Guilded Lilies

The Iris Network: Women Gamers' Forum Launch

Tekanji over at the Official Shrub.com Blog has joyfully announced the launch of The Iris Network:

"After what seems like years of yearning, plotting, planning, discarding, and plotting and planning again, the dream to have a feminist-oriented community for gamers has finally been realized."

Tekanji put together The Iris Network forum with the help of site administrator Ravena in record time over the course of the last few weeks.  Their resolve to make this happen was fueled in part by a recent post on Kotaku which asked the question - Why aren't there more female gaming bloggers? - written by editor Brian Crecente.  In his post Crecente complained about not being able to find women writers for Kotaku, blaming his difficulty on this cryptically expressed perception:

"So I know they're out there, but why aren't there more of them out there, or more specifically, why aren't they, you know, more out there."

His post in no way considers the often rabidly misogynistic sentiments directed toward women gamers (nor the sometimes harsher responses regularly present in the comments section) that have been the standard for Kotaku for some time.  Perhaps he is trying to foster a change, but it may require a bit of introspection in the process.  Whatever editorial direction things end up taking at Kotaku, at least now there is an increased opportunity for women gamers in the form of The Iris Network.

Here is the mission statement for The Iris Network:

"After yet another bout of the “where are all the women gamers?” on the internet gaming communities, The IRIS Network (TIN) was finally born. Though there are many individual women gamers who write about their experiences, and many sites for women who game to connect and play with each other, none of these sites are there for the express purpose of highlighting gamers (both in the industry and outside of it) and bringing women’s perspectives into the mainstream. Though it may be a lofty goal, that’s exactly what we here at The IRIS Network aim to do."

And a description of the target audience: 

"Q: Who is this community for?

A: While I just described the forums as "feminist-oriented", this isn't a community just for feminists. It's for women of all walks of life who count gaming among their passions, men interested in networking with women gamers and perhaps learning more about inclusive game design in the process, and, really, anyone who has ever felt that they have been excluded from most games and/or gaming communities at large."

There are more things planned for The Iris Network, including an expanding directory of women who write about games, and an upcoming online gaming magazine called Cerise, due to launch next month.  I am very happy to see this online community for women gamers coming together and look forward to seeing it develop into a strong online community. 

UPDATE 4/9/07: I received some flak for describing the sentiments on Kotaku as being "rabidly misogynistic" (apparently we are not allowed to use the "M" word - I missed that memo).  Tekanji over at The Official Shrub.com blog has written a thoughtful post, Harrasment, silencing, and gaming communities, that covers a number of examples specific to the Kotaku website that were in my mind when I chose those descriptive words in my post.  Her post is very well done, and worth reading through, and gets to the source of the larger issues women gamers face in online communities.  I stand by my original assessment.

Jade Reporting: Gender & Games Resource

In case you have yet to discover the Jade Reporting weblog, let me introduce you:

"The Jade Reporting blog was founded in September of 2006 for the purpose of archiving any and all information that deals with gender and video games. Bad news, good news, just news… it doesn’t matter, we will archive it all. The lofty goals of this blog are not to pass judgment on the news that we offer up, but rather to collect them in the hopes of enabling more dialogue to happen in the blogsphere on the topic of gender and video games."

This clearing house of gender & game related goodness is a great place to visit for a daily selection of links, and along with Wonderland's Crystaltips' Bookmarks on del.icio.us, it has become one of my favorite morning visits.   

The archivers at Jade Reporting are the bloggers from three of my favorite women gamer related reads:  Tekanji from The Official Shrub.com Blog, 100 Little Dolls from the 100 Little Dolls blog, and Lake Desire from New Game Plus.

I have added a permanent link in the sidebar under "Linkage" to make it easy to find.  When you find yourself feeling that you would like to do some more blog reading along the various topics that include gender and video games, bookmark Jade Reporting and make it a regular stop on your daily blog read.

Long Live Computer Games Magazine

Well, as much as I hoped it wasn't true, it seems official: my beloved Computer Games Magazine has been done in by a lethal combination of corporate idiocy and spam.  Gamasutra reported the following on Tuesday:

"Independent sources, both via an un-named publisher dealing with the magazines and from industry messageboard QT3, have indicated to Gamasutra that U.S. print publication Computer Games Magazine and its sister MMO-centric Massive magazine have apparently been shut down by publisher TheGlobe.com."

Recent corporate stupidity by TheGlobe.com resulted in losing a very expensive lawsuit involving illegal spam and MySpace:

"It's believed that a recent lawsuit against TheGlobe.com over spam-related messages sent out on social networking site MySpace may have been partly to blame for the shutdown - a California court found TheGlobe liable in late February for sending "at least 100,000 unsolicited and unauthorized commercial email messages to MySpace members using MySpace user accounts improperly established by the Company".

According to an SEC filing from TheGlobe: "Total damages under CAN-SPAM could therefore range between about $40 million to about $120 million." The filing also indicated that "...any judgment against it would materially and adversely affect its financial condition and future operations, including the potential bankruptcy or cessation of business of the Company", though a final judgement had not been reached as of March 5th."

So it would appear that we will all have to do without the best print source for game related news because some idiot built their marketing strategy on spamming 100,000 MySpace members.  There is no indication that CGM was not pulling its own weight financially, or that their demise has anything to do with any failure on the magazine's part - they appear to be just a casualty of the larger business practices of TheGlobe.com. 

