OK, so Thompson is an idiot. Unfortunately, whenever he is mentioned the noise level rises enough that it's pretty hard to find actual analysis of his crusade du jour. Some of this probably has to do with the fact that lawsuits over video games are a recent phenomenon and this hurts the ability of those commenting on the cases. I would hope that somebody is trying to do some real analysis this time (and this case isn't necessarily about games). Anyone have links?
Suing the bar isn't going to get them to back off, it's only going to make them more frustrated and willing to pursue you.
This is exactly what he wants. Thompson has shown repeatedly that he cares little for the actual legal merit of anything he is involved in, and is more interested in self-important attention-whoring. Unfortunately for the legal system and the populace in general, he is a lawyer, and this allows him more and better opportunities to abuse the legal and media systems for personal gain. Even more unfortunate is the fact that he's chosen a complete non-issue (violent video games) as the stepping stone toward fame and fortune.
However, his arguments are so completely absurd that it's hard to believe the man is truly mentally stable. In the end, truth will of course win out over his empty rhetoric. I'm just glad he's not very charismatic or cogent, as that would make him an extremely dangerous lobbyist/politician.
The ratings mark there appears to be a Euro one, so perhaps this is the Euro version? The relevance to this comment would be my rememberance of ads with nudity at places like bus stops in Paris.
Although many can draw this conclusion from your post, I think it's important to say it explicitly: the anti-game lobby can only benefit from shock ads. Not only do they get easy ammunition to parade around, but some "journalist" or "researcher" will inevitably get ahold of ads like this and create a (bad) media story or (bad) study that further hurts the debate.
The inexplicable thing here is that game companies keep on doing it. I'd make an argument here about why it is bad, but the article you linked to pretty much spells it out. So go read it, slashdotters.
I doubt selling ads on the MS answer site would ever generate enough funds to justify the site in the first place. A more likely interpretation is that this site allows complete "lock-in" of information. On newsgroups, you have the pesky problem of allowing everyone a voice. With a web site, you can have total control, unless of course you get hacked.
Sony, which has been going on about PS3 ever since the PS2 hit the shelves.
Sony has learned a lot from politicians. If you hype something enough, people will gladly bend over to receive it, no matter the ACTUAL quality. They've also been doing this for years. I think claims were made that the PS2 would be able to render Toy Story in real time, and games-on-demand would explode when the hard drive and network adapter were released. Yeah right.
There was only an "unsigned and anonymous note" (allegedly) from the US embassy stating that he might be subject the executive order under which Guantanamo Bay operates, there's no substantive reason to believe that he'd actually go there.
Um, right. Let's look at this from the "typical paranoid and/or evil US government" view. First, we have a foreign citizen monkeying with US GOVERNMENT (OMG!) property. Then, add in the fact that this property was military/defense systems (HOW DARE HE!). Then, add the fact that it was a COMPUTER NETWORK (HE'LL SET OFF THE NUKES!). If nothing else, they'd send him to Gitmo simply as an example (DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS BLARRGHGFDHG).
This much is obvious. The fact here is that a lot of these accounts aren't "cheating", but rather violating the EULA/TOS/AUP (or whatever acronym Blizzard uses). I'm not certain, but I bet a lot of these accounts were used for gold farming, which while technically not cheating, has effects on the game economy, as well as creates a secondary economy for the game (this is probably the part they don't like).
Also, Quake/UT are quite a bit different. In those games, you have a large number of servers with a few players on each one. It's easier to set up a server where people can be trusted. Another huge difference is that FPSes are a lot less complex in terms of the amount of code used in gameplay.
MMOs are the exact opposite in both these regards. They have a small number of servers with a large number of players on each one. It's a lot harder to keep undesireable people from having a negative impact on the game. The code required for gameplay is also a lot more complicated, as a much larger amount of scripting takes place (tracking things like quest status, items/inventory, spells and abilities, environmental and skill effects, among others). All this extra code translates into more possible bugs.
I'm glad that they are still a company with the integrity to keep the game running fair at the loss of profit
Riiiight. 5400 out of 5 million is less than 2% of the total "population". Add to this the fact that these accounts were probably causing a lot more strain on servers and support staff than average.
Oh, and "integrity" is not a word I'd use regarding Blizzard, at least not after bnetd and "the warden"....
Slashdot Mirror
Hey man, Windows source code has to originate somewhere...
You see the ads on late-night TV, and of course they're probably full of crap. But these people might help.
OK, so Thompson is an idiot. Unfortunately, whenever he is mentioned the noise level rises enough that it's pretty hard to find actual analysis of his crusade du jour. Some of this probably has to do with the fact that lawsuits over video games are a recent phenomenon and this hurts the ability of those commenting on the cases. I would hope that somebody is trying to do some real analysis this time (and this case isn't necessarily about games). Anyone have links?
