Corporate Integrity- GameStop Edition

This is some really bad behavior:

Yesterday morning, a long awaited title called Deus Ex: Human Revolution was finally released to an eager audience. Tucked inside the box was a little surprise: a coupon for a free copy of the same game through the still relatively new game streaming service, OnLive — something which, if purchased directly through OnLive, would cost $49.99. At least, there was supposed to be a coupon…

The reports started trickling in fairly quickly: for some reason, the coupon seemed to be absent from nearly all copies sold through GameStop.

What had happened? Had the folks at the factory forgotten to pack some of the coupons? Nope. Had GameStop worked out a distribution deal to keep the coupons from ever finding their way into their copies? Nope.

GameStop employees had opened the boxes, removed the coupon, and put the product back on the shelf… after orders from above to do so.

All’s fair in love and war and online gaming, I guess.

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Thursday Night Open Thread

Dorking it up in Firelands:

What are you all up to?

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Early Morning Open Thread: Gresham Wept

Unlike Mr. ‘Every Boomer Nerdgirl’s First Crush’, the Guardian reports that China uses prisoners for WoW goldfarming:

As a prisoner at the Jixi labour camp, Liu Dali would slog through tough days breaking rocks and digging trenches in the open cast coalmines of north-east China. By night, he would slay demons, battle goblins and cast spells.

Liu says he was one of scores of prisoners forced to play online games to build up credits that prison guards would then trade for real money. The 54-year-old, a former prison guard who was jailed for three years in 2004 for “illegally petitioning” the central government about corruption in his hometown, reckons the operation was even more lucrative than the physical labour that prisoners were also forced to do.

“Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour,” Liu told the Guardian. “There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn’t see any of the money. The computers were never turned off.”...

The trading of virtual currencies in multiplayer games has become so rampant in China that it is increasingly difficult to regulate. In April, the Sichuan provincial government in central China launched a court case against a gamer who stole credits online worth about 3000rmb. The lack of regulations has meant that even prisoners can be exploited in this virtual world for profit.

According to figures from the China Internet Centre, nearly £1.2bn of make- believe currencies were traded in China in 2008 and the number of gamers who play to earn and trade credits are on the rise. It is estimated that 80% of all gold farmers are in China and with the largest internet population in the world there are thought to be 100,000 full-time gold farmers in the country…

The comments after the article suggesting/demanding that British prisoners be set to gold-farming are just classic intertron lamers, but there’s a certain poignancy to the WoW gamers lamenting that gold-farming for profit has deflated the value of virtual currency.

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Open Thread

Non geeks will not understand this, so you have been warned.

Just got done talking with some buddies I’ve known since vanilla, and we talked about all the hell we went through raiding, with MC’s living bomb, who went into C’Thun’s room, etc., and I remembered this from BC, which makes me laugh every time I load it.

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Late Night Open Thread: #Not Intended to Be A Factual Person

NYMag’s Daily Intel reports that “Now the Only Evidence That Jon Kyl Lied About Planned Parenthood Will Be the Entire Internet“:

A couple of weeks after claiming that abortions account for “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does” — it’s actually 3 percent — and then explaining that he had actually never intended to make a “factual statement,” Arizona senator Jon Kyl has edited the congressional record to make his remark more factual:

Sen. Jon Kyl has quietly removed his infamous comment that 90 percent of Planned Parenthood’s business is abortion from the Congressional Record. Senators are allowed to revise and extend their comments in record and his statement now simply says: “If you want an abortion you go to Planned Parenthood and that is what Planned Parenthood does.” Kyl’s office could not be reached for comment.

Nobody tell Kyl about the Internet; it will make him so sad.

Speaking of persons not intended to be factual… Be afraid, gamers! Be very afraid, for the NYTimes has discovered online gaming can lead to IRL romance:

The beginner’s guide to World of Warcraft notes that you can go it alone, “but by going it alone, you won’t be able to master some of the game’s tougher challenges, you will likely take longer to reach the endgame, and you won’t have access to the game’s most powerful magical treasures.” Ms. Pringle thinks that is analogous to love.

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Don’t Mess With My Man Izzy

Because (a) we are in fact entering the holiday silly season, which is a big part of the reason we’re hearing cretinous sh*t about primarying Obama and…

(b) Because my adrenalin and my caffeine receptors have maxed out, and I just can’t think about what we’re going to need to do to rescue an American future from those who want their country the way it used to be—before we had such niceties as the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 19th, 23rd and 24th amendments (not to mention the 1rst, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th).  We need to come up with the political equivalent of the Lines of Torres Vedras, but I’m going to just shut my brain down on that one for a bit.  And…

(C) because the GOP has officially declared its war on games and gamers, let me offer you this, courtesy of one of my grad students who is a deep gamer dork:

Sir Isaac Newton is the Deadliest Man in Space

I’d like to see the anti-science crowd stand up to the awesome power of My Man Isaac.

I guess that makes this an open thread.

Image: Sir Godfrey Kneller, Portrait of Isaac Newton, 1689.

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Open Thread

Just got the new computer set up and Cataclysm downloaded and installed, then all the mods, and I’ll be out of the loop until the AM.

One note- not to make light of prison rape, but I support it for whoever thought an underwater zone would be cool.

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Cataclysm Open Thread

Wondering how many of you are going to stay up for the midnight release, just to join thecrush and create your worgen/goblin.

I will be sleeping peacefully. And for those of you creating Worgen and looking for a good name:

WorgenFreeman and CaptainWorgen.

Thank you, I’ll be here all week.

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We’re All Manic Progressives Now

I need a break. I’m not thinking rationally and getting to emotionally invested in this shit. I’ll be in and out, but basically out until Monday, when the site rebuild happens.

Try not to tear the joint down. If you need me, tonight I’ll be with the DKOS crew on Garrosh killing things, because if anything cheers me up, it is an undead mage on a chocobo.

Also, last call for things you want done in the site rebuild. Send your comments, concerns, screenshots to bjrebuild@gmail.com.

Lok’tar Ogar.

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Open Thread- WoW Talk That Will Confuse Many of You

Just got done transferring my mage to join the Daily Kos players. Should be fun.

Now if we could get TNC over there…

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Chomping at the Bit

Sooo. Work is done and the servers are down.

I’m pretty excited about this despite having not played for a year or more.

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