Just checked out this article on IGN:
Next-Gen DVD Copy-Protection Debacle
If the article is accurate, and I have no reason to believe it isn't, it appears that the MPAA is trying to kill the next generation of DVDs before it's even born.
They have made it a requirement to severely cripple next-gen DVD players for existing HDTV owners. Basically if you own an HD set today and try to play HD-DVD or Blu-Ray content in a couple of months when it comes out, at best you will be presented with a severely downgraded picture (From 1080p down to 720p, losing more than 30% of the picture quality), and at worst you may be presented with some warning to the effect that you're not allowed to play the content. This is particularly infuriating for me because my HDTV doesn't support 720p.
In other words, the MPAA have let their irrational fear and broken business model destroy any chance of early adoption of the new format. The irony is that the AACS and HDCP (both code names for the copy-protection schemes that are to be used in the new DVD formats) will probably be cracked inside a month. So the MPAA has crippled the new formats out of the gates, ruined any chance for rapid adoption, and it's all for nothing.
When are they going to learn?
I had planned to adopt the new formats (both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) fairly early on, but now I think I'll wait until there's a properly cracked piece of hardware, or until there are proper instructions for cracking it available. I don't see any reason why we should be crippled by their fear and paranoia.
And before you go shouting foul, think about it like this: if you punish someone for following the rules, do you seriously expect them to keep following the rules? No, not unless you're insane ( and the MPAA clearly is). Punishing people for following the rules, or giving them a signigantly diminished reward is counter-intuitive to garnering cooperation.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Farewell Working Designs, we hardly knew ye...
I can recall a time when I first began using the Internet, and only knew a handful of URL's - this would be the days before Google. Every time I would visit the Internet, I would instinctually visit the Working Designs home page to see when their latest and greatest translation would hit the shelves.
For those of you unaware, Working Designs is probably the single greatest third-party publisher in all videogamedom. I was not aware of this until today, but the company closed its doors in December. The website's gone...it's over. I'm sadder about this than when Sony starved Bleem! into bankrupcy. And it appears that it was Sony's fault this time as well.
So I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on the wonderful memories I have thanks to one of the greatest companies that ever was. Working Designs did not actually create the games they published, however they invariably made them better. The company painstakingly selected phenominal japanese titles that would otherwise never have seen the light of day in the U.S. and localized them for the U.S. market. Along the way, the games would get what I can only describe as a loving, caring translation. The company's moniker was "Our games go to 11" - sort of a tip of the hat to "This is Spinal Tap" and a statement of their commitment to excellence beyond what should be possible.
Whenever you bought a WD game you could be assured that your money was well spent. They were one of the first to use full-color silkscreen printing on their game discs, and foil stamping and embossing on the manuals and inserts. They are, to my knowledge, the only game publisher to ever include a leather-bound hardback instruction manual. WD was known to their fans and to the industry by two unmistakable traits - one, their releases were always special events, and two they never ever released a game on time. They were one of the only companies that I know of who would release nothing at all if they could not release perfection. They took the time to do the job right, and every game they ever released was a gem.
I felt so compelled to buy each and every one of them that I used to jokingly say that I wished they'd stop making them for a while so I could keep up. Now I wish I had never even thought such a thing... I can, however, proudly say I own a copy of every single game they ever put out.
My first encounter with WD was when a friend told me about Lunar: The Silver Star for the Sega CD. I called all over town to find someone who had a copy, and when I arrived, I saw another WD game called Popful Mail. I was impressed at the foil printing and embossing on the game box, so I bought both. To this day those are two of my favoritest games of all time. Both of them were filled with quality voice acting - there were few games that even had voice, but they were the only ones that seemed to take it seriously enough to hire talented voice actors to do the parts in English. Most publishers at the time would have shied away from the whole prospect of re-recording the voice tracks.
WD had re-written the script for Lunar to contain more than a little wit and satire. It was the first glimpse I had of a game that transcended the kids-only stigma placed on video games without having to be violent or obscene.
Popful mail is still my favorite Action RPG of all time. I can still hear Gaw (A little blue creature from the game) saying "I'm dead...and hungry...and that's not a very good combination...Gaw...." and "Does Lord Venuncio have something good for Gaw to eat?".
As time progressed WD began releasing "Omake" boxes with their games. This is almost never done in the U.S. but in Japan, it is not unusual for an even lightly anticipated title to be released with a handful of special items, in a special deluxe artbox. Collectors (such as yours truly) just yum this stuff up. Aside from a couple of rare titles like Earthbound for the Super NES and Robotech (XB,GC,PS2), this never happens in the U.S. Well WD was a gamer's company and they loved all of the same things we do. They played most of the same games that we did, they saw the same movies and anime. They were all around a bunch of great guys.
