I just read a story about the MPAA filing a lawsuit against major torrent sites for… well… being major torrent sites. I really don’t have a problem with them protecting what is theirs. As a person who sometimes gets software and media from these nefarious sources I know that it’s just a matter of time before they get shut down and we have to move on to something else. You know why? Because this has all happened before!

During my freshman year at Mason Napster was the big thing, it was the first time I had a high-speed connection too. I could download music faster than I could listen to it. It was easy. That’s what the MPAA and RIAA are missing in this. They think that the way to stop you from downloading illegally is to stop the torrent sites. which is a flawed stance. I’ll tell you why.

It’s not like I’m breaking new ground here, but I just think they’re being stupid about this. First of all think of the flow of digital media to our homes as a river or canal. The “hackers” have made this big canal from the Media Reservoir created by the music and movie industry. They saw that the people wanted access to it and said we’re not waiting for the industries to get off their asses and do something about it. So if the MPAA stops the “hacker canal” another group will just say “The people want it and we will have it”. So what they need to do is focus less on stopping the “hackers” and more on building their own canal.

The analogy goes further because information, like water will always flow down the easiest route. Every time the movie and music companies make a canal the put these little dams and lockes in it (DRM) so that only certain kinds of boats (MP3 players) can go through it. Thus making it hard to use, so you look back at that “hacker canal” and think well I’m just going to keep using that, because it’s easier. The consumer will always use the most familiar and easy medium. Itunes is a step in the right direction, it’s easy to use, and relatively cheap. Why do you think that they just passed a Billion downloads?

What the companies need to do is stop focusing on making as much money on physical cds as they do on digital files. I download tons of media that I would never buy in physical form. I get it because I can, because it’s there and I might someday want to use it. If I could buy a whole CD of NEW music for like 3-4 dollars then I might think of doing that. I went on a buying spree with used DVDs from Amazon for just that reason, they were cheap and it was easy.

So my message is that of “Field of Dreams”. If you build it, they will come!

Later!

So it’s been a while since I had a free moment to post something to this site. I’ve been working really hard (shocker) at work in order to get some screenshots of the new application done for early next week. I’ve been doing a lot of CSS work. Not since I built this site with it’s fancy CSS layout have I worked with it so much. I’ve actually come up with a few improvements that I may implement sometime soon (ie. Never). But I do plan to, so it’s as good as finished. Another one of my pet projects at work is trying to sneak famous fonts into the logo for the new system. I don’t think it’s obvious but just look at these.

Famous Fonts comparison

All the Logos that I submitted

Later!

You know why the driving/drinking/voting age will never get changed? Well I do. Because once you pass those ages you stop caring. What do I care that 20yr olds can’t drink but they can join the army? I’m not < 21 anymore it doesn't affect ME. Whenever I read an article about somebody new (Jack Thompson) joining in on the fight against violent video games I get mad for about 5 minutes. This time I even wrote down arguments against them. But then I realize that this doesn’t affect me anymore. I can do whatever I want.

The arguments that Jack Thompson makes against violent video games (GTA in particular) are basically this. They “train you for whatever you’re doing in the game”. So in his argument GTA trains a person to steal cars, kill cops, and run with gangs. Does this argument work for other games or just violent ones? Does playing Street Fighter make you better at karate? or give you the ability to throw fireballs? Does playing Pong make you a better tennis player? Does Pac-Man make you hungry for marshmallows and afraid of ghosts?

Do you know what my top two video game anger moments have been? The first was when I was 8 years old and I was playing Super Mario Brothers, I was trying to beat some level and I kept dying in the same place every time. I snapped. I slammed my neon orange Zapper on the ground and broke the barrel off. That’s right, Mario Brothers. A game about Italian stereotypes and dragons. Time to ban it.

There have been others, but the most memorable recent moment was trying to beat the 6 lap endurance races in Need for Speed Underground. After spending 6 minutes racing I would get passed in the last 20 feet and lose. I believe there was a bit of a freak out after that and I was 22 years old.

