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General discussion (archive)<b>Letter from the M.D.</b>: About Regional Pricing(5517 posts) (5517 posts) 
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 25, 2014
Hey Goggers;

As many of you know, we announced on last Friday that we are going to introduce regional pricing for 3 new games coming up on GOG.com soon. Looking at the amount of reactions (over 3,500 comments at this very moment), it is obvious that this change is making many of you guys worried. We must have failed to clearly explain why our pricing policy for (some) newer games will change and what this means as a matter of fact for our PC & MAC classic games, which account for over 80% of our catalogue.

To be honest, our announcement was a bit vague simply because our future pricing policy is not 100% set in stone yet and we were just worried to make any promises before it was. You know, GOG.com has been growing quickly (thanks to you!), and the more we grow, the more we are worried to make some of you guys disappointed. This is why we were so (over-)cautious with our announcement.

We should have just been upfront about why we've made these changes and what they mean for us in the future and what we're planning. So let's talk. To be clear: what I'm talking about below is our plan. It's a plan that we believe we can accomplish, but while it's what we want to do with GOG, it may change some before it actually sees the light of day. Please don’t blame me for talking open-heartedly today and telling you about the plans and pricing policy we want to fight for and eventually achieve. The below plans aren't sure. The only guarantee I can give you is that we’ll do our best to fight for gamers while still making sure GOG.com as a whole grows (because well, we still want to be around 50 years from now, you know!). So, enough for the introduction, let’s get things started.

Why does GOG.com need to offer newer games at all?

We've been in business for 5 years now, and we've signed a big percentage of all of the classic content that can be legally untangled. There are still some big companies left we're trying to bring into the GOG.com fold, like LucasArts, Microsoft, Take2 and Bethesda, but what classic titles will we sign in the future once we have those partners on-board? We need to sign newer games or else just fire everyone and keep selling the same limited catalog. Either we bring you “not so old” releases from 2010+ or brand-new AAA titles, because these will become classic games tomorrow. It’s as simple as that.

Also, well, we want to expand beyond just classic games, hence the fact we have been offering you brand-new indie releases for almost 2 years now. Why expanding? Well, obviously, because the more games we sell, the more legitimacy we have on the market and the more likely it is that we can achieve our mission: making all PC & MAC video games 100% DRM-free, whether classic or brand-new titles.

To be straightforward (excuse my French):DRM is shit-- we'll never have any of it. It treats legitimate customers like rubbish and pirates don't have to bother with it. It's bad for gamers, and it's also bad for business and our partners. We want to make it easy and convenient for users to buy and play games; rather than give piracy a try. Happy gamers equals a healthy gaming industry; and this is what we fight for. Anyway, I am sure you well know our opinions about DRM.

To make the world of gaming DRM-free, we need to convince top-tier publishers & developers to give us a try with new games, just like they did with classic games. We need to make more case studies for the gaming industry, just like we successfully did back in 2011 with The Witcher 2. It was our first ever 100% DRM-free AAA day-1 release. GOG.com was the 2nd best-selling digital distribution platform worldwide for this title thanks to you guys, despite having regional prices for it. We need more breakthroughs like this to be able to show all the devs and publishers in our industry that DRM-free digital distribution is actually good for their business and their fans. And when I say breakthroughs, I am talking about really kick-ass games, with a potential metacritic score of 85% or more, AA+ and AAA kind of titles.

And this is exactly why we signed those 3 games we told you about last Friday. We believe those 3 games can be massive hits for hardcore gamers, that they can help us spread the DRM-free model among the industry for newer games and we did our best to convince their rights holders to give GOG.com a try. One of those games, as you see already, is Age of Wonders 3. We're planning more titles even beyond these first 3 soon.

Alright, but why is regional pricing needed for those (only 3 so far!) newer games then?

