The Christmas Loot
eddys...@hotmail.com
Ok, what did you lot get for Christmas ?
I got Adam Zamoyski’s “1812” book about Napoleon’s Russian campaign,
another external HD for secondary backups and a case of good wine.
Not to spoil the Christmas spirit but I had another run-in with DRM.
The neighbor’s daughter got a CyBook Opus eBook reader and a gift
certificate to download some ebooks from her boyfriend. She’s pretty
computer literate so checked if the format the books were in –
MobyPocket PRC - were covered by the eBook reader. The outside of the
box said “yes”.
Of course, when the books got transferred to the reader they wouldn’t
show, so she was pretty bummed about it.
So yesterday evening I spend half an hour looking at cryptic error
messages, reading FAQ’s and doing Google searches which resulted in
having to do a firmware upgrade – actually a downgrade - on a brand-
new device so it would read the damn DRM “enhanced” eBooks she had
just bought. Oh, and that piece of firmware is incompatible with
Adobe’s type of DRM so if you got DRM’ed books in both PDF and PRC you
can read one or the other on your shiny new eBook reader, but not
both.
Great, just great.
I’ve been looking at eBook readers myself but figured that I could
read “1812” without jumping through hoops and that in 20 years time I
can still pick it up from the shelf and not have to worry about a
thing. I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting an eBook reader in the next 24
months, but just like my pc I’ll only load DRM-free stuff on it. Why
people continue to put up with this DRM crap is really beyond me.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
Giftzwerg
@m38g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, eddys...@hotmail.com says...
> Ok, what did you lot get for Christmas ?
>
> I got Adam Zamoyski s "1812" book about Napoleon s Russian campaign,
> another external HD for secondary backups and a case of good wine.
Well, nothing that bests a case of good vino, obviously, but I did get a
set of Petzl Vasak crampons to replace the ancient spikes I've been
using for a decade now. Not that I *need* crampons these days, global
warming having melted all the ice off New England's peaks; I'll just
carry them for ol' time's sake.
> Why
> people continue to put up with this DRM crap is really beyond me.
This is why I've continued to avoid the eBook reader(s) out there. And
a goodly number of computer games.
On a DRM-related note, Mrs. G. got with one of my wargaming buddies and
picked out a pile of old games from GOG.com. So I've been rediscovering
a bunch of old favorites. Not all of them wargames, of course, but
great stuff nonetheless. And no DRM.
--
Giftzwerg
***
"Before we let suspect computer models developed by a handful of people
drive the entire world economy into a ditch, don't you think we should
take the covers off and invest a little more time and effort to
thoroughly examine how these models work? Hopefully this will include
analytical critiques from a wider cast of characters than the self
serving cabal whose mendacity and ham-handed attempts to marginalize
dissent were recently exposed."
- Bill Frezza
Bostonmyk
> In article <ce7f58c1-fe28-4ffd-888c-e71e5cc4b3e1
The usually/normal stuff ranging from sweaters to a bunch giftcards
from Amazon to Best Buy...which reminds me.
Do any of our usual publishers and/or retailers get into gift cards
or something similar? Seems like something would just work well for
computer wargames.
Mike
eddys...@hotmail.com
<sigh> Years ago I suggested in here all wargame publishers should put
a big red button on their website saying "wargame widows - click here
for a gift certificate". Matrix said they were going to look into it
but nothing came of it.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
Giftzwerg
@c3g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, eddys...@hotmail.com says...
> > Do any of our usual publishers and/or retailers get into gift cards
> > or something similar? Seems like something would just work well for
> > computer wargames.
>
> <sigh> Years ago I suggested in here all wargame publishers should put
> a big red button on their website saying "wargame widows - click here
> for a gift certificate". Matrix said they were going to look into it
> but nothing came of it.
A pity. In fact, this was exactly the sort of thing Mrs. G. was looking
for, because she knows I like PC wargames, but doesn't have a clue (a)
which games I might want, and (b) which games I already have.
