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[PATV] Monday, April 2, 2012 - CheckPoint Season 1, Ep. 48: Ubi Goes Soft

GethGeth LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
edited April 2012 in The Penny Arcade Hub
CheckPoint Season 1, Ep. 48: Ubi Goes Soft
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/ubi-goes-soft
Ubisoft is introducing a new anti-piracy scheme that sounds... good?

Geth on

Posts

  • yurnamehereyurnamehere Registered User regular
    I'm having a strange issue where the CheckPoint video starts playing right away, but I can hear the ad playing in the background.

  • agilemaniaagilemania Lyon EstatesRegistered User regular
    I'm having a strange issue where the CheckPoint video starts playing right away, but I can hear the ad playing in the background.

    Are you using an ad-blocker? If so, try turning it off.

  • BaidolBaidol I will hold him off Escape while you canRegistered User regular
    For the record, 10 billion isk is a significant chunk of change, but not so hard to get if you put in the time and you know what you are doing.

    Steam Overwatch: Baidol#1957
  • Kathleen_LRRKathleen_LRR Registered User regular
    Baidol wrote: »
    For the record, 10 billion isk is a significant chunk of change, but not so hard to get if you put in the time and you know what you are doing.

    Ah thanks! We spent about 10 minutes figuring out the conversion and how much the card was worth and then realized we had no way to figure out how long it would take to earn that much money. We were a little deflated.

  • BaidolBaidol I will hold him off Escape while you canRegistered User regular
    Baidol wrote: »
    For the record, 10 billion isk is a significant chunk of change, but not so hard to get if you put in the time and you know what you are doing.

    Ah thanks! We spent about 10 minutes figuring out the conversion and how much the card was worth and then realized we had no way to figure out how long it would take to earn that much money. We were a little deflated.

    This is where I could describe the numerous ways to make isk in Eve, but no one cares and it sure as hell is not funny.

    What is funny is the conversation rate of real money to isk to real money for this NVidia thing.

    A Plex is gametime purchased using real money, which can then be sold in Eve for fake money (isk), essentially a legal method for purchasing gold. A single plex (30 days gametime) can be purchased for $20. It gets cheaper if you buy in bulk, with 12 plex purchased for $210, but the numbers are funnier using the single Plex number.

    With 20 Plex necessary to purchase the NVidia thing, you are paying $400 worth of fake money for a $200 object.

    Steam Overwatch: Baidol#1957
  • BremenBremen Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Baidol wrote: »
    For the record, 10 billion isk is a significant chunk of change, but not so hard to get if you put in the time and you know what you are doing.

    Ah thanks! We spent about 10 minutes figuring out the conversion and how much the card was worth and then realized we had no way to figure out how long it would take to earn that much money. We were a little deflated.

    Wealth disparity in EVE makes the US look like some sort of communist utopia, so actual numbers don't mean much; the average EVE player wouldn't have nearly 10 billion ISK, but there are some who could buy every single one of the graphics cards offered without even noticing the cost. The reasons for this are complex, and boring. Though it's worth pointing out that the record for the biggest scam (which EVE freely allows) was 1.03 trillion (with a t) isk.

    If the cards aren't all instantly bought up by someone with essentially infinite money, I suspect that the fabulously rich nullsec alliances might start buying them for key employees that need an upgrade.

    Bremen on
  • jackaljackal Fuck Yes. That is an orderly anal warehouse. Registered User regular
    A lot of people only make 20m or even 5m per hour (or worse). For the average player it would be a terrible deal. For players that are good at making money the sky is the limit, and it may be a good deal.

  • Kathleen_LRRKathleen_LRR Registered User regular
    Bremen wrote: »
    The reasons for this are complex, and boring. Though it's worth pointing out that the record for the biggest scam (which EVE freely allows) was 1.03 trillion (with a t) isk.

    Actually, I'm pretty interested.