I have been a gamer as long as I’ve been alive. My sisters had an Odessey2 (with THE VOICE), I’ve had a system from every generation after that. I’ve played the most violent video games for every one of them and I don’t believe it has affected me.

Nintendo really didn’t have a violent option for me. Fighting in Blades of Steel and Basewars was about as hardcore as it got. On the Genesis one of my favorite games was Mortal Kombat 3. I played DOOM for pc. I played the dreaded “Postal”. Then it was on to First Person Shooters (FPS), or as Jack might call them “Murder Simulators”. Goldeneye, Quake, Halo, Halo2. But why are none of these games brought up in video game violence hearings?

I’ll tell you why.

Jack Thompson has based his whole argument about video game violence on the point that GTA depicts real life events (Gangs, Drugs, Carjackings, Cop killings) therefore they affect the player more. He brings up Full Spectrum Warrior because it is developed with cooperation from the US Army. Intended to be the most realistic Modern War FPS out there. But it’s not being sued for inciting killings? Why is that? Because the main difference in other games and GTA is that innocent characters can be harmed for no reason. Before GTA innocent people (scientists, pedestrians) were not allowed by the game developers to be harmed.

I can’t tell you how many games I’ve played that I really wanted to kill some innocent bystander, just to relieve the monotony of the game. But do I really want to run down a group of pedestrians on the side of the road? NO, IT’S JUST A GAME. Killing is not a game, Killing someone on a TV screen is a game. I’ve stopped countless alien invasions, scored championship goals, and won car races. I will never do any of those in real life. Will playing video games make me ready for the coming alien apocalypse? Well I hope so; I’ve been training for it all my life.

Do you know what has affected me far more than violent video games? The nightly news has been showing graphic images and telling about crimes while I ate dinner all my life. It comes on late but there has never seemed to be much censorship. Even if they don’t show images the shear quantity of violent stories on the news has desensitized me to the harshness of the world far more then any video game ever did.

The problem is that I really don’t care right now about whether or not kids can play the games. I can. As long as you don’t take away my ability to shoot a soldier in the head from 200 yards away we’ll be fine.

So what’s been going on?

I’ve been planning on writing some things about what’s been going on inside this little thing I like to call my life. But I haven’t really gotten the urge to (at least not while I’m around a computer) So I’m just going to list some things that I’ve been thinking about.

Annoyances

• Linda Cropp and the DC City council on Baseball lease
• Jack Thompson on video game violence

Projects

• Finishing up “Jenn and Jayson” project that I started sometime in early 05′
• Been working on the “BPW” Illustration
• Making EPYC doodles for Lonell

Stuff

• Jealous of Wade for all the snowboarding he’s doing
• Buying cheap shirts on Amazon.com
• Thinking about buying a road bike to start going on the W&OD trail

Later!

Thought I’d start posting the little doodles that I do while I’m at work. These are pretty good, but sometimes they suck.
Later!

Ever since I was about 18 I’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo. I’ve always said that it would have to be something that I drew… or at least designed. I’ve come up with a couple designs in the past but after looking at them for a few weeks decided that it wasn’t really for me. Recently I’ve been thinking of designing another tattoo. I’ve been playing with the concept of a nerd tattoo because that would make me happier then some fake ass skull or cross, cause that’s not really what I’m about. I’m about fun and nerdiness! I had the idea of a pixilated tattoo or more likely a star wars themed tattoo. Perhaps an R2D2 so I can have a little droid with me at all times. I found a gallery of SW, Transformers, and GI Joe tattoos. I wouldn’t say that it turned me off on the idea, but I’d have to make sure that the artist really knew how to draw first. That’s one of the major reasons that I haven’t ever gotten one. I don’t want to be stuck with some poorly draw thing on me forever… that and I always want to change it. But this will probably pass. But I might as well design something anyway.

Check it

Tattoo Gallery