But my point was that it is impossible to stop demand. People WILL get what they want, illegal or not. Sure it sucks that you might be incarcerated for it, or face hefty fines, but I have faith that the marketplace will win in the end. Thats what happens when society wants something bad enough, and I firmly believe that our society wants this badly enough, they just aren't educated about the issues at hand. Once younger generations come into power though, I think we'll be pleasantly surprised at some of the changes that are made.
You know, I always have wondered what its like to watch giant corporations tumble and new comers rise in their place. We've seen it with the startups, and if these companies keep up this ignorance, we'll see it again with consumer electronics.
The people WILL get what they demand, whether its illegal or not (see the War on Drugs and Prohibition for proof).
The market place has spoken about what they want, and if these companies can't provide it without putting cumbersome, restrictive DRM on it that only benefits the content producers, well...sounds like a ripe opening in the marketplace for someone to come in and give the public EXACTLY what they want at a fair price and then watch the big companies stumble over themselves to compete or litigate.
"That the reason I did reasonably well in high-school with very little outside work was because I went to class. Even if I slept through some of it I was taking it all in. You cannot succeed unless you attend class. Don't think that when you get to college or the real world you can succeed by not showing up just because you don't have to. It doesn't work like that.
Also, don't think that its necessarily a bad thing to go to a nontraditional 4 year school. I go to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, one of the top art schools in the country. Its a 4 year school, and I'm in their more business oriented program for advertising/marketing (omg, and i'm a privacy loving geek too! my head asplode!). When I first got there, all I could think about was "wow...if only I had gotten better grades I could have been somewhere else", which wasn't entirely true, I got into plenty of other places. But now that I'm a senior here, I wouldn't trade it for anything else. They bring in top people from the industry to teach, the networking possibilities are amazing, I've landed solid internships at top places because of it, and I've become extremely independant because they don't have a 24/7 cafeteria, the dorms are apartments with full kitchens, and you either learn to cook, microwave, or starve. Because of that I found a new passion in my life, cooking.
Also, this school is more "real world" based, which before I used to think was just a buzzword, but now I realize that when I started working with real clients on real projects from freshman year on, that it put me lightyears ahead of liberal arts students.
I know how to work in teams, large and small, how to handle clients, how to present, how to manage, and how to take on each of the roles my team might need. And it hasn't until I've actually gone out into the real world to look at possibilities that I've realized "holy crap, skillset and experience wise, these people (liberal arts students) have absolutely nothing on me". I can't even tell you how good a feeling that is when you're coming out of college in this economy.
So no, this whole post was not a pitch for my school, all I was saying is that you should consider different approaches, because not all of them are as crappy as you first might imagine. But as always, do your homework on the place.
Also, take care to remember that people from different walks of life develop different skills. And when you're coming out of college, you first start getting to that real point where you can start trusting the professional opinion of your more experienced peers because they might actually know for the first time in their lives what it is they're talking about. And while this post has been a bit of an egotistic one, you can be damn sure that if I ever get into a position where I have to build my team, I will take the advice of Charles Schwab and hire people who are much smarter than me in their respective areas. And I'm sure some of those people will inevitably be from liberal arts schools. Because what I have in experience and diversity of my skillset, they have in their focused skillset with a MUCH more in depth academic knowledge base than I have.
You are true to some degree. However, I would say it is a more valuable experience to be part of that crowd rather than be a lonely outcast who never talks to anyone. The one thing those "popular kids" have going for them that we for the most part do not is social skills. And they learn them in highschool. I didn't even start coming out of my shell until senior year of highschool, and its only now as a senior in college that I have started to feel some real degree of confidence.
Those popular kids are busy mastering the one skill that will apply to every aspect of their lives. Networking. If you don't think that's an important skill to learn..well...I don't really know what to say.
"This is just another meaningless delay of the case. Such things are actually a victory for IBM. IBM can afford to have this drag on forever. SCO's days are numbered.
You're not joking. Talk about a dumb move.
Repeat after me: You do NOT try to play the waiting game against the 800 lb. gorilla who out-waited the U.S. GOVERNMENT!
