"Why is our life expectancy only 78 years when forty-seven other countries, including Aruba, Spain, and Iceland, do better?"
Welcome to the U.S., home of some of the best and most advanced health-care technology on the planet...for those who can afford it, which unfortunately isn't many. The U.S. health-care system is many things but affordable is not one of them.
There's actually an interesting anime that just came out that is based around this hikkomori syndrome. The anime is called Welcome to the NHK and while the humor side of things (the hikkomori is part conspiracy nut) the show basically deals with the hikkomori's fairly realistic and common fantasy that a random girl will somehow show up at their doorstep (literally) and start solving their life's problems whether they want them to or not (hint: they want them to).
Part of this is what I call "button-pushing syndrome" and for the most part only affects younger. I define this as someone who thinks all of lifes problems can be solved at the push of a button. Games like WoW and such definitely contribute to this (not that I think they're bad because of this) because progression is metered and living a fantastic life in a virtual world involves little more effort than hitting buttons.
Of course, real life is much more difficult and takes a lot more hard work. Presented with a world where they can exist by pushing buttons (the net) and real life, these people's fight or flight mechanism kicks in and takes them down the path of least resistance...the net.
I will add one more point on why this will never be picked up...and this is to do more with the actual format of this particular show...
Your primary demographic for this is a the 18-34 male gamer. DO NOT FORCE YOUR VIEWERS TO SIT THROUGH 9 MINUTES OF COMMENTARY FROM UNATTRACTIVE (sorry guys, just being honest) GUYS!
Man, you think these guys would have learned something from Rocketboom.
Its been said before and I'll say it again...the reason TV for gamers will have difficulty taking off the way traditional sports TV has is that in order to have a good professional sports team, you need a lot of athletes at the peak of physical fitness. For computer games you bar is much lower and thus there is a much larger percent of the population who, even though they might not be the "best of the best" could still give them a run for their money.
So you're wondering "big deal, why does that affect things?"
Simple. People for the most part would rather PLAY video games than watch them.
You know, I think it was more along the lines of the tech-savvy people noticing...then thinking "hey! if I don't do/say anything this could very well bring an end to the MySpace era while simultaneously screwing up the computers of the people who put up those epilepsy inducing backgrounds and widgets that are more of an eye-sore than the early Geocities days. 2 birds with 1 stone!"
"Viral marketting is just a dotbomb buzzword. The idea behind it predates the Internet, predates print in fact. This is not viral marketting, its simply a conduit for malware."
Bzzzt! Wrong! Viral marketing refers to any marketing tactic that is spread by word of mouth from person to person (hence the "viral"). Yes, the tactics had begun to emerge pre-internet, however the advertising industry (which I work in) didn't officially recognize these tactics as its own form of marketing strategy until recently. Its really just a classification of the results of the campaign since you can't really "create" a viral piece, rather something GOES viral when enough people like it that they spread it around.
Which brings me to my next point where the great grandparent says:
"Viral is to marketing like rape is to sex, it's always wrong."
You sir are ignorant. The only way something goes viral is if the creative is interesting and likeable enough to make people WANT to pass it on. Nothing is being forced on anybody thus blowing your analogy completely out of the water. Worst. Comparison. Ever.
If only you were legally allowed to patent business models...oh wait.
I'm actually curious though, can anybody poke some holes in the "accelerated account" I describe in my grandparent post? I'm curious if that kind of thing would actually work or if it has serious issues. If it wouldn't work then thats one less thing to worry about.
I used to be a hardcore gamer but now, after leaving college and entering the work force I have been forced to become a casual gamer due to lack of time.
That is fine, there is an increasing number of games being made for people like me.
HOWEVER! My big fear is that companies like EA will look at these two markets...the hardcore and the casual and say "hmmm, the hardcore gamers will pay outrageous monthly subscription fees and pay for addons and the casual gamers are adverse to it because the value for their time spent playing said purchased products will be far less than that of gamers who have more time to spend playing and therefore getting their dollars worth"
At this point, the suits will perform a dark ritual that will summon a demon who will command them to find a way to rape the casual gamers and milk them for all they're worth, such as by charging a higher monthly fee for an "accelerated account" that will be capped at the number of hours you can play it per month, but will allow you to advance in the game faster (such as by getting more XP per kill). I'm actually surprised nobody has thought of that model yet. But yeah, my big fear is that EA will say "casual gamers won't buy as much as hardcore gamers, but maybe we can charge them more for less".
You know, no matter how evil it seems to post someones info on Slashdot, I never fail to chuckle as I imagine the look on their face when they ask "HOW MANY people are angry at me and have my contact info?"
