Pay To Win

Today's gaming market is plagued with games that require you purchase additional content to either progress the game (additional Downloadable Content, DLC for short) or to speed up your individual progression.

Pay-To-Win games play off of the premise that the game is free, and you can still play the game, but if you pay us real money you can get something that will allow you to be better faster.

http://www.ranker.com/list/8-people-who-spent-an-exorbitant-amount-on-video-games/benjamin-dunn

Pay-to-win appeals to the casual gamer. You pay a bit of cash and you're automatically better off. You don't have to play for actual days to get the items/levels/whatever and your game experience is improved. What would have taken hours of actual gameplay has been just given to you. You just paid to win, and now you can play the game as though you had just spent hours playing the game.

But it's not all good. The Play-To-Win style of gaming cheapens the experience, for many gamers a pay-to-win system ruins the whole gaming immersion. No longer is the game contained within itself, the real world has leaked in and changed the entire game.

The Grapevine

When you're dealing with customers, one must remember to count their employees amongst them. They are the ones who become friends with the customers, they are the ones who interact with them the most, and it is for those reasons that their opinion of your business is the most important.

As manager/owner of an establishment you must treat your employees as though their opinion matters most, because it is their opinion of your business that they will attempt to see enforced.

Not to mention that opinions spread and who's opinion matters more than a direct connection. If your employees don't like your business, their opinion can spread to anyone they decide needs to know about you.

The grapevine is old school yelp, what you hear is what you'll expect to get.

It's good.. but it can't "blank"

The Lumia, a series of phones from Microsoft that features durability and a simplistic but very organized UI (user interface), as well as a powerful built in camera. 

But when you think of smart phones very rarely will the Lumia be mentioned. Why?

Today, most phones seem to sell on the ideas that: 1. it's durable and 2. the apps that it supports. The Lumia is tough, coming from Nokia a company who's phones historical toughness inspired an Internet meme, but it's its supported apps or rather lack-thereof that cause the aforementioned lack of notoriety. 

As an owner I have no qualms with the Lumia, (and all renditions of it) It is a good phone, but it has no support in terms of apps. It's a phone, it's an Internet access point, sure, but rarely will you find an app that isn't buggy in some regard. It's a testament to the power of secondary items in terms of interest in the primary. It may be a great phone, but what it can do is hampered by the lack of support, and thus it's not a top seller.

When something doesn't do as much as it's competitor, especially in an industry as multifaceted as cellphones, sales will inevitably suffer. 

Charity

Every year the Yogscast host a series of livestreams in order to raise money for charity. Starting with the month of December they begin playing games and generally interacting with their fans; all the while attempting to get donations for their efforts.

Whether it's playing video games, singing karaoke, or just goofing around, their videos bring smiles to the faces of over 20 million subscribers on YouTube. They use that popularity along with a seasonal schedule to help fund various charities like last years holiday livestream The Yogscast Jingle Jam. 

Their success is due to a few factors: It's once a year, it's the same time every year, and the way they accept the donations allows a certain level of exclusivity to the donator. First off, the live stream is always the month of December, from the first to the thirty-first the fans are treated to something that they will not see any other time of the year, interaction between all of the Yogscast family. While there is usually crossover between similar channels, fans of multiple members of the Yogscast may never get the interaction between members that they would like. During the Jingle Jam that interaction is a complete uncertainty, anyone may be on the stream any given day. They may have a set schedule of members who will be streaming, but any member of the Yogscast can and will join in. Add to that the fact that it's the same time every year and you've given fans something to look forward to, a countdown to something different, something they enjoy. 

The way they accept the donations gives them exclusivity in that, when a donation is made their name and a message will be sent to the current streamer and if the amount is high enough ($5) the streamer is obligated to give the donator a shout out. By being paired with the charity video game site HumbleBundle.com, they give something back to the donator, a bundle of video games on top of that warm feeling that comes by helping those in need. Their strategy seems flawless, fans donate money to charity and get free video games to play and a livestream to watch. It's a win-win that leaves everybody happier during the holidays.

Links:
https://www.humblebundle.com/
http://blog.humblebundle.com/post/104114001724/the-yogscast-jingle-jam-kicks-off-december-with-a
http://www.yogscast.com/about/story
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yogscast

Video Games, Moonwalking into the Future

With the development of the next-gen gaming experience followed the development of next-gen games. The graphics are clearer, the immersion is deeper, the experience just better, but in these times of technological excellence would people want a side scroller?

With all the advances in game play and what a video game or console can do, the difficulty and complexity of video games has increased even to the point that it has made "old school" side scrolling games (platformers) popular again. Their simple execution coupled with next gen graphics have given breath to a once dead game format.

But in order for this to have happen they had to rebuild the format from the ground up. Games Like Little Big Planet for the PS3 and PS4 a series that allows the player to manipulate objects and work together offers players multiple layers they can play on without taking away the classic side scroll feel.

Little Big Planet

Trials and Trials: Fusion, puts a spin on the old classic Max Dirt Bike by bringing it to console systems, improving the graphic element and adding a versus multiplayer function.

What draws the gamer to these games is a combination of graphics and simple game play. These games can be played and enjoyed by experts and novices alike, and the game looks good while they play. What more can a gamer ask for?

Might Be Your Grandpa's Pipe

When I turned eighteen I was presented with the choice of smoking tobacco or not. I was old enough to buy it should I want to and had extra money. Problem was I didn't particularly want to smoke cigarettes. Cigars were good, but costly, and cigarillos were so hit and miss it was surprising when one was worth the little money I spent on it. 

A pipe seemed the frugal choice. For a fairly small introductory cost ($5-10) I could smoke good tobacco for a relatively small cost by weight. Usually $3.00 an ounce for my favorite chocolate Cavendish. I bought a cheap Corncob pipe for $5.00 and over the course of the year eventually burnt through it. It was unusable, so I tracked down a cigar shop in town, and started asking questions, and what I learned would surprise the average person. 

1. The average person is overpaying

2. Material doesn't always indicate quality

3. The best pipe should only cost $60. 

Simply put, the average uninformed pipe purchaser is spending to much on the pipe's design. Aesthetics play a big role in picking a pipe, the hand feel, the look, and the ever lingering question, "What does it say about me?" After $65 even the best pipe's function and material cost have usually been paid for, so after that you would be paying purely for the design. 

Problem is most people aren't particularly worried about the pipe, even amongst smokers the vast majority do not seek to smoke a pipe, let alone learn about the possible costs involved in its production. To most a pipe is a pipe. The aesthetics sell this product, because the knowledge needed to sell it based on material is just not something people care to know. It's just not that important to most. The fact that the pipe is a meerschaum or made of pure briar means very little beyond bragging rights.

Amazon: Making Wants, Needs

With massive warehouses of products, free two day shipping, and a store front that never closes. Amazon.com has changed the way the typical consumer shops. Your wildest desire is now just a few clicks away, no matter what it could be. This has made the distinguishing line between want and need.

With things like one-click ordering it is now easier than ever to make a spur of the moment buy. An ploy that used to be only associated with gum and curios from the checkout lines in supermarkets and gas station junk, is now being employed on entire products. The same amount of thought is necessary to make that purchase, but unlike the gas station or supermarket, you don't need to leave the comfort of your home to look at the products. To make a quick, perhaps regretful buy.