I may be pulling from some old D&D books or some old chivalric codes, but attacking an opponent without being able to see their face is dishonorable. I cannot remember exactly where I learned it, but it stuck with me.
I work for a company that builds Intel servers. I and my other tech-saavy cohorts have often questioned "Why don't we build AMD systems? Why not use Macs in the workplace, especially for those graphic intensive jobs?"
Why? Because Intel owns our collective asses. The only way we make a profit is from Intel paying us back (something called DPA) for every processor we sell. Without that DPA we might as well buy from retail stores and online vendors at retail price so they get the DPA's and profit. If we tried to stray from this partnership, they'd remove our DPA's and what little profit margin we have.
I'm certain Dell is under a similar partnership.
Why would Intel care then if Dell promoted Linux? That's where Microsoft comes in. For every Intel system sold with a MS OS on it, Intel gets a kickback. If the system sells without an OS or with a non-MS OS, then Intel doesn't make as much money.
All hail the freedom of choice in our capitalist Monarchic System.
I truly enjoy all the Tolkien books, and yes, I recall those excerpts. I don't doubt that dwarves in many mythos use bows and are paladins.
However, my point that I failed to elaborate is that I prefer the original (to me) 1980-ish rules and I've been very reluctant to accept the newer, more politically correct, anyone can do whatever they wish, ruleset.
I wasn't opposing a dwarf being a paladin at all. I'm fairly certain they were the only other race besides humans that could be paladins. The paradoxes as I see them are a paladin using a ranged weapon since it goes against most lawful good codes of ethics, and the logistics of a dwarf using anything but a short bow, 4' or less. The ruleset I've seen in the books and saw demonstrated in D&D Online looked to allow any combination whatsoever including the magic constructs being allowed to be a paladin. What faith could a contruct have as a source of divine power? His maker, a mortal?
I think DDO will be, as the NYT article stated, "a moderate success." They'll get as many subscribers as UO or SWG did, then they'll do a major botch up of the engine or classes or quests that will alienate their established playerbase. I think the producers are relying too heavily on the D&D name and did not put enough effort in making a top-notch game that can compete with the current king of the hill, WoW.
I did play it during the stress test 4 days.
The article and the descriptions are much more exciting than the real thing.
No surprise either, that those "screenshots" are the videos and artists' concepts, not the actual screens.
I found the interface cumbersome, movement was difficult, it was difficult to keep track of quests, I strongly dislike the current ruleset (a dwarf paladin able to shoot a bow is wrong to me), and the ability to solo disappeared very quickly. The fact that in 12 hours of playing and I only reached level two didn't improve my impression either.
One of the biggest strains was how much reading there was to do.
UO kept me from buying a new game each month for 7.5 years. Now WoW has kept me from buying anything for 1.5 years. Long term commitment to a game "system" (engine, patches, add-ons, new engine, etc.) will likely be the new trend.
Personally, I don't understand the attraction of game consoles. Sure I had my Atari 2600, Nintendo, Super NES, Sega Genesis... but when I saw the trend that a new console was going to come out each year, from three different companies and the games would not be backward compatible?!?!!?!? Heck, no, I wouldn't be sinking my money into that industry. Instead I sink it into a single MMO, and I consider it my entertainment budget.
What can a console do that a PC can't do? I have yet to be able to see the difference in graphics or hear the difference in sound. I have much more control with a keyboard and mouse than any directional pad/joystick and eight buttons can give. With an emulator I can dumb my computer down to any console.
I agree, but as Tepples pointed out, the Tolkien estate refuses to relinquish the rights.
I can't say as I blame Christopher. "The Hobbit" was written for he and his brother(s?). It's much more personal to him than LotR.
I was completely divided on the LotR movies. I truly enjoyed seeing Jackson's vision of Tolkien's writings brought to life. However, the massive changes and ommissions were inexcusable.
Perhaps the Tolkien estate can work with Jackson and his writers and come to a compromise: stick to the book AND make it a great film.
It's the first time I've ever read an article linked on/. and completely disagreed with the content.
The author started losing me when he based his philosophy and life lessons on Street Fighter. Lost me even more when he considers Raph the creator of UO and SWG. He was a team member, but I wouldn't credit him with the creative initiative. (I like Raph personally, but I strongly disagree with his odd ideals of how MMO players/societies should function.)
I think the points of time > skill and group >solo are taken completely out of context. As many others have stated here, investing time in most situations means that you will finish with a better result. Investing time in WoW means that you want to reach those lofty goals set by the developers. The amazingnly attractive thing about WoW is how it appeals to so many different playstyles, namely leisure and hardcore. I'm a leisure player. I don't expect to have the elite loot because I haven't invested the time or the skill to earn it. Hardcore players do. If the author thinks that simply playing the game and spending time in the virtual world earns rewards, how sadly mistaken. What did he do those two years in WoW? It takes a coordinated group with the right mix of skilled individuals a serious amount of time to accomplish one goal that may result in a reward for two to four people. From where I come from, we call that "teamwork" and "compromise."
Group > solo? I'm an introvert, too. That's why I enjoy MMO's. It allows me to be the fly on the wall and raise my hand to speak up when I feel like it. No one forces anyone to be in a group, a guild or run an instance. More often I see individuals from different guilds get together to conquer a quest, a boss monster or an instance. You rarely hear about a single guild running an instance. There are always openings for others. Listen to the LFG channel for five minutes. I like soloing, too, because it allows me to avoid commitment to a group or responsibility of helping anyone else. I know I'm missing out on some awesome experiences and better equipment. My choice; my loss. Blizzard knows this, though. One of the developers has already spoken out that the expansion will include quests to get high level equipment for casual gamers. The whole experience system with the rest bar was designed for casual gamers. If you don't play for a while, you'll be able to gain XP faster when you return than someone who plays constantly. Blizzard knows the different types of players and they know how to appeal to most of them. 5.5 million gamers are proving that.
ToS. "...treating players like they're children..." Have you listened to general chat in WoW? They ARE children or at least juvenile-minded. Blame this on our country's legal system. "Someone spilled coffe on themselves and was burned? Sue the company." Someone got sick because they drank shampoo because the bottle didn't say they couldn't? Blame the company." Blizzard is legally protecting themselves just like any other company must these days. It's simply that's Blizzard's arena is a virtual world, not a restaurant or grocery store. Personally, there are numerous other activities that I believe should be added to the ToS.
