Category: General

In EVE Online, I have started my attack on the asteroid fields of my corp system, having setup camp in the system and am now starting my full scale operation on mining the pyroxeres there. This is yielding me 10 million isk a day and I’m working most of my free time mining. This of course means I won’t be playing World of Warcraft any longer.

I’m finding WoW to be more boring everytime I log on. Less to do, feels more repetitive, more grind, and more PvP induced lag. I’m done with WoW until blizz gets a grip and trashes the honor system. They have 2 million players but I’ll see how long it takes for them to lose those subscriptions as more and more people put the can on thier accounts.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of WoW, but with all the PvP going on in the PvE server, it’s become so laggy it’s not even bearable and my level makes me absolutely useless in PvP combat.

So as far as EVE goes, I’m nearing 100 million credits, standing at 80 million now. Since the war is over and my self proclaimed war on the pyroxeres has left me with great income and around my system I’m known as “Zxyrox the Pyrox King”, I go out and mine 2 fields of it every day =).

Our Corp will also begin construction of our POS (player owned structure) this weekend, if all goes well we should be making it tomorrow. Today we did some ice mining, a long process but fun none the less. More info later, gotta go mine more ice. :)

-Zxyrox

From Corpnews I found this evidence that people are broken:

A thoughtless couple in their 20s who left their four-month old daughter at home while they played Internet computer games at a nearby PC café have been booked by police after the child died.

According to Incheon Police Station on Tuesday, a 29-year-old man husband identified by his family name of Yu and his wife put their four-month daughter in the bedroom of their home and went to a neighborhood PC café at around 4:00 p.m. on May 24 to play the online game “World of Warcraft”.

Time flew by as the couple lost themselves in the game, and when they returned home at 9:00 p.m., their daughter was lying on her stomach, dead of suffication.

Read the rest here.

If it wasn’t an MMORPG, it would be a quick drink at the bar or just running to the store for a “second”. Something is wrong with these people. Something is very, very wrong with these people.

Wake up, real life is happening all around you and you aren’t even living it. Focus on what is important. A game is just a game, it is entertainment. Don’t make it out to be something more than that. Nobody cares if you have a level 60 Rogue, it just does not matter. If you are looking for respect, love, accomplishments, or fame, try life out – there is a lot of room for more good people doing good things. It may seem like you get those from a game, but the reality is that you don’t.

Whatever your obsession is and for whatever reason you turn to it, try to remember what is really important and not let your obsessions run your life.

– Ethic

[World of Warcraft] Well this explains alot:

A lot of people are leaving, mainly because they feel their hands were tied over WoW. Corporate refuses to put much money into the WoW project, and it frustrates us as much as the customers. When Vivendi forced the game out in November, we literally spent weeks stuck in the office because the servers were constantly crashing. Some co-workers didn’t see their families for a week, sleeping on the floors and couches in the break room. Management was bitching all the time about how much money “we’re” losing.

Many desks are empty now, more and more co-workers are leaving, rumor is NCSoft is promising faster release schedules, and Vivendi not breathing down our necks. The morale is awful, mainly the long cycles for each project, working 4..5 years on something takes a lot out of you, then the massive rewrites because another company came out with a feature we planned to use, or the hardware changed, it erodes you. Ghost won’t be out by christmas, expect it delayed again until summer 06, and the next pipeline project isn’t due out until 2008. It’s expected that WoW will keep the company in enough funds to remain solvent until then. I’ll probably be looking somewhere else, I pity the kids they end up hiring.

This is probably old and recycled news by now, and is credited to a dissatified Blizzard employee, so take is for what you will, but wow.

This along with the news that NCSoft stole Blizzard employees that were working on the first expansion means that all the level 60’s will be raiding Molten Core for quite some time.

Stolen from Slashdot.

– ringthree

[EVE Online] Well I’m back from my vacation and now that the war is all finalized and done with. I’ll post about the main causes and effects of the war and how it was finalized, and of course how I did my share in ending it. :)

We had war declared on us by a pirate/mercinary corp called Silent Guard, this corp was apparantly hired by another corp in the same system we are in, to take us out. Now we have a few hints as to who the corp is, but we aren’t sure yet and we are looking into it.

