Aaron White

Can Successful Video Games be Fun? (Part 2)

Last week I posed some problems [http://aaronwhite.tumblr.com/post/52246395/can-successful-video-games-be-fun-part-1] with subscription gaming, this week, some solutions. First a recap of last week’s post: The ‘economic physics’ for successful subscription based games forces it to meter out the least possible fun (content) per minute, without losing

Can Successful Video Games be Fun? (Part 1)

“Woah, isn’t that the whole point of video games, Aaron?” Well, it was, and ostensibly it still is, but I’d like to open your eyes to the hidden economic and psychological mechanics that are forcing successful video games to be increasingly less fun. Let’s look at Blizzard’

Self Discipline - A Field Report

I’m grateful to have lot of passion and optimism in my approach to life. However, I’ve always been envious of those who demonstrate a great deal of self-discipline. Since I don’t believe passion and discipline are mutually exclusive, I set out this summer to acquire this skill

Knowledgeable folks are just caches

When talking to an overly knowledgeable person (you know the type), I can’t help but think: “You’re an organic second-level cache for Wikipedia.” Props for being such a great cache, but if you left the room, I’d survive with my iPhone, just fine. (Intelligence, relevance & creativity

Static vs. Dynamic (brief follow-up rant)

This isn’t an “either or” choice in my book. I feel that all too frequently, people treat both options as “equally valid” and move forward with whatever they are familiar with. The argument for dynamic typing holds as much authority and merit as creationism, and unfortunately, coders & academics

Rock the Defaults

I rarely, and only after soul-wrenching turmoil, change the default settings on installed software. Further, I use pre-installed or native applications with extreme prejudice. I rock Safari, Mail, iChat, all in default mode, and love every second of it. My life is in iCal & Address book. I’m not

Hurry up and fail.

> Hurry up and fail. Jim Moskun (successful entrepreneur & former employer). Whatever you are doing, you won’t get it right the first time. Get over it, get it out, get past it, and get better.

Unrelenting Optimism

I’m an Unrelenting Optimist. I’m optimistic that if you pursue your goals unrelentingly, you’ll achieve them. I hold true that you can make a living doing anything, as long as you have a clear goal, a passion, and are smart, flexible, dedicated and sociable. The problem for

Confused & Music

I just downloaded the new “Girl Talk” album, which consists entirely of illegally sampled sound bytes from music of all genres, and synthesizes them into something entertaining. I was given the choice of paying any amount I like for the privilege of downloading the music, I opted for zero dollars.

Portmanteau of the Month: Transplendid

Definition: Adj., something that transcends splendor. Mash-up of transcendent and splendid. I was sure that after much drinking, this was my unique creation, apparently this word was introduced earlier by Woody Allen. If you credit me by mistake, I won’t take offense. I encourage you to find use for

Two Days, No Internet

This is no accomplishment for the ages, but since I purchased an iPhone, it has become an increasingly unlikely event. Given the horror stories of international data-roaming fees, I let frugality trump my need for always-connectedness while spending the weekend in Montreal. It wasn’t as bad as I thought

Stop Thinking, Start Knowing: a Glimpse into our Future

I play an interesting and scary game with my friends. When one of us asks “Who was that Actor?”, or wonders about “When did [some event] occur?”, or any kind of question with a factual answer, I call “Full stop, bring out the iPhone!” This takes the ‘wonder’ out, and

Dumbification and the science of Engagement

PR prodigy & digital renaissance girl,Amanda Mooney [http://www.twitter.com/amandamooney], points us this morning in the direction of a new book,“The Dumbest Generation” [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121063808679386853.html?mod=googlenews_wsj]. In it, Mark Bauerlein argues that the kids are trading enrichment for entertainment,

Google App Engine: Exciting & Slimy?

I’m excited by the Google App Engine. Creative developers should ultimately be able to focus on exactly one thing, and one thing alone: providing unique value. All the boilerplate infrastructure that goes into web app development is not only time-wasting, but soul-crushing. To the extent that Google App Engine

reCAPTCHA: Stop Spam, Read Books

reCAPTCHA: Stop Spam, Read Books [http://recaptcha.net/] reCAPTCHA is one of the coolest things that I didn’t know about until today (I’m sure there is more). They provide a free captcha service to any website that needs it. What does reCAPTCHA get in return? Each captcha that

Social Media Investments (no, not monetary)

Pamela Seiple [http://pamelog.blogspot.com/2008/04/twitter-my-favorite-social-media.html](aka pamelump [http://twitter.com/pamelump]) makes some great points about the value of using  Twitter. In my experience, much of the hesitation people feel when deciding whether or not to use a social website, like Twitter, sounds like “It’

PSA: Opportunity only works when you're open to it.

When opportunity knocks, it’s usually a quiet tap. The onus is on you to open the door, and see if it’s right for you, or if you’d rather pass. Those that don’t take the time to look, that aren’t curious, or are steered away by

Hipsters are the Future

Imagine a kind ofEloi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloi]-esque utopian future, where all of our physical needs are met (either by a stable economy, or by the Morlocks). In this world, what is left for us to do? What’s left is culture: art, music, writing, gaming, fashion,

Coding, Lesson 1: The Fundamentals

All coding is divided into three parts: 1. Critical thinking 2. Trial & Error 3. Googling for hours You’ll spend more time at the bottom of that list than the top.

Why aren't you working for a startup?

Why aren't you working for a startup? [http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/2008/01/why-arent-you-w.html] Some great excerpts: * When’s the last time you worked until tomorrow and had a great time? * Do you get letters from customers and supporters telling you how much they love your product?

Your product is your marketing. Full stop.

Here at SXSW, Apple doesn’t bother with a booth, schwag, party or any other such goodwill-cum-marketing scheme to ‘woo’ the techies. Why would they when glowing Apple laptop emblems saturate your field of vision? I would guess-timate from where I sit 80% of the laptops are Macs. Dell is

God bless the alpha testers,

For they are the software-martyrs of the Internet! More seriously, our secret-little-web-startup recently entered into a semi-public, closed-alpha (figure that one out!). Against all odds, we’ve managed to find some really great individuals who are putting our stuff through its paces… and WOW. It’s just so exciting to

Static & Strong Typing

I can’t take it. I really can’t. I see moronic post after moronic post, all over the internet, bashing static/strong typing. I can’t comment on them all, so I’m going to ball up my response here: You’re all wrong. Let me qualify this by

Musings

Restriction is Expression

Restriction is Expression. The act of overcoming constraint, in any context, is triumph over adversity. It is the resolution of conflict, it is a story, and the story is the most fundamental of human communications. Just a thought.

Startups

Our Web is Fertile

The web went “Social” last year, and in a big way. This means that the next round of influencers won’t be technologists, but instead social organizers. With the new social fabric & norms now in place, we can amplify any social behavior to involve millions. Know someone who is