While I completley and totally disagree with Sirlin, I'll gladly give him his space for opinion. We're all different and we all have different tastes. I cannot fathom how someone could stand to play Street Fighter for more than an hour without getting completley bored. Obviously, he cannot fathom how to play a MMO in your own style and enjoy it.
As many other have suggested, try basic troubleshooting:
- Does it look the same on another computer (try PC or laptop)
- Does it change if you wiggle the cable? Can you replace the cable?
- Does changing the monitor color setting affect it? (If you were using 6500k try 9700k; try shifting the red down)
- Have you tried something like the Adobe gamma utility to adjust the settings?
Best suggestion I can offer is when you buy your next LCD monitor...
1) Make sure it's a Samsung
2) Make sure you get a digital interface (DVI) and use a card with a DVI connection
Well, not really. It's just someone else's product that MS bought and stuck their name on it... kind of like 75% of all Microsoft software.
I've been using MS AntiSpyware for months with no issues and surprisingly good results. This new feature to remove Norton is a bonus. Norton is difficult enough to remove unassisted. Typically when I find a client with Norton, my first recommendation is to backup their data, wipe the HD and reinstall everything except Norton.
As many others have stated here, Norton Utilities for DOS were good. Somehow Symantec/Norton never learned how to use Windows, though. I've witnessed Norton showing the most false positives of any product and effectively taking over the system until it is unusable. I was never surprised when using a McAfee virus scan that Norton AV and utilities showed up as viruses.
Anyone I meet who uses Norton, I automatically classify as "uninformed." 90% of the time they're using AOL, too. I feel it is my duty as a technically saavy IT professional to educate them and free them of their mass-marketed, money-consuming, technically useless demons.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but... "Good job, Microsoft!"
I'm currently in a similar situation. I've got more years and experience on you, but over the past year I worked two positions when they fired the IT Manager. When they decided to fill the position, I wasn't considered. Obviously I wasn't qualified to do the job I had been doing for the past 10 months.
Use jobs sites, lots of them. Set up agents on Monster, Dice, CareerBuilder, etc. Each night when you get home, spend some time checking those agents and applying for jobs.
Use a recruiter that does not charge you a fee. Most recruiting companies today make their money from the hiring company. Call recruiters during your lunch break and ask up front how they are paid. If they want a fee from you or (worst I've ever heard) half of your first year's salary at the new job, then leave. If they want your business, they'll do something about it.
Before serving as the TI Manager, I regularly worked 10 hours days. I'm one of those people that believe hard work will get you somewhere, and if you do a good job, surely someone will notice and reward you. UTTER BS, at least at this company. I'm not to the point of refusing projects when my plate is already full, but I do not let anything other than emergencies keep me from leaving by 6:30 every evening. Because I'm in infrastructure, evenings and weekend work are par for the course, but often that's planned and I can work my personal life around it.
I too want something better. After reading http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html , I did a bit of soul searching. I'm definitely not happy in IT after 22 years. Computers used to be fun to me. Now even tinkering with mine at home feels like work. I have a need to help people, and I think I'm supposed to be some kind of healer. I know I'd be happy if I knew my work helped someone else. I haven't taken action yet, but I know of opportunities for massage therapy and possibly chiropractic care. In order to have time to work on this, I'll need a less demanding job....
My interview is next Wednesday. Wish me luck.
I think others have summed it up well here: take care of yourself, say "no" when warranted, and make the time to make a change.
Catch the detectives quote? "It's not the games fault. A small percentage have difficulty differentiating between fantasy and reality."
That is the most positive statement I've ever heard any authority figure say when a video game (or music or D&D) was remotely linked to an accident.
When the parents sue (and I fully expect they will), I want to hear the judge state "There is a small percentage, a very small percentage, of parents who cannot tell the difference between responsibility for their children and blaming the world for their lack of parenting skill."
Rather interesting a few articles back was about 35% of parents game. I'm guessing the detective is a gamer. Ironic, too, that I mentioned Need for Speed in my reply to that post just before I read this one.
I'm typically more surprised when I find parents near my age who do not play games with or without their kids.
Our girls are 5 and 8. The 8 year old plays WoW with mommy using a char on my account. Her level 37 night elf hunter kicks butt, and she is very excited about getting her tiger mount at 40. The 5 year old enjoys Reader Rabbit and her Dora games. Recently the girls have discovered a taste for racing games. I purchased a racing wheel with pedals and some older games (Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit). They're really enjoying the sense of driving.
Furthermore, I have emulators and ROMs for our old NES and SNES so I don't have to drag those boxes out and hook them up; we just play on the PC. They get a kick out of the old graphics, and I do, too.
I not only see these as chances for us to share an experience, but I see my girls gaining skills that should be everyday by now. (If a person doesn't know how to use a computer these days, they're either a senior citizen or a garbage collector.) Even the driving games are a practical learning experience. I expect they'll know the basics of driving by the time we get to the teen years and driver's education. These skills will be second nature to this generation, and they'll grow up just considering computers an everyday device instead of some tool only used for work or a hobby that geeks toy with.
I agree this study seems a bit shallow and does not provide enough detail to be useful. What I'd like to see is a survey of general computer skills throughout the world. Who can use a computer for basics (typing, surfing)? What percentage are moderate or expert users? (definitions needed obviously) Of those, what percentage game and to what extent? Now add the kids playing games or using computers with or without the parents and you start to get a realistic picture of our world's future with computers.
You're right, I was thinking of "NYPD Blue."
Weren't they the first to show brief nudity on a non-cable channel?
However, upon checking ABC's website to validate my memory lapse, I was instantly reminded of another, horrible example of Disney's hypocritical attitude shift from goody-goody to shock TV: "Desparate Housewives"
I've never watched it myself because just the commercials turn me off so I cannot comment on it directly. I will say that I've never heard anything good about it from my co-workers who watch it.
I think Pixar content will suffer greatly. I believe that Disney will censor all of the films so we won't end up with the cheekiness that makes it enjoyable for children and adults.
