JACT's Status

Hi everyone. I wanted to address the growing concerns over the state of JACT. Let me first reassure you that JACT is not going anywhere. JACT is actually working harder than ever to make sure of this.

I want to apologize to everyone for what may seem like a delay. Over the past few months we have been working hard to implement the necessary initiatives to come out of our Beta phase. This is a very big step for us and we are excited about it. With that being said, there are many grand tasks that are being put into place. I won't go into too much detail but I will give you an example...

JACT is working on our ESRB Compliancy (Entertainment Software Rating Board). The ESRB is a non-profit, self regulatory body that independently assigns ratings, enforces advertising guidelines, and helps ensure responsible privacy practices for the interactive software industry.

The ESRB Privacy Online program exists to help its members comply with the growing complexity of privacy protection laws, while continually striving to help make the Internet a secure, reliable and private place to share information and conduct business. This is to ensure our users that we are serious about privacy and safety.

And, of course, I want to address people's concerns that JACT is "hurting." As cliche as it must sound, yes, the economy has thrown us a few curve balls. With regards to orders...rest assured they are and will ALL be fulfilled. These orders are very important to us as we see them as the source of our great Beta test. We have been able to make great strides through this Beta period and we know it's you guys we have to thank. Your orders will be fulfilled and the Mall will continue to morph and re-invent itself.

We apologize for any delays but please understand our course of action during this time. There have been some challenges for us but we are not going anywhere. We have had to reallocate and readjust some necessary resources but in this economy, if you haven't, somethings wrong. Please be patient as we are working as fast as we can.

We appreciate your support and hope that you will carry out our message to the masses in the midst of doubt and uncertainty. Help us continue to build our community and we will continue to do the best we can to build JACT and the "Play with Purpose" attitude.

Play with Purpose at GameGo!

Ah, juno_ilix' inaugural post - such excitement, such anticipation! Hopefully it'll be as good for you guys as it is for me.

Well, first things first. I'm the Community Manager at JACT, where I feed the goats and occasionally post in the forums and arrange events for our gamers.

Recently our most esteemed JACT gamer Superthrust tipped me off to GameGo Computers, a gaming cafe in Michigan. (Thanks!) I had heard of this idea before (actually from a guy who works here with me at JACT) and I think it's pretty awesome, but I'd never actually seen one.



^^Yep, those are our JACT decals on every one of the chairs and towers. Not only did the owner, Ian, create a great space for gamers to get together and play on the latest systems / consoles in one place, he invited JACT into the mix. (Thanks Ian!) So now you can play with purpose on each one of their PCs. Pretty sweet.

If you're living anywhere near Michigan (say, Montana to Virginia), you should swing by and tell Ian juno_ilix says hi. Thanks Superthrust and Gamego Computers! You guys are awesome.

That's all for now; the goats are hungry!

What is JACT?

Welcome to blog entry number 1. Here, I hope to share with you the direction, the ambition, the culture, and the challenges here at JACT. So what is JACT? This is a really good question, and I have been sitting here at my computer for the last hour typing and then deleting. I have finally realized since I am so close to the subject at hand, I want to tell all the things I think of JACT, which becomes impossible. It’s like describing what your life has been like for the last 4 years in one sentence. I know…sarcastically that can be done, but realistically try to do it with sincerity. So instead of succinctness, I have decided to have my own John Cusack, High Fidelity-esque top 5 list…in no particular order. Queue Beta Band.

Top 5 reasons we started JACT:

-Freedom to work on something where we would get glory for the successes and ownership for the failures.

-Seriously, we work with video games.

-We think we are pretty smart and wanted the challenge of a start up (kinda sexy).

-We thought we had a good idea and could realistically run with it.

-We feel like we can really make a difference in the way gamers interact.

Top 5 reasons for gamers to use JACT

-It’s the ultimate rewards program for gamers.

-It’s free.

-It’s a gamer social networking site. It’s not supposed to be myspace or facebook. It’s supposed to be JACT. Coming soon you will be able to create multidimensional relationships in your gaming worlds.

-It’s unobtrusive. We made sure we designed it that way.

-It’s for any kind of gamer; Hardcore, recreational, good, bad, hot-headed, shy, rgp, mmorpg, shooter, strategy, etc.

So this is my introduction. This blog will be the launch pad of many topics with the hope to help everyone, including myself, better understand where JACT came from, what it is now, and what we want it to become. This is my diary…my take on JACT.