I think I have something new for you, but Raph has covered similar territory. At the very least you get a new word. The digger wasp (Genus: sphex) is the unheralded mascot of the grind. When laying eggs, it makes a nest, finds a bug, paralyzes the bug, drags it home, makes sure the nest … Continue reading Sphexishness
This is my last post on Kill Ten Rats. I am not sure how to say good bye. I have closed up shop on a lot of games. A great many of them ended on coasting status, limping along and skimming the cream off the top in case I decided to go back. I can … Continue reading Kill Ten Retrospective
I am having trouble finding motivation in another set of “do this 100 times” achievements. At least the numbers are lower than in Season One, so the extrinsic motivation is a smaller factor. : Zubon
I was worried that skirmishes would pale. They have, for me at least. The problem is that they are so transparently procedural content, and that is not LotRO’s strong point. Let me contrast with the equally procedural Torchlight.
Xiao-Li Meng writes about the trade-off between efficiency and robustness (bottom of page 208, left side). A solution that works all the time is likely to be inefficient. You can greatly optimize it by making a few assumptions, but then it only works when those assumptions hold. His example is finding a parked car. If … Continue reading AI Is Hard, Unnecessary, and Sorely Missed
I have come to realize that I am an enthusiastic Explorer but often a prickly Achiever. I am most fond of exploring gameplay, rather than being visually stimulated by whatever the new zone is. Most MMOs gate the Explorer content behind Achieving, which works fine at lower levels when things go quickly, and then becomes … Continue reading EASK
It might be nice to have a teammate who is thinking about what he is doing, but what I really want is a player who does not need to. A good, experienced player is not actively thinking about playing as a process. It is a series of practiced actions that fall below the conscious level, … Continue reading Unthinking Teammates Wanted
I am the first one to mock games for re-coloring mobs so that you are fighting the same guys at level 40 as level 4, only blue versions with new hats. Indeed, The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢ was really disappointing when I got to Evendim, because the level 1 bandits get … Continue reading Big Beaks
Jeromai had a good comment that deserves a post in response. After listing all the stuff that City of Heroes has added in the past year, he asks: “Does ‘content’ just equal progress of story, or does it include all of the above?” I leaked terms. I started the post by discussing “gameplay,” then switched … Continue reading Gameplay Content
I am enjoying The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢, but I find myself not reading all the quest text. At first this was because I had read it during beta, and I needed to consciously remind myself to stop and read new stuff. Habit is a great deadener. Then I stopped caring … Continue reading On Not Reading