There's no reason other than bragging rights and honestly in computer games, It doesn't matter at all
Last time I checked the entire WoW community revolves around the concept of possessing the biggest, shiniest, chock-full-of-stats l00tz. Furthermore, WoW players will pay hundreds of dollars for a card containing an unlock code so an purple monkey with wings and horns that serve no purpose other than to follow their character around.
While there may not be any reason other than bragging rights to own this laptop, bragging rights matter a great deal to the community this technological terror is marketed to. While it may not sell like gangbusters, I'm sure they'll ship more than a few of these.
I'm wondering if Blizzard might set the movie during the current WoW timeframe and create an opportunity for a reverse Tie In. I have seen SWG and MxO fail dismally, despite the iconic status of the characters which exist in their respective franchises; however, Blizzard could offer a new level of interactive content.
Naturally, it would be easy to have players re-enact certain quests or events that occur in the movie, but Blizzard could also introduce content within the movie and have players explore it interactively within WoW. In addition, certain elements could be decided by in-game events and the eventual out come could be fleshed out in the film.
Personally I've always found the Blizzard cut scenes to be well done and extremely engaging. I'm more than willing to explore what they have to offer in terms of feature length content.
I have very fond memories of playing X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter (XvT) with my brother and my best friend over an IPX-SPX network at my house. I'm pretty XvT also functioned over Microsoft's Gaming Zone "Network"; however, as it was in the age of modems, it was near impossible to find a decent host where you wouldn't have players dropping while the mission was loading.
There simply isn't a replacement for the frenetic experience of XvT. I can only imagine what it would be like to play a game like XvT against multiple human opponents over broadband.
This is the second article where I have seen a lot of complaining about the price point. Consider the four to six hours of re-playable entertainment you will receive with the expansion (sorry, episode) for $20.
Considering most new releases on DVD are usually around $18 - 20, why is it unfair that Valve charge $20? IMHO, I think the price is entirely reasonable and will definitely purchase it when it comes out.
Re:kinda crap but makes sense in the UK
on
Supermarket VOIP
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I'm from the US and my phone service provider used to SBC. I switched to vonage over the Summer, but I can't imagine the billing has changed all that much. When I subscribed to SBC, local calls were free, however, it depends on your definition of "local".
For example, I live in Madison. Orange, which is 24.15 miles away (as the wolf runs) is a "local" call. On the other hand, Branford, which is 10.73 miles away, is not a local call and I am charged on a per minute basis.
...the legal-ese and lawyer jibber-jabber that is preventing a company from creating a service where I can download actual.mp3s for a fee? If it's such a taboo issue for the RIAA, then I don't understand why the RIAA does not decide to simply do it themselves.
As a consumer, I am simply tired of having to strip DRMs off of my iTunes purchases just so I can make sure that I can play my music when and where I want, and never have to worry about my music being "inacessible" for some reason.
Any company that decided to offer this service would have immediately be earning my dollars; however, I'm going to have to assume that the masses simply don't care about having DRM free music. As long as it plays on their iPod, everything is fine.
I knew that paladins were best at healing, buffing, and assisting other players going into the class, so I knew what to expect
This statement on its own makes some sense. After all, Paladins do have a dearth of talents that allow them to buff multiple ways. In addition, if you outfit a Paladin with a decent set of cloth, you have a functional secondary healer. If you play them in a creative manner, Paladins can be extremely flexible and helpful in a party.
but I can see why people who choose paladins thinking they'd get a 'holy warrior' are irritated with what they've gotten in exchange.
This I don't understand. Overall, paladins, on their own, stand up as a class. They won't be the first to finish off a mob, but they will last a lot longer against higher level mobs than most classes. If you do your homework, you're going to find a lot of alliance players complaining that paladins do not do enough damage; however, the flip side of the argument comes from horde players saying that they're impossible to kill. So, if the alliance players get their wish, paladins become death dealing nightmares and if Horde players get their wish, paladins become a class that can't heal or deal damage.
This also goes for anyone who gets angry about warriors not doing the most damage, or how x class cannot do y. Warriors aren't supposed to deal the most damage, they're suppose to tank (or take damage) and maintain aggro (keep an enemy's attention). This is the reason why I stopped wasting my time with the Blizzard forums, as it is simply 2% of the player base constantly whining about how their class was not powerful enough.
Class balance does not mean: "my class is more powerful than everyone elses'".