We usually avoid gift certificates[1] at holiday time - on the theory
that nothing says "there, I've checked you off my list" like a gift
certificate - but wargames are easy to get wrong. She was kinda
surprised that she couldn't just sneak onto my PC, peruse my bookmarks
for wargame retailers, and pick up a gift card.
[1] Except for items of clothing, where I've learned from long
experience over several decades that a male can only FAIL purchasing
garments for women; either you get a size that's too small and the woman
shrieks, "I'm too fat!!!" or you get a size that's too large and the
woman shrieks, "You *think* I'm too fat!!!" Lose-lose.
eddys...@hotmail.com
> We usually avoid gift certificates[1] at holiday time - on the theory
> that nothing says "there, I've checked you off my list" like a gift
> certificate - but wargames are easy to get wrong.
Exactly. Same with books and music. So what does Amazon do ? It has a
space where people can register a wishlist of things they'd like and
you can also buy vouchers.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/gift-central/
> [1] Except for items of clothing, where I've learned from long
> experience over several decades that a male can only FAIL purchasing
> garments for women; either you get a size that's too small and the woman
> shrieks, "I'm too fat!!!" or you get a size that's too large and the
> woman shrieks, "You *think* I'm too fat!!!" Lose-lose.
I'm lucky in that I can't go wrong with jewelry. She likes it, but
shies away from buying it herself because she's a bit of a tightwad.
So she's very glad that I don't really care about money and spending
lots of it on her :)
Got her a pair of designer handcrafted silver earrings and she'll
never know (or want to know) how much they were.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
Bostonmyk
Sales must be that good.
<shrugs>
Still waiting for you or Giftbag to start making as games instead of
just talking a good one:)
Mike
Vincenzo Beretta
Nothing wargame-oriented, this year. I got D&D 3.5 Rules Compendium and the
"Arkham Horror" tabletop game off Amazon. Among the loot I found the
complete "Millenium" trilogy by Stieg Larsson, two fantasy art books, two
bottles of sparkling Grappa (they won't see Jan, 1st's dawn...) and a new
electric razor + aftershave from my mother (thanks Mom!)
eddys...@hotmail.com
> sparkling Grappa
Spumante & prosecco I know, but a sparkling Grappa ??? - more info
required - preferably before Jan 1st :)
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
eddys...@hotmail.com
> Still waiting for you or Giftbag to start making as games instead of
> just talking a good one:)
I help design wargames all the time, they're just not computer
wargames. Tomorrow we'll have another test run of our Napoleonic grand
tactical ruleset. We're going to try some modifications to the light
cavalry rules - luckily that modification took only 5 minutes to
implement, not 5 months as in your typical pc wargame design.
... and the original author doesn't mind if you point at a certain
aspect of the game and say "this sucks, because ..." unlike a good
number of pc wargame developers I know who are unable to deal with to
the point critique. (*)
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
(*) everybody can read into this what they want, but I hope a
particular developer I got a mail from today takes a deep breath and
re-evaluates things.
Giftzwerg
23e83c...@j42g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, bost...@gmail.com says...
> Still waiting for you or Giftbag to start making as games instead of
> just talking a good one:)
<sigh>
Not this one again.
You know, I've never opened up a restaurant, either, but that doesn't
stop me from sending back the risotto when I find it has the consistency
of wallpaper paste.
Giftzwerg
@a6g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>, eddys...@hotmail.com says...
> ... and the original author doesn't mind if you point at a certain
> aspect of the game and say "this sucks, because ..." unlike a good
> number of pc wargame developers I know who are unable to deal with to
> the point critique.
And people in groups like this aren't bashful about criticizing
*Napoleon* ... to say nothing about some wargame designer who's stepping
on his own dick.
Giftzwerg
rec...@hotmail.com says...
> and a new
> electric razor + aftershave from my mother (thanks Mom!)
An editorial gift-giving, perhaps?
Vincenzo Beretta
>> electric razor + aftershave from my mother (thanks Mom!)
>
> An editorial gift-giving, perhaps?
