I watched a few of the original Firefly episodes, and I wasn't particularly stunned. But, for the sake of discussion, let's say I loved it. Okay, so Joss Whedon releases episodes online. As long as he's getting most/all of the money, I would probably order them on DVD if they were available. If he's making a dime for every DVD he sells, I wouldn't think twice about pirating it, though. I doubt I would, because it would probably be a hassle, but if I wanted to, my morals wouldn't stop me.
Personally, I think it's in the best interests of music artists and publishers of RPG Rulebooks to release their work online. It has been proven that indie artists can make a load of money by giving stuff away for free, and then selling merchandise (The hardcopy rulebooks, t-shirts, concert tickets). I wonder how the guys who run Penny Arcade would make out if they charged $0.50 to see each comic, or had started selling them in paperback form? Probably not very much. But now they have a large enough fan-base that they can make their money selling stuff online and at conventions.
I'm not saying piracy is 100% okay 100% of the time, but I'm also not saying it's 100% evil 100% of the time. Somebody pointed out to me how you could pirate games off the Steam networks. This, of course, steals bandwidth, directly hurting the company. Which isn't a good thing if you like their games. If I want to play a healthy selection of games, listen to a healthy selection of music, watch a healthy selection of DVDs, and still have some money left over for rent, I'm not going to be able to buy every album, Season 1 collection, and game that comes out.
I'm not basing my morals on laws some old fat guy who inherited his record company tells me I have to obey. I'm basing them on common sense. I think piracy is discussable only on a case-by-case basis, most of the time.
Now, I'm not saying "Information wants to be free! Communism works! Anarchy will happen pretty soon!!". What I am saying is that you can make a reasonable living on fan-money.
We, as a society, need to discuss how much money a single person needs, also. Honestly, do most of these record label executives, who do nothing for their money, really deserve 90% of the cost of an album? Do movie stars really need more than a middle-upperclass living? Is a 25 million dollar mansion, when people around the globe are starving, really okay? On the other hand, we have to support people and pay them more if they go to college and do creative things that benefit society. But, honestly, do they really need all this profit?
Interesting point, put I want to say that easy distribution doesn't necessarily mean more ingenious games.
Let's say I have a small game company. "Hmm..." I think, "I can make a really cool medieval farming strategy multiplayer online game!" So I do. Thousands of dollars and countless hours later, I publish the sucker and put it online. In the weeks that follow, I barely cut even, even though my game, through word-of-mouth, has reached a large audience of the hardcore gaming types. "Hmmmm... That didn't go so well. How about I try releasing a puzzle game, but with diagonal block-swapping, instead of vertical block-swapping?" Five hundred dollars and a few hundred hours later, I publish my game online. In the following months, I rake in tens of thousands of dollars from the middle-aged white people demographic. Hmm," I think, "I should make another game. Seeing as how I enjoy not losing money, I think I'll make 'Mahtetragems II'."
This doesn't mean more innovative games. This means instead of 'NFL 2K6.67' and 'WorldWar I - The return of World War', we get 'Nintetradogs' and 'The Sims - Playin' Bejewled!' expansions.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Games like Nintendogs just push away the casual gamer, and embrace the hardcore lifestyle, you know? The Sims is just one of those games that turns people off. I mean, who, besides the hardcore gamer, likes to pretend they have a life? And don't even get me started on those simple puzzle games... Nobody who's not a hardcore gamer has time to learn which blocks dissappear when!!
I agree with you. And don't you hate those commie-run 'libraries'? Heck, buy one copy, loan it out, and the author doesn't even make any money! I mean, back when I was young and rebellious, I am sad to admit, I borrowed Buffy: The Vampire Slayer: Season 1, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Seasons One and Two, and countless other TV shows from the library. That's right. I didn't pay for something I enjoyed. I've borrowed countless books and audio CDs from the library, all of which I didn't pay for. I've even read magazines, without getting a subscription (Well, borrowing Shonen Jump magazines caused me to subscribe for two years, but that's probably a coincidence).
