Every game made today.. The first level is easy to accomplish. Second level is marginally harder.
Before long, you have to press the lever 10,000 times to get your treat. By that time, you've grown old, wife left, dog died.. etc.
The games are DESIGNED to addict you. You don't make subscription money if you don't have a good core base of addicts.
MMORPG's are designed to last for years. The more addicting, and the ability to constantly provide rewards througout the game, will keep a guy hemmed up for years.
I agree with the original poster that more researchers need to think like this.
However I don't really think he's nuts, I think he's thinking like a computer tech. There's got to be a part to fix whatever's wrong, even on the inter-cellular level.
So one person would be viewing sort of a world map...(The map of the battle grounds) and have everyone on their side with one colored blip, and the other side would have another colored blip.
When a member of your team says something in chat, that blip would blink briefly. You could hover over that blip and it would tell you name/level/class.
You can click on a blip and click somewhere else on the map, and the player would see a directional beacon appear on his mini map as a point he needs to go to.
Well, Overall stats show that there is a significant numbers advantage on the alliance side.
http://www.wowcensus.com/overall_stats.php
You can go to that website to get the official numbers there.
I play on Argent Dawn: http://www.wowcensus.com/realm_stats.php?re alm=arg ent%20dawn
Where there are 12,700 Alliance players and 5,400 Horde Players.
I am welcoming instanced PvP combat.
Also, if you know anyone that is thinking of coming to WoW, tell them to get on a low pop server. Prime time on Argent has a login queue of approx 250+ people with a 10+ minute wait some nights.
The way every designer in every MMO made to date makes things "harder", is to require more people to kill the monster. I wish it would require more thought from the player. Or have the group meet other requirements rather than hit creature X with everything you got wile others heal you.
I guess it's just easier to program a ton of mobs rather than have the mobs and players interact with the world, and use the world to their advantage.
SWG should have been a cross between Knights of the Old Republic and Tie Fighter.
MMORPG's rely so much on the "behavior/reward" factor that they quickly become repetitive and unfun. People will still play because they're either atticted or time committed.
I've got to agree with ChuckleBug here. I got married, then started playing DAoC a year later. It got to be 2 hrs a night, then 4, then 4 a night and every waking moment on the weekends.
I wasn't paying attention to the wife, I wasn't doing housework, I wasn't cooking... nada, just a gaming freak for a few months. Almost had to get a divorce, mainly because I would jump down her neck if she tried to kiss me good night or something that would interrupt play.
Finally recognized the signs of addiction and scaled back, got to playing 2 hours per night, and not at all on weekends. Then, thanks to the mechanics of DAoC, I couldn't accomplish much and I couldn't talk to the players that I wanted to talk to in 2 hours, so it made it easier to quit.
MMORPGs are the devil on relationships because you can't always just turn it off because there's always something to do in game before you turn it off.
The best thing to do, is get some single player games, or, even better, get in to FPS's where you can log in, go in Rambo mode, or just follow a couple of guys around and get the fragging out of your system for a couple of hours a week.
But if you have any addictive tendencies, and have the propensity to melt into your computer game, cut out your MMORPG right away, and trade it in on a FPS, single player.
Or, even better, spend your evenings drinking, talking and laughing with your SO. You did marry them for some reason.;)
And it's not just the hours put in at the office. I notice that many people come and go with briefcases in their hands, meaning that they're doing work at home on "their time" (or pretending to do so)
Also, pagers and cell phones have made it impossible to fully enjoy weekends and times away from the office. How can you enjoy your time off when you're constantly being asked questions from the office? (Being paged or called)
It is the culture of work in the US. If you aren't busy, pretend that you are. If you have something to do, delegate it to someone else.
Seriously though, I'm at work right now, pretending to be working on something important. I'm posting on slashdot. If someone would walk up, I'd minimize the window and act all harried like I don't have enough time. You can't say "Oh, I was in a lull between projects and decided to fuck off." It's the truth, but the culture dictates that you do otherwise. I could be at home, enjoying the spring weather, but no, I have to pretend to put in my 40 hours to earn my paycheck.
I only meant to use that as an example. It made National News for *weeks*.
Like the Jean Binet Ramsey case, children get murdered every day, why did that case make it?
I guess the formula is: If victim = pretty white blonde girl then hype the dogcrap out of it else Let local news carry it
It's just like the Scott and Laci Peterson Case, why does it get so much airtime? The trial isn't even over and they've already had a made-for-TV-movie about it for goodness sakes.
