Speaking of scratched DVDs...and I guess CDs too since people inevitably store plenty of downloaded um..."free"...content on CDRs, does anybody know how reliable the toothpaste/deoderant method is for cleaning scratched discs? I have a lot of scratched ones since I keep them in spools and I think I'm just going to save myself a bunch of trouble and buy a SkipDr. Anybody ever use one of those before? Would you recommend it?
"Games that are sucky or obscure can't charge as much as the hot game of the month."
My point with the games was that whereas there was no easy method for them to charge small amounts for things like mods and maps in the past, they will now see no reason not to, and thus something that was once done for free by loving fans will be charged for by Valve. Don't believe me? It's already happening.
As to your point about watching how much you're spending and re-entering your payment info...I guarantee a site like Paypal (ick) or some other site would jump at the chance to manage all of your accounts at once.
"In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day."
You know, that really depends on what you mean by "safe". I'm not arguing the alchohol so much as the smoking pot. You see, net addiction leads to sleep deprivation which is INCREDIBLY unhealthy, often times poor diet decisions and bad hygene and perhaps one of the biggest problems is the social issues it causes.
You see, alchohol and pot tend to be more "social" vices (yeah, you have your closet boozers and potheads, but the vast majority of people use it socially), which has you interacting with people in the flesh versus the net where you interact via a screen.
Physical human face to face contact is something all humans need, and I would worry about the long term mental health consequences of net addiction...especially since I myself have suffered from it.
I honestly don't know why everybody is so friggin excited for micropayments. Actually wait...let me clarify...I don't see why CONSUMERS are so friggin excited.
Yes, micropayments will allow you to pay less for individual content. Very true. However given the greed of companies (RIAA anybody?) who want to raise prices, that won't be much.
Not to mention the fact that while this enables you to pay less, you will inevitably be paying more as every single content producer under the sun starts using micropayments to charge you for every little fraction of their website...except maybe newsletter sign-ups because they make money off the spam you'll get after you sign up.
Unfortunately, gamers are already starting to realize what a BAD IDEA this is in the wrong hands ever since Valve has begun buying up mods and selling them. DoD? Pay for it. Natural Selection? Pay for it. The glorious vision of pay-per-play on the internet is about to come, and you fools are ushering it in with open arms.
Is it just me...or would the simplest way to not discriminate against genetics be to NOT TEST FOR IT?
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the only difference between a company that discriminates based on that (like in Gattaca) and one that doesn't (every company today) the fact that one had that little blood analysis machine at the door and the rest don't?
"reading employee email helps the boss appear hands-on and accessible"
And here's what it comes down to...appearances. Yes, I understand that it can have some effect, but how useful is putting on the appearance of being hands-on and accessible when they're really not?
This is nothing more than an attempt to churn up buzz for this game. This question has been asked and answered MILLIONS of times since the game was first announced.
This isn't current news, this isn't really even news at all.
Why couldn't more events like this happen? Simple.
This is a destructive event. That's why it became such a big deal. It had real repurcussions for the characters.
If the company were to do this, the bitchfest that would ensue would be ENDLESS. People would be pissed that they pay lots of money for this, and spend lots of time on this only to have their hard work destroyed by something to randomly "enhance" the gaming experience.
So while yes, it is more interesting, nobody wants it to happen to them, as you can see by how people fled the scenes.
"who the hell would shoplift when you can just download anything you really need?"
Obviously someone concerned about what happens if they get caught, since the punishment for shoplifting is much less than that of copyright infringement.
" but I think moving to a steam/iTunes like model (where you buy the game online and download it for $15 instead of buying a used copy for $15) makes a lot of sense."
The problem with this model is that while I would trust a company like Apple to do it correctly, I would NOT trust Valve to handle such a distribution system responsibly.
What I and many other gamers fear is that once Valve gets Steam as the de facto for their games and has most of their player base using it, they will start trying to get all mods downloaded through there as well.
Then they will require it.
Then they will charge for it.
And the end result will be that not only are they getting paid for their game, but they'll be getting paid to distribute mods which other people create. And I guarantee that they're dreaming about it as I write this.
Please don't speak on behalf of anybody but yourself. Part of making this board fun and informative is making sure we express ALL viewpoints, not just ones that kiss up to people. Yes, we're grateful they responded, but frankly its of the "thanks for nothing" variety.Sure, there are some people who will just flame randomly for the sake of it, but there is a very valid point behind us being dismayed at getting nothing more than sugar-coated answers.
We're not expecting them to reveal all their negative sides and weaknesses, but these responses were pretty horrible. We expect them to say good things about their company and product, but at least go a bit in depth, and not provide us things that look like they're off of a FAQ.
That's a very interesting point. And you actually described me to the letter back when I was in college. It is important to note that the technology is just a tool. What it is enabling however is a desire to retreat into one's own world.
This is especially true in certain social situations, such as the train or bus on the morning commute. The previous method of isolating ones self was the newspaper or a book, now its a PSP or an iPod. The desire to avoid interaction is already there, this just provides an effective excuse to do it.
In order to get yourself out of it, you just need to realize that the only way you'll actually start talking to people again, and prevent yourself from becoming a digital media hermit is to turn off your device and TALK TO SOMEONE. Or heck, even use it as a conversation starter. Person next to you listening to their iPod as well? Grab their attention, say hi, and suggest swapping for a little bit. Once you give it back, you can TALK before you go back to listening to your music. Who knows, it might lead to something.
The problem with introducing a tacticle game controller rather than a mouse comes when you have players competing (like on an internet server) and some are using the tactile controller and some are using a mouse.
While the Revolution controller may make things more fun, especially if everybody is using one...if one person is using a mouse for FPS, which is infinitely more accurate, they will have a ridiculous advantage and ruin gameplay.
