Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
I've decided it's time I start documenting my latest fan-to-pro effort – my next book "Focused Fandom: Fanart, Fanartists, and Careers." It's about the career value of cross-national linguistic software.
Wait, no it's about how fanart can lead to and enhance your career. Sorry – it's been a long week.
Unlike our own Rob and his wife I don't have the energy for a day-by-day discussion, and the book isn't due to April anyway. In fact, that's part of the story.
Oh what a lot of juicy economic news we have.
The latest NFP report on employment is surprisingly good.
A NY Lawsuit over MERS could get very complicated and may push some of the banking issues into/back into public conciousness. Read the whole thing. I'm still waiting for MERS issues to explode, and despite conflicting policies on the state and federal level, something's going to give.
Layoffs may be coming at Microsoft. Rumor stage, but worth watching (and a thought – if it is coming this is a good time to do it and hope for not too much press). Do I see it as a real deal? I can't say either way, but the area of layoffs make sense.
MUST READ: A look at unemployment that answers the big questions people have. Just go take a look and analyze (for instance, education affects your chance to be unemployed, but not the duration).
When Skyrim was done sucking down my spare and not-so-spare time, I tried some smaller downloadable games. First I played "Dungeon Defenders", a tower defense/RPG fusion. Next (well, at the same time), I played "Orcs Must Die," a case of truth in advertising that was . . . an RPG/Tower Defense Fusion.
Starting to see a trend?
In fact, Microsoft apparently did, they even had a Tower Defense discount/special on XBox. It appears that Tower Defense has become pretty popular and produced some good games lately, even if the genre has been around for awhile (such as "Trapt/Dark Illusion")
This made me wonder, just are these games popular? Why was I enjoying them? Why did these RPG-style fusions seem especially enjoyable and well-received? I mean, yes, Tower defense was and is popular, but these games seemed to reach something in me and other gamers that made us play for hours and speculate on new ways to immolate orcs (I recommend a spring trap that throws them back into Brimstone, by the way).
For you current and future game professionals, here's my analysis.