After getting Lunar: The Silver Star and Popful Mail, I quickly returned to the store and purchased WD's other two titles - Vay, and Lunar: Eternal Blue. Later on, I purchased a Turbo Duo so I could play WD's earliest games - Parasol Stars, Cadash, Cosmic Fantasy 2, Vasteel, Exile, and Exile 2: Wicked Phenomenon.
When the Saturn came out, one of the biggest reasons I jumped on board and bought one was in anticipation of the games that WD would release on it. I was in for a bit of a wait there. I didn't care much for Shining Wisdom, although I have to admit that is more of a preference for art style, the game itself, and especially the writing was great. Iron Storm failed to impress me. Dragon Force, on the other hand was pretty nice, and Sega Ages was a lot of fun as well. I was practically holding my breath waiting for the Saturn remake of Lunar: The Silver Star to be brought to the states. The wait grew so protracted that I purchased a copy of the Japanese version of the game to get a sort of "preview" of it. In the mean time, Albert Odyssey was released. I have very fond memories of that one - I loved the art style. Although I can't remember much about the story or the characters, I remember having a ton of fun playing it, and getting stuck so badly on the last dungeon that my wife bought me a strategy guide just so she wouldn't have to watch me wander around the same dungeon for another 10 hours. I can't recall the exact timing of events but at E3 around 1997, WD dropped support for the Sega Saturn after wonder-moron Bernie Stolar, the then president of Sega of America deeply insulted Working Designs and their work, and later went on to deep-six the entire Saturn lineup when he announced that Sega was basically done with the platform. Although it took a few months to work out that way, this was the death knell for Lunar on the Saturn in the U.S. WD only published one further title. Ironically this was one of the first games announced by WD for the Saturn, and it ended up being the very last game to be released for Saturn in the U.S. - that game was Magic Knight Rayearth. To give you an idea of their level of dedication, when the U.S. anime publisher Media Works refused to allow WD to use the already-done english translation of the opening theme song that was to be used in the Rayearth video release, WD did their own translation of the song and hired a professional singer to come in and do it. Their verison is arguably better, but at the very least on par with the anime version.
With few places left to go, WD went to Sony. They made history with their first release in the sense that it was the first time Sony had allowed a third party to publish one of their first-party Japanese games in America. That title was the remarkable Action RPG, Alundra. Alundra was about as close as any game ever got to being Zelda on the Playstation. While RPGs were WD's main focus, the company did some occasional branching out into other genre's with games like the awesome shooters, RayStorm, Thunder Force V, and RayCrisis, and the light-gun RPG-ish Elemental Gearbolt. They were also entrusted with a Treasure title, Silouette Mirage. Eventually the Playstaion juggernaut convinced the Japanese creator of the Lunar series, Game Arts, to port their games over to Sony's system, giving WD another shot at publishing the 32-bit remakes, Lunar:The Silver Star Story Complete, and Lunar:Eternal Blue Complete in North America. WD treated Lunar with such respect that it was mind-blowing. The first remake, Lunar SSSC, was released in a gorgeous art box, came with a ton of extras, including a leather-bound manual, a soundtrack, a special video disc with a making-of feature, and even a special place to keep your preview demo of Lunar, if you had managed to snag it. Lunar 2:EBC was an even bigger release with an even bigger box of goodies. Shortly after release, they also made a several-hundred page hard-bound strategy guide available. Another of Sony's own RPG franchises had been consumately ignored by the company's U.S. counterpart - Arc the Lad. Working Designs picked up the rights to all three of the Arc the Lad titles that had been released at the time, and bundled them together in a single release, complete with all of the same trimmings as the Lunar releases. including an impressive 500+ page leather bound strategy guide. The game was released well after the PS2 had made its debut in North America.
WD hopped on board and began making titles for the PS2 right away. There were two titles available very shortly after launch - Gungriffon Blaze (Mech Combat) and Silpheed: The Lost Planet (Shooter). For a very long time after that WD was silent, not much news, besides a vague announcement that they had picked up the rights to do two additional PS2 games - both RPG's. Approxamately a year ago, WD released another masterpiece of translation - Growlanser Generations, a two-game set, complete with special art box and the works. They announced a PS2 Goemon title, similar to the N64 Goemon/Mystical Ninja releases.
