You sir are bang on the money. When companies endorse bad legislation they no longer deserve any level of public support. Especially anything this damaging.
"Parents have been told the message that violent video games and violent media in general can influence the likelihood that their kids will be aggressive," Dr. Sonya S. Brady, now at the University of California, San Francisco, told Reuters Health. "What this study suggests is that they might increase any type of risk-taking behavior."
Now that does say any risk-taking behavior... I must say I find that comment alone even worst than saying games make you violent.
I remember the great D&D witchhunts of the 80's and having my parents freaked out constantly. The arguements were different then but the intent is the same. One group of people who don't understand something are trying to do away with something that another group enjoys. When someone does something wrong it's because they are inclined to do so in the first place.
In my mind, bad kids come from bad parenting and those bad kids will grow up to be bad adults unless shown otherwise.
Anyways, the point I wanted to make was I know this has folks flying off the handle (and Zonk didn't help with the title) but tell me that this study able to cause a Rueters article titled "Violent video games linked to risky behaviors" that this study isn't going to be cited by every politician wanting to regulate video games? I only wish I could find out more about how this study was conducted to understand how they came to this conclusion.
You're 2 cents is worth a quarter at least. I'm in a similar boat but for different reasons.
I used to be in the "I-buy-the-latest-and-greatest"; however, I don't have that luxury anymore. I have mortgage payments and kids and I'm more career focused. I used to go through games like toilet paper. But I can't do that anymore. So now I'm more selective and really only buy games that I'm 90% certain will be worthwhile. For instance Half Life 2 was a great buy for me and I'll play online on it quite often. But then I bought Civ 4 and boy what a mistake! When I buy a game and it burns me like that then I'm less likely to buy any game again... unless I'm completely sure.
Now, I'm assuming the game industry will do the usual "Piracy is killing us" line but give me a break. I think someone outside of the industry needs to take a look at who was driving the sale of video games years ago and see where that demographic is today. I guarantee this story is not unique at all.
$2 to get the show commercial free? Absolutely, that beats a rental price or pay per view price... even at a reduced quality. I'd do that.
The point I was trying to make was that offering it for free with commericals that I can't avoid is pretty lame when I can record the broadcast and fast forward through the commercials (in essence for free).
Oh c'mon! Unavoidable commercials? All the more reason to just tape what you want to watch on the VCR then you can fast forward all you want. I know, I know VCR's will somehow be obsolete and yada yada yada...
This is just lame. The funny thing is, if it was affordable and high enough in quality I'd be willing to buy certain shows by download. But then of course most shows that come out on DVD later on will have more material... ugh, seems like there is no easy alternative.
I hope this isn't lost at the end of the thread but if anyone wants to leave an imprint on these boobs who think it's that easy to "prove evolution". I have some email addresses you might enjoy.
I was tempted to paste the emails directly but I didn't want to get in trouble for that. If you care about this, send them an email and tell them how you feel and if you're Canadian cc your MP, you never know if your MP might get involved. I cc'ed mine, I hope he does something because this just hurts. I'm without words to convey how pissed I am.
Because I have to mention it at least twice a year
on
Once Upon A Game
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· Score: 1
X-Com I think falls in that category of a great or classic. The funny thing (and it looks like other posters have said it as well) is that there really wasn't a story in the conventional sense. But it did have mood and setting and conflict.
I think this might be more of a case of apples and oranges. Think about TV and movies... a great TV show doesn't always make for a good movie and vice versa. Similar to that a TV show can be regarded as a great work and not necessarily have the best written story (ie: "Cheers" great dialogue/characters/acting, mediocre story).
Something else to consider, considering how games can have a user driven story (The Sims for example) how can video games even be rated equally based on their stories?
Why does anyone subject themselves to Frankenfood like this? If a fuckin' pig/worm cross should ever have been possible then they'd be able to mate!
This is just disgusting... why do we keep looking and manipulating DNA to produce results like this when breeding seemed to work fine. I mean really, riddle me this, why is it so important to get Omega 3 from Bacon? Eating a fucking fish for Christ's sake! (And wrap it in bacon if you love the flavour that much!
