Making it Personnel

[Cuddles]

I've been messing around in the stock market for a bit and I've decided that the Games I play I'm going to start purchasing stock into their companies.
Some of you might ask why?
When you purchase stock of a comapny you are actually buying a piece of that comopany, In essence you are a part owner and you do get a part of the earnings.
So if I buy stock in the companies who make the games I play then Piraccy begins to get a lot more personnel. If a pirate steals something then it becomes "That's my Business you are ripping off."

There is a lot of good reasons to invest in the companies who make the games you like. You'll actually get a voice in the working structure, get invited to meetings, phone conferences, etc. On DRM you can be one those stock holders who raises their hand and tell them that you feel they are making a big mistake. And you could make a little bit of cash on top of it all.

Either way I know on Friday I'm going to try and make my PC Gaming a Personnel one.

 

[aziraphale]

Nice idea. But unless you buy a big piece of the pie your vote will be pretty much ignored. And you certainly will not be invited to meetings, conferences and parties...

 

[pr2thej]

Would not suggest buying any stock in the current climate, unless this is a low value novelty purchase.

 

[Belinda]

I'm guessing he has already had his mother iron his best shirt ready for his high power meeting with the board.

 

[infornography42]

Unless you are extremely rich, you will not be able to afford to buy enough shares to even be noticed. To be invited to shareholder meetings you need to have a notable percentage of the company in stocks. Unless you have multiple millions of dollars to put onto the already fairly shaky stock market, you won't be noticed.

 

[bobwya]

Would not suggest buying any stock in the current climate, unless this is a low value novelty purchase.

I thought you bought stock in undervalued companies during a crash... Or did I get that wrong?? Sure I would agree never buy into a bank as they don't produce anything accept CO2 emissions... Funny how the RBS was happy to charge me 60.00 quid a day interest when I went overdrawn (ex-customer now) and now they want ***me*** (aka a taxpayer) to f***** bail them out!! Let 'em sink is what I say!!

Bob

 

[dagger]

I thought you bought stock in undervalued companies during a crash... Or did I get that wrong?? Sure I would agree never buy into a bank as they don't produce anything accept CO2 emissions... Funny how the RBS was happy to charge me 60.00 quid a day interest when I went overdrawn (ex-customer now) and now they want ***me*** (aka a taxpayer) to f***** bail them out!! Let 'em sink is what I say!!

Bob

Bear market investment is risky. The crash is still ongoing. As for CO2 emissions, I thought that's EA's specialty.

 

[phat-phreddy]

Would not suggest buying any stock in the current climate, unless this is a low value novelty purchase.

That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

The best time to get into the market is when it is down. Why do you think Warren Buffet is buying everything he can get his hands on right now.

 

[dagger]

That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

The best time to get into the market is when it is down. Why do you think Warren Buffet is buying everything he can get his hands on right now.

When it's down, not when it keeps going down, which is today's situation. The bottomless pit.

 

[infornography42]

Many top economists are predicting a continuing decline and possibly a faster plummet. That is not a good market for investment. It might not be a poor idea to invest a little to see how it goes, but I would keep the lion's share of the nestegg out of the stock market right now.

 

[Cuddles]

I'll go with Warren Buffet. Most top Economists lost my trust about three years ago when they said "there is no Housing Bubble."
As far as the personal and personnel... My bad. It will teach me to write a post right before I go to bed.
I've been invited to stock holder meetings before and I have never owned millions of dollars in a company (would be nice if I did have millions of dollars though). They are usually hosted by the CEO and you might have to travel. Anybody can sit in on the Stock Holder Meetings as long as you own 1 stock. It's why the stock holders are to blame for when CEO's are grossly overpaid.
Now some companies have gone to an A,B,C type of stock buy in which B and C do not get a vote or invited. It's how many are circumventing: Every such insurer shall seasonably furnish its stockholders in advance of stockholder meetings, information in writing reasonably adequate to inform them relative to all matters to be presented by the insurer's management for consideration of stockholders at such meeting.

Every company right now is pretty much a buy. I usually take a look at the P/E, Dividend Yield, and latest Quartely Report. Then you look at the current Market. A lot of it is simple math and common sense.

I've never really looked at Game Companies as a valid investment but seeing how many games I play, the current economics, and the issues that many are facing I would say it would be a perfect time to get in. $29.00 get's me 1 vote to say I don't like DRM or the policy is flawed but it's still 1 more vote than none. But really who buys just 1 stock?

Remember also it usually takes a couple of weeks to get an account started to purchase stock. Once you figure out the low has came it's already gone.

 

[infornography42]

I already have my fidelity account and a good chunk of money waiting for the right minute to buy stocks with. I just don't feel the market has a good impending upward trend. Though with gas prices dropping back down to almost reasonable seemingly overnight and the recent bumps in stock prices... we will see.