My old electric razor was about to croak, but I wasn't really willing to
fork 60 Euro for a new one when the same sum could have been spent in
unneeded foolery. I thought that showing up at the family pre-christmas
dinner badly unshaven was worth a try, and I was lucky :^D
Vincenzo Beretta
> required - preferably before Jan 1st :)
Special reserve from La Versa (near Montebello - well, not "near", but less
than one hour drive). A guy I know makes it - using some sort of illegal
nuclear reactor, I think.
Holdit
@a6g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>, eddys...@hotmail.com says...
>
>
> > Still waiting for you or Giftbag to start making as games instead of
> > just talking a good one:)
>
> I help design wargames all the time, they're just not computer
> wargames. Tomorrow we'll have another test run of our Napoleonic grand
> tactical ruleset.
What scale?
Holdit
M. Ziegler
>>> and a new
>>> electric razor + aftershave from my mother (thanks Mom!)
>> An editorial gift-giving, perhaps?
>
> My old electric razor was about to croak, but I wasn't really willing to
> fork 60 Euro for a new one when the same sum could have been spent in
> unneeded foolery.
Braun or Philips razor? I always used Braun. But since 2 years, I use
Gillette Blue II. It feels better than electic shaving.
Michael
Oleg Mastruko
>On 28 dec, 15:41, "Vincenzo Beretta" <reck...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> sparkling Grappa
>
>Spumante & prosecco I know, but a sparkling Grappa ??? - more info
>required - preferably before Jan 1st :)
Recently I've seen map of Europe divided into "alcohol belts",
according to most popular alcoholic beverage Europe was divided into
wine belt, beer belt and vodka (ie distilled alcoholic beverages)
belt. Some belts are overlapping f.e. south Germany was inside both
beer and wine belts. Scandinavia was beer and vodka belt(s). Belgium
was firmly in the beer belt in fact it's probably beer belt capital of
the world...
Anyway, what I wanted to say.... Vincenzo's sparkling Grappa
sounds like travelling accross the belt borders in a single glass :o)
Cronos
> I�ve been looking at eBook readers myself but figured that I could
> read �1812� without jumping through hoops and that in 20 years time I
> can still pick it up from the shelf and not have to worry about a
> thing. I�m pretty sure I�ll be getting an eBook reader in the next 24
> months, but just like my pc I�ll only load DRM-free stuff on it. Why
> people continue to put up with this DRM crap is really beyond me.
>
> Greetz,
>
> Eddy Sterckx
I bought the Sony PRS-600 recently and no issues with DRM on that one.
In fact they just converted all of their books to ePub open standard
format. I have about 350 ePub books on it so far and got all of them for
free. Even have all my .pdf game manuals on it too.
Cronos
>
> You know, I've never opened up a restaurant, either, but that doesn't
> stop me from sending back the risotto when I find it has the consistency
> of wallpaper paste.
>
Risotto is supposed to be like that, dumbass yank; don't order the
risotto in future if you don't like it.
Jim Cobb
Combat Mission:Beyond Overlord isn't a wargame?!
Cronos
> Combat Mission:Beyond Overlord isn't a wargame?!
Wow one whole wargame! Where's CMAK? That's the only one I am missing.
eddys...@hotmail.com
> In article <e55f3503-4b51-43f0-9cc6-3bd1a996c670
>
>
>
> > On 28 dec, 15:32, Bostonmyk <boston...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Still waiting for you or Giftbag to start making as games instead of
> > > just talking a good one:)
>
> > I help design wargames all the time, they're just not computer
> > wargames. Tomorrow we'll have another test run of our Napoleonic grand
> > tactical ruleset.
>
> What scale?
1 unit == 1 brigade, 1 unit == 2-4 figs
If you're interested, mail me and I'll send you the pdf of the rules
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
M. Ziegler
Some belts are overlapping f.e. south Germany was inside both
> beer and wine belts. Scandinavia was beer and vodka belt(s).
>
South West Germany is more a wine belt, the rest a beer belt.
Michael
eddys...@hotmail.com
> In article <d36a6cd1-5709-44b1-a96e-
> 23e83cf2c...@j42g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, boston...@gmail.com says...
