Status Me On That
I was thinking this might be one of those Gen Cons where the annual buzzword is allowed to arise spontaneously over the course of the event. Not every year brings us a wheelhouse, after all. And the most praiseworthy four years in gaming are nothing if not about creation in the moment.
However, I have been informed that this laissez-faire attitude will not fly. In this era of social media 3.0 and HTML5, advance notice must be given.
After much deliberation, in which such candidates as toasty and curated were weighed and rejected, I have arrived at a choice. As per the rules of the game, it presses the boundaries of douchy business-speak while maintaining a scintilla of plausibility.
Status (when used as a verb) meaning to update, inform, or establish communications with:
As in:
“Status me on the dinner situation.”
“Text Hal and status him in on this.”
“This will require ongoing statusing.”
“It is crucial to reach out and status our fan base.”
As always, the object is to work the term into conversation, as if this a thing people of good sense actually say. Full points awarded for each straightfaced use to an unaware subject. Points deducted for detectable irony.
Extra points will be granted for slipping it into podcasts, seminars, public announcements, and the like.
In past years bonus points have been awarded for causing the usage to catch on beyond the game. As that would be awful in this instance, consider this incentive suspended for 2011.