Anyway, the reason it made me happy to see Baseball Mogul in Fry's is because there is something immensely cool about seeing your product in a retail store. I have worked for a number of companies over the last 18 years, including:
- Amdahl, working on mainframe computers
- Stormfront Studios, working on computer games
- Alantec / FORE Systems / Riverstone Networks, working on network boxes
- NETSchools working on educational computers
- Leapfrog working on educational toys
- ShotSpotter working on gunshot location sensors
(And yes, I know that six of those eight companies have gone out of business or been absorbed by some other business. THAT is a topic for another entry someday...)
Only at Stormfront and Leapfrog did I experience the joy of seeing a product I worked on in stores for sale to the general public. If you ask most people that work on consumer products, I think you will find that they get a thrill out of seeing the fruit of their labor on sale in stores. It gives many of the seemingly abstract details of work a concrete reality. To quote the production credits for Chris Carter's 10/13 TV Productions, "I Made This!"
2 comments:
I know ShotSpotter doesn't sell to the public and you can't find their product on shelves in your local Fry's (which, by the way, I wish we had). But, don't you feel even better knowing that you are part of a product that both saves lives and has a part in putting some pretty bad guys in a place they really deserve to be?
Maybe this is getting too much into personal morality and principle, but I know that I could have done just about anything with my life, but it's one of those things that comes down to what you want to DO, not what you want to earn.
Okay, off my high horse now....
That would be cool to see something you helped create on the shelves though.....tradeoffs...
YAY! It is neat to see the game in stores...but there is a darker side: if I remember right, that publisher hasn't sent us a dime in royalties. So, when I see it, it rankles. :(
However, every sale is a chance for a customer to find our website and get our latest game...direct from us. :)
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