What writing is about: Being wrong

Maybe people are afraid to write, post, tweet or whatever because they are afraid.  They are afraid to say what they mean,  they are afraid that someone will throw something back in their face or they are simply afraid they have nothing interesting to say.  Fundamentally, the issue is folks afraid of being wrong.  If you write regularly,  things you say and think will be frozen in the time you wrote them in the context you wrote them (yes, you can go back and edit, but you get my meaning)  You might state a political opinion or a projection and you'll might be wrong about something.

I say?  So what? So you are wrong.  If you are writing enough and people are reading enough then your opinions will come through and as long as we explain when we came to the idea when we did,  then well,  you should be fine. 

Just keep writing and don't be afraid -  you are going to be wrong and that is fine with us.

This post was inspired by Om Malik's post on 10 years of Blogging. It's a great read.

New Jobs and Learning

New jobs are great.  Everything gets reset and we have the opportunity to see our value separate from our former jobs and organizations.  We get to reestablish what we know,  apply what we did and bring fresh perspective to a new place that needs newness.  We are offered the opportunity to look back at where we came from and see what actually worked. 

It's cliche,  but you don't know what you've got until it's gone.  Going from a fading web giant in AOL to a pivoting game company in Oberon Media, everything comes into hyper focus.  What matters from one job comes painfully into focus in another.  Nothing focus's one's efforts like lack of resources.  Constraints are the mother of invention.  When you set constraints and put a goal within the context of those constraints,  all of a sudden, you are forced into the magical zone of creativity.  The mind goes into "How the fuck do I do that mode?"  There is no better feeling in the world than that.  

You are forced to learn,  to push,  to find solutions and get there quickly. Sometimes you fail,  sometimes you don't but the engagement of the mind is invaluable. 
I am so thankful to be in a new job that is crunching my brain.

Must keep on writing....

Inspired by the famous tech investor Fred Wilson in this post - Writing I am determined to continue to post.
It has been very hard to keep writing.  Not because I don't have anything to say but because it simply doesn't come to the top of my mind.

I recommend you all read his post.  What inspired me an I wholly agree with is:  Writing makes you a better writer.  Keep writing.  Don't stop.  Push and try and succeed.
In the piece,  Fred says he began writing at 42!  42! There is always time,  you can always pick up and do it.  The tools are there,  the opportunity is there.  It's simply a matter of focus and making it a priority.

The irony of my writing is.... I failed English three times in High School.  Did summer school twice and night school twice to get all the stupid HS English credits needed.  I'm proud of that fact.  It didn't matter.  All it made me think was that I couldn't write (and some of you may still think that...)  Well,  blogging says otherwise and I'll keep on posting when I can. 

As always this is an interactive process.  If you want hear my thoughts on anything,  please let me know and I will spout!

Thanks!

Steal This Idea: Threadless or Minted for Flash Games

Here is the pitch:

• Allow would-be game makers to submit flash games.
• Set rules on size, play area size so that it is standardized (Maybe even three game engines - Match 3, Snood and ???)
• Something simply - upload game piece images, background image and that's it! (with advanced options for nerds)
• Everyday have the community vote on the game
• Each game has a week to be voted on.
• Games that win are then sold or monetized with ads that GO to the game maker - (yes all of it)

The result should be a vibrant community of people sharing games and helping decide what games come next. People could laugh at silly games or marvel at wonderful art put into the context of games.  If there are a hundred variations of match 3 games (think Bejeweled) why not let there be ten thousand match 3 games with a community of creators?

Yes,  Gamesalad does this SOMEWHAT and so does Newgrounds SOMEWHAT- but both are niche

Am I right? Am I wrong? Can we democratize making flash games?

Flash games are a commodity - Here's how I know.

Games come in all shapes and sizes.  There are great games and there are shitty games.  There are so many games in fact,  they are nearly disposible.  But they are a commodity.  You can stand up a site and grab traffic faster than you can set up a twitter account.... 

