New Threads, Same Old Dirty Bastards

[HaemishM]

Netflix is my personal movie Jesus. The fact they just lowered the prices on all subscription plans because customers had expressed concern, plus the fact that they are using the Internet to make money THE RIGHT WAY (TM) makes them double plus gud in my book.

Objectivity is for suckers. I don't do objective reviews. My personal disclaimer is that if I tell you I'm trying to be objective in a review, there is some form of constraint on the review controlling what I can or cannot say about said reviewed product. I don't believe in objectivity. If I did, I'd be writing for a "news" site. I am an opinionated whiny bastard; I am not sure there is an objective bone in my body. Insert rabid rant about corporate-controlled media here.

Popups are the fucking devil's phallus. Popunders are only slightly less demonically pyshcosexual. People who do popup ads are pedophiliac panty-sniffers who only want to fuck your sister and your dog while making your little brother watch in his Superman underoos and then screaming "My what a lovely tea party" every five seconds. As a web designer, I make it a point of pride that there are no ad type popups on the web sites I design, and any popups used are purely for things like gallery images or some form of content that I couldn't fit in the format of the site's normal pages, or an external site. If I ever put a popup on this site, SirBruce will be invited to my house for dinner. In a fursuit.

Trolls, retards and other forms of Hrose-meat are never welcome here, and will be treated with the same disdain and furious insults as Russian Mail-Order Brides and LinkWhoring Guild Bots.

EDIT: On our worth to advertisers, I tend to believe the thing Raph said in one of his Powerpoints about sites like this. It ain't the direct numbers, it's the peripherals. If a game (especially MMOG) can get teh jaded, teh hardcore on its side, they will lead others to the well to drink. Now, obviously, they aren't going to suck up to us just to do it, but a little honey is better than flat-out ignoring them. Given that myself and others on this site are pretty resistant to the whole EQ-paradigm of MMOG's, I think it's a nice surprise that Raph allowed schild into the EQ2 beta, and then gave us extra beta spots. Who knows, we might have actually liked what we saw.

Ranters are useful tools for marketing games. If a ranter can be turned to your game's side, that's a bit more respect that game gets. If a ranter hates it, it can generally be dismissed as "that ranter just hates everything."

I'm not putting us or other ranters in any kind of place of importance like Lum had in the days when no one was doing this and there were only 2 MMOG's. But to think our readership is totally discountable isn't accurate.

[Morfiend]

On a related note. Does this mean I will get a MxO Beta accoount now?

[schild]

On a related note. Does this mean I will get a MxO Beta accoount now?

Even more related, you WANT an MxO account?

[Morfiend]

On a related note. Does this mean I will get a MxO Beta accoount now?

Even more related, you WANT an MxO account?

What can I say, I'm a martyr. I will suffer so you guys don't have to... And I curious to see just how bad it could be.

[Sky]

The word sellout was a nice rallying cry when I was 16 and Metallica made a video on MTV, but it was just as silly then when discussing a million-selling band as it is now when talking about the price of a $50 computer game.

So....wake me up when Trujillo starts writing for the site?

I really don't care about some dumb ads on the site, if they get too intrusive, I know where the door is. But when you start suggesting Metallica didn't sell out, then we've got problems!

The entire sellout thing was so important back then because they made their entire career on not selling out. They were a shining beacon amongst all the sellouts, because their fans supported them, not some suit with good pr spin. Then they decided they wanted to become rich. I've got the interview with Lars on tape from the early nineties when he flatly admits they sold out and that selling records was more important than making good music for a few years, referencing his mansion and sportscar. That's selling out.

And that's fine for them, because hey, money makes life easier, even if they were doing damn good on that whole integrity trip. But they did indeed sell out and their music hasn't been the same since. Well, until they had to get counselling and rehab and whatnot to learn that what was making them miserable was selling out.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Thanks for being upfront and honest about it.  I whole-heartedly agree with this approach as opposed to the "donations" route.  Knock yourselves out and g/l with it.

I'm down with ODB.

[Fargull]

If I ever put a popup on this site, SirBruce will be invited to my house for dinner. In a fursuit.

That is kinda like a .. I'll eat my hat .. statement and the type that will be dragged forth from the annuals of hell if the precurser comes to pass.

[schild]

How about this..

If we ever have a popup...that isn't some kind of joke on April Fools or something... I'll take a picture of myself chillin' with the Goatse guy annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd post it on personal sites.

[HaemishM]

If I put popup ads on this site, I'd be more than deserving of a Brucie hairball.

Metallica was easy. When I was 16, calling them a sellout because they made a video was retarded. This was circa "And Justice for All..." The music still kicked it, video or not.

Then came the Black Album, and I kept thinking of the Spinal Tap quotes "It's like... how much blacker can it be? And the answer is none more blacker."

[Shannow]

If I ever put a popup on this site, SirBruce will be invited to my house for dinner. In a fursuit.

That is kinda like a .. I'll eat my hat .. statement and the type that will be dragged forth from the annuals of hell if the precurser comes to pass.

Wouldn't be the first time...

