Originally posted by zymurgeist

If Blizzard donates $150,000 to charity the maximum they can save in deductions is the top Corporate tax rate of  35% or 52,500. It's actually a lot less due to a variety of factors I won't go into here.

That means they've still given away a minimum of $97,500 more than the tax reduction they receive by donating. Exactly how is that to their financial benefit? Learn some damn math people. It's no wonder so many sheep are so easily fleeced by the IRS.

It's not about math. As I said earlier some states give you tax breaks to the point where they avoid local taxes all together. That's just one example. You can't just say " well it's only 35%" there are several other advantages which you can find out by using Google

Originally posted by Deathstrike2

I can play and have a lot of fun, and then quit playing for weeks, and not miss them at all.  Years ago when I played Asheron's Call and later City of Heroes, I used to get lost for hours in the game worlds.  There was something about those games that made me want to log in and play.  Games like Neverwinter and GW2 are fun to play, but after the gaming session is over, I couldn't care less if I log back in tomorrow or next month or ever. 

Of course, I have considered that the problem may be with me, and not the current MMOs, but who knows?  All I know is that I'm constantly looking to the horizon for a great MMO, and all I've seen in the last few years are okay to decent MMOs.  It's funny, but the industry has almost completely cured my old MMO addiction by churning out sub par games for years. 

Maybe you just have a more healthy approach to MMOs now that you have gotten older

Originally posted by drgran

Originally posted by StonesDK

Originally posted by drgran

Originally posted by StonesDK

Originally posted by Yaevindusk

Originally posted by Dauzqul

Wow...

 

This is so the most deceptive way to save face - to pretend to be a company that cares for anything but itself.

 

 

Wow...

Someone that has done absolutely no research into all of the charitable work Blizzard consistently does.  It doesn't matter if it's PR or not, people who need help get it.  It's more than most people who just sit at a computer all day and judge others and not donate time or money to the community can say.

Wow

 

Someone has done absolutely no research into all the benefits of doing charitable work, a company gets. Not only is it tax deductible (the state actually pays a lot of the charity given away). Not only is it free PR but how much money are they really giving away here

I'm sure everybody is happy somebody else out there is getting some help, but lets not make them into saints shall we? Every big corporation does this for tax reasons first of all and PR second

Hell some states will even let a company avoid local taxes completely if they pay to charity

So what your saying is they should just keep the money and not give to charity? 

Are we just looking at the negative side of things.

It doesn't matter why they are giving the money away. It should only matter that they are giving it away. 

Like the article said they could have just rolled backed and screwed everyone for the mistakes of a few. 

But on the other side the AH shouldn't be in the game in the first place.

I don't know about you but I'm perfectly capable of separating happiness because somebody is getting help, from the motives behind those that gives the help. If you want to hand over your undying devotion to Blizzard then go ahead I'm not stopping you. I prefer nominating those with cleaner motives to sainthood rather than those exploiting the system to get goodwill from gamers and at the same time saving a dime

I just have a question for you - Have you ever donated?

If you have then you can claim that in a tax return like Blizzard does.

Are we gonna say to you that cause you donated you are like Blizzard on claim the tax return?

Nope i wouldn't.

The acts of donating the money is on the person doing it. Makes them feel good. So your motives for Donating make you feel good so why is that any different then a Company giving money to charity ?

You both get tax returns and both give you a good feeling inside for doing something good. 

And lets Say the people getting the donation Makes they feel good cause they are getting help for their cause.

Why not just look at a company and think oh they are doing it for the tax return. Why not say they are doing it to make themselves feel good. 

So you cant separate Happiness over business. Cause in each case the person doing it feels good either way = Happiness. 

You are very naive and I'm not even going to try and take that away from you. I find it a nice quality. Not a healthy one but a nice one just the same. I'm going to let the discussion between us end here, since I've said it all already. There really isn't anything new to contribute with since everything is pretty straight forward

Originally posted by drgran

Originally posted by StonesDK

Originally posted by Yaevindusk

Originally posted by Dauzqul

Wow...

 

This is so the most deceptive way to save face - to pretend to be a company that cares for anything but itself.

 

 

Wow...

Someone that has done absolutely no research into all of the charitable work Blizzard consistently does.  It doesn't matter if it's PR or not, people who need help get it.  It's more than most people who just sit at a computer all day and judge others and not donate time or money to the community can say.

Wow

 

Someone has done absolutely no research into all the benefits of doing charitable work, a company gets. Not only is it tax deductible (the state actually pays a lot of the charity given away). Not only is it free PR but how much money are they really giving away here

I'm sure everybody is happy somebody else out there is getting some help, but lets not make them into saints shall we? Every big corporation does this for tax reasons first of all and PR second

Hell some states will even let a company avoid local taxes completely if they pay to charity

So what your saying is they should just keep the money and not give to charity? 

