[geeks] Ubuntu partition on Bootcamp Mac?

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007, Jon Gilbert wrote:

> What games? What are you talking about?
>
> Apparently you don't know what Second Life is. So I'll educate you.
> It's a 3D virtual reality persistent world.

I'm aware of what it is.

It's a dressed-up plotless virtual world that happens to have a faddish
economy around it.  That is, it is an amusement with cashflow.

> Or is it just that, to you, it's not "work" if you are spending long,
> frustrating hours programming something that is in 3D as opposed to 2D
> HTML/Flash sites?

I can't imagine what gave you that idea, as I was doing work (wafer
defect visualization) in OpenGL on an Indy 10 years ago.  Yes, I've done
some web stuff (not any Flash, though) to pay the bills, but I've spent
most of my energies doing more productive things.

> I make a fair bit of income from scripts (programmed objects) that I
> create within Second Life and sell to in-world entities (companies,
> governments, individuals, etc.). Anyone who thinks that's not "work"
> is stupid, no offense. I know quite a few people who make their
> entire incomes from SL.

Yes, and John Carmack makes his entire income building video games[0],
and there are quite a few "professional" athletes that make their entire
incomes playing games.  What's your point?

> Besides which, gaming is a $12 billion/year industry (bigger than the
> movie industry), and that's not even counting all the computer
> hardware sales that are driven by it. So, you better get off your
> little "games don't matter" high horse,

No thanks.

People are free to make money in any means they're able, but that
doesn't mean it need automatically command respect.  Unless you're
actually getting something done in the real world (ie: building
something, fixing something, making something work better, discovering
something, helping someone), you're basically fucking off, regardless of
how hard you work at it.  Whether you're building virtual objects in a
3D virtual world or playing real football in front of 100,000 screaming
fans, if you're not helping the planet evolve, you might as well just
get off it.

That is, of course, just my opinion.  If you're proud of what you do,
excellent, but there's no need to be an ass about it.


[0] Although he's contributed a few useful algorithms to the world while
     doing it.
-- 
Jonathan Patschke ) "When they turn the pages of history, when these
Elgin, TX        (   days have passed long ago, will they read of us
USA               )  with sadness for the seeds that we let grow?
-                (               --Neil Peart, "A Farewell to Kings"