Monthly Archives: February 2006

Casual players …where? RUN!

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Beside the fact that I still feel silly this distinction between two groups that Blizzard generated (and so is responsible about), I’m amused at the reactions of the development team that gleam through some of the posts.

Originally I thought that they were developing another “casual-player dungeon” but that it wouldn’t be ready in time for the next patch (1.10). Then the drama mounted and the players started to rage even more than before as Tigole announced that a brand new 40-man instanced zone with, ZOMG, 18 bosses was going to be released this spring.

Now we know that the huge raid zone was in fact planned to be released with the 1.10 patch:

With all due respect, we’re not going to put Naxxramas on hold longer than we did.

It was originally scheduled for 1.10.

It is not anymore because the players started to RAGE. It seems that the protests have forced Blizzard to delay that instance to avoid an open conflict beyond what they have already.

But, you see, that’s the trend. Tigole is …annoyed by all these swarms of players that demand to be taken into consideration. While the great majority of the resources are put to the happy EverQuest raiders that Tigole proudly leads:

The way the raiding game operates is different from the non-raiding game. We’re working on non-raider content as well, but again, Naxxramas has been in the works for months longer than this debate has been a hot topic.

The fact that they are taking in consideration non-raiding players is a flat out LIE. NOTHING AT ALL was being designed, nor even ROUGHLY PLANNED, till the drama exploded and their whole smart design plan spectacularly backfired on them.

Before the “debate has been a hot topic”, noone cared about the two distinct groups that Blizzard defined in the game.

“The way the raiding game operates is different from the non-raiding game.”

Can you see the distinction and difference of treatment? Elitists and mass. Included and excluded. Heroes and meatballs.

This “mass” of players that Blizzard gathered in their game is a …nuisance that wasn’t expected. The raiding game was supposed to be the “grand scheme” of things that would have brought the game to a new level.

18 April 2002. Four years ago. Tigole, catass leader and Blizzard freshmeat:

Blizzard’s desire to provide well designed high-end content will prove to be a breath of fresh air for the readers of this site. Unfortunately, I cannot go into much detail at this time but I can say that there are ideas being discussed for the hardcore, end-game player which are nothing short of groundbreaking. You guys, the fans of this site, know how discerning I am when it comes to “uber” content in a game. Trust me, you have much to look forward to.

The intention was already there.

Blizzard never, ever considered a distinction between two groups and never, ever planned the game to support anything but raid content (and broken PvP) at the endgame.

The attrition between the two groups that we have seen in the last months is just an …inconvenient. Something that took them totally unprepared. They had months and months of raid content planned and in the work. Then the drama explodes and Tigole is caught off guard. The “mass” of players pretends to be heard and treated with the same treatment.

Reminds me the French Revolution :) The nobles assaulted by the crowd who didn’t tolerate anymore an uncivil separation in “two groups”.

As in that case, the problem is NOT that there are two categories of people. The problem is that those two categories existed and that a distinction of “merit” was created.

This is again my view on the whole problem.

Blizzard didn’t expected this. They have no plans to solve the underlying problems and now they are caught in an unmanageable situation. They have no idea about how to resolve the attrition they generated.

The truth is that they have no clue about how to provide decent content for the casual players:

We’ve been making a number of improvements to item drop rates in Stratholme, Scholomance, Upper Black Rock Spire, Lower Black Rock Spire, and Black Rock Depths. In the next patch, the drop rate for many items will improve. In some situations, we will even be improving the quality of select items found in these dungeons.

Beyond this, we’re also adding several new items to existing bosses, and even to new bosses which will be available at various locations throughout these instances. Many of the new items will offer statistical improvement with certain classes in mind, such as rings which offer both spell and melee crit, ideal for the Paladin, Shaman and Druid.

A brand new eight piece dungeon set will also be scattered through the locations outlined above. This set, available only to the Warlock, Mage and Priest will offer a substantial amount of armor, hit points and intelligence, making it great for PvP.

There is no content for the casual players. After the “mass” started to rage they had to barricade themselves and think of something QUICK to bring back the situation under a manageable level.

The result is a shuffle to the itemization, some massive grinds added and a kick in the booty sending you to rerun the same instances for another million of times.

My opinion remains exactly the same and unaddressed: it’s not that the casual players don’t have alternatives, it’s that the alternatives available SUCK.

