Economics/Geekonomics

Take A Look at ‘The Flaw’

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I know a lot of you would really like to understand how the economic meltdown happened. Well, OK some of you, as we’re not all econogeeks like yours truly. It’s kind of hard to wrap your mind around everything that happened.

May I then recommend The Flaw which is available at Netflix? Weirdly it’s tag “what happens when the rich get richer” doesn’t really sum up the film’s scope, but I suppose it sells well.

It’s an interview-based documentary on the economic meltdown of 2008, told via interviewing people in the middle of it, analyzing it, and involved in it. Stringing together these interviews it creates a smart narrative – and does so without a lot of doomsaying and drama. It’s an oddly human take on a horrible occurrence, which is one of its strengths.

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Dead Space In Your Face: Gaming and Rent-Seeking

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Well, that was quick.

Last week I was discussing how monetization was going to be an issue in your gaming career – since there were many options that would obviously affect how you get paid.  Or if you get paid.  Or if you have any hope in hell of success.  Well, now I’m still talking about it – along with my current obsession of analyzing game careers, of course.

One of my inspirations for that post, by the way, was the weird news in Dead Space 3 about how one could purchase quicker collection of crafting materials.  Yes, a big console game that just happens to let you act like you’re in a typical free-to-play game, in a way that seemed kinda obvious.

EA was appropriately and mercilessly skewered by Penny Arcade, as was appropriate.  However they were also skewered by resource collecting bugs that made the micro transaction thing a null issue.

I’m wondering if they’ll patch it or not.

Here we see another risk to gaming – and a factor to take into any gaming career you may want to have.

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Wal-Mart: A Victory Lap and Some Cold Water

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Well I’m feeling flush with excitement.  First I got it kinda right on 3D printing, and now there’s another case where you’ll need to check my ego: Wal-Mart seems to be obviously moving forward with e-Commerce.   Awhile ago I suspected Wal-Mart could indeed “go geeky”, so I’ll consider this a partial victory.

In short, Wal-Mart clearly has to move with the times to have a presence in e-Commerce, and is clearly doing it.  I’d add that when you throw on it’s mobile investments, Silicon Valley skunkworks, and Vudu, it can play pretty big.

But since I first speculated on what Wal-Mart can do, I think their reputation has gotten worse.  I’m no fan of Wal-Mart at all, so consider my bias pre-announced, but I think that people think even less of them than they did a few years ago.

So here’s where I see a potential issue: Wal-Mart’s reputation can affect their ability to move forward.  I present this, of course, for analysis.

First, there’s a recruiting issue.  I know plenty of people who won’t even go into a Wal-Mart, so how many are going to want to work for them?  Not sure how a big of a dent this’ll put into potential talent, but I’m sure the dent is there.

Also keep this in mind – working at Wal-Mart puts that on people’s resumes.  How many people who would work for Wal-Mart would not do so due to what others may think.

Secondly, there’s the competitor issue.  Yes, Wal-Mart has a huge “install base,” but it also has penny of people gunning for it directly (Target, Amazon) as well as indirectly (virtually everyone else).  All it takes is an alliance between several ornery competitors to give Wal-Mart some pain.

Third, I think Wal-Mart may be at a demographic disadvantage.  I’m not sure how well their current demographic is going to adapt to a more high-tech Wal-Mart, and what kind of heavy e-commerce base they can count on.  I’m not sure, frankly.

Fourth, back to reputation.  Wal-Mart has a repetitional weakness that competitors, issue #2, could probably use against them.  If you think others won’t get nasty, think again – especially considering Wal-Mart could be a serious threat to them.

So quick summary of this:

  • I think Wal-Mart is moving forward.
  • I think competitors will use Wal-Mart’s reputation issues against them, and in some cases they won’t have to try.  It could lead to some very strange bedfellows.
  • If Wal-Mart gets highly aggressive, this is going to be really interesting.  I suspect they’re going to go for gradual evolution instead – far easier.

Could be a very interesting time in the Geekonomy.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.