I think it's a case of life imitating art. EST's first edition was released in March 2004, and the Roadcasting project took place from January to July 2004. Unless one of the team members had an advance copy, there's really no way that they could have been inspired by EST.
I'm a web designer by trade -- though well versed in the realm of *nixes and Mac -- and in order to pay the bills, I have to have at least one image manipulation tool that I can use. While the Gimp's featureset is attractive, and I can't say enough good things about Script-Fu, the Gimp is not professional quality. I'm a professional, and that's what I demand from my tools.
Since I'm a web designer in the post-dotcom world, I'm also broke. I can't afford to purchase a Mac to run OS X. Intel-based hardware is cheap, graphic programs for Windows are plentiful, and so I stay on Windows. My forays into Linux have been fruitless, not for lack of knowledge (did I also mention I sysadmin? and code?) or the lack of other software, but just because I didn't have that one vital tool I needed.
The day that Adobe and Macromedia port their products to Linux is the day that I will quite happily switch back. Until that day, I will remain a Windows user.
From a PR standpoint, suing Google is absolutely brilliant. The monies to hire a lawyer and file a few bogus suits far outweigh the amount of traffic and attention that SearchKing will generate as a result of this suit (Let's be honest -- how many hits did they get as a result from/.? From other news sites? From other blogs?). Even though a large majority of the attention garnered will be negative, it's still attention. In the PR world, negative attention is almost always better than no attention at all. As a result of all this, they will undoubtedly receive a fresh influx of clients.
On the other hand, SearchKing has just publicly admitted that they've violated Google's TOS ("You may not use the Google Search Services to sell a product or service, or to increase traffic to your Web site for commercial reasons, such as advertising sales."). Considering how much of their business is built on exploiting Google's PageRank feature, I predict a sudden decrease in the ability to deliver what has been sold. Sweet, sweet justice.
Boy, Billington sounds like a real technophobe. Arrogrant? E-books seductive? Mindless futurists? Talk about running off at the mouth.
"'So far, the Internet seems to be largely amplifying the worst features of television's preoccupation with sex and violence, semi-literate chatter, shortened attention spans, and near-total subservience to commercial marketing,' said Billington."
Computing, and the resulting geek lifestyle, has long been thought of as a predominately male field. Yet it doesn't take a brain to realize that female geeks are becoming, by and large, a fairly big part of geek-dom.
By excluding what has the potential to be a significant part of the market (intentionally or no), gaming companies are shooting themselves in the foot. There are *tons* of women out there who like to game. Yet we find ourselves excluded, pushed aside. Everyday we have to deal with the mentality that those with tits can't possibly know computers. Those who cry loudest for female geeks are often the same people who trivialize us. Really. I've been there.
I'm not a prude. I like sex as much as the next geek. I recognize that it sells, and quite effectively at that. But I think that by creating extremely sexist advertising, advertisers are dooming themselves. Advertising can be extremely effective without bringing in a little T&A or cock.
Am I offended? Eh. Not really, because I've just grown so accustomed to it. I'm more likely to get pissed off at Cosmo and the like, since fashion mags do much more damage than some sexist game advertisment ever will. I do wish, however, that gaming companies would realize that there are real women geeks out there -- the kind that like to play Quake and fiddle with their boxes. The kind that thought the only use for Barbie was to torture in all sorts of horrendous ways (*evilcackle*). I'd like the gaming companies to remember us before they turn totally kick-ass female characters into sex objects (a la Lara Croft -- just not my kink, you know?). I'd like them to remember that we're real people too.
And to all the guys who said that female gamers only played Myst or Solitare, a hearty fsck you (meant in the nicest possible way, of course =). Female geeks are real and here to stay.
Raleigh Grand *sucks*! The clientel is almost exclusively snotty-nosed high schoolers, they don't turn out the lights in the theaters, the sound is tinny at best, so on, so forth.
When it comes to Star Wars, catch me at the newly remodeled Park Place 16. =)
Except for the times that you shoot yourself in the foot by alienating your customers. I don't support any business that spams me, and I'm pretty sure that a good portion of my geek (and non-geek) brethren feel the same way.
