Then again the average joe doesn't even understand what a file system is when it is easier to understand than 1 + 1.
There is only one reason why I still use windows.
on
Gates on Winsecurity
·
· Score: 1
Games.
Once windows is no longer the primary platform game developers look to when pushing their games out, i'll switch. (by that I mean, 100% of all games coming out that I want would have a non-windows option).
Back in '99 I got my first real PC and access to the internet. Heck, I didn't even own any games until the following year I spent so much time online.
AOL, to Cable, and then 56k for the past few years while i've been in the Navy (base didn't have broadband where I was).
Television became boring to me, passive, whereas when I was online I could entertain myself however and whenever I felt like it. It became an unlimited education tool through which I taught myself all kinds of things in every subject. History, Science, Math, you name it.
I have learned about societies other than my own, and even more about my own. I have also learned about the various societies created and survived by the internet.
The games, were just a filler. Hardly even play those anymore either except my old sega games.
Anyway, the ability to entertain myself at my own leisure is why I turned away from this force-fed propaganda and mindless drivel that is the same thing rehashed and resold again and again and again.
Seriously though, I have a female friend who could probably win some serious money if she started playing Chess professionally. I don't think gender has much to do with it though, it's all intelligence and skill.
I've basically played all of the main ones until FFXI.
UO, EQ, AC1, AO, DAoC, EnB, EVE, AC2, SWG, FFXI, even Project Entropia and Endless Ages.. and some other misc ones nobody ever heard of.
Problem is, 9 out of every 10 MMOs are pretty much version 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, etc of EQ. It's like AOL here, they all try to emulate EQ because from a business standpoint it was a successful model.
That's where the investors go wrong in their thinking. In most other industries you can emulate something and make a good profit off of it because it is proven. The only time you can do that in THIS industry is if you are selling a NAME (SWG, FFXI folks?), or if you have a hell of a marketing director.
If you really want to hook people into this, you have to go about it in a way that makes them feel like they're transitioning from playing their normal sp/mp games to something where they still feel that magic that the sp/mp games give, but have that epic touch with hundreds if not thousands of people playing at the same time.
Once broadband completely replaces 56k, we'll hopefully start seeing MMO "twitch" games that play like your standard Counterstrike-esque game, low pings, high twitch. Planetside type stuff, only really feeling like the 16 person mp games of old, with thousands of people.
Turn them into the new "club", where people decide to login instead of wasting 50 dollars a friday night getting trashed. Centralize the genre into 'hubs' where you login to a central service and navigate to which game(world) you want to play that day, be it medieval/shooter/racer/sports/strategy/hybrid, whatever. Have a central avatar that you navigate to these portals that can also be used just to socialize instead of playing those games as well. Games within games.:)
Nothing is about morals or ethics anymore, it's all about money. Money, money, money, money. Who cares if Jack is fit to be a father or not, let's rip custody away from Sue and give the kids to Jack because if he has them our state gets that much more money because of school and all kinds of other programs.
Why do you think so many people spend hours and hours each day on the internet nowadays? The internet is not as corrupted as "the real world" is yet, corrupted by government, laws, media, people who shouldn't have the power to screw things up so badly.
Stealing is wrong, sure. If you steal music you deserve to be reprimanded for it just like if you stole a pack of cigarettes out of a convenience store, but not like this. The way it's happening right now.. is ludicrous. The RIAA is acting like a bunch of terrorists going around shooting offenders in the head, before asking questions.
I don't like Consoles because you cannot mod the games, you can't play FPS games on them because of the mouse/keyboard issue.
Don't tell me to buy a console, lol.
That's like someone saying "hey the construction company forgot to put the basement in my house" and someone telling them "so rent an apartment!".
We're pushing further and further into an "age" so to speak, where it's all about selling as much of a fake product as possible. The gaming industry is coming dangerously close to making a complete full swing to the dollar.
Games are coming out with great graphics, but are only 10 hours long, stereotypical with no real thought given into the story. Heck, right now I hardly even play games anymore.. I just browse internet forums 90% of the time i'm on the computer.
