I think it is obvious (this article, the media, Slashdot, 7 million subscribers) that WoW has won this round of gaming. MMO's are simply the latest evolutionary step of gaming. WoW will go down in the annals of history as "The Game that Defined the MMO Era."
When we enter the next era, someone, possibly Blizzard, will conquer that era as well. Like the MMO era so far, it may not be the first to market, or the second that wins the prize. It will be whomever makes the effort to understand the genre, engineer a solid product and appeal to as many people as possible.
Personally, I'm looking forward to the first internet3, interplanetary-linked holodeck MMO. My undead rogue is going PWN those punks on that non-planet, Pluto.:-)
Re:Just like there will never be another Doom
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Can Anyone Beat WoW?
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Similarly EQ brought MMOs into public discussion with stories on MMO addictions, spurred conventions, had famous athletes playing, and was the game everybody else was aiming for (DAOC, SWG, AO, AC were all were trying to unseat EQ).
These exact same statements can be said about UO.
EQ was second fiddle to UO for years and was always playing catch-up. It came out a year later than UO, even though they had another year to use newer graphic technology the graphics in EQ sucked in a major way, and the only way they kept people playing was by adding new content/expansions every 8 months.
IMHO, what finally allowed EQ to take the throne and reign as top MMO for years was UO being acquired by EA, EA allowing stupidity (like Todd McFarland) to occur and generally ruining UO to the point that EQ was the better choice by default. In essence UO committed suicide and let the runner up win for a few years.
It became painfully obvious that EQ was NOT what every gamer was looking for when WoW and EQ2 came out at the same time. EQ sold, what, about 250,000? WoW hit 2,000,000 in two months.
I don't see EQ being a good example of anything except how to build an addiction engine.
I think Seagate has the lowest failure rate of the big three I'd consider (Seagate, Western Digital or Fujitsu) - this from memory, not statistics I could look up.
Seagate and WD both offer 5 year warranties. I've RMA'd a few drives with Seagate at my work. They have yet to refuse a return.
Look at enterprise usage. Most SAN's, NAS's and enterprise servers will have Seagate drives in them. There's a reason: reliability.
If you're really concerned with performance and reliability, go with the Barracuda line. A bit more pricey, but worth the reassurance of Seagates top line.
As for using different drives in an array, no there are no issues. As long as the RAID controller can talk to them, it will use the smaller of the two (or more) sizes as the "base" for mirror or RAID calculations. The overage on the larger drives will be wasted. (even though they both may say 200Gb, there will be a slight size difference.)
I've been working with computes since 1984. In the early 90's, I always chose Maxtor. They were reliable and more affordable than Seagate or WD. However, in the late 90's I started seeing more and more failures with Maxtor drives. I've since given up on them and I'll only buy Seagate, WD or possibly Fujitsu.
Looks like Maxtor is definitely going downhill, or up in flames.
Only thing I really suspect about this story is the part where he "ran the drive out of the case." Was he grounded? Was it on carpet or a bare, non-conductive surface? This smacks of static electricity buildup.
I still won't buy Maxtor, though, or any local store brands that are made by Maxtor.
- Be the second highest on the mob's aggro list, so if the MT gets booted, the OT will have aggro.
- Recapture aggro back from any that someone mis-targets (hunter, mage) or grabs aggro due to actions (priest, druid)
- Drop some damage (yes, I guess this is where you were going, but I think building aggro is higher priority than dealing damage)
I know there are DPS warriors and that they have their place in groups, raids, battlegrounds and general PvP. I just don't think anyone should be surprised that Blizzard makes changes that negatively affect warrior DPS since that's not their function.
I cannot believe the day has come that I must admit to something I never thought would happen: I agree with what the EA exec said.
ALL fantasy (books, film, TV, table games, RPGs, video games, MMOs, etc. ad infinitum) "borrow" from the root sources: mythos.
I don't know the truth and I doubt it will ever be revealed, but it sounds like Blizzard offered Games Workshop a video game to evolve their tabletop game and GW declined. Blizzard therefore changed the content enough to make it original by legel terms and ran with it all the way to multiple banks. This can definitely be seen as "borrowing" IP but recreating it in your own fashion. I'd compare this to me trying to paint the Mona Lisa. Sure there are some similarities, but you would definitely see my differences and personal artistic style.
