Sunshine for Allods Online?

Keen has a post up: A Ray of Hope for Allods Fans

Today’s communication from gPotato shed some light on a few things we’ve been having to deal with over the past week. First off they debunked the rumor that the original dev team was no longer working on the game. Second, they addressed the cash shop prices stating, “we are actively working on new pricing options to accommodate the masses.”

While we don't know what the final verdict is yet; Keen stated something a lot of Allods players feel.

What gPotato needs to realize coming out of all of this is that the people who enjoy the game are willing to spend money.

Allods players, for the most part, are willing to pay to play the game at a reasonable price. However, I disagree with Keen's next statement:

Yeah, it’s a cash shop microtransaction model game. We know that we’re going to be forced into the cash shop because that is an intrinsic property. That doesn’t bother us anymore.

I don't want to play a game that forces me into its cash shop. It is NOT intrinsic to the business model and does more damage to the game than good. A cash shop should be about convenience, not necessity. The game should make me want to spend money, not punish me for not spending.

I think I am the minority in this. All along I didn't feel the discussion should have been about the cash shop. It should have been about how poorly thought out the game changes were. Removing mana/health regeneration skills, changing the Fear of Death debuff, and increasing the leveling curve are dumb changes for the game. I could care less that I can "buy" my way past these changes, at any price.

Over at Serial Ganker, sid67 lays out his view in response to my original thoughts.

Heartless_ is making the argument that we would hate this type of penalty in any game. He argues that if this change were made in a subscription game, players would still be up in arms about it. Very true. But with one critical difference, in Allods, you can PAY to avoid the penalty.

sid67 is one of the more balanced writers I've found in the MMOG blogosphere. This shows just how much of a minority my line of thinking is. I'm pushing against the conversation about the cash shop, because I want to discuss Allods Online as a game, business model agnostic. The reality is that Allods Online is a poor example, at this point barring any changes, of the microtransaction model.

I have the problem of having a happy-go-lucky vision of Free 2 Play games and the micro transaction model. One whereby players pay for microtransactions that enrich their gameplay experience, while the base game is playable and satisfying within itself. Developers have the right to make money with the game, but at some point, forcing players into a cash shop tells me the game would have been better off in a subscription model.

I must accept my minority view and move on. I'm still playing Allods and depending on where the game changes go, will determine if I continue playing. I don't want to feel like I'm forced into paying for cash shop items; at any price.

A Challenge, a Free idea, and Warhammer Online

Bootae has issued a challenge:

A challenge for my fellow bloggers!

First take the assumption that the game isn’t in the alleged maintenance mode and there’s not only money for new content, but you have access to new content that’s been in development over the last year. So we’re writing this in a happy place. Now then, if you had control of Mythic what would be your plan for WAR in 2010?

Broken down into Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, what would be your strategy for changes, improvements and expansions to the game?

Follow on past the jump for what I would do if I were Mythic in 2010.
Spring

I would start the year by pulling a Chronicles of Spellborn and announce that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is 100% free to play.  However, development has been frozen as the game is prepared to be launched as a Free 2 Play game supported by micro-transactions.

The lead up to summer will be full of hard work and long hours as the rebirth of WAR is put into place.

Summer

Tentatively known as the "Relaunch", Summer would feature the Free 2 Play version of WAR hitting the market.  Major changes would be:

1. Consolidation to a single server.  Zones are instanced into multiple copies as they are filled up.
2. Tiers 1-3 are completely Free 2 Play (similar to the current endless free trial).
3. Access to Tier 4 content and capital cities is subject to a Tax System (see notes below) for level 31+ characters.
4. Capital cities will be centers for live events that start on a bi-weekly basis.
5. Capital cities will become the center for almost all end game activity and content.
6. Scenarios will be restructured to coincide with the new live events.
7. Capital city sieges will be moved to live events on a bi-weekly basis, Fortresses would be included as stage 1 of the sieges.
8. The end game would be re-focused to the new live events system.

Tax System

It was tough to think of a micro-transaction system that is unique, yet simple.  What I came up with was a Tax System.  To access certain tier 4 zones or cities, players are required to pay a Tax or carry a Debt.  The Tax can be paid by a pool of funds purchased for real money, called WARCOINS.   WARCOINS are tradeable in game to other players.  After paying the Tax, access is granted for 24 hours to the content.

If a player is unable/unwilling to pay the Tax, they can opt to carry a Debt.  That debt decreases the effectiveness of the player's character and gets worse the longer the Debt is incurred.  The Debt can be cleared in one of two ways:  paying the Tax for the area or electing to purge the Debt (instant death, sent back to a tax-free zone.  Or its purged after leaving a Tax zone for a non-Tax zone.).

Example:  Joebob wants to join a Tier 4 scenario.  For a Tax of 1 WARCOIN he can enter without a penalty or he can join with a Debt and be subject to decreased effectiveness.  After leaving the Scenario, he can rejoin and start a new debt or if he paid the Tax, he is paid up for 24 hours of access.


Fall (seriously, who calls it autumn?)

Two additional capital cities will be introduced: Greenskins and Dwarves.
New dungeons and new live events in each.

Winter

Two additional capital cities will be introduced: Dark Elves and High Elves.
New dungeons and new live events in each.

Misc. details

Along with the Tax system, traditional micro-transactions and account services would be available: bag space, bank space, mounts, name changes, class changes, etc.

All transactions would be completed in-game if a linked payment method is available.

WARCOINS would be given out via contests, live events, and possibly for in-game achievements.  Again, they would also be tradeable between players in game.