Since I reached the saturation point a long time ago with the bad-boy focus of PC Gamer magazine, this leaves me now with no options for print media for my computer gaming news.  Call me old fashioned, but I enjoy reading things that aren't on a computer screen.  I am hopeful that the people of CGM and Massive will find a way to re-group and recover in a financially independent way that will shield them from this kind of pointlessness in the future.

You can read the full Gamasutra article HERE.

Mind Games II: 3D Games & Depression

Thanks to Tiny Dancer over at gaygamer.net I got to read a very interesting article on how 3D game environments are being used as a measure for depression.  The article is featured on the Science Daily website, and reports on research results published in the March issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry (read the abstract HERE).  Here's the gist of the article:

"Scientists are using a virtual-reality, three-dimensional video game that challenges spatial memory as a new tool for assessing the link between depression and the hippocampus, the brain's memory hub. . . Researchers found that depressed people performed poorly on the video game compared with nondepressed people, suggesting that their hippocampi were not working properly."

Previous studies have linked decreased memory function with depression, associated with a smaller sized hippocampus among depressed individuals.  In order to test their theory, the researchers designed a spatial memory test for a selection of depressed and non-depressed patients, since spatial memory functions in the brain have been shown to reside in the hippocampus. What's interesting here is that they originally did this research using "a two-dimensional memory test traditionally used in such studies" but were unable to see any difference in performance between the two groups being tested.  They decided to rework the study using a three-dimensional virtual-reality game environment, and were able to more accurately measure differences in spatial memory between depressed and non-depressed patients.

Here is the conclusion they reached:

"Thus, the video game is a more revealing measure of spatial memory and a more sensitive measure of hippocampal dysfunction — a more powerful tool for exploring the link between the hippocampus and depression. It may one day be a tool for detecting hippocampus deficits in depressed patients."

From the point of view of the scientists who published these results, I can imagine they are pleased to have worked out a better way to test for depression related spatial memory issues using 3D video games.  From the point of view of a gamer, though, I am curious about the specific role that this type of 3D virtual world interaction could have for us.  Does this mean that there is the possibility that the converse is true - that interacting within 3D virtual game worlds could offer a way to improve the function of the hippocampus and perhaps strengthen spatial memory function among the depressed and non-depressed alike?

Everyone who has ever played a video game knows that the longer you play a game the better you get at it.  This isn't only the case when replaying the same area in a game due to familiarity with the specific landscape, but is also true with unexplored levels as you progress through a game.  If that weren't the case there would be no need for level designers to increase the difficulty of gameplay as the game progresses.  From a completely unscientifically based assumption, I would have to guess that the reason players get better as they go has much to do with the learning that is taking place as they play, and that learning, as far as the brain is concerned, translates into increased connection between neurons creating more and better connections within the brain.

I don't want to speculate how this assumption would expand to include the reduced size of the hippocampus as it correlates with depression, but I can imagine that time spent interacting inside 3D game worlds could provide opportunities to strengthen what spatial memory resources a player has - even if that capacity is limited by depression's affect on the hippocampus.  This makes me want to think, in my overly simplified hypothesis, that even depressed gamers have a chance at improved spatial memory functions compared to their non-gaming peers due to the time they spend interacting inside 3D virtual worlds.

I love that psychologists are interested in using game technology as a tool in their studies, but I think they could reveal some very interesting things when they do so if they also incorporated experienced gamers as part of the test group.  People have been speculating on the possible negative effect that games have on their players since the arcade days, especially when it applies to young children.  Wouldn't it be great to see studies like this one being done that begin with the hypothesis that time spent in 3D game worlds might result in positive effects on the players?  We might be surprised by the results.

"One Man's Idol Is Another Man's Eye Candy"

I just read through a great article on gaygamer.net  written by Tiny Dancer. The post is called Metasex Appeal: Why Games Might Be More Gay-Friendly Than We Think, and is worth taking the time to read through.  Go ahead and read it, and then we can see what you think.

I find an interesting parallel in this piece to some of the issues that have been discussed on Guilded Lilies in the past, especially in relation to how games can be designed to be more inclusive for women gamers. I have often expressed my belief that it wouldn't take much at all to remove the largest and most obvious barriers to women gamers, and for the most part I can see that awareness working its way into the collective consciousness of the game making psyche.  In a similar way, Tiny Dancer is saying this about his hopes for gay gamers:

"I suppose the heart of the matter is that I'm rethinking my position on the nature of what a "gay game" might look like. It's not that I'm rescinding my hope for an all-out responsibly designed gay main character or gay-targeted game; rather, I'm asking myself if in our anticipation we might be overlooking a culturally relevant subliminal and transitional period similar to the sea-change that's taken place in gay-targeted print and TV ads."

In other words; the revolution might just be a quiet one.  I can see the same quiet revolution happening for women gamers as well, as the full financial impact of this growing multi-billion dollar industry starts to stretch itself beyond its fanboy roots.  In a sense, I am hoping that the changes are already in place in the development cycle, and that women gamers and gay gamers (and gay women gamers too) will see the results sooner than we expect.  Maybe it will be such a subtle shift that it won't be obvious that things have changed all that much, at least for a while.  But someday we will look back at all the rabid commentary from the fanboy gamers and websites (you know who you are . . .) the way we look back on all the immature insults of junior high.  And we will sigh and say - Thank the Gods THAT is over with!

And your thoughts are . . .?