My message is simple: Embrace science, reject religion and it's false promises. The afterlife is a lie
Honestly, I don't understand how your atheism argument differs from those who would pit their religion against another's. You're still attempting to make your theories about life, the universe, and everything seem superior to everyone elses'.
I also don't understand why science can't be an avenue to investigate religion further. If science has provided new evidence that indicates mankind actually originated in Asia, perhaps we've been looking for the Garden of Eden in the wrong place for all of these years. Maybe it's in Asia?
Granted, the above hypothesis sounds silly; however, I use it to illustrate a point: science and religion do not have to be mutually exclusive.
This is perhaps the most eloquent post I have ever read in regards to describing what is wrong with the MMORPG mentality.
I love playing WoW; however, I have balance my play time my real life. I have a job that requires my attention and I'm a rather athletic person, so I need time away from the office and away from my home PC to exercise at the gym or find a pickup game of one sport or another. On top of this, I have recently started taking advanced technical courses in order to educate myself further and hopefully advance my career in IT / IS. As a result, my time to play games has seriously dwindled and I am forced to make decisions on a regular basis as to when to study, when to exercise, and when to play games.
When I first started my course, I realized that I wouldn't be able to keep up with my guild and I started stressing out. I was worried that my guild would kick me out (they didn't) and was worried that I would not get all of my epic set pieces in x amount of time so I could spend time leveling my alt, getting it to a point where I could then get the alt's epic set pieces...
...so begins the vicious cycle.
I took a step back and re-thought why I was playing the game. I was playing the game because I liked to escape into the world of Azeroth and play the part of the hero, all the while having a few laughs with my friends and guildmates either on in-game chat or on teamspeak. So, that's what I did. I calmed down and didn't worry that I was missing a raid so I could go play basketball or study some more. I realized that the next epic set piece was going to be there when I had time to go get it, when I actually wanted to go get it.
Gaming should never be a chore or an agonizing frustration. The second a game becomes either, it's time to unplug and do something else. I promise, the game will be there when you get back.
the OS "forced" the user to run as administrator, thus leading to the breech. The OS in this case should have still prevented the problem.
If you read any official Microsoft documentation regarding the administrator account, they recommend that users do not log on to a workstation with the administrator account as their regular user account. If you need to utilize the administrative account for something like installing an application, you can right click on the executable and use the "Run As" command and type in your administrative credentials and execute the application as an administrator.
The way I learned to play (and eventually the way I GMed) Paranoia was to liberally ignore all of the stats, charts, dice rolls, modifiers, and all of the other "technical" aspects of the game.
We had six character templates that were geared to specific "roles", so when the players arrived they would discuss what they wanted to play that night, so we would never have to roll stats. In addition, we would not need to figure out secret societies or mutant powers, as the GM would write those elements into the adventure. Despite the practice sounding restrictive, no one ever did anything as planned, which always caused interesting (often hilarious) results.
By liberally ignoring structured rules and dice, the GM could move the story along as they saw fit, which made pacing a lot more fun. I've been in numerous D&D campaigns where something came up where a character needed to spend extended time with the DM in order to roll for such and such so they can accomplish a certain task. By throwing out the technicalities, everyone was engaged at all times and decisions had to be made very quickly, which completely fit the mood of the game.
As a result of these decisions, it was very easy to indoctrinate new players into the game, because they didn't have to learn any rules, they simply had to get a feeling for the milleu of the game. In addition, any revisions to the rules really didn't matter. All we needed was new content every once in a while (mutant powers, secret societies, R&D gadgets), which could simply be created by the players or GM.
Regardless, I am glad this game is receiving some new life. I cannot express how hard I have laughed while playing this game. Despite its label of "RPG", I would recommend this game to any group of creative friends, as they don't necessarily need to be gamers in order to enjoy it.
Overall, I thought the article was very good; however, I was tripped up on "The Downside" section.
From TFA:
But most games are not violent. Even if they are war-themed, they're about as violent as playing chess -- which is also a war game. Most games have no violence at all, and some -- especially online multi-player games -- are highly social and require learning the ability to cooperate and compromise.
I might be reading this wrong; however, it seems that Orson Scott Card is making a distinction between violent games (including war-themed games, like Battlefied 2 and Call of Duty) and online multi-player games (World of Warcraft and Puzzle Pirates).
I think Orson Scott Card is making a faux pas by not mentioning that some online multiplayer games are violent AND require learning the ability to cooperate and compromise, along with allowing an indvidual to "stretch their brain".
