Play Meter

FROMTHE THE FROM EDITOR EDITOR I A L E R E C O G N E PLAYMETER METER PLAY J u s t e l lme mewho who 'ss tell tt Jus b a c l 《there! t h e r e ! back wasMardi M a r d iGras G r a sday dayand andI'd I ' dbeen beenespecially e s p e c i a l l y tt was l u c k yin i ncatching c a t c h i n gsome somedazzling d a z z l i n gbeads b e a d soff o f fof o f lucky t h e f l o a t s . I c o u l d n t r e s i s t h a n g i n g s o m e o f the floats. I couldn't resist hanging some of t h ebest b e s ton onmy myrearview r e a r v i e wmirror m i r r o rto t oremind remind the meof o fhow howmuch muchfun f u nI'd I ' dhad. h a d .Unfortunately, U n f o r t u n a t e l y , me t h edazzling d a z z l i n gmemories memoriescame camecrashing c r a s h i n gdown down the a l o n gwith w i t hthe t h emirror m i r r o rbefore b e f o r eIIeven evengot g o t along h o m e . I c r a m m e d t h e w h o l e p i l e o f s t u f f ‑ home. I crammed the whole pile of stuffb e a d sand andmirror-into m i r r o r ‑i n t othe t h ecenter c e n t e rconsole c o n s o l e beads f i g u r i n gthat t h a tI'd I ' dstop s t o pby byAuto AutoZone, Z o n e ,buy buya a figuring t u b eof o f t h a tglue g l u ethat t h a tguarantees g u a r a n t e e sthat t h a tyour your tube that m i r r o rwill w i l lnever n e v e rcome come mirror d o w n a g a i n , a n d p u t h e down again, and puttthe r e a r v i e wmirror m i r r o rback backon on rearview t h ewindshield. w i n d s h i e l d . the F o r t h e t i m ebeing, b e i n g ,II For the time s i m p l y a d j u s t e d my t wo simply adjusted my two o u t s i d emirrors mi 汀o r sand andII was outside was i nbusiness. b u s i n e s s. Atfirst f i r s tit i twas was in At awkwardand andIIfelt f e l tunun ‑ awkward c o m f o r t a b l e d r i v i n g w i t h ‑ comfortable driving witho u t t h a trearview r e a r v i e wmirror. m i η o r .II out that W 出 constantly c o n s t a n t l yglancing g l a n c i n gat a t was t h eglue g l u eblob, b l o b ,and andIInever n e v e r the knewwhat whatwas wasbehind behind knew m e . N o t t o m e n t i o h a tI me. Not to mentionnt that I had t r u s h my a i r had too b brush my h hair bl i n d l y . blindly. d r i v eaaSuburban Suburbanand and IIdrive w h e n I ' d p u s h t h e b u t t o n when I'd push the button t o l e t t h e b a c k w i n d o w u p to let the back window up o rdown, down , i n s t e a dof o f b e i n g or instead being ab l eto t osee s e ein i nthe t h emirror, m i r r o r , able I d h a v e t o t u r n a r o u n d w h i l e t r y i n g t o h o l d I'd have to turn around while trying to hold downt h ebutton-a button‑ac o n t o r t i o n i s tcouldn't c o u l d nt down the contortionist h a v efound f o u n da o n v e n i e n tw ayt and l et h i s . have ac convenient way tooh handle this. Whenthe t h ekids k i d swould wouldfight f i g h tin i nthe t h eb a c ks e a t ,r When back seat, I" c o u l d nts u b t l ygaze g a z etheir t h e i rway wayanymore, a n y m o r e ,so s oII couldn't subtly j u s tlistened l i s t e n e dto t othe t h ebickering. b i c k e r i n g . just W e l l ,the t h edays d a y sw entby. b y .Weeks Weekswent wentby. b y . Well, went Evenmonths monthswent wentby byand andII s t i l lhadn't hadnt v i s i t ‑ Even still visitedAuto