and how exactly are you going to block that without a whitelisting proxy? From rogue pop-ups, to links sent by friends as a joke, to mislabeled links on message boards, ending up with that kind of content (or worse) on your screen is just way too easy.
I'm not worried about that sort of thing. I meant my son/daughter activly seeking out such content. I understand that popups happen, and I understand mislabeled links and friends happen. I expect my child to be honest enough to say "Yeah, Jimmy was being an ass and sent me a link and it took me there." If I feel my kid isn't telling the truth for some reason, I'd ask him/her to show me their history. If it turned out they were lying then it'd open up a chance for dialogue between us so we can figure what's going on and what to do about it. It might mean getting rights revoked for awhile/indefinitly, or nothing happening at all - all depending on the situation.
You've got about four years up on me for being on the net. And I'll agree that with popups it is a bit harder to avoid things - though with a good popup blocker and a regular antiviruii/adware check, I don't understand what makes the net that much different than it was back then. You have to put maybe 20 minutes more worth of maintnence in in a week, but does that make it all that much different?
You know what? With the exception of drinking and smoking (of which I'd make it a rule that they have to wait until legal age -- same goes for pornagraphic content), I would. If you've got enough open communication with the kid and a mutual understanding, then I don't see a problem with it. If I can trust my kid and understand why he wants to see a certain movie, or go to a certain show then I've got no qualms with it.
The net was never a friendly place. You can get in just as much trouble now as you could ten years ago. There was malware then, there's malware now. Viruses then, viruses now. Shock then and shock now. Seriously, it's not all that much different. If it changes so drastically by the time that I have kids, I'd be willing to rethink my stance -- but as far as things stand now, I have no issue.
This all, assuming my kid is a good kid. Give me a problem child and there's other issues to contend with, there.
It depends on the kid. Some kids are more responsible than other kids. If I had a child who had major behaviour problems in school and hung around with an iffy crowd I certantly wouldn't allow him/her access to the entire 'net. On the flip side, if I had a child who did relativley good in school, had friends with a smart head on their shoulders, then I see no reason why I shouldn't trust their judgment. Of course, they'd get a good talking to and reminders about how the internet is dangerous and all, but honestly - treating every kid as a criminal is hardly the way to go.
While I know that Square-Enix has taken some action against the gil-sellers, it's not been enough. It's impacted your server wonderfully, from what you've said, but conditions on other servers have hardly changed. The stroper chyme, Valkrum Emperor, and Argus, are still being camped by gilsellers 24/7, and prices of some weapons is still much much higher than it should be. We are still having issues of gilsellers setting mobs on us to try and run us out of the areas where they're monopolizing NM's (notorious monsters).
While the inital movement did cause some improvement, there's still much to be done. Those of us on Phoenix are still waiting to be able to buy a Sniper's Ring or an Emperor's Hairpin for less than 600k (They were originally 200k and 180k, respectivley, before the gilsellers got ahold of them).
They've taken the initiative, but we've hardly seen any improvement. Square-Enix really needs to do more than what they've done so far. I'm positive that our server isn't the only one that's not felt much of the impact from Sq-En's 'fight' to enforce their ToS
What I can't understand from this is WHY Blizzard would be opposed to this? If a mini-economy were to open up around your game, isn't that a good thing? They could get into the act themselves -- selling magic items and high level characters to the highest bidder? Hasn't anyone learned ANYTHING from the file swapping issues, Hacked satellite boxes or even drug interdiction? You can't stop people from doing what they want, and by picking battles of silly stuff like this weakens the arguments in legitimate cases where people actually are injured.
Blizzard doesn't want to be 'pro-mini-economy' because these mini-economies can get out of control very quickly. If they took the stance that you suggest (auctioning off high level characters and items) then they will most likely end up with someone (or multiple someones) that will ruin other people's game-time, epecially on the P2P servers. Blizzard gets money, yes, but from that one sale they'll have more GM calls and complaints that they'll have to do something about - it's more trouble for them than it's really worth. Would you rather have 100 happy customers or one happy customer?
