Can my character live forever?

[Drayma]

If I took my VMU or memory card and bury it in a tin box would my character live forever? I know it sounds silly but I was thinking about doing it.

[Tact]

Well, theoretically, yes (for the memory card). Just make sure the container is not biodegradable.

[Ryna]

If you simply throw your memory card into a tin box, your memory card will probably not last forever. The biggest problems you will have are battery leaks and the contacts corroding. The battery leak problem is simple enough to fix, you just remove the battery. As for the corrosion problem, you would have to put the memory card in an oxygen free environment.

Also, you have to consider what it means "for your character to live forever." The memory card could theoretically last forever, but will the data stored on it be recoverable? If the data is non-recoverable, then your character would have to be considered to be "dead". This means that the data on the card must be preserved and that there must be a means for reading it.

Another thing you have to keep in mind is that memory cards can only be written/read so many times. After you go past a certain point, your character will "die" along with the memory card.

[Tycho]

If noone could use the characters on the memory card to play the game, could you really say your characters are 'alive'?

[Drayma]

On 2005-03-28 05:54, Tycho wrote:
If noone could use the characters on the memory card to play the game, could you really say your characters are 'alive'?


yea I guess I would be keeping a memory card in a strange place when you think about it.

[Drayma]

On 2005-03-28 05:54, Ryna wrote:
If you simply throw your memory card into a tin box, your memory card will probably not last forever. The biggest problems you will have are battery leaks and the contacts corroding. The battery leak problem is simple enough to fix, you just remove the battery. As for the corrosion problem, you would have to put the memory card in an oxygen free environment.

Also, you have to consider what it means "for your character to live forever." The memory card could theoretically last forever, but will the data stored on it be recoverable? If the data is non-recoverable, then your character would have to be considered to be "dead". This means that the data on the card must be preserved and that there must be a means for reading it.

Another thing you have to keep in mind is that memory cards can only be written/read so many times. After you go past a certain point, your character will "die" along with the memory card.


Thanks for the reply.

[adamgnome104]

Put the game system, a controller and your memory card in a vacuum sealed package, and put it in a durable container thing, and bury it under the ground with instructions where it is, and instructions how to turn it on, for a future civilization. >_> Or something. >_>

[Ryna]

On 2005-03-28 11:33, adamgnome104 wrote:
Put the game system, a controller and your memory card in a vacuum sealed package, and put it in a durable container thing, and bury it under the ground with instructions where it is, and instructions how to turn it on, for a future civilization. >_> Or something. >_>


You would also have to include a display and power system, just to be safe. You can't make too many assumptions about how things will work in the far future. It would also probably be a good idea to design your container system so that it maintained a constant temperature and would expel any "harmful" gasses (ie: oxygen causes corrosion, etc...).

When you are writing up the directions, try to translate them into as many languages as possible. That would help the people in the future figure out how they were supposed to turn on your video game system, load your character, and play the game.

[Bawless]

depends on the type of memory in a VMU, if its SD type memory(which i think it is), then it will need a charge to keep its data, and when the battery runs out, then your character will eventually die a slow and painful death.

if the data was burned onto a disk/tape then it would last alot longer, as this type of memory/storage doesnt need a charge to keep it "alive".

[Saigan]

*Wierd thread award*

Congrats lol, ya oddballs. o.O;

[Circio]

I have to agree with Saigan, but Bawless is correct. The VMU requires a power source to retain its memory. As soon as the battery died, your character would become "dead".

[Char]

So your telling me that a memory card can only be read say 1000 times and then after the 1000th time it is corrupt? Because im one of the few people who has never gotten a corrupt file.

[ulyoth]

Im guessing its a lot more than that, probably more times than you could possibly play it in a consoles life.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ulyoth on 2005-03-30 04:36 ]</font>

[Ryna]

On 2005-03-29 18:02, Char wrote:
So your telling me that a memory card can only be read say 1000 times and then after the 1000th time it is corrupt? Because im one of the few people who has never gotten a corrupt file.


Depending on the type of memory chip inside the card, it can be written several thousand times (10,000+). It is designed so that it can be written at least that number of times. It will not necessarily die after you do reach 10,000, but it will die at some point in the future.

[Ancient]

I went through several Sega Saturn memory cards in my time, the batteries in them wernt that good I suppose.
The balance between memory cards, and disk/tape storage, is that mem cards will loose their charge after a while of non-use, but are able to be written and re-written TONS of times. Disk/tape storage will last almost indeffinitly being left alone(if you keep it away from magnets and corrosive stufF), but the moving parts of it will wear out reletively quickly with heavy use. Harddrives last about 10 years or so, if you're good to them.

