Why Gamers Are (Should Be) Leading The Way...Everyone Else Is Slow!

--- This is a rant, this rant will be long, this has been a warning of the emergency rant system ---

Why are Gamers leading the way Camacho?  Are you on another rant?

We gamers are a voracious bunch, regardless of the genre of game we are playing, we make harsh demands on developers and for the most part we get what we want.  Because when we don't, oh god...Run!

And yes, this is a damn rant!? XD

Oooh a Rant...O.K. I'm Reading

We lead the way in voicing our opinions, we lead the way in breaking the molds of racism, and prejudices, because we play online with all kinds of people everyday.  Men, women, black, white, yellow, red, gay, straight, bi, transgendered, OMG Cat, and Sign me off Piano Cat...It doesn't matter.  All that matters is the game.

When we want more gaming we demand it online and we eventually (usually) get it (in time).  Even the failed attempts since the late 80's to connect us to the internet with consoles.  The random modem slot underneath our GameCube's that were being worked on, we might not have gotten it then (at least not completely), but developers and companies kept pushing the envelope to make it happen.

When the Gaming world started to venture into the Digital world (Yes I know games are all kind of Digital...well, mostly) Publishers and Developers could have kept selling them only from Brick and Mortar locations and not provided online direct2download options.  But we pushed, and they delivered.  We save more because of it, they make more because of it! 

Overall, we as gamers from a small perspective have helped pave the way for some progress...

Here is where I think we can help the rest of the world...

Ok Camacho? So you're crabby about something that's outdated and think we should all bitch about it for you?

In a word...Yes.

There are few things we as a people (as a society) or perhaps not us, but "it's" certain organizations that are trapped in the stone age with certain outdated items we should not have to deal with anymore...

Snail Mail, Faxes and Sending Signatures via Mail

I have been fighting for 3 years now 8 intrusions into my identity.  Some occurred on the road during our convention tours (SGC, AUSA, Anime Boston, etc. etc.).  Others while sitting in a restaurant.  In two separate occurrences someone gained my information via a WiFi scanner.

Of course I have fought them and got most of my money back, I am still fighting for 2 of those intrusions. One maxed out a credit card and bought a ton of LCD Panels...Especially in my business, when the credit card company sees the history and argues - "We are not paying you back, those were your purchases, you buy a lot of TV's with this card."  XD RAGE@!!

Needless to say, money mostly regained and credit being repaired, but it's taking years.

I keep getting these phone calls from one particular company, West Asset Management - Number comes up from Desoto, Texas.  The calls have been coming since January to the new house in Port St. Lucie.  

I have answered and talked to them and 4 different times they want someone that is not part of our household.  So I have pointed out to them who I was, to help them understand they have the wrong number. Today I got that call again and now a 5th persons name...Does this company have any clerical or operational organization?  

Really, 5 different people, constantly removed from the list...come on people, get it right.

I finally speak to a management person and it turns out they had me as someone that owed a debt.  I have been clearing out all debts for years and have nothing left except some personal debts, and medical bills (that don't appear on a credit report). Then I learned it was some kind of debt from Sprint that was "supposed" to have been corrected last year.  I have it all documented, receipts and confirmation numbers.  So now begins the long and tedious process of clearing it from my credit report.

So instead of letting me email copies or scanned documents.  I have to write a letter to them, sign it and then send my original paperwork???

No...I'm not giving up original paperwork.  You get copies you dumbasses...

Why in our world of technology do I have to 

1. Waste paper and ink printing out a letter
2. Waste more paper with envelopes and copies of paperwork
3. Spend time and money mailing out these forms (which also spends money on vehicle fuel to get these parcels to their location, adding to higher green house gasses)
4. Wait the time it takes for it to get there
5. Wait for them to open the envelope and read my letter (to only throw away the envelope, further killing trees and effecting greenhouse gases by reducing the population of plants that absorb Carbon Dioxide and breath out Oxygen...)
6. Wait for them to send paperwork to Sprint (repeating virtually the same process above on it's way back to Sprint)
7. Wait for Sprint to Repeat #4-5 and then send it back starting the process again to West Asset Management 
8. For West Asset Management to Repeat #4-5
9. Wait for West Asset Management to realize, they are a bunch of Derps.  Starting their version of my process to send the proper paperwork to Experian, Trans Union and Equifax to tell them this needs to be removed.
10. Wait for these three companies to experience #4-5 and then remove this issue off of my credit.

It's a nasty amount of waste that can take months, even years...and it has!  These scenarios I have had to clear on my credit (as I'm sure others have had to as well).

If they followed their business strategy the way gaming industries think...It would literally be this way..