  • BaidolBaidol I will hold him off Escape while you canRegistered User regular
    Sounds like Bremen is talking about this story, as much as it pains me to link EveNews24.

    I was going to write a short explanation as to the wealth divide in Eve, but I could not actually make it short.

    Steam Overwatch: Baidol#1957
  • InXplotchInXplotch Registered User regular
    I know that story. That fact that people pulled off a ponzi scheme in a video game is kinda impressive. I also remember hearing a story about how griefers or something ended up destroying a few billion isk worth of stuff. EVE sounds pretty bananas.


    Also, wow, I would expect Ubisoft to be the Last company to tackle piracy in such a manner considering their track record. What next? Will EA discontinue its code system?

    PSN: InXplotch
    ... My, what a boring Signature.
  • BaidolBaidol I will hold him off Escape while you canRegistered User regular
    If you mean the Gallente Ice Interdiction, that killed more than a few billion isk worth of ships.

    Steam Overwatch: Baidol#1957
  • RinnaRinna Kyoto, JapanRegistered User regular
    I really just wanna say: that Journey reference! Your precious faces!

  • DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    edited April 2012
    InXplotch wrote: »
    I know that story. That fact that people pulled off a ponzi scheme in a video game is kinda impressive. I also remember hearing a story about how griefers or something ended up destroying a few billion isk worth of stuff. EVE sounds pretty bananas.
    Just wait, CCP's got another MMO that's built around nothing but the kind of player built structures and companies that EVE is famous for, though not entirely composed of.

    Edit: Of course I expect Goons to migrate over to that game and start a new version of Goonswarm on there, so it may not end up being so different.

    Dedwrekka on
  • lordlundarlordlundar Registered User regular
    Unfortunately, I read the article regarding UbiSoft and I disagree with the popular opinion going around that they've started to play nice. In the article, they kept bringing up following MMO models and cloud gaming as a viable shift. This leads me to think that they're more likely to start justifying their always on system by saying the bulk of the game is not accessible unless you're always online.

    Let's be honest here, UbiSoft has probably one of the worst track records when it comes to DRM. The backed Starforce as a positive system for pete's sake! Unless the entire executive board was replaced by people who actually gave a damn about their consumers, the company being more restrictive is much more likely than it suddenly becoming benevolent.

  • BremenBremen Registered User regular
    Bremen wrote: »
    The reasons for this are complex, and boring. Though it's worth pointing out that the record for the biggest scam (which EVE freely allows) was 1.03 trillion (with a t) isk.

    Actually, I'm pretty interested.

    Ah, well, I'm a few days late, but an opportunity to wax on economic theory shouldn't be neglected.

    In EVE, the average player earns their isk by their labor; whether by killing NPCs, mining, or even running some sort of transportation business/extortion racket/etc. For them, income is measured in isk/hour of play, and can scale up to maybe 100m isk/hour at the high end. To earn more money, these players have to play more, and there's obviously a limitation on how far they can take that. While these players might amass billions if they play frequently they'll never make trillions.

    A second group earns their money by putting their assets to work; market arbitrage probably being the best example. The EVE market allows for both buy and sell orders, and here a limitation of the first group comes in; for them, time is money, so they're better off selling their loot to an instant buy order for 90% of its value than taking the time to babysit the market and get 100%. But for someone playing the market, they're only limited by how much money they have to buy and sell with. Even if they only make 1% on their money, cumulative interest is an incredibly powerful thing. There are other ways to make money off of assets as well, such as high end production or alliances with the military power to control valuable resources. These are the richest players, simply because their income scales almost infinitely.

    Scammers are also worth noting, but there's a sort of self-fulfilling limit on scamming; "a fool and his money are soon parted" is particularly true in EVE, and there are a lot of competitors for the same pool of rich fools. The 1 Trillion isk scam was really something of an exception, and required an enormous effort to pull off. But even 1 trillion isn't all that much to some in the second group.

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