Is Skinning ALL Stardock Is About?
Or could it be they cater to wider interests?
Monday, August 15, 2005 by Zoomba | Discussion: Virtual Communities
Over time I started to explore the other sites and products from Stardock. I gave Object Desktop another spin and found it vastly improved since I had last visited the product set, and I found that there were other games for me to play. But to play them I needed a Dregnin subscription, so I got a discounted subscription since I was a GalCiv owner and got access to the rest of the Stardock games. While I was diving deep into the other products offered by Stardock, I stumbled on this site called JoeUser, yet another web log site. The difference here was the community focus and the style of articles written. It wasn't like LiveJournal where people whined and complained because their 8th grade boyfriend/girlfriend hadn't called in the past 2 hours and they missed them so much and how their parents just didn't understand how you two are deeply and truely in love and want to get married and have kids and you'll always be together and and and *gasps for air* Here on JU, it was (mostly) adult conversation. People wrote interesting things and debate/discussion often resulted.
From there I started fiddling with Stardock Central a bit more and noticed the IRC client, so I started popping into #Stardock and #GalCiv and would occassionally jump in on some conversation here or there. in #Stardock, mostly the topics revolved around skinning and the ObjectDesktop suite of tools. Sometimes it would wander and just be about silly fluff, but it usually came back to skinning. #GalCiv was pretty dead since a fair bit of time had passed since release of the game and interest had started to drop off. I frequented the channels off and on for about a year. It wasn't until GalCiv 2 was announced and then we started the JoeUser chat room that I became a more permenant fixture on the IRC server.
Why do I write all of this? Why do I recount my path of discovery as it relates to Stardock and its products and services? Well, because for some reason there are a lot of people out there who seem to think that ALL Stardock does is Windows Customization software and services. While I admit it's the lionshare of their business, it is not all they do. I have been chastised in #Stardock for having the audacity to start a conversation on anything that didn't directly relate to skinning. I've gotten put down for talking about GAMES and TECHNOLOGY before because it strayed too far from the sacred topic. People at WC lament regularly that content that may be relevant but originated outside of the sacred WC forums shouldn't be cross-posted as it is now, as if us unwashed masses are going to dirty the pure clean waters of their holy home. I just want to remind everyone that the skinner is not the only type of community member, it's not the only interest catered to by Brad & Co. Here's a quick list of some of the OTHER things Stardock does, for those of you who seem to have forgotten/been unaware of:
1. Game Development Company
Stardock has developed and released several top-notch games ranging from Lightweight Ninja, a Sonic The Hedgehog like sidescroller, to Galacitc Civilizations a turn based space strategy game to The Political Machine, a presidential campaign simulator. Up on the horizon they have Galactic Civilizations 2, a reinvention of the series in a damn good looking 3D engine as well as Society: The Game, a Real Time Strategy Massively Multiplayer Online Game. There are a lot of people out there who buy and play Stardock Games. With the addition of TotalGaming.Net, a new online game distribution channel, gaming is becoming a big pull to Stardock.
2. Online Communities
WinCustomize is probably the site everyone is the most familiar with since Win Customization is their biggest business right now, but they also have JoeUser, a great blog community that they just haven't started charging for yet. All of their sites attempt to foster community centered on the site topic, and they also attempt to share content across them when posted in relevant channels.
3. Office Productivity
Enter ThinkDesk, the latest tool offerings from Stardock. Right now there's only Multiplicity, which allows multiple computers to be managed from one keyboard and one mouse, but they've got other nifty goodies lined up to go. These programs are catering to a COMPLETELY different crowd than their previous offerings.
4. Unrelated but cool ventures...
Poweruser.TV comes to mind as a pretty cool and really different direction for Stardock to be going in. Here they're addressing all sorts of different topics that span everything they do and more. Games, customization, new technology etc. This is going to bring to the larger community, Power Users who might not have taken notice of Stardock in the past.
Now, gamers may explore and discover that they can also change the appearance and behavior of their computers, or skinners may find a new game they adore, or maybe people from either camp would find some insanely useful ThinkDesk tool that simplifies their real life work. Then maybe they would start posting thought-provoking aritcles on topics that interest them. It's a massive cross-pollination of thoughts and opinions, and it exposes us all here to something new that we might not have considered before. I know I dabble a lot more with ODNT, and plan on buying Multiplicity the second there's a Mac version and will probably poke around with the other tools when they become available. Stardock sucked me in with a single game, but now they have a customer that has bought a wide range of their products from all categories.
I just want you, the elitists amonst the WinCustomize community, to remember all of this next time you turn your nose up at anything that isn't connected to skinning. Remember that there are people out there in the Stardock network that didn't come here to tweak DesktopX, that didn't come here to get the latest ObjectBar skin and aren't interested/capable of making our own themes or whatnot. Remember that we, just like you, are customers of Stardock, we put in the cash just like you and we contribute in our own ways and in our own areas just like you do. We are no better and no worse than you are, so please cut the sneering, jeering and condescending tone you take with us. Stop acting all self-righteous when one of us writes a RELEVANT article in the areas of technology or the Internet and it gets crossposted to your sacred site. We get your stuff too all the time but you don't see us popping in on your threads saying "I don't think this belongs here on JU/GalCiv/Whatever site).
We're all part of a larger community, I hope you can learn to become better neighbors."
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Reply #42 Tuesday, August 16, 2005 12:50 PM
You can read more at Wikipedia. Obviously, customization and the like is a big part of Stardock's lineup, but there's a lot that goes on that you don't hear about here, because it's not related to the community.
Reply #43 Tuesday, August 16, 2005 1:00 PM
| but there's a lot that goes on that you don't hear about here, because it's not related to the community. |
definitely. found out some of it by clicking on related links (that turned out to be real old) at the Register, then doing a search there.