GW in their turn "borrowed" from Dungeons & Dragons and all the spinoff franchises (books, artwork, cartoons, figures, etc.) to fashion their own IP.
Gary Gygax will freely admit he and Dave Arneson were completely influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth books. They, too, fashioned their own IP.
While I gladly accept the title of "Father of Modern Fantasy" bestowed upon Tolkien, in any of his biographies it is well known that he drew his ideas from numerous resources: C.S. Lewis, religion, Norse mythos and Finnish mythos. He gave England a bolder, more legendary history to counter the only other fantasy that existed at the time: fairies. While you may see pieces similar to legends and other stories, it is unarguable that the compilation is original and completely Tolkien's.
Finally all of that mythos, regardless of the country, came from the collective story telling, exaggeration and imagination of our ancestors as they sat in the dark, pondered the meaning of life and tried to explain what they didn't understand.
So what we're now playing and will be playing in the future are just extensions and evolutions of those original stories told around fires. The only reason this becomes an argument of who owns what or who created what is because of another evolution, the legal system. MMO's are just another form of storytelling, one in which we get to play a part and be involved in the story. Who knows what form storytelling may take in the next century.
I'm glad someone out there agrees with me about the way EQ looks. I thought I was somehow visually impaired when others would say "EQ's graphics are great; they're so realistic." All I saw were blocky polygon bodies, too small texture samples (you could see the patterns too easily) and extremely dull colors. That was the major reason I never tried EQ. Afterwards I heard about how much grinding was involved and I was grateful I didn't get sucked into that blackhole of gameplay. Camelot was bad enough for me, and it was rather quick leveling compared to EQ.
If EQ is realistic, give me cartoonish anytime.
I'd much rather play a game that simply looks good whether its in a comic-book, cartoonish, anime or surrealistically painted style. Every game that tries to look "real" fails miserably in my book. Likewise for the console games. I hear people rave about Madden football. It looks like watching a stop-motion game on an old TV using an antenna instead of cable or satellite.
No, I wasn't assuming anything since WoW is a global game. I play with Australians and Asians all the time and Europeans on occasion.
The push to reach certain levels does get tedious at times because there are not soloable quests every few levels so grouping or grinding is required for short stints.
I think you were not involved enough. The phrase "The game begins at 60" is very prevalent on every server and is very, very true. RL friends that joined me in WoW a few months ago were tired of hearing me say that, but once they had there first 60's they discovered the truth. Now they're playing more than ever and most of the time they're playing those 60s.
You do not have to belong to a guild ever. There are often pickup groups (PuG) for any and every instance, raid, battleground, PvP raid, etc.. The phrase "I don't like guilds" to me always means "I've never been in a good guild.":-)
Guild Wars is tedious. I beta tested it and could immediately see what a slow grind it would be.
There's really no point to any game at all, now or in the past. Oh, wait. There has been, is and always will be one point: entertainment. If it's not entertaining to you, then, of course, there's no reason to play.
Warriors are not meant to deal damage. Warriors are meant to stand there, take damage, provide a single target for the healer to focus upon and keep the mob from killing those that are dealing damage.
If you're talking PvP, you have a point, but not for serving as a main or off tank in an instance.
If you do decide to try again, come to Lightbringer (PvE) and e-mail Barrelboy. I enjoy helping others learn how to get the most out of WoW.
Good luck to you.
This is the most common reaction I see from people (not you) slamming WoW and Blizzard. "I did it all. What else is there?"
All I can say to them, to you and to the handful of people with this mindset that I've encountered in game: you're missing the point.
EQ players are the most common players of this kind because they were trained to grind. I've had to un-train a numer of players in WoW. "Don't grind. You don't have to grind. Just quest and just play." WoW is not about leveling, it is not about getting uber loot or having all the gold. It's about the experience.
Take your four basic player types: achievers, explorers, socializers and PvPers.
Achievers (this is where you fit) want to do everything first and to the highest level. You reached 60 and you were done. Other achievers want to complete instances, collect all the pets, have a complete set of uber gear or have an immense amount of money. They're still playing because it takes months of steady play to do all this.
Explorers want to visit every possible location. This requires reaching level 60 due to the risk involved in visiting these places. My daughters (8 & 5) do this in the safety of a town when my wife or I cannot escort them to actually play. There are still places that people cannot reach due to the design of the world. The concept of one day reaching those places is keeping them in WoW.
