[geeks] Ubuntu partition on Bootcamp Mac?

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Jon Gilbert <jjj at io.com>
>Date: 2007/07/30 Mon PM 08:33:30 CDT
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] Ubuntu partition on Bootcamp Mac?

>On Jul 30, 2007, at 10:04 AM, Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:
>
>> Ah, video games.
>>
>> For some reason, when you mentioned OpenGL, I thought you might be
>> trying to get work done.  Sorry, but I'm wholly clueless about getting
>> better performance out of games.
>
>What games? What are you talking about?
>
>Apparently you don't know what Second Life is. So I'll educate you.  
>It's a 3D virtual reality persistent world. It's not a game; there's  
>no "objectives," "points," "lives," or any other characteristics of  
>games. The only similarity between it and a game, is the fact that it  
>is in 3D and you have an avatar that represents you within that world.

Sounds like Club Penguin [0] for adults ;^)

>Now, because the users of Second Life can create custom-programmed  
>objects, many people within SL make and sell games. There are casinos  
>with Texas Hold 'Em. There are SLingo parlors (a Second Life  
>interpretation of bingo). There are RPGs that go on within it as  
>well. My favorite is the chess club. You can buy a really sweet chess  
>board for a few bucks.

Those are all games, AFAIK.

>A lot of people use Second Life for purely  
>recreational purposes, and the people who make and sell games and  
>other recreational items within SL profit handsomely from those people.

People make money off of Doom/Quake/etc, and those are games too.

>Or is it just that, to you, it's not "work" if you are spending long,  
>frustrating hours programming something that is in 3D as opposed to  
>2D HTML/Flash sites?

Uhm, where'd that come from?

>I make a fair bit of income from scripts (programmed objects) that I  
>create within Second Life and sell to in-world entities (companies,  
>governments, individuals, etc.). Anyone who thinks that's not "work"  
>is stupid, no offense. I know quite a few people who make their  
>entire incomes from SL.

I saw a segment on 60 Minutes about kids that make good money as profesional 
game players in tournements, and I read an article in Wired about kids who 
teach others how to play XBox games for good money.

>Besides which, gaming is a $12 billion/year industry (bigger than the  
>movie industry), and that's not even counting all the computer  
>hardware sales that are driven by it. So, you better get off your  
>little "games don't matter" high horse, thinking that "people who  
>actually work don't play games" or some nonsense.

I thought you started out saying Second Life wasn't a game, but based on your 
description it involves playing games and is part of the $12 Billion gaming 
industry (which I can only assume includes casino gambling to rise to such an 
amount)... Sounds like a game to me, but I don't really follow it to pick up 
on the subtle differences between Club Penguin and Second life EXCEPT that 
Second Life has an API...

Lionel

[0] http://www.clubpenguin.com/