Enjoy your cut&paste casual-player content. Tigole has some serious work to do on those, ZOMG, 18 raid bosses.

For now my satisfying casual-player content is EQ2 :)

But he did the quests in Westfall! All of them!

Don’t get me wrong. Some of those ideas are very good and I’m going to write more about them. But the heart of the issue is that they have no idea about how heal the fracture they created between casual and hardcore players.

And that fracture is going to HURT.

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Music-geography

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I was listening to the marvellous soundrack of “Zatoichi” (another movie by Takeshi Kitano) composed by Keiichi Suzuki, and it suggested me idea. The dream mmorpg would have him as a composer.

A basic theme for each different zone. This theme is supposed to be quiet and moody, with periods of silence and subtle sounds, quiet melodies just hinted that accompany the players around. They would become the fabric of the atmosphere in the same way the geographic layout of a zone defines its space.

Then each zone would be divided into sub-zones, little spots and environments. These should become “discoveries”. As the environment can bring to marvelous eyesights, the music should also be included in the discovery and exploration. So in particular defined spots and sub-zones the basic theme will come to life and new melodies will spring, enriching the mood and underlining special moments.

Special situations as the combat will also plug in the same system where again each zone would have its theme that shapeshifts and accelerates during these situations, becoming more coral and engaging.

The journey around the world shouldn’t be just about the discovery of physical objects, but also of these particular sounds.

The social fabric

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This is a loose reply to an article written by Heamish about “The social experience”. Not a direct critics but just some thoughts that sprang from reading it.
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Games are about learning but saying that learning is about getting the reward is a total mistake.

Game design, in particular “good” game design, has the duty to help the player to learn, to educate. Mark my words: NOT TO SELECT.

Many people have this absurdly wrong and wicked idea that learning is about getting evaluated. This is terribly wrong and the first reason why the school is in such a wrecked status and why our societies are filled with hate. We learn everything as division and further selections. Always as distiction between “us and them”. Aways between friends and enemies, included and excluded.

The evaluation should come from within. Not from the outside. Originally “education” meant the discovery of oneself. Not shoving in an empty, valueless mind the imposed categories and dictates of a culture.

I always despised and will continue to despise and attack when “learning” becomes a process of selection. I know that this has been a reality of the human evolution, but I just don’t accept as something that I justify and second. I just don’t as I don’t justify murder, even if the murder has also been part of our evolution and history. So we learnt something. Between the things I’ve learnt is that I despise every process of selection that is aimed to exclude, emarginate and create reasons of hate.

In a lesser extent we already have all these situations in these games and have to relate to. About the social fabric, these games should help to connect, facilitate these patterns, create the context for these situations to exist. But not simply create artificial rewards that would just divide between people who are included and people who are excluded. Not external “divine” interventions.

The reward is the consequence of learning, not its justification. (but in our culture we are already saying that “drugs” are the best route)

This is why my own concrete ideas on these aspects have been about criticizing the artificial dependence on other players, that I find unjustified, to create what I define “truly communal patterns” that are instead coherent with the goal. That promote the integration instead of the separation between groups.

We have already plenty of examples of “communal processes” with egoistical goals. Personal rewards are always egoistical goals, like experience bonuses, achievements, epic loot. These are never truly communal objectives. They are just cooperation enforced through egoistical goals. I had already a quick confrontation with Raph about these points and again these are patterns that belong to our culture. But they aren’t patterns that I would promote and reward. They aren’t patterns that I consider fun. Even if they exist, the game shouldn’t educate the players about them, as the game should never facilitate the players to fight one against the other for a piece of loot. As the game shouldn’t facilitate the segregation and the exclusion of players in two groups. Creating tension and attrition between them.

Artificial dependences aren’t fun. Having crafting recipes that make you dependent on other crafting professions aren’t fun. At least till this process isn’t facilitated and made accessible through other structures. If this doesn’t happen it becomes another barrier, not an occasion for the socialization. The same about forced grouping leading to sitting in one place flagged /lfg for hours or the requirement to get included into large raids to progress in the game (when that progression is the sole purpose of the game: what it is “teaching”). Killing a dragon to get your fat loot is again a communal process (you need “x” other players) forced through an egoistical drive (I need the fat loot for my own power growth). Limiting the game only to these patterns is a serious mistake that I’ll never stop to criticize.

