Hmm, I take your point, but you need to understand just how technologically inept the members of the house of parliament are! When they are not sleeping through session, they are more worried about what's for lunch half the time. The demographic is pretty worrying!
This should be ringing alarm bells with everyone. The Internet community in the UK just does not have a strong enough voice to prevent this being rushed through. Here is an email I've just sent to the Minister for "Culture"... I hope that he can stop golfing long enough to read it:
Dear Mr Vaizey,
I've been reading with interest the world you're doing against net neutrality. In the States, net neutrality has really taken centre stage, with the online community as a whole outraged over the proposals to do just as you are doing, restructuring the Internet in a commercial and self-serving way. The only real difference is that in the States, law makers are more up to date with technological advancements, coupled with the fact that the American Internet community is more vocal, meaning that it is not an issue which can be bundled through. I believe that in parliament though this could very well happen, members of the house often lack the technical knowledge to see just how damaging this would be to the Internet as a whole.
Free, unrestricted, non-capped access to the Internet is something which must be protected at all cost. Your suggestion would mean that a class based system would exist on the Internet, with the better system being available to those that could afford it. Your original proposal may not allow for this directly, but once bandwidth capping is in place, it would only be a matter of time. In essence, it would
completely restructure the Internet as we know it, changing the very essence of what is has achieved since inception; the removal of class and creed. This can only be bad for the consumer, and in turn, your
constituents.
I would urge you to reconsider your position, and the actions you are planning to take, unless you want to permanently damage something which is sure to be the cornerstone of our futures. You would indeed
be historically remembered as such, the "culture" minister that was responsible for the sell out of the Internet.
Yours faithfully,
Luke O'Connell
I agree that there has to be some moderation system. But its interesting that we've never seen it come to fruition on MMORPGs. We've seen it work with community based sites (like Neopets) which actually balance their entire world on user-generated content and feedback, but nothing as dynamic as WoW.
I agree that user generated content is the future, but think that it needs some serious controls put in place to avoid scenarios such as the ones plover points out.
On a more fiscally related note though, if MMORPGs did start to allow user submitted content, then would it be right to continue their pricing structure? Therein lies another discussion!
"Most of us, when all is said and done, like what we like and make up reasons for it afterwards." -- Soren F. Petersen