My favorite online FPS du-jour at the moment is Battlefield 2. Not being in a clan, I am subject to the feast or famine of public servers when it comes to individuals who decide to play as a team in squad and those who decide THEY want to fly the helicopter, so when you decide to get in, they team kill you with C4; however, I've played the game enough to realize that one squad which is organized and skilled, can win a map for a team.
In addition, Battlefield 2, through the multiple class system, allows you to utilize multiple tools in order outsmart your enemy.
Some would consider Battlefield 2 a "murder simulator" and others would begrudge the game because it makes war "appealing"; however, beyond those labels is a game that forces individuals to work together in order to achieve a goal and use their brain and their skill in order to outsmart opponents.
I've played BF:2 enough to achieve rank of Lance Corporal and on my way to promotion, I have experienced a few minor glitches (weird flag capture behavior, bizarre clipping, etc.); however, nothing that has detracted from my enjoyment of the game while playing.
IMHO, I think BF:2 has improved upon the forumla of its predecessors (including Desert Combat). Class balance issues have been addressed, the squad system is absolutely fantastic, and the "Commander" concept works well (if players know how to do it right).
So, the gameplay is solid, not revolutionary mind you, but solid; however, getting into a game is a completely different issue.
I cannot believe I have to use the atrocious in-game browser to find a game. Honestly, it's a terrible browser and it fails on every level to deliver basic, reliable functionality. Servers register a "0" latency occasionally, so I don't know if I can connect to that server or not. In addition, I attempted to use ASE (all-seeing eye) but BF:2 doesn't seem to want to play nice with it.
Since I don't use x-fire, it makes finding a game with my friends very difficult, which, is a terrible shame, because with the squad system, a co-ordinated group of players can do very well.
A thought off the top of my head is to have a feature where players can form squads out of game using the browser and then having the squad leader choose a server for the squad and everyone automatically connects to the chosen server. That sort of functionality would be innovative and very helpful to groups of players who want to play together.
Have you ever ventured out of your house and actually been to a carnival / circus? Oftentimes, there are indviduals who market the event by making wild claims such as the tagline you quoted.
Consdering the project is called Carnival of Gamers, it would seem fitting / humorous that they would do this.
Indeed. These popular, sold out shows are the ones performed by, wait for it, big name movie actors.
What is exactly your point? Throughout this entire discussion, I have been making the assertion that theatre is not dead. Here you make the point that MOVIE actors are making a decision to act in THEATRE projects, and, in turn, putting asses in seats.
Thank you for making my point for me: Movie actors like acting on the stage and people, in turn, like watching them.
Once the big name actors finish their run the show plummets in popularity
Yeah, I guess that explains how shows as: Cats, The Phantom of The Opera, Les Miserables have made successful runs for years, without the help of movie stars to bolster their attendance.
but most Americans have never been to anything more than a high school play or something...
Who's going to see shows like The Lion King, Spamalot, and The Producers, which are often sold out MONTHS in advance while on Broadway (sometimes YEARS in advance)?
How do you explain the absolutely rediculous lines in front TKTS (half price tickets to NYC shows, usually reservation cancellations) on a regular basis?
I wouldn't make the assumption that most Americans have never been to anything more than a high school play. Certainly you don't think that it's the same people seeing these shows over and over again. New York City attracts a lot of tourists (including Americans from different locales). I would imagine that many of them take in a Broadway show while they are in town, considering Broadway is a huge tourist attraction.
Voice synthesis is getting better all the time. One day there won't be a need for "voice actors" just as CGI is replacing actors and 'muppets' (eg Yoda)
You must be joking.
While you point to Yoda as an example, you fail to mention Gollum, who, while CGI, needed a live actor (Andy Serkis) to give animators an idea as to how Gollum would move and act.
If that isn't enough. Here are some other ideas:
While I cannot quote a direct source, when electronic music was becoming rampantly popular in the mid-nineties (Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Future Sound of London) there were journalists who claimed that electronic music would eventually do away with music as we knew it, instruments being replaced by synth machines of every type.
I imagine similar doom was forecasted for the entire live theatre industry when those "moving pictures" first debuted. I could only imagine the horror when "talkies" were displayed on the silver screen.
Nothing. That is a great idea. That would add so much replay value to games that would normally be pawned back to vendors (which, interestingly enough, negatively impacts revenue streams for developers / distributors).
