Hi Dark, I've got a few comments here I think need to be voiced as it seems you and I have some serious intellectual differences in the way we view economics and business in general, and I don't think it is possible to have an intelligent discussion until those differences are voiced.
I know that you have a deep interest in philosophy and have a doctorate in philosophical studies. As a result a lot of your comments are theoretical discussions of ethics of what people should and should not do, but shows a complete unawareness of the practical side of business and economics in a capitalist society. For example, you asked why audio books cost five to ten times the print original even when purchased digitally. Well, in many cases audio books, at least in the United States, aren't nearly that high. A service like /Audible sells digital versions of audio books for only a few dollars more than the print paperback or hardback book it is based on. I don't think paying $5 extra for an accessible audio book is anything serious to complain about. If you are really paying five to 10 times for an audio book then perhaps you are getting them from the wrong place. However, the basic reason audio books cost more than print books is the company producing it has to pay the narrator reading the book, they have to pay the sound engineers recording the book, and they have to pay someone to do the post production of the digital copy such as editing, mixing, etc. If it is available on a site like Audible they have to charge a bit for hard drive space to store all their audio books as well as pay for bandwidth because every internet download isn't free. Someone has to pay for the bandwidth and transfer fees. Point being there are all kinds of costs involved in converting that print book into a digital audio book which you have not taken into consideration. The point I want to make here is simply that all too often you voice some very strong opinions towards companies essentially accusing them for being greedy and immoral when not taking into consideration the practical and very rational reasons for charging what they do for their products and services. Often times in order for a company to turn a profit they have to be able to pay all of their employees salaries, health care benefits, as well as any other operating costs which may effect the cost of the final product. That's just how it works in business. You have to spend money to make money. Anyway, as far as developers who want to be semi-professional or professional appearing impersonal I disagree. I believe a person can be quite professional while not being too impersonal if they want to have that sort of image. After all, what exactly is considered professional here? To me being professional is developing stable software to the best of my abilities and not selling my customers sloppily written and poorly designed software. To me being professional is offering prompt email or phone service for a product I sold them within reason of course. Being professional might be kindly turning down a suggestion someone gives without being mean or nasty about it. In other words to me being professional is simply having good business ethics and has nothing to do with being impersonal or aloof. Of course, there is a big difference between the way a small business like USA Games runs our business and the way someone like Nintendo, Sony, or Capcom run their businesses. Major corporations like Sony, Capcom, Nintendo, Microsoft, etc have millions of customers all over the world. No one person can deal with the sheer number of customers complaints, suggestions, questions, etc so they hire people to fulfill those duties. Unfortunately, that does often result in the personnel being impersonal, and unable to do anything about certain policies like accessibility because you aren't speaking to the management directly. With a company like USA Games most of the messages go directly to myself or in the case of sales my wife might take over and process the orders. However, since it is a company of two its not difficult to reach the owner, yours truly, which makes a big difference. Then again, I only expect to have maybe a thousand customers tops instead of the millions that Nintendo, Sony, etc have to deal with. Major difference there, and since I have less customers to deal with I can afford to be on this list and chat with customers directly. Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