This is the first thing that needs to get established. I have too often seen people trying to equate these things and it's bound for failure. I've been there and I'm in Config let me tell you it's not pretty.
Software development is one process in of itself.
The goal of software development is to produce a stable release that is suitable to be installed on a "live" or realworld or production system. In this sense a Software Config Mgmt system keeps track of configuration items which are commonly known as source code and documentation. All revisions to source and documentation should be checked into your SCM database. From this database you build and label your source to produce a software and then send that to testing and eventually you release your software to be Generally Available. It's a hand off to whoever owns the application (the customer or your sysadmin) who will eventually install your software. If the end user has a problem they take it up with support (internal or external).
On the hardware or systems side you want to keep track of the exact setup of your production systems. Configuration items in this sense are your overall systems and software and all of the various settings that are possible. Any change to those systems need to be tracked and recorded.
These are entirely different processes/controls yet some shmoe coined the phrase over both disciplines (and hopefully he rots in hell for it). In the end they are entirely different skillsets, processes and disciplines. Take for example parallel development and code merges. There's nothing like that in a systems sense.
By now I was expecting "Someone set us up the bomb"
Seriously though, it's funny how none of us are thinking "Hey Sony must feel like they're taking a bath on this!"
Worst yet, Sony's investors are probably thinking "Sony is successfully reducing costs by cutting online games that poor hopeful shmucks thought would be good. Good for them for treating customers like crap. Buy their stock."
I realize this comment had a "negative" tone but I think the overall observation is correct. The stock market and it's expectation from investors is largely out of control. Everything is marketing, spin and PR with investment firms. How often do we see a company do fairly well in a quarter despite a sad lack of return on a major product but that's ok they laid off 1000 people so overall this quarter it's ok.
I vaguely recall a time that when a company did something like that (lay offs to better adjust the operational costs). It cost them in the stock market; that doesn't seem to happen anymore.
Good on you for calling this bunk! I like to think the market has matured. Sure being a programmer or technical analyst isn't so hot but QA and alot of foundation roles (my particular area) are fairly good. But I think too many folks come into this industry wanting to be a DBA or a programmer when there is alot more to be done and unfortunately there aren't enough qualified folks to do this foundation work, IMHO. I think this same situation is more so prevalent in countries getting the outsourcing work. (Heck, there are only a few folks, by comparison, that work with Windows Installer / Installshield / Visual Studio which is what I do.)
I'm sorry but the threat has been existent ever since the USB drive/device... or anything that is "hotpluggable". In theory I can come into almost any office with a USB drive with some malicious software to steal secrets or whatnot and just plug it in to the back of someone's computer. I guarantee the average luser wouldn't be aware of the devices existence.
What I love is that your personal experience needs to match what the job description lists 100%... That's a perfect match. Bull! No one ever matches a job description it's not possible. Most job descriptions are put together by PHB's you (improperly) use buzzwords or hotwords to get interest in a position. When the interview comes most of us fake that we have knowledge in said topics because we ALL know that what you think you do on paper is almost never what you have in practice.
This smells of lousy workaround to try to make folks happier but the sad truth is if you want diveristy in the workplace, you have to make sure that people are all educated at the same levels. I imagine diveristy is an issue (in the USA) but aren't there larger questions of where this is occurring and to what degree? I have no idea what the statistical breakdown of this problem is but whatever the numbers are around this issue they probably reveal more detail about where this problem is most relevant and that would lead one to determine how to deal with the root cause of this.
On a side note, I worry about how this is going to affect those of us who work in the Canadian arm of American companies... oh how quickly I see my ability to get a referal bonus fade away...
Oh and a final thing... I love how this draws out every bigotted troll out there.:P
Worst still, he did Alone in the Dark... look it up http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369226/ it's a 2.2 This dumb f*ck does miserable, awful, stupid movies. I don't care what project he's not doing... so long as he's NEVER making another movie again.
Who are the idiots that give him the budget or approval to work on something in the first place?
