All the technology poured into a game is icing, and nothing more. It's what you do with the agent of immersion that fulfills (or fails) the task. It's the backstory, the interaction with the environs, and how "connected" you feel with the game that counts. For example, while the old Zork series is technologically way behind Quake, I got more out of just the text descriptions and so on than I did with Quake's graphics and sounds. Why? Zork's backstory and attention to detail enthralled me. And Asheron's Call, which has serviceable but not ground-breaking graphics, has me currently hooked because of the interesting story and legends that pop up (and the countryside is fun to explore too).
I know this sounded very subjective, because, well, it is, and it should be. Ultimately, the question of "Are Virtual Worlds Worth It?" can be answered with "Forget the world. Is the rest of the game worth it?"
You know, I just purchased one a few weeks back and loaded it up with all sorts of goodies. I've not had any problems with it thus far. There is the memory error problem that Handspring's website documents, but I fixed that easily.
For ~$250 you really can't go wrong. (Besides, by girlfriend wants one!)
Exactly. The mechanics for play and character generation go hand in hand. How severe is a -3 penalty to a skill/attribute check? It depends on how the skill attributes are assigned. A -3 penalty doesn't hurt as much in a skill/attribute system that typically ranges from 9-12 (that was the statistically average score for attributes in the 3d6 system IIRC) than a system that only allows stats to go up to 6 (as was typical in the Shadowrun mechanics for character attributes).
Anyway, I'm more pissed that the Alternity system (sorta GURPSish generic sci-fi gaming system) was all a test for the d20 mechanics, and now that WoTC has determined that it works, they're discontinuing support for the game. Grr.
And on top of it, backward-compatibility is broken on some dll's (from personal experience, the ODBC*.DLL file family, though I'm certain there are others). Everything has to match up precisely or the whole thing is broken. And if you're writing an application that relies upon these dll families, everything MUST match up, version-wise, or the whole thing is screwed.
This leads to developers writing installations that overwrite a section of system DLLs, to ensure that their application will work. What if the next program installed overwrites these files?
Perhaps I'm new to this, but I see this as inexcuseable.
XFMail has support for it now (well, a recent version, and everything should be current soon). Please consult http://xfmail.slappy.org for more info.:)
I think you're missing the point of what he was trying to say (well, either that, or I'm missing the point, which isn't too terribly hard... er...)
The Playstation2/Dreamcast/whatever differs from the microwave and the VCR in that people might want to write applications (ie games) for it. From what I've heard, you've got to shell out serious cash for Sony/Sega/Nintendo to even let you look at the code, much less develop for it. There are serious NDAs to go through, and they get a beefy cut of all revenue earned.
Interesting article, but I think they're going under some incorrect assumptions.
The article assumes that the Linux group intends to compete against Microsoft by Microsoft's terms. Simply put, we aren't. Our intent, by and large, is to make programs and tools that work, not just make it easy for John Q. Netscape-User to get on the Internet and play Solitaire. Granted, the above can be done, but we're not just stopping there. We're taking all of Microsoft's talk of "computers in use everywhere" and making it a reality -- NOW. The playing field is ours.
Yes, greed corrupts, but do the people in the trenches writing code write solely to make money? Maybe some of them do, but honestly, if money was the primary motivator, would the GPL be as lenient as it is?
Linux isn't the only player out there. It's the cutting-edge media darling these days, but there's FreeBSD (and OpenBSD, and NetBSD...). If it turns into a proprietary behemoth (unlikely), it's not the end of the world. We'll move on to greener pastures, that's all.
It wasn't a valid viewpoint, it's blatant namecalling. Don't rush to fscking judgement there, bucko.
S/he has a valid point: RPG geeks make most people sick.
Correction: Most people don't give a rat's arse about RPG geeks. They're too busy leading their own lives to be sick about a small minority of the populace.
Who cares what he's using? This isn't about OS advocacy. It's about trying to say something. Who cares what tools you use as long as your message gets across?
It bears repeating "Linux is 30 year old technology. It's just a notch above Luddism." Bob Metcalfe
Does Billy pay you by the word? This blatant name-calling is making your side look worse by the day.
Seriously though, this is good stuff. I'm glad there is an attempt to add support for more hardware and interfaces. One of the things that kept me from switching to Linux for the longest time was lack of "modern" hardware support. Nowadays, the map has changed. I have support for my 3Dfx card, my Zip drive, and my CD burner. And now there's an effort to improve on the hardware support even more.
Face it: The ball's no longer in Microsoft's court in terms of hardware dominance. Many popular devices are already here (or in the works), and even if not, hardware companies are developing drivers for us. The stranglehold has been broken.
And this why Linux (and FreeBSD, and the rest of the Open Source movement) is making a difference. We don't wait for dubious improvements to come from on high. We discuss what NEEDS to be in place, and we dig in and get to work.
Slashdot Mirror
I know this sounded very subjective, because, well, it is, and it should be. Ultimately, the question of "Are Virtual Worlds Worth It?" can be answered with "Forget the world. Is the rest of the game worth it?"
You know, I just purchased one a few weeks back and loaded it up with all sorts of goodies. I've not had any problems with it thus far. There is the memory error problem that Handspring's website documents, but I fixed that easily.
For ~$250 you really can't go wrong. (Besides, by girlfriend wants one!)
I'd vote for the New Order song, personally. :)
Anyway, I'm more pissed that the Alternity system (sorta GURPSish generic sci-fi gaming system) was all a test for the d20 mechanics, and now that WoTC has determined that it works, they're discontinuing support for the game. Grr.
This leads to developers writing installations that overwrite a section of system DLLs, to ensure that their application will work. What if the next program installed overwrites these files?
Perhaps I'm new to this, but I see this as inexcuseable.
XFMail has support for it now (well, a recent version, and everything should be current soon). Please consult http://xfmail.slappy.org for more info. :)
The Playstation2/Dreamcast/whatever differs from the microwave and the VCR in that people might want to write applications (ie games) for it. From what I've heard, you've got to shell out serious cash for Sony/Sega/Nintendo to even let you look at the code, much less develop for it. There are serious NDAs to go through, and they get a beefy cut of all revenue earned.
S/he has a valid point: RPG geeks make most people sick.
Correction: Most people don't give a rat's arse about RPG geeks. They're too busy leading their own lives to be sick about a small minority of the populace.
Who cares what he's using? This isn't about OS advocacy. It's about trying to say something. Who cares what tools you use as long as your message gets across?
Bob Metcalfe
Does Billy pay you by the word? This blatant name-calling is making your side look worse by the day.
Seriously though, this is good stuff. I'm glad there is an attempt to add support for more hardware and interfaces. One of the things that kept me from switching to Linux for the longest time was lack of "modern" hardware support. Nowadays, the map has changed. I have support for my 3Dfx card, my Zip drive, and my CD burner. And now there's an effort to improve on the hardware support even more.
Face it: The ball's no longer in Microsoft's court in terms of hardware dominance. Many popular devices are already here (or in the works), and even if not, hardware companies are developing drivers for us. The stranglehold has been broken.
And this why Linux (and FreeBSD, and the rest of the Open Source movement) is making a difference. We don't wait for dubious improvements to come from on high. We discuss what NEEDS to be in place, and we dig in and get to work.
rivet