If you'd like to comment on any aspect of Technology Guardian, send your emails to tech@guardian.co.uk
Somehow, I'm thinking that this address will be getting a lot of mail. "Take a break. If you feel yourself becoming enraged beyond the realms of human endurance, give up and do something less stressful for a few minutes - like filling in a tax return." I can't wait for the first person to try this strategy, and suffer a stroke or heart attack brought on by the high blood pressure.
Basically, if you're having so much trouble beating a boss that you are actually getting angry -- stop playing. Not just for a little while, wait until you have either talked to a friend about the game (getting a fresh perspective often helps), slept a full night's sleep (if you are fully rested, you are much more likely to be alert. Plus, gamers seem to do better in natural light.) and learn that one ultimate lesson: It is only a game! So calm down! Breathe deep, try again later.
I say, good show! As early comments have already noted it is indeed a strange month - in which Google is falling, losing popularity due to their stock prices and the whole China debacle, while Yahoo is rising, supporting OSS with a suprisingly useful package. I wonder if this is merely another bump in Google's ultimate victory or a shift in the paradigm, a potentially fatal one for Google. However, let this not take away from the original point of the article -- Congratulations, Yahoo!, and thank you. Your generosity will be remembered.
Quite frankly, it's almost inappropriate. Almost insulting. Can you imagine standing up there, recieving a medal from a man you are quite sure is almost religious (ha... ha!) in his dismissal and disrespect for science and technology? From a president that has cut funding for the very same science and education that he is now rewarding? I think that an empty, hollow, false recognition is hardly better than no recognition at all. I can only hope that the very same group he is making nice to now will remember his prior deeds against them, and not be blown over with false gratitude, a mockery, a mask that attempts to obscure his previous words and actions.
Many games have some sort of "offline-life" built into the game. Eve, World of WarCraft, Progress Quest all have this system; that to hinder power-leveling players from ruling 'teh w0rld', those characters that aren't played as often gain some sort of bonus; like WoW's concept of 'rested xp' (a second bar that overlays your normal xp bar, and the longer you rest at an inn the more of this second bar fills, and when you gain experience that is covered with this second 'rested' bar, you gain it at double the rate) or Eve's auto-skill improving (your characters train while you're offline, having them increase in skill levels over long periods of time.)
However, these don't, I think, adequately balance the playing-field; in WoW even with the rested bonus countermeasure, those that grind constantly still have a significant edge in arms and armor, and it is this issue that must be addressed. Perhaps, as 'Time Goes By,' you could tell your character to pursue various tasks; somewhat like the training option in sports simulations that allows your character to focus on a single aspect of the game (shooting, tackling, tactics, etc) or in Homeworld Cataclysm in which the Beast mothership can focus on one aspect of her being to accelerate it (building, researching, firing, defending). Similarly, one could instruct your character towards a course of action on log-out, dependent on your locale and skills.
For example, Yassi the Night Elf hunter could be instructed, upon log-out, to hunt low-level wild beasts, with her skinning skill and also make bags with the leather recieved, so that when I log back onto Yassi, she'd have made a lot of bags, and improved her skinning and leatherworking skills in the process. Or, if Yassi was miles from home in the Barrens, she could be instructed to make her way back to Darnassus; when I log back on, she's got less silver (for hippogryph fare) but she's back in Darnassus. Or she could even grind against low-level monsters and merely collect their drops. In this way, one could automate some of the more mundane parts of the game, and allow greater freedom for offline characters.
Of course, it would be mightily important to ensure that only one character per account could use this ability (otherwise each player would just create tons of mules to harvest stuff) and that the benefits recieved would be much lower than the benefits of doing it one's self; I'd say between ten and twenty percent.
That's why I said these *kind* of contests. Yes, they would get diluted, but they would also transform iTunes into a kind of online lottery, as well as a music source, which would add to its lasting image as a worthwhile place to shop for music.
Let's see: $10,000 worth of virtual goods, $5500 of real goods for the grand prize. Pretty good. But what will Apple gain? For $1,000,000,000 song downloads, they gain what, 99% of that in dollars? And in addition to that, they get major publicity and an increased rate of song downloads... They should just hold these kind of contests all the time, as they lose almost nothing and gain the most important thing of all: sales and media attention. What could be better?
