September 2007 – Page 4

Google Ten Rats

Ethic recently gave me access to Google Analytics for the site, so like anyone with a new toy, I have been checking it compulsively. I have explanations for some of the things that confuse me. I presume we have a great many The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢ fans out there, since those are the posts getting a lot of hits and comments, as well as four of the top ten search terms used to reach the site.

I must ask our readers one thing though: “cybercat atitd” is our #2 search term. We had five hits from it yesterday. Is there something I really don’t know here? Maybe someone has been using it as a Googlewhack, and here I go ruining it by using the words in a new post. Using it as a fake referrer link? Please, someone fess up and explain this one to me.

: Zubon

Fluff

(or how I learned to stop worrying and love RMT)

This is a complete 180. Yup. Yessiree. I’m not ashamed to admit it. It came to me as an epiphany. No, I didn’t have to bang my head on the toilet and come up with a flux capacitor. But it was close.

I, like many many others, used to be quite opposed to RMT in more or less venomous terms depending on the situation and the company. I never hated the concept in itself, but I did have a lot of mistrust built up towards it. Years and years of seeing systems used and abused by the userbase will make one a cynic about promises of rainbows and pots with gold. That’s how it is.

But now? I saw the light, one might say. RMT is an inevitability, that’s where we’re heading. I knew this, but I also knew I didn’t have to like it. However, that changed. Count me in. I’ve seen the future, and it’s lined with silver thread. RMT is good, if you design around it well. I am now a firm proponent of RMT. How? Why? Read on.

Continue reading Fluff

Hindsight Bias

“A recent survey of 6,407 players of ‘Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games’ (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft and Everquest found that 63% of hours in-game are spent in groups.” Well duh, thank you for discovering that playing online is a social activity. With all the raiding and forced grouping, and standing around waiting for the group to get its act together, it is surprising that the number was that low. Remember, one hour in a group of five means five hours grouped, so you need five solo players to balance that out, and a duo is still a group.

Wait, no, sorry, I wrote that backwards. “A recent survey of 6,407 players of ‘Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games’ (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft and Everquest found that 63% of hours in-game are spent alone.” Thank you captain obvious, of course we spend a lot of time soloing. All the new MMOs are more solo friendly, especially at the lower levels, and World of Warcraft is the biggest of them all. Sure, we hardcore people spend a lot of time raiding, but the teeming hordes of casual players will never see level 70 and will not be part of a raiding guild. With all the time we spend traveling, crafting, farming, or standing at the auction house, it is a wonder the number was that low.

Wait, sorry, my bad again, I made the whole thing up. What I read was a study of speed dating results, which was reported as “men like attractive women.” You were probably wondering about those loud cries of “Duh!” last week. A great deal of research is received this way because all possible results, even mutually exclusive ones, are taken as intuitively obvious. “A new study shows that absence makes the heart grow fonder”: duh! “A new study shows that out of sight really is out of mind”: duh!

Wait one last time, one of a set of mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive options must be true. People play more in groups, solo more, or the division is exactly even. Was the answer obvious after reading the first paragraph? The second? Now? If I told you that the 63% number was accurate and came from a working paper that is circulating via e-mail, could you tell me which version is correct?

: Zubon

Relevanciness

I sometimes feel bad for spending so much time thinking about fictional worlds. We may be pioneers for a future society of uploads, but mostly we are just pretending to be elves and beating up imaginary rock monsters.

And then I see what passes for news in the real world, and I feel much better.

: Zubon

The Great Value Inversion

Any other trade skill aficionados in the house? Between crafting and badges, I could go through entire games without killing things. I look at my time in A Tale in the Desert, and I wonder how much money I spent for the privilege of pretending to make charcoal. Good times.

Tuebit at WorldIV has some The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢-specific discussion of one of the great problems crafters face: raw materials are worth more than finished products. Go, read, see how gold ingots are worth 0.005 gold each; how treating raw wood (the only thing you can do with raw wood) makes it fall in value; and how you can reduce the value of your raw materials by 85%, simply by making a finished product. Now you know why you can carry huge stacks of metal ingots around: each is far far smaller than a gold piece.

People are paying to make progress in a profession that is so wholly un-enjoyable it is preferable to not play that profession, but rather, to grind cash and, in effect, purchase the profession.

Very strange.

: Zubon

Tabula Rasa NDA Lifted: 10/19/07 Launch

Tabula Rasa has lifted the veil of silence on their Beta testing population, so those of us who were not invited to the party will finally get a glimpse into this newest of MMOs. Officially set to launch on October 19th, Tabula Rasa offers gamers a blend of FPS and traditional MMO elements that attempts to break with the fantasy MMO genre and offer ‘something new.’

Continue reading Tabula Rasa NDA Lifted: 10/19/07 Launch

Review: Omnibus or In Pieces?

Last week I experimented with a new format for reviewing a game. Instead of one huge post with thirty paragraphs, I commented on different parts of the game spread over a week. How did that work for you?

I had hoped that breaking it up would help us comment on different aspects of the game, rather than whatever one point the comments seized on in a longer discussion. I don’t think that happened much. Perhaps I should have outlined when I was getting to various things at the start.

Everyone had Dungeon Runners fatigue by the end. Perhaps few cared much at the start. The extended format did provide a chance to try it and comment before the series was over. At least a few people did that, posting here or on their own blogs.

Last week was coincidentally the first major content patch for Dungeon Runners, so that was a big attention spike in our little gaming blogosphere.

: Zubon

“Think of it as Tacos 2.0”

“We’re breaking down barriers. With extra salsa.” Why link to a three-month-old joke post? Because I can, and it is still funny. Archives exist to be read.

: Zubon

KTR Mythbusters: The Unpredictable PvP Player

It doesn’t exist. I’d almost go as far as to say it cannot exist.

Long being held as a staple of “what makes PvP interesting”, this player remains purely in the realm of the mythical. Of course there is evidence arguing for its existence, but it’s purely anecdotical and cannot be reproduced.

Tonight on KTR Mythbusters we examine the elusive Unpredictable PvP Player. Its humble beginnings as a post-slaughter campfire tale, its rise to legendary status and its ultimate demise at the hands of science.

Continue reading KTR Mythbusters: The Unpredictable PvP Player

DM of the Rings: Nearing the End

Have you been reading DM of the Rings? It is a webcomic made from screenshots of the Lord of the Rings films, done as a D&D game. The last comic is scheduled for Friday, so you have just enough time to catch up before the big finish.

: Zubon