Production Week--July Issue

It's production week on the mag, which means that by Friday, we'll have sent all the PDFs of all of the pages of the July issue to the printer. It's like finals week in college...except that we have finals week every 28 days, and we never graduate.

Not that that's all bad--you may recall that finals week, while to some degrees hellish, can also be kind of fun. If things are moving along at a good clip--which, I'm happy to report, they are here this week--then even though you're under the gun to get stuff completed and corrected and sent, the pressure element is kind of fun. There's a certain camaraderie among the stuff, and super-concentrated bursts of work are punctuated by the super-silly bursts of humor that only happen when people are under pressure and a little bit tired.

There's a tipping point, of course--if things aren't going well (a game is too broken to finish, the printer isn't working, the server is full, someone's come down with the flu, the polybag was misprinted, a last-minute ad is coming in or dropping out), or if everyone's really under-rested, then the goofing off ends up giving way to some raw nerves. It's all part of the process of putting out a magazine, and no one takes it personally or holds a grudge when one of us has a little personality explosion. But I'm happy to report that this week hasn't been that kind of production week. The mini-disasters that always come up have been handled with aplomb, everyone's been getting home at a reasonable hour and getting enough not-at-work time, and to boot, a new giant beanbag showed up in the office. Bonus!

Beta Testing

People who really love games will go to great lengths to become beta testers on upcoming titles they're really into. I understand the appeal: everyone likes being first, everyone likes being part of something exclusive, and everyone likes being able to take credit for participating in something, especially if it ends up being something big and famous. Oh, and everyone likes free stuff, and when you play in a beta, you're getting to play a game early and for free.

But you're also signing up to be a development-team's gaming guinea pig, prostrating your in-game experience at the feet of their progress. Sunk a bunch of time into creating a character and leveling it up? Too bad--all characters get wiped during the next patch. Only have time to play on the weekends? Not this weekend--it'll take at least that long to download the 5GB patch you'll need...you know, the one that's wiping out all of your progress up to now. Server booting you off? Client crashing every 45 seconds? Framerates in the teens? Forget calling tech support--you essentially are tech support, helping the developers to zoom in on and hopefully eliminate problems and their causes, so that all the future paying customers don't have to deal with them.

Of course, given what I do for a living, I'd rather know that someone (not necessarily me, but someone) is testing out a game before it's released and people spend their money it. Now that I've had some experiences playing games in beta form, I think I've revised my opinion on actually being a beta tester: I think I'd rather test a game I wasn't excited about--testing one you are looking forward to and running into constant problems turns out to be no less frustrating than if you'd bought it and discovered them. Except of course that you're not out $50.

I Love a Good Bruise

Which is good, because I get them all the time. I'm clumsy, and I run into things and fall down a lot. Like Chevy Chase, but shorter and less rich. But it makes me feel like my bruises are proof that I am up and around and doing things, because just sitting still on the couch doesn't mark you up any, now, does it?

This weekend's bruises are a result of gardening at Tracey's and Chris' house. I may have mentioned that I planted some tomatoes in my own yard recently, but that's about the extent of my gardening experience. My sister and Chris own an actual house with an actual yard, where Tracey is now enacting an actual Gardening Vision that involves a lot of hole-digging and dirt-moving and dandelion-demolishing. That last one is where I came in: I waged full-scale war on the dandelions colonizing Tracey's front lawn, and as a result, I am boasting a quarter-sized bruise on my palm. It's not comfortable, but I actually don't mind it--gardening, as it turns out, is actually rather strenuous, good exercise, like playing soccer, and this sort of makes me feel like I was involved in something heavy-duty like a contact sport.


Also, Happy Birthday to Nicole! And hooray for Sian, who will be here soon!