May 15, 2008 at 2:35 pm (Just Thinking)
The Washington DC area is weird. I’m sure that normal children riding a school bus have arguments about the superiority of this cartoon figure over that, this advertised snack product of empty calories and grease over that, and so on. In the quiet hamlet where I came of age, children on the bus would scream “Yeah? Well, Republicans RULE!!” “Nu-UH, Democrats are the best!”
March 18, 2008 at 3:09 pm (Just Thinking, Tales)
Hell, I could do better typing one handed than this stupidity. Hey, that’s an idea for a blog post! (Please note - I think… okay, I hope… the writer was trying to be funny. The intro to the piece gave the impression that he was trying to offer serious advice, and certainly that’s the way it was taken by a few people who should have known better.)
January 4, 2008 at 1:25 pm (Just Thinking)
…that ANYTHING involving massive, multiplayer experiences ends up with a press release saying “whoa, didn’t see THAT coming.” My only complaint is this: How far up your ass does your head have to be before you don’t see holiday surges/first day releases coming down the tracks?
December 20, 2007 at 6:40 pm (Just Thinking)
- You are speaking, live and in person, with someone. He says something vaguely off-color. You react with faux-outrage and say aloud “LALALALA, I CAN’T HEAR YOU.” And you cover your eyes.
December 5, 2007 at 2:29 pm (Just Thinking)
Well, technically, so does everyone. Technically. The devil sure is in those details.
I am not sure this is a good sign for community people and the profession. None of the parts of this megacorporation have seen a need for any community management besides a) message boards, and b) telling people what they want to hear… and if those things turn out to be not true, well, the explanation pacified everyone at the time, so it’s all good. Besides, “there’s no money in it.” (Until there IS, and suddenly I have to listen to people who argued with me for years telling the NYT that they were right all along. It’s bound to happen, but that doesn’t mean I’m not irritated in advance!) Now, with the sheer size and accompanying expectations of the new beast, there’s little reason for this giant to innovate in the area of social connection. Sounds like they’re after their own Madden. I guess it’s good to have goals. But until they have their Madden on top of their Warcraft, and are therefore more settled, I suspect they’ll leave the social aspects to Pepperidge Fucking Farm.
It certainly is interesting, watching business cycles repeat themselves. Wonder when the next wave of small studios will start.
November 21, 2007 at 12:27 pm (Just Thinking)
Others have said more eloquent things on the topic of Jade. There have been some that have been more philosophical. And some people know their demographic very well, and used plenty of pictures to keep things simple. So I have very little to add, really. Other than to say that I may have been somewhat off base, trying to judge gaming and the condition of women therein based on my little tenement in the ghetto. Maybe it really is different in the console end of things. I like to admit it when I’m wrong, and this little drama does illustrate a dark corner I’d never walked past.
Of course, I have a few points:
November 7, 2007 at 2:50 pm (Just Thinking)
So… let’s say you’re an executive of a company that makes stuffed animals. A really big company that makes ten different kinds of stuffed animals. Now let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that you have no more idea of how to make a stuffed animal than does my flatulent and aged beagle. However, you have piles of money, and the people who can make stuffed animals aren’t so good at the “piles of money” part, once they’ve gotten their own personal pile. So you buy people who make stuffed animals, and between your money and their toys, you’re both reasonably happy.
October 31, 2007 at 11:13 am (Just Thinking)
This isn’t a personal blog, otherwise I would rant. I would probably rant about people who call to see my dream house, the one I have to sell before purchasing something no doubt inferior in regards to the dream domicile’s many charms (but nearer to where my husband the genius artist is now employed). These people do not understand that since I work at home, their call requires that I stop working, gather up my coat, phone, keys, and two recalcitrant beagles that would rather be napping, and haul the whole flying circus down the sidewalk. AFTER racing around the house to be sure I have not done anything terrible like leaving a towel on a towel hook, or a wastebasket full of drafts by my desk. Were this a personal blog, I would certainly rant about the fellow who casually mentions to me, as I am leaving the house, that he has already made an offer on a completely different house, but he was “just really curious” about mine.
This rant would apparently be part of a very long tradition.
Sorry for not ranting about games and community - lately every spare minute has gone into house selling/house hunting/contemplating a gigantic margarita bender.
October 17, 2007 at 3:15 am (Just Thinking)
I just got my speaker evaluations back from AGC. Primarily, I discovered that no one could actually hear any of the four panels I was on. The bulk of the comments were “Door kept opening, very distracting.” (This is not a slam on the commentators, by the way. The way AGC is set up is that there is always one really popular panel every time slot, and everyone who decides not to sit on the floor for the Cool Panel comes in ten minutes late to whatever panel still has seats. And, since only one of my panels was actually in a room larger than your basic public restroom, there was no room in mine either. So the door did indeed keep opening.)
One person wrote: “A women (sic) has to work very harrd (sic) in a mans (sic) world.” The rest of the comment was an invitation for me to act smarter compared to the men. Since this anonymous comment came from someone attending the panel where the august panelists were in a punchy mood, I will take a part of the criticism and bow in silent apology for my part of the shenanigans.
As for the first part of the critique… you have got to be shitting me.
