Author: Zubon

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Промоакции для игроков не только в шутерах — воспользуйся промокодом Vavada от наших партнеров и получи бонусы, которые подарят азарт и атмосферу, сравнимую с игровыми победами.

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Of Not Speaking

The Ayorthians think before they speak, and often conclude, after lengthy meditation, that nothing need be said.
— Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

Many times I type a comment or post, spend a while editing and revising, re-consider the original topic, then decide the world really does not need to hear it. This is presumably how one squares the logorrhea you see here with my being a restrained introvert (or, as Kendricke put it, “the driest MFer in the world”).

If you have noticed that I have not been posting as much lately, rest assured: I am still writing a lot. But you know what high standards MMO players have.

: Zubon

From a Business Perspective

Your MMO is not a success based on how many players you have, whether they supply enough revenue to keep the servers running, or even if you turn a profit. If I can get a better rate of return investing in Blizzard and its parent company, I have no reason to invest in your game. I have no idea which MMO company has the best rate of return (Three Rings?), but that is your investors’ target. This is why games shut down even when they are still showing a profit: you can use those resources elsewhere and make more money. Or not, because there are a lot of short-sighted executives out there, but the cynics are consistently beating the gamers who keep hoping the next game will be the New New Thing. An investor may turn his nose up at what a gamer considers a win.

And that is limiting the view to the industry. Anyone care to guess what the return on investment is for a good casual game? How many non-WoW MMOs out-sold the latest Nancy Drew adventure this holiday season?

: Zubon

Update: will it help us avoid distractions if I rephrase as “ROI * risk” and/or “ROI over time”?

Peggle Extreme

In an inspired bit of marketing, there is a free Peggle demo available on Steam: Peggle Extreme. It is not this extreme, but it mixes Peggle and Valve graphics. Unicorn with head crab? Check. Skateboarding beaver on fire? Check. GLaDOS telling you how well you are doing? Check.

And the full version is five bucks this week.

: Zubon

Skill Training Complete

I accepted a 5-day “welcome back” offer to EVE Online. It might take me five days to figure out where I am and what is going on.

I have about 8 million skill points. I was feeling pretty good about that, until the new (since I last played) Certificates showed me what a newb I am. I have 4 certificates, two of them in Drones. But I am a newb flying an Iteron V, darn it.

(For the curious, that is 2.7 million in Spaceship Command, 2.2 in Learning, 1.6 in Drones, .6 in Engineering, .5 in Social, and the rest scattered.)

: Zubon

Developer Feedback

You spend all that time on the forums, and occasionally some lucky person gets red/blue name attention. It seems so much like one-way communication, with the occasional community manager contribution. Some games have some developers who comment on some topics, but often the hot issues are avoided or left for an official statement.

In the Kingdom of Loathing, developer Mr. Skullhead responded to some board feedback on the holiday event:

[player], and those who share the sentiment below, **** you. **** each and every one of you. **** you sleeping, **** you waking up, **** you standing, **** you lying down. **** the horse you rode in on, the groom that brushed its mane, and the blacksmith that made its shoes. **** your mother, your father, any siblings, and any other living members of your family tree. **** you.

This is a family blog, so I have edited out some of the 34 F-bombs, but I think we can approve of his candor. If you pursue the link, he responded to specific criticisms as well:

Low drop rates? Favoring farmers? **** you. …
Presents are suboptimal? **** YOU. …
No outfit in the pressies? **** you. …
No wrapping paper? **** you. …
The worst of all of this, the one that really pisses me off, is the whole “you guys were too lazy to write content so you stacked the deck so you wouldn’t have to do any interesting writing.” If you seriously believe that and you’re not just trolling, I invite you to get some mayo, mustard, and maybe a dollop of sour cream, and eat my **** ***.

I need to donate to that game again. I can criticize only the implied connection between graph-making and virginity, although I favor tables to graphs.

: Zubon

Linked changed due to wiki editor deletion. Thanks Noz. In case it re-appears: link.