Crowfall, I hope, has taken note of Albion Online's release and reception as not only do they share an overlap in a lot of gameplay facets - but also potential playerbase - and potential issues.
The idea of a soft launch .. where you preform your last wipe and turn on monetization .. switching your game's business model from the donation/support crowdfunding method to offering a service that you want people to pay additional for monthly - creates long lasting first impressions that may burn them. That said.. I bring the game up and will be introducing Crowfall coverage to the channel because in the last week Crowfall has made some statements, answered some questions in such a way.. that I'm on board. I want to follow what happens with the game and the team wherever it goes https://ace-onlines.com/. Now.. that's talking mainly PC MMORPGs.. I feel I also need to point out that we are in a bit of a porting and repurposing phase in MMORPGs. We're seeing a lot of titles get ported to both mobile and console.. which best case scenario expands the audience.. but for most of us.. is a side note that doesn't actually affect us especially since I haven't seen one that allows like a crossover or sharing of accounts-cross platform. and repurposing.. we're seeing fresh start servers, progression servers.. we're even seeing a specific game, a failed game, getting what amounts to a new patch - and a new coat of paint.. and being re:released.. I swear Trion had a meeting about how to further monetize dead assets because it's all coming at once... and because of how thirsty we are... a lot of us are tempted. Now.. I made the distinction of there only being 2 notable games.. because while there are other games. Tale of Toast, Project Gorgon, Darkfall's 3rd split or something.. and while if you pressed me.. I have nice things to say about these games, which is why I mentioned these 3 specifically.. but these are like.. a special type of enthusiast game. These are games that if I asked 10 friends to check out with me.. I'd get 10 lols.. I mention them because there will be commenters that would say.. well you didn't mention such and such a game with a potential playerbase of dozens of players.. because it's not realistic.. and the people who would play these are probably deep enough online to find them anyways. Unfortunately 2018 ends up being a lot like 2017.. in that it's going to be slow. This is probably the last year before we start seeing the hyped up crowdfunded games get playable states.. where we're bound to finally see some innovation in the MMORPG genre as they continue to look for and find additional ways to monetize their already passionate fanbase, pre:release. So.. for 2018 - I think it's a time to rediscover games that have been worked on since you last gave them a shot, MMORPGs grow and evolve over time. I quickly name dropped Elder Scrolls Online earlier.. and after 4 years of updates it's much better.. a lot of games.. are much better.. and so for me.. what I want to do is spend some time with as many of these established games as I can and give like a revisited review.. what's changed.. what's good.. what's special about these games in current year and maybe give you a reason to give them that second look. While I believe that the genre is stale, and upcoming games are looking more at what was.. instead of what else.. there are a few really stellar games and experiences out there to try and groups of people having fun and always seemingly ready to have room for one more. At the end here.. I've already made you sit through probably 9 minutes of rambling and I should play the youtube game and make it 10.. I do want to highlight a new MMORPG resource. MMOpulse.com.. this is a website put together by a youtuber that I follow - Nocht.. and while I don't want to put words in his mouth .. a lot of MMORPG websites are garbage .. 2p.com recently shut down .. and it looks like MMOpulse is looking to pick up the slack - In general .. he's always had a leaning towards eastern titles which tend to have a hard time getting decent coverage. So.. if you still use normal websites and are into this stuff.. MMOPulse.com. And THAT will do it for me until next time, this is Fevir. Peace.
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My favorite is the Air and Space Museum which is located pretty close to the Capitol Building on that side of the mall.
