If you buy anything more expensive, because of the extra features, the only way you can use those features is to pay big bucks for them from the cellular provider's store.
My phone came out at a little over $300. When I purchased it 3 months later it cost $140. Now they are even cheaper, and are still VERY gadgety and desirable. Also notice that those prices are WITHOUT signing a 1-3 year contract.
MP3 players on cellphones are useless for this reason: you have to buy all the MP3s from the cellphone provider, instead of just loading your own.
Even with the camera phones, you're not allowed to copy any pictures using a USB cable because the provider has locked that out, and wants to force you to use airtime to email them to yourself.
Download BitPim. It allows you to move pictures/video/contact list/SMS Messages/and other content to and from your phone. Also, my Verizon LG the V has software with its 24 dollar music package (basically a plug and drivers) that lets you put your own songs on there as long as it is in the supported formats (i know.mp3 is one of them), not to mention you have to buy the plug anyway to move your files.
Most people don't buy their phones for just talking anymore. I myself purchased LG the V, which is equipped with a keypad for texting, built in speakers, and a 1 GB memory card for music, games, and data transfer (think USB flash drives). I find it pretty convenient if I am going for a walk and want to listen to some music, or need to move a group of files from my home computer to school, especially since I just shut my web server down:(. How about when my cat does something cute, or I want to capture some other memory with my 1.3megapixel camera (Yes, 1.3mp isn't THAT much, but it's enough; The new generation phones will be better anyways). In my opinion at least, it is much more efficient to carry around 1 device that does it all. The point I'm trying to make here is: people buy there phones for other things than talking. If i wanted a phone for just talking, I'd by a teeny tiny 10 dollar phone that doesn't do much else than a contact list and speed dial.
Ah well said. I was going more for the "MMO addiction is a very real addiction." I agree with your post quite a bit, I just wanted to add a little bit to it.
I suspect (but cannot prove), that in the case of MMO addiction the addict is experiencing larger problems in life and is using the game as a form of pseudo self-medication. It's not about how much you play, it's about why you play.
Agreed, but even though someone is addicted because they are avoiding larger problems, it is still an unhealthy addiction (pseudo-addiction?).
...You honestly don't think we haven't said anything? I have had a shrink in the past and actually enjoy the confidentiality and openness we had. It is kind of refreshing. My question to you is, if he is happy being addicted to it, why would he change? Unless some kind of major social, educational, or physical problems occur, in his mind there is no reason to change his routine. I am not saying its like this with everyone, but it does happen. Personally, I think paying 15 bucks a month to play a video game is silly, but then again i work for my money.
Just because you haven't personally seen a WOW addiction doesn't mean it doesn't exist; Hell, it doesn't even mean its not common. I go to a small private school in Indiana. We have about 135 students per class. One of my best friends, band mate, and all over chum has a WOW addiction. So it's a psychological addiction... what's your point? It is STILL an addiction. At first he would come to school with some big news about what happened in his guild, or how he just reached the level cap. That's perfectly fine, and I'm glad he shares his joys with me; Slowly it began to get more serious.
Now, he comes to school with black rings under his eyes that get bigger with each passing day. My band mates and I have been talking about finding a replacement for him because he is to busy to practice. He doesn't play any sports this time of year. He does not train year round for them. He does not have a girlfriend. He has a WOW addiction. He is always "helping a newer player out" or "trying to get into some 1337 guild." Then once he gets into the guild he has to get so many hours a week, or he might get kicked out. Its become pretty obvious that getting kicked out is just a lame excuse to waste his weekend away. Also, his grades are suffering, which could seriously impact his future (college, scholarships, job opportunities, and etc.).
If he doesn't realize what is going on soon, he is going to start failing classes and losing friends. Maybe that is what he needs in order to realize what is going on. WOW is very addicting and easy to compare with various illicit drugs. It starts as recreational use. User starts meeting other users and develops a special bond. User increases dosage due to tolerance (needs a higher does to get his fix). User starts disassociating himself with non-users, as he becomes more embellished into his ideal reality. User gets to the point of having few, or zero, non-user friends while having no interests outside his reality. Obviously, not everyone who uses cocaine, crack, or heroin gets an addiction; nor do they get an addiction from WOW. As I write this, at 2:39am on a Sunday, he plays. It is difficult to deny that he is not on his way to the final step of addiction.
