When you cannot distinguish between work of fiction and a simulation of a real event happened a couple of years ago how can you honestly describe yourself as being able to distinguish between videogames and reality?
I can easily distinguish between the two. I can also distinguish between a simulation and an "inspired by real events" fiction. What I cannot see is why even if it *was* a simulation of a real event it'd be somehow "inmoral" given that no actual person would be hurt in the simulation of said event.
Also, you pretty much outed yourself as a nationalistic arsehole. Admit it, you are only disappointed that you cannot shoot some sand niggers singing "america fuck yeah"
How *that* piece of idiotic flamebait got modded up Insightful is something I cannot entirely comprehend. But for your information, you little prick-with-an-axe-to-grind, I am not even a US citizen, it's just that if I'm gonna criticize the US army I'll do it based on the *real* problems it has, not some stupid little strawman whose consequences are far beyond your brain to grasp.
Gee, and we should probably ban Grand Theft Auto as well, that thing is nothing more than a murder simulator!
Or perhaps, 99.99% of the world's population is perfectly able to distinguish between videogames and reality, and you're just doing a Jack Thompson strawman only to satisfy your petty war against the US army. Fuck you.
Most of us Slashdotters do know how hard it is, how much effort it takes, to produce worthwhile creative content. Software is also under copyright, and there's plenty of us programmers here.
That's precisely why we cringe at laws such as this. It is hard, it does require effort, but it's nowhere near deserving lifetime compensation let alone extend that for 70 years after your death. As far as I'm concerned, the last person ever to deserve lifetime compensation for his work was a german patent officer for what was essentially a bunch of math and, as such, uncopyrightable.
Live? copyright already lasts for the author's entire lifetime, what's being discussed here is whether to continue protecting it for fifty or seventy years past that.
No, this isn't about the artists and has never been. It could be argued that this is about the artists' families, but practically no parent in this world supports his children financially until they're 50. This is simply the next step in the RIAA and MPAA's campaign to get their precious "infinity minus one" copyright lenght in order to destroy the very idea of public domain.
The fact that you claim you'd have to stop using Firefox *and* the fact that you call Xubuntu's Xfce an "oddball desktop" destroys any kind of credibility you may have once had. Seriously, drop your poor prejudices and try it before coming here to troll.
You're different from me, I use a computer solely to do the things I want/need to be done. And if spending 30 minutes downloading software off the internet lets me avoid paying $500 and spending three hours configuring stuff while still getting my work done, that's exactly what I'll do.
Try it *then* decide if it's right for you or not. Refusing to even see whether there are better options out there leads to stagnation and $100-per-hour COBOL consultants.
Slashdot must have an awful lot of users then, for Microsoft to target them with the Mojave experiment, all the "downgrade" options being available from OEMs, and such.
Or it could be that no, people generally dislike Vista for being different interface-wise, much slower and without a single feature they may care about over XP.
So, to which category do God of War: Chains of Olympus and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops belong?
Yes, the PSP has its fair share of shitty games, but so does the DS and every other console in existence, portable or not. And when it comes to fun games, both have plenty of good ones, despite what the fanboys of either may say. The problem is tackling Nintendo in the portable arena is much like going against WoW in the MMORPG arena: inertia's a bitch, specially if you're a new player in the market.
They would, if Linux was able to run 99% of the world's Windows applications. Yes, I know there are some PDFs out there that Evince et al can't open, but so far I haven't found any and I have *hundreds* of PDFs on my computer so chances are they're a stastistically insignificant percentage and, as such, unlikely to bother the average user.
Only tech enthusiasts care about what codec YouTube uses. And only some, I *am* a tech enthusiast and all I know about YouTube is that it runs quite well on my 1.1 Ghz Pentium M. And yes, I've yet to meet a normal user who uses indexing and previews or even cares about it. Probably a direct consequence of going with XP instead of Vista, perhaps, but I guess if it truly was a feature they needed they'd ask for it.
I enjoyed playing video games more than doing homework too, my point is that most people can't only play video games and still survive.