Are we just looking at the negative side of things.

It doesn't matter why they are giving the money away. It should only matter that they are giving it away. 

Like the article said they could have just rolled backed and screwed everyone for the mistakes of a few. 

But on the other side the AH shouldn't be in the game in the first place.

I don't know about you but I'm perfectly capable of separating happiness because somebody is getting help, from the motives behind those that gives the help. If you want to hand over your undying devotion to Blizzard then go ahead I'm not stopping you. I prefer nominating those with cleaner motives to sainthood rather than those exploiting the system to get goodwill from gamers and at the same time saving a dime

Originally posted by Yaevindusk

Originally posted by Dauzqul

Wow...

 

This is so the most deceptive way to save face - to pretend to be a company that cares for anything but itself.

 

 

Wow...

Someone that has done absolutely no research into all of the charitable work Blizzard consistently does.  It doesn't matter if it's PR or not, people who need help get it.  It's more than most people who just sit at a computer all day and judge others and not donate time or money to the community can say.

Wow

Someone has done absolutely no research into all the benefits of doing charitable work, a company gets. Not only is it tax deductible (the state actually pays a lot of the charity given away). Not only is it free PR but how much money are they really giving away here

I'm sure everybody is happy somebody else out there is getting some help, but lets not make them into saints shall we? Every big corporation does this for tax reasons first of all and PR second

Hell some states will even let a company avoid local taxes completely if they pay to charity

Originally posted by VengeSunsoar
Is a developer the only one that is qualified to determine if a game is a sandbox?

I'd hate to give them that kind of power. They are like used car salesmen, they'll say anything to sell games and get people hyped

Originally posted by lizardbones

 

---

Originally posted by StonesDK
People used to be dependent on each other for advancement, which put them on their best behavior. Names were remembered and people were blacklisted which could cripple you, if you wanted to experience end game. In EQ people would for the most part be stationary for a long time so if you had a bad rep, getting a spot on a list would be nearly impossible. Bad behavior had consequences

 

 

Today nobody remembers your name and even if they did, you can just plop down a little cash for a name change or a server move. Nobody cares.

 

I don't necessarily think mentalities has changed. Games today just enables people to be themselves. Those like yourself, wanting a social experience get them from guilds instead and avoid the rabble as much as they can

---

Things have changed, but blacklisting isn't the reason why. There were thousands of people on a server to play with. Even "back in the day" there were more people than any person could effectively keep track of.

 

It happened frequently. Back then you didn't have 50 guilds all doing raid content. You had a handful. I even remember a few guilds that were formed by bad apples because they couldn't get an invite to any of the key guilds that did content nobody else did. You see the top end content were only done by a small group of people. Not half the server and people talked and shared their bad experiences. If somebody stole something then it was a huge deal. Not like today where you are told to shut up if you mentioned being ninja'd from

The lower levels were a bit easier but again, because it took longer to advance, people didn't just race through, There weren't infinite group spots where one could hide. You would often come across the same people in your level bracket.

I guess you and I just have much different experiences with EQ. I wouldn't even try to argue this point if I didn't see it with my own eyes. Hell I even personally know people who had to re-roll. A poor mans namechange

Originally posted by ThaneUlfgar
I think it's really pretty simple. The more people who are playing games; the more likely you are to encounter unsavory individuals.

I think it's much simpler than that. No consequences and it's open game for everyone

Originally posted by BearKnight

Originally posted by StonesDK

People used to be dependent on each other for advancement, which put them on their best behavior. Names were remembered and people were blacklisted which could cripple you, if you wanted to experience end game. In EQ people would for the most part be stationary for a long time so if you had a bad rep, getting a spot on a list would be nearly impossible. Bad behavior had consequences

 

Today nobody remembers your name and even if they did, you can just plop down a little cash for a name change or a server move. Nobody cares.

 

I don't necessarily think mentalities has changed. Games today just enables people to be themselves. Those like yourself, wanting a social experience get them from guilds instead and avoid the rabble as much as they can

If that's the case I genuinely hope that the "Game Industry Crash" people keep predicting for 2014-2015 happens. I'm seriously depressed at how people are completely willing to accept terrible quality products & service as "Good Enough". That, and MMOs were never meant to be super-casual friendly. That's what consoles are for :(.

We have to adapt or find a new hobby I'm afraid. Server moves, name change, fast instance runs etc are all here to stay.

If a game lacks those "basic MMO features" they have become, then people either won't play it or complain enough until it gets added.

