Online Piracy - Hidden Threats, or Hidden Opportunity?

The internet has changed the entire world - a pretty big feat, considering it's age relative to how long it's taken to make such sweeping changes. Sure, the net itself was first invented back in the sixties, and didn't really start to take off until the boom in the nineties. But since then, it has transformed everything we do. I can remember a time ten years ago when it was impossible to watch movies online - when animated gifs were all the rage, and trying to download a file 300 mb in size could take an entire week.

But things are different now, and the culture that has begun to evolve on the internet has also changed the people who use it. Obviously, people resist change, and many battles have emerged over it. One of the biggest topics of debate: Piracy, or online file-sharing.

To be honest, file-sharing has a pretty spotted history. Back in the day, it was pretty hard to download anything directly - it was kind of illegal, after all, and nobody wanted to risk putting anything up for risk of being shut down (because, y'know, it was sort of illegal). But some people wanted to share whatever it was, for whatever reason - and someone found a rather ingenius workaround. Of course, it required a bit of technical knowledge (not too much, but enough to stump computer illiterate), and it also required a great deal of time. There were no filters on these early Peer-To-Peer (P2P) networks, so half the time you might get porn. If you were looking for porn, it might even work. If you were looking for porn in the first place, it probably came with a plethora of viruses that would make your desktop explode with popup windows from hell. Or reformat your hard drive.

Obviously, this high-risk situation made a lot of people leery about using these sorts of things, and so the culture thrived, as well as it could. Networks were "attacked" by companies after awhile, and the RIAA and MPAA started realizing that people were downloading their entertainment for free, and no one was getting compensated for it. Lawsuits were filed, and a lot of people were hurt as a result, due to complete ignorance of how the internet worked, or due to blatant disregard for the fact that it is stupidly easy to change one's IP address.

Meanwhile, at this time, social networking was starting to take off in the form of Myspace, and eventually Youtube began to emerge - a cool place to show the world whatever videos you wanted. Over time, the RIAA and MPAA started aiming their sights there as well - but at one time, it was possible to watch full movies on Youtube, for free, and technically, you couldn't be held liable for it at all - it's not a crime to watch such material.

The Internet had started what can only be described as a 'sharing culture'. Nowadays with current social networking like Twitter, Reddit, Facebook 'Likes' and Digg, the internet is all about sharing things. Saw something cool on the internet, gotta share it. It's just like with anything else - when you see something cool, you want to tell as many people about it as possible. Saw a new movie? Gush about it to your friends who haven't seen it yet - make them want to watch it. Heard a new CD or bought a new video game, and are eager to tell your friends? Invite them over to play it or listen to it and hang out. It's the sort of culture that's always existed, but on the internet, it is magnified - now you don't have to leave the bathroom to access this awesome video your friend saw on Youtube - he'll just tweet you a link you can pull up on your smartphone to enjoy.

Is this culture of sharing a bad thing? It's hard to say, because there are a lot of divisions on that topic. On the one hand, it shouldn't be a crime to want to tell/show people something that is awesome - on the net, you can put pretty much anything just a single link away. On the other hand, making these things takes a lot of time and effort on the creator's part, and every album/DVD/movie ticket not sold hurts the industry that produced it.

I was lucky enough to have an actual comic-book industry-based teacher by the name of Pat Broderick at my school. Some real hard nerds who actually pay attention to credits might recognize him as an inker and penciler for both Marvel and DC from way back in the day - and trust me, he still does a lot of that stuff and it looks amazing. But the best part were some of the conversations I had with him, particularly some of his insights into the whole 'piracy' thing.

To him, and this is something I see echoed many other places by many other artists, reading his comic books online (or anyone's, for that matter) is theft, plain and simple. He does this for a living, and every time you read a new book online without having paid a single penny, he is being denied that which he's worked a lifetime to earn. Which is kind of understandable. In so many words, he may have described the people who upload these things as having needing something particularly violent and disparaging occur to them. Which, again, is understandable.

On the other hand, if we take a look at some of the older stuff - bronze or silver age comics, whose value is quite measurable - those things are pretty hard to find - particularly some of the truly rare ones, such as some of the original Uncanny X-Men comics. Is it wrong to want to share those as well, with other people? The true value of these comics has long since exceeded what the original companies have done - after all, those books were already paid for and sold - now it is their very rarity that keeps people scrambling after them. Is it a 'lost sale' when you re-share something ten years old on the internet that didn't get a lot of popularity back in the day? If you share a long-extinct comic book series that was fated to ten-issue obscurity?

There is the same argument with movies and music. Is every single download/view a lost sale? That is how the RIAA and MPAA and other companies view it. Is this right, though? That is one of the primary arguments out there - each download does not constitute a lost sale, and the market is slowly changing to embrace this, but still there is that divide present.