But this is doing homework. It is *not*, under any possible definition of the word, a necessity for survival. If these kids were forgetting to eat or sleep for playing videogames, ala korean Starcraft players, then I'd agree there's a significant problem there, but homework? who the fsck cares?
Still, my point was simple: it is entirely possible to lead a good life doing only stuff you like, so the 'suffering' of doing homework is neither essential nor desirable.
Gee, if the alternative is living a boring, dull life where I'm treated like shit, starving to death playing videogames doesn't seem too bad, does it?
Thank God some of us have the ability to find areas where we enjoy our work, and the skill to succeed at it. Sincerely, someone who prefered playing videogames over doing homework and, all things considered, is doing quite well on his life. Sucks to be you.
Accidentally dropping ice cream to the ground is also money down the drain, however much like gaming it's various orders of magnitude less money than most forms of gambling.
It does, actually. One of the fantastic perks of relativity is that you can pick any single point as the origin, and the math still works. So the notion that the Sun goes around the Earth is as correct as that of the Earth going around the Sun, or that of considering me as the center of the Universe;)
Now, I respect the rest of your post since you explain both the features you like *and* the fact that its only your wants and not something that applies to everyone, but the above statement is pure fanboy flamebait. Both the Zen and the iPod have features the other does not have so neither is 'crippling' oneself but rather simply purchasing based on different needs and criteria.
Personally I listen to whole albums, not single songs so the idea of 'smart' playlists is useless to me, and I like being easily able to use my MP3 player on any computer I plug it into and copy my music back and forth so the iPod is not even worth considering. If you like it, go ahead and buy one but please keep the evangelism out when *I* purchase something else.
I believe that was exactly his point. Show me a Turing machine, and I'll show you how it can be used for copyright infringement. Show me a link between two Turing machines, and I'll show you how to transmit copyrighted material over it. Show me any technology meant to make Turing machines more usable, and I'll show you how it helps people infringe on others' copyrights. Take down anything that could be used for copyright infringement out of Google, and you're left with absolutely nothing.
The beauty of computers is that so little is needed to do so much, and the wonderful oportunities it gives to the creative mind. The problem of computers is that many people who don't understand such facts fear them so much, and end up making court rulings like this one that leave us, the technologically and mathematically adept, completely flabbergasted.
But to my knowledge they've never cooperated with the countless photographers claiming copyright infringement through their Google Images service. Yes, that's just pointless bitching, but consistency requires either cooperating with both or don't listen to either. Instead, we only get another instance of the golden rule: "he who has the gold makes the rules". Pity.
I agree with your second and third paragraph, which is why I believe your first paragraph is just a steaming pile of trolling crap. Yes, there's plenty of idiots that download anything that tickles their fancy and even many that don't (but hey, it had lots of seeders so it'd be fast anyways) and they should be taught the idiocy of their ways, mostly because they're driving the costs of broadband up for the rest of us, but the fact remains that both the prices of games have stayed way up, and the availability of demos has continued its trend down.
Case in point, the game featured in TFA, looked cool, searched for the demo, nothing. Do you seriously expect me to shell $39.99 for something that I'm not sure I'll like? 'cause that money would pay for an awful lot of indie and even big-name games that do have demos available.
Don't be so quick in blaming the BitTorrent-addicted idiots for this one at least. Plenty of reasons to go to TPB with this one, even if I won't. And yes, I'm one of those that download from TPB and, if I like it, buy retail and *then* buy on Steam again if its cheap enough (or the game was just *that* good), replaying it each time, and if I don't like it, trash can it is.
They did something similar to that with Dawn of War 2 on Steam, one day before release. The bitchfest that followed on the forums was monumental. A full week, for an indie game developer? are you fucking kidding me!? I believe the technical term is "suicide" for that.
Slashdot Mirror
Define "significant". Define "rivals". Heck, define "art". Then we can begin to talk about how to make that game.
When you cannot distinguish between work of fiction and a simulation of a real event happened a couple of years ago how can you honestly describe yourself as being able to distinguish between videogames and reality?
I can easily distinguish between the two. I can also distinguish between a simulation and an "inspired by real events" fiction. What I cannot see is why even if it *was* a simulation of a real event it'd be somehow "inmoral" given that no actual person would be hurt in the simulation of said event.
