Ancient Ruin

My dream in life is to own a Blockbuster store.

Hipsters would love to do that today...

But not just any hipster... NERD hipsters!

Karma

Lol. We've been getting ads for Direct TV and the like almost everyday for weeks

Oops, I meant Netflix

Kinda figured that

lol! :)

haha!

Is it weird to miss going to block buster?

When I was a kid we'd go to blockbuster and bring home a giant stack of movies and spend the whole weekend just eating popcorn and watching movies. :) I do miss that experience.

I knew somebody who had a tv in their truck who would go there, get a movie, watch it, return it, and get another one, repeating all day with their truck parked in the parking lot outside.

What I really miss in the drive-ins!

I loved the drive ins as a kid. :)

What's funny is that Netflix was founded by a man who was frustrated his by overdue fees at Blockbuster

Disruptive technologies are hilarious because they almost always get promptly killed by something else. People lost their shit because we were recording TV onto VHS, VHS onto other VHS, DVD's, DVR, Renting, Streaming, Web, web-tv, web on videogame consoles, Being able to fast forward through commercials, ad blockers, too many people watching something on a single TV, too many people watching something on a single netflix account, a single PPV account, watching TV with over-the-air antenna has come and gone and come back a few times, I know redbox was in there somewhere for a little while.

That's only with video media off the top of my head. The audio media is just as bizarre. That isn't even talking about the video format wars. All because people won't just let us, the people, the consumers work it out. We're smart, we'll figure it out, don't worry.

If we can figure out micro-usb cables and 3.5mm headphone jacks, we can figure the rest of this shit out, don't worry about us.

Let's not forget that in the digital age, anything in any audio or video format is subject to being pirated, especially by people who believe that the entertainment industry is ripping us off... or by people who are sick of the political posturing of celebrities... or by people who just flat out cannot afford to feed their entertainment appetite and will do whatever it takes to get their fix. I am neither condoning or recommending that people pirate movies or music, but it is a fact that pirates are here to stay and the more the industry associations try to put the screws to the public in an effort to clamp down on unauthorized copying/sharing, the more pirating will flourish...

I remember when movies cost only 1/2 an hour's worth of the average guy's wages for 2 hours worth of entertainment. Now it costs two hours' wages (or more) for 90 minutes of whatever. Even if you figure some sort of sliding scale for inflation, etc., it's just not worth the trouble to go to the theatre (not to mention the safety concerns from being part of a target-rich environment for crazies or jihadists). I for one believe that we should be free to preview the media we wish to consume, and then purchase that which holds our interest.

My personal favorite, and this's rampant in video game framework. Arbitrary region locking, region lockouts, currency locks, and import/export bans. Even if/when people want/can pay for a game, they are literally, physically, and legally unable to. Why? The system is broken, and they know it's broken.

Gog is always having problems with this and so is G2A. At least they have a way to try to get *some* money, and all people do is shit all over them. Broken system. And don't even get me started on how many DRM games I have that I legally purchased that are unplayable. Am I ever going to get that money back? Of course not. Stack of unplayable games thanks to DRM / offline servers because they consider backdooring abandoned games illegal. Why?

So there is absolutely a gray area. I don't agree with wholesale piracy, but there is absolutely a huge gray area and most of it is irrelevant because disruptive technology is so fast. I just want to play copies of my games I legitimately purchased. Why is *that* so much to ask? Oh. I can't even do that. Where are the laws protecting me? Oh, they don't exist.

So I support Gog and G2A. I don't think piracy of games is the answer, but I know some countries literally have no way to play our games due to having no avenue of legitimately playing our games. They have money and can't... and this's getting a long post. Take care!

Thanks for your take on gaming. It's sure changed from the days when I helped write the 2nd Edition AD&D rules, and was still relegated to pencil & paper & dice. Now the sky is the limit - IF you can play your game, as you pointed out!

yeah, exactly! thanks for reading, commenting. great discussion!

I LIKE BIG BUCK HUNTER

Yep, there are lots of things like that, like Shadowrun making huge strides as well. Lots of ways to use mobile devices to make playing table-top a lot more friendly. Lots of ways to play tabletop online also. Very cool stuff.

or by ranting and if it was a good rant i didnt read it

2 sec attention span need not apply, us adults are having a conversation.

I enjoyed you rant :)

aw thanks, we try to have some good discussion here. :)

I like your memes. I'll up vote them to help you get to 100k

oh thanks, you don't have to do that though. :) I do pretty good here just bein my self with everyone. :) thanks though!

Done. New icon for you! ;)

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