>
> > Still waiting for you or Giftbag to start making as games instead of
> > just talking a good one:)
>
> <sigh>
>
> Not this one again.
>
> You know, I've never opened up a restaurant, either, but that doesn't
> stop me from sending back the risotto when I find it has the consistency
> of wallpaper paste.
A little story here.
Sjaman Uruk was a happy man – weeks ago he had been pondering how to
improve the chances of a successful hunt, how to show the Great Gods
what their people needed when he got this bright idea of depicting a
hunting scene on a flat wall in the back of the cave. Mud wouldn’t
stick but in another bright moment he found that using the burned end
of a stick produced beautiful black lines which did.
So he showed his drawing to the group and all were in awe. All but
Ugh, who looked at the black reindeer figures and openly remarked that
reindeer weren’t black, but brown. Ugh, it was always Ugh, but he’ll
show that smartass what a really good sjaman can do and tirelessly
worked to find a brown paint that stuck to the wall. And one day he
did.
The moral of the story here is that without pains-in-the-butt like Ugh
society wouldn’t evolve and we would all still be sitting in a cave
admiring black outline drawings.
As a group this ng is a pain-in-the-butt to wargame developers. For us
the glass isn’t half empty, it’s even the wrong color of glass and the
water has a minerals imbalance. But in the long run better wargames
get produced and that's the only thing which matters.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
eddys...@hotmail.com
> > On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:49:37 -0800 (PST), "eddyster...@hotmail.com"
> > <eddyster...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Some belts are overlapping f.e. south Germany was inside both
>
> > beer and wine belts. Scandinavia was beer and vodka belt(s).
>
> South West Germany is more a wine belt, the rest a beer belt.
I've not seen the map Mr. Mastruko refers to but I guess it's more or
less a climate belt map as well. warm and sunny -> wine, mild -> beer,
cold -> vodka
That said, over the past 20 years I've seen France evolve from a
country where the only drinks you could get in a pub were wine and
pastis to a country where even in the most remote parts they've got
good beer on tap.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
Vincenzo Beretta
> Gillette Blue II. It feels better than electic shaving.
Philips. I use traditional razors, too, but I always manage to badly cut
myself. Thus the choice becomes if showing up shaved or if showing up well
shaved and bandaged.
Giftzwerg
390e43...@r24g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, eddys...@hotmail.com
says...
> As a group this ng is a pain-in-the-butt to wargame developers. For us
> the glass isn t half empty, it s even the wrong color of glass and the
> water has a minerals imbalance. But in the long run better wargames
> get produced and that's the only thing which matters.
All true. But the theory which holds, "Only those who can do <X> are
qualified to criticize the quality of something produced by someone else
doing <X>" continues to rear its ugly head.
It's surreal. In a forum which can be about little else than criticisms
of historical PC wargames, there's still an element which holds that
such criticism is *a priori* invalid unless it's coming from an
officially-accredited historical PC wargame designer.
Ridiculous.
No. I'm not a filmmaker. And yet, I'm fully qualified to determine
whether MEET THE DEEDLES was an important, worthwhile film.
No. I'm not a chef. And yet, I'm fully qualified to determine whether
the chicken parmigiana was overcooked and rubbery.
No. I'm not an interstate transportation expert. And yet, I'm fully
qualified to determine whether my package arrived undamaged and on time.
And why da fuck is it that I can't seem to avail myself of this theory
in my own job? As head of an IT department, I am frequently subjected
to criticism from salesmen, accountants, technicians, warehousemen, and
hundreds of other workers.
Why is it that I can't answer this criticism with, "Oh? And where did
you get your CS and IT degrees?" Am I the only guy since your cave-
painter who thought that when a salesman tells me, "my workstation is
down," I might want to check into it?
eddys...@hotmail.com
> It's surreal. In a forum which can be about little else than criticisms
> of historical PC wargames, there's still an element which holds that
> such criticism is *a priori* invalid unless it's coming from an
> officially-accredited historical PC wargame designer.
>
> Ridiculous.
