I have been thinking about reactivating a few games in order to do a mini-review on any changes that may have occurred. The two games are Auto Assault and Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. Oddly enough, both games have offered free reactivation for this weekend (actually Auto Assault is giving 10 days).
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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.
.Thoughts From a LAN Party
Roughly sequential musings from a gathering of friends this weekend:
- It is nice to see people in meatspace. I have never met anyone from my City of Heroes SG, but I still talk to people from Morningthaw (Asheron’s Call).
- My stuff packs nicely if I don’t need to carry everything. Monitor, case, and everything else in a bag. Other people travel light by attaching a handle to the case, having a tiny case specifically for LAN parties, or having a high-end laptop.
- Dell XPS laptops: sexy. A contractor loaned one to a co-worker of mine to show off a web site. A web site. This thing is a high-end gaming machine being used to show off a web site. My computer: utilitarian. Not sexy. Continue reading Thoughts From a LAN Party
Quote of the Day
Today’s friendly thought for gamers comes from Robin Hanson at the incomparable Overcoming Bias blog:
I was a shy young nerd and thought I was an introvert, but eventually learned that I was reacting to the fact that other people didn’t like to be around me. Once I found people who liked to be around me, I loved to be around them too…
: Zubon
What the hell is an MMORPG?
(Warning, late night rant)
I have so many pet peeves about the game industry I should probably start selling a few. Buy a “Peeve™†now for only $19.95. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m going to stick a “Peeve™†in the next RPG I work on and make it one of the most irritating mobs ever. Just watch me.
In our happy little game industry, evil and radical elements have been striving for years for our downfall. Of course this sort of thing is a constant element in politics, education, and the youthful culture of today. The weapons of choice of these dastardly agents of destruction include obfuscation, misdirection, redefinition, outright lying (the word “leading” in front of “developer” or “game” is used so much my eyes bleed when I see it), and of course “baffling with bullshit” and “dazzling with drama”. The one I want to address today is redefinition.
Indie or not Indie?
What does it mean to be an independent studio or “Indie� Can a volunteer or indie studio make a MMORPG? How do you get a studio funded? Do you really need a publisher?
I get the feeling that many people think that “Indie game development†means a group of people volunteering their time to work for free to work on a game…I think that they are wrong and we need to redefine or at least clarify what it means to be an indie studio…
More/Fewer Options = Greater Diversity?
Which leads to greater character diversity: more options or fewer? There are several moving parts there: the number of choices, the number of options for each choice, the importance of those choices, and the ability to change them. I should note that I will be considering the majority or the people who care; there will always be people in the tails of the bell curve who are trying to make the worst possible choices because of contrariness or a character concept.
The importance factor seems the easiest: the more important a choice is, the less likely there is to be diversity. If something really really matters, there will be one best way to do it or a few best combinations; even if you give me more options for that choice, anything less than the best means gimping the character. Contrarily, if the decision has no practical importance, the distribution will be random, and more options will lead to even greater diversity.
Space Drama: Fair or Foul?
Ethic posted recently about the troubled fall of Ars Caelestis in Eve online. I am not going to rehash the details or even summarize it here. You can just click the link and read about it yourself.
Why did this happen? Was it fair play or foul play? I think many people reading and commenting on Ethic’s post are missing something critical and important.
If something happens solely inside of a game, within the context and limitations of the game’s rules, mechanics, and community expectations for what is fair, then fine. But if something in-game is affected by actions out of game, then it is an entirely different situation.
Second WoW Expansion
[World of Warcraft] Tobold has the big scoop.
: Zubon
You Aren’t Hardcore Enough to Grow Flax
[A Tale in the Desert] Interestingly, a discussion about yet another thieving brigand in EVE has garnered more comments than anything else I can recall on Kill Ten Rats. Let me just say that you are all a bunch of wusses for not playing a real PvP game like A Tale in the Desert.
If you see it as a fancy trade skills game with a lot of cooperation, you are missing the point. Egypt exists to cause strife and conduct evil sociological experiments, and if the players are not generating enough drama the developers will cheerfully provide new ways to strike at your neighbor. What Pharaoh considers the most perfect part of the game is a test that encourages bribery, pandering, manipulation, backstabbing, and wasteful ostentation, and it requires that many lose for anyone to win.
You see a lack of violence and think there is no PvP. I see a game with every other way to hurt someone and make his life miserable, but you can never kill your tormentor. Oh wait, you can take your case to the ballot box or the right test-winner and have your enemy exiled or executed. You blew up someone’s spaceship and little egg? Big deal. Egypt has permadeath. There is no respawning.
When your players have a chance to destroy all life and end the game, come back and tell me how hardcore you are.
: Zubon
Space Drama
[EVE Online] A recent email from CCP offered me a free 7 day come back offer. Figuring it was a good way to train a skill for free (skills train in real time even if your account is closed), I popped in to see what was new. I found myself staring straight into the drama of space.
It appeared that my former corporation in EVE, Ars Caelestis, had been disbanded by the CEO. In fact, the claims were such that he stole lots of ISK on his way to the full and final destruction of the corp. The CEO, Achilles Thorongmor, did not go quietly into the night as I expected. I thought some of you might find it interesting to see some of the things that go on in EVE Online and I leave it to you to decide what is right and what is wrong.