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Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

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Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

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  • #1

    Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

    ...and yes, i feel this needed its own thread.

    http://kotaku.com/microsoft-is-remov...-drm-514390310

    Microsoft Is Removing Xbox One DRM

    This could be the biggest backtrack in gaming history: Microsoft will reverse course on their DRM policies for Xbox One, dropping their 24-hour Internet check-in requirement and all restrictions on used games.

    Here's Microsoft president of interactive entertainment Don Mattrick with the news:

    Last week at E3, the excitement, creativity and future of our industry was on display for a global audience.

    For us, the future comes in the form of Xbox One, a system designed to be the best place to play games this year and for many years to come. As is our heritage with Xbox, we designed a system that could take full advantage of advances in technology in order to deliver a breakthrough in game play and entertainment. We imagined a new set of benefits such as easier roaming, family sharing, and new ways to try and buy games. We believe in the benefits of a connected, digital future.

    Since unveiling our plans for Xbox One, my team and I have heard directly from many of you, read your comments and listened to your feedback. I would like to take the opportunity today to thank you for your assistance in helping us to reshape the future of Xbox One.

    You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today with games delivered on disc. The ability to lend, share, and resell these games at your discretion is of incredible importance to you. Also important to you is the freedom to play offline, for any length of time, anywhere in the world.

    So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360. Here is what that means:

    An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

    Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

    In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console — there will be no regional restrictions.

    These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One. The sharing of games will work as it does today, you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will require that the disc be in the tray.

    We appreciate your passion, support and willingness to challenge the assumptions of digital licensing and connectivity. While we believe that the majority of people will play games online and access the cloud for both games and entertainment, we will give consumers the choice of both physical and digital content. We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds.

    Thank you again for your candid feedback. Our team remains committed to listening, taking feedback and delivering a great product for you later this year.

    Original story follows:

    Citing multiple sources, GiantBomb says Microsoft has decided to remove a laundry list of Xbox One restrictions that customers considered negative:

    No more always online requirement
    The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours
    All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360
    Authentication is no longer necessary
    An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console
    All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline
    No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs
    Region locks have been dropped

    It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

    Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
    Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
    NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

    This was the right move for them to make, but it actually made things slightly worse for me for one reason: Now I have to buy the game digitally if I want to enjoy NOT having to have the damned disc in the tray to play.

    I was really looking forward to just installing the handful of games I planned on playing and then switching back and forth as I pleased.

    Looks like I have to buy directly from Microsoft if I want to enjoy that feature now. I suppose I will. Since games are going to allegedly be available on release day via download, I suppose that's fair enough, provided the connection isn't slowed to a crawl due to popularity (like when Call of Duty comes out again).

    Honestly, though, why can't they have an 'opt in' option for disc-installed games? My Internet is up 99.99999999999999% of the time on fiber optic, and it's never been down for 24 hours straight. I would actually like to opt in if it means I can buy the disc but not need it constantly in the drive.

    Then again, I suppose what's the difference other than the wait for the game to finish downloading, which would admittedly take a while on my 15Mbps line. And I think this means, am I right/wrong, that I can still log in to my Live account on any Xbox One and play my game on that box, right? Or not? I mean I understand that I can't share a disc-bought game (the digital kind of sharing they had talked about, not physical), but what about personally using the game on another system if I am logged into my own Live account?

    Not a big deal, but curious to know the details.

    Again, overall, I think Microsoft was wise to do this because it had put a bunch in a LOT of gamers' panties. More than I would have suspected.

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

      We take a few steps forward towards all digital and now we are taking huge steps backwards. I am very dissapointed in this announcement. I was looking forward to buying all digital, reselling those, sharing my games with close friends, and not wasting space on boxes and DVDs.

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

        Originally posted by thewholefnshow31 View Post
        We take a few steps forward towards all digital and now we are taking huge steps backwards. I am very dissapointed in this announcement. I was looking forward to buying all digital, reselling those, sharing my games with close friends, and not wasting space on boxes and DVDs.
        how do you resell a game you downloaded?

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

          I don't have one, and I assume they've taken it offline, but what's this stuff I heard about the latest PS3 update literally bricking the console?

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

            I don't know, but why ask that in this thread?

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

              So now M$ thinks the folks who swore off Xbox over their joke of a DRM strategy will now come flocking back? Some of them maybe, but I would bet a lot of the folks who already made up their mind for the PS4 stay that way.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

                Originally posted by Heisenberg View Post
                I don't have one, and I assume they've taken it offline, but what's this stuff I heard about the latest PS3 update literally bricking the console?
                http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2420664,00.asp

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

                  Originally posted by thewholefnshow31 View Post
                  We take a few steps forward towards all digital and now we are taking huge steps backwards. I am very dissapointed in this announcement. I was looking forward to buying all digital, reselling those, sharing my games with close friends, and not wasting space on boxes and DVDs.
                  Its an idea that is probably a generation ahead of its time for consoles. Very similar to the early years of Steam.
                  "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

                  "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

                    To answer my own question from earlier, it appears that if you buy the game on a disc you will not be able to play on someone else's Xbox even if you are logged in to your live account.

