Help! I am lost in a Virtual World!!! Call the Media!

Is it lame, a shame to have friends with in a game? Isn't it the same as having friends out of game?

Btw, I'm doing another "When I met" post today, so scroll down below the Youtube clip to read it!


Either you play alone or with friends

Some people like to play alone, not being disturbed by other people or annoying chats that you have to answer to etc. Many other people quite enjoy talking and playing together with people they have some kind of relationship with. It makes the experience more fun... and also there's cookies (right, Jilly?)!

I remember a painting my mom has, it goes "Shared happiness is double happiness". If this is with real life friends or people you only spend time with online doesn't really matter, imo. Just have a nice balance and you'll be fine. People who think differently are imo. uneducated.

My view: I can understand how it can seem lame to an outsider. I don't blame you. But in fact hanging out with people you like in game is a way of enhancing your experience and helping you from become an anti-social person that have lost connection to reality.




When I met: Fredrik Andreasson
See my earlier "When I met" posts here and here and see if you are mentioned!

More like, my first real interaction of Fredrik Andreasson (since I don't remember the very first moment). I was set to be in the same Game Dev. Project Team as Fredrik and 11 others. I was the Project Manager and he was the Lead Artist of our team.

Fredrik seemed quite persistent about what he thought was right and wrong. In fact I was quite frustrated at him at first. But then I realized why and had a moment where I started to realize that I was wrong getting frustrated at him...

Okay, let's slow down a bit.

It turned out that Fredrik was a natural leader... which was hard for me trying to lead a 13 man (and women) team with quite little experience. What I realized was that Fredrik was way better than me at this. He seemed to have way more experience and the others respected him. Even I!

STOP NODDING!

I never told him, but I think I learned a lot from him during this project (maybe the hard way since Fredrik generally is quite open when it comes to things he is not 100% ok with). This is a great quality. It's hard enough with a Swedish team where very few dares to express their true opinion and be okay with a discussion about it. It is hard to know if you are doing a good job if everyone just nods all the time.

Thanks Fredrik for not nodding! :)

It is not strange that Fredrik Andreasson today is the CEO of Immersive Learning.

Ok... this turned out to be a "Hey, let's start around a religion around this guy that I LUUUV <3<3<3<3<3" post, but I think sometimes it's okay to give another guy some kudos when he consciously or subconsciously helped you develop your skills.

This is him btw! :)

Hiring, Celebrating and Stealing Babies!

Yes, it is true! I am hiring babies! If your baby got what it takes, don't hesitate to send me an email! We guarantee a paid Mother Milk Deluxe Lunch every day and fresh Nappies from The Lady Next Door That Doesnt Know We Break In And Steal Her Nappies!

No.


Would you rather hiring a friend or a possible foe?

I am currently in a situation where I need to look into the process of hiring a person. A friends name popped up in my mind... and this made me think about a lot of things. How big is the risk that it would be too weird to hire a Friend and that I might damage the friendship? Am I willing to take that risk? What is the risk of hiring someone relatively unknown that you don't know if you would work well with? Is there a perfect answer?

I think in this case it will be fine, but I have to be careful if I choose to walk this path. It's like Anakin in Star Wars: Episode II, when he choses to take the chance and  ..........*SPOILER ALERT* .......... marry Padme. Will I become a Sith... or remain a Jedi?

Helmet... or no helmet?

My babies goes Irish!

Only missing some The Dubliners songs that I Like, the band at O'Reillys (the place with worst service in town, quickly followed by Taps when this cunt waitress is there), St. Patricks Day turned out to be one of the (THE?) most fun Party Evenings so far this year.

From Guiness hats at O'Reillys to a Pub Crawl on Mainstreet, to meeting Johan the new Swede in town, to forgetting Phil and Johan at Charlies Tavern to Meeting up with Quisqueya, Jun, Incarne, Louise and Victoria in La Linea for some tapas and live band music at Molleys. All good, all awesome.

Sorry Johan, I still owe you those 7 euros. Since you now got the job (not at my company), I'll take you out for dinner once you arrive!

Click Image for Rebecca's St. Paddys Day Gallery!

My friends Babies goes Stolen!

Long story short. BBQ at Pelle and Nathalie, Vlada steals Molly, Kids Steal my Sausages, Pelle plays the Fiddle and Phil the sax (so much that Alex started crying). But it was really nice and I must say that I don't regret cheating on my LCHF diet by eating the cake/pie thingy that Nathalie baked.