Why is this all important to know? Because in the last few years, there have been a lot of concerned messages popping about the internet, about how certain companies would like to 'run' the internet, and take away its freedom to share anything, out of fear of lost profits. Youtube is already there, with people's videos being removed just because they used a song from a particular recording label, despite the actual content of it being more than just a song - fanmade compilations of shows, or 'fan music videos' being one of them.

Is it truly wrong to want to do these things? Some companies would say yes, and would prefer to force everyone to pay them money to enjoy themselves. But is that what's really right?

Being someone who wants to move into the entertainment industry, I look at this objectively, and I see where both sides of the argument arise, and wonder if maybe there isn't some form of compromise that can be reached. Anime in particular is one industry that has slowly started to accept what its fans want - streaming episodes of series shortly after or the same time as the original air date in Japan, with full translations, for free. Is that wrong? Technically, when you see something on TV, you don't have to pay for it (unless it is Pay-Per-View, of course). The money comes from the advertising that occurs during that show, and if no one wants to watch it...

Because of this, I think the entertainment industry as a whole needs to wake up and realize the world has changed. We are no longer using casette tapes, and VCRs are a thing of the stone age. This is the digital era, and we have come to expect things much differently. When people make these televised shows, really they are trying to pull viewers in to see the advertisements that companies pay them insane amounts of money to televise. The more people tuning in, the more likely they'll see those advertisements, and the more likely they will be to want their service/product.

The real money for these studios comes in after the fact - it's not the televising, it's the products that come along with it. The Anime industry is a great example of this - the real money isn't in the shows themselves, it's all the related merchandise: the limited edition DVDs, the figurines, the toy deals, the lunch boxes, the art books... all of that is where the real money comes in. Lately the gaming industry has started taking note of this as well - nothing makes me more likely to plop down extra money for a game if it includes an art book or something.

Why can't other entertainment industries attempt to follow this model as well? The point shouldn't be to force people to pay as much as possible for the initial product - it's everything that comes afterwards - the director's cuts, the limited editions, the posters bundled into the comics. Insanely cheap to make, but mass-produced and kept limited in quantity, you can make a real bundle off of those things, by making them hard to get - and people will gladly pay for them, because unlike something they can download on the internet, physical products are still something that cannot truly be replicated.

You can copy a video, but you can't copy an original figurine. And you can make that figurine cost three times what a single DVD is, or more if it is high quality and large-sized.

Seems to me that the logical way for the entertainment industry to take advantage of the digital age, maybe they should start looking at their own products as a form of advertisement. For bands, they see it as invitations to come see them in concert - can't duplicate that either. Sometimes you can watch them on TV, but is it the same as being there in person? No.

In the end, is piracy a good thing or a bad one? There's no good answer to that, and there's as many answers as there are people in the world. But I think I can safely say this: attempting to punish the world because a few people are jerks is kind of unreasonable.

Shift your thinking, and beat your competition. Look at those pirates as competitors, who are offering your very same product at a much better price. Give customers incentives to purchase your product as opposed to downloading for free (bundled extras help!). Special little extras available only online also work. But don't punish the people who just want to try your product out for a test drive - who knows, if you make it more available to them, they just might be interested enough to plop down the money for it - and then share it with their friends, who will also buy it.

Prepping for the weekend - and other things

Tonight I spent a couple of hours going through and setting the framework for Pathfinderizing (god that word is getting cumbersome already) spellcasting in d20 Modern. Essentially, it works like this: There is a pool of Universal Talents that any class which gains talents (re: base classes) can take. Additionally, they all come with a prereq requiring either the Divine Heritage or Magical Heritage feats found in Urban Arcana. There's an interesting option there for people who decide to use *both* - though they are likely to have a hard time of it, considering only Humans can opt to take both feats at first level, and they won't get the feat that makes the magic-based skills a class skill. Though, considering the nature of how Pathfinder handles its skills, I doubt this will be too great a drawback for the time being.

First draft of all the talent trees went up tonight - there's four trees in total, one for trained magic (wizards/clerics), one for natural magic (sorceror/favored soul), one for 'theurges' (people who can cast both), and then one tree dedicated to advancing spells. One in particular is likely to become a requirement for Advanced Classes, though I am reconsidering this partly due to the fact that I also want to make it possible for Pathfinder character capable of utilizing these Advanced classes as well - a level or two won't hurt their spellcasting potential, and could offer some interesting alternative benefits.

