Posts by Fletch

  • The word of the day is "ridiculousity"

    The difference is I've actually talked to people who have been to China and seen this first hand. Chinese internet cafes are full of people between the ages of 15-30 who are tech-savy and more mindful that there is a world full of stuff outside of China. These are the people most likely to start any reformation against the current system (whether violent or peaceful). Internet cafes are pretty much the biggest form of socialization for this set. Schools are strict and often seperated (gender and economic status). Workplaces are regimented. These cafes provide a place where similar people whoa re complete straners can hang out, meet each other, and socialize. That is not a good thing for a totalitarian regime (again, you see this in the middle east a lot).

    At KU, we had a Kansas-Asia Scholars program that sent a group of 30-40 students each semester to live for a few months in China and Japan. Since a lot of Poly Sci / International Studies students go on this, a bunch of my friends have taken part. Almost all of them has commented on how wierd they though Chinese Internet Cafes were. A couple of them tried to simply e-mail pictures from their digital cameras and had to be screened first. They still thought the cafes were neat, but there was a defiante big brother feel to them that they didn't see in similar places in Japan. Censorship is just a daily fact in China, right down to the games.

    You can Google it all day long, so I'm not going to insult everybody's intelligence by repeatedly posting links, besides this sample: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3766023.stm

    "Online games with content threatening state security, damaging the nation's glory, disturbing social order and infringing on other's legitimate rights will also be prohibited," said a Chinese Ministry of Culture statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency.

    Personally, the thing I always find creepy is that Chinese news releases almost always play the "personal safety" card when banning things. To an outsider it seems wierd, but imagine having that blasted at you in the newspaper and on TV and radio every day of your life. If Americans live in a state of fear, the Chinese live in a state of fucking terror. The itnernet is dangerous for you. Having kids is dangerous for you. Eating foreign food is dangerous for you. Learning to read is dangerous for you. Driving is dnagerous for you. Blinking is dangerous for you.

  • The word of the day is "ridiculousity"

    Quote from Kosmo

    I just said that it's rather arbitrary to say Chinese goverment generally hate games and tries to stop it's population from "communicating" and using MMORPG as an example software of communication.

    The "Great Firewall of China" system blocks aboue 25% of the IP addresses on earth in order to prvent access to information. Search queries are filtered before results return. Chat rooms and message boards are aggressively filtered. Amnesty International reports over 100 Chinese political prisoners in jail on charges of improper bahavior online. Last year nearly 50,000 internet cafes were shut down in China. China exerted enough pressure to get Microsoft to help censor Chinese blogs.

    There is a reason the government controls the newspaper, TV, telephone serivce, and radio. Information is power. Communications is power. Without those, widespread rebellion becomes nearly impossible. Even if hundreds of people riot and rebel in one province, there is no news coverage or communication to help the messge spread.

    Quote from Kosmo

    If Chinese goverment wanted to bring the hammer down to WoW, EQ etc. I think that they would just outlaw them.

    The scary thing is the Chinese government is exceptionally good at what they do. If they were to just outright ban all video games or online games, there would be international retaliation. It all of sudden becomes news. Considering most of those games are made by America, it would probably lead to some trade sanctions (probably centering around technology), which China doesn't want to happen because they are really starting to emerge as a bigger player on the international stage.

    So, no, they are not going to ban them. They'll legislate instead. Internet cafes are already operating under a 3 hour time limit. The govenrment also controls which games are created domestically and which are allowed to be imported. They basically control the market, and the market is good. This ia a multi-billion dollar industry in China. It keeps people employed, and the government gets a big user fee chunk from cafes. If the Chinese government just banned everything, that's a huge blow to local economies. So yes, it was wrong of me to say China hated video games. They just hate our video games. If you want to play video games made or financed by the Chinese government about Chinese history, how evil Japan is, or how to be a good Communist, they've got plenty.

    As for the merits of the original case, I don't think it's going to end in favor of the family. But I think the Chinese government, who controls the newspapers and news outlets, will make a big deal out of the case to once again warns its citizens about how too much internet use can make you go crazy. And I think a lot of people will believe them.

  • The word of the day is "ridiculousity"

    You forget it's also China, and the Chinese government HATES video games. They do not like their citizens to be able to freely talk and interact with large numbres of each other at once. It's why their internet cafe's have a strict time limit.

    Most judges in America would throw this out before it even reached a jury because it failes to show anything beyond post hoc ergo propter hoc (B happened after A, therefore A caused B). Most judges in China will allow this because it allows the Chinese government a method to crack down on people playing WoW, EQ, Lineage, Ragnorak, etc.

  • Mario Kart DS

    If only the wireless router sitting underneath my desk would play nicely....

    And yes, Mario Kart DS is the shiznit. But you haven't experienced it's greatness until you play four-player wirelessly in a movie theater as you wait for two hours for Harry Potter to begin.

  • D-Day 1944: Operation Overlord is looking for animators!

    Okay, since apparently few of you decided not to listen to me the first time, I am going to repeat myself in very explicit terms:

    You can reply to this thread if:

    1) You'd like to contructively discuss the mod in polite ways

    2) You'd like to help this mod

    3) You'd like to suggest other resources to help this mod

    You may not reply to this thread if:

    1) You want to point out that you don't like WW2 games.

    2) You want to argue this post.

    3) You want to in any way shape or form act like a dick.

    This is a 'help wanted' forum, nothing else. If you want to be a dick, go to EOT. If you want to discuss why you don't like WW2 games, go to General.

    Thank you.

    Goodnight.

  • D-Day 1944: Operation Overlord is looking for animators!

    Ahem. Time out.

    Quote

    Rules for Replying1) Be respectful. It is very easy to make fun of posts we think are dumb. But if they follow the above rules, we will respect the threads. If you think the mod is dumb, close the page and do something else.

    This is starting to become repetitive behavior, so I'm going to politely remind everybody to please follow that rule a bit more.

    Also, saying please wouldn't kill some of you.

  • New Steam Games Agreement.

    They Hunger signed a liscensing and distribution deal. A lot of mods I've seen floating around and trying to score their own deals or do it themselves through Paypal. Of course they have zero leverage, so I'm sensing that their plans aren't going to work.

  • New Steam Games Agreement.

    Quote

    You may use, reproduce and modify the SDK solely to develop a modified game (a "Mod") for Half-Life 2 or other Valve products compatible with and using the Source Engine. You may reproduce, distribute and license the Mod in object code form, solely to licensed end users of Half-Life 2 or other compatible Valve products, without charge.

    So all those mods who are planning to sell their end-product are kind of fucked.