She complained yesterday how much her arm hurt after carrying Molly around. :P

Finishing this blog post by saying the Lek Bangkok (link) is awesome. Try number 78 (Beef Red Curry in Brandy Sauce)... it's the dish of my life.

This is my job! (finally!)

Okay, I have probably been a little bit too careful with what I can say or not. So here we go: I am the Head of Customer Communications for a marketing company called Traffic Generation. We do many different things, many projects and lot's of interesting things to do every day. Can't wait to get back to work on Monday, especially since there will be some new cool stuff in our office. :)


Being a part of a team

It feels nice to, after six months of involuntary holiday, get back into a team of creative minds. Especially when all of us share the same ways of thought (is that how you say it?). It feels really good to be stepping up from a Community Manager role to an extremely challenging Head of Customer Communication role, where I basically decide everything myself. Huge pressure but I must say that I've learned a lot in just a few days. I am the expert, I am responsible for the results. If things goes to shit, it's on my head, but if things go well... then I will enjoy multiple mental orgasms. I like this.

Next week there will be a big chance that I will be working totally alone for a few days, since Johan probably have become a daddy by then and my boss is dealing with some important business stuff. Speaking of babies... I have a feeling that the baby will come tomorrow (Sunday the 22nd). Let's see if I'm right!


Good places to eat in Gibraltar

Since I recently have been both very impressed by some places in Gibraltar as well as LESS impressed I would like to take a moment to list the top 3 restaurants as well as my top 3 recent disappointments (going from good to bad).


Good places to eat in Gib:

1. Charlies Tavern
2. Cafe Rojo
3. Taps Bar (new!)

Motivation: Even though I would like to also include the Ocean Village Mexican place I fear that even though they have improved, they are not really qualified for the top 3.

Charlies Tavern in Ocean Village has a good mix of excellent Indian food (best in town!) with an awesome grill cuisine. Whatever you order is just awesome. The service is mixed... the guys tend to be really nice but the girl waitresses can be a bit rude at some points (blaming the customer for their mistake etc.).

Cafe Rojo in Irish Town has recently started to really impress me. Their food is done with a "feeling" so to speak. They care for their food as well as their customers. Top service, small menu but at least something really tasty for everyone.

Taps Bar is the new place behind KFC in Ocean Village that has tables with beer taps built into it. Really awesome concept and the tapas their is the best ones I've had in Gib, by far. The service is probably also the best one in Gib - you even sometimes get a ketchup smiley face on your tapa burger. Lovely little detail.


Places that nowadays SUCK!

1. Lord Nelsons
2. O'Reilly's
3. Bianca's

Motivation: Both Lord Nelson and O'Rielly's has the same owner... and you can kind of tell. Once they were both really good, mostly because of the really nice staff that both cared for their customers and could manage to deliver good food in little time. Now they have cut down on staff and hired cheap holiday party girls/guys that don't care what so ever about the customers, the service or the quality of the food. Honestly some of them look quite drunk/hung over and a little bit like they've been in a huge orgie the day before.

Bianca's just have crappy and expensive food. The only thing I like there is the Garlic Mushrooms. I must say that their dessert is quite nice, but you pay quite a bit for it and the glasses they use make it look like you get more than you actually do. Cheap illusion trick. The service is okay though.


So how is it going in Europa Universalis III?

Well, quite well actually. I've strengthened my economy A LOT recently for Sweden. Also I have colonized parts of Greenland, West Africa and the Canary Islands. I also managed to invade some North American Indians near Florida and steal some land from them. But enough goofing around with colonies when I have a more important continent to conquer: Europe!

Wish me luck!

Management at work and at home

Today was my third day at work! Wohoo! Today I learnt that my boss is made of steal, that Johan is in fact slightly retarded (and that I am too).

Side Note: I did want to write about SOPA (read more) today, the new weapon against piracy and also your privacy, but feel that I need to read up a bit more to make be completely fair. Soon you will see a dedicated blog post about this and learn the true reason behind this powerful weapon of an unworthy (and self proclaimed) world police: the USA.


Out of the ashes and into the fire!

After a few days at work I finally start to get used to the old rhythm of going up early in the morning and sitting in front of a desk spitting out ideas and creating plans and content for the current projects. I love it.

Still I want to be careful about what I work with and where I work. I can tell you that I will continue to work with the stuff I really love: Communication, Creative Thinking and close Team Work with awesome colleagues.


Europa Universalis III - A game you probably can't handle

I am also managing things at home, like the Swedish Nation in the game Europa Univeralis III: Divine Wind (Patch 5.1). It is a very complex game similar to the board game Risk, but very much more complex, where you actually have to rule the nation in every way you can imagine. Many things to keep track of, but it never gets boring bashing the Danes out of Scandinavia or challenging the Russians to the east.