Tax Debt is only active for the current zone.  Changing zones starts a new Tax Debt and does NOT add to the previous Debt.

Game Developers Should Play Games :The Lesson Learned From Reading George RR Martin

There's a great post over at Suvudu: The Lesson I Learned From George R. R. Martin. The author explains how they've taken lessons from exploring some of Martin's smaller works:

The lessons I learned from reading three straight George R. R. Martin novellas played into my own short story writing process, George a silent mentor whether he likes it or not.

continued...

The lesson to be learned from this: Most authors, when giving craft advice, tell hopeful writers to read almost as much as they write.

This circles back around to a debate often had among MMOG bloggers. Should game developers play other games? Often times, gamers feel developers should not as it will just lead to clones of other games. However, I don't feel that is the case. If it works for a craft such as writing, it can work for game development.

It's not whether they play, it's the games that developers choose to play that matters. As in the linked article, the author did not go for Martin's big titles. Instead they focused on his short stories, which are condensed examples of what makes his bigger works successful.

This has to be extrapolated a bit for game development as games often comprise teams of developers compared to the general rule of one author per story. We can take the comparison of World of Warcraft and Darkfall Online. If a game developer really wants to improve their craft and input to their team, what game should they play?

World of Warcraft will show them a great game, but how much knowledge will be gained? How much will a budding author learn trying to dissect the entire Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin? Unless they are the next George RR Martin or Blizzard, not much. They'll have a great experience that they want to duplicate or improve. Yet, they will be trying to duplicate or improve components which are above their immediate understanding. It will not work.

On the other hand, if they take some time to explore Darkfall Online they are going to have a different experience. Darkfall is rough around the edges, but has dug out it's niche in the market. Playing Darkfall should allow a game developer to see how staying focused and delivering on community expectations can create a successful game. At the same time, they will find core components which can be improved.

This sort of knowledge often feels missing from bigger developers. I wonder, often, how many of the bigger developers have many core designers that have even played any games outside of the few big titles that hit every year. In interviews, few developers ever mention games outside of World of Warcraft or Modern Warfare 2.

I date back to Paul Barnett of Mythic. Leading up to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), he spoke up in an interview about having to actively discourage team members from playing WoW. Not because WoW was a bad game, but that it gave them poor perspective. Paul Barnett understood that playing WoW lead to an experience that many designers wanted to, but could NOT duplicate.

This is not the post to debate WAR's short comings, but the game misfired somewhere and in retrospect, maybe the developers spent a little too much time playing WoW (I'm generalizing here). I've posted before where it seemed that the internal Mythic propaganda favored blaming Wrath of the Lich King instead of themselves.

There is not an exact science for being good at something. Some great game developers and book authors have come with little to no experience. However, I suspect the majority of good developers/authors spent a lot more time with The Hedge Knight than they did playing Aion.

Top Board Games of the Decade

The Thinking Gamer has a great post up covering the last ten years of board games with yearly favorites and his top 3 of the decade.

Here's my take on the best board games of the last decade, broken down year by year:

     2000 - Carcasonne
A really good game, and a truly innovative design space to explore as well. It's no longer in regular rotation for me, but Santa brought "The Kids of Carcasonne" for Kira this year and I highly recommend that variant for anyone with a budding gamer who's 4-7 years old. It's easy to learn and no reading is required, but it's got a surprising amount of depth of strategy — enough to keep things interesting for parents too.

While there are a lot of games on his list that I've never played (I've been out of board gaming for two years now), there are a few I played and quite enjoyed.  One of my personal favorites is the one quoted above: Carcassonne.


If I was going to be voting for my top game of the decade, Carcassonne would be it.  The gameplay is simple, yet a logistical treat.  It's also dead simple to setup and get playing, a key to any board game being considered for game of the decade.

Another great game I enjoyed this decade was Battle Lore.  However, Battle Lore is a hardcore, fantasy-inspired version of Memoir 44, so I understand why it doesn't make Thinking Gamers list.

Board games offer a great escape from today's crazy world of video games.  Even after ten years, Carcassonne delivers greatness without the need for patches or new hardware.  I recommend everyone give one of the games on Thinking Gamers' list a try or break one out at their next get together with friends.

Looking Back on 2009, Heartless' Predictions Reviewed

Its that magical time of year where I get to review my predictions for the previous year. Read my original predictions post here.  My commentary is after the jump:

1. The economy will not "collapse", but it isn't going to get better until the governments of the world leave it to the free market to correct itself.

The economy didn't collapse and the government's inability to leave the free market to itself has made the situation shittier than it has to be.

2. The weak economy will encourage smaller, fiscally responsible game development projects. This will lead to a bunch of interesting stuff coming out in the MMO space, whether technically massively multiplayer or not is yet to be seen.

I was correct on this one.  We saw smaller projects like Free Realms become a success. 

3. Even with number 2, subscription based MMOs will still be king of the revenue stream at the end of 2009. Thank World of Warcraft for giving MMO developers false hope everywhere.

I'm going to call 50/50 on this one. World of Warcraft still promotes the wearing of Money Hats and had another solid year,but many other subscription MMOGs are struggling. Micro-transactions are becoming popular, but  they are tough to monetize properly even with a good game such as Free Realms or Battlefield Heroes.  Both titles have struggled to find the money-generating balance with micro-transactions and F2P.

4. World of Warcraft will not get a new expansion, but something will be announced. It will focus more on new hero classes, the Alliance vs Horde conflict, and high end raiding.

WoW did not get a new expansion in 2009, but WoW: Cataclysm was announced.  I was way off on the details of what Blizzard had planned.  However, I like the concepts of Cataclysm!

