Yeah - if you’re going to market a techno toy to children, you have a moral obligation to print on the face of the box, in large letters so that ex-husbands with joint custody can’t miss it, “OPEN THIS AND REGISTER IT BEFORE CHRISTMAS BECAUSE IT DON’T DO DICK UNTIL YOU HAVE, AND OUR SYSTEM WON’T BE ABLE TO HANDLE THE TRAFFIC FROM 828,000 HAPPY FOOLS ON THE SAME DAY”.
And no, I’m not happy about having to load Google Chrome to run it, either.
I’ve parried with that dragon more than once, and it is a bastard! But at least you can throw recalcitrant parts across the room (and later step on them in the dark with your bare feet).
Techno toys can’t be heaved. Their operational issues exist in some cloud somewhere. And the magic they promise to deliver is irresistible to small fry.
First-world dilemma, but one guaranteed to raise your blood pressure.
MEEP! is a line of techie toys from Oregon Scientific. Looks like the particular target of ire is an Android-based tablet designed for kids. Particularly cruel is this snippet from the description:
Assembly Requirements:
Ready to play
A review on Amazon from mid-November (Well before their servers get pounded on Christmas Day, no less…) sums it up:
Wait, so people are getting pissed off because they were too fucking stupid to realize that you have to set-up a tablet before it will work? Seriously?
Damn, this country is getting dumber every damn day.
There’s also all of those toys that are secured in the box by multiple cable ties, or for which you need a tiny screwdriver to open the battery compartment. Great fun attempting to do so while the kid in question is anxious to play with the new toy Right Now.
Wait until the day - almost there… allllmosst there… - when people are surrounded by techware that will not function without a high-speed net connection. I just chuckle at the number of comments from people, probably all under 30, who say “I don’t need [insert traditional tool, function or infobase here] because I have [insert wire, net or cloud-based equivalent here]!”
It’s not the FACT that the toy needs to be set up – it’s the fact that the simultaneous setup of thousands of toys after they have been opened on Christmas morning is not going to happen.
It sounds like the system isn’t working for already-registered products, either, so people who bought add-ons for Christmas won’t be adding them any time soon.