Mafia Wars is a fun, addicting game you can play in either facebook or myspace. I currently play in Facebook and I am loving it. The basic premise is that you are a budding new mafioso working your way up to the top. You can do ‘jobs’, fight, make hits, buy and manage properties, buy and manage inventory. The interface is fairly simple and usually involves clicking on a button and viewing the results. It is not a live first person shooter or anything like that. However the graphics are very nice.
So you may be wondering, why is that game so fun and addicting if it doesn’t have the graphic elements so popular in many of the top pc games? Well, I would say this game succeeds in the important aspect of playability. It is fun to play. It is enjoyable to gain levels, buy properties, grow your mafia, and survive. You can invite your friends to join your mafia and having them makes you stronger.
In addition, there is a certain level of satisfaction from purchasing and maintaining properties. Having a positive cash flow is nice.
You can also fight other mafioso. This is accomplished by simply selecting the fight button, choosing a mafia from the list and clicking the attack button. The results of the battle are displayed including the damage done, received, what you brought to the battle and what the other guy had as well. Naturally, you want to improve your chances of winning these fights so you pay close attention to the results and learn from them.
I will keep this post short, but I will post some of my insights next.
Tags: Facebook, mafia, wars
I must admit that I don’t know anything about Satyam Computers. However, the recent resignation letter of the founder and CEO was stunning. Here is the link to the article.
Chairman and founder B. Ramalinga Raju took responsibility for the fraud and resigned in a letter he submitted to Satyam’s board. The letter said that the company lied about profit and revenue for several years, inflating revenue by 33 percent and profits more than tenfold between July and September of last year.
…”It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten,” he wrote in the letter. ” . . . I am now prepared to subject myself to the laws of the land and face consequences thereof.”
I am stunned by this letter. Mr. Raju’s final comment is amazing. In an epic lack of judgment Mr. Raju made a decision to break the law. It seems safe to assume that he thought he could cover this up indefinitely. Only when he could no longer cover his tracks, he surrendered to the law. What type of renegade mentality fosters this belief that they are above the law? The comment that Mr. Raju made that he will now subject himself to the laws of the land is stunning. He really thought he didn’t need to obey the laws and even when he decides to stop he acts like he voluntarily submits to the law.
There are numerous other tragedies here. First, one can not do this alone. He had to have accomplices. In addition, it appears that his company received honors for entrepreneur of the year and more recently the Golden Peacock Global award for best corporate governance. These honors were bestowed upon the company from Ernst and Young. How can these companies fool the auditors so they receive these accolades? Is there complicity at the auditing level as well?
Even though he admits to the crimes I feel confident that he will plead not guilty and that this will labor on in their courts for quite some time. I also would not be surprised if he prepared his finances prior to admitting defeat; hiding away millions of dollars.
We shall see…
Tags: corruption, laws, Raju, Satyam
Sorry I didn’t continue with the thoughts on economy thread. I did some research on the subject and the basic premise was that this type of economic downturn has happened before in other countries and they have dealt with it in similar ways. The main difference between the various countries response was how they handled oversight at the banks they bailed out. Japan let the banks run without oversight and they were in recession much longer because of it. The sad part is that all the banks focused on self preservation and their balance sheets. Ultimately they did not release credit until other economic factors improved.
Tags: economy
Everyone is thinking about the economy. I have some thoughts about the economy. I will start sharing those thoughts in a series of posts. The first one will draw some comparisons with other countries that have tread down this same path before us. I think you will find it interesting…
Tags: economy