You know, this might be just me...but I personally would be happy to have an immature review if it was an ACTUAL review for once, instead of just an obvious press piece for a new game that the distributor happened to spend a lot of money advertising in the magazine the review appears in.
I don't use game magazines for anything more than a "new release guide" with pretty pictures and sometimes a demo cd. If I want to REALLY find out what the game is like, I look online in forums and try to make up my own mind based on the comments people make.
Awesome game. After the last disappointment in the series, I was dubious, but they must've had the shit kicked out of them with the clue stick because they've turned out a fabulous game.
Also, what I enjoy about it is that it makes a good party game as well. Short moments of excitement, ability to take a break any time you want, and a good rhythm for handing off (after ever crash for example) make this a much needed addition to the PS2's party game lineup. Of course, its also fun to play by yourself, or while drunk or stoned, or all four..err.....three.
You have no idea how it works. Its not even just haggling a price down. Its about networking and building relationships which are REALLY what let businesses succeed today, despite any misconceptions one might have about selling a superior product. I'm not trying to glorify it, all I'm saying is that you don't really have a proper view on this because of your lack of information. You're right that closed bid systems work, but as you yourself admit, the reality of things is that connections set in (not corruption).
You want the truth about how the future is going to be, not just for net news, but for most cool technology?
Well, you know in cyberpunk movies how the technology always seems old and cobbled-together? Well, thats what people will start doing when things are commodotized enough and when they lose all the freedom they used to have with the old stuff. The "new shiny internet" (tm) will be a DRM laden piece of crap, and anybody who is interested will just hop on a darknet.
And you would be out of a job as well once the company went under. You don't get rich by giving people the absolute lowest rate you can. You get wiped out of the market.
What I find so funny is that you're so quick to criticize us, who are firmly based in reality, when you're off in a delusional fantasy world. The reality is, in order for companies to be profitable, they need to maximize profit. Your methodology doesn't do this in the least bit, which is why you will probably never make it to management.
This jealousy has to stop right here and now. As an advertising/marketing person, I have to say that you really have no idea what goes on in our world. While I can't say much for them factoring in their latest thinking outside the box scheme (which is what they get paid to do, and figuring out new ways to market the company that haven't been done before is actually a good thing believe it or not), I can easily see you don't see the purpose of our jobs.
While you think we're piddling around "doing lunch" and creating powerpoints, what you don't realize is that "doing lunch" lets us network and build relationships with sponsors and partners, which enables the company to get better prices, and get better deals with their marketing (saving money). The powerpoints, while a crutch to a true presentation, are often a convenient way to present new ideas to upper management, and a good way to get their approval to go ahead with the next campaign.
If you think marketing is useless, just recognize the fact that the product you so lovingly code wouldn't get out the door if it wasn't for marketing letting people know your product exists.
Remember, in any profession there are skilled people, and bullshitters, and that includes marketing/advertising. Thats fine if you want to pretend to be cool and hate us, but you don't know exactly what it is we do, and you should probably learn a bit about it before you go ahead and criticize us. Its not like we're sitting there saying all coders should kill themselves.
"is that theres something wrong with society when society is breaking laws at such an extent that it requires an automated process to identify and punish those offenders."
What about things like cameras that automatically give people speeding tickets?
Ok, I'll bite. I'm in the advertising industry, and I have one thing to say to you. Its all about the bottom line.
Now, take that however you want, but when I say that, I mean that they would nto be doing these studies if they weren't damned sure it held some value. Do you have any idea how much new psychology we've unearthed due to the research of Madison Ave.? Personally, I say let them keep using the data for their campaigns, as long as they fund research which can benefit everybody.
Not to mention the fact that it would be a perfect way for Valve to start forcing Steam mod purchases on us. This was the one reason I didn't want Steam to be mandatory. Just watch, they're going to start partnering with all the good big fun and formerly free mods, and charge you $5 to download a license for it.
I may sound a bit paranoid now, but just you wait. Dice already bought up the DC team for bf1942, and now you'll be forced to pay for the next DC.
I'm glad the NS team got some money, but what I'd really like to see if a smart marketing person at Valve pay a licensing fee to license the right to use the big mods in advertising campaigns.
