MiniSky: Thoughts About Everything

4/11/2008
10:47 AM

Moving Tools

Normally when you think about gas mileage you think about it in relation to your personal vehicle. Most cars have 10-15 gallon gas tanks but get 20-25 (or more) miles per gallon on the highway. Rental trucks on the other hand have much larger gas tanks and much lower fuel economy so you’ll be stopping more often and pumping A LOT more gas!

14 foot rental trucks have 30-40 gallon gas tanks and are advertised to get 11 mpg. The miles per gallon will be even lower depending on how fast you drive, how heavily it is loaded, the terrain you are driving and whether you’re driving city or highway miles. Plus, since gas prices vary from city-to-city and day-to-day you may be paying $2.95/gallon one day and $3.75/gallon the next. The numbers get worse when you have a larger home and need a bigger truck. 24 and 26 foot rental trucks get 6-10 miles per gallon and have 50+ gallon gas tanks!

U-Pack has a handy fuel calculator to help you gauge (Ha!) the impact that paying your own fuel cost would have on your move. Also factor in the extra money that you will blow on beef jerky, sunflower seeds, gum and diet soda each time you stop while you are at it. You may also want to consider the fact that you are likely to spend one or two extra nights in a hotel or motel since you can’t cover the same amount of mileage as you could in your car.

Factoring in all of these costs plus the comfort and convenience of letting U-Pack do the driving for you should help you make the best choice for your next move.

Questioning Heavy-Handed In-Game Ad Campaigns

Since my last post on the recent Subway ad campaign in Counter-Strike, I’ve been trying to think of ways to help non-gamers understand the problem with such heavy-handed marketing tactics. So I’ve designed the following thought experiment. First: check out this screenshot of the Subway campaign (provided by Joystiq):

Two things you can’t help but notice immediately: there are a ton of ads in a single location, and no effort has been made to realistically blend the ads into the surrounding environment. It doesn’t get more blunt than this. Some marketing professionals would argue that there’s nothing wrong with this campaign. They might say that conscious rejection of the ads will be outweighed by subconscious assimilation of the brand. They might even dismiss conscious rejection entirely. There is some research that supports these assertions, though I don’t know of any study focused on an equally blunt campaign in a AAA game. Regardless, now check out this image of Disney World that I have heavily photoshopped:

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Can you imagine how people would feel if, after paying $50 per person, they walked into Disney World (expecting an escape, magic, etc), and they saw this? What if the rides themselves were filled with poorly-placed ads? Can you imagine Subway blanketing the Haunted Mansion in the same way it blanketed Counter-Strike? They’d never do it (and Disney would never permit it). If you were a visitor to this theoretical Disney World, do you think your conscious frustration with Subway (and Disney) would fade quickly? Speaking only for myself: I’d be irate, and I wouldn’t forget it soon. There’s an extra level of thoughtfulness that must be employed when advertising in any medium that people particularly care about — and games (like Disney World) are at the top of the heap. Update (1/24): according to Jennie at Joystiq, the CS screenshot she posted was actually modified. Jennie added that the actual in-game Subway campaign was slightly less “absurd”, but still “badly done for the CS setting”.