Depending on the situation, that’s stupid logic. Yes, I said stupid.

Do you want this to happen to you?

The couple down the street owns a house. They have a daughter. Normal family, they did not use computers much and definitely did not use geolocation based services. Probably seemed like an average day but it all went wrong when someone decided to rob their house. Unfortunately, the daughter broke the routine and came home early from school. They only beat her “a little bit” to shut her up. The couple divorced…that day life as they knew it changed.

Let’s look at the logic again: if Marty checks in using a geolocation based service, that doesn’t mean the house is empty. Does Marty really want someone breaking into the house when his wife and or child is at home? If something happened to anyone in his family, would he be able to forgive himself for using a service that was unnecessary?

While I’m at it, let’s break down the other stupid logic: not knowing someone’s address. We’ll step away from the fact that there are services that, for under $10, you can find out just about anything you want to know that is public record. If you are a homeowner your property records are public record. Bingo, a thief has your address, for minimal effort, without the homeowner putting it online. Someone living in an apartment or living in some else’s home has an added layer of security but that does not mean the information cannot be found. That same $10 or less service can usually provide address/phone number information because somewhere along the way, the person gave up their private information on something that is considered public record or to a party that sells the information. Happens to the best of us.

Other considerations

I have found that people have an unrealistic image of thieves. I have seen many comments describing thieves as violent, unintelligent people. This is an extremely naive point of view. Once these services become mainstream, everyone uses them. That includes criminals and those with deviant behaviors. I read an article about a drug dealer who used Twitter and you would never know; reading the person’s tweets, the “job” being tweeted about was dealing drugs. Thieves go where the money is and will adapt to use technology to make their job easier, just like any other profession. Think of the time saved staking out a place if the homeowner conveniently checks in with a geolocation service.

Also consider the kids growing up today are computer savvy. A small percentage of these kids are the thieves of tomorrow.

Possible solutions

The only way to fix a problem is to first, admit there is a (potential) problem. Geolocation based services are security risks – plain and simple. For many using those with houses their homeowners insurance will NOT protect them if they are robbed. A homeowner is supposed to use due diligence to protect the house. Just like adding an alarm will bring the insurance premium down I can see using these services raising premiums through the roof.

But there ARE good uses for geolocation based services. For example, my friend Bill took a trip and checked in all through the road trip. In the event something happened to him, people would have an idea where to look. SXSW (or events like that) is another example where knowing where your friends are comes in handy. Let us find some solutions where we can have our fun (geolocation based services) and no one gets hurt or robbed.

1) A way to opt-out an address: Give people a way to make sure their home address never shows up, even if someone checks in at their place. The caveat is, due to their being multiple services; the person would have to go to multiple services to opt out.

2) Restrict check-ins to commercial locations only: This might be the smartest move for long-term privacy protection. Perhaps tying in with Google Maps there would be a way to easily know if a location is commercial or residential.

3) Children: The argument of “know what your child is doing” falls apart when the device the child is using is a cell phone. Children cannot be expected to have the wisdom of an adult. To protect children perhaps there should be some sort of parental controls. There have been enough cases on children meeting up with people they thought were kids but were actually adults. If the child is using a geolocation based service, they don’t have to “meet up”…the other person just has to “show up” at that location.

4) The only residential addresses that show up are those attached to an account where the owner of the account opts-in that the address shows up publicly.

5) Keep the geolocation service private, within their own community. Not a member and a friend of the person? You cannot see the updates.

In the end…

I have no doubt that if the conversation about protecting privacy begins, the smart minds of the community will find a solution for the services to thrive and for everyone to be safe. Instead of being afraid to talk about it, let us look the problem in the eye and resolve it.

You know…before something bad happens.

• By purchasing the download edition of the game, I miss the inconvenience of having to physically pick up the game or have it delivered.
• I have to download the game, and there is no guarantee how long it will take to download it. To me, that balances out physically picking it up.
• I’d start downloading the game at 12:01am.
• Worst case scenario: it takes all night to download but when I get up in the morning (or sometime in the morning), I’m in Mass Effect 2 happily playing the game.

