Metacafe pays anyone with enough views as well, so long as it's original content. I think YouTube needs to start sharing more fairly like these sites do. It's not like they can't afford to share a little on all popular videos. These smaller sites are doing it already.
Worse I think are the people who refer to their computer as their 'CPU', having no clue what a CPU really is or what it looks like. To them the whole computer is the CPU, and you can add hard drives and stuff inside it.
Well jeez maybe you should take the next step and toss out your computer. You are sitting mesmerized by it right now, just like those people you mentioned who are busy enjoying TV shows on TV. I don't see much of a difference. Brain sucking boxes? Why the elitist attitude? You are looking at a very similar box right now, just like TV watchers, except they are more comfortable on their living room couches.
The Neverwinter Nights Aurora toolset has been out for years, and it doesn't take a genius to do it unless you're adding custom scripting. You hit the nail on the head there. NWN pre-release hype promised you'd be able to recreate all your favorite pen-n-paper adventures with the easy to use editor that had a slew of wizards to help a newbie do pretty much anything they wanted. In fact the wizards were very limited and anyone who wanted to make anything but the most simplistic hack-n-slash dungeons was required to learn NWN script, which is basically a watered down version of C. This is good for C programmers, but for normal people it is mind boggling and nearly impossible. It didn't help that they released it with no script documentation. It was a terrible bait and switch. It's like saying that designing a suspension bridge is easy and anyone can do it (fineprint...provided you already have a degree in engineering).
You have a good point, but I think they might be a little biased. More people gambling in second life could mean less people flying to vegas to get their gambling fix.
FYI if you really want to play D&D sometime, forget the books and look for an active group to join. You don't need any books to play except the player's handbook, and even that is optional. The DM will have all the books he needs, and probably a spare players handbook you can look at.
How many meters per second is that? Where's our metric system for timekeeping? The current clock system based on 12's and 60's needs a metric overhaul IMHO. Good luck getting people to convert to that though. Military time is confusing enough to most non-military types.
It doesn't need to be that hard. A simple question like 'How many yards are in a quarter mile?' or 'How many inches in three and a half yards?' is almost always enough to get someone doing math in thier heads for a few seconds as they try to defend the imperial system.
Someone please mod the parent a troll. Bakula was star of the long running highly regarded sci-fi TV series "Quantum Leap", and has starred in a few feature films, asside from his Enterprise experience.
I'm guilty of some sneering at the 'average' computer user, and I'm working on that, but I'd like to point something out: ..
Basically I sometimes wonder whether putting a PC in every home was such a hot idea after all.
I think you need to keep working on that, as you are still doing it in case you didn't notice.
I think it's about immortality and making a permanent mark on history. Do you know who was the first man to set foot on the moon? Do you think your great grandkids will also know the name? If humanity goes on for 10,000 more years expanding to hundreds of other solar systems, the name will still be remembered.
Cheat codes are a ompletely different issue. They are used almost excusively in single player games that don't effect anyone else's gameplay. If you want to cheat against other people (and make them unhappy in the process) you have to turn to an outside source. A bot program. I don't know of any games that include cheat codes designed to work in multiplayer, spoiling the fun of your opponents.
I know that many are working hard to detect and ban bot programs because they ruin the game for honest players, spending money to avoid losing customers. Going after the bot writers is just the next step.
1) He's not interfering with the sale of their product or the collection of profits, so tortious interfence is unlikely. (no money to be made in trial.)
I disagree. You only have to look at some of the above comments to see that bots annoy thier customers, and thus might hurt thier profits due to cancellations. They could sue for damages from lost revenue.
Ideally, we could have both. A game that is fun to play and also leaves a lasting impression with it's message. Why would anyone be against that? It would go over the heads of those who don't care, but they would still have fun.
I love PC games and have been playing them since the BBS days. I don't own any consoles because my gaming rig is always better than the latest console, as are the games (unless they are bad console ports). I would switch completely to linux if they could achieve 100% compatability. Until then, I'll stick with windows. Lack of game compatibility is the -only- barrier for me to make the switch, and it's an all or nothing decision. I won't settle for 98% compatability is what I mean, because chances are the odd game that doesn't work will be the one I want to play most.
