It's been mentioned several times that Amazon really failed because they didn't jump right on into the conversation on Twitter. Twitter is the absolutely worse place to play wait-and-see on. It goes against the very spirit of it.
Yes you're a fair corporation. Yes, overall you're caring. No, there was not any intentional ill will: Amazon's HRC in regards to LGB employees and company benfits for their partners is, simply, outstanding.
But, you came off as a cold machine by not diving in. Your customer base is the online community. You must be able to adapt as they adapt to new venues of communication. You didn't want to mispeak before you got the information. Alright. You could still talk and not mispeak at the same time. @amazon We are aware of the situation and are investigating it. We'll keep you updated. @amazon We think we have it narrowed and are working on a fix.
Look. No company secrets. No misteps. No hiccups.
AND YOU ARE STILL NOT DOING THIS!
I can understand the letters. Not having all the information on this, I'll say very little. Miss and non-communication happens all the times in large companies. Some times some trends indicating a potential problem are simply missed. Not a big deal if you work on a fix on this "glitch" as well.
But there is an underlying problem. It's not intentional. It's not malicious, but it does have the same affect as both. There is absolutely no reason why children's books and young adult novels should ever, for any reason, have an adult tag. It doesn't matter what orientation the characters. Dumbledore was gay. The books even touched on one of his past relationships. But guess what, not a sex scene, implied or otherwise, was even used.
There is a double-standard at play here. (Again, I don't feel it's intentional.)
Why does a romantic book aimed at young readers have anything to do with sex, even if the main character is gay? If you changed the name and gender of the character, but no other words, why would that be less racy?
Is it because same-sex relationships are nothing but sex, sex, sex? Do most people not think that there are the same, everyday problems, with a few more obsticles, involved in those? Is Fran and Ann down the street only going on errands to take a break?
#amazonfail is a little bit more of a magnifying glass on where we stand on equality. Unless we can see a relationship as a relationship, we have a problem.
You see a nuclear family in the park, the parents holding hands, you think "What a beautiful family." You see Heather and her Two Mommies doing the same, you think "Oh, sexy"? This is a double-standard we have to work on. And Amazon is one place where it shows.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
MMOs Against the World (Of Warcraft)
World of Warcraft is a freak of MMO-nature. In a good way. There is no MMO out there that is near as popular, recognized, or profitable as it. That simple. And so while many MMOs out there are purported to be WoW killers start off strong, drawing part of Azeroth's population away for a time, they ultimately end up dipping down a few months.
I think one little fact makes it possible for Blizzard to remain the 12 million lb gorilla in the room. System requirements. Why do so many more people play this over the other, more graphically appealing games? Because they can. They don't need a major upgrade to their systems to experience most of the game. Let's face it, the majority of the online community don't have the best gaming machines because they don't need it. If they can read blogs, watch youtube, and tweet on their paltry little processors, they're unlikely to get anything bigger, because it's an unneeded expense.
Then let's take a look at most of the pay-to-play games. If you're trying to get it to the widest audience possible, you need it to appeal to the widest audience possible. Paying for the software, and the monthly service charge, and any possible expansions only to find out that you now need to pay for a little extra-memory or a new graphics card on top of all that is simply not appealing. Nor is finding out that even if your little system can run the game without upgrades, you will still have major lag. This isn't fun, and will drive most people to the one game on the market that does work well with what they have.
You cannot kill WoW if their audience cannot play your game. Even if they grow bored of Azeroth.
I think one little fact makes it possible for Blizzard to remain the 12 million lb gorilla in the room. System requirements. Why do so many more people play this over the other, more graphically appealing games? Because they can. They don't need a major upgrade to their systems to experience most of the game. Let's face it, the majority of the online community don't have the best gaming machines because they don't need it. If they can read blogs, watch youtube, and tweet on their paltry little processors, they're unlikely to get anything bigger, because it's an unneeded expense.
Then let's take a look at most of the pay-to-play games. If you're trying to get it to the widest audience possible, you need it to appeal to the widest audience possible. Paying for the software, and the monthly service charge, and any possible expansions only to find out that you now need to pay for a little extra-memory or a new graphics card on top of all that is simply not appealing. Nor is finding out that even if your little system can run the game without upgrades, you will still have major lag. This isn't fun, and will drive most people to the one game on the market that does work well with what they have.
You cannot kill WoW if their audience cannot play your game. Even if they grow bored of Azeroth.
Everquest 2: First Impressions
When first stepping into the world of Norrath, well, before, I'm struck by the sheer amount of customization options compared to WoW. The only class restrictions are faction affiliation? You can be a gnome healer?
