4 ms·

meh. >PC gaming (yes thats still a thing) How many successes does PC gaming need before people stop being dismissive. >Well, how silly must you be to carry a

by IIAOPSW 11y ago

meh. >PC gaming (yes thats still a thing) How many successes does PC gaming need before people stop being dismissive. >Well, how silly must you be to carry a $5,000 handbag with far less functionality than another a fraction of the price, or wear a $10,000 watch or $200 necktie? This was supposed to be the "relate-able experience" to help our understanding? >What about flying first class or staying in a five-star hotel — you can’t take either with you! Those are objectively better than the cheaper alternatives. First class has features that economy does not (more leg room, faster service). Same with 5 star hotels. You can't substitute lack of features with some ill defined concept of "user feeling". Marketing fluff and a polished product only get you so far. Edit: people were getting real hung up on my derision of status symbols (I called them vapid). It wasn't central to my point so I changed it.

mdorazio 11y ago
It also seems the author glosses over the fact that the App Store is dominated by the "hit" model. For every Candy Crush, there are a dozen very similar games also priced at $0 that went nowhere. Why did one win when the others didn't? Some combination of factors too complex to tease apart.
- pavlov 11y ago
  For every Candy Crush, there are a dozen very similar games also priced at $0 Dozen isn't enough because there are hundreds of thousands reasonably well-made games on app stores. For every Candy Crush, there are thousands that go nowhere. So, the odds are really bad. You're more likely to get theatrical distribution for your self-financed indie movie than to make a mobile game which will become a hit. The big companies like King (Candy Crush) and Supercell (Clash of Clans) have been spending about half a billion dollar yearly on marketing. That's way more than a Hollywood hit marketing budget.
  - erikpukinskis 11y ago
    The odds are bad because most people don't know how to design gameplay at all. They're just trying to copy a some combination of other games they like, adding with some random completely untested hypotheses on top of that, and hoping the result has gameplay that can be tweaked during playtesting into something that doesn't suck. It's really hard to actually find fun games amongst the sea of $3.99 and $13.99 garbage. If everyone was making good games, I think the market would grow and there would be lots of hits.
morgante 11y ago
Luxury items also have more "features." My $1,000 suit fits much better and looks a lot nicer than my $100 suit. My expensive luggage takes abuse easily without losing its great looks.
- mc32 11y ago
  Yes that can be true but not always true. Specially with aspirational or luxury brands where the premium prices are less a reflection of quality but rather a statement and signaling by the buyer. Yes, you get great quality durable boots at $500 (or any other number higher or lower) but you can also get some poorly made ones but have a recognizable brand.
petewailes 11y ago
"very silly. In fact if you do this, I think you're vapid and I lose respect for you." You fit Oscar Wilde's definition of a cynic: "a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing". There's room between Darlington's cynic and Graham's sentimentalist. You may be missing something in being so dismissive.
dsacco 11y ago
>> In fact, if you do this I think you're vapid and lose respect for you. To springboard off of this comment - you're entitled to this opinion, but why do you feel that way? Perhaps you can be convinced that not everyone who enjoys veblen goods is vapid. I wear a $3000 watch every day. It's mechanical one that is, from a purely objective time-keeping perspective, inferior to a $50 quartz watch. But I love watches. This particular watch is made by Nomos Glashutte, a very small watch company that makes minimalist watches with completely in-house designed movements. They manufacture not only most of their watch parts, but also most of the tools required to make those parts. When I wear this watch I like to gaze at its movement sometimes and hear it ticking away, thinking about the fact that some watchmaker in Glashutte trained for years to make this by hand and finally did so. I also get a lot of satisfaction from winding it by hand. Finally, though it is an expensive watch, I don't wear it for recognition. It is of a much higher quality from a horological perspective than most other watches in this category (in-house movement, consistent industry awards, beautiful design), but it is simple. It's not gaudy and does not broadcast a name brand that is instantly recognizable, like Rolex or Tag Heuer. For the same reasons I also love A. Lange & Sohne and Glashutte Original. I encourage you to check out a video with John Mayer on Hodinkee where he talks about his experience of watch collecting - yes he has the token Rolex in his collection, but he also has many that are not instantly recognizable and it would appear that he genuinely loves each of them for explicable reasons. Now, I can't talk at the same length about a Hermès tie, but I could probably speak at some length about a made-to-measure custom suit versus a bespoke suit, and talk about the differences between Brooks Brothers, Brioni, Canali or Ford (all different "tiers" of suits). It is much easier to enjoy a suit when it fits you extraordinarily well, is made of a very comfortable fabric and has a level of quality to be both attractive and reliable. Further, the experience of going to a tailor is an altogether different one than buying "off the rack." I think this is what the author means by products inspiring a certain "feeling"...it might not be vapid elitism, it might just be affection for hand-made, well-fitting and attractive items for both form and function. In short, it can be art. I think you might feel that people who enjoy these sorts of things are more like yourself if you gave them a chance to explain their passion.
- IIAOPSW 11y ago
  It sounds like you appreciate the watch as an art piece more-so than as a functional device. That's fine. Everyone owns at least some art in some broadly defined sense. If we are talking only about buying art then the article is exactly on point. Selling art is selling emotion. But we are talking about selling apps not just art. Trying to sell every app as though it were art is doomed to fail (except for games). In terms of everything from tip calculators to pdf readers, I couldn't care less about the "feeling" beyond some minimum threshold of UI quality. Can you talk at length about all the other things you own? Can you even talk at length about most of the things you own? Or are most purchases emotionless and pragmatic? I bet the latter. I was a bit hasty with my words on people who enjoy veblen goods. What I meant was "in fact, if you do this I assume you're vapid". In general I find this heuristic works but like all heuristics it is not 100% accurate. The important thing is that when faced with evidence (EG someone who actually knows all the finer details of modern time-pieces and still choose the $3000 obscure mechanical watch) I am happy to reject my initial assumption.
thedevil 11y ago
"very silly. In fact if you do this, I think you're vapid and I lose respect for you." I used to agree with you. And I still would feel someone is silly for paying so much for a watch or a handbag (because we have different values from them). But I think you're missing something important. User feeling is hard to define and even harder to work with, but that's where the real gold is.
- criddell 11y ago
  Don Norman has written a lot about how important aesthetics are. Like you, I used to think function was all that mattered. When I was buying something, I loved finding spec sheets to pore over. Now, I trust my feelings much more than any spec sheet and in general I'm happier with the things I choose. Attractive things work better.
  - thedevil 11y ago
    I've just read a couple of Don Norman's books and I felt like my eyes just opened up.
hackaflocka 11y ago
I don't know why people are downvoting you. I guess people can't handle opinions that differ from their own opinions. I have some relatives with an obscene amount of money (collected via govt. corruption in India). This one person has a collection of Hermes bags. I can confirm that they offer her no extra functionality, and only grief. All she seems to worry about all the time is whether people noticed her designer bag or not.