1. 3:20PM I get the call...
2. 4:00PM I understand they actually do have me on a list and I explain the issue.
3. 4:10PM I scan my paperwork, email it to the clerk at West Asset Management.
4. 4:15PM He sees I am telling the truth - he forwards it over to Sprint, along with the Copy of the Sprint Letterhead I have apologizing to me for the issue with associated reference numbers.
5. 4:20PM An Account Manager at Sprint Corporate opens their email (because I would still be on the phone with West Asset Management and have them call to let them know of incoming traffic to their inbox).
6. 4:30PM Sprint Account Manager replies, "close account, there is no debt owed." 
7. 4:35PM West Asset Management Clerk - Forwards this reply from Sprint to the three Credit Agencies. I remain on the line as he contacts each one to inform them of the incoming traffic into their inboxes.
8. 4:50PM West Asset Management has cleared me from their system and gives me confirmation from the three credit agencies that my credit report no longer shows this issue.
9. 4:51PM I am online checking my credit reports and verifying this information while I still have West Asset Management on the Line.
10. I verify it's cleared and print out the record as a backup for myself with all associated reference numbers. The info of the West Asset Clerk, I spoke with, and store it all properly to use later on if I have to report money owed to me in taxes from associated companies that inappropriately reported negative credit.

My Credit would be reflected instantly online on the three reporting bodies.

Not even two hours to solve a simple problem without the bureaucracy and redtape associated with personal finances that hurt and effect people everyday (in effect, harming the entire global economy, as the US sets the economy)...

We as Gamers need to help the push to "easier-use" technology and force companies to remove their obsolescence.  And help the economy to boot!

Dude the Government screws us too!

The government has so many stupid idiotic criteria on small things that it's crippling itself and burning more money on wasteful micro-government and we all pay for it in taxes.

Whoa, slow down Camacho, we have no control over that...

Yes...Yes you do!

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! correctly.  Actually, correctly is a personal choice...Just frakking vote!

The more we as gamers (Most of us in the 18-25 age ranges do not vote [56-67% of that population] according to the US Census).  To use a phrase that is not politically correct...That's retarded...

We are an enormous community that can swing votes in our own direction if we put our collective minds together and are focused in our efforts.

Here is an example of stupid micro-government in a wasteful and obsolete manner.

We had a recent car accident, on my way to AIU (Where I was consulting a Gaming Design Program). Sabrina got a ticket.  It also happens to be that time of year to renew insurance, tags, etc.

With the ticket, they suspended her license...all because an idiot cut us off and caused a small pile up...we got the blame...I wanted to knock out the cop who was an idiot (but the statute is not his fault, he was just a jerk), but alas I was a good boy. (I was polite, I stayed in the car XD) 

To fix this problem Sabrina had to go pay for the ticket, so she could reinstate her license (her license was taken at the scene). Side note: This ended up causing me to have a friend Jules Casanova drive me to AIU (I'm still on some medication, can't drive), Jules is a life saver, shout out! *hugs*.  

Sabrina paid for her ticket.  

Now to get her license back.  To accomplish this simple task, she had to walk into the DMV with a birth certificate...easy enough. DMV told her...nope, you need a Certified Birth Certificate...So her "Birth Certificate" doesn't work...WTF!

She then figured, fine, I'll go get it in Miami.  She would for now, go renew the insurance, which I did.  Now to renew the tag(s)...

"Sorry Ma'am you need an ID" - the clerk stated to her.

When she walked in (Both our cars are in her name, I was on the road most of the time so Sabrina takes care of stuff like this).  She shows them her Birth Certificate, same argument...needs to be a Certified Birth Certificate...

These people are seriously at risk of Sabrina ripping them to shreds...

She goes to get her Certified Birth Certificate...

"Can I see your ID" XD XD XD XD

So...Everyone in Miami is now killed, as Sabrina goes thermonuclear due to this stupidity...

This is a circular and paradoxical problem caused by insanely stupid and ineffective micro-government.  

It would be far simpler to think like a gamer and get with the times and move forward with Retinal ID's, Biometric Scanners, and the like.  I'm not talking about "Gattaca" where you prick your finger all day long giving blood for all kinds of ID purposes.  No...I'm talking about simple options (that already exist).  Most of our lives are already online, our images, records, education, credit, to the point of reductio ad absurdum...

It's there...how about we tether that info to us, our body, not a piece of paper or plastic we can lose; That gets taken away.  

This would make life a lot easier in a number of ways...not to mention shrink all that garbage micro-government, everyone hates anyway, and save us a ton of tax dollars...

It would even make life a lot easier in terms of Identity theft...Imagine paying for your bill by scanning your eye or pressing your thumb on a scanner...paying for bills with your social security or simply a credit card number associated to your biometrics.  

Sure, theft of this kind would occur, nothing is perfectly safe; it would for certain be a lot harder to accomplish.

So what now?

I have no clue, we need to raise our voices and help push technology and our opinions toward progress, because a lot of what surrounds us is completely obsolete and outdated.  

I can go into other examples, like the large amount of people standing around and watching one guy work on a road that endlessly never gets finished...When we know there is equipment that takes one guy to run and another set of boots on the ground to manage a path and can deliver one mile of road every hour...But hey, that's progress.  And our world makes progress and profit out of halting progress.

Rant over...Derp

<M>