Twenty Sided

By Shamus Posted Thursday Oct 16, 2008

Filed under: Rants 49 comments

EA boss John Riccitiello hates DRM? Who knew? In an interview with Gamasutra:

I don’t like the whole concept; it can be a little bit cumbersome.

Yeah. A “little” cumbersome.

But I don’t like locks on my door, and I don’t like to use keys in my car… I’d like to live in a world where there are no passports.

See? He hates DRM. But we make him do it. He’s like an alcoholic yelling at his wife, “Bitch, why you gotta make me hit you?”

Once again a guy who makes millions a year is too clueless to grasp the most basic and obvious principles at work here. (Note that I’m only calling him clueless because I’m too polite to call him a liar. He can cop to either one as it suits him.)

But let me get out the big purple crayon and draw a picture of how this works for the benefit of the information-bankrupt multimillionaire captains of industry that aren’t reading this: DRM isn’t having locks on your car. It’s having locks on your car to which you do not have the key. The key is in the hands of the actual owner of the car, who (you hope) unlocks it for you. And who can stop doing so at any time. And who must actually spend money to be available to unlock your doors when you ask. And who is occasionally unavailable. And who still expects you to pay full price for a car you don’t own, don’t control, and can’t sell.

Are you sure you wanted to go with the car analogy here, John?
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “John Riccitiello hates DRM”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 BioShock: DemoPrevious Post

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82% Pirated 

49 comments

GM Advice:
Gaming Systems

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Oct 15, 2008

Filed under: Tabletop Games 166 comments

 GM Advice:
Dungeons That Make SensePrevious Post

Next PostGM Advice:
Introduction 

Talking about gaming systems is a lot like talking about operating systems. There is a certain fervor in the discussion that always seems incongruous to me.

I want to turn the GM advice thing around this time and see what everyone else is playing, and why. I talked about what I look for in a roleplaying game and solicited advice in a post way back at the beginning of this year. That made for fascinating reading, and I kind of wanted to return to the well for another drought of that.

It seems like a majority of gamers begin with one of the major systems (probably a version or variant of D&D) and then graduate to one of the more specialized systems once they learn about the game and discover what parts they enjoy most. Some people latch onto a system and play it until the rulebooks are a part of their DNA. Other people skip from one system to the next with reckless abandon. A lot of this depends on your group, your preferred setting or genre, and (unfortunately) your budget.

So, a few questions I’m curious about. Just answer the ones that are most interesting to you:

What gaming system did you start with when you were learning the game?
What’s your preferred gaming system when you’re running a game?
What system do you prefer as a player? (For some people this is different from #2.)
And because we live in an imperfect world: What system do you actually end up using?

This answer might get kind of long. I know trackbacks are about as reliable as the Holodeck, so if you answer on your own site please send me an email (shamus at shamusyoung dot com) and I’ll add a link at the bottom of this post.

Read more here:
eclecticon.
The Iron Scroll

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 GM Advice:
Dungeons That Make SensePrevious Post

Next PostGM Advice:
Introduction 

166 comments

City of Heroes:
Gameplay Part 2

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Oct 14, 2008

Filed under: Game Reviews 37 comments

 City of Heroes:
Gameplay Part 1Previous Post

Next PostCity of Heroes:
Trick or Treat 

Influence

It’s the classic MMO question: If I’m saving the world, why are people charging me money for gear? Shouldn’t they just give me the stuff?

City of Heroes fixes this nicely with the influence system. You earn influence instead of money for fighting bad guys, and you use that influence to get items from vendors. In essence, they are giving you stuff for free. The system of influence represents the fact that they’re not going to just hand out free goodies to every idiot in tights.

