Tag: money and power

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Pre-order Baits

The wonderful temptation of pre-ordering games online is an excellent venus fly tray I’ve avoided for years.  Gamers are baited with extra goodies for parting with their cash as an early adopter of the title.

As a rule, I never do this but for FarCry 5 I’ll make an exception rather than a habit of it.

Money or your life

Streamers, however, are pulled into this to boost their viewing and subscriber numbers and people naturally want to see the actual gameplay before diving in.  I didn’t catch a Beta for FarCry 5 but already had some hands-on gameplay at a Gaming conference late last year; the look and feel is awesome.

Of course, the pre-order options are more attractive for the digital version so you are literally playing on Hour One of the new release.  Predictably, the very same title will be available for 30-40% lower a few months later.

On sale already?
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Week 4 – PS4 zero hours gameplay

These extra 10-20 hours I’ve gained from no gameplay have been used for creative thinking and strategizing as well as considering the look and feel of my new infrastructure.  Tactically, I feel ready for the grind I’ve set-up for myself and settled on aiming pretty high this year.

I’ll be investing in 2-3 streamers this year on Twitch and a couple of them have already caught my eye since actually listening to their background story.

Streamers have plenty of real-world challenges, the issue for me is to identify the fakers and actually talent hunt the folk who have a good balance of high-quality gameplay, personality and authenticity.

Considering Pro-AM game streaming?  Think about

Promoting the stream - schedule 
Staffing the stream - moderators, tech support
Career dev – what are the channel goals
Real world Events
Money management – game budgets, giveaways, sponsors.

I watched enough broadcasters and streams to see clearly why some fail dismally and some gain massive viewers and sponsors.  I’ve recently taken to hosting channels with tiny viewer levels just to boast their confidence and getting abit more involved with chat although I typically lurk (stay in chat without interacting).

Coming up to 2 year anniversary – no one streams this anymore

 

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Burying the survivors

A flight leaves Heathrow at 13:00 on route to Paris, on the way it experiences fatal engine failure and crashes in the Channel. The flight carries 120 passengers 20 in first class.

How many survivors will be buried on the French side and how many in the English side?

 Question the question

It’s interesting to observe how people communicate differently on personal matters depending on the device and method.  There are so many factors that impact the sender’s mental state and tone of the message (personal or work device, signed or unsigned, the speed of transport (instant or slow), public or perceived private.

Formal and personal – hard copy letter.  Shows the sender put in some thought and invested some resources (print, paper, envelope, postage and time costs) before sending and serves as hardcore historical evidence.

Formal and less personal –

email unsigned from a personal mobile device

email unsigned from work or business device

Email digitally signed on mobile device

Email from workstation

Email from laptop

Email from browsers

Many end-users actually see this as cold and heartless as “no one” emails about personal stuff anymore.

Informal and very personal

Instant messaging

WhatsApp

iMessage

VOIP phone calls

The method of choice for a vast amount of people. The user tends to speak from the heart whether angry, sad or happy.  Data is sent with no regard of security levels and assumptive privacy.

Consequences can be catastrophic or a euphoric high.

  • I Love you by email = Low euphoria
  • I Love you by Instant messaging = High euphoria
  • I Love you by letter = High euphoria

Choose your method wisely

 

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I got a refund

I took a chance, called PlayStation Support in LA about my failed DLC install and actually got through to a human being who quickly proceeded an unexpected refund.

Total result.

Find the human being the machines

Now I’m a happy gamer again…it was only $14.99 but the principle was everything.  Anyhow, looks like I won’t be wondering the Horizon Dawn landscape for now unless I complete the game in my UK profile then purchase the DLC for the UK market.

Horizon Zero Dawn™ – still places to explore in the DLC

Over 50 days since my last gym session

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I just want a refund

You can spend $100+ 24/7 on online games but try and get a refund.

PlayStation® Support

Chat is Available 
Monday - Friday, 6AM - 10PM, PST  
Saturday & Sunday 7AM – 8PM PST 

Phone support Phone: 1-800-345-7669 
Monday – Friday only
I just want a refund

A disgusting business model for the consumer gamer