Geek Books: Game Art Book Recommendations

Next Generation has recently posted a list of "50 Books for Everyone In the Game Industry", (link via Wonderland, where all good links come from!) put together by game designer and author Ernest Adams.  The task of putting together such a list in the first place is in no way an easy one, and Adams explains the limitations of his list in the introduction.  He purposely left out any tech specific books, so my personal interest in finding good books on creating game art isn't covered there. It is an interesting list, and I will certainly spend some time looking into a few of the titles he recommends.  I would also be interested in seeing a list like this put together that suggests more non-industry books (there are a few included in his list) as a way to broaden the scope of thinking for people inside the industry.  The one example that jumps out at me is the book A Pattern Language, by Christopher Alexander.  Adams says about this book "Will Wright says that this book was part of the inspiration for The Sims."  That sentence alone is enough to get me interested in reading this title, and  so I think it would be fabulous to also see a list of other books like this, ones outside the gaming mainstream, that have been inspirational to leaders in the industry.

I have had it in the back of my mind to write up a review of a few good game related books I have been reading lately.  In the spirit of supplementing the areas of Adams list that were necessarily brief I will throw a few more titles out for those of you who share my interest in learning more about the art creation aspect of games.  I don't have Adams' professional experience to offer - my perspective is that of the rank amateur eager to find the right book to learn something useful on my own.  Computer books are expensive, and there is nothing more disappointing that plunking down $30 - $50 on a title that doesn't really deliver on the promises made on the cover.  This is especially the case when buying books online, when the only real information you have is what other people have to say about the book.  Hopefully you will find something useful here.

First on my list is a title that Adams includes: Creating the Art of the Game, by Matthew Omernick, 2004.  This book is a simple introduction to the processes of producing game art.  This is not a book that contains software specific tutorials; although there are a few brief descriptions of how certain tasks are done in Photoshop, Maya and 3D Studio Max.  It is a book for beginners, and provides a helpful introduction to the basic functions of the elements used in art creation, with chapters on textures, modeling, lighting and effects.  It is a well designed book, with helpful illustrations and an engaging text.  I highly recommend this one!

As a companion to the above title, you might also be interested in finding a copy of Game Art: The Graphic Art of Computer Games by Morris and Hartas, 2003.  This is a pretty fluffy book, so don't expect to learn anything deep or meaningful from reading this one.  Instead it is a large format picture book with a wide range of game art offered in full color.  I have found it useful to look at the variety of images from a wide range of games, especially since I haven't seen many of these games from playing them myself.  I picked this up cheaply online, but you may also be able to find a copy of this in your local library.

The next great title is:  Game Art: Creation, Direction, and Careers, by Riccard Linde, 2005.  This is a perfect follow up to Omernick's book, as it takes all of the topics in his book to greater detail, and throws in a useful look at the specifics of careers available for game artists. If you read Creating the Art of the Game and find you want to know more, this book is the next step.

There are two books on creating textures that I have found very helpful: the first is 3D Game Textures by Luke Ahearn that I discussed in detail in THIS earlier post.  The second book is The Dark Side of Game Texturing by David Franson.  This book offers more of the same helpful sort of step-by-step Photoshop tutorials of Ahearn's book, but with an emphasis on the types of textures used in FPS and action games.  These two books cover pretty similar ground, so you may not feel the need to buy both of them (in which case I would recommend Ahearn's book, which is much
more comprehensive) but I was happy to have more tutorials and the different perspective that Franson's book offers.

I recently found the book Action Anatomy by Takashi Iijima, 2004.  It is full of useful visual information on the human figure, and is an excellent reference for character design.  It was put together specifically for game design, animation and digital artists, and is a reference book that I am sure I will use again and again.

The last two books I will mention are waiting in the wings - I have them on hand but I haven't had a chance to read through them yet.  They both look very promising, and offer another level of information for the would-be game artist. Both of these titles are designed for digital artists in general, rather than specifically for game artists.  I will let you know more about these once I get a chance to dig into them.

• [Digital] Texturing & Painting by Owen Demers, 2002. The first half of the book covers art theory and how it applies to games, with the second half dealing with the technical applications.
• [Digital] Lighting & Rendering by Jeremy Birn, 2000. This book looks to offer a solid introduction to the function of light in 3D art. 

I am interested to hear what you think of this book list, and would also love to hear about any more of these kinds of books that you would recommend.  All the title links will take you to Amazon.com where you can find more detailed information on the books and can read the customer reviews.  You may also be able to get used versions of books for a lot less than the cover prices from Amazon or one of the many other used book websites online.

Massive Magazine Launch

The premier issue of Massive Magazine has arrived, and looks great.  The large format of the magazine definitely lives up to its name.  This quarterly offshoot of Computer Games magazine expands one of my favorite sections there, and the overall feel of the magazine is designed to appeal to a more mature audience.  I suppose using the term "mature" is kind of a weird way to describe people primarily playing MMO fantasy games, but you know what I mean.  Three of the five editorial staff members are women, and the presence of Cindy Yans as Features Editor alone was enough to make me subscribe.  Add to that articles by Richard Garriott, Nick Yee, and Raph Koster, and you have a very promising beginning.

In the introductory editorial, Cindy Yans asks some fundamental questions about people who play MMOs:

"Why do we play these games?  Why do we play dress-up and collect stupid trinkets and swing axes and bash monsters and pilot vehicles and join virtual clubs.  Why even care? Why isn't it a waste of time when a large segment of the population insists that it absolutely is a waste of time?  Why are we here?  Why do we return time and time again?  What on earth are we getting out of these make-believe worlds that we can't find anywhere else?"