AutoZone Zoneto t obuy buythat 出a tglue. g l u e .In I nfact, f a c t ,IInevne v ‑ ed e re v e n出 o u g h ta b o u tthe t h eg l u ea nymor eb e ‑ er even thought about glue anymore bec a u s e g r a d u a l l y I b e c a m e a d e p t a t c h e c k i n g cause gradually I became adept at checking ont h et r a f f i cb e h i n dme mewith w i t hmy s i d emirmir ‑ on the traffic behind my side r o r s ,and andIIdid d i dfind f i n daafairly f a i r l ycomfortable c o m f o r t a b l eway way rors, t os e et h ew indowin i nb a c k . to see the window back. A f t e r a y e a r o r s o o f l i f w i t hno norearview r e a r v i e w After a year or so of lifeewith m i r r o r ,I e v e re venm i s s e dt h a tr e a r v i ew mirror, In never even missed that rearview m i r r o r . F r i e n d sw oulda s kme owI o u l d mirror. Friends would ask me h how Ic could d r i v e w i t h n o r e a r v i e w m i r r o r ; I d a n s w e r drive with no rearview mirror; I'd answer t b o t h e r m e . t h a t i t j u s t d o e s n that it just doesn't bother me. f a c e it, i t , driving d r i v i n g without w i t h o u t aa But let's l e ts face But r e a r v i e wm i r r o ri o treal r e a lpleasant. p l e a s a n t .T here rearview mirror issn not There 1 2 12 a r etimes t i m e sthat t h a tpolice p o l i c ecars c a r sare a r eright r i g h ton onyour your are bumpera ndy o udon't dontn o t i c ethem themuntil u n t i l bumper and you notice etelling t e l l i n gyou youto t opull p u l lover. o v e r . Andthere's t h e r es t h e yr they're And t h a tkid-fighting k i d ‑ f i g h t i n gthing t h i n gin i nthe t h eback backseat; s e a t ; that y o u r e j u s t n o t s u r e w h o t o y e l l a t b e c a u s e you're just not sure who to yell at because d i 出 t ac 加 d砂SEE SEEthe t h ecircumstances c i r c umstan c e sof o f youdidn't you actually t h efight. f i g h t .In I nthinking t h i n k i n gi o v e r ,it's i tsa 出ni h e the ittover, ap pain innt the 紅v iewmirror. m i r r o r . n e c kto t ob i n u sa e neck beem minus ar rearview S o w h a t s t h e p o i n t h e r e ? S i m p l e .T ooofo f ‑ So what's the point here? Simple. Too ewilling w i l l i n gto t osettle s e t t l efor f o rless l e s sthan t hanwe we t e nwe're wer ten s h o u l dfor f o rany a n ynumber numberof o f r e a s o n s .Instead I n s t e a dof o f should reasons. b e i n g d i l i g e n t a b o u t b u y i n g t h a t g l u e , I j u s t being diligent about buying that glue, I just a d a p t e dt i s s i n gmirror m i r r o rand andpretty p r e t t y adapted toomy my m missing soonIIwasn't wasnteven evenworried w o r r i e dabout a b o u titi tanya n y ‑ soon m o r e .We Wedo dothings t h i n g slike l i k ethat t h a t i nour o u rbusinessb u s i n e s s ‑ more. in e stoo t o ooften. o f t e n. Wenotice n o t i c ethat t h a tthe t h egames gameswe we es We h a v e a r e g e t t i n g a b i t o l d e r a n d ma y b e c o l ‑ have are getting a bit older and maybe coll e c t i o n sare a r eoff o f fsomewhat. s o m e w h a t .We Weknow knowit's i t stime t i m e lections f o rnew newgames gamesor o ran anupdate u p d a t ein i nthe t h egame game for et o ow i l l i n gt o r o o m ,b u tas a st i m ep a s s e sw er room, but time passes we're too willing to a d j u s