Author: Ravious

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Orphaned Warhammer Online

Thanks to Arkenor, over at Ark’s Ark, I learned that Games Workshop had sued Warhammer Alliance for mostly trademark issues.  First off, Games Workshop is not really the bad guy.    They have a very strong trademark with Warhammer, and with trademarks, if you don’t protect your ranch, the fences start to erode.  Disregarding whether Games Workshop is actually correct by law in its lawsuit, we can assume that Games Workshop believes that Warhammer Alliance is harming the strength and worth of the Warhammer trademark.

We can also assume that Games Workshop knew that by suing a proprietor of a community for Warhammer Online that it would be hurting the community, which in turn would very likely hurt the actual MMO.  Now, Games Workshop, of course, can choose in a timely fashion when to launch the lawsuit, and they did so not long after the whole billing fiasco with Warhammer Online, which according to some caused a not-insignificant decrease in subscriptions.  The bruises have barely healed, and now Games Workshop is opening up another wound.

So let’s get back to basics.  This lawsuit is aimed at protecting the whole Warhammer IP, but in doing so it will actually harm the Warhammer Online portion of the IP because the goodwill towards Warhammer Online will decrease.  I believe that big daddy Games Workshop’s position on the viability of baby Warhammer Online for the long run becomes pretty clear here.  Do I really need to spell it out any further?

–Ravious
a fool’s excuse for failure

The Guild Leader’s Handbook Review

I am pretty skeptical of MMO “literature.”  The last piece I read was a doctoral thesis on social structures in MMOs, in that case Guild Wars.  It was horribly written, contained ridiculous examples, and came to conclusions that any MMO player that’s put some small amount of time into an MMO would know.  This seemed to be par for the course of the many examples I’ve read. So, when I was asked if I wanted to review a free copy of The Guild Leader’s Handbook by Scott F. Andrews, my gut reaction was not good.  I checked out the No Starch Press website and glanced at the author’s credentials, and impressed with the quality thus far, I decided to give writings on MMOs one more shot.  This time I was actually pleased.

Continue reading The Guild Leader’s Handbook Review

APB Business Model – Back to the Old

Via Massively, I learned that All Points Bulletin, a game much on my radar, has received a release date (NA – 6/29, EU 7/2) and a pricing plan:

The retail client will be available digitally or in stores ($49.99/£34.99/€49.99) and will include 50 hours of ‘action’ game play plus unlimited time in the social districts. These districts include character customizing, socializing, and marketplace trading. Once you burn through your initial 50 hours of action play, you can purchase an additional 20 hours for $6.99 (£5.59, €6.29) or opt for the 30-day ‘unlimited’ package at $9.99 (£7.99, €8.99). There will also be 90 and 180 day discounts available.

I do like the pre-loaded hours option.  If they were available, I would likely have hours in World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, and who knows what else.  So kudos to them for going back to a play-by-hour, and giving the consumer more options.  Yet, from all that I have read All Points Bulletin is more like a Grand Theft Auto version of Team Fortress 2 with a thin veneer of persistence found in the MMO genre.  It sounds like a lot of fun, but I am just not sure about their subscription and pseudo-subscription model. 

Continue reading APB Business Model – Back to the Old

Guild Wars 2 Saturation and the Third Option

I think Dan over at Biff the Understudy sums up what has happened in the week of Guild Wars 2 quite nicely. I’ve read every interview, watched videos multiple times, and delved in to the forums. There is just too much to talk about. It’s like standing under a waterfall trying to fill a plastic cup. And, there will be more today!

Two quick semi-relevant points: it sucks that the extreme focus of this week is on Guild Wars 2, when it is Guild Wars’ birthday.  It feels like whatever celebration we had for Guild Wars already passed.  But, it seems Guild Wars Beyond is in it for the long haul so in a way this year the birthday was smashed flat across months instead of one critical day.  Second, most of the Guild Wars 2 interviews keep saying “in the coming months” or “for the next few months” instead of “year.”  This could go two ways: at the end of “the next few months” (1) beta starts, or (2) they go back in to submarine mode ala Diablo 3.

Continue reading Guild Wars 2 Saturation and the Third Option

Guild Wars 2: Let There Be Light

The week of in-depth articles has begun with the Guild Wars 2 Design Manifesto.  It’s so hard not to shake your head.  The game sounds too good.  It sounds like there are too many things I have thought about for “my MMO.”  Like partying without partying (Public Quests 2.0) or player synergy:

And like the original GW, in GW2 the creativity doesn’t end with your own character. When you play with others, you’ll find that your abilities can complement theirs, and that you can discover new skill combos and strategies between professions. So if you’re playing an Elementalist, try casting a fire wall, and then see what happens when your friends shoot projectiles through it.

The systems sound great, with the first specific article on the combat systems by Eric Flannum (whose coming was foretold with the great Sacrifice). It is not all donuts and jelly. There is one thing that bothers this ol’ MMO player. “Each time you play through the game, you can experience a different storyline.” So not only are they going toe-to-toe with the storytelling masters BioWare, but they too might be making a storytelling system where players can miss things. I truly hope that they make it closer to Guild Wars Nightfall where players could decide a few paths, but could always go back and pick up the actual benefits from the path not taken. I am going to be sad if they make the story system where it’s better to read ahead and figure out which rewards (i.e., path) I want ahead of time.