You have to understand though, there are individuals who have the capacity to make project decisions who do not possess any knowledge that is ACTUALLY USEFUL. Unfortunately for us, they need to prove their worth to the company so they can collect their paycheck. Therefore, they will talk about general issues that will cause panic amongst other decision makers. For example:
Project Dev: So, I have this idea: Would-be writers could write new games, or even mods for existing games and execute them on our system. This is a popular trend in modern gaming that has led to successes such as Counter-Strike. We could stand to make a great deal of revenue, as our console would have a feature that is normally only available through PCs. What's not to love about this? Empty Suit: OMG HAXORZ WILL WAREZ OUR GAMES! WTFBBQ!
"Hey, we're at war. How about instead of a meaningful battle, you try and capture my flag, and I'll try and capture yours. Best two of three. After that, we'll shake hands, maybe go again?"
Native American tribes, whilst at war, participated in a practice called "counting coup". This involved an individual sneaking up on a member of a rival tribe (often times when they were encamped, thus they were sneaking into a enemy territory) and tagging them with their "coup stick". The tagee would give the tagger a piece of their personal property to hang from their coup stick.
Such an act was considered more brave than killing someone in battle.
In addition, Native American tribes would often play LaCrosse against each other, rather than go to war in order to solve an altercation.
Curiously, in the Civil War, individuals from opposing armies would meet before battle and trade items with each other.
In World War I, opposing sides would often allow individuals to retrieve their respective wounded from No Man's Land, despite orders from their officers to fire. They belayed orders because they knew if they were wounded, they would want to have a chance at being rescued.
These REAL LIFE examples seem to prove that despite war, there are practices that do not necessarily involve the slaughtering of enemy.
Ever play Quake II CTF with the off-hand grapple? That was probably the most fun that I've ever had gaming.
Oh hell yeah. There was nothing like fragging someone with the rail gun as your sailing across the map while using the grappling hook. That game was just insanely frenetic.
and for another breath of fresh air, I loved Call of Duty
CoD was fundamentally a solid "realistic" FPS; however, I grew tired of the "run and gun" spammers, especially the Russian SMG with a 71 round clip. I always felt that to really balance that issue out, you needed to take away the cross hair (like Red Orchestra / Brothers In Arms) and force people to use ironsights; however, I could never find a server that did that.
The SAG (Screen Actors' Guild) is actually worth watching because it is the actors themselves who decide who wins the award. Many actors have indicated that it is a greater honor to receive a SAG award than it is to receive an Oscar or Golden Globe.
I'm not sure who votes on the awards at the GDC, but if it is the developers themselves, I'm sure it is an equally great honor.
The thing is, it's not the GDC Award Show that is going to get ANY air-time whatsoever. Unfortunately, if we want to see a game win an award, it will be at the mercy of MTV and SpikeTV, which is, just like you said, programming that is pure marketing wank.
Who knows, Vin Diesel is a "gamer". Maybe he will provide some interesting food for thought during his acceptance speech if The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (which was a GOOD game) wins an award...
...I doubt it though. All of the celebs at the MTV Movie Awards are so utterly smashed they can barely say anything coherent.
For me, Unreal 2004 (Onslaught Mode) was a breath of fresh air. While I grew up playing games like Doom and Duke3D, it was not until my High School programming class that I learned about LANs and the sheer joy of fragging someone in the same room as you.
We started playing Quake II DM and quickly moved on to CTF. Man, those games were so FAST and so much FUN. There was nothing like grabbing the flag and using the grappling hook to fly across the map while rockets, hyperblaster bolts, and railgun slugs whizzed by your character.
I pretty much stopped playing Quake II when I went off to college and started playing Counter Strike (Beta 2.0). I also played MOH and ET. I stopped playing most of these games to start playing CoD, and BF: Desert Combat and then Unreal 2K4 came out...
...I was hooked immediately.
I exclusively played onslaught and loved it. My gaming group even hosted a server for a while. Eventually, our interest waned, but for a couple of months I felt like I was back in high school playing Quake II. The game was just so frenetic and fast paced. The method by which you captured nodes was absolutely brilliant and added a whole level of momentum to the game that I had never experienced. I felt AWESOME after a particularly hard match where you had pulled off a come from behind victory.
It's funny, my gaming group has been playing WoW exclusively for a while (a little CS:Source mixed in there) and I was just thinking about possibly trying to get some of us to play UT2K4 again. Hopefully I can recapture that magic...
Slashdot Mirror
There's no reason other than bragging rights and honestly in computer games, It doesn't matter at all
Last time I checked the entire WoW community revolves around the concept of possessing the biggest, shiniest, chock-full-of-stats l00tz. Furthermore, WoW players will pay hundreds of dollars for a card containing an unlock code so an purple monkey with wings and horns that serve no purpose other than to follow their character around.