I was tempted to taunt the last example of this with "It depends on
your quality requirement, but if it is AGSI standard I could meet your
"must have developed a wargame" criteria early next week"
> And why da fuck is it that I can't seem to avail myself of this theory
> in my own job? As head of an IT department, I am frequently subjected
> to criticism from salesmen, accountants, technicians, warehousemen, and
> hundreds of other workers.
>
> Why is it that I can't answer this criticism with, "Oh? And where did
> you get your CS and IT degrees?" Am I the only guy since your cave-
> painter who thought that when a salesman tells me, "my workstation is
> down," I might want to check into it?
You can think it - I sometimes do, but if you're even the slightest
bit professional about your job you never say it.
A point to make here is also that our criticism is rarely "this game
suxxxx" but most often a very precise analysis of the problem area,
why it is a problem and what can/could be done about it.
In other professions they'd pay to have customers like that.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
Bostonmyk
Hmm.. meant it as a compliment as I think you guys know your stuff
and could make good games. Amazing to see where the two of you took
that one for a ride though.
Sheesh.
Mike
Cronos
> Philips. I use traditional razors, too, but I always manage to badly cut
> myself. Thus the choice becomes if showing up shaved or if showing up well
> shaved and bandaged.
>
>
I find if you use electric shaver every day they work quite well but if
you let it go one day even then they are not so good. My Philips rotary
head can give me an ok shave after 3 days but my Remington foil shaver
can't cut shit even after one day.
eddys...@hotmail.com
> Hmm.. meant it as a compliment as I think you guys know your stuff
> and could make good games.
As I told a game developer one day : I'm not that bright, but I ain't
stupid enough to start developing pc wargames for a living. I've got a
pretty good idea of the sales numbers and can do the math. Doing it as
a kind of hobby is also a no-no because it just takes too much time to
develop a game to current standards.
Things are different in the boardgame and tabletop world where some
hobbyist or gaming collective with some spare time can really develop
a game or ruleset - which is exactly what my tabletop group is into so
I'm a pretty happy gamer/developer.
> Amazing to see where the two of you took
> that one for a ride though.
>
> Sheesh.
Sorry to have been so cynical.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
Giftzwerg
@m38g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, bost...@gmail.com says...
> Hmm.. meant it as a compliment as I think you guys know your stuff
> and could make good games. Amazing to see where the two of you took
> that one for a ride though.
Uh-huh. Sure. Gotcha.
Bostonmyk
<eddyster...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On 29 dec, 21:08, Bostonmyk <boston...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hmm.. meant it as a compliment as I think you guys know your stuff
> > and could make good games.
>
> As I told a game developer one day : I'm not that bright, but I ain't
> stupid enough to start developing pc wargames for a living. I've got a
> pretty good idea of the sales numbers and can do the math. Doing it as
> a kind of hobby is also a no-no because it just takes too much time to
> develop a game to current standards.
The return for me was a few bucks and hopefully getting the game I
always wanted. Unfortunately I didn't get the game I wanted and even
being associated with the god damned thing turned out to be arsenic.
> Things are different in the boardgame and tabletop world where some
> hobbyist or gaming collective with some spare time can really develop
> a game or ruleset - which is exactly what my tabletop group is into so
> I'm a pretty happy gamer/developer.
Not sure if its necessarily the media but maybe the method. Working on
new nav/air war sim now with some of the refugees from the last
project. We've made some real headway and haven't had half the
problems. Doing this for fun changes everything and its nice to only
have to meet your own expectations.
> > Amazing to see where the two of you took
> > that one for a ride though.
>
> > Sheesh.
>
> Sorry to have been so cynical.
>
> Greetz,
>
> Eddy Sterckx
No big deal.
Mike
eddys...@hotmail.com
> Not sure if its necessarily the media but maybe the method.
I don't know about you but only last night we had another test-run of
our tabletop Napoleonic grand tactical ruleset and today we're
discussing options of making drastic changes to the command & controll
rules. Once the discussion is settled, the rule-change itself will
take like 10 minutes. If you had to do the same in a pc wargame we're
talking at least a couple of months of development time.