These are the kind of questions I ask as I find myself logging into Guild Wars for the 755th hour of my life, even when I have 6 other highly compelling single player games loaded and ready to play on my computer.  As fascinating as these questions are to me, the fact is, contemplating possible answers to these questions has never made me want to stop playing.  If anything, thinking about the motivation I have for games like Guild Wars makes me even more curious about their appeal.  Massive Magazine looks to be a great way to follow this interest and gain some insight into the growing world of MMO games.  I am so glad to find a game publication that appreciates the fact that in addition to their being female readers, there are those of us who are also old enough to remember when Jimmy Carter was President.

Jimmy who?

Guilded Lilies Gets a New Look

I have finally found the time and motivation to customize my blog layout.  I chose a standard template layout when starting the GL blog, expecting to customize it a few days later.  That was 7 months ago, so it is about time I got this thing done!

I tend to tinker with things over time, so I expect this design could change in small (or big) ways after I look at it for a while.  My basic goal in creating the logo has been to come up with something that visually references the fantasy/role-playing genre of gaming that I enjoy while still capturing the larger interests of the topics I write about here.

I started the design by looking at heraldic emblems, thinking that something along the lines of a heraldic fleur-de-lis (a stylized lily) might work as a logo.  After working through those first images I decided things were looking a little too SCA (not that that is a bad thing) and medieval for what I was after in the overall mood of the design. 

I then worked on a stylized glyph based on one of the fleur-de-lis designs, and refined that to the point where I was happy with it.  A few days later, when I came back to see if I still liked it, I realized that the lily symbolism that was the basis of the design wasn't going to be that apparent, so I worked on some ideas for incorporating something more visually literal to the design.

The design for the lily that I came up with to incorporate with the glyph is the basis for the final logo design.  I realized that it would be too small to make any visual impact the way I had designed it to work with the glyph, so decided to try it on its own to see how it looked.  I then created the design using Photoshop to give it a more dimensional effect from the original concept.

I may return to the glyph for an additional design element -  I like the look of it and think it is worth re-visiting at some point.  Let me know your thoughts on the new look for the blog and on the logo design itself.

If the blog doesn't look any different to you, you may need to do a hard refresh to clear your cache: CTRL + F5 (Command + Refresh on the Mac).

 

Take A Falcon To Lunch Day

Below is an ad that has been running for several months in PC Gamer magazine.  It is an ad from Falcon Northwest, makers of high-end PC gaming systems:

All I would like to say to Falcon Northwest is, please, somebody; take this model out to lunch so she can stop eating her shirt.

I am getting a bit fatigued by seeing this ad in each issue of PC Gamer I receive lately, and increasingly tired by the fanboy focus of the magazine.  I am going to let my subscription run out on PC Gamer, and stick with Computer Games magazine as my source for print based gaming news from now on.  Computer Games has shown its willingness to grow with the gaming demographic, and provides gaming news and reviews that don't automatically assume that every reader is an immature adolescent male geek.  It isn't this ad that has caused me to throw in the chewed-on tank top of a towel with PC Gamer - this ad is benign in its relative idiocy.  It is more their editorial focus that just doesn't work for me as a reader.  Every magazine has the right and financial need to choose their demographic, and PC Gamer does focus on a niche, but I am no longer willing to put up with the overall pandering to the generally immature nature of their perceived readership that permeates the magazine's content. Maybe someday PC Magazine will grow up a bit and make it out of Junior High, but for now I have had enough.

By the look of things I think Falcon Northwest should make an appointment for their model with an ophthalmologist after lunch as well.

You can see a high resolution version of the ad HERE.

UPDATE 10/4/06:

Dear Falcon Northwest,

I see from your ad in the November issue of PC Gamer Magazine that you followed my suggestion and took your model out for lunch before your most recent photo shoot.  It's nice not having to look at her chewing on her tank top anymore, but I think by the way she is twisting it with her thumb that she may still be feeling a bit peckish.  Maybe next time you should insist she order from the desert menu as well?

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely;

Guilded Lily

PS:  I still think she could use an eye exam.

Et In Arcade Ergo: The Lure of Classic Arcade Games

This just in from Boing Boing: a short stop-motion animation, created by PES, of classic arcade game visuals reproduced using household items - muffins and cupcakes doing battle Centipede style - pizza Pac-Man!  Watch it HERE and have a good laugh - it's clever beyond belief.

Equally entertaining is this YouTube clip found on the Corvillus blog from the TV show Futurama (via Wonderland).  The show's creators managed to get all the great old arcade games into the show and still have a cohesive plot line! 

I, Also, Am In The Arcade:

Last week I went with a few friends to spend the day at Fun Spot - the northern NH arcade and tourist magnet - and I had a chance to replay all those great arcade classics from my misspent youth.  Fun Spot has a special section of the arcade set aside with loads of old machines, and I was able to get more than my fill of gaming nostalgia with reams of tokens fed into Frogger, Centipede, Asteroids, Tempest, Ms. Pac-Man, and the lot. These games are still a blast to play, and their technological simplicity is not a distraction from the enjoyment.  I kind of expected that I wouldn't enjoy playing them as much as I had in high school, for the plain fact of so much increased gaming sophistication in the spanning years.  I found the opposite to be true - especially when I compared them with the new arcade games available - I had more fun playing these classic games than I have had in a long time.  I even got to add my initials to the list of high scorers on the Tempest machine, due, I am sure, to the complete lack of any other skilled players rather than my own accomplishment.  I did try some of the current offerings available there - riding motorcycles, sitting in big blue bubbles of isolation, using controllers shaped like hand guns - but the addition of physical props to the gaming experience that seems to dominate the current arcade trend didn't create any more immersive or enjoyable a game experience than the simple button mashing interface of a game like Space Invaders.  I think the simplicity of the design limitations of those early arcade games meant that much more effort was naturally spent on the basics of game play, and the result is some of the best games ever designed.

