#Donglegate is a good thing

I am glad Adria Richards has been fired and fled the Internet. I hope she does not stay gone, but I think this is a great learning experience.

“Oh, my gawd, Pawk, are you saying that she deserved threats of rape? DEATH THREATS?!?”

No, but she most certainly earned them. Now, before you rage and decide to hate me because of that statement, let’s take a closer look at the person who is the central cause of all this drama. Richards has done this before. She has flown off the handle, overreacted and gone public to wage her war for feminine equality. And she rarely ever actually does it in a subtle or even rational fashion. She lashes out, publicly. She doesn’t talk to those she attacks, she just attacks.

She has a history of this. The company who hired her did so as a PR move, plain and simple. They knew she would be a handful. They knew she might cause an issue. They hoped she would take the opportunity and show that she could handle it. What she did was blow it on a scale and size of which warrants termination. It doesn’t matter the reason. They are not cowards, they are wise business people. They took a risk and it blew up in their face. They are cutting their losses, not abandoning a valuable employee.

Richards does not deserve to work in the capacity she did. As it was clearly seen, she is using her access inappropriately. This would be the same with someone who frequently told secrets being given a job in R&D snapping a picture of the latest tech and tweeting it out. She violated what her role required of her, and as such she needs to remain terminated.

The greater lesson, the lesson I hope has now been forcibly pounded through her skull, is that overreaction is bad. She has felt the brunt of overreaction. She got one guy fired. She did not kill anyone. This guy will find work again, likely not without struggle, but he will work again. Everyone will move on. And yet, a good segment of the Internet turned on her, raging and lashing out as she has done in the past, simply with more unconstrained vitriol than she has had in the past. However, she should now know that her constant jump to the ultra-dramatic, the public shaming, is no better than the abuse she has suffered for doing that.

There is a way to create a change. You know how that is? By following the example of Kenzie Wilson. She saw a lack of games. She has a passion for gaming. So she asked her mom to go learn to program, and started a fundraiser on Kickstarter to do just that. And in a week where “Donglegate” (GOD I hate that Watergate was ever a thing) makes us think the industry is not changing, along comes who is truly the future of gaming to show us it is changing, and will continue to do so.

Kenzie is a feminist. Not Adria. Adria is a drama queen, a self-promoting jackass who got served a quintuple helping of the crap she has been dealing out for damn long time. She has learned that, just because the world offers you a stage, it does not give you a pass when you do something to hurt another person with no better reason than that you can. She could have been polite, asked them to stop, and if she was rebuked, outed them. She could have ignored it. But she chose the absolute worst option, followed through, and paid the price.

And no, those guys were not in the right. It was a bunch of innocent, 12 year old potty humour. It’s fine when your audience is cool with it. And it’s not like Richards herself was above it when it was in her favour. But, by the same token, by all accounts, it was not nearly as bad as she said it was, and did not warrant termination of anyone. But, you see, that is what happens when someone has a platform and an inability to understand the consequences of its misuse.

With great power, comes great responsibility.

The myth that we are born equal

Yes, it's a myth. Before you start saying anything like "I can be anything I want," or "we are all born with rights," stop and read.

First, I am not saying that everyone doesn't deserve equal treatment or that people should not be given the chance to do whatever they want in life. What I am saying is that, in reality, when we are born, we are not the same as one another. Some people will dream of the NBA, but will be uncoordinated. Some people will dream of writing a novel, yet cannot write a decent story. Some people will grow up singing to the radio, wanting to be a musician but be unable to carry a tune.

We all have different strengths and weaknesses. We cannot be everything we want to be. We can have what success our genetics allow us, but at some point, you will reach a limitation on what you can do. So, no, we are not born as equals. But then why would we want that to begin with?

This idea that we should all be the same detracts from the spectacle of the truly talented. I've seen grade school virtuosos, teenage geniuses, and spectacular athletes. They amaze and inspire us all with what humanity has the potential to be. But if we were all like that, or worse, if we were all middlingly mediocre, what kind of world would we have?

