Social Bookmarking Soul Mate: Dark Alex
The person i found to be my social bookmarking soulmate is the del.icio.us user named “Dark_Alex.” His linked profile is as follows: -
-A really addictive building game (that is for some reason pitched as a “ball” game)
-An online resource for modding (that i won’t link to as it is illegal)
A handful of URLs, to be sure, but they are each both unique and informative to him and to the community we work with. His commentary on his bookmarks is pretty brief, but his links speak for him. Youtube and Wikipedia, together, show he’s active in the online social community, the modding and tech parts store showcase his technofile nature, the building game and the dr.mcninja site explain his cultural tastes.
Far and away, for me, was the gem of the modding website. As a member of the gaming community i’m well versed in all aspects of the industry, both foreign and domestic, which means i’m all about importing (half my friends were playing the japanese copy of Super Smash Bros.: Brawl the second day it came out in Japan). However, despite being aware of import/foreign purchases, it hadn’t occured to me what that entailed.
1) Imports need mod chips to work on domestic consoles (you can also import a foreign console, but unless you’re willing to shell out extra money or can read the language its not an option)
2) Mod chips not only unlock foreign versions of games but can unlock hacks and enable pirated software.
It was this second point I failed to foresee. There’s more to gaming than the up-and-up software industry – one has just to look at the BitTorrent service to see how rampant piracy is in the community. Furthermore, burned games are also a problem for the community – just like music downloads, but worse in that instead of a $20 album or a $1 song its a $60 game. Please understand that there is an entire sub-culture dedicated to gaming for free. All you need is a computer/console, a pirated copy/a mod chip, and you’re golden. This has untold financial ramifications on the developers and publishers but for the illegal consumers this isn’t a matter of responsibility as much as an issue of ease of use. In there eyes, the issue can pretty much be summed up as ”if i can get it for free online instead of going to the store and spending $50, why go to the store? Everyone’s doing it anyway”
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