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Sep 12, 2002, 4:39pm

Since I've been here, I've experienced and seen disrespect for the dignity
of people, oppression, and disrespect for democratic principles for the
purpose of demolishing attemps of solidarity. My eyes have opened that at
times this is not a free society in that it uses cruelty and intimidation.

I'm speaking out against it in hopes that you will take notice of these
things, and realize this works against peace and happiness amongst us. It
works against the positive development of the community. It works against
responsible behavior in respect for life. As members of AW, this is not
what we are about. We are about kindness, dignity, hope, giving, love, a
spirit of generosity, freedom of expression and diversity, helping one
another and it is my hope that this will persevere and rise above that in
which tries to destroy our community.

Rotate Command/Special Commands
Some people telegramed upset that I mentioned special commands could be used
because now those special commands have been disabled. I feel there should
be equality in building in Alpha World. There's no equality in allow a
special command to trickle down to everyone by word of mouth and
happenstance. The reason I have not spoken up for allowing the use of
rotate commands and the like is that I understand that some of the respected
AW citizens that have been here a long time wish for Alpha World to sort of
be preserved, not adding a lot of new things. I understand that point, and
do agree to it to some extent. However, at one time, the citizens here were
very bored with the few new textures we got for an entire year. It was good
in that it stretched our creativity, which, was seen in builders such as
Dreme Logyk, Lara, Omega, Kellee and many others. It was nice to get a few
new objects, then the ability to use color. Then something happened, a
flood, in which all those x objects, Chinese objects, (which I don't really
think were needed), were added. So the point of preservation of Alpha World
by limiting textures, models and special commands is kind of moot. It
seemed we had very few new objects and textures added for our use in Alpha
World, then it all came in a rush. I do think the ability to use the rotate
command is a good idea for Alpha World, if the company agrees and it is done
in a fashion that is equal for everyone.

Thoughts on Tourists
At one time, because of cruelty and intimidation being used to manipulate
me, I personally felt tourists should not be allowed in some worlds. Notice
I say the word Personally. I did not feel it was good for the good of a
whole community. After experiencing Alpha World without tourists, I
realized tourists were not the problem, speaking out against being treated
disrespectfully and cruelly was my problem. Giving the citizens countless
models, textures, commands, yet disallowing the ability for tourists and
citizens to gather and communicate is not in the best interest of the
positive development of the community, in my opinion.

Thoughts on Processor Size for AW
As for my processor being too small, my computer needing upgrading, let me
point out to you that the size of my processor is fine for the newest
version of AOL, newest version of Earthlink, newest CD of Atari Arcade Hits
(and for that matter, nearly all Hasbro Interactive Games available),
StarCraft, I could go on and on. I stand by my statement that consideration
needs to be made for those that don't have bleeding edge technology on their
desktops. It's a form of inequality for that not to be taken into
consideration. If given opportunity to play paintball, I'd lose every game
because of my processor size, not my ability. Ultimately, if we do not make
allowance for those that have smaller computers, it will not contribute in a
positive way to the development of the AW Community.

Sep 12, 2002, 6:20pm

I'm not trying to be rude here, but AW can't and shouldn't slow down its technological advancement for the minority of people out there using antiquated hardware. Active Worlds is quite a different program than an AOL or Earthlink browser. Rendering a real-time 3D environment requires a lot of processing power -- the more, the better. As the level of detail and abilities of Active Worlds increase, the more processing power is going to be required to sustain it.

Every release of a new cutting-edge 3D game requires a more powerful computer to run it. Take the upcoming Doom III, for example. That game will barely even run on a Geforce2. But people don't complain because they *want* the software to advance. The hardware world and software world advance mostly at the same rate. If you want to fully enjoy the latest software, then you're going to have to run it on decent hardware.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

[View Quote]

Sep 12, 2002, 7:11pm

If you want to use current software, you need at least a *recent* computer. AOL and Earthlink are not 3D applications and do not apply. Neither are any of the others you listed, I'm sure.