That’s not what is happening.

What really happens?

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out I could pre-load the game. Meaning, I could download the game early. Whomever thought of this was brilliant. I cannot play the game early but the downloads were spread over a couple of days versus madness on launch day. A good number of people have already downloaded the game and troubleshooted issues they had downloading the files.

The game does not unlock at midnight. According to the countdown counters on their site, the regular edition unlocks at around 1pm EST and the DDE (which costs $10 more than the regular edition) unlocks around 5pm EST. I looked at the page perplexed because that makes no sense. The people who paid more, one would think, would have quicker access to the game. One of the selling points for the DDE could have been the additional items and access to the game four hours earlier. I have no doubts that people more people would have purchased the DDE if only for early access. Perplexed, I looked on the Stream site to see if there was a way to upgrade my account to a premium account to receive games early. Nope.

Essentially, people who spent more money on the game are being penalized for doing so. By 5pm EST I could have had the game delivered and received it. Not.

I usually purchase from EB Games/GameStop and for the most part, I usually have the game on launch day. It ships, overnight delivery, the day before. Not Mass Effect 2. It ships on the launch day so customers wouldn’t receive the game until the 27th. Why? Because of the midnight launch. They prefer people come into the store.

It’s only a couple of hours…

This is true, it is only a four hour difference. And let’s be honest, what are the odds after tomorrow I’m going to care about the four hour difference? I’ll happily be playing Mass Effect 2, right?

I’ll remember the next time I want to order a game.

I understand that they wanted to stagger the number of people logging in to reduce loads on the server. I understand that companies providing digital downloads have to come second to retailers. What I don’t understand is why people who paid more for the game have to wait four hours to play it?

The publisher sets the release times, not Steam. The publisher set the times this way to encourage people to come into the store so they can sell more retail copies. As it is now, if this is their normal practice one would have to weigh if the extra items in game (which might be downloadable content, who knows?) is not only worth the extra cost but the extra wait.

Why does this matter?

Many companies are happy to get a sale. What I’m seeing here are retailers trying to dictate how the product is sold. Regardless of whether there is a midnight launch or not, ship the game so the customer receives it at launch. The customer is paying the extra shipping. Instead, they opened hours early (or stayed open late) to have people come to the store and purchase the game. I’d love to see the cost difference – which is more, people ordering and processing the shipped games or having stores open longer to sell games?

On the digital side, taking a back seat to retailers, they’ll restrict the number of installs, delay the release times, etc. which hinders the customer. Yes, they have to battle piracy but let’s remember, the game leaked early. The people who legitimately purchased the game didn’t leak it because they don’t have it yet! In either case the sale is no longer good enough.

The end result…

Even though there were different times stated on the game page, both editions opened up at 1pm EST. As I am writing this, the game is decrypting (about 51% complete). There were many responses in the Steam forums about the different launch times, confusion about whether the DDE actually unlocked four hours after the regular edition. Gamers are emotional about their games so I was surprised that no one from Stream responded in the forums. A simple explanation pinned to the top of the forums would have stopped a lot of the bitter angry (and confused) feelings people had.

Will I order from Steam again? Yes, because 1pm EST unlock is reasonable to me. However, I really miss the convenience and ease of pre-ordering and you just get the game, no questions, no hassle. Those were the good ole days.

And with that, I’m outta here cause my game is done. Deuce!

No Variety

I went to ThemeForest and browsed their WordPress templates. The designs look somewhat different but many have a similar feature: The Slider. There are different variants of The Slider but the basic principle is the same: the focal point are rotating graphics leading to other content by clicking on the graphic. How The Slider works depends on how it was designed. Most have a gradual transition between images. I saw some that had up to five different transition styles. I would not have known this if it were not advertised as such because I wouldn’t have stuck around that long to watch the images whiz by.