When will the networks learn that 20 and 30 somethings are tired of commercials? There has to be another way for a TV network to make money.
Just like HBO, sure you pay for it, sure it doesn't have any commercials for OTHER companies, but damn they love to plug HBO every chance they get. I already bought the damn channel, I don't need to know how great you are.
I think gamers and nerds are just tired of the constant stream of bullshit that is coming from the media. This especially goes for all the half-truths and demonizing of opponents in the upcoming elections.
We'd rather hang out with friends and frag each other than sit still on the couch and be force fed bullshit and editorialized news.
Martha Stewart, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, I couldn't give less of a shit about, but they're on the news every day because that is what advertising firms say that the US is interested in.
We've got a freaking WAR in Iraq that we only hear about in blurbs. We have TROOPS in Afganistan that we're lucky to hear about once a week. And we have diplomatic issues with France and Europe that we NEVER hear about. What about that whackjob over in North Korea? Why is China so quiet about everything? That's what I want to hear about, not how many kids Michael Jackson touched or how this woman is missing in Minnesota, hell people go missing in my local area every day, why did she rate?
That's why I get my news here, and other online sources. It's because it's on demand, and what I want to read about. And best of all, I don't have to watch any commercials.
As a 30 year old, my interest in games is waning quickly, mainly because I can no longer compete.
MMORPGS take up too much time to be competitive, I cannot hang with people with no jobs or go to college, since the nature of the MMORPG is Time = Equipment + Gold + Abilities. Whomever has the best equipment due to the most gold usually wins.
FPS's the winners are the ones with the high frame rate, low ping times, twitchy reflexes, and macros. Kids can out aim, jump, and shoot me now.
Single Player RPG's - I sit there, and play, and think, I'm sitting here trying to figure out a puzzle, or to click the buttons in the sequence that the developers tell me to, or allude to. *Not Fun*
So, I'm left with open ended games like GTA Vice City, and single player sports games. Madden, etc.
Both of which I find amusing and relatively fun to play. But neither of which are very satisfying, because, once again, you're beating a computer. There's no "HA HA" factor in playing by yourself.
So, for me, my interest in games is dying because I can no longer compete. The competition is what was fun for me.
Re:Space exploration is in a bad way...
on
Dreams of the Moon
·
· Score: 1
I feel your pain. I too wish that in my life time we would have space ships and warp drives and meetings with Vulcans.
But then, we come crashing down to reality.
We have a lot of homework to do. You can't pass the test unless you study, right?
First thing we have to do is get our house in order. Revamp our education and prison systems. Get humankind so that we can live with each other.
Sure, it would be nice to get several hundred of your intelligent friends together and escape the dullness and drudgery of Earthly pursuits, but for now, that's fantasy and romance.
The most important thing is to take care of our house first.
What we're doing now is equivalent to living in a run down trailer park next to murders and thieves, but buying a Corvette to go on vacation on the Beach.
Slashdot Mirror
Every game made today..
The first level is easy to accomplish.
Second level is marginally harder.
Before long, you have to press the lever 10,000 times to get your treat. By that time, you've grown old, wife left, dog died.. etc.
The games are DESIGNED to addict you. You don't make subscription money if you don't have a good core base of addicts.
MMORPG's are designed to last for years. The more addicting, and the ability to constantly provide rewards througout the game, will keep a guy hemmed up for years.
Great post Znork!
The best test of propaganda is if the subjects being manipulated have no idea that they're being manipulated.
Then, when confronted by the truth, will go in denial that they had ever been misled.
That's what absolutlely terrifies me of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (NK), they have no clue as to what reality is.
Then again, who really knows what reality is when we're not in a position to question, or get answers.
I hate to bring up the elections again, but people honestly believe that they found WMD's in Iraq, and that Iraq had active terrorist camps.
They also believe that someone's Alabama national guard service is more honorable than someone's Vietnam service.
I guess Michael Moore made it even, but he was FAR less effective than the Bush campaign was.
My point is, I'm agreeing with you. We're all tricked and you don't have to be Chinese, Iranian, or North Korean.
Maybe it's better to unplug and don't worry about any of it.
I agree with the original poster that more researchers need to think like this.
However I don't really think he's nuts, I think he's thinking like a computer tech. There's got to be a part to fix whatever's wrong, even on the inter-cellular level.