Public terminal. Even the least geeky of girls has to, at some point, acknowledge whatever my attention is focused on at the moment. And if she doesn't, I won't 'fix' her computer the next time she forgets caps lock is on.//end jerk//start reality
I, for one, cannot wait for the Kirov Airship to be developed. I wonder if that's the 'massive helium-filled airship' the article mentions... Of course, Lockheed Martin isn't bound by international treaty *not* to build bombers, so I guess they could build something like an Apocalypse Tank while they're waiting for demand to rise... after all, who *doesn't* want a tank with auto-reconstruction, missiles, dual cannons, and thick armor?
I think the lesson is not to make yourself miserable all the time so that you will face each challenge with depressive and pessimistic resolve, but to know when to be light-hearted and fluffy and when to get back to business -- Obviously, when individuals are optimists without a basis for such, then they will be less equipped to deal with situations and failure, but it they are optimists tempered with realism, logic, and fact, they will be more likely than a pessimist tempered with realism, logic, and fact to successfully move on; the important point being that their optimism has to be grounded in the real world, not denying reality but instead merely looking for the greater good in the world.
Assigning viruses numbers is an interesting idea, making tracking viruses easier in some ways, but much harder in others. For example, one couldn't say on the Nightly News: "Virus #34932423 has recently stricken the Internet, destroying the International Llama Foundation's forums and redirecting all Google search results to the federal government. Watch out, folks, #34932423 is a real nasty!" If the authorities do not name viruses, they will be given names by the common people to make communication easier. Much better to have an organization give each virus a name that has some chance of making sense, rather than having the masses choose a name that may or may make any sense, i.e. "the blue screen of death virus has hit again!"
I think that the game economy is a vital part of the experience; in the real world, economics is one of the major driving forces. To take that away crushes an entire section of the game, so the challenge is not to merely stop farmers, but to stop farmers in a way that allows the game economy to continue unimpeded.
I see this as a potentially game-threatening problem, not just for Final Fantasy XI, but every popular MMORPG on the market today. These farmers ruin the game experience, not just through their direct effect on the market, but also by polluting the gaming experience - many people play these games to escape the real world, and having a significant portion of players run the game as a business operation damages the realism that the game hopes to instill. I am curious as to what companies can do to combat this problem; not even the Warden (courtesy Blizzard Entertainment) can defeat farming accounts.
I agree. The StarCraft cinematics remain to this very date some of the very best ever done for a video game - they were graphically realistic, aurally well done, and conveyed a genuine feel of the StarCraft universe, as well as being damn funny. And as the parent notes, they didn't focus entirely on protraying major events; this mostly happened through the game engine. What they did do was add a solid base for the rest of game, sparking further insight into the story and graphically relaying memorable moments for the video game. Take, for example, the cinematic in which Terran soldiers go aboard the compromised Terran Science Vessel - it is both supportive of the overall story (as the mission preceding it dealth with Kerrigan's compromise of the vessel), it was graphically and aurally well done (it conveyed a definite experience, rather than just a fragmented collection of images and sounds), and had a touch of all-important humor (the marines use the nuclear device they intend to blow up the vessel with, which utilizes cold fusion, to smuggle aboard alcohol, which stays nice and frosty next to the nuke). As good as this cinematic was, it still was not critical to the storyline, rather, it was an excellent bonus for those skilled enough to reach it and patient enough to watch it.
You seem unware that other people MAY IN FACT have differing views than you. What seems to you unimportant, may be extremely important to other people. And what makes/. so great, is NOT the stories themselves, but instead the further discussion of them -- while articles of news are definitely informative, they remain the perspective of one, possibly one group of people. Through/. there are many thousands of different viewpoints, and THIS is what makes/. a worthy site for so many users' attention.
Slashdot Mirror
Somehow, I'm thinking that this address will be getting a lot of mail. "Take a break. If you feel yourself becoming enraged beyond the realms of human endurance, give up and do something less stressful for a few minutes - like filling in a tax return." I can't wait for the first person to try this strategy, and suffer a stroke or heart attack brought on by the high blood pressure.
