2K Insider- Please remember your spoiler tags!

[_Pax_]

.... I wish I could afford to go to PAX East, and bring my 2K bag of awesomeness. But, I'd have to get a hotel room, and couldn't share it (chainsaws are quieter than my snoring. BIG chainsaws ...!). So the total cost would run me over $700, including food, lodging, transportation, admission, and fairly modest fun-money. And I just can't swing that kind of money.

It's a real bugger, too; this time last year I lived at the end of one of the Commuter Rail spurs out of Boston. 90 minutes or so, and I'd be there from home, every day.

Now? Not so much; I live in extremely rural northeast Connecticut. And don't own my own car, nor do I have a license to drive even a rental.

[Invader]

I was always under the impression that people lied about their age when signing up to things on the internet, I would always say I was 18 when signing up to a new site, that has stopped though now that I'm 20. At least you know for next time.

Mine is used mainly for carrying my laptop to and from Uni, I will probably take it to any conventions and what not I go to in the future as well.

I usually do, because in many cases I have to. However, you all know that I am under 18 and it would have been pointless to lie about it.

[Shiav]

Vito, I am 56. I have four kids older than you. I can quite safely say that you should enjoy your youth and not wish it away, because it is a gift that you will never receive again.

Also, screw you Canada Post! The post in Russia was faster, and it had to be read first!

[CanuckSoldier]

So has anyone heard anything more about the other benefits of being a 2K insider since we got the laptop bags?

CS

[rootbeertapper]

Vito, I am 56. I have four kids older than you. I can quite safely say that you should enjoy your youth and not wish it away, because it is a gift that you will never receive again.

Also, screw you Canada Post! The post in Russia was faster, and it had to be read first!

Young for a day, then old and gray; Like the rose that buds and blooms and fades and falls away.
Losing health to gain our wealth as through this dream we tour.
Everythings a guess and nothings absolutely sure; Battles exciting and fates we're fighting until the curtain falls.
Life's a very funny proposition after all.

RussPost is definitely faster than CanadaPost, I bought a BS1 item from Russia and had it in my hands in 8 days, it took 11 days to get an item from Canada. My location is eastern USA.

So has anyone heard anything more about the other benefits of being a 2K insider since we got the laptop bags?

I have been checking the site entrance weekly and there has been no change.

[tfordp]

I asked 2K Elizabeth at PAX East via the chat function if she'd seen any 2K Insider bags there, and she said there were a few but not many.
She also mentioned the whole thing has been out-sourced to some third-party promotion team or something like that, I didn't catch which one, and that they have nothing to do with it at 2K.

[_Pax_]

Outsourced?

Hmm, there goes my enthusiasm for the Insider ... "thing", whatever it turns out to be.

Oh well, I have an awesome messenger bag. The rest doesn't matter.

[Codex]

If it's the same team she's worked with in the past, they're the ones who ran the Splicers Unite program as well as a large portion of some of the SitS meetups. They tend to be pretty awesome people, if they're the same ones.

[Precarious]

So wait, you guys thought that 2K sat there and hand-stitched everything that goes out with their name on it? I know the team is dedicated, but who expects that? Of course someone else makes the products. Next time I get something from Elizabeth, it better be hand embroidered by her and Greg and David or I spit on it!

[Invader]

I'm not getting a bag, am I?

[_Pax_]

So wait, you guys thought that 2K sat there and hand-stitched everything that goes out with their name on it?

*sigh* No, i didn't think that.

However, it was nice that someone actually at 2K took care of the details - getting the addresses together; working with Timbuktu to design the bags, with embroidered logo; placing the order(s) for the bags. IOW, it was a nice little personal touch sort of thing.

Outsourcing it makes it less personal. Which saddens me a little bit.

[Vito_Lucente]

I'm not getting a bag, am I?

Don't fret, I'm not either.

So, is the 2K Insider website up yet?

[Precarious]

*sigh* No, i didn't think that.

However, it was nice that someone actually at 2K took care of the details - getting the addresses together; working with Timbuktu to design the bags, with embroidered logo; placing the order(s) for the bags. IOW, it was a nice little personal touch sort of thing.

Outsourcing it makes it less personal. Which saddens me a little bit.

My bag came from 2K in Marin, sent to England. So people really should check their facts before posting what they've 'heard'.

[tfordp]

When I said 'outsourced', it could perfectly well mean they are just letting another team like the one Codex mentioned handle the logistics. It isn't a swear word. My bag came from 2K too, sent to Germany.

[_Pax_]

*/FACEPALM*

I never suggested the bags weren't handled at/by 2K, either. Based on the post I replied to, I was under the impression that the program had been outsourced after the bags were sent out.

YEESH.

[Codex]

Okay, let's everyone calm down.

Even if it is "outsourced," and if it is outsourced to who I think it is, it's still a pretty cool thing. I don't know of any other gaming companies that do things like this, and if my past experience with Elizabeth's projects is anything to go by even if it is outsourced I doubt she and the other CM's are being 100% hands off about it. That's just not how they work, from my experience.

But, I could be wrong. I'm being stubbornly glass-half-full lately, probably due to the enormous amounts of coffee I am drinking.

[_Pax_]

If it's "outsourced" to a different groupw ithin 2K, then to me that's nto really "outsourcing" ... that's "being handled by a different team". It'd stil be 2K in one form or another, and it'd still be ultra-awesomely special.

If it's "outsourced" to a completely third-party group, outside 2K entirely? Then that's less personal, and while it'll still be really nice ... it will lose the "ultra-awesomely special" bit. It'll be just "really nice"; the ... hrm, how do I say it ... "direct personal attention" is what makes the Insider program feel so unusual (and so awesomely special) to me. Take that way, and while it may be a great program overall ... it just won't feel as .... special, personal, or unique.

Thus, my enthusiasm will wane, somewhat.

...

See, getting that bag? That was an awesome thing, that still brings a grin to my face. It's something no other company has ever done for me: not one company I have done business with in any form, has ever sent me more than a card for christmas, or maybe my birthday. It's not the money that matters (though I'm still flabbergasted by how much 2K spent on each of us!!), really. It's the thought, the fact that someone there spoke up and said "hey, why don't we send our fans GIFTS ...?"

That, right there, is unique in my experience. Unique, and awesome, and personal.

I just don't want to lose that.