The game is a few years old, true, but the constant releases of expansions keeps the game fresh and up to date. Since I played it many years ago it is almost completely different in it's details, but still got the same charm and purpose. I wonder how successful I would be colonizing North America with Swedish Colonists. Will The United States of America be with me or against me once the thirteen states gets pissed of at England and decides to go their own way? Or... should I do what Sweden does best: Staying neutral?

Who the f*ck is the Golden Horde?

Right now I have beaten Denmark and forced Norway into becoming my vassal. Hopefully I will soon be able to annex their nation.

The game is very complex and it takes a strong brain and a lot of patience to be able to handle it, but once you have gotten past that obstacle I can promise you that this is a game that you would love. Really good work Paradox Interactive. This is possibly your best product ever. Credits to my friend Sara Wendel-Örtqvist who has been working on the latest expansion of this game.

I was very inspired by this guy, an... American(?) playing as Sweden and recording everything on Youtube. Ladies and Gentlement, I give you... MindofScience3!

Is this a pointless question at a job interview?

There have been a few discussions lately about one certain classic question that almost always shows up in job interviews. If  you haven't guessed it by now: "Where are you and what would you be doing in X years?".

This question has a theoretical purpose but no practical point.

From the English "The Office" in case you went "WHOOT?!"

Theoretically it is a good question to ask

In theory this question is good to ask to find out if the candidate is ambitious or not. If he/she might threaten your own position or if the candidate simply have no ambitions what so ever. It is simply good to know what kind of person you would be dealing with.

In my opinion, the perfect answer would be: "I will be in whatever position I can do the best possible job for the company I am working in.".

Of course, that comes of a bit cheesy. I have used it myself and the person interviewing me wasn't really satisfied with the answer (even though i.m.o. she should have been since it was quite clever :P).


Practically there is (mostly) no point asking it

Most people who do interviews don't know how to process & analyze the answer or even why they are asking it in the first place. Some people might understand it though and try to analyze it, but the chance of misunderstandings and failure to understand the point of the question from either side will probably sabotage the interview more rather than doing the opposite.


The exception?

I would like to ban this question from any interview that doesn't include a very experienced person who does the interview who has complete understanding of the question and how to analyze & process the answer it. It should also only be asked to people that are being hired for position deep down in the chain of command. It would be good to know where you have your "grunts". Will they need advancement to stick around or not? To ask candidates for higher positions is useless. If they were not ambitious they wouldn't be applying for that position anyway.


Instead you might want to ask...

Instead of asking this (in my opinion) useless question, the one who gets interviewed should instead be asked: "Where do you see this company in X years and how would you have contributed to the result?". Anyone I would hire should have his/her focus on the performance of the company rather than any "gold digging" dreams of his/her own.

NOTE: This only applies if you can't make an exception like I described above.


Also, this is how you alternatively could do your interviews (how I would prefer to do it) :P

One week to go!

I'm finally feeling a bit better after my roller-coaster fever. I'm glad that it wasn't the flu or anything, since I am starting my new job on Monday. I'm quite exited and have already started to write down a few ideas. Honestly I can't wait.


Getting the deposit back...

I've been trying for a week or so now to get the deposit back from my previous Land Lord. Easier said than done. Hopefully he will contact me today about it. It would feel nice to finally move on and get all that sorted. It is always kind of a hell when getting to this point. You never know what you will be charged for and not.


Starting my new job

At the same time as I don't yet know all details about what I will do, I can't wait to get there and start building up and shaping my area of the company. Very often you have to go through so many people to get anything done in the company, but now I am kind of my own boss and only need to consult the others now and then before trying something out.

The upside of working with few people and in a smaller company is that you know that the others work not for them selves but FOR THE COMPANY. The larger a company becomes, the bigger the competition gets... and that's when you get these people that just wants to boost their ego and "be right" instead of doing the right thing for the company. I remember that, in a previous company I worked, we had a html-coder-guy that cared only about his own ego than what was good for the company. He was impossible to work with and the results often resulted in bottlenecks that we later had to try to fix. So much extra work just to satisfy one persons ego.

Anyway, here's some pictures I know people wanted of our new apartment. Keep in mind that the furniture will arrive in 2-3 weeks!

Empty, but I got the essentials...