The advent of cell phone games has reintroduced some of the similar limitations that early arcade games faced, and the focus on the essential function of game mechanics has been reintroduced to game design again.  It seems to be spreading to other areas of game design as well with the huge popularity of games like Geometry Wars, and the types of games being offered on Live Arcade for the Xbox 360.  This is a very good thing for game design overall, since in many ways the focus has been almost entirely about the increase in technological muscle ever since those first arcade games were introduced.  Many gamers are discovering again just how much fun a simple game interface can offer, and at its minimalist core this is what games are really about.

In parting I offer this distraction:  A while ago I found the Paper Arcade website through some other gaming website that I have long since forgotten (Wonderland perhaps?).  I was able to build myself a paper model of my all-time favorite game - Tempest - which sits on my desk.  All I need now is to find a version of Tempest that I can play on Windows XP - does anyone know if the old Microsoft Arcade for Windows 3.1 runs on the XP?   Until then I will have to just keep saving my quarters for another trip to Fun Spot.

Update:  The idea for this image to correspond with the title of this post came to me after putting this post up.  It was a visual pun I couldn't resist - Apologies to Poussin!

Dell-Fire and Brimstone: Dell Recalls Fiery Laptop Batteries

I know it seems like I have it in for Dell, but this bit of news provided such a great thematic tie-in with my previous post that I couldn't resist.  Dell announced a recall on Monday of 4.1 Million notebook computer batteries for fear that they might burst into flames.  The addition of the image of flaming notebooks to my metaphor of Dell Customer Service Hell is just too convenient for me to pass up. This from the New York Times article on the recall:

"Dell has been bedeviled by reports of burning laptops in recent months. In June, a Dell notebook burst into flames during a conference in a hotel in Osaka, Japan. In July, firefighters in Vernon Hills, Ill., were called to the office of Tetra Pak, the food processing and packaging company, to extinguish a notebook fire hot enough to burn the desk beneath it.

That same month, a Dell notebook in the cab of a pickup parked alongside Lake Mead in Nevada caught fire, igniting ammunition in the glove box and then the gas tanks. The truck exploded. “A few minutes later and we’d have been coming up out of the canyon when the notebook blew up,” said Thomas Forqueran, owner of the laptop and truck. “Somebody is going to wind up getting killed.”

Did you notice that the author of this piece used the word "bedeviled"?  Stranger still, the author's first name is Damon. Are you getting the same picture I am?

They also mention in the article that Dell's bottom line has been suffering recently due in part to their poor customer service, reinforcing that my neighbor's experience with Dell CS was not an isolated incident:

"Faced with stiffer competition that has forced price cuts, it has reported lower-than-expected sales and earnings over the last year, sending its stock down more than 40 percent. It is also spending $100 million to improve its customer service, which it found had alienated consumers.

To be fair, the lithium-ion batteries in question are manufactured by Sony, and it isn't clear from the article if the recall could possibly expand to other laptop manufacturers as well. Still, if you are the owner of a Dell laptop it would be a good idea to find out if your battery is one of the potential fire bombs in the recall through this link HERE.  This burning issue should be a good test to see how much Dell's customer service has improved after the $100 million dollar investment.

In parting I would like to share this little reminder courtesy of the Threadless T-Shirt website:

It would now appear that Stop, Drop, and Roll doesn't work for Dell either.

Story via Boing Boing and the New York Times.

Dude, you're gettin' a Dell???

A sometimes neighbor of mine, Christopher Jensen, has an article in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)  describing a recent experience with a new Dell XPS 400 system he bought for his godmother - a good friend of mine who is also my neighbor. I helped her set up her new Dell system when it arrived, and the next day when she booted it up she got the Blue Screen of Death.  She had dutifully written down the BSD Stop Code numbers, so I was able to find out that the problem was related to the RAM, and suggested that she probably had a faulty RAM module.  I assumed, since they had opted to buy the extra $130 in home repair service plan, that Dell would want to have a certified technician look it over, and that if I played around inside the case that I might void the service contract.  I suggested that they talk to Dell and assumed Dell would replace the RAM.  How hard is that?

Well, if you read his full article you can hear about the ordeal that had both Christopher and his godmother (84 years old by the way, and yanking her own RAM, thank you very much) on the phone with Dell for several hours a piece.  It was tedious beyond description, but the end result was that Dell finally decided they would send replacement modules.

The modules arrived, and when I went over to assist with the installation I discovered that Dell had sent REFURBISHED RAM to put into this brand new (less than a week old mind you) computer.  When I suggested that she demand they send her brand-spanking-new RAM, my neighbor, expressing the kind of world-weariness that only a prolonged session on the phone with a Dell technician can ingrain, said she would just install the refurbished RAM and be done with it.  They had succeeded in beating her down to the point of going along with their cheapo plan:  Used RAM for price of new in her new computer system.