Socializers. Just open a space and provide a channel and these people are happy. With about 60k people per realm, it's easy to strike up a conversation or a debate. Add to this the fantasy background and this group of people find themselves doing quests and exploring dungeons just to accompany with their friends.
PvPers. In my opinion WoW has the best PvP system of any game available. I have never liked PvP at all (UO, Camelot, AC, AO, SWG) because whoever loses always pays some penalty or at least suffers emotionally to some degree. Yet here I sit with a new character on a PvP server. That has to say something about how good the system is. Duelling, battlegrounds and PvP servers. All levels for all tastes. As to your wait time comment, that was recently remedied with cross-realm battlegrounds. I've heard numerous people saying they haven't had to wait more than one minute to enter a bg.
Of course many, many players will exhibit some or all of these attributes. I'm a socializing achiever with occasional explorer tendancies.:-) Add to this that amongst all these types you'll find two kinds of players: casual (less than 30 hrs/wk) or hardcore (greater than 30 hrs/wk).
I cannot speak for raiding or instancing since it differs for everyone nor can I compare it to EQ since that's the one MMO that never interested me at all. From what I've experienced of instances and raiding (up to UBRS, DM, Strat and ZG), it is truly a challenge. It takes a great deal of coordination to gather a group of the right skills and get that group working together as a team, performing specific tasks to accomplish major events. I think companies could learn a great deal about teamwork from watching a raid team.
Why are people still playing WoW? Because Blizzard has found the magic formula of being able to provide a huge variety of game catering to all manner of gameplay styles in a single world. Casual socializers stand next to hardcore PvPers and trade crafts or stories. Everyone satisfies some aspect of achievement simply by playing.
To anyone who states "I did it all in WoW and quit," I can only laugh. By "did it all" they mean they leveled one character to 60 and visited every instance. In my mind "did it all" means I've played every class to 60, completed most of the quests, accumulated some uber loot and a good chunk of money and played from both sides of the fence (both factions). If I had played 16 hours every day since I started the day of retail release, maybe, just maybe I might have done all this, but I seriously doubt it. I'm fairly certain Blizzard designed WoW so that no one can do it
I definitely belive that profit is the underlying reason FOR the strategy guides, but I do not believe that developers aim to make the games more difficult so you HAVE to purchase the guides. I think the strategy guide makers found this niche on their own, but it does appear that the game publishing companies are assisting, i.e. no manual.
What I think is driving the increase in difficulty and hidden secrets are the players themselves. Games were originally designed as a diversion, something you did in your spare time for fun. Now it's an entertainment industry and we have players who will stay awake 72 hours straight to be the first to beat the game, and they will try any and every assassinine comination of putting rock #42 on top of the innkeeper's head to reveal some hidden secret. The developers must make the games harder to prolong the game's longevity and replay ability.
One of the first strategy guides I remember was "How to Beat Home Video Games." It had numerous cheats, hints, tips and easter eggs for Atari 2600 and Intellivion consoles. (Anyone else remember the transmolecular dot in Adventure?:-) At that time the games were mostly reflex and endurance testers so whatever "strategies" these books imparted was only the tip of the iceberg.
Once I started on computers (1983, Apple II) I found new guides, namely the Infocom books. What really impressed me about these books was the multi-level hint system. If you just needed a nudge, you only revealed the first clue. If you needed further help, you revealed the second. If you just couldn't get it and you needed it handed to you, you revealed the bottom spoiler. THAT'S how I believe ALL strategy guides, hint books and game websites SHOULD be. I think a few Zorks and other adventure/RPG games incorporated this into their help system.
I've purchased my fair share of guides. WoW had a surprisingly simple manual as is expected in a dynamic MMO these days. The game is going to change with the first patch, so why bother with a book describing the details? I played for months before finally purchasing the Brady Games guide. What impressed me was that as much as I felt I had done, the book revealed details that I had overlooked, little things that made a big difference in how I played. That, too, is what these guides should do.
I'll buy the books for the artwork, for filling in the details and for providing nudges in the right direction. I do not buy the books for spoilers, hacks and cheats. That's what the user community on the internet is for, and I only need access that if I'm desperate.