Not the most comfy bed, but the TV is close by :)

Joakim's 2011

I finally got internet in the new flat. This year has started with many new things. Presents, beardcut, haircut, friends, flat, computer chair and job. But that's the future. Let's lock back on the past year, shall we?


1) The Swedish team expands... and disbands.
Read about: Johans arrival; Håkan's first party in Gib (scroll down); Pelle "caking me".

This spring I was fortunate enough to make three new friends. Håkan, Johan and Pelle. Joining the Swedish PokerStrategy.com team that would... or should have become the greatest of them all, these new guys fit right in with me and Fredrik. We had lot's of fun during our time together, but everything's got an end.

Company Party Spring 2011, Håkan being the only one missing from the picture (probably shagging some girl in a red dress)

Fortunately the death of the Swedish Team didn't mean the end of any friendships, even though both Håkan and Fredrik left Gibraltar. Johan and I are now working together once more and Pelle is taking care of the Swedish and Finnish Community now at PokerStrategy.com. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?


2) A VIP party to remember
Read more: The VIP Summer Party 2011 (Swedish!!)

Pure willpower!

When summer was finally "up and running", so to speak, we got more friendly visitors from Sweden. It was no other than the Swedish VIP & Community team from PokerStrategy.com.

We partied on San Juan and also managed to time the PokerStrategy.com Beach Party 2011 quite well. Lot's and lot's of fun. We even tied for first place in the beach party contests. :)


3) Gibraltar, Spain, Italy, England, Malta and Sweden!
Read more: Barcelona, Gib Underground #1, Seville, Italy, Gib Underground #2, Ronda, Dublin, London, Malta #1, Malta #2, Malta #3, Sierra Nevada (+movie), Sweden.

I've been traveling (and visited the underdark) like crazy this year. Not only to the amazing Barcelona and Sagrada Familia (wiki), but also to other amazing Spanish cities. Seville was really nice, with the Star Wars Palace, but I must say that the owner of the greatest views is definitely Ronda.

I then went to various interviews, in Dublin, London and even Malta, where the crazy, but creative friend of mine: Suzy, lives. Ironically she was in Sweden when I came to visit. How lol is that?

Next year Vlada and I will probably travel a bit as well. My current project is to get her to Sweden during the summer. :)


4) Losing one job, gaining another!
Read more: Fredrik and I leaving.

In the mid summer of 2011 something very bad happened, just like the year before when my brother (from another mother) passed away (read more here). The Swedish team had to restructure and 4 out of 5 team members was forced to leave. But it wasn't the end of the world for us. Håkan got a job at Google, Johan and I at this new company in Gib and Fredrik is being interviewed by some companies and it seems like it is going well. As they say: There is always light at the end of the tunnel!


5) Enjoying new friends and new games
Read more: My thoughts on some games

This year I have not only met new friends like Suzy, DhariDareDevil, Andy, Erik & Ellinor (and more), but I have also finally got to get my hands on a few new games. Some of the best games in a very long time has been released in a very short time. For instance, Skyrim (who would have guessed that?!), Star Wars: The Old Republic or why not Anno 2070? Good news is that more is to come. Can't wait!

Playing games while waiting...

As you all know I am currently waiting for the feedback from the Dublin interview, but also for the date when my Malta interview will be. Waiting sucks. Will I get an offer? Will the Malta interview go well? If Both goes well, what would I choose? In my mind I kind of already know, but it all depends on the offer and how good they are compared to each other.

But... I have found a good way to make myself think less about these things for the moment, to avoid unnecessary mental torture. SKYRIM (Elder Scrolls V)... and SWTOR (Star Wars: The old Republic)!


SWTOR, WoW with light sabers?
Here's one of my previous posts about the game.

Okay, fair enough, I only tested the game for like an hour. Still I must say that a lot of how the game turned out to be is very different from Bioware's promises from the beginning. They hyped the game as a game totally different from WoW, something new and revolutionary. I am sure that the game has better story line, awesome voice overs and fun epic dungeons, pvp and so on... but is it really THAT revolutionary. On top of this, it is a Pay to Play game. This is a dying payment system. How will they compete with other, almost as fun to play, MMO's that are Free to Play? Age of Wulin is a good example.

Sorry Bioware, my most beloved game studio of all time, but I am not impressed. Still I will give the game a fair chance and play it until end game at least, but my expectations now are as low as they can be.


Skyrim makes me laugh and cry at the same time
Have you read my first post about my Skyrim Experience?