Just how cheap are we talking here?  A quick look on Newegg.com has the same configuration of RAM selling for $70 to $90 (2 Dimms of 512 Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz).  That is the retail price for the RAM in her system, but the cost that Dell pays, considering they buy this stuff by the boatload, is more likely around $5 or $10 per stick, maybe even less.  But even cheaper than that, they sent used RAM, refurbished from a returned system, which would have even less value than the new modules.  Dell paid more for shipping the replacement RAM than the actual RAM itself cost them.  And how did they get my otherwise stalwart neighbor to give into this solution?  By billing her credit card for $80 ransom for the return of her original RAM - which would only be reversed if she returned the defective RAM in the allotted number of days.

I also had a look on the Dell website to see how much they charge for new RAM.  The retail price for the 2 Dimms of RAM in my neighbors system is $199.90, over twice as expensive as the best comparable RAM currently available on Newegg (and I don't expect that Dell uses the best RAM).  So besides being cheap when it comes to honoring their warranty, they are overcharging for the stuff in the first place.

Dell put Christopher and my neighbor through an agonizing process over replacement parts that would have at the most cost them $20 - if they had done the right thing and sent new RAM instead of the questionable refurbished units.  That's $20 compared to the $1500 that was spent on the new system, a system that shipped with defective RAM.  Neither Christopher nor my neighbor will ever buy a Dell system again, for fear that they will be faced with the prospect of having to talk to a customer service representative in the almost inevitable case that something goes wrong with the computer system.  Christopher expanded the impact of Dells deplorable practices in writing his article, and now I have done a small part in writing this post.  Dell lost a lot more money by not spending the $20 it would have cost them to send new RAM, in the potential return business and to the bad press generated from this one experience. To quote Christopher's article:

"From my perspective, a mildly motivated, single-cell organism could have improved that service."

So if you are planning on buying a new Dell system, you better hope that it works right out of the box, other wise you are in for the signature Dell customer service experience that is comperable to a visit to your own personal level in Techonology Hell.  Makes me wonder how Alienware will fare under Dell ownership, but I guess that is another story for another day.

Pay To PlayStation: PS3 vs. PC

One of the largest deciding factors between playing games on computers versus consoles has been the price.  For many households without a PC the gaming console has been the lower price alternative for gaming.  The cost of a top of the line gaming PC can easily exceed $4,000, and keeping up with the constant improvements can mean spending a sizeable chunk of cash on a fairly regular basis. Up until recently, having a top of the line console would only set you back $200 or $300.  What is interesting to see with the advent of the PlayStation 3, is the price of playing games on a console is increasing in a big leap, bringing it much closer to the costs associated with a low-end home computer.

It is difficult to compare the PS3 to a gaming PC, there are not very many side-by-side elements that can be easily analyzed for performance versus price.  I am more interested in the psychological idea of how much people are be willing to pay for a console, especially one that is anticipated to be in short supply on release.  I recently came across this article from BBC Online.  The online store at Play.com has begun taking advanced orders for European customers for the top of the line (60 GB) PS3 for the sum of £549, or around $1,014 US dollars.  I have seen all sorts of projected prices for the PS3 once it is released, but according to the BBC article Sony announced the price for the PS3 at $785 dollars (£425), so this is a bit of a price gouge to be sure.  The combination of the already high suggested price and the projected scarcity of these units on release will likely make this type of pricing fairly common for those sellers lucky enough to have them available before the end of 2006.

It is safe to assume that there will be a good number of people willing to pay $800 - $1,000 for a PS3 at release, so we are now definitely in the same neighborhood as home computers when it comes to price.  This is far from the $4,000 + top of the line gaming computer, and additionally, the specs offered by those systems are often more than is necessary to play most computer games.  To make my point I have this scenario to offer (as an example, not a recommendation):  Computer Games magazine has given the eMachines T6532 their Editor's Choice red star in the July/August issue (see page 73).  This basic computer system comes with an Athalon 64 3500+ CPU, 1 GB of RAM, a 200 GB hard drive, the usual DVD drives, Windows XP, etc, and an Nvidia Geforce 6100 video card that is unfit for playing games.  They suggest swapping the video card for an NVidia GeForce 6800GS or 7600GT, at which point you have a very competent gaming system, including the upgraded video card, for less than $750.  Consumer Games magazine says this:

"For all the folks who say they don't have the budget for PC gaming, show them this small but powerful system."

The price for this PC doesn't include a monitor, but since the PS3 requires a television as well I didn’t include the monitor price into the comparison. And what about that television?  The high price for the PS3 is justified by Sony because of the Blue-ray high definition player included with the unit.  Sony is saying that for the price of the PS3 you will get a great deal on their combined gaming console and HD player.  The problem arises when you consider the price of a HD Television.  THIS article by Aaron Stanton suggests that the addition of a HD television to your gaming package, to take advantage of what you are paying so much for your PS3 in the first place, would add over $1000 to the price tag of your PS3 gaming system. Here is what Stanton has to say:

“The PS3 relies on a feature that can't be utilized without equipment that sells for double the PS3 itself. Sony is hoping the PS3 will be carried by a feature that will go almost unused by the time the PS3 is replaced by the PS4.”

In the end you are paying for features that for most people will remain unappreciated.  When you compare a similarly priced PC & monitor package, you get a lot more functionality for your price.  Ultimately, when you compare both the PC and the PS3 to the Wii, Nintendo ends up looking like they have a pretty clever marketing plan.

The decision on whether to buy a PC or a PS3 will most likely be made based on more than price, and there are any number of reasons why one approach will be better suited for any given individual.  Making this price comparison does provide a different perspective on the future of computer gaming as it relates to the competition offered by consoles.  I see higher priced gaming consoles as being a good thing for computer gaming - the tightening of that price gap will make the value of playing games on the computer (along with all the other functions it offers) more apparent.  The more you have to pay to PlayStation the brighter the future of computer games becomes.