That's the right side if you're facing the Capitol Building. The Air and Space Museum has lots of cool things from NASA. Lots of cool planes. Air and Space Museum has two locations. It's got one on the National Mall, it's got another out at Dulles Airport. And so if you want to see the really big things in there like the Space Shuttle, The Concord, those are all going to be out at Dulles Airport. And the other thing to know about museums in DC there's also some other commercial museums https://casinoslots.sg/online-casinos. There's the Newseum, the Spy Museum. Those will cost you more money. I haven't been into them. I've heard the Spy Museum is pretty cool. But if you go to Smithsonian, free. And the private ones, they're going to cost you some money. Still talking about museums I turned the camera around for this part cause I was just standing right in front of the Washington Monument. The Washington Monument is one of my favorite museums on the National Mall. What do you mean museum Chris? Well it has an observatory at the top of the Washington Monument. Unfortunately it's closed until 2019 for repairs, but if you're watching this after 2019, or you're planning a trip here after 2019, make sure you get a ticket to ride the elevator up to the top of the Washington Monument. There's excellent views up there. Alright, I'm going to swing the camera back around again to my previous position. And my second favorite museum in the DC area it's the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. I had particularly mentioned this one, because it's not a Smithsonian and so not a whole bunch of people know about it. But the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, that is where they print the money in the US and you can take tours in the morning and in the afternoon, in the winter times, you don't need a reservation. So if you come September 5th to March 2nd, no reservations are needed. Just show up and you'll get on a tour. If you come in the summer, the waits going to be pretty long make sure you get a reservation ahead of time. And the final thing to know about museums is some of the best gift shops in DC are inside the museums. So if you're looking for souvenirs or things like that, check out the Smithsonian gift shops. Alright, the sixth thing to know before you come to DC is about Government stuff. I'm bet your surprised I haven't mentioned these things but some of the cool things to visit, there's the Capitol Building. If you want to visit the Capitol Building, book some tickets in advance. They do have limited tickets if you arrive the day of, but you can book tickets to the Capitol Building online or through your Congressional Representative. The White House, if you want to go to the White House, I'm going to point that way cause the White House is that direction from where I'm standing. You will need to reserve a few months before your trip through your Congressional Representative. There are no same day walk up tours for the White House. So that requires some advance planning. I personally think the Capitol Building tour is cooler than the White House tour. So if you can only do one, do the Capitol Building. If you come when Congress is in session you can also go in and sit on some Congressional sessions. It's just over the river. If you fly in there it's just a short three, four stop metro ride or a 15 dollar taxi, Uber, into the city. If you fly into Washington Dulles that's about 20 miles east in Virginia. If you fly into Baltimore, Washington, that's even further up towards Baltimore. My favorite airports happen to be Reagan, or Dulles. Just really depends where you can get a direct flight to. Also you can take the train into DC. There's the Amtrak trains. They come into Union Station, which behind me there's the Capitol Building and just kind of to the left of the Capitol Building, there's Union Station. Lots of great Amtrak trains come in from the north. From New York.
Points that way. From the south as well. So that's a great way to come into the city. Okay, the fourth thing to know is about transportation in DC. So you've already got here and now you need to get around. Well, my advice to you when you're in The District is to walk. Use your feet and walk around because the traffic's awful. And there is a Metro. So the second way to get around is to take the Metro. Or the subway. It's called the Metro because it's underground, or subway in DC. But when it goes into Maryland, Virginia then a lot of places elevated and it's not a subway anymore. The Metro, or subway, is pretty efficient during work times on weekdays, on weekends and evening hours. The trains don't come as frequently so it can be a long wait. It's just not really quite as good for a tourist, as it is if you work here, coming here for work. If you are taking the Metro, make sure that you get a SmarTrip Card. I was looking for it but I'll put a picture of it right up here. It's kind of the re-loadable, IC card. You tap it on to ride, you tap it off to exit. They don't do single fare cards anymore. You have to buy one of those. They're two dollars to buy the card. And then you load it up with money when you ride the train. They have different fairs for peak hours, off peak hours. You can also buy day passes and things like that. The Metro's not super expensive, so I just try to load it up with about 20 bucks when I get here and that lasts me quite a bit of time in DC. There's also the Capitol Bikeshare, if you like to bike. There are 175 Capitol Bikeshare stations around the city. They're the bikes that you can rent by the hour or by the day. Pick them up at one, drop them off at another one. That's pretty convenient. Taxi's and Uber are plentiful around the city. There's Lyft as well. So you can take those. You will not definitely be without wheel transportation. And then of course, did I mention you can drive? You can, but you're going to pay a lot of money to park. Alright, the fifth thing to know about DC is about the museums. The museums in Washington DC, they are fantastic. This particular area, the National Mall that I'm standing on it is like the museum capitol of the world. And the Smithsonian is basically the national franchise museums of the United States. All the Smithsonians are free. The headquarters for the Smithsonian is The Castle. And, let's see, you can't see it. But it's back that way. Trust me, there's a castle over there. The Smithsonian Castle let's the visitors center, you can find out more information about all the Smithsonians. Yellow Productions presents Ten things to know before you go to Washington DC. I'm Chris. This is Yellow Productions. I do travel guides that are fun, informative and entertaining. And in this video I'm going to be telling you everything you need to know before you come to the nations capitol of the United States of America. And I'm filming this live on location here on the National Mall. That is the Capitol Building right behind me.