What I'd like to see is an online book from a source like Brady games. You pay for it (much cheaper than paper version), and you download a PDF (or proprietary reader). If you want to print it, that's up to you. When the game changes, the book changes and you're free to download it again (included in original purchase price). Brady has made an attempt to provide updated content to their original WoW guide, but it doesn't work for all versions of the book (my friend's does [bought 2 months after mine], but mine doesn't) and they've already fallen far behind. Hosted on the website where you download the book, the publisher could provide hint sites or an online system like the Infocom books ("Still need a hint?")
If the strategy guide companies are smart, they'll partner with these subscription based games to get a share of the income. Pay an extra $0.50 a month and receive access to the online strategy guide, constantly updated with hints from the developers. I honestly wouldn't want to see a model like this, but I like the concept of it.
Typical enterprise making a sacrifice to try and improve their PR with customers, peers, etc.
Personally, I think AOL should fire everyone, help all the people that did the real work get real jobs with some meaning in their life and pay the board members back their original investment plus 20%.
The rest of the money should be used for a campaign where all the former AOL executives should go door to door across america, collect all the unwanted CD's and apologize to Americans for retarding the growth of the internet and for retarding its customers about how to really use a computer and the internet.
I researched CRT projection, LCD, Plasma and DLP projection for a year before finally pulling the trigger and buying DLP.
Plasma burns out. The gases simply lose the ability to hold their charge and have to be recharged which from what I've heard costs as much as a new TV. This is the expectation of the plasma TV companies: disposable TV. They expect you to buy a new TV every 3-5 years. The plasmas I've looked at were "fuzzy" when action was on the screen. A soccer or hockey game was continuously blurry.
LCD's suffer from pixel death. Granted they've improved greatly over the past year, but if I were to purchase an LCD it would have to have a zero pixel death policy.
CRT projection requires frequent adjustment to remain sharp, plus these are the largest and heaviest of these choices.
DLP is lightweight, the picture is extremely bright and sharp (I watch a LOT of hockey), and the only part that fails is the bulb. My set is over two years old and I have yet to have to replace the bulb. We use a computer on our set using the DVI input. It is rather awesome to play WoW on a 50" screen.
A newer technology that came out since I purchased my DLP is LCD projection. In the future when we look to purchase a second large screen, I'll research LCD projection to see how it compares to DLP, but due to my extreme satisfaction with DLP, I doubt it will sway me.
The only factor I do not know about that the article mentions is power consumption. I'd guess that DLP is the lowest of all of them due to the fewest components, but I'd have to look it up.
This very likely will end up like the Beta vs. VHS war. I claim that DLP projection is the superior of all of these technologies, but it appears the consumers will choose the inferior and more expensive ones.
I'm only 36 (apparently a senior citizen according to the author), and I plan to be playing games for the rest of my life. However, I have a much different opinion of what a "game" is than the author and several posters here have.
I left console games behind with the Super Nintendo. For me it was a mix of seeing that console games were not evolving quickly enough (even though a new version came out every two years), would never surpass computers for flexibility and overall superior performance and yes, the controls were getting too complex for what should be a simple handheld controller.
Therefore, since I matured into computers games, I don't expect my gaming experience to change much more over the next 30 years than it has changed over the past 20. The underlying technology (chips, memory, HD) will continue to get faster and larger, the graphics will continue to move towards realistic 3D rendering possibly to the point of holodeck type projection and the software will continue to get more complex. However, we've been using the keyboard and mouse for nearly 30 years. I doubt that will change very drastically. Having 105 keys on your keyboard and an interface capable of navigating 3D space qualifies as the ultimate controller to me. Those of us that can touchtype 65+ wpm definitely have an advantage, but that's a learnable skill.
I probably will be playing WoW 2056. I've gamed in UO and WoW with 50 and 60 year old players. They're definitely no slackers. I expect to be in the same situation when I reach their age.
As for the kiddies with their limited-ability game consoles, let their parents keep wasting money on them each year and may they eventually learn the power and the longevity of computer gaming.
by providing links of some currently active LAN party/gaming cafes in the Dallas, TX area, but I had difficulty finding any active ones. Maybe they're not as successful as I thought.
I seem to recall one call LAN Werks (sp?) that had numerous pictures on their website. What struck me was the obvious high amount of capital that was sunk into the place: large screen TVs all over, "current" PC hardware with 19" or larger flat panels, comfy chairs, a copy of all offered games on every PC. I'd guess $250,000 just to fill the space and open it up.
