the sun and the moon and the stars

Normally I don't crosspost from my other blog/s, but I feel pretty strongly about this one, so. :) I originally posted this at Siha Games!, my gaming blog, but I felt it was relevant here too.

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A couple of weeks ago, Greenheart Games was all over the news for their indie tycoon game, Game Dev Tycoon. In order to prove a point about piracy, Greenheart's Patrick Klug seeded a cracked version of the game to various torrent sites, with a twist: the cracked version became unplayable after a certain amount of time, thanks to in-game piracy destroying your revenue. Cute, but ultimately it felt like a bitter stunt instead of a genuine opportunity -- it was just an opportunity to lecture people about piracy, instead of looking for a way to convert pirates into customers.

I much prefer the approach taken by Posthuman Studios, publishers of the hit pen-and-paper RPG Eclipse Phase. I've talked about Eclipse Phase before, as a setting I'd love to see as an MMO, but it's also a fantastic (and award-winning) tabletop game. Eclipse Phase is set in a high-tech post-apocalyptic future where humanity has abandoned Earth and spread throughout the solar system, and it covers everything from transhumanism, horror and conspiracy to straight-up sci-fi adventure.

And what makes Eclipse Phase really special, IMO, is Posthuman's approach to its customers and fans. Eclipse Phase is licensed under Creative Commons, which means that fans can freely hack the game, modify it, post their work online, and even share the entire game with anyone they think might like it. Hell, Posthuman themselves even seeded the full core book to various file-sharing and torrent sites.

And it's worked. Despite being available for free, with no stigma of piracy and active publisher encouragement to share copies of the PDF, players and fans of the game have been happily handing over their money both for PDF and hardcopy books ever since Eclipse Phase first launched. In the words of Adam Jury, a Posthuman Studios founder,

[N]o publishing company can successfully fight piracy. The RIAA hasn’t, the MPAA hasn’t. Piracy is going to happen unless we say “nope, you can’t pirate our stuff, cuz we’ll just let you give it out!” — and that makes the file-sharers like us and buy from us. I don’t think pirates are evil and immoral people. I know many people who pirate many things and these people also buy many things. They just tend to buy only things they already like. So, of course, giving away your material will only work if your material is good quality!

I'd much rather have someone read our game for free and not like it than buy our game and not like it. In the first case, they’re only out their time. In the second case, they’re out time and money and are more likely to resent us and/or not buy any other games we may release.

Furthermore, Creative Commons isn’t just about "downloading for free;" it’s about giving fans permission to hack our content and distribute those hacks. Permission to do the things that gamers naturally do, without fear of lawsuits or complex legalese or requiring our approval. Our fans have built and distributed complex character generation spreadsheets, customized GM Screens, converted our books into ePub/mobi format, and all sorts of neat things. When they do things like this, that gives us guidance as to what we should be doing: because fans aren’t just saying they want something, they’re putting their time where their mouth is ... a strong indication that they and other fans would be willing to pay for those things if we produced them.

This has always struck me as both a smart business decision and a humane one, and Eclipse Phase's success has proved that it's the right way to go. Treat people with respect, and it pays off. There is no need for gamers to pay for Eclipse Phase, but they do, because people are willing to pay for what they like.

And this point is proved with Transhuman, the Eclipse Phase Player's Guide (and next EP release). This is the first Eclipse Phase Kickstarter and it's been handled with Posthuman's typical approach to operating their business. Transhuman is in Open Playtesting, so Kickstarter customers can check out the book before they pledge. The pledge rewards packages are generous and well-considered bundles. And one of the early Stretch Goals was to give Transhuman's freelance contributors a 15% pay raise - a very humane and generous offer in an industry where freelancers (and most creators) earn very little for their work.

It probably comes as no surprise that Transhuman reached its funding goal in twelve hours and is at 530% of its goal as I write this. The success of Eclipse Phase's business model is a counterpoint to - and lesson for - publishers in any industry. Treat your customers with respect, don't assume they're going to rip you off, don't try to wring every cent out of them, and sell them a quality product: your customers will become fans, and they'll throw money at you.

As a postscript, I encourage you all to check out the Transhuman Kickstarter. If you're interested in pen-and-paper games or simply good science fiction, a twenty dollar pledge will net you the Eclipse Phase RPG and the Transhuman Player's Guide in PDF format, and there are a range of other pledge rewards offering more of the Eclipse Phase product line as well. Frankly, I'd have given them money even if I weren't a fan of Eclipse Phase, because I strongly believe that their approach to business is the right one, and I think that deserves my support. And the more success enjoyed by Eclipse Phase and other games like it, the more likely other publishers are to sit up and take notice, and accept that you don't have to treat your customers like criminals to make money.