We used to celebrate the victor. We used to revel in the win. Now, we teach children they are entitled to winning. That effort is more important than the result. That they can be whatever they chose to be, regardless of what the world says. And while there is value in the lesson that you can overcome and find some success, we much temper what we teach is possible. We have to stop giving everyone those lovely participation awards and go back to having winners and losers.

We need to make children understand that they are entitled to nothing, not even a chance. They need to make their way in life. Otherwise, we will be left with generations of children with no motivation but to maintain the status quo, with no fire in their heart to follow their passion, and without the desire for greatness, merely the acceptance of mediocrity.

Why SimCity needs bad press

There is good reason to hold EA and Maxis accountable for the mess that is SimCity's latest release. It may be a good game, but it is a step in the wrong direction. It needs to be shoved under EA's nose and held there till it realizes it will not be tolerated.

Online only has its place in some games, while other services do quite well with a frequent check-in service. (My feelings for that service were not always that way...) But taking a game that previously was a single player game and cramming in multiplayer not to add to the experience but to act as psuedo-DRM is patently ridiculous and needs to be stopped.

This should not be a thing for a SimCity game

We are already seeing the results of an excited launch day pretty much crushing the under prepared EA servers. But worse, this means that EA can now force upgrades. Simply shut off the server for this version, and you need to buy the next to have access.

This sort of DRM is disgusting at every level. They did this to Diablo 3, one of the major reasons I voted with my wallet and did not buy it. I loved SimCity, and I love the screens and videos coming out of this game. But I refuse to buy it until it has a dedicated, offline only mode. If they cannot offer that, Good Old Games is still out there, so I'll just go relive the days when games were made for gamers, not for investors.

Why SamProof failed to buy Stickam

For those few who may not know, Stickam is shut down. For those like me who had no idea what Stickam was...

Stickam was a cam broadcasting site who launched around the same time as another major media site. You might have heard of that one before. It was, apparently, quite an awesome place. And with my brief brush with their culture, I can see why.

I wrote about how we are disconnected by technology not long ago. Ironically, Stickam did more to connect people with several shared experiences. There were users everyone knew and talked about, events everyone covered in their own way. And then there was the mundane everyday. And that's how I met SamProof.

He was streaming to the last on the final day of Stickam. And making a sandwich. Yup, a sandwich. Nothing spectacular or awe inspiring, just chilling with his dog and talking to anyone who happened by. That included me. I watched as others showed up and chatted about the old days. And I watched as he decided to try to save the home he had known for so long.

When he launched the IndieGoGo campaign, I donated what I could, and wished I could do more. I truly wanted to see him succeed at dragging the site back from the brink of destruction if for no other reason than to see it done. Yet I watched as the days wore on that it was not going to happen. People tried to get the ball moving in the right direction but to no avail.

So, what happened? Where did it all fall apart?

Well, for one, the biggest stars did not throw in together. They each had something on the go. If they could have combined their efforts, maybe things would have turned out differently. For another, it was last minute in being announced, so it meant building up a grass roots movement was hard with everyone turning nomad in search of a new home.

But the biggest reason is the disposable view the world has towards many things these days. It colours a lot of what we do, and this was no exception. Sure, gathering 5 million dollars sounds like an insane amount, but when you consider that the last traffic numbers pegged the amount of users to around 500,000 people, that would have been 10 dollars a person for the bulk of the cash. Factor in that seeing those users drop down 10 dollars each would have caused buzz around the site, I'm sure Sam would have found a corporation frothing at the mouth to get in on it.

Apathy led to no one wanting to cover the news that one of the major stars was rallying to save the site. If any one of the sites that came to dig Stickam's grave had run a piece about Sam trying to save it, there would have been a major upswing in the donations. That is for damned sure. But instead, it's just another site, who cares, there are others.

It's sad to see him fail to even crack the thousand dollar mark, and I wish it would have gone better. In the end, he will survive, as will we all, without that one streaming site. There are plenty of alternatives. It's just sad to see one with such a welcoming community die while the Internet just stood by and watched.