Precice? No
:p
Accurate? Close
Ballpark? Absolutely
Thanks for the link! I thought it was Blizzard sponsored for some reason.
That is an interesting idea!
So one person would be viewing sort of a world map...(The map of the battle grounds) and have everyone on their side with one colored blip, and the other side would have another colored blip.
When a member of your team says something in chat, that blip would blink briefly. You could hover over that blip and it would tell you name/level/class.
You can click on a blip and click somewhere else on the map, and the player would see a directional beacon appear on his mini map as a point he needs to go to.
It could be done!
Well, Overall stats show that there is a significant numbers advantage on the alliance side.
e alm=arg ent%20dawn
http://www.wowcensus.com/overall_stats.php
You can go to that website to get the official numbers there.
I play on Argent Dawn:
http://www.wowcensus.com/realm_stats.php?r
Where there are 12,700 Alliance players and 5,400 Horde Players.
I am welcoming instanced PvP combat.
Also, if you know anyone that is thinking of coming to WoW, tell them to get on a low pop server. Prime time on Argent has a login queue of approx 250+ people with a 10+ minute wait some nights.
Right now Alliance outnumbers Horde almost 2 - 1, and, in most cases, much more, on almost every server.
Battlegrounds will only let X number of players in from each side at a time.
This is an interesting method of population control, and balance, especially for those that don't want to wait in queues to fight pvp.
Ironically, the company that invented "The Zerg" is working to elminate that tactic in PvP!
There's no doubt about it, this is a great MMORPG.
I've played DAoC, UO, AC, AO, as well as text based MUD's back in the early 90's.
This is by far the most complete game upon release.
I like the cartoonish graphics. They're well done, and that's all I really ask.
Where WoW succeeds is that you don't feel like you're on any kind of treadmill. They are perhaps the first MMORPG to get the questing system right.
At any rate, WoW deserves it, it's the best MMORPG on the market today.
The way every designer in every MMO made to date makes things "harder", is to require more people to kill the monster. I wish it would require more thought from the player. Or have the group meet other requirements rather than hit creature X with everything you got wile others heal you.
I guess it's just easier to program a ton of mobs rather than have the mobs and players interact with the world, and use the world to their advantage.
haha
attic, addict... same thing, they're both relatively high...
SWG should have been a cross between Knights of the Old Republic and Tie Fighter.
MMORPG's rely so much on the "behavior/reward" factor that they quickly become repetitive and unfun. People will still play because they're either atticted or time committed.
Should we let Ad companies dictate not only what we can or cannot see on televison, but what we can, or cannot access via Interent?
These ad guys go to far, and, of course, the media will cover up stuff like that. Free press my ass.
I have to agree. Typing was THE most practical thing that I've learned in school. I use it every day, and I thank my typing teacher every single day.
...
Added bonus: It's good to wtfpwn guys in online games.
Me@100wpm: Hey Bob, nice shot! How did you do that?
Bob:...types
Me@100wpm: heh u suk l0s3r!
Bob:
I've got to agree with ChuckleBug here. I got married, then started playing DAoC a year later. It got to be 2 hrs a night, then 4, then 4 a night and every waking moment on the weekends.
;)
I wasn't paying attention to the wife, I wasn't doing housework, I wasn't cooking... nada, just a gaming freak for a few months. Almost had to get a divorce, mainly because I would jump down her neck if she tried to kiss me good night or something that would interrupt play.
Finally recognized the signs of addiction and scaled back, got to playing 2 hours per night, and not at all on weekends. Then, thanks to the mechanics of DAoC, I couldn't accomplish much and I couldn't talk to the players that I wanted to talk to in 2 hours, so it made it easier to quit.
MMORPGs are the devil on relationships because you can't always just turn it off because there's always something to do in game before you turn it off.
The best thing to do, is get some single player games, or, even better, get in to FPS's where you can log in, go in Rambo mode, or just follow a couple of guys around and get the fragging out of your system for a couple of hours a week.
But if you have any addictive tendencies, and have the propensity to melt into your computer game, cut out your MMORPG right away, and trade it in on a FPS, single player.
Or, even better, spend your evenings drinking, talking and laughing with your SO. You did marry them for some reason.
Hear hear!
And it's not just the hours put in at the office. I notice that many people come and go with briefcases in their hands, meaning that they're doing work at home on "their time" (or pretending to do so)
Also, pagers and cell phones have made it impossible to fully enjoy weekends and times away from the office. How can you enjoy your time off when you're constantly being asked questions from the office? (Being paged or called)
It is the culture of work in the US. If you aren't busy, pretend that you are. If you have something to do, delegate it to someone else.
