It was 102 degrees today at Sea-Tac airport. What that means? Is we just had the hottest day in recorded history for Seattle. So when I come on here and I’m all like “HOTTEST. DAY. EVER.” I just want you all to know that it’s not hyperbole. Today was literally te hottest day ever in this city. I actually didn’t have to deal with the worst of it. I spent the early part of the day in my air-conditioned office and the rest of it in my air-conditioned living room. I did have to take a brief AC break to attend my improv class, which I’ve decided is worth my time even if I never become half-decent at improv, because the thing is I laugh for the entire two-and-a-half hour class. I laugh at the skits that are good. I laugh at the skits that are bad. I laugh at my own skits when they’re really really bad. I pretty much just laugh the whole time. It takes me out of all the insanity in the rest of my life, and I’m just having fun. I think that’s what I’d originally hoped to get out of the experience when I first signed up. Plus I’m making friends! They’re inviting me to their parties! I feel special. :)
So, as I’d mentioned earlier, I’m looking for new career opportunities (and will always follow that statement with “No, Evil Beet is not dying. It may change, but it’s not going away.”) I’m finding myself very intrigued by the casual gaming industry, and it’s at the top of my employment hopes.
As a result, I’ve basically spent the past few days immersing myself in the world of casual gaming — which, by the way, is different from “core” gaming, like the MMORPGs you see teenage boys playing all night long (and, ya know, I had a roommate who was 31 and his bedroom had an inflatable mattress and $10K of gamer paraphernalia and he never, ever left it.) Casual gaming refers to a market of mostly women who play light, fun, simple games that get very addictive very quickly. (Check out GameHouse.com for what I’m talking about.) I’ve played like 100 different types of games in the past two days. I’ve read everything I can get my hands on about the industry and where it’s going and how it’s changing. But I find there’s nothing more useful in these things that actually sitting down and talking to the people who are using the product. So if you use casual games (remember this can also include iPhone games, Facebook games, etc), tell me more about you and how you use them. When do you play them? Where do you get them from? How long do you play them for. What do you get out of playing them? I think the audience of this blog overlaps considerably with the audience for casual gaming, so I’m interested to hear your thoughts. You guys are always amazing with the suggestions.