Fuck #OneChannel #StupidChangeIsStupid

Orson Scott Card: Why he should write Superman

"Wow, Pawk, really? You actually want Orson Scott Card to be allowed to write Superman, the all-American icon?"

OK, so some may not know what I am talking about. The writer of Ender's Game, soon to be a major blockbuster movie starring Harrison Ford, was set to write a tale for The Adventures of Superman. Now, this apparently enraged several thousands of fans, because, well, Card is a wee bit of a homophobic bastard. So, the lead artist, the venerable Chris Sprouse, backed out of the project, placing the book in limbo.

Will DC Comics bow to the crowd and block this award-winning author from writing a Superman story? Likely they will bow out. It's because they don't want to risk the loss of sales and the boycotts that come from allowing someone with a controversial opinion to dare write a story which, likely will have nothing to do with his views.

I get it. He's an epic asshole. I understand it. I don't agree with his views. I think they are archaic and ignorant. But then, who gives a hot goddamn? Why is it that we cannot allow him to have his personal views, yet respect his work as it stands. He is not a perfect person, but "let ye who is without sin cast the first stone."

Oh GOD a bible quote? Yea, what of it. People venerate several icons who were not nearly as good as they seemed on the surface. Martin Luther King Jr. was an adulterer. Winston Churchill was a racist. Hell, people are even looking into Mother Teresa and finding there may be some less than noble things going on there! And here's the funny part: All of these are massive historical figures, movers and shakers who inspired the world and are widely loved and respected. They influenced their worlds and the generations in them to work towards a goal. And so we turn a blind eye to their struggles and dark sides.

Yet, for an author, whose global impact is just entertaining, or even a certain actor with an unfortunate habit for opening his mouth, we vilify them and seek to shun them from ever having success. So very, terribly ironic that we allow those who are most assuredly in the public eye to remain untouched, yet someone who is on the fringe of popularity, and is mainly known for his one major book is allowed to become a pariah and justify his hatred of "the gays" by derailing him from writing a fucking comic book story.

Let's face it, this is a tempest in a tea pot. Blocking him from writing the book will not suddenly open his eyes, realize how far up his ass his head is, and begin treating everyone as equals. It will not impact his wallet or his success. It will just show how petty, small-minded, and ridiculous people can be. They are his views, and if you want to vote, vote with your dollar when the book is release. Don't just get it blocked outright.

Taking Responsibility

How often these days do you hear someone say "It's not my fault"? I'd be willing to bet it occurs almost daily. It's the wave of the future. There's a reason for everything you do, and none of those reasons lead to personal accountability.

I am not sure when this started. All I know is that between the time I was a kid to when I became an adult, everything bad someone does can now be conveniently tied to a disorder, a disease, or some other external force that the person has no control over.

That's a load of bullshit.

Now, I'm not saying that there are not times when you are not in control of your behavior There are disorders that people literally cannot help being incapable of either functioning properly. But these disorders are biologically proven, and normally relate to a lack within the mind or body of the individual. But these days, everything is an addiction or a disorder.

Cheat on your spouse? Oh, you can't help it, you're a sex addict. Drink too much? Oh, you can't help it, you're addicted to alcohol. Can't focus on your work? Oh, you can't help it, you're ADHD. A nice pigeon hole for everyone's failures, but no one stops to think that all these holes are all within the control of the individual. Yet, we give them the excuse to shift their responsibility off to something beyond their direct influence.

The truth is that, barring some physical defect that creates the issue, the person is perfectly capable but unwilling to control their behavior. We, as a society, have to start holding people accountable for their own actions. Instead of blaming all around you, take ownership for what you contribute to an issue, and then assign blame only if something is truly beyond your control.

The passing of the buck extends beyond disorders now. It extends to everything we do. No one is at fault for what they do. They seek to pin blame on someone or something else. Those who do must be called out on it. We need to stop coddling the world, stop awarding mediocrity, and start having winners and losers again. We need to start making people pay for their choices instead of giving them an out. Consequences are a part of life. It's time to stop running from them.