mentioned elsewhere, and I would amplify, we should treat our animals with the reverence they deserve as we are stewards of the land: take what you need and no more. This is something that is central to Native American culture, and something Americans of European descent should take to heart. Disregard for the ecosystem is bad, but so too is dogmatic disregard for the reality of nature and the functioning of ourselves within nature.
In all the distributions, both free and paid for, the problems invariably turned out to be some essoteric configuration issue: the default configuration files had a setting incorrect for my box that hours of research finally corrected. Needless to say, further installations on my mini-serverfarm were informed by that research - making things go much smoother.
I never had to rebuild kernels, build or find drivers, except in one case: Debian. The 'out of the box' stable (Woody) Debian distribution did not support sound at all - which would require a kernel rebuild. I could have used one of the 'unstable' versions - but wanted the security and stability that the stable version offered.
I ended up falling back on, for me, the tried and true: Slackware (my first distribution was Slackware, by the way - back in 1992).
I do agree with the writer's thesis: if you are advertising your business as a particular 'fit' for a hardware set, you best have all the kinks worked out of the distribution, or else a support team that can quickly help the customer through the configuration 'work around' on a consistent basis. I can't blame a customer expecting an equal level of support for the money (either through the software 'just working' - or a technical support apparatus that makes fixes quick and simple for the user).
Instead, it should be seen as an opportunity to modernize the industry...
Sadly, most industries (and I put the few that are not on a very short list that is tatamount to statistical error) are too short sighted to care about their actions over long periods of time beyond their annual profits. They always end up being pulled, kicking and screaming, into improvements - and as a result never put the level of creativity and productivity used for their primary 'business' into it.
Shouldn't our 'business' be about leaving our children a better world than we inherited? In almost every case significant standard of living improvements have been the result of people demanding the improvements after long periods of neglect. Unless there is a buck to be made, or a direct threat to its survival, industry turns a blind eye.
Any time a physical electrical actuator (switch) is thrown, there is a potential for a spark to be created when the metal contacts touch.
That could be a critical point, not tested by the Mythbusters.
The issue with not using a cell phone in flight has to do with possible interference with radio navigation signals used to guide the plane through the air. Such interference could cause the aircraft to be erroneously flown in the path of obstructions (such as other airplanes in flight - or during the takeoff/landing phase, into structures on the ground - such as buildings or radio towers).
That is why airlines do not want you to use your cellphone - or any device, for that matter, that emits electromagnetic radiation.
In order to survive on this world we must eat living creatures - be they plant or animal. For a balanced diet we must have animal flesh; plant food just doesn't hack it alone. To get animal flesh we must kill the animal. Similarly, these same creatures can serve us in other useful ways (seeing eye dogs, carrier pigeons, and Gambian rat mine detectors) that is certainly more 'humane' than being food.
Given the above, as long as these giant Gambian rats are treated well until their eventual explosive demise (which is a quicker cleaner death than some of the destruction and death caused to humans by PETA fanatics), I don't have a problem with it.
What I get angry about is people who don't treat their animals well: they don't feed them, care for them, or provide an environment that is enriching for the animal during its life. The wanton destruction through neglect is really the problem - not animals used in testing, or Gambian rat mine detectors. What is worse is when people decide they have to abandon an animal 'in the wild'.
I can't count how many dogs and cats have been dropped off at the rural crossroads near my house. If you aren't going to be able to take care of an animal, why have it in the first place? We end up having to kill them anyway when they become a nuisance (hungry, scared and lost, they put pressure on the local ecology and farms - and become dangerous to young children). It would be more humane for these people just to take these animals into their back yards and shoot them in the head in the first place.
This lack of responsibility is immature and disturbing; adults who in many cases hold responsible positions in society - yet stoop so low. Worse is the poor example they show their children - who themselves become poor stewards.
So, you are saying, "the ends justify the means?"
I guess anyone who is rich as a result of predatory practices is to be looked up to?
What a quaint idea...lets just throw away all our common decency and moral fortitude, and instead embrace stupid and destructive activities at the expense of our neighbors.
Lucky!!? They should be criminally prosecuted for their evil deeds (isn't the SEC looking into them atm?)
Additionally, I was explaining what 'appeared' to be happening when you played the game - not the specifics of the mathematic calculations behind the hell level.
It seemed to take longer to kill the creatures and what you did kill gave less experience. Additionally, there were levels where your spells were ineffective against higher level MOBs - due to the fact that you really needed the next higher version of a particular spell to be effective - not available until you reached that higher level (catch-22?!).
So I think what I said applied - and may apply to a certain extent even today (try using a level 1 spell against a level 20 monster - particularly a magic user type - to get my drift).
I got out in 2001 - so did not get to experience the 'fix' to hell levels. Consider this a historical artifact...
1. You start off as a 'newbie' at the city of your race with a rusty sword (or similar weapon appropriate for your race and class - magicians, for example, have a wooden staff - my main character was a magician, and I leveled several magicians over time). You are near the newbie area - a monster area near the city with the lowest level creatures in the game - you fight these creatures to level up.
2. The money comes in as a result of 'looting' the creatures you kill. Sometimes they drop money. Most times they drop gear - weapons, equipment, or in the case of 'wild' animals - hides, bones, etc. The items are either sold to AI merchants for cash, or to people who need the items to pursue their trade skills. Over time as you get to higher levels, you amass more money which you keep in the bank (every town has a branch of the bank - which allows you to not only keep money, but serves as a 'safe deposit box' for your extra items that you may have accumulated inbetween transactions - or as needed for your trade skills). You can exchange money and items to other players in game - and so trade evolves.
