trends

Watch The Prices Change

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The president of THQ thinks we’re going to see console games get distributed like PC games (and goodbye $60 box).  Ea is going Freemium.  Even with the massive Zynga downturn, it seems that the days of the $60-box-game-in-a-store is fading away.

Of course none of us are surprised, we probably saw it coming.  My guess is that the “fade” will pick up after this Christmas, and we’ll even see some titles start going pure DLC, dropping the box they were planned for.  We’ll also see more Freemium, more “try before you buy,” and all the general confusion that follows a shift in pricing plans.

Now I expect the changes are inevitable.  Gaming is a changing industry, technology is a changing industry, the world economy is staggering like a drunken sailor of the non-fuku variety, and people want to make money.

However, these changes, despite building on existing trends, are still going to seem a bit alien and are going to have some odd effects.  So here’s Steve’s takeaways:

  • Gamestop is clearly aware of this to judge by their promotion of the Nexus 7.  They’ll have to stay on top of gaming and on top of deals, probably becoming a kind of micro-Best Buy focused on gaming and entertainment.  I think they can make it, but they’ll have to change.  Career-wise, GameStop may need some savvy business people – and if they integrate with other companies, tech people as well.
  • Best Buy is pretty much hosed anyway, but I think that a move like this will make it tougher on them IF they’re even around long enough to be affected.
  • Though downloadable is fine and acceptable to people, the entire Freemium thing is going to be weird and hard to implement.  Frankly I’m expecting another round of pricing experiments in 2013, many of which will be stupid or fail.  This is an opportunity for you econogeeks to advise companies.
  • At some point the weird Freemium pricing is going to annoy people and there will be some “scandalettes” bouncing around the gaming industry about weird charges, ripoffs, exploitation, etc.  We have that now, but this will be more public because the gaming world is getting more public.
  • Eventually gaming is going go go away from physical media, and have to really blaze new trails in pricing.  These trails will be weird enough that establishing norms will be hard, and will take time (I think Freemium and it’s ilk have about 3-5 more years to get culturally normal without becoming an Intermittent Story In Gaming).

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

Fandom, Critique, and Art

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In order to criticize a movie, you have to make another movie.

– Jean-Luc Godard (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000419/bio)

Fellow blogger Serdar turned me on to the above quote, which speaks volumes really about media, culture, and profans (and fans doing pro-activity as fans).

I’m a great believer in people practicing an art, be it writing, or music, or drawing.  Some form of communication is worth practicing and even mastering, for the sake of expressing ourselves, understanding how others communicate, understanding how others manipulate, and to create a dialogue.  To have an art is to engage other people.

This is one of the reasons I love fandom, geeks, nerds, otaku, and more.  Many of them are engaged in their art, from fanfic to fanart to fan games.  They are practicing their creativity and communication.

Godard’s quote made me realize that in a way, they’re really engaging other creators in a dialogue and in a critique.

Think of many fanfics go down paths that authors avoided.  Yes at times there were damn good reasons for that.  But still, the dialogue is there, even if it’s more telling about a fans desires or a misinterpretation or a wish fulfillment.

Think of the artists who show characters in new light, from the humorous to the deep to the bizarre.  Each piece of art is a glimpse into an opinion, and analysis, and/or an artists ideas.  Even if it’s just pandering or a simple piece for fun it tells you something.

Fan creations are a kind of dialogue.  Often about the fans themselves and among the fans themselves, but it is a dialogue.  So many of us are following Godard’s advice in writing, art, music videos and more.

In some cases however it breaks into the larger world (even if not always well received). Hasbro’s engagement with the Bronies.  50 Shades of Gray bringing fanfic and taboo subjects to the fore.  User-created content being encouraged by gaming companies.  There are moments the fan/otaku/nerd/geek dialogue breaks out – and it’s magic when it does.

In a way, I think that’s part of what I’m trying to do in my work here and elsewhere – connect people up and expand the horizons of what they do and who they reach.  I want to see the dialogue expand.

Of course I also want to see you make money at it too.  That’s a given.  Seeing what it can be can help.

The fanart, fanfic, games, RPGs, and more are all, in a way, a form of dialogue.  We’re all doing a critique or commentary on previous art, even if we never go as far as Godard and make a movie to critique another film.  It’s powerful and amazing, and it should be appreciated as such.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

On Accessibility, Trends, and Technology

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I was taking my roommate’s car in for a check-up, and grabbed a quick cab back home.  On the way I had a fascinating talk with the cab driver, who repaired, restored, and resold old cars.  To him, eBay was one of the greatest blessings to his hobby, as well as various specialty sites.

He regaled me with fascinating tales of how he got obscure parts and historical doodads, often very cheaply, all thanks to eBay and the internet.  Frankly, there’s an entire world of cars out there I never thought of.  I almost wanted to pay him more to drive around a bit more and tell me other things.

He got me thinking that eBay and other specialty sites are in many ways like Netflix, Hulu, Google Books, and the like.  They’re ways to get obscure and unusual materials that others may not have, understand, or appreciate.  The internet is a boon to the specialist, the unusual, the odd, and the unknown.

Just as I’m currently indulging my love of Asian Cinema with Netflix (side note: Tsui Hark should have directed The Last Airbender), this gentleman could indulge in his love of cars.  The internet and other technologies change what is obscure and inaccessible – indeed, everything is accessible now.  If you want anime, car parts, books, pornography, religious texts, plans, etc. there’s a website for you, probably several.

This is not just a technical shift, it’s a cultural shift:

Nothing is truly “obscure” or “unknown” anymore – you’ll stumble across things you never knew about by accident, and little is hidden from serious research.  If you need it, you can probably get it.

In turn, I think this may be changing people’s ideas of what is “normal” or “common.”  With so much available and public thanks to internet technology, it’s also publicly known to people.  This changes social norms and cultural concepts as we’re seeing things we never new existed, forgot, or even tried to ignore.

This further increases the chance of not just cultural adaption, but of conflict.  How many times have we seen assorted kerfluffles break out over video games, anime, manga, pornography, etc. on the internet?  It’s going to keep happening as we have access to so much.

Now let’s take all this “stuff”, all this access and mix in our favorite subject of late – Mobile.  When you can get everything quicker and with less localization issues, when you can find out more faster, it chains how we live and work.

One cab ride reminded me of the sheer power of Access we have.  I’ve seen it from my end, the core geek market, but in this case I saw it broader, saw it through the eyes of an auto enthusiast.  That brought home just how fast things are changing – because nothing is truly obscure or hidden anymore.

I know I didn’t appreciate it.  I’m wondering how many people really do.

And, for those of us that do, who work in information and technology, what does it mean for careers?

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/