Inferring from some of Victor Ireland's last comments, it is easy to conclude that Sony refused to allow WD to publish Goemon in the U.S., although the game was, for all intents, finished. That was apparently the final nail in the coffin.
WD was a champion of the gamer. Other than Nintendo, there just aren't many (if any at all) other companies that see the video game industry as anything other than a fast buck. Companies like the inappropriately named Electronic Arts with their slave-like labor conditions and anti-competetive business practices churn out games by the handful based on how many copies they can sell. They have lost the soul of gaming; they have lost all sense of the art form that is gaming. Without companies like WD who provide what can only be called "fan service" to the gaming public, the gaming industry is destined to die a slow dark death of un-innovative mediocrity.
Working Designs, I salute you. We will all miss you dearly. Thank you for 20 great years of gaming.
For those of you unaware, Working Designs is probably the single greatest third-party publisher in all videogamedom. I was not aware of this until today, but the company closed its doors in December. The website's gone...it's over. I'm sadder about this than when Sony starved Bleem! into bankrupcy. And it appears that it was Sony's fault this time as well.
So I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on the wonderful memories I have thanks to one of the greatest companies that ever was. Working Designs did not actually create the games they published, however they invariably made them better. The company painstakingly selected phenominal japanese titles that would otherwise never have seen the light of day in the U.S. and localized them for the U.S. market. Along the way, the games would get what I can only describe as a loving, caring translation. The company's moniker was "Our games go to 11" - sort of a tip of the hat to "This is Spinal Tap" and a statement of their commitment to excellence beyond what should be possible.
Whenever you bought a WD game you could be assured that your money was well spent. They were one of the first to use full-color silkscreen printing on their game discs, and foil stamping and embossing on the manuals and inserts. They are, to my knowledge, the only game publisher to ever include a leather-bound hardback instruction manual. WD was known to their fans and to the industry by two unmistakable traits - one, their releases were always special events, and two they never ever released a game on time. They were one of the only companies that I know of who would release nothing at all if they could not release perfection. They took the time to do the job right, and every game they ever released was a gem.
I felt so compelled to buy each and every one of them that I used to jokingly say that I wished they'd stop making them for a while so I could keep up. Now I wish I had never even thought such a thing... I can, however, proudly say I own a copy of every single game they ever put out.
My first encounter with WD was when a friend told me about Lunar: The Silver Star for the Sega CD. I called all over town to find someone who had a copy, and when I arrived, I saw another WD game called Popful Mail. I was impressed at the foil printing and embossing on the game box, so I bought both. To this day those are two of my favoritest games of all time. Both of them were filled with quality voice acting - there were few games that even had voice, but they were the only ones that seemed to take it seriously enough to hire talented voice actors to do the parts in English. Most publishers at the time would have shied away from the whole prospect of re-recording the voice tracks.
WD had re-written the script for Lunar to contain more than a little wit and satire. It was the first glimpse I had of a game that transcended the kids-only stigma placed on video games without having to be violent or obscene.
Popful mail is still my favorite Action RPG of all time. I can still hear Gaw (A little blue creature from the game) saying "I'm dead...and hungry...and that's not a very good combination...Gaw...." and "Does Lord Venuncio have something good for Gaw to eat?".
As time progressed WD began releasing "Omake" boxes with their games. This is almost never done in the U.S. but in Japan, it is not unusual for an even lightly anticipated title to be released with a handful of special items, in a special deluxe artbox. Collectors (such as yours truly) just yum this stuff up. Aside from a couple of rare titles like Earthbound for the Super NES and Robotech (XB,GC,PS2), this never happens in the U.S. Well WD was a gamer's company and they loved all of the same things we do. They played most of the same games that we did, they saw the same movies and anime. They were all around a bunch of great guys.
After getting Lunar: The Silver Star and Popful Mail, I quickly returned to the store and purchased WD's other two titles - Vay, and Lunar: Eternal Blue. Later on, I purchased a Turbo Duo so I could play WD's earliest games - Parasol Stars, Cadash, Cosmic Fantasy 2, Vasteel, Exile, and Exile 2: Wicked Phenomenon.
