So I have been posting all my writting on swtor-life for a while now..
I will be bringing copies of them to this blog over the next week or so.
I may also be looking for a different site for my blog. I am not always happy with the format on here, at least for putting in documents…
Rosie
I am now publishing articles at this Star Wars Fansite. Please join us and read not just my work, but other great writers.
Rosie
Per a discussion on Twitter, I decided to take a serious look at what my play style is. We have all heard the terms Hardcore & Casual, but what about the middle ground. It was suggested that could be Dedicated. I can see that working. Sort of a small, medium and large type of play style. But what really do they mean.
Hardcore: (from Wikipedia) : Hardcore gamers prefer to take significant time and practice on games, and tend to play more involved games that require larger amounts of time to complete or master. Hardcore gamers may take part in video game culture. Competition is another defining characteristic of hardcore gamers, who often compete in organized tournaments, leagues, or ranked play integrated into the game proper. There are many subtypes of hardcore gamers based on the style of game, game play preference, hardware platform, and other preferences.
(Personal): I see a hardcore gamer like above, but also I find them always maximizing their character. They are always looking for the best gear, best skill tree, best damage or heal, and best at doing a raid or instance. Being the best seems to drive this personality. They have no time for someone that is not as dedicated as they are.
This is not a bad play style. It tends to lead to elitist attitudes and excluding of players not like them. Guilds that focus on this tend to be server first frequently, and usually have mandatory raid times, and a mandatory amount of time online.
That type of gaming does not interest me. I am more a member of the next 2 options.
Mid-Core (dedicated?): (from Wikipedia): A core gamer is a player with a wide range of interests and enthusiast toward creative and diverse games,[8] but without the amount of time spent and sense of competition of a hardcore gamer. The mid-core gamer enjoys complex games but won’t buy every novel release, doesn’t have time for long games,[9] and is a target consumer [10] that needs features not found in games for the other types. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated that they designed the Wii U to cater to a core gamer who is between the casual and hard-core categories.[11]
(Personal): I see this level of gamer as the one that has a family, a job, and possibly a life. There is an enjoyment of the game, without the high level of competitiveness that comes from hardcore gamers. This does not mean they don’t like to compete, they just seem to do so with a bit more of a relaxed and approachable attitude.
This is pretty much my play style. I like to investigate almost all the zones, and try every crafting specialization I can get my hands on. I also tend to make a number of alts. A game that can keep my MMOADD (Massive Multi-player Online Attention Deficit Disorder) entertained are usually the games I gravitate to as well.
(Personal): I have some disagreements with this definition. I actually think more female gamers fit into the Mid-Core definition, as to “older” gamers. Of course “older” may have different definitions to people. I am 40, I consider myself an “older” gamer. This is primarily because it seems like 75% of the people I game with are young enough to be my children. I think when you start becoming the den mother for a guild, you can consider yourself “older”.
I do agree that the casual gamer tends to be on the game less. It is more of a social thing for them. They log in to socialize and run a few events with their guild. They go out and have a specific mission in mind for the day. Maybe to get a level, craft an item, or just get the dailies done.
I tend to see the casual gamer as playing primarily on weekends or their days off, and if they play during the week it is about an hour or so in an evening.
Now the Wikipedia I am coping from had a few other definitions of gamers.
Pro-gamer: (from Wikipedia): Professional gamers play video games for money.[12] Whether a professional gamer is a subtype of the hardcore gamer largely depends on the degree to which a professional gamer is financially dependent upon the income derived from gaming. So far as a professional gamer is financially dependent upon gaming, the time spent playing is no longer “leisure” time. In countries of Asia, particularly South Korea and Japan, professional gamers are sponsored by large companies and can earn more than $100,000USD a year, in addition to the following that some obtain.[13] In the United States, Major League Gaming has contracted Electronic Sports Gamers with $250,000USD yearly deals.[14]
Girl-gamer: (from Wikipedia): Main article: Girl gamer - A girl gamer is any female who regularly engages in playing video games. According to a study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association in 2009, 40% of the game playing population is female, and women 18 or older now comprise 34% of all gamers. Also, the percentage of women now playing online has risen to 43%, up 4% from 2004. The same study shows that 48% of game purchasers are female.[18]
Newbie: (from Wikipedia): Main article: Newbie - Newbie, or “noob”, is a slang term for a novice or newcomer to a certain game, or to gaming in general.[15][16] It can have derogatory connotations, but is also often used for descriptive purposes only, without a value judgment. Two derived terms are “newb”, a beginner who is willing to learn; and “noob”, a derogatory name (an alternate spelling for n00b).