by IIAOPSW 11y ago

mdorazio 11y ago

It also seems the author glosses over the fact that the App Store is dominated by the "hit" model. For every Candy Crush, there are a dozen very similar games also priced at $0 that went nowhere. Why did one win when the others didn't? Some combination of factors too complex to tease apart.

pavlov 11y ago
For every Candy Crush, there are a dozen very similar games also priced at $0 Dozen isn't enough because there are hundreds of thousands reasonably well-made games on app stores. For every Candy Crush, there are thousands that go nowhere. So, the odds are really bad. You're more likely to get theatrical distribution for your self-financed indie movie than to make a mobile game which will become a hit. The big companies like King (Candy Crush) and Supercell (Clash of Clans) have been spending about half a billion dollar yearly on marketing. That's way more than a Hollywood hit marketing budget.
- erikpukinskis 11y ago
  The odds are bad because most people don't know how to design gameplay at all. They're just trying to copy a some combination of other games they like, adding with some random completely untested hypotheses on top of that, and hoping the result has gameplay that can be tweaked during playtesting into something that doesn't suck. It's really hard to actually find fun games amongst the sea of $3.99 and $13.99 garbage. If everyone was making good games, I think the market would grow and there would be lots of hits.

morgante 11y ago

Luxury items also have more "features." My $1,000 suit fits much better and looks a lot nicer than my $100 suit. My expensive luggage takes abuse easily without losing its great looks.

mc32 11y ago
Yes that can be true but not always true. Specially with aspirational or luxury brands where the premium prices are less a reflection of quality but rather a statement and signaling by the buyer. Yes, you get great quality durable boots at $500 (or any other number higher or lower) but you can also get some poorly made ones but have a recognizable brand.

