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The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

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Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#111

Post by oneoff786 »

hbn wrote: post #51
oneoff786 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nintendo has a lot of cash and is more of a toy company than a console company. I tend to think they will be fine. Their weakest link is almost certainly their marketing team. The Wii U was really cool. Nintendo Land was insanely fun. The asymmetric local multiplayer was cool as shit. But nobody understood this. Most people didn’t know the Wii U was a different console.

It's also wild how they flubbed the name so hard with the Wii U, right after they flubbed the name with the 3DS that had the same issue in early days, where people thought it was just another variant of the DS (which already had several variants previously) Then once the 3DS had some success, they had to confuse everyone once again with the "new 3DS" which I suppose was at least less of an issue since it wasn't reall…

Oh man I forgot about the new 3DS. I think they were going for a “New Super Mario Bros” vibe. But that was atrocious.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#112

Post by crooked-v »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #32
Dylan16807 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but tentatively I think the answer is yes. They avoid the legal standards for employment by abusing a 'contractor' legal status. A contractor is supposed to be an outside expert, not a sub-employee.

A contractor is supposed to be a person operating a business that provides services on a contract basis, a contractors business is no different from any other business that provides professional services. A contractor engages in this work knowing that they are exchanging all of their employment rights for better remuneration. This is how I personally manage to get paid anywhere between $200-$500/hour, and the only pe…

> a person operating a business that provides services on a contract basis

That's obviously not the case with the contractors described in the story, who are blatantly just direct employees in all regards except with less benefits.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#113

Post by Dylan16807 »

EarlKing wrote: post #85
barry-cotter wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now imagine being a naive post-teenager Adult. The word you’re looking for is adult.

That's exactly the word they're not looking for. They don't want to admit that they made poor life choices and paid for them. Once you hit the age of majority you're a functioning adult and you don't get to make excuses anymore. If you make a bad deal then you make a bad deal. The trick is to realize that "bad deals" can be transmuted into good deals with a little spiritual alchemy. In my case I traded roughly a year…

> That's exactly the word they're not looking for. They don't want to admit that they made poor life choices and paid for them.

Why are you making this personal?

> Once you hit the age of majority you're a functioning adult and you don't get to make excuses anymore. If you make a bad deal then you make a bad deal.

That's a very cruel way to look at the situation, when many new adults have zero negotiating experience.

> TL;DR People really need an education in career development, and clearly they're not getting it.

Yes, they do. Not getting that education, as a child, is not a poor life choice! It's not a high schooler's fault to not get a good education there, and it doesn't suddenly become your fault the day you turn 18.

You can expect someone to learn these things after some years in the workforce. Before that it's all the more important for society to keep things in line and prevent abuses.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#114

Post by AmericanChopper »

crooked-v wrote: post #112
AmericanChopper wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A contractor is supposed to be a person operating a business that provides services on a contract basis, a contractors business is no different from any other business that provides professional services. A contractor engages in this work knowing that they are exchanging all of their employment rights for better remuneration. This is how I personally manage to get paid anywhere between $200-$500/hour, and the only pe…

> a person operating a business that provides services on a contract basis That's obviously not the case with the contractors described in the story, who are blatantly just direct employees in all regards except with less benefits.

That’s how pretty much all of my contracting engagements work.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#115

Post by EarlKing »

hammyhavoc wrote: post #105
EarlKing wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then don't work there, or do as I directed and leverage time there to get better work elsewhere. A company that is determined to treat people as "human resources" will not be deterred just because you complain. It will be deterred only by failure. So let them fail and in the meantime use their failure as a means to get a leg up yourself.

"Then don't work there". Christ, what privilege.

ITT we learn that making intelligent decisions that require sacrifice is somehow "privilege"... but whining about making bad decisions isn't.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#116

Post by toast0 »

fasdfasf wrote: post #89
abxytg wrote: post #66

You can see this in their offerings. They are consistently 10+ years behind the times in terms of multiplayer and online. That they are still so popular is a credit to how divorced from reality multi national corporate mega giants can be and still succeed. Their games and online offerings, for the most part, frankly suck compared to their competitors. They are alive purely on the strength of the 5% of good games they…

>They are consistently 10+ years behind the times in terms of multiplayer and online. That they are still so popular is a credit to how divorced from reality multi national corporate mega giants can be and still succeed have you considered that you might be the one divorced from reality and the average consumer does not care about this?

I mean... I don't play a lot of online stuff, but the switch games I've played are pretty terrible. Matchmaking for Tetris 99 takes forever (Mario 99 was slow too). Trying to play Splatoon 2 online with a friend works great if one friend was already playing, then the other friend can queue up to be in their group for the next round. But if two people want to start at the same time, good luck. Especially if one or both are younger children and don't have the patience or perserverance to hit the right buttons every time.

I'm pretty sure forming a group and then finding a match was possible 10+ years ago.

