Bring me any consumer technology which doesn't have a higher price point when it first hits the public, and then lowers when demand increased. Let's try an easy one: DVD's. I got my player in 1998 and almost every DVD on the market cost upwards of $30. Did I still buy them? Yes! Why? Better resolution, amazing sound, no annoying tape winding, rewinding to find the spot I left off at!!!
Seriously, even if Blu-Ray DVD's hit the consumer market at $30-40, people will STILL be buying them. There is a WHOLE lot to be said for the ability to say... have an ENTIRE season of StarGate or whatever show you want on ONE DISC! Or better yet, in 1080i HD, with HD-AUDIO IN 87 different languages, and all the damn bonus features you can shake a stick at!
Yeah, it's a gamble initially; they're expensive to manufacture, Blu-Ray players are really expensive (although that New Shiny PS3 is going to be (maybe) less than $500: marketing plan anyone?) So the adoption rate will be slow at the get-go. But in 5 years, you, your mom, and your little nephews and neices are ALL going to be watching Blu-Ray. Quit complaining. I've got Super Nintendo to get back to.
Because that's sending the message of "Hey, guys it's cool! We won't infringe your patent anymore!" It's capitulating. You don't give in and change your product just because some guy says he thinks his patent covers your product. You research it, fight it, and THEN if you lose, you've got to change. They're just covering their butts IN CASE OF. I think that's wise.
But check your local phone book, and look at the local mom & pop ISP section. Chances are that they've got somebody inhouse who does all their web development. I know the folks around here (say www.velocity.net) do pretty good work and have very reasonable rates. Now, most of them have a flat fee AND charge by the hour, so it would be in your best interests to have at least a skeleton of the project completed.
OR, you could check your local trade school or university, see if they've got a web development program, and place an ad on their board. If you're on a tight budget, post what you're willing to pay (Say, outline the project's details and give a dollar figure. 500? 250?) Require a portfolio. You'll probably find somebody, especially a student, willing to do your project for a decent amount. And remember, if you're hiring a student, you can exploit their lack of cash as much as you want.
Because the ultimate idea of any MMORPG is immersion. Limiting the ability of any player to do as they will (within reason) will make the game less desirable.
As for working off their rep, that could be handled in such a way that the cost/benefit is either dead even or slightly against really undesirable acts. Then they would be MUCH less likely to loot, but the possibility still exists.
People will alway loot, cheat and PK. BUT, if it becomes a lot less desirable to do so just because it was easy, I think there will be a much better RPing experience in the MMOG's.
As far as I can tell based on the movie, Kadaj and his two brothers are probably either "failed experiments" like Cloud, or just born with a larger ammount of Jenova's cells. Also, the game was really ambiguous with the ultimate origins of Sephiroth and Cloud. They didn't necessarily have to have been "born" as containing Jenova's cells. All SOLDIER members were injected WITH Jenova's cells.
Also, the reunion didn't necessarily aim to bring back Jenova, just her power. Sephiroth gained her power in the game, enough so that he could potentially sail the planet through space as a parasite like Jenova.
Then again, I might just be interpreting the events of the game/movie wrong.
I'll admit, I got the Japanese DVD on bittorrent. In a nutshell: I was blown away. The polish, cinematography, everything was so very very good. You can see how much time and painstaking detail goes into a film of this nature.
That being said, I fully understand Square-Enix taking their sweet time with this project, translating it to English. And keep in mind, it's not just the translation; they're re-doing all the facial expression animation as well. That's a pretty significant task.
Don't sell them short. I'll be buying whatever package they throw at us, and if it comes out in theatres, I'm sure there will be plenty of tickets sold to at least one person.
What about a system like Fable had? Not necessarily changing your appearance, but your fame (or infamy) was automatically calculated by the game, and NPC's react differently based on your deeds.
Say the system is based on points; playing all the way through cooperatively in a quest gave so many positive, healing teammates, etc. On the flip-side, ninjalooting etc. would be caught by the game mechanic and weighed accordingly.
This "karma" system would be automatic and players could say, view a few stats about a player's reputation, without any necessary player input. And then there would always be the opportunity for a player to redeem their poor reputation.
