All you need to do is hold a competition. You know - get people involved, give away some prizes, promote that book?
After all the years I worked on the Grand Theft Auto games, I'd gathered a fair collection of Rockstar prap - the sort of merchandise game development companies typically give their employees: hats, cds, jackets, games, keyfobs, t-shirts. Sometimes it's collectable. (Although usually you'd rather have had a cheque.)
So my agent and I thought it would be fun to hold a GTA competition to promote Scar Night. We decided on some prizes and announced the contest on a few groups. And that's when the trouble started.
"Yo niga, u gona get fucked/spammed/destroyed/raped", etc, etc.
Self-styled teen gangstas didn't want these sorts of prizes, they wanted guns with "Rockstar on the grip - Kool." They wanted "hookers wif uzis". And they didn't like "noobies". This was their Myspace patch and they were defending it.
I shouldn't have taken the bait, but I got into a virtual slugging match with somebody, which led to a virtual brawl, which led to a full-on gansta spammer virtual incursion of my Myspace page.
Anyhoo, I pulled the competition faster than Larry Silverstein pulled WTC 7. My Myspace profile fared better than Lebanon (it's still standing). But it's going to be a while before I decide to hold another competition or get dragged into another virtual war. Writers are supposed to lead quiet lives.
11 comments:
Heh, don't mess with the Myspace kidz, they've got that operation sewn up pretty tight. Where the Over-15's fear to tread...
Yep. But most of them are decent kids. The ones who entered the competition didn't insult or spam anybody.
Christ, I'm sounding like my own high school teachers. I nearly said, "there's always a few who spoil it for everybody."
I've through experience some folk go crazy for GTA, never mind the MySpace elites. Received promo code for the last PS2 release and have had a few offers to take it off my hands.
Any idea of the next GTA is coming along?
I don't ask anymore, Raithrover. There are strict NDAs in place. I know the game is in good hands though.
Those good old NDA's. Aye, I work around the corner from the Rockstar Edinburgh offices and it seems a busy place. I'm already taking myself off Oblivion ready for the next GTA.
>They wanted "hookers wif uzis".
Well, there's the high concept for your next series.
I think they already did the ho-wif-gunz thing in Sin City.
Perhaps a Scar Night tie-in game GTA: Grand Theft Airship might be more appropriate? ;)
That's pretty funny. Since I'll still be teenage'd (what? Shakespeare doesn't hold a patent on rogue apostrophes) for the next thirteen months I guess I shouldn't comment...buuuut...the GTA/Scar Night connection is difficult to fathom. Scar Night shouldn't need that kind of residual hype. In fact, I think I'll go draw a picture of Carnival in a thong and armed with uzis to prove it.
More importantly, MySpace is so sucky. It's the quantum opposite of the element, Awesome (Symbol: Aw, Atomic Mass: Infinite!) and as such you should be spending less time there and more time writing sequels involving angels with uzis. Errr, my bad. I meant thongs.
Grand Theft Airship, Jer? I'm working on it.
DJ, I'd very much like to see that picture.
Hmmm...as much as I'd *like* to make that picture happen (really, I would), I can't help but feel the subject herself would be really pissed off at being in said picture. Besides, I did actually start a real Carnival picture a few nights ago, and have been working on it on and off over the past three evenings.
Here's a link.
It's still in grayscale and it's cropped, so most of the image is gone, but still, better than nothing, right? :D
D J, I am hugely impressed.
Nice one!
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