It is amazing how "alive" the game world is in Skyrim. If you wait a minute before rushing into a room full of enemies, stay a while and listen to what they have to say. Every place has a story, a purpose. I eavesdropped on  two blacksmiths on the ground floor of an old fortress: "Sven got what was coming for him, but I don't trust what's going on downstairs." - "Be quiet, or you might end up there yourself, and I will have to work the forge!". Seconds later, of course, they were both dead. :)

My character is currently on the quest of mastering the different kinds of supernatural powers out there. After finishing at the Winterfall College of Magic he will study Vampirism and try to get infected. After that the plan is to become better at sneaking and thievery and finally he will join the imperials and tell them all about the Stormcloaks plans. It was a mistake, trying to join up with those people.

This is what makes me laugh, so what makes me cry? The lags, crashes and annoying graphics bugs that keeps showing up now and then. The game is playable, but it kind of ruins the immersion of my Skryim experience.

Last but definitely not least. Here is something, for you Swedes, that made me laugh harder than I have in a long while:

A positive attitude is everything

Yesterday my friend, again, reminded me how easily excited I get over things (he even compared me to the guy in the video at the bottom of this post). That made me think about how important it is to have a positive attitude towards things.


Believe in good things and they will happen!

You might not know it, but it is actually proven that people that believe that good things will happen will more often experience good things than people who believe nothing good is ever going to happen to them. You will also need the confidence and the will to succeed. Even more importantly you will need to be able to move on when things doesn't go as you hoped.

If you got this then you are already gone farther on the road to success than you thought.

Okay, seriously: Stop whining and just DO IT!

Life isn't easy. Everyone has bad things happening, more or less (even if it sometimes feels like everything bad is only happening to YOU and ONLY YOU!). "I want to work for Blizzard! Nothing else is good enough for me!". Get a grip. Nothing is easy. Everyone has to pull their own weight.

I lost my job a few months ago and you won't see me crying about it. Where many people sees problems, I see opportunity. I know what I want and sooner or later I am sure I will get there, no matter what it takes. You might think of me as an over confident ass that thinks too high of myself. Well, maybe, but I am also confident that you have a good chance of doing what would make you happy if you really put your mind to it.

If you feel that you are not the most positive person in the world, ask yourself this: "Where do I want to end up and what CAN I DO to get there?" Once you have the answer to that you should know exactly what to do.

Choices and Sacrifices

Many things are happening right now. Most or all of these things are connected with choices and/or sacrifices. While some friends are choosing leaving Gibraltar, sacrificing their social life here, they are at the same time gaining other things. Some of them certain, some of them not.

Today my good friend Fredrik and his wacky girlfriend Julie moved to Sweden, next week Håkan is moving to Dublin. After that it is possibly my turn to pack my bags and leave.


Choices are easy...

It is always easy to choose to do something, if you don't have anything to sacrifice. "Would you like to work at this awesome company and have a new exciting social life?". Of course the answer is yes... until you start to think about what you have to give up  to get this.


... but Sacrifices are hard

Every choice has a sacrifice, whether it is something as small as 10 minutes of  your life or if it's something as big as leaving all your friends and going to a place where you know nobody. The latter example was my scenario two years ago when I first came to Gibraltar.

Do I want to leave Gibraltar and my friends here? Of course not. Do I want new experiences, a career, and a bunch of new friends? Of course I do! My choice is hard, because the sacrifices are, but with some of my closest friends leaving, the sacrifices are less and the choice is thereby easier.

We will see where I end up, but wherever it is, I'm sure it will be worth it!


Finally, here is a tribute to my good friend Jussi, who I will meet shortly in Dublin.

Google+ Pages trick! Opportunity!

After a day of drafting Magic with Johan, Håkan, Phil and Fredrik I come home to watch some friends, eat some of my fantastic Spaghetti Bolognese and finally manages to perfect time the release of Google+ Pages.

What would one do at such a moment?


Taking smart names!

One smart, but risky, thing is to take smart names that would benefit you. There is a rumor though that many pages can have the same name, so I can't guarantee that this will work at all. I might come back tomorrow and totally dismiss my own blog post, who knows? :P But if this works, I will not only get fantastic channels of communication, I might also be more interesting to hire, because who ever hires me also get's the channels that I now have reserved to do marketing through.

Always make sure you are well prepared and that you do what you can to get an edge against your competitors.


Job interviews coming up

I do not want to get too much into details, but I have had one interview so far, which I think went pretty well. I am hoping to get a final one soon as well. Other than this one there are a few others that starts to pop up. After waiting a few months, the interest for someone like me seems to have spread.

We will see where I end up, but if everything goes the way I want it, I will end up at a fantastic place with some fantastic people. Keep your fingers crossed for me!