Yes I loved Deus Ex and even liked Deus Ex2...I'm talking about more modern shooters like Doom3, Quake4, Prey (these are all pretty much the same game) and most any other shooter released in the past 10 years that isn't Deus Ex or System Shock 2. Even Half-Life 1 & 2 are basically long corridors to the end with no real divergent paths.
They said the same about "The Sims", which as far as I know is still the best selling PC 'game' in history. They probably said the same about the original SimCity so you'd think they would have learned by now that a game doesn't need to be won to have fun.
Perhaps if you can destroy all the planets in the Milky Way Galaxy, you can declare yourself the winner? Or maybe go for a galactic cultural domination, or total univeral annihilation. Or maybe just getting off earth is the big win. You can decide, and that makes it 10x more a game than any of the always-on-rails FPS games that are so prevalant these days. When I play those I'm left wondering why didn't they just make it into a movie since it plays the same every time.
Can anyone explain the copyright barriers that might be involved in making a movie using a game engine and game characters like they've done? Unless it's a parody of said game, I don't think it comes under fair use and could be copyright infringement. Or am I missing something?
I never realized there were so many flat earthers on slashdot. We didn't -need- color when monocrhome was good enough, and then why bother going beyond EGA? It let you do all the colorful pie charts and graphs you might want for your business activities. VGA is pretentious and pointless...why would we need a graphical browser when LYNX works just fine to get the information you need. Why do computers ever need to make sound? (this is one I got from my mom)...nevermind 5.1 surround sound...that's moronic. How can you navigate in a 3D world with a mouse and keyboard? Impossible! (boom headshot! pwned!) I'm not wearing those stupid glasses. Broadband? For what purpose?? More porn? No program should ever need more than 640k of memory. FYI you can still look at a flat screen in the metaverse and the whole WWW fits on it, tabs and all. Ain't that something. Seeya there in a few years. I'll be the big red dragon flying overhead while you rotate in place trying to figure out the controls to move.
Because our current materials aren't strong enough, so they're working to make stronger materials. But then why, when they have these nanotube woven ribbons, would they stop at a ribbon? Why not use these super materials to build s super structure instead of trying to dangle a ton from a super strong hair? Why not weave those ribbons into thick cords or girder-like hard materials to build something real?
I've recently reactived my account and have been having a blast. It's a massive FPS with a full range of futuristic vehicles and weapons. In my outfit we have a tank division, air corps, infantry, special ops, etc. When the whole outfit gets together weekly it's an amazing experience with all the different divisions working together as a combined force. Picture 15 tanks rolling out of sanctuary with 20 or 30 aircraft flying above escorting several galaxy transports loaded with infantry and half a dozen battlemechs running alongside. As far as I know you can only do this sort of thing in Planetside. I hope the fodder program brings lots of new players into the game.
Don't underestimate the trekies. Back in the 90's I played a MUD called TrekMoo that was very good. They had starships where a different person would man each station like the helm, navigation, engineering, etc and you could do space battles, all with a text interface. New players could start on any of the DS9 era alien homeworlds and fly around in shuttles to different planets and space stations. It was very detailed and the most immersive and cool mud I ever played.
And chances are they're still running it on the same old 486 system with a 28.8k modem, judging by the everpresent lag. At least that how it seemed the last time I checked a couple years ago.
I think the problem with Star Wars today is more with the grown up 'lucas raped my childhood' ex-fans constantly bashing it. Once they die off Star Wars will retain it's place in history as one of the great classics of sci-fi fantasy films, prequals and (hopefully) sequals included....and no, I'm not trolling though I'm sure I'll be modded a troll for suggesting that the prequals might not be so bad.
