Kotaku, a question [ December 10th, 2008 ] Posted in » PC

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Is it me, or has anyone else noticed that the number of posts on Kotaku’s pages seem to be decreasing at an alarming rate.  I’ve noticed this pattern over the last couple of weeks.  But before I said anything, and potentially looked like an idiot (or is that more of an idiot?) I wanted to make sure.  And now I am. 

Kotaku, as with all Gawker Network, sites use “more” button you have to click to read the rest of the article.  Can we all just agree this is a stupid idea?  The main reason for having a design like that is to track what articles are “viewed”.  It certainly doesn’t help the reader any by having to click a link 1 paragraph into a story.  Especially when Kotaku stories are very short to begin with. 

Gawker Network recently announced it was cutting back staff, despite making a profit.  They sited “troubling economic times” as the reason.  So who did they cut?  They cut employees from The Consummerist - a website devoted to helping people with financial issues.  So their most (socially) important website they cut when it’s “needed” most.

And that’s exactly what worries me - Kotaku, and the rest of the Gawker Network, are making a lot of “bottom line” decisions instead of thinking of the consumer.  I think companies should be allowed to do whatever they want in order to make money.  But as a consumer, and as one of their customers, I don’t like the direction they are going.  I’ve left websites (Eurogamer) and stores (I’m looking at you Circuit City) because of poor value/customer experience.  Kotaku is no different.  I find myself going there less and less, and I don’t even bother to check out Gizmodo anymore (for the same reasons as listed above).

Kotaku, while a little heavy on the nerd snark at times has always had valuable news.  But if I have to click additional links to read something, and sift through more advertisements with less content, then I’ll just find another place to read about games. 

I suspect any day now they’ll just have one post, and it will be a link to an advertiser. 

   

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The Origins of GAUGE

Odin's avatar

As we explained in a brief introduction, The Save Spot came about as a fun way for three college roommates to keep in touch and find time for gaming in our busy lives.  It’s been years since our shared experience at Gettysburg College, a small school in Pennsylvania, and we now live far apart – one of us in the East, one in the Midwest, and one on the West coast of the US.  Remarkably, we’ve kept in touch over the intervening years and had a lot of fun in the process.  Recently, we’ve made it a priority to get together for an extended weekend once or twice a year for a concentrated dose of video games, movies, great food, and adult beverages.  As this extended-weekend get-together became a tradition, we gave it a name – GAUGE. 

 

Our Gettysburg Alumni Ultimate Gaming and Entertainment events (Nerdy acronym?  Check!) are a way that we make time for friends and for games.  A typical day in GAUGE involves video games interrupted only for food and movies (and, grudgingly, sleep!)  Since we’re all way too busy to enjoy gaming binges like this in our ‘regular’ lives, GAUGE gives us something fun to look forward to.  It’s also a lot of fun to plan for and to look back on afterwards (What games should we play?  Old-school, portable, shooter, rpg?  What movies and food?  Remember how we skillfully utilized three televisions last year to meet as many of our gaming goals as possible?)  Basically, it’s just a whole lot of fun!

 

In our case, GAUGE has always meant travel for two of us and recently it has meant long plane trips (we used to live closer together).  There are a lot of ways we could make time for online gaming together, but being all in the same place really opens up a lot of possibilities: co-op games or retro games that you can’t play online, the shared experience that includes the movies, food and drink, and a chance to catch up in person.  If you can make time to get together in person with your gaming buddies, we highly recommend it!

 

We’re in the process of preparing for GAUGE VII right now, actually, having set aside a five-day weekend around Memorial Day for this year’s event.  So, expect to be seeing more details about our plans in the coming weeks!  First, we’ll offer some more details on past events: what has made for a successful GAUGE event, and some of the innovations in recent events that have been especially fun.  So, keep an eye on The Save Spot for more information to follow.  Do you have a gaming tradition with your friends?  If so, tell us about it in the comments!

 

 

May 1st, 2008 | 2 Comments
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