Nightly Open Thread
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wants to see ground rules implemented to protect the freedom of the Internet within the US. Her statements are likely motivated, in no small part, by the actions of the (now former) Egyptian government during the recent riots in that country; Internet access and mobile phone networks were shut down shortly after people took to the streets, in an effort both to black out reports escaping the country and impair protest coordination.
So…does that mean that Susan Collins’ internet “kill switch” concept is well and truly done for? Or do you think we’ll see that one make a return?
(For the record: Lord British never had a moongate kill switch, though I seem to recall the Guardian built something that came close. And that, my friends, is a quote worthy of Twitter.)
Just a note on Ultima IX: it could have been a brilliant game, but some discreet mistakes created major flaws in the story.
Take, for exemple, the moongate problem. The Guardian deactivated them, but the Avatar used one, summoned by Hawkwind, to reenter Britannia and could use all eight after each correspondent Shrine was being cleansed. Even Lord British could summon one with his hands, which is either absurd or the Avatar must have been very pissed, since he was trapped in Britannia for one and a half year and Lord British didn’t move away his seat to help him out.
One could blame the columns, but they were not built in Ultima VII (at least it was not working), since the runes were still in the possession of the museum. The one to blame here was the sphere generator.
One the other hand, the Avatar destroyed the Black Gate and stopped the Guardian from entering Britannia. The red guy would have to wait for many a year for another opportunity like that. Nevertheless, the Guardian didn’t pay attention to the Ultima VII script and entered Britannia anyway.
Conclusion: moongates kill switches don’t work (in Ultima IX).
Perhaps this should be added to the book “The day it didn’t work” [R. Allen G.].
correction:
and Lord British didn’t move away FROM his seat to help him out.