Permadeath

A friend's child didn't get the summer job that was expected. It was the first time in a short life that a rejection that couldn't be changed happened.  Shock and awe, along with lots of questioning ensued. I was not surprised as we have a generation plus now who don't know what it means to not play on the team or to not be able to do things over until they reach satisfaction.  It seems that now, everyone, regardless if the team wins or loses, gets to get out on the field or court and play.  In videogames we let you start over and over and nothing really ended, or died...until now.  Games are making the turn to what is called "Permadeath".  That means that once the character or figure dies, they don't come back.  I remember this being experimented with in the late 90's only to receive outrage from customers who claimed that they had the right to bring the character back over and over. Who is to know what is best, but I don't see that much harm in teaching the next generation that loss and rejection are real and that we need to learn the lesson early, not wait until employers and business have to be the first to hand out the word, "no".

The Heat Seekers Will Always Be There First!

Beyonce surprised everyone (well maybe Jay Z knew) with her new album last week.  With no marketing, no pre-hype build up, no leaks, no radio promotional copies, no early singles, she just released a full album with music videos prepared and all.  With her record breaking sales of 828,773 albums sold on itunes in the first 3 days, she proved that the heat seekers still are out there. 

We think we need to prime the market to get the hard core fans the people who want what they can't get to be there first. Beyonce proves that the "heat seekers", the ones who want it first, show up no matter when and how they hear about it. The PS4 and the XBox One also both saw their heat seeking fans this holiday season.   The videogame consoles have to tell everyone well ahead of time because they need the developers to be building games that will play on them when they are shipped, but I suspect that if everything could be kept under wraps (like Beyonce did), that they too could prove that the heat seekers will always be there. 

Do you know who your heat seekers are in your business?

Story Layering

It was once unheard of that someone could/would be able to take a piece of fiction and be able to manipulate the story or add their own layers.  It would be considered somehow disrespectful to add on or have an idea that is different than what the creator intended.  And the, copyright laws would be the enforcer of this sacred ground. But, the world has changed. 

Not only has the internet opened up the possibilities, but even creators and artists realized that having other collaborators, including fans, get engaged had a positive multiplying effect. My best friend from college went to work for Disney in the early 90's.  He was given a Disney character bible that detailed what characters could do and not do and as you can imagine, it was strict.  No one messed with Mickey Mouse.  By the early 2000's Disney had licensed their characters to the makers of the Final Fantasy video game for a successful video game called Kingdom Hearts.  This week Disney promoted their Story Theater apps where kids can now manipulate the characters and story lines to create their own stories for others to experience.  The same is happening in the book industry as Amazon Singles now give a place for these types of layered stories to live.  This all points back to the desire and advantage of engaged consumers and fans.

I can also make the argument that Mark Twain understood this better than anyone when he created the character Tom Sawyer who knew that getting others to paint the fence for him was the best way to go.

(For a further faith based application of this post you can visit:  http://purposedworking.blogspot.com/ )