Thanks to Wonderland for the Del.icio.us link!

Oooooh, Statistics!: Macrovision Corp. on "Casual" Gamers

This bit of statistical goodness is just in via the Gamasutra website (found via Netwoman):

"A new report released by Macrovision Corporation, which operates the Trymedia Network for the digital distribution of PC games, reveals that, according to a recent worldwide survey, 37 percent of those who use casual games play nine or more two-hour 'sessions' each week.

In addition, the survey, of 789 worldwide participants, found that casual gameplay happens most often at night, as opposed to during commute hours or other 'quick break' times during the day, again indicating that the moniker 'casual' is a little anachronistic for the gameplay style."

This makes for a nice piece of statistical support of my previous post - Hardcore vs. Casual: It's a Woman's Prerogative - in why the language used to describe women gamers doesn't work.  The dismissive quality of the term "casual" as applied to women gamers just doesn't hold up under scrutiny as an accurate description of how women actually play, even if it is puzzle games they are playing.  Women play games - with dedication apparently - and older women play games too:

"Other findings include the fact that 37 percent of casual game players are between the ages of 35-49, while 28 percent fall between the ages of 50-60. Casual game players were found to be predominately female, with women making up 71 percent of those playing. Interestingly, 58 percent of those surveyed were found to have no children under age 18 living in their households."

Women gamers already knew this about themselves, but this presents a fairly significant shift in the conventional wisdom about the gaming habits of women:

"Our survey has determined that mainstream audiences dedicate a substantial amount of time to gameplay -- not just in 15-minute increments as previously thought," said Loren Hillberg, executive vice president and general manager of Commerce at Macrovision. "Whether advertisers are reaching out to casual or core audiences, we want them, through the results of our survey, to realize who gamers are, how they operate and what they like."

I would only add that this is helpful information as well for those developing games, not just those marketing them.  Since it supports the idea that women will play games for more than small time segments, developers don't have to automatically dismiss women as a potential market for a longer game format.  Even though this information is specific to "casual" games, it shows that women do invest a significant amount of their recreational time playing games, and it is so very nice to see the understanding of that fact expand though studies like this. 

Equality is Like Gravity: Joss Whedon on Strong Women Characters

Since the last post featuring a YouTube clip was so much fun, I decided to run this one as well.  I found this clip via Wonderland's del.icio.us links for 6/26/06, and features the speech given by Joss Whedon at the May 15th Equality Now event honoring "his outstanding contribution to gender equality in film and television."

Take a few minutes to hear what he has to say:

He is speaking about women characters in film and television, but his perspective is equally valid for game characters as well.  He has expressed so much in this short speech with a great deal of insight and clarity, which is what makes this so wonderful to listen to. Even though what he has to say here speaks to many levels of interactions between men and women, this particular answer to the repeated question "So, why do you write these strong women characters?" offers a particular interest when applied to game design:

"Well, because these stories give people strength, and I've heard it from a number of people and I've felt it myself, and it's not just women its men. And I think there is something particular about a female protagonist that allows a man to identify with her that opens up something that he might - an aspect of himself he might be unable to express, hopes and desires he might be uncomfortable expressing - through a male identification figure."

He captures an element that I have tried to express in previous posts (never anywhere near as clearly), how designing games with strong women characters isn't just a nod to women gamers, but is equally important for the men playing these games as well.  As he says, it's about balance, and it isn't just that it is the right thing to do, it makes for more compelling stories and for engaging and successful entertainment.

I will close with this quote from Joss Whedon's speech, and hope that the time will be soon when the perspective will shift to asking:

"Why aren't you asking 100 other guys why they don't write strong women characters?"

All This Virtual Space For Rent

Old Grandma Hardcore's Timothy St. Hilaire has a post on advertising in games that does a great job examining this rapidly growing income stream (you can read my earlier post, This Virtual Space For Rent, for more of my perspective on this topic).  My sense of dread is rapidly increasing concerning the impact that in-game advertising will have on the quality of game play. Articles like the ones referred to in the OGHC post from BusinessWeek Online - which, interestingly enough, is difficult to read due to the presence of overlapping advertisements - reflect the fact that the gaming industry is already heavily invested in the success of in-game advertising.  Game design has changed.  We may not see the full effects of these changes for a while, but there will never be any shoving of that Genie back into the bottle of highly caffeinated soda again.

In talking about Microsoft's practice of collecting players' statistics from the Xbox 360, St. Hilaire had this insight:

". . . ask yourself this: just how much information do they already collect on you as you play the XBox 360?

When you register for an XBox Live Gold Account, all of your primary demographic info is there, so it negates their need to collect surveys of your playing habits. They KNOW your playing habits. The only reason they have to solicit surveys anymore is to collect data on how often people lie on surveys."

And you thought I was the cynical one!

The recent GDC Focus On: Game Advertising Summit - the source of the BuisinessWeek Online article - will be posting some of the lectures from that series later this week, so there should be information on more than just Microsoft's approach to commercializing your gaming experience. It will be interesting to see what other sorts of innovations were suggested at that summit - perhaps advertising that changes with the player's demographics, advertising that cannot be skipped or avoided in game, advertising that annoys the hell out of you to the point that you want to stop playing games altogether?