Another common trait of these designs: they heavily rely on graphics (whether The Slider is there or not). If you browse the themes, you’ll notice, due to the placement of the images, your eye is drawn to to images, not the content. This is a wonderful theme trait for food blogs, who are usually using their own pictures. For most bloggers, they are using royalty-free images. Looking at this objectively, they are making photos that are not theirs the focal points of the site, not their words.

Which is why I have a problem with my current design.

Me TOO!

When it comes to designs, I either use a pre-made template or I hire a designer. I recommend against hiring a designer unless you have firm plans on what you want to do. I have had many designs done over the years but I never step into that process until I am sure of what I want. It makes it easier for everyone involved. Until that point, I rely on pre-made templates.

The problem occurs when the designers all do the same thing. They notice someone did something cool and copy that cool thing. This results in an over-abundance of the cool thing and nothing else, leaving little variety for the end-user. This is what I’m experiencing now. I am looking for a design that uses my words as the focal point, not graphics. This theme has The Slider. I don’t use it. I tried “the cool thing”, I don’t like it. I am having a hard time finding a premium design that does this. I know a few but I don’t like their default look. They aren’t pretty or eye catching like The Slider designs. Why is that?

Bad Business

Being a good designer is only part of the pieces needed to have a successful web design business. The major part: the ability to make good business decisions. There is a market for quality non-graphic intensive designs simply because the copycat behavior dried up their availability. Wise designers will design for both (and any other markets that arise). Most designers, unfortunately, are so busy copying what is cool they miss the bigger opportunities.

This is one of the major pitfalls I’ve been discussing about the design community for quite some time (and blogging, don’t even bother mentioning that one). People are so busy copying current trends no one is focused on future trends. The community plateaus, until someone with a passion decides to do something different…then everyone copies that. Rinse and repeat. This can happen in any community but I noticed it with design and blogging because I had to deal with the repercussions of the copycat behavior.

Until then, maybe if I throw the idea out there to create designs that don’t rely on graphics being the focal point, people will make a few so that consumers have options other than The Slider.

Written by: Tyme White | Follow Tyme on Twitter | Be Friends on Facebook

Yes, I have a very sexy Paladin wearing tangas and thigh highs. When I approach my enemies, you know to kill them, they aren’t shaking with fear. They are drooling over my uber sexy toon, perfectly willing to die by the hand of Ms. Sexy.

They didn’t create this gear for women. They did it for men. So men would stay glued to their computers playing their sexy Blood Elves. The horrible thing: I like it. /hangs head

I love my sexy toons. I wish I could make a Shaman a Blood Elf. I wish my Druid was a Blood Elf. I wish I could change my Undead to a Blood Elf. If I could give my toons a slightly darker skin tone I would be in gaming heaven. Interesting that the male Blood Elf is anything but sexy. He’s feminine with hair styles that would look better on women.

Unfortunately in real life, most women don’t come close to being this visually appealing. A large percentage of women are very insecure about their looks, being judged by males that don’t come close to looking as good as the expectation they have for females. From what I am told by males, a good portion of the “pretty ones” have messed up personalities. Just like there is more to my toon than looks (is she an efficient killing machine?) there is more to a person than their looks. Sometimes we forget that.

You didn’t laugh or smirk reading that, did you? Tsk, tsk….

Except that there were grumblings that the leaked copy had some sort of copy protection on it. If you purchase the download copy of the Sims 3, it DOES have Securom. The discs have “something” but until recently, it was unknown what it was. Dave B. from EA clears the air on what copy protection is on the game discs:

Hi

Thanks for your patience.

Until today I was unable to release the following, as the game had not yet been released. The game will still contain a program designed by Securom, however it will not be an installed DRM as it was in games like Spore and Red Alert 3. The game will perform a disc check every time you launch, so you will be required to insert your game disc before you can launch the game. This, of course, means no file will be installed on your computer.

Again I apologize I was unable to be more clear until now, however as the game had not released this information was not publicly available until now.