Note: There's just over four days left on the Transhuman Kickstarter as I write this, so if you're interested, don't forget to check it out this weekend!

...but with lots of squee (hmm, does that count as a comment?)

The Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. trailer.

*flail*

I think today I will go on an MCU icon spree.

Just got back from seeing it, finally.

Verdict: Basically awesome, with some quibbles.

( Spoilery thoughts. )

I am really surprised I haven't seen more IM3-inspired fic from all the Avengers fanwriters I follow here and on AO3, though. Why is nobody writing things? o.O

What are you currently reading?

I'm in the middle of rereading Captain Marvel #10, so I can catch up on #11 and #12.

What did you recently finish reading?

Nothing since I last posted, omg. I've actually been quite busy lately, launching a new blog in collaboration with ze boyfriend, and getting that up and running (and generating the initial wave of content for it) has taken a reasonable amount of time. Plus I've taken the opportunity to teach myself InDesign to use in creating a lot of the content for it, which is rewarding but inefficient. None of which has anything to do with reading, other than to account for the fact that I haven't been.

What do you think you'll read next?

Captain Marvel 11 & 12, catching up on the last couple of Hawkeye issues, and - hooray! - my pile of Pratchetts arrived from Abebooks, so I shall be diving into those soon.

Sigh. I fail at posting, seriously, if this is the first time I've posted since last week's meme. To be fair, I've been busy. Also, I'm hopeless. :)

What are you currently reading?
Nada. I'm currently agonising over whether to buy Wee Free Men in ebook format or in hardcopy second-hand. I have nothing against ebooks and generally enjoy reading on my iPad, but I do actually have the first 30+ Discworld books in hardcopy and it would feel weird to stop now. I do have a non-legit ebook copy of Wee Free Men, but it has no paragraph/line breaks and is thus unreadable.

What did you recently finish reading?
I finally got through Lords and Ladies - it's a great book, but the first 20% or so pushes a whole bunch of my hate-buttons, so it took me a few runs at the book to get past that. And then I ploughed through Maskerade in a few hours, and Carpe Jugulum the next day. Now I'm running out of Granny Weatherwax books and that makes me sad.

What do you think you'll read next?
Wee Free Men and the other Tiffany Aching books, if I decide to bite the bullet and buy the ebooks. Otherwise, well, the next issue of Captain Marvel just hit the (electronic) stands, and I would buy that on principle even if I weren't loving it, which I am.

So I'm catching up on the current Captain Marvel book. I go back and forth on the art style - I mostly don't like it, but large amounts of bonus points for *not* featuring stupid Escher-girl poses and impractical costumes. But omg, Carol Danvers is awesome. Dear Marvel, please let me give you all my money in exchange for MORE OF THIS. Thankyou.

(I need Carol icons.)

If I wanted to read more about Carol Danvers, where would be the best place to start? ;-)

In Two Straight Lines in Rain or Shine by sienamystic. It's a lovely and entirely plausible Firefly/Avengers crossover. Enjoy!

Now that I have a shiny new iMac (*pats it happily*) I'm really itching to get back to vidding; it's been a long time since I made anything, and I miss it.

The trouble is, I am way way behind the curve on technical stuff - best practices for ripping and encoding for quality, that kind of thing. I have plenty of vid ideas, I'm just ... lacking in the confidence to tackle them, I guess.

Software-wise, I've got Final Cut Pro X + Motion + Compressor plus all the various freeware like MPEG Streamclip, and I think I may also have access to Adobe Premiere; I'm not sure whether my Creative Suite bundle included it or not.

So, vidly peoples, advice much welcome! On anything, really... just come and talk vidding to me!

And/or, does vidding chat still thrive anywhere? I wasn't there for long, back in the first days of Festivids, but I learnt a hell of a lot from it in a short span of time and everyone was awesomely friendly and helpful.

So, I watched Dredd (the 2012 iteration with Karl Urban and Lena Headey) the other night, and it was actually less horrible than I expected, and it was surprisingly less full of misogynist bullshit than I feared.

( Details inside, also spoilers. )

Don't get me wrong; it's not a *great* movie by any means, and there are definitely problems. (Like the gratuitous and sometimes really graphic violence.) But I was expecting this to be the archetypal dudely testosterone-laden action flick, and I was pleasantly surprised at how even-handed it was.

