World of Warcraft has a couple of other things going for it though.
1) Network effects. If you've got friends who play WoW then that's a major reason for you to play it even if there is something better out there. Of course you could all move to the better thing but they won't because...
2) "Loyalty". Anything where people invest time which can not be transferred (for instance in levelling up characters) tends to incur loyalty, if only because they don't want to start over.
Agreed. Also, there is the value perception. When players have to sort through all these MMO games to play, the paid ones stand out over the free ones. (for those players with limited time to play, and can afford to pay)
WoW also offers a lot of free months to players. Sign up a friend, both of you get free months.
I almost said "and WoW isn't the best damn product," but that depends on your definition of 'best.' It almost mirrors the Mac/Windows thing. Connoisseurs tend to scoff their noses, yet they just keep on selling...
Maybe 'not innovative' would make more sense. WoW is a great game, and I have a ... long and very personal history with it. But it's a Blizzard game; their MO is to make the most average game possible, but make it incredibly polished. Many of my fondest memories are of Blizzard games, but (as of late) they're rarely innovative.
WoW is the gold standard of fantasy MMOs. It just doesn't do anything new or interesting; it only does a small set of things, but does them very, very well.
cynicalkane's biased; he programs for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Of course he wants to persuade the lemmings to invest so that he still has a job. Logical? yes. Immoral? probably.
It's nice that you think the HN readership is a bunch of lemmings off whom I intend to directly profit, but the CME is a futures exchange and has almost nothing to do with personal investing.
Here we are again, trying to convince ourselves that the boat is still sinking. I really don't understand the lower galley's fascination with drowning.
For every item on the list you can point to trends that are positive for the exact same metric. The boat is still afloat.
I agree that the availability of fine wine is quite uncertain right now. However, waving the flag of doom isn't really productive at this point.
Either way, it makes you no better than that Jack Dawson guy.
I'm really beginning to hate that argument form more than Affirming the Consequent. What exactly do you think you've demonstrated? What valuable point have you established?
Actually, the pink elephant in the room is the huge corporate debt - total domestic debts at 7.2 Trillions.
"American companies are not in robust financial shape. Federal Reserve data show that their debts have been rising, not falling. By some measures, they are now more leveraged than at any time since the Great Depression.
Central bank and Commerce Department data reveal that gross domestic debts of nonfinancial corporations now amount to 50% of GDP. That's a postwar record. In 1945, it was just 20%. Even at the credit-bubble peaks in the late 1980s and 2005-06, it was only around 45%."
This place doesn't seem so bad. In fact, some aspects of it are downright clever. A quick browse of the 4foods website gives a picture of a fast food company that might actually be able to serve healthy food, unlike most of the competition.
Because you can plan your food online beforehand, you can 'design' food which is more healthy than anything mcdonalds would be willing to give menu space for. Not to mention you don't have to rely on their people to come up with healthy options.
Always take what these companies say with a grain of salt, but here are a few quotes from their site.
"Fresh, local produce is transformed into our menu offerings in the Community Kitchen Commissary-a vocational training center."
"We upgrade food that people already eat-burgers, nuggets, fries, salads and teas - transforming them into new menu items that are convenient, and almost infinitely customizable to our guests' lifestyles and cultural preferences. Our food is measurably healthier than existing products."
"Our restaurants are designed to function as community hubs, as they satisfy local appetites in healthy, customizable ways."
It uses social networking to spread, crowd-sources the meals, has a new take on transparency as far as ingredients are concerned and - very importantly for something you are going to spend money on - sounds like fun.
Don't get me wrong. I'm the last person to suggest we're unsinkable. I'm only pointing out that our troubles become the troubles of everyone else, just as our success has influenced global economic success.
...Except it couldn't raise rates. Not with trillions of debt needing to be paid back by both government and corporations (hint: there's no way). So the fed will just print and print and print...until the dollar is worthless.
Right, which is what was supposedly happening with all the TARP and Stimulus and Cash4clunkers and houmebuyer tax credits. Guess what? Still, after 3 years of recession and 2 years of Great Recession, we still haven't gotten that worthless dollar and inflation. In fact, we're talking deflation. AND, wages are steady to up, not down as is to be expected.
"we still haven't gotten that worthless dollar and inflation"
Oh yeah? Dollar is at 85 vs the yen, from 115 three years ago. Food prices doubled (food portions also got smaller), healthcare costs doubled, gas prices doubled, and so on. Are you using the old trusty government CPI for your inflation stats?
Your data seems...wrong. Or at least not consistent with my observations. Currency fluctuates significantly and one currency comparison tells us nothing. I've seen no evidence that food portions are smaller. Food prices don't seem to have doubled. Gas prices have definitely not doubled. I've seen no indication that health care costs have doubled.
If you want to claim that the CPI numbers are full of lies (because of a conspiracy?) then you need to bring serious evidence.
> I've seen no evidence that food portions are smaller.
You need to pay more attention then, it's been nick-named the 'Grocery Shrink Ray' and practically all companies are doing it now. The strategy is basically either change the shape of the container (smaller) and keep the same price or to raise the price. Here is a good link to follow;
Please read the post. The poster was talking about the bailout. The average gas price after the bailout in LA is around 1.69. The average gas price right now in LA is 3.13