(Personal): These last 3 definitions I think are outside the play style discussion. I did want to mention them as they do relate to the player.
I also think the type of gamer you are tends to have you gravitate towards different styles of servers. There are 3 main types of servers. PvP (Player vs. Player), PvE (Player vs. Environment) and RP (Role-playing) are the primary types. There also tends to be RP-PvP and RP-PvE servers in the larger games.
I personally think the hardcore gamer is more likely to be on a server that is PvP. This gives them the option to compete against players more actively. This could be on a RP server as well. The drive to be the best can sometimes bring them to try to RP so completely that they never talk OOC (Out Of Character).
The casual and mid-core gamer seems to play each of the types of server. I have noticed more of the casual style of play on a PvE server, where there is less trash talk of a person’s skills.
RP servers seem to have a larger population of females on them, and “older” players. I think this is basically because there is less harassment of the player on these servers. Many of them police themselves to such a degree that a non-RP name is reported, as are behaviors that harass or put down the population. Of course not all RP servers are the same, nor perfect.
Now all servers have all play types. This is just were I am seeing the majority of the styles.
Remember no matter what style of play you have the key to a game is fun. If something you do for entertainment is not fun, then why on earth are you doing it? Of course I also believe your job should be enjoyable if not fun, but I maybe a minority that has had that luck in my life.
Suggestion from @SWTORCRAFTER - heres one, how do you feel @bioware emphasis on story will affect your normal gameplay style in MMO’s? Will it change you? #swtor
I need to admit ahead of time that I have played very few Bioware games. ME was never something that interested me till very recently. I am not usually very good in single player games.
That being said I have played Neverwinter Nights and Baldur’s Gate, but looking at their list of games, those are the only two by Bioware that I played.
Story: I love a story line in my games. I want to feel like I am part of the game. The back story is very important to me. But don’t make it so there is no ability to deviate, or adjust that story to make a back story for my character. This is more important to me in a MMO then in a single player.
I like to decide where my character comes from, where it is going, and what the motivation is. I have been an avid book reader all my life and the MMO is a “choose your own adventure” of the modern age.
How do I play? Well…… I like to RP. I like immersion. I like kicking some things rear across the screen. But mostly I like to have fun.
The emphasis on story is going to be interesting. I really like to have well thought out quests. I read them, most of them. I want a reason to go kill 10 rats. Is it because they have rabies and need to be put down, or are they getting into the food supply, or is it just because some developer didn’t have any imagination.
Recently I have been playing a MMO that has a basic story. But after the initial cut scene the story just dies. I do not feel like the quests further my character’s story, or even the game’s story. In MMOs it seems the story is lost, and that the story is only the purview of a single player game.
I am actually not expecting much of a change, if any, in how I play. I will be watching and listening to the story, developing my RP to follow my character, and immersing myself in a lore I love. Of course that also means I will be crafting my little heart out, and failing completely at PvP.
Call it what you want. Gold farming, Chinese farmer, botting … it has millions of names. But what does this really mean for a game?
Well honestly it can mean a break down in a player based economy.
What is a “farmer”?
Traditionally the farmer label is given to accounts or characters that bring nothing to the game EXCEPT the earning of “things”. By this I mean the grinding of npc mobs for the drops, excessive gathering of crafting resources and other similar activities. Many of these accounts use macros and botting (or roboting) programs to achieve their end.
In most games the use of third party programs to bot is against the EULA (end-user license agreement), as well as the ToS (terms of service). Add-ons have been used in games for a long time. My first introduction to huge varieties of add-ons, and bot, applications came in WOW (world of warcraft). This was also one of the first times I noticed people making a profit in real money on these games.
What happens when a farmer uses these programs and produces huge amounts of items, or currency in a game, is they now need to offload it. What better way to do that then selling those items for real money.
Players who buy this currency or items are now putting themselves in a position of being able to buy or make just about anything. This is where the appeal is. Humanity is competitive. If a way can be found to give someone a leg up, or bonus, when compared to another player, Hot damn they will do it. Why? Because they want to be the best, the richest, the coolest, player on the server.
The problem with it comes from the fact that now items in the player markets are priced completely off what the general economy can sustain. In most cases the price of items drop very low on a server that is dealing with a lot of gold buying and selling. This tends to be even more evident on a F2P(free to play) game.