Part of me thinks "maybe they know how deep a hole they've dug themselves, but at this point the only thing to do is keep digging and hope you come out the other side"
Simple. While yes, ultimately the goal is to get someone to buy the product, ABC's goal is to sel ad space. When people are using DVR's and skipping commercials, media buyers for ad agencies use that metric as a negotiation tool to get a lower rate (which equals less money on the sale to ABC).
Thus, this is also about removing a negotiation tool for the buyers in the ad sales business, hence the relevance to lost revenue.
"Is it legal to say that participating in an eBay auction means doing so according their rules? Of course - because there are all sorts of other auction sites, if you'd rather go elsewhere."
And thats what it comes down to. In addition to the very insightful parent poster, I would add the marketing/PR perspective that the only reason they have balls big enough to do this is because of how entrenched eBay is in the online auction world. Yes, there are competitors, some from big companies as well, but for sheer selection and user-base, it really is hard to beat eBay, and there will be enough people who don't give a shit about the Google payment option to make it financially feasible for them to do this.
I wholeheartedly agree. As an ex head of distribution for a major anime fansubbing group the one thing I've learned is...treat the fans with respect and not only will they respect you back, they will spend money to show their appreciation.
While I cannot even begin to predict what might happen if the music/movie industry treated their customers with the same respect as anime companies, I can say that at this point it honestly couldn't hurt them to try. What's the worst that could happen, customers don't hate them as much?
Not only that but the the fansubbing world provides as parent explained, an INCREDIBLY useful marketing research tool to the content companies.
Do you have any idea how much risk has been diminished with U.S. based anime releases because of the data they've gathered from torrent trackers serving anime?
Its funny...I tend to watch trends on Mininova and PirateBay, and if a new series is good, the first episode will start with a few hundred seeds, and the next one will jump to about 1k or so when its freshly released. If it gets to double digit seeders/leechers, that is a series I would be willing to invest money in to bring to the states because that is how confident I am that it would do well.
I'm not so much taking issue with the referral itself as your lack of disclosure. Apologies if that did not come across as clearly as I intended in my original post.
But I do have a general issue with referral links in discussions on Slashdot because they tarnish any "good faith" addition to a discussion due to the posters motive of a financial incentive.
If you merely wanted to contribute to the discussion, you could have posted it without the referral. As it is you used your link and did not even say something to the extent of "shameless referral link" to indicate your financial incentive.
"I don't see where the OP cheated - they just make some money if you buy the book. It's not like they misrepresented what the book was about."
They did not misrepresent the book at all. That is not what I took issue with. What I took issue with is that they misrepresented their motive for posting the link to the book. And while yes, they probably did it with good intentions, we have no way of knowing that since they did not disclose their financial incentive.
Its all about trust, and transparency = trust. The reason I don't like people posting referral links is because it encourages comment spam on Slashdot.
I am most certainly not puritan (in fact I'm Jewish, can you believe I'm against this guy making money?!) but I am interested in keeping Slashdot as spam free as possible.
Can you please explain where I can actually watch all of the Current.tv content on the site? Every time I go there I am unable to find the viewing section and assume I must subscribe to the actual TV channel to watch it.
"It would be greatly appreciated by the Billions of us that don't live there if you Americans would do something about your current government. "
Aside from voting, which has been useless anyway since they rig the elections, can you recommend another course of action? I mean, we have the right to bear arms which was intended to help us overthrow a corrupt government, but what use is a semi-automatic rifle against tanks, spec ops forces and anything else the armed forces can throw at us?
PLease, if you have a solution to this, by ALL MEANS tell us, god knows there are plenty of us here who would LOVE to do something about this.
Slashdot Mirror
Welcome to the U.S., home of some of the best and most advanced health-care technology on the planet...for those who can afford it, which unfortunately isn't many. The U.S. health-care system is many things but affordable is not one of them.
Part of this is what I call "button-pushing syndrome" and for the most part only affects younger. I define this as someone who thinks all of lifes problems can be solved at the push of a button. Games like WoW and such definitely contribute to this (not that I think they're bad because of this) because progression is metered and living a fantastic life in a virtual world involves little more effort than hitting buttons.
Of course, real life is much more difficult and takes a lot more hard work. Presented with a world where they can exist by pushing buttons (the net) and real life, these people's fight or flight mechanism kicks in and takes them down the path of least resistance...the net.
Your primary demographic for this is a the 18-34 male gamer. DO NOT FORCE YOUR VIEWERS TO SIT THROUGH 9 MINUTES OF COMMENTARY FROM UNATTRACTIVE (sorry guys, just being honest) GUYS!
Man, you think these guys would have learned something from Rocketboom.
So you're wondering "big deal, why does that affect things?"
Simple. People for the most part would rather PLAY video games than watch them.
Episodic gaming is BAAAD as I have previously discussed in detail in my previous posts here, here and here.