While there may not be any reason other than bragging rights to own this laptop, bragging rights matter a great deal to the community this technological terror is marketed to. While it may not sell like gangbusters, I'm sure they'll ship more than a few of these.
I'm wondering if Blizzard might set the movie during the current WoW timeframe and create an opportunity for a reverse Tie In. I have seen SWG and MxO fail dismally, despite the iconic status of the characters which exist in their respective franchises; however, Blizzard could offer a new level of interactive content.
Naturally, it would be easy to have players re-enact certain quests or events that occur in the movie, but Blizzard could also introduce content within the movie and have players explore it interactively within WoW. In addition, certain elements could be decided by in-game events and the eventual out come could be fleshed out in the film.
Personally I've always found the Blizzard cut scenes to be well done and extremely engaging. I'm more than willing to explore what they have to offer in terms of feature length content.
Amen.
I have very fond memories of playing X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter (XvT) with my brother and my best friend over an IPX-SPX network at my house. I'm pretty XvT also functioned over Microsoft's Gaming Zone "Network"; however, as it was in the age of modems, it was near impossible to find a decent host where you wouldn't have players dropping while the mission was loading.
There simply isn't a replacement for the frenetic experience of XvT. I can only imagine what it would be like to play a game like XvT against multiple human opponents over broadband.
Mod parent up.
This is the second article where I have seen a lot of complaining about the price point. Consider the four to six hours of re-playable entertainment you will receive with the expansion (sorry, episode) for $20.
Considering most new releases on DVD are usually around $18 - 20, why is it unfair that Valve charge $20? IMHO, I think the price is entirely reasonable and will definitely purchase it when it comes out.
I'm from the US and my phone service provider used to SBC. I switched to vonage over the Summer, but I can't imagine the billing has changed all that much. When I subscribed to SBC, local calls were free, however, it depends on your definition of "local".
For example, I live in Madison. Orange, which is 24.15 miles away (as the wolf runs) is a "local" call. On the other hand, Branford, which is 10.73 miles away, is not a local call and I am charged on a per minute basis.
That never made any sense to me whatsoever.
...the legal-ese and lawyer jibber-jabber that is preventing a company from creating a service where I can download actual .mp3s for a fee? If it's such a taboo issue for the RIAA, then I don't understand why the RIAA does not decide to simply do it themselves.
As a consumer, I am simply tired of having to strip DRMs off of my iTunes purchases just so I can make sure that I can play my music when and where I want, and never have to worry about my music being "inacessible" for some reason.
Any company that decided to offer this service would have immediately be earning my dollars; however, I'm going to have to assume that the masses simply don't care about having DRM free music. As long as it plays on their iPod, everything is fine.
I knew that paladins were best at healing, buffing, and assisting other players going into the class, so I knew what to expect
This statement on its own makes some sense. After all, Paladins do have a dearth of talents that allow them to buff multiple ways. In addition, if you outfit a Paladin with a decent set of cloth, you have a functional secondary healer. If you play them in a creative manner, Paladins can be extremely flexible and helpful in a party.
but I can see why people who choose paladins thinking they'd get a 'holy warrior' are irritated with what they've gotten in exchange.
This I don't understand. Overall, paladins, on their own, stand up as a class. They won't be the first to finish off a mob, but they will last a lot longer against higher level mobs than most classes. If you do your homework, you're going to find a lot of alliance players complaining that paladins do not do enough damage; however, the flip side of the argument comes from horde players saying that they're impossible to kill. So, if the alliance players get their wish, paladins become death dealing nightmares and if Horde players get their wish, paladins become a class that can't heal or deal damage.
This also goes for anyone who gets angry about warriors not doing the most damage, or how x class cannot do y. Warriors aren't supposed to deal the most damage, they're suppose to tank (or take damage) and maintain aggro (keep an enemy's attention). This is the reason why I stopped wasting my time with the Blizzard forums, as it is simply 2% of the player base constantly whining about how their class was not powerful enough.
Class balance does not mean: "my class is more powerful than everyone elses'".
My message is simple: Embrace science, reject religion and it's false promises. The afterlife is a lie
Honestly, I don't understand how your atheism argument differs from those who would pit their religion against another's. You're still attempting to make your theories about life, the universe, and everything seem superior to everyone elses'.
