50 Shades Of Shut The Hell Up

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So, yes, we all know the story.  Woman writes Twilight fanfic.  Twilight fanfic gets repurposed as erotica series known as “50 Shades Of Grey”.  Woman makes money.  People make fun of situation.

Really the only problem as a progeek for me is the latter one – the mockery.

From what I hear about “50 Shades of Grey” is, to put it mildly, is rather purple and the content is may disturb some.  It’s not Shakespeare or Pratchett, and there’s elements that sound rather squicky.  But really the only criticism that seems relevant to me may be some of these quality issues, and even then there’s only so much I can say because I actually watch films like “2 Headed Shark Attack.”*

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How Fandom And Hobbies Return A Sense of Control

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Ever feel like you can’t do anything?  Ever feel disempowered?  I pretty much already know the answer: yes.

Psychologically, a feeling of no control, of helplessness is incredibly damaging.  Anyone that’s taken Psych 101 knows about how it can lead to depression, mental illness, and general dysfunction.  That’s of course on top of what we experience or have seen.

Career-wise (and though it may be insensitive to switch over to careers, that is what this blog is about), a sense of having no control is also destructive.  Beyond the psychological issues people face, there’s the fact that lacking the sense that we can take charge of our lives affects our livelihood.  When we feel out of control, our ambition is checked, opportunities missed, and quite frankly we may come off as helpless or stagnant in the career world.

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We’ll Be Hearing About Zynga Long After It’s Relevant – So Keep It Relevant

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Well, Zynga’s COO is stripped of game duties.  We can imagine those people who can cash out their stock aren’t happy.  We’ve all heard about the possible insider trading scandal.

So my rough take on Zynga is A) No don’t take any job offers there, and B) They’re in for some tough times and a probable buyout, massive downscale, or both.  But there’s more.

So anyway, as I expect a tough time at the big Z, here’s something I think we need to be prepared for: the impact on the gaming part of the geekonomy.  In this case, I want to focus on the cultural impacts.

Zynga is a company that people have alternately praised and hated over the last few years.  I think in the end everyone knew it was too good to be true, but the real question was what we could learn, make, and take from them.  There’s an odd sense of inevitability in their fall, as if so many of us were waiting.

However now that it’s happening, I’m pretty sure we’re going to hear about this for the next few years until we’re sick of it.  Zynga is on it’s way to become a bad example, and soon only a bad example as history grinds on.  Remember how people talk about dot-bomb companies?  Yeah, that’ll be Zynga.

Our media is used to cartoon villains and heroes in the tech sphere, so I’m sure we’ll get plenty of that.

The problem with this is then we miss the lessons.  For those of us working in tech, or gaming, and in media, it’s important we don’t forget.

The insider training, the questionable monetization, the dependence on Facebook, we need to extract lessons from Zynga.  This was big, this was important, this was formative, even if you now have a fear of any game with the word “-ville” in the title.  So before Zynga becomes a cardboard villain, make the effort to learn the lessons of their fall.

Because in a few more years, they’ll just be a shadow of their former failure.  Think how many good lessons of the dot-bomb are lost because it’s a buzzword . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/