It is my belief that Black Holes are merely objects with enough gravity to divert light particles. None of the modern mumbo-jumbo besides that applies. Just gravity. This invalidates the majority of current thoeries built on theories build on theories such as the warping of space-time, string theory, etc. It's a terrible shame that the greatest minds on the planet waste thier time building more and more wild theories based on Einstien's mistake. History will show this age of science to be similar to how the ancients believed the state of the universe to be when they believed that the sun and planets revolved around the earth. Go ahead and flame me, but history will prove me right. Einstien worked until his death trying to find the missing key to the link between electricity, magnetism, and gravity...the unfication, and to revise his theory of relativity because he knew that it wasn't quite right. And now we've had generations of great scientists who take it as gospel and much of the science they build on it's base is a sad fantasy that diverts us from moving forward.
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Metacafe pays anyone with enough views as well, so long as it's original content. I think YouTube needs to start sharing more fairly like these sites do. It's not like they can't afford to share a little on all popular videos. These smaller sites are doing it already.
Worse I think are the people who refer to their computer as their 'CPU', having no clue what a CPU really is or what it looks like. To them the whole computer is the CPU, and you can add hard drives and stuff inside it.
Well jeez maybe you should take the next step and toss out your computer. You are sitting mesmerized by it right now, just like those people you mentioned who are busy enjoying TV shows on TV. I don't see much of a difference. Brain sucking boxes? Why the elitist attitude? You are looking at a very similar box right now, just like TV watchers, except they are more comfortable on their living room couches.
You have a good point, but I think they might be a little biased. More people gambling in second life could mean less people flying to vegas to get their gambling fix.
FYI if you really want to play D&D sometime, forget the books and look for an active group to join. You don't need any books to play except the player's handbook, and even that is optional. The DM will have all the books he needs, and probably a spare players handbook you can look at.
How many meters per second is that? Where's our metric system for timekeeping? The current clock system based on 12's and 60's needs a metric overhaul IMHO. Good luck getting people to convert to that though. Military time is confusing enough to most non-military types.
It doesn't need to be that hard. A simple question like 'How many yards are in a quarter mile?' or 'How many inches in three and a half yards?' is almost always enough to get someone doing math in thier heads for a few seconds as they try to defend the imperial system.
Someone please mod the parent a troll. Bakula was star of the long running highly regarded sci-fi TV series "Quantum Leap", and has starred in a few feature films, asside from his Enterprise experience.
I'm guilty of some sneering at the 'average' computer user, and I'm working on that, but I'd like to point something out:
..
Basically I sometimes wonder whether putting a PC in every home was such a hot idea after all.
I think you need to keep working on that, as you are still doing it in case you didn't notice.
I think it's about immortality and making a permanent mark on history. Do you know who was the first man to set foot on the moon? Do you think your great grandkids will also know the name? If humanity goes on for 10,000 more years expanding to hundreds of other solar systems, the name will still be remembered.
Cheat codes are a ompletely different issue. They are used almost excusively in single player games that don't effect anyone else's gameplay. If you want to cheat against other people (and make them unhappy in the process) you have to turn to an outside source. A bot program. I don't know of any games that include cheat codes designed to work in multiplayer, spoiling the fun of your opponents. I know that many are working hard to detect and ban bot programs because they ruin the game for honest players, spending money to avoid losing customers. Going after the bot writers is just the next step.
Ideally, we could have both. A game that is fun to play and also leaves a lasting impression with it's message. Why would anyone be against that? It would go over the heads of those who don't care, but they would still have fun.
I love PC games and have been playing them since the BBS days. I don't own any consoles because my gaming rig is always better than the latest console, as are the games (unless they are bad console ports). I would switch completely to linux if they could achieve 100% compatability. Until then, I'll stick with windows. Lack of game compatibility is the -only- barrier for me to make the switch, and it's an all or nothing decision. I won't settle for 98% compatability is what I mean, because chances are the odd game that doesn't work will be the one I want to play most.
Yes I loved Deus Ex and even liked Deus Ex2...I'm talking about more modern shooters like Doom3, Quake4, Prey (these are all pretty much the same game) and most any other shooter released in the past 10 years that isn't Deus Ex or System Shock 2. Even Half-Life 1 & 2 are basically long corridors to the end with no real divergent paths.
