tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672502501001409358.post2917085924947653867..comments2023-10-08T03:59:05.846-07:00Comments on Deuwowlity: It's Not Personal, It's Business...Part IGronthehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440374214301179615noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672502501001409358.post-83273630681060591422011-06-30T09:27:04.718-07:002011-06-30T09:27:04.718-07:00The copy/paste thing is probably also due to the c...The copy/paste thing is probably also due to the cost in making top notch MMOs. Those beasts are *expensive*, and big money doesn't usually like risks.<br /><br />Of course, sometimes big profit comes from risks, but in an especially unstable economic climate like we have of late, risk gets pushed even further away.Teshhttp://tishtoshtesh.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672502501001409358.post-46857983726263294942011-06-28T00:47:45.399-07:002011-06-28T00:47:45.399-07:00@ Nils: Yes, in a free market the consumer decide...@ Nils: Yes, in a free market the consumer decides through their purchasing power who is making the best product and who is making inferior ones. By extention, the consumer decides who stays in business and who doesn't.<br /><br />Corporations actually have fewer ways to "evade" taxes than individuals within the corporation. As an accountant I prefer "reduce tax liability", but we all know what you mean by "tax-evasion", so we'll stick with that. Now I'm actually quite a boy scout when it comes to these tricks and have quit before because I refused to go along with what was asked of me. Let me give you an example.<br /><br />Deferred Commission: Let's say you work on a commission basis, but you make a lot of money so you're obviously scared that the government will take half of it to spend on the national debt. So being the good citizen you are, you ask your employer to defer a part of your monthly commissions and use them to pay for things like golf course membership fees (@ $25K), automobile leases, vacation packages to France, etc. This is a means for the commissioned worker to pay for his/her luxuries while "reducing" their tax liability; this is because the commission is deferred BEFORE a gross commission is allocated to you, the independent contractor.<br /><br />BTW, Deferred Commissions are wrong, and any auditor would slap your company accross the face and probably report you. My point is we need to be careful when reading financial statements, because revenue isn't always what we think it is. So if a company says that gross revenues increased the past quarter, it's most likely a combination of actual cash receipts and accounting workmanship. That's why we look at balance sheets and cash flow and investor reports as well.<br /><br />@ Stubborn: I'm glad you brought up the "ethics" issue, it's something that I'll eventually get into. I'll ask my question here, but will also ask it in my next post:<br /><br />How much money can a person makes before it becomes too much? For some they may ask "before it becomes unfair or immoral". But HOW a business goes about making money is precisely the reason I've decided to write a series of these posts. So expect more in the next part. <br /><br />And oh, you're not paranoid, psychology is applied in business strategy and marketing A LOT MORE than you could ever come close to imagining in your conspiracy theory blog you write at 3am each night. :)<br /><br />@ Nils: Back you you, just one more thing. I have my guesses at why there is a copy/paste mentality in the MMORPG industry, it's probably similar to the mindset of professional sports teams who emulate the most recent championship team by trying to build a team based on similar personal types, strategies, etc. It's probably similar reason why thousands of mortgage companies went out of business in the past 6 years as well, they were all doing the same illegal crap because "that's how money was made at the time."<br /><br />I only say that give them some time, somebody will change the rules and innovate something that meets, or comes close to meeting, the expectations of the consumer.Gronthehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03440374214301179615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672502501001409358.post-61724327259441429152011-06-27T14:38:55.387-07:002011-06-27T14:38:55.387-07:00I think that the community is probably doing what ...I think that the community is probably doing what so many communities do when whatever they support makes it big. Consider punk bands who've "sold out" and lost a lot of their original listeners, or cult TV shows that became popular (Heroes) and were then abandoned. <br /><br />Most of us are nerds, honestly, and going against the popular grain is part of nerd-dom. With these games' success, we're finding them become more and more mainstream, so it's only logical to assume that Blizzard begin to take on the appearance of "the man" or "the evil megacorp."<br /><br />That said, I agree that businesses have a right to make money. How they make it, though becomes a discussion of ethics, something sorely lacking in many megacorps nowadays. Just because they have a right to make money doesn't mean they need to yank every penny from our pockets.<br /><br />Sure, we can vote with our feet, but now we're getting into the idea of addictive personalities and behaviors, and I'm sure you're aware of the behavior psych that many megacorps now use to maximize profits (that looks paranoid, doesn't it? I think I'll leave it at that, then).<br /><br />Great post (: I look forward to part 2.stubbornhttp://sheepthediamond.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672502501001409358.post-65846679974229460812011-06-27T14:38:34.001-07:002011-06-27T14:38:34.001-07:00In a good system businesses make the most money wh...In a good system businesses make the most money when they produce the best product. <br /><br />In a competitive market the best product wins. Not the one with the best tax-evasion scheme or the one that pays the highest share of profit back to shareholders/owners.<br /><br />I still think our system is rather good and thus I doubt the best decision is to copy/paste games for years on end. But if that is so: why is this what the entire MMORPG industry is copy/pasting for almost a decade now?Nilshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.com