This is concrete proof that you can do Stupid Action Movies that appeal to guys without slapping every woman in the face as a prerequisite.

And so, the spoilery commentary/thoughts:

( here be spoilers )

Verdict: even if you like dumb action movies (which I do), this movie commits the unforgiveable sin of being dull. Give it a miss.

(Caveat: I can't tell how much of my opinion of the movie is coloured by my distaste for Tom Cruise.)

Swiped from tassosss:

Your main fandom of the year?
Avengers, primarily, plus I went back and rolled around in Star Trek some more for a while. I was 100% in consumption mode this year, not production, but in January I'm getting a new iMac (WOO) and thus vidding shall recommence.

Your favorite film you watched this year?
The Avengers. I saw quite a few movies this year - more than I've managed for the last few years, anyway - but The Avengers definitely came out on top.

Your favorite book read this year?
I am not sure I read anything new this year. I fail so hard. I'm in the middle of a few books at the moment, but haven't finished any of them. Now that I have a light, convenient e-reader (my iPad mini) I'm hoping to change that in 2013.

Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
On the song front, "Louder" by Katy B, "Gold Dust" by DJ Fresh, and "Black and Gold" by Sam Sparro. I'm moving away from listening to albums, so I can't identify any single release as being my favourite, although Exilarch from Conjure One would be a contender.

Your favorite tv show of the year?
As per previous meme, I watched a looooot less TV this year. Probably Castle or Elementary, I guess. Or Archer.

Your favorite DW/LJ community of the year?
Honestly, I really don't do that much with communities - less than I'd like, but I just haven't had the time to engage with fandom lately to find new comms, and the old ones I've historically read are very quiet these days.

Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
The fact that all the Avengers are like LBDs - they all look great with anyone. Seriously, I don't think there's a single Avengers-related pairing (and I include any of the related Marvel cinematic universe movies) that I can't buy. Avengers fandom is seriously the gift that keeps on giving.

Also, Darcy Lewis. <3

Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
The fact that so many of my favourite writers got sucked into fandoms I find actively offputting! ;-)

Your fandom boyfriend of the year?
I was too busy learning about my new RL one. ;-)

If I had to pick, though, I'd say Phil Coulson. (I'd LIKE to say Elementary-flavour Sherlock, but I'm not a masochist. Best adored from a distance.)

Your fandom girlfriend of the year?
DARCY LEWIS. The end.

Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Falling in love. :)

(What - who said it had to be about fandom? :))

The most missed of your old fandoms?
I'm sad about the quietness of ST:Reboot fandom, and I'm really looking forward to STID reviving enthusiasm for it.

The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
There isn't one, really, although I'm interested in checking out Nikita and trying to catch up with Leverage (although Leverage annoys me as much as pleases me).

Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year?
MOAR AVENGERS SHENANIGANS. Okay, so they're all in their own movies for the next couple of years, but it'll keep the fandom alive. Also, Star Trek Into Darkness WOOOOOOO.

*kermit arms*

Via musesfool:

Which TV shows did you start watching in 2012?

I've actually been watching a hell of a lot less TV in 2012 because of reasons (like, suddenly having a much fuller busier life, plus cohabiting). I'm fairly sure the only new thing I picked up this year was Elementary, and that was only last week. ;-)

Oh wait! I also started watching Babylon 5 with the boyfriend (well, he wasn't the boyfriend when we started watching it ;)) but I lost enthusiasm at the start of Season 4 when the plot-of-the-week structure suddenly turned into All Mytharc All The Time. I do intend to finish watching it, since the bf has said he'll watch Burn Notice with me after we're done with B5, but I'm finding it hard to summon the enthusiasm for it right now. A shame, as the first three seasons were great.

Which TV shows did you let go of in 2012?

Kind of all of them? I'm a season behind in NCIS, NCIS LA and Burn Notice, although I'm still avoiding spoilers and intending to watch them, I just... haven't. I'd done that with Castle, too, though I then binged on half a season and caught up, and now I'm a month behind again. (I have concerns about the new season of Castle, not because of execution but because of my issues, so I'm sort of not motivated to watch it right now.)

Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2012? Why?

The Legend of Korra. I watched the first couple of episodes but there were too many bits that hit my embarrassment squick because Korra makes so many faux pas in the first few episodes. I do want to watch it, because I loved AtLA so much, but there seems to be a bit of ambivalence amogst the fans so I'm not feeling any real urgency.

Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2013?

I'm more intending to catch up with the stuff I'm behind on: Burn Notice, Castle, NCIS, NCIS LA, QI. I'd like to finish B5, and maybe summon up the wherewithal to finish off Chuck and catch up with Leverage. Or maybe not.