"The Incredibles" was, well, incredible. The colors, action and story keep my girls interested. The inuendo and high-level humor keep my wife and I interested. There are very few Disney films that can hold my attention after the first viewing.
My major problem with Disney is their hypocrisy.
I remember the stink they raised in the 90's about their gay employees. I think it had something to do with the Southern Baptist convention choosing Disneyworld as their meeting site numerous times. So Disney goes through a "purification" phase where everything they touch will be pure and family oriented. Shortly afterwards they purchased ABC. For perhaps nine months, it could have been the Family channel. Then the numbers dropped and they resort to typical shock TV. "The Shield." Now ABC and Disney is anything but pure. Maybe that's why their animators slip almost invisible sexual graphics into their cartoons and movies.
What someone just posted here makes me think even less of Disney. It never occured to me that all those fairy tales they turned into movies were public domain. I always wondered who they paid to get the legal rights to all that material. Obviously, no one. Mouse ear wearing bastards.
After you've read that, ask yourself, "Do I really enjoy what I do?"
If the answer is "No," by all means, look for another career and best of luck to you. Granted wherever you go and whatever you do, there's a 97% chance you'll be working with a computer on some level. Furthermore, because you are IT experienced, anyone and everyone that finds that out will be asking you for help, so it won't be as if you're leaving the IT career, you'll just have another, probably more satisfying career on the side while you continue to do IT support.
If you answer "Yes," all I can say is knuckle down.
Welcome to the pits, the grind, the bottom rung. Regardless of your title or experience in IT, executives consider you just as important as the janitor. I've been working in IT professionally for 22 years now. I'm a system administrator for a small company, and every day I leave feeling as if I accomplished absolutely nothing. Even when I perform small miracles (served as SysAdmin AND IT Manger for one year), I receive no recognition, no thanks and definitely no financial reward or time off. "It's expected."
As for the training, the company definitely owes you that training if they expect you to fill the role. However, it is up to the discretion of the company leaders. We've got a network admin who's in the same situation as you. They moved him from desktop support to network admin, changed him from hourly to salary and told him to get MCSE certified on his own time. The company will foot the bill for the tests. I know, whoopity do.
I was fortunate in my training that the company was doing well and for the nine months I had been here to that point, I had no training at all. I was able to financially justify the cost of a MCSE bootcamp. It was the most intense two weeks I've ever experienced yet, but it was worth it. I'm a husband and father of two kids. That's part of the reason I chose the bootcamp: to avoid household distractions and stress. I honestly cannot suggest anything to help you as a wife, homemaker and breadwinner except to get your husband to share your plan of training and pitch in more than he does now. If he can just be self-sufficient, that would probably help you out considerably. I know I don't generally contribute enough at home, but if my wife wanted to commit to something like training (or college or an evening job), I'd step up to it.
You might talk to HR or your manager and see if you could schedule an hour or two a week at work for study time, or even better, a half day off each week dedicated to studying. It's a long shot, but worth the time to ask. I'm guessing like many of us you work 45, 50 or more hours per week. If you're salary and still get your work done, there should be little issue. See if they'll agree to a trial run.
Personally, I've been re-evaluating my career over the past two years. It's not worth it. I enjoy technology and I enjoy solving problems, but what a company makes me do for work is completely unsatisfying. I'm working on making a career change myself.
I say we prove to the FTC that CAN-SPAM is not working.
Visit www.ftc.gov and look for e-mail addresses. I found OIG@ftc.gov.
Then visit ANY sweepstakes website, shopping website or just about anywhere that might have a pop-up and submit that e-mail as a contact.
Granted the voluntary submission is not what CAN-SPAM is about so the results won't be visible right away. When that e-mail gets sold or scanned, THEN they'll see how CAN-SPAM is working.
On an interesting side note, I see how the FTC controls spam: they hardly put any e-mails or contact information on their website. About all you can do is fill out a form for them to contact you.
Delusional indeed.
I suggest everyone fight spam the way I do. Every few years change your ISP. In the process create your primary account with an obscure name that has nothing to do with your name or any real name that a name generator might hit. Then create a secondary account for shopping, sweepstakes, etc. NEVER give out the primary account e-mail address.
This post does lack enough information to make an educated suggestion. I am disappointed at how many replies are bashing System Admins, IT staff in general or just don't seem to know what a System Admin does. I thought most of us reading here are IT Staff of some sort.
I had a very similar experience. I was acting IT Manager for 10 months last year. Due to adding other members to the team and the possibility that I would fill the position, I was moved out of our secure lab to a lockable office. I was not chosen for the position and was summarily dumped out into a cube next to our developers. I had no issues about the loss of physical security nor privacy, but I did voice my concern of people being able to see my screens or over my cube wall while I may be working on sensative files (finance, HR, executive initiatives, etc.). Now I simply have to work in a paranoid fashion: always watching over my shoulder and constantly hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del if I'm on a project and someone walks into my cube.
There is hope that our lab may be expanded and I'll be able to be in a secure location again, but I'm not holding my breath.
Despite the obvious security issues, there are the misunderstandings as several clueless replies indicate here. Just because I have an article from Slashdot, Yahoo or Tom's Hardware open does not indicate I'm not working. It is in the nature of our job to keep up on technology, to understand how other technologies may indirectly affect our systems or (as often happens with me) the CEO has asked me to look up something on large LCD screens, digital cameras or possibly gifts for his family, all of which look like play to the average user.
I typically get a chuckle from users who think I'm wasting time because I realize that indicates guilt: if they could be surfing the web and wasting time, they would.
I can only suggest what I do and what others have suggested:
1) keep a clean desk
2) lock up everything
3) watch over your shoulder (get a rear-view mirror)
I think the WoW GM's are just spot checking which from a player standpoint does feel like being picked on.
I had someone on my server ask me "How'd you get that name?" referring to my dwarf warrior, Bombur (from Tolkien's "The Hobbit"). I stated that I'd had it since I created him in December.
This player went on to describe how a friend of his made a character of "JediKnight" or "Darth(random name)" and was told almost immediatley after logging in that his name vioalted the TOS and must be changed.