So the first thing we'll start with is just some general information about Washington DC. And that is if you're referring to DC, that is the region. District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. That's kind of how the area's referred to. If you're referring to the actual city state that is the District of Columbia, the locals refer to that as The District. So if you say, "I live in The District," or, "I'm going to The District." That is this part right here. The nations capitol. And sometimes the bigger area is referred to the DMV. Not the Department of Motor Vehicles. But DC, Maryland and Virginia. And just one thing to know, if you're coming here and you're trying to plan how much time to spend in DC, I would say don't spend any less than three days. You could easily a spend a week in the greater DC area. There's certainly lots of museums, things like that to check out. Capitol Building tours, but there's lots of stuff in the region, including things like Thomas Jefferson's house, George Washington's house. Those you'll need a car too. But you can easily spend a week in this area. If you're really a history buff, you've never been here before, make sure you have plenty of time. The second thing to know about DC is about the city layout. And so the city layout, it's a grid pattern that has some diagonal streets with some circles. And the lettered streets they run east west. The numbered streets they run north south. The diagonal streets, those are typically the names of states like Connecticut Avenue. And you should also know that DC is organized into four quadrants. And the center of DC, that building right behind me, the Capitol Building and from around it, there's four quadrants. North West, North East, South West and South East. So if you have an address in DC, it'll a number, a street and then North West, North East, South West, South East at the end of it. So if you're plotting Google maps, you're telling a taxi where to go, make sure you have the correct quadrant of the city. Otherwise you might end up some place completely different than you were expecting. The third thing to know about DC is getting in, or getting here. How do you get to DC? Well you could certainly drive in the DC, though I wouldn't recommend it. DC is notorious for having some of the worst traffic in almost any city in the US. And parking can be quite expensive. If you're flying into DC there are three airports. There's Ronald Reagan, there's Washington Dulles and there's Baltimore Washington International. The thing about those three airports, none of them are actually in The District. Ronald Reagan DCA, it's in Arlington in Virginia. That's the closest. You'll also see how we manage that lack of liquidity. The biggest thing we do is we show you a whole list of bonds that we think are attractive, not just the bond that we're recommending. So it allows for you to kind of look into the market with us and see what we're doing in addition to the actual recommendations that we make. So it's both.
And that's why – again, it's a liquidity issue that really prevents us from putting it in the Total Portfolio. We want the Total Portfolio to be very easy to use. And buying bonds often takes weeks and weeks and weeks of calling your broker this website. Now, I think it's worth doing. But I don't think that most of the users of the Total Portfolio would agree. And so we're not going to probably – I'm not saying we'll never have a bond in there. But it's certainly not something we can build a hold bond portfolio as part of the Total Portfolio. It just won't work. It's not liquid enough. Now, having said all that, I think you should think of your portfolio as being a 50-50 proposition. You should have 50% of your investments in stuff that is a very firm financial foundation, whether that's distressed debt, whether that's property and casualty insurance companies, or whether that's very interesting kinds of fixed income that you can buy through the stock market that I mentioned earlier: Annaly and Blackstone commercial mortgage. So if you've got half of your portfolio in stuff that's going to make you around 10% a year or more, mostly in the form of coupons and dividend payments, half your portfolio is in that, it's going to be very hard for you to have a bad year in the stock market. And that I think should be everybody's goal. I don't care about beating the S&P 500 when the S&P is up 20%. What I care about is not ever losing money. And I want to make at least 10% a year on my investments. Buck Sexton: All right. That's going to be it for the mailbag for this week, everybody. Remember: you can write to us at [email protected]. If we use your question on the show, we'll send some Stansberry Research goodies. And if you want to check out how Richard Smith's TradeStops beats the billionaires and how it can help you become a better investor, just go to TradeStopsOffer.com. That's TradeStopsOffer.com. Love us or hate us, just