I just wish that Square-Enix would take a lesson from Blizzard and start enforcing their ToS, too.
Slashdot Mirror
and how exactly are you going to block that without a whitelisting proxy? From rogue pop-ups, to links sent by friends as a joke, to mislabeled links on message boards, ending up with that kind of content (or worse) on your screen is just way too easy. I'm not worried about that sort of thing. I meant my son/daughter activly seeking out such content. I understand that popups happen, and I understand mislabeled links and friends happen. I expect my child to be honest enough to say "Yeah, Jimmy was being an ass and sent me a link and it took me there." If I feel my kid isn't telling the truth for some reason, I'd ask him/her to show me their history. If it turned out they were lying then it'd open up a chance for dialogue between us so we can figure what's going on and what to do about it. It might mean getting rights revoked for awhile/indefinitly, or nothing happening at all - all depending on the situation. You've got about four years up on me for being on the net. And I'll agree that with popups it is a bit harder to avoid things - though with a good popup blocker and a regular antiviruii/adware check, I don't understand what makes the net that much different than it was back then. You have to put maybe 20 minutes more worth of maintnence in in a week, but does that make it all that much different?
You know what? With the exception of drinking and smoking (of which I'd make it a rule that they have to wait until legal age -- same goes for pornagraphic content), I would. If you've got enough open communication with the kid and a mutual understanding, then I don't see a problem with it. If I can trust my kid and understand why he wants to see a certain movie, or go to a certain show then I've got no qualms with it. The net was never a friendly place. You can get in just as much trouble now as you could ten years ago. There was malware then, there's malware now. Viruses then, viruses now. Shock then and shock now. Seriously, it's not all that much different. If it changes so drastically by the time that I have kids, I'd be willing to rethink my stance -- but as far as things stand now, I have no issue. This all, assuming my kid is a good kid. Give me a problem child and there's other issues to contend with, there.
It depends on the kid. Some kids are more responsible than other kids. If I had a child who had major behaviour problems in school and hung around with an iffy crowd I certantly wouldn't allow him/her access to the entire 'net. On the flip side, if I had a child who did relativley good in school, had friends with a smart head on their shoulders, then I see no reason why I shouldn't trust their judgment. Of course, they'd get a good talking to and reminders about how the internet is dangerous and all, but honestly - treating every kid as a criminal is hardly the way to go.
While the inital movement did cause some improvement, there's still much to be done. Those of us on Phoenix are still waiting to be able to buy a Sniper's Ring or an Emperor's Hairpin for less than 600k (They were originally 200k and 180k, respectivley, before the gilsellers got ahold of them).
They've taken the initiative, but we've hardly seen any improvement. Square-Enix really needs to do more than what they've done so far. I'm positive that our server isn't the only one that's not felt much of the impact from Sq-En's 'fight' to enforce their ToS
What I can't understand from this is WHY Blizzard would be opposed to this? If a mini-economy were to open up around your game, isn't that a good thing? They could get into the act themselves -- selling magic items and high level characters to the highest bidder? Hasn't anyone learned ANYTHING from the file swapping issues, Hacked satellite boxes or even drug interdiction? You can't stop people from doing what they want, and by picking battles of silly stuff like this weakens the arguments in legitimate cases where people actually are injured.
Blizzard doesn't want to be 'pro-mini-economy' because these mini-economies can get out of control very quickly. If they took the stance that you suggest (auctioning off high level characters and items) then they will most likely end up with someone (or multiple someones) that will ruin other people's game-time, epecially on the P2P servers. Blizzard gets money, yes, but from that one sale they'll have more GM calls and complaints that they'll have to do something about - it's more trouble for them than it's really worth. Would you rather have 100 happy customers or one happy customer?
I just wish that Square-Enix would take a lesson from Blizzard and start enforcing their ToS, too.