If the Red Sox win the ALCS in 7, I will lose all control of my bowels.

[Fargull]

Wouldn't be the first time...

But HaemishM will be all down with the furry this time while uloading his bowels... and apparently Schild will be staring into the gaping ass of popup thunder.

[ajax34i]

Will we get random banner ads everywhere, or will you keep gaming ads in the gaming forums, the political discussion forum free of ads (or maybe political ads?  yech), and so on?

[Ookii]

I'm pretty sure we're going for one rotating banner for all forums, considering anything else would be absolute hell.

Be awesome if we got gaming themed political advertisments: "John Kerry says, 'Vote John Kerry for teh win!1!11!'".

[HaemishM]

Ad: "Bush is a spawn-camping AWP FAG! Vote Kerry!"

[El Gallo]

While I agree that their last album was total shit, and their 2 previous albums were extremely weak (note: I liked the black album, it isn't my favorite, its no RtL/MoP/JFA but it's good, I know that sets me to zero cred with the supah [h]ard core off the bat, but screw em) , I must speak up for Metallica a little.

I saw them in concert last Sunday.  Going in, I was half expecting a drab, 90 minute going-through-the-motions show.  They completely kicked ass.  Sounded great, had a ton of energy, were into the fans, and played for over 2 and a half hours.  Arena was packed and alive the whole time.  They only played one song from St A and it sounded a lot better live (i.e. it didn't sound like it was recorded in the bathroom of Bob Rock's trailer).  Not "good" but "better".  They played so much great stuff from their best albums, including a lot of less popular stuff.  First time I heard them play Creeping Death live and it was worth the wait.  Trujillo fit in well, frankly I like him better than Newstead (though my wife was a bit bummed, since she thought he was the only good looking guy in the band).  Kirk sounded great.

Anyway, while they may have forgotten how to write, they can still play.

[Jayce]

I think it's a bad idea.

Slippery slope.  You can make all the rules you want (no pop-ups, no crappy games, etc) but if it comes down to "run a pop-up and go to E3" or "don't run it and stay home", you will understandably feel pressure to bend "just this once".

This is at its heart a community site made up of people doing something they like (reviewing, posting etc) because they enjoy it. When money enters the equation, the balance will be different.

I personally would rather see a donate link if money is an issue.  I would rather send $5 when I have it to spare for a good cause than see the site become beholden (in any way) to the industry it criticizes.

[eldaec]

You can put as many ads on the site as you like as far as I'm concerned.

Espeicially on the mysterious 'front page' thing you keep talking about (I'm still convinced all these suggestions that this forum has a front page are all superstitious nonsense!).

But seriously, so long as they are banners and not popanythings, and they are silent, and they don't move around, I don't really mind in the slightest.

Someone has to pay for the bandwidth.

[schild]

Slippery slope.  You can make all the rules you want (no pop-ups, no crappy games, etc) but if it comes down to "run a pop-up and go to E3" or "don't run it and stay home", you will understandably feel pressure to bend "just this once".

Heh, No. You see, we can *AFFORD* to go to E3, we just don't want to pay for it. We'd rather taste the irony on the flight over that the industry which we've come to love to hate to love has paid for it.

Eldaec, this isn't about bandwidth. It's about phat lewts in lieu of a profit.

[Merusk]

Metallica still good in concert.

Agreed. I saw them when they were in Cincy a few months back and it was a great concert.  Godsmack in concert is pretty damn good, too, and if I had the cash I'd be hitting their acoustic set this Sunday night. (Godsmack on Halloween night. Ha, the marketing writes itself.)

If you want to see what trying to "keep it real" and not sell-out does to a band of 40+ year-old metal heads, pick-up the newest Megadeth album, "The System Has Failed.". While it's "ok" musicaly, the lyrics just make me want to laugh myself shitless. Mustaine sounds crazy and just plain bitter. Age-20 angst in from a 40 year old is just sad.

[Jayce]

Metallica still good in concert.

Agreed. I saw them when they were in Cincy a few months back and it was a great concert.  Godsmack in concert is pretty damn good, too, and if I had the cash I'd be hitting their acoustic set this Sunday night. (Godsmack on Halloween night. Ha, the marketing writes itself.)

If you want to see what trying to "keep it real" and not sell-out does to a band of 40+ year-old metal heads, pick-up the newest Megadeth album, "The System Has Failed.". While it's "ok" musicaly, the lyrics just make me want to laugh myself shitless. Mustaine sounds crazy and just plain bitter. Age-20 angst in from a 40 year old is just sad.

Mustaine has always been full of shit IMO.... I think he just tries too hard.  Even now he is basically trying to say "LOOK AT ME, I DIDNT SELL OUT"

[HaemishM]

Mustaine always has been and always will be batshit insane. IMO, the man is a musical genius, but he will always be caught up in sticking it to "the man," whoever that happens to be at the time. I can take intentionally angsty lyrics for the joys of listening to his riffs.

[Fargull]

With all this music chat, I am going to post a quick read it in the store and see if you want to buy it review.

