Women Bound

Democracy, so what?

Call it what you like. Cooperation is key.

Opening the door to individual empowerment and the potential of our species to anticipate and motivate change, however that looks, can only happen with everyone's participation.

So, enough with the male domination already!
(Phew! That didn't take long.)

You Say Slow Growth, I Say Recession

But a word is just a word, right? A recession by any other name would decrease the immense buying power of US consumers, the value of the currency, and the productivity of all industries.

I know I used to make fun of Alan Greenspan being a propped-up corpse like Weekend At Bernie's or Bob Barker, but now I miss the old cadaver.Bernanke doesn't inspire anything but skepticism, and a suspicion that the administration's propaganda machine created him in CGI and then spits out whatever bullshit necessary to make people spend on credit.

And that would be ok, if our fantasies of world domination were anything other than fantasies. Or inevitably transient.

Damion Schubert's Life of the Game

6 "Oh my God"s
3 "Holy shit!"s,
1 "No fucking way!!"
(within the first 5 minutes)
= Mega Hit Game

Damion's talk is called "The Zen of Online Game Design". (Here's the ppt) He's currently designing something Top Secret for Bioware

Since zen is an attempt to free oneself from concepts, and to see the world directly, how can that happen in contemporary (virtual) reality? (That's a whole other can o' worms.) But Damion's take is that enlightenment can only come through experience, meditation and understanding. Here's what he means...

Some kernels of wisdom:
Designers! Keep your heads in the game!
Loving an MMO can be a long term commitment, so evaluate the potential of your chosen partner like you would a human.
There are lots of reasons to leave, so don't make more!
Love your hard core - you want people emotionally, temporally, and financially invested. (Just not too hardcore.)
Your world is your culture. Be aware and be in control of it.
Find balance between the elements of Worldliness (realism, immersion), Gameyness (limitations, levels), and Community (competition, cooperation).

MMO Industry 3Rs:
Recruitment (of customers)
Retention
Reduction (of costs of services)

Some of my tangential thoughts:
Maybe we need to build in skills that people can apply in RL (and know it).
Maybe there's a way to ramp skills so that the "beginning" is not necessarily easy, and doesn't require feeling like such a n00b (without being too hard).

Here's more from Damion.

Imagination Over

Funny how two posts in one day can really be about the same exact thing!

Like this, followed by this:

Just Between Us

Awww. I love to see when world leaders find their political soulmate. Just like these two little peas.
How could they not get along? They're both spoiled princelings, motivated by extremist nationalism, and willing to oppress any and all who stand in the way of unencumbered phallic domination.

Yay!

Sex Sells, But The Dollar Doesn't Buy It

Gisele is smarter than she looks. Or, rather, she's as smart as she looks.

She won't sell herself in dollars anymore because, really, who wants dollars when they won't even buy you a cup of coffee in Europe?

I think we should all make like Jim Rogers and sell out to the Chinese yuan. Don't worry, the Communists will take care of everything.

(Also, props to the BBC for the best way to sneak economics into your breakfast cereal.)