Hypothesis: The New Entrepreneurianism

[Or, How many times can I adjust the meaning of a word by adding suffixes?]

Okay, here's an off-the-cuff theory looking for discussion. The recession is a horror, and is going to have some nasty cultural side-effects, but I am beginning to suspect that there may be a balancing factor. Commentators have talked a lot about the way that it makes people more risk-averse, afraid to take chances that might make life harder for them, and this is probably true. But on the flip side, I've noticed a fair number of people who are starting to take side jobs a lot more seriously than they used to -- things that might once have been viewed as spare-time projects are, necessarily, being treated as potential sources of income, and thus are being treated with a lot of care. More precisely, I'm pleased but slightly surprised by the degree of success that several of my friends are having with their personal side-jobs, largely because they're taking them very seriously *as* jobs.

So the theory is that we may get a small but non-trivial generation of new, more-experienced entrepreneurs of all sorts out of this: people who have learned to set up businesses more carefully, in an environment that doesn't have as much loose money and thus you can't be as careless about what you're doing.

Opinions?

Hypothesis: The New Entrepreneurianism

[Or, How many times can I adjust the meaning of a word by adding suffixes?]

Okay, here's an off-the-cuff theory looking for discussion. The recession is a horror, and is going to have some nasty cultural side-effects, but I am beginning to suspect that there may be a balancing factor. Commentators have talked a lot about the way that it makes people more risk-averse, afraid to take chances that might make life harder for them, and this is probably true. But on the flip side, I've noticed a fair number of people who are starting to take side jobs a lot more seriously than they used to -- things that might once have been viewed as spare-time projects are, necessarily, being treated as potential sources of income, and thus are being treated with a lot of care. More precisely, I'm pleased but slightly surprised by the degree of success that several of my friends are having with their personal side-jobs, largely because they're taking them very seriously *as* jobs.

So the theory is that we may get a small but non-trivial generation of new, more-experienced entrepreneurs of all sorts out of this: people who have learned to set up businesses more carefully, in an environment that doesn't have as much loose money and thus you can't be as careless about what you're doing.

Opinions?

Fealty preorders getting down to the wire...

... and it's turning into a serious success.

I've mentioned Fealty before, the about-to-be-published board game by mindways. I got to teach a few more people at Pennsic (yay!), although not nearly as many as I'd intended (boo!). But the Kickstarter campaign has been a rousing success -- with about two days left, they've nicely surpassed the success mark, so the initial print run will be a whopping five thousand copies. I strongly recommend the game to anybody who likes strategy: I've generally been describing Fealty as the best *quick* strategy game I know, giving you some real thought in a game that can take as little as ten minutes. So if that's your sort of thing, consider getting a pre-order through Kickstarter: the $35 level gets you a copy including shipping. (Within the continental US.)

Which brings up point 2: the price has dropped. (Yay!) They played around with the production, and managed to come up with a design that works at a $30 price point. This is excellent news: while it felt a bit pricey at $40, I can say honestly that I think it's a fine value at $30.

The game is gradually building more and more buzz -- various reviews are cropping up on BoardGameGeek and elsewhere. And mindways has posted a neat Designer Diary, laying out the evolution of the game (which has a very big-bang flavor: massive changes happening in the first few microseconds, and then slowly settling down into getting it right) -- it's good reading for anybody into game design.

So check it out, and think about a preorder if you like strategy games.

(Disclaimer: I don't have any direct connection to the success here, but I've been playtesting it since the beginning, and am very fond of the game. So I'd like to see it succeed...)

Fealty preorders getting down to the wire...

... and it's turning into a serious success.

I've mentioned Fealty before, the about-to-be-published board game by mindways. I got to teach a few more people at Pennsic (yay!), although not nearly as many as I'd intended (boo!). But the Kickstarter campaign has been a rousing success -- with about two days left, they've nicely surpassed the success mark, so the initial print run will be a whopping five thousand copies. I strongly recommend the game to anybody who likes strategy: I've generally been describing Fealty as the best *quick* strategy game I know, giving you some real thought in a game that can take as little as ten minutes. So if that's your sort of thing, consider getting a pre-order through Kickstarter: the $35 level gets you a copy including shipping. (Within the continental US.)

Which brings up point 2: the price has dropped. (Yay!) They played around with the production, and managed to come up with a design that works at a $30 price point. This is excellent news: while it felt a bit pricey at $40, I can say honestly that I think it's a fine value at $30.

The game is gradually building more and more buzz -- various reviews are cropping up on BoardGameGeek and elsewhere. And mindways has posted a neat Designer Diary, laying out the evolution of the game (which has a very big-bang flavor: massive changes happening in the first few microseconds, and then slowly settling down into getting it right) -- it's good reading for anybody into game design.

So check it out, and think about a preorder if you like strategy games.

(Disclaimer: I don't have any direct connection to the success here, but I've been playtesting it since the beginning, and am very fond of the game. So I'd like to see it succeed...)