Seriously though, I'm at work right now, pretending to be working on something important. I'm posting on slashdot. If someone would walk up, I'd minimize the window and act all harried like I don't have enough time. You can't say "Oh, I was in a lull between projects and decided to fuck off." It's the truth, but the culture dictates that you do otherwise. I could be at home, enjoying the spring weather, but no, I have to pretend to put in my 40 hours to earn my paycheck.
People just aren't "real".
I only meant to use that as an example. It made National News for *weeks*.
Like the Jean Binet Ramsey case, children get murdered every day, why did that case make it?
I guess the formula is:
If victim = pretty white blonde girl then hype the dogcrap out of it
else
Let local news carry it
It's just like the Scott and Laci Peterson Case, why does it get so much airtime? The trial isn't even over and they've already had a made-for-TV-movie about it for goodness sakes.
When will the networks learn that 20 and 30 somethings are tired of commercials? There has to be another way for a TV network to make money.
Just like HBO, sure you pay for it, sure it doesn't have any commercials for OTHER companies, but damn they love to plug HBO every chance they get. I already bought the damn channel, I don't need to know how great you are.
I think gamers and nerds are just tired of the constant stream of bullshit that is coming from the media. This especially goes for all the half-truths and demonizing of opponents in the upcoming elections.
We'd rather hang out with friends and frag each other than sit still on the couch and be force fed bullshit and editorialized news.
Martha Stewart, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, I couldn't give less of a shit about, but they're on the news every day because that is what advertising firms say that the US is interested in.
We've got a freaking WAR in Iraq that we only hear about in blurbs. We have TROOPS in Afganistan that we're lucky to hear about once a week. And we have diplomatic issues with France and Europe that we NEVER hear about. What about that whackjob over in North Korea? Why is China so quiet about everything? That's what I want to hear about, not how many kids Michael Jackson touched or how this woman is missing in Minnesota, hell people go missing in my local area every day, why did she rate?
That's why I get my news here, and other online sources. It's because it's on demand, and what I want to read about. And best of all, I don't have to watch any commercials.
The stuff is only vaporware I tell ya!
Or even The Scientists, United and Concerned
aka The SUC
For a game like this, PlanetSide has the most potential.
As a 30 year old, my interest in games is waning quickly, mainly because I can no longer compete.
MMORPGS take up too much time to be competitive, I cannot hang with people with no jobs or go to college, since the nature of the MMORPG is Time = Equipment + Gold + Abilities. Whomever has the best equipment due to the most gold usually wins.
FPS's the winners are the ones with the high frame rate, low ping times, twitchy reflexes, and macros. Kids can out aim, jump, and shoot me now.
Single Player RPG's - I sit there, and play, and think, I'm sitting here trying to figure out a puzzle, or to click the buttons in the sequence that the developers tell me to, or allude to. *Not Fun*
So, I'm left with open ended games like GTA Vice City, and single player sports games. Madden, etc.
Both of which I find amusing and relatively fun to play. But neither of which are very satisfying, because, once again, you're beating a computer. There's no "HA HA" factor in playing by yourself.
So, for me, my interest in games is dying because I can no longer compete. The competition is what was fun for me.
Pshaw, who needs FAA approval? Get the latest flight sim to get used to the instruments, then get Lou Gosset Jr. to train you how to fly it.
When that 3'd world dictator kidnaps your dad, you'll be ready to kick ass Iron Eagle style!!!
IDDQD
IDKFA
Ooh yeah, bring on the cacodemons!
I feel your pain. I too wish that in my life time we would have space ships and warp drives and meetings with Vulcans.
But then, we come crashing down to reality.
We have a lot of homework to do. You can't pass the test unless you study, right?
First thing we have to do is get our house in order. Revamp our education and prison systems. Get humankind so that we can live with each other.
Sure, it would be nice to get several hundred of your intelligent friends together and escape the dullness and drudgery of Earthly pursuits, but for now, that's fantasy and romance.
The most important thing is to take care of our house first.
What we're doing now is equivalent to living in a run down trailer park next to murders and thieves, but buying a Corvette to go on vacation on the Beach.
Sooner or later, you have to come home.
Spammers making outrageous claims? Who woulda thought!?!?!?