Everybody knows what the game is, but I know what attracts me to a a lot of FPSs these days is not the game itself, but what mods are coming out for it. In fact, that was entirely the reason I bought HL2. Sure CS is great, but with a physics engine and graphics that sweet, I can't even imagine what mods people are going to release for it in a years time.
The problem arises when the reviewer has a financial (or other) incentive to push you towards a certain game, or away from another, which unfortunately is all too common in the industry.
You wanna know why these games are so addictive, and why game developers won't stop with this genre until its as lifelike as The Matrix?
Lack of accountability/responsibility. You touched on the responsibility part a bit, where you just take the fasttrack in life for gameplay's sake.
The accountability part is why The Sims, and GTA are so successful. People get to do things they wouldn't normally do in real life. And while you touched on it a little bit, it goes further. There are no real consequences for your actions. Thus, people get to examine their darker sides a bit. Personally, I think this just helps us balance our personality out, which is why its so damn addictive.
Thankfully I'm sure most people here who were interested in the series started watching it when episode torrents became available online a long time ago.
Reason 12 - We know we just rely on a huge marketing budget to make our games profitable. If people were to start coming out with MMORPGs that were actually FUN to play, we'd be screwed.
I have to say, what we may be witnessing is the birth of man's space age. The time when we will begin to populate space en masse.
I mean, look around. When you have several of the worlds extremely wealthy throwing money at something this big, independently (rather than teaming their efforts), you know that A. there's a SHITLOAD of money to be made, and B. that it has more than a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding because of the pure amount of money that is going to be thrown at it.
I know some people are worried about the privatization and commercialization of spaceflight, but I think those are perfectly fine methods of bringing this about. Properly regulate it and do it on a global scale. And always remember that populating space is a human quest, not a Bezos quest. He may get us there, but we all win in the end.
Slashdot Mirror
The people WILL get what they demand, whether its illegal or not (see the War on Drugs and Prohibition for proof).
The market place has spoken about what they want, and if these companies can't provide it without putting cumbersome, restrictive DRM on it that only benefits the content producers, well...sounds like a ripe opening in the marketplace for someone to come in and give the public EXACTLY what they want at a fair price and then watch the big companies stumble over themselves to compete or litigate.
Also, don't think that its necessarily a bad thing to go to a nontraditional 4 year school. I go to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, one of the top art schools in the country. Its a 4 year school, and I'm in their more business oriented program for advertising/marketing (omg, and i'm a privacy loving geek too! my head asplode!). When I first got there, all I could think about was "wow...if only I had gotten better grades I could have been somewhere else", which wasn't entirely true, I got into plenty of other places. But now that I'm a senior here, I wouldn't trade it for anything else. They bring in top people from the industry to teach, the networking possibilities are amazing, I've landed solid internships at top places because of it, and I've become extremely independant because they don't have a 24/7 cafeteria, the dorms are apartments with full kitchens, and you either learn to cook, microwave, or starve. Because of that I found a new passion in my life, cooking.
Also, this school is more "real world" based, which before I used to think was just a buzzword, but now I realize that when I started working with real clients on real projects from freshman year on, that it put me lightyears ahead of liberal arts students.
I know how to work in teams, large and small, how to handle clients, how to present, how to manage, and how to take on each of the roles my team might need. And it hasn't until I've actually gone out into the real world to look at possibilities that I've realized "holy crap, skillset and experience wise, these people (liberal arts students) have absolutely nothing on me". I can't even tell you how good a feeling that is when you're coming out of college in this economy.
So no, this whole post was not a pitch for my school, all I was saying is that you should consider different approaches, because not all of them are as crappy as you first might imagine. But as always, do your homework on the place.
Also, take care to remember that people from different walks of life develop different skills. And when you're coming out of college, you first start getting to that real point where you can start trusting the professional opinion of your more experienced peers because they might actually know for the first time in their lives what it is they're talking about. And while this post has been a bit of an egotistic one, you can be damn sure that if I ever get into a position where I have to build my team, I will take the advice of Charles Schwab and hire people who are much smarter than me in their respective areas. And I'm sure some of those people will inevitably be from liberal arts schools. Because what I have in experience and diversity of my skillset, they have in their focused skillset with a MUCH more in depth academic knowledge base than I have.