Alone in the Dark is one experience I never wish to relive and it's 2 hours of my life I want a refund on! It wasn't even in the category of "so bad it's good". Yuck!
Anyone wishing to join me in a Class Action lawsuit against that piece of crud are welcome.
But didn't you find when you played after a while you forgot about the HUD? I did. In fact I had a bad habit of running out of ammo because I wasn't actively thinking about it until I was in a non-action sequence.:D
Although what I think would be really cool for that type of experience would be when you're in the thick of a combat the hud should fade out so you can't really gauge how much ammo and health you have. But that's just my sickness.
Are you kidding me?? But... then... how...
So a bunch of people stand around and say "We're getting married" everyone nods and goes along with it and no change takes place in the game. What is there to ban then?? Better yet how could they ban it??
This makes me want to split my own head open with a dull axe.
Quartly financial reporting is stupid. I think it hurts the economy overall more than anything. Well that and day trading... stocks seem to play out more like the market in MULE (nevermind an old, old reference). It seems odd to me that I can play the market game more by setting up automated rules than by knowing the market. I find that disturbing. If quartly results weren't so important the quality of all products would improve. Instead the general ability to sell as much as possible in a certain time frame are the key goals. I know most of us here are different and are cautious about what we buy; however, Joe-Consumer doesn't pay attention to how good a product they buy based on marketing and hype. (Heck we all fall victim to that, even I watched War of the Worlds.)
Oh man! I so miss the shipbuilding. It serioiusly was the best part of MOO2. I loved playing bulrathi and then building carriers that had lots and lots of assualt boats... of course that doesn't last long once your opponents get lightning shields. SIGH I so miss that game.:D
Slashdot Mirror
You sir are bang on the money. When companies endorse bad legislation they no longer deserve any level of public support. Especially anything this damaging.
Cool, that could be a expansion pack! Pirates of the Info Highway!
Now that does say any risk-taking behavior... I must say I find that comment alone even worst than saying games make you violent.
I remember the great D&D witchhunts of the 80's and having my parents freaked out constantly. The arguements were different then but the intent is the same. One group of people who don't understand something are trying to do away with something that another group enjoys. When someone does something wrong it's because they are inclined to do so in the first place.
In my mind, bad kids come from bad parenting and those bad kids will grow up to be bad adults unless shown otherwise.
Anyways, the point I wanted to make was I know this has folks flying off the handle (and Zonk didn't help with the title) but tell me that this study able to cause a Rueters article titled "Violent video games linked to risky behaviors" that this study isn't going to be cited by every politician wanting to regulate video games? I only wish I could find out more about how this study was conducted to understand how they came to this conclusion.
You're 2 cents is worth a quarter at least. I'm in a similar boat but for different reasons.
I used to be in the "I-buy-the-latest-and-greatest"; however, I don't have that luxury anymore. I have mortgage payments and kids and I'm more career focused. I used to go through games like toilet paper. But I can't do that anymore. So now I'm more selective and really only buy games that I'm 90% certain will be worthwhile. For instance Half Life 2 was a great buy for me and I'll play online on it quite often. But then I bought Civ 4 and boy what a mistake! When I buy a game and it burns me like that then I'm less likely to buy any game again... unless I'm completely sure.
Now, I'm assuming the game industry will do the usual "Piracy is killing us" line but give me a break. I think someone outside of the industry needs to take a look at who was driving the sale of video games years ago and see where that demographic is today. I guarantee this story is not unique at all.
$2 to get the show commercial free? Absolutely, that beats a rental price or pay per view price... even at a reduced quality. I'd do that.
The point I was trying to make was that offering it for free with commericals that I can't avoid is pretty lame when I can record the broadcast and fast forward through the commercials (in essence for free).
Oh c'mon! Unavoidable commercials? All the more reason to just tape what you want to watch on the VCR then you can fast forward all you want. I know, I know VCR's will somehow be obsolete and yada yada yada...
This is just lame. The funny thing is, if it was affordable and high enough in quality I'd be willing to buy certain shows by download. But then of course most shows that come out on DVD later on will have more material... ugh, seems like there is no easy alternative.