t t o d o i n g w i t h o u t t h a n t o i n v e s t i adjust to doing without than to invest inn c h a n g i n g . Weget g e tused u s e dto t oit. i t . changing. We Manytimes 白n e sthe t h ereason r e a s o nfor f o rsettling s e 抗 凶gfor f o rless l e s s Many i sthat t h a tthe t h eprice p r i c eof o fequipment eq u i p m e n tis i sout o u tof o f s i g h t . is sight. Y e s ,it's i ts廿 uet h a tg amesc o s tmore mor et h a ny o u r Yes, true that games cost than your f i r s t c a r a n d m a y b e e v e n y o u r f i r s t h o u s e ! first car and maybe even your first house! noway wayto t oget g e taround a r o u n dthe t h efact f a c t出 a t But t h e r esno But there's that yo um usthave hav enew newe q uipm e n tt e n e r a t e you must equipment toog generate e x c i t e m e n tand andentice e n t i c erepeat r e p e a tcustomers. c u s t o m e r s .But But excitement i t s n o t j u s t g a m e s , t h e r e s t h e a t m o s p h e r e it's not just games, there's the atmosphere r e o f f e r i n g t o y o u a n d t h e m e r c h a n d i s e y o u and the merchandise you're offering to yourr r e d e m p t i o nc u s t o m e r s. redemption customers. Rememberwhen whenthat t h a twallpaper w a l l p a p e rin i nthe t he Remember b a t h r o o m p e e l e d o f f ? I t l o o k e d s o b a d t h a t bathroom peeled off? It looked so bad that y o u me n t a l l y m a d e a n o t e t o d o s o m e t h i n g you mentally made a note to do something a b o u tit-pronto. i t ‑ p r o n t o .Five F i v emonths monthslater l a t e rIIbet b e tyou you about donteven evennotice n o t ic eit i tanymore. anymore.And Andhow how don't a b o u tthat t h a thuge hug erip r i pin i nthe t h ecarpet c a r p e tthat t h a tyou you about w e r e s o m a d a b o u t ? I t s p r o b a b l y s t i l l t h e r e were so mad about? It's probably still there b u tit's i tsnot n o taamain mainconcern c o n c e r nanymore. anymore.CerC e r ‑ but t a i n l yit i tdoesn't doe s ntlook l o o kbad badenough enoughto t otake t a ke tainly t i m ea way仕 omr e a l l yimportant i m p o r t a n tthings t h i n g sto t ofix f i x time away from really i t . W r o n g . Y o u c a n b e l i e v e t h a t e v e r y c u s ‑ it. Wrong. You can believe that every cust omerthat t h a tuses u se sthat t h a trest r e s troom roomnotices n o t i c e sthat t h a t tomer w a l l p a p e rand andthe t h etorn t o r ncarpet. c a r p e t .No, N o ,these t h e s e wallpaper a r e nthuge hug eproblems problemsin i nthe t hescheme schemeof o f aren't t h i n g s . B u t l o t s o f l i t t l e t h i n g s a d d u p t o a things. But lots of little things add up to a s e c o n d ‑ r a t efacility. f a c 出勿 second-rate I ta l lhas h a sto t odo dow i t hp e r c e p t i o n ,aamental m e n t a l It all with perception, n o t i c ethat t h a tduct d u c t i m a g e .Maybe Maybeyou youdon't dontnotice image. t a p e h o l d i n g u p t h e c e i l i n g a n y m o r e , b u tape holding up the ceiling anymore, butt yourcustomers c u s t o m e r swill. w i l l. Dontever e v e rforget f o r g e tthat t h a t your Don't yo uwill w i l lnever ne v e rhave haveaasecond secondchance c h a n c eto t o you m紘 eaafirst f i r s t i m p r e s s i o n. 企 make impression. SEPTEMBER1996 1 9 9 6 SEPTEMBER