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Ugh, Well, at least they’re honest about treating women like pieces of meat.

This piece of trash was even written by a woman:

HOT CURVES AT INDY 500

May 27, 2007 — Gentlemen, stop your engines – before they overheat.

Three sexy speed demons are set to drive racing fans wild at to day's
Indianapolis 500 – and make history with more women behind the wheel
than at any other elite- level U.S. racing event.

Danica
Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno will heat up the Speedway, with
Patrick, 25, in par ticular having a shot at crossing the finish line
first.

The Wisconsin beauty bolted David Letterman's Rahal
Letterman team for Andretti Green Racing. "For the first time, I'm
having fun with my teammates," she says.

Blonde bombshell
Fisher, 26, who in 2000 became one of the youngest drivers to ever race
in the 500, will be in the 21st position, and Duno, 35, is battling
back from a May 11 crash.

link

These women are making history and what is their record-breaking feat reduced to? A bunch of adjectives about their physical attractiveness. There's really only one sports-related sentence fragment in there that doesn't sound like it was written by someone covering a sorority party. Can you spot it? The three women are there to compete, and nobody writes stories about any of the male drivers in such a demeaning, body-focused way.

Unfortunately, this isn't anything new. It's happened throughout history as women steadily gained footholds in previously male-dominated situations. We're always held to a different standard. The important thing is to note their achievements, and to not be discouraged because a reporter writes a story about them in a titillating style. At least there are other pieces that cover them in a much more respectful way

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Just me nitpicking about grammar again.

"Body of a missing U.S. troop found in Iraq"

As a writer trying to make it and an aspiring editor, these sorts of headlines bother me. Call me a grammar nazi, but the diluted and incorrect use of the word "troop" in the above headline just screamed out to me when I saw it on the front page of Yahoo just now.

Let's use trusty dictionary.com to show just what is wrong with this picture:

troop (trūp) pronunciation
n.

  1. A group or company of people, animals, or things. See synonyms at band2, flock1.
    1. A group of soldiers.
    2. troops Military units; soldiers.
    3. A unit of cavalry, armored vehicles, or artillery in a European army, corresponding to a platoon in the U.S. Army.
  3. A unit of at least five Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts under the guidance of an adult leader.
  4. A great many; a lot.

Clearly, "troop" refers to a group and is not a singular noun. This isn't the first time I've seen this word incorrectly used or used in an ambiguous way. Many people use it to mean soldiers, when it refers to groups of soldiers. This isn't the end of the world, and the article and occurrence it reports is a sad and important one, this is merely the frustration of one hopeful future editor who hasn't quite made it into her dream industry yet.

I suppose the blame goes to the Associated Press for letting this error slip past. Hey guys, need a new copy editor?

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On Gaming Press and Gamers’ Attention Spans: Denis Dyack


"Legacy of Kain had about sixty hours of play, but games have changed. People don't want that any more."

So says Denis Dyack, president of Silicon Knights, in a recent interview. Dyack spoke on several topics, including the company's long-delayed Too Human, which received negative press after being previewed at E3 2006. The game, originally announced in 1999, has hopped platforms and publishers before landing at Microsoft. He also speaks of what he considers to be gamers' shortened attention spans, which is a rather bold statement to make.

Too Human is one of those games that has been in development hell for a while. One of those vaporware titles that one wonders if it will ever see the light of day. Whenever it is released, we'll know whether the reception is warm or not. However, Dyack says the company likely won't be releasing any more on the game until it's done or at least close to done. With those statements, he criticizes gaming press as a whole:

"We're probably at a much further advanced stage than a majority of
games that developers are showing to the press right now but we're just
not talking about it. And the reason for that is after E3 2006 we
really started to rethink previews and the way games are shown to the
press.
We're getting to the point where we don't ever want to show a game
again until it's finished. It's almost pointless. The media has a hard
time with looking at games before they're done. If you take the movie
industry as an example, how often do you see a movie before it's
completed? You don't."

Now, some of his criticisms are valid, in that some reviewers and press outlets might be too judgmental in previews, either positively or negatively, before a title's release. However, even movie studios show preview clips, still photos, or inside looks while the film is still in production. Teasers are quite common. Starting the buzz early is a marketing tactic used even with the most successful franchises. Take something like Harry Potter, or the recently released Spider-man 3. Promotional releases for those were up and in front of potential consumers' eyes before the films finished production. One of the most powerful marketing tools is word of mouth advertising. It's vital and it's free. Studios, whether they're producing films or games, need to try and take advantage of that. They need the "Did you see that?" talk the next day, even if it's weeks, or even months ahead of release. To me, it sounds like the drubbing his game received in 2006 led to an "I'm taking my toys and going home" type of attitude.

