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Cunningham's Law

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Re: Cunningham's Law

#71

Post by shagie »

dustintrex wrote: post #53

Whenever I join a new team and need to inhale a new architecture or complex process, I take a stab at documenting what currently exists, and then share my notes with the team. Corrections immediately pour in, and this "wrong answer" inevitably produces a much better end result than asking any single person to tell me the "right answer".

One of my favorite collections of "stories" of software development is The Codeless Code http://thecodelesscode.com/contents (which draws some inspiration from The Rootless Root - http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/ )

The story of The Purple Beggar ( http://thecodelesscode.com/case/170 ) is about that phenomenon.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#72

Post by zw123456 »

This is similar to what I call the "red sock in the wash theory".

When I was growing up (back in the 1970's) my Dad insisted that my Mom do his shirts for him (back then all men had to wear a white shirt and tie to work). My Mom suggested that he should take them to the cleaners like everyone else does. But my Dad insisted that it would save money if she did them for him. She dutifully complied but "accidentally" put a red sock in the wash with them so they came out pink. Of course, in those days, a man wearing a pink shirt would be considered a "sissy" or whatever.

After that, my Dad did his work shirts himself a few times then realized it was a hassle and used the cleaners ever after that.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#73

Post by lamontcg »

Arnavion wrote: post #28
ineedasername wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting-- that promotes engagement with the content, which is good for viewer metrics & ad $$. If the video is actually sponsored by the game publisher then it's a double bonus for video creator.

Yes, there's often speculation that the streamer is playing badly intentionally for this reason. Though Occam's razor dictates that it's more likely that the streamer just doesn't care to get good because they're only going to play the game for a little while anyway.

The streamer can also be optimizing for entertainment rather than perfect gameplay. So they're focused a bit more on being creative rather than optimizing their combat skills, and they try things you'd never attempt which occasionally go very badly (sometimes predictably) and its amusing.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#74

Post by fallinghawks »

grey_earthling wrote: post #54
dylan604 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many games will allow users to do something advantageous by watching an ad. If they are blocked, then this will not work. I've seen these fail when the device cannot connect to the network or other causes of timeouts, but they are smart enough to know this and not give you the reward.

> Many games will allow users to do something advantageous by watching an ad. That's… horrifying . Why would you want to play a game that treats you like that? I mean, is it fun? I suppose some people must enjoy window-shopping, and I guess this is like that, but… I just can't imagine hoping to see an advert — it feels really manipulative and sinister.

I play a lot of Japanese escape the room games, which typically involve decoding puzzles and finding tools to use. Most of them offer a hint system where you "pay" by watching an ad. The games are otherwise free, and given how little a dev gets per adview I don't mind supporting them in that way.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#75

Post by BizarroLand »

fallinghawks wrote: post #74
grey_earthling wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many games will allow users to do something advantageous by watching an ad. That's… horrifying . Why would you want to play a game that treats you like that? I mean, is it fun? I suppose some people must enjoy window-shopping, and I guess this is like that, but… I just can't imagine hoping to see an advert — it feels really manipulative and sinister.

I play a lot of Japanese escape the room games, which typically involve decoding puzzles and finding tools to use. Most of them offer a hint system where you "pay" by watching an ad. The games are otherwise free, and given how little a dev gets per adview I don't mind supporting them in that way.

Yeah, this is a good thing. I don't mind ads where you get something in exchange for the ad view, but ad supported games that rapaciously shove ads down your throat are not worth my time.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#76

Post by BizarroLand »

kerkeslager wrote: post #69
stdbrouw wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I may not like the ads, but I like that they pay for a lot of cool stuff on the web that otherwise would not see the light of day.

I disagree. Lots of cool stuff existed before advertisers took over the internet, and it was allowed to be a lot weirder and less clickbait-y because they didn't have to appease everyone or constantly be driving for more views. In fact, a lot of this was funded out of people's own pockets, at a financial loss , because they wanted other people to see it or use it. With search engine optimized ad-delivery platforms do…

I wonder why no one has come up with a try-before-you-buy download option. First X levels are free, next Y levels are $0.25-$0.50 (assuming the full cost of the game is $1, adjust accordingly), the rest of the levels are the remaining price of the same.

For a casual game a model like this would be a good way to get a decent amount of revenue from anyone that likes the game but may not be completionist or get bored with it at some point.

Then, in the rare instance that you have a hit game, you can further supplement it with paid DLC for extra levels that you have to own the base game for.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#77

Post by jl2718 »

BasDirks wrote: post #58

This is not true at all, in the domain of computer science there are no concrete examples of this.

The meme commands me to obey:

Terry Tao once famously published a result with non-mathematicians Denton et al., and was bombarded by responses (including my own first math paper) showing the result previously published in many different ways in several fields of math. Of all that Tao has accomplished as a Fields medalist and espoused “greatest living mathematician”, this became the most famous single moment of his career.

https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2019/08/13/eigenvectors-from-...

Re: Cunningham's Law

#78

Post by blueprint »

dylan604 wrote: post #31
blueprint wrote: post #7

Did Ward Cunningham coin this principle so that I would comment and say it's actually b.s.? :) In nature, you have an apple appear by the genetic expression of apple DNA. You don't have it by making stuff that claims to be an apple but forgot how to make apples.

Cleary, you have not had a Grapple[0]. https://www.grapplefruits.com/ Yes, I realize the irony of correcting someone in this thread ;-)

lol wut? that's merely another example. nothing exists beyond or without what i mentioned. it's how the world works.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#79

Post by BasDirks »

jl2718 wrote: post #77
BasDirks wrote: post #58

This is not true at all, in the domain of computer science there are no concrete examples of this.

The meme commands me to obey: Terry Tao once famously published a result with non-mathematicians Denton et al. , and was bombarded by responses (including my own first math paper) showing the result previously published in many different ways in several fields of math. Of all that Tao has accomplished as a Fields medalist and espoused “greatest living mathematician”, this became the most famous single moment of his c…

I really appreciate this comment, it was exactly what I was hoping for.
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