don't ignore us. Mr. Porter, thank you so much, sir. Porter Stansberry: Buck, it was a pleasure. Today was a long one. Thanks for sticking with us, everybody. And we'll see you next week. Buck Sexton: Yeah. We had fun. See you next time, everyone. [Music plays] Announcer: Thank you for listening to the Stansberry Investor Hour. To access today's notes and receive notice of upcoming episodes, go to InvestorHour.com and enter your e-mail. Have a question for Porter and Buck? Send them an e-mail at [email protected]. If we use your question on air, we'll send you one of our studio mugs. This broadcast is provided for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered personalized investment advice. Trading stocks and all other financial instruments involves risk. You should not make any investment decision based solely on what you hear. Stansberry Investor Hour is produced by Stansberry Research and is copyrighted by the Stansberry Radio Network. [End of Audio] So we have a very wide runway of future growth. So if we started putting a lot more money into our marketing, we could grow this business to $600 million, to $900 million, to $1.2 billion in sales very quickly. So investors who saw our model and wanted to help us grow and were giving us equity capital – they would probably value us as though we had already achieved that growth because the formula is there, the process is there, the marketing is proven. So you might value my company at a very high multiple of revenues or earnings because it's growing so fast and the runway for future growth is so clear. And that's why people put a very high premium on shares like Nvidia and other companies that are proven growth stocks that have a very long runway.
The trouble with Apple is: How big is Apple? It's already a $700, $800-billion company in market capitalization, and it already dominates its market. Its runway for future growth is not clear at all. Because it already has a huge segment of the phone market. It already has a huge segment of the music business. So think about how hard it would be for Apple to double its sales. It's going to be very difficult. Because it's already so big. And as a result, the growth expectations for Apple stock is much more modest, and therefore the multiples are much more modest. So really when you talk about valuing a business, any business, any operating business, you're really looking at two variables, which is: What's the quality of this business? What are the return on assets? What are the return on equity? What is the capital efficiency? And what is the growth? So it's: How good of a business is it and how fast is it growing? And then a very important consideration with growth is understanding: how big is that runway? And that's what really drives all these valuations. So, I hope that helps you, and if you need more, then see our valuation video. Buck Sexton: So we will skip to one last one in the mailbag this week. We'll hold the rest until next time. So we've got Chris B. here writing the following: "Buck and Porter, I've been listening to you guys since you launched the podcast. I'm a Total Portfolio subscriber now and I'm using that solution for a good amount of my investment capital." Porter Stansberry: Smart. Buck Sexton: "With Porter continuing to pound the table on the advantage of safe, distressed corporate debt investing, I'd like to understand how he sees this type of investing fitting into an overall portfolio." Me too, Chris. "How do the rules of asset allocation, position sizing, stop losses, etcetera, apply when investing in bonds? Comments like 'You'll never buy stocks again' seem to imply that bonds could make up your entire investment portfolio." Porter Stansberry: They absolutely could. Buck Sexton: "This is of interest to me considering the Total Portfolio has no bond positions currently. Thanks, and keep the rants coming, Chris." Porter Stansberry: Right. So the trouble with corporate bonds is that they're very illiquid. And if you have been a Stansberry's Credit Opportunities subscriber, you have seen that. We've made something like 22 different recommendations in SCO, but we've only hit our buy prices – we've only been able to get into maybe 60% or 70% of those opportunities because the market is so illiquid that it's very hard for a lot of people to try to buy the same exact bond. Now, I'm not saying it never happens, but I'm saying it's very difficult. And that's why you don't find distressed debt in the Total Portfolio. It's not that I would not like to have it. It's that it's very difficult for that many subscribers to get into an individual bond. So if you're interested in distressed debt, I recommend strongly that you buy a subscription to Stansberry's Credit Opportunities, where you'll see our portfolio. Richard Smith: Absolutely. Porter Stansberry: All right, Richard. So, people can go to www.TradeStopsOffer.com. Now, I'm not going to give my crew a hard time about this web address.
