Never mind facebook, where were the ISP's filters?
While the ISPs are adding magic filters to automatically detect copyright infringing and business model damaging traffic, they should also add filters for other illegal activities. That way the children* would finally be safe
I can see a reason to give users the ability to lock down certain options. If something affects your in-game ability/skill then for multiplayer sessions you would want to give the person setting up the game the ability to lock down certain things. I don't play the MW games, so I don't know if FoV comes into that heading but if for example there was an option to change your run speed that certainly would.
Of course, that's just a reason why you'd want to give people the option to turn it off for multiplayer. Can't see any reason why you'd have it permanently turned off ...
Why not enable the option, collect stats on it (assuming you're able to without having privacy issues), and then use that information to inform you about which settings are popular and therefore which settings to focus on when "balancing" MW3
My £10 is (c) The Governor and Company of the Bank of England.
The extra "protection" whereby copyright laws could prevent copies being made which weren't being passed off as real (ie the billboards mentioned above) sort of makes sense, but I see plenty of pictures of money in various films, TV series, adverts etc. I guess it maybe depends on how similar those copies are, it's difficult to tell on the screen.
Although, you have to ask - if copyright is to promote the creation of art, would people really not print money if they didn't have copyright protection? :)
actually, have they just done some incredibly basic math?
Using the numbers Mike's found in 2004 takings were 9.3bn for 567 movies
Therefore, for 1037 movies in 2008 takings should be 9.3 * 1037/567 = 17.0bn, compared to actual of 9.7bn.
Obviously there's been a loss of 17.0 - 9.7 = 7.3bn from somewhere. Must be those thieves online!
Where has the 6bn loss come from if the gross takings have been flat at 9-10bn for the last 5 years? I assume that back in 2004, before widescale broadband etc, there wasn't so much downloading of movies as now so the 6bn looks far too high.
Claiming that you would have seen a 60%+ increase in revenue if it wasn't for those pesky kids seems like something else a "journalist" should have checked.
(ignoring inflation effects, I haven't looked into whether the numbers are in todays prices or not)
Of course it's not as good as Shakespeare - you'll never get that good by taking random lines from thousands of people. Every one knows you need random lines from an infinite number of monkeys!
(having said that I think the problem lies not with the boys in blue, but with the idiots in parliament - the ones who come up with the red tape, stupid ideas like ASBOs, letting problem estates fester, etc)
I think you should be able to apply real world systems to virtual worlds. If theft is part of the game you can't complain, you accepted the game rules by playing. Hacking the game however is not something you agreed to.
As an example, consider playing poker in a casino. During the night, two things happen - you have a bad run and loose a lot of chips to player A, and some chips are stolen from your pocket by player B. This is comparable to player A's rogue using his ingame theft skill to steal some gold, and player B hacking your account to transfer some gold.
Now, casinos and games like second life have systems to convert their in-game currency (chips and linden dollars) to "real" currency such as USD. In what way is player B's actions in the MMORPG any different to his actions in the casino? If you want to make it more similar, imagine the casino operates by crediting a card with your tokens which you use to place bets, and player B isntead of picking your pocket hacks the servers.
I think most people would agree that player B committed theft in the casino, why not in the MMORPG?
The situation is muddied where there's not an authorised market in the in-game currency, such as for Warcraft, so I'll leave that for the lawyers.
(and downloading a song isn't "theft". Theft is defined as the wrongful taking of the property of another. By downloading a song you haven't taken away the property of anyone. You have breached copyright, which is illegal, but it's not theft)
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Re: "Our" Government (as ethorad)
Apart from cover up alien visits, fake moon landings, etc. For some reason governments are amazingly good at that ...
Where were the ISP cops? (as ethorad)
Never mind facebook, where were the ISP's filters?
While the ISPs are adding magic filters to automatically detect copyright infringing and business model damaging traffic, they should also add filters for other illegal activities. That way the children* would finally be safe
*Those with red hair at least
(as ethorad)
I can see a reason to give users the ability to lock down certain options. If something affects your in-game ability/skill then for multiplayer sessions you would want to give the person setting up the game the ability to lock down certain things. I don't play the MW games, so I don't know if FoV comes into that heading but if for example there was an option to change your run speed that certainly would.
