A question and a few notes from a closet Trekkie to any others who may be playing this game -
* If this is set 30 years after Nemesis, and 22 years after Romulus was destroyed, how is Spock narrating it when he was sent to a parallel universe shortly thereafter?
* While the ground fight battles are fun but repetitive, the space battles are the most amazing eye candy I’ve seen since LoTRO’s Lorien. The graphic geek team who worked on this deserves medals.
* The goldspam in this game is worse than Ironforge, Orgrimmar and Bree combined. It was literally impossible for me to ask a single question without it being instantly whisked out of the chat buffer.
* Props to the Trek geeks who worked hard to ensure this game follows established stories/lore. LoTRO is the only other game to do so, in my experience. SWG tried, and ended up…well…NGE is all I need to say.
The network effect is one of those critically important, foundational concepts needed to discuss the success or failure of multiplayer games intelligently, one that gets more “what?” reactions than it should. I’m hoping people know it but perhaps not by that name; knowing it by name lets you tap a century of research and discussion rather than re-inventing the wheel.
The idea is that adding someone to a network creates value for everyone else. If you have no friends on Facebook, it is just a platform for solo Farmville. Every additional user creates additional potential value for every other user. In many of our online games and social network, the primary value we are seeking is that connection with other users. It is not just that users create content; users are the content.
Continue reading ‘Network Effect’
Chapter 1
(The protagonist, Me, runs in to the cave and meets with Radanir, the Ranger.)
Me: I am so glad I found you. Aragorn, your leader, has need of you in Rohan. You must go there at once.
Radanir: Of course, Aragorn’s will be done. However, there’s some orcs in this here cave. They are too close to the elf outpost. They must be vanquished.
Me: Okay, let’s kill them quickly so you can make haste to Aragorn’s side.
(Silence passes as Radanir appears unsure how to proceed.)
Radanir: How about this? I stand here. You go kill the orcs. Don’t worry though, I’ll still stand here until you leave the cave. Then you go tell the elf outpost of our victory.
(Me sighs, accepts his fate, and begins to run in to the cave. Radanir yells at Me as he goes out of sight.)
Radanir: Don’t worry! I’ll tell the others that come in to help you out!
As soon as any MMO player hears the word random applied to the MMO genre, as it has been throughout random week, thoughts of the loot pinata spring to mind. Every time a little dirt weasel falls to the ground a right click tears that sucker open to reveal: a melted candle, a shiny red apple, a handful of copper coins, and a 1 in 1000 chance at a small brown pouch. Now anybody can gain a few levels and slaughter lower level mobs with impunity, but the loot pinata takes on a revered glow when there is one big pinata for 25 people at the end of a 3-hour raid.
Either way, opening up dead mobs like paper mache is an addictive part of vanilla MMO play. One lucky kill or resource node can provide a player with the feeling of elation. This “windfall” granted by the random number gods seemingly puts a spike in the efficiency of time versus reward. Suddenly the lucky player is beating the system (and other players). There is a heavier term MMO lexicographers use to analogize the loot systems found in the big MMOs. Instead of a colorful, lively pinata used at children’s parties across the world, these wordsmiths liken the system to a slot machine. Continue reading ‘rand(Loot Pinata)’
I love food. For anybody that knows me, I think everything can be analogized to food. Thankfully Ethic keeps me in check here, for without him this would probably be Kill Ten Rats and Grill. Well this is random week, and here is my one random topic thinly veiled as a gamer topic. Gamer food is important for MMO players, especially. We have to maintain strength and energy through long weekend raids. One poorly chosen meal gobbled down during a bio break can lead to some unwanted gastrointestinal problems right in the middle of the boss fight. We need mental stamina from good meals so we can stay out of the poop, in all senses.
Continue reading ‘rand(Gamer Food)’
While it’s safe to say I’m an avid LoTRO player, I’ve found myself at a loss for things to do lately, even after a major patch (which took me under 4 hours to complete all solo/group content). So to keep myself from fatal burnout, I decided to take advantage of the City of Heroes/Villains free welcome-back weekend we just had. I’ve previously talked about CoX more than a few times, but I was more than willing to give it a run again. So I grabbed a frosty beverage, a bag of chips, and sat down to put on the ol’ cape once again.
Continue reading ‘Oz’s Trail of Trials, Part 1 – Friday Night Tights’
Welcome to rand() week at Kill Ten Rats unknowingly sponsored by Leala Turkey of Spouse Aggro fame. For those sane enough not to have scratched much of the surface of spreadsheet programs or number intensive programming, rand() is a random number generator. And this week, I will be talking about randomness, choosing random topics, and generally throwing things to the whim of the all-conquering RNG. Sound boy, proceed to blast into the galaxy. Continue reading ‘rand(Two Step)’
A friend of mine has dolls that she treats as children. They each have personalities, wardrobes, adventures, etc. She posts about them on the assorted social networking sites. I sometimes find this odd until I remind myself that we are doing the exact same thing, probably for more hours per day, only our dolls our imaginary, digital, and gated behind a monthly fee.
: Zubon
… you gotta learn to play it right.
Major props to the guys who did that masterpiece.
I was going to try a positive spin on Cryptic’s approach, but Sente covered it, so let’s pull that up from the comments:
The philosophy that Cryptic has applied here is one that is “player-driven development” in the sense that feedback from the players should drive much of the development of the game.
I think it is a nice idea and also something that puts less risk into the project, which I think is needed for MMOs. But going with a traditional subscription-based model topped with an item shop does not fit that well into this approach to development.
The offerings of 6 month/12 month/lifetime subscriptions for STO and CO is also something that does not quite rhyme well with this development approach.
Given the choice if Cryptic should have spent 2 years or 5 years developing STO I definitely prefer the current approach of 2 years. But it is not fair to ask customer to pay to wait for them to develop what initial player feedback might indicate.
I forgot at which blog I read a little model showing moving “release” a few steps earlier in several waves of “fix bugs and add content” (link it [thanks!] if ya got it). Of course, a downside is if an entire system fails. City of Heroes underwent massive overhauls to basic systems in years of beta, such as back when Origins were very important rather than 98.72% decorative. If you decide that your entire combat system needs to be re-done, there are few positive synonyms for “NGE.” If they decide in 2011 that Champions really should have been class-based, that is hard to graft on top.
: Zubon