I figure I've been lucky, or more realistically, George Lucas' lawyers are much more threatening than anyone from the Tolkien estate.:-)
I, too, am attached to my psuedonym of 21 years now (It's not my login here, nor will I provide it since some random jerk might see it and register it elsewhere just for the chaos factor of it.) I was grateful to get that char name in WoW, and I'm grateful that it's not from literature, a movie or anything else that might cause it to be censored or changed.
I think in order to understand what moviegoers experience, some of these executives need to go to a typical cinema. THEN maybe they'll understand why people are preferring to watch movies at home.
1) Get dressed and drive to the theater. Not only do I have to put on clothes, but I have to risk my life in traffic with idiots, find a place to park (possibly pay for parking) and then risk my car being damaged or stolen in the parking lot.
2) Purchase a ticket. Will the prices ever stop? I'm dreading the day when a gallon of gas costs as much as a movie ticket. To my understanding from those who have worked at cinemas before, the ticket price is only to cover the cost of the cinema "renting" the movie from the studio. The cinema makes no money on the ticket sales. I think both moviegoer and cinema are getting robbed here. Hollywood would have us believe these price increases are due to priacy. As we've seen in numerous articles, piracy has no impact on movie profit.
3) Purchase food. OMG!!! I could have a steak dinner for the price of a bucket of popcorn and a drink. No thank you. I only buy food at the theater when I'm feeling rich, which is hardly ever. Sadly, THIS is where the cinema makes its profit. Boy, they should be rolling in it.
4) Advertising. If you arrive early to get a parking spot, buy food and find a good seat, you're tortured with slides of local advertising. THEN when the lights dim and the camera starts, you get MORE advertising. Once that's over you get previews of upcoming movies. Okay, this is desirable advertising but it's still advertising. By the time the movie starts, I've often forgotten what movie I just paid to see.
5) Interruptions. Cell phones, pagers, laser pointers. Need I say more? I wish they could create EMPs in cinemas that would cripple all such devices or at least enforce a "good movie experience for everyone" policy. THIS is the main reason I don't go to a movie.
6) Bio breaks. It happens. You or someone near you has to go to the bathroom. The movie doesn't stop. If it's you, you're interrupting someone else as you move out, you miss a couple minutes of the movie, and you have trouble finding your seat coming back since your eyes can't adjust that fast. Then you cause more interruption by asking those with you "What happened?" If it's not you, it's even more annoying when all this happens in front of or near you.
7) Trash. It disgusts me when the lights come on that nearly EVERYONE leaves their cups, popcorn buckets and other trash all over the theater. I pick up my own trash and pity the cleaning crew I see coming in. Then it dawned on me. THIS is what we're paying for at the concession stand. It costs more money for this crew to be in here cleaning when another movie should be starting almost immediately. Plus, I hate that sticky floor.
Now I much prefer my current method.
I simply wait a few months for a movie I heard about to hit DVD or cable. Whenever I like, I stroll into my living room wearing (or not) whatever I wish, pop in the DVD, crank up my 6.1 sound system and turn on my 52" DLP screen. I pop a bag of $0.40 popcorn, grab a $0.25 soda, kick back and enjoy my front row. I'm comfortable, I'm safe, I'm saving money and all interruptions can be handled.
Basically it comes down to patience. Are you the type of moviegoer that MUST see the movie when it first comes out? Is it worth the inconvenieces to see it? Or can you wait until it hits DVD so you can experience it in the best environment possible?
With the exception of my extreme favorites (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars & Star Trek), I'm always of the latter group.
Let the studio heads go to a movie like everyone else and see if the movies they're making are worth the trouble of actually going to the movie. 95% of the time, I think not.
I have to totally support and agree with you on this.
#1 priority in anyone's mind, but especially techies should be TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.
I've never been at any company more than 5 years. I've been a system/network administrator for 21 years now. In each job I would learn something new, improve myself, improve the company and move on when forced to do so or when a better opportunity presented itself. In every job I've been duly rewarded, until this year.
Least year I earned my MCSE in two weeks, my CCNA in one week and I served as "acting" departmental manager for 11 months. Not only was I not considered for the permanent position, but when the permanent manager was hired, I gave up my office to him, I was given no financial compensation or reward and I wasn't even told "thank you for giving up another 25% of your life for our company." I am at this point distraught.
The company used to have a wonderful environment: positive, everyone enjoyed their job, company parties on a regular basis, etc. Now I can see it all around me: drudgery, people just going through the motions, budget tightening. I'm hesitant to jump ship because I dread the possibility of getting into a worse environment and I don't want to have to prove myself to someone all over again, but I guess it's time.
At any rate, my long vent is simply to enforce "Take care of yourself." No matter how much you do for a company or how much you feel you are indespensible, someone higher up with no clue of how much your job affects the company will decide you are expendible.
Instead of jumping on the MMO debate or how WoW has changed my gameplay life (quit 8.5 year UO habit and haven't bought a game since November '04), let me just say this:
Blizzard is Da BOMB when it comes to development!
If Sony, Microsoft or any EA-sucked-in company put half as much effort developing and debugging as Blizzard does, THEY would have good games, too.
I was impressed when I heard Blizzard delayed the release of Diablo 2. It was worth the wait. WoW also had some delays. Again, worth the wait. The servers/connectivity/lag issues were all related to an unanticipated response from customers: too few copies, too few servers and too little bandwidth. That's all been resolved now to support the record number of subscribers.
Every other company could learn a great deal from Blizzard.
For a while I feared that EA would use their muscle to buy out and ruin Blizzard, like they did Origin, Maxis and a dozen other developer companies. Now, I have little fear of that since Blizzard is doing so well. I'll gladly keep paying my $15/month to thwart EA from conquering the computer gaming world.
I think of certifications (and degrees) as little badges to get past the shallow people who do not understand what I've been doing for the past 21 years.
In the early 90's, certs were all the rage. Companies thought that if someone had a cert, they were automatically qualified. Oh, how they were burned.
Then in the late 90's, certs weren't worth the paper they were printed on, so regardless of how much you really knew or how much experience you had, if you had numerous certs the knee-jerk reaction was to pass you by.
