SOPA Noteably Less Stupid

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The bizarre SOPA DNS-blocking measures have apparently been pulled as the bill slowly dies the death of a thousand cuts.  PIPA also looks to be on hold.

Now, I'm all for this but I'd prefer these bills die and start over.

The first thing to be aware of: the massive amount of awareness about these bills and how tech companies, internet users, geeks, programmers, and more rallied against it.  Quite frankly I think congress and many people were caught completely by surprise at the reaction to SOPA/PIPA.  I wish I could say they learned their lessons and have a broader view of how the world works, but I'm not counting on it.

The second thing to be aware of:  Internet users and e-freedom advocates organized and got results.  What, I ask you are, they going to do in the future?  What old organizations will benefit and new ones may appear?  What kind of political  lobbying comes from here (and what will Super PACs play?).  How many people just became politically aware?

Oh, I don't know the answers, but I'm going to have fun finding them out . . .

– Steven Savage

Behold 3D Printing: Bow Before It

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The BBC has an awesome report on 3D printers at CES.  If you're not familiar with 3D Printing allow me to mock you.

It's looking like we have several companies working on home 3D printers – which means affordable ways to basically make plastic stuff at home off of your computer.  Try and wrap your mind around that idea – for $2000 you can make stuff off your computer.  All those times you glossy-printed fanart are nothing compared to this.

With more than one company in play here, I think it's inevitable that we're going to see 3D printers in the home (in fact the BBC article helps explain the simplicity of some of the tech).  So I'm trying to imagine the impact of this, and of course that means BULLET POINTS.

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Games, Persistence, The Cloud, The Future

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If you play MMOs, if you're using cloud storage for games (as we're moving towards), think for a moment how long a "game" will survive.  Your collection of memory sticks and outdated save cards is nothing compared to the way gaming is going.  I see it entirely possible that game data will survive for years, for more than a decade, in some situations.

This likely possibility is something those of us who play and make games and media should be seriously considering.

  • MMO's will have to decide what to do with old data – and also the fact that each inactive account may yet become income producing.
  • If anyone remembers the way some Metal Gear games used save files, those old save files could be used in so many ways in other games – or sequels.
  • What happens when a game gets re-released?  What do you do with save files floating around in the cloud?
  • When a game gets a sequel/spinoff years later after whatever legal/ethical/company fooaraw delays it save files that can be used for extras, bonuses, etc. may still be out there.
  • With all the ways to use old save and game information, what are the legal limits of what data you can use?
  • * What legal rights does a company have to use data saved under previous games?

If you're a programmer or producer in gaming, a lot of potential opportunities and challenges are coming just due to sheer persistence of data.  Some of these could be trouble – and many could be opportunities.

– Steven Savage