Month: March 2007

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More/Fewer Options = Greater Diversity?

Which leads to greater character diversity: more options or fewer? There are several moving parts there: the number of choices, the number of options for each choice, the importance of those choices, and the ability to change them. I should note that I will be considering the majority or the people who care; there will always be people in the tails of the bell curve who are trying to make the worst possible choices because of contrariness or a character concept.

The importance factor seems the easiest: the more important a choice is, the less likely there is to be diversity. If something really really matters, there will be one best way to do it or a few best combinations; even if you give me more options for that choice, anything less than the best means gimping the character. Contrarily, if the decision has no practical importance, the distribution will be random, and more options will lead to even greater diversity.

Continue reading More/Fewer Options = Greater Diversity?

Space Drama: Fair or Foul?

Ethic posted recently about the troubled fall of Ars Caelestis in Eve online. I am not going to rehash the details or even summarize it here. You can just click the link and read about it yourself.

Why did this happen? Was it fair play or foul play? I think many people reading and commenting on Ethic’s post are missing something critical and important.

If something happens solely inside of a game, within the context and limitations of the game’s rules, mechanics, and community expectations for what is fair, then fine. But if something in-game is affected by actions out of game, then it is an entirely different situation.

Continue reading Space Drama: Fair or Foul?

You Aren’t Hardcore Enough to Grow Flax

[A Tale in the Desert] Interestingly, a discussion about yet another thieving brigand in EVE has garnered more comments than anything else I can recall on Kill Ten Rats. Let me just say that you are all a bunch of wusses for not playing a real PvP game like A Tale in the Desert.

If you see it as a fancy trade skills game with a lot of cooperation, you are missing the point. Egypt exists to cause strife and conduct evil sociological experiments, and if the players are not generating enough drama the developers will cheerfully provide new ways to strike at your neighbor. What Pharaoh considers the most perfect part of the game is a test that encourages bribery, pandering, manipulation, backstabbing, and wasteful ostentation, and it requires that many lose for anyone to win.

You see a lack of violence and think there is no PvP. I see a game with every other way to hurt someone and make his life miserable, but you can never kill your tormentor. Oh wait, you can take your case to the ballot box or the right test-winner and have your enemy exiled or executed. You blew up someone’s spaceship and little egg? Big deal. Egypt has permadeath. There is no respawning.

When your players have a chance to destroy all life and end the game, come back and tell me how hardcore you are.

: Zubon

Space Drama

EVE[EVE Online] A recent email from CCP offered me a free 7 day come back offer. Figuring it was a good way to train a skill for free (skills train in real time even if your account is closed), I popped in to see what was new. I found myself staring straight into the drama of space.

It appeared that my former corporation in EVE, Ars Caelestis, had been disbanded by the CEO. In fact, the claims were such that he stole lots of ISK on his way to the full and final destruction of the corp. The CEO, Achilles Thorongmor, did not go quietly into the night as I expected. I thought some of you might find it interesting to see some of the things that go on in EVE Online and I leave it to you to decide what is right and what is wrong.

Continue reading Space Drama

It Is Not WoW

Why do so many people have the gall to compare new products and services to existing ones you could buy instead?

We were trying a new coffee bar recently, and for some reason my friend kept comparing it to Starbucks. I mean, hello, they are trying to do something entirely different with coffee here. They have some new flavors, and the logo on the cups is not the same at all. It’s not like Starbucks invented ground beans or was the first company to use those little insulating sleeves. If Starbucks is so much better, why are you still drinking your coffee?

Continue reading It Is Not WoW

Wife’s First Impressions

lotro [The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢] My wife gave the game a try. Some comments:

  • She likes being an elf.
  • The world is pretty, but her character is not. Also, she cannot change how it looks much, like giving her a nice skirt or making her outfit blue. Meanwhile, she is right now repeating how pretty her Second Life avatar looks in her new dress while wondering if she has some knee-high socks to go with it.
  • Killing goblins is one thing, but why does she need to beat up all these poor animals? She is going to be so traumatized when she takes out her first bear.
  • “Can I go any faster?”
  • Needing to face your target is a huge bother.
  • She wants more location help on quests. Yes, the quest text says explicitly where to go, but she likes the City of Heroes arrow pointing to the spot. She does not like following maps.
  • “I just played for an hour and a half. I know that’s not a lot in gamer time, but it is for the rest of us.”

She liked it but was not exuberant.

: Zubon

Nicodemus delurks…

Ah, March is a wonderful month. I’ve been lurking behind the scenes for a few months working on some *stuff*, but now that the seasons are changing and Springtime is on the way, I figured it was time for me to crawl out of my cave and say hello.

I will be a guest speaker at the Indie MMO Game Development Conference in Minneapolis (April 14-15). Come check it out. I’ll be hosting a wet t-shirt contest for some hotty elf chicks and you don’t want to miss out on that.

Read on for some opinions and ranting!

Continue reading Nicodemus delurks…

Beta Characters Go Live

lotro [The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢] Since we have been talking about The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢ lately, there have been questions about keeping beta characters when the game goes live and how that works. Answers from players have been contradictory, but Turbine has ruled, so I am posting their statement here for reference.

The short version: keep all characters, 5 characters per server, open beta level cap of 15. Nothing except xp is capped.

Continue reading Beta Characters Go Live