First of all, you have to be aware of an important fact when it comes to newer games: GOG.com cannot really decide what the prices should be. Top-tier developers and publishers usually have contractual obligations with their retail partners that oblige them to offer the game at the same price digitally and in retail. When they don’t have such contractual obligations, they are still encouraged to do so, or else their games might not get any exposure on the shelves in your favorite shops. This will change over time (as digital sales should overtake retail sales in the near future), but as of today, this is still a problem our industry is facing because retail is a big chunk of revenue and there’s nothing GOG.com can do to change that. We need to charge the recommended retail price for the boxed copies of the games in order for developers (or publishers) to either not get sued or at least get their games visible on shelves. You may recall that our sister company CD Projekt RED got sued for that in the past and we don’t want our partners to suffer from that too.

On top of that, you have to know that there are still many top-tier devs and publishers that are scared about DRM-free gaming. They're half-convinced it will make piracy worse, and flat pricing means that we're also asking them to earn less, too. Earn less, you say? Why is that? Well, when we sell a game in the EU or UK, VAT gets deducted from the price before anyone receives any profit. That means we're asking our partners to try out DRM-free gaming and at the same time also earn 19% - 25% less from us. Other stores, such as Steam, price their games regionally and have pricing that's more equitable to developers and publishers. So flat pricing + DRM-Free is something many devs and publishers simply refuse. Can you blame them? The best argument we can make to convince a publisher or developer to try DRM-Free gaming is that it earns money. Telling them to sacrifice income while they try selling a game with no copy protection is not a way to make that argument.

Getting back to those 3 new upcoming games coming up. The first one is Age of Wonders 3, which you can pre-order right now on GOG.com. The next 2 ones will be Divine Divinity: Original Sin and The Witcher 3. We’re very excited to offer those games DRM-free worldwide and we hope you’ll love them.

Still, we know some countries are really being screwed with regional pricing (Western Europe, UK, Australia) and as mentioned above, we’ll do our very best, for every release of a new game, to convince our partners to offer something special for the gamers living there.

And don’t forget guys: if regional pricing for those few big (as in, “AA+”) new games is a problem for you, you can always wait. In a few months. The game will be discounted on sale, and at 60, 70, or 80% off, the price difference will be minimal indeed. In a few years it will become a classic in its own right, and then we have the possibility to to make it flat-priced anyway (read next!) The choice is always yours. All we are after is to present it to you 100% DRM-free. We are sure you will make the best choice for yourself, and let others enjoy their own freedom to make choices as well.

So, what is going to happen with classic games then?

Classic content accounts for about 80% of our catalog, so yes, this is a super important topic. We've mentioned here above that we can’t control prices for new games, but we do have a lot of influence when it comes to classic games. GOG.com is the store that made this market visible and viable digitally, and we're the ones who established the prices we charge. We believe that we have a good record to argue for fair pricing with our partners.

So let's talk about the pricing for classics that we're shooting for. For $5.99 classics, we would like to make the games 3.49 GBP, 4.49 EUR, 199 RUB, and $6.49 AUD. For $9.99 classics, our targets are 5.99 GBP, 7.49 EUR, 349 RUB, and $10.99 AUD. This is what we’ve got in mind at the moment. We’ll do our best to make that happen, and we think it will. How? Well, we have made our partners quite happy with GOG.com's sales for years - thanks to you guys :). We have created a global, legal, successful digital distribution market of classics for them. This market didn't exist 5 years ago. By (re)making all those games compatible with modern operating systems for MAC and PC, we've made forgotten games profitable again. When it comes to classic games, we can tell them that we know more about this market than anyone. :) Being retrogaming freaks ourselves, we know that 5.99 EUR or GBP is crazy expensive for a classic game (compared to 5.99 USD). We have always argued that classic games only sell well if they have reasonable prices. Unfair regional pricing equals piracy and that’s the last thing anybody wants.

What’s next?

We will do our very best to make all of the above happen. This means three things:

First, we will work to make our industry go DRM-free in the future for both classic and new games (that’s our mission!).