Basically, if you're having so much trouble beating a boss that you are actually getting angry -- stop playing. Not just for a little while, wait until you have either talked to a friend about the game (getting a fresh perspective often helps), slept a full night's sleep (if you are fully rested, you are much more likely to be alert. Plus, gamers seem to do better in natural light.) and learn that one ultimate lesson: It is only a game! So calm down! Breathe deep, try again later.
Mac OS X: 1 Windows XP: 4,234,278,247,295 and counting Yup, now that OS X isn't secure, we'd better migrate back to Windows!
I say, good show! As early comments have already noted it is indeed a strange month - in which Google is falling, losing popularity due to their stock prices and the whole China debacle, while Yahoo is rising, supporting OSS with a suprisingly useful package. I wonder if this is merely another bump in Google's ultimate victory or a shift in the paradigm, a potentially fatal one for Google. However, let this not take away from the original point of the article -- Congratulations, Yahoo!, and thank you. Your generosity will be remembered.
Finally, I can get in there and rough those Google punks up!
Quite frankly, it's almost inappropriate. Almost insulting. Can you imagine standing up there, recieving a medal from a man you are quite sure is almost religious (ha... ha!) in his dismissal and disrespect for science and technology? From a president that has cut funding for the very same science and education that he is now rewarding? I think that an empty, hollow, false recognition is hardly better than no recognition at all. I can only hope that the very same group he is making nice to now will remember his prior deeds against them, and not be blown over with false gratitude, a mockery, a mask that attempts to obscure his previous words and actions.
However, these don't, I think, adequately balance the playing-field; in WoW even with the rested bonus countermeasure, those that grind constantly still have a significant edge in arms and armor, and it is this issue that must be addressed. Perhaps, as 'Time Goes By,' you could tell your character to pursue various tasks; somewhat like the training option in sports simulations that allows your character to focus on a single aspect of the game (shooting, tackling, tactics, etc) or in Homeworld Cataclysm in which the Beast mothership can focus on one aspect of her being to accelerate it (building, researching, firing, defending). Similarly, one could instruct your character towards a course of action on log-out, dependent on your locale and skills.
For example, Yassi the Night Elf hunter could be instructed, upon log-out, to hunt low-level wild beasts, with her skinning skill and also make bags with the leather recieved, so that when I log back onto Yassi, she'd have made a lot of bags, and improved her skinning and leatherworking skills in the process. Or, if Yassi was miles from home in the Barrens, she could be instructed to make her way back to Darnassus; when I log back on, she's got less silver (for hippogryph fare) but she's back in Darnassus. Or she could even grind against low-level monsters and merely collect their drops. In this way, one could automate some of the more mundane parts of the game, and allow greater freedom for offline characters.
Of course, it would be mightily important to ensure that only one character per account could use this ability (otherwise each player would just create tons of mules to harvest stuff) and that the benefits recieved would be much lower than the benefits of doing it one's self; I'd say between ten and twenty percent.
Any thoughts?
Yes, but will string theory prevent Xbox 360s from overheating?
If he spends so much time designing and programming video games, then how does he find enough time to spend with his girlfriend? Oh, wait.
That's why I said these *kind* of contests. Yes, they would get diluted, but they would also transform iTunes into a kind of online lottery, as well as a music source, which would add to its lasting image as a worthwhile place to shop for music.
Let's see: $10,000 worth of virtual goods, $5500 of real goods for the grand prize. Pretty good. But what will Apple gain? For $1,000,000,000 song downloads, they gain what, 99% of that in dollars? And in addition to that, they get major publicity and an increased rate of song downloads... They should just hold these kind of contests all the time, as they lose almost nothing and gain the most important thing of all: sales and media attention. What could be better?
Public terminal. Even the least geeky of girls has to, at some point, acknowledge whatever my attention is focused on at the moment. And if she doesn't, I won't 'fix' her computer the next time she forgets caps lock is on. //end jerk //start reality
It looks like an electric pencil sharpener. The girl next to me agrees.