I'll tell you what, you find out what it would take to get in on investor and shareholder meetings for Ubisoft and EA and when and where such meetings might be and I will consder putting a couple grand down and join you, but I damn well better get a voice if I am going to put any money behind these bastards.

 

[Cuddles]

Doing the same thing but with Etrade.

EA is about half of what it was in April so I'm feeling pretty solid on that company. I think we have at least another day where we'll see a heavy losses and then probably about 6 months to a year of the Dow staying in the low 8k range.

Computer Games, DVD's, and other low cost Home Entertainment has always done pretty well in hard times. Think about what you do when you don't have a lot of money. Buy some Top Ramen, have an extra twenty or thirty so you buy a Game, and you enjoy yourself for the month on the cheap.

For $29.00 you should get the once a year stockholder meeting but where it's going to be held and you getting to the place would be another story. Most of the time I just read the transcripts and even at that I fall asleep after the first page.

I think PC Gaming is rounding a new corner but we have some tough times ahead also but this latest batch of Games have been some great ones. Piracy was a big issue and still is but it's a problem for everyone. I think Lucas Arts did a bonehead move by not releasing their latest Star Wars Game on PC. Not releasing a Game on one of the most popular Gaming Devices because they were afraid it was going to be Pirated is just idiotic. And let's be honest we all know the real reason why they didn't release it on PC. Combatting Piracy by not even releasing a Game on PC isn't a brilliant marketting strategy and using B.S. reasons made it even worse. Lucas Arts might of as well said, "We think the PC audience is a bunch of thieves and not only that but they're a bunch of idiots too. So no Star Wars for you!"

EA has done some pretty idiotic stuff too but they are leading the charge against Piracy so I expect them to. They are going to make mistakes as they try and figure out how to protect their investments. They know they messed up on their NFL title and we'll see a 2009 version for PC I would wager.

PS3 has some huge issues and Sony is just bleeding out money. I wouldn't touch Sony with a ten foot pole.

Ranted a bit but I think once you get into the stock Market you'll find it kind of fun. I just never really thought about investing into the PC Gaming Industry until last night.

 

[physx7]

I think Lucas Arts did a bonehead move by not releasing their latest Star Wars Game on PC. Not releasing a Game on one of the most popular Gaming Devices because they were afraid it was going to be Pirated is just idiotic. And let's be honest we all know the real reason why they didn't release it on PC. Combatting Piracy by not even releasing a Game on PC isn't a brilliant marketting strategy and using B.S. reasons made it even worse. Lucas Arts might of as well said, "We think the PC audience is a bunch of thieves and not only that but they're a bunch of idiots too. So no Star Wars for you!"

Nooo They said it was because they were afraid the requirements would be too high... rrriiiigggth...

 

[imnotageek]

Invest in Blizzard.

Wait, is it publicly listed?

 

[pr2thej]

That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

The best time to get into the market is when it is down. Why do you think Warren Buffet is buying everything he can get his hands on right now.

So nice to meet a fan.

I would agree that i was not specific enough.

With larger companies folding barely even making it as a headline news story, investing in a volitile high risk sector such as entertainment where there are multiple small to medium sized vendors will not show a good risk to return ratio.
Especially as the sector is tied into retail very heavily, which is one of the most affected areas of the whole crisis.

Im sure profit can be made somewhere though, perhaps you could advise where as you seem to know Warren Buffet reasonably well.

I hope this reply better meets your academic standard, and i certainly hope to improve on the "stupidest (sp.) thing" you have ever heard.

 

[Heyyou27]

You'll have to buy A LOT of stock to have any say on what they do.

 

[dagger]

You'll have to buy A LOT of stock to have any say on what they do.

Or you can buy stock of a company that already does what you want.
http://www.stardock.com/about/newsitem.asp?id=1095

 

[llama_man]

Stardock aren't listed. But they DO release an annual statement anyway. It's a good read - especially Wardell's comments re DRM etc.

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

Awww you guys. The stock market is crashing (Yes), but if you are going to invest in a company, don't do it to stop pirating games, or because the general stock market is low, or because you like Diablo 3 and therefore you`ll invest in Activision-Blizzard...

...do it because the company is promissing and you`ll get a financial incentive in return. If you want to get into the stock market, know which company can benefit from a slump in the economy (Yes, some companies perform better when the economy is bad).

 

[infornography42]

Like campbell's soup and Top Ramen ;-)

 

[infornography42]

I would be willing to invest in a company if I had a chance to have my say to the CEO and major investors. I would want to know more about the way investor meetings are handled by a company before putting any backing in for that purpose. If I could give my rant to people that could actually do something about it, that would be worth it to me. But if the investor meetings are structured in such a way that the investors don't actually have an opportunity to give any input then it obviously would not be worth the time and money.

 

[Cuddles]

I made a penny!