Does every program/application need a mascot? L&L seem to be making some unified branding changes…
Any good one should.
oi…I used that word again ‘should’ sorry…
I guess I thought of this being a fun discussion, is all. But my interest is diminishing as I write this, so I’m just going to let this one go.
In addition to whether or not those users are also customers, I think the question of entitlement depends on what follows the should – wouldn’t you agree?
For example:
“Scrivener/L&L should … have a robot.” = fun
“Scrivener/L&L should … do my taxes.” = entitlement
Before I place my pre-order, I just want to know what robot does if I put it into Scrivenings mode.
Nope, I don’t agree at all. “Should” is a loaded word that transforms the subject’s expectations into the object’s obligations. I don’t find that fun – “fun” and “joking” and “sarcastic” in a textual medium are all too often clever, and as SF novelist John Scalzi says, “The failure mode of ‘clever’ is ‘asshole.’” In spite of my own personal history of miscommunication here in the forums, I try to be clear about communications.
I find that:
“I expect that Scrivener would allow me to…”
works a lot better – it clearly identifies my expectations, which makes it easier for others to help educate me when my expectations are not in line with reality.
bro, I got it man. chill.
Hmm, a robot mascot? Here are some ideas–all definitely 100% original and my own creations.
wow, pretty good Keith. your quite the artist. Although, a few of them are from cinema. Wall-E, Dr Who, and Transformers certainly. The robot mascot has to be original, in my opinion.
I’ll post something up in a couple days.
Everyone else, feel free to share your thoughts. 
I quite like the Robot Maria … er, female robot you created there, Keith! 
Especially well suited, I think, for Keith’s forthcoming immersive massively multi-writer game/writeware venture, Scrivtropolis.
And there was me thinking I was a real person, with a real job in technical support and everything, and it turns out that I’m just a figment of Keith’s imagination, trapped in a beta-test fictional world. Oh, no! How am I ever to escape this spiralling quandary of existentialism? 
I only recently watched Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and had I not watched it I probably wouldn’t get what’s being said here.
Nevertheless, I guess the mascot doesn’t have to be a robot cause well it’s not only sci fi writers who use this app.
Hmmm… Back to the drawing board …er… I mean scapple…
We have been walking on egg shells, b/c nobody wanted to break it to you. Frankly, I’m relieved.
You know, maybe your avatar should have been a clue. I’m just saying.
If you mean the middle one on the right hand side, I agree with you, but there’s one problem I foresee: the many new users of Scrivener and Scapple who keep telling Keith that Lit&Lat will soon be in trouble if he doesn’t start making upgrades to match anything they have gleaned from other software … they will see the Scrivener logos in her eyes as dollar signs and take that as confirmation that Lit&Lat is about making as much money as possible as quickly as possible, rather than about creating the best software for its designated purpose.
Mark
Oh come on. A mascot isn’t about making money. It’s about embodying the team spirit of writers who use scrivener, encapsulated in genial, enjoyable to look at avatar or picture.
It’s about having fun!
I have to disagree.
IMHO L&L Do Not need a mascot.
All they need is to continue doing what they do best, developing incredible, focussed software.
Leave ‘mascots’ etc to those companies who feel they need to distract from their failings, or those who focus more on hype than substance.
Again, IMHO, the Micrsoft paperclip doofer was one of the biggest wanks in MS history. (apologies to anyone offended by the ‘w’ word.)
Haha, your right. I meant this more as activity for fans of the software to participate in, to show their spirit is all. I didn’t expect Keith himself to step up the game and make actual drawings!
This thread was created purely for fun and by no means do I think it should be implemented as some assistant within the software itself.
re: Your own new avatar.
It all begins to make sense now.
Yeah I don’t know what to do with my avatar…I can’t stand it and yet I can’t look away…