by Wolfshead on March 8, 2010
Last week Raph Koster posted a controversial article entitled Are Virtual Worlds Over? It was a reply to a more readable article by Cnet’s Dan Terdiman. In order to even try to decipher Koster’s insightful article which is loaded with lofty academic language, first you need to read Terdiman’s piece.
I’ve long been a huge fan of virtual world visionary Raph Koster. His A Theory of Fun For Game Design is a classic book on game design and being well versed in it probably helped me land my first job as a game designer.
However, I have to respectfully disagree with the implications of his article that somehow the developers of virtual worlds and MMOs have to admit defeat and realign their thinking to the mindset of companies like Zynga who produce extremely profitable social networking games like Farmville and Farm Town.
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by Wolfshead on March 2, 2010
This past weekend I finally decided to start reading Robert E. Howard’s sword & sorcery classic Conan the Barbarian. At one point the author felt the need to write a history of the world that Conan inhabited in order to give him a greater sense of “realness”. It’s remarkable how both Howard and Tolkien both supplemented their fantasy worlds with such detailed historical backdrops in order to fully immerse the reader.
In many ways it was those authors who laid the foundations for the idea that worlds beyond our own could be imagined and created. Today’s virtual worlds and MMORPGs owe both of them a debt of gratitude.
However, it was during my reading of this history in the book entitled “The Hyborian Age” that something caught my eye that gave me pause and may be of interest to MMO enthusiasts.
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by Wolfshead on February 22, 2010
Dear King Varian of Stormwind, please explain to me why I should leave the comfort of my beloved farmstead here in the rustic pastures of Elwynn Forest to fight in your endless war against the Horde? What have the Horde ever done to me, my family or my fellow villagers? Why should I deprive young Seth and Anne of a father and my faithful wife Susan a husband, all in the name of your unjust and pointless war?
I refuse to be a pawn of the aristocrats and nobles of Stormwind. I will not sacrifice my life for your or their misguided notion of glory.
Wolfshead
Outlaw of Elwynn Forest
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by Wolfshead on February 15, 2010
Last year I penned a few in-depth and apparently controversial articles that evaluated some of the EverQuest 2 starting areas from the perspective of a newbie. It has long been a reality that in the video game industry that the average player will play and essentially audition your game for 15 minutes. If you don’t impress them within that short time period you will most likely lose that customer forever.
The video game developer has but one chance to knock it out of the park with concentrated awesomeness. Every aspect of your game has to be amazing, captivating and compelling for those critical 15 minutes. It’s even tougher if you are making a MMO.
In both of my main articles I urged SOE to focus on improving the newbie experience so that more people could experience the wonder and magic that is Norrath. Some complacent EQ2 veterans who shall remain nameless were not very impressed with what I had to say but there is some recent news that might make them reconsider their objections.
Today I read the February 14 pre-launch of Sentinel’s Fate producer’s letter from Alan “Brenlo” Crosby and I came upon some very interesting information that I believe has vindicated my series of articles. What did Alan Crosby say that impressed me so much?
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by Wolfshead on February 4, 2010
The success of a virtual world is dependent on the ability of the developers to convincingly immerse the player in their world. Without a daily emphasis and reverence for mechanics, art and design that contribute to immersion, the virtual world you are trying to create for your subscribers is in danger of collapse.
Immersion is essentially about belief. In their hearts and minds, players truly need to believe and perceive that your virtual world is real. Real enough for them to invest thousands of hours of their time and dollars and even more importantly invest their emotions in your world.
In recent years the reigning king of MMOs the World of Warcraft has become much less immersive. As time has progressed, this venerable MMO has become decidedly more about the game than the world. Why have they seemingly cast it aside immersion in favor of introducing features and gimmicks that detract from that most noble of all virtual world constructs?
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by Wolfshead on December 28, 2009
In an of age of contrived, vapid music it’s refreshing to hear an up and coming artist that has her own unique voice amidst the parade of clones that clog the airwaves. One such artist is Alexandra Stewart. She has a sound that is all her own that exudes authenticity and originality.
Her first self-released indie recording is titled Stop for a Minute. Alexandra showcases her strong songwriting abilities here with an incredibly catchy yet sensitive tune. Her voice is warm, sultry and genuine and really defies categorization.
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by Wolfshead on December 15, 2009
Lately my faith in the MMO media and sadly the media in general has been waning due to the problem of advocacy journalism. Otherwise known in gamerspeak as fanboyism.Very rarely do gaming magazines and websites ever bother to ask tough questions. Even more rarely do they ask follow up questions lest they lose their precious access to devs and all expense paid junkets out to Blizzard headquarters in Irvine California.
So it is with surprise that via an article in WoW.com, we learned that during an interview with the German fan site WorldofWar that a member of the gaming press actually asked Blizzard WoW Game Director Tom Chilton a tough question. Unfortunately that question produced an answer that Ebenzer Scrooge of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol would have been proud of.
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by Wolfshead on November 23, 2009
There’s an interesting piece about Wikipedia from the Wall Street Journal Online. It seems that Wikipedia volunteers are leaving faster than new volunteers are joining. Could it be that this unaccountable and self-appointed repository of public knowledge is on the verge of imploding?
In an article that I penned earlier this year I exposed some of the corrupt policies that reward volunteers that delete articles in order to increase their standing with the organization. A venerable MUD called Threshold was adversely affected by the shenanigans of these Wikipedia deletion happy scoundrels and almost had its Wikipedia entry deleted if it were not for the public outcry that ensued.
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by Wolfshead on November 20, 2009
What if J.R.R. Tolkien had named his classic fantasy trilogy How Frodo Destroyed the One Ring at Mount Doom? Thankfully he had the good sense and propriety not to do so as it would have been foolish to have revealed the climax of the story within the title of the book.
Part of the reward for the reader who invests their time in a work of fiction, is the gradual revelation of the story. The same paradigm should apply to MMOs and virtual worlds that are story based. As the player delves deeper into the world they are rewarded by experiencing more of the story. I’m not a big fan of story based MMO’s but if you are going to create one, then at least do it correctly.
Why then is Blizzard so eager to destroy this classic relationship of author, story and reader by routinely previewing the future in the World of Warcraft?
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by Wolfshead on November 17, 2009
Virtual worlds are ultimately about creating, administering and experiencing a system of governance. Every day millions of players enter virtual worlds and are subject to rules and policies laid down by game designers. Not only do designers have the same power as politicians in the real world, they act as tin-pot gods that can control the color of the sky and even alter natural laws of physics within their virtual worlds.
More importantly MMO designers are virtual social engineers. They dictate how economies will ultimately behave by setting drop rates and prices for goods. They also control mobility via the level system. They create the incentives, conditions and mechanics that influence what content players will experience in the game world. They can control how players will act and react by rewarding certain behaviors and punishing others.
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