I read a blog a few days ago about a newly engaged woman (who changed her status on Facebook) who got served an ad to “Try X diet. Don’t be a FAT bride!”

LOL. Is that as advanced as behavioral marketing gets?

We play MMOGs (massive multi-play online games) because they’re fun. They’re fun for 86,000 reasons. They keep making ‘em because we keep playing ‘em and we keep paying for ‘em. Is it all just a fad? Are we just going to stop playing World of Warcraft and Maple Story and go back to checkers?

Research analyst firm Strategy Analytics predicts we’ll continue to play MMOGs. The report estimates that by 2011 there will be 80 million subscribers to various MMORPG titles, revenues over $11.5 billion, equal to 11.7% of the total gaming industry’s revenue.) I know those are humongous number already, but MMOs to equal 11.7% of the total gaming industry? The gaming industry’s a behemoth! The estimate for total gaming revenue for 2011 is $48.88 billion. But…80 million MMORPG players worldwide! Anyone who’s anyone will have an avatar.

What’s driving the growth of online play? The fact that headsets are now seen as “cool”. Just kidding, it’s the increasing availability of broadband, of course. Of course!

Frankly, I’ve had enough of the Blackberry/iPhone debate. I have it almost everyday with a very special person in my life. How about another delay, Blackberry 9000? AKA the Blackberry Bold. We all know the iPhone is chock full of goodies the Bold has only begun to broach (what new visual display?), and my fingers are slim enough to type on the iPhone with nary a typo, even on long emails, so no complaints here.

The iPhone made the smartphone cool, it made it fashionable. Because what were you using then? The Palm? You are not Jack Bauer, there is only so much you can do on a Palm. The iPhone is so fashionable that Chanel has made an app (for free) featuring their latest couture looks from Fall/Winter 08/09. Because you know, in case your personal shopper at Barney’s swore there’s no gray chinchilla gloves this season, you can prove her wrong just before throwing your iPhone at the incompetent wench. And if I was vacillating on the Blackberry/iPhone fence, then this app pushed me over to Apple’s side. It’s so…useful. Seriously, if you have reservations about jumping on the (Apple) bandwagon, you should know that it’s not sheep-like behavior to be an acolyte of the very thin, very rich, and very fashionable world. It really just makes you cool. And if you have an iPhone, congratulations, you’re already halfway there! However, if you find yourself griping about unwitting roaming data charges, then maybe you should bypass this one. I installed it anyway, because I like to be an early adopter of “cool”.

Over the weekend, I saw “American Teen”, a documentary about high school seniors in suburban Indiana. No spoilers here so don’t worry! It was a good film, very entertaining, but you won’t miss out if you wait for the Pay Per View or DVD version. Unless you’re a parent. I would say it’s recommended viewing for every parent of a teen.

Anyway, the entire cast was interesting, but there was a kid Jake who was an avid gamer. He LOVED ZELDA. And girls. And played in the band. And I guess archetypes are archetypes…you can find them everywhere and he was the ultimate “band geek”. You don’t have to watch Gossip Girl to guess that in the totally draconian social hierarchy known as High School, Jake’s social standing would probably be somewhere between the kid whose mom is the lunch lady, and the smelly kid in the AV room. Jake’s a pretty cool kid though - and his story struck a chord with me. Simply put, he could not find PEOPLE LIKE HIM. He couldn’t find people to appreciate the same things he was into; who couldn’t appreciate him for HIM. That means belonging to a group that respects your accomplishments, whether it’s scoring the game-winning touchdown, or consistently topping damage meters in Black Temple. It means finding men/women who are attracted to you just the way you are and not scoffing when you “have to” raid, because they have firm raiding schedules too. I mean, is that too much to ask for?! Finding like-minded individuals is as relevant and important when you’re in your 30s and beyond as it is in your teens. Ask anybody you know with a hobby or interest in ANYTHING.

I’ve always had what you would call “different” interests. Niche is a nice, non-geeky word for it. I joined the Dungeons & Dragons Role Playing Club in high school, scoured AOL profiles in chat rooms looking for mentions of Nintendo, hung out in comic book stores to see where my next Magic TGC match would come from, you know, stuff like that…When all of my friends were going out and getting tanned. (and getting in trouble, kekek). Then the internet exploded! And…not too much changed, to be honest. There were easier ways of keeping in contact WITH my friends, through IM, email, Skype, etc. And the community forums out there made it easier for us to talk about our interests, but I was always left wondering: Who are you? What else are you about? But it was still difficult to find these people in the first place.

I’m hoping mmochi can change that.

There was a major conference in Carlsbad, Calif. on all things digital and the internet social space. From that conference, I read a really interesting interview with Rubert Murdoch.
For those who don’t know, Murdoch is the chairman and chief executive of News Corp., which oversees a global media empire that includes such properties as Fox Broadcasting, HarperCollins book publishers, MySpace and newspapers in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. — including Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Here’s a remarkable stat from Rupert Murdoch from the D conference, as quoted in the WSJ:

MR. MOSSBERG: Does [MySpace] skew younger?

MR. MURDOCH: No. That is a very old-fashioned view. Forty-five percent of all the people who use MySpace are over 35. We have 40% of all the mothers in America on MySpace.

40%?! If you figure that ALL of the underage moms in America are on Myspace and some MILFs, I still would have guessed the percentage to be half that. So you’ve got a lot of “regular” mommies on there too, I guess. I’d like to know what mothers are doing on Myspace? Not sharing recipes I don’t think. There are so many new mom-centric sites that do a better job of sharing photos and stories of the family so this statistic really amazes me. Anyway, I thought that was worth blogging about! Now go hit on some mothers on Myspace!