Regards

Dave B
EA Games
CSR III

Why they didn’t tell their community this upfront is beyond me. I’m all for protecting digital rights but be honest, especially when there is discord with users due to previous privacy invasion. Let’s be clear here: EA needs Sims 3 to do well. The Sims franchise is their cash cow. EA had a $641 million dollar loss last year. They have the delicate balance of protecting their digital rights and keeping their users happy. If their users are displeased with the deception, it could hinder the growth of Sims 3. Players can happily go back to playing Sims 2…which many prefer anyway. Sims 3 still has to evolve to be as content rich as Sims 2 plus expansion packs.

Shame honesty didn’t enter the picture.

That said, I have a copy of the game and next up will be some tips and tricks to help you play the game.

Weird yet so perfect.

Happily Ever After? Not For Them…

The first couple had problems, personality conflict problems. The girl was very insecure, very clingy and has this tenancy of blowing up when she doesn’t get her way. The groom was told once they got married it would stop – she was just insecure about their relationship and being married would resolve that. I suppose standing there, in front of everyone, looking into her eyes he realized he was signing on to a life of her emotional tantrums. He couldn’t say his vows. She was too emotional, he was too laid back. He was the source of the emotions and that would never change as long as she was with him.

Very few people weren’t relieved as we watched him freeze and apologize. There were actually sighs of relief because we all knew it was a train wreck but you can’t stop someone from making their own mistakes, right? They are both “good” people, just not meant for each other.

Grab the Brass Ring…

As we all sat there wondering if a wedding was going to take place a friend of mine, sitting next to me, said he wanted to talk to me privately. We went outside and he explained his plight. Looking at the fiasco that just happened he realized the woman he’s semi-privately loved for years is the one he should be with. The problem was their families. Their families are very old school and would not approve of their union. That didn’t make his love go away. He asked me if I thought he was crazy? I said no – relocate and be happy.

It is really that simple.

Sure, their moms will cry, their fathers will get pissed off. If it doesn’t blow over, and the two have such different views than their family, it is conflict to keep them in their lives anyway. There is a difference between cordial and close.

My friend finds the girl (she’s at the wedding), I suppose told her his feelings, she agreed because shortly after, he sent me a text message saying they were going to the courthouse. Normally, I would advise against getting married on a whim but this couple truly are perfect for each other. Their friendship blossomed into a love with one of the strongest foundations I’ve seen in a long time. I told him if they got married, and it wasn’t too inconvenient, I’d like to be there. He said that would work out good…since they might need a witness.

Instead of getting married at the courthouse they got married the next day a very quick ceremony, in the same church, same pastor without the gown, the elegant wedding, and large reception. They said their vows in front of their friends, who supported their union. They want to have a more formal wedding later, in their new location, with their old and new friends…and hopefully family.

The other couple? The groom realized he dodged one hell of a bullet and talking to the ex-bride later, she agreed (unwillingly). She wasn’t really happy in the relationship because she was insecure and frustrated. Being together would not have resolved the problem, it would have made it worse. What she really wanted for was him to change but if he changed, he wouldn’t be “him”, would he? His laid back nature makes him excellent at what he does for a living – he doesn’t crumble under pressure and eventually everything that needs to get done gets done…”right”. He is just excellent at bringing things together, with quality and class, at the very last minute.

What Did I Learn?

I learned a lot. I heard just about every love song known to man this weekend celebrating, learning and exploring the many faucets of love. Talking to a ridiculously smart, witty and cute guy this weekend about the turn of events (and life in general) I was able to finally put some pieces together that have been irking me for the longest time. Thankfully I was able to have the same impact on him. Talking to strangers can do that.

We sat on the pier and life made sense. You know that odd clarity one receives every once in a while. I understood my WoW issues, I understood why I can’t decide where to move, I understood relationship issues and the freaky thing…I know when Sims 3 drops June 2nd all the little questions I had will be answered. The irony the game was pushed back to June 2nd, giving me a couple of days to play (and put the final puzzle pieces together) just in time to celebrate…then begin to make things happen.

Why Sims 3? Because I’ll pattern the game after my life…it’s what I do with RPGs. I’ll start it off the way my life is now, and I’ll tweak the things I don’t like and make them the way I want. It will be as easy (and possibly shocking) as doing it and sitting back looking at the final result.

