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Viewing 1 - 6 out of 6 Blogs.
Fraud Victim?
Richard Garriott, Fraud Victim? Famed Ultima Online forbear Richard Garriott returned from his much-publicized trip to space to find his latest project, NCsoft's Tabula Rasa, had become little more than a heavy drag on the publisher's finances, and declared he would leave NCsoft to pursue other interests inspired by his stint as an astronaut. That was last year. Early in 2009, Tabula Rasa shut its doors with a bang, and that's when the surprise came: Garriott's claim that his was no peaceful resignation, but a force-out grossly misrepresented by NCsoft. Garriott now claims he'd objected to his dismissal but was forced to leave -- and that the company re-categorized his termination as "voluntary" so as to impact his stock options.
He claims he was forced to choose between exercising his options in "one of the worst equity markets in modern history," or take the risk that the company would refuse to honor them later. Garriott now claims he's lost "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in costs and taxes, and has sacrificed "millions of dollars in value" having lost two-and-a-half years of his options period.
Modern Warfare 2
Where popularity goes, scrutiny follows, so perhaps it's to be expected that the biggest game of 2009 was also the most controversial -- not just one, but three of 2009's scandals emerged from this title alone, and that's excluding the silly back-and-forth over whether to put the "Call of Duty" branding on it or not. First, there was the revelation that PC gamers would have no dedicated servers for the game's multiplayer -- and PC gamers can always be relied upon to sound their displeasure the loudest when they end up with the short end of the stick. Just one of several online petitions received 234,351 signatures. Infinity Ward revealed details of IWnet, the matchmaking service unveiled in place of dedicated servers, but they still weren't enough to please vocal PC fans, many of whom permanently soured on the game. Then, fresh on the heels of the dedicated-server debacle came F.A.G.S, an unbelievably ill-conceived marketing video designed as a fake PSA warning against grenade spam -- but offending many for its frathouse-homophobia brand of humor. And if that weren't enough, there was, of course, "No Russian," the game's much-buzzed sequence wherein the player must accompany his enemy in an airport terrorist attack on civilians. Certainly the implications were offensive to Russians, but the critical consensus, encapsulated here by Rock Paper Shotgun's Kieron Gillen, was that the scene -- heavy-handed and inappropriately following an adrenaline-fueled snowmobile chase -- missed the mark so badly that it was offensive to gamers.
A gamer playing on World of Warcraft aion gold servers in Taiwan has earned aion power leveling all 986 of the wow game’s achievements, reports MMO Champion.
That means a player, a level 80 Tauren Druid named ”little ash”, has conquered every dungeon, explored every corner of the game world, maxed out every profession skill and turned in a fair share of the game’s quests including all the seasonal tasks that pop up during special holiday events like the Midsummer Festival and Hallow’s End.
The player’s total doesn’t count feats of strength, the achievements that were retroactively rewarded for accomplishments before the expansion Wrath of the Lich King was released in 2008. Many of these particular achievements are now impossible to earn.
So while this guy may have meticulously worked his way through nearly all the content in World of Warcraft, he didn’t play the game back in the day. So he’ll never nab the achievement my Night Elf Hunter grabbed for earning the lowly rank of Sergeant Major in PvP battles way back when. Noob.
Of course, none of it seemed to hurt the game's record-breaking, 4.7 million-unit day one launch; probably, the most likely damage was done to the blood pressure of Infinity Ward community manager Robert "FourZeroTwo" Bowling, the one who had to field all the drama (and who incidentally appeared among 2008's top controversies, too). Other controversies this year: Gamers decry EA DICE's Battlefield Heroes price restructure, possibly indicative of just how EA plans to shift to a primarily-digital revenue model; Tim Langdell angers the development community with his vigilant ownership of the word 'Edge' in game-related trademark form; WoW goes dark in China as it battles government regulators; Steam rivals call Steamworks a 'Trojan Horse'; 3D Realms and Take-Two brawl over Duke Nukem.
Social Game Design
The Objectives of Social Game Design Social games can be defined by three implicit objectives, which I will first list as mandates to the designer, then cover in more detail. Build a persistent society -- promote cooperation
“I’m confident it will be nothing less than earth-shattering,” Chris Metzen, Blizzard’s vice president of development, said as he unveiled the Cataclysm trailer Friday at BlizzCon, the company’s annual fan convention held at the Anaheim Convention Center. “It will very literally change the world of Azeroth as you know it.”
Based on Warcraft lore, the new expansion shows the game world transformed by a geological rift and strife between the game’s factions.
“There can be no peace when the world itself is devoured by rage,” the trailer proclaimed. “The world will never be the same.”
The trailer, which comes after much speculation following Blizzard’s trademarking of the Cataclysm name, also depicted the churning Maelstrom between the two continents, the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, while various zones in the game were shown being destroyed and covered in lava. Classic zones are permanently changed.
Beyond just allowing players to leave messages and compare scores, the goal of a social game should be to build a society. To achieve this, interdependence needs to exist; a true virtual society will only arise from a game environment where players can't fully succeed without the help of others. Maintain a consistent sense of discovery -- promote user advancement and expression.