Also, you pretty much outed yourself as a nationalistic arsehole. Admit it, you are only disappointed that you cannot shoot some sand niggers singing "america fuck yeah"
How *that* piece of idiotic flamebait got modded up Insightful is something I cannot entirely comprehend. But for your information, you little prick-with-an-axe-to-grind, I am not even a US citizen, it's just that if I'm gonna criticize the US army I'll do it based on the *real* problems it has, not some stupid little strawman whose consequences are far beyond your brain to grasp.
Gee, and we should probably ban Grand Theft Auto as well, that thing is nothing more than a murder simulator!
Or perhaps, 99.99% of the world's population is perfectly able to distinguish between videogames and reality, and you're just doing a Jack Thompson strawman only to satisfy your petty war against the US army. Fuck you.
Most of us Slashdotters do know how hard it is, how much effort it takes, to produce worthwhile creative content. Software is also under copyright, and there's plenty of us programmers here.
That's precisely why we cringe at laws such as this. It is hard, it does require effort, but it's nowhere near deserving lifetime compensation let alone extend that for 70 years after your death. As far as I'm concerned, the last person ever to deserve lifetime compensation for his work was a german patent officer for what was essentially a bunch of math and, as such, uncopyrightable.
Live? copyright already lasts for the author's entire lifetime, what's being discussed here is whether to continue protecting it for fifty or seventy years past that.
No, this isn't about the artists and has never been. It could be argued that this is about the artists' families, but practically no parent in this world supports his children financially until they're 50. This is simply the next step in the RIAA and MPAA's campaign to get their precious "infinity minus one" copyright lenght in order to destroy the very idea of public domain.
The fact that you claim you'd have to stop using Firefox *and* the fact that you call Xubuntu's Xfce an "oddball desktop" destroys any kind of credibility you may have once had. Seriously, drop your poor prejudices and try it before coming here to troll.
You're different from me, I use a computer solely to do the things I want/need to be done. And if spending 30 minutes downloading software off the internet lets me avoid paying $500 and spending three hours configuring stuff while still getting my work done, that's exactly what I'll do.
Try it *then* decide if it's right for you or not. Refusing to even see whether there are better options out there leads to stagnation and $100-per-hour COBOL consultants.
Slashdot must have an awful lot of users then, for Microsoft to target them with the Mojave experiment, all the "downgrade" options being available from OEMs, and such.
Or it could be that no, people generally dislike Vista for being different interface-wise, much slower and without a single feature they may care about over XP.
IIRC, it was to the OpenBSD guys with regards to their obsession with security over anything else.
So, to which category do God of War: Chains of Olympus and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops belong?
Yes, the PSP has its fair share of shitty games, but so does the DS and every other console in existence, portable or not. And when it comes to fun games, both have plenty of good ones, despite what the fanboys of either may say. The problem is tackling Nintendo in the portable arena is much like going against WoW in the MMORPG arena: inertia's a bitch, specially if you're a new player in the market.
They would, if Linux was able to run 99% of the world's Windows applications. Yes, I know there are some PDFs out there that Evince et al can't open, but so far I haven't found any and I have *hundreds* of PDFs on my computer so chances are they're a stastistically insignificant percentage and, as such, unlikely to bother the average user.
Only tech enthusiasts care about what codec YouTube uses. And only some, I *am* a tech enthusiast and all I know about YouTube is that it runs quite well on my 1.1 Ghz Pentium M. And yes, I've yet to meet a normal user who uses indexing and previews or even cares about it. Probably a direct consequence of going with XP instead of Vista, perhaps, but I guess if it truly was a feature they needed they'd ask for it.
Are you sure it was from Arthur Clark? I once read a short story by Asimov on that, and after some Googling I found this.
I enjoyed playing video games more than doing homework too, my point is that most people can't only play video games and still survive.
But this is doing homework. It is *not*, under any possible definition of the word, a necessity for survival. If these kids were forgetting to eat or sleep for playing videogames, ala korean Starcraft players, then I'd agree there's a significant problem there, but homework? who the fsck cares?