I'd like to see a successful business model of this, because based on my experience just regarding PC hardware, it's a continuous sinkhole.
Players will want relatively current (less than one year old) hardware especially for the high-demand, fast-moving, latest FPSes. I would think it might be possible to rotate out 25% of the hardware every year without losing your shirt: buy new boxes, retire the oldest ones by donating them for a tax write-off.
As someone mentioned, most players come to these cafes to add social interaction to their games. The one piece of LAN Werks (or whatever it was) that I saw as the real money maker (just like a movie theater) was providing food. Each station had an intercom where players could order food and drinks. Then they'd either run a tab on a credit card or just pay cash for every order. Obviously, there's a premium on the food because it's being "delivered," and the markup for food and drinks is typically outrageous anyway. $$$
I think another factor that would need to be considered is operating hours. Some posters mentioned 24/7 cafes. I see this as being desirable to the players, but difficult for the owner. Not only do you need staff to man the shop at all hours, but you have higher security risks. Security would need to be tight anyway since you've got a great deal of equipment that could walk out at any time. Perhaps the food and drinks service could be limited to certain "prime time" hours to allow for reduced staffing.
Having wireless and providing space and food/drink service for walk-in customers is a no brainer. Heck, a lunch cafe with wireless might provide enough regular income. I know quite a few players who like to get away from the office just to play at lunch.
Good luck with this endeavor. I'd really like to see one of these cafes do well and set an example of how they should be run.
For myself, I do not have a Bachelor's. I do have an associate's degree, I have MCSE and CCNA certifications and (most importantly) I have 22 years of experience. I'm currently a Senior System Administrator (mostly Windows, some UNIX) making $80k a year plus bonuses.
From my own experience, I have to say that unless you're aiming for a manager's position or higher, you do not need a degree. Over the past fifteen years we've seen the shift go from degree-required, to degree-optional and cert-required to experience-required, certs-preferred, degree-optional. It may differ in your part of the world, but that's what I've seen in Texas.
You can pick up any entry level position as an application developer or web developer using your language of choice. Spend a year or two at that and you'll wind up being a senior developer. Then in another few years with your degree, you'll likely end up as a development manager or QA manager.
If you choose the hardware path, again you can start as a help desk technician with self-taught skills. Spend a year in that role and you could move to a System Administrator or Network Administrator depending on the company requirements and which side of the house you show a talent for. Another year or two at that, get certifications in your speciality and again with your degree (even though it's irrelevant) you may end up as an IT Manager.
Just prepare yourself for long hours of work, focusing on a single or just a few skills in which you can specialize but keep your ears open and learn new technologies as they come along. Personally, I highly recommend learning VMWare ASAP right now. It's becoming mainstream and will be a basic skill needed by everyone by the end of 2007.
Problem I see with sci-fi books, movies and games is the inconsistencies. There are sooo many sources for sci-fi, yet they do not have consistent terms, creatures, vehicles or settings.
If I say "orc," you may think of one of ten different-looking possibilities but you know what an orc is in general. If I showed you a picture of an orc, you'd immediately say "orc."
If I say "fractaloid," you're drawing a blank. If I show you a picture of a purple, tentacled, green-haired, three-eyed creature, you'd say "space monster" not "fractaloid."
Star Wars and Star Trek have made inroads towards this end, but they didn't have nearly enough impact. "Lord of the Rings," Dungeons & Dragons and all the general mythos that those pulled from are well known paradigms that most people recognize in fantasy. In fact if you see a variation of a winged demon carrying a sword and a whip, you're first response would be, "Oh, like a balrog."
Sci-fi lacks this immediate recognition and until some mind-bogglingly-successful science fiction story comes along and sets the standard, it will always play second fiddle to fantasy.
A big part of this may lie in the simplicity of time, too. We've known about mythical and fantasy creatures for centuries. The future has yet to be written. When you're dealing with sci-fi you're dealing with complete imagination from one or a few people, not the general consensus of millions. As others doubt that imagination and believe that they would have created it another way or that couldn't possibly ever exist, then the believability breaks down even further.
I agree with what Jacobs says in TFA. I think they did a fine job with Camelot. I beta tested and played it for a while, but when I recognized it was too much grinding, I left it. The world was beautiful and the story was straight out of British, Irish and Norse mythos, which I truly enjoy. I especially agree with his statements about realistic expectations for future game designs. I seriously doubt that EA is ready for a realist, though. We'll see how long Jacobs can last in the soul-engulfing machine that is EA.
