I don't have a problem with buying and reselling on eBay - in that case, they're staying in the confines of a singe market. If the go buy stuff on flea market or garage sales, with the sole intend to resell that stuff on eBay, that would be the same as what that guy's doing and I would have a problem with it, yes.
The differences between the markets is not just "local" vs. "global". It's also between the bottom of the supply chain vs. higher up the supply chain. Making him someone who profits from the bottom, i.e. a bottom feeder.
It wasn't my intention to put the guy on the same level as a grud dealer, that was just me being mad about that question "if it's profitable, how come I feel bad about it?"
I can certainly see how that can be interpreted the way you and others did. Sorry about that.
I still think he's a bottom feeder - when people tap resources used mostly by people who can't afford to use other resources, or are just on the lookout for rare books nobody (themselves included) has ever heard of, just to resell that resource to another market higher up in the supply chain, yes, then he feeds of the bottom of the supply chain. There are worse of course, namely the corporation feeding of those people. Amazon in this case, eBay in others (when people raid flea markets to sell on eBay).
The medium and its distribution mechanisms are far too old to go away as quickly as you predict. Browsing books doesn't work as well online, there's only "If you like that.." and the occasional preview of the first few pages. That's far from being able to skim though the books and find the occasional gem by pure chance. Also, there are many who just generally prefer brick-and-mortar stores for their transactions - nothing to do with being technophobe, but rather the need for reallife interaction I would guess.
The point is, those are no buggy-whip manufacturers, there is an actual demand for those stores. And the author of the article takes away from one part of the population in order to leech of the other part - generating more revenue for Amazon in the process. Same as those people that raid flea markets in order to resell on eBay. I.e. he's a bottom feeder, enabled by a corporation that in turn leeches off of him. He's right to feel ashamed.
If it's possible to make a decent living selling books online, then why does it feel so shameful to do this work?
If it's possible to make a decent living giving unjustified loans/selling alcohol or drugs/etc. to people who're already down, then why does it feel so shameful to do this work?
Seriously, you're being a leech, a bottom feeder, and you're right in feeling ashamed. Actually, that feeling speaks for you - there's hope for you yet, maybe.
Dude, I am a gamer and would laugh at you for playing X-2.
You have a point with Kuja though. Though Sephiroth isn't any more macho than him. I suppose having androgynous villains shows how far removed from humanity they are. FFXII, at least as far as I can tell, has no such characters.
:)
Same here - it's not a bad game, it's intriguing story is worthy of the name Final Fantasy. But it's also so very, very long, with so much of it just traveling to the next scripted event..
I do not disagree with your point. OTOH, you shouldn't study CS to become a programmer, that'd be like studying physics to become an engineer or maybe studying engineering to become a carpenter..
My point was another one though - there are a lot of hobbyist coders out there implementing really interesting ideas. Of course their code often does not meet the same criteria you would expect from formally engineered software.
Still, I really like that those programs exist, and that everyone is free to make them.
Open platforms rock.
Okay, so we improve education and have the industry actually value and make use of those advanced skills.
So what's with code from people that don't have any formal education in software engineering?
That so? I thought owning a modern OS wouldn't give you the hardware access you had in the ol' days of DOS, not by a long shot. Just freely drawing around the screen doesn't work. Getting your code run by the GPU OTOH..
Maybe I should actually read what this story is about, seems interesting.
Of course you didn't say anything of the sort.
But pray tell, how do you stop people from writing code, or, failing that, how do you stop code from being run?
Uh, I can see it now, hysterical activists rallying to stop general purpose computers from executing non-certified code. After all, who knows what they could put in there. I heard there was profanity in source code!! Can't somebody, for once, please think of the children?!
What're you're asking for is ridiculous, yes. Please don't go around giving people any ideas of that sort..
Do you not know anyone with a console and a copy of Command and Conquer?
I don't. I like RTS games, play them often, but never ever on a console. Tried it maybe once or twice and always ran back screaming to my PC. And that without any attachment to the platform, most game I play I play on consoles. It's just RTS that - for me - just doesn't work on any platform except the PC. If I would play them, I'd probably prefer shooters on a PC too.
I don't know about turnbased strategy though. As there is no great accuracy required I can't think of a reason why that wouldn't work..
2. You're making it sound way more complicated than it is, my friend, and I think you know it. The right Direct X version? Windows Update takes care of that. Was the last time you used Direct X in 1995 or something? The rest of the items you listed can be easily figured out by about 30 minutes of reading.
30 minutes of reading for people who know that stuff, have enough experience to know where to look and what to check. Even so, the console guy spends those 30mins playing the game.
3. I beg to differ. With PC games I can still modify the games, and enjoy user made content, even if the game has DRM like Steam. I don't mind a company trying to keep their game from being pirated. The console itself IS the DRM. You're not free to do anything custom to any of the software you have for it. I'd say that is more invasive than anything for the PC.