Content/Gameplay is becoming an 80s/90s thing, our precious relics like Resident Evil, Half Life, Even SPACE INVADERS for crying out loud. In fact, I still have loads of fun loading up Super Mario for the NES. That is still one of the top 5 most fun games i've ever played, it's just mindless fun without any stupid crap thrown in. You're Mario and you gotta jump stomp and bash your way through each level till you rescue the Princess. Simple, fun, and can keep you at it for hours on end.
Now we're getting games like SWG, Unreal II, Max Payne 2, Contract Jack, Deus Ex: IW.
Some of these have decent gameplay, and some do not. They are all however, extremely short except for the MMORPG I listed (SWG) which is kind of pretty but leaves you with pretty much nothing to do but chat and kill things without motivation. No real content, no reason to play, nothing that makes you want to go "Hey, I really want to go out and do this, and that, and this, because of this and that!!!".
I didn't even mention the bugs either, most games that come out today require 4 or 5 patches before you can even think about playing them as they were meant to be played. Once they're all patched though you find that the game is only 8 hours long anyway, and you wonder where your $50 went.
5 years ago $50 spent on many of the games that were available provided you with YEARS of replay value, and I mean REAL replay value. Now.. you blow $50 on a game and you ask yourself "what the hell happened?" after you beat it, because you just want to take the game back like it was a rental or something.
Perhaps things will get better. If not, I know I can always bury myself the old glory games of years past.
Rather, you have to go out hunting around comparing articles to get all of the views and take all of the spin and propaganda out of it.
Even then you can't protect yourself from it fully. Which is why I stopped even paying attention or caring. I get pretty good news source delivered to me (being Navy Intel) but even that has to be read with a skeptical eye.
Basically my point here is to NEVER EVER believe anything you hear or read unless you can compare at least 3 or 4 other sources against it, and even then try to extract all of the hidden agenda out of it. We place far too much trust into what the media is delivering to us. It is not wise because most of it is total propaganda and 'spin' (yes, even Bill O'Reilly is full of it folks).
It's sad that things have to be this way, but that's how our country is setup. That's how capitalism works. Our media is an industry, and therefore it must make a profit to survive (well in theory). This alone flaws it. Instead of caring about keeping the citizens of this country informed and educated on matters that do concern them, we choose to allow ourselves to blind each other in order to make a dollar.
Just one more step on the road to eventual self-destruction.
Aye, it will not make people smarter. It'll just leave them with more access to information.
I think my problem is that I was looking at this from a current standpoint, I mean you and I and most everyone here has already gone through the education system and we already understand the learning process.
My thinking that this would help future generations is flawed because they would not be recieving the same experience as we did.
I'm going to speak on less scientific terms because i'm a cryptologist, not a nanotechnician/computer science genius;)
I see it like this: This can lead to a TON of great things that we've only seen in sci-fi movies and books and games and what not. Perhaps not exactly the same, but this is quite exciting indeed. Think about being "wired" 24/7/365, having a HUD (heads-up display) overlayed onto your vision everywhere you go, interfacing with everything it sees, no longer will we need credit cards or wallets or anything, just interface with the bank network right then and there.
We will have a new level of education, kids won't have to do the K-12 thing anymore as they'll already have access to basically all known information with a single thought. They can concentrate on other things instead (which could be bad...they'd lose their innocence at a very young age). Also opens the door for nanotech, however dangerous that could prove to be. I won't elaborate on that though as this is all guesswork and just a bunch of personal theory anyway.
This could also cause a devastating breakdown of society and culture, if this tech is developed enough I imagine it would really be possible to put people in a "matrix-like" state, total VR. People wouldn't want to leave. Would also cause massive changes in the political world, governments would completely change to accomodate this because your average citizen wouldn't just be running blind most of the time anymore. They'd be able to see unbiased news if they wanted instead of being brainwashed by Fox or CNN or what not. Just a few thoughts, most of them probably BS but worth thinking about.
I'm going to speak on less scientific terms because i'm a cryptologist, not a nanotechnician/computer science genius;)
I see it like this:
This can lead to a TON of great things that we've only seen in sci-fi movies and books and games and what not. Perhaps not exactly the same, but this is quite exciting indeed. Think about being "wired" 24/7/365, having a HUD (heads-up display) overlayed onto your vision everywhere you go, interfacing with everything it sees, no longer will we need credit cards or wallets or anything, just interface with the bank network right then and there.