Those popular kids are busy mastering the one skill that will apply to every aspect of their lives. Networking. If you don't think that's an important skill to learn..well...I don't really know what to say.
You're not joking. Talk about a dumb move.
Repeat after me: You do NOT try to play the waiting game against the 800 lb. gorilla who out-waited the U.S. GOVERNMENT!
I don't use game magazines for anything more than a "new release guide" with pretty pictures and sometimes a demo cd. If I want to REALLY find out what the game is like, I look online in forums and try to make up my own mind based on the comments people make.
Also, what I enjoy about it is that it makes a good party game as well. Short moments of excitement, ability to take a break any time you want, and a good rhythm for handing off (after ever crash for example) make this a much needed addition to the PS2's party game lineup. Of course, its also fun to play by yourself, or while drunk or stoned, or all four..err.....three.
Well, you know in cyberpunk movies how the technology always seems old and cobbled-together? Well, thats what people will start doing when things are commodotized enough and when they lose all the freedom they used to have with the old stuff. The "new shiny internet" (tm) will be a DRM laden piece of crap, and anybody who is interested will just hop on a darknet.
Only in Korea.
What I find so funny is that you're so quick to criticize us, who are firmly based in reality, when you're off in a delusional fantasy world. The reality is, in order for companies to be profitable, they need to maximize profit. Your methodology doesn't do this in the least bit, which is why you will probably never make it to management.
While you think we're piddling around "doing lunch" and creating powerpoints, what you don't realize is that "doing lunch" lets us network and build relationships with sponsors and partners, which enables the company to get better prices, and get better deals with their marketing (saving money). The powerpoints, while a crutch to a true presentation, are often a convenient way to present new ideas to upper management, and a good way to get their approval to go ahead with the next campaign.
If you think marketing is useless, just recognize the fact that the product you so lovingly code wouldn't get out the door if it wasn't for marketing letting people know your product exists.
Remember, in any profession there are skilled people, and bullshitters, and that includes marketing/advertising. Thats fine if you want to pretend to be cool and hate us, but you don't know exactly what it is we do, and you should probably learn a bit about it before you go ahead and criticize us. Its not like we're sitting there saying all coders should kill themselves.
What about things like cameras that automatically give people speeding tickets?
Now, take that however you want, but when I say that, I mean that they would nto be doing these studies if they weren't damned sure it held some value. Do you have any idea how much new psychology we've unearthed due to the research of Madison Ave.? Personally, I say let them keep using the data for their campaigns, as long as they fund research which can benefit everybody.
I may sound a bit paranoid now, but just you wait. Dice already bought up the DC team for bf1942, and now you'll be forced to pay for the next DC.
I'm glad the NS team got some money, but what I'd really like to see if a smart marketing person at Valve pay a licensing fee to license the right to use the big mods in advertising campaigns.
Everybody knows what the game is, but I know what attracts me to a a lot of FPSs these days is not the game itself, but what mods are coming out for it. In fact, that was entirely the reason I bought HL2. Sure CS is great, but with a physics engine and graphics that sweet, I can't even imagine what mods people are going to release for it in a years time.
Lack of accountability/responsibility. You touched on the responsibility part a bit, where you just take the fasttrack in life for gameplay's sake.
The accountability part is why The Sims, and GTA are so successful. People get to do things they wouldn't normally do in real life. And while you touched on it a little bit, it goes further. There are no real consequences for your actions. Thus, people get to examine their darker sides a bit. Personally, I think this just helps us balance our personality out, which is why its so damn addictive.
Not that that holds any relevance here...*sigh*
Reason 12 - We know we just rely on a huge marketing budget to make our games profitable. If people were to start coming out with MMORPGs that were actually FUN to play, we'd be screwed.
I mean, look around. When you have several of the worlds extremely wealthy throwing money at something this big, independently (rather than teaming their efforts), you know that A. there's a SHITLOAD of money to be made, and B. that it has more than a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding because of the pure amount of money that is going to be thrown at it.
I know some people are worried about the privatization and commercialization of spaceflight, but I think those are perfectly fine methods of bringing this about. Properly regulate it and do it on a global scale. And always remember that populating space is a human quest, not a Bezos quest. He may get us there, but we all win in the end.