I also don't understand why science can't be an avenue to investigate religion further. If science has provided new evidence that indicates mankind actually originated in Asia, perhaps we've been looking for the Garden of Eden in the wrong place for all of these years. Maybe it's in Asia?
Granted, the above hypothesis sounds silly; however, I use it to illustrate a point: science and religion do not have to be mutually exclusive.
This is perhaps the most eloquent post I have ever read in regards to describing what is wrong with the MMORPG mentality.
...so begins the vicious cycle.
I love playing WoW; however, I have balance my play time my real life. I have a job that requires my attention and I'm a rather athletic person, so I need time away from the office and away from my home PC to exercise at the gym or find a pickup game of one sport or another. On top of this, I have recently started taking advanced technical courses in order to educate myself further and hopefully advance my career in IT / IS. As a result, my time to play games has seriously dwindled and I am forced to make decisions on a regular basis as to when to study, when to exercise, and when to play games.
When I first started my course, I realized that I wouldn't be able to keep up with my guild and I started stressing out. I was worried that my guild would kick me out (they didn't) and was worried that I would not get all of my epic set pieces in x amount of time so I could spend time leveling my alt, getting it to a point where I could then get the alt's epic set pieces...
I took a step back and re-thought why I was playing the game. I was playing the game because I liked to escape into the world of Azeroth and play the part of the hero, all the while having a few laughs with my friends and guildmates either on in-game chat or on teamspeak. So, that's what I did. I calmed down and didn't worry that I was missing a raid so I could go play basketball or study some more. I realized that the next epic set piece was going to be there when I had time to go get it, when I actually wanted to go get it.
Gaming should never be a chore or an agonizing frustration. The second a game becomes either, it's time to unplug and do something else. I promise, the game will be there when you get back.
the OS "forced" the user to run as administrator, thus leading to the breech. The OS in this case should have still prevented the problem. If you read any official Microsoft documentation regarding the administrator account, they recommend that users do not log on to a workstation with the administrator account as their regular user account. If you need to utilize the administrative account for something like installing an application, you can right click on the executable and use the "Run As" command and type in your administrative credentials and execute the application as an administrator.
Don't you mean a Puma?
The way I learned to play (and eventually the way I GMed) Paranoia was to liberally ignore all of the stats, charts, dice rolls, modifiers, and all of the other "technical" aspects of the game.
We had six character templates that were geared to specific "roles", so when the players arrived they would discuss what they wanted to play that night, so we would never have to roll stats. In addition, we would not need to figure out secret societies or mutant powers, as the GM would write those elements into the adventure. Despite the practice sounding restrictive, no one ever did anything as planned, which always caused interesting (often hilarious) results.
By liberally ignoring structured rules and dice, the GM could move the story along as they saw fit, which made pacing a lot more fun. I've been in numerous D&D campaigns where something came up where a character needed to spend extended time with the DM in order to roll for such and such so they can accomplish a certain task. By throwing out the technicalities, everyone was engaged at all times and decisions had to be made very quickly, which completely fit the mood of the game.
As a result of these decisions, it was very easy to indoctrinate new players into the game, because they didn't have to learn any rules, they simply had to get a feeling for the milleu of the game. In addition, any revisions to the rules really didn't matter. All we needed was new content every once in a while (mutant powers, secret societies, R&D gadgets), which could simply be created by the players or GM.
Regardless, I am glad this game is receiving some new life. I cannot express how hard I have laughed while playing this game. Despite its label of "RPG", I would recommend this game to any group of creative friends, as they don't necessarily need to be gamers in order to enjoy it.
Overall, I thought the article was very good; however, I was tripped up on "The Downside" section. From TFA:
But most games are not violent. Even if they are war-themed, they're about as violent as playing chess -- which is also a war game. Most games have no violence at all, and some -- especially online multi-player games -- are highly social and require learning the ability to cooperate and compromise.
I might be reading this wrong; however, it seems that Orson Scott Card is making a distinction between violent games (including war-themed games, like Battlefied 2 and Call of Duty) and online multi-player games (World of Warcraft and Puzzle Pirates).
I think Orson Scott Card is making a faux pas by not mentioning that some online multiplayer games are violent AND require learning the ability to cooperate and compromise, along with allowing an indvidual to "stretch their brain".
My favorite online FPS du-jour at the moment is Battlefield 2. Not being in a clan, I am subject to the feast or famine of public servers when it comes to individuals who decide to play as a team in squad and those who decide THEY want to fly the helicopter, so when you decide to get in, they team kill you with C4; however, I've played the game enough to realize that one squad which is organized and skilled, can win a map for a team.