I have seen prices fall to less then what you can get when just selling your items to a vender. This makes it very difficult for the honest player to achieve the same level as the one buying currency.
Now many people feel there is a conspiracy among the game companies when it comes to selling currency. There is a perception that these companies do not crack down on the seller in the game, or the websites that sell the currency. The perception is that some how the company is earning money off of these activities.
Well they are getting the subscriptions on a P2P (pay to play) game. But getting a cut of the money earned by currency sellers? I don’t think so. There could be a company or two that will participate in this, but I do not think the industry as a whole does.
How does this hurt a company? Well it upsets the general player base. People do not like to log into a game and have currency sellers spam them with adds. Many of us don’t even like chat channels in general due to the proliferation of spam, and chuck Norris jokes.
How do you stop it? Well this is a hard question. Having a quick reaction to complaints and tickets on the matter helps a lot. Many companies ban the IP address the seller is logging in from. Of course there is the banning of the individual character or account. But this is really an after the fact approach.
The best way is to address it in the game itself, with how it is played. Now these approaches can also upset a player base if implemented after a game has been released, but having it at launch is more accepting.
What I am talking about is the ability to macro, the access to add-ons, and cool downs and instant skills, as well as time outs for idle accounts. Also filters on the chats where it prevents web addresses, or speech timers can make an impact. Being able to speak on the global channels limited to a level cap can at least force these people to HAVE to level up a certain amount.
Now cool downs and instants can make an honest player frustrated. They want to be able to macro their attack rotation so it is easier to play. Of course this also leads to the max-min which I am not addressing here.
I have found as I looked into this that games that have a cool down on the fighting skills, in a way that makes a macro useless, and where you can not kill a mob with a single spell, lowers the currency sellers. That said, I have not seen currency ever sold in LotRO (lord of the rings online). I have seen them in Rift, but recently I have not. RoM (ruins of magic) was full of currency sellers, as was WOW.
The difference in these games came down to add-ons and macros. Rift and LotRO are not conducive to macros that will run a number of spells in a row. RoM and WOW not only did you have the ability to macro a number of spells so it could conceivably be a mini bot with one key, but you also have add-ons that allow for programming of a reactions to an action.
My hope is that more games are going to move away from allowing add-ons. Yes I know, so many players like them. But really, do you need to have a program heal the party for you? I thought the player was supposed to play, not the computer.
As I researched add-ons, macros, and 3rd party programs I found something alarming, well to me. You can purchase a program that will run in the background and play your game for you… why? This is no longer playing; it is cheating, and stealing. I honestly do not think that people that purchase these even consider that. All they want is the easy way. And the game companies are allowing it. When you report one of these bots, nothing is done except you receive a nice form letter from someone you can never talk back to. I am frustrated as you can see by this. Maybe I need to leave Bots and programs for another time.
*remember these are my opinions and no one else. And this is based on my own experience and recollection of that experience. Things change in games, and I may not have been there when it did…….
Ok I have seen the video for the new expansion. I will admit loud and clear that I left WOW now about 2 years ago, give or take a few months. I just really lost interest. It was a huge undertaking for me to level to cap. And never did again after the first cap increase.
So this Expansion…… Pandas….. Monks…. Oh my!
I am actually stepping back and looking at this differently. My initial reaction was uproarious laughter.
Now I think on this. There are some huge pieces to this move. The MONK. As a former WOW wife, I left him for other reasons, He would rage almost that there was no Monk class. How cool it would be, and just down right awesomeness of the monk. Now we have been participants in AD&D for a long time. Him longer then I. And I am thinking that WOW is finally hearing the wish for a Monk.
Now Pandas…. Well. They are cute. They do represent a culture that had the monk type they wish to mimic. They could have gone with a little lizard think like in Mulan, or even a cat, but they choose a Panda.
Why the Panda? Well because it is cute. How many wives, girlfriends, sisters, and mothers have no idea about gaming? How many of their family members WANT them to play, so they understand the stupid things they say and do?
This expansion is for the girls. Not for the kids, although it is going to appeal to a younger audience. It is completely for the girls, and I mean not the girl gamers, that have no wish to even have you know she is a girl, but to the “he’s so cuuuutttte” girls.
I have to say, well done. This is the first time I have seen something targeted on a demographic after the game has been out for any length of time. Will this work for them? I can not see the future. But I can tell you the household I use to live in will buy it, so that is 3 copies right there. At least one of them will pre-pay for a year to get the D3 access. Will they loose subscriptions? No clue. But honestly I think they are kind of fudging those numbers right now.
