E. Zachary Knight (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 10:40am
As a Cable Cutter...
As a lifelong cable cutter, If the networks take Hulu away from me, I won't be suddenly subscribing to cable to satellite. I will simply stop watching the shows that I watched on Hulu. So long Eureka. So long Psych. So long White Collar (not that I could watch you consistently with your insane 1 episode available at a time 3 months after airing).
This will only mean less traffic to Hulu and less money to networks.
When the latest seasons of these shows are available on Netflix, I will watch them there. That is if they don't kill of Netflix before then first.
Thanks for stopping by Jon. Glad you liked it. I am a huge fan of the work Stardock is doing and glad to see that you have a level head on your shoulders. We certainly need more people like you in the games industry.
On that line from Wikipedia, I think that is referring to 3rd party titles published on Impulse, I know that Stardock titles don't use DRM. That was one of their key philosophies.
As for Anno 2070, that is an Ubisoft published title. Not Stardock. So I really don't see why that is relevant to this discussion.
Quite simply, a demo of a game (ie, not the full version, limited, controlled, limited levels, whatever) is different from giving someone the full movie, the full book, or the full album / CD / music release. One is a taste to get you hooked, the other is the full product with no real reason to pay.
I think that is the point of the demo, to get the fans hooked. Without that hook, you will find trying to get people to buy is even more difficult than normal. The demo will also help give fans a reason to pay. In case you missed it, this blog has a very strong message about ways to convince fans to pay rather than pirate. A lot of it works too.
The best way is to put out a product that is entirely superior to everything else around, and which sells itself through word of mouth. Social media can help, but the best product should be your real goal, not twitter updates on your crappy, "same as everyone else" first person shooter.
You can make the absolute best game in existence, but if people don't know who you are and/or don't like you, you will be hard pressed to sell any meaningful number of games. Of course, I don't think anyone is arguing that you should conform to popular game conventions.
There is a huge difference between having a gaming engine that permits extensions (think new levels, etc) compared to making the source code available for modification, or having your whole project lifted and re-used by someone else. There is a fine line here again.
And no one is arguing that people should be able to lift and re-use the game engine through infringement. Why you made that connection is beyond me. I think you are just looking for any reason to complain, even if that reason is little more than a straw-man.
Yes indeed. Piracy is a symptom of a generation who feels no need or desire to pay for anything, and thinks of payment only as an optional TIP, not a purchase.
Again, you personal biases are showing. You completely ignore all the case studies we have shown in which companies and creators succeed despite piracy solely because they fill those needs that other have left.
I thought the idea behind 'sharing' was that we are all equal
No. The idea behind sharing is to cure the plague of obscurity.
What is being talked about here is connecting with your fans and being human. You can do that and be exciting to your fans. Many people do that and still retain their ability to be "no different" from the fans. It is all about the persona you want to show.
Personally as a game developer, I don't think I am better than anyone else. However, I do want people to like me. The reason for this is that I know that it is easier for people to buy my games or play my games if they like me.
Perhaps it is the two-faced nature of the MPAA's position here that is worthy of ire. Did you ever think about that? If this guy was copying DVD's to just give away on the street, he would have been hauled off in cuffs. Since he is sending the DVDs to troops stationed over seas, he is a hero of sorts to the MPAA.
The reason the government does not fear the people is because it has spent the last 100+ years carefully eroding the ability of the voting populace to make informed decisions when it comes to public policies and elections.
Frankly it is sad.
Just to help illustrate this point from a state perspective, Oklahoma has 101 house seats. This year all 101 seats are up for election. Last week, registration for candidacy closed. 51 of the 101 seats are uncontested. Of the 50 left, about half of those will be decided in the primary leaving only 25 give or take to actually show up on the November ballot.
If we cannot even get 101 people to challenge those in office, how are we going to get the necessary 50+% of the US population to vote out every member of congress and the president?
The French Revolution is not really the ideal example to use. Those were some very bloody times for France and just about every time, they traded one tyrant for another. Thus sparking yet another revolution.
On the other hand, the US currently has the ability to change the way government works, or at least who runs the government. Unfortunately, those willing to replace those in office are in a minority making the extremely difficult to accomplish widespread revolution.