> Working on
> new nav/air war sim now with some of the refugees from the last
> project. We've made some real headway and haven't had half the
> problems.
screenshots - website ?
> Doing this for fun changes everything
being your own boss helps a lot too. Got a private boardgame project
in the works and as it's for fun it's going to be 100% my baby.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
Graham Thurlwell
<eddys...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Ok, what did you lot get for Christmas ?
Osprey Aircraft of The Aces 28 - French Aces of World War 2 (I'm
flying the Normandie-Niemen save on IL2 '46).
Ashes to Ashes Series Two on DVD.
WCNAW.
'I Used to Know That - Stuff you Forgot from School' by Caroline
Taggart.
For my birthday:-
A new 80GB hard drive for my trusty Acorn A7000+.
Ghost Dog on DVD
Civ IV Complete (Play are curruntly doing this for a fiver!)
'Steam Engines Explained' by Stan Yorke
Not a bad haul all told.
--
Jades' First Encounters Site - http://www.jades.org/ffe.htm
The best Frontier: First Encounters site on the Web.
nos...@jades.org /is/ a real email address!
Ralph Hoenig
<eddys...@hotmail.com> schrieb
Hi,
<Snip>
So yesterday evening I spend half an hour looking at cryptic error
messages, reading FAQ�s and doing Google searches which resulted in
having to do a firmware upgrade � actually a downgrade - on a brand-
new device so it would read the damn DRM �enhanced� eBooks she had
just bought. Oh, and that piece of firmware is incompatible with
Adobe�s type of DRM so if you got DRM�ed books in both PDF and PRC you
can read one or the other on your shiny new eBook reader, but not
both.
Great, just great.
I�ve been looking at eBook readers myself but figured that I could
read �1812� without jumping through hoops and that in 20 years time I
can still pick it up from the shelf and not have to worry about a
thing. I�m pretty sure I�ll be getting an eBook reader in the next 24
months, but just like my pc I�ll only load DRM-free stuff on it. Why
people continue to put up with this DRM crap is really beyond me.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
I am absolutely with you, it�s fucking stupid.
I recently surved over to http://www.baen.com/library/ and there, in the
introduction, Eric Flint makes some very good points, every in the business
should take to heart.
Much shortened Quote (it�s still bloody long), as the original is way too
long, go read it yourself :-)
Baen Books is now making available � for free � a number of its titles in
electronic format. We're calling it the Baen Free Library.
<Snip>
Why are we doing this? Well, for two reasons.
<Snip>
Earlier, I mentioned "two reasons" we were doing this, and stated that the
first was what you might call a demonstration of principle. What's the
second?
Common sense, applied to the practical reality of commercial publishing. Or,
if you prefer, the care and feeding of authors and publishers. Or, if you
insist on a single word, profit.
I will make no bones about it (and Jim, were he writing this, would be
gleefully sucking out the marrow). We expect this Baen Free Library to make
us money by selling books.
How? As I said above, for the same reason that any kind of book distribution
which provides free copies to people has always, throughout the history of
publishing, eventually rebounded to the benefit of the author.
<Snip>
I don't know any author, other than a few who are � to speak bluntly �
cretins, who hears about people lending his or her books to their friends,
or checking them out of a library, with anything other than pleasure.
Because they understand full well that, in the long run, what maintains and
(especially) expands a writer's audience base is that mysterious magic we
call: word of mouth.
Word of mouth, unlike paid advertising, comes free to the author � and it's
ten times more effective than any kind of paid advertising, because it's the
one form of promotion which people usually trust.
<Snip>
And, just as important � perhaps most important of all � free books are the
way an audience is built in the first place. How many people who are low on
cash and for that reason depend on libraries or personal loans later rise on
the economic ladder and then buy books by the very authors they came to love
when they were borrowing books?
Practically every reader, that's who.
<Snip>
Don't bother robbing me, twit. I will cheerfully put up the stuff for free
myself. Because I am quite confident that any "losses" I sustain will be
more than made up for by the expansion in the size of my audience.
