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FreakyZoid posted:Also I don't think I've seen any DLC that's been "buy new or pay $10 to be able to beat the end boss", that's just a crazy straw man. It's also an ugly foot in the door toward "$10 online pass DLC... online pass good for 1 year." Kotick's already stated he wishes he could push shooters into a subscription model.
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Jul 29, 2011 17:56
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FreakyZoid posted:2nd hand games now have $10 less value in them. Why is Gamestop still selling them as if that value is still there? Why did you reduce the value of the game? What would cause you realistically believe that Gamestop would change their pricing structure because of that? These decisions don't exist in a vacuum, and if you make the decision to reduce a game's value with a reasonable belief that retail prices for the used copy won't change, you don't get to occupy the moral high ground. quote:Also I don't think I've seen any DLC that's been "buy new or pay $10 to be able to beat the end boss", that's just a crazy straw man. I didn't post anything that even remotely claimed this exists.
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Jul 29, 2011 17:56
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Anyone at Telltale Games, I applied to a position with you guys. I wouldn't be available until the end of the year, unfortunately, but I'd love to be considered and at least get some portfolio feedback. 
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Jul 29, 2011 17:57
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Fishbus posted:I'm wondering how mad people's meetings get in other companies. Sometimes I've had ones where I'm sure it felt like 3 meetings of deja vu where nothing happened at all that was useful. Some end up as thumb twiddling while someone clicks a mouse... but recently they've been getting 'shouty-er' and frantic whiteboard drawings with pointing and liberal swearing. Ok that was mostly me, but the point still stands; I've been fighting a lot more for innovative level design rather than sitting on tried and tested old approaches. It's a pretty good feeling to argue and I feel it helps interaction in the team. Although 1 sided arguments end up being really detrimental though. What is everyone elses experience on the subject of meetings? Arguments, or passionate discussions or whatever, can be really good if everyone involved is mature and an effective communicator. I guess you could extend that to meetings generally. They are usually huge waste of time otherwise. Having a good agenda, making sure that notes are always taken, and having a clear point of responsibility for what was discussed in the meeting are all critical to having good meetings imo.
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Jul 29, 2011 18:01
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Black Eagle posted:The net effect is the same regardless of who removes the opportunity from the marketplace. If a customer chooses a competitor's title, you missed that opportunity to make a sale. If a customer chooses a used copy of your title, you missed another opportunity to make a sale. You don't incur any losses in either scenario; in fact, you've already gained revenue from the first sales of the resold units. This is worthless semantic wankery. The point is retailers who sell used games are are reducing the pool of money that would otherwise be available to produce future games.
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Jul 29, 2011 18:07
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Monochrome posted:Why did you reduce the value of the game? Monochrome posted:I didn't post anything that even remotely claimed this exists. Shalinor posted:Online Passes in online-focused shooters are effectively this - you can't play the core of the game without the DLC. Shalinor posted:It isn't much of a straw man. Companies willing to lock out online in that way are likely going to try locking out single-player content as well, eventually, and it will be just as dirty. Shalinor posted:Kotick's already stated he wishes he could push shooters into a subscription model.
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Jul 29, 2011 18:25
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FreakyZoid posted:Ah okay, you're going for a slippery slope instead? As for subscription models, they change the value proposition of a $60 game. I'm not terribly comfortable with drawing a line in the sand, and saying that after this point, all multiplayer games cost an effective $20 more and have no long-term value. We can't keep doing that as a business, we'll eventually outprice our market (we already have, in many sectors). ... now if you want to sell the game for $50, include a year of play as pack-in DLC, and charge $10 a year past that, that's a bit better. $40 would be more so.
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Jul 29, 2011 18:37
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FreakyZoid posted:Why not? I've only reduced the value of a 2nd hand copy. Why not complain to Gamestop that they're selling a 2nd hand copy as if it's worth $10 more than it is? Everything beyond selling the stock to Gamestop is up to the retailer. You reduced the value of the retailer's product while their costs to carry and maintain inventory of that product remain static. From a retail point of view, why should they reduce their margins because a developer crippled the product? It's valid to complain that the price is too high for a used copy, and I agree with you that it is too high. However, Gamestop didn't reduce the product's value. It's silly to shift all the blame to the retail sector.