While I have heard of PC games that actually require constant access to an authentication server to play single player, I have never heard of a console game that didn't work without net access. I'd say that's more invasive, yes. Sure, the PC version also gives you more access to the game's code, but you pay dearly for that privilege.
> The Other OS was only taken down AFTER someone started bragging about the ability to copy $60 PS3 games and play them... Only 5-6 assholes who are too cheap to afford new games but feel deserving of free stuff ruined it for the rest of us.
Another Sony apologist who says the hacking attempt was motivated purely by piracy. Nonsense. If the only people who wanted to crack the PS3 were pirates, then we would have seen a crack much earlier in the console's life, given that it apparently wasn't all that hard. Instead the cracking started after Sony removed OtherOS. Isn't that interesting?
Actually, he didn't claim that the hacking attempts were driven by piracy, but that they lead to piracy. Calling him a Sony apologist on those grounds is a little far fetched..
While Harvest Moon has always been a very girl-compatible game even before it had all those social features modern iterations of the game has, it cannot get her away from FarmVille unless her and everyone she's playing FarmVille with has as much access to a Wii as to a webbrowser.
Not going to happen.
That'd be interesting. OTOH, Sony would just fix it again, requiring users to update for them to log into Playstation Network. Or is there some way to continue using Playstation Network with a jailbroken PS3?
One driver being nice has that effect only when people don't use all lanes.
When everyone changes the lane as soon as they find out their lane seizes to exist later on, and only a few people go along the other lane, there is no ordered traffic distribution.
The way it's supposed to work (but doesn't, as it isn't obviously a good idea and people drive by their gut feeling rather by some formal education), is that everyone uses all lanes and take turns at the shoulder: http://data.motor-talk.de/data/galleries/611436/219413/202823618-w250.gif
Okay, a tragic accident caused by some douchbag on drugs in someone else's expensive car.
Not really indicative of luxury car owner's general behavior, though it's easy to think that way. After all, those expensive cars are made to be conspicuous, it's one of the main reasons the sell ("look at me, I can afford this car!1!"). So, when someone driving this car acts like an asshole, it's more likely people notice and remember it than when someone in his 20 year old Volvo acts up on the Autobahn.
According to my experience, there is no correlation between the car someone drives and their behavior in traffic.
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I don't have a problem with buying and reselling on eBay - in that case, they're staying in the confines of a singe market. If the go buy stuff on flea market or garage sales, with the sole intend to resell that stuff on eBay, that would be the same as what that guy's doing and I would have a problem with it, yes.
The differences between the markets is not just "local" vs. "global". It's also between the bottom of the supply chain vs. higher up the supply chain. Making him someone who profits from the bottom, i.e. a bottom feeder.
It wasn't my intention to put the guy on the same level as a grud dealer, that was just me being mad about that question "if it's profitable, how come I feel bad about it?"
I can certainly see how that can be interpreted the way you and others did. Sorry about that.
I still think he's a bottom feeder - when people tap resources used mostly by people who can't afford to use other resources, or are just on the lookout for rare books nobody (themselves included) has ever heard of, just to resell that resource to another market higher up in the supply chain, yes, then he feeds of the bottom of the supply chain. There are worse of course, namely the corporation feeding of those people. Amazon in this case, eBay in others (when people raid flea markets to sell on eBay).
I assume you're talking about the offline Final Fantasy games.. Those tend to have a nice, somewhat deep storyline that western games often lack.
...lot's of technocratic musings...
The medium and its distribution mechanisms are far too old to go away as quickly as you predict. Browsing books doesn't work as well online, there's only "If you like that.." and the occasional preview of the first few pages. That's far from being able to skim though the books and find the occasional gem by pure chance. Also, there are many who just generally prefer brick-and-mortar stores for their transactions - nothing to do with being technophobe, but rather the need for reallife interaction I would guess.
The point is, those are no buggy-whip manufacturers, there is an actual demand for those stores. And the author of the article takes away from one part of the population in order to leech of the other part - generating more revenue for Amazon in the process. Same as those people that raid flea markets in order to resell on eBay. I.e. he's a bottom feeder, enabled by a corporation that in turn leeches off of him. He's right to feel ashamed.
If it's possible to make a decent living selling books online, then why does it feel so shameful to do this work?
If it's possible to make a decent living giving unjustified loans/selling alcohol or drugs/etc. to people who're already down, then why does it feel so shameful to do this work?
Seriously, you're being a leech, a bottom feeder, and you're right in feeling ashamed. Actually, that feeling speaks for you - there's hope for you yet, maybe.
Dude, I am a gamer and would laugh at you for playing X-2.
You have a point with Kuja though. Though Sephiroth isn't any more macho than him. I suppose having androgynous villains shows how far removed from humanity they are. FFXII, at least as far as I can tell, has no such characters.
XII seems to be missing from your list. If you haven't already, you should check it out.
:) Same here - it's not a bad game, it's intriguing story is worthy of the name Final Fantasy. But it's also so very, very long, with so much of it just traveling to the next scripted event..