We will have a new level of education, kids won't have to do the K-12 thing anymore as they'll already have access to basically all known information with a single thought. They can concentrate on other things instead (which could be bad...they'd lose their innocence at a very young age).
Also opens the door for nanotech, however dangerous that could prove to be. I won't elaborate on that though as this is all guesswork and just a bunch of personal theory anyway.
This could also cause a devastating breakdown of society and culture, if this tech is developed enough I imagine it would really be possible to put people in a "matrix-like" state, total VR. People wouldn't want to leave.
Would also cause massive changes in the political world, governments would completely change to accomodate this because your average citizen wouldn't just be running blind most of the time anymore. They'd be able to see unbiased news if they wanted instead of being brainwashed by Fox or CNN or what not.
Just a few thoughts, most of them probably BS but worth thinking about.
So I read it again... and again......and.....again.
Does this guy look like the Iraqi information minister? Sure sounds like him.
"BUY OUR PRODUCT IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!"
If companies continue down the path of exploiting a path until it is long dead and beaten into the ground, with less and less innovation... then yeah it will die for a little while.
It won't ever truly "die" though, not once a few technological leaps and bounds are cleared, namely learning how to interface with the brain and developing a worldwide wireless broadband network. I believe these two things will radically change our world in ways not even imaginable at the moment.
But enough theory, my main point here is that the current business model is flawed. Sure it makes a bit of money on the short term, but there is no innovation, no growth. Just one stagnant title after another and once in awhile getting something worthwhile out of the deal.
Take Freelancer for example. Great SP campaign, leaves you open after it's over to do what you like. Pretty ok concept, and pretty ok online play. Main problem? Lack of true innovation.
Anyone can make a space shooter. Not just anyone can make a space shooter which incorporates a full RTS, FPS, *and* Flight engine all into one, which has yet to be done (as far as I know, and at minimum in an acceptable fashion).
For PC gaming I suggest the Belkin Nostromo n50 or n52. I can play a great deal of games one-handed with it. Shooters are a little strange yet though (using an n50, n52 might be friendlier to them).
I used it for FFXI and was able to play completely one-handed, as well as for NWN and KOTOR.
Slashdot Mirror
Then again the average joe doesn't even understand what a file system is when it is easier to understand than 1 + 1.
Games.
Once windows is no longer the primary platform game developers look to when pushing their games out, i'll switch. (by that I mean, 100% of all games coming out that I want would have a non-windows option).
Back in '99 I got my first real PC and access to the internet. Heck, I didn't even own any games until the following year I spent so much time online.
AOL, to Cable, and then 56k for the past few years while i've been in the Navy (base didn't have broadband where I was).
Television became boring to me, passive, whereas when I was online I could entertain myself however and whenever I felt like it. It became an unlimited education tool through which I taught myself all kinds of things in every subject. History, Science, Math, you name it.
I have learned about societies other than my own, and even more about my own. I have also learned about the various societies created and survived by the internet.
The games, were just a filler. Hardly even play those anymore either except my old sega games.
Anyway, the ability to entertain myself at my own leisure is why I turned away from this force-fed propaganda and mindless drivel that is the same thing rehashed and resold again and again and again.
lol ;)
Seriously though, I have a female friend who could probably win some serious money if she started playing Chess professionally. I don't think gender has much to do with it though, it's all intelligence and skill.
I've basically played all of the main ones until FFXI.
:)
UO, EQ, AC1, AO, DAoC, EnB, EVE, AC2, SWG, FFXI, even Project Entropia and Endless Ages.. and some other misc ones nobody ever heard of.
Problem is, 9 out of every 10 MMOs are pretty much version 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, etc of EQ. It's like AOL here, they all try to emulate EQ because from a business standpoint it was a successful model.
That's where the investors go wrong in their thinking. In most other industries you can emulate something and make a good profit off of it because it is proven. The only time you can do that in THIS industry is if you are selling a NAME (SWG, FFXI folks?), or if you have a hell of a marketing director.