When the Saturn came out, one of the biggest reasons I jumped on board and bought one was in anticipation of the games that WD would release on it. I was in for a bit of a wait there. I didn't care much for Shining Wisdom, although I have to admit that is more of a preference for art style, the game itself, and especially the writing was great. Iron Storm failed to impress me. Dragon Force, on the other hand was pretty nice, and Sega Ages was a lot of fun as well. I was practically holding my breath waiting for the Saturn remake of Lunar: The Silver Star to be brought to the states. The wait grew so protracted that I purchased a copy of the Japanese version of the game to get a sort of "preview" of it. In the mean time, Albert Odyssey was released. I have very fond memories of that one - I loved the art style. Although I can't remember much about the story or the characters, I remember having a ton of fun playing it, and getting stuck so badly on the last dungeon that my wife bought me a strategy guide just so she wouldn't have to watch me wander around the same dungeon for another 10 hours. I can't recall the exact timing of events but at E3 around 1997, WD dropped support for the Sega Saturn after wonder-moron Bernie Stolar, the then president of Sega of America deeply insulted Working Designs and their work, and later went on to deep-six the entire Saturn lineup when he announced that Sega was basically done with the platform. Although it took a few months to work out that way, this was the death knell for Lunar on the Saturn in the U.S. WD only published one further title. Ironically this was one of the first games announced by WD for the Saturn, and it ended up being the very last game to be released for Saturn in the U.S. - that game was Magic Knight Rayearth. To give you an idea of their level of dedication, when the U.S. anime publisher Media Works refused to allow WD to use the already-done english translation of the opening theme song that was to be used in the Rayearth video release, WD did their own translation of the song and hired a professional singer to come in and do it. Their verison is arguably better, but at the very least on par with the anime version.
With few places left to go, WD went to Sony. They made history with their first release in the sense that it was the first time Sony had allowed a third party to publish one of their first-party Japanese games in America. That title was the remarkable Action RPG, Alundra. Alundra was about as close as any game ever got to being Zelda on the Playstation. While RPGs were WD's main focus, the company did some occasional branching out into other genre's with games like the awesome shooters, RayStorm, Thunder Force V, and RayCrisis, and the light-gun RPG-ish Elemental Gearbolt. They were also entrusted with a Treasure title, Silouette Mirage. Eventually the Playstaion juggernaut convinced the Japanese creator of the Lunar series, Game Arts, to port their games over to Sony's system, giving WD another shot at publishing the 32-bit remakes, Lunar:The Silver Star Story Complete, and Lunar:Eternal Blue Complete in North America. WD treated Lunar with such respect that it was mind-blowing. The first remake, Lunar SSSC, was released in a gorgeous art box, came with a ton of extras, including a leather-bound manual, a soundtrack, a special video disc with a making-of feature, and even a special place to keep your preview demo of Lunar, if you had managed to snag it. Lunar 2:EBC was an even bigger release with an even bigger box of goodies. Shortly after release, they also made a several-hundred page hard-bound strategy guide available. Another of Sony's own RPG franchises had been consumately ignored by the company's U.S. counterpart - Arc the Lad. Working Designs picked up the rights to all three of the Arc the Lad titles that had been released at the time, and bundled them together in a single release, complete with all of the same trimmings as the Lunar releases. including an impressive 500+ page leather bound strategy guide. The game was released well after the PS2 had made its debut in North America.
WD hopped on board and began making titles for the PS2 right away. There were two titles available very shortly after launch - Gungriffon Blaze (Mech Combat) and Silpheed: The Lost Planet (Shooter). For a very long time after that WD was silent, not much news, besides a vague announcement that they had picked up the rights to do two additional PS2 games - both RPG's. Approxamately a year ago, WD released another masterpiece of translation - Growlanser Generations, a two-game set, complete with special art box and the works. They announced a PS2 Goemon title, similar to the N64 Goemon/Mystical Ninja releases.
Inferring from some of Victor Ireland's last comments, it is easy to conclude that Sony refused to allow WD to publish Goemon in the U.S., although the game was, for all intents, finished. That was apparently the final nail in the coffin.
WD was a champion of the gamer. Other than Nintendo, there just aren't many (if any at all) other companies that see the video game industry as anything other than a fast buck. Companies like the inappropriately named Electronic Arts with their slave-like labor conditions and anti-competetive business practices churn out games by the handful based on how many copies they can sell. They have lost the soul of gaming; they have lost all sense of the art form that is gaming. Without companies like WD who provide what can only be called "fan service" to the gaming public, the gaming industry is destined to die a slow dark death of un-innovative mediocrity.
