I think you hit the nail on the head here: what makes GTA special is the excessively fun gameplay. The graphics enhance the game, but I would be much more disapointed if they didn't come up with any gameplay improvements. Ironically, though, the most important improvements are the hardest to tell at this stage of the game.
His name is Viet Dinh (Score:4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on 17:40 Tuesday 24 February 2004 (#8380986) but everyone around the office calls him Charlie.
I was waiting for the first racist message to come out of this thread. However, was shocked to find it first under comments (I browse at +4).
Raph Koster of SWG is now an expert in designing societies?
Please.
If you play SWG, you know what kind of society it is. One where players are encouraged to do mindless missions in pursuit of the mystical plum to be a jedi. Have players complained? Sure, check out the development forums (restricted to paying subscribers of SWG), and you'll find many requests going untouched. And the people who actually go and complain on a bulletin board is just a small percentage of the persons who actually play, get disgruntled, and leave. If you were a SWG beta tester, you know this pain intimately. One of the reasons why it's so frustrating is because I sincerely believe there's a good game waiting inside, just like there's a great government that we can have...but we're not there in the game and I'd argue that I'm actually happier with the government (see sig for how I feel about our government).
Having said that, as previous posters have noted, designing public feedback systems for government is tough. But seriously--why not a slashdot-style government posting forum? Probably it's a chicken-and-egg problem--I don't want to post on a website that nobody will read, but legislators have no incentive to read a slashgov board with 7 users. Moderation will swing towards the masses, but if you're supposed to be serving the masses, then that's good. I think one of the problems is that legislators won't want to have to be on record (i.e. wayback machine) as saying one thing or not responding to one comment and having it haunt them in the future. But if we can get slashgov to work well, I think it would be spectacular.
I'm willing to host. I lack real programming ability. If you want to jump in, let me know. I think this is a cool concept.
perhaps you can blend payment with results as judged by the community. say $10k to most popular MOD 1 year after game release. I think a great solution would be a contest......administred by diebold. just kidding about the last part =]
Re:This is about Server support, not desktop/lapto
on
Dell's New Linux Blog
·
· Score: 1
With so many big companies afraid to try out new ideas, it seems like independent developers and modders are the only ones trying out new ideas.
Welcome to the business world. Entrepreneurs come to mind here.
Still, it's a lot of work. I would guess that if you compared how much the DC guys get paid relative to the time put in, I'd guess we'd see less than minimum wage. But that's ok. The bottom line is that you've gotta love it. The passion shows in your product.
BostonWorks let me put up 3 simple 'interview questions' beforehand -- loved that feature -- and I made them have easy 2 sentence max responses. It was amazing how many people submitted blank responses or how many I could screen just from reading their absolutely braindead replies. It was GREAT.
And finally, enough people will apply that frankly I only need to consider those who submit a thoughtful, properly formatted app.
I agree though that it wastes time on both ends, which sucks. But realize the root cause, which sucks more; the whole process stems from the fact that you need some way of putting up enough barriers to entry to keep obviously unqualified idiots from wasting your time.
Sounds like glorified e-mail challenge/response questions. How many spots does this cow have? sigh..
when you join a typical company, its objective is to make money
I have never, ever seen this as a mission statement of a company.
Oh, so you really believe MS when they say their mission is to "To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential" ?
On the contrary, I believe the mission is there because it can help MS make money. The goal is to make money; how MS makes money is really incidental. Welcome to Corporate Finance.
I guess things have quieted down now or perhaps we in the US have just lost interest. But there was a time where I am sure a few CEO's and CIO's had to be worried how long it would be before their big software project went up in a giant Pakistani mushroom cloud.
You have to wonder what those New York software companies are thinking. I sure don't feel safe either.
They get the nice fat promotions and bonuses, while our jobs go elsewhere. And we are the same people they praised just last year as invaluable assets to the company.