Soon we are going to have 12 step programs to defeating MMORPG addiction (assuming we don't already). We need to ask ourselves as a society, what is our culture coming to? The sick thing about all of this, is that many of our non-gamer friends encourage his play, finding his addiction amusing. What is this culture coming to?
The problem is that Network Neutrality has been framed as "Yahoo pays your ISP to slow down google's service." No service provider in his right mind is going to do that. (Well, there may be one. But everybody else will learn their lesson from that one.) It's really about "Yahoo paid extra to have access to your ISP's new bandwidth limit and Google didn't. So, Yahoo's video service looks better than Google's."
That makes perfect sense until you throw in a new promising small business. How is an emerging company going to compete with extremely large companies when it has to pay fee's relative to the large companies to deliver similar content at equal speeds. Note that the large companies already have a foothold in the market share and a large bankroll to back it up. Sure your concept seems fair when applied only to existing large companies like Google and Yahoo, but it leaves no room for the avid entrepreneur to make a stake in a rough market like providing audio/video content.
I agree totally. If the content providers stand up for themselves, it would solve quite a bit of the issues at hand. The problem in my opinion relates to political parties. A political party that has larger funds should not be able to 'muscle out' the little guys during peek Internet congestion (they would not be paying directly for 'faster' content; they would be paying for a higher priority). This very blatantly violates our first amendment rights.
On a side note I believe it is important to educate our youth on these issues. Not in a biased way so they grow up to be 'one of us,' but in a factual way so they can make their own educated decisions. I joined the/. crowed last year, and have benefited immensely from the different opinions represented here (and I now [try to] actively practice proper grammar/spelling;).
I think either way it will turn out alright. Either the law will not pass or the major content providers will make a stand.
Next time read the other comments before you post the same exact thing, then consider reading what other people have to say, as it explains why they would do this.
I was going to give you the explination, but i relized you can take 30 seconds out of your life to find it;).
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If you buy anything more expensive, because of the extra features, the only way you can use those features is to pay big bucks for them from the cellular provider's store.
.mp3 is one of them), not to mention you have to buy the plug anyway to move your files.
My phone came out at a little over $300. When I purchased it 3 months later it cost $140. Now they are even cheaper, and are still VERY gadgety and desirable. Also notice that those prices are WITHOUT signing a 1-3 year contract.
MP3 players on cellphones are useless for this reason: you have to buy all the MP3s from the cellphone provider, instead of just loading your own. Even with the camera phones, you're not allowed to copy any pictures using a USB cable because the provider has locked that out, and wants to force you to use airtime to email them to yourself.
Download BitPim. It allows you to move pictures/video/contact list/SMS Messages/and other content to and from your phone. Also, my Verizon LG the V has software with its 24 dollar music package (basically a plug and drivers) that lets you put your own songs on there as long as it is in the supported formats (i know
Most people don't buy their phones for just talking anymore. I myself purchased LG the V, which is equipped with a keypad for texting, built in speakers, and a 1 GB memory card for music, games, and data transfer (think USB flash drives). I find it pretty convenient if I am going for a walk and want to listen to some music, or need to move a group of files from my home computer to school, especially since I just shut my web server down :(. How about when my cat does something cute, or I want to capture some other memory with my 1.3megapixel camera (Yes, 1.3mp isn't THAT much, but it's enough; The new generation phones will be better anyways). In my opinion at least, it is much more efficient to carry around 1 device that does it all. The point I'm trying to make here is: people buy there phones for other things than talking. If i wanted a phone for just talking, I'd by a teeny tiny 10 dollar phone that doesn't do much else than a contact list and speed dial.
Ah well said. I was going more for the "MMO addiction is a very real addiction." I agree with your post quite a bit, I just wanted to add a little bit to it.