I hope this isn't lost at the end of the thread but if anyone wants to leave an imprint on these boobs who think it's that easy to "prove evolution". I have some email addresses you might enjoy.
h tm h eap.html 6 5 r _ruth.html
Links that have emails for the SSHRC members who rejected Alters application:
http://www.english.ucalgary.ca/faculty/s_bennett.
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~lfelt/oldindex.html
http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/history/prof_
http://www.uqac.ca/aemeir/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=
http://www.economie.uqam.ca/fich_profs_html/prof_
I was tempted to paste the emails directly but I didn't want to get in trouble for that. If you care about this, send them an email and tell them how you feel and if you're Canadian cc your MP, you never know if your MP might get involved. I cc'ed mine, I hope he does something because this just hurts. I'm without words to convey how pissed I am.
X-Com I think falls in that category of a great or classic. The funny thing (and it looks like other posters have said it as well) is that there really wasn't a story in the conventional sense. But it did have mood and setting and conflict.
I think this might be more of a case of apples and oranges. Think about TV and movies... a great TV show doesn't always make for a good movie and vice versa. Similar to that a TV show can be regarded as a great work and not necessarily have the best written story (ie: "Cheers" great dialogue/characters/acting, mediocre story).
Something else to consider, considering how games can have a user driven story (The Sims for example) how can video games even be rated equally based on their stories?
Why does anyone subject themselves to Frankenfood like this? If a fuckin' pig/worm cross should ever have been possible then they'd be able to mate!
This is just disgusting... why do we keep looking and manipulating DNA to produce results like this when breeding seemed to work fine. I mean really, riddle me this, why is it so important to get Omega 3 from Bacon? Eating a fucking fish for Christ's sake! (And wrap it in bacon if you love the flavour that much!
This is the first thing that needs to get established. I have too often seen people trying to equate these things and it's bound for failure. I've been there and I'm in Config let me tell you it's not pretty.
Software development is one process in of itself.
The goal of software development is to produce a stable release that is suitable to be installed on a "live" or realworld or production system. In this sense a Software Config Mgmt system keeps track of configuration items which are commonly known as source code and documentation. All revisions to source and documentation should be checked into your SCM database. From this database you build and label your source to produce a software and then send that to testing and eventually you release your software to be Generally Available. It's a hand off to whoever owns the application (the customer or your sysadmin) who will eventually install your software. If the end user has a problem they take it up with support (internal or external).
On the hardware or systems side you want to keep track of the exact setup of your production systems. Configuration items in this sense are your overall systems and software and all of the various settings that are possible. Any change to those systems need to be tracked and recorded.
These are entirely different processes/controls yet some shmoe coined the phrase over both disciplines (and hopefully he rots in hell for it). In the end they are entirely different skillsets, processes and disciplines. Take for example parallel development and code merges. There's nothing like that in a systems sense.
By now I was expecting "Someone set us up the bomb"
Seriously though, it's funny how none of us are thinking "Hey Sony must feel like they're taking a bath on this!"
Worst yet, Sony's investors are probably thinking "Sony is successfully reducing costs by cutting online games that poor hopeful shmucks thought would be good. Good for them for treating customers like crap. Buy their stock."
I realize this comment had a "negative" tone but I think the overall observation is correct. The stock market and it's expectation from investors is largely out of control. Everything is marketing, spin and PR with investment firms. How often do we see a company do fairly well in a quarter despite a sad lack of return on a major product but that's ok they laid off 1000 people so overall this quarter it's ok.
I vaguely recall a time that when a company did something like that (lay offs to better adjust the operational costs). It cost them in the stock market; that doesn't seem to happen anymore.
Like this is a surprise, it's Utah which according to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah
Tell me no one saw this coming.
Come on, this by far sums up the article even better than that lame first paragraph did!