But I am a changed man. I haven't borrowed anything from the library in 2 1/2 years now, and I'm a better person for it. Sure, I can't afford to read as much, but, hey, I'm not going to compromise my morals for the lures of intelligent entertainment! Now I don't even need to borrow TV shows and music from the library, because I pretty much just sit around watching daytime TV and listening to Pop radio stations all day. Hey, at least I'm not breaking any laws and abiding by my morals, right?
Whoops, I'm missing my soaps. After that Springer's on. I'd better get busy watching that.
While that's an interesting idea, you have to remember that people won't be happy with high-quality video on a 2.5 inch iPod screen stretched to fit on their TV. So, while the downloads may be more like 20-40 Megs for a low-quality TV show that looks fine on an iPod, it could be Gigs for a single DVD quality episode. Now, even on broadband, that's a hefty amount of bandwidth to still be paying full-price for the episodes, and having to pay for DVD-Rs to burn them, which cost like, a buck apiece, and then having lower-durability discs, and never being able to resell them. Now, compare that to going out and grabbing the discs at Best Buy. With our current technology, I think people would, after the initial "OMFG, I can watch TV on my iPod!!1" phase, only use this for the random episode they missed.
They're taking the artists that they think will sell and making them big, just like they always have. If anyone is to blame, it's not them for their common sense business practices (exploit masses into happiness, give artists the fame they crave, make all the money), it's the people for putting up with it. The RIAA is giving the people exactly what they want: Catchy beats. Artists cannot become big unless they sign a recording contract, in this day and age. Sure, the small-time artists hate this, but the sheeple, the RIAA corporations, and the conformist pop artists love it.
I don't know, some canines can be very careless billpayers. You know, buy a dog bone on credit here, refurnish your doghouse there... It all adds up, if you don't pay it off quickly, and that means high interest rates. Your friend's dog may have been just the type of customer Mastercard was looking for.
Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything you're saying. I don't see why Clan PMS is turning everything into Boys VS Girls. It doesn't have to be like that. I just wish we could all settle down about this whole thing.
So you don't want to be treated 'like one of the guys'? Then you want to be treated, in an online world, like women are treated in our society? Help me clarify here. I'm using 'one of the guys' as it is normally used: To signify equal treatment in a primarily male-dominated activity. Like gaming. No, you don't need anyone's permission to play. Now, you don't want to go into a server and have everybody think "buh-buh-buh-boobies?!? I better A/S/L her.", do you? You want to go into a server and receive the standard 'Yo', 'sup?', and 'Hey's that a male would recieve, right? Thus, you want to be treated 'like one of the guys'.
Here we go with the name-calling. Yes, us 'braindead idiots' sure are a pain in the ass to play with. Boy, men sure suck. I'm not trying to get any feminists mad or anything, but your clan is sexist. Maybe you have some good gamers. I don't know, I've never played anything against you. I do know, however, that this positive media attention is undeserved, as, according to one of the PMS founders in TFA, they usually finish near the middle of most tournaments. That's mediocrity. We don't need any of this "Boys VS Girls" shit in this day and age. It's you who are alienating yourselves from the culture with this 'I am woman, hear me roar!' stuff.
You misunderstand me a bit. I'm not saying Nelly and that crap are good, or decent, or better than the rest. But, undeniably, people like that stuff. Maybe they'd like your favorite unheard of band, but the record companies haven't bought it. So they can't make money. The RIAA companies have a deathgrip on the radio stations, and they're not letting anybody who isn't sponsored by them play. So if you can't advertise with thousands of dollars, can't play and tour in front of thousands of people, can't get on the airwaves, and can't sell merchandise, then you can't make more than a modest living off of your work. If you have some exceptions or examples or whatever, then by all means, point out some popular bands or singers that didn't sign with the major labels, and are getting a fair piece of the CD sales and stuff.
No, I'm not saying I want cheerleaders. All I'm saying is that these women are a little bit sexist. If I started a male-only club, called the Mach Men, and I had ad banners with big freaking hulking dudes, and I had a decidedly blue color scheme on my site, and I told women they could be my cheerleaders, or whatever, I would catch a lot of grief. Equality doesn't mean superiority.
Yo, I don't mean every female that games. See This post. If you're willing to just game, not because it's trendy, not because it makes you cool, but because you like to game, hell, plug in a controller and hit start.