I don’t want to end on a bad note though because the whole article sounds great. Environmental weapons (throwing boulders back at Elementals), dynamic world, and the basic design philosophy of a game which is not about “preparing to have fun” sound like a bunch of ingredients I want in an MMO. It’s going to be an exciting next few months, and I hope they don’t slow down the pace until launch.

–Ravious
the unreal is more powerful than the real

Guild Wars RNG Birthday

For every 12 months of age, a character in Guild Wars receives a small token, a miniature.  There are sets for each birthday, up to the current 5 years, and the sets each contain commons (white), uncommons (purples), rares (golds), and really rares (green).  For the first time in 5 years, my main character finally received a birthday miniature that was not a mere common!  I reached in to the shiny 5th birthday box to pull out a miniature Oola! 

I had to share it with someone, so I poked my wife sitting next to me to look at the new shiny.  “The little creature?” she said.  I let that remark hang, while I started loading linguistic bullets in to my Sparklepony .45 regarding her hummingbird pet on that Fairy MMO.  “That’s cool,” she finally shrugged, and I put my metaphorical gun down.

Yet, I am still unsure as to whether I should sell the miniature Oola.  She will never be worth more now than ever again, and I am getting pretty loaded with miniatures likely not destined for the Hall of Monuments.  I am hoping that with the Guild Wars 2 news forthcoming we get the Hall of Monuments guidelines regarding how many miniatures we will have to load up to get whatever prize in Guild Wars 2.  I have a mule just loaded with the tiny toys.

–Ravious
tired of experimenting with silly puppets

Guild Wars 5th Anniversary Pre-Party

Yesterday the celebration for the 5th Anniversary of Guild Wars began to start off the week-long celebration.  The festivities ramp up with prized Birthday Cupcakes dropping from mobs at the start, and today the Shing Jea Boardwalk opens up for all those waiting to stand in one of nine rings and drink booze.  Also, some lucky few will get their 5th Birthday gifts today.  I am pretty sure my main guy will be getting his Monday or Tuesday, and after four years of common gifts, he deserves a rare.

I want to call it a pre-party though not only because April 28th is the actual anniversary for Guild Wars but I believe there will be more to come.  The interesting thing is no one really knows for sure.  When the prelude to the 4th Anniversary hit we were given a massive list of content updates.  The current celebration site gives no hint of “and more to come next week!” or anything like that.  At the very least, I thought the War in Kryta might culminate to some point around the 5th Anniversary.  The Community Managers have been tight-lipped with regard to any possible event that might occur next week.

Continue reading Guild Wars 5th Anniversary Pre-Party

The Blog Unsubscribing

There are two ways blogs die.  The most common is for the blogger to simply stop posting.  Sure, the activity seemed fun for the first five or so times, but then it felt like work.  There is another way.  A darker way.  It’s when the blogger has decided something important.  Something that changes things.  Suddenly the articles and stories the readers were used to become overshadowed by the other thing. 

In our little arena, if a blogger merely switches games people will unsubscribe but the blog is not dying.  One good example is when Syncaine at Hardcore Casual became a Darkfall crusader.  Post after post was filled with Darkfall ambushes, tactics, and alliances.  I did not unsub from the RSS feed because I love stories coming from sandbox-style MMOs and it is an excellent blog, but I am sure some people (read: WoW tourists, wink, wink) did.  He has since come back around to providing healthy, acidic commentary on other games, but will those that unsub’d come back?  That is the biggest determination I have to make when I unsubscribe from a blog.  Do I ever want to come back?

Continue reading The Blog Unsubscribing

Interview with ArenaNet’s Chris Lye

I had the chance to ask ArenaNet’s Global Brand Director, Chris Lye, a few questions about marketing in MMOs.  Chris talked about dreams, demons, and marketing the Guild Wars series, and he was kind enough to drop a nice big Guild Wars 2 bite.  Check out the full interview after the break!

At gamer events, how do you describe your job to people?

Basically “Marketing Guy” gets the point across. Alas, people seem to have a very narrow (and dim) view of marketing – usually they think it’s just the ads. However, to do marketing right, especially for an MMO, it’s about building customer relationships – so I’m also responsible for ArenaNet’s website and the community team. Continue reading Interview with ArenaNet’s Chris Lye

Walk to Mordor ARG

Thanks to Merric and Goldenstar at the weekly podcast, A Casual Stroll to Mordor, I learned about this prety cool “reality overlay” for people getting in shape for the summer can use to make walking and running a little more fun.  Eowyn Challenge has a mile by mile breakdown of Frodo’s journey in Lord of the Rings.  People can then match up their daily walking or running distance and chart it with the location of Frodo.  My Lord of the Rings Online kinship is doing this as a group journey where people are buying pedometers to track their journeys to Rivendell.  Not often does the fantasy or MMO fringe intersect with physical fitness, but I think this is a great way to get motivated.  Good luck to all participating!

–Ravious