I think you hit the proverbial nail on its head -- a good MMORPG should have its rewards revolve around team-play or inter-person play.
If it doesn't, its just a single-player game.
I've played several MMORPGs that were just cheasy levelling single player games with other people playing the same plot. That sucks.
One of the things is to not allow multiple people to complete the same quest simultaneously and know about it. "Hey, I'm carrying that purse back to the same lady!" kills the suspension of disbelief. Its hard to role-play when your role gets usurped.
There are lots of thoughts that go with that, and non-static teams should be part of it. Ever played Ogre Battle 64? If you put two mages together in the back row of a combat group, they each do their own thing for a while. If you leave them working together for a few rounds (many rounds), the get to know each other and start to do combined magic that is much more powerful.
If I cooperate with another player lots, or another *type* of character even?, then we should each start getting benefits in the game of knowing each other, even if no formal arrangement is made (adding to buddy list, team, mentor list, etc.)
I want to go to grab an arrow and have it lit on fire by the mage I hang out with without the mage or I having thought of it. Just a cool "hey, look what happened" effect.
I would be interested in a game that rewarded how much you accomplished versus the time you spent doing it.
There are some balancing issues to that thought alone, but its an idea.
My other thought has been as a result of playing Morrowind with its practice-makes-perfect skill system and other related game styles. I'd like to see unused skills atrophy.
I know for myself, I often chalk up enough points in each skill I want to be uber-good and then lay waste to stuff, frequently not using my jump skill till I need it, for example. But what if I went to jump high and, having not practiced lately, couldn't jump as high anymore? Or if it took more of my energy to accomplish?
This would keep players within a smaller range of skill -- you may develop your CQC skills for a few levels then decide to move into ranged weapons. After 10 levels of doing that, your hand-to-hand skills are down from where they had been.
1) Skills should increase with practice, with limits 2) The ability to progress further should be taught by higher-level players or NPCs, but that shouldn't grant you the skill levels -- just uncap you somewhat 3) Your skills should *very* slowly atrophy with disuse; infrequent practice should keep things level. 4) Atrophied skills should remember where they'd got to, and reach that point again with a lot less effort than the first time
... and when the game developers see a significant percentage of users running their games under Cedega instead of on Windows, they'll be more and more likely to do their own Linux ports, or compile the game against the Wine libraries at least, or pay for some extra development effort at Transgaming to support their games more thoroughly.
Transgaming has amazing contacts -- realize that they support many little features like CD copyprotection flags properly on a platform that isn't normally aware of those issues.
When a game comes out in a Linux port, I buy the game and E-mail the publisher thanking them for a great game.
If I play a game under Cedega and I have problems, I E-mail the publisher telling them about the problem and give them Transgaming's site and contact info about helping them make the it more compatible or fixing the bug if it is one.
It runs Morrowind on my machine very well now except some delays loading the background music but that isn't a D3D issue.
It even has nicer looking graphics on my home Linux box than on my work Windows box (its a better computer mind you... but its nice to take advantage of that fact).
I've used Cedega (the latest wine name from Transgaming) to run D3D and Windows OpenGL demos as well; its quite fun to see hundreds of frames per second in a 3rd party API implementation.
In the case of D3D, they're implementing an API and then sending those commands through to another API (OpenGL) which incurs some overhead, but it doesn't feel like much playing the games.
... that is an out-dated and hotly debated theory.
The membership of so many nations in the United Nations alone is a testament to the fact that nobody believes that anymore. It is still a useful statement when one wants to be an international jerk or bully, but it still isn't true most of the time.
Based on many understandings of human rights, nations and states have duties to the entirety of mankind. That's why almost all countries allow refugies in extreme situations, or provide aid to needy countries, even if in debt at home.
If you honestly believe that letting your neighbour (nation) suffer and die is morally acceptable if you can do something about it, please review your ethics.
If you on the other hand also subscribe to the "nations don't have ethics just duties" theory, then you don't actually understand what a nation is, especially a democratic one. Democratic nations are the people themselves -- and their combined morals are the those of the nation itself, in effect and in reality. Think hard about that -- how you vote, and what you believe becomes what your state stands for.
You need to read up on your fluid dynamics; several of your statements indicate that you don't understand how air *behaves* nor why that movement creates noise (the issue in question).
My case fans are both 12cm but my CPU fan is also well over 9cm (I suggest following the links). The direction the air moves from the CPU fan is *key* in the air movement through the case.
Although the rear case fan is pulling quite a bit of air, its doing so quietly because of its large size and low RPMs with low resistance. It pulls that air primarily from the high-pressure area that would be created between it and the CPU fan were the case fan not there. The high-pressure is created by the CPU fan's lack of sides -- the air moving outward, not downward. The CPU fan pulls air from above it, as would the rear case fan, if it didn't already have a supply of air from beside the CPU fan.