So what happened? They can't get rich pulling fancy accounting tricks, so this is what they've resorted to.
Recall that the primary objective of most corporations is only to make money. Everything else is secondary, including you and me. You can take that $120k job but remember that you're signing with a company--and management--whose primary driver is to make money.
Don't like the system? You can start your own company. I'm going to try that out, personally.
Remember that outsourcing is a good thing from the perspective of Finance. Because business is the slave of financial markets, preaching outsourcing to business is really like preaching to the choir.
On the other hand, the social aspect. Forget posessions, forget per capita income. People like the idea of being respected and being safe in their IT jobs. They're being torn apart by outsourcing.
Which party is right? Neither, probably. Just remember that when you join a typical company, its objective is to make money. Don't like that? Start your own...I plan to.
"Don't you think we're helping the US economy by doing the work here?" asks an exasperated Lalit Suryawanshi. It frees up Americans to do other things so the economy can grow, adds Jairam. ----- Maniar uncorks an aphorism that he doesn't realize I've heard 8,000 times before (in part because American white-collar workers have long said it to their blue-collar compadres) - and that I don't realize I'll hear several times again during my stay: "There's nothing permanent except change." ----- The experience did more than capsize his work life. It battered his belief system. He's long espoused the virtues of free trade. He says that he supported Nafta and that for 12 years he's subscribed to The Economist, a hymnal in the free trade church. But now he's questioning core beliefs. "These are theories that have really not been tested and proven," he says. "We're using people's lives to do this experiment - to find out what happens." ----- "Someday," Janish says, "another nation will take business from India." Perhaps China or the Philippines, which are already competing for IT work.
"When that happens, how will you respond?" I ask.
"I think you must have read Who Moved My Cheese?" Aparna says to my surprise. amazing, they read American motivational books. btw, I recommend the book to you. very short book, you can read it in barnes and noble.. ----- For US workers, the path beyond services seems uncertain. But again, history provides a guide. Thirty years ago, another form of outsourcing hit the US service sector: the computer. That led to a swarm of soulless processing machines, promoted by management consultants and embraced by profit-obsessed executives gobbling jobs in a push for efficiency. If today's cry of the displaced is "They sent my job to India!" yesterday's was "I was replaced by a computer!"
Then, as now, the potential for disruption seemed infinite. Data crunching was just the start. Soon electronic brains would replace most of the accounting department, the typing pool, and the switchboard. After that, the thinking went, the modern corporation would apply the same technology to middle management, business analysis, and, ultimately, decisionmaking. If your job was emptying an inbox and filling an outbox, you were begging for someone to draw the I/O analogy - and act on it. Indeed, computer terminology is littered with traces of what were formerly jobs: printers, monitors, file managers; even computers themselves used to be people, not machines.
Computers have, of course, reshaped the workplace. But they have also proved remarkably effective at creating jobs. Bookkeepers of old, adding columns in ledgers, are today's financial analysts, wielding Excel and PowerPoint in boardroom strategy sessions. Secretaries have morphed into executive assistants, more aides-de-camp than stenographers. Typesetters have become designers. True, in many cases different people filled the new jobs, leaving millions painfully displaced, but over time the net effect was positive - for workers and employers alike.
If you've read this much, check out the article. I liked it...just remember to question everything you hear:)
During this year's Super Bowl, you'll see ads sponsored by beer companies, tobacco companies, and the Bush White House.1 But you won't see the winning ad in MoveOn.org Voter Fund's Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest. CBS refuses to air it.2
Meanwhile, the White House is on the verge of signing into law a deal which Senator John McCain (R-AZ) says is custom-tailored for CBS and Fox,3 allowing the two networks to grow much bigger. CBS lobbied hard for this rule change; MoveOn.org members across the country lobbied against it; and now our ad has been rejected while the White House ad will be played. It looks an awful lot like CBS is playing politics with the right to free speech.
