Month: May 2022

What is gaming and why is everyone going so crazy about it?

The gaming industry revenue is now dwarfing the revenue that major motion pictures are making. From a couple of hundred million gamers 10 years ago to now it’s almost 3 billion gaming users in the world.

Microsoft purchased Activision for $68 billion dollars.

Sony is buying Bungie for about $4 billion dollars.

What the heck is going on? Why are these companies making such big bets on gaming outfits?

I believe Gamers will be the ones calling the shots in the 2030s and beyond. Just like nerds made their mark on the world and became cool in the 1980s and ’90s.

Keep in mind that when I say gamers I don’t mean the teenage kid sitting on the couch eating cheetos and playing xbox.

Gaming is much more than just Madden football, Halo or Pac-Man.

Gaming is experiences you have together with friends, family and even coworkers.

Let me give you an example. Imagine going to axe throwing but doing it virtually in the metaverse where you have walked in with a bunch of friends into this store in metaverse but your friends are actually physically located all over the world. One is from China, another from India, third from Germany and one from Canada and you are from United States. You can be with each other virtually, throw the axe at the targets, banter among yourselvee just like you would do at the actual axe throwing place. In fact, everything about the experience is normal just like you were doing it if physically present with each other.

Or to simplify it, just chilling at home and watching a Sunday football playoff game virtually with a dozen of your friends from around the world. That’s gaming as well.

Currently I see Meta (formerly Facebook), Microsoft, Sony and a few other players making some big bets in the gaming industry. They see the vision. They see the future. It’s true that recently the revenues of many of these companies have taken a hit but that’s only temporary in my opinion.

My prediction is that other companies will start seeing the same vision as well once they see the realization of benefits and profits that these companies will be accruing.

It’s a wonderful future to look forward to where you can be anywhere and be anyone in the metaverse.

Of course, this wonderful future does not come with drawbacks and challenges that we will have to face just like any other advances in technology that have come before it in the past.

My biggest fear: I hope we don’t all become couch potatoes where we wake up in the morning, put on our virtual reality gear, spend the whole day in a virtual world that that gives us whatever reality we want, momentarily satisfying us for the day and then we turn in for the night to repeat the same thing over again the next day (fourth reference, watch the movie “Ready Player One”). That future would not be good for mankind.

If we want to avail this upcoming opportunity of the metaverse in a way that propels mankind forward, we will have to be disciplined about how we make the best use of the new world instead of becoming slaves to it.

 

Beat your younger self

I totally believe in healthy competition. I tell my kids all the time the competition is a good thing. It drives you, it pushes you, it gives you a target.

Having said that, the best target to beat is your younger self. And when I say younger, it could be a minute younger, a week younger, a year younger. The idea is to beat the performance of your past self.

Many of us fall into the trap of comparing ourselves with others. The only result that comes out of that is second-guessing yourself and your own capabilities.

Now I’m not saying that we should completely ignore everyone around us and just focus on ourselves. It’s definitely good to look for inspiration all around us but there’s a fine line between inspiration and competition. Inspiration can be drawn from others but competition is best when done with your former self.

Just like when you run in track, the coach tells you to focus on your PR (personal record). Don’t worry if you come in last in the race, but do worry if you are not beating your own former PR.

If you are not improving yourself that just simply means you are not trying hard enough. If you are not beating others, there could be several factors affecting that which you cannot control. Don’t worry about that. The more you worry about that, the more miserable it’s going to make you and that doesn’t help move you further in life. Focus on what’s in your hands and keep on improving.

 

Why I write Google map reviews

I’m addicted to writing restaurant reviews for Google maps. When I go to a restaurant, whether I like it or don’t like it, I write a review either way.

You might ask: why do I do it? What’s in it for me?

There’s definitely no money in it of course. I have written hundreds of reviews but Google has not sent me a penny nor do I expect that they ever will.

Then why do it Asif you might ask..?

Not everything you do is going to have a payback in a monetary fashion. Sometimes the reward is the feeling you get when you know the impact you made.

For me in this case, I knew in my heart that I could help folks by writing honest, straightforward and concise reviews of places that I have been to so someone else who considers going there knows what to expect. That small impact makes me feel fulfilled. Just like writing this article makes me feel fulfilled because I’m sharing my thoughts with others who will eventually read it.

No matter how small of a contribution, you can always contribute to others and make your impact with what’s in your hands. Never forget that.