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Games

Games Workshop Goes After Fan Site 174

Posted by Soulskill
from the don't-anger-your-base dept.
mark.leaman writes "BoingBoing has a recent post regarding Games Workshop's aggressive posturing against fan sites featuring derivative work of their game products. 'Game publisher and miniature manufacturer Games Workshop just sent a cease and desist letter to boardgamegeek.com, telling them to remove all fan-made players' aids. This includes scenarios, rules summaries, inventory manifests, scans to help replace worn pieces — many of these created for long out of print, well-loved games...' As a lifelong hobby gamer of table, board, card and miniature games, I view this as pure heresy. It made me reject the idea of buying any Games Workshop (read Warhammer) products for my son this Christmas. Their fate was sealed, in terms of my wallet, after I Googled their shenanigans. In 2007 they forbid Warhammer fan films, this year they shut down Vassal Modules, and a while back they went after retailers as well. What ever happened to fair use?"

Comment: Re:And things like this are why... (Score 1) 597

by clary (#29771039) Attached to: Computer-Based System To Crack Down On Casino Card Counters

Then, and this is the absolute most important part, I walk away when I hit my goal, usually $50 or $100.

If you really can get a positive expectation on a particular roulette wheel because of a flawed wheel or flawed croupier (which I doubt), then this does not make sense. If you have an advantage, then it doesn't matter whether you have hit your goal or not. Over the very long run, if you always bet when you have an advantage, you will have a positive expectation. Or maybe does the croupier change his behavior or the house level the wheel after you have made your $100?

Comment: Well, I've got 19 years and 3 kids... (Score 1) 1146

by clary (#28956601) Attached to: Navigating a Geek Marriage?

First, before marrying, discuss and make sure you can agree how to handle the following things:
 

1. Money
2. Religion
3. Children
4. In-laws
 

Second, make sure that both of you view marriage as a final, irrevocable decision. If either of you keep divorce in your back pocket as an option, then you have two strikes against you.

Comment: Re:Potential for translations (Score 1) 568

by clary (#28621399) Attached to: British Library Puts Oldest Surviving Bible Online

Actually, I did read those lines, and found nothing remotely suggesting the Bible is considered by the Catholic church to be "fallible and contradictory," which was what was asserted by the poster I quoted.

On the contrary, I line 107 claims the opposite: "The inspired books teach the truth. Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."

How does interpretation and contemplation suggest fallibility or contradictions? How does trying to read the text in the sense it was intended (not necessarily literally) imply fallibility or contradictions?

Many people assert that the Bible is fallible and contradictory, but to say the Catholic church holds that position is ignorant.

Comment: Re:Potential for translations (Score 1) 568

by clary (#28613013) Attached to: British Library Puts Oldest Surviving Bible Online

[...]There's many, many Christian denominations which recognize the Bible as being fallible and contradictory (One of them got to be pretty big, actually: They call themselves the Roman Catholic Church). [...]

Um, not so much. See http://www.va/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.htm#II for the Roman Catholic position.

Role Playing (Games)

Managing Player-Created Content In City of Heroes 43

Posted by Soulskill
from the what's-your-favorite-naughty-word dept.
Superhero MMO City of Heroes recently went live with its 14th expansion (release notes), one of the main features of which is the Mission Architect, a system to allow players to create their own quest content and then submit it to be implemented into the game. Now, Joe Morrissey of the City of Heroes team has written an article about how they plan to manage the content that players create. "You have to decide how draconian you want to be. The more hardcore you are, the fewer people who will see inappropriate content, but you expose yourself to potential grief voting. Grief voting is when a player flags perfectly acceptable content as inappropriate just because it's fun. If it only takes a single vote to eliminate content from the game, clicking that button is going to be the game for a lot of players. You don't want perfectly good content getting pulled because someone's a jerk."

Comment: Re:The solution is 2D games (Score 1) 511

by clary (#27401051) Attached to: Game Companies Face Hard Economic Choices

Um...yuck.

They make it expensive, and they can make it more immersive, but they do not contribute automatically to making a game fun, which is what it's all about.

I agree that if it isn't 3D, it isn't immersive. An for me if it isn't immersive then it might as well be FreeCell. I might play FreeCell while waiting for my kid's soccer game to start, but I sure won't pay for it.

Granted I am just a single data point, but to get me to buy a new game, it needs to have something even more ambitious than what has been done before. Figure out how to do an MMORPG with full PvP while keeping griefers in check, with a fully dynamic world in which changes made by players stick, and with NPC AI that immerses me enough that I don't think about "aggro radius," and you will have my purchase in a heartbeat.

Good day for overcoming obstacles. Try a steeplechase.