It's not that difficult. TradeStopsOffer. So all one word: TradeStopsOffer.com. And sign up. And give it a whirl. And, Richard, thanks for being our guest. And, by the way, thanks for inventing this technology and this software that actually makes it easy for people to use our newsletters in the way we intend. Richard Smith: All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it. Porter Stansberry: All right, Richard. Bye-bye. [Crosstalk] Buck Sexton: Thank you. All right. Here we go. Mailbag. Up this week, everybody. First, thanks to everyone. You know we love you all. Write to us at [email protected]. Number one up this week from Brett. "Dear Porter and Buck, love the show. You guys have a great dynamic together and it's engaging listening no matter what the topic seems to be. Porter, I've read a lot about how you value different types of companies. You wouldn't use the same metrics to value Hershey as you would to value Nvidia. I'm curious how you might approach a company like Apple. It seems to me that Apple's share price has moved the past few years based on whether the market is valuing it as a growth stock, as it was ascending in 2015 and 2017, or as a value stock, as it was correcting in 2016. How would you approach stock valuation for a company like Apple: growth or value? Keep up the great work." Porter Stansberry: Okay. Well, that's a great question. And I can't really go into full details here. But I would tell you that we have a valuation video that I did somewhere on our website. Country Club Guy can probably find the link and put it on our webpage or our e-mail or something. We'll send you a valuation video to go through this. But you're wrong about – I don't know whether you're just misunderstanding what I've said or you've really got it wrong. I don't quite know, because I don't know why you think I would value Nvidia differently than I would value Hershey. I really wouldn't. They're both operating companies, and as a result, I put them through the same process. So we're looking for capital efficiency – we're looking for revenue growth. Nvidia is a tricky company to value because it's growing so fast – it's very hard to value. So you have to apply a wider range of possible values with stock like that. But the process I would go through is the same for Nvidia or for Hershey. In regards to Apple, I think what you're missing is: A lot of valuation is simply based on the current size of the business. Think about it for a second. My little newsletter business is right now about a $300-million-a-year-in-sales business, and serving investors globally is an enormous market. It was a lot of fun and again it was it made so much sense. I I know about the Las Vegas, the biggest factor. I know how that works there.
When I was younger, I used to Jennifer nice to go to Vegas often, and I used to get all the time freak on free comps. I always get free comps in Las Vegas, because I did play enough. I did play enough on the slots and video poker to qualify for a combination, and there was there was a time where Jennifer and I would go down to the Bellagio we'd be down for three four nights: all inclusive enjoy yourself. The room is paid for the that we'd get the buffet passes every day, though, which is now what 40 bucks 50 bucks to go to the buffet in the Bellagio. At that time it was 20 25 dollars a shot. We'D get a buffet for to just eat. All you want, we could even do some specialty, dining or just the coffee shop for breakfast come the end of the stay. I would just go to my casino host and have a little chat in his office https://oncasinogames.com/. He'D. Take a look at my card. He swipe it in through his computer and he or she see all the gaming ideas and all the points that I racked up. As a gamer and he'd say to me, oh yeah, you're good to go. Your room is covered. All your meals are, the only thing we charge you for is you went to the spa. You went to the spots 20 bucks, but here's the good news all the play. You have take the take your room card head over to the cashier over there. There'S $ 350 cash back waiting for you because, while you two play - and so I have these credits - and I pick up the 350 bucks and I didn't mind - paying 20 bucks for the spot - I have an idea, but then I then, on the way home. I kind of sit they go, how much money that I lose yeah the room is free yeah, how much money this cost me and I do the math I go. You know sometimes I kind of think I'm better off just get in the room and beg for it and I can come and go and I want I'm under no obligation to play, but we got all kinds of offers tournaments. We take the hose on once in a while had a lot of fun. I was just my art form of entertainment, we loved it. We had higher cash flow in those days we were working, but it's the same on cruise ships. So if I were in my 30s and I wanted to be cruising and gambling - I can tell you that I likely would be offered - maybe not a free suite, but they might be. Throwing me offers like take on a one-week cruise, so maybe low seasonal, throw your balcony and we'll throw you a 500 dollars credit. The cruise you know slots enjoy. I take him up on that deal, so I think, all over the ship. There are people who are caught for this sort of thing, because a casino department is paying the hotel department