St. Hilaire pointed out this most disturbing quote by Microsoft's Kevin Browne:

"Whenever we talk to our in-house teams about in-game advertising, we always push the issue of relevance. Inevitably, the discussion starts with them telling us that they don’t want Tampax ads in their game. We're pretty sure Tampax wouldn't be interested in 18-34 year old males.”

Which can mean only one thing for women gamers - the adolescent male will still be king of the demographics heap for game design decisions when the development dollars are being paid for by advertisers.  Development will follow the money, and most likely, it won't be in the interest of attracting more women as players.

Here is what St. Hilaire said:

"Games will be even more filtered to fit a specific demographic to make it more attractive to potential ad money, and the dream of different ages and genders playing together like Hippies and Suits tossing a frisbee on a warm, summer afternoon will be lost to marketing jargon and Madison Avenue."

I feel for game developers, faced with the challenge of creating a compelling game with ever increasing technological prowess and ever expanding costs for production; challenged by issues of piracy and of the resale of used games that result in far more people playing than actually paying retail to do so.  I feel for them because today's game developers are making a deal with the devil that will forever change the face of interactive entertainment, and I can already imagine the feeling of wondering where the soul of gaming has gone.  Yes, gaming has a soul - it's actually your soul - the one you bring to the game playing experience that allows you to loose yourself in the immersion of the interactive environment. Now that game designers will be working with the divided focus of entertaining while selling their advertisers products, don't expect to find that same feeling of connection between yourself and the games you play.  You know that dull glazed feeling you get after a few hours of commercial television?  Well it's coming soon to your PC and game console too.

These are the good old days for advertising free games, enjoy them while they last.  Say, why does that last line make me think of ketchup?

Be sure to read the full post on OGHC.
Thanks to 100 Little Dolls.

This Virtual Space For Rent

Advertising is coming to your game space soon, if it isn't there already.  For now the desired target market seems to be the young male demographic that for the most part plays console games, with ads for Coca-Cola and Sprite already in games like SWAT 4 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.*  If advertisers have their way, your game space is only going to get more crowded with product placements as time goes by.

The April edition of Wired magazine, with Will Wright as guest editor, has some great game coverage, and includes a short piece by John Gaudiosi called Product Placement to Die For.  He says that game advertising revenue is presently above $60 million, and is expected to grow to half a billion dollars by 2009.  Massive Inc. is one of the leaders in this field, and their CEO, Mitch Davis, is quoted in the piece offering this dancing dollar sign of an image for potential advertisers:

"Imagine if a certain brand of sneakers increased your avatar's dexterity."

I can also imagine that images like this keep him awake at night, being so excited by all the money he's going to make that he can't sleep.  I can see it now: Nike Air Jordan XIV of Fleetness; +20 Dexterity; +15 Babe Magnetism (20%).

Advertisers LOVE the young male demographic.  Console games have eaten into the amount of time this demographic spends in front of the television, and TiVo has further eroded commercial exposure for those that still do watch.  Advertisers are eager to get their products back in front of the faces of this audience.  Additionally, game production costs are notoriously high, and the combination of piracy and secondary markets (such as the resale of games and game rentals) means that many more people play games than the developers actually receive money from.  In-game product placement offers an irresistible source of income for game developers, so it is difficult to imagine that console games that appeal to the young male demographic won't become more and more commercial as part of this trend.

What will this mean for women who play games?  I can see two possible scenarios emerging.  First, since the desired demographic in this equation is not female, game developers will be more interested in continuing to develop already proven game formulas for the young male market.  Advertising succeeds best when the target market is narrow and direct, so I see the possibility that games will continue to be designed with adolescent male priorities, including the elements that have been barriers to women playing these types of games.  The incentive for game developers to create new game formats that appeal to a wider audience will be lessened by the availability of advertising revenue directed at these specific markets.

Secondly, I see the possibility that advertising dollars specific to female demographics would also become available, shaping the type of games designed to take advantage of the growing number of women playing games.  This has the potential of limiting the female game market to the types of pink games that advertisers will see as the necessary vehicles for reaching women gamers: think LIFETIME Network meets the Sims with tiny 3-D models of products like Dawn dish soap, Charmin toilet paper and a full range of feminine hygiene products in your simulated world.

Whatever the outcome this influx of advertising money has on game development it can't be a good thing.   When gamers want nothing more than creative games with absorbing story content, it is difficult to see the pressures of advertising revenue as anything but a barrier to these creative goals.  You won't be able to escape commercial advertising in your virtual world anymore because your game space has just been sold to the highest bidder.

* The PC version of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is on the list of games that come with the Starforce protection device drivers.  To find out more click, the "Boycott Starforce" chicklet in the column on the right.

Oooooh, Statistics!: BBC Gets Its Game On

BBC Creative Research and Development has commissioned this newly published report: Gamers in the UK: Digital Play, Digital Lifestyles.  It is chocked full of statistics and analysis of gaming trends in the UK for all ages, by gender, and by game platform.  Here is a great source for one-stop shopping for current gaming trends, and at first glance looks to be very thorough.  Have a look at the nicely designed 25 page PDF, complete with pie-charts and side bars, all in full color.  Sure this is the UK, and not the US, but I'm willing to make assumptions about the similarities between the two nations' gaming habits until something as well researched as this comes along for US gaming trends. Geek out, and expect to see me making reference to these stats in future posts on Guilded Lilies once I have a chance to digest all this statistical goodness. Yumm, lots of pie!

View the PDF HERE.

Thanks to Netwoman who found this via Boing Boing.