Second, we will fight hard to have an attractive offer for those AA+ new games for our European, British and Australian users, despite regional pricing that we have to stick to.

Third, we will switch to fair local pricing for classic games, as I mentioned above.

TheEnigmaticT earlier mentioned that he would eat his hat if we ever brought DRM to GOG.com. I'm going to go one step further: by the end of this year, I'm making the promise that we will have converted our classic catalog over to fair regional pricing as outlined above. If not, we'll set up a record a video of some horrible public shaming for me, TheEnigmaticT, and w0rma. In fact, you know what? Feel free to make suggestions below for something appropriate (but also safe enough that we won't get the video banned on YouTube) so you feel that we're motivated to get this done quickly. I'll pick one that's scary enough from the comments below and we'll let you know which one we're sticking to.

I hope that this explanation has helped ease your worry a bit and help you keep your faith in GOG.com as a place that's different, awesome, and that always fights for what's best for gamers. If you have any questions, comments or ideas, feel free to address them to us below and TheEnigmaticT and I will answer them to the best of our abilities tomorrow. We hear you loud and clear, so please do continue sharing your feedback with us. At the end of the day GOG.com is your place; without you guys it would just be a website where a few crazy people from Europe talk about old games. :)

I end many of my emails with this, but there's rarely a time to use it more appropriately than here:

“Best DRM-free wishes,

Guillaume Rambourg,
(TheFrenchMonk)
Managing Director -- GOG.com”
Posted February 28, 2014
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Ichwillnichtmehr: Oh well, can't win 'em all.

But if you ever write a book about PR, and include this whole business, be sure to let us know. :)
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mrkgnao: Yes. You could call the book "Good Old Greed".
You know, even now, I still don't think that they are motivated by greed.

I think they genuinly believe it's a good idea to abandon one of their core values to get these games onboard.

I obviously don't agree with them, since "We will stick with our core values!" is...sorry, was such a big part of their identity.
Posted February 28, 2014
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Bloodygoodgames: No, sorry. Time is money and, while I might have time to dash off a few lines on an internet forum while I'm downloading the rest of my games from GOG, I don't have time to give GOG a free marketing and PR lessons. They make enough money. They can pay for it.

But.....I will say this.

From the fiascos they have already been involved in previously and that severely damaged their company and their reputation, they should have either hired someone who obviously had PR and Marketing skills or Guillaume Rambourg should have taken classes himself.

The first rule of thumb in PR if you know it's going to be bad news, is to treat your customers like intelligent individuals and not like clueless 12 year olds that will swallow bad news couched as "Yay, good news". We might be gamers, but wer're not idiots.

Second rule of thumb in PR - when your customers see through your lies, you then mea culpa as much as you possibly can. You don't come up with a whole slew of other lies ('we had to accept regional pricing') and you certainly don't play the victim role. "People will be fired", as your customers will say, as they have rightfully done here either "Bullshit" or "I don't care".

Finally, the internet is a marvelous tool (as I'm beginning to think Guillaume Rambourg is!), as it's quite easy to quickly look up GOG and CDProjekt Red's financials and see they are so far from firing anyone or not making large profits. Guillaume Rambourg should have thought of that before he intimated half of GOG was going to be let go.

Finally here is where they went wrong:

Give me the truth with reasonable reasons as to why you FELT you had to do what you did, and I may very well be angry but I will probably still give you my custom. Give me lies and treat me like an idiot. I will never buy from you again.
Nice. This is at least starting to look intelligent. I'd still say that some context is missing but it's a good effort all the same. One thing I'm really curious about, though. If you'd looked up CD Projekt's finances then why would you say they're making large profits? Was it four million zloty last quarter? That's about one million euro, isn't it? Would you say that's a lot relative to the bigger players in the distribution scene? Their revenue for the quarter was 27 million zloty so apparently they had for 23 million zloty expenses. If their revenue dries up then how quickly do you think they can reduce their expenses and what do you think such a cost reduction might entail?

