Gamestop Manager Starts Controversial Policy, Later Suspended

Earlier this week Brandon Scott, manager of a local Gamestop store in Austin Texas, started a controversial new policy change called "Games for Grades." This policy change was limited to just the store he managed. "Game for Grades" changed the policy to require an adult to vouch for a student's good grades before purchasing a game, with poor students unable to buy games. Scott believed this was a good system.

"This is a socially acceptable, responsible thing to do," Scott says. "These kids, they are our future, especially if you sell products to kids," he said.

Earlier this week he had a live CNN interview. Gamestop voiced their opinion of Scott by later suspending him, although it isn't clear for his policy or because he went public about it. In an e-mail, Gamestop said they were evaluating Scott's policy. It should also be noted that his policy has drawn criticism from bloggers and web commentators, but has also garnered community support.

In Scott's defense, he is acting out for what he sees as the greater good. By refusing to sell games to poor students, he is creating an incentive for children to become better students. On the other hand, no one likes to be refused service, for whatever reason. And with a safeguard so easily circumvented as a parent vouching for a child, the effectiveness of this policy can be debated. As Gamespot claimed to be evaluating Scott's policy, perhaps it will come into effect some day. Were it to ever come into effect on a national level, it would more than likely raise education, though by a small bit. It would also add yet another incentive to working hard in school.

While Scott's policy does have some merit, it also has some disadvantages. For instance, good students would need to bring in a parent to vouch for them in order to get games. Even though I am a good student, it could still affect me negatively. If this were to ever become official Gamestop policy, I would advise a more effective checking strategy. I recommend forcing the students to show their student id's when purchasing games. Then their name would be checked on local "bad grades" lists, offered by schools. In this way, students would not be burdened by their parents when purchasing games. And, if other companies were found wanting to implement a similar system, then a "bad grades" list would already be in place.

Sources;
Slashdot
KVUE

New York Times Articles Now Free

On Monday, The New York Times announced that many of its online articles are now free to view. Prior to this, they could be accessed by either purchasing the article or having a subscription to The New York Times. Articles that are not available include articles from 1923 to 1986. Articles prior to 1923 are in public domain and offered for free. They offered so many articles for free with the intention of promoting interest in their online website. Their income has also changed from subscription to advertising based. This change will not affect jobs.

On one hand, this is good for the people who might have stumbled upon an interesting sounding headline from The New York Times, but were dismayed that they would have to pay to read it. On the other hand, this is bad news for other competing newspapers. This change could lead to other changes throughout the world. Bloggers that link to articles might now start linking to articles from The New York Time. The New York Times website could also become a very popular place.

As far as I'm concerned, this is unabashedly a good thing. I've been the person who has found my way to a New York Times article but was later dismayed that I would have to pay to continue reading it. For that reason, I have tried to avoid The New York Times, in order to curb any desires to purchase articles. But with it now free, I can look all I want. And The New York Times does have some pretty interesting articles.

Sources;
Reuters
Slashdot

Edit; If The New York Times hits you with a page that prevents you from accessing an article, then you need only register with them. Registering is free.

Announcement of Current Events Days

So I will be adding a new feature to my blog.

For one of my classes, possibly social studies related, I will have to submit a current event.

Yes, this does sound like just my normal news. However, it is not.

For you see, the style I do my version of the news in is very vague, conversationalist, and mostly opinion based. But for the current events, I have to follow a style. More on that later. But the upshot is, I'm going to do the news in a more professional style.

That style is, First paragraph; who, what, when, where, why, and how
Second paragraph; two sides to the story and or the significance of it.
Third paragraph; this is where my opinions will be.

So every once in a while a "current event day" will be declared. On that day, I will make multiple reports, based off of that style of writing. I'll choose the best on and turn that in to my class, while the others and the chosen one will stay on the blog forever, waiting to be read.

However, do not think that this will replace my normal news covering. Those will return after the current event day. In fact, because the current event forces me to open up my news aggregator, it might even result in more news in my "signature" style.

Also, a little side note, the labels for the current event days will be a little funky; they will all start with "z." This is so I can keep them separated from all my other, more important labels.