Grand Theft Auto Online Player Gets $10,000 For Fixing Long Loading Time

 

Grand Theft Auto Online, like the previous games in the series, has proven a popular game since it's release in 2013. But there was a problem. The game has a long loading time. One 2020 Reddit poll of 271 players had almost half taking three to six minutes and some were needing over fifteen. Finally, one player calling himself T0ast decided to look into the problem. He found the cause was badly optimized code and bottlenecking from the came loading from just one CPU. After some fixes, he found he loading time was reduced by almost 70 percent. He uploaded the fixed code, though pointed out it was more of a "proof of concept" than a solution, and called on the game's producers at Rockstar to fix the code, "the problems shouldn’t take more than a day for a single dev to solve."

Word soon spread about T0ast's fix, and eventually Rockstar took a look, and concluded, "After a thorough investigation, we can confirm that player t0st did, in fact, reveal an aspect of the game code related to load times for the PC version of GTA Online that could be improved. As a result of these investigations, we have made some changes that will be implemented in a forthcoming title update."

T0ast would state he was awarded $10,000 USD from Rockstar, sayng amounts of this size were usually given out for helping with security and privacy issues, but were making an exception with him, "Thanks to R* for taking the time to look into this and the generous bounty!"

Source: PC Gamer 

Hat Tip: Spooked Dreamscape, Khyra Ares

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

AOL Closing Winamp Next Month

Winamp, a popular music player which has been playing tunes on peoples' computers since the late 90s, will no soon no longer be available for download. It was announced that after Dec 20, its owner AOL will close down it's website and no longer support the program.

Winamp was created by Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev in 1997, who would found Nullsoft a year later. By that time, the player in it's various versions had been downloaded over three million times. By the year 2000, there were over 25 million users. By this time, it was now the property of a larger company. In June 1999, AOL bought up Nullsoft and Winamp for 80 million.

Winamp's fortunes began to decline after the introduction of iTunes, but a number of it's people blame AOL for it's problems. Rob Lord, it's first general manager, spoke in a 2012 interview, "There's no reason that Winamp couldn't be in the position that iTunes is today if not for a few layers of mismanagement by AOL that started immediately upon acquisition." It is believed Winamp still brings in six million dollars a year in revenue.

Despite the problems, Winamp continued to see developments, and it's apparently remained popular with computer users. The news of the closure was announced within some Second Life groups, "… if you want to continue to use Winamp … it's advisable you download the latest version." Shockwave Yareach, a Second Life DJ, commented, "Pity, I use it a lot. (I) even bought the pro version. Best twenty bucks I ever spent, since the license is good permanently. … lots of DJs in Second Life use it." Of the company, Shockwave remarked, "I understand now what happened to Time-Warner/AOL. If your management can't make money with the Internet standard already in place, you shouldn't be in business."

This might not be the last word for the music player. There are stories of negotiations behind the scenes for a sale. And if the "servers do go dark, Winamp will likely remain available through BitTorrent and other unauthorized sources." Considering how in it's early days, Winamp was the player of choice of music downloaded through the controversial Napster file-sharing service, some of it's longtime fans might consider this an ironic fate.

Sources: CNN Money, Time Tech, Ars Technica,


Bixyl Shuftan

Holocluck Henly on Disney's "Toontown" Closing

Among multiplayer online games, Disney's "Toontown" stood out. Besides it's link to the company known for it's founder's cartoons, it was kid-friendly and one of it's themes poked fun at big business. Unfortunately in late August came some bad news for the game's fans: Toontown would soon be closing. One Second Life resident who played the game, Holocluck Henly, met up with Second Life Neweser to talk about Toontown and some things that made it special.

Read the article in Extra.

Game Review: World of Warcraft - The Darkspear Rebellion

Today, the Newser takes a look at World of Warcraft's latest turn of events. As the Alliance and Horde continue to clash in Pandaria, the Orcish Warchief Hellscream turns on the trolls whom rise up against him in the Darkspear Rebellion. Players from both factions have a chance to help the struggle, gathering supplies and taking on the tyrant's Kor'kron guard.

To read more, go to Extra.

Runescape Puts Rulebreakers on Public Trial in "Botany Bay"

Bots aren't a problem only in Second Life. In the MMO game of Runescape, they're a problem for both the staff and honest players alike. For those not familiar, a "bot" in Runescape is a player put under the control of "macros" to perform a repetitive task, such as mining and woodcutting. Illegal, if a player is caught, it results in a warning and a short ban. The second time is a more severe warning and a longer ban. The third time results in a permanent ban with the account removed.

Lately, the Jagex staff  "decided to have a little fun" with the disposing of those caught three times. So they came up with "Botany Bay," a dreary prison-looking place that can be visited in only one manner, accept an invitation from a town caller to take part in a "trial" of a three-time offender.

 As we hunt for and identify botters, you - the good citizens of Giellnor - will be the ultimate deliverers of justice! Unrepentant and persistent bot-users will now find themselves banished to Botany Bay. This foreboding island is the staging ground for trials run by the Botfinder General, where there's only one verdict, and justice is swift and uncompromising.


Those accepting a town crier's invitation to take part in a Botany Bay event will be teleported to the courtroom. Rotten tomatoes are available to pelt the condemned, whom is cowering in a small platform in the middle of the court. The players have no say in whether or not the account on trial is guilty, that's already been decided. Instead they decide on a choice of three fates: crushed by a giant limb, fried into dust by an energy beam, or devoured alive by some unknown something from below. Repeat jurors are awarded the "Pitchfork of Vigilantism" and later the "Pitchfork of Justice."

The accounts in question have been banned anyway, so the purpose of these trials is for show. There's just something about seeing a cheater get his/her coming.  There's also the possibility that Jagex also had in mind these trials were to cut down on criticism. By giving these show trials, that would give the impression something is being done about theft.

Such a system could easily be replicated in other MMOs after adaptations, and perhaps Second Life. It's easy to imagine a "Botany Bay" for copybotters. But suppose if such a system was being set up on the Grid? Why not allow the jury to determine an avatar's guilt or innocence?

I  imagine though that those accused of griefing would prefer to take their chances with the Lindens instead of a jury. Suppose someone accused of dropping particle bombs on Luskwood found themselves facing a jury of furred avatars?

Oh well, one can dream.

Source: Jagex

Bixyl Shuftan