And then there are the choices once you've chosen your race! Wow! Almost twenty hairstyles per model, not to mention the ability to change the size and shape of your facial features, seems almost overwhelming and is downright addicting to an unrepentant alt-oholic such as myself.
You see, World of Warcraft only allows for about five customizations per model. You change your face model, not feature, hairstyle, hair color, and one or two other things. That's it. What's more, you can't change your model size! With the amount of players and NPCs, it's not uncommon for someone to run into at least one double.
Moving on to classes. There are a million of them! And the only racial restrictions on them are technically factional. The neutral races can be anything! You read that correctly. You can be a gnome or human druid or shaman. Let that sink in for a bit.
I've noticed that there's a huge difference in how both games handle factions as well. You know in wow that there are a few NPCs that seem to hang around the wrong faction. Or maybe one or two.
However, as far as players in the factions go, you stick with your faction. You can't communicate with players of the opposite faction. If you want to play the opposite faction, reroll, on your own server if it's not PvP.
In Norrath, faction decisions are not final, nor are they really barriers. You want to play a High Elf, but with a Evil aligned class? You can switch. Yep, as long as you do the quest chain to do it, you can change your alignment without rerolling. My good-aligned gnome can even communicate with my friend's evil-aligned Erudite! The guild I've joined is cross-factional. This just blows me away.
In WoW, this is one of their strictest areas. It's even in the EULA. Cross-factional communication is not allowed. Custom emotes comes accross as *Name makes some strange gestures.
Now, they have a lot of the same restrictions for PvP servers, so no cross-factional anything and no Evil-aligned characters on there until you delete your Good-Aligned.
Another thing I like much better is the professions. There are no gathering professions at all in Norrath. Everyone can mine without talking to a trainer or even possessing a pick-axe. So getting your supplies is simple and easy. Walk up to that gathering node and left-click. You're gathering.
Crafting itself is not quite as simple as in Azeroth, but boy is it a lot more fun. First off, it's not something you can do while you're afk. It requires reaction. It requires input. It requires judgement. You can fail at making your object. This is the way crafting should be done. What's fun about crafting in WoW are the results. What's fun about crafting in Norrath are the process and the results.
Furthermore, you start off being able to craft from any profession. You can woodwork, scribe, tailor, and metalwork in one crafting session. You get to try them all out before you choose a specialty. Infact, you must try them all out before you can choose a specialty.
There are a few downsides to Norrath, as well. It simply requires bigger machines than Azeroth does. This is a pain for me, because I don't have the cash to upgrade right now. Have you not heard about the economy? Are you going to buy it for me? I didn't think so.
My enjoyment of the game is severely limited by the large amount of lag I get when the server gets populated. I can't have anything at all running in the background. So if I'm lost and confused, there's no alt-tabbing out to check the wiki. It also means that I can't turn the settings up to experiance the full glory of the graphics.
But guess what, I'm still enjoying the game. That's saying something.
The maps are just a pain. Not nearly as accurate as I'm used to. Even with my little compass in my UI...I just get lost so easily.
The UI seems a little less intuitive than WoW, too. And the various features don't start out locked. That's a minor pain for someone who's not used to her chat box moving suddenly when she's trying to click on something.
Over all, very enjoyable and definately a new experience. But I'm thinking each game can learn a bit from one another.
And then there are the choices once you've chosen your race! Wow! Almost twenty hairstyles per model, not to mention the ability to change the size and shape of your facial features, seems almost overwhelming and is downright addicting to an unrepentant alt-oholic such as myself.
You see, World of Warcraft only allows for about five customizations per model. You change your face model, not feature, hairstyle, hair color, and one or two other things. That's it. What's more, you can't change your model size! With the amount of players and NPCs, it's not uncommon for someone to run into at least one double.
Moving on to classes. There are a million of them! And the only racial restrictions on them are technically factional. The neutral races can be anything! You read that correctly. You can be a gnome or human druid or shaman. Let that sink in for a bit.
I've noticed that there's a huge difference in how both games handle factions as well. You know in wow that there are a few NPCs that seem to hang around the wrong faction. Or maybe one or two.
However, as far as players in the factions go, you stick with your faction. You can't communicate with players of the opposite faction. If you want to play the opposite faction, reroll, on your own server if it's not PvP.
In Norrath, faction decisions are not final, nor are they really barriers. You want to play a High Elf, but with a Evil aligned class? You can switch. Yep, as long as you do the quest chain to do it, you can change your alignment without rerolling. My good-aligned gnome can even communicate with my friend's evil-aligned Erudite! The guild I've joined is cross-factional. This just blows me away.
