Malik
(5/14//04)
To
end this week, I decided to deviate from my previous game
plan. Not because I found too little to bitch about from Sony
or Nintendo (actually, I give Nintendo a 9/10 for their
showing...considering what each company had to work with, Nintendo
was king of E3), but rather because of a little
link I found on the Microsoft XBox mailing I get periodically. Why
Decide Who I Am When The Experts Can Tell Me Who I Am? Well,
at least someone has finally got something right about the current
crop of gamers...not too mention quite a few things wrong. Apparently,
a panel of intellectuals (or people who might want us to believe
they are intellectuals) were at E3 to tell us all who we are. I
always love it when people tell us who we are rather than letting us
decide for ourselves. I know I sure need someone who is a member of
a panel (of people who are probably twice my age and almost
definitely not in the age group being studied) to tell me who the
hell I am and how to properly manipulate ads to manipulate my
psyche. So,
anyways, as for ad wizards and what they know that right...it is
true that most people who are 13-25 years old (I hate "gen-Y"...it
sounds like some teh gay buzz word that is supposed to make me feel
hipper and more ready to purchase when I learn an ad is aimed at
"gen-Y" or a really trendy way for girls named Jenny to
start spelling their names...) don't watch the four standard
networks of TV, because the shows are aimed at people in their
thirties and above. That is simple. Good thing this panel told us
that. I would have thought that I did love Raymond and that Becker
and I could hand out while we watch the last episodes of Friends and
Fraiser. Additionally,
people in my age range tend to not give in to commercials as much as
older age groups. Personally, I think this isn't due to our ability
to research through many information sources...it's because of a cross
between two things. For one; most commercials aimed at us are
incredibly stupid. The average ad aimed at people in their early
twenties and late teens are so freakin' trendy and "buzz"
filled that those with any sense of individuality are automatically
turned off from such a lame marketing campaign (marketing
"specialists" are, on average, well above 25 years old,
and not to sounds ageist, but it is harder for the previous
generation to relate to our generation than any other generation gap
in the past). The second reason, for those who are trendy pieces of
shit, is that some of us (definitely not me or else I would have
given into the "hip" and "visually appealing"
FFX-2 about 7 months ago) feel so overwhelmed when there are ads
competing for our money for competing products. Then, we don't give
into the ad, since both (or more than two) ads are so amazingly
trendy...then we just give in to what looks shiny and pretty. In
other words, we are either too smart, or too freakin' retarded to
give in to the average ad. I guess part of that is supposed to be reflected
by "they will generally only respond to good marketing because
of the number of other choices available to them", but only in
the sense that credit cards allow me to buy whatever I want...both
are true, but only in the most short sighted of views. As
for me wanting to respond to an ad for one of several reasons of
music, humor, benefit, or emotion...WTF? So, is that saying that an
ad that condescends to me about how trendy something is that plays
some Less Than Jake in the background while telling me that I'd get
$5 in coupons for something I never need in a humorous way while
trying to be a tear-jerker is supposed to influence me...shit...the
only thing that type of ad would evoke from me is a sense of wanting
to flip the channel (or better yet, put on some Disgaea). The only
thing I can say about those four special response evokers is
this...humor is nice, but a lame saying with a double meaning
("This is where I played with Lara" or whatever) that's
supposed to make me laugh only makes me think less of the pwN-Gage;
hearing the same song over and over on a bunch of ads only makes me
think that the song is over played (thus turning me off from
watching that ad or any other with said song ever again); a
commercial that tries to bring about an emotion makes me think that
the ad needs to remember it's an ad and therefore should not try to
be more than it is (in other words, I start to feel the ad wizards
behind it should shut the hell up and die); and if a company offers
an incentive like a rebate, it means the company obviously has
enough money to go without my business if they're throwing it
around, so I'm done with them (they don't need me, and I sure as
hell don't need them). As
for how price is not as important as it was in previous
generations...that is actually true, but it will change soon enough.
With the abundance of credit cards in today's generation, money is
not much of a factor to the stupid. However, I have known a dozen or
so in my age group already who have fallen into the inescapable debt
of credit abuse (there is nothing sadder than watching them sell
their game collection to reclaim a little of their money...makes me
cry...especially when I don't jump on the chance to buy things at
their crazy clearance prices). I personally think that with the
economy sinking further to shit each day and the over use of credit
cards by today's youth for things they don't need, this trend will
end soon enough. As
for the $500 question; Would you spend $500 on an object or an
experience? That goes back to the last point. Those who abuse
credit, who are the vast majority of today's youth, already bough
all they could want with credit. So, if you have everything you
want, and all you have is $500 (which is never enough for a good
upgrade to any of your existing stuff...) to spend, you'd spend it
on something you don't have. I mean with credit usage, I know plenty
of people with $1000 home theater systems and all the game systems
they want, and $500+ TVs, etc. Why spend $500 on a new computer when
the motherboard and CPU in your machine are already worth twice
that? No reason at all. Only the minority of people, who also don't
abuse credit, would want some stuff since these are the only people
lacking any of the stuff they want. The
only right point made in this article is that online is the wave of
the future...unfortunately...for getting the attention (aka: MONEY)
of today's big spenders. People like the idea of playing online
since it lets them game with their friends. The only problem is that
the true ideal of social interactions have been lost to us. I
personally know (yes, I said know and not think because I am 100%
sure of this) that the best social interactions are found face to
face (within striking distance of your friends). Sadly, people have
forgotten this fact along with how they have forgotten how to hang
out. Too often have I seen people go down hill in social
interactions in every range from not joining anyone outside of their
own homes through not initiating communication with someone unless
both people are in the same freakin' chat room. There is more to social ability
than the ignoring of the basic human interaction that in essence is
social interaction...sigh...I personally have a problem with playing
a game with three friends online when I could play with the same
three friends at the same place. Now if one of those three other
people lived out of state or whatever, that would be a different
matter, but for those who live in the same local area, the most
common choice is to play online. That way you have more freedom and
isolation while still keeping up the air of being
"social". Anyone who feels that online gaming is the way
to be social with local friends...sigh...I just wish Darwin was
right and natural selection would smite all your bitch asses. In
case you were wondering what is (in my very right opinion) the
proper form of advertising to aim towards my generation, here it
is. Marketing people, pay attention; To get the love of my
money, an ad needs to not try to tell me why one product is better
than another. I'm not that stupid. I do my own research,
after all, didn't that article mention how we like to do our own
research with the massive digital outlets available to us and via
"buzz" (that's a lame-ass term...I prefer to say, what we
hear from others...that doesn't sound as trendy). So, instead
of saying why you roxor and why the competition is teh gay, tell me
something new. How about a price break? How about an
overlooked feature of your product? Is your product available
or when will it be? That is my type of ad. 'nuff
said. I'm not a simple minded fool who needs to be told who I
am and what I need...I just need the facts...and no cuteness
in the details...this especially applies to you EB...seriously, tell
me you buy used games and have a good selection of knowledgeable
people (BULL SHIT!), but don't make it cute and feel so damned fake. So
to answer Microsoft's question (who am I?); I am an individual, not
some trendy piece of yuppie shit.
Malik
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