There ARE other examples of truly communal goals but these aren’t as easy to identify and are always pushed in the background, always overlooked. They never become the true focus and driving force of the game. Never its priority.

Think if you are ruling an outpost in a open PvP game. It depend on you, you’ll have to hold and defend it from enemy attacks. The NPCs in the outpost are your own, they go work and gather resources for you, pay maintenance costs. You are responsible for this layer of the game, called to gather people, organize the activities, defend your territories. This creates with the game the strongest bond you can imagine. This creates a social fabric because it’s the context that creates the situation. You are together with other players facing a situation that involves everyone. And where everyone relies on the other. This is also why PvP is the best route to achieve these goals. Where the true, till now undiscovered, potential is. What it could become.

Eve-Online already did some on this, albeit on a different genre. The players work together, administrate their properties and territories, they patrol and defend, they organize together, they interact, they create stories, tensions. All within the context of the game. Adding to its depth. Even when you are hauling resources from one point of the galaxy to the other, you still have “fun” because that part acquires a meaning within a greater frame where everything is connected and has a consequence. Because you are together with other players in “truly communal patterns”. Where Eve-Online “failed” is in making these activities the activities of the great majority of the players. Making them more easily accessible instead of something out of reach and demanding an high price of admission (because of the accessibility barriers).

The game should offer patterns to connect the players, but as part of the fabric of the game world, and not through artificial rewards to push them in a specific direction. The socialization and communal activities should be facilitated, but not imposed or justified through Out Of Character design purposes. This social fabric should be the focus of the game, not its drift toward the reward. Its center and not its perimeter.

The real point is that these games should move directly away from that “risk Vs reward” mechanic. Away from granting more experience points to groups instead of solo players. Away from Out Of Character (I mean: “external”) design interventions to drag the players around. And instead moving the collaboration at the true core of the gameplay and objective of the game. To make the transition as natural ans justified as possible. Coherent.

Game design should always move coordinated with the players, not against them, not imposing trends, not fighting habits. If an habit exist it is justified and if it is a “bad habit” it’s because there’s something responsible that should be directly fixed. If the players fight against their own fun, something is wrong in the design. Not in their behaviour. If the players show anti-social behaviours and don’t form bonds naturally (assuming that they would like to), it means that they bumped against an accessibility barrier or that they were steered elsewhere.

A Smed, out of context, quote

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First of all EQ 2 is growing quite well and is doing great as a business. SWG wasn’t in that condition.

“There’s a reason that we did this. The story … is kind of getting lost here…the game was losing subscribers. We had to make this game more accessible to a wider audience or eventually we would not have a business,”

And:

What actully happens is called “Market Research”. This involves multiple focus groups (not like putting up a web poll.. actually a 3rd-party company with a one-way mirrored room where dev people can watch how people react to the game.. then they ask those people a number of questions). In addition to this surveying the existing userbase via volunteer surveys (which was done before and after the NGE btw). Those focus groups also included different populations including existing users.

This is Totally Retared (TM). If that’s what happened I’m not surprised of the total clusterfuck. And, again, you deserve every little bit of it.

Polls, surveys, outside consulting. If this is the trend, it may be as well the tomb of the genre.

What a total waste of money and resources. Mmorpgs need competent authors with a sincere passion. Not hamster experiments.

Fancy, random ideas

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I’m not a player, I’m a dreamer. This is why the immersion is so much important for me. I don’t play games, I dream along them and about what they could become. What they suggest me, as they tickle my interest.

These are just some truly fanciful and extreme ideas that EverQuest 2 suggested me. They are just rough possibilities that could be then adjusted in different directions. Some parts of them may still be interesting, though. And wouldn’t be too hard to add to the game.

Guild Houses and real cities
I already started to comment about guild houses, this idea is just to continue along those lines. Instead of just limiting the houses to functional doors on a private instance, each door should be leading to one and only one place, possibly with the layout matching the exterior of the building. This would mean that the houses available in a city would be finite in number, adding the element of scarcity in the system. I don’t see this as something bad, it would be much more consistent and it would create both a true sense of ownership and “presence” in the city, not just a functional, private portal.