Yeah. For such a crappy-ass place to live, there're a lot of independent bands playing in the clubs downtown. There are even major bands showing up and playing here (Disturbed, Papa Roach, and Seether this last summer). There are a lot of kids who start bands and just play locally under a jointly-owned record label, and they charge like $7.00 to get in and see 3 or 4 of them. I mean, for Springfield Missouri, that's not too bad.
I'm not saying the order of the words is important. What I'm saying is that some women are gamers, and some women are girls who enjoy playing games, just like some guys are gamers, and some guys just enjoy playing games. I'm saying these are women first, gamers second. Some girls, like you, probably, are more hardcore gamers, and are really just interested in the games. Other girls like the "gamer girl" title, but really aren't hardcore. Also, these women seem to want to differentiate themselves from the other gamers. You go by the title "Macgrrl", and identify as a "gamer grrl". If these women so obsessed with being treated equally, why do they so deliberately differentiate themselves from the pack, and still expect to be treated just like one of the guys?
Another thing that bothers me is the sexism. If I started an all-male gaming clan, and said the women who wanted to join could be cheerleaders (instead of waterboys), I would be called a sexist and catch a lot of flak. Is this a case of women wanting to be more than equal?
I think I know who you'e talking about. It was a group of gorgeous, scantily clad, groping each other 'gamer girls'? Now, I'm all for the diversification of my chosen sport, but come on, this is just ridiculous.
I think there are two kinds of female gamers: First you have your 'girl gamers'. These are gamers who happen to be women. They like to play games. That's why they're gamers. The other kind of female gamer is the 'gamer girl'. These are girls first, gamers second. Nothing wrong with that, but it's the same as macho gamers. They're frat boys, wrestling fans, and football junkees first, gamers second. There's nothing wrong with either one, I would just rather play with the women who are more interested in shooting people in the head than discussing how they're objectified and downtrodden by males.
One last thing: The cliche 'OMG I'm a woman!' article in every gaming magazine and on every gaming site. Can you just discuss things like normal people? We get it. You're women. OMG. Stop discussing how dumb women are in games. Stop discussing the 'female point of view'. Just talk about the games like other columnists. It's women like this that are alienating themselves from the culture, not the other way around.
I know there's no reason you CAN'T play a 10 minute solo on the air, but most radio station simply don't want to. Most radio stations only play the same popular songs, and so they simply won't play music they're not sure their listeners will like. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I would just appreciate a little more variety. You know, maybe hearing a song I haven't heard 167 times? I mean, would it kill them to play the local bands they're always going on about in their advertisements?
The artists that are mainstream, making money, and 'making it': Nelly, 50 Cent (excuse me, I meant 'fiddy'), 'Insert American Idol Winner Here', 'Insert Dumb White Chick Here', ETC. All the bands and people who actually SELL the vast amounts of music are advertised, produced, and manufactured by the record companies. I mean, you can make it without the RIAA corporations, but that doesn't mean you're going to be able to buy mansions and cruise boats and stuff.
Could it be because they're not actually that great when it comes to gaming? Could it be that, *gasp*, like some other gaming groups and clans of females, they're really just hired models, funded by a corporation, designed to invoke the "oh, HOT!" response in the male crowd? Nah. Must be that woman gamers actually DO look like porn stars, that women DO like to cuddle, kiss,and have naked pillow fights with each other, and that, although they discuss how much they hate Lara Croft for being a sex symbol, and want more realistic women in games, they, like all women, love being objectified and wearing tight pink shirts.
Maybe if we had more Indie radio stations, it wouldn't be such a big deal. I would certainly listen. I've reverted from Alternative Rock to Country, to Blues, to 70s and 80s freaky stuff, simply because I'm tired of listening to the same 25 songs 8 hours a day.
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I watched a few of the original Firefly episodes, and I wasn't particularly stunned.
But, for the sake of discussion, let's say I loved it.
Okay, so Joss Whedon releases episodes online.
As long as he's getting most/all of the money, I would probably order them on DVD if they were available.
If he's making a dime for every DVD he sells, I wouldn't think twice about pirating it, though. I doubt I would, because it would probably be a hassle, but if I wanted to, my morals wouldn't stop me.