Which TV show impressed you least in 2012?

Given how unengaged I was with pretty much all my shows, most of them. Plus there were so few interest-piquing prospects among the new shows of the season, too.

Which TV show did you enjoy the most in 2012?

My Red Dwarf rewatch, the first three seasons of Babylon 5, and Elementary.

418 stories in Skyfall fandom on the AO3.

308 are Bond/Q.

Guess how many are Bond/Moneypenny? (You know, the characters who actually had sexual tension and chemistry?)

Eight.

Hooray for internalised misogyny, fandom. No, really.

So, I saw Skyfall with the boyfriend and a friend tonight.

( Thoughts under the cut, spoilery. )

I'm sure I had more thoughts, but it's late. Goodnight, internets!

And I almost entirely agree with Abigail Nussbaum's review - be warned that it's spoilery, though. (One area where I disagree: I didn't find the prosthetics on JGL particularly distracting, though I agree with Nussbaum that JGL did a fantastic Young Bruce Willis impersonation.)

To be fair, the universal praise for Looper rather pumped up expectations, but I thought it was an interesting but very flawed film.

( My thoughts, also spoilery. )

TL;DR - some of the details were clever, and I thought JGL did a fantastic job as a younger version of Bruce Willis, but I really don't see what the critics were raving about.

Vid idea: The Avengers teamvid to 'Spectrum' by Florence + the Machine.

(That's all, carry on.)

Because I'm only just home from an exhausting weekend, have a meme, by way of musesfool:

"Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.

I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese knives, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, margarita glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, and fondue sets languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards."

(I don't actually make jam, but the jam funnel's neck is huge and really handy for pouring staples out of a 5kg bag into a storage canister. The coffee grinder gets used for spices. And I really need to get that slow cooker out and start using it!)

I really, really want someone to vid Tony Stark to Lapdance by N.E.R.D. so I don't have to. Come on, surely someone's already done it, right? It's just made for Tony.

http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/172437-joss-whedons-shield-comes-to-abc

It was revealed earlier this month that Joss Whedon had signed an exclusive deal with Marvel Studios to, among other things, help develop a new live action series for Marvel Television at ABC. Today, Deadline has revealed that, now greenlit by ABC, the series will be titled "S.H.I.E.L.D." and will focus on the top secret defense organization featured throughout the Marvel cinematic universe.

Whedon will write the pilot alongside his brother, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen (who previously worked with Whedon on "Dollhouse" and "Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"). All three will also join Jeffrey Bell and Jeph Loeb as executive producers. The site notes that Whedon may also direct the pilot, but that nothing is confirmed at this time.

It remains to be seen which, if any, actors and/or characters from the Marvel Studios films are planned to appear on the show, though it's very likely that "S.H.I.E.L.D" will have direct ties to future Marvel Studios cinematic entries, including the Whedon scripted and directed Marvel's The Avengers 2, set for release on May 1, 2015.

That high-pitched "EEEEEEEEEEEE" sound you can hear? Yeah, that's coming from me.

*flaaaaaaaail*

Edit: also yay, Kat Dennings is confirmed for Thor 2. \o/ (Along with all the others, etc etc, except Zachary Levi instead of Josh Dallas for Fandral. But who cares, Darcy's the one that matters!)

Thoughts under the cut. Spoilers, natch.

( Here! )

The Australian Marriage Equality campaign has been pushing hard for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples in Australia of late, and offers a nifty service where you can find out where your elected representatives stand on the issue. It also offers a form where you can send messages directly to your state senators and local MP to express your desire for them to support the issue, so when it was publicised on Twitter recently I did that.

Yesterday I got a response back from the office of Senator Claire Moore, one of the two Labor senators for Queensland. She was already a supporter, but I found it refreshing that there's little in the way of weasel wordery or conservative appeasement in her response:

( Her office's response under the cut. )

So bravo, Senator Moore. I'll be voting for you come the next election.

Baking! It's something I've never been terribly good at, because I've never bothered practising - because I've been living alone for the last decade or more, which means I'd wind up eating everything :)

Now that I have someone to feed the products to, though, I'm trying to get some more baking practise in. So, for starters, feel free to rec me your favourite baking recipes!

( Tonight's effort! )

It is so awesome to see the Avengers squee all over my flist. I saw it ten days ago and adored it, and have been waiting eagerly for ALL THE FIC and ALL THE REACTION POSTS ever since.

The only thing better than the Avengers movie is the fannish squee it engenders.