Dyack's other major point of interest is his assertion that gamers have somehow moved beyond long titles:

"[G]ames have
changed. People don't want that [long titles] any more[sic]. I don't care how good the
game is[,] I don't want to play something that's one hundred hours long.
As much as I love World of Warcraft [,] I pulled myself out of it.
If we're going to craft an epic story[,] we decided we had to divide it into manageable chunks for the consumer."

Making any game is a risk. Most titles don't go on to become blockbusters. However, it's a valid suggestion that it's not gamers that want shorter games, but studios are producing fewer epics due to budgetary concerns. The gaming industry is in a state where it's very successful in terms of revenue, but there's a constant balance struggle between  creative ingenuity and appeasing the bottom line. Making any game is a risk, but producing a longer game is a bigger risk, since it generally involves more production time and money. Many titles these days are shorter as a result. Final Fantasy is still around, but more and more games are clocking in at under 10-15 hours these days, while still getting more expensive to produce and to buy on the consumer end.

Personally, I love a good epic. If the gameplay is quality and the story is well-planned and written, there's almost nothing better. I also feel like I'm getting more bang for my buck, so to speak, since I'm paying less per hour. of enjoyment. When I get an 8-hour game that ends with the door open for a sequel (I'm looking at you, Halo 2), it sometimes feels like a ripoff. Granted, I enjoyed Halo 2 very much and actually didn't mind the cliffhanger ending so much, but there's no denying it was a short game, albeit a pretty satisfying one.

Dyack explains how Too Human will now be a trilogy. Is this a cost-cutting move? Instead of releasing one 100-hour game, you release three 3-hour ones, so you potentially make triple the profit, although marketing costs might be tripled as well; less if you get that coveted word of mouth and maintain buzz. Each game is supposed to feel self-contained, lending credence to the idea that this was a budget decision, at least in part. "That was the flaw in The Lord of the Rings movies," he claims, which is misguided, since those films were intentionally meant to feel like parts of a whole, and that "flaw" captured people's attention. So much so that all three parts cleaned up at the box office despite being a distinct beginning, middle, and end, and and over three hours long apiece. The comparison is a false one and supports the reverse of what he's claiming: that people will accept lengthy, involving entertainment provided it's made well and pay for it. That there's no need to compartmentalize and chop our entertainment into "manageable chunks" in order to spoonfeed it to us, especially as a cover for trying to pad the bottom line.

Game developers, please continue making epics. Diversity can only be good for gamers and for the industry as a whole. People with a narrow view like Denis Dyack, unfortunately, cannot see that.

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QotD: Search Me

How well does your name Google? Who are you up against? (Celebrities, etc.)
Submitted by Matt Blank.

My first name brings up a lot of Christina Aguilera, followed by Christina Ricci, and Christina Milián. My first and last names bring up two results in the top 30 that are actually me, including my website at #4. None of the images are me.

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And We’re Back.

So we got back from our trip the other night. It was pretty fun overall, despite some bumps and setbacks. Literally. On our first day there, we were going to our hotel room to drop off our bags and head out to MGM-Studios when my mom, riding in a rented ECV cart, didn't have enough room to pass a vehicle parked on the sidewalk, and fell over in the cart itself. A bunch of helpful Disney employees came over to assist and call 911 for us. My mom and I spent most of Friday afternoon in the hospital awaiting her x-ray results. Luckily, nothing was broken, but we'd missed out on the park that day. Mom was sore that evening, and couldn't make the Epcot Illuminations dessert and viewing party we'd been invited to as part of the package. She encouraged me to go out though, and to attend that party, so I did. Since Epcot was open extra hours for resort guests that evening, I was able to walk around and see some of the sights and go on a ride or two that night before heading back.

The next morning, I participated in my first 5k run. I walked a lot of the way, being really tired from the previous day, but it was a lot of fun. Along the route, people were always encouraging each other, and I got to hear a few stories of how some of these women came to participate in this run. For some, like me, it was their first time. for others, it was their second or third. One woman had lost 40 pounds between races. There were many stories shared and we all got to see the faces behind them.

We spent Saturday at Epcot together, and I was able to introduce Mom to my favorite park. We had a delicious lunch together at the Italy Pavilion in the World Showcase, shared some Rice Cream, and even went on The Seas together. We'd planned to go to Downtown Disney that night, but by the time we got back to our hotel, we were both really tired. When I ran that morning, my feet already hurt some from the previous night. By Saturday night, they were so blistered. Mom and I stayed in that evening instead of going out as planned. I did drain my blisters and put something on them, and after I got us something to eat from the hotel restaurant (The Artist's Palette), I considered going out, but was just too tired.

