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For Instance

Brad McQuaid posted something he wrote about instancing over at GamerGod and it kicked of a pretty good debate on the forums there. I decided to put down some thoughts I have and I hope they make some sense.

There is a group of customers for just about any type of MMOG. World of Warcraft (WoW) has tapped into what I would call the “main stream” MMOG market. Just like a blockbuster movie that cost a lot to make and is making a lot more back, WoW cost a lot to make and is making a lot more back. Blockbusters get people excited about the genre and opens more doors. Blizzard did a service to the MMOG industry by being the success they are. Who can deny this?

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EVE Dev Blog – Big Bada Bewn?

EVE[EVE Online] One thing I really like about the EVE devs is their blog. They frequently post things about the game. Sometimes it is ideas they are pondering and sometimes it is new changes coming to the game. They even allow players to respond back, what a concept!

The most recent dev blog is one I enjoyed in particular. It discusses some new ships being introduced into the game: Carriers, Titans and Motherships. Let me run down some of the details for you.

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Beta, Boys, and the USA-PATRIOT Act

[Mystery game] Before our ages reached double-digits, most of us realized an easy way to find out who someone was interested in. Romantically, that is, as much as that means when you are in elementary school. You simply ask names until you get a non-denial. “No” means “no”; “I’m not going to answer that!” means “yes.”

In a related story, after the PATRIOT Act, librarians were inflamed. We are not debating the politics of that one here, but librarian outrage was palpable enough to get the Attorney General joking about it. You see, one section (which no one has ever publicly reported being used) would let investigators seize all of a library’s records to check for suspected terrorists (kind of like in Seven); disclosure of such a record seizure would be a felony. One creative way someone thought of getting around this was to put up a sign by the front desk, “There have been no federal seizures of library patron records this week.” You’re allowed to say that. Take it down when appropriate.

Watch me draw this seamlessly back on topic…

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COG#9

wincar1The Carnival of Gamers has made it’s ninth stop, this time at The Game Chair. Our own Zubon has set up a booth, but he might not yet know about it. I snuck him in at the last minute while he was sleeping.

The next stop for the carnival will be right here at Kill Ten Rats. Where I live, this is the time of the Winter Carnival. Therefore, I plan to turn the next stop into a winter wonderland. So get your submissions ready, it’s going to get really cold out and the Ice Palace needs help being built.

– Ethic

Best. Contact. Ever.

cov[City of Villains] Go create a character in City of Villains and level up to 30. Do enough newspaper missions to get Vivacious Verandi as a contact. Then do all her missions.

Do it now.

While the missions themselves are nothing special, this is a great example of how a bit of text can affect the feel of the game. Viv wants you to destroy things and cause chaos. Oh, and shout, “Wheee!” This is why we are villains: to break things and laugh as we trick our enemies into punching each other in the face. It is nice to have a contact with that spirit. Actually, many of us seem to play our heroes that way in a lot of games…

Oh, and Hardcase? You’re a punk. :p (You’ll understand that, since you’ve gone and run Viv’s story arc by now.)

: Zubon

ToonTown Tidbits

ToonTown[ToonTown] My kids have been playing TT for a few months now. As a responsible parent, I had to try it out first to make sure it was appropriate for them. OK, I’ll admit I wanted to check it out anyway. I found a few things in the game rather appealing.

In TT, you can wander around the city streets without fear of bad guys for the most part. However, if you get too close to one, combat will begin. Combat is turn-based and pretty simple. You pick which attack (called gags) you want to use and which bad guy (called cogs) to attack, assuming more than one cog. As you use various gags, you gain skills in that type of gag. When the skill reaches a certain point, you will get a better gag (more damage) in that same line. You can get new types of gags by doing missions for various NPCs.

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Ingenious!

coh[City of Heroes] One of the more annoying things in any game is that people who quit hang around the forums for weeks to complain. One standard way of dealing with this on the official boards is to retrict posting privleges to paying customers. We still complain incessantly, but most of us are busy playing rather than posting. Cryptic/NCSoft does this one better: if you cancel your account but still have time left, you cannot post during your remaining play time. (It does warn you of this at the appropriate screen, and you can wait and cancel your account just before your renewal date.)

: Zubon

Strike Forces and Task Forces

cov[City of Villains] Early in City of Heroes, task forces were repeatedly bugged, annoying, and generally not worth the effort of completing. After several fixes, they were still in the same status. Then they were mostly fixed, with badges added retroactively. Then they added some badges to the most tiring ones, not retroactively. These tiring ones are scheduled to be made less tiring someday.

City of Villains is aspiring to this track record.

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A Message Of Thanks

cov[City of Villains] I just got this message sent to me from a guy named “Tech Support”. He is a Mastermind in City of Villains on the Liberty server.

As we approach the holiday season for giving thanks, I’d like to say a little something about my two loyal robots, Root and Reboot. These two mechanical monsters are something to behold. Whether it’s a bank robbery or a kidnapping ahead of us, they always perform to perfection.

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Simultaneous Systems of Character Choice

coh[City of Heroes/Villains] City of Heroes/Villains exhibits all the varieties of choice in games to which I referred recently, and it does it all before you even start the game.

First, the game is class-based, under the name “archetype.” Each game begins with five options. City of Heroes will be the most familiar: tank, support, crowd control, damage (ranged), and damage (melee). There you go: class-based game, five options.

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