Tonight on GeekNights we consider the werewolf. Not to be confused with the wolfwere, they are popularly portrayed in a fairly limited number of ways. In the news, Facebook threatens to quit the EU, Facebook Denies Threatening to quit the EU, cops are liars, and the world is on fire. (Vote for Joe Biden).
Things of the Day
Episode Links
WRT to Queues for purchasing in demand items.
This is literally what Valve is doing for their Index, I enjoy that I basically just signed up and then they told me when it was ready.
It did lead to a lot of me checking on the thing, where I was in queue, talking about it a lot with other people. It built some pretty large hype in me for it.
That’s a case where nobody else is selling the thing, right? There’s only one retail channel? You can’t buy an Index on Newegg or Amazon, can you?
Yeah you can’t buy it else where.
I was only speaking to the experience of buying a thing and waiting in queue for it to be made.
The secondary market for Index is weak because very few people who get one want to part with it. There’s nothing a consumer can upgrade to. It’s basically the best there is with current readily-available tech.
Well Rym suggested that Newegg having a queue might not make them extra money. They are going to sell their entire stock regardless. Anyone in their queue will just leave it if they succeed at another retailer. It’s not free to build the queue system, how many extra sales will it get them if they build it? I still think it will increase sales because people who want one and are willing to wait, but don’t want to hassle, will wait in the queue and be loyal to Newegg. Rym seemed to disagree.
For Valve where they are the only retail channel. A queue makes a better customer experience. Many people who come to buy an index and see it’s out of stock might leave and not ever come back to put in an order. Having a queue means everyone who wants one puts in an order. They can very accurately gauge the demand, and not lose customers who get dismayed to see it’s on backorder.
It makes sense, Though one could argue that some of the manufacturers could do this, like evga for example.
Those manufacturers really depend on their retail partnerships. Sure, if they want to sell all their 3080 and 3090 boards direct with a queue, and abandon retailers, they could do that. But then Newegg and other retailers would be like “Oh, you gonna play us like that? Ok, guess we’re not going to stock any more of your shit.” And now EVGA’s direct store becomes the only place to buy EVGA stuff.
If that happens, sure, some brand loyalists will go to them direclty. When a new hot product comes out, people will still go to them directly. But for most of their product line, like power supplies and all the other video cards that aren’t 30XX, people are going to be building their computers on Newegg. And if EVGA products aren’t listed there, customers are going to go with a different brand.
If it was in their best interest to go direct and avoid middle-men, retailers wouldn’t even exist and every manufacturer would just be selling direct.
I do find over time that I always want to buy direct from a specific brand. I avoid retail resellers whenever I can.
But, I am a highly engaged buyer with extensive knowledge of the things I’m buying and specific requirements. I know what brands exist in advance and do not need to “shop.” Just buy.
Depends on a lot of things. If I’m buying just a video card, I can definitely see myself going direct to EVGA. If I’m building an entire PC, placing separate orders at so many different places is no fun.
The ultimate solution, that people hardly think about, is just to make your own stores. At least in the technology field, only Apple has really been able to make this work.
True. I tend to cluster. Like, video card, monitors, and hard drives from the manufacturers. Everything else in one big newegg order.
So I finally finished the episode.
No mention of Werewolf: The Apocalypse? No mention of Underworld (not really purely werewolves, but werewolves that threaten vampire kind!)?
They did mention Underworld.
Man, I must have missed it in the, admittedly short, list of the media!
Sadly most werewolf mass-market media ain’t great.
Underworld was deeply forgettable.
For an interesting take on several different flavors of werewolves I recommend reading (or listening to the audiobook!!) of the Dresden Files #2 “Fool Moon” by Jim Butcher. I don’t want to spoil anything but this story addresses several of the questions/observations about werewolf tropes in modern media.
I’m really behind on listening.
I feel like forgetting the werewolf episode of Love Death + Robots and the potential of having werewolves be an oppressed class of monsters is a slight oversight.
