Sunday, March 28, 2010
The RAah Project
I caught these guys on Sunday Arts and thought them well worth the shout out. There used to be a category in the music stores called 'Acid Jazz' that mixed jazz and electronica - I find it hard to find now! The RAah project take it one step further, throwing in a classical orchestra and hip hop as well - I found it very enjoyable and relaxing. Check out some free samples on their site.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
In cyberspace, no-one can hear you clapping...
...but they can hear the rattle of spare change.
I've recently been buying a few games on Steam (Dragon Age and the Orange Box) which made me realise how long it had been since I had purchased a pre-paid, big corporation type game. Before this, the last two 'bought' games I'd played were the subscription games World of Warcraft and Champions Online, which only lasted a few months each as they both bored me pretty quickly*. And those two games were almost a year apart - the fact that I am only just playing Portal now should show how far behind on the 'popular' games I am!
In the past five or six years at least, most of the games I've been playing are 'free to play' games such as Kingdom of Loathing, Puzzle Pirates, Dwarf Fortress, and of course Whirled. And those games have interested me a hell of a lot more than those purchased subscription games that demand their moolah upfront and in large amounts. So do I find the free-to-play format more enjoyable because it's free? I don't think so. For all of the free-to-play games I've mentioned, including games like Dwarf Fortress that only receive money through donations, I have paid a fair bit of money into their coffers, maybe not as much as I forked out for WOW, but close. I didn't need to - I just wanted to support their games because they are more inventive, creative and downright enjoyable than the more popular stuff out there.
I donated to Wikipedia too, as it's so incredible useful that I'd hate to see it disappear or be hobbled by poor finances - so maybe it's just the type of person I am. But I've come across plenty of people that seem to think that free-to-play games or free websites are obliged to provide everything for free, and gibber and whine the moment the site makes moves to encourage people to pay real cash to keep the site going. I've seen it particularly happen on Whirled, I'm seeing early tremblings on Facebook with "I don't want to pay for this incredibly useful site" protest groups popping up in the news feeds of otherwise sensible people, and I know many mature adults that would feel compelled to hand-waving freakoutery if Wikipedia started throwing in ad-popups or subscription services. And with the news that Whirled, while a fun and interesting place, isn't doing as well financially as the people paying it's way might hope, it makes me wonder at the attitude of many people to services on the internet that they enjoy and use almost every day. Why do we seem to find it so unbelievable that we might be asked to pay? Why don't we voluntarily cough up cash when site we find useful and fun start throwing out subtle hints and 'scratch our back and we'll scratch yours' paid features? Have we had it too good for too long? It doesn't occur to most of us to demand cinema seats, groceries, books or theme park entry for free - so why the grumblings when places that let you amply sample their wares without asking for a cent ask for a little payback?
And if we put the money into the places that we like best instead of the ones that demand it loudly and up front - will we end up with more useful, more creative and more interesting sites and games?
Pondering...
Trowzers (hypocritically posting on her free blog)
* WOW paralysed me with boredom whereas in Champions I just became a little lost in the endless list of quests. At least with Champions you have a little creative input into your character - WOW you have zilch and if it weren't for the people I met, I'd rather have gone and watched a good movie rather than kill-this, fetch-that, walk-here endless grind. What is more, I felt compelled to play the game to support my team, and the moment I feel 'compelled' to waste time on what's supposed to be entertainment that I'm not really enjoying, I know it's time to drop it. It took nearly three years for that to happen on Puzzle Pirates (which I still return to from time to time), and hasn't happened yet on Whirled after several years. Yet WOW - I really don't feel the need to take a second look at it. Not even to get a pair of doubleplus-good super-absorbant purple-class armor pants of super strength, or to kill the penultimate all-time-super-heavyweight-champion dragon-thing that mysteriously carries them. Instead I'd rather draw an awesome chair for my room, and see other people use and enjoy it when I post it in the shop. Or go patch up some pirate ships :)
I've recently been buying a few games on Steam (Dragon Age and the Orange Box) which made me realise how long it had been since I had purchased a pre-paid, big corporation type game. Before this, the last two 'bought' games I'd played were the subscription games World of Warcraft and Champions Online, which only lasted a few months each as they both bored me pretty quickly*. And those two games were almost a year apart - the fact that I am only just playing Portal now should show how far behind on the 'popular' games I am!
In the past five or six years at least, most of the games I've been playing are 'free to play' games such as Kingdom of Loathing, Puzzle Pirates, Dwarf Fortress, and of course Whirled. And those games have interested me a hell of a lot more than those purchased subscription games that demand their moolah upfront and in large amounts. So do I find the free-to-play format more enjoyable because it's free? I don't think so. For all of the free-to-play games I've mentioned, including games like Dwarf Fortress that only receive money through donations, I have paid a fair bit of money into their coffers, maybe not as much as I forked out for WOW, but close. I didn't need to - I just wanted to support their games because they are more inventive, creative and downright enjoyable than the more popular stuff out there.
I donated to Wikipedia too, as it's so incredible useful that I'd hate to see it disappear or be hobbled by poor finances - so maybe it's just the type of person I am. But I've come across plenty of people that seem to think that free-to-play games or free websites are obliged to provide everything for free, and gibber and whine the moment the site makes moves to encourage people to pay real cash to keep the site going. I've seen it particularly happen on Whirled, I'm seeing early tremblings on Facebook with "I don't want to pay for this incredibly useful site" protest groups popping up in the news feeds of otherwise sensible people, and I know many mature adults that would feel compelled to hand-waving freakoutery if Wikipedia started throwing in ad-popups or subscription services. And with the news that Whirled, while a fun and interesting place, isn't doing as well financially as the people paying it's way might hope, it makes me wonder at the attitude of many people to services on the internet that they enjoy and use almost every day. Why do we seem to find it so unbelievable that we might be asked to pay? Why don't we voluntarily cough up cash when site we find useful and fun start throwing out subtle hints and 'scratch our back and we'll scratch yours' paid features? Have we had it too good for too long? It doesn't occur to most of us to demand cinema seats, groceries, books or theme park entry for free - so why the grumblings when places that let you amply sample their wares without asking for a cent ask for a little payback?
And if we put the money into the places that we like best instead of the ones that demand it loudly and up front - will we end up with more useful, more creative and more interesting sites and games?
Pondering...
Trowzers (hypocritically posting on her free blog)
* WOW paralysed me with boredom whereas in Champions I just became a little lost in the endless list of quests. At least with Champions you have a little creative input into your character - WOW you have zilch and if it weren't for the people I met, I'd rather have gone and watched a good movie rather than kill-this, fetch-that, walk-here endless grind. What is more, I felt compelled to play the game to support my team, and the moment I feel 'compelled' to waste time on what's supposed to be entertainment that I'm not really enjoying, I know it's time to drop it. It took nearly three years for that to happen on Puzzle Pirates (which I still return to from time to time), and hasn't happened yet on Whirled after several years. Yet WOW - I really don't feel the need to take a second look at it. Not even to get a pair of doubleplus-good super-absorbant purple-class armor pants of super strength, or to kill the penultimate all-time-super-heavyweight-champion dragon-thing that mysteriously carries them. Instead I'd rather draw an awesome chair for my room, and see other people use and enjoy it when I post it in the shop. Or go patch up some pirate ships :)
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