NationStates Jolt Archive

(I apologize for the long-ass rant but at least I made it a fun read!)

Yes. Years ago I used to play EverQuest and became friends for a short while with programmers and a few of the higher-ups at Sony, especially within Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). I can be that impressive. :)

When the 'Shadows of Luclin' expansion went active I was no longer able to play on my old crappy system. Sadly, this was also the time when one of the managers wanted to see my resume. Why is this sad? I didn't have a way to contact him outside the game. Such is life. I wonder how much I could have been paid.

Anyway, I got my infamy with several famous acts:

1) Pointing the programmers in charge of making EverQuest towards the open source wordprocessor OpenOffice

http://www.openoffice.org/

(Massachusetts' state' government recently changed to this program instead of the costly Microsoft Word. Saves the state major coin and legal headaches.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39216391,00.htm)

It could save files in an XML format which would help them greatly since they were moving the game to the XML format.

I said it was free. They didn't believe me. They checked. Then they loved me. Then they were disappointed that the spreadsheet format was half the size of MS Excel spreadsheets (a shortcoming that has been fixed in the recent version). I told them that the source code was freely available if they wanted to alter something. They laughed. I told them to look. One of them looked...

Mod 1: THE SOURCE IS UP THERE!!
Mod 2, 3, 4 and about 5 others I didn't even know were watching: "WHAT!!"

Then I became their God. :D

Apparently, this was the first time that these guys heard of 'open source software'. I had no idea a programmer without knowledge of Sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net/) and 'open source' existed until that day. I knew about it and I didn't even write code :confused:

To this day I wonder if they ended up using OpenOffice and if many other departments in Sony have adopted it over the overpriced MS Word. Have they adopted any other open source software? I wonder...

Continuing on...

2) Educating raid-mates during a Plane of Hate raid on how to administer a proper blow job and promoting cunnilingus as well as continuing to shag after your initial ejaculation (orgasms just keep getting stronger you know).

The raid took a rather blue turn after that.

It was a welcome change from the usual "game face" atmosphere that raids usually took. The raid leaders were pissed at us because they couldn't plan the next move since we were spamming the text field by singing songs. 20 people singing on a text field ~16 lines long. Good times.

It was our "Leeeerrrroooooooyyyyy JENNNnnnnnkiiiiiiiinnnnnnsssss!"

3) Educating them about world politics, something they needed to know about after 9/11. I got better at as time went on even though I rankled a conservative couple that I was really fond of and they didn't wanna hang with me after that :(
4) Predicting the Iraq II the day after 9/11 (although I was predicting it the moment I saw Bush Jr running for Prez in 2000)
5) The uncanny ability to determine personal details of my virtual friends' real lives and homes. (Profiling can be fun. Never use it for evil.)
6) General clownish yet frightfully intelligent behaviour. (I'm good with dialogue and that's why I am trying to complete a screenplay. ADHD can have its benefits. I made good use out of all that extra brain chatter.)
7) Coming up with an impressive answer to an engineering question even though I have no engineering background. IIRC it was about a train tunnel they were building. I pointed out that if they enter the underground the GPS satellite would lose them. I suggested a relay system run through wireless internet to tell the satellites where it was while it was underground. I think the tunnel was in Germany. I also cautioned about flooding since there was major flooding in Germany at the moment. Mother Nature is no joke.
8) I may be responsible for convincing them to release the PS2 game "Final Fantasy X-2" and the the soon-to-be-released-likely-straight-to-DVD movie "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" to North America (is available on Bittorrent now actually, Japanese with English subtitles). I could also tell them how the opening sequence went in FFX-2 including the opening song's name and who performed it when "no one was supposed to know since it wasn't released yet, not even in Japan."

Amazing, the stuff you can find on the internets ;)

9) I suggested a feature where people could sell their crafted items and other drops over different servers from within the game instead of destroying them when their banks were full or selling them over EBay which was risky for the buyer and got SOE policing those places in a pathetic display of "protecting their copyright" by threatening legal action against the sellers of in-game gear. (THE ITEMS NEVER LEAVE YOUR SERVERS FOR GOD'S SAKE!!! What money were you losing by their selling the item? Wouldn't the possibility of real-world profit DRAW MORE PEOPLE TO THE GAME?)

I suggested they set up their own selling/buying/trading system, take 15% off every sale and STFU. I think they began this service but I haven't looked into it.

They were already building an MP3 player for the game at the time. Worked nice.

10) Cursing out one of the manager/director-types in the Sony music department (BMG? Can't remember...) during a raid for their use of DRM and the fact that musicians don't see a cent from CDs (only from performance do they make cash. Evil, huh?). I also tried to help him fix Sony's broke-ass music business model. He was inflexible and wasn't forthcoming with brainstorming up solutions or realistically justifying DRM. It was like talking to myself for 15 minutes until I got annoyed by myself and got up to leave myself...uh...by myself.

