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Yup. It's not the beginning of the month if I don't drag my lazy butt over to the computer and write something for this page. I have a spare half hour until I get trained to install a software package so I can go up to DC tomorrow and help install it in a customer's office (this paragraph intentionally left vague), so I thought I'd write a bit about stuff that's been going around in my head this holiday season. Well, not the season, actually. Just today.

The first note is a bit of a plug. I used to subscribe to a gaming magazine called Shadis. I'd provide a link, but the magazine has since ceased publishing. This really sucked, for two big reasons.

1. I really liked the magazine. Even though it was owned by a game company, it wasn't focused on any one game system, so it had stuff for the various White Wolf games, Cthulhu, Champions, D&D, GURPS, as well as just some general settings that you could plug in to a game after you made the numbers up for it.
2. I had just renewed my subscription.

Actually, I never received notice that the magazine had ceased publication. I got a notice that they were going to have a spring hiatus, and then a notice that the hiatus was being extended, but I never got anything that said no more. A few weeks ago I decided to actually send them an email asking what the status of Shadis was.

I got back this really nice letter saying that, yes, Shadis was deadski. However, they were trying to make up for it by offering people a $2 rebate at that company's internet store, and I had an $18 credit coming my way.

Not being the type to pass up money towards gaming stuff (even if it was for games I'd never played), I headed over to the store, and came to the sort of sticker shock that most gaming books now, at least the "core" books, cost about $30. Oh, well. Times change, and I should suck it up.

I decided that the system I was most interested in (pirate, swashbucklers, secret societies, intrigue, duels, magic) was one that had 2 core books -- a players book and a GM book. They had 1 system that was 1 core book, but it was a sort of fantasy Japan setting, and try as I might, that's just not too interesting to me. So, I wrote back, saying that I was interested in the players guide, and she should let me know what the balance was that I owed, and how I should pay it.

I just got mail today saying that she's feeling holiday-spirited, so she'll just send me the book, and I don't have to worry about the extra, or shipping & handling. Woo-hoo!

So, my request to you is to go look at these people's games. The company is the Alderac Entertainment Group, and the game I'm getting is 7th Sea (yes, I think the slogan on the 7th Sea T-shirt is wonderful, and I may just buy myself one once Christmas is past).

Anyway, on to matters of geekiness...

Last year, I would have been as happy as a clam to buy everyone's presents from Amazon.com, if only they'd stocked stuff other than books, CDs, and videos. This year, I probably could buy everyone's presents from there if I wanted. But how things change in a year.

You have to understand, when I first heard about Amazon, years ago, I thought it was an absolute godsend. Buying books? Over the Internet? Genius! And I browsed. Browsing at Amazon is a little odder than browsing at a bookstore, but you can still do it if you can sit through the time it takes the pages to download.

But lately, Amazon's gone from being a really cool place to big poopy-heads.

See, what they did was take the 1-Click concept (once you've registered at Amazon, you can click on a button and you've automagically ordered that item) and patent it. Now they're suing people for using similar ordering widgets on their websites.

First, I think it's incredibly arrogant to patent that sort of idea. "We were the first people to come up with the idea of having customers buy something with only one-click." Nevertheless, the patent was granted, which I think mostly just says something about the mouth-breathers running the patent office.

Next, to sue someone over it...? Granted, they're suing Barnes & Noble, probably because B&N competes with Amazon for those precious Holiday dollars, but still. Am I the only person who things this is horribly wrong? I mean, if someone copied your patent for a really valuable product that took a lot of work to develop, then sure. Sue them. But this... is this really hard? Don't tell me this hasn't been done before. I'm sure it has.

So, anyway, now I'm not buying stuff at Amazon.com anymore... *sigh* Shit.