I think this is based on the actual letter of the law and not how the law is abused by those in the copyright industry. I am sure that had SOPA passed and been signed into law, the US would have fallen down the list.
When the middlemen are enablers, they offer value. Such middlemen include Amazon, Google, Facebook etc. It is when they become gatekeepers that the middlemen are the problem.
Things would be no different under a GOP president, unless that president is Ron Paul. Mitt Romney is just more of the same crap we have had for 30 years . I don't want it.
+1 for this veto threat on CISPA
+1 for his stance on SOPA
-1 For signing the NDAA
-1 for signing the Partiot Act renewal
-1 for prosecuting whistle blowers
That is where the stupidity lies. Especially when you consider the fact that a building owner has commission the mural.
Building owner pays money for people to paint a mural.
City sandblasts it and sends the bill to the building owner.
Building owner is out the money for the mural and the unauthorized removal of the mural.
That is not an example of taking something out of context. That is an example of remixing. While both have the ability to change the meaning of something else, they are wholly different methods.
You're doing all the right things, Zach, by trying to make all IP seem stupid. Pulling illustrations out of applications and looking at them out of context is a great strategy. Mikey teaches you well.
I guess if it justifies your continued presence here, feel free to continue missing the point.
But to answer your question, if the illustrations are part of an application that is granted, then that means they're part of an invention was new, useful, and nonobvious. And that means the invention has advanced the state of the art, and therefore, it has promoted the progress.
You are incredibly naive if you think every patent granted is "new, useful, and nonobvious". You have obviously never spent any time in the software industry. Patents granted on software are rarely if ever "new, useful, and nonobvious" Most of the time, they are granted on something old, used often or obvious to anyone tackling the same problem.
Looking at a single illustration, out of context, and without more information, is not the proper way to frame it. That is, of course, unless you're writing another mindless, baseless, and idiotic piece for TechTurd.
Or when someone is writing up a humorous post about crudely drawn patent illustrations.
Seriously, were you born without a sense of humor or was it beaten out of you?
On the post: Hulu Puts Gun To Own Head: May Require Users To Show Proof Of Pay TV Subscription
As a Cable Cutter...
This will only mean less traffic to Hulu and less money to networks.
When the latest seasons of these shows are available on Netflix, I will watch them there. That is if they don't kill of Netflix before then first.
On the post: Stardock Producer Shares Four Tips For Building Loyal Fans
Re: Some More Thoughts
I will certainly check out your other article.
Thanks again.
On the post: Stardock Producer Shares Four Tips For Building Loyal Fans
Re: Re: Loyalty
As for Anno 2070, that is an Ubisoft published title. Not Stardock. So I really don't see why that is relevant to this discussion.
On the post: Stardock Producer Shares Four Tips For Building Loyal Fans
Re:
I think that is the point of the demo, to get the fans hooked. Without that hook, you will find trying to get people to buy is even more difficult than normal. The demo will also help give fans a reason to pay. In case you missed it, this blog has a very strong message about ways to convince fans to pay rather than pirate. A lot of it works too.
The best way is to put out a product that is entirely superior to everything else around, and which sells itself through word of mouth. Social media can help, but the best product should be your real goal, not twitter updates on your crappy, "same as everyone else" first person shooter.
You can make the absolute best game in existence, but if people don't know who you are and/or don't like you, you will be hard pressed to sell any meaningful number of games. Of course, I don't think anyone is arguing that you should conform to popular game conventions.
There is a huge difference between having a gaming engine that permits extensions (think new levels, etc) compared to making the source code available for modification, or having your whole project lifted and re-used by someone else. There is a fine line here again.
And no one is arguing that people should be able to lift and re-use the game engine through infringement. Why you made that connection is beyond me. I think you are just looking for any reason to complain, even if that reason is little more than a straw-man.
Yes indeed. Piracy is a symptom of a generation who feels no need or desire to pay for anything, and thinks of payment only as an optional TIP, not a purchase.
Again, you personal biases are showing. You completely ignore all the case studies we have shown in which companies and creators succeed despite piracy solely because they fill those needs that other have left.