In addition, Battlefield 2, through the multiple class system, allows you to utilize multiple tools in order outsmart your enemy.
Some would consider Battlefield 2 a "murder simulator" and others would begrudge the game because it makes war "appealing"; however, beyond those labels is a game that forces individuals to work together in order to achieve a goal and use their brain and their skill in order to outsmart opponents.
...but getting to the game.
I've played BF:2 enough to achieve rank of Lance Corporal and on my way to promotion, I have experienced a few minor glitches (weird flag capture behavior, bizarre clipping, etc.); however, nothing that has detracted from my enjoyment of the game while playing.
IMHO, I think BF:2 has improved upon the forumla of its predecessors (including Desert Combat). Class balance issues have been addressed, the squad system is absolutely fantastic, and the "Commander" concept works well (if players know how to do it right).
So, the gameplay is solid, not revolutionary mind you, but solid; however, getting into a game is a completely different issue.
I cannot believe I have to use the atrocious in-game browser to find a game. Honestly, it's a terrible browser and it fails on every level to deliver basic, reliable functionality. Servers register a "0" latency occasionally, so I don't know if I can connect to that server or not. In addition, I attempted to use ASE (all-seeing eye) but BF:2 doesn't seem to want to play nice with it.
Since I don't use x-fire, it makes finding a game with my friends very difficult, which, is a terrible shame, because with the squad system, a co-ordinated group of players can do very well.
A thought off the top of my head is to have a feature where players can form squads out of game using the browser and then having the squad leader choose a server for the squad and everyone automatically connects to the chosen server. That sort of functionality would be innovative and very helpful to groups of players who want to play together.
Many of the people attending this clinic are in the age range of 12-24 years old and are mostly male.
In addition, 33.4% of attendees listed their occupation as "farmer".
...and suddenly we know who submitted the article. Nice cover-up...and you're still full of shit.
Can't say that I submitted it, nor did I even RTFA. Please read: this post.
Now, please STFU cockbite.
Gee. A little full of ourselves aren't we?
Have you ever ventured out of your house and actually been to a carnival / circus? Oftentimes, there are indviduals who market the event by making wild claims such as the tagline you quoted.
Consdering the project is called Carnival of Gamers, it would seem fitting / humorous that they would do this.
Get it now?
Indeed. These popular, sold out shows are the ones performed by, wait for it, big name movie actors.
What is exactly your point? Throughout this entire discussion, I have been making the assertion that theatre is not dead. Here you make the point that MOVIE actors are making a decision to act in THEATRE projects, and, in turn, putting asses in seats.
Thank you for making my point for me: Movie actors like acting on the stage and people, in turn, like watching them.
Once the big name actors finish their run the show plummets in popularity
Yeah, I guess that explains how shows as: Cats, The Phantom of The Opera, Les Miserables have made successful runs for years, without the help of movie stars to bolster their attendance.
but most Americans have never been to anything more than a high school play or something...
Who's going to see shows like The Lion King, Spamalot, and The Producers, which are often sold out MONTHS in advance while on Broadway (sometimes YEARS in advance)?
How do you explain the absolutely rediculous lines in front TKTS (half price tickets to NYC shows, usually reservation cancellations) on a regular basis?
I wouldn't make the assumption that most Americans have never been to anything more than a high school play. Certainly you don't think that it's the same people seeing these shows over and over again. New York City attracts a lot of tourists (including Americans from different locales). I would imagine that many of them take in a Broadway show while they are in town, considering Broadway is a huge tourist attraction.
Voice synthesis is getting better all the time. One day there won't be a need for "voice actors" just as CGI is replacing actors and 'muppets' (eg Yoda)
You must be joking.
While you point to Yoda as an example, you fail to mention Gollum, who, while CGI, needed a live actor (Andy Serkis) to give animators an idea as to how Gollum would move and act.
If that isn't enough. Here are some other ideas:
While I cannot quote a direct source, when electronic music was becoming rampantly popular in the mid-nineties (Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Future Sound of London) there were journalists who claimed that electronic music would eventually do away with music as we knew it, instruments being replaced by synth machines of every type.
I imagine similar doom was forecasted for the entire live theatre industry when those "moving pictures" first debuted. I could only imagine the horror when "talkies" were displayed on the silver screen.
what's not to love with this?
...and with that, panic ensues.
Nothing. That is a great idea. That would add so much replay value to games that would normally be pawned back to vendors (which, interestingly enough, negatively impacts revenue streams for developers / distributors).
