Archive for January, 2010

House of the Rising Phoenix

About

House of the Rising Phoenix is a local gaming shop. They specialize in table-top role-playing games, but also carry collectible card games, board games, miniature war-games as well as some collectible gifts. The primary goal is to provide a place for people to get their gaming gear, and meet up with others of similar interest. The physical store has a main room where their entire product line is carried, as well as a comfortable gaming room to the back. The gaming room is available on a reservation basis, at no cost, to local gaming groups.

Audience

The primary audience for the site is local gamers, comprised mostly of the store’s existing patrons.

Site Objective

The primary objective of the site is to provide an informational source for customers regarding events, contests, competitions and new products.

Thoughts and Concerns

Customer-base for gaming stores is fairly limited. Providing a truly functional and helpful website would assist with keeping interest. If the site doesn’t perform its function correctly, it could in fact drive off customers. Making a simple system for accessing the information is very important, if the process is too difficult, the tool won’t be used. Excitement is also very important, rpg’s are all about exciting the imagination, if the site is dull, the store will be perceived as dull as well.

So, last Thursday I started my new class at UVU for ‘Designing for Digital Devices’. During the syllabus presentation, we were informed that in order to design for a digital device, we had to have one to test on.
Pretty basic logic there.
We were given tentatively 3 choices: an iPhone, an iPod Touch, or a Zune HD. These devices arguably hold the greatest market share, with iPods/iPhones topping that out.
So after weighing the options I quickly decided several things. First, after having a Windows Mobile phone for the last couple years, I really am not that impressed by Microsoft’s mobile stuff, so that automatically excludes the Zune. Second, I really hate iPods. Third, I really hate iPhones. Fourth, I’m really beginning to dislike iAnything, because all of these idjits who are technotards have one and think they are sooooo awesome because of it. Fifth, the iPod touch is a castrated iPhone. Sixth, I hate the iPhone.
So after all of this, and despite my hate/hate ideals regarding the iPhone, I hopped onto my att wireless online account and ordered one. I felt disgusted with myself immediately, and have had to tell myself continually that if I really want to make money doing this kind of stuff, I have to have what ‘everyone else has’, bleh.
So, the next day, I get my shipping confirmation from att, with my fedex tracking junk. I plugged the number in on fedex’s site to find out when I can expect it to arrive. It tells me 1-12-2010. So, I wait, and the 12th comes and goes, no iPhone. I check the tracking on FedEx again, still says the same thing it said last time I checked. ‘The package is in Memphis, and due to arrive on the 12th’.
So, today, I had a couple other FedEx packages arrive, no iPhone. So I chat with FedEx, they tell me:

A FedEx representative will be right with you…
You have been connected to Tanesia .
Tanesia : Hello Kyle, thanks for visiting FedEx.com! May I have your tracking number?
Kyle Siemer: 408621144226
Tanesia : I’m sorry for the inconvenience. The box was received in our overgoods department empty. Please contact your shipper so they can file a claim with Fedex.
Kyle Siemer: okay, thank you

Fast, to the point, great. Not real awesome they sat on an empty box and failed to notify anyone, but whatever.
So, then comes att’s turn. The first rep I got there was, hmm.. how can I say this politely…, stupid. After wasting 5 minutes trying to communicate to her that I didn’t have the empty box, FedEx did, I finally just asked to be escalated.
I sat on the phone for around 20 minutes waiting on a supervisor. I get the supervisor on the phone who proceeds to inform me of the incompetence of att and fedex in shipping iPhones and the problem they are having with them being stolen. Also, that I have to wait 24-48 hours for my missing package to be ‘investigated’ before they can even think about sending a new one. Yeah, rrrreally.
So I escalate again. I finally get to a manager who tells me pretty much the same thing, but finally offers to expedite the ‘investigation’ and bump the shipping on the replacement to next-day.
At this point I’ve been on the phone for like 40 minutes fighting with morons, who fail to grasp the concept that they are holding my money hostage. They have charged me for an object I haven’t received, and no amount of chargeback threats seem to sway them. So I agreed to the idiotic solution. I will wait until this time tomorrow before I call back again to find out wtf is going on with my money and my iPhone.

Did I mention I hate iPhones?

So, it is a probability that this class will actually encourage me to do more than simply post silly pictures and whatnot to my blog.

I don’t really use this blogging space for much of anything except an occasional ranting box.

I found the choices that Ben Hunt made regarding the ‘best designed’ websites to be somewhat inaccurate. The biggest example I have of this is Apple.com. Yes it _looks_ good, but speaking from a tech-support perspective, their site can often be aggravating. Attempting to assist someone with navigating through their site content is fairly tedious. I haven’t done that for over a year however, and it may have changed since then, but their site tended to only be ‘good’ about 3 links in, after that not so much.

As for ‘The Expert Mind’ article. I am not in the least bit surprised by this study. My oldest boy is a registered chess player who competes several times a year. Chess is just a ‘brain exercise’ so to speak. The strategies and ideas that are used in chess can be applied to many different things. The thing I find interesting is that this is something pretty much all GM’s are aware of. For those that play chess regularly, they are already aware of this, the study just proved what world leaders and many highly intelligent individuals have known for centuries.