The next step is opening new villages and outposts to create more different opportunities. There should be a variegate offer of many different types of houses, scaling from shabby cubicles to bigger and exotic mansions, till the bigger castles that should become permanent landmarks as the floating tower in Freeport. Something with a concrete impact. Then injecting gameplay into the system. Just scaling the renting costs to differentiate these places wouldn’t be much fun. Owning the biggest castle would become just an insane grind that I don’t think the game should reward. Plus there’s the need to keep the system alive with a constant turnover, preventing some guilds to lock their houses forever. So this is the idea:

Two big castles for each faction, donated directly by Antonia and Lucan. These castles will be a reward of merit, a symbolic status to promote the best guilds. The assignment will depend on a semestral official tourney where the best guilds will compete between each other. The best two will get access to the castle and the right to participate to the next tourney at the end of the six months.

These guild “hubs” should become the “fulcrum”, of the game, not its outskirts, as it happened in both Ultima Online and SWG where the players lived OUTSIDE the towns instead of WITHIN them. Then giving these places special uses that would be advantageous for both the guild owning the place and all the other players. For example access to special porters to cut travel time between the continents, or special quests and crafting tools only available there. The guild hosting these services will have to pay maintenance costs that should move parallel to the activities they do already, like obtaning magic stones from particular raid encounters to feed the power of these teleporters, while the other player would have to pay for the service, but moving the money paid from the NPCs directly to the guild vault. The idea is to give the guilds winning the tourneys not only the reward and a special status among all other players, but also responsibilities and duties toward them. Creating a relationship and a collaboration. Creating more a sense of community.

There are many more possibilities worth exploring but they should all following this line: from a side giving relevance and visibility to the guild, creating a truly unique status and gameplay from them, from the other taking advantage of the special role the guild has in the game to also create gameplay for ALL the other players. This is something I already hinted, the aim to create a type of “status unbalance” that would feel TRULY unique, but that, at the same time, is able to involve, affect and create a gameplay space even for all the other players. Creating a relationships between the two parts and not a total detachment and the resulting “envy” that comes because some players have access to a part of the game that is precluded to many others.

This is how I was planning to “solve the paradox” that Brad McQuaid explained in that quote I linked. Not a division between casual and hardcore players as two separate groups that deserve different types of content and that must remain separate so that the hardcore can enjoy their e-peen over the (excluded) mass. But different and definite “status achievements” that are visible but become the real fabric of the game. Making the two parts interact instead of isolate. Adding benefits for BOTH sides.

Dolmens, talking “stoneheads”
I got this idea because I felt the need for more directions since the maps aren’t really useful right now and I still cannot figure out how the zones are connected and the overall geography. The inspiration also comes from “Labyrinth”, the movie with the talking door that asks who passes by to resolve a riddle. These dolmens would be magical stones, shaped as big, magical faces stuck in the terrain with only the possibility to turn. Big more or less as half an ogre, with the face fully animated and as much expressive as possible. There should be one of these for each zone and they should serve two basic purposes:
1- Provide some lore for the zone.
2- Give directions.

Then adding many more fun habits that would make them as something truly unique. Not only they should all have different voices, but also different personalities with an attention to the humor. For example there should be running jokes on the fact they cannot move. They should be really upset by the fact that they are stuck there and complain all the time with everyone. They could notice and mock a player fighting with a monster nearby, taunting him or inciting him! It would be tons of fun. They could go like: “I’m booored.” Or “Uhm.. Could you scratch my nose? Pleeese?” Or “Sniff.. sniff.. You smell. Move away!” when a player moves too close to the face or starting to get completely nut if someone goes to sit right on their head. Adding more and more situational interactions.

Think if a player is fighting nearby and dings a level. The dolmen would go: “Whohooooo! Grats! What you are now? Five?” with true voices, maybe yelling from far away, for everyone to listen. Things like this really freak out the players. Noone expects a pile of rock to start talking to them or congratulate them for a level. It would really add a whole new level of entertainment to the game. Another of those “whoa!” moments, totally unexpected that you will remember for a long, long time and that would always remind you the game as something special and unique.