They said the same about "The Sims", which as far as I know is still the best selling PC 'game' in history. They probably said the same about the original SimCity so you'd think they would have learned by now that a game doesn't need to be won to have fun. Perhaps if you can destroy all the planets in the Milky Way Galaxy, you can declare yourself the winner? Or maybe go for a galactic cultural domination, or total univeral annihilation. Or maybe just getting off earth is the big win. You can decide, and that makes it 10x more a game than any of the always-on-rails FPS games that are so prevalant these days. When I play those I'm left wondering why didn't they just make it into a movie since it plays the same every time.
Can anyone explain the copyright barriers that might be involved in making a movie using a game engine and game characters like they've done? Unless it's a parody of said game, I don't think it comes under fair use and could be copyright infringement. Or am I missing something?
I never realized there were so many flat earthers on slashdot. We didn't -need- color when monocrhome was good enough, and then why bother going beyond EGA? It let you do all the colorful pie charts and graphs you might want for your business activities. VGA is pretentious and pointless...why would we need a graphical browser when LYNX works just fine to get the information you need. Why do computers ever need to make sound? (this is one I got from my mom)...nevermind 5.1 surround sound...that's moronic. How can you navigate in a 3D world with a mouse and keyboard? Impossible! (boom headshot! pwned!) I'm not wearing those stupid glasses. Broadband? For what purpose?? More porn? No program should ever need more than 640k of memory. FYI you can still look at a flat screen in the metaverse and the whole WWW fits on it, tabs and all. Ain't that something. Seeya there in a few years. I'll be the big red dragon flying overhead while you rotate in place trying to figure out the controls to move.
Because our current materials aren't strong enough, so they're working to make stronger materials. But then why, when they have these nanotube woven ribbons, would they stop at a ribbon? Why not use these super materials to build s super structure instead of trying to dangle a ton from a super strong hair? Why not weave those ribbons into thick cords or girder-like hard materials to build something real?
I've recently reactived my account and have been having a blast. It's a massive FPS with a full range of futuristic vehicles and weapons. In my outfit we have a tank division, air corps, infantry, special ops, etc. When the whole outfit gets together weekly it's an amazing experience with all the different divisions working together as a combined force. Picture 15 tanks rolling out of sanctuary with 20 or 30 aircraft flying above escorting several galaxy transports loaded with infantry and half a dozen battlemechs running alongside. As far as I know you can only do this sort of thing in Planetside. I hope the fodder program brings lots of new players into the game.
Don't underestimate the trekies. Back in the 90's I played a MUD called TrekMoo that was very good. They had starships where a different person would man each station like the helm, navigation, engineering, etc and you could do space battles, all with a text interface. New players could start on any of the DS9 era alien homeworlds and fly around in shuttles to different planets and space stations. It was very detailed and the most immersive and cool mud I ever played.
And chances are they're still running it on the same old 486 system with a 28.8k modem, judging by the everpresent lag. At least that how it seemed the last time I checked a couple years ago.
I think the problem with Star Wars today is more with the grown up 'lucas raped my childhood' ex-fans constantly bashing it. Once they die off Star Wars will retain it's place in history as one of the great classics of sci-fi fantasy films, prequals and (hopefully) sequals included. ...and no, I'm not trolling though I'm sure I'll be modded a troll for suggesting that the prequals might not be so bad.
It is my belief that Black Holes are merely objects with enough gravity to divert light particles. None of the modern mumbo-jumbo besides that applies. Just gravity. This invalidates the majority of current thoeries built on theories build on theories such as the warping of space-time, string theory, etc. It's a terrible shame that the greatest minds on the planet waste thier time building more and more wild theories based on Einstien's mistake. History will show this age of science to be similar to how the ancients believed the state of the universe to be when they believed that the sun and planets revolved around the earth. Go ahead and flame me, but history will prove me right. Einstien worked until his death trying to find the missing key to the link between electricity, magnetism, and gravity...the unfication, and to revise his theory of relativity because he knew that it wasn't quite right. And now we've had generations of great scientists who take it as gospel and much of the science they build on it's base is a sad fantasy that diverts us from moving forward.