For some reason my dad has purchased an annual subscription to Vanity Fair for the last several years for me, no clue why.  Anyway, the last issue was the yearly look at music and suprisingly has several very good articles in it that touch a lot of different subjects, though mainly they are discussing music.  John Mellencamp has a great article about political protest music and highlights some of his picks.  Another great article covers the band U2 that has far more depth than I have seen from Rollingstone of late.  And finally the best of the issue comes in two articles that have nothing to do with music, one covers the beef / madcow issue with in the US and another covers the Cheney reaction to 9/11.  Both of those articles are very interesting.  If I could find a reference on the web I would link it, but I can not.

Anyway, this message brought to you by the forum train de-rail section of my brain.

[personman]

For some reason my dad has purchased an annual subscription to Vanity Fair for the last several years for me, no clue why.

He is vicariously reliving his memories of Hunter S. Thompson and Rolling Stone magazine through you, his beloved offspring.  Show your appreciation over Thanksgiving by saying "so Nixon and Bush 43 really seem to have a lot in common - I see that now".

After that he'll probably even let you have both drumsticks. :)

[Dark Vengeance]

Heh, No. You see, we can *AFFORD* to go to E3, we just don't want to pay for it. We'd rather taste the irony on the flight over that the industry which we've come to love to hate to love has paid for it.

For Joe and now yourself (as you are both employed in the industry), isn't that the case even if you pay your own way?

You get to taste the irony literally every time you spend money, or use any of the things you've purchased with those funds. From my understanding, it tastes like chicken.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

[Sky]

(Godsmack on Halloween night. Ha, the marketing writes itself.)

Thanks for the reminder, have to see if Type O Negative is doing a show in the area, I've been to a few of their halloween shows, they are a lot of fun. I think they are one of the most fitting bands to see on halloween, and luckily, they are relatively local to me.

Trujillo really breathes life back into metallica (and the aforementioned therapy that told them that losing their integrity is the source of their problems, in essence). If only they'd lose Bob goddamned Rock, they could get back to working on some kickass tunes.

I actually like the new album ok. Not as good as the vintage stuff with Cliff, but I like it better than Linkin Park numetal. But it ain't no Slipknot, that's for sure.

[Morfiend]

Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock  Anger!!!

Raaarrrrwwwwrrrrrr.


Blah, usless fucking album. I thought that song was a joke when I first heard it.

Anyway, cant we stop mocking Metallica for selling out and go back to mocking schild and Haemish for selling out?

[edlavallee]

Objectivity is for suckers. I don't do objective reviews. My personal disclaimer is that if I tell you I'm trying to be objective in a review, there is some form of constraint on the review controlling what I can or cannot say about said reviewed product. I don't believe in objectivity. If I did, I'd be writing for a "news" site. I am an opinionated whiny bastard; I am not sure there is an objective bone in my body. Insert rabid rant about corporate-controlled media here.

Ahh, I should have used my limited command of the english language to be a bit more clear. By objectivity I did not mean a completely unbiased viewpoint, what I meant was a viewpoint that was unaffected by any kind of corporate affiliation or "spin". I am sure someone out there can help me with the right word, because I am sick of propaganda.

[sidereal]

independent

[Hanzii]

This place has gone to hell since Lum left...

Nah, you need your core audience to attract advertisers and you feel you need the advert to do what you'd like to do with your site and your writing. If you do stuff, write stuff or advertise stuff, that makes your core audience go away, you'll eventually loose the ad revenue too.
It's a tough balancing act, but on the other hand, there's a limit to how long people will do stuff for 'nothing' even if they enjoy doing it.
They'll either start making enough money from it, twist it into something that makes them money or stop alltogether.
People expecting anything else, don't understand the real world.

So. knock your self out kids.
I had the choice between writing stuff that would get politicians thrown from office and possibly matter in the big picture, and writing about tech stuff and get free surround speakers and iPods...
Guess, I would be the last to call somebody a sellout.

Right now I'm working at convincing my boss to pay my way to E3 even though games are like 1% of what we're covering... guess I'll see you there.

[doubleplus]

From my understanding, it tastes like chicken.

What doesn't really?

[Signe]

I've changed my mind.  I don't want f13 to become popular.  Look what's happened since the EQ2 give away?  Strange people have come out of the woodwork and said stuff.  I suppose they need to justify trying to snarf up free junk or something.  Just give them all the free junk, please, and make them go away.  They make me nervous.

I suggest we ban everyone who made their first post after the EQ2 give away announcement, close our borders, toughen up security and check ID's at the gate.

[WayAbvPar]

OMG, Signe has been replaced with Pat Buchanan!

[AOFanboi]

Wrong scene. Pity my frail Google-fu, I cannot find pictures of Mouse giving his spiel in the kitchen, nor Cypher's "echo" of the same ideas when talking to the agent in the restaurant.

[Shavnir]

IStrange people have come out of the woodwork...

Okay okay, I'll go back into hiding :-P

[Signe]

IStrange people have come out of the woodwork...

Okay okay, I'll go back into hiding :-P

Bah!  Not you.  I've known you, like, forever or something.