All fans are adjusted by hand to speed ranges where noise is well below ambient levels at 35 degrees celcius.
The power supply fan, unlike ATX recommendations, does not suck air in from beside the CPU fan to allow for more intelligent airflow -- it pulls it in directly from the airholes in the sides of the case between it and the DVD drive. It also receives air from the front fan which draws in a higher level of air than would normally be evacuated by the case -- this makes sure intake air comes through the front air filter and baffles instead of being sucked through other cracks and spaces.
For reference, my CPU rarely hits 50 degrees (when playing games) and it is overclocked slightly. Full references on whats in my computer were in the link I provided.
First of all, I have turned off Optiplex machines on the workbench by accident because I believed they were already off - they may very well be the quietest machines on the market.
Second, I believed as you did that the exhaust fan was detrimental, but it is not. First, it only runs at 600 RPMs and the CPU fan at 900 -- the CPU fan is blowing *outwards* more than downward, meaning that the airflow is still about 40% toward the exhaust fan (on the part of the CPU heatsink) and the forced air intake fan in the front (also 12 cm) running at 1200 RPM keeps positive pressure inside the case. PS, the power supply fan is temperature-sensitive to the heatsinks in the power supply.
Considering I don't have A/C at home, and my room temperature hovers around 25+ degrees C in the summer, a 32 degree case temperature is pretty good for near silence. Some FDB drives and I'll be set.
Microsoft is good at taking something that exists, doing their own version of it, then spending huge money marketing it to people who've never heard of it.
This is actually a valid business model to some degree.
For those of us who don't like it, we've failed the world by not telling them about these things before Microsoft did.
Kerberos pre-existed Win2k3 by a long shot and directory services pre-existed it too. But who bothered telling the users that?
Dell makes some very quiet workstation/PC boxes with ATX formfactors. Key is the temperature-sensitive fans, ducting, fanless CPU heatsink and baffling on the bezel to muffle noise out the front of the machine.
Check out Silent PC's review or the Google cache. The versions we buy are slightly different than the one pictured there, but its a good article nonetheless.
More importantly, I believe they've already *lost* the trademark in the public view. In contrast to the Kleenex company wants you to refer to their product as Kleenex brand tissues, and Lego would prefer you to know their major product as Lego brand building blocks (or some variationt here of), Microsoft has never bothered pointing out that Excel is a spreadsheet package of some form. Why does it matter? Well, I do customer support and people using Lotus 1-2-3 refer to it as their "Lotus Excel" program, because "Excel" means "Spreadsheet" to them. Microsoft must be thrilled, except that if "Excel" is a generic word for a product, it can't be trademarked.
Either you believe that tit-for-tat is legitimate, or you believe that we only owe respect to sovereign nations that are democratic. What does the american democracy mean to its people when basically none of them helped decide to take on those covert assignments (none of which helped the countries in question).
And yes, I'm talking about the cold war era... which lasted well into the 80's. Its not like there's been a lack of fighting since then either.... for those that don't feel like looking it up; the US fought in Afghanistan against the same people in the 80's that they fight alongside now.... look up Manuel Noriega.... take a look at how Iraq came to have Saddam as its leader in the first place.... check into the reporters who talked to Saddam in the weeks before he invaded Kuwait; they say that he and the americans had come to an understanding that invading Kuwait was allowed, so long as he left Saudi Arabia alone.... etc.
I recently upgraded a client site to WinXP SP2 with a Win2k3 server and they're quite upset at me for giving users non-administrative accounts.
They thought it was a great idea until they found out that many of their standard software packages (mostly financial) don't work properly with limited privileges *or* with "Run As..." and choosing an administrative account either.
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I think you hit the proverbial nail on its head -- a good MMORPG should have its rewards revolve around team-play or inter-person play.
If it doesn't, its just a single-player game.
I've played several MMORPGs that were just cheasy levelling single player games with other people playing the same plot. That sucks.
One of the things is to not allow multiple people to complete the same quest simultaneously and know about it. "Hey, I'm carrying that purse back to the same lady!" kills the suspension of disbelief. Its hard to role-play when your role gets usurped.
There are lots of thoughts that go with that, and non-static teams should be part of it. Ever played Ogre Battle 64? If you put two mages together in the back row of a combat group, they each do their own thing for a while. If you leave them working together for a few rounds (many rounds), the get to know each other and start to do combined magic that is much more powerful.
If I cooperate with another player lots, or another *type* of character even?, then we should each start getting benefits in the game of knowing each other, even if no formal arrangement is made (adding to buddy list, team, mentor list, etc.)
I want to go to grab an arrow and have it lit on fire by the mage I hang out with without the mage or I having thought of it. Just a cool "hey, look what happened" effect.
