Found on Kotaku!

If you’re wondering what you’re looking at, it’s “Bradster” ’s gaming setup. That’s 11 computers that can run 36 World of Warcraft subscriptions at once. he pays $5,711 a year in subscription fees to keep together his one-man raiding party.

He also has further plans to spend another $1,500 on 36 copies of Wrath of the Lich King so his army of level 80 Shamans can start pounding down Stormwind and Ironforge on day one. That’s crazy! But kinda hot too. Besides the obvious question of: how does he do this? I’d like to know how can he afford this?!

Experience Wii

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!

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.

Took a suggestion from a commenter to blog about the other side of working at a startup, that is, the positives of it; I wrote this late, late, late last night…fueled by Diet Cokes and Japanese strawberry gummy candies. I don’t really know the seedy underside of working for someone else in a startup, but I was able to round up some friends (and friends of friends) who do. I mean, we all know that working at a startup is exciting with a capital E!!! You know what I mean by excitement, right? “You get to work in a dynamic, fun and fast-paced environment!” Sweaty palms, ever-changing circumstances, not knowing if your next paycheck will be your last, doing things outside of your hired role, oh yes, this is VERY exciting. Hoping to glean some info on how to manage employees if ever I had enough money to do so; I gathered some interesting comments by plying these folks with some candy and my undivided attention. Quoted for truth:
“Yea, the founder thinks he knows everything. Even how to do my job.”
“My boss is really flexible; he changes his mind every few minutes.”
“I’m so happy I’m helping another person make their dreams come true. At $30,000 a year.”
“I’m the number 3 employee of the company. But I think I’m going to need health insurance soon.”
“We have office space. It just happens to be in the basement of my boss’s house.”
Ok, ok, sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it? But, the people I interviewed were smart and full of potential. Knowing that, the people who hired them - the CEOs most likely, are smart people too. And working with smart people is never a bad thing. On that note, let’s discuss the pros of working at a startup. You want to know how a business works? You want to see ideas come to life before your very eyes? Did you ever wonder what “business development” meant? Want to be a contributor instead of a cog? Well, working at a startup gives you that opportunity. That is, if you want it. The phrase “baptized by fire” comes to mind. It takes a very courageous and flexible person to weather the ups and downs of a startup. Maybe the company doesn’t go anywhere. Maybe the 0.25% equity stake you own means 0.25% of zero dollars next week. But imagine your next job interviews. Imagine not lying about how much you contributed and learned working at a startup.
Every company needs resourceful and tenacious employees. And startup employees have that times 10. You’re middle name is probably “Versatile”. Companies now want multi-talented employees who have some business sense and financial know-how. And you have that knowledge, because you probably had 50 different responsibilities. That, or you shared the same desk as the CFO. Do you know how to put the company first? Probably, because almost everyday in a startup is about survivability. So maybe the company went out of business - what did you take away from that? You were directly hired by the CEO (likely). In a way, you’ve already been vetted. Whether you were the technical lead or receptionist/payroll/cheerleader - hiring managers know that startups put tremendous energy into finding their first employees. They want very, very good people (for very, very low pay). But think of all the money you saved working from home because there’s no office space yet.
Conclusion: I definitely have to advise most job seekers who have some flexibility with their finances AND nerves of steel to give working at a startup a shot. Especially if you’ve always had a bit of the entrepreneurial bug - you’ll learn things they don’t teach you in business school, guaranteed. The best question to ask might simply be, “What is a typical day like?” Oh, and you might want to hang around for a day to see how things actually work before you jump in. But it will probably be worth it.

Over at GigaOM (a popular tech blog), writer Alistair Croll makes an interesting case of why Blizzard may take World of Warcraft offline. Yea, you read that right - a real life MMO. Or is it an Alternate Reality Game? Too genre-bending for me to even fully envision its possibilities. I mean, holy cow. Massively (a popular game blog) notes that in addition to the list of reasons found here , “add to this how many WoW players already have their own costumes, and suddenly, this idea has legs”. Haha. How awesome would that be? It’d be like Manhunt, but a zillion times better. Because who hasn’t wanted to shadowbolt a friend IRL and get XP for it?

Watch this classic epic battle to fully comprehend how awesome a real life WoW would be!

Nor has beta testing even begun. But the little we do know about Starcraft 2 have moved some people to begin complaining about class imbalances already. So really, that’s the point? There’s already enough info to whet the appetite. FYI, Gamestop is currently taking pre-orders (as of July 7). When pressed, the salespeople say they have an “October date” on the computer. Which means it would release before Wrath of the Lich King and that’s just impossible. Nice one, Blizzard! They are really tricky over there at Irvine, CA. Or Paris, France (home to Vivendi), whatever. Let’s hope it’s not too much longer.

And since I’m such a fanboy fan of all things Starcraft, and one of my “news” filters being “Starcraft”, I came across this article called the “Top 5 needed nerfs for Starcraft 2“. Check out #1, the Battlecruiser. Although I played Random, I was always partial to Terran; a well executed tank push being the wall-of-death that it is. So you know I’m really ecstatic about the battlecruiser making a return in the sequel.

The author notes that 8 battlecruisers can clear the map, and for that reason calls them “overpowered”. But because of the unit price and minerals required, I am sure by the time you have such an advanced air fleet, your opponent (if you’re evenly matched) will have an army equal in pwnage. That’s if your base wasn’t already ravaged by the terrifyingly awesome Colossus (#4), the new Protoss ground unit that can walk up and down different levels of terrain (yikes!).

Until we get more news, I’ll be combing the rumor mills, and reporting back to you. If someone has an inside tip, send me a line! Much appreciated.

Pop Quiz: Which one of these girls play video games?

Answer: All of them.

w00t!