I Wish I'd Written That: Part Five

For the final entry in "I Wish I'd Written That" I have focused on articles written by Lane Haygood. Haygood writes for the blog I also write for, and every Friday when he posts I always read his articles and wish I could write as eloquently as he does.

1. Of JRPS and Nerds... and Nerd Love

As an unashamed nerd and lover of video games, if those two things can be different, this article immediately caught my attention. The one section that caught my eye was this:

"Social networking meant for gamers will have the same problem that social games have: the only people actively engaging in seeking companionship will be in entirely the wrong proportions. That is, the available, non-sociopathic, non-creeps will be vastly outnumbered, and any likely suitors/suitoresses will be frightened off by the crawling, grasping misogynist hordes."

The evolution of social networking has been something I have been interested in for a long while. Haygood makes a great point in the above quote about the problems with social networking in general.

2. Gamestop Gonna Get Sued

This article got me interested as I actually work for Gamestop. The article tells the story of a group of Gamestop customers who are upset that the used version of their game does not come with the downloadable content that the new version has. It was great to have Haygood write this article as he actually works as a prosecutor for a small district in Texas. The part of the article that got me thinking was this:

"But is that really a valid suit? After all, should consumers have a reasonable expectation that they are buying a full game when they buy it used and at a discount, especially when disclaimers appear on the packaging that downloadable content is available only to first-time purchasers? Would a consumer expect a used car, for example, to still be under the manufacturer’s warranty?"

This is something that I have been pushing more employees to inform the customer about for a long while. As I have had personal experiences with upset customers over the fact that they are unable to download content included in the new version of the game, I do not want anyone else to have to go through the same thing. I am very interested to see how this class action lawsuit pans out.

3. Double-Fisted Posting: On Video Games and Economics

It was very interesting to read about the various economics involved with game. The part that was the most interesting was this:

"I would argue that guild microeconomies and the wider, Auction-House based WoWconomy are the best modern examples of Marxist economics at work. This is, however, subject to a few corrupting influences, such as the availability of gold (currency, which has only a social exchange value) from a black market. Most gold sellers do not obtain their supplies of gold from legitimate means (such as doing quests, selling drops, or putting the products of labor on the Auction House) but through the illegitimate means of stealing accounts and selling all of the equipment."

One does not usually connect real world philosophy, such as Marxism, with the world of video games.