Then they could offer a long series of quests that should be all undepended from the level of the character. This mean that they should never depend on combat but on other gameplay elements like going to recuperate objects, obtain special recipes, go on long journeys and so on. To add again a depth to the interaction beyond combat and levels. The reward could be a mix of functional and “toy” purposes. The functional one could be the possibility for the dolmen to cast a special, unique buff on the player if the player is able to give the correct answer to a riddle, while the “toy rewards” could instead vary and would be there only for the amusement. For example the player could point the dolmen another player passing by and the dolmen could “spit” a small rock toward it, executing a high parabola and then landing precisely on top of the player’s head (if he didn’t move), doing very little damage but triggering that “what the hell?!” reaction. And then the dolmen would go “SCORE!”, yelling at its target and then laughing :)

The focus should be really about providing each dolmen its own unique personality and then add a good number of situational reactions that the players could try to discover just for the fun value. Some dolmens could whistle for example if a female elf passes by. Keeping a balance between making them an active and entertaining part of the environment still without becoming too annoying and repetitive. They should be able to notice the level of the player, a “ding”, if he is fighting or not, gender and race and the distance from the stone. These elements should be already enough to spring many different fun situations. Then the players would still be able to interact directly with them through the dialogue system. Asking them directions around the world or getting some informations about the lore of the zones.

Flying carpets
Just a quick note: A better animation from the flying carpets. They look really faked right now. They just translate horizontally without any semblance of realism and when they don’t move they still are too rigid, like if flying on a table more than a carpet. It wouldn’t be too hard making them more believable. An animation that makes them float up and down and ondulate more, both when idle and moving, could do wonders.

Totally random digression (drank too much tea)

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I passed two hours hunting for something I wanted to quote from Raph, without finding it.

Anyway, new blogs seem to spawn every hour. The more I read them the more I think how much I suck at writing about things. It really makes me angry not being able to say something the way I like. Krones posted on the reply to Aggro Me some rules about “ranting”. I suck at those as well, but then I don’t feel like a ranter. I’m just not able to do that, it’s not something I can do. Like the secret to ltm.net. Something beyond my reach. I don’t represent anyone, I just couldn’t. I’m eccentric.

So, don’t repeat me that I suck, because I know and I agree. It’s not like you need to convince me.

I’m not “eloquent”, it’s hard for me to “pass” ideas and, in particular, create empathy. I’m not a good ranter and I’ll never be. Not this is my aspiration, really. And never was. I wish I had those qualities but I don’t have them. I knew this from the start and I’m here for other reasons.

What I’ve learnt, and where Lum is a true master, is that one post should always correspond to one idea. Go back to read the good pieces Lum wrote both recently and during the “Golden Age”. The message was always clear and effective. One post -> one idea. Instead in one of my posts I say a million things and everything is so much complicated and goes back and forth to the point that at the end it seems I say nothing at all. I take millions of notes, I start to write and then I get more ideas and things I need to track down and add. Then I forget a bunch while writing and as I’m done I remember or find 60 other things I missed. So I go back and try to add parts here and there, which doesn’t really work.

Confrontate what Lum wrote, with my reply. What Lum says is million times more effective and straight. But I believe I reached better the problem and because that was the result of a long work for me that is going on from quite a while.

Right now I have a bunch of things I need to write that accumulated to the point that I don’t really know what I can do. The notes I have about DAoC have grown beyond what is manageable, I have another text file open with some ideas about EQ2 I need to finish, I still need to write down more comment about the textures that I’m holding from many months, then the LFG system. I have some parts of the interview to Raph quoted that I have to fit somewhere and still have to go back and save some of the past discussions. Then there’s something I want to write about the reiteration and addition of “content” and the overhaul of old zones and another where I want to consolidate some thoughs about the icons and toolbars used between the various games. DAoC is going to have a new expansion, I have to write from a long time something about the itemization and again more comments on the status of the PvE, because that’s what is crucial for the game right now and where it is losing terrain. There’s an article from another blog I have to link here and another old comment from me on F13, in a discussion with Dave Rickey that complements this discussion about PvE and that I have to track down again.

Things continuously slip out of my head and I rage against myself because I just thinking to something RIGHT NOW and I forget it. It’s frustrating! This is a huge timesink, not playing. Playing is the easiest part.

So I suck doing this and it’s why I don’t even try to go in that direction. I cannot value the way I say something but I try to focus on what I say. And try to compensate the other deficencies with more attention and dedication. I’m an attentive observer, that’s something I can do. While my conclusions may be not so well presented, at least I think they can be fairly complete and interesting. I try to go at the heart of the issues and examine them, all the various points of view. Creating a mediation and a personal synthesis of all these parts. I spend a whole lot of time reading things and thinking about them. At all levels. I dig things constantly, looking into them. So I replace the part where I suck with this attention e meticulous work. I try to shift the focus on what I say more than on how I say it. Even if I absolutely know it’s a lost battle. I try to articulate.