You have to understand though, there are individuals who have the capacity to make project decisions who do not possess any knowledge that is ACTUALLY USEFUL. Unfortunately for us, they need to prove their worth to the company so they can collect their paycheck. Therefore, they will talk about general issues that will cause panic amongst other decision makers. For example:
Project Dev: So, I have this idea: Would-be writers could write new games, or even mods for existing games and execute them on our system. This is a popular trend in modern gaming that has led to successes such as Counter-Strike. We could stand to make a great deal of revenue, as our console would have a feature that is normally only available through PCs. What's not to love about this?
Empty Suit: OMG HAXORZ WILL WAREZ OUR GAMES! WTFBBQ!
"Hey, we're at war. How about instead of a meaningful battle, you try and capture my flag, and I'll try and capture yours. Best two of three. After that, we'll shake hands, maybe go again?"
Native American tribes, whilst at war, participated in a practice called "counting coup". This involved an individual sneaking up on a member of a rival tribe (often times when they were encamped, thus they were sneaking into a enemy territory) and tagging them with their "coup stick". The tagee would give the tagger a piece of their personal property to hang from their coup stick.
Such an act was considered more brave than killing someone in battle.
In addition, Native American tribes would often play LaCrosse against each other, rather than go to war in order to solve an altercation.
Curiously, in the Civil War, individuals from opposing armies would meet before battle and trade items with each other.
In World War I, opposing sides would often allow individuals to retrieve their respective wounded from No Man's Land, despite orders from their officers to fire. They belayed orders because they knew if they were wounded, they would want to have a chance at being rescued.
These REAL LIFE examples seem to prove that despite war, there are practices that do not necessarily involve the slaughtering of enemy.
Ever play Quake II CTF with the off-hand grapple? That was probably the most fun that I've ever had gaming.
Oh hell yeah. There was nothing like fragging someone with the rail gun as your sailing across the map while using the grappling hook. That game was just insanely frenetic.
and for another breath of fresh air, I loved Call of Duty
CoD was fundamentally a solid "realistic" FPS; however, I grew tired of the "run and gun" spammers, especially the Russian SMG with a 71 round clip. I always felt that to really balance that issue out, you needed to take away the cross hair (like Red Orchestra / Brothers In Arms) and force people to use ironsights; however, I could never find a server that did that.
The SAG (Screen Actors' Guild) is actually worth watching because it is the actors themselves who decide who wins the award. Many actors have indicated that it is a greater honor to receive a SAG award than it is to receive an Oscar or Golden Globe.
...I doubt it though. All of the celebs at the MTV Movie Awards are so utterly smashed they can barely say anything coherent.
I'm not sure who votes on the awards at the GDC, but if it is the developers themselves, I'm sure it is an equally great honor.
The thing is, it's not the GDC Award Show that is going to get ANY air-time whatsoever. Unfortunately, if we want to see a game win an award, it will be at the mercy of MTV and SpikeTV, which is, just like you said, programming that is pure marketing wank.
Who knows, Vin Diesel is a "gamer". Maybe he will provide some interesting food for thought during his acceptance speech if The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (which was a GOOD game) wins an award...
/agreed
...I was hooked immediately.
For me, Unreal 2004 (Onslaught Mode) was a breath of fresh air. While I grew up playing games like Doom and Duke3D, it was not until my High School programming class that I learned about LANs and the sheer joy of fragging someone in the same room as you.
We started playing Quake II DM and quickly moved on to CTF. Man, those games were so FAST and so much FUN. There was nothing like grabbing the flag and using the grappling hook to fly across the map while rockets, hyperblaster bolts, and railgun slugs whizzed by your character.
I pretty much stopped playing Quake II when I went off to college and started playing Counter Strike (Beta 2.0). I also played MOH and ET. I stopped playing most of these games to start playing CoD, and BF: Desert Combat and then Unreal 2K4 came out...
I exclusively played onslaught and loved it. My gaming group even hosted a server for a while. Eventually, our interest waned, but for a couple of months I felt like I was back in high school playing Quake II. The game was just so frenetic and fast paced. The method by which you captured nodes was absolutely brilliant and added a whole level of momentum to the game that I had never experienced. I felt AWESOME after a particularly hard match where you had pulled off a come from behind victory.
It's funny, my gaming group has been playing WoW exclusively for a while (a little CS:Source mixed in there) and I was just thinking about possibly trying to get some of us to play UT2K4 again. Hopefully I can recapture that magic...