Kill Ten Rats

Probably one of the most used and abused phrases of 2007, that one.

At its best it’s honest advice, and the words chosen by the voice of experience. At its worst, a political statement and dishonest noise. There’s a little world behind this seemingly harmless phrase, and quite a colorful one too. Is this just the latest weapon of choice in the old and tiresome ‘Casual vs. Hardcore’ debate(*)? Or is there something more behind it and its shining rise to forum stardom?

You will read on. You know you want to.

(*) To call the ‘Casual vs. Hardcore’ debacle a ‘debate’ is like saying the guys in charge of the fryer at Micky Dee’s are ‘Chefs’, but you know where I’m coming from.

Continue reading Don’t tell me to smell the roses

Tim Harford’s comments on a bank run in the UK reminds me that we have an extensive body of research that we can apply to gaming. Appropriately, this is game theory. You have probably noticed that most game developers keep trying to rediscover the wheel when dozens of companies have already made all the relevant mistakes. When Jessica Mulligan stopped writing Biting the Hand, she commented along those lines: no one was making new mistakes, just the same ones over and over again.

Mr. Harford’s example is about group versus solo play. Yes, at British banks. Everyone would prefer to be in a good group, but a bad group is worse than solo play. Yes, there is a large body of academic work that revolves around that one sentence.

MMOs are a more tenuous game than the standard stag hunt. Game theory is usually stated in terms of two players; MMO groups have five or more in a group, and let’s not get to raids. In MMO groups, one weak player may not spoil the hunt but a couple will, and one severe idiot will leave you further from the level cap than where you started. Is it any wonder that so many of us are hunting rabbits?

Do we need an extended treatment of this concept? We could delve into economic theory of the firm and how it applies to guilds.

: Zubon

Only on-topic by name, my undergrad had good news earlier this month and better news this week. That is about $200,000 of good news per student. Kupo!

I forgot to mention that today is Petrov Day. This is when we honor Stanislav Petrov for preventing nuclear war by recognizing that computer errors are more likely than underwhelming missile strikes. His tale is recounted across the internet; I saw it in a variety of places. He is one of the few people who can compete with Norman Borlaug for the claim of having saved a billion lives.

If your MMO in development has a chance of causing a nuclear holocaust, please do more beta testing.

: Zubon

Men are from Earth, women are from Earth: deal with it. If no one understands you or you have trouble talking to girls, the problem is probably you rather than them. You must learn to communicate with the rest of the species.

Harsh? This is a primary point: men and women tend to communicate in different ways. Come explore the implications of this and other issues with IRL’s lousy chat system in our continuing series of articles on dating for the introverted heterosexual male.

Continue reading Dating for Gamers Part 4: Chat Systems

See that Great Person? Do you know who that is? That’s right. If you are falling behind in culture, call a librarian.

: Zubon

I may be deeply screwed up. I often do not enjoy point-and-click puzzle games (oh, I have to click the fish before I flip the switch that turns the cheese into a cat-deflector, of course!), but this one was far more intuitive and logical to me than most.

: Zubon

Hat tip: Play This Thing! (as mentioned yesterday. Check it out for more games)