Vapor doesn't have people playing it at special events. Vapor is stuff that promises to come and gets delayed all the time, not stuff that comes out on time but hasn't been released for general consumption yet.
Depends. The user doesn't learn about it until he can no longer return the game which means it's a contract under duress. That's not legal in some legislations and even in the US the only justification for EULAs I've seen is that you can be reasonably expected to know that an EULA is in there. That would not cover unexpected terms like this spyware.
Why would you want AA at 720p? AA makes the image look higher resolution while 720p IS higher resolution. I never use antialiasing in PC games since that means I can set them to a higher resolution without encountering framerate drops.
Those are obviously not taxable (by the US government) beyond any taxes Linden Labs has to pay. Though they are most likely subject to their local tax laws.
What people are worried about are not the profiteers but the average gamer who never trades items for real money. If those ingame items were declared valuable finding phat loot in a game could be considered income. Of course the profiteers have to pay money, it's income after all but people are worried that game assets are counted as income, not just the money from the sale.
Problem: when you slay the boar and get the gold, it's not a matter of something increasing in value.. it's a matter of you working and earning, acquiring control over a new possession that already has a market value at the time you earned it, that's what might get taxed, as an ordinary income asset, instead of a gain from selling a capital asset.
Yes but all items remain property of the server operator so you're just renting that gold (and your entire character).
Rather, it has to do its ability to be converted into cash.
So since the items cannot be legally converted into cash, you can merely get paid for the act of transferring them to another account, are they tangible? The item sellers in MMOs declare the sales as services rendered (acquiring and transferring that data) in order to circumvent the "all items are property of the service provider" clause from the T&Cs. I don't know what the law says but I think that would mean the acquisition of those items is not taxable as you don't even own the item, it's like a rental car. You can use it when your account is logged on but you're still only playing with the toys the service provider offers you.
Of course, if items can acquire a value through illegal sales, can illegally downloading software and MP3s be taxable, too?
Well, it is a criticism of the Industrial Revolution era working practices, coincidentally those are very close to the game industry's working practices. I guess any industry goes through such a phase in its infancy until they realize that 40 hour weeks simply are the most efficient way of working your employees.
Or spoken like someone who prefers a market with two competing companies over a market with only one monopoly. Intel would get complacent without AMD around.
Well yes but the discussion (with the parent) was whether data can be bad/must be free, not whether this domain stuff is right. I agree that banning domain names is mostly stupid, after all I'd rather have porn sites called things like hotsluts.ie instead of cutepuppies.ie so the URL identifies the content.
How many sellers actually offer interchangeable software? Sure, you can replace your Linux distro relatively easy but what if you wanted to e.g. exchange your office suite or 3d graphics applkication for another one? At very least you'll have to convert everything you're working on into the new application's native format and deal with importing deficiencies (i.e. lost in translation).
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Vapor doesn't have people playing it at special events. Vapor is stuff that promises to come and gets delayed all the time, not stuff that comes out on time but hasn't been released for general consumption yet.
To play on most servers you need Punkbuster. To use Punkbuster you need admin rights.
As long as ESRB ratings are not legally binding they cannot be used to assume the user is of a certain age.
Depends. The user doesn't learn about it until he can no longer return the game which means it's a contract under duress. That's not legal in some legislations and even in the US the only justification for EULAs I've seen is that you can be reasonably expected to know that an EULA is in there. That would not cover unexpected terms like this spyware.
That's easy. DDoS them.
At least we can put Jack Thompson to use for our cause, then.
No, Daikatana was friggin ugly. Maybe the Epic Effect? The iD effect?
Why would you want AA at 720p? AA makes the image look higher resolution while 720p IS higher resolution. I never use antialiasing in PC games since that means I can set them to a higher resolution without encountering framerate drops.
Hundreds of enemies aren't possible on current gen consoles? Ever played Earth Defence Force?
Well, then show me which apps would count as easily interchangeable.
Those are obviously not taxable (by the US government) beyond any taxes Linden Labs has to pay. Though they are most likely subject to their local tax laws.
Does killing a mob and taking its gold count as inheritance?
What people are worried about are not the profiteers but the average gamer who never trades items for real money. If those ingame items were declared valuable finding phat loot in a game could be considered income. Of course the profiteers have to pay money, it's income after all but people are worried that game assets are counted as income, not just the money from the sale.
Videogames that allow monetary gain count as gambling, AFAIK.
You know the paper dollars in your pocket are not backed by any gold or silver, right?
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the WTO forbid backing your currency with gold?
Problem: when you slay the boar and get the gold, it's not a matter of something increasing in value.. it's a matter of you working and earning, acquiring control over a new possession that already has a market value at the time you earned it, that's what might get taxed, as an ordinary income asset, instead of a gain from selling a capital asset.
Yes but all items remain property of the server operator so you're just renting that gold (and your entire character).
Rather, it has to do its ability to be converted into cash.
So since the items cannot be legally converted into cash, you can merely get paid for the act of transferring them to another account, are they tangible? The item sellers in MMOs declare the sales as services rendered (acquiring and transferring that data) in order to circumvent the "all items are property of the service provider" clause from the T&Cs. I don't know what the law says but I think that would mean the acquisition of those items is not taxable as you don't even own the item, it's like a rental car. You can use it when your account is logged on but you're still only playing with the toys the service provider offers you.
Of course, if items can acquire a value through illegal sales, can illegally downloading software and MP3s be taxable, too?
Well, it is a criticism of the Industrial Revolution era working practices, coincidentally those are very close to the game industry's working practices. I guess any industry goes through such a phase in its infancy until they realize that 40 hour weeks simply are the most efficient way of working your employees.
Yes but we're looking at a market that only offers cars that run on their own set of roads each.
Or spoken like someone who prefers a market with two competing companies over a market with only one monopoly. Intel would get complacent without AMD around.
Well yes but the discussion (with the parent) was whether data can be bad/must be free, not whether this domain stuff is right. I agree that banning domain names is mostly stupid, after all I'd rather have porn sites called things like hotsluts.ie instead of cutepuppies.ie so the URL identifies the content.
He's a case insensitive clod!
How many sellers actually offer interchangeable software? Sure, you can replace your Linux distro relatively easy but what if you wanted to e.g. exchange your office suite or 3d graphics applkication for another one? At very least you'll have to convert everything you're working on into the new application's native format and deal with importing deficiencies (i.e. lost in translation).
Free speech does not affect private entities. Congress cannot restrict speech, anybody else can.
That and wasting system ressources which has a legal precedent counting it as damage.