Here is the release video of Google+ Pages by the way!

The perfect win-win solution against piracy

Now and then I always hear this and that about people stealing peoples work/products and others saying that it is so expensive that they don't really have an option. Many game companies has tried to get around this problem by having monthly fees for their online games, others introduce Free-to-Play. In other words, MMO games is doing really fine against piracy.

But what about the other games, movies and music out there? Is there a solution?


The perfect solution is here!

Okay, this is not as concrete as I might have mislead you to believe, but it is a solution even so: Find a good substitute. Everybody wins! Okay, let's discuss this with a few examples.

Music: 
- We got Spotify, a tool where you stream music for free, but has to endure some advertisment now and then. It's like a radio where you can choose what songs and in what order you want to listen to them.

Movies:
- There are websites like Voddler, concept similar to Spotify.

Games: 
- EMPTY SPACE HERE!

Now it is getting interesting. While solutions are starting to come up in the music and movie industry, we still don't have a _really_ good system for games. What would happen if you release your game for free, but put lots of ads in it instead. For people to get rid of the ads, they need to pay. Simple. It works for the other medias, so why shouldn't it work with Games?

The problem is always that you can edit the core files and remove the ads, if you are skilled in these kinds of things, but when the Onlive games streaming software is released, this threat is easily eliminated.

Even so, you wont lose on having this solution, since the people who downloads your games from various Torrent sites will probably only be convinced to change their way if a solution like this was available. You won't get these guys anyway, so what do you have to lose? What your loyal and paying customers will do doesn't really matter, since you will earn money from the advertisement anyway (possibly you could even profit more from this).

Finally, don't forget that piracy is not only evil. It has helped many games and game companies to reach where they are today. The viral effect.

Five steps on how to promote yourself

Since I am currently only working with freelance or personal projects I know how important it is to know how to promote yourself as a person. If you really want a job, you cannot send out a CV here and there and hope for luck to come your way. As Two Face once said: "I make my own luck".


Step 1) Figure out how you want to be perceived

What job do you want to work with? Do you want to look like a strict boss or as a laid back co-worked with a creative mind? What do you want people to think when they learn things about you? What would you like your future employer to think about you?

This is something you need to figure out before you do ANYTHING else.


Step 2) Make a list of tools & contacts you can use

Do you have any contacts that can help out in giving you some positive buzz, writing recommendation letters etc? Do you have a Facebook, LinkedIn (!!!), Google+, MySpace and a Blog Account? Most importanty, have you registered your own www.yourname.com domain yet?


Step 3) Make a plan on how to spread positive buzz

Now it is time to make a plan on what you want to put on your sites, your blog and what to put in your CV & Cover letter. Be aware of that now when you are more "official" than before, harmful information such as Politics and such things might be something you have to try to hide. Choose carefully what you put in the web and make sure it fits the person you want your employer to see you as.


Step 4) Make yourself visible

Use all channels you possibly can to expose yourself to the public. The more pages you have info about yourself on, the easier it will be for someone to find you when googleing or surfing around. The best way of making yourself visible is to have a serious blog, with a www.yourname.com URL and using the different Social Media channels to promote it.

Who would notice the smart kid in the back if he never puts his arm up in the air once in a while?


Step 5) Alertness and quick responses

Now when you are up and running. Make sure you keep everything up to date and that you answer your emails and requests quickly. After all, the weird guy Mr. John Smith that keeps trying to add you on Linkedin.com might indeed be your future employer, trying to contact you for an interview.

Every unanswered mail is a possibly missed opportunity. Be out there, all the time! Ironically, being unemployed is actually hard work, if you do it right!

Blogger vs. Wordpress, who would win?

After discussing blog tools with my friends Johannes Thorén and checking out other nice blogs, like Joakim Nilssons blog about Social Media Management, I decided to do some research to figure out which blog tool that is best for me... and for you.


Three reasons to go for Blogger

Blogger seem to be a more beginner friendly, and actually 100% free, blog tool. It is very simple, user friendly and to a degree you can customize your blog quite a bit. Blogger also offers an easy way for you to earn money  on your blog.

Here are the three top reasons why you should choose Blogger:

1. Simplicity. Easy to use, free and it has a very good interface.
2. Everything is free! You don't have to pay anything for any of the tools!
3. Simple Advertising from Google. It is easy to set up a way to earn money.


Three reasons to go for Wordpress

Wordpress is a tool that can be used by new bloggers as well as more advanced. The problem is that the tool itself is more advanced and could thereby confuse some users. The more options and services you want, the more you will have to pay. For $100/year you will get all special features, but will still have to pay separately for special themes.