Silent Guard is a very small elite corp. Few members, yet they have very high skill counts and very good ships. Over all, we had the advantage, however our pilots weren’t organized well enough to take them. They would hang around our home system and pick us off one by one, we had a few skirmishes but they got away or docked and logged quite often. Therefore we couldn’t get them.

We had a bit of outside help though, from a millitary corp and an old friend of the corp who is the one who pulled us together and gave us the edge we needed to end the war. We had major advantages. One was that we were fighting on our home turf, where we could use Bookmarks and quickwarps to plan our attacks.

I lost overall 2 combat cruisers and 1 very expensive mining barge. Later on, the helper of the corp gave me a 20 million ISK outfitted ECM ship, which he gave in payment for my help with various odds and ends he needed. Later the next morning, him, I and another corp member were on and had spotted one of the Silent Guard in our system. He of course was hanging outside our corp hq waiting for us to come out. Thing was, only the helper was docked. He engaged the Silent Guard member and we warped in after him. Friend in a megathron, me in my blackbird, and the corp member in a scorpion (megathron and scorpion = battleships :) my ship = cruiser). I dampened his sensors resulting in him being unable to target us, and we locked him down with all the ECM we could muster, soon after his ship was dust.

He offered to end the war given we didn’t let slip the loss of his ship, for either he wanted the war over or he didn’t want his corpmates to know he lost a ship. To whatever the cause, he petitioned his CEO to end the war and we got our wish the weekend prior. It’s over and no hard feelings .and we will still try to find the corp who declared war on us. But for now peace is here. :D Anyway, sorry I haven’t been able to post recently. Just had nothing going on except the war and I wanted to keep it on the down-low. You understand, right? :P

-Zxyrox

When I was 10 years old I remember getting excited because a friend of the family loaned me a game named Guild of Thieves, and then Hollywood Hijinx. Both of these titles were text adventures, meaning there were more or less no graphics. Some of them had a few bitmap images to go along with the text, but no movement as we are all used to today.

Back then, your imagination was responsible for creating not only your environments but your character as well. Nothing relied on the cost of your GPU or how much memory you had. As long as your computer could display text, you could play the game as well as anyone else.

These days bring many changes. Now a game without bleeding edge eye candy is considered below par and dies on the discount table. MMOs are reviewed and rated based on their cosmetic level holding as much importance as the design of the game itself. Those who still partake in pen-n-paper RPGs are considered nerds and losers. Times do change indeed.

All current games share one common element. The perspective of the player exists, and is therefore relevant to the design. Whether the player is assuming the role of God or a highly trained dark elf shaman there exists a self awareness which must be illustrated. Black & White represents this character with a hand cursor which changes depending on the player’s choices in the game. Many MMOs represent this with a three-dimensional avatar, while others like EVE online put the focus on the player’s ship (with a still image of the pilot as a backup).

My interest is how much the character representation affects the player. I am referring primarily to the depth of customization designed into the game. Let’s look at a few case studies.

• EVE Online – Player character is represented by a still image with the selection of four lighting types. All other customization is based on the character ship in-game.
• Everquest II – Player is able to customize character with a medium range of physical features and hair styles. Hair color and skin tones restricted to race. All other customization depends on in-game armor restricted to level.
• Lineage II – Player is able to minimally customize character hair style/color and predefined faces restricted to race and class. All other customization depends on in-game armor restricted equipment class restrictions. Armor appearance changes per race.
• World of Warcraft – Minimal character creation. All other customization in-game based on armor restricted to level. Due to the unique graphic engine, detail of avatar is low.
• The Matrix Online – Very minimal character creation. Lack of creation ability counter-balanced with wide range of player created and dropped clothing and weapons.
• Star Wars Galaxies – Most likely the highest amount of character customization to date. Full physical modifications including weight, height, bust size (females), tattoos and player created clothing/armor based on hundreds of base templates. Also, in-game appearance changes possible by player ran Image Designer profession.

