IPRED: Go against us and you die!

The swedish system of justice is not working, it's corrupt. Not only can IPRED break the law and get away with it, anyone questioning the evidence in a legal dispute with IPRED gets punished by the court.

(EDIT: When I say IPRED I'm refering to "companies through IPRED")

 

IPRED breaks the law, nothing happens

Rick Falkvinge listed three points where IPRED  broke the law:

• IPRED breaks into a private server...
• ... gives themselves permission to private data...
• ... without indicating in any way that a copyright had been violated.  

So, IPRED can break the law and get away with it, but we can't? Are they above the law? The same thing happened when FRA did surveillance without permission, even BEFORE the law of them being allowed to do so. The government is above the law, but we aren't. This is justice to them.

 

Don't EVER question the evidence!

As Rick also stated, "this is not all". The accused part in the legal dispute tried to question the evidence and the fact that it had been gathered in an illegal way. The result of this was that they where sentenced to pay 75 000 kr (about 9000$) just becuase they questioned the evidence.

This sends a clear message: OPPOSE US AND YOU DIE! 

 

Thanks to Rick Falkvinge for this information...

Lockpick Entertainment is no more...

As I've been working as an Intern since February this year (2009), I've had some of the most worthwhile experiences in my Game Developer life.

For 5 months, I've had the chance of working as a real game developer, with an MMO-title (Dreamlords: The Reawakening).

It's sad that Lockpick Entertainment had to file for bankruptcy, but maybe this can be the start of something new, something better?

Thanks Lockpick Entertainment, for letting me be your Community and Marketing guy. I've really learned alot.

Bloodline Champions - A game of potential

Bloodline Champions is a game made by a group of fellow students at the University of Skövde. The game have already won several awards, The Game of the Year at Swedish Game Awards, among others. 

A game that has great potential

The online team based TPS action-game (correct me if I'm wrong) is a game that have caught my eye for a very long time now. The product is amazingly good for a group of, may I say inexperienced, game developer students. I think that if they take the right roads and make the right choices they will hit it, really big.

Though, there's three things I think they need to work on, as any larger team on the way of establishing a company:

• A proper CEO, that doesn't have to close friendship ties to the rest of the group.
  
  
• An investor that sees their potential and that is ready to invest alot in this game.
  
  
• Some thougts on  Team Size. It's important to not employ people because they are friends, they must be employed only because their competense is needed in the Company. I'm not saying that they are, but it's a good thing to have in mind.
  

Go-go Bloodline Champions, I hope you succeed and everything. Just don't screw this up! ;)

- Check out their website

Exceptions in laws - A tool for World Domination

While surfing on the Party Leader of the Pirate Party (Pirat Partiet) Rick Falkvinge's blog, I read a post about exceptions being created for the IPRED law. You can read all about it here (swedish blog).

 

IPRED uses exceptions in constitutional laws

IPRED has been given an exception in the Privacy Protection Law where it clearly states that IPRED may, if thought neccessary, use private information on induviduals on matters like intrusion on the intellectual property law.

This clearly shows us one of the first steps on exception laws, where they once again get to abuse our Right to Privacy. When will it stop? Will it ever stop?

 

Wasn't Hitler doing this?

First of all, Hitler was a nutcase. But what he did that was so smart, for him, was that he made exceptions in laws to allow him to gain more and more power.

Exceptions in laws sounds small and insignificant, but it is truly a tool to gain absolute power over a community. Just ask the ones that lived in Germany when Hitler was ruling.

How to get a job in the Gaming Industry

Three simple rules

1. Always keep trying, no matter how "not ready" you think you are. That mentality have made many people I know not getting jobs. By not seeking and taking every opportunity possible, you miss out on two of the most important things to have in your portfolio: Experience and Contacts.
   
   
2. Have these three ingredients in your portfolio: Experience, Contacts and Content. The experience will show that you have insight to the industry and contacts will almost always give you a hand in getting the job. Content is important too. If you can show what you can do and what you have done, employers will see you as a more secure investment and less as a gamble.
   
   
3. Write a good CV and personal letters to where you are applying. Study how CVs are made and, if you get the chance, ask an employer contact of yours what he's looking for when he gets applications. If you write a good CV and a good personal letter (written for exactly the company and position you are applying to) you will have a very good chance in getting the job.
   