5. WAR will still be around by the end of 2009, but who remains around to develop it may be drastically different.

I was dead on for this one: Mark Jacobs gone and most of the development staff laid off.

6. More MMOs will close their doors. The true sign of doom will be when SOE starts closing down some of its B-team living painfully on Station Pass.

Matrix Online (a Station Pass B-team member) and Tabula Rasa are the two major shutdowns this year.

7. Speaking of SOE. The doom and gloom continues as SOE continues to push RMT practices on its non-RMT games.

Wrong.

8. An MMO project will come out of left field this year and surprise us all. Scott Jennings may or may not be involved, but he’ll blog about it regardless.

See this post: Scott Jennings in Left Field, Finds Dust

9. The world will end if Diablo III and Starcraft II are both launched in 2009.

Well, I'm still here and that must mean these games didn't launch together. Leaves a slot open for 2010 world-ending predictions.

In The Year 2010, Heartless' Predictions

Its nearly 2010 and without further hesitation, here are my predictions:

1. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will be sold or shut down by EA.

2. Star Wars: The Old Republic will NOT launch this year.

3. Already launched MMOGs, not named World of Warcraft, will have a rough year.

4. Newer, quality F2P games will storm the market and one will challenge WoW for the mainstream playerbase.

5. WoW will remain the king cash cow as the subscription model continues its dominance.


6. Digital distribution will start being taken seriously by market analysts as Steam proves the platform's power on the PC market.

7. Digital distribution will quietly replace boxed sales completely for PC games.

BONUS REAL LIFE PREDICTION: A political uprising will shock the world and the mainstream media will only find out about it after checking their Twitter accounts.  Three days later, they will realize it was simply a mis-spelled #hashtag and re-purposed Youtube videos.

The Economy of FREE

FREE, 29 holiday song downloads on Amazon. You clicked.  I know you did.  It's ok, I'll wait for you to get Silent Night playing in the background before you come back to read this post.  FREE is hard to resist, especially with no strings attached.  FREE is also worth money, because out of the hundreds of people that download a FREE song, some will end up buying one.

Gamasutra has some hard numbers: 58% Of PlaySpan Users Buy Goods From Free-To-Play Games

And not only did free-to-play games see the highest purchase penetration among users, they also generated the most money on a per-user basis. The average user's expenditure on publisher-sold free-to-play digital goods over the course of 12 months was $75, compared to $60 for MMOs, and $50 for social network games.

F2P games, with micro transactions, serve all levels of investment from players. There is no barrier to entry because its free to play, increasing the potential audience. Those willing to spend very little, can still access the game, earning money from a market segment that the subscription model misses. Those willing to pay more are allowed to do so and are not capped at their monthly subscription cost. Both end up supporting the ability for free riders to hitch on at no cost.  A free rider being just another sales opportunity.

World of Warcraft has forever cemented the subscription model as valid. F2P games are quickly validating micro-transactions.  This is not an argument that F2P is better than the subscription model. It shows that the F2P model is working and that those people screaming about $10 horses are falling behind the times. Also, it shows that advertising can be done with the product, not flashy Mr T commercials (as epic as they are).  That's a win for the customer as we get a free game to play, no strings attached.

Micro-transactions and Battlefield Heroes Beta

EA Dice made some unpopular changes to the pricing model in the free-to-play (F2P), but supported by micro-transactions Battlefield: Heroes. Ars Technica has an article with the basics:

You could buy certain items to give yourself an edge, sure, but it was just as easy to earn in-game Valor Points (VP) to purchase weapons and widgets for use in the game. Many gamers did just this, earning VP in their regular gaming session without ever paying a dime. Others made a few purchases here and there to round out their items.

With micro-transactions all the rage right now, this has created a shit-storm around the blog-o-sphere. I find myself having to step in and defend the unpopular view.



The game is still in BETA and changes are to be expected. Overall, these changes were GOOD for Battlefield: Heroes. However, they were POORLY communicated (as in no players knew they were coming). Also, the developers originally stated players wouldn't be able to buy items that would make them more powerful, which is a promise now breached.

As a long time Battlefield: Heroes player (since early beta), I stand firmly in my belief that players DO NOT need more than the default weapons to be successful. I routinely place in the top three during matches with nothing more than the default weapons (the proof is on my BF:H profile page). I could continue playing my way, unaffected by these changes, but I won't.

I originally limited myself to $20 worth of battlefunds to play dress up, because there was nothing else worth spending money on. Now, spending real money on the game is more about convenience and enhancement. I buy funds now and NO LONGER have to spend my time as well to win VP! I can easily purchase the items outright that will help me enjoy the time I spend playing. This is a win-win for my time and offers value for the money spent.

All while free players STILL have access to the majority of the arsenal they previously had via VP, albeit not nearly as easily. Outside of the changes to bandages, the other questionable move was adding battlefund-only weapons that are more powerful than the VP weapons. Again, this was NOT supposed to happen per the developer's own statements.

How does shooter drama spill over into the MMO blog-o-sphere?

As micro-transaction business models begin flooding the MMOG market, certain MMO bloggers are looking for any excuse to attack them, which means they reach outside of MMOGs. I was once on that side of things, but I've come to realize that micro-transactions are a valid business model and offer a great value when combined with F2P.

F2P games are routinely misconstrued as altruistic projects where the developers aren't allowed to make a profit operating the game. F2P games are a different means to the same goal: operating a sustainable business. They are no different in the need to generate revenue than are subscription MMOGs. Both F2P and subscription games make game-related changes to sustain the bottom line.