Working Designs, I salute you. We will all miss you dearly. Thank you for 20 great years of gaming.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Book Review: Real Ultimate Power: The Official Ninja Book
My wife bought me a book she found on ThinkGeek called Real Ultimate Power: The Official Ninja Book. I'm always going on about how cool ninjas are - not many children of the 80's will disagree with me on that point. I even remember taking Ninjitsu classes for a little while when I was around 12. So my wife was browsing saw this and thought it sounded just like me. I've said some wild things about ninjas, but this is....well crazy.Let me first say that although this book reads like it was written by a 14-year old, I wouldn't recommend it for children - you'll understand why in a minute.
Although the book claims to be all about Real Ninjas, it is in fact (and not surpringly so) about anything but. It contains a seemingly never-ending narrative about how "sweet" ninjas are and how they kill everything, interspersed with random footnotes which are not footnotes in a traditional sense at all, but represent conversations the author had with his editor, and with his mother.
The book is so bizzare it almost defies description. The best summary I can make is that it is a purile and impossibly absurd piece of literature that reads like a gigantic run-on sentence that was written by a 14-year-old with ADD, a huge sugar high, and an unnatural appreciation for a completely fantastical image of ninjadom. It is replete with what I would call "locker room" or "bathroom humor" Erections and poop are frequently part of the discussion. There are quite a few sexual references, but they are written from the perspective of a very sexually immature individual, so while they could be construed as explicit, they are really just as absurd as the exposition about ninjas.
Random and inane observations just suddenly appear in the middle of an unrelated topic with no preamble or explanation. Most of the "facts" about ninjas are the product of an overactive imagination and a very loose grip on reality.
But in the end all of this serves to make it a very funny read, which I suppose is the point. I've been reading it off and on for the last couple of days and it has caused me to laugh out loud in an otherwise quiet room more than once. I'm still not sure whether the author really is a 14-year-old with ADD or just really good at portraying one. I suspect the latter because of a couple of lucent moments, but I could be wrong...
Video Games: what is the _real_ release date Part 2?
So I ordered yet another game and it isn't here on the release date. After polling retailers and publishers, the best response I got about this was from Capcom and Electronics Boutique. IGN, and 1-UP.com just ignored me.
The responses from Capcom and EB were basically the same thing. The "release date" is when the game is actually shipped. The reason that it sometimes hits retailers on that day has to do with distance from the warehouse and the expected popularity of the game. Evidently, some retailers will send courriers to pick games like Grand Theft Auto sequels up at the airport when they arrive as opposed to waiting until UPS gets around to dropping it off, but ho-hum titles like the ones I like to buy - Wild Arms 4, Grandia III, they're perfectly content to let wait an extra day to save the expense.
In conclusion, there is no intelligent element at work here, just cost/benefit ratio's and companies that really don't care about a one or two days in terms of availability.
That may be the way things are done, but it's still wrong. It's still generating a false expectation. If a game isn't going to be available in stores on the "release" date, then it hasn't really been released to the consumer. I could care less when a game is shipped - I can't play it until I have it in my hot little hands.
The responses from Capcom and EB were basically the same thing. The "release date" is when the game is actually shipped. The reason that it sometimes hits retailers on that day has to do with distance from the warehouse and the expected popularity of the game. Evidently, some retailers will send courriers to pick games like Grand Theft Auto sequels up at the airport when they arrive as opposed to waiting until UPS gets around to dropping it off, but ho-hum titles like the ones I like to buy - Wild Arms 4, Grandia III, they're perfectly content to let wait an extra day to save the expense.
In conclusion, there is no intelligent element at work here, just cost/benefit ratio's and companies that really don't care about a one or two days in terms of availability.
That may be the way things are done, but it's still wrong. It's still generating a false expectation. If a game isn't going to be available in stores on the "release" date, then it hasn't really been released to the consumer. I could care less when a game is shipped - I can't play it until I have it in my hot little hands.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Random Thoughts: I Hate Advertisers
Advertising is a necessary evil of capitalism. I'm not debating that.
My biggest qualm is with the deceitful, underhanded, unethical, insulting and downright evil techniques that modern advertisers employ to try to separate consumers from their money.
In it's purest form, advertisement is informing someone that your product exists and what its intended use is.
Example:
We have a product called Tide. It is a laundry detergent. It is for cleaning your clothes.
That's simple, honest, to the point and accurate. Completely wrong according to today's advertisers.
Today's advertisers look at their job as inducing you (the consumers) to buy a specific product. They don't care if the product is good, if it works, or if you need it. All they care about is getting you to buy it. They will say or do anything to get you to do this short of breaking the law - and sometimes even then if they think they can make enough profit to offset the penalty.