Still, my point was simple: it is entirely possible to lead a good life doing only stuff you like, so the 'suffering' of doing homework is neither essential nor desirable.
Next time you use that smartass answer, do so on a story that doesn't have precisely what you ask linked in the same summary. Thanks.
Gee, if the alternative is living a boring, dull life where I'm treated like shit, starving to death playing videogames doesn't seem too bad, does it?
Thank God some of us have the ability to find areas where we enjoy our work, and the skill to succeed at it. Sincerely, someone who prefered playing videogames over doing homework and, all things considered, is doing quite well on his life. Sucks to be you.
Accidentally dropping ice cream to the ground is also money down the drain, however much like gaming it's various orders of magnitude less money than most forms of gambling.
It does, actually. One of the fantastic perks of relativity is that you can pick any single point as the origin, and the math still works. So the notion that the Sun goes around the Earth is as correct as that of the Earth going around the Sun, or that of considering me as the center of the Universe ;)
Using a Zen or Sansa is crippling yourself.
Now, I respect the rest of your post since you explain both the features you like *and* the fact that its only your wants and not something that applies to everyone, but the above statement is pure fanboy flamebait. Both the Zen and the iPod have features the other does not have so neither is 'crippling' oneself but rather simply purchasing based on different needs and criteria.
Personally I listen to whole albums, not single songs so the idea of 'smart' playlists is useless to me, and I like being easily able to use my MP3 player on any computer I plug it into and copy my music back and forth so the iPod is not even worth considering. If you like it, go ahead and buy one but please keep the evangelism out when *I* purchase something else.
Good luck with that, with today's portable media players being 1~160GB+ capacity it would be practically insane to manage files by hand.
It isn't. Yours truly, someone with actual on-hands experience.
I believe that was exactly his point. Show me a Turing machine, and I'll show you how it can be used for copyright infringement. Show me a link between two Turing machines, and I'll show you how to transmit copyrighted material over it. Show me any technology meant to make Turing machines more usable, and I'll show you how it helps people infringe on others' copyrights. Take down anything that could be used for copyright infringement out of Google, and you're left with absolutely nothing.
The beauty of computers is that so little is needed to do so much, and the wonderful oportunities it gives to the creative mind. The problem of computers is that many people who don't understand such facts fear them so much, and end up making court rulings like this one that leave us, the technologically and mathematically adept, completely flabbergasted.
But to my knowledge they've never cooperated with the countless photographers claiming copyright infringement through their Google Images service. Yes, that's just pointless bitching, but consistency requires either cooperating with both or don't listen to either. Instead, we only get another instance of the golden rule: "he who has the gold makes the rules". Pity.
And I'd argue that calling it stealing is a rape of the English language in order to garner more support than they'd have otherwise.
So I'm as much of a thief as you are a rapist, my friend.
I agree with your second and third paragraph, which is why I believe your first paragraph is just a steaming pile of trolling crap. Yes, there's plenty of idiots that download anything that tickles their fancy and even many that don't (but hey, it had lots of seeders so it'd be fast anyways) and they should be taught the idiocy of their ways, mostly because they're driving the costs of broadband up for the rest of us, but the fact remains that both the prices of games have stayed way up, and the availability of demos has continued its trend down.
Case in point, the game featured in TFA, looked cool, searched for the demo, nothing. Do you seriously expect me to shell $39.99 for something that I'm not sure I'll like? 'cause that money would pay for an awful lot of indie and even big-name games that do have demos available.
Don't be so quick in blaming the BitTorrent-addicted idiots for this one at least. Plenty of reasons to go to TPB with this one, even if I won't. And yes, I'm one of those that download from TPB and, if I like it, buy retail and *then* buy on Steam again if its cheap enough (or the game was just *that* good), replaying it each time, and if I don't like it, trash can it is.
They did something similar to that with Dawn of War 2 on Steam, one day before release. The bitchfest that followed on the forums was monumental. A full week, for an indie game developer? are you fucking kidding me!? I believe the technical term is "suicide" for that.