Personally, I think it's in the best interests of music artists and publishers of RPG Rulebooks to release their work online. It has been proven that indie artists can make a load of money by giving stuff away for free, and then selling merchandise (The hardcopy rulebooks, t-shirts, concert tickets).
I wonder how the guys who run Penny Arcade would make out if they charged $0.50 to see each comic, or had started selling them in paperback form? Probably not very much. But now they have a large enough fan-base that they can make their money selling stuff online and at conventions.
I'm not saying piracy is 100% okay 100% of the time, but I'm also not saying it's 100% evil 100% of the time.
Somebody pointed out to me how you could pirate games off the Steam networks. This, of course, steals bandwidth, directly hurting the company. Which isn't a good thing if you like their games.
If I want to play a healthy selection of games, listen to a healthy selection of music, watch a healthy selection of DVDs, and still have some money left over for rent, I'm not going to be able to buy every album, Season 1 collection, and game that comes out.
I'm not basing my morals on laws some old fat guy who inherited his record company tells me I have to obey. I'm basing them on common sense. I think piracy is discussable only on a case-by-case basis, most of the time.
Now, I'm not saying "Information wants to be free! Communism works! Anarchy will happen pretty soon!!".
What I am saying is that you can make a reasonable living on fan-money.
We, as a society, need to discuss how much money a single person needs, also. Honestly, do most of these record label executives, who do nothing for their money, really deserve 90% of the cost of an album? Do movie stars really need more than a middle-upperclass living? Is a 25 million dollar mansion, when people around the globe are starving, really okay?
On the other hand, we have to support people and pay them more if they go to college and do creative things that benefit society. But, honestly, do they really need all this profit?
What do you think?
Interesting point, put I want to say that easy distribution doesn't necessarily mean more ingenious games.
Let's say I have a small game company.
"Hmm..." I think, "I can make a really cool medieval farming strategy multiplayer online game!"
So I do. Thousands of dollars and countless hours later, I publish the sucker and put it online.
In the weeks that follow, I barely cut even, even though my game, through word-of-mouth, has reached a large audience of the hardcore gaming types.
"Hmmmm... That didn't go so well. How about I try releasing a puzzle game, but with diagonal block-swapping, instead of vertical block-swapping?"
Five hundred dollars and a few hundred hours later, I publish my game online.
In the following months, I rake in tens of thousands of dollars from the middle-aged white people demographic.
Hmm," I think, "I should make another game. Seeing as how I enjoy not losing money, I think I'll make 'Mahtetragems II'."
This doesn't mean more innovative games. This means instead of 'NFL 2K6.67' and 'WorldWar I - The return of World War', we get 'Nintetradogs' and 'The Sims - Playin' Bejewled!' expansions.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Games like Nintendogs just push away the casual gamer, and embrace the hardcore lifestyle, you know?
The Sims is just one of those games that turns people off. I mean, who, besides the hardcore gamer, likes to pretend they have a life?
And don't even get me started on those simple puzzle games... Nobody who's not a hardcore gamer has time to learn which blocks dissappear when!!
I agree with you.
And don't you hate those commie-run 'libraries'? Heck, buy one copy, loan it out, and the author doesn't even make any money!
I mean, back when I was young and rebellious, I am sad to admit, I borrowed Buffy: The Vampire Slayer: Season 1, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Seasons One and Two, and countless other TV shows from the library. That's right. I didn't pay for something I enjoyed.
I've borrowed countless books and audio CDs from the library, all of which I didn't pay for.
I've even read magazines, without getting a subscription (Well, borrowing Shonen Jump magazines caused me to subscribe for two years, but that's probably a coincidence).
But I am a changed man. I haven't borrowed anything from the library in 2 1/2 years now, and I'm a better person for it. Sure, I can't afford to read as much, but, hey, I'm not going to compromise my morals for the lures of intelligent entertainment!
Now I don't even need to borrow TV shows and music from the library, because I pretty much just sit around watching daytime TV and listening to Pop radio stations all day.
Hey, at least I'm not breaking any laws and abiding by my morals, right?