This is exactly what he wants. Thompson has shown repeatedly that he cares little for the actual legal merit of anything he is involved in, and is more interested in self-important attention-whoring. Unfortunately for the legal system and the populace in general, he is a lawyer, and this allows him more and better opportunities to abuse the legal and media systems for personal gain. Even more unfortunate is the fact that he's chosen a complete non-issue (violent video games) as the stepping stone toward fame and fortune.
However, his arguments are so completely absurd that it's hard to believe the man is truly mentally stable. In the end, truth will of course win out over his empty rhetoric. I'm just glad he's not very charismatic or cogent, as that would make him an extremely dangerous lobbyist/politician.
What, like Oprah?
The ratings mark there appears to be a Euro one, so perhaps this is the Euro version? The relevance to this comment would be my rememberance of ads with nudity at places like bus stops in Paris.
Duke Nukem came pretty close. Also, there is a "hentai" game called Battle Raper.
Although many can draw this conclusion from your post, I think it's important to say it explicitly: the anti-game lobby can only benefit from shock ads. Not only do they get easy ammunition to parade around, but some "journalist" or "researcher" will inevitably get ahold of ads like this and create a (bad) media story or (bad) study that further hurts the debate.
The inexplicable thing here is that game companies keep on doing it. I'd make an argument here about why it is bad, but the article you linked to pretty much spells it out. So go read it, slashdotters.
I doubt selling ads on the MS answer site would ever generate enough funds to justify the site in the first place. A more likely interpretation is that this site allows complete "lock-in" of information. On newsgroups, you have the pesky problem of allowing everyone a voice. With a web site, you can have total control, unless of course you get hacked.
Games-section-only articles with no possibility for fanboy flamewars generally get similar comment counts.
Neither does it mean anyone is worth listening to.
Mostly because I use Ubuntu and still suck enough at unix to not care.
Um, yeah. And mechanical turnstyles are a privacy risk as well...
11-man counter-raid?
Yeah, I like light-skinned people better than dark-skinned ones, so when I open a restaurant I'm only going to allow the former and not the latter.
Sony has learned a lot from politicians. If you hype something enough, people will gladly bend over to receive it, no matter the ACTUAL quality. They've also been doing this for years. I think claims were made that the PS2 would be able to render Toy Story in real time, and games-on-demand would explode when the hard drive and network adapter were released. Yeah right.
Yeah, like the Xbox 360. (OOOH BURRN!)
NOTE TO THOSE LACKING A SENSE OF HUMOR: THIS POST IS A JOKE.
"The main holdups were a desire for absolute control over all the bits that will ever pass through a PS3's DVD player"
or: "the main holdup is greed".
Remember kids: copy protection is the symptom, not the disease.
Shut the fuck up. Script kiddies are not a "national security threat".
Um, right. Let's look at this from the "typical paranoid and/or evil US government" view. First, we have a foreign citizen monkeying with US GOVERNMENT (OMG!) property. Then, add in the fact that this property was military/defense systems (HOW DARE HE!). Then, add the fact that it was a COMPUTER NETWORK (HE'LL SET OFF THE NUKES!). If nothing else, they'd send him to Gitmo simply as an example (DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS BLARRGHGFDHG).
Now I don't play WoW or any MMORPG
This much is obvious. The fact here is that a lot of these accounts aren't "cheating", but rather violating the EULA/TOS/AUP (or whatever acronym Blizzard uses). I'm not certain, but I bet a lot of these accounts were used for gold farming, which while technically not cheating, has effects on the game economy, as well as creates a secondary economy for the game (this is probably the part they don't like).
Also, Quake/UT are quite a bit different. In those games, you have a large number of servers with a few players on each one. It's easier to set up a server where people can be trusted. Another huge difference is that FPSes are a lot less complex in terms of the amount of code used in gameplay.
MMOs are the exact opposite in both these regards. They have a small number of servers with a large number of players on each one. It's a lot harder to keep undesireable people from having a negative impact on the game. The code required for gameplay is also a lot more complicated, as a much larger amount of scripting takes place (tracking things like quest status, items/inventory, spells and abilities, environmental and skill effects, among others). All this extra code translates into more possible bugs.
Riiiight. 5400 out of 5 million is less than 2% of the total "population". Add to this the fact that these accounts were probably causing a lot more strain on servers and support staff than average.
Oh, and "integrity" is not a word I'd use regarding Blizzard, at least not after bnetd and "the warden"....
Your starry-eyed capitalist bullshit does not negate reality.
Yeah, because as we all know, those console heathens aren't real gamers...
A logical assertion does not prove the validity of the assertion.