3. When you want to leave the game you 'camp' - basically this saves the current state of your character and exits you from the game world. Wherever you camped is where you show up the next time you login - which is why you don't want to camp in a 'bad' location (where monsters spawn-in, for example, or on PVP servers where bandits are known to gank players for their items - probably not a problem now with new anti-loot rules for most PVP servers). As mentioned, if you fail to pay your bill, they will save your character until you reestablish your account - up to a maximum time limit (1 year?). At one point I left the game for 6 months and came back to find my characters just as I left them.
This brings up another point: I found it hard to leave the game when I had so much invested in my characters. When I finally left for good, I made it a point to give up all my worldly possessions of my main (high level) character. I then deleted the character completely - thus sealing the deal. This was suprisingly uplifting - the 'death' of this character freed me to move on.
Yeah - I think his numbers are an average over the totals...most people don't get to the high levels - so they average lower levels of PP per hour.
As a 'part time' player, my group of single friends would level away from me, and I would be stuck trying to get pickup groups, or try leveling alone...both making for slow leveling.
As a result, I started several different characters, none of which made it above level 30 - and enjoyed PVP and part-time free play. It was much more enjoyable that way...eventually this allowed me to break my addiction completely and break away from the game. Even 'part-time', each gaming session took way too much of my real-life time.
Its all about leveling your character(s). It is really one giant level treadmill (think of a hamster in a cage running furiously on his little cylinder).
As you kill more creatures (or build your tradeskills) you gain level points. As you increase in level you can more easily kill the lower level creatures; however, you also do not get as much benefit from these creatures, and thus must move on to an area with higher level creatures to allow you to level faster again.
This process continues indefinitely. There are certain levels that are called 'Hell Levels' - mainly due to the fact that your particular character is at a point where there are no monsters that fit the level of your character, or the skills available to your character make it difficult to make headway - so leveling slows to a crawl.
Tradeskills follows a similar pattern, at each level you can build more interesting and/or useful items - that you then sell to other players, which finances further development of your tradeskills.
I found this process to be very boring after awhile. So I migrated to a PVP server (player versus player) - where the players could fight each other, in addition to the monsters. This made it much more interesting. I tried all of the different PVP servers (one allowed free for all, and the other three were team servers of various makeups). This was my downfall...I was glued to the game after that.
Finally, the fact that my peers were able to level faster (I have a family after all, and couldn't spend the same hours my single friends did in game), stripped me of my leveling party, and it became a boring slog...at which point I was able to extract myself, and go cold turkey...
Been clean and EverCrack free for 3 years now (knock on wood). Of course I am now involved in World War II Online - but I can stop playing at any time and step away - that is the key. A game is just that - A GAME. It shouldn't take your concentration for every waking moment - which EverQuest requires, particularly at higher levels (if you camp out deep in a dungeon, for example, that required your whole group to fight into - when you come back and login again, you will have to fight your way out alone, which might be impossible depending on the monsters in the dungeon - so you can't just stop playing until you are at a relatively 'safe' location).
Hope that helps you get an idea about what the game is about.
These games are so one dimensional (I am a recovering Evercrack addict - so I know what I speak of). Working on an assembly line would be more stimulating than building tradeskills in the game; and the damage model for combat is a points based system - so if you get the math right, you can consistently win (or conversely, get it wrong and lose).
That being said, there was an addictive quality - particularly when playing with the same group of people you know in the real world (many of my coworkers played at the time). I don't know if it was the color scheme, or some subliminal message they strobed in the background between frames; whatever it was, it made it very hard to stop.
Sadly, most online games are built for the least common denominator - for folks who want instant action, and little thought put into the gameplay, with few exceptions.
I have recovered from my addiction - and I warn everyone who considers buying the game: don't do it!
Sometimes it's not good to disturb people around you with your inner thoughts. Sometimes it can even be dangerous to your health...
I had the same idea and acquired one of those digital recorders. Unfortunately, I found it generally useless - unless I was alone - because I would censor what I was saying into it when around others and not get the full impact that writing allows throught the tip tapping of fingers on the keyboard.
I love Ray Bradbury; his writing is superb. However, his choice of metaphor, in this instance, is stretching the truth beyond the breaking point.
While I am glad to be an American, and all that that implies, I can only marvel at the audacity of those first European visitors (if you discount the early Viking visitors) to think of this land as an empty wilderness for the taking; American Indians would certainly have a thing or two to say about that. I would hope that if we encounter sentient beings when we do, finally, arrive at Alpha Centauri, that we treat their inhabitted worlds as their property - and not something we land on as conquering squatters.
I do agree that we should not limit ourselves to grainy images beamed from far away, as our only view of the universe. We must explore - with the firm commitment not to fall into xenophobic intollerance, and resultant destruction. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Earth's population is not ready. Our intollerance is too great, and our ancient superstitions too strong.
I use wiki with my teams for the same purpose.
I find it exceedingly niave to make broad assumptions about any one methodology as the 'one' methodology. Perhaps we have an inate xenophobia that prevents us from accepting different systems without judgement (look at religeon if you want some examples of how destructive this can become).
The reality is more complex than most of us can comprehend. Additionally, external issues outside of the applications themselves also hold sway (boycotting particular companies due to questionable business practices, for example).
It is not an all or nothing proposition. As time goes on the environment changes, and some activities become more effective than others.
Commerce will not disappear, neither will groups of people working freely for a common goal, without expectation of compensation.
I can see the fat cats at the De 'Tokerville' institute, sitting around their conference table, thick smoke overloading the air ventilation system:
"Yeah - we can kill two birds with one stone: write a book to make more money for our 'institute'.."
"..I thought it was a 'foundation'..."
"Whatever..."
"...and throw out more FUD at the OS communists!!"
"BRILLIANT!!"
"Dude!! Are you goin' to Bogart that?"