I believe that the importance of character customization is directly related to the player’s style of play; what they enjoy. Some old school RPG players do not require much customization in order to enjoy a game because they have adapted to making use of imagination in order to succeed at role-playing their character. Others put a lot more weight on a character’s appearance to present themselves to others in game.

All of this falls back upon the foundation principle that RPGs are about playing the role of a different creature. Whether the player requires a completely unique avatar or simply their mind, they are representing themselves as someone different. This goes along with males who prefer to play female characters and vice-versa.

Many of the guides which we would normally follow in a discussion like this are clouded by the fact that as MMO production gets closer and closer to the main stream market, game populations become less focused on hard core role-playing and therefore more so on popularity ladders which, as time has proven, always put a high importance on cosmetic elements. :)

I am a person who while enjoying serious role-playing, also requires a good amount of avatar customization and presentation ability.

What about you?

-Spot

Hello, my name is Spot and I am the newest addition to the writers here at KTR. I also have a personal blog which I upkeep at www.sp0t.com. As opposed to rewriting my about page, I will just copy it here as a sort of introduction:

Games continue to inspire me as the ultimate art medium. It is the only channel through which a designer may capture the visual, auditory and interactive senses; wielding them into an all encompassing envelope of emotion and stimulation. This ability alone; the power to construct a presentation on such a level, is beautiful to me.

I have therefore studied the game development industry for close to five years now; soaking in anything I can get my hands on. Watching the MMO revolution begin its unyielding climb toward the premiere emotional stimulant is an incredible experience.

I believe that what we label as games, will soon (and have already begun) to become much more. The possibilities of educational and entire varieties of non-entertainment driven opportunities exist and become more obvious each day.

My employment of three years with deviantART.com has provided me with the unique experience of watching (and assisting to guide) a truly massive community of over a million people, which allows me a somewhat uncommon perspective on massively multiplayer environments.

I currently live in Los Angeles, California with two roommates, one of which has played quite a few MMO’s, the other which often I find absorbed in a game of Counter-Strike or Rise of Nations. I frequent many MMO’s so as to gain a wider perspective on different design methods. Over the past six months, I have held accounts in EQ2 / SWG / WoW / Matrix / Ryzom / EVE / EAB / AO / L2 Etc.

I am also a die hard fan of the Splinter Cell franchise.

That’s about it for me. I will be writing more about design theory as it applies to my MMO experiences, and I look forward to discussing these things with you all.

Thanks.

-Spot

[EVE Online] I can’t think of anything really breathtakingly interesting about what I did this weekend but on a side note, once I figure out how to configure screenshots with the paint tool (yeah I’m that out of it) I’ll post up some screenshots.

Well I helped out Ethic with some of the functions of EVE and I hope he continues to play as I find the game very interesting myself and I hope he does the same. As an update, I helped him out with mining and got him a new ship to use and I believe around the area of doubling his money tonight, and so far it’s all good.

I’ve lost 3 ships already to this darned war and I hope these idiots cut it out soon. I and everyone else don’t know what we did to them but I’m sure they are just corp killers. Well we have alot of people from other corps that delcared war on them in our honor, apparantly our CEO is a well liked guy.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy but some of the people he has helping us aren’t the least bit appreciative of the help some of the not-so-uber members have done. I myself was told I wasn’t going to be worth anything in a fight because my current combat ship is a cruiser. (I’m sorry I can’t afford a 120mill battleship guys) so mr. mercinary got the short end of the stick when I told him I’m no longer helping his efforts and he can consider himself – 1 pilot…of course one of the members of about the same experience of me in the corp decides to take mr. mercinary’s side and try to rationalize his harshness “he just doesnt want you to lose anymore ships”.

Well, you can imagine how many people took my side in corp-channel the operation wasnt even mr.mercinary’s business in the first place and my wingman wasnt too happy about him pissing me off, well more on that later.. I have to go mine :)

-Zxyrox

I love going to the carnival. You know the ones that travel from town to town. Every small town gets their chance to have a carnival and the whole city shows up. The rides get assembled and the carneys yell from the booths. “Win your girlfriend a teddy bear, kid!”.