On the post: Stardock Producer Shares Four Tips For Building Loyal Fans
Re: Hero worship?
No. The idea behind sharing is to cure the plague of obscurity.
What is being talked about here is connecting with your fans and being human. You can do that and be exciting to your fans. Many people do that and still retain their ability to be "no different" from the fans. It is all about the persona you want to show.
Personally as a game developer, I don't think I am better than anyone else. However, I do want people to like me. The reason for this is that I know that it is easier for people to buy my games or play my games if they like me.
On the post: Prolific DVD Bootlegger Is 92 Year-Old WWII Veteran
Re:
On the post: Can CISPA Be Fixed?
Re: Re: Broke needs fixed.
On the post: Congress Decides To Ignore Privacy Concerns, Refuses To Even Consider Key CISPA Amendments
Re:
Frankly it is sad.
Just to help illustrate this point from a state perspective, Oklahoma has 101 house seats. This year all 101 seats are up for election. Last week, registration for candidacy closed. 51 of the 101 seats are uncontested. Of the 50 left, about half of those will be decided in the primary leaving only 25 give or take to actually show up on the November ballot.
If we cannot even get 101 people to challenge those in office, how are we going to get the necessary 50+% of the US population to vote out every member of congress and the president?
On the post: Congress Decides To Ignore Privacy Concerns, Refuses To Even Consider Key CISPA Amendments
Re: Off course you have a choice. Grow some!
On the other hand, the US currently has the ability to change the way government works, or at least who runs the government. Unfortunately, those willing to replace those in office are in a minority making the extremely difficult to accomplish widespread revolution.
On the post: New IP Watchlist Ranks Countries On How Well Their Copyright Laws Serve The Public
Re:
On the post: How Rumblefish Ended Up Claiming Copyright On A Song Uploaded By The Band Who Actually Held The Copyright
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Obama Administration Threatens To Veto CISPA
Re: Re: Re: So let's add up the score
On the post: Obama Administration Threatens To Veto CISPA
Re: So let's add up the score
-1 for signing ACTA
On the post: Obama Administration Threatens To Veto CISPA
So let's add up the score
+1 for this veto threat on CISPA
+1 for his stance on SOPA
-1 For signing the NDAA
-1 for signing the Partiot Act renewal
-1 for prosecuting whistle blowers
That count alone leave Obama in the red for me.
On the post: What Do You Get When You Strip Patent Illustrations From All Context?
Re: Re: Re:
I...Cannot draw...the images...above.
There. Now I have definitive proof that you are incapable of even crude drawings.
PS: Yes, I know that even that is not a real example of taking something out of context. But it sure is funny.
On the post: Toronto Mayor Wants Residents To Report Graffiti Via iPhone, And Pay For The Privilege
Re: Re: Crime fighting Apps
Building owner pays money for people to paint a mural.
City sandblasts it and sends the bill to the building owner.
Building owner is out the money for the mural and the unauthorized removal of the mural.
Talk about jerk moves by the city.
On the post: What Do You Get When You Strip Patent Illustrations From All Context?
Re:
On the post: What Do You Get When You Strip Patent Illustrations From All Context?
Re:
On the post: What Do You Get When You Strip Patent Illustrations From All Context?
Re:
I guess if it justifies your continued presence here, feel free to continue missing the point.
But to answer your question, if the illustrations are part of an application that is granted, then that means they're part of an invention was new, useful, and nonobvious. And that means the invention has advanced the state of the art, and therefore, it has promoted the progress.
You are incredibly naive if you think every patent granted is "new, useful, and nonobvious". You have obviously never spent any time in the software industry. Patents granted on software are rarely if ever "new, useful, and nonobvious" Most of the time, they are granted on something old, used often or obvious to anyone tackling the same problem.
Looking at a single illustration, out of context, and without more information, is not the proper way to frame it. That is, of course, unless you're writing another mindless, baseless, and idiotic piece for TechTurd.
Or when someone is writing up a humorous post about crudely drawn patent illustrations.
Seriously, were you born without a sense of humor or was it beaten out of you?
On the post: What Do You Get When You Strip Patent Illustrations From All Context?
Re: Run on
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