Majcher.com

I've been trying to get into this new (to me) game, Earth and Beyond, and I'm having a bit of a time with it. Here's a friendly little tip for all you game programmers out there, from one of your own: one thing I never want to see, as a player, is a dialog box that says something like "No DOCTYPE specification" when I'm trying to register and send you money for your game. I have a pretty good idea what that means, and what kind of trouble you're having with your registration server or whatever, but as a customer, I could really give a crap. I want to hit a few buttons, and then jump in and start blowing shit up.

Fortunately, patience, persistance, and a few kind words to the technical support lineworkers paid off, and I got in. It's pretty fun, but I think I'm going to have to set a kitchen timer on my desk and only play for an hour or so here and there. The game is basically a massively multiplayer version of GalTrader, with 3D graphics and a storyline, but I know more than one person who seriously damaged their ride through college with just the text-terminal version of that game. Hell, I remember when a fistfight erupted outside the computer lab after someone rolled up on a guy's ship and blew them away. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere, but you really can't expect me to do all the work here. Help a guy out once in a while, huh?