After bombarding generations of people with ads that claim that such-and-such product is better than the "leading brand" for products that consistently fail to live up to these promises, the public - Generation X and Y specifically have been labeled "ad-resistant", causing advertisers to resort to more subtle methods.
The advertiser responsible for Mentos ads explains that he knows his ads are banal, but his goal was to make them irritating enough that they stuck in your head.
Advertisers intentionally try to get children to demand that their parents purchase certain products and misbehave if the parent's don't comply. They even have an official term for it - it's called the "Nag Factor".
Advertisers show images of ridiculously happy or euphoric people next to their product in the hopes that you will associate happy feelings with their product.
It's so obvious that it's almost not worth mentioning, but advertisers also routinely use sexual images for the same purpose, preying on our most basic of instincts.
How did we ever live before Lipitor, Viagra, Levitra, Zantac, Prevacid, Paxil, Claritin, Crestor and the other billions of drugs that you're being told now to "talk to your doctor" about? It used to be that if you needed a drug your doctor would talk to you, but not nowadays. Oh no, you're not buying enough drugs if you don't have your doctor on speed-dial so you can ring him up any time Pfizer decides that you need to try their latest miracle drug. You can't possibly be healthy without a fist full of pills every day.
You can pick up virtually any marketing magazine or book that promises to show you how to reach today's consumer and it will go on and on about how the old tricks won't work so we have to have all new tricks like honesty (not real honesty, just the impression of it) and entertainment.
The thing I find most disturbing about it is that you can pick up a book about dog training and notice distinct similarities in the attitudes of advertisers trying to get consumers to buy products and dog trainers trying to train dogs to sit. In reality that's how advertisers view consumers - as their unwitting servants. We exist to do their bidding, it's just a matter of tricking us into doing it.
Ever wonder why a really good television program suddenly got cancelled? Firefly? Threshold? Eyes? Advertisers. They didn't feel that the show reached a large enough demographic and that was that. Just Google the phrase "new customer majority" and you'll see what I mean.
Does anyone remember the original promise of cable Television? Your subscription fees were supposed to pay for the programming instead of advertisers. But Television got greedy and started double-dipping, so now we pay for Television that is easily 30% advertisement. They don't even wait until the built-in commercial breaks anymore - ads are popped right up over the program you're watching. Maybe one day they'll find a way to beam ads right into our brains as we sleep! Wouldn't that be convenient!
Replay TV, the TiVO rival, advertised as one of the most attractive aspects of its product a feature that would allow you to very conveniently skip advertisements when watching TV. The recorder would do this for you automatically on pre-recorded programs, and would even do it for you on "live" TV if given enough lead time. Pressured by TV advertisers, Replay TV removed the feature. Customers complained loud and long over it so they replaced the feature and were later sued into bankruptcy by TV advertisers. The product was purchased by a new company and no longer contains the feature. Get that, America? You're not allowed to watch TV without advertisements. Why, it's practically stealing, you evil pirates!
In summary, I hate advertisers for the following reasons - they lie, insult me, insult my intelligence, give me bad advice, try to dictate my habits, and they wield entirely too much power.
What can we do about it? (assuming that you don't want to be a dupe like the masses) Not much besides refuse to let advertising sway your decisions. Research a product and get honest answers from people who have actually used it before buying it.
My wife thinks I'm crazy (and she's usually a pretty good judge of character, so I probably am), but I actually maintain a list of companies that I will not do business with or purchase products from based on the advertising they have thrown at me. Instead of passively ignoring ads, I seek to punish companies for insulting me and attempting to drown me in their intellectual garbage.
My favorite method of resistance is Television on DVD - you might be surprised at how immensely better TV is without advertisements. I'm planning on enjoying it while it lasts - I'm sure some vile scum-sucking congealed excrement that passes itself off as a human being is hard at work trying to make sure that unskippable product ads find their way into even the DVD versions of the shows.
All I can say is thank God for hackers.
HTPC
Linux HTPC
My biggest qualm is with the deceitful, underhanded, unethical, insulting and downright evil techniques that modern advertisers employ to try to separate consumers from their money.
In it's purest form, advertisement is informing someone that your product exists and what its intended use is.
Example:
We have a product called Tide. It is a laundry detergent. It is for cleaning your clothes.
That's simple, honest, to the point and accurate. Completely wrong according to today's advertisers.
Today's advertisers look at their job as inducing you (the consumers) to buy a specific product. They don't care if the product is good, if it works, or if you need it. All they care about is getting you to buy it. They will say or do anything to get you to do this short of breaking the law - and sometimes even then if they think they can make enough profit to offset the penalty.