for these rooms. It'S all in-house. It'S all worked out and same thing with the sweets, our Suites reserved for high-rolling whales, that you and I will never be offered that room and we probably couldn't even rent it. If we wanted to write it because it's reserved for the high rollers and that's how this business works, it's another world unto itself and it exists. It'S really something. Let'S see here just check with my messages here and catch up with everybody: here's the farmers they make it complimentary cocaine. I don't know about that. Steve'S thing, I don't remember those days mg, but these are now 100 dollars american presidents for dinner, not sure if that means cat not been to Vegas almost went cat, but early biggest was mainly run by the mob yep. They want a good chunk of that action. Back up until about the 70s, then it shifted over Robert Brandt, a soulless Havana mg toe every department in the hotel needs to be fiscally responsible for every generation to make a profit. Brother friend, you are correct. Our Steve farmer are you retired dusty was asking yeah. I am as although I do this full-time Rob Sauter. Sorry, Chris wife wants to go to Costco I'll, have an extra polish dog and ice cream for you catch. Your next show thanks Rob have a great one, but he can't Rose. My mom has the luck on slot machines at Indian casinos. I want that silo Steve morning, all 81 for the high 57 sitting at 84 days until my Haven, crews on the bliss, going in the Haven Suites only 533 days to go until the encore for The Haven still deciding when and where to take the the joy. Probably Alaska, no airfare or hotel, the Norwegian joint moved from he's moving from China to Seattle next April and all summer. Next year 2019, the Norwegian joy will be going to Alaska and silo and easily taken Alaska cruise on the joy, which is a sister ship to the Bliss, and something tells me email ideals you might be able to score a deal just gonna keep your eye On the prices and see what there are - and you know as we get closer to next year - you'll find out of course, after next summer the joy will go to Los Angeles and will work from there for Alaska and Panama Canal cruises, and I'm quite looking forward To seeing what the prices of those will be, because some this ship, the joy, is not replacing another ship out of Los Angeles for Norwegian, it is a new deployment for Norwegian and so that entire 4,800 to 5,000 passenger ship will need to be sold out for Every cruise out of La with no other ship to feed them that they've taken out so after watch all these surprises work out, Robert Brandt start winning or losing money and you're free drinks get stronger and stronger. That'S right! Robert ball will guess when I was on the getaway in June, I met several people that were on the ship free because they gamble a lot yeah. If you hang around the casinos, you kind of start noticing the regulars you'll kind of figure out who's who, in the zoo there, and if you strike up a conversation, they're more than happy to tell you that they're cops, they don't they. They look at that. As a an accomplishment - and you can find out from them, what did it take for them to become compliment tint? How did they get the the cop deal? The numbers will shock you, though, absolutely shocking mg. Joe says that cat as the ex-mayor of Vegas, a lawyer once said the Mafia left Vegas, because he knows he he he knows as he represented them. He knows as he well yeah. I think the mob got bought out by people like all the the billionaire Howard, Hughes and others. But then corporates came in corporate entities came in and figured out, hey we can get licenses. The the the licensing board in Nevada would far rather license a corporation than individuals or casino licenses and cuz. You know. Corporations, of course, can raise more money than an individual. Can they have deeper pockets basic, especially public companies, and as soon as that started to happen back in the 80s, the MGM people and sands and others started stepping up and with the amalgamation? Now there aren't as many public companies anymore in Vegas, there's now a handful that run the whole whole enchilada, but the private by the private owners were bought out. They were made offers they couldn't refuse, they got so much. They were offer so much cash. They took the deal, but these corporate entities knew that as soon as we buy out that guy and this group over here we're gonna tear down the whole property, we're gonna put up a two billion dollar Resort and a Convention Center and we're gonna Really just super-sized Las Vegas, and that was what happened starting with Steve Wynn when he took over some of the casinos on the strip and eventually Steve Wynn went public himself. That'S how this business goes. Traci they'll, not oh, they know who you are is right, even when I'm playing two dollar chips: ten dollar maximum and others slowing down they're $ 100 chips, soya. They know they, so you know cool jazz. That is, that was exactly my response to losing with wheels video the region couldn't care less about an inside cabin cruiser, the haven guests subsidize the inside and oceanview cabins. It is true the money that flows upstairs is so much more per square inch of space. Then the rest of the ship - it's really surprising and