Thank god that multi-classing into similar spellcasting classes doesn't stack... otherwise we would have one whole hot mess on our hands there. Traditional classes are still far more powerful than their modern variants, but the modern ones will have access to abilities that the traditional classes don't - such as the option to increase spell damage or spell accuracy. There's enough customization that can go into it that you can wind up with some very interesting low-powered casters. Though gaining access to higher-level spells is a real pain for Modern characters - they have to already give up their traditional Talents in order to cast them, so if they want to be able to cast higher level abilities, you're looking at giving up not only every class-based talent, but also sacrificing any other Universal talents. On the bright side, however, characters can take any base class they want and level that, and still take those universal talents, so there is some benefit to that at least - for one thing, they'll be a hell of a lot tougher than their traditional friends. And that's just dealing with the base classes - I haven't even started working on the Advanced Classes (and after that, Prestige Classes).

But enough about game design, I wanted to talk about how I'd like to spend my weekend!

I get the feeling I'm going to be in a bit of a movie mood this weekend, but what should I watch? That is the ever-damning question that is posed to myself. Do I hit myself up again with a Back To The Future marathon again? Or should I just watch all the good Die Hard movies (y'know, every one EXCEPT 2). Maybe I ought to bust out some anime, and do another marathon along those lines of something I've not watched in some time?

I have a lot of options, but I have no clue what I'll go with. Any suggestions are welcome.*

And of course at this point I am suddenly reminded that I have yet to catch up on the new Thundercats. I should rectify this in due course.

Tomorrow night should see another update - though if I do make one, it will likely be short due to work schedule making me go in saturday morning. Upside of this? I have sunday off, so that's quite a bit of time away from my job that I get to myself. Until next time!

*Any suggestion NOT involving MLP:FIM, plzkthx. I'm sick of that already, I'll either watch it or I won't, constantly asking me to watch it will likely have the opposite desired effect. Stop asking!

Let's Get Creative

Doing anything creative takes a lot of time and energy. It's a lesson I keep forgetting myself, growing disheartened because something is taking "too long". But really, what is that determining factor when something takes "too long"? Does it really matter how long something takes, so long as it gets done?

I like to think this is a hurdle all of us face at one point or another - particularly with creative types. Modeling anything in 3D takes ages, but the gaming industry makes it all seem like it's effortless. Week after week we are bombarded with new things - some industry powerhouses manage to produce new material week after week - and when it comes to trying to compete with that, it can be overwhelming. How can we ever hope to be that good?

But here's a few things to remember about those places: one, they have a highly talented staff (usually) who are super-motivated to create things. Two, they've got sometimes upwards of a hundred people working on the same project, making the time it takes to complete anything far shorter. Lastly, these people working on these things are working on them every single day.

It's no wonder it's hard to compete with such a thing. Really, I believe that people thinking along these lines are maybe looking at the puzzle from the wrong perspective. The point here isn't *just* to make something awesome - it's to make something you enjoy. To do something for yourself that you are also willing to share with other people.

Art is supposed to be fun. But in today's uncertain times, it's harder and harder to justify that kind of fun - especially if it doesn't even feel like it is productive fun.

So today's short post is just a helpful reminder to myself, if no one else: make something for you, and then share it with other people. It'll matter to all the right people, and if it only matters to you? That's fine too - because that's the most important person it *should* matter to.

Entertaingineerment: Or how I made up an important-sounding word

Welcome to Entertaingineering. What the heck is this? Well, for one it's an attempt to get myself to put out goals and deadlines for myself, to finally get around to doing all those "fun things" I keep saying I'll get around to. Additionally, it's also a place for me to share all the fun gaming-related stuff I make, such as house rules for various P&P games, or just odd little dissertations on something even tangentially-related to entertainment.

That means I'll occasionally ramble on about some awesome new movie or show I saw. Or horrible movie or show. On occasion, it may even be both.

So what's this guy who types things like? My name is Ed, and currently I am 25 years old, living in Florida. You'd think this was a great thing, but honestly, I can't wait to get out of here - between the job market and the humidity, I'm ready to pack my bags and call this whole thing done.

I came to Florida for one major reason: to go to school to learn Computer Animation. I succeeded, and after four years of study (the last year repeating the same class over and over), I'd like to think I learned something. The initial hope was that I'd go off to do some grand things.

Except I realized that I had no money to move, no jobs in the area, and uh... not enough connections to land a job anywhere else. So far, I've managed to tread water, and things have improved. With any luck, I'll be looking to move out to Texas sometime next year, and we'll see how things develop from there.

Enough of that crap though, that's not why you're here (I hope!). The important thing is fun! Because that's what this blog is all about - attempting to document my chronicle through learning new artistic abilities, and expanding on ideas that have been bounding about the inside of my skull since I was a child, and letting them out to play for a bit.