I would be interested in a game that rewarded how much you accomplished versus the time you spent doing it.
There are some balancing issues to that thought alone, but its an idea.
My other thought has been as a result of playing Morrowind with its practice-makes-perfect skill system and other related game styles. I'd like to see unused skills atrophy.
I know for myself, I often chalk up enough points in each skill I want to be uber-good and then lay waste to stuff, frequently not using my jump skill till I need it, for example. But what if I went to jump high and, having not practiced lately, couldn't jump as high anymore? Or if it took more of my energy to accomplish?
This would keep players within a smaller range of skill -- you may develop your CQC skills for a few levels then decide to move into ranged weapons. After 10 levels of doing that, your hand-to-hand skills are down from where they had been.
1) Skills should increase with practice, with limits
2) The ability to progress further should be taught by higher-level players or NPCs, but that shouldn't grant you the skill levels -- just uncap you somewhat
3) Your skills should *very* slowly atrophy with disuse; infrequent practice should keep things level.
4) Atrophied skills should remember where they'd got to, and reach that point again with a lot less effort than the first time
Just my $0.02
DVD+/-RW are completely different formats.
DVD-RW is like writing to a CD.
DVD+RW uses a random-access disk-like structure.
Transgaming has amazing contacts -- realize that they support many little features like CD copyprotection flags properly on a platform that isn't normally aware of those issues.
When a game comes out in a Linux port, I buy the game and E-mail the publisher thanking them for a great game.
If I play a game under Cedega and I have problems, I E-mail the publisher telling them about the problem and give them Transgaming's site and contact info about helping them make the it more compatible or fixing the bug if it is one.
Last you heard must have been a long time ago.
... but its nice to take advantage of that fact).
It runs Morrowind on my machine very well now except some delays loading the background music but that isn't a D3D issue.
It even has nicer looking graphics on my home Linux box than on my work Windows box (its a better computer mind you
I've used Cedega (the latest wine name from Transgaming) to run D3D and Windows OpenGL demos as well; its quite fun to see hundreds of frames per second in a 3rd party API implementation.
In the case of D3D, they're implementing an API and then sending those commands through to another API (OpenGL) which incurs some overhead, but it doesn't feel like much playing the games.
See also the Fusion HDTV tuner; similar capabilities.
... that is an out-dated and hotly debated theory.
The membership of so many nations in the United Nations alone is a testament to the fact that nobody believes that anymore. It is still a useful statement when one wants to be an international jerk or bully, but it still isn't true most of the time.
Based on many understandings of human rights, nations and states have duties to the entirety of mankind. That's why almost all countries allow refugies in extreme situations, or provide aid to needy countries, even if in debt at home.
If you honestly believe that letting your neighbour (nation) suffer and die is morally acceptable if you can do something about it, please review your ethics.
If you on the other hand also subscribe to the "nations don't have ethics just duties" theory, then you don't actually understand what a nation is, especially a democratic one. Democratic nations are the people themselves -- and their combined morals are the those of the nation itself, in effect and in reality. Think hard about that -- how you vote, and what you believe becomes what your state stands for.
That's much clearer thinking than some programmers too ... based on the resulting code I've seen from them at least.
You need to read up on your fluid dynamics; several of your statements indicate that you don't understand how air *behaves* nor why that movement creates noise (the issue in question).
My case fans are both 12cm but my CPU fan is also well over 9cm (I suggest following the links). The direction the air moves from the CPU fan is *key* in the air movement through the case.
Although the rear case fan is pulling quite a bit of air, its doing so quietly because of its large size and low RPMs with low resistance. It pulls that air primarily from the high-pressure area that would be created between it and the CPU fan were the case fan not there. The high-pressure is created by the CPU fan's lack of sides -- the air moving outward, not downward. The CPU fan pulls air from above it, as would the rear case fan, if it didn't already have a supply of air from beside the CPU fan.
All fans are adjusted by hand to speed ranges where noise is well below ambient levels at 35 degrees celcius.
The power supply fan, unlike ATX recommendations, does not suck air in from beside the CPU fan to allow for more intelligent airflow -- it pulls it in directly from the airholes in the sides of the case between it and the DVD drive. It also receives air from the front fan which draws in a higher level of air than would normally be evacuated by the case -- this makes sure intake air comes through the front air filter and baffles instead of being sucked through other cracks and spaces.
For reference, my CPU rarely hits 50 degrees (when playing games) and it is overclocked slightly. Full references on whats in my computer were in the link I provided.
That's because central-chinese farmers are cheaper than Indians. ;-)
... well, about using them ... I'm sure they are cheaper.
And yes, I'm kidding
WFM
But there's a trick.
Don't start the service until you've run the VNC server manually first.
When you run it manually, Windows asks if it should keep blocking the application -- say no, and "remember" should be clicked as well.
