Greetings, I know some of you clicking on this email are hoping that I’m here to tell you about Sins of a Solar Empire II. I hope to be able to talk more about Sins of a Solar Empire more in the near future but today I wanted to make sure you know that we’re releasing a new RTS today that I think you might like: Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation. In many respects, it’s Sins of a Solar Empire on the surface of a planet. If you already know you want it, get it here: http:...
I’ve had JoeUser.com as my home but with two differnet IDs (draginol and frogboy) so thoroughly conflicted at this stage, I thought it would make sense to set up a site that combines them. My articles still get posted on all the Stardock sites (you might be reading this on JoeUser or WinCustomize or Sins of a Solar Empire. Who knows. But now you can find all my stuff together at www.littletinyfrogs.com .
I have a standing opinion about people who take their forum disagreements into “real life”: They’re horrible people. This evening I was surfing the net and found someone who had been recently subjected to someone who disliked them on an Internet forum going out and taking out ads with their real name, address, etc. for the purposes of harassing them. The person who did that is a horrible person. The irony, however, is that the victim of the harassment was someone who flamed me fo...
I just finished a really enjoyable book called The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution . Highly recommended. I’ve been planning my midlife crisis for awhile. These things need planning of course. Last year I hit 40. That’s the age where denial over middle age is over. It’s arrived. I’m a man of many interests. I just don’t know what to focus on nor do I know if I want to focus on anything in particular. The problem is incentive. I’d rather have more hours i...
Over the years I’ve found out what I’m good at: Business. At the same time, I know what I like to do: Software and game design. For awhile, I held the conceit that I was pretty decent at game design. But since hiring Derek (Kael) Paxton and Jon Shafer, I’ve come to realize that my skills at a game designer are much like my skills at graphics design or software development – I can do it in a pinch but I’m out of my league compared to a specialist. It’s a bit of a bummer. Actua...
Tomorrow is the 20 year class reunion for my high school. I can’t believe it’s been that long. For me, high school was not fun. Even with the benefit of hindsight the best I could describe the overall high school experience was “horrible”. That it was horrible wasn’t due to my classmates (though certain classmates did make a bad situation worse but my main pain from high school is in prison serving a life sentence) but just the situation overall – I was a total nerd and HS isn’t...
When we created JoeUser.com to be database driven we used the existing Stardock.net user database. What that meant is that everything was based by "Handles" (think CB radios). My handle on most skin sites was/is "Frogboy". That's actually more of an accident than intentional as I had intended Draginol to be my handle which is what I used here. But when writing articles on such issues, I've always felt a bit uncomfortable using a handle because it implies I have some pseudonymn. That I'm...
If you read my article responding to Dvorak's column on blogging, you can tell I'm a bit annoyed with it. Having had a day to think about it and lots of email on the topic, I've narrowed down specifically why his column bugs me so much: It's based on a number of false premises. Specifically, he lumps all blogs together as if every person on the net is aiming to be a quasi-journalist. It's sloppy research which really bugs me when it's in the pages of PC Magazine. I like Dvorak. I kn...
Every month or so I go through a day or two of the blahs. Where I just feel...down. That's where I am now. That feeling of hopelessness. It always passes. I'll exercise or find something to keep me busy. Though ironically, our main skin library hard drive died yesterday at WinCustomize.com and that has definitely not helped matters. Trying to restore all that data is going to be a pain. Luckily, I work with really smart, talented and hard working people who are taking care of that stuff. B...
Want to get your blog more popular? First, visit this article that has some good tips: http://www.rightwingnews.com/category.php?ent=1027 Next, link to other like minded blogs. This is important. Get them to exchange links with you. What's nice about JoeUser is that referrals are tracked so you can actually see who your best referrals are. Look at the bottom right in the lighter gray area. That's where links to your blog are coming from. Now, to add links to your personal blog click o...
If you spend enough time in a net community you will run into all kinds of people. If you run a net community you have to make some tough decisions very quickly about what to do with some of these kinds of people. Some people, let's face it, are just bad apples. If you met them in person they might be perfectly reasonable, even normal people. But on-line something happens to them. They become aggressive, totally devoid of empathy, manipulative, emotionally needy to the point of demanding attenti...
My wife and I and friends played paint ball today. There we were in our camoflauge battling it out. What a work out. I realized something today. I am way WAY out of shape. My wife did remarkably well, especially considering it was her first time out there. How many guys are lucky enough to have a wife who will shoot at them with a gun? Er, nevermind.
This weekend my wife and I are going to WMU which is where we graduated from. It's always fun to check out the campus and see what's changed over the years.
What motivates bloggers? I can't speak for all but for me, I look at blogging as indie editorials. As such, I like being able to express my view on something or provide information to the public that traditionally only full time journalists were able to do. I suspect millions of other bloggers are of the same mind. It's a form of self-expression. If I had cats, I wouldn't talk about what Mittens did today. Rather, I like giving my two cents on pretty much everything. Not that my opinio...