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Jul 29, 2011 18:40
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Diplomaticus posted:Also if I can shift direction a bit -- Black Eagle, what is your organization's position on S.978? DancingMachine posted:The point is retailers who sell used games are reducing the pool of money that would otherwise be available to produce future games. Adraeus fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 19:11
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I just ran into a download link for Worldcraft 1.6 that still works and now I want to make a Quake 2 map, how will this look on my portfolio, be honest, guys, I can take it.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:28
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Black Eagle posted:We're not an advocacy group, so we don't take positions. However, I don't think I've yet found myself disagreeing with Hal or his organization's positions. I disagree with S.978 on legal and good business grounds. Copyright infringement is a tort and should always be tortious. We already have a system in place and a body of experts that provide recourse for IP holder. I'd actually like to see 18 U.S.C. § 2319 amended to apply to only a) IP such as a trade secrets and patents and b) infringement where there can be proved an intent to harm the livelihood of an IP holder. That's fairly close to my own belief on it (though I'm not sure I quite agree with those amendments, but that said we're about 20 years overdue for a substantial copyright act rewrite in my book). -e- Also didn't realize you guys don't do advocacy. Isn't that the purpose of a trade organization? (update: just looked at the initiatives page on the EMC site. Never realized it was more of a training/leadership/professional development/discussion organization than an alternative advocacy group.) Leif. fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 19:32
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mutata posted:I just ran into a download link for Worldcraft 1.6 that still works and now I want to make a Quake 2 map, how will this look on my portfolio, be honest, guys, I can take it. Make a Q4 map (or D3 or something else with idtech4 instead). On the other hand, if you just want to do it for fun, it would be much less work than something idtech4, but it certainly won't increase the value of your portfolio.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:36
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aas Bandit posted:Not all that great, these days, unless you're doing something amazing with modding or incredible new assets or something else really different other than just a level. Oh, yeah, I know. I was being silly. I still think I want to make one sometime as an "lol cool" nostalgia thing. It'd be fun to work with blocks and spend 6 hours tracking down leaks again.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:41
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mutata posted:I just ran into a download link for Worldcraft 1.6 that still works and now I want to make a Quake 2 map, how will this look on my portfolio, be honest, guys, I can take it. Sometimes you gotta do stuff for fun.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:43
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Alterian posted:Oh so they hired a model to talk BS about their school. Nice. I don't even think my friend at Blizzard makes that much money.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:51
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Diplomaticus posted:-e- Also didn't realize you guys don't do advocacy. Isn't that the purpose of a trade organization?
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Jul 29, 2011 19:52
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Hazed_blue posted:I was going to make some joke about her claiming to make $67 an hour, but then the sexy montage came up at the end and I just can't be bothered to follow through. I was sad to find out that gamereducation.com doesn't exist any more.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:58
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Black Eagle posted:Trade associations exist for the mutual benefit of their members. If advocacy as a tactic serves the needs and interests of members, then an association will engage in such activity, but it's not usually the primary role of an association. EMC is more of an AAAS for the business of video games. In theory this is true. In practice, however, I find most trade associations to be largely engaged in advocacy, if not as a primary plank then as one of their major initiatives. ABA, AMA, APA, RIAA, MPAA, etc. Some do it less than others though.
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Jul 29, 2011 20:06
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Diplomaticus posted:In theory this is true. In practice, however, I find most trade associations to be largely engaged in advocacy, if not as a primary plank then as one of their major initiatives.