Now close the server and launch the service
Works for me.
First of all, I have turned off Optiplex machines on the workbench by accident because I believed they were already off - they may very well be the quietest machines on the market.
Second, I believed as you did that the exhaust fan was detrimental, but it is not. First, it only runs at 600 RPMs and the CPU fan at 900 -- the CPU fan is blowing *outwards* more than downward, meaning that the airflow is still about 40% toward the exhaust fan (on the part of the CPU heatsink) and the forced air intake fan in the front (also 12 cm) running at 1200 RPM keeps positive pressure inside the case. PS, the power supply fan is temperature-sensitive to the heatsinks in the power supply.
Considering I don't have A/C at home, and my room temperature hovers around 25+ degrees C in the summer, a 32 degree case temperature is pretty good for near silence. Some FDB drives and I'll be set.
Microsoft is good at taking something that exists, doing their own version of it, then spending huge money marketing it to people who've never heard of it.
This is actually a valid business model to some degree.
For those of us who don't like it, we've failed the world by not telling them about these things before Microsoft did.
Kerberos pre-existed Win2k3 by a long shot and directory services pre-existed it too. But who bothered telling the users that?
Have you ever looked inside a Dell ATX box?
Dell makes some very quiet workstation/PC boxes with ATX formfactors. Key is the temperature-sensitive fans, ducting, fanless CPU heatsink and baffling on the bezel to muffle noise out the front of the machine.
Check out Silent PC's review or the Google cache. The versions we buy are slightly different than the one pictured there, but its a good article nonetheless.
My home computer is also a very quiet ATX box, using an Antec Sonata case, etc.
I have a 10Mbit cable connection that is saturated about 2/3 of the time. Why? That's my business.
That said, I pay about $50/mo for that privilege and my ISP doesn't even port-scan me because I asked them not to.
I'm sure thats what those fighting the Visigoths thought about the Monks collecting knowledge before the dark ages too ...
The Post Office delivers your mail -- you don't need to put a stamp on it *and* carry it to the destination yourself.
The Patent Office charges you for registration but does nothing to help you out if someone violates your patent.
What about a new Patent Office that actually charges reasonable fees for *verifying* patents as well as having to defend them in court?
Higher prices don't necessarily change demand -- they're two factors working together.
If demand is high for a product but the price goes up, people may purchase it anyway if they need it.
And you can be sure that Sun will require more than pennies to be dropped on Solaris to keep it stable :-)
Except that with the lack of a maninist propaganda group, nobody would bother pointing it out ... :-)
* I already removed karma bonus, don't bother modding down
More importantly, I believe they've already *lost* the trademark in the public view. In contrast to the Kleenex company wants you to refer to their product as Kleenex brand tissues, and Lego would prefer you to know their major product as Lego brand building blocks (or some variationt here of), Microsoft has never bothered pointing out that Excel is a spreadsheet package of some form. Why does it matter? Well, I do customer support and people using Lotus 1-2-3 refer to it as their "Lotus Excel" program, because "Excel" means "Spreadsheet" to them. Microsoft must be thrilled, except that if "Excel" is a generic word for a product, it can't be trademarked.
Oops.
Go download them yourself.
Don't forget that DVDs are MPEG-2 compressed as well; they're not "perfect" either.
According to mplayer, the HDTV versions I have are:
VIDEO: [XVID] 624x352 24bpp 23.976 fps 951.5 kbps (116.1 kbyte/s)
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 16 bit (0x10), ratio: 14000->192000 (112.0 kbit)
Personally, they look amazing -- and I'm picky about video compression artifacts.
Either you believe that tit-for-tat is legitimate, or you believe that we only owe respect to sovereign nations that are democratic. What does the american democracy mean to its people when basically none of them helped decide to take on those covert assignments (none of which helped the countries in question).
... which lasted well into the 80's. Its not like there's been a lack of fighting since then either. ... for those that don't feel like looking it up; the US fought in Afghanistan against the same people in the 80's that they fight alongside now. ... look up Manuel Noriega. ... take a look at how Iraq came to have Saddam as its leader in the first place. ... check into the reporters who talked to Saddam in the weeks before he invaded Kuwait; they say that he and the americans had come to an understanding that invading Kuwait was allowed, so long as he left Saudi Arabia alone. ... etc.
And yes, I'm talking about the cold war era
Dell does *not* ship machines with RedHat.
They're close -- they make hardware compatible with it and have an installer package that gets you to the point of "insert RHEL 3.0 disc 1".
You still install it yourself however.
I recently upgraded a client site to WinXP SP2 with a Win2k3 server and they're quite upset at me for giving users non-administrative accounts.
They thought it was a great idea until they found out that many of their standard software packages (mostly financial) don't work properly with limited privileges *or* with "Run As..." and choosing an administrative account either.