Not like I haven’t done this before and haven’t been stunned by what I discovered. Every Sims release results in a life change – and success.

Friday May 15th:

There will be a WCG Ultimate Gamer Reality Show Reunion where there will be interviews with the cast, fans can meet the cast (and ask questions), sign autographs and take pictures.

Saturday Mary 16th:

It’s all about gaming tournaments. Counter Strike 1.6, Virtua Fighter and Guitar Hero: World Tour. Rob (Prodigy) is going to attempt to receive a Guinness World Record with Rock Band 2.

And Mark will be presented with his $100,000 WCG Ultimate Gamer check for being the winner in the series.

Sunday May 17th:

More tournaments: Gears of War 2, Warcraft 3, Starcraft: Broodwar and FIFA 09.

Sorry for the short notice but if you are going to be in the area check it out. If you are a gamer and you enjoy/play any of the above games – definitely check it out if you can.

Thanks Swoozie for your help!

What Really Happened, the Big Picture

Disclaimer: The thoughts I am about express are based on what these people said THEY wanted to accomplish as goals. Not what “I” want or hoped for them. Just needed to make that real clear…

I often say that I am not blinded by money and that people who are blinded by money usually end up missing their goals because the money takes them down the wrong path. Winning $100K would have been nice but what would the title WCG’s Ultimate Gamer, based on a TV show, really mean to people like Rob, Jamal and Swoozie? They are favorites in the community, and is that what they really wanted?

No…at least not according to them.

When I hear them talk (particularly Rob and Jamal), this is what it seems like they want. They want the cred, the wins and more important the respect that TriForce has earned over the years. Could they achieve that having the title of WCG Ultimate Gamer from a TV show geared more for entertainment than gaming? No…it is not the same because the gaming community does not respect the title. But they do respect WCG’s competitions, and that is where cross-genre props will come from. Filling up walls with wins in multiple genres consistently over a long period of time. As far as the money, if they handle the business side of their career with the same care they place in the gaming side, they have the potential to make a nice income being professional gamers (even if that means focusing on one genre or game).

In the end it boils down to what I talked about in my last article…wanting something and wanting something bad enough to put in the work and sacrifice to achieve it are two different things.

The Benefit of Mark Winning

I am a strong believer in taking gaming to the next level. I had a large gaming community. I have my battle scars trying to make gaming more mainstream. One of the drawbacks to the gaming community is that egos run rampant, the focus on games and gaming communities prevail and although the knowledge is there that gaming needs to become more mainstream to support professional gaming, nothing is really done on a consistent level to promote and educate gaming outside of the community.

Mark’s win made it clear that the underdog can win and that is great for the genre. Put the work in, you can even beat the favorites. Again, I applaud Mark’s win but honestly, that leaves Jamal, Swoozie and Rob free to do their thing without the confines of WCG’s hosting commitments or whatever else they have in store for Mark. I haven’t been to a gaming event in a while but to me it is similar to hosting a party. To be a good hostess I have to make sure everything is flowing good, people are enjoying themselves, the food and drinks are top notch, etc. Rarely can I be the hostess and the person chilling at the party. A get together with friends, sure – that’s chill mode. A party with 100+ people, that’s work. To me that is what Mark would be faced with. If he wants to be a pro gamer he’ll have to wear two hats at these events. The pro gamer winning competitions and the host that ensures everyone has a good time.

Mark has a tough road ahead of him. He’s going to have to work on being accepted in the position he now holds and learn how to get people pumped and excited. He has a title from a TV show that no one takes seriously. Mark will have to work hard to be that person people say “Ohh…wow, I want to meet him!” at upcoming events.

Ultimate Gamer, Taking Gaming to the Next Level….Really?

