Scrabulous be damned - Scrabble gets funky
By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial
Posted in Scrabble, PR, funny, Gaming on
Being a business IT journalist I don’t normally get tech games releases - it would be like throwing paper into a waste bin.
However I recently got a call from a PR who was trying to sell me an online version of Scrabble - I was a touch confused by this - surely she must have seen what IT PRO is - primarily focused on business IT right?
So I told her to look at the site again, but then she mentioned that I had written on Scrabble before. More confusion. Then suddenly a lightbulb switched on - I had written on Scrabble - basically a blog on a funny story where the Nintendo DS version of Scrabble managed to beat an eight year old with the word f***ers.
So now I’m writing on it. Yeah, the games cool enough and you can play it with one player, which is good if you’re in the office and you fancy a quick ten minutes of fun (see what I did there? managed to get the business angle in).
It also put me in mind to remember the whole Scrabulous saga, when Scrabble got into a battle with two Facebook app makers for ripping them off with a game which was basically Scrabble.
I remember being quite angry with Mattel and Hasbro, the owners of Scrabble, for their heavy-handed approach. But looking back I realise they had a point - they were getting ripped off and other people were making money out of their copyright.
However it seems to have worked out now. Scrabble has a working Facebook app of its very own and the game seems to be as popular as ever, with console, computer and online versions out for people to enjoy.
But in the end a board game like Scrabble is all about the interaction, the anger and the swearing - as Tim and Daisy from Spaced will tell you.
(I reckon Shazam is a word. Pantene ‘ProV’ definitely not).
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Don’t hate the PR - they are only doing their jobs
By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial
Posted in tech, journalism, PR on
One thing I’ve noticed here in my time in IT PRO is the attitude of old school tech journalists (actually not just tech - this is in other areas) to PR. There is definitely a lack of respect there, and in some cases pure hatred!
I find this quite strange, especially in tech. It seems to me that in tech, maybe more so than in any other areas, PR is vital. In fact sometimes they overlap. I’ve known this ever since I’ve started writing, and I am always as nice as I can be to them, even if they are flogging me a dead press release - but maybe that’s just in my personality - I’m nice to people.
But I’ve heard some journalists treat PR’s like a plague, curse them for stupidity, yell at them down the phone - I feel bad when this happens. Simply, these guys are only doing their job. Tech companies are not known for their news sense yet they’ll feed PR people horrid press releases journalists are not going to be interested in to pitch.
I know this - but I’m usually as friendly as can be (though there have been examples where I haven’t - though this is usually when its the end of the day or I’m hungover and a someone’s trying to really do a pressure pitch on me).
I don’t get the attitude because in the end - PR is part of the journalist lifeblood. These are the guys who will help you out when you want that interview, when you need something quickly done. These are the guys who’ll help you out with the free jollies (press trips), free drinks, free devices to play with - doesn’t really pay to be nasty or annoying - word spreads around.
I was thinking - maybe it is because most PR’s I’ve talked to are usually attractive, outgoing young ladies while tech journalists are often … not. Maybe there’s a fear of them or something.
BTW this is not pitch for me to get a PR job or something. I’m very happy being a journalist in the role I’m in and can’t really imagine doing a lot of the jobs PR’s do, especially at the beginning of their careers.
Rated: 50% (2 votes)
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