Previous Works
This is part of an ongoing series of articles on Player Types in "A" list Massives aimed at the American and European market, such as EverQuest?, Dark Age of Camelot?, World of Warcraft?, Lord of the Rings Online?, Eve Online?, Warhammer Online?, etc. My first goal over the next few months is to develop a comprehensive list and description of unique player types. To accomplish this I will need your input and observations.
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Massive Multiplayer Online Games aka Massives
This discussion involves Massive Online GAMES. To be more specific, this discussion involves games involving hundreds of players which take place within a Virtual World.
Chinese gamers can once again play aion gold World of Warcraft, but returning aion power leveling players will have to start wow gold from scratch — losing all the loot and experience they earned during previous sessions.
Warcraft relaunched this weekend in China after being inaccessible since June due to changes in licensing, according to Global Times. Online gaming concern NetEase gained permission to run the massively multiplayer online role-playing game in China, taking over for The9. The Chinese Warcraft servers have been up and running since June 30 for a prolonged testing period — an expense that reportedly cost NetEase 1 million yuan ($146,455) a day.
NetEase plans to submit The Wrath of the Lich King, the second Warcraft expansion, to the Chinese government for approval as soon as possible. Recent clarifications on the government approval process for online gaming could mean changes in the way such titles are regulated.
According to China’s State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform, the General Administration of Press and Publication will be responsible for pre-approvals of online games. Once up and running, regulation will be handed off to the Ministry of Culture. It is thought that the complexities of regulation in China were responsible for the summer-long delay in getting Warcraft back online in the country.
People may choose to experience a Virtual World such as Second Life or they may choose to play a Massively Multiplayer Online Game that is conducted in a Virtual World, such as World of Warcraft. The key observation is that people choose to purchase Massives to play a game.
Step Two is asking Why?
Using the Challenge Model, an Example By mapping Observed Player Types to the Challenge Model the Observed Player Types become generalized and thus suitable to further analysis. By analyzing generalized Observed Player Types, insight into the underlying motivation of these players may be revealed and a True Player Type discovered. Through in-game observation and reading countless forum posts and blogs I have identified a number of Observed Player Types. I believe that identifying Player Types in this fashion is too specific. It is tied to a particular game and/or style of game, and thus not predictive. My alternative is to map these Player Types to the Challenge Model. I will illustrate this by discussing Auction House Guy. ----
Seeking to capitalize on the success of World of Warcraft in his native country, a Chinese aion power leveling businessman has opened a restaurant rife with artistic touches gleaned from Blizzard’s MMO.
His goal, he claims, is to offer WoW fans a place to enjoy themselves and share in his affection for the game. From the recreation of Tel’drassil in the center of the dining room to the vast murals depicting artwork from the game, the attention to detail alone is evidence of that affection.
While I’m sure this eatery would be sued out of existence if it were created here in the United States, Chinese copyright law is somewhat less strict. Though I’m sure Blizzard — and Chinese WoW operator The9 — are less than pleased with the restaurant, it’s unclear if either firm has any legal options regarding the establishment.
Akrux of Mug’Thol says: "Think of the AH as a mini game within WoW with gold as the scorecard." Auction House guy (AH-guy) is potentially in competition with all players on a server. AH-guy uses in-game money as a means of tracking his win condition. Often he will express a specific monetary goal he is trying to achieve, with some individuals expressing a goal of reaching the hard gold cap of 214,748 gold (in WoW). (Note in WoW spending 15,000 gold to enhance a character is close to the norm.) Doing a search on "Auction House" WoW will give an indication of the extent of this activity. Most players of WoW use the Auction House. What makes AH-guy unique is his treating gold as a means of keeping score. Often this is expressed as a desire for a specific amount of gold within a specific time period, for example, "I want to have 75,000 gold before the next expansion." Alternatively, score-keeping may be expressed in terms of daily time spent, for example, "I log in 3 times a day for fifteen minutes each and make "x" gold per week." Step One is identifying Observed Player Types, in this case AH-guy. Step Two is asking Why?
players new to Massives
Challenge is a Moving Target Over time as a player learns a specific Massive she gets better at it and the game gets less challenging. This is not just a function of a character leveling up and/or getting better gear. The player behind the character becomes better over time and needs more challenging content to remain at their preferred challenge point. For example, a player with a high level character decides to start a new character at level one. Content that player previously found challenging, when first leveling up is now too easy, as the player is now a better player.
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Seemingly in response to having lost the wow gold license wow to operate World of Warcraft in China, online firm The9 aion gold has launched a website for its upcoming, similarly titled World of Fight.
The similarities between Blizzard’s hit MMO and The9’s latest don’t end at its moniker though. While we can’t comment on the actual gameplay, as Gamasutra points out both the website’s and the game’s official logo (seen above) are incredibly similar to the Chinese version of World of Warcraft.
Assuming World of Fight is a blatant copy of World of Warcraft, one wonders what sort of legal recourse Blizzard might have. China has long been known for its, um, “relaxed” copyright laws, and given the country’s inherent nationalism, I can’t see a Chinese judge ruling in favor of an American firm over a Chinese one.
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In current Massives, players looking for more challenging game play move towards playing with larger social groups. It is more challenging to coordinate a game activity with a lot of people than just a few people. I believe this movement towards larger social groups is because that is where designers put the most challenging content and not because of a desire for an individual to change the size of the social group they are playing with.
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