If you really want to hook people into this, you have to go about it in a way that makes them feel like they're transitioning from playing their normal sp/mp games to something where they still feel that magic that the sp/mp games give, but have that epic touch with hundreds if not thousands of people playing at the same time.
Once broadband completely replaces 56k, we'll hopefully start seeing MMO "twitch" games that play like your standard Counterstrike-esque game, low pings, high twitch. Planetside type stuff, only really feeling like the 16 person mp games of old, with thousands of people.
Turn them into the new "club", where people decide to login instead of wasting 50 dollars a friday night getting trashed. Centralize the genre into 'hubs' where you login to a central service and navigate to which game(world) you want to play that day, be it medieval/shooter/racer/sports/strategy/hybrid, whatever. Have a central avatar that you navigate to these portals that can also be used just to socialize instead of playing those games as well. Games within games.
Why do you think so many people spend hours and hours each day on the internet nowadays? The internet is not as corrupted as "the real world" is yet, corrupted by government, laws, media, people who shouldn't have the power to screw things up so badly.
Stealing is wrong, sure. If you steal music you deserve to be reprimanded for it just like if you stole a pack of cigarettes out of a convenience store, but not like this. The way it's happening right now.. is ludicrous. The RIAA is acting like a bunch of terrorists going around shooting offenders in the head, before asking questions.
I don't like Consoles because you cannot mod the games, you can't play FPS games on them because of the mouse/keyboard issue. Don't tell me to buy a console, lol. That's like someone saying "hey the construction company forgot to put the basement in my house" and someone telling them "so rent an apartment!".
We're pushing further and further into an "age" so to speak, where it's all about selling as much of a fake product as possible. The gaming industry is coming dangerously close to making a complete full swing to the dollar.
Games are coming out with great graphics, but are only 10 hours long, stereotypical with no real thought given into the story. Heck, right now I hardly even play games anymore.. I just browse internet forums 90% of the time i'm on the computer.
Content/Gameplay is becoming an 80s/90s thing, our precious relics like Resident Evil, Half Life, Even SPACE INVADERS for crying out loud. In fact, I still have loads of fun loading up Super Mario for the NES. That is still one of the top 5 most fun games i've ever played, it's just mindless fun without any stupid crap thrown in. You're Mario and you gotta jump stomp and bash your way through each level till you rescue the Princess. Simple, fun, and can keep you at it for hours on end.
Now we're getting games like SWG, Unreal II, Max Payne 2, Contract Jack, Deus Ex: IW.
Some of these have decent gameplay, and some do not. They are all however, extremely short except for the MMORPG I listed (SWG) which is kind of pretty but leaves you with pretty much nothing to do but chat and kill things without motivation. No real content, no reason to play, nothing that makes you want to go "Hey, I really want to go out and do this, and that, and this, because of this and that!!!".
I didn't even mention the bugs either, most games that come out today require 4 or 5 patches before you can even think about playing them as they were meant to be played. Once they're all patched though you find that the game is only 8 hours long anyway, and you wonder where your $50 went.
5 years ago $50 spent on many of the games that were available provided you with YEARS of replay value, and I mean REAL replay value. Now.. you blow $50 on a game and you ask yourself "what the hell happened?" after you beat it, because you just want to take the game back like it was a rental or something.
Perhaps things will get better. If not, I know I can always bury myself the old glory games of years past.
Even then you can't protect yourself from it fully. Which is why I stopped even paying attention or caring. I get pretty good news source delivered to me (being Navy Intel) but even that has to be read with a skeptical eye.
Basically my point here is to NEVER EVER believe anything you hear or read unless you can compare at least 3 or 4 other sources against it, and even then try to extract all of the hidden agenda out of it. We place far too much trust into what the media is delivering to us. It is not wise because most of it is total propaganda and 'spin' (yes, even Bill O'Reilly is full of it folks).
It's sad that things have to be this way, but that's how our country is setup. That's how capitalism works. Our media is an industry, and therefore it must make a profit to survive (well in theory). This alone flaws it. Instead of caring about keeping the citizens of this country informed and educated on matters that do concern them, we choose to allow ourselves to blind each other in order to make a dollar.
Just one more step on the road to eventual self-destruction.