that's why they get these perks they're paying for it. But the cruise line adds up how much money the whole cruise ship brings in and what it costs to run the whole cruise ship and they figure out that those 200 people up there and huge chunk of the expenses over everybody else on a per person basis. It is surprising cruise to Burt I'm completely interested in how the gambling works. I wonder what the formula is. I wonder what the breaking point for getting offered a free cruise. Could I get a free cruise by losing $ 1500 times to people? No no, but you know my friend Tony in Vegas and on cruise ships. It'S basically identical. They track your play and the casino they're interested in, what's known as the action. So if you put a hundred dollar bill into a slot machine, even it's a penny machine and you're betting, two bucks, a spin. You know on the penny machine they're, gonna track those two dollar spins and they come up with a rate a so called play rate per hour. They figured out that for every 60 minutes on average that you're in front of a machine. They know that you're good for so many dollars. Now I don't know if you all know this, but if you sit in front of a slot machine they're much faster now than they used to be because in the old days you have to put the money in yourself and yet the crank they kept. The crank and you could get two or three or four plays in on a minute. Nowadays, it's just hit the button and the spin cycle is down to so many seconds per spin and then they have the payout. You know payout. How much did you win if anything put in two bucks? He won a buck and then you hit the button to play your next round. Well, they know how many plays a minute or how many plays an hour you're going to play. They know how much you're betting each time and they don't care whether you're winning or not. They don't care. They want to know what the play rate is because the average says for every dollar that goes into a slot machine or into a roulette spin or into a blackjack play. We know there's a certain percentage, we net out, it's just a formula and they go with the formula. Don'T care about the individual player they care about the overall number. And so if they see you playing 2 bucks a spin and they know you can put in 60 70 80 spins an hour before you give it up or you're. You know you're in four hours a day and you take bathroom breaks and you could give them when you come back. They know that you're playing for hours today and they figured out the how many spins per hour, how much money per spin. They know your numbers, they know it and they they rank you in the computer, nothing personal, nothing personal. They just know where you rank now, if you're a one dollar slot machine player and you're spending 15 bucks, a spin or you're playing maximum bets and you're 50 bucks a spin and you're there for four hours. Of course, someone spend spending 50 bucks to spin versus two bucks of spin guess what the guy with the 25 times, action, gets more perks, of course, because they're gon na lose more on average. If you take $ 150 spin players versus a hundred two dollars, spin players who loses more in dollars, the $ 50 player, and so the higher you spin those wheels the more they are gon na pay attention to you and it may be as simple as just Receiving an envelope in the mail box, two months after you cruises over and they're sending you a $ 1,000 credit to a to a cruise in this in the casino it may not have anything else, but that on to it, it might only be five might be $ 50, they might send you an offer to a slot tournament. You'Re involved you're invited to a slept tournament. We'Re gon na have on this cruise ship in the fall or next spring and you can register for the slot tournament, but doesn't include your room, you you have to book your room, but they give you an 800 number call these guys and we'll take care yeah. Well, you can check it out by calling them finding out what they're, quoting you for that cruise in the meantime, you're on vacations to go calm when you're looking up the price of what would it cost me to just buy a pay for my own room on This gross you may find that they're offering you the deal for half the price. Maybe you can get a balcony room for 399 when vacations that goes off again $ 5.99 other times they might be offering in the room for $ 5.99 there's no deal. They are only giving you this entry into a slot tournament with a couple hundred dollar freebie for for playing free play and a couple of t-shirts, one the one for you and your wife, maybe a couple of lanyards something commemorative of that thing, and you have a Chance to win from $ 50 or just getting there up to ten grand for the first prize participant. If that's, what turns you on you go for it and if you do go for that, they make note of that. They make note of the fact that you are taking them up on offers from the casino the casino loves. This big-time now you've just moved off the rink. Maybe you've moved up the ladder again, your play might be the same, but you're now a certain certain rank with a little letter, a beside it because you're a participant in their tournaments, and you react to offers. You come to ships because they're inviting you to come to the ship. Well, the next time, you'll get an invitation that might