After bombarding generations of people with ads that claim that such-and-such product is better than the "leading brand" for products that consistently fail to live up to these promises, the public - Generation X and Y specifically have been labeled "ad-resistant", causing advertisers to resort to more subtle methods.
The advertiser responsible for Mentos ads explains that he knows his ads are banal, but his goal was to make them irritating enough that they stuck in your head.
Advertisers intentionally try to get children to demand that their parents purchase certain products and misbehave if the parent's don't comply. They even have an official term for it - it's called the "Nag Factor".
Advertisers show images of ridiculously happy or euphoric people next to their product in the hopes that you will associate happy feelings with their product.
It's so obvious that it's almost not worth mentioning, but advertisers also routinely use sexual images for the same purpose, preying on our most basic of instincts.
How did we ever live before Lipitor, Viagra, Levitra, Zantac, Prevacid, Paxil, Claritin, Crestor and the other billions of drugs that you're being told now to "talk to your doctor" about? It used to be that if you needed a drug your doctor would talk to you, but not nowadays. Oh no, you're not buying enough drugs if you don't have your doctor on speed-dial so you can ring him up any time Pfizer decides that you need to try their latest miracle drug. You can't possibly be healthy without a fist full of pills every day.
You can pick up virtually any marketing magazine or book that promises to show you how to reach today's consumer and it will go on and on about how the old tricks won't work so we have to have all new tricks like honesty (not real honesty, just the impression of it) and entertainment.
The thing I find most disturbing about it is that you can pick up a book about dog training and notice distinct similarities in the attitudes of advertisers trying to get consumers to buy products and dog trainers trying to train dogs to sit. In reality that's how advertisers view consumers - as their unwitting servants. We exist to do their bidding, it's just a matter of tricking us into doing it.
Ever wonder why a really good television program suddenly got cancelled? Firefly? Threshold? Eyes? Advertisers. They didn't feel that the show reached a large enough demographic and that was that. Just Google the phrase "new customer majority" and you'll see what I mean.
Does anyone remember the original promise of cable Television? Your subscription fees were supposed to pay for the programming instead of advertisers. But Television got greedy and started double-dipping, so now we pay for Television that is easily 30% advertisement. They don't even wait until the built-in commercial breaks anymore - ads are popped right up over the program you're watching. Maybe one day they'll find a way to beam ads right into our brains as we sleep! Wouldn't that be convenient!
Replay TV, the TiVO rival, advertised as one of the most attractive aspects of its product a feature that would allow you to very conveniently skip advertisements when watching TV. The recorder would do this for you automatically on pre-recorded programs, and would even do it for you on "live" TV if given enough lead time. Pressured by TV advertisers, Replay TV removed the feature. Customers complained loud and long over it so they replaced the feature and were later sued into bankruptcy by TV advertisers. The product was purchased by a new company and no longer contains the feature. Get that, America? You're not allowed to watch TV without advertisements. Why, it's practically stealing, you evil pirates!
In summary, I hate advertisers for the following reasons - they lie, insult me, insult my intelligence, give me bad advice, try to dictate my habits, and they wield entirely too much power.
What can we do about it? (assuming that you don't want to be a dupe like the masses) Not much besides refuse to let advertising sway your decisions. Research a product and get honest answers from people who have actually used it before buying it.
My wife thinks I'm crazy (and she's usually a pretty good judge of character, so I probably am), but I actually maintain a list of companies that I will not do business with or purchase products from based on the advertising they have thrown at me. Instead of passively ignoring ads, I seek to punish companies for insulting me and attempting to drown me in their intellectual garbage.
My favorite method of resistance is Television on DVD - you might be surprised at how immensely better TV is without advertisements. I'm planning on enjoying it while it lasts - I'm sure some vile scum-sucking congealed excrement that passes itself off as a human being is hard at work trying to make sure that unskippable product ads find their way into even the DVD versions of the shows.
All I can say is thank God for hackers.
HTPC
Linux HTPC
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Random Thoughts: Pop Machine Morality
I'm a big believer in the honor system. Not very many people are anymore, so this makes me look like a sucker sometimes. I trust people to do the right thing and give them every opportunity to do so. Sure, I'm disappointed sometimes, but there is no better alternative.
Law makers and corporations seem to think they have a better alternative. They strive to replace the honor system with laws and safeguards that patently prevent people from doing the wrong thing.