Of course, that doesn't mean the average consumer cares. I'm not even sure I care that much (I'd pay for the online service and play more Tetris 99 if matchmaking was faster though... I don't like sitting around waiting to play, so I do other things instead)

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#117

Post by EarlKing »

munk-a wrote: post #100
EarlKing wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly the word they're not looking for. They don't want to admit that they made poor life choices and paid for them. Once you hit the age of majority you're a functioning adult and you don't get to make excuses anymore. If you make a bad deal then you make a bad deal. The trick is to realize that "bad deals" can be transmuted into good deals with a little spiritual alchemy. In my case I traded roughly a year…

On whose shoulders does the lack of a good education about labour rights lie on? The individual or the society that values bootstrap-pull-up-ness above all else? People should be allowed to make mistakes in life, that's how we get innovation and economic growth - experiments are sometimes good and sometimes bad. In a lot of cases these new labour market entrants don't have any comprehension of what working actually m…

> On whose shoulders does the lack of a good education about labour rights lie on?

Doesn't matter. You only have control over one person: You.

> Allowing big powerful corporations to beat up young individuals doesn't benefit society, it entrenches power which tends to lead to corruption.

No, it really doesn't, but do you have any control over that?

> The example you're offering is working for a year at Amazon and tightening your belt a little - a large portion of Americans make just enough money so that they can fall deeper into debt each year while slowly.

That occurs precisely because "a large portion of Americans" buy McMansions they cannot afford, have families they cannot afford, and otherwise spend well beyond their means. They're trying to have the life their parents and grandparents had and they're trying to have it immediately even though economic conditions do not support that. In short: They made bad decisions.

> I, unlike you, worked for a bit at a video game company and also had to tighten my belt... and I managed to save maybe 13k while not drinking or partying or indulging in any luxuries.

Only? Did you live on your own or with your parents or roommates? Did you have a car or did you use public transportation? And how long is "a bit"?

> Your experience was extremely lucky.

Luck had nothing to do with it. I don't have a wife and kids. I don't own my own home. I sacrificed having that immediately in order to get ahead. Now that things are beginning to work out for me I can explore the possibility of having a family. That wasn't luck... that was planning.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#118

Post by EarlKing »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #113
EarlKing wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly the word they're not looking for. They don't want to admit that they made poor life choices and paid for them. Once you hit the age of majority you're a functioning adult and you don't get to make excuses anymore. If you make a bad deal then you make a bad deal. The trick is to realize that "bad deals" can be transmuted into good deals with a little spiritual alchemy. In my case I traded roughly a year…

> That's exactly the word they're not looking for. They don't want to admit that they made poor life choices and paid for them. Why are you making this personal? > Once you hit the age of majority you're a functioning adult and you don't get to make excuses anymore. If you make a bad deal then you make a bad deal. That's a very cruel way to look at the situation, when many new adults have zero negotiating experience.…

> Why are you making this personal?

Why are you avoiding responsibility? You don't control the world. You only control yourself. Change the things you can change.

> That's a very cruel way to look at the situation, when many new adults have zero negotiating experience.

Almost no adults have any negotiating experience. That doesn't change anything. You're still responsible for your own actions. You will make mistakes. You will fail. You're still expected to get up and try again.

> Yes, they do. Not getting that education, as a child, is not a poor life choice!

...but refusing to seek it out as an adult is. I didn't have someone to teach me these things. I learned them the hard way like everyone else.

> It's not a high schooler's fault to not get a good education there, and it doesn't suddenly become your fault the day you turn 18.

Actually, yes, that's exactly what it means. As an adult you are responsible for your own condition. No one else owes you anything.

> You can expect someone to learn these things after some years in the workforce. Before that it's all the more important for society to keep things in line and prevent abuses.

...which isn't going to happen. OTOH, individuals can learn how to adapt to the way things are and make things better for themselves. I find it interesting that teaching people how to take advantage of the present system and better themselves is viewed as "making this personal" and somehow a bad thing, whereas complaining and accomplishing nothing is not.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#119

Post by fasdfasf »

toast0 wrote: post #116
fasdfasf wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>They are consistently 10+ years behind the times in terms of multiplayer and online. That they are still so popular is a credit to how divorced from reality multi national corporate mega giants can be and still succeed have you considered that you might be the one divorced from reality and the average consumer does not care about this?

I mean... I don't play a lot of online stuff, but the switch games I've played are pretty terrible. Matchmaking for Tetris 99 takes forever (Mario 99 was slow too). Trying to play Splatoon 2 online with a friend works great if one friend was already playing, then the other friend can queue up to be in their group for the next round. But if two people want to start at the same time, good luck. Especially if one or bot…

in my experience the tetris matchmaking takes like 30 seconds to start a new match. doesnt feel any noticeably slower than the time between COD matches or something on xbox

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#120

Post by abxytg »

mpyne wrote: post #77
abxytg wrote: post #66

You can see this in their offerings. They are consistently 10+ years behind the times in terms of multiplayer and online. That they are still so popular is a credit to how divorced from reality multi national corporate mega giants can be and still succeed. Their games and online offerings, for the most part, frankly suck compared to their competitors. They are alive purely on the strength of the 5% of good games they…

> That they are still so popular is a credit to how divorced from reality multi national corporate mega giants can be and still succeed. Well, that and the size of the market itself. > Their games and online offerings, for the most part, frankly suck compared to their competitors. Their online offerings, sure, I guess. But their games are good, even on their consoles that don't sell well. Nintendo made a lot of money…

Most of the mario and zelda ports yes.
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