Of course, this is bigger than just the MoveOn.org Voter Fund. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) submitted an ad that was also rejected.4 But this isn't even a progressive-vs.-conservative issue. The airwaves are publicly owned, so we have a fundamental right to hear viewpoints from across the ideological spectrum. That's why we need to let CBS know that this practice of arbitrarily turning down ads that may be "controversial" -- especially if they're controversial simply because they take on the President -- just isn't right.
To sign our petition to CBS, go to: http://www.moveon.org/cbs/
We'll deliver the petition by email directly to CBS headquarters.
You also may want to let your local CBS affiliate know you're unhappy about this decision. We've attached a list of the CBS affiliates in your state at the bottom of this email. Remember, a polite, friendly call will be most effective -- just explain to them why you believe CBS' decision hurts our democracy.
CBS will claim that the ad is too controversial to air. But the message of the ad is a simple statement of fact, supported by the President's own figures. Compared with 2002's White House ad which claimed that drug users are supporting terrorism,5 it hardly even registers.
CBS will also claim that this decision isn't an indication of political bias. But given the facts, that's hard to believe. CBS overwhelmingly favored Republicans in its political giving, and the company spent millions courting the White House to stop FCC reform.6 According to a well-respected study, CBS News was second only to Fox in failing to correct common misconceptions about the Iraq war which benefited the Bush Administration -- for example, the idea that Saddam Hussein was involved with 9/11.7
This is not a partisan issue. It's critical that our media institutions be fair and open to all speakers. CBS is setting a dangerous precedent, and unless we speak up, the pattern may continue. Please call on CBS to air ads which address issues of public importance today.
Sincerely, --Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Laura, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn.org Team
January 23rd, 2003
P.S. Our friends at Free Press have put together a page which explains simply how CBS and the FCC rule change are integrally linked. Check it out at: http://www.mediareform.net/media/
P.P.S Here are the CBS affiliates in your state:
KCBS-TV, Los Angeles: (323) 460-3000 KFMB-TV, San Diego: (858) 571-8888 KPSP-TV, Thousand Palms: (760) 343-5700 KBAK-TV, Bakersfield: (661) 327-7955 KCOY-TV, Santa Maria: (805) 925-1200 KGPE-TV, Fresno: (559) 222-2411 KION-TV, Salinas: (831) 784-1702 KPIX-TV, San Francisco: (415) 362-5550 KVIQ-TV, Eureka: (707) 443-3061 KOVR-TV, West Sacramento: (916) 374-1313 KHSL-TV, Chico: (530) 342-0141
Footnotes:
1. "Who's Buying What At the Super Bowl," Ad Age, 1/20/04
2. CBS fax to MoveOn.org Voter Fund, 1/14/04
3. "Democrats Fold on 39% TV Cap Fight", Broadcasting and Cable, 1/21/04
4. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
5. "New Media Campaign Stresses Link between Drugs and Terrorism," U.S. Dept. of State
6. "CBS Television Network Soft Money Donations," Opensecrets.org
7. "Misperceptions, the Media and the Iraq War," PIPA/Knowledge Networks Poll
Slashdot Mirror
Looking back on things, I don't know how I ever got anything done without firefox or google...
:)
funny, I don't get anything done with firefox and google and slashdot
Isn't Ben Silverman the guy who did Dotcom Scoop and is a contributor The New York Post paper? Funny that NYT would write about him.
Actually, there's some new technology out here that will automate the rendering, or so they say:
linky
I think you hit the nail on the head here: what makes GTA special is the excessively fun gameplay. The graphics enhance the game, but I would be much more disapointed if they didn't come up with any gameplay improvements. Ironically, though, the most important improvements are the hardest to tell at this stage of the game.
-NULL-Damion
If you replace GTA 3 with [insert EA Sports Title here] you can see that recycling the same engine, gameplay, art, etc is not an uncommon procedure.