I'm of course totally clueless here, but it seems to me that if they don't keep expanding then they'll run into a stalemate situation, their cash cows will eventually dry out, the new classics will already be on Steam and won't numerically match the number of old classics, the revenue will decline, and GOG will eventually wither and die. It obviously won't happen right away but it could happen within what what would be a foreseeable time fram for the MD.

But you're somewhat right to blame Rambourg for being too explicit about his future worries regardless of how accurate they are. It's not something one should talk about in half-assed details. That only ever ends up confusing customers and spreading the wrong signals to places you don't want them to go. On the other hand, the combination of stress and being able to make casual messages might well make people say the wrong things, but then we're beginning to look at that context thing again, and I'm getting the odd idea that you're not really a context-interested kind of person.
Posted February 28, 2014
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Ichwillnichtmehr: You know, even now, I still don't think that they are motivated by greed.

I think they genuinly believe it's a good idea to abandon one of their core values to get these games onboard.

I obviously don't agree with them, since "We will stick with our core values!" is...sorry, was such a big part of their identity.
This.

With this new policy what is there to prevent new games from just jumping on the regional pricing bandwagon (games that they might have been able to make work under their previous values). What motivation is there to convince anyone to change at some point down the line to non-regional pricing? GOG would need some ridiculously compelling data to provide these companies (data that may be a crap-shoot to legitimately obtain).
Posted February 28, 2014
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Bloodygoodgames: No, sorry. Time is money and, while I might have time to dash off a few lines on an internet forum while I'm downloading the rest of my games from GOG, I don't have time to give GOG a free marketing and PR lessons. They make enough money. They can pay for it.

But.....I will say this.

From the fiascos they have already been involved in previously and that severely damaged their company and their reputation, they should have either hired someone who obviously had PR and Marketing skills or Guillaume Rambourg should have taken classes himself.

The first rule of thumb in PR if you know it's going to be bad news, is to treat your customers like intelligent individuals and not like clueless 12 year olds that will swallow bad news couched as "Yay, good news". We might be gamers, but wer're not idiots.

Second rule of thumb in PR - when your customers see through your lies, you then mea culpa as much as you possibly can. You don't come up with a whole slew of other lies ('we had to accept regional pricing') and you certainly don't play the victim role. "People will be fired", as your customers will say, as they have rightfully done here either "Bullshit" or "I don't care".

Finally, the internet is a marvelous tool (as I'm beginning to think Guillaume Rambourg is!), as it's quite easy to quickly look up GOG and CDProjekt Red's financials and see they are so far from firing anyone or not making large profits. Guillaume Rambourg should have thought of that before he intimated half of GOG was going to be let go.

Finally here is where they went wrong:

Give me the truth with reasonable reasons as to why you FELT you had to do what you did, and I may very well be angry but I will probably still give you my custom. Give me lies and treat me like an idiot. I will never buy from you again.
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dhundahl: Nice. This is at least starting to look intelligent. I'd still say that some context is missing but it's a good effort all the same. One thing I'm really curious about, though. If you'd looked up CD Projekt's finances then why would you say they're making large profits? Was it four million zloty last quarter? That's about one million euro, isn't it? Would you say that's a lot relative to the bigger players in the distribution scene? Their revenue for the quarter was 27 million zloty so apparently they had for 23 million zloty expenses. If their revenue dries up then how quickly do you think they can reduce their expenses and what do you think such a cost reduction might entail?

I'm of course totally clueless here, but it seems to me that if they don't keep expanding then they'll run into a stalemate situation, their cash cows will eventually dry out, the new classics will already be on Steam and won't numerically match the number of old classics, the revenue will decline, and GOG will eventually wither and die. It obviously won't happen right away but it could happen within what what would be a foreseeable time fram for the MD.