Aye, it will not make people smarter. It'll just leave them with more access to information. I think my problem is that I was looking at this from a current standpoint, I mean you and I and most everyone here has already gone through the education system and we already understand the learning process. My thinking that this would help future generations is flawed because they would not be recieving the same experience as we did.
I wanted to avoid the 1984 discussion if possible because you know it's almost a given.
And sure, they would have instant unbiased access to news...the only requirement would be that they are smart enough to find it.
If not, then oh well.
I see it like this: This can lead to a TON of great things that we've only seen in sci-fi movies and books and games and what not. Perhaps not exactly the same, but this is quite exciting indeed. Think about being "wired" 24/7/365, having a HUD (heads-up display) overlayed onto your vision everywhere you go, interfacing with everything it sees, no longer will we need credit cards or wallets or anything, just interface with the bank network right then and there.
We will have a new level of education, kids won't have to do the K-12 thing anymore as they'll already have access to basically all known information with a single thought. They can concentrate on other things instead (which could be bad...they'd lose their innocence at a very young age). Also opens the door for nanotech, however dangerous that could prove to be. I won't elaborate on that though as this is all guesswork and just a bunch of personal theory anyway.
This could also cause a devastating breakdown of society and culture, if this tech is developed enough I imagine it would really be possible to put people in a "matrix-like" state, total VR. People wouldn't want to leave. Would also cause massive changes in the political world, governments would completely change to accomodate this because your average citizen wouldn't just be running blind most of the time anymore. They'd be able to see unbiased news if they wanted instead of being brainwashed by Fox or CNN or what not. Just a few thoughts, most of them probably BS but worth thinking about.
I'm going to speak on less scientific terms because i'm a cryptologist, not a nanotechnician/computer science genius ;)
I see it like this:
This can lead to a TON of great things that we've only seen in sci-fi movies and books and games and what not. Perhaps not exactly the same, but this is quite exciting indeed. Think about being "wired" 24/7/365, having a HUD (heads-up display) overlayed onto your vision everywhere you go, interfacing with everything it sees, no longer will we need credit cards or wallets or anything, just interface with the bank network right then and there.
We will have a new level of education, kids won't have to do the K-12 thing anymore as they'll already have access to basically all known information with a single thought. They can concentrate on other things instead (which could be bad...they'd lose their innocence at a very young age).
Also opens the door for nanotech, however dangerous that could prove to be. I won't elaborate on that though as this is all guesswork and just a bunch of personal theory anyway.
This could also cause a devastating breakdown of society and culture, if this tech is developed enough I imagine it would really be possible to put people in a "matrix-like" state, total VR. People wouldn't want to leave.
Would also cause massive changes in the political world, governments would completely change to accomodate this because your average citizen wouldn't just be running blind most of the time anymore. They'd be able to see unbiased news if they wanted instead of being brainwashed by Fox or CNN or what not.
Just a few thoughts, most of them probably BS but worth thinking about.
So I read it again... and again......and.....again. Does this guy look like the Iraqi information minister? Sure sounds like him. "BUY OUR PRODUCT IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!"
If companies continue down the path of exploiting a path until it is long dead and beaten into the ground, with less and less innovation... then yeah it will die for a little while.
It won't ever truly "die" though, not once a few technological leaps and bounds are cleared, namely learning how to interface with the brain and developing a worldwide wireless broadband network. I believe these two things will radically change our world in ways not even imaginable at the moment.
But enough theory, my main point here is that the current business model is flawed. Sure it makes a bit of money on the short term, but there is no innovation, no growth. Just one stagnant title after another and once in awhile getting something worthwhile out of the deal.
Take Freelancer for example. Great SP campaign, leaves you open after it's over to do what you like. Pretty ok concept, and pretty ok online play. Main problem? Lack of true innovation.
Anyone can make a space shooter. Not just anyone can make a space shooter which incorporates a full RTS, FPS, *and* Flight engine all into one, which has yet to be done (as far as I know, and at minimum in an acceptable fashion).
For PC gaming I suggest the Belkin Nostromo n50 or n52. I can play a great deal of games one-handed with it. Shooters are a little strange yet though (using an n50, n52 might be friendlier to them). I used it for FFXI and was able to play completely one-handed, as well as for NWN and KOTOR.