In that last topic we 'discussed', I specifically warned them that the rootkit would cause vulnerabilities in any computer it was installed on and could be exploited by virus makers. He was unconvinced.

When he was about to leave, I made my last volleys:

If someone had their computer infected by a Sony software containing malware DRM wouldn't they lose confidence in Sony CD and DVD products and cost Sony customers in the long run?

...and my personal favorite...

What if someone loaded a CD onto a government computer? A military computer? Wouldn't you be guilty of SABOTAGE when the system gets compromised? Could a spy use a Sony CD to create a hole in a government system? Would Sony products be classified as terrorist devices by the government and banned by trade officials?

(mind you I'm paraphrasing a 4-year old conversation)

He perked up. As did raid-mates and a few mods.

That shut him up. "Slam" and "Dunk".

Everyone was in awe of my genius. No exaggeration. I do this on occasion.

Music guy admitted I said something really important and buggered off.

This is what it is like to have a TOWERING e-penis on an MMORPG.

Years passed...

Present Day: I've been following this interesting, yet familiar, story:

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/17/sony_rootkit_roundup.html

Sony has pissed on the rug again despite my swatting it with a newspaper. I used to respect them but that is ancient history. I believe they were not ignorant, but were VERY aware of the potential issues with the rootkit DRM.

Charges must be laid by the government against Sony: Sabotage, Endangering National Security, Terrorism. I don't care. Even the fix they provided produces MORE vulnerabilites than it fixes.

Protect your PC FOR REAL here:

http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=931

Read up on the subject at http://boingboing.net/

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/14/sony_anticustomer_te.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/17/uninstaller_for_sony.html

Boycott Sony software products (yes, even games. They have been planning to add DRM to PC and PS3 games, too) until they learn a lesson I thought I drilled in long ago.

P.S. - If any kind souls who had the patience to read all the way down here can hasten the legal charges against Sony I would be grateful.

Come on Sony, come clean. Then promise everyone you will NEVER USE DRM AGAIN and find a better business model. We can only forgive and trust you if you stick to this pledge.

You do not gain future customers by treating the ones you have now as criminals. Look where this philosophy got you. How much profit did you make on the CD recall and lack of consumer confidence? The lawsuit costs? DRM research that is cracked the week after it is released?

Where's the profit in this Sony?

Mind summarising it? Im too lazy to read it.

I have a sad feeling I'm the only one who's read this in its entirety. If what you're saying is true about your gaming past and all, sweet. Try to get in touch with those people you knew, see if any can get you into Sony HQ. Go up to a board meeting, and smack everyone there. Hard.

unfourtionatly what more can you exspect from a megga corperation--- at least you tried to warn them :)
it was a bit long winded but commical :), hope you feel better after your vent

I have a sad feeling I'm the only one who's read this in its entirety. If what you're saying is true about your gaming past and all, sweet. Try to get in touch with those people you knew, see if any can get you into Sony HQ. Go up to a board meeting, and smack everyone there. Hard.

No, you are not the only one who read the entire thing...

...long have I been suspicious of DRM, fortunately, I have a boombox which sounds a lot better than my laptop anyway. Rootkits won't work with boomboxes:D

No, you are not the only one who read the entire thing...

...long have I been suspicious of DRM, fortunately, I have a boombox which sounds a lot better than my laptop anyway. Rootkits won't work with boomboxes:D

Ironically, they dont work with pirated music, or music ripped into a linux box and then transfered to a windows box...not that I'd advocate ways to get around DRM...

I mean, why the hell would I advocate getting around something like the DRM on the WMA files I've paid for that wont play in the mp3 / wma player in my truck because I cant get the licenses onto the deck? Crap like that makes it tough to ignore the free music out there that I can burn to disc and play in my truck...(just to make the point, I have a $500 reciever and some cheap speakers at home and a $3-4k sound system in the truck - where do you think I listen to most of my music?)

Mind summarising it? Im too lazy to read it.

DRM sux. Sony made one that is viral in nature. Compromised lots of systems from home users to military networks. I warned them years ago. Dumbasses run Sony. To Hell with them.

So I read it all (yay me!) and still don't know what DRM stands for. Is that crappy, dangerous copy protection of some sort or what?

Uhm, nevermind! Digital Rights Management... Duh!

*snip*

hope you feel better after your vent

You bet I do :D

I had to tell the world. It has been eating me up for awhile now.

Was great to remember that I was such an influential anonymous force at one time. Too bad they were very stubborn and stayed on the path to trouble.

Ironically, they dont work with pirated music, or music ripped into a linux box and then transfered to a windows box...not that I'd advocate ways to get around DRM...

I mean, why the hell would I advocate getting around something like the DRM on the WMA files I've paid for that wont play in the mp3 / wma player in my truck because I cant get the licenses onto the deck? Crap like that makes it tough to ignore the free music out there that I can burn to disc and play in my truck...(just to make the point, I have a $500 reciever and some cheap speakers at home and a $3-4k sound system in the truck - where do you think I listen to most of my music?)