                    However, if you buy it digitally, I believe you can still do that.

                    At this point, my plan is to just start buying my games digitally so that I can enjoy those features. Hopefully, when a game comes out, they let you start downloading it sometime after midnight so that you can let it download overnight and it will be ready for you the next day.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                      To answer my own question from earlier, it appears that if you buy the game on a disc you will not be able to play on someone else's Xbox even if you are logged in to your live account.

                      However, if you buy it digitally, I believe you can still do that.

                      At this point, my plan is to just start buying my games digitally so that I can enjoy those features. Hopefully, when a game comes out, they let you start downloading it sometime after midnight so that you can let it download overnight and it will be ready for you the next day.
                      You can play the disc on anyone's Xbox. It just won't work without the disc even if you install it. You will have a chance to "unlock" the content without the disc by buying purchasing it online.
                      Last edited by Kstat; 06-20-2013, 02:02 AM.

                      It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

                      Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
                      Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
                      NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

                        Originally posted by clownskull View Post
                        how do you resell a game you downloaded?
                        It was my understanding that you would ultimately be able to resell your game license and that when a new person buys it the game is uninstalled from your HDD and then installed on their HDD. Microsoft was really swinging for the fences to get this generation going towards a fully digital system and pretty much we are not going to have to wait another generation and continue to lag behind the PC world.

                        My other worry is how this will affect developers using the cloud for their single and online aspects of their game. A lot of the talk was developers could put a lot of stuff for both on the cloud and lift some of the burden from the game console. My guess that is not going to happen now since you can now play your game offline totally.
                        Last edited by thewholefnshow31; 06-20-2013, 08:18 AM.

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

                          This decision to back-track killed the core features that Microsoft was pushing. It was time to transition (not completely move) into a digital era. iTunes and Amazon made it a commonplace with music and books. No one cares about any restrictions with that.

                          The gaming media blew this out of proportion and a large group of people (fanboys maybe) used Microsoft's poor PR and wording of these policies against them. Microsoft had no choice but to bend then break.

                          The features we will be losing:

                          Digital Library: You have all of your games, disc-based or digitally saved into a catalog where you can access them anywhere, anytime with your Xbox Live account. Why wouldn't anyone enjoy this?

                          Game sharing with up to 10 people in your "family". If I buy a game, but my brother wants to "borrow" it because he's low on cash then, he can. No disc required. No need to drive 40 miles down the road to knock on his door and ask for the game back. Easy as that.

                          Reselling digital content. Not having to drive to GameStop to "trade-in" games you own. Being able to resell the license to a game you downloaded in lieu of putting money towards a new title like we do today with discs, but digitally.

                          DRM has now become a household term. It wasn't that big of a deal say two months ago, but everyone is now under the impression that DRM is bad. No. It's a measure that cuts down on fraud and holds everyone accountable for the content they own. The 24 hour check-in window was just a byproduct of this system. How would Microsoft know that you didn't circumvent measures to redistribute the game while offline? They're covering themselves with the license agreements they make with developers. It's anti-piracy. Which is hurting the videogame market. No the used games marketplace.

                          It's 2013. We live in a connected digital world. To say this technology is one step ahead of the curve is asinine. Reluctance is what is keeping these technologies from booming. The cloud is a great thing.

                          It's a shame Microsoft had to go this route. Now we have two consoles that practically do the same things that the current generation does, just in a shinier box and different controllers. Sure we might get better graphics, but now the features that made the Xbox One different from the PS4 (which just is a beefed-up PS3) are gone. We're now stuck in the same generation. The only difference a new shiny plastic cover.

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

                            Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                            To answer my own question from earlier, it appears that if you buy the game on a disc you will not be able to play on someone else's Xbox even if you are logged in to your live account.

                            However, if you buy it digitally, I believe you can still do that.

                            At this point, my plan is to just start buying my games digitally so that I can enjoy those features. Hopefully, when a game comes out, they let you start downloading it sometime after midnight so that you can let it download overnight and it will be ready for you the next day.
                            Microsoft's Azure platform will spin a game up on the cloud and basically stream it like a YouTube video. It will still download but you'll be playing it while that happens. Something that the current system isn't capable of doing.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: Xbox One dropping DRM will not be always online (no this is not a joke)

                              Originally posted by Heisenberg View Post
                              I don't have one, and I assume they've taken it offline, but what's this stuff I heard about the latest PS3 update literally bricking the console?
                              Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                              I don't know, but why ask that in this thread?
                              A majority of PS3 owners with 500 GB hard drives or after market hard drives (which Sony does allow you to do) that downloaded the firmware update bricked their machines. Sony has removed the patch and released a statement. As far as fixing bricked consoles, that is still up in the air.

                              Comment

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