It has just come to my attention that our server provider is shutting down. They've been great, but they are ultimately another casualty of Hurricane Sandy. I have until Monday morning to try to copy our data elsewhere. I'm going to try to bring the site back, but at this time I cannot make any promises. So, if you find the site unreachable, this is why. Thank you to everyone who made GayGamer what it was. Feel free to contact me if you want to help bring things back.
In response to the suicide of 15 year old Billy Lucas, a Greensburg, Indiana high school student who was the target of slurs and bullying, gay advice columnist Dan Savage has launched the It Gets Better Project.
If you're gay or lesbian or bi or trans, and you've ever read about a kid like Billy Lucas and thought, "Fuck, I wish I could've told him that it gets better," this is your chance. We can't help Billy, but there are lots of other Billys out there--other despairing LGBT kids who are being bullied and harassed, kids who don't think they have a future--and we can help them....
We want to hear YOUR STORY of How It Got Better! Create your video, post it to YouTube, and send the URL to mail (at) savagelove.net. We'll review it and post to our FAVORITES section.
Keep an eye for some GayGamers to make an appearance soon.
I'd like to wish my dear friend, Flynn DeMarco, a very happy birthday. I have known Flynn entirely too long but not nearly long enough. So please join me in wishing him many happy returns. Forget Count Chocula, Franken Berry, Yummy Mummy and Boo Berry, let's hear it for FRUIT BRUTE! (By the way, you can download the instructions for this cute papercraft Fruit Brute from MonkeyInADryer.com)
I recently came across an article on Ars Technica talking about how Ad Blocking can cause the sites you like to visit to take a financial hit. While this is something that I have long recognized, Ken Fisher did such a great job explaining the issue that I decided that it is worth repeating here:
There is an oft-stated misconception that if a user never clicks on ads, then blocking them won't hurt a site financially. This is wrong. Most sites, at least sites the size of ours, are paid on a per view basis. If you have an ad blocker running, and you load 10 pages on the site, you consume resources from us (bandwidth being only one of them), but provide us with no revenue. Because we are a technology site, we have a very large base of ad blockers. Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay. In a way, that's what ad blocking is doing to us. Just like a restaurant, we have to pay to staff, we have to pay for resources, and we have to pay when people consume those resources. The difference, of course, is that our visitors don't pay us directly but indirectly by viewing advertising.
Now GayGamer isn't the size of Ars, but we do have the same kinds of expenses to keep the site running. We have not yet implemented an ad free subscription feature, and we will give it serious consideration for those who wish to support our efforts. However, for the rest of you who do block ads, I'd like to suggest that doing so actually prevents us from being able to bring you more regular unique content. Remember that this site is not a huge money maker, it is a labor of love. We would like to expand our features and even begin video content, but the biggest restraint has been one of capital. So I am appealing to you to consider turning off your ad blockers, at least for GayGamer and any other sites that you love. We welcome your presence, but in order to exist, we require your presents (in the form of viewing ads).
Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love [ars technica]
Longtime reader and IRC chatroom moderator Jetuser is currently live blogging this year's Video Game Awards in our #gaygamer channel on our IRC server (irc.gaygamer.net). IF you're without a TV and want to know what's happening, or just want to talk about it, feel free to join in. If you don't have an IRC client, you can login to the GayGamer Forum and use our web based client.
One of our readers has created a cute iPhone game called Pocket Oinko. He writes:
Need a friend in your pocket? :P ... and when I say 'friend in your pocket', I'm talking about a cute little pig of course. I mean, what else could I possibly be referring to? ;)
Although I was never taken with the Tamagotchi craze in the mid 90's, I was certainly aware of it. How could you not be, right? However, as I am currently developing an iPhone app for GayGamer, this caught my eye when it landed in my inbox, and I decided to check it out. Let me just say it's very cute.
Oinko is a cute little pig with a mind of his own, living inside your iPhone® or iPod touch®. Watch him as he eats, sleeps, bathes, plays and uses the restroom.
Guide him through his daily routine by suggesting things to do. Keeping Oinko happy rewards you with bonus points. Use these to buy him more toys and snacks.
Pocket Oinko has dozens of unique animations and events, and plenty of items for him to interact with. Every major update will add more content for you and Oinko to enjoy together!
I have found myself checking in with my pocket friend from time to time. Thankfully he doesn't become emaciated when I don't check on him for a couple days. The game is well crafted and the animations are charming. The gameplay is very simple with menus of items to buy for your pig and clickable items in his room to give him instructions. I look forward to see what future updates will bring. Nothing like a little piggy sass to lighten your day.
Score: 7 out of 10
Here at GayGamer Castle, we are beginning the celebration of our very own Tiny Dancer's birthday. We ordered him a Final Fantasy cake this year replete with Chocobos. The libations will be flowing from dawn to dusk, so please join us in toasting another year with Tiny and in wishing him the very best in the years to come.
GayGamer.net experienced more server pain yesterday and today. The previous fix to the hard drive didn't last. We still are transitioning to a more robust scalable platform, but we aren't there yet. We promise to keep working on it until we have an industry standard, load balanced set of servers to better weather any storm.
GayGamer.net experienced some server pain today. We are transitioning to a more robust scalable platform, but before we could complete the move, a disk failure brought us to our knees. Now not all gay men out there think of being on their knees as a bad thing, but in this case it has meant our service of to you has been interrupted. Thank you for sticking with us despite our pain. We promise a more unbreakable server architecture coming soon.
So this is my second day at thePyCon conference in Chicago. It's quite possible some of the things that I am learning about will turn into new feature or improvements around here. As Fruit Brute and I have both mentioned, we are having an official reader appreciation party. Fruit Brute is flying in today and should be here any time now! So all your Chi-town gamers, make sure to come out and meet us tomorrow night. Here are the details:
Friday 27 March 2009, 8:00 p.m., at Purgatory Pizza, at 3415 N. Clark St. (Brown line and Red line: Belmont)
GayGamer.net will be buying the pizza, and those of age are welcome to join us afterwards for some drinks. We've got door prizes and will have our DS/PSPs. So come meet the founders of GayGamer.net and have a good time as well.
So I'm going to do my best up uphold my ÜberDork status by attending the PyCon conference in Chicago this month. So, I thought it would be appropriate to host a reader appreciation event for all our friends in Chicago while I'm there. So here are the details:
Friday 27 March 2009, 8:00 p.m., at Purgatory Pizza, at 3415 N. Clark St. (Brown line and Red line: Belmont)
Purgatory Pizza is suitable for all ages, and GayGamer.net will be buying the pizza. So, if you're in the greater Chicago area and haven't made it to a meet-up in awhile, come out and show me just how marvelous your city can be. I'll definitely have my DS and a pocket full of games. I should be able to bring a few things to give away as door prizes too. As far as I'm concerned we can start with pizza and move from there to additional Friday night activities.
So, mark your calenders and come out to help show me your fair city on my first trip beyond the doors of O'Hare. p.s. There is a rumor that Fruit Brute might be able to show up too, but only time will tell.
Today is the final day to vote for US citizens. As we all have been made aware ad nauseum, this is the most important election in a generation (or more). GayGamer.net encourages all registered voters who have not yet voted to get out and vote today. If you're in California, please vote No on 8. Vote No on 2 if you live in Florida. If you live in Connecticut, Vote no on 1, and for Arizona voters, vote No on 102. Let your voice be heard. Your vote does count! I have voted here, and I hope that you will all exercise your constitutional right to vote while you still can.