Then and now the single path that has proven the most worthwhile for employees and employers is the combination of both: certification supported by experience, or experience confirmed by certifications. I'm of the latter crowd. I've been working on PCs and networks professionally since 1984. In 1997 I earned the CompTIA A+ (I took it on a whim while working towards MCSE NT 4.0) In June 2004 I attended a boot camp for two weeks and came away with four certs (MCP, MCSA, MCSE, Security +), then in December I earned my CCNA after a 5 day course. I'm not much smarter than I was before the courses, but people seem to think I am.:-)
My certs had no impact on my position or my salary, but if I decide to depart this company, I know I'll be greeted more warmly at the next one.
I applaud your ability and willingness to allow character transfers, and I understand its limitations of only allowing high-population servers to be moved to lower-population servers.
Will this service eventually be expanded to where players can move a character from any server to any other server? (I'm sure players would pay for this capability and would not mind changing character names if they already exist.)
I'd also like to know if this service might become more granular. My daughter now has a character on my account. Eventually I see us buying another account for her, but I don't want her to have to start over. Would it be possible to transfer a single character from one account to another?
My all time favorite is Talisman with or without all the add-on boards and cards.
You may or may not be able to find it nowadays. Games Workshop revived the basic set in April 2003.
If you purely like the strategy/world conquest themes, then you may not like Talisman. It's more of a RPG board game.
Slashdot Mirror
Notice there is no handle; only posted as Anonymous Coward. How appropriate.
I may be pulling from some old D&D books or some old chivalric codes, but attacking an opponent without being able to see their face is dishonorable. I cannot remember exactly where I learned it, but it stuck with me.
Why? Because Intel owns our collective asses. The only way we make a profit is from Intel paying us back (something called DPA) for every processor we sell. Without that DPA we might as well buy from retail stores and online vendors at retail price so they get the DPA's and profit. If we tried to stray from this partnership, they'd remove our DPA's and what little profit margin we have.
I'm certain Dell is under a similar partnership.
Why would Intel care then if Dell promoted Linux? That's where Microsoft comes in. For every Intel system sold with a MS OS on it, Intel gets a kickback. If the system sells without an OS or with a non-MS OS, then Intel doesn't make as much money.
All hail the freedom of choice in our capitalist Monarchic System.
However, my point that I failed to elaborate is that I prefer the original (to me) 1980-ish rules and I've been very reluctant to accept the newer, more politically correct, anyone can do whatever they wish, ruleset.
I wasn't opposing a dwarf being a paladin at all. I'm fairly certain they were the only other race besides humans that could be paladins. The paradoxes as I see them are a paladin using a ranged weapon since it goes against most lawful good codes of ethics, and the logistics of a dwarf using anything but a short bow, 4' or less. The ruleset I've seen in the books and saw demonstrated in D&D Online looked to allow any combination whatsoever including the magic constructs being allowed to be a paladin. What faith could a contruct have as a source of divine power? His maker, a mortal?
I think DDO will be, as the NYT article stated, "a moderate success." They'll get as many subscribers as UO or SWG did, then they'll do a major botch up of the engine or classes or quests that will alienate their established playerbase. I think the producers are relying too heavily on the D&D name and did not put enough effort in making a top-notch game that can compete with the current king of the hill, WoW.
I found the interface cumbersome, movement was difficult, it was difficult to keep track of quests, I strongly dislike the current ruleset (a dwarf paladin able to shoot a bow is wrong to me), and the ability to solo disappeared very quickly. The fact that in 12 hours of playing and I only reached level two didn't improve my impression either.
One of the biggest strains was how much reading there was to do.
UO kept me from buying a new game each month for 7.5 years. Now WoW has kept me from buying anything for 1.5 years. Long term commitment to a game "system" (engine, patches, add-ons, new engine, etc.) will likely be the new trend.
Personally, I don't understand the attraction of game consoles. Sure I had my Atari 2600, Nintendo, Super NES, Sega Genesis... but when I saw the trend that a new console was going to come out each year, from three different companies and the games would not be backward compatible?!?!!?!? Heck, no, I wouldn't be sinking my money into that industry. Instead I sink it into a single MMO, and I consider it my entertainment budget.
What can a console do that a PC can't do? I have yet to be able to see the difference in graphics or hear the difference in sound. I have much more control with a keyboard and mouse than any directional pad/joystick and eight buttons can give. With an emulator I can dumb my computer down to any console.
I can't say as I blame Christopher. "The Hobbit" was written for he and his brother(s?). It's much more personal to him than LotR.
I was completely divided on the LotR movies. I truly enjoyed seeing Jackson's vision of Tolkien's writings brought to life. However, the massive changes and ommissions were inexcusable.
Perhaps the Tolkien estate can work with Jackson and his writers and come to a compromise: stick to the book AND make it a great film.
The author started losing me when he based his philosophy and life lessons on Street Fighter. Lost me even more when he considers Raph the creator of UO and SWG. He was a team member, but I wouldn't credit him with the creative initiative. (I like Raph personally, but I strongly disagree with his odd ideals of how MMO players/societies should function.)
I think the points of time > skill and group >solo are taken completely out of context. As many others have stated here, investing time in most situations means that you will finish with a better result. Investing time in WoW means that you want to reach those lofty goals set by the developers. The amazingnly attractive thing about WoW is how it appeals to so many different playstyles, namely leisure and hardcore. I'm a leisure player. I don't expect to have the elite loot because I haven't invested the time or the skill to earn it. Hardcore players do. If the author thinks that simply playing the game and spending time in the virtual world earns rewards, how sadly mistaken. What did he do those two years in WoW? It takes a coordinated group with the right mix of skilled individuals a serious amount of time to accomplish one goal that may result in a reward for two to four people. From where I come from, we call that "teamwork" and "compromise."
Group > solo? I'm an introvert, too. That's why I enjoy MMO's. It allows me to be the fly on the wall and raise my hand to speak up when I feel like it. No one forces anyone to be in a group, a guild or run an instance. More often I see individuals from different guilds get together to conquer a quest, a boss monster or an instance. You rarely hear about a single guild running an instance. There are always openings for others. Listen to the LFG channel for five minutes. I like soloing, too, because it allows me to avoid commitment to a group or responsibility of helping anyone else. I know I'm missing out on some awesome experiences and better equipment. My choice; my loss. Blizzard knows this, though. One of the developers has already spoken out that the expansion will include quests to get high level equipment for casual gamers. The whole experience system with the rest bar was designed for casual gamers. If you don't play for a while, you'll be able to gain XP faster when you return than someone who plays constantly. Blizzard knows the different types of players and they know how to appeal to most of them. 5.5 million gamers are proving that.
