Month: July 2011

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Are Single-Game Players Happier?

Five or six years ago I went to a sake-tasting event in San Francisco called “The Joy of Sake”. About 140 sakes. In a few hours I became such a sake connoisseur that the sake I could afford — and used to buy regularly — I now despised. The only sake I now liked was so expensive ($80/bottle) that I never bought another bottle of sake.
— Seth Roberts

What was revelatory for me at one point was that there were people who thought of themselves not as gamers, not as MMO gamers, but as WoW players. They are not interested in the genre, in seeing competing implementations, in the next MMO coming out… They just play WoW. Hardcore or casual, this is their game, done, the way some people are baseball or football fans (a perspective that had not occurred to me until I typed it, which suddenly makes “one game” make a lot more sense, although most seem to be “sports fans” who need a group of sports to make it through the other seasons).

Today I find myself wondering if my recent blasé with the MMO world is a result of becoming familiar with too many different ways of doing things in MMOs. No matter what game I am playing, at least half the features will have been done better somewhere else, and the failings of individual games and the entire genre stand silhouetted. Maybe if I did not know better, getting another boss further in the latest raid tier would be fulling absorbing entertainment. But that seems like a critical failure of fun theory.

I am not saying that WoW is a bad game. I’m more saying that if you have never played/studied EVE, you do not know how a game economy (and economic tools) could work; if you have never played A Tale in the Desert, your crafting ideas are probably disgustingly limited; if you are not familiar with WoW, you are probably willfully putting up with the far shoddier implementation that is so common in MMOs. And what has seen cannot be unseen.

: Zubon

[Hello Seth Roberts readers! Pork belly is in the fridge, flaxseed oil (capsules, not fresh) is in the pantry, and we have some lovely videos of faces on the DVD rack.]

Advancement

Commenter Naqaj asked me to check out a thread on experience point functions. I did not get very far before mentally classifying it as “discussing preferred ways to grind.” Right now, I am so over grinding. My reaction of the moment is that the genre has so thoroughly glutted itself on advancement that it has spilled over and infected nearby genres. Long-time readers will have repeatedly heard my rantings about “RPG elements” (read: character/ability leveling) in almost every game out there because people will play for longer and our meat-based brains will actually respond positively to unnecessary grinds as long as there are numeric and/or visual rewards attached. Video games really are better than real life at stimulating important parts of our brains, and now we are taking to improving how games stimulate us rather than improving real life.

I just don’t think I’m emotionally up to reading all 175 comments in that thread. I look at the grind in the genre and just shake my head. This is really what we have come to.

: Zubon

[EVE] Idiot’s and Outsider’s Guide to Controversies

Regardless of whose right or wrong, Ms Freak definitely gets a swath of internet points for clear cutting to a ton of issues currently going on in EVE Online. Being an outsider myself, I had mostly just agreed with Tobold that the delivery of many of these items was what made it so big of a list of problems. This list makes it seem a lot more real than I had suspected.

There are rumors and filings that CCP is going through some serious growing pains regarding cash flow and management. The cash flow issue is to be expected at the very least since they are working on three MMOs, only one of which is making money. (I did find it funny that Ms Freak in the list says that CCP can do whatever they like with regard to microtransactions for Dust 514 and World of Darkness.)

Again as an outsider, I am not opposed to a $70 appearance item, and I do think it is a little sensational that it’s being used as the poster child for all that is wrong in EVE. Hopefully for all those not really understanding what has been going on as of late, these links might help clear the air.

–Ravious

[Prime] Skills and Beginnings

Prime: Battle for Dominus is the MMO that just appeared, and it’s targeted to launch this year. In a genre where it feels like we wait for a good part of a decade for an MMO, it’s pretty refreshing to hear about a new MMO so close to launch. What is Prime? A 3-faction, sci-fi PvP-based MMO made by plenty of people that have made other MMOs. Check out their very concise, BS-free FAQ.

Today we learn about Prime’s skill system. Each class (six for each faction) starts with 5 skills, and as they level this maxes out to 15 skills. Seem pretty light in the MMO age where we need 5 skillbars each with 10-15 slots maxed out.  Except that each skill can be grown by allocating skill points. As skill points are allocated it seems that the skill itself will change in functionality, at least to the degree of effecting more people. Reallocating points is going to be an easy thing to do because Pitchblack Games, developers of Prime, want people to feel free to experiment.

I think this system sound pretty good. It’s like Guild Wars without a million-billion skills or like Rift without having to painfully construct and synergize three skill trees. I am all for simplicity with customization. I know traits in other MMOs do nearly the same thing, but it’s nice to think “I want to use these skills for my build, let’s pump them up.” I am hoping they steal Guild Wars and Rift‘s build-saving features though.

I must say that Prime has caught my attention because it appears so focused and agile, possibly even a KTR-vernacularized Chipotle MMO. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more news on this one.

–Ravious

You Paid How Much?

Jaradcel writes up another great guest post. Enjoy! –Ravious

Stemming from the thoughts on micro-transactions and the use of freemium, I thought I would offer my thoughts on the parallels from another game that has recently gone freemium – Team Fortress 2 (“TF2”).

At first blush, the game does not have anything to do with Kill Ten Rats – It’s a hat-collecting sim/FPS after all. But what it is doing mirrors closely the models that Turbine are using on Lord of the Rings Online (“LotRO”) and Dungeons and Dragons Online (“DDO”), and which other companies like SOE and NCSoft are also moving into as well. That is, turning a pay product into a free model to attract new revenue via a cash shop. And TF2 does so by scratching the same itch that MMO cash shop users have – the need to have it all and look pretty besides.

Continue reading You Paid How Much?