Subscription games feature many time sinks (lock out timers, progression gating mechanics, etc.) to increase the amount of time players need to pour into the game, therefore increasing revenue. Also, subscription games often come with a box price and they release expansions which often invalidate everything that existed before.

F2P games operate similarly, but with a more "car salesman" approach. They already can keep players playing by being F2P, so the subscription model's tricks don't work. F2P games have to sell something to the players. This means they have to balance being free with making money, and the line has to be drawn somewhere as we've seen with Battlefield Heroes and Free Realms recently. Yes, changes will scare away players in F2P games. The same as patches/nerfs will drive away players in a subscription MMO.

Lessons Learned

Wrapping this whole mess up, it amazes me how people lose perspective so quickly when micro-transactions get involved. They let subscription games get away with murder, but god forbid a F2P game charges $10 for a horse or limits the free riders.

I think the most valuable lesson for EA Dice that can be learned here is simple: don't charge real money for micro-transactions when a game is still in BETA and changes are being planned to the pricing model. For the players, don't expect a free ride indefinitely. Finally, F2P combined with micro-transactions is a means to the same end: making money.

Did I mention this game is still in BETA?

How About You Ask The Pirates?

Ars Technica is running a piece about Borderlands and the fact some players were able to snag a boxed copy of the PC version days before launch only to be greeted by failed authentication attempts preventing them from playing the game.

Borderlands was a highly anticipated release on the PC, but a one-week delay of the PC launch meant that console gamers were able to enjoy the gun-collecting goodness ahead of their PC gaming brethren. A few gamers were lucky enough to find stores that were willing to sell the boxed PC copy of the game before the street date, however, but when they installed the game and tried to play, they found that without the title being authenticated online, the disc and key were worthless.

The problem? They forgot that buying a PC game doesn't involve a product, but a license.

Gearbox big wig, Randy Pitchford, responded:

"I don't know if something can be done to unlock copies for people that somehow get a copy before the street date... I certainly can't do anything about it, but I understand and am sympathetic to the frustration,"

He doesn't know. The man responsible for the game doesn't know if it can be unlocked before its street date. Maybe he should have asked the pirates that were playing Borderlands DAYS before the official street date.

It constantly amazes me the things that Publishers and Developers push off on piracy. Pirates don't buy games. Stopping them does not generate any revenue. There is not a single developer that has proven that piracy hurts their game sales. In some cases it has proven to help sales just as a free copy of a ebook often spurs sales of the hard copy!

Yes, piracy does hurt the bottom line when pirated versions are allowed to negatively affect the community and service built around a game. However, rarely, if ever, does a pirated copy equal a lost sale. That is NOT my opinion, its proven fact. Unfortunately, few companies are willing to admit this.

One time, just one time, I would like to see these companies learn a lesson from piracy. Make the game easily accessible, with no restrictions, and allow players to play as soon as they have their hands on a copy. This makes for happy and repeat customers (an educated person may have noticed that pirates tend to come back again and again to the same hacking communities that put out the best product).

NOTE: I do not pirate games or endorse piracy.

Hulu to Start Charging in 2010 - A Sunday Morning Post

Sad news for fans of all things legally free on the Internet, Hulu officially to start charging for content in 2010:

Bad news if you like free stuff: In 2010, the popular ad-supported streaming video site Hulu will officially begin charging for content.

Let me preface this with: as a fan of Hulu, I would pay for some premium content. However, the vast majority of what is on Hulu is something I am already paying for on cable or can get for FREE over the open air waves. The ONLY edge Hulu has is the fact that it is free and on-demand (meaning I can watch what I want, when I want). Is that worth paying for? As I said, maybe, for some stuff, especially if I dump my overpriced monthly cable bill. I gladly pay for Netflix, which a similar argument can be made for.

A lot of people are stating they are just going back to their torrents. Seriously? People are going back to torrents? I highly doubt any torrenters (aka pirates) dumped their torrents for Hulu. Torrents are simple to get, often better quality, and don't come with advertisements. Hulu was there for those of us that didn't pirate, but still wanted quality free content while supporting the content developers in some way.

Come 2010, my wife and I have decided to dump our cable TV and go Internet only. Regardless of whether Hulu is free or not, quality FREE and LEGAL content is available in droves on the Internet. Its just a question of setting expectations that we may miss a few things here and there (at the same time we may discover a few things we've been missing).

Anyways, we have Netflix and I think that is where the problem is. Can Hulu convince anyone to pony up for yet another online-centric service? I think the answer is yes, especially if it works out to be SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than my monthly cable bill.

Back to Hulu and the pirates, and lets get this post back towards game-related

I just don't buy either side here. Hulu claims to be losing millions, but all the evidence shows how successful their model is for advertisers. Not to mention Hulu giving rebirth to almost dead TV programs such as Its Always Sunny in Philadeplphia. Hulu just needs to leverage itself better and get paid for the power that it now yields.

Pirates claim they were using Hulu, which is just laughable.

We've seen this in the game sector as well. Pirates ALWAYS claim they just want a free preview or that games are too expensive. As this post from an iPhone game developer shows, its a lie.

Well, from this data we can conclude that 0% of pirates think the game is worth buying (which, by the way, is contrary to most of the forum posts we read from legit buyers).

To summarize: iPhone games are cheap and NONE of the pirates came back to buy the game after playing it hardcore.

My view on piracy and what content creators should do:

a) minimize its impact to their service (don't let pirated copies tag along on your online services, make support requests, etc.)

b) ignore it

And that's that for a Sunday morning post.