Here are the top reasons why you would choose Wordpress:

1. Full customization possibilities. If you pay, you can edit/change pretty much anything.
2. If you are a new user, you can easily set up a free blog without much problem.
3. If you are an advanced user, you can still get a kick ass blog without paying anything.


And the winner is?

If you don't wanna get much into detail with your blog. You just want it up and running and don't care for anything fancy, then Blogger is for you. Although if you want to have full control over your blog and don't care to pay a bit extra for it, then go "pro" with Wordpress, my personal favorite.

Comparing the two tools, not caring about the paying aspect, Wordpress beats Blogger by a long shot.

I do feel the irony of me blogging on Blogger still, but a little bird told me that this might change very soon.

Psychology in Design Choices for Games Part 2

This is the second part of my thoughts on "Psychology in Design Choices for Games" (Read Part 1). Remember how I said in the previous part that many developers tend to use statistics to find out what people like the most? Well, today I will discuss about if going main stream is really a good idea.


Is the Main Stream path good in the long run?

Yes and no. Everything is good in moderate. People need choices, variation - different kind of games! In movies we eventually get tired of the classic "girl is annoyed by hero-to-be-character but learns to love him during the course of the movie and eventually the hero gets the girl" scenario. The same applies to games. You cannot repeat a winning concept so much that you will end up in the "main stream" folder.

There are always indie games, but they rarely got the same financial support as the big titles. What would happen if... Blizzard (!!) decided to do something completely new, not a main stream game at all!? Imagine a the movie "300", where the hero already was married, the wife got raped and the hero actually died in the end - never seeing his wife ever again. Still, a lot of people like this movie. They find it to be something different than most similar movies with a lot of action, but with the classic romance.

People like different. People like surprises. People like riddles, questions, mysteries that you can't figure out from the start!


Main stream is dying, darlings needs to be killed and games needs to be made. 


Here is a video of Star Wars: The Old Republic, a game that was originally marketed as a game much different to World of Warcraft and very little about grinding and the classic "tank/healer/dps" shebang. But what does it look like today? Well, let's take a look!

Psychology in Design Choices for Games Part 1

After talking half the night away with my dear friend Mats Söderholm, Game Design teacher from Sweden, we concluded a lot of very good points concerning the psychology in game design and in particular design choices. This series of blog posts will cover a couple of traps that designers very easily fall into. Have you fallen in any of these traps? I sure have.


What is the "darling" syndrome?

"This game is awesome, because I made it!"; "I can't see any reason why someone would not like this game.". These might be something a game developer could say/think about his/her game.

What I think is good doesn't have to be what other people think is good. People think different. Still, how much can we listen to the customers? Do they really know what they want? Do we really know what is best for them? How do we find the balance between our knowledge and their dreams?

My point here is that it is easy to fall in a trap where your or your players judgement might influence your design choices. Sometimes developers try to convert a classic isometrically perceived game into a first person shooter, because the statistics say that most people like FPS when it comes to action games. At the same time some developers might follow their own dream too much and create something like Spore. You all know how that story went down, no need for me to repeat it for you.

Tomorrow I will talk about "the Main Stream path", to get deeper into this topic.


Let's finish this post off with a game that has worked hard (experiencing both good/bad stuff) with finding the balance I mentioned above, EVE Online (the "I was there" trailer):

Ways of lifting the customers spirit

Yesterday I decided to have an easy going day with my friends and girlfriend, starting the day with a draft of Magic and ending it with watching the shittiest Marvel movie in history: Captain America, the man who thinks infiltrating an enemy head quarters requires a metal shield painted with the flag of USA. Idiot...

Anyway, that's when I started to think about how movie makers and game developers use the things people care about to lift the spirit once in a while. To get a "let's do this together, for us!" kind of feeling. In movies this might be a man dressed in a country's flag (satisfying that countries population) or in games perhaps a Halloween or Christmas event. Speaking of which, the reason why I decided to take a lazy day was because I might have been too enthusiastic at the Halloween party the day before.

Johan the Priest, Me the Vampyric Wolverine, Phil the Death and Fredrik, being himself.

Developers: Take advantage of every opportunity you get

Every holiday or special occasion is an opportunity to do something fun for your players. It is also a very good opportunity to create buzz and great PR. The "We are celebrating EVERYTHING!" motto is something I embrace a lot. Aprils fools; Halloween; Christmas; The players birthday; The games' birthday... you name it!