be the same kind. It might be a little better and if you keep increasing your play, they'll offer more. Like I said, these high-end whales they're dropping three four hundred thousand dollars on a cruise in the casino over five six seven days, you want to lose forty, fifty thousand a that's. What they're doing they get a $ 40,000 suite for the week with all the food and drinks they want and their family, and everybody can hang even if five people in that unit, six people in that unit with a butler and it cost the heirs. But the butler is being well tipped by the player you're. Looking at Butler's, getting five hundred to a thousand bucks for a week in tip money. The Void By Bryan Healey Copyright © 2012 Createspace ISBN: 978-1463507886 148 pages Imagine yourself in a coma, dead and unconscious to everyone around you for the past six years, and then suddenly able to hear and think. But that’s all. No sense of smell or sight or touch. Beyond what is given me by those around me, I can experience nothing but what I am able to cobble together using old memories and my old knowledge and my old beliefs and ideals, and the product always lacks the pull of the sonorous echo of Jenny’s ever melodious words, drifting into my ears like rose petals against a stiff breeze. Her voice makes me see color, see music, to see a lively painting, rolling fields of yellow and green cast across a blue, formless sky; she reminds me that there is a world, and at least part of it still cares that I am here. This is The Void, a world narrated by Max Aaron in this short novel by Bryan Healey. In it, Max’s narrative alternates between processing his current surroundings and reflecting back to major events in his past, with a couple of dreams thrown in, in a kind of stream of consciousness style. There are no line or chapter breaks. The dominance of single-sentence paragraphs makes for a quick pace. The transitions between past and present come unexpectedly and are key to making the experiences related by such a passive protagonist interesting for a reader. A certain word or phrase from a visitor launches Max’s mind to his past, whether to his time in the military, meeting his wife, Jenny, watching the birth of his son, or the purchase of the car that son now wants. I remember buying that car; it was a beautiful, sunny Saturday, driving to the address that I found in the newspaper, boasting a cheap sports car for sale. I needed a new car. “Good afternoon!” I smile at the man. “Howdy!” “I hear you have a car for sale?” “Indeed, I do,” he beams and motions for me to follow him into his garage. Briefly, I consider that maybe he is going to kill me, and I wonder if I would be able to defend myself… But then his garage door opens, and before me is the most gorgeous hunk of metal and leather that I have ever seen, glistening with the little sunlight suddenly available from the outside opening. It was black, convertible. It smelled magnificent. I would have paid him whatever he asked… “He always loved that car.” I’m glad he’ll have something from me… What solitary sadness Max must feel hearing people speaking about him. Their obliviousness of his limited consciousness makes them say things in his presence they wouldn’t otherwise. It works well as a device because it’s not distracting; instead, one wonders how he can endure the impact of their words alone. This is most distressing when his wife and son make the decision to pull his feeding tube to let him die. But more powerful was the one-way interaction between Max and a night nurse, Sarah,
whose own tragic circumstances affect Max even more deeply, it seemed. It’s not all so gloomy and there are light moments. A bit of suspense too. Several memories of reveal incidents of danger or peril. With each, you wonder, was this the event that put him in the coma? The answer does come but for me it was rather uninspired, like the rest of his previous life, which was rather unoriginal in dramatic terms. Perhaps that was on purpose to ensure his current circumstances take precedence. The big moral issue of the right to ‘pull the plug’ in such a situation is, curiously, not explored. Perhaps by accepting the possibility of Max’s ‘Void’ an argument could be constructed against mercy killing on the basis of his consciousness. The mercy, then, would be for the family as Max would be content continuing to live indefinitely within his memories and hearing. But he accepts their decision gracefully; what choice does he have? Perhaps there could have been an outsider fighting to keep Max alive. This lack of actual conflict creates another void, a literary one. But I can appreciate why this route wasn’t taken. It would have made for a far different story, one that would have struggled to sustain the style, and risked becoming too conventional. As it is, The Void is an interesting and creative piece. But because of its narrow scope and shortness, I’d hesitate to call it a novel. I read this from an ARC epub file, which contained proofing errors and inconsistent line spacing; i.e. the excerpt above was double spaced in the book while other sections were single-spaced. I assume these issues will be resolved by the time this review is posted and The Void is generally available. |
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