But you're somewhat right to blame Rambourg for being too explicit about his future worries regardless of how accurate they are. It's not something one should talk about in half-assed details. That only ever ends up confusing customers and spreading the wrong signals to places you don't want them to go. On the other hand, the combination of stress and being able to make casual messages might well make people say the wrong things, but then we're beginning to look at that context thing again, and I'm getting the odd idea that you're not really a context-interested kind of person.
One million euros in one fiscal quarter. They approximately had a revenue of €20 million and net profit of €4 million in 2013, both doubled from 2012. All that with old and indie games so far.
Post edited February 28, 2014 by Selderij
Posted February 28, 2014
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Beregorn: In the end the only thing that will matter is "Is GOG.com the place where I could buy my game for the lowest price?"
If the answer will be "yes", I will buy from them, otherwise I'll buy from someone else, or I will not buy at all, as I have done for a long time before I discovered GOG.
Still I prefer gog to steam, first of all because it has a small selection of wonderfull games, insted of the tons of crap that you must rummage trhough on steam; then I actually download the game, not some sort of fancy installer that need an internet link and an active account to be used. You can even burn a CD or a DVD to get your physical copy, if you have this kind of fetish. Last, but not least, I dont want the world to know what and when I'm playing
This. This is exactly how I feel. I love GOG, but price is the determining factor.
Posted February 28, 2014
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armajiro: This is exactly how I feel. I love GOG, but price is the determining factor.
But there are actually quite some people out here who don't see it that way. For those, the former principles were equally important.
Posted February 28, 2014
Idk if GOG has any data on this (but it can definitely be relevant to the topic at hand since it regards finances).

I'd be interested to know how many people double-dip, in regards to GOG releases. I re-buy both newer and older games here all the time (I'm sure others do as well, how many though is a mystery). I'm not concerned with getting anything day 1 here, rather I'm concerned with getting it drm-free and affordable sooner or later. If a significant number double-dip (eventually), how valid are [GOG]s concerns about changing terms to be able to bring brand new things for pre-order constantly?

The full-extent of their new policy remains to be seen, but if they truly do sell-out or concede on principles (offering mostly excuses and distractions) what reason is there to double-dip? Should they run into major difficulties what is to prevent them from doing this again on another principle, by reasoning they can attempt to enact change later on in the product's cycle. They need to make sure they never go far enough or undermine trust enough that people see buying off Steam or elsewhere and just download cracks as viable.

Edit: I shouldn't post when medication wears off, it took me forever to write this coherently in the first place... and I'm still finding errors. Apologies if it is hard to read.
Post edited February 28, 2014 by tammerwhisk
Posted February 28, 2014
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tammerwhisk: Idk if GOG has any data on this (but it can definitely be relevant to the topic at hand since it regards finances).

I'd be interested to know how many people double-dip, in regards to GOG releases. I re-buy both newer and older games here all the time (I'm sure others do as well, how many though is a mystery). I'm not concerned with getting anything day 1 here, rather I'm concerned with getting it drm-free and affordable sooner or later. If a significant number double-dip (eventually), how valid are their concerns about changing terms to be able to bring brand new things for pre-order constantly?

The full-extent of their new policy remains to be seen, but if they truly do sell-out or concede on principles (offering mostly excuses and distractions) what reason is there to double-dip? Should they run into major difficulties what is to prevent them from doing this again on another principle, by reasoning they can attempt to enact change later on in the product's cycle. They need to make sure they never go far enough or undermine trust enough that people see buying off Steam or elsewhere and just download cracks as viable.
Very true, I mean what is to stop them from going back on their word when it comes to monetary gain (well, maybe not monetary but some kind of gain)? How many other core values are at risk in the future?
Posted February 28, 2014
I don't remember paying euro amount when I pre-ordered Witcher 2. If I somehow recall right it was changed later to that. I could be wrong of course.