For me to worry about piracy would be like a singer in a piano bar worrying
that someone might be taping the performance in order to produce a pirate
recording. Just like they did to Maria Callas!
Sheesh. Best thing that could happen to me. . .
That assumes, of course, that the writer in question is producing good
books. "Good," at least, in the opinion of enough readers. That is not
always true, of course. But, frankly, a mediocre writer really doesn't have
to worry about piracy anyway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What about the future? people ask. Even if reading off a screen is not today
as competitive as reading paper, what about the future when it will be? By
which time advances in technology might make piracy so easy and ubiquitous
that the income of authors really gets jeopardized?
My answer is:
Who knows?
I'm not worried about it, however, basically for two reasons.
The first is a simple truth which Jim Baen is fond of pointing out: most
people would rather be honest than dishonest.
He's absolutely right about that. One of the things about the online debate
over e-piracy that particularly galled me was the blithe assumption by some
of my opponents that the human race is a pack of slavering would-be thieves
held (barely) in check by the fear of prison sentences.
Oh, hogwash.
<Snip>
The reason I'm not worried about the future is because
<Snip>
Nobody has yet come up with any technology � nor is it on the horizon �
which could possibly replace authors as the producers of fiction. Nor has
anyone suggested that there is any likelihood of the market for that product
drying up.
The only issue, therefore, is simply the means by which authors get paid for
their work.
Is anyone eliminating the demand for fiction?Nope.
Has anyone invented a gadget which can write fiction?Nope.
All that is happening, as the technological conditions under which
commercial fiction writing takes place continue to change, is that everyone
is wrestling with the impact that might have on the way in which writers get
paid. That's it. So why all the panic? Especially, why the hysterical calls
for draconian regulation of new technology � which, leaving aside the damage
to society itself, is far more likely to hurt writers than to help them?
<Snip>
End Quote
Cronos
> Don't bother robbing me, twit. I will cheerfully put up the stuff for free
> myself. Because I am quite confident that any "losses" I sustain will be
> more than made up for by the expansion in the size of my audience.
> End Quote
Cool guy, and he uses one of my favourite words - "twit". He needs to
fit "twat" into his next sermon though.
Bostonmyk
<eddyster...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On 30 dec, 14:31, Bostonmyk <boston...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Not sure if its necessarily the media but maybe the method.
>
> I don't know about you but only last night we had another test-run of
> our tabletop Napoleonic grand tactical ruleset and today we're
> discussing options of making drastic changes to the command & controll
> rules. Once the discussion is settled, the rule-change itself will
> take like 10 minutes. If you had to do the same in a pc wargame we're
> talking at least a couple of months of development time.
>
> > Working on
> > new nav/air war sim now with some of the refugees from the last
> > project. We've made some real headway and haven't had half the
> > problems.
>
> screenshots - website ?
Here you go.
http://www.warfaresims.com/?p=994
These are our first shots and we've still got a looong way to go.
> > Doing this for fun changes everything
>
> being your own boss helps a lot too. Got a private boardgame project
> in the works and as it's for fun it's going to be 100% my baby.
>
> Greetz,
>
> Eddy Sterckx
Yes it is.
MM
eddys...@hotmail.com
> http://www.warfaresims.com/?p=994
>
> These are our first shots and we've still got a looong way to go.
Looks promising.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
Bostonmyk
wrote:
Not promising anything yet. :)
Mike
finbogey
<giftzw...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>On a DRM-related note, Mrs. G. got with one of my wargaming buddies and
>picked out a pile of old games from GOG.com. So I've been rediscovering
>a bunch of old favorites. Not all of them wargames, of course, but
>great stuff nonetheless. And no DRM.
I pulled out SPWW2 (again, seem to come back to it every couple
years). Had so much fun I forked out the $40 (actually $35 as Shrapnel
had a little sale) for the Enhanced version. Getting the better
resolutions is fantastic, so much easier on the eyes, and so much less
scrolling. Plus, apparently you can play campaign games via PBEM, so
looking forward to that.
-fin