ToS. "...treating players like they're children..." Have you listened to general chat in WoW? They ARE children or at least juvenile-minded. Blame this on our country's legal system. "Someone spilled coffe on themselves and was burned? Sue the company." Someone got sick because they drank shampoo because the bottle didn't say they couldn't? Blame the company." Blizzard is legally protecting themselves just like any other company must these days. It's simply that's Blizzard's arena is a virtual world, not a restaurant or grocery store. Personally, there are numerous other activities that I believe should be added to the ToS.
While I completley and totally disagree with Sirlin, I'll gladly give him his space for opinion. We're all different and we all have different tastes. I cannot fathom how someone could stand to play Street Fighter for more than an hour without getting completley bored. Obviously, he cannot fathom how to play a MMO in your own style and enjoy it.
- Does it look the same on another computer (try PC or laptop)
- Does it change if you wiggle the cable? Can you replace the cable?
- Does changing the monitor color setting affect it? (If you were using 6500k try 9700k; try shifting the red down)
- Have you tried something like the Adobe gamma utility to adjust the settings?
Best suggestion I can offer is when you buy your next LCD monitor...
1) Make sure it's a Samsung
2) Make sure you get a digital interface (DVI) and use a card with a DVI connection
Good luck.
I've been using MS AntiSpyware for months with no issues and surprisingly good results. This new feature to remove Norton is a bonus. Norton is difficult enough to remove unassisted. Typically when I find a client with Norton, my first recommendation is to backup their data, wipe the HD and reinstall everything except Norton.
As many others have stated here, Norton Utilities for DOS were good. Somehow Symantec/Norton never learned how to use Windows, though. I've witnessed Norton showing the most false positives of any product and effectively taking over the system until it is unusable. I was never surprised when using a McAfee virus scan that Norton AV and utilities showed up as viruses.
Anyone I meet who uses Norton, I automatically classify as "uninformed." 90% of the time they're using AOL, too. I feel it is my duty as a technically saavy IT professional to educate them and free them of their mass-marketed, money-consuming, technically useless demons.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but... "Good job, Microsoft!"
Use jobs sites, lots of them. Set up agents on Monster, Dice, CareerBuilder, etc. Each night when you get home, spend some time checking those agents and applying for jobs.
Use a recruiter that does not charge you a fee. Most recruiting companies today make their money from the hiring company. Call recruiters during your lunch break and ask up front how they are paid. If they want a fee from you or (worst I've ever heard) half of your first year's salary at the new job, then leave. If they want your business, they'll do something about it.
Before serving as the TI Manager, I regularly worked 10 hours days. I'm one of those people that believe hard work will get you somewhere, and if you do a good job, surely someone will notice and reward you. UTTER BS, at least at this company. I'm not to the point of refusing projects when my plate is already full, but I do not let anything other than emergencies keep me from leaving by 6:30 every evening. Because I'm in infrastructure, evenings and weekend work are par for the course, but often that's planned and I can work my personal life around it.
I too want something better. After reading http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html , I did a bit of soul searching. I'm definitely not happy in IT after 22 years. Computers used to be fun to me. Now even tinkering with mine at home feels like work. I have a need to help people, and I think I'm supposed to be some kind of healer. I know I'd be happy if I knew my work helped someone else. I haven't taken action yet, but I know of opportunities for massage therapy and possibly chiropractic care. In order to have time to work on this, I'll need a less demanding job....
My interview is next Wednesday. Wish me luck.
I think others have summed it up well here: take care of yourself, say "no" when warranted, and make the time to make a change.
That is the most positive statement I've ever heard any authority figure say when a video game (or music or D&D) was remotely linked to an accident.
When the parents sue (and I fully expect they will), I want to hear the judge state "There is a small percentage, a very small percentage, of parents who cannot tell the difference between responsibility for their children and blaming the world for their lack of parenting skill."
Rather interesting a few articles back was about 35% of parents game. I'm guessing the detective is a gamer. Ironic, too, that I mentioned Need for Speed in my reply to that post just before I read this one.
I'm creeped out now. Back to work.
Our girls are 5 and 8. The 8 year old plays WoW with mommy using a char on my account. Her level 37 night elf hunter kicks butt, and she is very excited about getting her tiger mount at 40. The 5 year old enjoys Reader Rabbit and her Dora games. Recently the girls have discovered a taste for racing games. I purchased a racing wheel with pedals and some older games (Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit). They're really enjoying the sense of driving.
Furthermore, I have emulators and ROMs for our old NES and SNES so I don't have to drag those boxes out and hook them up; we just play on the PC. They get a kick out of the old graphics, and I do, too.
I not only see these as chances for us to share an experience, but I see my girls gaining skills that should be everyday by now. (If a person doesn't know how to use a computer these days, they're either a senior citizen or a garbage collector.) Even the driving games are a practical learning experience. I expect they'll know the basics of driving by the time we get to the teen years and driver's education. These skills will be second nature to this generation, and they'll grow up just considering computers an everyday device instead of some tool only used for work or a hobby that geeks toy with.
I agree this study seems a bit shallow and does not provide enough detail to be useful. What I'd like to see is a survey of general computer skills throughout the world. Who can use a computer for basics (typing, surfing)? What percentage are moderate or expert users? (definitions needed obviously) Of those, what percentage game and to what extent? Now add the kids playing games or using computers with or without the parents and you start to get a realistic picture of our world's future with computers.
However, upon checking ABC's website to validate my memory lapse, I was instantly reminded of another, horrible example of Disney's hypocritical attitude shift from goody-goody to shock TV: "Desparate Housewives"
I've never watched it myself because just the commercials turn me off so I cannot comment on it directly. I will say that I've never heard anything good about it from my co-workers who watch it.
"The Incredibles" was, well, incredible. The colors, action and story keep my girls interested. The inuendo and high-level humor keep my wife and I interested. There are very few Disney films that can hold my attention after the first viewing.
My major problem with Disney is their hypocrisy.