People used to be dependent on each other for advancement, which put them on their best behavior. Names were remembered and people were blacklisted which could cripple you, if you wanted to experience end game. In EQ people would for the most part be stationary for a long time so if you had a bad rep, getting a spot on a list would be nearly impossible. Bad behavior had consequences

Today nobody remembers your name and even if they did, you can just plop down a little cash for a name change or a server move. Nobody cares.

I don't necessarily think mentalities has changed. Games today just enables people to be themselves. Those like yourself, wanting a social experience get them from guilds instead and avoid the rabble as much as they can

Originally posted by Skullagrim

We all know about the "honeymoon period" of a game. You see the announcement, keep up with it, play the beta, get early access, totally in love with the game for a couple of months. Then the losing interest starts. Well it does for me anyway.  These are reasons why IMO

 

Maybe you should try a different approach?

Don't play the Beta, Don't get early access, just buy it on release day. Then when you do play, stop and smell the roses instead of racing through the content. You have been conditioned to play that way by yourself and other players not developers.

You are the one who sets these goals for yourself. You want to be completely geared and preferably yesterday and it can only happen too slow. In a way you are your biggest problem

Here's what I do. I avoid playing with people or guilds that only has raids in mind and getting there as fast as possible. I take my time and make a few alts, I dabble in some crafting from the beginning instead of at max level in between dungeon runs. There are a lot of ways to extend your enjoyment

It doesn't really matter what the developers call it. If you feel it's P2W then that's what it is to you. Then base your decisions on that.

Developers like to spin things in their favor. If sandbox is the word of the month, then that's the word they will use to describe their game (Example: Skyrim), If people complain about their game missing too many MMO features to be a MMO then, they will withdraw the MMO part (Example: Defiance) and label it something else. I wouldn't put too much stock into what developers say or do. Their objective is to sell a game any way possible

Originally posted by austriacus

Originally posted by StonesDK

Although I don't agree with your examples I do agree with the overall sentiments. Things have to make sense in the world they are created. It doesn't have to mimic real life but it does have to make sense within the realm it exist.

 

Just to give an example: Wizards being physically weak because they spent lifetimes researching scrolls and reading books, not having time to go to the gym and lift weights to become strong enough to wield a 2h axe. Same goes for a warrior who spent his life training with various weapons building his strength and stamina not having time to go to the library. It makes zero sense to me to see a wizard in plate fighting with heavy swords while casting fireballs and lightning, simply because little jimmy wants total freedom in his games to make characters the way he wants them to.

Why? Those ideas are made up in your head. In reality a lot of the greatest warriors have been great thinkers and had a balanced life of swordpractice and dwelled in the arts.

Julio Cesar, Miyamoto Mushashi, Richard I, hell you think Sun Tzu was a weaksauce person? Most generals were great warriors and great thinkers

So why cant a Strong warrior be smart and know magic in his world and a magician be physically fit? Humans are not so black n white.

Solely focusing on something like you suggest is very min maxy and only happens in games, not int he real world.

It has nothing to do with intelligence really but the time and commitment, plus it was an example not a universal rule. A developer can easily create a world where magic flows through everyone making everybody magic users in some way. As long as it makes sense in that particular universe and is explained well

Originally posted by Sengi

• Too many trash-mobs: A monster is only worth of its name if it is dangerous; otherwise we normally refer to it as vermin. What is the point of being attacked by all this pushover mobs all the time? Why don’t they run away?

Trash mobs has several purposes. One of them is an arbitrary way to make a character feel he is growing stronger when he advances. Many MMOs have mechanics that turns aggression off when you out-level it. WoW for instance will let you walk past trivial mobs once you are X amount of levels ahead.

I can understand why people dislike these "pointless" encounters but the fact is, there are a lot of people who actually likes the idea of having trivial encounters they can steam-roll once they level past it. Just like there are a lot of people who likes the idea of having content that's too hard, motivating you to level up and advance. There's a reason why a lot of people hate level scaling

If you want a "realistic" reason why trash mobs attack you when they are clearly outmatched is simple. They have no concept of strong vs weak. Plenty of things will attack you in nature even though you are the top of the food chain.

Although I don't agree with your examples I do agree with the overall sentiments. Things have to make sense in the world they are created. It doesn't have to mimic real life but it does have to make sense within the realm it exist.

Just to give an example: Wizards being physically weak because they spent lifetimes researching scrolls and reading books, not having time to go to the gym and lift weights to become strong enough to wield a 2h axe. Same goes for a warrior who spent his life training with various weapons building his strength and stamina not having time to go to the library. It makes zero sense to me to see a wizard in plate fighting with heavy swords while casting fireballs and lightning, simply because little jimmy wants total freedom in his games to make characters the way he wants them to.