There have been a few posts already which correctly state that just because someone may not be technically skilled (even if that is their industry/profession), they may be a good manager. Now the story submitter commented to some degree that this is starting to cause problems. I'm curious as to what other qualities has has that may redeem his lack of tech skills.
As for ways to check, you yourself might start to take an interest in higher level "manager" functions, and just curiously ask him about it, see what he knows, play dumb, etc. Not only might you gain some insight and possibly a great deal of respect for him, but you've also started on the path to letting him know you might one day be interested in more responsibilities yourself.
It is a shame we never really hear about these people because they are the ones who truly alter the course of history, and you only find out about them on some documentary half a century later like the Connections series.
Slashdot Mirror
Speaking of scratched DVDs...and I guess CDs too since people inevitably store plenty of downloaded um..."free"...content on CDRs, does anybody know how reliable the toothpaste/deoderant method is for cleaning scratched discs? I have a lot of scratched ones since I keep them in spools and I think I'm just going to save myself a bunch of trouble and buy a SkipDr. Anybody ever use one of those before? Would you recommend it?
Is this going to cause companies to crack down even harder on tv show distribution via bittorrent?
My point with the games was that whereas there was no easy method for them to charge small amounts for things like mods and maps in the past, they will now see no reason not to, and thus something that was once done for free by loving fans will be charged for by Valve. Don't believe me? It's already happening.
As to your point about watching how much you're spending and re-entering your payment info...I guarantee a site like Paypal (ick) or some other site would jump at the chance to manage all of your accounts at once.
You know, that really depends on what you mean by "safe". I'm not arguing the alchohol so much as the smoking pot. You see, net addiction leads to sleep deprivation which is INCREDIBLY unhealthy, often times poor diet decisions and bad hygene and perhaps one of the biggest problems is the social issues it causes.
You see, alchohol and pot tend to be more "social" vices (yeah, you have your closet boozers and potheads, but the vast majority of people use it socially), which has you interacting with people in the flesh versus the net where you interact via a screen.
Physical human face to face contact is something all humans need, and I would worry about the long term mental health consequences of net addiction...especially since I myself have suffered from it.
Yes, micropayments will allow you to pay less for individual content. Very true. However given the greed of companies (RIAA anybody?) who want to raise prices, that won't be much.
Not to mention the fact that while this enables you to pay less, you will inevitably be paying more as every single content producer under the sun starts using micropayments to charge you for every little fraction of their website...except maybe newsletter sign-ups because they make money off the spam you'll get after you sign up.
Unfortunately, gamers are already starting to realize what a BAD IDEA this is in the wrong hands ever since Valve has begun buying up mods and selling them. DoD? Pay for it. Natural Selection? Pay for it. The glorious vision of pay-per-play on the internet is about to come, and you fools are ushering it in with open arms.
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the only difference between a company that discriminates based on that (like in Gattaca) and one that doesn't (every company today) the fact that one had that little blood analysis machine at the door and the rest don't?
And here's what it comes down to...appearances. Yes, I understand that it can have some effect, but how useful is putting on the appearance of being hands-on and accessible when they're really not?
This isn't current news, this isn't really even news at all.
This is a destructive event. That's why it became such a big deal. It had real repurcussions for the characters.
If the company were to do this, the bitchfest that would ensue would be ENDLESS. People would be pissed that they pay lots of money for this, and spend lots of time on this only to have their hard work destroyed by something to randomly "enhance" the gaming experience.
So while yes, it is more interesting, nobody wants it to happen to them, as you can see by how people fled the scenes.
Obviously someone concerned about what happens if they get caught, since the punishment for shoplifting is much less than that of copyright infringement.
The problem with this model is that while I would trust a company like Apple to do it correctly, I would NOT trust Valve to handle such a distribution system responsibly.
What I and many other gamers fear is that once Valve gets Steam as the de facto for their games and has most of their player base using it, they will start trying to get all mods downloaded through there as well.
Then they will require it.
Then they will charge for it.
And the end result will be that not only are they getting paid for their game, but they'll be getting paid to distribute mods which other people create. And I guarantee that they're dreaming about it as I write this.
We're not expecting them to reveal all their negative sides and weaknesses, but these responses were pretty horrible. We expect them to say good things about their company and product, but at least go a bit in depth, and not provide us things that look like they're off of a FAQ.
This is especially true in certain social situations, such as the train or bus on the morning commute. The previous method of isolating ones self was the newspaper or a book, now its a PSP or an iPod. The desire to avoid interaction is already there, this just provides an effective excuse to do it.
In order to get yourself out of it, you just need to realize that the only way you'll actually start talking to people again, and prevent yourself from becoming a digital media hermit is to turn off your device and TALK TO SOMEONE. Or heck, even use it as a conversation starter. Person next to you listening to their iPod as well? Grab their attention, say hi, and suggest swapping for a little bit. Once you give it back, you can TALK before you go back to listening to your music. Who knows, it might lead to something.
While the Revolution controller may make things more fun, especially if everybody is using one...if one person is using a mouse for FPS, which is infinitely more accurate, they will have a ridiculous advantage and ruin gameplay.
The problem with any device that is paired with a fashion accessory, such as a watch, is that the paired item inevitably is ugly as hell.
You see, nobody really buys something with a watch attachment because they spend a lot more money on a quality watch and want to wear that one.
As for ways to check, you yourself might start to take an interest in higher level "manager" functions, and just curiously ask him about it, see what he knows, play dumb, etc. Not only might you gain some insight and possibly a great deal of respect for him, but you've also started on the path to letting him know you might one day be interested in more responsibilities yourself.