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Sony Online Seeking Queen of Everquest II
KingSkippus writes "Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and Stuff Magazine is seeking a real life look-alike for Everquest II's Antonia Bayle, Queen of Qeynos. In preparation, it has launched a Web site that will go live on May 17. The winner will receive a modeling contract with SOE and a photo spread in Stuff Magazine. Perhaps pictures would make lucrative auction items as well?"
... SOE continues running one retarded marketing campaign after another.
SOE can't make a good MMO anymore.
I haven't played Everquest, but I've played plenty of WoW, which is just as addictive. Basically, the feeling of accomplishment from completing a quest, gaining a level, etc., feels good. Becoming more powerful as a result of these things also feels good.
All this is magnified by the fact that there are thousands of other people in the same world as you, and your accomplishments make you "better" relative to them. At some point, you find yourself dreaming about all the great things you'll be able to do once you hit the level cap, and all the power you will have over the average player. So the desire to become ultra-powerful also drives you on.
I also rather enjoy just exploring new areas. The world in WoW is huge and beautiful. It would literally take days of play time to see everything, even if there were no enemies to slow you down.
That said, it does get really repetitive. If you snap yourself out of the spell for a bit and realize "This is just a game. My status relative to all these other players is totally irrelevant.", the game gets really boring really fast.
Possibly a bit of that, but I'm guessing it's also probably cheaper. They can go to modelling agencies, but they're mostly going to have established models who want a huge heap of cash. Alternatively they can get someone who doesn't already have a careers, and isn;t going to ask for top model rates.
Firiona Vie is *NOT* Antonia Bayle.
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
Indeed, looks pretty normal now.
Having characters that could actually exist in reality is a good thing, IMHO. Some I've seen are so ridiculous that they'd probably have needed magic just to avoid falling from all the weight. I think the current record is held by anime, though. Divergence Eve took it to a really ridiculous level, so that it made it hard watching just because of that. Not that the plot was much better though.
Of course there are also male characters that make Schwarzenegger look like a wimp, but I'd say that's a somewhat different thing since an unrealistic amount of muscle is at least good for something, especially when using a sword is an everyday activity.
Yes, verily, in any other game the level is irrelevant outside the game. E.g., being level 20 in KOTOR can't even be compared in any form or shape to being level 450 on some MUD I've played before, and both are irrelevant outside both.
But the thing is: we usually _don't_ play those other games for the level. If the only achievement I had in KOTOR or Fable was the level, I would have found them bloody boring and pointless too.
The level is just a prop, not a goal. A game which turns it into a goal, and indeed the _only_ goal, has missed the whole point.
At the end of the day you're again and again just beating rats with a stick. Even if you were to focus only on levelling up and getting a bigger stick to beat rats with... what does it solve?
1. Congrats, you levelled up, you're allowed a bigger stick and... you get bigger rats to beat with it. In fact, you _have_ to go for bigger rats to have any chance to level up again.
What's the difference? You're still doing the same thing, and it still didn't get any easier.
What was the point of that exercise? Did it at least bring you another piece of the story or anything? Well, no, because there was no story to start with. Did you make any real difference in that world? Well, no, because all those rats must respawn for the next in line.
2. Ok, let's talk about the social interaction part. So you levelled up. Does anyone really give a damn? Did it make you the hero every newbie dreams of?
Well, no. Chances are you can't even team up with newbies any more, or not without one of you getting no xp whatsoever. Chances are you don't even want to go in the newbie towns any more, because then it's too long a walk back to the areas where you get xp.
And the higher you get, the less people your level are there to group with. People give up. You could find 20 newbies idling or looking for a group in the newbie area at any time. Now you're level 40 and there are maybe 10 people your level on the whole server. Now instead of picking a couple of newbies and diving into the next dungeon, you get to spend a few hours just assembling the group.
So the point of all those mind-numbing hours of clicking on some variant of "attack rat" solved... what? All that work was to actually _restrict_ your social interaction?
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
If you snap yourself out of the spell for a bit and realize "This is just a game. My status relative to all these other players is totally irrelevant.", the game gets really boring really fast.
You guys are ignoring the obvious response to this near-nihilistic comment.
Congrats, you levelled up, you're allowed a bigger stick and... you get bigger rats to beat with it. In fact, you _have_ to go for bigger rats to have any chance to level up again.
...but we do not play these games because of basic concepts. If this were the case, we would simply enjoy just pointing and clicking things on our desktop.
Let's take this vapid generalization and apply it to other multiplayer games in different genres, shall we?
Counter-Strike: Take a player who started playing the game on public servers designated as "amateur" (low level) with admins who kept very skilled players (high level) off the server so the amateur players could frag each other and learn how to play the game without CAL players arriving on the server every once in a while to dominate the game.
Eventually, this player is going to get better (level up) and in order to have fun and become more skilled (level up further) they're going to need to find rats (whoops, I mean players) who are more skilled than they are (higher level MOBs).
Yes, Counter-Strike is based upon skill (or OMG HAX! depending on your perspective); however, as an avid player of CS and WoW, I see little difference between playing de_dust and running MC one more time. You know the map, you know the angles, and you pretty much know how the enemy is going to behave.
Dawn Of War: There is little I can do to differentiate the experence between playing an RTS and a FPS. The maps are continually the same, the strategies are continually the same.
Most interestingly in RTSes, is that the whole bigger sticks, bigger rats theory that can be applied. After all, what is the point of teching (leveling?) up? To deal more damage against your opponent (better armor / better sword / bow / dagger, etc.). All the while, your enemy is attempting to do the same thing, so, in the end, you end up using your bigger stick to fight their bigger rats.
So, in both cases (Counter-Strike and Dawn of War), you're still doing the same thing, and it still didn't get any easier (that sounded familiar, didn't it?). What was the point of that exercise? Did it at least bring you another piece of the story or anything? Well, no, because there was no story to start with. Did you make any real difference in that world? Well, no, because all those rats must respawn for the next in line. Granted, MMORPGs are not known for their stories; however, if I wanted a very good story, I would probably read a book or go to a movie.
Interestingly enough, in CS and DoW, you didn't make any REAL difference in the world either. Everything resets and it's, well, off to the rat races again.
I suppose I will come off in this post as a MMORPG fan boy; however, I suppose I have a bone to pick with people who constantly slam the genre for having "nothing to do". When you start breaking games down into their most basic forms, I suggest that they all look the same...
Just to be picky:
So the point of all those mind-numbing hours of clicking on some variant of "attack rat" solved... what? All that work was to actually _restrict_ your social interaction?
Do you know how much easier it is to find people to run high level instances than it is to find some random person to help you do low level quests? I honestly do not think you do, as your dislike for MMORPGs is evident in your post, and therefore, I can assume that you do not even play one.
Respect It.
Here's how this went down:
Sony Boss: OK, so we need a new Everquest model. Who can we get?
Sony Lacky: No one for under $500k.
Boss: What? Why the hell so much?
Lacky: The words out on this gig. Models know they basically spend 200 days a year standing for 16 hours in two-bit comic book shops and trade show barns, being pawed at by guys who's main interaction with females are through McDonalds drive through windows.
Boss: No one will do it for less?
Lacky: Not any professional models, but there may be a solution. Run a contest, a look-a-like thing or something like that, and basically get some college student in here, flash a few thousand in her face, sign her up with one of those "special" contracts Legal keeps in that steel vault in the basement, and we're set for the next 5 years.
Boss: You really think this will work?
Lacky: It worked for Hollywood didn't it?