Actually, come to think of it, rewriting the program from the ground up doesn't always work too well.
pretty good. most ayb references these days suck.
It took someone from a communist country to change the US into a totalitarian State.
Hello? He FLED AWAY FROM a communist country.
From the article:
Dinh's mother escaped with him and five of his siblings to the United States.
His name is Viet Dinh (Score:4, Funny)
by Anonymous Coward on 17:40 Tuesday 24 February 2004 (#8380986)
but everyone around the office calls him Charlie.
I was waiting for the first racist message to come out of this thread. However, was shocked to find it first under comments (I browse at +4).
answer is easy--a benchmark everyone can relate to. techs, non-techs, etc.
Porn!
Raph Koster of SWG is now an expert in designing societies?
Please.
If you play SWG, you know what kind of society it is. One where players are encouraged to do mindless missions in pursuit of the mystical plum to be a jedi. Have players complained? Sure, check out the development forums (restricted to paying subscribers of SWG), and you'll find many requests going untouched. And the people who actually go and complain on a bulletin board is just a small percentage of the persons who actually play, get disgruntled, and leave. If you were a SWG beta tester, you know this pain intimately. One of the reasons why it's so frustrating is because I sincerely believe there's a good game waiting inside, just like there's a great government that we can have...but we're not there in the game and I'd argue that I'm actually happier with the government (see sig for how I feel about our government).
Having said that, as previous posters have noted, designing public feedback systems for government is tough. But seriously--why not a slashdot-style government posting forum? Probably it's a chicken-and-egg problem--I don't want to post on a website that nobody will read, but legislators have no incentive to read a slashgov board with 7 users. Moderation will swing towards the masses, but if you're supposed to be serving the masses, then that's good. I think one of the problems is that legislators won't want to have to be on record (i.e. wayback machine) as saying one thing or not responding to one comment and having it haunt them in the future. But if we can get slashgov to work well, I think it would be spectacular.
I'm willing to host. I lack real programming ability. If you want to jump in, let me know. I think this is a cool concept.
perhaps you can blend payment with results as judged by the community. say $10k to most popular MOD 1 year after game release. I think a great solution would be a contest... ...administred by diebold. just kidding about the last part =]
so....what happened?
With so many big companies afraid to try out new ideas, it seems like independent developers and modders are the only ones trying out new ideas.
Welcome to the business world. Entrepreneurs come to mind here.
Still, it's a lot of work. I would guess that if you compared how much the DC guys get paid relative to the time put in, I'd guess we'd see less than minimum wage. But that's ok. The bottom line is that you've gotta love it. The passion shows in your product.
fyi a math prof here at Berkeley wants to write an Open-Source calc textbook within a few years. His webpage if you are interested:
link
BostonWorks let me put up 3 simple 'interview questions' beforehand -- loved that feature -- and I made them have easy 2 sentence max responses. It was amazing how many people submitted blank responses or how many I could screen just from reading their absolutely braindead replies. It was GREAT.
And finally, enough people will apply that frankly I only need to consider those who submit a thoughtful, properly formatted app.
I agree though that it wastes time on both ends, which sucks. But realize the root cause, which sucks more; the whole process stems from the fact that you need some way of putting up enough barriers to entry to keep obviously unqualified idiots from wasting your time.
Sounds like glorified e-mail challenge/response questions. How many spots does this cow have? sigh..
when you join a typical company, its objective is to make money
I have never, ever seen this as a mission statement of a company.
Oh, so you really believe MS when they say their mission is to "To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential" ?
On the contrary, I believe the mission is there because it can help MS make money. The goal is to make money; how MS makes money is really incidental. Welcome to Corporate Finance.
Sooner or later America will realize this and legislation will be put into place to stop it.
Ever wonder why our free country requires so much legislation?
I guess things have quieted down now or perhaps we in the US have just lost interest. But there was a time where I am sure a few CEO's and CIO's had to be worried how long it would be before their big software project went up in a giant Pakistani mushroom cloud.