Reaction: How NOT to do Microtransactions

Cuppy posted a "how NOT to do Microtransactions" post and I felt my response was worth re-posting here:

I agree with a lot of what you said. However, I think you are taking micro too literally. A $20 (or even $50) transaction is MICRO in comparison of the whole revenue stream for a single game. That is where the term originated (not because the transactions were ever small couple'o'buckers).

Yes, there needs to be enough $1-$2 purchases, but if that is ALL you ever stick with, you are losing out on a TON of people willing to spend more. Raph made this point not too long ago and I agree 100% with what he said then (I just can't find the link).

My number one complaint with microtransaction games is that some are just god damn confusing. RoM, outside of a mount, was tiring to figure out and prevented me from ever spending money (I was always holding off thinking I would get X for free and pay for Z later). Also Free Realms didn't get any money from me because I was lost between figuring out if I just needed to pay a sub or just float for free and pay for tit and tat here and there. DDO is OK, but still confusing, especially considering a lot of what can be bought can be gotten for free and it isn't very clear.

Right now, I prefer Battlefield Heroes model, which is actually a dual currency system. Pay for the good stuff, like UNIQUE character customizations and non-game-balance-affecting boosts. While they have an in game currency (VP) that is earned via playing and allows you to purchase the BASICS like weapons and healing widgets.

Fixed: Punkbuster Error "Disallowed Program/Driver 125120"

This is a quick how-to on fixing the Punkbuster error "Disallowed Program/Driver 125120".

1. Disable all screen overlay features in any running programs.
2. If all screen overlay features are disabled and the problem persists, exit each program with a screen overlay and try again.
3. If FRAPS is installed, exit FRAPS and try again.

If you want the long-winded WHY of this little bug, keep on reading.

This was annoying to track down, as all things Punkbuster are, simply because Even Balance (the developers behind PB) refuse to SHARE with the community what their error codes mean or what may be causing them to kick non-cheating players.

Getting kicked by Punkbuster for "Disallowed Program/Driver 125120" simply means that a program or driver on the computer is trying to overlay something on the game-screen in a way PB does not like. This is a common way for hacks to hook into a game. Instead of interacting with the game, they sit on top of it with an overlay. This has been a common form of hack for years.

Unfortunately, Punkbuster recently made aggressive changes to how they view overlays and thus many programs that legitimately use them are now being seen as potential hacks by Punkbuster. Programs such as FRAPS and EVGA Precision.

Now, FRAPS in particular is having special difficulties. Older versions are flat-out interpreted as hacks by Punkbuster now and running any old FRAPS versions will get a player kicked repeatedly for "Disallowed Program/Driver 125120". Disabling the FRAPS overlay will not work. FRAPS must be shut down anytime a Punkbuster game is running. The FRAPS developer attempted to fix this problem in the current FRAPS version, but as quickly as they did, Even Balance changed Punkbuster to continue the kicking. So, its a tug-o-war between FRAPS and Punkbuster and I don't see FRAPS winning.

Other programs, such as EVGA Precision are in much better shape. Simply disabling the screen overlay features (such as GPU temperature) will fix the issue. This is most likely true for any number of overlay features in many video card manufacturer's software management/monitoring programs.

Unfortunately, for dedicated players of games like Call of Duty 4 or America's Army 3, this means the loss of some great software tools. Fuck Punkbuster. Once upon a time they were decent, but they've become the porta-potty of the anti-cheat world. No one wants to use them, they stink like shit, but unfortunately its the only option.

World of Warcraft Is The Best Game I've Ever Played

There has got to be something going on in the universe when I agree with Darren.

First and foremost, I will revisit WoW off and on for as long as it is still active….especially with each expansion. My opinion (…please repeat that word to yourself…heh…) is that you cannot intelligently comment on MMOs unless you’ve played or are playing WoW. Like or not, it is the yardstick and will continue to be so until we all agree that something else is the yardstick.

I'll go one further. World of Warcraft is the best game I've ever played. I don't think you can intelligently comment on the modern gaming market without having played WoW. There are NO other games even close to World of Warcraft in terms of gaming, cultural, and online impact. For jumping sake, Leo Laporte, even plays World of Warcraft. If you haven't played it, and you're opining on the gaming market, your opinion is going to be short-sighted.

Why is World of Warcraft the best game I've ever played? Simple. I sat down to play WoW and it was immediately apparent that the game was a pleasure to play and I couldn't explain for a split second why. Every other game that I've ever played has had some sort of adjustment period or some sort of immersion breaker. I could explain to you how the game could be made better the first time I sat down to play it. I was lost for comment with WoW. The initial game is perfect in my book.

Now, even the best things in life break down at some point (chocolate melts, Star Wars has prequels, etc). WoW eventually turns out to be just another MMOG, but god damn does it hide it well.

RMT != micro-transactions

Darren, the "common sense" gamer, believes $10 is a bit much for a mount in free-to-play, but supported by micro-transactions, Runes of Magic.

Here’s the deal….and I’m absolutely disgusted by this. A “permanent” horse in Runes of Magic, it is 199 diamonds…let’s call it 200 cause that’s what it really should be (…seriously guys…time to start rounding things up…). 200 diamonds cost $10.94 Canadian.

Are you seriously telling me, with a straight face, that a digital HORSE costs me $10…FUCKING..DOLLARS!!!@!@ That’s if you want to buy it outright…for cash. You can buy diamonds on the auction house which you can then buy the horse…but good gawd. The horses dollar value straight up is almost as much as an entire subscription.