I hear that a lot. “I want to take gaming to the next level!” but really, what does that mean? What are they really doing to help achieve that goal? For pro gaming to sustain itself there has to be a profit. To consistently achieve profits the business side of gaming needs to be taken care of, from all angles. The companies holding the events need to ensure the funds to pay prizes, host events, etc. The gamers need to ensure funds so they can take the time necessary to compete, sustain and promote themselves. The companies investing in the gaming community (sponsors) need to recoup their funds so they will invest again. Gamers have classically dropped the ball on handling the business side of their careers. Let’s look at an example:

Rob is a favorite, well known gamer. He has a MySpace page with less than 2800 friends (at the time I’m writing this). I have no idea how many friends he had prior to the show but that is an extremely low number considering he was a favorite on a show that hundreds of thousands (who knows, maybe millions?) of people were watching each week. The cast are mostly on MySpace, the network that is in trouble and realizes they’ve lost to Facebook as the top social networking site (that’s not news – who doesn’t know that?):

Jon did not bring in Owen because he wants MySpace to be Facebook. “Big web brands can coexist and that’s going to happen,” says one source. Another says Jon knows “the social network game is over” and that “Facebook has won.”

To my knowledge, Rob doesn’t have a web site. I know my audience understands the importance of managing a brand but gamers don’t think like that. They’ll hype up a third party site instead of their own. It’s time to open their eyes and really see the opportunities ahead of them and realize they might take different paths to achieve their goals. What if MySpace decides to close their account for some reason? What if MySpace goes out of business? Pro gamers need followers other than gamers to sustain. They need the non-gaming people to take interest in them as people, support what they do, support their sponsors so that the circle is complete. For pro gaming to succeed everyone has to benefit: the gamers, the companies holding the competitions/promoting gaming and the sponsors.

Things Happened the Way They Should

And that is why it is good Mark won last night. He can host events and be the underdog that won. He is an inspiration to some gamers. It keeps the dream alive that they too can have opportunities like that. His story will hopefully open up gaming and draw more people to it.

That leaves the guys free to, if they dare, take things to next level. Show the kids that will eventually take their place how it is done. Lock their brands down, give the sponsors a reason to back them other than “I can play games”. Give their audience a reason to take interest in them and tell their friends about this cool gamer they found.

There is no excuse for these gamers not to have a basic site with general information like their upcoming competitions, what they specialize in, their press, and if they really want to slam dunk it – interact with their audience. Take the followers they have on third party social sites like MySpace or even XBL and convert them to fans that are excited to hear and interact with them on their own sites. If MySpace dies, their site will still be standing. Understand how social networking and marketing work so that they don’t say and do things that places them in a negative light, without the knowledge on how to spin it into a positive. When I search for Swoozie I should get the one, the only sWooZie, not a store. If someone doesn’t know Jamal’s gamer tag they’ll never find him. Rob…he’s a fun one to find if you don’t know exactly how. Do a search for his name and you’ll get this. I dare you to do a search for prodigy. I know, you’re thinking who would be searching, right? Sponsors when they try to gauge how much reach these gamers have. What are the odds of them making any money back? Fans that want to follow them because they saw them on a TV show but can’t…because they have no individual presence on the net. These gamers seem like good people that don’t “get” the opportunities they are missing. As with everything, we all learn our lessons in our own time.

Let me be clear, having a site isn’t the golden key to success. It takes work to have a “good” web site just like it takes work to be a good gamer. It’s a start. They will begin to be in control of their brand. Their career. Their destiny.

Congrats to Mark for winning and to all the cast for participating in the show. Each one played their part to make the show a success. The first season is done.

It’s time to move on.

Why are comments closed? Because what happened on that show really isn’t important and these are points we haven’t discussed before. We have more important things to talk about moving forward.

As a gamer, the concept is great, especially if the gamer is one not to finish a game or is picky about purchasing games without playing it first. Demos are great but not all games have demos. There are also games that might be fun to play but have no depth making the odds of re-playing the game minimal. Spending $50-60 per game can add up. The “need” for a game rental service is there if the customer is able to:

1. Get the games they want, for example popular new releases, in a reasonable time.
2. Get the game shipped and returned in a reasonable time.
3. The price is reasonable.
4. Customer support is decent.
5. Convenience: the less the customer has to do the better.