I, for one, cannot wait for the Kirov Airship to be developed. I wonder if that's the 'massive helium-filled airship' the article mentions... Of course, Lockheed Martin isn't bound by international treaty *not* to build bombers, so I guess they could build something like an Apocalypse Tank while they're waiting for demand to rise... after all, who *doesn't* want a tank with auto-reconstruction, missiles, dual cannons, and thick armor?
This wouldn't work. Remember, Muslim extremists have been known to do *anything* to blend in -- including, as it happens, eat bacon.
I think the lesson is not to make yourself miserable all the time so that you will face each challenge with depressive and pessimistic resolve, but to know when to be light-hearted and fluffy and when to get back to business -- Obviously, when individuals are optimists without a basis for such, then they will be less equipped to deal with situations and failure, but it they are optimists tempered with realism, logic, and fact, they will be more likely than a pessimist tempered with realism, logic, and fact to successfully move on; the important point being that their optimism has to be grounded in the real world, not denying reality but instead merely looking for the greater good in the world.
Assigning viruses numbers is an interesting idea, making tracking viruses easier in some ways, but much harder in others. For example, one couldn't say on the Nightly News: "Virus #34932423 has recently stricken the Internet, destroying the International Llama Foundation's forums and redirecting all Google search results to the federal government. Watch out, folks, #34932423 is a real nasty!" If the authorities do not name viruses, they will be given names by the common people to make communication easier. Much better to have an organization give each virus a name that has some chance of making sense, rather than having the masses choose a name that may or may make any sense, i.e. "the blue screen of death virus has hit again!"
I would welcome our new French peer to peer overlords, but seeing as how they're French they probably won't be on top long enough to greet.
Did you actually get an iPod? How long did it take? How much did it cost? Is it worth it?
And somewhere in the world, a gamer is realizing his folly and picking up a tennis racket for some much-needed exercise.
I think that the game economy is a vital part of the experience; in the real world, economics is one of the major driving forces. To take that away crushes an entire section of the game, so the challenge is not to merely stop farmers, but to stop farmers in a way that allows the game economy to continue unimpeded.
I see this as a potentially game-threatening problem, not just for Final Fantasy XI, but every popular MMORPG on the market today. These farmers ruin the game experience, not just through their direct effect on the market, but also by polluting the gaming experience - many people play these games to escape the real world, and having a significant portion of players run the game as a business operation damages the realism that the game hopes to instill. I am curious as to what companies can do to combat this problem; not even the Warden (courtesy Blizzard Entertainment) can defeat farming accounts.
Sorry, I wasn't on earlier.
I agree. The StarCraft cinematics remain to this very date some of the very best ever done for a video game - they were graphically realistic, aurally well done, and conveyed a genuine feel of the StarCraft universe, as well as being damn funny. And as the parent notes, they didn't focus entirely on protraying major events; this mostly happened through the game engine. What they did do was add a solid base for the rest of game, sparking further insight into the story and graphically relaying memorable moments for the video game. Take, for example, the cinematic in which Terran soldiers go aboard the compromised Terran Science Vessel - it is both supportive of the overall story (as the mission preceding it dealth with Kerrigan's compromise of the vessel), it was graphically and aurally well done (it conveyed a definite experience, rather than just a fragmented collection of images and sounds), and had a touch of all-important humor (the marines use the nuclear device they intend to blow up the vessel with, which utilizes cold fusion, to smuggle aboard alcohol, which stays nice and frosty next to the nuke). As good as this cinematic was, it still was not critical to the storyline, rather, it was an excellent bonus for those skilled enough to reach it and patient enough to watch it.
You seem unware that other people MAY IN FACT have differing views than you. What seems to you unimportant, may be extremely important to other people. And what makes /. so great, is NOT the stories themselves, but instead the further discussion of them -- while articles of news are definitely informative, they remain the perspective of one, possibly one group of people. Through /. there are many thousands of different viewpoints, and THIS is what makes /. a worthy site for so many users' attention.
And I thought you were talking about the Bazookie player! Or was it the MP sketch about the man in a gorilla suit applying to be a librarian?