Following up on this is a discussion at p0tsh0t:

Truth be told, while I’m usually more of the mind that RMT is the debbil, I think the RoM mount topic is a decent example of an RMT item and approach that could work in most games. What the game companies need to keep in mind is that their RMT and game models should deliver value and entertainment to a broad audience with varied time budgets.

Here's the problem. Real Money Trade (RMT) is not the same as micro-transactions.

RMT occurs when players trade real money for items in a subscription-based game. The developers rarely see a dime unless, like SOE, specifically set it up to take a cut of the transactions.

Micro-transactions are a business model, meant to allow a developer to support a game. In most cases, the game is free-to-play.

In this specific example, Runes of Magic is free to play, but supported by micro-transactions. If a player wants a horse, they spend $10 for the entirety of the time they play the game. World of Warcraft on the other hand, is a subscription-based game that has a volcanic third-party RMT market attached. Players often pay upwards of $500 for unique mounts, on top of paying $15 a month to access the game!

Further down in the p0tsh0t post, a breakdown of what an epic flying mount probably costs in World of Warcraft:

Using the epic flyer as an example, if I really applied myself, I could probably log on and earn a few hundred gold a day without outlevelling our group too much in a relatively small amount of time each session. At 200 gold a session, that would take about 25 sessions to yield the 5,000 gold for the skill and the mount. If I played an average session every other day, that would be about 50 days or almost two months of just casual self-gold farming. All other things equal, I should be ok with paying the equivalent of about $30 for my epic flyer (or the equivalent in game currency).

So, I ask the "common sense gamer" why he is flabbergasted by a $10 mount when it is obvious players are willing spend 3 times that amount just to access a service that will allow them the pleasure of working hard to obtain a mount.

The truth is that many traditional MMOG players have lost touch with the micro-transaction movement in the market. They see a $10 price tag for something in a micro-transaction game and apply the concept to a subscription game. Immediately it seems insane that anyone would pay real money for something that they feel they get for "free" in their subscription game. They fail to realize they are paying in time and real money for a mount in their subscription game. Often times, a lot more. Not to mention the players going to RMT markets to pay hundreds, if not thousands, of real dollars for in-game perks in subscription games.

I was once one of the lost. I used to see micro-transactions as RMT. It's simply not the truth. RMT does not equal micro-transactions.

Warhammer Top 5

Jeff Hickman recently outlined Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning's top five issues in his recent Executive Producer's Letter.

Based heavily on that feedback, our current “Top 5” areas that we are giving significant attention to are:

1. Addressing concerns related to Crowd Control and Area of Effect abilities.
2. Continuing to improve client and server stability and performance.
3. Strengthening and improving the Tier 4 experience.
4. Improving server population distribution – both in terms of overall population and realm balance.
5. Improving itemization and the overall distribution of “carrots” (rewards) throughout the game.

My comments:

1. It's sad that Mythic didn't learn anything from Dark Ages of Camelot, which had the same exact problems. Repeating mistakes is bad.

2. Performance was great in beta, but took a nosedive after launch. During my playtime, Mythic never recovered. This was probably the number one reason casual players left the game.

3. Tier 4 sucks. Horrible game design. Laughable at best.

4. Everyone knew it was going to be an issue at launch, so not sure why they are thinking they can address it now. The basic game design makes balance impossible. Without fundamental game changes, this is a lost cause.

5. I thought the rewards were pretty well distributed until players hit the roadblock that was level 40. At 40, rewards are sparse unless players grind and even then its fairly minor in terms of upgrades. Most of the low end 40 gear should have been made accessible in the mid 30s.

Aion: The ! of Diku?

Tipa, of West Karana, has a great non-NDA breaking post regarding Aion's NA beta:

But there’s no NDA that tells me I can’t talk about the players.

Take one step into the world of Aion, and from that moment on, you’re an expert player. All your years playing MMOs has prepared you for this moment, and nothing you encounter will give you a moment’s hesitation. By the end of the preview Sunday, many characters were fairly high level, guilds had been set up and there was a rough hierarchy of achiever guilds vs casual, friend-based guilds.

Tipa is addressing the general crowd that reads West Karana, which is probably the same sort of crowd that shows up around here. Mostly, veteran MMO players that have played everything from Ultima Online to World of Warcraft. More importantly, we all understand the Diku-inspired MMO structure. We have long been experts. We grind levels and loot bosses in our mother-f'n sleep.

While the Aion beta is still under NDA, there's tons of freely available information from other countries that have the Live version of the game already. A quick search for Aion on YouTube or Bing, brings up all manner of info for the game.

The general consensus is that Aion is pretty good, but derivative of all games that have come before it. Aion delivers on the basics and adds a little flair (like flying, the Abyss PvP, etc.). It's all wrapped up in a great looking package and delivered by a company with a somewhat reliable track record. Everything for Aion is in place for it to be a serious contender in the MMO space.

Where World of Warcraft was the definition of Diku-based MMOGs, it appears Aion will be the exclamation point.

Mythic Checks Another Item Off WAR's Lazy Designs List

Great. Fucking. News. (for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning players).

Wards will now be pieced together to form character-centric sigils, which are placed inside of the Tome of Knowledge instead of on the armor itself. These sigils are always active, no matter what armor you’re wearing, eliminating the need to carry the right wards on the right parts. Prior players who are loaded with ward gear, do not fret! Your wards will combine together to form sigils right off of the bat, so you won’t be outdated when the new system hits.

The ward system in WAR, by itself, was not bad. However, the way in which warded gear was limited to certain sets, made all other gear attained in WAR pointless. Often times, epic gear that took 100s of hours of playtime to obtain (RvR influence rewards), had to immediately be discarded because they did not contain any wards.