I do not disagree with your point. OTOH, you shouldn't study CS to become a programmer, that'd be like studying physics to become an engineer or maybe studying engineering to become a carpenter..
My point was another one though - there are a lot of hobbyist coders out there implementing really interesting ideas. Of course their code often does not meet the same criteria you would expect from formally engineered software.
Still, I really like that those programs exist, and that everyone is free to make them.
Open platforms rock.
Okay, so we improve education and have the industry actually value and make use of those advanced skills.
So what's with code from people that don't have any formal education in software engineering?
That so? I thought owning a modern OS wouldn't give you the hardware access you had in the ol' days of DOS, not by a long shot. Just freely drawing around the screen doesn't work. Getting your code run by the GPU OTOH..
Maybe I should actually read what this story is about, seems interesting.
Of course you didn't say anything of the sort.
But pray tell, how do you stop people from writing code, or, failing that, how do you stop code from being run?
Hehe, good choice. But please be aware that you have no idea of knowing how much of my code you're already running ;P
Uh, I can see it now, hysterical activists rallying to stop general purpose computers from executing non-certified code. After all, who knows what they could put in there. I heard there was profanity in source code!! Can't somebody, for once, please think of the children?!
What're you're asking for is ridiculous, yes. Please don't go around giving people any ideas of that sort..
Online games, naturally.
But I didn't think about download games, you have a point there.
Do you not know anyone with a console and a copy of Command and Conquer?
I don't. I like RTS games, play them often, but never ever on a console. Tried it maybe once or twice and always ran back screaming to my PC. And that without any attachment to the platform, most game I play I play on consoles. It's just RTS that - for me - just doesn't work on any platform except the PC. If I would play them, I'd probably prefer shooters on a PC too.
I don't know about turnbased strategy though. As there is no great accuracy required I can't think of a reason why that wouldn't work..
Hm? A shooter game for people that don't like shooter games. Makes total sense, just like consoles for people that don't like games (Wii).
:D
2. You're making it sound way more complicated than it is, my friend, and I think you know it. The right Direct X version? Windows Update takes care of that. Was the last time you used Direct X in 1995 or something? The rest of the items you listed can be easily figured out by about 30 minutes of reading.
30 minutes of reading for people who know that stuff, have enough experience to know where to look and what to check. Even so, the console guy spends those 30mins playing the game.
3. I beg to differ. With PC games I can still modify the games, and enjoy user made content, even if the game has DRM like Steam. I don't mind a company trying to keep their game from being pirated. The console itself IS the DRM. You're not free to do anything custom to any of the software you have for it. I'd say that is more invasive than anything for the PC.
While I have heard of PC games that actually require constant access to an authentication server to play single player, I have never heard of a console game that didn't work without net access. I'd say that's more invasive, yes. Sure, the PC version also gives you more access to the game's code, but you pay dearly for that privilege.
> The Other OS was only taken down AFTER someone started bragging about the ability to copy $60 PS3 games and play them... Only 5-6 assholes who are too cheap to afford new games but feel deserving of free stuff ruined it for the rest of us.
Another Sony apologist who says the hacking attempt was motivated purely by piracy. Nonsense. If the only people who wanted to crack the PS3 were pirates, then we would have seen a crack much earlier in the console's life, given that it apparently wasn't all that hard. Instead the cracking started after Sony removed OtherOS. Isn't that interesting?
Actually, he didn't claim that the hacking attempts were driven by piracy, but that they lead to piracy. Calling him a Sony apologist on those grounds is a little far fetched..
Uh. I took the summary as sarcasm of sorts. Which made your reaction seem like quite the overreaction. Then you got +5 Insightful...
While Harvest Moon has always been a very girl-compatible game even before it had all those social features modern iterations of the game has, it cannot get her away from FarmVille unless her and everyone she's playing FarmVille with has as much access to a Wii as to a webbrowser.
Not going to happen.
That'd be interesting. OTOH, Sony would just fix it again, requiring users to update for them to log into Playstation Network. Or is there some way to continue using Playstation Network with a jailbroken PS3?
One driver being nice has that effect only when people don't use all lanes.
When everyone changes the lane as soon as they find out their lane seizes to exist later on, and only a few people go along the other lane, there is no ordered traffic distribution.
The way it's supposed to work (but doesn't, as it isn't obviously a good idea and people drive by their gut feeling rather by some formal education), is that everyone uses all lanes and take turns at the shoulder: http://data.motor-talk.de/data/galleries/611436/219413/202823618-w250.gif
Okay, a tragic accident caused by some douchbag on drugs in someone else's expensive car.
Not really indicative of luxury car owner's general behavior, though it's easy to think that way. After all, those expensive cars are made to be conspicuous, it's one of the main reasons the sell ("look at me, I can afford this car!1!"). So, when someone driving this car acts like an asshole, it's more likely people notice and remember it than when someone in his 20 year old Volvo acts up on the Autobahn.
According to my experience, there is no correlation between the car someone drives and their behavior in traffic.