Anyway, about those classic prices, If they are actually that (9.99 $ is 7.5 €), I guess I could live with that. I pay something like that already. Those new game prices though. Those are something to think about. Of course it's good to have new releases but that didn't start well for me because I'm not a huge fan of strategy games.

Originally I had no question where would I buy Witcher 3 eventually when it lands but now I'm not so sure.
Well, It probably will be here still but now I'll have to think about it. =)

I just usually don't like to see € sign when buying games because I'm just used to think that "Oh man, what a jacked up price, everybody else has it better" and then I grow bitter and eat a lemon.

...lemons are sometimes good and juicy.
Posted February 28, 2014
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Bloodygoodgames: Come oooooooonnnn -- do we HAVE to put all people over the age of 30 into the 'old box' and relegate them to only being allowed to be one way? I guarantee you, you won't want that to be happening when YOU are my age :)

You might be surprised. Many 'old people' aren't exactly what you think we are.

This is me (and no, I'm not hiding my walking frame :) -- sorry to disappoint your narrow-minded views - LOL

http://beingbritishisawesome.co.uk/about-me-and-british-is-being-awesome/
For one, I'm pretty close to fitting into the category of what you think I'm dropping into the "old box". For another, you're looking pretty hot for a 50 year old, assuming the photo isn't either old or heavily manipulated. That said, I don't think there's any reason to be ashamed of your age and I don't think it's necessary to talk like the youngsters to avoid feeling old. Heck, the more I listen to them, the more I feel ancient anyway. A third thing, how the heck can you be a writer who loves British culture if you're doing that ".............." thing? Seriously? I'm not British, I'm not sure how much I love British culture, and my grammar isn't all that hot, but that thing is bugging me. The your / you're thing that some people can't figure out doesn't annoy me much, the have / of thing that comes from excessive word snubbing is tolerable, but that ellipsis-abuse thing is just cruel to look at.

I know, it sounds like a I've got a supersized broomstick up my ass, doesn't it? So be it.

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Bloodygoodgames: I always planned on buying the Age of Wonders series on GOG, along with the newest game. I will never buy one of their games now as I don't support greed.
What do you think capitalism is? And by the way, what exactly is it you do as a marketing professional, if not support greed? Do you think all the customers that you helped discover a need for your employer / client's product actually couldn't have done without whatever junk they ended up buying? You're telling me that you've done marketing for 25 years without helping companies sell junk to people that didn't need it?


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Bloodygoodgames: "Male being the default assumption in English"? Only for sexist twits. :)

Well done. You've managed to prove yourself both sexist and agist in about 10 seconds flat. Add clueless into the mix, and I see I'm wasting my time here. Off to get some actual work done.....have a nice day!
You're having a laugh, right? You're not trying to seriously suggest that you're an English-American writer who loves English culture who doesn't actually know about the generic he? And god dammit, there's that stick crawling up my ass again, but these little details from people claiming some special authority really do give me pause.
Posted February 28, 2014
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dhundahl: It's more a matter of the language totally not fitting what I'd expect from a 25 year marketing veteran.
The LOL is odd because of the. A 45 year old saying LOL, not for a particular purpose, but just to express amusement has me spooked.
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dhundahl: It's like when your grandparents start using youthful slang to try and sound like they're not senior citizens.
Some things just shouldn't be said by old people. "LOL" is one of them. :-)
Why the age discrimination?
Do you think that a todays kid who grew in a "lol" age interwebs will not use those slangs on the internets anymore when he'll be aged?
Post edited February 28, 2014 by mobutu
Posted February 28, 2014
Wow. Did I seriously just read through 5+ pages of a massive argument over someone's use of 'LOL'? Not gonna lie, this regional pricing controversy is rather perversely hilarious to watch unfold.
Posted February 28, 2014
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tammerwhisk: Your hang-ups on age and slang really don't contribute much (especially given all the shit you're giving people over said hang-ups). Pretty sure multiple people have addressed other things you have said (and taken a formal-esque stance to boot!) to which you hardly replied and keep ranting about "LOL" and age. Good job, I hope you are proud of your excessive wisdom and maturity.
I'm messing a bit with Bloodygoodgame after she went in hard and furious and claimed some form of intellectual superiority based on nothing but fluff. I'd be happy to answer everybody but the truth is that I can't answer as quickly as they can write comments. Finally, no, my focus on age vs language are quite irrelevant.

