Comments on: WiFi Nightmares – are Friend Codes really a solution?

By: used cisco

used cisco — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:59:16 +0000

Which part? Dont you use friend codes to connect to buddies online? Maybe I’m using them wrong.

By: raindog469

raindog469 — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:02:46 +0000

Congratulations. That has to be the most disingenuous comment I’ve ever read on Infendo.

By: used cisco

used cisco — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:09:42 +0000

But friend codes aren’t pointless. I use them to see if my friends are online. I use them to invite a friend to play online. I think you are confusing them being pointless with your preference that they be letters chosen by the user rather than numbers chosen at random. Friend codes are pretty handy whether you like the implementation of them or not.

By: raindog469

raindog469 — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:50:06 +0000

The fact that it’s not dangerous right now with friend codes, but would not be any more dangerous without friend codes, due to the lack of any significant information-sharing ability, was exactly my point. It demonstrates that in Mario Strikers Charged, as released, friend codes are completely pointless. In other games they may not be, but in Strikers they are.

By: used cisco

used cisco — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:13:35 +0000

You may want to clarify further, in that, the experience really isn’t dangerous at all the way things stand right now WITH friend codes, so arguing that it couldn’t be MORE dangerous without friend codes (whether or not it’s true) is pretty lame.

By: raindog469

raindog469 — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:26:05 +0000

Oh, fine. To clarify: all other things being as they are now, if Nintendo hadn’t put friend codes into Strikers, it could never be a more dangerous experience than it currently is.

By: used cisco

used cisco — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:31:35 +0000

I didn’t lie. You did. Or at the very least you don’t really understand what it is you’re saying.

“Well, even without friend codes, Strikers could never be a more dangerous experience for minors than is now.”

Lets see, “strikers could NEVER be a more dangerous experience”.

Sure it could. They could allow voice chat. They could allow texting.

Both of which would make it more dangerous for kids. So your comment is flat out false. It COULD be more dangerous, WITH or WITHOUT friend codes. Don’t say never if thats not what you mean. To say it could NEVER me more dangerous without friend codes is ridiculous. Hell, it could be more dangerous WITH friend codes, obviously it could be more dangerous WITHOUT. Maybe thats not what you meant but its what you typed, and its false. Period.

Some people just don’t get it because they are so busy crying (see your posts for examples). Friend codes are not the ultimate answer to security for kids. They are part of a larger system. One that doesn’t typically include things like voice chat or messaging or online propositioning by strangers.

It may not be 10 condoms, but like you say, it’s 3. Maybe thats not right for you or me, but Nintendo has to balance that against what they feel is right for other users and their company. Personally, I wouldn’t choose friends codes the way Nintendo has, but I understand why they are doing it and they are not keeping me from having a damn fun time online playing with friends and strangers alike, the only thing thats bothersome is the people whining like the children Nintendo is trying to protect.

By: raindog469

raindog469 — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:19:06 +0000

Used cisco, don’t call other people liars if you’re going to lie yourself. Super Mario Strikers doesn’t have voice chat in the first place, so it would be pretty hard for a 9 year old to hear “GET RAPED” through it, with or without friend codes. You couldn’t come up with a scenario when not having friend codes in Super Mario Strikers would be harmful, so you made one up.

Hence my point. With or without friend codes, playing Super Mario Strikers online is designed to be a 3-condom experience.

So, when Nintendo actually releases a Wii game with some kind of chat built-in, we can have this conversation again, but for Super Mario Strikers, friend codes are pointless.

By: used cisco

used cisco — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:42:13 +0000

Unlike the poster above, I’m glad not to have that type of hub functionality, I would prefer that people on my friends list can’t see me online in other games than what I’ve added them to. If I add a friend in strikers, I want him to see me on in strikers, but I don’t necessarily want him to see me when I’m on playing Animal Crossing, for obvious reasons.
Maybe this is a symptom of friend codes in that I have a lot of strangers in my friends list, most of which I don’t want to see me online unless it’s in a specific game. I’m sure they could code it so that you could block certain users from seeing you in certain games, but what a pain in the ass. This is a free system after all. I would expect features like that in a system as expensive as LIVE but thats overkill in a free online environment.

By: InvisibleMan

InvisibleMan — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:47:55 +0000

Again, the problem is NOT so much the Friend Code system, that’s only an annoyance… The REAL problem is that you never know if your friends are on or what they are playing until you look for them through the specific game they are playing at the moment. The chances of that happening are nearly astronomical!

The real convenience of Xbox LIVE is that I can log onto their website on my computer and see which of my friends are on and what are they playing, so I can simply jump in! Or, I can turn on my Xbox or Xbox 360 and look them up there. Once I’m signed into my console, they can see me too, whether I’m in a game or not, and in whichever game I’m playing!

Surely everyone can see the advantage of that, right? The issue with Wii not having that might be technical, I’m afraid. But if Nintendo could pull it off, how awesome would it be to have that kind of hub not just for Wii, but for DS as well?? (Through a Wii channel, of course… I don’t think the DS could handle that kind of connectivity!)