On Sunday, we spent the day at Magic Kingdom. It rained in mid-afternoon, and I left the park for a couple of hours in order to go get my first massage (it was great), but overall we had a really fun day. There were extra hours that night, and so we wound up leaving shortly before midnight. It was cold and damp when we left, and we encountered our first not so friendly bus driver. This woman let a bunch of passengers on first instead of letting my mom on the bus first (as they're supposed to do when it comes to disabled passengers) and then claimed she couldn't allow anyone else to stand up (there were about three people standing already). I pleaded with her to let just three more people stand (the number of passengers that would have to get up in order to fit one wheelchair person), but she basically shut the door in my face. Buses there come every 15-20 minutes, and it was freezing that night. I'd given my mom my sweater and was in this tank top and we were both cold.

The 'not allowed to let people stand' line was clearly an excuse as the next bus came and we got on, and there were about fifteen standees for the ride.

The next morning, we went to the spa and picked out a lovely gift set with some products to take home in order to use the balance of our gift certificate. Then my mom's cart ran out of power and we had to push her to the bus stop. The rental company would bring the replacement to Animal Kingdom. Once at the bus stop, the first bus to Animal Kingdom had a driver that did exactly what the previous woman did to us the night before. She let everyone else on, ignored my mother, then claimed she couldn't let any more people stand. I pleaded with her and mentioned that the bus we'd ridden on the night before had about fifteen people standing but she'd have none of it. I also mentioned we had the same thing happen to us the night before. And I told her she was supposed to let my mother on first. All she did was close the door in my face and leave. So we had to wait 20 more minutes for another bus. I burst into tears at people's laziness. They subsided quickly, but honestly, my mom was just trying to get around, and these drivers aren't supposed to shaft the disabled like that.

Anyway, on a happier note, we did get to spend at least some time at Animal Kingdom before we had to leave Florida. We got to go on a couple trails, but missed the safari and Expedition Everest due to time constraints. I did have a chance to go on Kali River Rapids right before heading to the gates.

All in all, we had a good time. Wish we had some more time to do things together, and had had a chance to get to MGM and Downtown Disney (we'd intended to shop and go to the House of Blues on Friday night), but maybe next time.

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My Little Pyramid

I'm usually not much of a devotee of fan art. Sometimes, I find examples that are really memorable, such as this one:

Pyramidpony
Pyramidpony

There are a lot of Pyramid Head fans out there, and so somehow, this makes perfect sense. It would also represent just the cute touch Silent Hill games have been missing for so long. Perhaps we can convince the folks over at Climax to include a cameo from this creation in Silent Hill Origins.

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What a Bargain!

Ever submit your email address to receive one of those online store
back in stock notices? I usually receive notices fairly quickly, within
several weeks to a month. Yesterday, I received a notice that I'd
apparently put in over a year ago. I was considering sewing something
cute together at the time, and I liked this fabric for the project. I
totally forgot about it until the notice popped up in my inbox.

Although the project I'd been considering never got off the ground, I
decided to click the link anyway, since I'd forgotten exactly what the
item I'd requested notice for looked like. What I found was this:

Sprice
Sprice
This fabric is more expensive than a jet! Needless to say, this gave me a chuckle. When you add the item to the cart, the right price of $4.79 a yard on sale comes up.
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“Get Your Significant Other into Gaming”

Note: This is a repost from another of
my blogs, which is sort of on hiatus and may undergo a design change
and relaunch shortly. I've decided to talk about video games on this
blog too, but that one is completely game focused.

Since this is now my main blog, I thought it would make sense to put it here as well.

January 1, 2007

I did a Google search for an unrelated issue I'm having with my browser, and came upon this article
from 2005. I'm sure someone, somewhere, has already discussed it, but
it's new to me. I generally don't go to Microsoft.com for gaming
articles, so I had to stumble upon it.

The article is written in
a gender neutral voice, but it seems that this is merely for
politically correct purposes, as the suggestions and style seem to
indicate that this is geared toward men looking to get their non-gamer
girlfriends or dates into games.

Part of the advice reads: "Do start slow.
Rather than opting for a date starring aliens or zombies, try picking a
title grounded in the real world." Most gamers are happy to show off
their games. They just jump right in and speak enthusiastically. If
it's a passion of ours, we're not necessarily going to tread slowly and
try not to startle our friends or romantic interests. We're going to
say, "Hey, I just got this great game, take a look!" and then proceed
to demonstrate. I'm not advocating intimidation, but you don't have to
treat your non gamer friends and lovers as if they're complete
neophytes that can't handle a little bit of imagination or something
not based in reality. That's like saying reading picture books full of
talking animals and trips to the moon to little children isn't a good
idea. It's all about the concepts and the presentation, not the
delivery method.

If I see something that looks fun to play, I'll
jump right in. Now, while I do enjoy casual games like one of the
titles Mr. Steinberg mentions, Bookworm, that doesn't mean that it's
exciting. Part of the reason why I've been gaming for so long is
because it remains fun and exciting. Now, not all games have to deliver
an intense adrenaline rush ( and plenty have, especially after a truly
arduous boss fight), but if you show me something that looks insanely
fun, I'll want to try it that much more.