You have to wonder what those New York software companies are thinking. I sure don't feel safe either.
They get the nice fat promotions and bonuses, while our jobs go elsewhere. And we are the same people they praised just last year as invaluable assets to the company.
So what happened? They can't get rich pulling fancy accounting tricks, so this is what they've resorted to.
Recall that the primary objective of most corporations is only to make money. Everything else is secondary, including you and me. You can take that $120k job but remember that you're signing with a company--and management--whose primary driver is to make money.
Don't like the system? You can start your own company. I'm going to try that out, personally.
Outsourcing is a good thing...
Remember that outsourcing is a good thing from the perspective of Finance. Because business is the slave of financial markets, preaching outsourcing to business is really like preaching to the choir.
On the other hand, the social aspect. Forget posessions, forget per capita income. People like the idea of being respected and being safe in their IT jobs. They're being torn apart by outsourcing.
Which party is right? Neither, probably. Just remember that when you join a typical company, its objective is to make money. Don't like that? Start your own...I plan to.
"Don't you think we're helping the US economy by doing the work here?" asks an exasperated Lalit Suryawanshi. It frees up Americans to do other things so the economy can grow, adds Jairam.
:)
-----
Maniar uncorks an aphorism that he doesn't realize I've heard 8,000 times before (in part because American white-collar workers have long said it to their blue-collar compadres) - and that I don't realize I'll hear several times again during my stay: "There's nothing permanent except change."
-----
The experience did more than capsize his work life. It battered his belief system. He's long espoused the virtues of free trade. He says that he supported Nafta and that for 12 years he's subscribed to The Economist, a hymnal in the free trade church. But now he's questioning core beliefs. "These are theories that have really not been tested and proven," he says. "We're using people's lives to do this experiment - to find out what happens."
-----
"Someday," Janish says, "another nation will take business from India." Perhaps China or the Philippines, which are already competing for IT work.
"When that happens, how will you respond?" I ask.
"I think you must have read Who Moved My Cheese?" Aparna says to my surprise.
amazing, they read American motivational books. btw, I recommend the book to you. very short book, you can read it in barnes and noble..
-----
For US workers, the path beyond services seems uncertain. But again, history provides a guide. Thirty years ago, another form of outsourcing hit the US service sector: the computer. That led to a swarm of soulless processing machines, promoted by management consultants and embraced by profit-obsessed executives gobbling jobs in a push for efficiency. If today's cry of the displaced is "They sent my job to India!" yesterday's was "I was replaced by a computer!"
Then, as now, the potential for disruption seemed infinite. Data crunching was just the start. Soon electronic brains would replace most of the accounting department, the typing pool, and the switchboard. After that, the thinking went, the modern corporation would apply the same technology to middle management, business analysis, and, ultimately, decisionmaking. If your job was emptying an inbox and filling an outbox, you were begging for someone to draw the I/O analogy - and act on it. Indeed, computer terminology is littered with traces of what were formerly jobs: printers, monitors, file managers; even computers themselves used to be people, not machines.
Computers have, of course, reshaped the workplace. But they have also proved remarkably effective at creating jobs. Bookkeepers of old, adding columns in ledgers, are today's financial analysts, wielding Excel and PowerPoint in boardroom strategy sessions. Secretaries have morphed into executive assistants, more aides-de-camp than stenographers. Typesetters have become designers. True, in many cases different people filled the new jobs, leaving millions painfully displaced, but over time the net effect was positive - for workers and employers alike.
If you've read this much, check out the article. I liked it...just remember to question everything you hear
Except that the Bush-in-30-seconds thing isn't "informed political debate" it's rabid anti-Bush propagada.
Hmm. White House Office of Drug Policy.
Does rabid anti-drug propaganda come to mind at all? The message that I got from their last commercial was that DRUGS = SUPPORTING TERRORISTS.