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Jul 29, 2011 20:59
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Black Eagle posted:There are 27 types of federal tax exemptions, from 501(c)(1) to 501(c)(27), and just as many types of associations. Most trade associations fall under 501(c)(6) (i.e., business leagues, chambers of commerce.) ECA is a 501(c)(4). IGDA is a 501(c)(6). Some associations are incorporated as for-profit entities as well. There is a lot of variety. There are also rules for each exemption regarding the type and extent of advocacy in which associations can engage. To make matters more complex, there are three types of nonprofit corporations in California — nonprofit public benefit, nonprofit mutual benefit, and nonprofit religious benefit — and then there is state tax exemption, all of which have separate rules. (Other states may classify nonprofit entities differently.) Advocacy is generally permitted across the various types of associations because advocacy is a free-speech issue. I'm not persuaded that advocacy without leverage, a transaction or threat, is any more effective than advertising or publicity campaigns. The IRS seems to agree by practically encouraging 501(c)(6) organizations to engage in lobbying activities, but the IRS does mostly disallow participation in political campaigns. I'm well aware of how they work, having been on the board of a 501(c)(19) and several (c)(3)s. My point, though, is that most trade associations band together to pool resources. Typically, this is for lobbying efforts, as K-street demands its blood payments (again, been on both sides of that fence). More rarely you get organizations that exist purely to provide essentially training and consultancy services to their members, but mostly they tend to blend those internal services with some external advocacy -- case in point being ECA's membership benefits (discounts, subscriptions, etc.) are blended with their advocacy and juridicial efforts. Or ABA, which offers trainings and CLEs, publishes books, offers health and insurance benefits to members, oversees certification and accreditation of most law schools; however, they have a powerful legislative action arm as well. It's unusual for me to see organizations that don't have that external advocacy platform as that tends to be a major reason that constituents pay for said membership.
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Jul 29, 2011 21:20
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Black Eagle posted:First, the very existence of a retail channel opens new opportunities and thereby expands the size of the total addressable market. Second, you're assuming that used game sales remove opportunities that corporations would otherwise be able to seize. How do you think price-conscious buyers would behave in a hypothetical system where there were no used games? Such buyers would either not make any purchases, which would reduce the profitability of the retail channel and increase the cost of distribution to publishers, or they would buy and return. Returns, in a system where there is no option of reselling used games, would be very costly all around. I think the best responses to used game sales are a) embargoing retailers from the sale of specific used titles until three to six months following the release of those specific titles, and b) investing in customer loyalty programs, which includes DLC and other features that require authentication. I'm pretty confident that most price-conscious buyers who are willing to pay $55 for a used game would be willing to pay $60 for a new game if the used version was not available. There are lots of business workarounds of varying effectiveness to deal with used games, but the underlying problem is that the concept of used doesn't make sense in intellectual property.
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Jul 29, 2011 22:06
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Diplomaticus posted:It's unusual for me to see organizations that don't have that external advocacy platform as that tends to be a major reason that constituents pay for said membership. Furthermore, there is really no sense in every association engaging in advocacy because there are organizations that specialize in grassroots campaigns, promoting legislation, and lobbying. What's more is that some of those organizations don't care about the issues; all they care about is serving their clients, so they're perfect contractors. The nonprofit sector suffers from an epidemic of redundancy. We've got hundreds to thousands of organizations that all do the same things at a very small level. If they would really band together (i.e., merge), they might be able to achieve some of their lofty missions. You know, it's almost like none of their leaders have ever heard of the paradox of choice, the tyranny of small decisions, or the tragedy of the commons... By the way, there's a good book I think you should read called The Decision to Join: How Individuals Determine Value and Why They Choose to Belong.
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Jul 29, 2011 22:41
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mutata posted:Oh, yeah, I know. I was being silly. I still think I want to make one sometime as an "lol cool" nostalgia thing. It'd be fun to work with blocks and spend 6 hours tracking down leaks again. Why not try your hand at making a level in the UDK or something similar, inspired by a classic shooter? That ought to give you the nostalgia that you want to bring but at the same time not having to use obsolete and old tools.
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Jul 29, 2011 22:49
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Torabi posted:Why not try your hand at making a level in the UDK or something similar, inspired by a classic shooter? That ought to give you the nostalgia that you want to bring but at the same time not having to use obsolete and old tools. Oh, cause it'd be nostalgia for when I used to actually use Worldcraft and make quake 2 maps. That and I think q2 deathmatch was perfect. I have a udk project in the works now anyway, though, so it isn't going to happen until after I add to my portfolio. https://instagram.com/mutatedjellyfish/
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Jul 29, 2011 23:25
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Welp. I start on Monday at my new job as a Junior Artist. Goodbye Middlesbrough! 
