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Games

The Struggle For Private Game Servers 125

A story at the BBC takes a look at the use of private game servers for games that tend not to allow them. While most gamers are happy to let companies like Blizzard and NCSoft administer the servers that host their MMORPGs, others want different rules, a cheaper way to play, or the technical challenge of setting up their own. A South African player called Hendrick put up his own WoW server because the game "wasn't available in the country at the time." A 21-year-old Swede created a server called Epilogue, which "had strict codes of conduct and rules, as well as a high degree of customized content (such as new currency, methods of earning experience, the ability to construct buildings and hire non-player characters, plus 'permanent' player death) unavailable in the retail version of the game." The game companies make an effort to quash these servers when they can, though it's frequently more trouble that it's worth. An NCSoft representative referenced the "growing menace" of IP theft, and a Blizzard spokesperson said,"We also have a responsibility to our players to ensure the integrity and reliability of their World of Warcraft gaming experience and that responsibility compels us to protect our rights."

Comment Corporate Profits Drive the Show (Score 1) 295

What's "new" in this announcement/advertisement is that they've opened the service up to home users. Basically every law firm in New York uses this service to supply menus and dinner to their associates - I was temping in law firms for about 6 months, and used SW at every firm I was at to order food after hours. Corporate customers are undoubtedly underwriting the bill for the new "home users" section. It's worth it for the law firms to keep their associates at their desks for ungodly numbers of hours. The restaurants get to penetrate the corporate market without having to set up a delivery infrastructure or build up a reputation for corporate catering. And Seamless Web clearly figure they can add a nickel- and dime-level profits to their solid corporate base.

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