Straight from the horse's mouth (MoveOn):
During this year's Super Bowl, you'll see ads sponsored by beer companies, tobacco companies, and the Bush White House.1 But you won't see the winning ad in MoveOn.org Voter Fund's Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest. CBS refuses to air it.2
Meanwhile, the White House is on the verge of signing into law a deal which Senator John McCain (R-AZ) says is custom-tailored for CBS and Fox,3 allowing the two networks to grow much bigger. CBS lobbied hard for this rule change; MoveOn.org members across the country lobbied against it; and now our ad has been rejected while the White House ad will be played. It looks an awful lot like CBS is playing politics with the right to free speech.
Of course, this is bigger than just the MoveOn.org Voter Fund. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) submitted an ad that was also rejected.4 But this isn't even a progressive-vs.-conservative issue. The airwaves are publicly owned, so we have a fundamental right to hear viewpoints from across the ideological spectrum. That's why we need to let CBS know that this practice of arbitrarily turning down ads that may be "controversial" -- especially if they're controversial simply because they take on the President -- just isn't right.
To sign our petition to CBS, go to:
http://www.moveon.org/cbs/
We'll deliver the petition by email directly to CBS headquarters.
You also may want to let your local CBS affiliate know you're unhappy about this decision. We've attached a list of the CBS affiliates in your state at the bottom of this email. Remember, a polite, friendly call will be most effective -- just explain to them why you believe CBS' decision hurts our democracy.
CBS will claim that the ad is too controversial to air. But the message of the ad is a simple statement of fact, supported by the President's own figures. Compared with 2002's White House ad which claimed that drug users are supporting terrorism,5 it hardly even registers.
CBS will also claim that this decision isn't an indication of political bias. But given the facts, that's hard to believe. CBS overwhelmingly favored Republicans in its political giving, and the company spent millions courting the White House to stop FCC reform.6 According to a well-respected study, CBS News was second only to Fox in failing to correct common misconceptions about the Iraq war which benefited the Bush Administration -- for example, the idea that Saddam Hussein was involved with 9/11.7
This is not a partisan issue. It's critical that our media institutions be fair and open to all speakers. CBS is setting a dangerous precedent, and unless we speak up, the pattern may continue. Please call on CBS to air ads which address issues of public importance today.
Sincerely,
--Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Laura, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn.org Team
January 23rd, 2003
P.S. Our friends at Free Press have put together a page which explains simply how CBS and the FCC rule change are integrally linked. Check it out at:
http://www.mediareform.net/media/
P.P.S Here are the CBS affiliates in your state:
KCBS-TV, Los Angeles: (323) 460-3000
KFMB-TV, San Diego: (858) 571-8888
KPSP-TV, Thousand Palms: (760) 343-5700
KBAK-TV, Bakersfield: (661) 327-7955
KCOY-TV, Santa Maria: (805) 925-1200
KGPE-TV, Fresno: (559) 222-2411
KION-TV, Salinas: (831) 784-1702
KPIX-TV, San Francisco: (415) 362-5550
KVIQ-TV, Eureka: (707) 443-3061
KOVR-TV, West Sacramento: (916) 374-1313
KHSL-TV, Chico: (530) 342-0141
Footnotes:
1. "Who's Buying What At the Super Bowl," Ad Age, 1/20/04
2. CBS fax to MoveOn.org Voter Fund, 1/14/04
3. "Democrats Fold on 39% TV Cap Fight", Broadcasting and Cable, 1/21/04
4. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
5. "New Media Campaign Stresses Link between Drugs and Terrorism," U.S. Dept. of State
6. "CBS Television Network Soft Money Donations," Opensecrets.org
7. "Misperceptions, the Media and the Iraq War," PIPA/Knowledge Networks Poll
The Libertarian guy is currently leading, which is interesting.
Nolan
you'll find patches for this problem at simtropolis's mod pages. go to transit supermod under mods.