This proposed change fixes not only the warded gear itself, but the randomness of waiting for a specific piece of gear to drop from a dungeon on a lockout timer.

Even if you don’t have the right wards to get a sigil, you can now unlock “pieces” of the ward by completing achievement objectives, like defeating a boss that would give you that piece of ward armor X times. So even if it never drops for you, you’ll still get it eventually.

The timing for this change is excellent as well, as the Land of the Dead expansion is going to require players to be up-to-par on their wards for the new content. Not only that, but there will be tons of new items that would have otherwise gone to waste had the ward system not been revamped.

Outside of the obvious performance issues, the debate over warded gear raged loudest and this appears to be a silencing shot from Mythic. Still, the performance issue must remain Mythic's priority, and until Mythic gets it under control, no amount of design greatness is going to save WAR.

However, it is still good to see that Mythic is slowly, but surely checking off items on their Lazy WAR Designs List. I just wish the same could be said about the WAR Performance Issues Log.

Darkfall, The Lost Review (made possible, unknowingly, by Kieron Gillen)

Smart people, when confronted with a bee's nest, avoid it. Others carelessly walk into it and learn their lesson for the next go-around. The rest of us get a stick.

Not letting a crisis go to waste, I present a review of Darkfall, as made possible by Kieron Gillen, edited by me, and published below without permission.

There's an urge to give it one out of ten. Maybe a two, because two sounds more genuine than one. One sounds like foot-stomping petulance. Two sounds considered, as if I really do mean it. I'm not, because I don't, but it'd serve a couple of good purposes. Firstly, if considered solely as a classical game, Darkfall is bloody terrible. Secondly, if you're the sort of person who cares about the review score, it's almost certainly not for you and I should turn you off as quickly as possible.

That's what a lot of this review is going to be about. Darkfall is a strange, unusual, progressive and unique game, which may even be important for the industry and the development of the form in a handful of ways. It's not for everyone. And I've got to write a review which says that, while not turning "It isn't for everyone" into a challenge for people who quite like to think of themselves as one of the Not Like Everyones.

The name "game" is always going to confuse people. You only really work out what something should be called after a name's codified. Names for mediums are always kind of made up on the fly. "Novel" has a particularly tortured history as a word. Comics comes from the fact they were the funny pages in the paper - but soon became anything but. A century down the line, they realized they should call comics "sequential narrative", which cuts to the core of what the medium is. It'll never stick, because it's so bloody ugly and there's already a name everyone knows. C'est la vie. We're stuck with novels, comics and games - and novels that aren't novel, comics which aren't comic and videogames which aren't...

Darkfall is a videogame that isn't a game. Or at least, the game part is deeply vestigial. It is deeply interactive - in fact, in parts about interaction - but in terms of the mechanics which characterize games, there's "sporadically collecting and killing stuff". It's most like an adventure game, but there are no puzzles. The win/lose state is ironic.

That's fine. As a medium, videogames' fundamental characteristic is interaction. The classical "game" is a form of interaction, but it's not the only thing we can do, and certainly not the only thing we've loved - think of the first half of The Cradle in Thief 3, think about the rollercoaster linear scripted sequences in many shooters where you've got no chance of dying, think of selecting jokes to make in old school LucasArts adventures which don't change anything. Games are more than games. Don't come to Darkfall expecting any of that.

Eyes glazed over? It's safe to say that Darkfall isn't for you. It'll try your patience far more than a mere 500-word "what-are-games-anyway-man?" intro. And it's even more pretentious. No, really.

Darkfall is a riff off the old MMORPG. You choose between six races: Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Mahirim, Orks and Alfar. You're then deposited at the start of your racial capital, with little more than a name, some basic equipment, and a neutral alignment. You’re given two commands. One, go kill stuff. Two, be killed. If you obey, another player will kill you in a couple of minutes and you’ll be told by the death screen you've lost all of your gear. You probably won't do that. You go off and find a wolf to kill. Eventually, after the confrontation, you've wandered outside some clan’s city, in the rain, and you slowly limp inside before being presented with a semi-interactive nightmarish walk around the city before you're finally escorted to the death screen with oblique, brutal images. You’ve just been PK’d. Now the death screen says you've succeeded, and you're deposited back on the selection screen with a race played and five more left to go.

In the previous paragraph, read that wolf as "Wolf". It's not that literal. In fact, if you're looking for literal, you're really in the wrong game. The Wolf is what, for better or worse, puts an end to your character. Everything is explicitly shown, and some ends are suggestively brutal. You suspect that the developers would agree with Poe's famous quote about the death of a beautiful woman being the most poetical topic in the world.

So it's a horror game, in an atmospheric, oblique manner. The atmosphere is the point. It's about as goth as Dracula's armpits. And as dark, though less smelly. The visuals are dated, jaggged, and drab. The smears of sound alternate between semi-pastoral and openly nagging oppressive, swelling brilliantly in the game's set-pieces.

And then there's the actual game. You're on a single track, and any interaction with the controls makes you take another step along this delirious route. If you don't keep moving, someone will find you and I've never actually been brave enough to just leave to see what happens. This fact, for me, is one of the finest formalist parts of the game - that step-to-move captures how you feel when you're actually getting PK’d. Running through houses, knowing something's behind you, trying to escape, knowing you're on a track, trapped...

It's not the only place where interaction is reduced for an aesthetic effect - though generally speaking, they're less successful. For example, to interact with anything in the game, you press F, and then your character will wander over and have a nose at whatever's nearby. To interact, you stop interacting. I more admire the elegance of that control system than its obvious deconstruction. The one total mis-step is removing the run option when you're out of stamina, forcing you to walk around. It actually discourages you from exploring these locations as it takes so long to do. The most interesting parts of the game - this misty lake, this abandoned fort, this massive stage - find their effect slightly neutered.