Obviously, if we're
referring to a novice gamer, or someone who doesn't game at all, then
it's worth it to find out his or her tastes first. Does this person
enjoy sci-fi novels or movies? Then break out Halo. Is an adventurous
drama or mystery more his or her cup of tea? Then maybe go for
something like Broken Sword or Myst. Political intrigue? Try Beyond
Good & Evil. It's just too hard to try introducing someone to
gaming without looking into the person's interests at all. There are so
many good games within all genres that it's easy enough to recommend
something once you have a sense of what the person might enjoy more.

I've
touched upon the PC qualities of this article earlier, but this is
where it irked me a little. If it was written as another "introduce
your wife/girlfriend/sister/mom to gaming" piece, and it is, then
Microsoft should have just let it be. It's obviously written with that
point of view and directed at a male audience. Look at the advice and
game suggestions:

  • "Don't show frustration or gloat over victories.
    As with any activity, beginners may lack confidence. Take the time to
    help them learn how to play and offer positive feedback. It also
    wouldn't hurt if you let your loved one win once in a while. And for
    heaven's sake, be gentle: poking fun at gaming newcomers is a great way
    to turn them off the hobby permanently."

In other
words, treat her like an incapable child who needs to be duped lest it
hurt her poor, fragile juvenile ego. I attempted to cheat at board
games and ask my mother if she'd let me win when I was around two. She
told me no, and that I had to play fairly and honestly or we couldn't
play at all. It was an important lesson. I knew if I won, that I'd
actually won. That does a hell of a lot more for someone's confidence
than letting them win.

  • Do choose colorful, non-threatening activities. Lean toward the type of title that evokes fond memories of childhood.

Oh
look! More advice to treat this new [female] gamer like a child.
Colorful and non-threatening? Give me a break. And while you're at it,
a BFG and a chain gun.

The last section is almost equally air headed, especially the blurb about the Frag Dolls:

  • Lonely
    hearts should check out the Frag Dolls, an all-female team of
    professional gamers. Members Brookelyn, Eekers, Jinx, Katscratch,
    Rhoulette, Seppuku, and Valkyrie update their pages frequently and
    offer news on personal appearances. Meet up with one at a LAN party,
    and you just may find love.

So this guy is
encouraging other guys to read their site, their profiles, and hit on
the women there? As if the FragDolls don't get enough flak and
adulation from lonely gamer guys for being attractive women.

I'm
familiar with gaming press and blogs, and articles like this don't
surprise me at all. I'm also quite familiar with both gamers and
non-gamers, male and female. You don't have to baby new gamers, just
get them excited and curious to learn and enjoy themselves. Learn who
they are and what interests them. Treat them like intelligent, fun
loving people, and you'll both enjoy gaming a lot more.

Edit, October 2007: The article linked above is no longer accessible at the original location. It is available here.

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“Strangers in a Strange Land”

"A woman paying $130 for a pair of shoes is one thing, but one paying $130 for the Legendary Edition of Halo 3 is something else altogether."

This is one of the best lines in Susan Arendt's recent piece in The Escapist. It's a perfect summary of how many non-gamer women see those of us who love to spend chunks of our leisure time blasting away zombies, solving puzzles, saving the day, and grinding out XP. Most of the women I know don't play video games, and such things aren't even on their radar. It can be difficult when I'm excited for a new MMO or a console release and can't really discuss it with them.

I've been gaming for most of my life. Our family got out first console when I was about two or three years old. I cut my gaming teeth on the classics on Atari and NES and haven't looked back since. I've had female friends that played games, but I was often the only one that was pretty hardcore about it. These days, I'm part of online communities aimed at women that play games, but in real life, outside of our niche, sometimes we get what Arendt deftly describes as "[being] constantly asked to explain and justify our hobby, a requirement
rarely placed on those who choose trips to the movies or pickup games
of basketball as their pastimes of choice".

Another point she touches on is the reaction of family to a woman that plays games. We're more apt to receive comments about "growing out" of games, where the males aren't expected nearly as often to somehow give up this particular hobby. When it comes to my family, they don't quite understand either, though they haven't been as harsh as to ask when I'd grow out of it. However, when all of my younger cousins received Nintendo DS systems one Christmas, and I got slippers and pajamas, as cute as they were, I was disappointed. Last year, my family talked about trying to buy Wii systems for my younger cousins. 'What about me?' I thought. But they don't consider buying me games or systems because I'm an adult.

Arendt's piece, which is highly recommended, goes into many other situations applicable to us female gamers,  and includes testimonials from several women. When I read it, I kept thinking "yes, that's exactly how it is". No one would bat an eye at a woman spending $130 on shoes, and yet that's something I probably wouldn't do. New Silent Hill release on the way? Sure.