Then I’m empathic with everything goes on. Lum leaves Mythic and it’s like a shock. You know, things like “Lum works at Mythic” are postulates of the reality. It’s like expecting the sun to rise. In THIS context, obviously. It’s not something you expect to change or in doubt. I’m excited, worried and shocked at the same time. I like when things change or demonstrate that they *can* change. That it isn’t all enrooted in the same place and all the same, the same and the same. Things can still move and can still be exciting! I participate into that. Possibilities!

LUM LEFT MYTHIC! OMG! You *cannot* just sit there doing nothing. It’s TOTALLY not normal.

That news was HUGE to me for multiple reasons, not only because I care about DAoC and I’m interested about what Lum will do. But also because Lum is still the backbone of what “we” do here. He is the load bearing wall. He defines between good and wrong, we must start somewhere to distinguish and recognize things. The fact that he moves is CRUCIAL. Things move all around. Or at least this is my perspective.

Then there’s the empathy thing. Like in Dec 04 I was excited to have a solid book from Raph in my hands. Things were concrete. I’m a dreamer. See the gap? When the gap fills up, or seems to, for me it’s a whole new discovery. I already said I’m not a ranter, I just live “by proxy”. I write not because I’m voicing people opinions but again as a dreamer. There *aren’t*, on this earth, people more passionate than me about this. That’s something I claim. So writing is for me a way to move as near as possible to something I know I cannot reach. So the empathy thing. Lum says he’s moving and I live this with him. I’m more excited than him because I participate into that, still “by proxy”. I envy him, of course, so I’m there as well, wishing along. I indentify myself with that perspective that I don’t have. So it’s stronger even compared to what I write about games. Because again I’m not a player. My play time is only a fragment of the time I dedicate to this genre because what I like is the process of creation, collaboration. The construction. Be part of things. So I search a dialogue, I want to discuss things because I envy. That’s the dream that leads me. The myth.

I imagine how things could be, if I had the possibility to be there, moving past the limit. I think I could melt completely, getting completely absorbed. There are so many things I’d love to learn. The more incompetent I’d feel, the more the space of things that would involve me, where I can immerse myself. I’d SO LOVE to see things behind the scenes, how the various people work together, how a content designer team works, how the zones are built, the script programs they use. I’d love to sit by an artist to follow his work and see how he can shape a monster or a character, I’d love to follow the development of a project from the concept art to its transition as something “solid” and playable. Follow all these steps, go to bug everyone incessantly, from QA to the lead designers, be everywhere, chase everything passing by to see where it leads. I think I’d melt with the bricks of the offices, because that’s the level of things I love.

Moving past the threshold would be my dream. Sitting down with someone explaining me how the internal tools work and can be used. That level that I know nothing about but that I’d like to be able learn. The possibility to. Right now I’m total incompetent, but I wish I had the possibility to move there. Not only live things through a screen (which is truly “convenient”, I agree), but getting compromised. The teamwork as something that becomes more direct and concrete, not anymore assumed or imagined. Crossing that line. Be part of things.

Of course: I don’t have a website to realize my dreams. Nor to build “community” or consensus. I have a website just because I can go as near it’s possible for me to what I like. Definitely not as a player, but looking inside through a window. I write about those things I see or I imagine through it. I look inside ecstatically, trying to get a glimpse of what people do inside. Stranger in a strange land. I’m totally alien to that part, I have zero competencies, but, still, it’s what I find fascinating and that draws me like the strongest magnet. Nothing to offer. But this passion? You cannot match it. I wish I could learn, though.

This site is a ladder to watch the stars. As silly as it is.

So what? Nothing. I just wanted to say why there are things with which I feel a so strong participation even if I have nothing to share with, like the news that Lum is moving somewhere else.

I get so involved and heartily participating because I’m there even if you cannot see me :) So don’t be surprised by my reactions.

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… and back to Penny-Arcade Vs EQ2

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Noone does remember this?

It seemed much harsh and effective. Again, nothing new or surprising. Ahh, the internet.

This reminds me of stumbling across some guys Bryce 3D website. You know where he has all his pictures of islands in a vast ocean but there’s like three suns! Or a big floating chrome skull and there’s like water pouring out of the eyes and mouth. I mean, this stuff from EQ2 looks like 3D clip art. There is no evidence that anyone possessing even a limited imagination ever touched these characters.