Some Nostalgia - Philosophy of Liberty

Watch the movie and you will understand why I'm fighting for The Right to Privacy:

Don't be a nice Game Developer

Too many game developing companies have failed because they are being to nice, mostly in these particular areas:

• Listening "too much" to the community.
  
  My personal opinion is that you should absolutely listen to the community, but not too much. Remember, you're the one with a 3+ year education in game development, not them. Listening too much can make your game unbalanced, because many gamers don't have the insight of balance as an educated developer has.
  
  
  
• Bosses being too nice to their employees.
  
  Many CEOs/Producers and people leading in game development tend to be too nice to the people they lead (I know, I use to be one of them - And I saw the consequences). Being too nice in this area can lead to bad design decisions and thereby a bad game.
  
  
  
• Game Developingers tend to be to nice to themselves.
  
  Don't be too nice on yourself, critisize yourself in every decision you make. Can I do this? Is this the right decisions? Whats my other options? etc.

Knock knock, it's the surveillance guy...

Is this the future? Istead of cable guys knocking on our door to install cable tv, there's Surveillance guys, here to install cameras where we live.

I know that many of you think that I'm exaggerating when I write about these kind of things and sometimes, yes I do. But I do it with a purpose: to wake people up, to see the danger that's on our doorstep - The surveillance guy.

In all history, mankind is known to not see the danger until it's too late. I want to try to change that, even if I know that its next to impossible. Although I don't see many people even lifting their fingers for this and that's freaking embarrasing.

If we keep on ignoring democrazy and letting insulting laws as IPRED, FRA, The Data Retention Directive as well as the Telecom Package go through, we kind of diserve having a dictatorship. 

So people, please meet the surveillance guy. You're gonna see alot of him in the future.

BattleForge - A game that I admire

I've recently started to play a game called BattleForge, which is a Trading Card MMO-RTS. I realised that I could not stop playing this game, so I started to wonder why. The answer was simply that the game must have been designed by gods.

 

BattleForge - A game designed to get you hooked!

I'm absolutely hooked to this game, and here's why:

• Absolutely every aspect of the game is designed to give the player the feeling of progression. 
  
  
• The business model is designed to work perfectly together with the progression game design.
  
  
• There's many ways to play and re-play the game. (Co-op PvE, Co-op PvP, solo PvE & PvP and so on)
  
  
• It's a game for the Achiever (progression), the Explorer (many cards/maps), the Socializer (co-op) and the Killer (ingame frauds).
  
  * See Bartles Test to see what kind of player you are.

Cencurship and Big Brother, here we come!

This makes me so mad. There's two things that is absolutely crushing the Right to Privacy and also the Liberty to Speak and Express yourself on the net.

 

The Telecom Package - The new way of National Cencurship

With the Telecom Package (swe: telekompaketet), the government can shut people down from the internet. The internet is a way of expression and communicating with others.

What will happen if the government gets the power to SHUT PEOPLE DOWN at their will (of course they will need to suspect you for file sharing)

Isn't this the same as cencuring newspaper or duck taping peoples mouths? Okay, they need to catch someone for file sharing, but think about how easily they will be able to manipulate that or make "add-on" laws which allows them to only suspect a person to be able to shut them down. 

 

The Data Retention Directive - We see all, WE KNOW ALL!

With the Data Retention Directive (swe: Datalagringsdirektivet), they can monitor your every movement, litterarly, and track e-mails, phone calls, mms, sms and you name it. Everything you do that's connected to the net, in up to 6 months.

They got their eye on you. Watch it so that they doesn't start to dislike you for your opinions. They can dig up any crap and then shut you down so that no one can hear you scream.

 

The government is doing the frog trick on us...

Watch it yourself:

Changed my blog a bit...

I changed my blog from "Prove me wrong, so I'll learn!" to "Game Development + The Right to Privacy". 

Why?

Well, the message about what this blog was about wasn't clear enough. I want it to be clear that this blog is about two different subjects, mainly, and that they don't relate to eachother in any way.

In short: To make the blog more clear about what it's about.

 

Will I keep on writing about the same stuff?

Yes of course! The only thing that will change is that I wont focus on "making assumptions" anymore. I might do it once or twice, but not in every post.

