Promoting Professional Geekery #17: Evangelize To A Professional Association

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If you've read this blog for any length of time, or any of my books, you know I'm big on people joining professional associations.  They're great for networking, for keeping your skills up, and more.  They're de rigeur for any professional.

So I'm going to assume that you're joining one, have joined one, or are so seized with guilt after the above paragraph you're going to join one.

Now, when you are/if you are part of a professional association, you want to make sure they know about things from the geeky side of things.  They might not always know about the people who have a passion for the same subjects they do – but are coming at it from the fan/geek/otaku side.

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A Few SOPA Updates

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It looks like things will NOT resume on the 21st.  My guess is that Lamar and company have seen the writing on the wall and it's not pretty – but I suspect this'll be back.

At the bottom of this article, you'll see a research paper promoted by the MPAA notes "success" in high-censorship countries, and the irony that many anti-censorship tools . . . are promoted by the US.

– Steven Savage

Must Read: An Examination of GameStop’s Present And Future

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We wonder how GameStop is going to survive in the digital economy. We wish someone would examine that.

Oh, wait, someone has.

The article's definitely worth reading as it goes into the value provided to companies, gamers, and more by the GameStop model. It also shows how GameStop is really "partnered" with big names.

There's also a few suprises (like hardware is the least profitable sector of the GameStop world), and some warnings (it looks like no matter what, GameStop is going to take some hit in the future).

Worth your time.

My takes? Well hey, don't these always come up?

  • As noted at some point, I think Game Stop has to take a hit – DLC is going to cut into their profit margins at some points. They might even be delaying the inevitable for now, but it's coming.
  • Frankly they're the only game in town that can manage to be a "game store" which gives them powerful mindshare and pull. I think they'll survive.
  • To survive they will, at some point, have to keep diversifying or scale back. This may provide you an opportunity career-wise (or a reason to leave).
  • I would consider it possible, if unlikely, some big name may just buy GameStop and incorporate it into a larger effort – that's a mighty big footprint to get.
  • A partnership of some kind could pay off for GameStop. It may sound crazy, but what could they do working with Steam, OnLive, etc.?

– Steven Savage