petewailes 11y ago

"very silly. In fact if you do this, I think you're vapid and I lose respect for you." You fit Oscar Wilde's definition of a cynic: "a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing". There's room between Darlington's cynic and Graham's sentimentalist. You may be missing something in being so dismissive.

dsacco 11y ago

>> In fact, if you do this I think you're vapid and lose respect for you. To springboard off of this comment - you're entitled to this opinion, but why do you feel that way? Perhaps you can be convinced that not everyone who enjoys veblen goods is vapid. I wear a $3000 watch every day. It's mechanical one that is, from a purely objective time-keeping perspective, inferior to a $50 quartz watch. But I love watches. This particular watch is made by Nomos Glashutte, a very small watch company that makes minimalist watches with completely in-house designed movements. They manufacture not only most of their watch parts, but also most of the tools required to make those parts. When I wear this watch I like to gaze at its movement sometimes and hear it ticking away, thinking about the fact that some watchmaker in Glashutte trained for years to make this by hand and finally did so. I also get a lot of satisfaction from winding it by hand. Finally, though it is an expensive watch, I don't wear it for recognition. It is of a much higher quality from a horological perspective than most other watches in this category (in-house movement, consistent industry awards, beautiful design), but it is simple. It's not gaudy and does not broadcast a name brand that is instantly recognizable, like Rolex or Tag Heuer. For the same reasons I also love A. Lange & Sohne and Glashutte Original. I encourage you to check out a video with John Mayer on Hodinkee where he talks about his experience of watch collecting - yes he has the token Rolex in his collection, but he also has many that are not instantly recognizable and it would appear that he genuinely loves each of them for explicable reasons. Now, I can't talk at the same length about a Hermès tie, but I could probably speak at some length about a made-to-measure custom suit versus a bespoke suit, and talk about the differences between Brooks Brothers, Brioni, Canali or Ford (all different "tiers" of suits). It is much easier to enjoy a suit when it fits you extraordinarily well, is made of a very comfortable fabric and has a level of quality to be both attractive and reliable. Further, the experience of going to a tailor is an altogether different one than buying "off the rack." I think this is what the author means by products inspiring a certain "feeling"...it might not be vapid elitism, it might just be affection for hand-made, well-fitting and attractive items for both form and function. In short, it can be art. I think you might feel that people who enjoy these sorts of things are more like yourself if you gave them a chance to explain their passion.

IIAOPSW 11y ago
It sounds like you appreciate the watch as an art piece more-so than as a functional device. That's fine. Everyone owns at least some art in some broadly defined sense. If we are talking only about buying art then the article is exactly on point. Selling art is selling emotion. But we are talking about selling apps not just art. Trying to sell every app as though it were art is doomed to fail (except for games). In terms of everything from tip calculators to pdf readers, I couldn't care less about the "feeling" beyond some minimum threshold of UI quality. Can you talk at length about all the other things you own? Can you even talk at length about most of the things you own? Or are most purchases emotionless and pragmatic? I bet the latter. I was a bit hasty with my words on people who enjoy veblen goods. What I meant was "in fact, if you do this I assume you're vapid". In general I find this heuristic works but like all heuristics it is not 100% accurate. The important thing is that when faced with evidence (EG someone who actually knows all the finer details of modern time-pieces and still choose the $3000 obscure mechanical watch) I am happy to reject my initial assumption.

thedevil 11y ago

"very silly. In fact if you do this, I think you're vapid and I lose respect for you." I used to agree with you. And I still would feel someone is silly for paying so much for a watch or a handbag (because we have different values from them). But I think you're missing something important. User feeling is hard to define and even harder to work with, but that's where the real gold is.

criddell 11y ago
Don Norman has written a lot about how important aesthetics are. Like you, I used to think function was all that mattered. When I was buying something, I loved finding spec sheets to pore over. Now, I trust my feelings much more than any spec sheet and in general I'm happier with the things I choose. Attractive things work better.
- thedevil 11y ago
  I've just read a couple of Don Norman's books and I felt like my eyes just opened up.

hackaflocka 11y ago

I don't know why people are downvoting you. I guess people can't handle opinions that differ from their own opinions. I have some relatives with an obscene amount of money (collected via govt. corruption in India). This one person has a collection of Hermes bags. I can confirm that they offer her no extra functionality, and only grief. All she seems to worry about all the time is whether people noticed her designer bag or not.