From the mailbag: Rattlesnakes for Breakfast

 Posted by (Visited 11741 times)  Mailbag
Jul 102006
 

I’ve been bad and let the mail pile up. Even this only cuts it in half…!

OK so I’ve been reading your site since before it was a blog, since lumthemad.net was still a website. I read everything I can find about game development. I’m currently in community college (not doing well, but whatever), and I want to work in game design. I read a post where you pointed people in that kind of direction. One thing I’m not sure of, though, is once I get a diversified education, what do I do? I’m about to have an associates (2 year) degree from my school, and I have no idea what to do after that. You say learn coding, I’ve already got Flash’s Actionscript and some basic C++/C# down. Should I continue my education at a 4-year school? What should I major in, since I already (almost) have a Liberal Arts/Social Sciences degree? Start coding up some games and try to break into the industry? Apply for a job at a game company near where I live (yeah right, New York)? Start a blog that nobody will read and post thought-provoking essays? I’m at that point in my life where I need some direction, and as probably the most successful person in your field, you’d be the man to ask. I’m looking to spend my life making games and worlds, I just don’t know where to start. Thanks for your time, whether you respond or not.

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Flash mobs

 Posted by (Visited 10922 times)  Game talk
Jul 092006
 

Ths interesting history of the term “flash mob” struck me as funny because one of the first ones we had within UO looked just like the engraving: a bunch of players showed up and mooned Lord British as a form of protest.

The city where it happened? Moonglow, of course.

Flash mob image

Misunderstanding customers

 Posted by (Visited 8370 times)  Game talk, Watching
Jul 082006
 

This article on how TV execs want to stop you from skipping commercials is a great example of misunderstanding customers.

Mike Shaw of ABC says,

“I’m not so sure that the whole issue really is one of commercial avoidance. It really is a matter of convenience–so you don’t miss your favorite show…People can understand in order to have convenience and on-demand (options), that you can’t skip commercials.”

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1894 Stewart banjo

 Posted by (Visited 19398 times)  Music
Jul 072006
 

I’ve told the story of the ukulele I inherited from my grandfather. But I only briefly mentioned the banjo and electric guitar that I inherited from my father-in-law.

The guitar wasn’t in terrible shape — a bit of elbow grease and she came right back to life. I’ll post something about that instrument later. Today, though, my mother-in-law called and wondered about the banjo. It was in terrible condition: when I found it in the basement, the case (once chip cardboard) was mostly green with mold, and lfiting it resulted in the banjo falling out of the bottom. The head was a cheap Weather King plastic head, and had been ripped. There was a random rusty screw embedded in the fretboard by the fifth string — maybe as a poor man’s capo, who knows. The strings were rusted clean through, and had been on it the whole time in storage, which didn’t bode well for the neck.

All in all, a sad case. Most of my father-in-law’s instruments were low end ones when originally purchased, and only accrued value because of their age. So we didn’t know whether it made sense to fix the banjo up given the likely cost.

Then I went on the net to see what I could learn…

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