I made this games site in the last 5 minutes.... yes,  it has every type of game you can think of.
If I can do this you can too.   

Steal this idea: the Etsy of games

Create an eCommerce platform for game developers, game affictionatos and game culturists of any shapes and sizes.
Get away from the current portal options of Steam, App Store or web portal (Big Fish Games, Trymedia, Yahoo) Focus on the art and craft of games and provide the tools for game makers to experiment, grow personal communities. 
Lastly and most importantly go beyond playable games to encompass culture of play.

Is this what it felt like to be English in 1919?

The United States it's so clearly in  decline that it is time to start looking toward our most logical historical equalent: The United Kingdom.

The UK peaked as the ultimate world power in 1870 (give or take a few years) It took World War I and the Boer War to totally hammer it into ground. (By WW II the UK was toast and would have been occupied had it not been for the USA and Soviets)

History lesson aside, it is great example and an idea of what the US need to move towards. The US needs to become to China,  what the UK was to the US.  (if it isn't already) A big brother who shows them the way forward while hitching its political capital to the new power.

 The UK and the US always had the historical bonds and sat in the same side for two wars and reconstruction of Europe twice. It is during the war years that somehow the UK hitches its wagon to the US while simultaneously declining gracefully as a world power. (The end comes with India's independence) With the UK by its side the US has had a confidant and in its dealings with the world a partner who will always side with it.

Ths US is already in the role with China and we have a few items to sort out as the transition happens over the decades. (US and UK had a handful of these, Suez and Palestine come to mind)

The irony of it all is that China and the US while on the surface different, they are really the same. Both are run by a small oligarchy (in China the communist party, in the US the monied 1%) both are about profit at all costs and both completely control their people through legend, myth and media

Lastly both are completly petrified of the marginalized majority rising up to topple the status quo.

There is no book where you can look all this up and it all is just in my mind.  Knowing your history can really get your brain going when you see the big picture.

Digitization: the beast that devours

Will they never learn? Will any traditional media learn the mistakes of its brethren and survive the digital onslaught?
First music and newspapers next books and television.  The world will never learn that 1 and 0's will destroy trees, plastic.and actuals stores every time!
The latest to face full on attack is book publishers.  The are so completely doomed.  You watch.... books stores will go the way of record stores in ten years (if not sooner)

We are both the 1% and the 99%

 

Blaming the super-duper rich is an easy construct that does us
a disservice.  I do not obsolve, blame or take credit for anything. Nor do claim to sit in judgement. My mind wanders here and there and these are my thoughts.

Power is in the collective. 

While we all sat making money and buying big screen TV's we collectively, all 100% stood by.  We stood by as schools got worse, we stood by as Al-Qaeda grew. We stood by and borrowed. We stood by as real wealth shrank and thin wealth grew.  We let a government that is supposed to protect our freedoms get hijacked, piece by piece, year by year by vocal fringes.  We sat and waited. 

When everything fell apart, we still sat and wondered what happend.  

The time for sitting, waiting and blaming is over.  We are the 100% and we accept responsibility. We now demand our lives generate real value.  We build new institutions that create a new narritive for the future.  Lets build things that are built to last, not for quarterly profits.  Lets help co-workers be better at their work and not worry about our next raise. Build cars that last 30 years not 4. Make clothes guaranteed for life. Make stronger bonds to the earth. Get away from "look at what I have" to "look at what WE did"  Lets pull together get the very rich to pay their dues,  the middle to stand up for the rights of the poor and the poor to do everything they can to better themselves.  Lets not blame. Lets help each other.  No more I pay taxes so you can live. No more I made my money and I'm keeping it or I made it in this country, I'm slamming the door.  We all did well because of each others work.  Rich got rich through the safety of our laws.  The middle got its shot by aspiring to be better than our parents.  And the poor are poor through no fault of their own.  We all share responsibility.

I don't like percentages of a whole. Let's be whole.