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SOE Vs THE WORLD

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Oh, there’s really a lot to say but I don’t have much time.

As Scott Hartsman wrote here, “there’s been a fair bit of vilification going on lately”. Not just about Smed, but pretty much against SOE as a whole, as an evil corporate brand that wants to impose itself above the single talents it has within. Pretty much what is being commented on this thread.

Darniaq did already write it best. Nothing to add there. Go to read and nod your head. Now.

As Penny Arcade was caught in the eye of the storm the defense was again an attack on the corporate level. Darniaq repeats what I think as well: “As to Penny Arcade, yeah, Chris didn’t say anything we didn’t.” So, honestly, nothing surprising.

The rest is about a letter from SOE to Joystiq:

9. Dear Joystiq-ers,

Wanted to drop you a note to let you know that we’re doing well over here at Sony Online Entertainment! Despite this post, running three of the Top 5 MMOs in North America (EverQuest, EverQuest II and Star Wars Galaxies) has not reduced us to a state of “desperation.”

From your piece: “Casual gamers or those new to MMOs might get suckered in briefly…” Yes, exactly, glad you’re getting the idea, at least partially. We currently have more than 800,000 people playing our games. Would we like more? Yes. How do we get more players? Marketing is one way. This includes advertising in magazines, on websites and — very occasionally, when we have the budget and really believe in a title — on TV. Marketing also includes media relations (what I am doing right now), creating demo programs, forging partnerships with companies like Intel and Nvidia or setting up cross-promotional activities like /pizza.

Calling our demos desperate is like referring to Joystiq’s cross-network linking as a sad attempt to get people to care about your site. How do you get people to look at your blog? You RSS your feed out – wow, it’s sad that Joystiq is so desperate for readers that you have to blindly cast your words out into the internet and hope that someone pays attention. OMG, Joystiq also accepts advertising dollars from evil marketing companies – SELLOUTS!

What’s up next? Is Joystiq going to begin criticizing every video game company that advertises in a magazine? Perhaps id Software and Valve are going out of business because they release free demos of Quake 4 and Half-Life 2. Maybe Coke and Nike are about to collapse because they run TV ads. I’d like to think that Joystiq is smarter than this, simply because I read and enjoy your site every day.

Both SOE and Joystiq need eyeballs to keep us viable as businesses. This is why we periodically run demos or ads for our games and why you guys are given support on other Weblogs, Inc. Network sites. This post was completely snarky and particularly stupid when you put on a thinking cap to look at what we’re doing from a business perspective, instead of merely trying to pile on to whatever random nonsense the supergeniuses at Penny Arcade spew out.

Gotta go, I’ve got a whole day of evil marketing ideas ahead of me!

Chris Kramer
Dir., Corporate Communications
Sony Online Entertainment

SOE is under fire. Honestly, I have to say that they deserve some of this. Even if the attacks are being now excessive and rather silly.

My comments about the specific topic are less “cheap” and demagogic:

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EQ2 still actually costs quite a bit if you factor all the various extensions. Kingdom of Sky will include the base game, but it won’t include Desert of Flame, nor the two mini-packs that were released during the past year. And on top of this there are the station player services and, I think, the possibility to buy more character slots.

Which is what I actually wrote earlier in this thread: SOE wants you in and getting involved with the game. Then they have plenty of ways to make you pay more than 15$ each month. With two expansions and mini-packs every year they are asking MUCH more money to a customer compared with Blizzard and I don’t find surprising if they work to cut the “costs of admittance”. Which actually seems a good idea.

In fact this is their new marketing strategy that they are adopting everywhere. The idea of the “free game” they are working on is not because they expect this game to suck as well, but because they want to cut the costs of admittance and then get the money through alternate ways, like the micro-payments.

For DAoC I think they did a smart move with Darkness Rising (which is tiny and I wouldn’t consider a full expansion). It was released as a digital download and then packaged the week after with the FULL game + ALL the expansions even released in a retail box.

I wish more companies would adopt this strategy. It makes sense to offer in a SHOP (where you are supposed to lure in brand new players) full box sets that include everything to have the game “up to date” and offer the best experience without any other requirements. And, for the current subscribers, the digital download option, since they are already playing and don’t really need to go to the shop and buy a brand new box.

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