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Adaptation

High self-monitors are social chameleons. They ask themselves, “Who does this situation call for me to be?” Low self-monitors have a more fixed self-image, instead asking, “How can I be myself in this situation?” Low-self monitors are prone to see high self-monitors as two-faced and inconsistent, while high self-monitors may see low self-monitors as social incompetents. You probably know some people who could get along just as well in a biker bar as at high tea, and then others who are very good in their comfort zone but completely inappropriate outside it.

I found myself thinking of this in a gaming context based on how people adapt to their circumstances. Loosely, “how can I play my character in this situation?” versus “what does this situation call for?” I think we all want players to display some adaptability, but the range of what you think is reasonable for a game to demand probably varies in a way similar to degrees of self-monitoring. People with lots of alts are generally displaying more adaptability, but people with three alts of the same class (“Alice runs dungeons, Bob is my crafter, and Cindy PvPs”) are adapting on a different scale than someone who feels comfortable respecing the one character four times in a night.
Continue reading Adaptation

Impairment

Why is it okay to play multiplayer online games in a state too impaired to play well, when you would be slapped and sent away for doing it in meatspace?

If it is your own group of friends, and you all know you’re messing around, that seems fine. You all implicitly agreed on the level of play, and you had disclosure up front of who was drunk. When you play with strangers, that is the equivalent of joining the local pickup basketball game or sitting down to play chess in the park. If you are too drunk to make a shot, you will be forcibly removed from the game. Even chess players may get violent if you get a dozen moves in and then decide to giggle about horsies and how high you are instead of making a move.

In online gaming, people queue up or LFG while too drunk to realize that it is a bad idea to talk about how drunk they are. That’s not quite true; they have enough restraint left to avoid mentioning it until you are committed. It is a rare group that advertises “drunk DPS seeks understanding tank and healer to carry him.” League of Legends players wait until they die a few times to start talking about how high they are, rather than mentioning it during champion select. And they generally have enough sense left to pick a system like LoL’s where you cannot avoid with their choice to ruin your game without suffering some punishment or significant inconvenience. After all, the joke’s not funny if you don’t have anyone to play the joke on.

The usual refrain at that point is “it’s just a game.” But no, most people have the good sense not to do that where other people are in physical proximity, so they know it is not socially acceptable. Except apparently it is socially acceptable, because very few people seem to attach any stigma to it, and the drunk troll is not the only one who will go with “it’s just a game.” So maybe it’s me, but I cannot see an ethical system that supports making a negligent, unilateral decision that worsens the entertainment of most people around you.

: Zubon

[GW2] Weekend WvW: Demoralized Populations

For Isle of Janthir (NA Silver), this is one of the three weeks of Season One when we are not pitted against the Big Two of Fort Aspenwood or Stormbluff Isle. We are, however, again pitted against #3 (Yak’s Bend) and doing so with a population that has been beaten down by pre-season transfers and guaranteed losses.

All three of our relatively easy weeks pit us against North Shiverpeaks. This is potentially one of the more interesting competitions in NA Silver because we are unarguably the #8 and #9 servers in the league, but it remains an open question which is #9. Continue reading [GW2] Weekend WvW: Demoralized Populations

[GW2] Grinding WvW

I have 4 achievements left to get for the first season of WvW before I get that shiny key of who-knows-what. So far it has been generally easy. Jumping puzzles, a mad karma train with Blackgate, and the usual killings have led to a lot of play and the achievements.

Now I’m onto 3 more easy ones that require a tad more focus to complete. I went about halfway through Ruins achievement just with “normal” play. Repairs too… got about halfway, but I admit I did focus a little when I saw a damaged gate or wall. Finally supply camps too got about halfway in normal Tier 1 play. I will probably finish all three before the week is out.

My final achievement is the one that worries me a bit. I basically have three options: 225 yaks, 225 sentry point captures, or 50 WvW ranks. Now I read and read on how I should be able to complete 50 WvW ranks in a mere weekend. Yet, here I am with most of the WvW season’s achievements under my belt, and I’ve only achieved 20 ranks. I just don’t seem to be getting them that fast, and to me it doesn’t feel like a “sure thing”. Continue reading [GW2] Grinding WvW

[GW2] Chamber of Nightmares Thanks and Bug Report

Logan Thackeray is one of the potential end boss fights in the Chamber of Nightmares mini-dungeon. This single factor may make this one of the most popular updates in GW2 history. In my guild, Logan’s popularity polls around that of Rurik, so the chance to kill him is celebrated.

Logan is, however, a decent opponent, rather than being completely useless, and I do not recall him whining at all. This makes it entirely too obvious that it is a hallucination.

: Zubon

MMO Accounting

You know how I love real world applications of game principles and applying game principles to real world analysis. Today’s news provides a good one: healthcare.gov enrollment numbers were reported. While I fear mentioning politics, visible cartoon exclamation points appeared over my head when I saw the US government copying an F2P game press releases in announcing how many people signed up at the website but refusing to mention how many of them are actually paying customers.

: Zubon

The comments are not a forum for arguing for or against policies, but feel free to discuss PR, the presentation of data, game business models, or the prospect of time-traveling pandas.

[GW2] A Taste of the Poison Paradise

Last night facing The Nightmares Within update was rough. At first I gleefully skipped in to the toxic tower with Mrs. Ravious, the inside of which is a mini-zone akin to the Queen’s Pavilion. I crossed the threshold from the safe area and “wham” I was dropped like a sack of flour. Now wait a minute, I’m a celestial/berserker well necro… I don’t die easily. Yet there I was facing floor.

Guild Wars 1 players of yore have been comparing the inside of dark tower in Kessex Hills to open world versions of the famed Underworld and Fissure of Woe instances. They are tough. There are loads of elite enemies with all sorts of condition hate. There are mines that can kill any ‘zerk in a single hit. There are twists and turns, and there’s an environmental poison to make sure players don’t hole up. It is a nightmare.

My knee jerk reaction was frustration. It felt like a zerg was necessary for playing the content. However, this puzzle of a zone was simply too complex for a zerg used to such challenges as Scarlet’s Invasions or the graveyard run of Queen’s Pavilion. Nope, there were dead bodies everywhere. Once in a while I would get lucky with a zerg that had enough force and self-awareness (rez’ing) to bash through easily. Still, it was a challenge. Continue reading [GW2] A Taste of the Poison Paradise

[GW2] Crowd Control in the Tower of Nightmares

The interior of the Tower of Nightmares has periodic group events. These collect players into groups, which is necessary because trying to run through solo is nigh unto suicide.

There is a group event at the entrance. This groups up people like in the tutorial. The event ends, and a small zerg descends upon the maze. Halfway through, a champion awaits, and dispersed players unite to defeat it. Thus gathered, they proceed to the second section, now able to safely proceed as a group rather than dying in a thin line. And so on.

This is good design. It organically groups people without their even noticing it’s happening. It promotes and rewards doing the right thing to succeed.

: Zubon

We led a guild group through the tower a few times to help people unlock the travel points. I had a chant of “If you run ahead, you will die alone. Don’t stop to rez those people or you will die too.” We would built up a large enough group behind us to stop and rez the people who still charged ahead into the mass of death.