As for my excessive wisdom and maturity, I really don't think I've made such a claim. Don't think it would be reasonable either. Even so, I'm not suggesting that other people are clueless morons, am I?
Posted February 28, 2014
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tammerwhisk: Idk if GOG has any data on this (but it can definitely be relevant to the topic at hand since it regards finances).

I'd be interested to know how many people double-dip, in regards to GOG releases. I re-buy both newer and older games here all the time (I'm sure others do as well, how many though is a mystery). I'm not concerned with getting anything day 1 here, rather I'm concerned with getting it drm-free and affordable sooner or later. If a significant number double-dip (eventually), how valid are their concerns about changing terms to be able to bring brand new things for pre-order constantly?

The full-extent of their new policy remains to be seen, but if they truly do sell-out or concede on principles (offering mostly excuses and distractions) what reason is there to double-dip? Should they run into major difficulties what is to prevent them from doing this again on another principle, by reasoning they can attempt to enact change later on in the product's cycle. They need to make sure they never go far enough or undermine trust enough that people see buying off Steam or elsewhere and just download cracks as viable.
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Odonnell435: Very true, I mean what is to stop them from going back on their word when it comes to monetary gain (well, maybe not monetary but some kind of gain)? How many other core values are at risk in the future?
After all this, I'd say that, even with me getting upset at how some people have chosen to run with it, it definitely sends the strongest message possible aside from people burning effigies outside GOG headquarters. From an absolutely cold logical standpoint, there's nothing to stop them from changing anything they wish to, just like there's nothing at the most basic level stopping any one of us from changing stances on something we hold dear. BUT, if GOG was to abandon the DRM-free stance at any point, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that their business would essentially be at an end. Steam can match them for acquiring any title due to massive amounts of market share and money, and the negativity that would flow from such an action would make all this look virtually nonexistent by comparison. They don't want to destroy their business, they want to see it grow. They want that so much that they're willing to weather all the crap that's come out of this decision in order to go forward with that plan for growth.
Posted February 28, 2014
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dhundahl: It's more a matter of the language totally not fitting what I'd expect from a 25 year marketing veteran.
The LOL is odd because of the. A 45 year old saying LOL, not for a particular purpose, but just to express amusement has me spooked.
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mobutu:
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dhundahl: It's like when your grandparents start using youthful slang to try and sound like they're not senior citizens.
Some things just shouldn't be said by old people. "LOL" is one of them. :-)
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mobutu: Why the age discrimination?
Do you think that a todays kid who grew in a "lol" age interwebs will not use those slangs on the internets anymore when he'll be aged?
I'll be perfectly honest, even though it might not sound all that nice. I sure hope not. :-)

By the way, I grew up in the "lol" age myself and there was a time where I'd even use it in RL-conversations. Then I took a good long look in a mirror and rarely ever used it again.

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NovusBogus: Wow. Did I seriously just read through 5+ pages of a massive argument over someone's use of 'LOL'? Not gonna lie, this regional pricing controversy is rather perversely hilarious to watch unfold.
Has it really been five pages already? Amazing. You're quite right to laugh at how hilariously silly the discussion has become, though. I guess I just got a little carried away with my frustrations over how impossibly angry people are over a change we don't actually know much of anything about just yet.
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General discussion (archive)<b>Letter from the M.D.</b>: About Regional Pricing(5517 posts) (5517 posts) 
(5517 posts)