Ron (of #code2011) did mention something along these lines and I had meant to include it. Thanks for the reminder -- added it into the post with a link to this comment.
Yes--although according to the article, "Ticketmaster can continue to profit off transactions — they just have to say they're doing so on their website."
Plus, as far as I understand it the settlement is a coupon award, meaning you get $1.50 back the next time you buy from Ticketmaster. So if you decided they were in fact deceptive and you don't want to give them your business again (difficult if you ever want to see another concert, I agree), you get nothing.
I'm not an expert on class action lawsuits but this whole thing seemed like it didn't benefit the consumer much, but was worth multi-millions for the firm bringing the suit.
Glad Verizon cancelled their fee, but $2 is nothing compared to what the airlines charge for booking over the phone...I can understand why a company would want to discourage people tying up their service reps, but making you pay for the privilege of buying something...?
Agreed that having a mission or goal is important.
What comes to mind for me is a game called the Island of Dr. Brain that I played as a kid.
There was a section in the game where you would input a bunch of directional commands to send a robot through a maze. Then you would "run" the program and see if the robot made it to the end.
Of course, this didn't teach me how to program, but it did teach me how to think in an input/output sense--input these instructions and this thing happens--in a way that I hadn't previously learned in school, and the idea of finishing the maze helped the game hold my attention. Game mechanics...well, they work.
FWIW I'm female and I was never put off by the fact that neither Dr. Brain, nor the legos I had, etc., were geared towards girls.
That said, what you have seems like a really good start and I'm very much looking forward to experimenting with the app.
this is very helpful, thanks for sharing...would love to hear what some of your favorite examples of data journalism were this year? investigative reports, infographics, interactive features...anything.
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We'll make this clearer on the site as well.