This is why I won't buy Blizzard games anymore.

Wait, I have to sign a contract to play the game that I just paid for? Do I need to get a lawyer? Can I do something in the game that could get me into legal trouble? I mean, I don't plan on playing public games or anything -- just me in my computer room, killing evil and screaming curse words until I lose my voice.

But I convinced myself it was nothing to get worked up about. It's just there to save their asses in case some random jackoff finds a way to make money off of them via lawsuit. Fine. I got through them all and was immediately taken to a screen that pulled the alarms from the back of my mind directly to the front, and cranked up the volume to "nuclear attack" levels.


No. No, no, no, no, no ... No.

For the six of you who just discovered the Internet today, that's a login screen. It's commonly associated with multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft and ... whatever other multiplayer games exist. Except there's a problem: Diablo III isn't a traditional MMO. You don't sign in to the game and immediately find yourself surrounded by a hundred other players shouting racial and homophobic slurs. You are in your own world. By yourself. Single player.

It is a single-player game with multiplayer options, just like all the other Diablo games. If you choose to play with your friends, you can. If you choose to join public games, you can. Otherwise, you're on your own -- and contrary to what MMO fanatics believe, this is the way millions of gamers prefer it.

via cracked.com

So the gamerfolk in my office have been squealing Diablo III! Diablo III! That is, when they're not wandering around like zmobies from not sleeping. As one of these gamerfolk, they give me a shocked stare when I explain that while I'm sure that Diablo III is a polished nugget of Blizzardliness, I have no intention of purchasing it because I don't like where Blizzard has gone since Activi$ion showed up and ate them.

They think I'm silly. And maybe I am, but hey, at least I'm not silly enough to buy a polished game from a company I have ceased to believe in. Except, of course, GW2.

PWE is different, I have never believed in them. I have, however, admired their ruthless sexy evil. ;) That's another thing altogether.

Be a better copywriter - look your customer in the eye. | Raving Adman

Two or three short sentences, followed by a long one are a great way to get people reading.

You get their attention. Kid them it’s an easy read. Then hit them with a few dirty facts in the third sentence, before they know they’re cornered. Then you start it all again. Quicken the pace. And ram another juicy fact down their throat.

via ravingadman.blogspot.com

This - this is beautiful. The entire article is worth reading just for this. It's been quite a while since I've read copywriting advice this good - most copywriting articles IMO tend to be fluffy and generic. Maybe because they're not actually written by good copywriters. ;)

Leaders

People write about leaders
how to become one
what it takes to be one.
They focus on what to do
what to say
how to act.
They don't talk about why.
Why people lead -
why people follow.
Love.
Love is why people lead.
Love is why people follow.
Having someone tell you,
'this is the way to go'
'this is how we'll do it'
and then having that someone *be* there
when it goes right -
and when it goes wrong.
Having that someone say,
'hide behind me,
I will shelter you
beneath my wings.
If there are prices to be paid
I will pay them.
For you.
Because I believe in you.
Because you are worthy.'
There is no greater love
than a man lay down his life for another.
And for the receivers of that love,
who amongst us will not follow
such a giver?
Courage, conviction, vision,
these virtues are named, time and again.
But what upholds them
makes them possible
is love.
To be a leader
is to love.

No, I don't know where this came from. It sorta fell out while I was thinking about management, mentoring, and all that stuff. Also I blame Teshness as quoted in a previous post about work and love as an oblique factor!

Find a job you’d be happy doing, so you can pay for the things you really want to be doing. - Teshness is a wise fellow.

Find a job doing what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.

It’s my experience that this is not only shallow and semantic, but the philosophy is actively bad for long term health.

There are a few aspects to this:

  • Turning a love or hobby into a job is effectively ceding control of that interest to those who write the checks. Whether you’re working for The Man as a cog in a machine, or The Herd as an entrepreneurial wizard, you’re still tying your love to money. That always changes things. And, as the EASpouse storm made more aware, and this story of Free Radical underlines (hattip to Anjin), passion is easily exploited by unsavory management, canny to optimize assets and maximize revenue.

 

    <...>

    Find a job you’d be happy doing, so you can pay for the things you really want to be doing.

     

    via tishtoshtesh.wordpress.com

    Sorta dovetails with how, when I conducting interviews (when I've been in the position to) - passion is all very well, but what I want is *professionalism*. What I want (in terms of interviewees) is more along the lines of passion for doing a good job, rather than passion for the field itself.

    Kopi luwak - what's the big deal?

    Disclaimer: I'm not a habitual coffee drinker, don't really like the taste of most coffees.

    I experimented with cold-brewing some store-brand ground coffee a few weeks ago, and the result was rather pleasant to my ugh-its-coffee sensibilities. Very similar to a good oolong, only far more concentrated.

    The nuggetboy though, is a mad coffee gulper, so when a Balinese colleague went home for the holidays, I got her to buy me some kopi luwak. It's much cheaper if you buy it back in Bali - the 50g bag of ground kopi luwak she got for me cost about US$15 - and a Balinese native is going to be able to get the authentic stuff.