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I think it's a case of life imitating art. EST's first edition was released in March 2004, and the Roadcasting project took place from January to July 2004. Unless one of the team members had an advance copy, there's really no way that they could have been inspired by EST.
Oh, that's easy. The Gimp.
I'm a web designer by trade -- though well versed in the realm of *nixes and Mac -- and in order to pay the bills, I have to have at least one image manipulation tool that I can use. While the Gimp's featureset is attractive, and I can't say enough good things about Script-Fu, the Gimp is not professional quality. I'm a professional, and that's what I demand from my tools.
Since I'm a web designer in the post-dotcom world, I'm also broke. I can't afford to purchase a Mac to run OS X. Intel-based hardware is cheap, graphic programs for Windows are plentiful, and so I stay on Windows. My forays into Linux have been fruitless, not for lack of knowledge (did I also mention I sysadmin? and code?) or the lack of other software, but just because I didn't have that one vital tool I needed.
The day that Adobe and Macromedia port their products to Linux is the day that I will quite happily switch back. Until that day, I will remain a Windows user.
--
From a PR standpoint, suing Google is absolutely brilliant. The monies to hire a lawyer and file a few bogus suits far outweigh the amount of traffic and attention that SearchKing will generate as a result of this suit (Let's be honest -- how many hits did they get as a result from /.? From other news sites? From other blogs?). Even though a large majority of the attention garnered will be negative, it's still attention. In the PR world, negative attention is almost always better than no attention at all. As a result of all this, they will undoubtedly receive a fresh influx of clients.
On the other hand, SearchKing has just publicly admitted that they've violated Google's TOS ("You may not use the Google Search Services to sell a product or service, or to increase traffic to your Web site for commercial reasons, such as advertising sales."). Considering how much of their business is built on exploiting Google's PageRank feature, I predict a sudden decrease in the ability to deliver what has been sold. Sweet, sweet justice.
--
"'So far, the Internet seems to be largely amplifying the worst features of television's preoccupation with sex and violence, semi-literate chatter, shortened attention spans, and near-total subservience to commercial marketing,' said Billington."
Ha!
--
Computing, and the resulting geek lifestyle, has long been thought of as a predominately male field. Yet it doesn't take a brain to realize that female geeks are becoming, by and large, a fairly big part of geek-dom.
By excluding what has the potential to be a significant part of the market (intentionally or no), gaming companies are shooting themselves in the foot. There are *tons* of women out there who like to game. Yet we find ourselves excluded, pushed aside. Everyday we have to deal with the mentality that those with tits can't possibly know computers. Those who cry loudest for female geeks are often the same people who trivialize us. Really. I've been there.
I'm not a prude. I like sex as much as the next geek. I recognize that it sells, and quite effectively at that. But I think that by creating extremely sexist advertising, advertisers are dooming themselves. Advertising can be extremely effective without bringing in a little T&A or cock.
Am I offended? Eh. Not really, because I've just grown so accustomed to it. I'm more likely to get pissed off at Cosmo and the like, since fashion mags do much more damage than some sexist game advertisment ever will. I do wish, however, that gaming companies would realize that there are real women geeks out there -- the kind that like to play Quake and fiddle with their boxes. The kind that thought the only use for Barbie was to torture in all sorts of horrendous ways (*evilcackle*). I'd like the gaming companies to remember us before they turn totally kick-ass female characters into sex objects (a la Lara Croft -- just not my kink, you know?). I'd like them to remember that we're real people too.
And to all the guys who said that female gamers only played Myst or Solitare, a hearty fsck you (meant in the nicest possible way, of course =). Female geeks are real and here to stay.
--
Raleigh Grand *sucks*! The clientel is almost exclusively snotty-nosed high schoolers, they don't turn out the lights in the theaters, the sound is tinny at best, so on, so forth.
When it comes to Star Wars, catch me at the newly remodeled Park Place 16. =)
Except for the times that you shoot yourself in the foot by alienating your customers. I don't support any business that spams me, and I'm pretty sure that a good portion of my geek (and non-geek) brethren feel the same way.