Gambling is banned in Second Life since 2007 but there are still items related to gambling in Second Life like this Party Poker item that is listed in the official Marketplace of Second Life.
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Items listed in the Marketplace of Second Life have item descriptions for a reason. Failing to read these item descriptions can result to frustration, disappointments, stress and even anger. So,…
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The cost of medicines are increasing everyday but, with the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens, the benefits you will get as member will allow you to save a lot of money.
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The latest patch of Star Trek Online caused a bug that removed the Auto Fire feature of the game. Without the Auto Fire feature, space combat became more difficult. Fortunately, there is a…
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The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated — Samuel Clemens.
So yesterday EA reported that 1.7 million active accounts have been created for Star Wars The Old Republic. They also said that they needed 500K to break even, 1M for a mediocre profit, and it scales into awesomeness after that. The statement was also made that they no longer have to wait for the worst case scenarios.
Still, despite the launch success of SWTOR, there are still heaps of comments about the impending doom of SWTOR.
Hopefully this new info will put those comments to rest. Of course, those commentors that actively wish for the demise of the themepark model will probably continue to make predictions of the death of SWTOR based on wishful thinking, and not the facts. Those are likely to continue for years, flying in the face of the evidence. After all, World of Warcraft has been dying for how many years now?
Still, this doesn’t mean that SWTOR is out of the woods.
Bioware/EA is attempting something new here with the heavy focus on story. I for one hope they succeed, simply because it provides another arrow in the quiver of MMORPG designers if they do. That’s not to say I particularly like the linearity of the SWTOR experience, I’d far more like to see more freedom than an on-rails experience like that gives. But if SWTOR fails, at such a development cost, that means that story in MMORPGs will be either ignored, or actively repudiated in future AAA MMOs. After all the bean counters these days want a sure thing.
If Bioware is at least somewhat successful, then developers may feel it worth to experiment with story in future games.
The big concern with SWTOR, now, is that players do not renew. The character stories are very linear and once complete, what then? Bioware has put a lot of effort into implementing systems that get players to create alts, simply to keep playing, but I wonder if that is going to backfire. Again I hope not, I’d like to see the game become a great success and draw a new generation of players into the genre.
Downloaded, installed and play RIFT but my fun only lasted for a few minutes because my computer’s CPU and GPU temperature suddenly increased. I had to stop playing to reduce any risk of damage.
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Google Friend Connect will say goodbye on March 1, 2012. It will be replaced by Google+ Page and its Page Badges. Create a page for your blog or website now and have your followers follow you on…
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So, if you think you have the worst office or home cubicle on the face of the planet then you must definitely join Contest Factory’s Pimp My Cube Contest. The grand prize is a prize package worth…
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Last November I wrote a post about the upcoming SOPA/PIPA legislation currently being debated in the US Congress and Senate. I concluded that SOPA would have a negative impact on gamers and on games. I said,
Even worse, because the burden of proof is lowered even further, it may become rediculously easy for game publishers to take out the competition. Just claim copyright infringement. Right now you cannot copyright an idea. But since there is no due process anymore, just a claim that the competing developer has infringed might be enough to close down the competitor. This might not work between two giants like Activision and Ubisoft, but what about Activision claiming against an innovative indie developer?
There’s no way an indie can fight that sort of fight. Right now indie developers are enjoying a golden age as the web has opened up lots of opportunities for them. How easy would it be for SOPA to end all that?
That was a big concern of mine, and while it was directed specifically at indie games, there are all sorts of indie ‘industries’ that SOPA will kill.
Right now the Internet has lowered the entry bar to all kinds of creatives. If you are a musician you can put up a website and let people download your music. If you are a writer you can write a novel and self publish far more easily now than any time in history. An Indie game developer now has access to the tools, content, and resources to make games that would have been considered AAA ten years ago.
I think we are coming in to a golden age of creativity where anyone will be able to create art, both commercial and non-commercial, and find people to share it with. The challenge will be the development of new and innovative tools that enable those connections between creators and fans.
This is a threat to the gatekeepers. The publishers and agents who controlled the means of distribution. They don’t create, they sell what the creatives build and give back small returns. In the past they were necessary, now, not so much.
These gatekeepers have made many fortunes off of the work of others, and they are now threatened. So they are spending large chunks of these fortunes to bribe payoff lobby politicans, who don’t understand the technology, all over the world to crush that innovation and to retain the old obsolete business models. They have stated that the needs of the wider Internet community are subservient to their own and that it is okay to break the Internet in order to meet those needs.
Not only will creativity be crushed, you won’t be able to have secure web access to your bank and other online accounts, because the DNSSEC (Wikipedia entry) work is regarded as circumvention and will be illegal. (Even Comcast a SOPA supporter has said that their DNSSEC implementation clashes with the SOPA provisions. What a mess!)
Because I’m not a US Citizen I cannot vote in any US elections, I can’t even contact a US politician and let them know how I feel, so Stropp’s World is not going to go dark on January 18th in support of the movement against SOPA/PIPA.
However, I’d love to encourage as many as you who read my blog and live in the US to contact your federal and state representatives about SOPA and PIPA. Find out where they stand and let them know in no uncertain terms how you feel about this evil legislation. Let them know that this legislation is toxic and will cost them votes and possibly their seats.
If you want to go further, and this isn’t limited to US citizens, contact the people you buy stuff from. Find out their position on SOPA, and if they are pro tell them you won’t be buying their products until they change their position (this worked with Godaddy, kindof.) Of course you have to back it up. Make everyone see that the Internet is not just a bunch of ineffective nerds, but a very powerful political force that cannot be ignored in issues such as this.
Your comments are welcome. Tell me how you feel about this.
By the way, I found the image at the front of this post using Google Image search. Is it copyright? Perhaps. If SOPA is enacted, I could lose my site without any recourse at all if anyone, not just the original copyright holder makes a complaint.
SOPA/PIPA – The Greatest Threat To The Internet And Innovation So Far
My characters in the EU server of DC Universe Online still appear in the US server after deleting them. Creating new characters in the US server was impossible because the game thinks I don’t have…
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