I will also start to post more personal posts that doesn't need to start any discussion, but only to send a message or two. Discussion is very much appreciated though, so keep on writing as you did before!

I read every comment I get and mostly try to send some kind of answer to you, either in your blog or in mine.

Infant Cyborgs = The future?

There's talk about placing chips inside little babies right after birth. This, so that they can be monitored "for the good of the nation" or whatever they call it.

This is most rumours, but I would like to get some concrete proof of this. All I have found is articles supporting this rumour, but nothing concrete. If these rumours are true, which it very well might be, I'm really REALLY terrified. 

 

Please don't place chips in our babies!

This is scary stuff, and if it's true, I'm not sure I want to live here anymore. I'll build a spaceship and fly to Mars or something. At least, there I've got a Right to Privacy.

"VeriChip is the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved human-implantable radio-frequency identification (RFID) microchip. It is marketed by VeriChip Corporation, a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions, and it received United States FDA approval in 2004. About twice the length of a grain of rice, the device is typically implanted above the triceps area of an individual’s right arm" - Wikipedia

 

Citizens, please meet Mr. Surveillance

The fact that many nations want to monitor their citizens isn't something new. Actually it's something going on and escalating at this very second. At this moment, the government is tracking and soon storing all our internet based information for six months. 

When they've got our internet life, what will be next? Chipping our infants?

"Privacy advocates have protested the VeriChip, warning of potential abuse and denouncing these types of RFID devices as "spychips," and that use by governments could lead to an increased loss of civil liberties and would lend itself too easily to abuse. One such case of this abuse would be in the microchip's dual use as a tracking device." - Wikipedia

 

This is my assumption: If we don't act now, our future might very well be babies with computer chips implanted into their bodies after birth.

(This is much more real than you think. You problably think I am over reacting to this whole surveillance stuff, but I think we need to be serious about this stuff before it's to late.)

Your game NEEDS a Community Manager

Many community based games nowadays has a very unorganised community. Companies seem to think assigning player moderators will solve the problem and thereby saving them some work. The thing is, this is NOT going to work... TRUST ME!

A community needs an active Community Manager at all times. Before release and after release, both as important. Although I want to point out that Moderators or/and Game Masters are something that every community should have, definetly. 

 

The importance of Moderators

The community moderators (or game masters) are the ones who actually keeps the community live and prospering. They create awareness among the players inside the community and spreads the message that "YOU CARE".

Although the moderators needs a buddy and boss. The community manager is that person. The community manager should both act as a moderator him/herself as well as the boss for the rest of the appointed moderators.

You have the overall responsibility to make the community work. The moderators are mainly there for assistance, as long as they are not employed personell as well. 

 

The community is your baby

Treat the community as you baby. It needs constant care and would very much like to grow up to become a big community with lots of knowledge and ambitions. Maybe even get a job! I mean, look at Little Big Planet. The community is actually the ones making the new content!

That's how you want your baby to be when it grows up.

 

This is my assumption: A community based game without a Community Manager is as chaotic and fragile as a baby without it's parent. What will it grow into if no one is there to guide it on its way? 

It's time to fight for the Right to Privacy!

Many laws involving surveillance has been accepted into many countries around the world. Right now in Sweden, our opinions have been ignored several times already, by having the FRA and IPRED laws thrown against us. Now, the Data Retention Directive is on the verge to explode upon us.

For your notice, the EU Parlament has filed a monition (legal action) towards Sweden, for NOT having it's people voting through the Data Retention Directive already.

The EU Parlament is kind of saying: "It's okay that you have a democracy and vote for what you want in your country, but if you don't vote as we wish, we will SUE you!"

 

Vote before or on the 7th of July!

I think that if we don't use our democratic right to vote against these kinds of stuff, we kind of deserve this punishment.

By not voting, we don't embrace the democracy that we are so thankful for that we've got. If we don't vote we can't change anything and the government can rule as a dictatorship. We don't want that, do we?

But honestly, I don't care what you vote for, just vote! If you vote towards fighting against these surveillance laws and threaths against the Right to Privacy, you got my proud and powerful (woot?) salute.

(dont know what to vote? VOTE BLANK!)

 

A fun video!

Here's a fun video that shows how important South Park thinks it is to vote.

 

This is my assumtion: If we dont use the power we have to change the wrong things about our society, we are indirectly voting for Dictatorship.