It is not "inequality" to support only certain configurations. If *every* possible processor/memory/harddrive space combination had to be supported, there would never be any advancement in software.

In short, either upgrade your computer or stop whining.

-Agent1

[View Quote]

Sep 12, 2002, 8:26pm

You seem to be a tad misinformed on some things, so let me see if I can
clear them up for you"

[View Quote] AWI isn't allowing anything to "trickle down", as you put it. When AWI
first introduced the rotate/move commands, they also modified the world
server so that world owners could decide if they wanted other people
using rotate/move in their worlds or not. AWI, in its infinite wisdom,
decided to disable rotate/move for AlphaWorld. However, the prevention
system had a rather huge flaw in it, which several resourceful builders
managed to exploit.

By the time AWI found out about this, the word had spread and quite a
few builds were exploiting this bug. AWI responded by plugging that
specific hole in the prevention system, but it wasn't long before
someone found *another* hole in the system and exploited it. Every time
AWI plugged a hole, it seemed as if another was discovered to take its
place, and it'll probably only be a matter of time before someone finds
another hole to replace the one AWI just recently patched.

So, I don't know where you got this idea of discrimination from, but if
you want to blame someone for it, blame Roland and the AWI programmers
for not being able to build a fool-proof prevention system. Though, if
MrGrimm can convince the boys upstairs to enable rotate/move in AW, this
whole argument becomes moot. :P

Also, the people clamoring to preserve AW weren't complaining about the
addition of new objects and textures. What they were complaining about
was that some of the objects/textures were *changed*, thereby affecting
older builds. Since some of these builds were built by people who may no
longer be around, they felt it was unfair because they couldn't do
anything to fix it.

> Thoughts on Tourists
> At one time, because of cruelty and intimidation being used to manipulate
> me, I personally felt tourists should not be allowed in some worlds. Notice
> I say the word Personally. I did not feel it was good for the good of a
> whole community. After experiencing Alpha World without tourists, I
> realized tourists were not the problem, speaking out against being treated
> disrespectfully and cruelly was my problem. Giving the citizens countless
> models, textures, commands, yet disallowing the ability for tourists and
> citizens to gather and communicate is not in the best interest of the
> positive development of the community, in my opinion.

This I'll agree with, as keeping tourists out of AW deprives them of the
one world (save possibly AWTeen) that might convince them to become an
AW citizen. As for speaking out against disrespect, that's never a
problem and it should never be seen as such. If you don't stand up for
yourself, you'll get walked all over for the rest of your life, even by
tourists.

> Thoughts on Processor Size for AW
> As for my processor being too small, my computer needing upgrading, let me
> point out to you that the size of my processor is fine for the newest
> version of AOL, newest version of Earthlink, newest CD of Atari Arcade Hits
> (and for that matter, nearly all Hasbro Interactive Games available),
> StarCraft, I could go on and on. I stand by my statement that consideration
> needs to be made for those that don't have bleeding edge technology on their
> desktops. It's a form of inequality for that not to be taken into
> consideration. If given opportunity to play paintball, I'd lose every game
> because of my processor size, not my ability. Ultimately, if we do not make
> allowance for those that have smaller computers, it will not contribute in a
> positive way to the development of the AW Community.

As everyone else has been saying, upgrade or die. If you can afford to
buy a laptop/computer, then you can afford to upgrade it every once in a
while. This doesn't mean you have to buy the latest and greatest stuff
just to keep up, but when the programs you use start outgrowing your
system, then it's time to get some new hardware to go with your new
software. This is the way it's always been in the world of computers,
and this is the way it will always be. Better get used to it.

--
Goober King
Can you discriminate against laziness?
robrod at prism.net

Sep 13, 2002, 1:42am

Goober King,

Two things I want to make very clear.