Whoops, I'm missing my soaps. After that Springer's on. I'd better get busy watching that.
While that's an interesting idea, you have to remember that people won't be happy with high-quality video on a 2.5 inch iPod screen stretched to fit on their TV.
So, while the downloads may be more like 20-40 Megs for a low-quality TV show that looks fine on an iPod, it could be Gigs for a single DVD quality episode.
Now, even on broadband, that's a hefty amount of bandwidth to still be paying full-price for the episodes, and having to pay for DVD-Rs to burn them, which cost like, a buck apiece, and then having lower-durability discs, and never being able to resell them.
Now, compare that to going out and grabbing the discs at Best Buy.
With our current technology, I think people would, after the initial "OMFG, I can watch TV on my iPod!!1" phase, only use this for the random episode they missed.
They're taking the artists that they think will sell and making them big, just like they always have. If anyone is to blame, it's not them for their common sense business practices (exploit masses into happiness, give artists the fame they crave, make all the money), it's the people for putting up with it.
The RIAA is giving the people exactly what they want: Catchy beats.
Artists cannot become big unless they sign a recording contract, in this day and age. Sure, the small-time artists hate this, but the sheeple, the RIAA corporations, and the conformist pop artists love it.
Sounds like SOMEBODY has been signing their dog up for "Free iPods".
"Do you wanna iPod, boy? Doya? Huh? Yes you do. Yes you do want an iPod!"
Sure you haven't.
WinkWink, NudgeNudge, Saynomore Saynomore.
I don't know, some canines can be very careless billpayers.
You know, buy a dog bone on credit here, refurnish your doghouse there... It all adds up, if you don't pay it off quickly, and that means high interest rates.
Your friend's dog may have been just the type of customer Mastercard was looking for.
Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything you're saying.
I don't see why Clan PMS is turning everything into Boys VS Girls. It doesn't have to be like that. I just wish we could all settle down about this whole thing.
So you don't want to be treated 'like one of the guys'?
Then you want to be treated, in an online world, like women are treated in our society?
Help me clarify here.
I'm using 'one of the guys' as it is normally used: To signify equal treatment in a primarily male-dominated activity. Like gaming. No, you don't need anyone's permission to play.
Now, you don't want to go into a server and have everybody think "buh-buh-buh-boobies?!? I better A/S/L her.", do you?
You want to go into a server and receive the standard 'Yo', 'sup?', and 'Hey's that a male would recieve, right?
Thus, you want to be treated 'like one of the guys'.
Here we go with the name-calling.
Yes, us 'braindead idiots' sure are a pain in the ass to play with. Boy, men sure suck.
I'm not trying to get any feminists mad or anything, but your clan is sexist.
Maybe you have some good gamers. I don't know, I've never played anything against you. I do know, however, that this positive media attention is undeserved, as, according to one of the PMS founders in TFA, they usually finish near the middle of most tournaments. That's mediocrity.
We don't need any of this "Boys VS Girls" shit in this day and age. It's you who are alienating yourselves from the culture with this 'I am woman, hear me roar!' stuff.
You misunderstand me a bit.
I'm not saying Nelly and that crap are good, or decent, or better than the rest. But, undeniably, people like that stuff. Maybe they'd like your favorite unheard of band, but the record companies haven't bought it. So they can't make money.
The RIAA companies have a deathgrip on the radio stations, and they're not letting anybody who isn't sponsored by them play. So if you can't advertise with thousands of dollars, can't play and tour in front of thousands of people, can't get on the airwaves, and can't sell merchandise, then you can't make more than a modest living off of your work.
If you have some exceptions or examples or whatever, then by all means, point out some popular bands or singers that didn't sign with the major labels, and are getting a fair piece of the CD sales and stuff.
No, I'm not saying I want cheerleaders.
All I'm saying is that these women are a little bit sexist. If I started a male-only club, called the Mach Men, and I had ad banners with big freaking hulking dudes, and I had a decidedly blue color scheme on my site, and I told women they could be my cheerleaders, or whatever, I would catch a lot of grief.
Equality doesn't mean superiority.
It gets me so frickin' pumped!!
Yo, I don't mean every female that games. See This post.
