There has to be a balance between bankruptcy and greed. There should also always be a balance between production cost and price to consumers. And just because one has a monopoly on a service/product, doesn't mean one has to rob the consumer blind. So as long as they do earn money, and the product is priced fair, all is well.

Well, console peasants would do that =) I love how that article is strewn with liberal political quotes. The points made reminds me of GOP talking points; like why paying out your ass for medical help is soooo much better than "socialist welfare".

I can see how that would be irritating. Personally, I'm not a very competitive person, so losing doesn't bother me half as much as it should. I can sum up why I play a lot less MP today than say 10 years ago; Griefers, trolls, cheaters and obnoxious assholes. But still, different games draw different crowds. I haven't heard much insults etc. in ArmA 3, atleast compared to CoD.

These days I prefer a good coop game together with friends over the more individualistic MP games. I get much more out of having a good squad cohesion in eg. BF3, than actually winning the match, or be the best player etc.

This Publisher (Valve) in particular are a bit special. They dropped several DLC's as updates to the game, and not charging for them. They've also made available mod tools and dedicated server binaries etc. How far this goes to remunerating them fully for development etc., you have to ask Gabe about I guess.

Certainly a lot of publishers would rather have players spend a lot of money. That's not exactly a good thing though. Have a gander at eg. EA: BF4 standard costs 499NOK + 4 DLC's @ 129NOK a pop = 1015NOK, or $170. That is a horrible price. At the same time they've removed all possibilities of hosting your own servers, now you have to rent them for official hosting firms. Even the biggest Battefield community in Norway weren't allowed to host their own. And most gamers would agree BF4 is more or less BF3,5; too few news to warrant a new edition so close to the previous release. So in reality, we're talking 2x$170 + rental for clans own server since BF3's release. That amounts to a metric shit ton of money for EA, while my wallet bleeds.

Point is; as long as a publisher has released a game, and release dedicated servers and modding support, they can let the game loose to gamers, and let them "take over", without losing money (not earning money != losing money).

First off, I'm not saying voting would be ideal in all games. But in smaller mp games like eg. l4d2, and with no ranking system in place, voting can work very well. One-on-One and voting is a mute point as in that case you quit the match instead. But voting off one griefer from a match with more than two players, instead of having to quit the match to lose the a-hole is a better option. Sometimes genuinely skilled players gets the boot from various servers, that is true, but I have seldom experienced it. But griefers, trolls, cheaters, major a-holes and rascist/sexist fuckwits are booted out quite often.

Atleast as long as the legitimately skilled player is playing on ranked servers with punkbuster, and repeatedly kicked out and reported to PB, he will eventually be banned on eg. BF4 servers, and might even lose his entire EA account with _all_ games. That doesn't happen in L4D2 :)

My issue is with the dumbing down of known and loved franchises.

Take an example: Anything Tom Clancy.

Rainbow 6? Died with Vegas and Vegas 2
Ghost Recon? Died with Ghost Recon Future Soldier. Third person, are you kidding!?

Those games are such radically different and dumbed down games that they bear little semblance to the original games but in name.

I've downloaded 33,6GB with extra campaigns and maps for Left 4 Dead 2. It has expanded the replayability of L4D2 tremendously. Fairly recently (considering the game is over 4 years old) it also got Steam workshop support now. So modded weapons, sounds, models, textures etc. is available quick and easy. Now I've reached some 240 hours in it, and still going strong.

It support online play through official servers, best available unofficial, local server and LAN.

Running your own server also means being able to tweak other variables (gravity, firendly fire etc.), and server side mods.

And even in vs. matches, there are seldom cheating. And should you experience it anyway, the voting system makes it easy to get rid of d-bags.

This is the kind of modding support I've come to expect from a good game. Some developers get this.

It's an initialism with more than one meaning. It could also mean "Honest".

IJWTHAOT - I Just Wanted To Have An Opinion Too.

I'm hauling along.

Must say I share that sentiment when it comes to sharing within Dropbox. When 1 person shares 1 file with, say 5 persons, that 1 file is weighted against all 5 persons quotas, thereby "stealing" alloted space. I find that kinda morally dubious at best, as people pay for their quotas.

You seem to be one of the more easy going vegetarians though.

I've known quit a few vegetarians up through life, and have many vegetarian friends. Most of them come with a vocal political or ethical agenda of some sorts. Most of them would never pass up an opportunity to rant a bit. It's never "I'm a vegetarian", and end of that discussion, it's always "I'm a vegetarian, because ". =)

Myself, I'm a picky omnivore. I'd like to enjoy more foods than I do, and especially fish and veggies. Sometimes I drop meat for a couple of weeks. But if I were to drop meat entirely from my staple diet, I'd struggle to keep in good health.

As a slogan, I would suggest:

"I can't believe it's not Murder!®"

That should keep the PETA crowd happy.

You seem very informed about their terms and jargon...

Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?

In ye olden days, people could also vote for a tyrant. The difference with todays tyrants are that they aren't held accountable after the fact to the same degree as in eg. ancient Greece.

And there are reasons to call Putin atleast "tyrant-ish".

Yes, you mean like how they've reduced pilots jobs to call-center working conditions because of the cockpit voice recorder?

Unfortunately, I had to use .no prices, which are a bit steaper.

Here's an example from a price comparison engine in Norway. I've sorted by 2560x1440 and 2560x1600, and prices run from Low to High. Prices are in NOK:
http://www.prisguide.no/katego...

A rule of thumb for costs in Norway compared to the US is to say 1USD = 10NOK, that way you'll have figured in taxes and charges. The currency itself is currently around 1USD = 5.92NOK.

But when that is said, I am very happy with my Dell U2711.

Allthough it does indeed seem feasable, and dare I even say probable, I must unfortunately disappoint you; there is no such thingamabob, dookickey or thingamajig.

No, I'm saying I've learned to be a pedantic, anal retentive querulant.

*badom-tish*