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Jul 30, 2011 11:55
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Aliginge posted:Welp. I start on Monday at my new job as a Junior Artist. Good luck!
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Jul 30, 2011 21:35
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Aliginge posted:Welp. I start on Monday at my new job as a Junior Artist. (or, er, is this still probationary? Or are you hired on full-time now?) EDIT: Oh, nice, you passed the trial week. AWESOME! Congrats dude! Shalinor fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Jul 31, 2011 |
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Jul 30, 2011 21:45
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Aliginge posted:Welp. I start on Monday at my new job as a Junior Artist. Yes... Join us... That makes what, 3 goons in one office now? Is that some kind of record?
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Jul 30, 2011 22:22
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Nah, I know Obsidian had at least four when I was there that openly posted.
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Jul 30, 2011 22:42
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LEGO has at least 3. I even got a "stairs" internal email.
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Jul 30, 2011 22:48
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I can tell you a place I worked at had substantially more than that, and now has substantially less.
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Jul 30, 2011 23:00
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There's at least 7 here I think.
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Jul 30, 2011 23:06
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GetWellGamers posted:Nah, I know Obsidian had at least four when I was there that openly posted. To Shalinor, it's not probationary, he's our newest in-house artist, and he earned it. Came to the trial week not expecting to do much 2d, let alone 2d animation, and knocked it out of the park. Very much looking forward to working with him on several exciting projects in the future. The wife and I have been working all weekend on one project in particular that we're dying to announce, but, you know, the wheels of industry are slow.
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Jul 30, 2011 23:17
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Akuma posted:The wife and I have been working all weekend on one project in particular that we're dying to announce, but, you know, the wheels of industry are slow. God, I hate that. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had at the usual pub patio that are like "So what're you up to?" "I can't say, sorry. You?" "...I can't say." Whee. 
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Jul 30, 2011 23:20
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Akuma posted:The wife and I have been working all weekend on one project in particular that we're dying to announce, but, you know, the wheels of industry are slow. Trying having your project revealed to you on Monday, and then having not to say a word until mid 2013. 
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Jul 31, 2011 00:54
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I know icarus had at least 3. Possibly more. Edit: Oh yeah. Heroclix on-line is now in paid beta. We had a video made for GDC. I'm tempted to just use that in my portfolio since all the environments were 90% made by me and I supervised the other 10%. Alterian fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Jul 31, 2011 |
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Jul 31, 2011 01:33
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Welp, I'm all submitted for the SA game dev competition. It is time to get serious about looking for work. Anybody want to look at my site/resume, give critic? https://www.bovinefury.com P.S. A GameStop employee is to the game industry is as a lunch-lady is to education.
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Jul 31, 2011 02:37
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BovineFury posted:P.S. Lunch ladies are pretty involved in day to day activities at the school and still make decisions that affect the students' school day somewhat. If they all went on strike it would have a large effect on the school day. I'd say that a Gamestop employee is to the game industry as a binder manufacturer is to education. EDIT: In more personal industry news, I just finished writing a pitch I really like but I am highly pessimistic about the possibilities of it being made. Hell, there's a 50-50 chance of it not even making it in front of the people with the money as we have two pitches that the company higher ups will choose between before going in for a meeting. This is probably the thing that most if not all of our company would have the most fun being paid to made, so wish me luck. Superrodan fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Jul 31, 2011 |
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Jul 31, 2011 03:34
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Speaking of projects I can now talk about what I'm working on, the new Ghost Recon game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS8ogo6PRfQ Here is one of the maps I've done quite a bit of work for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li3BangyZDI&feature=related
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Jul 31, 2011 03:59
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Imajus posted:Speaking of projects I can now talk about what I'm working on, the new Ghost Recon game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS8ogo6PRfQ Looking forward to this. Haven't played a GR since Island Thunder 
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Jul 31, 2011 04:26
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