The folks over at Banners on the Cheap think that my review of their product (from the gamer’s point of view) was OK, but they think that they can do better with the “blurred type” issue I had. So, they offered to print for me a copy of my Empty Quarter map with Photos On Canvas for free.
When I get the copy, I will review it here. It’s more expensive than the banner – $44.71 for the 8″ x 10″ picture I’m getting (but there’s a current discount, at $33.53) – but I hope that the quality of the print will make the price worth it for the hardcore Imperial Scouts out there who always wanted that 40″ x 40″ framed map of Charted Space…
Completely unrelated to Traveller is their other sister site which sells Car Magnets. It’s just part of the deal: ‘We’ll send you the classy sector map for free if you’ll also give a link to our Car Magnets site.” So, there it is! It’s pretty cheap, and a nifty way of advertising your home business and contractor web site on a part-time basis. (Instead of painting the info on the doors of your car).
Which leads me to the Daily Traveller Reflection. (Which isn’t really daily – this being the first time the ideal came to me – but perhaps it should be.)
As the glory days of jobs-for-life fade into the past along with the concept of corporate loyalty, we Solomani Terrans are becoming more and more individualistic, lone contractors always in search of the next meal. Sure, this promotes innovation and is good for the customer, but there is a real price to be paid for the loss of teamwork on the job.
The MBA types who parachuted into managerial positions in the 70s – without working up from the shop floor – were quite successful in enriching themselves while annihilating the heart of traditional American business culture. I doubt if it can be rebuilt right now, but after the Great Default (hopefully not a Great Collapse), we’ll have the opportunity to regain the kind of business wisdom described in The Puritan Gift, written by Ken & Will Hopper.
If I can encourage playing face-to-face storytelling games like Traveller, then I would have served a useful purpose, however minor, in rebuilding community networks.
(Sci-fi storytelling sessions is a great way to build and strengthen the bonds of friendship for those men who can’t stand football… and it can be used to model a range and variety of extreme and unusual situations in a way that Modern Warfare 3 can’t hope to match. Scripted computer games that focus on the visual don’t exercise the brain like Traveller can!)