This is another system which nicely merges comic book conventions with MMO gameplay. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “City of Heroes:
Gameplay Part 2″

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 City of Heroes:
Gameplay Part 1Previous Post

Next PostCity of Heroes:
Trick or Treat 

37 comments

Stolen Pixels #29:
The Letter Home

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Oct 14, 2008

Filed under: Column 0 comments

 Stolen Pixels #28:
Reboot CampPrevious Post

Next PostStolen Pixels #30:
Seven Deadly Sins 

Someday we may meet an alien species. This will no doubt affect our culture. Our language. Perhaps even our music and food. But the one thing that will be truly revolutionized is our pornography.

With that thought, I give you a link to the latest Stolen Pixels.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Stolen Pixels #28:
Reboot CampPrevious Post

Next PostStolen Pixels #30:
Seven Deadly Sins 

0 comments

City of Heroes:
Gameplay Part 1

By Shamus Posted Monday Oct 13, 2008

Filed under: Game Reviews 38 comments

 City of Heroes:
I Should Write a Post About itPrevious Post

Next PostCity of Heroes:
Gameplay Part 2 

It’s amazing to find a game which operates using all the common MMO conventions, yet doesn’t feel like one. (At least, not at first.) City of Heroes is a game which lets you feel powerful right from the start. Unlike games where your first job is to kill declawed kittens or brain damaged rats or whatever, in City of Heroes you can jump right in and start punching out pipe-wielding thugs and purse snatchers. (The fact that thirty levels later you’ll still be fighting thugs and purse snatchers is a different problem.)
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “City of Heroes:
Gameplay Part 1″

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 City of Heroes:
I Should Write a Post About itPrevious Post

Next PostCity of Heroes:
Gameplay Part 2 

38 comments

Landscaping Tycoon

By Shamus Posted Monday Oct 13, 2008

Filed under: Links 32 comments

 Penny Arcade DRM SeriesPrevious Post

Next PostDawn of Games 

In the past I’ve mentioned I’m a fan of James Lileks, so it was kind of disorienting this morning to hit his site and see my quasi-famous RCT3 rollercoaster shtick in today’s Bleat. Hey! I’ve seen that one. Wait… I made that one!

And to comment on his point about using the game for building infrastructure: You know, I realize that’s the point of the game and all, but that’s not how I played it. Also, in spite of my movie of premeditated destruction, I didn’t do much of that either. When I was playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, all I ever did was fire it up in sandbox (free build) mode and play the world’s most in-depth videogame about landscaping. You have no idea. Trees, benches, flowers, topiary (in moderation) pools of water and attractive bridges over same. All colored just so. Arranged carefully. Once in a while I’d go crazy and throw in a ride (and then fuss around trying to cover up the ugly queue infrastructure with greenery) but only so I could lure visitors into walking through my meticulously designed gardens.

To grasp how demented this is you’d have to see the condition of my yard. On my block I’m that guy. The dandelion farmer. Everyone else mows and trims each spring, only to have my bumper crop of dandelion seeds float into their yard and try to drag the rest of them down to my lowest common denominator. Then fall rolls around and they rake their leaves, only to be buried under the brown and orange tsunami coming from my yard the next time the wind picks up. I’ll bet they’re praying I have a heart attack and my wife marries a guy more familiar with the basics of lawn care.

Outside, my allotted patch of earth runs wild to the endless vexation of my neighbors, and inside I’m working on a space to make the greens at St. Andrews look like the banks of the Amazon.

If they knew, they’d lynch me.

Added bonus: The video just broke 2 million views in the last couple of days.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Penny Arcade DRM SeriesPrevious Post

Next PostDawn of Games 

32 comments

Joss Whedon says, “YOU are a HUGE nerd!”

By Shamus Posted Saturday Oct 11, 2008

Filed under: Movies 34 comments

 Running Across Azeroth Previous Post

Next PostSticky Note Experiment 

Joss calls out a fan for nerding out on his material, and then signs the wrong name to an autograph. It’s silly and hilarious. I wish I was a famous writer so I could go around acting like this. (That is, acting as if I wasn’t famous.)

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Running Across Azeroth Previous Post

Next PostSticky Note Experiment 

34 comments

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