The best way to make your character imortal is simply resurecting them on whatever platform you are using. Ancient has been reborn twice. And their are a few iterations of him on other games as well. The game worlds themselves are not imortal, FFXI's Vanadiel will eventually fade from existence, swallowed up by the Nothing. But your character's soul can travel to any game...metaphorically speaking here, I'm not trying to start a religious game character cult ^__^


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ancient on 2005-03-30 18:23 ]</font>

[Jason]

On 2005-03-28 03:29, Drayma wrote:
If I took my VMU or memory card and bury it in a tin box would my character live forever? I know it sounds silly but I was thinking about doing it.



You're watching too much Britney Spears. http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

[Rubesahl]

On 2005-03-29 17:32, Circio wrote:
I have to agree with Saigan, but Bawless is correct. The VMU requires a power source to retain its memory. As soon as the battery died, your character would become "dead".



My VMUs work without batteries. If I'm not mistaken, batteries are for using the VMU's interface with the LCD screen, otherwise the data doesn't need a charge. Take cartridge games as an example...

[Ryna]

On 2005-03-31 05:35, Rubesahl wrote:
Take cartridge games as an example...


If you take a look at game cartridges from the Sega Master System/Nintendo/Genesis/Super Nintendo console days, you'll find that almost all of them that allow you to save your progress without needing a password have a battery incorporated in them. These batteries are designed to last for about 5-10 years. I have a couple that are going on about 15 years old. As soon as the battery goes dead in a cartridge, your game save will be lost. It is possible to replace them, but it is very tricky.

As for the VMU, I believe you only need the battery if you want to use it without it being connected to a Dreamcast.

According to this webpage:
http://alive.atari.org/alive7/vmu_wild.html

The VMU uses a Sanyo LC 86000/87 processing chip and has 1 MB of flash memory. The flash memory in the VMU is non-volatile (that means you won't lose your data when the battery goes dead). This memory can be read/written so many thousands of times before it will go bad.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ryna on 2005-03-31 07:18 ]</font>

[Fossil]

So your telling me that a memory card can only be read say 1000 times and then after the 1000th time it is corrupt? Because im one of the few people who has never gotten a corrupt file.

Not really. I read once that the lifespan of the Nintendo 64's Memory cards could be flashed over a million times before they began to stop functioning. I'm sure it was tested and it's safe the say the Gamecube Memory cards more than likely have a much longer span of life.

Consider you play online a few times a day, the game saves probably 20-40 times. So take that(40) x7 = 280 a week x 52 = Just over 14,000 saves. And this is online play. So you could play for 50 years and your card would more than likely be good considering you took good care of it.

[Rubesahl]

On 2005-03-31 07:13, Ryna wrote:


On 2005-03-31 05:35, Rubesahl wrote:
Take cartridge games as an example...


If you take a look at game cartridges from the Sega Master System/Nintendo/Genesis/Super Nintendo console days, you'll find that almost all of them that allow you to save your progress without needing a password have a battery incorporated in them. These batteries are designed to last for about 5-10 years. I have a couple that are going on about 15 years old. As soon as the battery goes dead in a cartridge, your game save will be lost. It is possible to replace them, but it is very tricky.

As for the VMU, I believe you only need the battery if you want to use it without it being connected to a Dreamcast.

According to this webpage:
http://alive.atari.org/alive7/vmu_wild.html

The VMU uses a Sanyo LC 86000/87 processing chip and has 1 MB of flash memory. The flash memory in the VMU is non-volatile (that means you won't lose your data when the battery goes dead). This memory can be read/written so many thousands of times before it will go bad.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ryna on 2005-03-31 07:18 ]</font>


I didn't know that about cartridges, thx for the clarification. You learn something new everyday http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_cool.gif

[Char]

O wow. The only way a mem card can corrupt is if it turns off when u save, If you shock the memory card with your finger, or if you go near high voltage electricity correct?

[PrinceBrightstar]

Ok wait... the point of an N64 memory card was what? I usually just had a rumble pack in there.

Anyway, ya the new flash memory that is being used today will last forever. the only time they need power is when in use, and the console/computer will provide that, much like how USB and Firewire provide power.

[Fossil]

Assuming I got my info right... I may be wrong on N64 MC being flash.

[Thalui89]

well yea i suppose u could keep them alive aslong as the memory card is ina non degradeable place but whats the point in going through all that hastle when u wont be able to play them anymore? they may aswell be dead