Who is a winner? No one actually. Each game is just that a game. We do not win or loose in life, but we will pick and choose what game to play. I personally will not be going back to WOW. But I am still waiting for something to draw me in and I don’t need cute.
As we look at the history of multiplayer games for the computer we see consistent themes through out history. Since the first game there have been stories, puzzles, combat, and progression.
I want to look at combat. I find that really it is a discussion of user interface, not combat that people are talking about. So let me clarify, I want to talk about user interfaces as it relates to a computer based game, not a console.
So Multiplayer games started with two computers attached to a mainframe. My experience with this was going into work with my father, and playing Adventure and Zork on his terminal computer in his office. By the way I was about 5 years old then. You used commands typed in to do things. /go west , /get , /kill … This system was used for at least 10 years. MUDs generally focused on role playing, and creating a world that people could disappear into. All with text.
During the time of MUDs there were user interfaces developed to assist the player in making it easier. Many of those programs just were telnet programs build specifically for the games. You could program macros into them. This is where I think the start of our current combat system came from. I know I had a macro key bound to [1] that was /get all. And also had one that was /inventory. Key mapping/binding and macros, this is where it started.
So now we are moving to the late 80s. The first graphical “game” that could be considered Massive multiplayer online was Club Caribe, and it was introduced by LucasArts. This was a graphical chat room really. It allowed for trading of items and chat, using avatars.
Legends of Future Past has been looked at as the start of true crafting systems, it certainly was the first to have a paid staff, and GMs to interact and monitor the game. MUDs had volunteers doing these jobs, and tended to rely on college mainframes and developers home internet systems.
But Legends did not yet have the key bound macros built in. You still needed to type /open door.
Now we move to Ultima Online (UO). This game was a departure from what had come before, at least in user interfaces. Now you had mouse clicks, and key bindings that did specific things. Example Alt-I: Opens Backpack (Inventory) . We also see the first hot bars, and they were customizable! (Enhanced client) Now this game was released in 1997, this is 7 years before World of Warcraft (WOW) was released. But here you can see that they took these features from UO. Now what I can not recall, nor find noted anywhere, is if UO was turn based or real time.
Everquest (EQ), a real time game, was released in 1999. This went to the next evolution of user interfaces. We have customizable hot bars, mouse clickability, and key bound macros. But we yet to have the now common [1] key triggering an attack form.
Asheron’s Call (AC) is the first MMO that has not only a hot bar, but hot keys that correspond to that bar. This was released in 1999. This is the leap forward that needed to happen to make today’s MMOs the way they are.
As we moved into 2000, we now have a basic standard for MMO. Hot bars that are mapped to hotkeys, customizable, clickable, and expandable. This is not the standard for the industry. When a company chooses to not do this, the player base calls it clumsy, not user friendly, and “too” difficult to play.
Now between 2001 and 2004 there are 15 MMO released. Many of these are the II of a title. Most are a Role playing game with Player vs. Player (PvP) elements. These games were mostly all based on EQ, UO, and AC.
What deviations in user interfaces really are related to the engine used to create these games.
WOW became the first game that pulled over 50% of the market. Due to this fact WOW is frequently referred to when comparing other games to the industry. Everything is now referred to as a WOW clone. The irony of this is that WOW is more of an AC clone then really anything being a clone of WOW.
The basic user interface that has become the industry standard has been used since 1999. When I hear that a new game is a WOW clone I actually feel this is not only a falsehood, but it does the industry a huge disservice.
I have played almost all the games that have come out in the last 25-30 years. They all built on each other. They all used technology as it became available to make their game stand out. What we are seeing is a generation issue. We now have 10 year olds to 20 year olds that have only seen WOW. They have never played any of the older games. This generation only has the reference of WOW, and consider it the holy grail of MMO games.
I am afraid this reference is never going to go away. We are going to have to deal with these comparisons now for ever. What is disappointing is that the game media forgets the roots of the industry as well. I find it is a lazy way for the media to get their own impressions of a game out to the community.
I admit this is written with memories of games I have played, and the research of looking up older games user manuals. I have forgotten more about the games I have played then I remember.
What do you think? Is it appropriate to call newer games WOW clones?
So as I read the different media reviews of the SW:TOR game I find that there is a lot of comparisons to WOW. This I am not surprised with, but the tone I am.