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Bring me any consumer technology which doesn't have a higher price point when it first hits the public, and then lowers when demand increased. Let's try an easy one: DVD's. I got my player in 1998 and almost every DVD on the market cost upwards of $30. Did I still buy them? Yes! Why? Better resolution, amazing sound, no annoying tape winding, rewinding to find the spot I left off at!!!
Seriously, even if Blu-Ray DVD's hit the consumer market at $30-40, people will STILL be buying them. There is a WHOLE lot to be said for the ability to say... have an ENTIRE season of StarGate or whatever show you want on ONE DISC! Or better yet, in 1080i HD, with HD-AUDIO IN 87 different languages, and all the damn bonus features you can shake a stick at!
Yeah, it's a gamble initially; they're expensive to manufacture, Blu-Ray players are really expensive (although that New Shiny PS3 is going to be (maybe) less than $500: marketing plan anyone?) So the adoption rate will be slow at the get-go. But in 5 years, you, your mom, and your little nephews and neices are ALL going to be watching Blu-Ray. Quit complaining. I've got Super Nintendo to get back to.
Because that's sending the message of "Hey, guys it's cool! We won't infringe your patent anymore!"
It's capitulating. You don't give in and change your product just because some guy says he thinks his patent covers your product. You research it, fight it, and THEN if you lose, you've got to change.
They're just covering their butts IN CASE OF. I think that's wise.
But check your local phone book, and look at the local mom & pop ISP section. Chances are that they've got somebody inhouse who does all their web development. I know the folks around here (say www.velocity.net) do pretty good work and have very reasonable rates. Now, most of them have a flat fee AND charge by the hour, so it would be in your best interests to have at least a skeleton of the project completed.
OR, you could check your local trade school or university, see if they've got a web development program, and place an ad on their board. If you're on a tight budget, post what you're willing to pay (Say, outline the project's details and give a dollar figure. 500? 250?) Require a portfolio. You'll probably find somebody, especially a student, willing to do your project for a decent amount. And remember, if you're hiring a student, you can exploit their lack of cash as much as you want.
No it would still be an internet.
Internet (n): An interconnected system of networks.
Because the ultimate idea of any MMORPG is immersion. Limiting the ability of any player to do as they will (within reason) will make the game less desirable.
As for working off their rep, that could be handled in such a way that the cost/benefit is either dead even or slightly against really undesirable acts. Then they would be MUCH less likely to loot, but the possibility still exists.
People will alway loot, cheat and PK. BUT, if it becomes a lot less desirable to do so just because it was easy, I think there will be a much better RPing experience in the MMOG's.
As far as I can tell based on the movie, Kadaj and his two brothers are probably either "failed experiments" like Cloud, or just born with a larger ammount of Jenova's cells. Also, the game was really ambiguous with the ultimate origins of Sephiroth and Cloud. They didn't necessarily have to have been "born" as containing Jenova's cells. All SOLDIER members were injected WITH Jenova's cells.
Also, the reunion didn't necessarily aim to bring back Jenova, just her power. Sephiroth gained her power in the game, enough so that he could potentially sail the planet through space as a parasite like Jenova.
Then again, I might just be interpreting the events of the game/movie wrong.
I'll admit, I got the Japanese DVD on bittorrent. In a nutshell: I was blown away. The polish, cinematography, everything was so very very good. You can see how much time and painstaking detail goes into a film of this nature.
That being said, I fully understand Square-Enix taking their sweet time with this project, translating it to English. And keep in mind, it's not just the translation; they're re-doing all the facial expression animation as well. That's a pretty significant task.
Don't sell them short. I'll be buying whatever package they throw at us, and if it comes out in theatres, I'm sure there will be plenty of tickets sold to at least one person.
What about a system like Fable had? Not necessarily changing your appearance, but your fame (or infamy) was automatically calculated by the game, and NPC's react differently based on your deeds. Say the system is based on points; playing all the way through cooperatively in a quest gave so many positive, healing teammates, etc. On the flip-side, ninjalooting etc. would be caught by the game mechanic and weighed accordingly. This "karma" system would be automatic and players could say, view a few stats about a player's reputation, without any necessary player input. And then there would always be the opportunity for a player to redeem their poor reputation.