Welcome to the first Blog of the rest of my life. (Lord, I hope this isn't a big mistake!)

The blogwagon. I've jumped upon it. By nature a showoff, I've found a lot of things lately that I want to share, but no specific place I felt it was appropriate to do the sharing. Now, I'm not sure who's going to be reading this (I know I won't be), but in the interest of seeing what the fuss is all about, here we go...

I'm always looking for a good book. While working in the Hobby Game industry for the last 10 years (think Dungeons and Dragons, Pokemon, and high-end strategy games like Axis and Allies) I became interested in why some games generate a huge following and others simply sputter and die. For the longest time I thought it was just luck and the ability to grab customers with flashy ads. One book changed all that, and now I look at my industry in a whole new light.

The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell.

In my opinion, it's required reading for anyone in the gaming industry. It might be required reading for any industry. In part it's about how and why people react (and don't react) to different things. Part of that is why some things become HUGE and others disappear without so much as a whimper. Gladwell's style is also very engaging. You WANT to keep reading.

I've also become a fan of Seth Godin. My favorite of Godin's books, Unleashing the Idea Virus, uses a practical, business & marketing-oriented, approach to what Gladwell covers in the Tipping Point. While the two authors don't agree on every last point (in fact Godin specifically points out differences between the two in one chapter) they are very clearly related. I found it all fascinating.

For people in the the Hobby Game Industry, I recommend all of Godin's book's I've read so far. I also quite enjoyed Funky Business, by Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordstrom. While this book is high-level 'how a CEO ought to run their company' type information, it's so refreshing both in content and presentation, that I found myself engrossed. I had the good fortune to attend a speaking engagement where Kjell (pronounced 'shell') Nordstrom was a keynote. His views and his optimism regarding the direction of modern business really shook me. He spent hours giving examples of how things can be done right! His book is much the same. I'm looking forward to reading the two's more recent book, Karaoke Capitalism.

Where does that leave me? I now work for Hidden City Games with the rather awkward title of R&D Assistant and OP Manager. We have an amazing new product called Clout: Fantasy, the world's first Collectible Throwing Game. Conceived by Jesper Myrfors and developed my my close friend (and now boss) Paul Peterson, the game is absolutely remarkable. It's also very difficult to explain, which means we need to get people to play before they 'get it'. Until I run out, if anyone would like to try our new game, I've got copies I can send out on demand. Just drop me a line, or post here.

Until I see you in real life,

-Adam!!!