For example - people who fear the misuse of guns would like to make laws preventing anyone from having one. That way it is no longer up to the individual to decide whether or not to go on a shooting spree and kill a lot of other people. Sure, we would lose the freedom to bear arms, but we would gain the security of knowing that if someone wanted to kill us, they couldn't do it with a gun.
Another example - pop machines (or soda machines if you prefer) are designed to ensure that you pay for your can or bottle of pop before you can get it - replacing the honor system with a physical barrier. That way the vendor doesn't have to worry about someone who doesn't have honor taking his pop without paying for it.
On the surface this seems like a good plan - if people can't do the wrong thing then the problem is solved without worrying about individual variance - everyone can't help but comply. Unfortunately like so many other things that seem like good ideas, you can't know if it's good or not until you've seen the long term effects. The long term effects of a system that replaces morality or the honor system with legal or physical barriers, is that the people never develop a sense of morality about the thing that the barrier is protecting. The barrier or law becomes the only reason to abstain. That doesn't seem like so much of a problem until you see what happens when the barrier or law breaks down.
Ever see what happens when a pop machine breaks and starts spitting out cans without requiring payment? Woo-hoo free soda! People who would never consider stealing anything in their lives are suddenly perfectly willing to take a couple of cans of "free soda" without giving it a second thought. (Yes, I know, some people would still see it as stealing, but if you think they represent the majority, you've probably never seen a pop-machine break before) That moral barrier telling them not to do it simply isn't there because it never had a chance to develop. Now that the physical barrier is gone, there is literally no reason for them not to partake.
So what? The soda vendor loses a few dollars in pop until he can get his machine fixed. Big deal. So let's look at what happens when you make laws taking everyone's guns away to prevent them from being misused. What happens then when someone gets ahold of a gun anyway. The chances of them knowing gun safety are pretty much nil. The laws about gun use are pretty obscure considering that nobody is allowed to have them. The person has never been trained to use a gun, owing to the aforementioned hypothetical law, so the person has about as much chance of behaving responsibly as a 5-year old with a .45 magnum. Nice.
The bottom line is that it is dangerous to make laws or rules that seek to replace morality, because morality will quite literally atrophy.
Law makers and corporations seem to think they have a better alternative. They strive to replace the honor system with laws and safeguards that patently prevent people from doing the wrong thing.
For example - people who fear the misuse of guns would like to make laws preventing anyone from having one. That way it is no longer up to the individual to decide whether or not to go on a shooting spree and kill a lot of other people. Sure, we would lose the freedom to bear arms, but we would gain the security of knowing that if someone wanted to kill us, they couldn't do it with a gun.
Another example - pop machines (or soda machines if you prefer) are designed to ensure that you pay for your can or bottle of pop before you can get it - replacing the honor system with a physical barrier. That way the vendor doesn't have to worry about someone who doesn't have honor taking his pop without paying for it.
On the surface this seems like a good plan - if people can't do the wrong thing then the problem is solved without worrying about individual variance - everyone can't help but comply. Unfortunately like so many other things that seem like good ideas, you can't know if it's good or not until you've seen the long term effects. The long term effects of a system that replaces morality or the honor system with legal or physical barriers, is that the people never develop a sense of morality about the thing that the barrier is protecting. The barrier or law becomes the only reason to abstain. That doesn't seem like so much of a problem until you see what happens when the barrier or law breaks down.
Ever see what happens when a pop machine breaks and starts spitting out cans without requiring payment? Woo-hoo free soda! People who would never consider stealing anything in their lives are suddenly perfectly willing to take a couple of cans of "free soda" without giving it a second thought. (Yes, I know, some people would still see it as stealing, but if you think they represent the majority, you've probably never seen a pop-machine break before) That moral barrier telling them not to do it simply isn't there because it never had a chance to develop. Now that the physical barrier is gone, there is literally no reason for them not to partake.
So what? The soda vendor loses a few dollars in pop until he can get his machine fixed. Big deal. So let's look at what happens when you make laws taking everyone's guns away to prevent them from being misused. What happens then when someone gets ahold of a gun anyway. The chances of them knowing gun safety are pretty much nil. The laws about gun use are pretty obscure considering that nobody is allowed to have them. The person has never been trained to use a gun, owing to the aforementioned hypothetical law, so the person has about as much chance of behaving responsibly as a 5-year old with a .45 magnum. Nice.
The bottom line is that it is dangerous to make laws or rules that seek to replace morality, because morality will quite literally atrophy.
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