The Must Read List: The Top Five Posts for 2011

Last year around this time I dedicated myself to try and write everyday for 2011.  While I wasn't able to reach that goal – I feel very good about what I was able to accomplish.  I want to thank every single one of you who visited the site and read anything – even once!  It is humbling to think that anyone would read anything I am writing so thank you!

Here are the top five posts on laurent-courtines.com for 2011:

5. New York City is Awesome When…. February 17th, 2011
A list of the reasons I love my home town.

4. Reflections on Five Years at AOL. July 17th, 2011

My views on AOL and the great people I worked with.

3. Facebook is in trouble and here's why. May 27th, 2011

After Facebook made a change I summed up some issues I think they have.  I may rue the day I wrote this down.

2. My Hometown: East Harlem New York.  It has problems. March 12th, 2011
Living in and growing up in Manhattans last ghetto, I list it's problems. This one gets picked up my search. Read this one, I'm proud of it.

1. How I manage over 100 Facebook Fan Pages. April 8th, 2011.

A service piece I did explaining how managed the entire AOL Games social presence.

Thanks everyone,  all four-thousand plus who visited the site this year.  I'll keep trying to write and bring what I can to the table.

Originally appeared http://laurent-courtines.com/the-must-read-list-the-top-five-posts-for-201 from http://laurent-courtines.com

Get bored… get really bored. It’s important.

I haven't been writing much.  I haven't been doing much of anything else but working.  I get up,  I take the train, I work, I go home – the cycle continues.  That's most peoples days, sure.  For me,  I have been spending every waking minute thinking, pondering, wondering about my new job.  It's very exciting and I am loving it.  The difficulty,  the expectations, the responsibility has been exhilarating.  There is one problem.  I have no time to be bored.

Being bored is important.  Being bored is the state in which we have to find something to occupy our brains or we go bananas.  When I am bored I look for new things to learn.  When I am bored I call friends.  When I am bored I can be creative to you know? Not be bored!  My new job isn't allowing me to be bored.  That's a good thing but I miss being bored.

I never thought I would miss being bored but I do.  Boredom is awesome.  

Originally appeared http://laurent-courtines.com/get-bored-get-really-bored-its-important from http://laurent-courtines.com

A sign of the times – Talking out of one’s ass is exploding.

Just read a wonderful article titled I Don't Understand What Anyone Is Saying Anymore by Dan Parlotta.  While reading it I smiled from ear to ear.  We are in the midst of an bullshit explosion of epic proportions. (Maybe we always have been but I might be just paying attention)   I do not absolve myself of the problem. I talk bullshit with the rest of them.  What is happening is people don't know how to speak straight and to the point.  

Here is an example of the bullshit that's going on from Dan Parlotta:

"You should meet this guy with the SIO. He's sort of this kind of social entrepreneur thinking outside of the box in the sustainability space and working on these ideas around sort of web-based social media, and he's in a round two capital raise in the VP space with the people at SVNP." 

WHAT? Oookaaay.

What we need is to get back to calling people out on what they are saying.  When people say "Like" all the time, ask them… Like what?  What is this thing you are saying like?  Literally is it like that?  Explain it to me please.  If someone says "let's hit this out of the ball park" Ask, what if I am singles hitter, who can steal bases?  Do I have to hit with power?  Just mess with people.  We need to get back to a more natural language of people meaning what they say and saying what they mean.

Just read the article and enjoy.  And if you are a bullshit talker,  try just a little bit harder to reduce your bullshit. I know I will.

Originally appeared http://laurent-courtines.com/a-sign-of-the-times-talking-out-of-ones-ass-i from http://laurent-courtines.com

Steal this idea: Pogo for dudes.

Pitch:  Take Mochi Games and Armor game and add them together.
Put a paywall up on the top 10 Armor games.  
Rotate the games in and out of the pay system. Subscribers would get.perks, status etc.  All the fancy stuff memberships provide.

Yes,  its Pogo for dudes, but so what? Why wouldn't people pay for an awesome curated flash game experience?

Originally appeared http://laurent-courtines.com/steal-this-idea-pogo-for-dudes from http://laurent-courtines.com

What writing is about: Being wrong

Maybe people are afraid to write, post, tweet or whatever because they are afraid.  They are afraid to say what they mean,  they are afraid that someone will throw something back in their face or they are simply afraid they have nothing interesting to say.  Fundamentally, the issue is folks afraid of being wrong.  If you write regularly,  things you say and think will be frozen in the time you wrote them in the context you wrote them (yes, you can go back and edit, but you get my meaning)  You might state a political opinion or a projection and you'll might be wrong about something.