1) I intend upon answering questions here in this public forum on anything
that I'm asked about via telegram or email in regards to AW. That's why I
posted my reply here.

2) From now on, I will always speak out when I see or experience anything
in AW I feel goes against the good of the community.

Exclusion is wrong.
Injustice is wrong.
Oppression is wrong.

It happens here in many forms. Make no mistake, good will prevail. : )

[View Quote]

Sep 13, 2002, 2:32am

AW has company customers. Many companies have their whole
"IT-world" based on WinNT, together with other, not PC-based
systems (OSZ/OS/390/*ix/BS2000/...). That makes software
rendering still be required.

As long as new special features that cause lag can be disabled,
it isn't a problem at all, but a P3/600 with software render
sure has it's restrictions.

The same sure applies for educational environments too, where
they often have not really high-end PCs. Usually not WinNT
though, so 3D acceleration can be used, but some have even
more outdated PCs, like P2/266.

This doesn't matter for private owned worlds of course, but it
should still be possible to build worlds that allow acceptable
performance in a "standard company" environment, although it
might seem strange to some, to demand backwards compatibility
in a forward oriented technology.


[View Quote]

Sep 13, 2002, 10:04am

While I'm all about having a flair for the dramatic, methinks you're
taking things a *bit* too seriously. I agree that exclusion, injustice,
and oppression are wrong, but what you're talking about are not those
things.

It's not exclusion to make software that demands better hardware, it's
progress. While it's generally regarded as good programming practice to
make software work on the widest range of platforms available, it's not
required, and in some cases, especially in the world of 3D, it's nearly
impossible to accommodate *all* platforms.

It's not oppression to disallow rotate/move in AW, it's a precaution.
AWI had a valid concern that the move/rotate commands could be used to
vandalize other builds, since the world registry can't take them into
account when judging encroachment, so they disabled it in the most
popular building world in the Universe. But again, since most people who
managed to break through the prevention system and use rotate/move only
used it for positive building purposes, one can hope that AWI will
remove that restriction.

It's not injustice to prevent tourists from visiting other worlds, it's
an incentive. While I agree that AWI should allow tourists into more AWI
worlds, the only reason tourists exist is to give new users a chance to
preview the program before they buy a citizenship. If you give tourists
too much "power" in terms of ways to participate and build, they'll have
no reason to buy a citizenship and AWI will continue to lose money.

So while exclusion, injustice, and oppression should be wiped out in the
real world, here in the virtual world it's rather hard to take those
ideas seriously. In the end, it's all just bits and bytes and if you
don't like the way things are run, you can always speak with your feet
and your wallet and take your business elsewhere.

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Help! Help! We're being oppressed! :P
robrod at prism.net

Sep 13, 2002, 3:25pm

"yanst" <ayansta at hotmail.com> wrote in
news:3d815eaf at server1.Activeworlds.com:

> Two things I want to make very clear.
>
> 1) I intend upon answering questions here in this public forum on
> anything that I'm asked about via telegram or email in regards to AW.
> That's why I posted my reply here.
>
> 2) From now on, I will always speak out when I see or experience
> anything in AW I feel goes against the good of the community.
>
> Exclusion is wrong.
> Injustice is wrong.
> Oppression is wrong.
>
> It happens here in many forms. Make no mistake, good will prevail. :

Gee, stop being such a newbie and learn how the computer world works. New
pieces of software need new hardware because they use new technology that
has different hardware requirements than previous software. So, if you want
to use the new stuff, get the stuff it needs. Or don't use the new stuff,
use the old stuff, it's your choice. Hardware requirements are NOT a form
of exclusion or oppression, that's just BS. For heaven's sake, don't answer
your emails and telegrams in a public newgroup, it's none of our business
and we don't care about it, so answer it PRIVATELY (that's the whole point
of telegrams and email)! If you continue by these specs of what's "agaist
the good of the community", then you'll most likely become a troll, so
please don't.

KAH

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