If you're willing to just game, not because it's trendy, not because it makes you cool, but because you like to game, hell, plug in a controller and hit start.
Yeah. For such a crappy-ass place to live, there're a lot of independent bands playing in the clubs downtown. There are even major bands showing up and playing here (Disturbed, Papa Roach, and Seether this last summer). There are a lot of kids who start bands and just play locally under a jointly-owned record label, and they charge like $7.00 to get in and see 3 or 4 of them.
I mean, for Springfield Missouri, that's not too bad.
I agree. Since they're already losing money on the console sales, releasing an SDK to the public to boost sales would be a laughably bad idea.
I'm not saying the order of the words is important.
What I'm saying is that some women are gamers, and some women are girls who enjoy playing games, just like some guys are gamers, and some guys just enjoy playing games.
I'm saying these are women first, gamers second.
Some girls, like you, probably, are more hardcore gamers, and are really just interested in the games. Other girls like the "gamer girl" title, but really aren't hardcore.
Also, these women seem to want to differentiate themselves from the other gamers. You go by the title "Macgrrl", and identify as a "gamer grrl". If these women so obsessed with being treated equally, why do they so deliberately differentiate themselves from the pack, and still expect to be treated just like one of the guys?
Another thing that bothers me is the sexism. If I started an all-male gaming clan, and said the women who wanted to join could be cheerleaders (instead of waterboys), I would be called a sexist and catch a lot of flak. Is this a case of women wanting to be more than equal?
I think I know who you'e talking about. It was a group of gorgeous, scantily clad, groping each other 'gamer girls'?
Now, I'm all for the diversification of my chosen sport, but come on, this is just ridiculous.
I think there are two kinds of female gamers:
First you have your 'girl gamers'. These are gamers who happen to be women. They like to play games. That's why they're gamers.
The other kind of female gamer is the 'gamer girl'. These are girls first, gamers second. Nothing wrong with that, but it's the same as macho gamers. They're frat boys, wrestling fans, and football junkees first, gamers second.
There's nothing wrong with either one, I would just rather play with the women who are more interested in shooting people in the head than discussing how they're objectified and downtrodden by males.
One last thing: The cliche 'OMG I'm a woman!' article in every gaming magazine and on every gaming site.
Can you just discuss things like normal people? We get it. You're women. OMG. Stop discussing how dumb women are in games. Stop discussing the 'female point of view'. Just talk about the games like other columnists.
It's women like this that are alienating themselves from the culture, not the other way around.
I know there's no reason you CAN'T play a 10 minute solo on the air, but most radio station simply don't want to.
Most radio stations only play the same popular songs, and so they simply won't play music they're not sure their listeners will like. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I would just appreciate a little more variety. You know, maybe hearing a song I haven't heard 167 times?
I mean, would it kill them to play the local bands they're always going on about in their advertisements?
I'm not sure I understand the question. I was born in Missouri.
The artists that are mainstream, making money, and 'making it': Nelly, 50 Cent (excuse me, I meant 'fiddy'), 'Insert American Idol Winner Here', 'Insert Dumb White Chick Here', ETC. All the bands and people who actually SELL the vast amounts of music are advertised, produced, and manufactured by the record companies. I mean, you can make it without the RIAA corporations, but that doesn't mean you're going to be able to buy mansions and cruise boats and stuff.
Could it be because they're not actually that great when it comes to gaming? Could it be that, *gasp*, like some other gaming groups and clans of females, they're really just hired models, funded by a corporation, designed to invoke the "oh, HOT!" response in the male crowd?
Nah. Must be that woman gamers actually DO look like porn stars, that women DO like to cuddle, kiss,and have naked pillow fights with each other, and that, although they discuss how much they hate Lara Croft for being a sex symbol, and want more realistic women in games, they, like all women, love being objectified and wearing tight pink shirts.
Aaaah. Corporate-sponsored feminism.
Plus you can't play a 10 minute solo on the air.
Maybe if we had more Indie radio stations, it wouldn't be such a big deal. I would certainly listen. I've reverted from Alternative Rock to Country, to Blues, to 70s and 80s freaky stuff, simply because I'm tired of listening to the same 25 songs 8 hours a day.