The stars of the game are the other players. From their visual design, to their animations, to the one-liners they respond with to whatever they just did, each is well characterized and memorable. They live and they die and we know them better for that. Replaying the game for a second time, actively seeing what each player makes of something an earlier player did is part of the... fun? No, fun's not the word. But the interest. To see what happens. To explore.

If you put aside its pace - which is its point - the biggest reservations with it are how it both introduces itself to you and how it uses its game elements. The irony of the lose-everything-on-death undercuts somewhat callously any affection you had for your character, for example. When it clicks, the UI is obvious - icons on a hotbar and a map towards the periphery guiding you towards interesting locations - but when a game throws as many visual distortions over itself, it's easy to miss their importance. There's some minor twitchiness around some of the characters - like running into trees or characters magically appearing, which cuts the atmosphere for a second.

The problem with Darkfall is that to explain it is to ruin it. It's an exploratory game, and being surprised by the first time you see something, and wondering what it's for and what it's about is the main thing. The game rarely spells anything out. You spend a lot of time bemused - sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad - and wondering what it's about.

I'll say this: you'll have a strong opinion on it if you play it. Friend-of-Eurogamer Ed Zitron was profoundly perplexed by the game. Others have come claiming it's a rape simulator - which, for the record, I consider unsupportable by the game, even if you take everything on a solely literal level. It is, at worse, a being raped simulator - though I'd say that was a misreading too. What do I think? Metaphorical story of a character’s growth to adulthood, with each "death" leading to the birth of the next. But that's an essay. I don't know for sure. If you play it, you'll have your take. That's kind of the point too. It sticks with you and provokes thought. It's probably art, if the a-word matters to you.

It's totally no fun. It's interesting, but there isn't a fun bone in its mopey body. But I've paid to go into modern art galleries. I've paid for really oddball, minimalist art films. I've gone to gigs where music is divorced from any physical reaction and raised to some cerebral, abstract place - and plenty of gigs where most sane human beings would consider there was nothing actually musical going on. I haven't, but could pay for experimental theatre tickets. Lots of poetry. Whatever.

In our corner of the world, the thing with close-to-pure art-games... well, they're all pretty much free and buried away on the internet. Darkfall is on one of the biggest game distribution systems in the world, for a reasonable yet "proper" price, and still does what it does. Its existence is a statement of belief that, like any other media, there's a small niche of people who are happy to actually pay for this kind of cultural material.

That's who Darkfall is for. And if you're one of them, Darkfall is probably worth it.

If you're not, really, run for your bloody life.

For those of you lost; Aventurine declined Eurogamer's offer to have Kieron Gillen re-review Darkfall. But don't worry Kieron, I've saved you the pain of having to stoop to their level.

Bob's Red Ball

From Broken Toys we meet Rights, Profit, and Drama:

Rights: Well, of course. He’s stating the obvious. Does your landlord in the real world, even though he owns your house and the land it’s on, have any right whatsoever to read your mail and pop in unexpectedly when you have a date? Why should virtual landlords have more rights than realspace landlords?

Profit: I can’t believe we’re even having this discussion. If I’m going to be threatened with lawsuits because of constitutional rights you have to my server, I’d have to be retarded to ever open my company up to such liability by making a server. These are entertainment products, and we are being paid to create a safe and enjoyable environment for everyone. There is no such thing as virtual civil rights, only EULAs. And if you somehow get the courts to disagree, we’ll take our balls and go make console games.

Drama: I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I WAS RIGHT I KNEW IT the company needs to give me my account back now.

Read on through that link for the full article. Read below for my thoughts.

I have always had a simple idea of ownership. If Bob paid for the red ball, is holding the red ball, and decides to give it to you to play a game of kick ball (for free or for a rental charge), Bob still owns the ball.

Virtual space is still real. It exists on a hard drive somewhere. Thou who controls the physical media, owns the virtual goodies within. End of story.

MMO gamers don’t own the physical media and should not have rights to it. MMO gamers pay to access a service. BOB OWNS THE FUCKING BALL!

Bob's Red Ball

From Broken Toys we meet Rights, Profit, and Drama:

Rights: Well, of course. He’s stating the obvious. Does your landlord in the real world, even though he owns your house and the land it’s on, have any right whatsoever to read your mail and pop in unexpectedly when you have a date? Why should virtual landlords have more rights than realspace landlords?

Profit: I can’t believe we’re even having this discussion. If I’m going to be threatened with lawsuits because of constitutional rights you have to my server, I’d have to be retarded to ever open my company up to such liability by making a server. These are entertainment products, and we are being paid to create a safe and enjoyable environment for everyone. There is no such thing as virtual civil rights, only EULAs. And if you somehow get the courts to disagree, we’ll take our balls and go make console games.

Drama: I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I WAS RIGHT I KNEW IT the company needs to give me my account back now.

Read on through that link for the full article. Read below for my thoughts.

I have always had a simple idea of ownership. If Bob paid for the red ball, is holding the red ball, and decides to give it to you to play a game of kick ball (for free or for a rental charge), Bob still owns the ball.

Virtual space is still real. It exists on a hard drive somewhere. Thou who controls the physical media, owns the virtual goodies within. End of story.

MMO gamers don’t own the physical media and should not have rights to it. MMO gamers pay to access a service. BOB OWNS THE FUCKING BALL!