In WoW, this is one of their strictest areas. It's even in the EULA. Cross-factional communication is not allowed. Custom emotes comes accross as *Name makes some strange gestures.
Now, they have a lot of the same restrictions for PvP servers, so no cross-factional anything and no Evil-aligned characters on there until you delete your Good-Aligned.
Another thing I like much better is the professions. There are no gathering professions at all in Norrath. Everyone can mine without talking to a trainer or even possessing a pick-axe. So getting your supplies is simple and easy. Walk up to that gathering node and left-click. You're gathering.
Crafting itself is not quite as simple as in Azeroth, but boy is it a lot more fun. First off, it's not something you can do while you're afk. It requires reaction. It requires input. It requires judgement. You can fail at making your object. This is the way crafting should be done. What's fun about crafting in WoW are the results. What's fun about crafting in Norrath are the process and the results.
Furthermore, you start off being able to craft from any profession. You can woodwork, scribe, tailor, and metalwork in one crafting session. You get to try them all out before you choose a specialty. Infact, you must try them all out before you can choose a specialty.
There are a few downsides to Norrath, as well. It simply requires bigger machines than Azeroth does. This is a pain for me, because I don't have the cash to upgrade right now. Have you not heard about the economy? Are you going to buy it for me? I didn't think so.
My enjoyment of the game is severely limited by the large amount of lag I get when the server gets populated. I can't have anything at all running in the background. So if I'm lost and confused, there's no alt-tabbing out to check the wiki. It also means that I can't turn the settings up to experiance the full glory of the graphics.
But guess what, I'm still enjoying the game. That's saying something.
The maps are just a pain. Not nearly as accurate as I'm used to. Even with my little compass in my UI...I just get lost so easily.
The UI seems a little less intuitive than WoW, too. And the various features don't start out locked. That's a minor pain for someone who's not used to her chat box moving suddenly when she's trying to click on something.
Over all, very enjoyable and definately a new experience. But I'm thinking each game can learn a bit from one another.
World of Warcraft Burn Out Blues
World of Warcraft is a fantastic game. A really fantastic game. Easy to get into, lower than usual system requirements, low learning curve. It's a fantastic beginner's MMO.
But that oh-so-common feeling that sometimes comes with playing a game for a long period has consumed me.
I've done so many of the quests so often, I almost don't need a questing add-on...Almost. I'm not that smert. The long, beautiful, and sometimes heart-breaking quest lines and rousing raids on opposing faction leaders? Done it. Dunegeons, BGs, Arena, end game raids? Been to most. Haunting cut scenes, the stark cold of Icecrown, the lag of Dalaran, Chromie in Dragon Form? Seen it.
What to do when you're done with most of the usual forms of game-play? Twinking? I dabbled, but lost interest before she was fully finished. Besides, I'm horrible at PvP.
The achievements are fun, but some of them just feel like more of a grind, especially the ones I'm most interested in.
As you can see, I'm not the most accomplished WoW player, so what's the deal? Why am I burnt out?
I simply have no clue.
My Orc Warlock main will always have my heart. She has all the toys. Including getting very lucky with the Headless Horseman's mount.
But I just feel it's time to try something different. And so, WoW account cancelled, I decided to try Everquest2.
Here's hoping the switch will be enjoyable and entertaining.
But that oh-so-common feeling that sometimes comes with playing a game for a long period has consumed me.
I've done so many of the quests so often, I almost don't need a questing add-on...Almost. I'm not that smert. The long, beautiful, and sometimes heart-breaking quest lines and rousing raids on opposing faction leaders? Done it. Dunegeons, BGs, Arena, end game raids? Been to most. Haunting cut scenes, the stark cold of Icecrown, the lag of Dalaran, Chromie in Dragon Form? Seen it.
What to do when you're done with most of the usual forms of game-play? Twinking? I dabbled, but lost interest before she was fully finished. Besides, I'm horrible at PvP.
The achievements are fun, but some of them just feel like more of a grind, especially the ones I'm most interested in.
As you can see, I'm not the most accomplished WoW player, so what's the deal? Why am I burnt out?
I simply have no clue.
My Orc Warlock main will always have my heart. She has all the toys. Including getting very lucky with the Headless Horseman's mount.
But I just feel it's time to try something different. And so, WoW account cancelled, I decided to try Everquest2.
Here's hoping the switch will be enjoyable and entertaining.
Monday, April 6, 2009
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To allow for easier communication, I've set up some forums. So check them out at freshface.freeforums.org
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