I remember the stink they raised in the 90's about their gay employees. I think it had something to do with the Southern Baptist convention choosing Disneyworld as their meeting site numerous times. So Disney goes through a "purification" phase where everything they touch will be pure and family oriented. Shortly afterwards they purchased ABC. For perhaps nine months, it could have been the Family channel. Then the numbers dropped and they resort to typical shock TV. "The Shield." Now ABC and Disney is anything but pure. Maybe that's why their animators slip almost invisible sexual graphics into their cartoons and movies.
What someone just posted here makes me think even less of Disney. It never occured to me that all those fairy tales they turned into movies were public domain. I always wondered who they paid to get the legal rights to all that material. Obviously, no one. Mouse ear wearing bastards.
After you've read that, ask yourself, "Do I really enjoy what I do?"
If the answer is "No," by all means, look for another career and best of luck to you. Granted wherever you go and whatever you do, there's a 97% chance you'll be working with a computer on some level. Furthermore, because you are IT experienced, anyone and everyone that finds that out will be asking you for help, so it won't be as if you're leaving the IT career, you'll just have another, probably more satisfying career on the side while you continue to do IT support.
If you answer "Yes," all I can say is knuckle down.
Welcome to the pits, the grind, the bottom rung. Regardless of your title or experience in IT, executives consider you just as important as the janitor. I've been working in IT professionally for 22 years now. I'm a system administrator for a small company, and every day I leave feeling as if I accomplished absolutely nothing. Even when I perform small miracles (served as SysAdmin AND IT Manger for one year), I receive no recognition, no thanks and definitely no financial reward or time off. "It's expected."
As for the training, the company definitely owes you that training if they expect you to fill the role. However, it is up to the discretion of the company leaders. We've got a network admin who's in the same situation as you. They moved him from desktop support to network admin, changed him from hourly to salary and told him to get MCSE certified on his own time. The company will foot the bill for the tests. I know, whoopity do.
I was fortunate in my training that the company was doing well and for the nine months I had been here to that point, I had no training at all. I was able to financially justify the cost of a MCSE bootcamp. It was the most intense two weeks I've ever experienced yet, but it was worth it. I'm a husband and father of two kids. That's part of the reason I chose the bootcamp: to avoid household distractions and stress. I honestly cannot suggest anything to help you as a wife, homemaker and breadwinner except to get your husband to share your plan of training and pitch in more than he does now. If he can just be self-sufficient, that would probably help you out considerably. I know I don't generally contribute enough at home, but if my wife wanted to commit to something like training (or college or an evening job), I'd step up to it.
You might talk to HR or your manager and see if you could schedule an hour or two a week at work for study time, or even better, a half day off each week dedicated to studying. It's a long shot, but worth the time to ask. I'm guessing like many of us you work 45, 50 or more hours per week. If you're salary and still get your work done, there should be little issue. See if they'll agree to a trial run.
Personally, I've been re-evaluating my career over the past two years. It's not worth it. I enjoy technology and I enjoy solving problems, but what a company makes me do for work is completely unsatisfying. I'm working on making a career change myself.
Visit www.ftc.gov and look for e-mail addresses. I found OIG@ftc.gov.
Then visit ANY sweepstakes website, shopping website or just about anywhere that might have a pop-up and submit that e-mail as a contact.
Granted the voluntary submission is not what CAN-SPAM is about so the results won't be visible right away. When that e-mail gets sold or scanned, THEN they'll see how CAN-SPAM is working.
On an interesting side note, I see how the FTC controls spam: they hardly put any e-mails or contact information on their website. About all you can do is fill out a form for them to contact you.
Delusional indeed.
I suggest everyone fight spam the way I do. Every few years change your ISP. In the process create your primary account with an obscure name that has nothing to do with your name or any real name that a name generator might hit. Then create a secondary account for shopping, sweepstakes, etc. NEVER give out the primary account e-mail address.
I had a very similar experience. I was acting IT Manager for 10 months last year. Due to adding other members to the team and the possibility that I would fill the position, I was moved out of our secure lab to a lockable office. I was not chosen for the position and was summarily dumped out into a cube next to our developers. I had no issues about the loss of physical security nor privacy, but I did voice my concern of people being able to see my screens or over my cube wall while I may be working on sensative files (finance, HR, executive initiatives, etc.). Now I simply have to work in a paranoid fashion: always watching over my shoulder and constantly hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del if I'm on a project and someone walks into my cube.
There is hope that our lab may be expanded and I'll be able to be in a secure location again, but I'm not holding my breath.
Despite the obvious security issues, there are the misunderstandings as several clueless replies indicate here. Just because I have an article from Slashdot, Yahoo or Tom's Hardware open does not indicate I'm not working. It is in the nature of our job to keep up on technology, to understand how other technologies may indirectly affect our systems or (as often happens with me) the CEO has asked me to look up something on large LCD screens, digital cameras or possibly gifts for his family, all of which look like play to the average user.
I typically get a chuckle from users who think I'm wasting time because I realize that indicates guilt: if they could be surfing the web and wasting time, they would.
I can only suggest what I do and what others have suggested: 1) keep a clean desk 2) lock up everything 3) watch over your shoulder (get a rear-view mirror)
Good luck.
I had someone on my server ask me "How'd you get that name?" referring to my dwarf warrior, Bombur (from Tolkien's "The Hobbit"). I stated that I'd had it since I created him in December.
This player went on to describe how a friend of his made a character of "JediKnight" or "Darth(random name)" and was told almost immediatley after logging in that his name vioalted the TOS and must be changed.
I figure I've been lucky, or more realistically, George Lucas' lawyers are much more threatening than anyone from the Tolkien estate. :-)
I, too, am attached to my psuedonym of 21 years now (It's not my login here, nor will I provide it since some random jerk might see it and register it elsewhere just for the chaos factor of it.) I was grateful to get that char name in WoW, and I'm grateful that it's not from literature, a movie or anything else that might cause it to be censored or changed.
I think in order to understand what moviegoers experience, some of these executives need to go to a typical cinema. THEN maybe they'll understand why people are preferring to watch movies at home.
1) Get dressed and drive to the theater. Not only do I have to put on clothes, but I have to risk my life in traffic with idiots, find a place to park (possibly pay for parking) and then risk my car being damaged or stolen in the parking lot.