I suspect (but cannot prove), that in the case of MMO addiction the addict is experiencing larger problems in life and is using the game as a form of pseudo self-medication. It's not about how much you play, it's about why you play.
Agreed, but even though someone is addicted because they are avoiding larger problems, it is still an unhealthy addiction (pseudo-addiction?).
...You honestly don't think we haven't said anything? I have had a shrink in the past and actually enjoy the confidentiality and openness we had. It is kind of refreshing. My question to you is, if he is happy being addicted to it, why would he change? Unless some kind of major social, educational, or physical problems occur, in his mind there is no reason to change his routine. I am not saying its like this with everyone, but it does happen. Personally, I think paying 15 bucks a month to play a video game is silly, but then again i work for my money.
Just because you haven't personally seen a WOW addiction doesn't mean it doesn't exist; Hell, it doesn't even mean its not common. I go to a small private school in Indiana. We have about 135 students per class. One of my best friends, band mate, and all over chum has a WOW addiction. So it's a psychological addiction... what's your point? It is STILL an addiction. At first he would come to school with some big news about what happened in his guild, or how he just reached the level cap. That's perfectly fine, and I'm glad he shares his joys with me; Slowly it began to get more serious.
Now, he comes to school with black rings under his eyes that get bigger with each passing day. My band mates and I have been talking about finding a replacement for him because he is to busy to practice. He doesn't play any sports this time of year. He does not train year round for them. He does not have a girlfriend. He has a WOW addiction. He is always "helping a newer player out" or "trying to get into some 1337 guild." Then once he gets into the guild he has to get so many hours a week, or he might get kicked out. Its become pretty obvious that getting kicked out is just a lame excuse to waste his weekend away. Also, his grades are suffering, which could seriously impact his future (college, scholarships, job opportunities, and etc.).
If he doesn't realize what is going on soon, he is going to start failing classes and losing friends. Maybe that is what he needs in order to realize what is going on. WOW is very addicting and easy to compare with various illicit drugs. It starts as recreational use. User starts meeting other users and develops a special bond. User increases dosage due to tolerance (needs a higher does to get his fix). User starts disassociating himself with non-users, as he becomes more embellished into his ideal reality. User gets to the point of having few, or zero, non-user friends while having no interests outside his reality. Obviously, not everyone who uses cocaine, crack, or heroin gets an addiction; nor do they get an addiction from WOW. As I write this, at 2:39am on a Sunday, he plays. It is difficult to deny that he is not on his way to the final step of addiction.
Soon we are going to have 12 step programs to defeating MMORPG addiction (assuming we don't already). We need to ask ourselves as a society, what is our culture coming to? The sick thing about all of this, is that many of our non-gamer friends encourage his play, finding his addiction amusing. What is this culture coming to?
That makes perfect sense until you throw in a new promising small business. How is an emerging company going to compete with extremely large companies when it has to pay fee's relative to the large companies to deliver similar content at equal speeds. Note that the large companies already have a foothold in the market share and a large bankroll to back it up. Sure your concept seems fair when applied only to existing large companies like Google and Yahoo, but it leaves no room for the avid entrepreneur to make a stake in a rough market like providing audio/video content.
I agree totally. If the content providers stand up for themselves, it would solve quite a bit of the issues at hand. The problem in my opinion relates to political parties. A political party that has larger funds should not be able to 'muscle out' the little guys during peek Internet congestion (they would not be paying directly for 'faster' content; they would be paying for a higher priority). This very blatantly violates our first amendment rights.
/. crowed last year, and have benefited immensely from the different opinions represented here (and I now [try to] actively practice proper grammar/spelling ;).
Some interesting points can be found at http://www.savetheinternet.com/=threat
On a side note I believe it is important to educate our youth on these issues. Not in a biased way so they grow up to be 'one of us,' but in a factual way so they can make their own educated decisions. I joined the
I think either way it will turn out alright. Either the law will not pass or the major content providers will make a stand.
Next time read the other comments before you post the same exact thing, then consider reading what other people have to say, as it explains why they would do this.
;).
I was going to give you the explination, but i relized you can take 30 seconds out of your life to find it