I say?  So what? So you are wrong.  If you are writing enough and people are reading enough then your opinions will come through and as long as we explain when we came to the idea when we did,  then well,  you should be fine. 

Just keep writing and don't be afraid -  you are going to be wrong and that is fine with us.

This post was inspired by Om Malik's post on 10 years of Blogging. It's a great read.Originally appeared http://laurent-courtines.com/what-writing-is-about-being-wrong from http://laurent-courtines.com

New Jobs and Learning

New jobs are great.  Everything gets reset and we have the opportunity to see our value separate from our former jobs and organizations.  We get to reestablish what we know,  apply what we did and bring fresh perspective to a new place that needs newness.  We are offered the opportunity to look back at where we came from and see what actually worked. 

It's cliche,  but you don't know what you've got until it's gone.  Going from a fading web giant in AOL to a pivoting game company in Oberon Media, everything comes into hyper focus.  What matters from one job comes painfully into focus in another.  Nothing focus's one's efforts like lack of resources.  Constraints are the mother of invention.  When you set constraints and put a goal within the context of those constraints,  all of a sudden, you are forced into the magical zone of creativity.  The mind goes into "How the fuck do I do that mode?"  There is no better feeling in the world than that.  

You are forced to learn,  to push,  to find solutions and get there quickly. Sometimes you fail,  sometimes you don't but the engagement of the mind is invaluable. 
I am so thankful to be in a new job that is crunching my brain.Originally appeared http://laurent-courtines.com/new-jobs-and-learning from http://laurent-courtines.com

Must keep on writing….

Inspired by the famous tech investor Fred Wilson in this post – Writing I am determined to continue to post.
It has been very hard to keep writing.  Not because I don't have anything to say but because it simply doesn't come to the top of my mind.

I recommend you all read his post.  What inspired me an I wholly agree with is:  Writing makes you a better writer.  Keep writing.  Don't stop.  Push and try and succeed.
In the piece,  Fred says he began writing at 42!  42! There is always time,  you can always pick up and do it.  The tools are there,  the opportunity is there.  It's simply a matter of focus and making it a priority.

The irony of my writing is…. I failed English three times in High School.  Did summer school twice and night school twice to get all the stupid HS English credits needed.  I'm proud of that fact.  It didn't matter.  All it made me think was that I couldn't write (and some of you may still think that…)  Well,  blogging says otherwise and I'll keep on posting when I can. 

As always this is an interactive process.  If you want hear my thoughts on anything,  please let me know and I will spout!

Thanks!Originally appeared http://laurent-courtines.com/must-keep-on-writing from http://laurent-courtines.com

Steal This Idea: Threadless or Minted for Flash Games

Here is the pitch:

• Allow would-be game makers to submit flash games.
• Set rules on size, play area size so that it is standardized (Maybe even three game engines – Match 3, Snood and ???)
• Something simply – upload game piece images, background image and that's it! (with advanced options for nerds)
• Everyday have the community vote on the game
• Each game has a week to be voted on.
• Games that win are then sold or monetized with ads that GO to the game maker – (yes all of it)

The result should be a vibrant community of people sharing games and helping decide what games come next. People could laugh at silly games or marvel at wonderful art put into the context of games.  If there are a hundred variations of match 3 games (think Bejeweled) why not let there be ten thousand match 3 games with a community of creators?

Yes,  Gamesalad does this SOMEWHAT and so does Newgrounds SOMEWHAT- but both are niche

Am I right? Am I wrong? Can we democratize making flash games?

Originally appeared http://laurent-courtines.com/steal-this-idea-threadless-or-minted-for-flas from http://laurent-courtines.com

Flash games are a commodity – Here’s how I know.

Games come in all shapes and sizes.  There are great games and there are shitty games.  There are so many games in fact,  they are nearly disposible.  But they are a commodity.  You can stand up a site and grab traffic faster than you can set up a twitter account…. 

I made this games site in the last 5 minutes…. yes,  it has every type of game you can think of.
If I can do this you can too.   

http://publishers.spilgames.com/frame?width=700&height=1000&cat=0&limit=15&lang=en-US

Originally appeared http://laurent-courtines.com/flash-games-are-a-commodity-heres-how-i-know from http://laurent-courtines.com

Steal this idea: the Etsy of games

Create an eCommerce platform for game developers, game affictionatos and game culturists of any shapes and sizes.
Get away from the current portal options of Steam, App Store or web portal (Big Fish Games, Trymedia, Yahoo) Focus on the art and craft of games and provide the tools for game makers to experiment, grow personal communities. 
Lastly and most importantly go beyond playable games to encompass culture of play.

Originally appeared http://laurent-courtines.com/steal-this-idea-the-etsy-of-games from http://laurent-courtines.com