Fine, I'll bite. Yes DVD's are often just "icing" long after the initial investment is made back. But you're conviently leaving out the fact that even that intitial "making it back" cost tons less than the CD equivalent. Going to theater: 8 bucks, Getting Raped By Ticket Master: 20-120 bucks. Sure live concerts cost more to put on (though the thirty reels of film need to put The Two Toweres in three theaters at your local megaplex isn't something to shirk at either) but not that order of magnitude more.
Further, your comparison forgets DTV releases which often have multi-million dollar SFX budgets as well. There is no theatrical release for these movies, and these are often available for 10-15 bucks.
I have this great idea for a business plan. I'll make videogames where the main character stays in school, studies hard, gets a good job and invest diligently and early in life. Then any kid who plays my game and gets rich I'll sue for their income!
If you think this is absurd then you have to think the case against Take2 is absurd. There's either a causal link or their isn't.
I think most "guns/games/fatty foods" are at fault type thinking is the result of the average joe simply not being to face the fact that "here there be monsters". Save for trouble with girls and failing out of art school what "horrible cause" was there in Hitler's life? Nothing. I really don't think a love of Wagner goes any lengths in explaining his later behavior. Looking for "causes" like that cheapens free will and people who choose to act in a moral and kind manner.
I can believe that multitasking harms productivity. My problem with the article is that for the most part killing boredom can be a very good thing.
Case in point: Yesterday I was at the DMV. Because of my handy PDA I was able to pull up my math notes and do some studying, run some back-ups at work, and write an email to my Grandmother. Would the article writers really have me believe that my life would have been better served for me to have stood in the line for four hours being bored?
This also brings up a general stereotype I've never understood, that videogame players have short attention spans. Who complains about the length of movies like "Magnolia" or "The Two Towers"? It isn't geeks. It's so called "normal" people. How is being a coder, sitting down and doing a complicated task involving math, for about four hours at a time supposedly supposed to kill my attention span?
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Fine, I'll bite. Yes DVD's are often just "icing" long after the initial investment is made back. But you're conviently leaving out the fact that even that intitial "making it back" cost tons less than the CD equivalent. Going to theater: 8 bucks, Getting Raped By Ticket Master: 20-120 bucks. Sure live concerts cost more to put on (though the thirty reels of film need to put The Two Toweres in three theaters at your local megaplex isn't something to shirk at either) but not that order of magnitude more.
Further, your comparison forgets DTV releases which often have multi-million dollar SFX budgets as well. There is no theatrical release for these movies, and these are often available for 10-15 bucks.
I have this great idea for a business plan. I'll make videogames where the main character stays in school, studies hard, gets a good job and invest diligently and early in life. Then any kid who plays my game and gets rich I'll sue for their income!
If you think this is absurd then you have to think the case against Take2 is absurd. There's either a causal link or their isn't.
I think most "guns/games/fatty foods" are at fault type thinking is the result of the average joe simply not being to face the fact that "here there be monsters". Save for trouble with girls and failing out of art school what "horrible cause" was there in Hitler's life? Nothing. I really don't think a love of Wagner goes any lengths in explaining his later behavior. Looking for "causes" like that cheapens free will and people who choose to act in a moral and kind manner.
I can believe that multitasking harms productivity. My problem with the article is that for the most part killing boredom can be a very good thing.
Case in point: Yesterday I was at the DMV. Because of my handy PDA I was able to pull up my math notes and do some studying, run some back-ups at work, and write an email to my Grandmother. Would the article writers really have me believe that my life would have been better served for me to have stood in the line for four hours being bored?
This also brings up a general stereotype I've never understood, that videogame players have short attention spans. Who complains about the length of movies like "Magnolia" or "The Two Towers"? It isn't geeks. It's so called "normal" people. How is being a coder, sitting down and doing a complicated task involving math, for about four hours at a time supposedly supposed to kill my attention span?