There is so much to gain and so little pain.

Here is an old Simon an Lewis Minecraft video I've always loved to watch. Those crazy brits sure know how to create buzz about a game with their weird, but fantastic personalities.

Please spank me if I have been bad.

Before getting into what the heck the title in this blog post means, I need to express my feelings about Google removing the search engine words statistics feature. This is a quote from Google's announcement about it:

What is the impact of this change for webmasters? Today, a web site accessed through organic search results on http://www.google.com (non-SSL) can see both that the user came from google.com and their search query. (Technically speaking, the user’s browser passes this information via the HTTP referrer field.) However, for organic search results on SSL search, a web site will only know that the user came from google.com.

I might consider moving my blog to Wordpress after this, honestly. Anyway, today I will talk about games that punish you when you have been a bad bad boy/girl.


High Punishment: EVE-Online

The most fun AND the most boring MMO I have every played is EVE-Online. The reason why I have and always will love this game is that it punishes you for your mistake more closely to the real life. This is also sometimes a bad thing. It takes time to build something up, but it can be taken away in a blink of an eye. That could cause momentary motivation loss. This combined with the "playing solo" part can make this MMO so boring that I want to puke. It is a love/hate relationship!


Low Punishment: ANNO 2070

The ANNO games have always been very nice to you. Worst thing that happens is when you go unprepared to war, but otherwise you are pretty much safe and got all the time in the world. The latest ANNO game: ANNO 2070 is soon coming out and it does look very interesting. The multiplayer seems to have become a more central role in this game and you have bigger space for customization.


High Punishment vs. Low Punishment: Different game types for different moods. It equals a game of tension and excitement versus a laid back and relaxing game where you got all the time in the world.

Here is a short, but informative trailer on the new ANNO 2070 game:

The "Leaking" Strategy of Marketing

It does feel nice when things are starting to roll in my direction. My recent productivity boost has started to pay off. I even got missed by a falling rock and escaped death today. It is amazing what you can do to increase the chance of things come your way. But what are the game companies doing? Is "leakage" the new viral trend?


Is the EA Spouse just a viral marketing strategy?

This one is really hard to crack, at least for me, but the blogger that is called "The EA Spouse" might be an internal trick to create publicity. The thing is that much of what was originally "leaked" through this blog was negative. As they say: "All publicity is good publicity". But it might also be something else. An entrepreneurial spirited blogger, maybe even the real thing! Who knows? That's the thing with leakage, you can never really be sure.

To get to more every day "leakages", which seem to be the new name of "Announcement from company PR Department". Sometimes a song from a game gets "leaked", sometimes the beta, sometimes the demo gets out too early. In some cases you can even see movies filmed by amateurs claimed to be taken in secrecy. Also, have you ever thought about why some companies at live events to closed parties says "No cameras allowed or what we are about to discuss next"? Of course somebody will film it, put it on Youtube and create massive headlines everywhere. That's a good way of getting really cheap advertising. Just be smart.

I am aware that I have a little negative tone here, but in fact, I would like to finish off this blog post by saying that I actually admire this kind of marketing strategies.

Here is some typical leakage webcast on the Sony Playstation 4:

The first and the last successful "Grind-MMO"

The last few days I have tried out a few MMO:s that I should have, but never earlier have, played. The first one on my list was Age of Conan. The game lacks, at least initially, interesting ways to grind your way up in levels. Most things was just running from A to B without any real purpose. Then today when I tried Warhammer Online I realized that this game had a much better system for grinding. Although for me it is not much different than grinding in World of Warcraft.

Anyway, today I will discuss what I believe is the first big Grind-MMO and what I believe might be the last.


The first was Ultima Online!

Origin Systems masterpiece. This is the first MMO that I ever played and apart from EVE Online this is the MMO that has brought me most joy. It was a very open, free, but also punishing game, just the way I like it. It makes you actually focus and take care of your every moment.

In the future I think many companies need to look back on this game, that might have let people grind in a different way than people do today, but still has a lot of interesting design parts that can be re-used and optimized.


The last is Star Wars: The Old Republic?

This is a long shot, I know, but the time of grinding based MMO:s are dying. After World of Warcraft everything seems just the same to me, just with different graphics. We need something fresh. SWTOR offers good opportunity for role play and makes the game become more like a movie... but it is still based on the very same Grind and PVP game play we are all used to and a little bit tired of.


Let's finish off this blog post with a glimpse of the past. Who remember this old trailer? It is amazing how they tried to make sense of the "multiple servers" issue for the roleplaying perspective on the game.