So far I have read a negative set of reviews that basically say that SW:TOR is just a WOW mimic. The reviewers gave me the impression that they do not like SW just due to the fact it isn’t their favorite game, which seems to be WoW with the way I read it. They have nothing really positive to say about story, companions, crafting, or classes. As I read this particular set of reviews I wanted to reach through the computer and strangle them.
It felt like they could not objectively review anything. All they want to do, it seems to me, is spread negativity.
I am not sure where people get the idea that the combat system was going to be significantly, or even minorly different from other MMOs. Combat systems work in limited ways. It is very hard to come up with something completely different, and if you do, it may not work. This game took 3 years I believe to this point. Do we want to wait 3 more years for them to invent the wheel again.
WOW was not the first MMO, but it is the first large one that people know. But this MMO did not invent anything. They took capabilities from MUDs and the very first graphical MMOs. In 1974, Mazewar was the actual first graphical multiplayer, then we move to Adventure and Zork which initially were text based. MMO that was first commercially, as far as I can tell, was released in the mid 1980s, Island of Kesmai. To be honest to trace the MMO creation is not what I am here for. But to sum up WOW was released in 2004. By this time there had been at least 12 MMOs, some that are still being actively played, and enjoyed.
So why is WOW the game everything is compared to? Well basically because it reached the largest number of people. Our world had changed considerably between the 70s and 2000. Now the personal computer was more prevalent in homes, schools, and business. The game WOW managed to catch the majority of the market due to the “new” look it had, and the moving of a number of people from console games to the home computer.
Now we have a new game coming out. It is going to be compared with what has become and industry standard to the public.
Since 1970s there has not really been a significant change in how combat is done. You may beg to differ, but I have written for a number of MUDs. The combat basics are the same through out these games. When I moved to graphical games I found that this was still true.
Story telling has not changed since, well the beginning of time. How it is used in game play varies from game to game. But again it is similar from the first table top games even. Someone gives a start of a story, “you are here” “you see” then the player decides what to do. Even in games that do not really have a storyline will give you “quests” “missions” and so on that have some reason. There is a reason you are sent out to kill 10 rats. It may have no impact on a main theme of the game, but you are given a reason.
Now let me change the subject slightly. What I like in a game is what I got when playing AD&D. A good theme, a group of people, and the ability to choose my path. Now there are games out there that get really close. But what I have seen missing is a consistent story. Something that runs through the whole game. I get bored when I have done the same thing over and over again to get to level 50, then find out I still can not kill anything.
I tried WOW, I even played for 4 years. I have played quite a few different games since then. I have not found anything that holds my attention. Now WOW would hold my attention for a few weeks, then I would take a break, then play. What was missing? A real story that held my attention, and honest fairness. Just about every game I have played favors one faction over the other.
As I read and investigate SW I am finding there seems to be equality between the factions. There is also a use for each of the classes. The tank is so frequently useless in PvP and sometimes not even useful as it could be in PvE. I am seeing that there is a difference in SW.
The crafting in many games is either tedious, or fluff. Games where you have to craft each component that is used in the end product, gather it from all sides of the realms, and then wait 24 hours before you can actually make one. Or games that crafting is such an after thought that none of the items made can compete with drops. The idea I can set my companion to craft something, gather something, or do a “mission”, while I am leveling up, taking a nap, or having some blue milk at the cantina, well that just gives me the idea this could keep my obsessive crafting need fed yet still be out doing things with other people.
Housing is another thing that has now become a demand by the players. Some of the games I play have no houses. SW is going to have a ship that will work as your house, bank and workshop. Honestly I like this. Now I just need to be able to paint the walls and put in hardwood floors….
So what am I trying to get to in this? Well, basically, I want to point out, as many have, that WOW is not a great indicator of success or failure. The only way to judge this game is to play it yourself. I sadly will not get to do so till launch. Reading the reviews of others will only give you a taste of what the writer feels and think. Truthfully do you have the same taste in clothing, jewelry, mates as your cube mate at work? And really would you want to?
Posted by LotRO on thier login page.
All That Glitters Is Not Gold…
Sep 20, 2011 05:00 EST
Especially in-game gold bought for real money! This is a friendly reminder to our players that buying gold for real money is not only against the EULA, but can put your account at risk for hacking or banning. Buying gold causes game imbalance, damages the economy, and contributes to the amount of spam in chat, tells, and mail. In extreme cases it’s even been known to cause increased hair loss, global warming, and the extinction of at least 2 species of insects every day. Don’t buy gold!