When the service first came out, people loved it. GameFly was highly recommended because the above criteria GameFly’s service met the above criteria. Unfortunately for them, there are many complaints about the delivery times for games. GameFly has filed a report with the Postal Regulatory Commission alleging that their competitors receive better service from the USPS and that many game discs are broken in transit. GameFly mails out approximately 590,000 games per month and receive 510,000 back. Keep in mind that the customer does not have to return the game that month but over time the volume should balance out (but not be equal).

Even if you assume the number is one percent, and a game costs $50 to replace, that’s an astounding $295,000 a month in lost merchandise. As the company grows—and the complaint claims 34 percent yearly growth—that number will only get grow with it.

That’s not the only issue— games are also stolen in transit, which has lead to the arrest of 19 Postal Service employees.

Looking at the list of criteria above on what makes customer’s want, this one problem (game delivery) is the foundation of all the other criteria going haywire.

1. Customers cannot get popular titles if discs are delivered broken or worse stolen.
2. With the large amount of replacement discs and lack of the same level of service their competition is receiving from USPS, the customer cannot get the same delivery turnaround as their competitors.
3. The large amount of replacement discs means it will be hard for them to remain competitive and have a profit.
4. The lost or stolen discs add to their customer support expenses dealing with angry and frustrated customers.
5. If the customer is not receiving the discs promptly, the customer is inconvenienced attempting to find out what happened, getting replacement copies, etc.

The solution is to attempt to strengthen their relationship with USPS. What is the competition doing that GameFly isn’t? This might be part of the problem:

Netflix employs many former USPS workers to advise and consult. These people are paid well to help Netflix remove “problems” from the processing system. Netflix also operates its own fleet of trucks who go to the main post office branches in most areas and pickup the Netflix mailers so the USPS only has to do minimal work. Literally all they do is collect the mailers and Netflix does the rest. Anything that takes the load off USPS workers, anything that makes their lives easier, they like. They remember. This also increases profits for the PS because they still get paid the same price per mailpiece even if Netflix is picking up the mailers halfway through the processing.

Gamefly is not doing these things. Gamefly does not send out trucks to all the major mail processing centers because Gamefly doesn’t have facilities all over the US like Netflix. Gamefly is apparently not employing USPS workers to assists and advise and easy processing, for whatever reason. Instead of doing those things, Gamefly simply wants “fair treatment” without understanding you don’t get that for free with the USPS. There needs to be some “appreciation” of the hard work and effort being made by the USPS.

Let’s consider this a moment. If GameFly’s competitors are making an extra effort to ensure their clients receive the discs timely, then GameFly should be doing the same thing. Then the complaint about unfair treatment would hold water. Let me be clear: there is no excuse for USPS employees stealing discs. If GameFly has a high volume of broken discs (packaged similarly as their competitors) then there should be an investigation. However, since delivery is one of the major components for success, GameFly will have to put forth a better effort to compete (or even stay in business) if their competition really does make the extra effort. This should have been projected and researched in the beginning along with monitoring over time as competition entered the market.

Where Does That Leave You?

If you have a business or intend to start a business, take a strong look at your competition and see if you really can compete on the same level as they are. To succeed your company needs to be better than the competition to attract and maintain new customers. All companies cannot be “big” and should take measures to slow their growth until the foundation is strong enough to support strong competition with big companies or create a niche service to sustain. Do not put yourself in a position for your competitors to watch you struggle and put yourself out of business.

Take a look at GameFly’s situation and see if you have similar issues with your company, blog, or any situation where this is competition. In the WCG Ultimate Gamer series gamers compete with one another and the best person wins. WCG holds competitions all throughout the year. If a gamer spends 10 hours a week practicing because of work and personal responsibilities and has to compete against someone playing 40 hours a week, what are the odds the 10 hour per week gamer will win? Natural skill is an advantage but in the end, the effort has to be put in to achieve and maintain a goal.

