Thanks mate, fixed it . . hopefully . .
XboxOZ360's forum posts
In-game advertizing is here to stay, but is it or better still, will it benefit the end user, gamers, by helping publishers reduce their retail prices ? Or will they simply continue to reap the rewards of the ads they sell inside their games which now change dynamically with online gaming.
You want to know why more and more developers and publishers push online components of their game rather than the Single Player. You only have to see the huge financial figures gained by in-game ads to see why. Even if it has been shown that SP gamers are in the majority, the online MP aspect of games is always pushed the strongest.
Here's an interesting itemon it, and a poll on what people's thoughts are. What are yours?
"Ok, so in gaming news there are two different types of press mentioned, enthusiast press and professional press ( I believe its another word, but it's lost on me).That's actually a good question, and one that would take a little explaining, as it covers some murky territory.
What exactly is the identity of the two? I assume enthusiast press is things like blogs and personal coverage where the people who do the work arent being paid. Or is it just journalists who are part of the gaming scene and not like places like The NY times. Is enthusiast press an actual career or just a side hobby?
Any clarification is appreciated."
I have my own site, which has grown from just myself, to a total of 13 people. Some of whom are very active, some who ad advice, and offer expertise in their field.
It's a BLOG, but many gamers see "Blogs" as terrible things and not really professional. Thing is, 80% of all professional sites are actually using or running of Blog Software and or running as blogs per-se'.
Many have said I'm NOT a professional simply because it is a blog, yet I "work" on it every day, some days for over 12 - 14 hours, and more. Stay up to ungodly hours in the morning to make sure articles are released to suit other time zones. Currently none of us get paid, But the aim is to eventually have it make money to support it and those who have put a great deal in it. So are those real professional or just enthusiasts . . ?
Both really. Some do contribute to actual printed media and get paid per article printed. Some get paid for contributions to other websites, and get paid per view of their articles or items.. So in that sense, they are professionals, yet the hold down "normal jobs" or attend school or Uni/College. The site averages around 42k unique views each month and growing each month without fail since it went live last July/August '07. So would that classify as a hobbyists site, or a professional site?
We attend media event and interview those in the game industry. I interviewed Cliff Belszinski last Wednesday at a Black Beta evening here in Sydney and had a nice casual chat with him afterwards. We interviewed the Creative Director and Producer of Far Cry 2 on Wednesday last week, as well as some of the team interviewed Producers of POP and End War at Ubisfots Offices here in Sydney, and were invited to a Retailers Only event by Ubiosft last night as a mark of respect for doing a good job with the interviews last Wedensday . . Are we proffessionals, or ethnusisats . . ?
We are seen by the publishers as professionals, we are seen by MS as professionals, who have also given us a xbox360 De-Bug unit, (with more to come later) so we can preview early code from developer/publishers . . . . So would that classify us as a professional group, or just hobbists and casual gamers . . . ?
We see ourselves as "Enthusistic gaming media" and are treated as such by the industry, but oddly enough, NOT by gamers - the ones we write the articles for and spend a great deal of time doing that. We are constantly told we do not know what we are talking about, we are not professionals and should shut up, and simply run a silly blog site. Hello, Joystiq, Desructoid etc are all blogs.
I think the difference is really, who is a hobbists writer and who is a proffesional writer for the media. One is a writer who does write and enjoys it, but has no real aspirations other than letting others kbow his or her opinions on various topic, has a blog or a blog-space and shares their views with other like minded people.
Then there are those who work at what they do, either for pay or aiming for pay, but with a level of dedicatiopn that is above the norm and want to be part of the greater news outlets and voice their views and opinions with gamers in general. Like to write interesting articles on gaming as their subject matter, and spend a great deal of time sourcing their work, interviewing people within the industry and aiming to make a living at some stage from it.
They would be Enthusisatic professional. An dthey are ones who would honour their NDA's which they MUST sign with people like MS, Sony, Nintendo, major publishers. Otherwise those people will not allow you to interview them or be privy to trade information. If you honour those NDA's (non disclosure aggreements) then you are also a "professional' and value your integrity.
However, there are those within the industry that do not honour those NDAs and work place agreements and actuall steal IP and information, just to get it out on the net so they can "be the first to get it up on the net" . .at any costs. Would youcall them "professionals" and aspire to be like them . . I certainly hope not.
You don't have to attend college to become a professional journalists, it helps, but some simply have a gift and love the work and seem to be able to draw information from others in a away that allows them to feel free enpough to disclose useful information (aka news), so that person can "report" it in a professional manner.
SO there are many sides to it, I think those within our team are professional writers, several get paid, I don't but spend ungodly hours working on the site, and do so at an age most would consider it very od to do so . .I'm 55 . . . and stil love playing games and discussing them. Plus I love helping opthers younger than myself move forward in areas they want to, in this case, gaming, specifically, writtingf about them.
Make some sort of sense . . ?
Sorry for the long write, but it was needed to show the sillyness of the situation really. The point is, do YOU think people in the industry like us are professionals, or simply hobbists . . . ?
Reply:
I think you'll find it will be fine within your "Friends List" but not in the Public domain. Which is fair enough. You can't just have open slather simply because "you want it" . . there needs to be limits on such things, ortherwise we end up with a situation we are in now.
MS, Sony and Nintedno want to push their online service to "Families" and they can not do that if they are not "seen to be doing something" to combat abuse. Not just swearing, but terrible racial, sexual and religious slurs which are rampant on XboxLIVE> Many parents won't let their kids play simply because of that, which is counter to what MS, Sony and Nintendo would like.
Unfortunately, the actions of such idiots affect the rights of others. It's always been that way, and there's is no easy fix to suit all.
Also, sticking your head in the sand (not saying you are btw) and hoping it goes away is just as bad. Rules are there at the beginninng when you sign up, if you are not prepared to follow them, and they are there, read them, then the ompany must be seen to have measures to counter that and enforse those rules. Otherwise they are meaningless and basically of no value at all.
"This is stupid, If I want to drop an f bomb to one of my friends I should be allowed. I hate how people get offended so easily on XBOX live yet they'll never use the complaint system."
Well it seems Microsoft has finally got the approval for its patent on "real-time" censorship that will enable it to bleep or remove objectionable content from XboxLIVE in Real-Time . .
Hopefully reducing the HUGE amount of abuse that goes on there. Many gamers steer away from it, fearing the racial, sexual slurs as well as the swearing screaming-memies that just flood the service, often ruining the "fun" for many people who just want to enjoy some online gaming. Check this out and pass comments.
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