Good on you for calling this bunk! I like to think the market has matured. Sure being a programmer or technical analyst isn't so hot but QA and alot of foundation roles (my particular area) are fairly good. But I think too many folks come into this industry wanting to be a DBA or a programmer when there is alot more to be done and unfortunately there aren't enough qualified folks to do this foundation work, IMHO. I think this same situation is more so prevalent in countries getting the outsourcing work. (Heck, there are only a few folks, by comparison, that work with Windows Installer / Installshield / Visual Studio which is what I do.)
I'm sorry but the threat has been existent ever since the USB drive/device... or anything that is "hotpluggable". In theory I can come into almost any office with a USB drive with some malicious software to steal secrets or whatnot and just plug it in to the back of someone's computer. I guarantee the average luser wouldn't be aware of the devices existence.
Don't give him ideas! Good grief, he might starting making movies based on a Reality TV!!! AIEE!
Exactly, I'm just waiting for them to activate my agent status and blam-blam-blam! Those aliens will never know what hit them.
I wonder if I'll get clearance to use the blaster bomb again; I haven't used it since an unfortunate incident during an alien terror mission...
Ditto!
:P
What I love is that your personal experience needs to match what the job description lists 100%... That's a perfect match. Bull! No one ever matches a job description it's not possible. Most job descriptions are put together by PHB's you (improperly) use buzzwords or hotwords to get interest in a position. When the interview comes most of us fake that we have knowledge in said topics because we ALL know that what you think you do on paper is almost never what you have in practice.
This smells of lousy workaround to try to make folks happier but the sad truth is if you want diveristy in the workplace, you have to make sure that people are all educated at the same levels. I imagine diveristy is an issue (in the USA) but aren't there larger questions of where this is occurring and to what degree? I have no idea what the statistical breakdown of this problem is but whatever the numbers are around this issue they probably reveal more detail about where this problem is most relevant and that would lead one to determine how to deal with the root cause of this.
On a side note, I worry about how this is going to affect those of us who work in the Canadian arm of American companies... oh how quickly I see my ability to get a referal bonus fade away...
Oh and a final thing... I love how this draws out every bigotted troll out there.
Worst still, he did Alone in the Dark... look it up http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369226/ it's a 2.2 This dumb f*ck does miserable, awful, stupid movies. I don't care what project he's not doing... so long as he's NEVER making another movie again.
Who are the idiots that give him the budget or approval to work on something in the first place?
Alone in the Dark is one experience I never wish to relive and it's 2 hours of my life I want a refund on! It wasn't even in the category of "so bad it's good". Yuck!
Anyone wishing to join me in a Class Action lawsuit against that piece of crud are welcome.
But didn't you find when you played after a while you forgot about the HUD? I did. In fact I had a bad habit of running out of ammo because I wasn't actively thinking about it until I was in a non-action sequence. :D
Although what I think would be really cool for that type of experience would be when you're in the thick of a combat the hud should fade out so you can't really gauge how much ammo and health you have. But that's just my sickness.
Are you kidding me?? But... then... how...
So a bunch of people stand around and say "We're getting married" everyone nods and goes along with it and no change takes place in the game. What is there to ban then?? Better yet how could they ban it??
This makes me want to split my own head open with a dull axe.
Ban marriage in the game. Tell me it's not easy to accomplish. Nothing can be as fair as that! Why does a MMORPG need marriage anyways??
Quartly financial reporting is stupid. I think it hurts the economy overall more than anything. Well that and day trading... stocks seem to play out more like the market in MULE (nevermind an old, old reference). It seems odd to me that I can play the market game more by setting up automated rules than by knowing the market. I find that disturbing. If quartly results weren't so important the quality of all products would improve. Instead the general ability to sell as much as possible in a certain time frame are the key goals. I know most of us here are different and are cautious about what we buy; however, Joe-Consumer doesn't pay attention to how good a product they buy based on marketing and hype. (Heck we all fall victim to that, even I watched War of the Worlds.)
Oh man! I so miss the shipbuilding. It serioiusly was the best part of MOO2. I loved playing bulrathi and then building carriers that had lots and lots of assualt boats... of course that doesn't last long once your opponents get lightning shields. SIGH I so miss that game. :D