Now if we could convince Stardock to start building PCs again... competive with Alienward - for $1,200 or less, with ObjectDesktop thrown in.....
Reply #44 Tuesday, August 16, 2005 1:12 PM
But it would be cool if Stardock paired up with a PC vendor and sold a "Stardock Package" where you got a system specifically designed for skinning work. It would come with a year sub to all of their skinning software and WC.com
And maybe some of their games too
Reply #46 Tuesday, August 16, 2005 4:26 PM
I am a Stardock groupie after all I own almost all the programs they make.
Reply #47 Tuesday, August 16, 2005 7:34 PM
Here are my 2 cents on the issue:
1) All Stardock.net communities have the same rules of conduct. Therefore, the origin of a post should not matter.
2) I do think there is an elitist element on WinCustomize.com. This elitism is not new and has been an ongoing issue for years.
3) If you are not interested in a given topic, don't frequent its forums. If the forum is called "Personal Computing" and someone talks about a bad experience they had with a hard drive, don't ask "Why is this here?" It's there because it's a topic on Personal computing. If you only want to talk about skinning, stick with teh skinning forums.
4) Tolerance should be the call-sign. We should strive to be tolerant of other points of view. Or more to the point -- we should encourage an atmosophere that leads to more participation.
5) WinCustomize.com has one of the worst traffic to user participation ratios on the net. It gets 4X's Neowin.net's traffic and 100X's JoeUser.com's traffic but many forum posts, articles, and even news items go without comment or only a few comments. It is my opinion that one of the reasons for this is that there is a sense that if they don't say the "correct" thing, they'll get jumped on.
In short, let's celebrate that we have such a large community of different people. Let's be tolerant of different people and different points of view.
The rules of the community are pretty simple. Jafo expressed them succinctly as follows:
Reply #48 Wednesday, August 17, 2005 12:04 AM
There is one...and virtually ONLY one real. true advantage of the Internet Age...[and no, it's not necessarily 'information superhighway...blah blah']...it's 'immediate'/real access to cultural [and social] diversity.
The net is guaranteed to broaden one's horizons....to enable you to experience a wide variation of cultures and opinions that may be alien to your own, social introverted myopia.
I have people I call 'friends' in countries all over the world.....something highly unlikely to have happened unless I was some globe-trotting socialite. OK, most of these people share similar interests in skinning as a common denominator...but not all.
This opportunity to diversify social interaction enriches one's existence....but cliquishness stunts social growth....whether through elitism or simple indifference the result is the same...lost opportunity.
Several instances of my net interaction stand out...
1. What was I doing at that instant on '9/11'? ....talking to DavidK, thousands of miles away from me...on ICQ....he mentioned a plane had just hit the towers....
2. I've met 3 fellow Aussies [face to face] through skinning.....people who I would have been oblivious to otherwise.
3. One birthday I got a phone call from someone in Ghana [West coast of Africa] [Risblaque] wishing me a happy birthday.
4. There's a whole bunch of people I can point at and say 'he/she is a mate'.....
OK...so all this sounds quaint and anecdotal....but it's really how the whole 'community' environment should be considered....the community 'backyard' isn't just 'Wincustomize.com....cos if you're kicking your footie and it goes over the fence there's a bloke living in Deviantart...or Skinbase...or JoeUser...or Neowin...that is maybe peeved cos you're tramping over his daisies retrieving yer ball.
Wincustomize.com was set up as a community [skinning] "portal" [was the phrase]....but over the past 5 years Forum interaction hasn't kept pace with the site's expansion...and if anything, walls have gone up here and there [as if to keep the riff-raff out] and the title of 'elitism' is arguably warranted.
The thread 'Blast from the past'.....shows our roots. We 'came' from skinz.org ..... to a [then] 'better place'. In real terms Wincustomize is now a stable 'hub' within the skinning scene....most of our 'sister' sites are hard-pressed to maintain even our level of mediocre social 'activity' or [relatively] reliable net presence.
What say we as a bunch of disparate individuals take advantage of this net community's potential for social enrichment and run with it, rather than foster the blinkered thinking of the past.....
Reply #49 Wednesday, August 17, 2005 12:18 AM
Reply #50 Wednesday, August 17, 2005 12:18 PM
Go to Joe User.com and check out the above thread. They are actually proud to be snobby.
Reply #51 Wednesday, August 17, 2005 1:10 PM
, did you read the entire thing? It was a joke, a gag, they were poking fun at themselves.Nurse! Get this man a sense of humor, stat!
Reply #52 Wednesday, August 17, 2005 2:26 PM
I tell you what folks, I can cuss too..with the best of 'em! I have got words in my vocabulary that can make a maggot puke and go belly up! I have got cuss words you don't even know about
I guess that's as far as I got before I didn't need to read any further. Apparantly I did need to read further. The horses ass again. Goodbye cruel world.
Reply #53 Wednesday, August 17, 2005 4:36 PM
| Goodbye cruel world. |
Aww Night Train, it happens to us all. Don't throw yourself off a cliff 'r anything. We'd miss ya!
Reply #54 Thursday, August 18, 2005 11:45 AM
Reply #56 Saturday, August 20, 2005 6:40 PM
Reply #57 Saturday, August 20, 2005 9:32 PM
| The reaction to my blog on how some people on wincustomize would dismiss my opinions because i am not a paying subscriber was tragically typical. |
Sure was.....
Reply #60 Sunday, August 21, 2005 10:04 AM
| Hey! I don't appreciate the cussing China Cat. |
The punchline of the year.
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Reply #41 Tuesday, August 16, 2005 10:27 AM