2) Purchase a ticket. Will the prices ever stop? I'm dreading the day when a gallon of gas costs as much as a movie ticket. To my understanding from those who have worked at cinemas before, the ticket price is only to cover the cost of the cinema "renting" the movie from the studio. The cinema makes no money on the ticket sales. I think both moviegoer and cinema are getting robbed here. Hollywood would have us believe these price increases are due to priacy. As we've seen in numerous articles, piracy has no impact on movie profit.
3) Purchase food. OMG!!! I could have a steak dinner for the price of a bucket of popcorn and a drink. No thank you. I only buy food at the theater when I'm feeling rich, which is hardly ever. Sadly, THIS is where the cinema makes its profit. Boy, they should be rolling in it.
4) Advertising. If you arrive early to get a parking spot, buy food and find a good seat, you're tortured with slides of local advertising. THEN when the lights dim and the camera starts, you get MORE advertising. Once that's over you get previews of upcoming movies. Okay, this is desirable advertising but it's still advertising. By the time the movie starts, I've often forgotten what movie I just paid to see.
5) Interruptions. Cell phones, pagers, laser pointers. Need I say more? I wish they could create EMPs in cinemas that would cripple all such devices or at least enforce a "good movie experience for everyone" policy. THIS is the main reason I don't go to a movie.
6) Bio breaks. It happens. You or someone near you has to go to the bathroom. The movie doesn't stop. If it's you, you're interrupting someone else as you move out, you miss a couple minutes of the movie, and you have trouble finding your seat coming back since your eyes can't adjust that fast. Then you cause more interruption by asking those with you "What happened?" If it's not you, it's even more annoying when all this happens in front of or near you.
7) Trash. It disgusts me when the lights come on that nearly EVERYONE leaves their cups, popcorn buckets and other trash all over the theater. I pick up my own trash and pity the cleaning crew I see coming in. Then it dawned on me. THIS is what we're paying for at the concession stand. It costs more money for this crew to be in here cleaning when another movie should be starting almost immediately. Plus, I hate that sticky floor.
Now I much prefer my current method.
I simply wait a few months for a movie I heard about to hit DVD or cable. Whenever I like, I stroll into my living room wearing (or not) whatever I wish, pop in the DVD, crank up my 6.1 sound system and turn on my 52" DLP screen. I pop a bag of $0.40 popcorn, grab a $0.25 soda, kick back and enjoy my front row. I'm comfortable, I'm safe, I'm saving money and all interruptions can be handled.
Basically it comes down to patience. Are you the type of moviegoer that MUST see the movie when it first comes out? Is it worth the inconvenieces to see it? Or can you wait until it hits DVD so you can experience it in the best environment possible?
With the exception of my extreme favorites (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars & Star Trek), I'm always of the latter group.
Let the studio heads go to a movie like everyone else and see if the movies they're making are worth the trouble of actually going to the movie. 95% of the time, I think not.
I've never been at any company more than 5 years. I've been a system/network administrator for 21 years now. In each job I would learn something new, improve myself, improve the company and move on when forced to do so or when a better opportunity presented itself. In every job I've been duly rewarded, until this year.
Least year I earned my MCSE in two weeks, my CCNA in one week and I served as "acting" departmental manager for 11 months. Not only was I not considered for the permanent position, but when the permanent manager was hired, I gave up my office to him, I was given no financial compensation or reward and I wasn't even told "thank you for giving up another 25% of your life for our company." I am at this point distraught.
The company used to have a wonderful environment: positive, everyone enjoyed their job, company parties on a regular basis, etc. Now I can see it all around me: drudgery, people just going through the motions, budget tightening. I'm hesitant to jump ship because I dread the possibility of getting into a worse environment and I don't want to have to prove myself to someone all over again, but I guess it's time.
At any rate, my long vent is simply to enforce "Take care of yourself." No matter how much you do for a company or how much you feel you are indespensible, someone higher up with no clue of how much your job affects the company will decide you are expendible.
Blizzard is Da BOMB when it comes to development!
If Sony, Microsoft or any EA-sucked-in company put half as much effort developing and debugging as Blizzard does, THEY would have good games, too.
I was impressed when I heard Blizzard delayed the release of Diablo 2. It was worth the wait. WoW also had some delays. Again, worth the wait. The servers/connectivity/lag issues were all related to an unanticipated response from customers: too few copies, too few servers and too little bandwidth. That's all been resolved now to support the record number of subscribers.
Every other company could learn a great deal from Blizzard.
For a while I feared that EA would use their muscle to buy out and ruin Blizzard, like they did Origin, Maxis and a dozen other developer companies. Now, I have little fear of that since Blizzard is doing so well. I'll gladly keep paying my $15/month to thwart EA from conquering the computer gaming world.
In the early 90's, certs were all the rage. Companies thought that if someone had a cert, they were automatically qualified. Oh, how they were burned.
Then in the late 90's, certs weren't worth the paper they were printed on, so regardless of how much you really knew or how much experience you had, if you had numerous certs the knee-jerk reaction was to pass you by.
Then and now the single path that has proven the most worthwhile for employees and employers is the combination of both: certification supported by experience, or experience confirmed by certifications. I'm of the latter crowd. I've been working on PCs and networks professionally since 1984. In 1997 I earned the CompTIA A+ (I took it on a whim while working towards MCSE NT 4.0) In June 2004 I attended a boot camp for two weeks and came away with four certs (MCP, MCSA, MCSE, Security +), then in December I earned my CCNA after a 5 day course. I'm not much smarter than I was before the courses, but people seem to think I am. :-)
My certs had no impact on my position or my salary, but if I decide to depart this company, I know I'll be greeted more warmly at the next one.
Will this service eventually be expanded to where players can move a character from any server to any other server? (I'm sure players would pay for this capability and would not mind changing character names if they already exist.)
I'd also like to know if this service might become more granular. My daughter now has a character on my account. Eventually I see us buying another account for her, but I don't want her to have to start over. Would it be possible to transfer a single character from one account to another?
My all time favorite is Talisman with or without all the add-on boards and cards.
You may or may not be able to find it nowadays. Games Workshop revived the basic set in April 2003.
If you purely like the strategy/world conquest themes, then you may not like Talisman. It's more of a RPG board game.