Of course, that's just a reason why you'd want to give people the option to turn it off for multiplayer. Can't see any reason why you'd have it permanently turned off ...
Why not enable the option, collect stats on it (assuming you're able to without having privacy issues), and then use that information to inform you about which settings are popular and therefore which settings to focus on when "balancing" MW3
UK money too (as ethorad)
My £10 is (c) The Governor and Company of the Bank of England.
The extra "protection" whereby copyright laws could prevent copies being made which weren't being passed off as real (ie the billboards mentioned above) sort of makes sense, but I see plenty of pictures of money in various films, TV series, adverts etc. I guess it maybe depends on how similar those copies are, it's difficult to tell on the screen.
Although, you have to ask - if copyright is to promote the creation of art, would people really not print money if they didn't have copyright protection? :)
Re: (as ethorad)
Showing adverts while I'm fast forwarding? If only there was a way to skip those damn fast forward adverts. Perhaps a fast fast forward button?
Obligatory futurama quote: Thus solving the problem forever! (but ...) FOREVER!!
Re: 6bn loss? (as ethorad)
actually, have they just done some incredibly basic math?
Using the numbers Mike's found in 2004 takings were 9.3bn for 567 movies
Therefore, for 1037 movies in 2008 takings should be 9.3 * 1037/567 = 17.0bn, compared to actual of 9.7bn.
Obviously there's been a loss of 17.0 - 9.7 = 7.3bn from somewhere. Must be those thieves online!
6bn loss? (as ethorad)
Where has the 6bn loss come from if the gross takings have been flat at 9-10bn for the last 5 years? I assume that back in 2004, before widescale broadband etc, there wasn't so much downloading of movies as now so the 6bn looks far too high.
Claiming that you would have seen a 60%+ increase in revenue if it wasn't for those pesky kids seems like something else a "journalist" should have checked.
(ignoring inflation effects, I haven't looked into whether the numbers are in todays prices or not)
only fools and litigators? (as ethorad)
This was on an "only fools and horses" episode where they sold bottled tap water. Apparently first broadcast in 1992: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Nature%27s_Son_(Only_Fools_and_Horses)
If Pepsi started selling bottled tapwater in the mid nineties perhaps they could claim to be taking inspiration from DelBoy? :)
three copies of the book? (as ethorad)
Unless I'm misunderstanding, it looks like you get three copies of the same book? Not sure how much of a RtB that is
not as good as shakespeare? (as ethorad)
Of course it's not as good as Shakespeare - you'll never get that good by taking random lines from thousands of people. Every one knows you need random lines from an infinite number of monkeys!
more tea, less cctv monitoring (as ethorad)
They're outsourcing monitoring cctv to the public now, so that only leaves drinking tea doesn't it?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8293784.stm
(having said that I think the problem lies not with the boys in blue, but with the idiots in parliament - the ones who come up with the red tape, stupid ideas like ASBOs, letting problem estates fester, etc)
virtual crime? (as Donald)
First up, I'm not a lawyer ...
I think you should be able to apply real world systems to virtual worlds. If theft is part of the game you can't complain, you accepted the game rules by playing. Hacking the game however is not something you agreed to.
As an example, consider playing poker in a casino. During the night, two things happen - you have a bad run and loose a lot of chips to player A, and some chips are stolen from your pocket by player B. This is comparable to player A's rogue using his ingame theft skill to steal some gold, and player B hacking your account to transfer some gold.
Now, casinos and games like second life have systems to convert their in-game currency (chips and linden dollars) to "real" currency such as USD. In what way is player B's actions in the MMORPG any different to his actions in the casino? If you want to make it more similar, imagine the casino operates by crediting a card with your tokens which you use to place bets, and player B isntead of picking your pocket hacks the servers.
I think most people would agree that player B committed theft in the casino, why not in the MMORPG?
The situation is muddied where there's not an authorised market in the in-game currency, such as for Warcraft, so I'll leave that for the lawyers.
(and downloading a song isn't "theft". Theft is defined as the wrongful taking of the property of another. By downloading a song you haven't taken away the property of anyone. You have breached copyright, which is illegal, but it's not theft)