    Having brewed up this coffee and had some, both the nuggetboy and the nugget agree that the taste is incredibly similar to cold-brewed coffee, only of course, it's hot!

    ...so to all you coffee-gulpers out there who've tried kopi luwak - what's the big deal? It's so similar to cold-brewed (to my unrefined palate) that there's basically no difference - other than how you can have it hot. Is that it? If you like cold-brewed coffee, but want it hot, kopi luwak is your solution?

    Because otherwise, it seems silly to pay that much for coffee when you can get a very close equivalent by using a store-brand and cold-brewing. Not to mention, you don't even need sophisticated equipment to cold-brew. A french press and some disposable tea-bags will do. (The tea-bags are for better coffee filtering.)

    More stuff on the Interwebs about kopi luwak from an actual coffee drinker.

    P.S.: Nuggetboy's review, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth that I was making him drink POOP COFFEE OMG POOP COFFEE was, 'Yeah, it's pretty good. Very smooth.' >.> While that's not a bad review, I'm still not seeing where the omgbestcoffeefeeintheworld is coming from.

    Thinking of Kickstarter? Check out Warballoon's brave breakdown of where the money goes first.

    Update #19: What the hell did you do with our money?

    Posted on April 15

     

    In honor of tax day, we thought we would give some insight to our backers (as well as potential kickstarters) to how we spent the funds we were given at the end of September. Hopefully it sheds some light on why money disappears so quickly for game development.

    Our kickstarter earned $36,967 after asking for $20,000 so that was incredible.

    To begin with, we didn't get all of that. We lost about $2,000 to no-shows, just people that pledged and the funds did not transfer.

    That got us down to $35k, and kickstarter and Amazon Payments take their portions, which got us down to right around $32,000.

    Now, right off the top you had $10,000 for prize fulfillment. That includes printing the posters, the shirts and shipping everything (thanks Australia). If we had to do it again, we would have probably had the price point a bit higher for the t-shirts and posters, as those turned to be a very large expense. We also would have included the cost of a 3rd party fulfillment house - we just aren't equipped or skilled in that area, and it was (still is) something that we struggle with.

    After that, we had $22,000 remaining. From there:

    Music - $6,000
    Attorneys, startup fees, CPA - $4000
    Poster art - $2000
    iPads - $1000
    PAX East - $3000

    TOTAL: $16,000


    Leaving us with around $6000, which is income, so that was taxed (piece of advice to other kickstarters - spend that money before the end of the year).

    So were right around $4000 remaining and even that cursory math isn't working as there are other things that weren't big tickets but sapped the coffers. There's odds and ends etc, so that goes rather quickly as you can imagine.

    What would we do different? Keep the attorneys out of it. We got a little nervous after we recieved all the Kickstarter money and wanted to make sure our business was set up correctly. We registered our LLC's, got operating agreements etc, but in hindsight a nice piece of napkin paper probably would have done just as well. You plan for the worst (we all start hating each other and people start leaving) but if anything the team has gotten closer, so it seems like a lot of wasted money. If we could take it back we would. Maybe we will get another attorney and sue them.....wait.....

    Rewards are something to watch out for as well. We just didn't fully appreciate the cost of printing 200 posters, shirts, and more than anything shipping. Shipping is a) expensive b) a pain in the ass when you have tubes and c) time consuming. None of those things are productive. We don't resent having sent that stuff off - we think the posters and shirts are awesome and we are super proud of them and it seems like everyone loved them, so thats great. But they were a lot of work.

    So that gets us to the present. We have still taken a lot of debt on ourselves (over $50k), and hopefully this can help give insight to other kickstarters and would-be-developers on what to expect. We promise to keep this stuff open as possible and if you have questions, or feel like telling giving us a piece of your mind for the way we spent the money, hey, we're all ears.

    Tell us your thoughts.

    All that said though, its been great and the game would not be where it is if it wasn't for kickstarter. We're extremely confident were going to hit our summer release date and that never would have happened without you guys. We have made a game we're really, really proud of and you guys should be too. We have always felt an obligation to make your investment worth it, and hopefully we dont disappoint.

    Cheers,
    The Warballoon Team

     

    via kickstarter.com

    I don't know anything about this game, but it's very brave of them to post the more or less exact breakdown of what happened to their cash.

    Guild Wars: Sleekly Seksy Sins of DOOM!

    While reading this here post, I came to the realisation that very few games I've played allow for the kind of sexy Kate Beckinsale has in Underworld - you know, all sleek and black and covered and reeking of dangerbyooty. In fact, the only game that came to mind that let me come anywhere close to an approximation of that look is Guild Wars, with their girly sins.

    Best part is, two pieces of this set are starter armor models, two are non-elite, and only the boots are elite. (Elite = expensive.)

    The guy beside my blondie is Unknown Sin Who Happened To Be Standing There, and my girlfriend is Suicide Granny.