This episode was definitely made for TV over actual gaming skill and there was a definite “rushing – let’s get this over with” feel to it. The first challenge: play Project Gotham Racing 4 upside down, no practice. Yes, upside down. Fun to watch on TV and it does take a certain amount of skill to maneuver anything upside down but seriously, they all sucked because they were playing upside down. Jamal came in first, Chelsea came in last and was eliminated. It was a shame Chelsea was eliminated because she couldn’t play the game upside down. That is just as bad as being eliminated for picking the wrong ball.

Next up: playing drums and guitar at the same time in Rock Band 2. They were challenged to play an easy song and they were able to practice. Jamal, coming in first from the last challenge, picked Mark as the one to receive the least amount of practice. Swoozie came in first; Amy came in last and was eliminated. I couldn’t end this series without highlighting Amy. I like Amy and I wish her well in her future endeavors.

Last challenge for the episode: Halo 3, free-for-all, playing on pedestals all night. They can stop playing at any time but they are defenseless in game. Swoozie, winning in the last round, had five minutes of playtime giving him an initial lead. There were two teasers for the players. They brought in pizza and the opportunity for $1000 by following the money at the end of a rope (without knowing how long the rope was). Swoozie took a timeout for pizza and cookies, Jamal and Mark took a time out to go after the money (Jamal won). They did not show Robert leaving the pedestal. Robert won the challenge, Swoozie was eliminated and Jamal goes home because they showed him sitting in the audience during the preview and on the Sci Fi site you can clearly see Mark and Robert playing one on one in the preview for next week.

Although we did not see Robert leave or the others leave except for those two instances, I’m assuming they did, if only to go to the bathroom.

On to the business side: what were the most optimal moves to make? Well, in the first two challenges either they could do it or they couldn’t. The third challenge is where the decisions came in.

It was a given that if anyone left their pedestals, unless they could significantly make up the kills they lost if they would have stayed there, they were going home. Let’s be more specific: unless Robert left his pedestal it was suicide for anyone else to leave. Of course, Robert didn’t leave. He knew leaving could cost him the title. Staying there, killing as much as possible was the only way to win.

When Swoozie left the pedestal I put my head down because logically, it meant he was going to be eliminated. He was the weakest of the four in the game. Food can give you a boost to help you play but it can also have the effect of making a person tired and sluggish. It seemed like Swoozie knew his run was coming to an end so why torture himself? It was as if he conceded his impending loss.

When Hannah brought in the rope for $1000 and Jamal quickly left the pedestal I heard (in my mind) him say “I’m not leaving this pedestal” and shook my head. I knew he was going home but it said a lot about his character that he skipped the food, but went for the money. Just like Swoozie, it was as if he conceded his impending loss. He knew Mark was better than him in Halo 3, he knew Robert was going to crush him so to win his goal he’d have to do what he first said: don’t leave the pedestal. He went home with $1000 and to me it seemed like he was thinking he wasn’t going home empty-handed (cash-wise). The episode cliff-hanged but as I said above, anyone paying attention knows Jamal was eliminated. Note Swoozie left the pedestal for food, not money.

We talked about this before: wanting to achieve a goal but not wanting it bad enough to endure what needs to be done to get it. The Halo 3 challenge is an excellent example of that concept. Of the four, Robert was the only one that wanted to win “bad enough” to stay on the pedestal and play. The physical challenges playing on a pedestal cannot be ignored but Robert complained about problems with his back relatively early (not sure if that was editing magic or not) but he endured. If you want a good example of doing what it takes to get the job done, Robert is a good example and that is probably why he is an excellent cross-genre gamer.

This episode is also a good example of the unexpected twists and turns one will go through in life and in business. The players did not know the challenges they would face and were in an environment where they could not prepare for the upcoming storm they knew they was coming. In life and in business many times we are not that disadvantaged. We have the opportunity to “get out of the way” or prepare and are too lazy to take it. We don’t want to get out of the way “bad enough” to do what it takes to avoid the situation or lessen the blow.

Think about it next time you say you want something. Do you really want it or are you fooling yourself?