Heh. I don't have a vehicle with a pwnz0r1ng sound system. I don't drive at all, so my boombox will have to do for me...

...but I get your point. And why the hell would I want to listen to music on my lappy anyway?

I don't pirate music, partly because I have ethical concerns about it, and partly because just about every P2P program out there should rightly be classified as spyware. I just don't buy it unless it's a movie soundtrack, and the soundtrack has to be really good. So Sony doesn't exactly get a lot of business from me anyways...

But regarding aforementioned "ethical concerns" about pirating music? After crap like this, they probably just went out the window. If RIAA members are going to pull these stunts, they should be put out of business for fraud themselves, period.

Heh. I don't have a vehicle with a pwnz0r1ng sound system. I don't drive at all, so my boombox will have to do for me...

...but I get your point. And why the hell would I want to listen to music on my lappy anyway?

I don't pirate music, partly because I have ethical concerns about it, and partly because just about every P2P program out there should rightly be classified as spyware. I just don't buy it unless it's a movie soundtrack, and the soundtrack has to be really good. So Sony doesn't exactly get a lot of business from me anyways...

But regarding aforementioned "ethical concerns" about pirating music? After crap like this, they probably just went out the window. If RIAA members are going to pull these stunts, they should be put out of business for fraud themselves, period.

How about out of business for invasion of privacy? Or even for hacker laws...

What's really sad about it is that it really only affects those who get their music through legal means...anyone else wont hardly be effected. Go figure, right?

Mind summarising it? Im too lazy to read it.
"I invented the internet."

"I invented the internet."

that about sums it up. Is this guys RL name Al Gore?

that about sums it up. Is this guys RL name Al Gore?
Probably.

Honestly, the whole thing is self-important, irrelevant stuff until you get to number 10 where he finally visits the point of the post as related through the topic.

Probably.

Honestly, the whole thing is self-important, irrelevant stuff until you get to number 10 where he finally visits the point of the post as related through the topic.

1) I was venting my frustration and reminiscing a bit. I'm surprised I had so many memories but if I wanted to be brief I know how to shorten it. I wanted to write. You didn't have to read.

2) It is self-important because I did influence these things and it is MY bloody anecdote after all. Don't be so damn bitter.

3) You are supposed to leave the important point for last so you can springboard into the main story. I was having fun sharing the info so I went into great detail and added lots of points. You could have stopped reading any time if it so affended you.

4) I'm not Al Gore. :rolleyes:

5) This is a much shorter list.

3) You are supposed to leave the important point for last so you can springboard into the main story. I was having fun sharing the info so I went into great detail and added lots of points. You could have stopped reading any time if it so affended you.
No one is going to give a shit about "you warned Sony about DRM four years ago" if you have a page of how great you are then the bloody point of the topic at the end of the post. No one cares who you are or what you did if it has nothing to do with the topic.

(I apologize for the long-ass rant but at least I made it a fun read!)

*snip*

No you didn't, it was boring & pretty much pointless. What a wanker.

I don't believe a word of this.

It starts to go sour right when "higher-ups" were looking for your resume, and you could only contact them in-game... blah blah blah... That's the sort of "convenient" problem that only seems to happen to the most blatant and unskillful liars.

I knew a kid just like you in college. Always big stories, always convenient reasons why he could never prove them, or why -- if he was such a hotshot, and knew so many important people -- he was diddling around with us.

We found him very entertaining... that is, entirely laughable.

By the way, the Jefferson quotation in your profile is a fake. Just like you.

10) Cursing out one of the manager/director-types in the Sony music department (BMG? Can't remember...) during a raid for their use of DRM and the fact that musicians don't see a cent from CDs (only from performance do they make cash. Evil, huh?).

Huh?

Huh?

Well, I believe that most of them do receive royalties, but the royalties are so tiny a fraction of the sale price that they don't really amount to anything unless a couple of million CDs are sold.

Well, I believe that most of them do receive royalties, but the royalties are so tiny a fraction of the sale price that they don't really amount to anything unless a couple of million CDs are sold.

I know that the real money comes from radio and TV play and subsidiary licensing of the use of music in adverts and the like, but claiming that "musicians don't see a cent from CDs" is quite simply bullshit.

I know that the real money comes from radio and TV play and subsidiary licensing of the use of music in adverts and the like, but claiming that "musicians don't see a cent from CDs" is quite simply bullshit.

Right. Moreover, while musicians do get a relatively small fraction of a CD's sale price (with the largest portion going, not to the evil music executives, but to the retail store), the musician's returns are probably higher than most critics seem to think. According to the New York Times (July 5, 1995, Section C, page 11, column 1), the artist gets about 16%.

That's about $2.56 per CD.