I remember one carnival I went to in my grandparents’ home town. It started with a parade and ended with a concert. In the parade, they had soldiers in jeeps firing off blanks from machine guns and the shells sprayed all over the street. The kids ran out to grab handfulls even though they were blistering hot. I still have some of those.

One time I found myself at a booth where you would toss a dime and if it landed on a plate you would win a pocketknife. I only had a nickel but the guy said it was ok. I gave it a toss and it landed. I still have that pocketknife too.

Anyway, there is a new carnival in town. This one is for gamers. If you are a gamer, you should go check it out. If you aren’t a gamer, what are you doing reading this boring old site? Have fun!

– Ethic

As I often spend more time thinking about games than I do playing them, I occasionally find myself discovering some aspect of gaming I had not recognized before. In this most recent inspiration, I realized that I hurry through games too fast.

Perhaps it is the monthly fee (doubtful because I’m speeding through Guild Wars too)? Perhaps it is the desire to reach a new level or the “end game” (whatever that is, I swear I’ve never seen it) or perhaps it is the desire to see a new area or a new monster to fight. Whatever it is, it gets me in a mode that has me blowing through the content as fast as I can.

I skim the quest descriptions looking for my objective and I run off seeking to accomplish it as soon as possible. I don’t read the story. I don’t get pulled into the plot. Thus, I find myself losing interest in MMOs at an alarming rate.

World of Warcraft is perhaps the most interesting MMO I have played in a long time and yet I only lasted a couple of months. Level 28 out of a possible 60 is the furthest I made with any one character. Having people playing more often than I do, I find myself trying to maximize my time to try to keep up. I have started to avoid crafting and side-activities like fishing. I figured that stuff is all in place to slow down the hard-core players a little, not for me.

I think I would like to try to play a game slower, but how? I can think of a few options here. I could play on a server that nobody I know is on. I could read EVERYTHING that there is to read (do you know there are many books in WoW to be read?). I could walk everywhere instead of using instant transportation. I could do more exploring and less fighting. I could take up role-playing. I could choose a place to live and make sure I start and finish each session there.

I remember back to my first MMORPG, Asheron’s Call. I played that game with a few people I knew. They had all been playing a long while and were high level, but they were also very social. We often spent the evening sitting on a rooftop shooting the breeze or making up quests for prospective allegiance members to do in order to be allowed to join. I look back on it now as one of the best times I have ever had in an MMO. So perhaps the socialization is what I am missing the most. It seems that a guild chat channel just doesn’t work as well as standing in front of someone and talking, even if it is just a virtual person.

Anyone else feel the same way? Have any other ideas? Feel free to share.

– Ethic

[EVE Online] Well unfortunately the fabled “real life” has kept me from posting here recently, however while I’m here I’ll explain somewhat how EVE works.

There aren’t any true “classes” but you choose your race, what your character looks like (in very great detail), and your profession…however professions aren’t set in stone. You can be a miner one month…then a trader the next, only thing stopping you is your skills in the field.

As a Newbie you are given a “rookie ship” which is basically the only ship you will see for a while unfortunately, the slow grind of this game, in adverse to most MMOs where your newbie levels are the easiest… are the most difficult part of the game, and set aside people who have the time and want to succeed, to the people who enjoy a more fast paced experience. Basically you mine until you have enough money (and skill) to pilot a secondary frigate for mining…then you mine some more until you can afford and industrial ship….then again you mine until you have enough money to start running trade routes (500,000?)..and from there on, money is simple…. buy low, sell high and the shorter the trip, the better. It starts off slow, but eventually it will warm up, no matter how long the grind takes at the beginning…there are alternatives of course.

There are many corporations (guilds) that will let you join and give you a boost of 1,000,000 ISK or more as a starting amount….which in the end saves alot of time.

Hope I answered all your questions, if not let me know XD

-Zxyrox