Bzzzt! Wrong! Viral marketing refers to any marketing tactic that is spread by word of mouth from person to person (hence the "viral"). Yes, the tactics had begun to emerge pre-internet, however the advertising industry (which I work in) didn't officially recognize these tactics as its own form of marketing strategy until recently. Its really just a classification of the results of the campaign since you can't really "create" a viral piece, rather something GOES viral when enough people like it that they spread it around.
Which brings me to my next point where the great grandparent says:
"Viral is to marketing like rape is to sex, it's always wrong."
You sir are ignorant. The only way something goes viral is if the creative is interesting and likeable enough to make people WANT to pass it on. Nothing is being forced on anybody thus blowing your analogy completely out of the water. Worst. Comparison. Ever.
I'm actually curious though, can anybody poke some holes in the "accelerated account" I describe in my grandparent post? I'm curious if that kind of thing would actually work or if it has serious issues. If it wouldn't work then thats one less thing to worry about.
That is fine, there is an increasing number of games being made for people like me.
HOWEVER! My big fear is that companies like EA will look at these two markets...the hardcore and the casual and say "hmmm, the hardcore gamers will pay outrageous monthly subscription fees and pay for addons and the casual gamers are adverse to it because the value for their time spent playing said purchased products will be far less than that of gamers who have more time to spend playing and therefore getting their dollars worth"
At this point, the suits will perform a dark ritual that will summon a demon who will command them to find a way to rape the casual gamers and milk them for all they're worth, such as by charging a higher monthly fee for an "accelerated account" that will be capped at the number of hours you can play it per month, but will allow you to advance in the game faster (such as by getting more XP per kill). I'm actually surprised nobody has thought of that model yet. But yeah, my big fear is that EA will say "casual gamers won't buy as much as hardcore gamers, but maybe we can charge them more for less".
Thus, this is also about removing a negotiation tool for the buyers in the ad sales business, hence the relevance to lost revenue.
I think he can, its just a question of whether he'll get repeat sex what with the whole "faster than a speeding bullet" thing.
And thats what it comes down to. In addition to the very insightful parent poster, I would add the marketing/PR perspective that the only reason they have balls big enough to do this is because of how entrenched eBay is in the online auction world. Yes, there are competitors, some from big companies as well, but for sheer selection and user-base, it really is hard to beat eBay, and there will be enough people who don't give a shit about the Google payment option to make it financially feasible for them to do this.
She'd better swallow if I'm going to enjoy it.
/couldn't resist
//there is no 'she' who will be doing any swallowing with me
///are you really that surprised?
While I cannot even begin to predict what might happen if the music/movie industry treated their customers with the same respect as anime companies, I can say that at this point it honestly couldn't hurt them to try. What's the worst that could happen, customers don't hate them as much?
Not only that but the the fansubbing world provides as parent explained, an INCREDIBLY useful marketing research tool to the content companies.
Do you have any idea how much risk has been diminished with U.S. based anime releases because of the data they've gathered from torrent trackers serving anime?
Its funny...I tend to watch trends on Mininova and PirateBay, and if a new series is good, the first episode will start with a few hundred seeds, and the next one will jump to about 1k or so when its freshly released. If it gets to double digit seeders/leechers, that is a series I would be willing to invest money in to bring to the states because that is how confident I am that it would do well.
But I do have a general issue with referral links in discussions on Slashdot because they tarnish any "good faith" addition to a discussion due to the posters motive of a financial incentive.
If you merely wanted to contribute to the discussion, you could have posted it without the referral. As it is you used your link and did not even say something to the extent of "shameless referral link" to indicate your financial incentive.
They did not misrepresent the book at all. That is not what I took issue with. What I took issue with is that they misrepresented their motive for posting the link to the book. And while yes, they probably did it with good intentions, we have no way of knowing that since they did not disclose their financial incentive.
Its all about trust, and transparency = trust. The reason I don't like people posting referral links is because it encourages comment spam on Slashdot.
I am most certainly not puritan (in fact I'm Jewish, can you believe I'm against this guy making money?!) but I am interested in keeping Slashdot as spam free as possible.
Everybody please note the following (emphasis mine) link which he gives:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140282025/ christorculve-20/104-2002403-8111902?_encoding=UTF 8&camp=1789&link_code=xm2
Please note the similarity between that bolded name, the name of the parent (jackass) poster and the URL of the parent's website.Aside from voting, which has been useless anyway since they rig the elections, can you recommend another course of action? I mean, we have the right to bear arms which was intended to help us overthrow a corrupt government, but what use is a semi-automatic rifle against tanks, spec ops forces and anything else the armed forces can throw at us?
PLease, if you have a solution to this, by ALL MEANS tell us, god knows there are plenty of us here who would LOVE to do something about this.