"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." - Robert A. Heinlein
1up has the transcript of several interviews with retail sales folk they did, posing is naive game shoppers. (thanks Robin!)
Telling about how confusing it is for the casual gamer or would-be gamer.
I dread thinking about what it must be like for someone looking at the PC as a gaming platform (shudder)
*sigh*
Posted
10:24 AM
1 comment:
you know, in other industries it's often the same. for example, aquarius records near my apartment is staffed by the snobbiest people that i only went in there once (even after lulu warned me about the snobbery) and i can't go back.
and similarly, if you go to a big store where the staff are not snobs, they don't know a damned thing about music if you're not looking for a top-40s album.
however, music is such an old medium that lots of music lovers are older and more mature. if you go to amoeba records in SF or berkeley the 20- and 30-somethings that work there are all friendly and helpful even if you go up and ask about the poppiest music on the planet.
then again, that's an issue of subjective taste, i suppose. i bet if you stood there asking amoeba employees about what a CD is and whether it will work in your victrola they'd eventually get annoyed.
which brings up another point: videogames are among the few entertainment media where the technology and the content is so fused. you don't buy CD players and stereo systems at record stores (unless it's Best Buy, but there they have two separate sections, whereas videogames and videogame systems are right next to each other.)
overall, thought-provoking. i think in some number of years when our industry and the folks in it has had time to age like a fine wine (and hopefully not like a moldy slice of bread behind a couch) then a lot of this stuff will iron itself out.
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