Ever since I was young, I had a couple of dream jobs. The first one was a rail-road train track switcher. Then I wanted to be a conductor on a train. When I grew up a little and hit maybe four or five, I got it into my head how awesome it would be to become an astronaut. Then I grew a little more and decided I wanted to be a writer.

Well, I think that about settled it, really. I was huge into cartoons growing up, and TV shows were awesome. I used to read quite a bit growing up. I never really lost that writing bug, though after a traumatic childhood event early on nearly stopped me from ever writing again, it did take me eventually. In early High School, I got into drawing a bit, but never really thought a whole lot of it... despite having tried to create webcomics on three different occasions. One of which actually managed to see the light of day at some point.

As for gaming.... when I was a wee tyke, I was hooked. Five years old, we went to my aunt's to visit our cousins. They had an NES. I remember very distinctly staying up late to play games... I also remember another time that we went to visit, they were renting an SNES, and had such amazing titles as Road Runner's Death Valley Rally. I remember it clearly because I was somehow more awesome at it than my older brother OR our older cousin. I was hooked on those. Next Christmas, our parents got us an NES and an NES Entertainment System to go with it, and a few choice titles.

From then on, we got our games mostly from pawn shops or the like, but I was hooked. Zelda, Double Dragon, Megaman... those were the worlds I longed for, and as a child I would often dream of how awesome it would be if the 'cartoon world' and the 'video game world' and OUR WORLD were combined. Needless to say I was a tremendous fan of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Next to Princess Bride, it's still on my list of top favorites.

Moving along, the other game that help shape my childhood was a little board game called Hero Quest. It was described to me as a lighter version of D&D, which sounded awesome to me growing up. After all, it has Dungeons, and it has Dragons, so how the hell could that be anything *but* awesome? Obviously, despite my parents somehow owning an original Red Box, I was never allowed to play it. Didn't keep me from staring at it for weeks on end, wondering to myself if it was worth climbing the shelf to take it down and take a peek inside.

But Hero Quest put it into my mind how awesome tactical board game combat could be. I was hooked, and I didn't even yet know at the time just how badly addicted I was to this stuff.

My first initiation to D&D was much without my parents blessings. They didn't know for many years that I was gaming with my older brother (who had come back from the military by that time). They never knew their son was going out to gather together with people mostly 8 years his senior (and then some!) to pretend he was some badass from another world, where magic reigned supreme. Within the first year, I wanted to Game Master.

And boy was I terrible at it, but over time I started to get better, and now I think I can safely say I'm at least halfway decent at it.

I love to say that I've played more games than most people have even heard of. From CCGs to Tabletop to freeform-forum-posting. I've played Magic, Lord of the Rings, Deadlands, Star Wars, Star Trek, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Legend of the Five Rings.... and probably some others I've forgotten over time. I've played AD&D, D&D 3.0 and 3.5, Pathfinder, d20 Modern/Future, and recently I've played some 4E as well. I've played GURPS, RIFTS (don't get me started on that), and made a few characters for various iterations of Shadowrun. I've ventured from Rogukan to Eberron to Greyhawk and beyond - I've tasted Spelljammer and been left wanting more.

I think it's fairly safe to say that few people know entertainment quite the way that I do. Because quite frankly, I've made it a tremendous part of my life, because I feel that it too is a medium for artistic creativity to blossom.

As a child, I always wanted to go and make people feel something. As that same child, I was influenced by the books and television shows and movies and games I played, and I always desperately wanted to give something back.

So here we are today: Entertaingineering. Or learning how to create something entertaining.

I hope that you are better understanding the sort of person I am. And if you are thinking that I tend to ramble on an awful lot, you're probably correct. But I only ramble because I feel it's the only way to properly convey all of the information I wish to impart, because for whatever stupid reason, I feel that it's important.

So with all of that said.... here's what I hope to convey on this blog:

- Things related to my gaming group - materials, settings, or other awesome things that occur. This can range from gaming mechanics to just general table play, or plot hooks I think are kind of neat.

- Inspirational images, movies, television shows, books, whatever it is I come across. For some time I was doing movie reviews and such on another blog of mine, so I may continue that trend here on occasion.

- Plans for moving forward with my artistic career - either works that I am currently working on modeling or animating, or talking about webcomics or my plans to create a series I feel has never been matched in the world.

- Stuff relating to the previously-mentioned comicry/entertaining medium. Because I've never decided where I wanted to put that thing.

- And occasionally, things pertaining to writing, because it is an important creative medium nearly as old as painting itself.

So with all of that said, I hope and pray that any other entry I write will never be this long. Unless it is super important. Or super silly.

Hope you stick around for the ride.