Toxic Egotism

I’m fortunate enough not to have any allergies or intolerances that might kill me. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t just someone else’s problem.

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ImmerseOrDie Might Be Too Mellow

One of the accusations levelled at ImmerseOrDie is that Jeff, Bryce, or I look for reasons to fail a book, that readers don’t judge books the way we do. I’ve never been inside Bryce’s head, but I feel a deep joy when a book makes it to the line; and we’re not alone in noticing issues.

<p style="text-align: justify;"Anne R Allen warns that minor errors at the start of the book could kill sales.

I’m a grammar freak, so a misplaced apostrophe or verb/object disagreement will stop me. I know not everybody is such a stickler. But I think all readers want to see that a book looks professional and polished. They don’t want to invest time in a book—even if it’s free—unless they feel they’re in competent hands.

While I agree that noticing these issues might seem to be limited to “grammar freaks”, IoD reports show issues that don’t cause us to put a book down still increase the chances that a subsequent issue will stand out enough to lose that sense of competence; so, for every reader whose attention catches on an issue, there are several who don’t stop at that point but are primed to judge later concerns harshly.

And for those who think the failures are still us being picky, remember that Allen (and people in her comment thread) believe that having a contents page that is boring – not ill-formatted, dysfunctional, or otherwise flawed, but just boring – damages sales.

Not Letting the Dice Decide

While sexual harassment in roleplaying games isn’t front page news in the same way that the rags and tatters of Hollywood pretence are, it happens. And, unlike the real world, it can sometimes seek to excuse itself by relying on not having happened in reality. However, I don’t think something is automatically acceptable just because it’s a story rather than a “real” event or because that’s how the game world is.

The Cost of Being Seen

While the web might have started out as excited amateurs building their little corner then sharing it with others, it’s now also home to large companies and content professionals. Which has made recouping the cost of running sites and creating the pages on them a major driver of “normal” website structure. The usual models are either pay-for-access or paid-by-advertising, but I came across a new idea today: internet user as middleperson.

Dogged by Error

An interesting talk, both from the hard science perspective and the softer one of difference being illusion.

Whoever perceived a need for an algorithm that adds dogs to a situation was clearly not seeing straight though.

+1 Blade of Universe Slaying

Had an interesting offline debate about adding weapons and armour to Cthulhu Dark. So, continuing my intermittent thoughts and hacks of the system, I thought I’d share a little in case it proved helpful for explaining to players used to equipment bonuses why there aren’t any.

Advertising’s a Dirty Business

The postman delivered an Amazon parcel. As I was out at the time, they left it in a secure location. Using the wonders of GIMP and a couple of minutes of my time, I’ve replicated the most important parts of the sight that met my eyes when I went to recover it. What are your first thoughts about the box?

Bat(ttered)man

I’ve recently started playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. Overall, it’s a great fun game but there’s one niggle: saved games – or rather the lack thereof.

Obstacles Diminish Enthusiasm

I’m a firm believer in being better than you need to be just because you can. However, sometimes others go out of their way to make it less smooth than it needs to be.

Psychometric Trigger Locks

As Colleen Hoover writes trigger warnings can be a complex topic. How does one balance protecting people from traumatic reminders without spoiling books for others? Perhaps the answer, and other similar advantages, lie in expanding existing book-site technology.