That's what typically causes emotional connection for me.
When playing Ultima IV in 1984, sacrifice was the most difficult virtue for me to master in the game. Once I completed the game the first time, I began to understand the virtues more and I eventually adopted them as my personal morality system. When I completed Ultima IX: Ascension, I openly cried. Not only did my character sacrifice himself for Britannia so it could continue in it's ideal universe, but the game, the series, the company and the creator were done, over, finito. There would be no more Ultima and no more Avatar.
Movies, TV shows, books and games that deal with a person having to sacrifice part or all of themselves connect with me. I think as I've gotten older and become a parent, I value life more and I value others' lives above my own. These stories make me question myself, "Could I make such a sacrifice?"
More currently World of Warcraft has a quest that almost makes me cry. It's about a paladin (Morgan Ladimore) who failed to protect his family and went mad (and evil) over the loss. You basically redeem his soul. Again it's one of those questions to myself, "Would I react similarly if I lost my family?" Since I've always identified with the paladin in every game that had one, it was especially traumatic that a paladin would give over to evil in a time of grief.
Can games make us cry? Absolutely if they provide the environment, a sense of connection to the characters or connect with us personally.
I researched plasma, LCD, CRT projection and DLP for a year before purchasing a Samsung 50" DLP rear projection screen. Hardly makes any noise, we attached a computer to it using DVI and the only negative I or any of the articles I read about DLP had to say was the cost of the replacement bulb ($300-500), but they last for nearly three years.
Samsung, Mitsubishi and Toshiba all have reliable DLP screens. I'd recommend Mitsubishi for an office environment strictly because of the numerous connections Mitsubishi's have. All are only about 18" deep and they're extremely light weight. My 50" is about 80 lbs.
Treat a DLP as you would a projector. 15 second lamp warm up time, there's a cool down time and you cannot turn it off and on quickly.
Nope. I consider this to be "casual gamer" range of play. If he was addicted enough to quit his job, I would guess that before he was playing 16-20 hours a day.
My wife and I play about 25+ hours a week each. I consider it a borderline addiction for us, but we're not neglecting our jobs, our children or our health. I mainly consider it our primary form of entertainment. We've stopped watching TV or going out to movies.
wastes developer time to create, alter or maintain the ads
99% chance it's an advertisement for something I do not need or want
Pro's:
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Sorry, I'm drawing a blank. Some might say that getting the game for free or discounted due to the ads is a positive, but I see that as a tradeoff. If the game can be funded by the lesser income of advertisements as opposed to the greater income of subscriptions, I'd wager the game isn't worth playing. I beta tested AO; it's not worth it if even for free.
If (or when) these do come to a MMO near you, expect to hear these phrases.
"Will someone please click on an ad so the game can continue?"
"Hey, how'd you get that gun?" "I found a 'sploit that gave it to me after I clicked this ad 47,632,899 times. Be careful, though. If you click on it 47,632,900 times, you'll lose all your armor, weapons and money and be transported to the 'ur my bitch' prison cell."
"So I clicked on this ad and all of a sudden my epic charger turns into a Toyota Camry, so I take it into Onyxia's Lair and run over that bitch."
I think I suffer from the same delusion that Raph does. I believe that people are basically good in nature and only turn to evil when the situation warrants it. I've debated this issue with friends and online for years. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to lose my faith in the human race and change my own mind. MMO's have been good social experiments to support the counter: people are basically evil in nature and only good when they expend the effort.
Granted that MMO's are a subset of society in general: those with computers and skills to use them, those with internet connections and those who like to play games. From that subset you then have the anti-socials who are already excluded from real society who seek to extend that anti-social behavior into the game world. These seek payback to their miserable lives by providing grief to anyone and everyone they meet. It's these few that can ruin the experience for everyone, and it's these few that cause the most issues for game developers to fix. In the end the anti-socials get what they want: attention.
Raph describes and lays out these ideal utopias of people working together, being dependent upon each other and getting along for the greater good. This only occurs if you provide the mechanisms to protect the good society from the grief of the anti-socials. Regardless of Raph's opinion of WoW, I think Blizzard has done a very good job of setting up a consensual PvP environment. The only grief I've encountered is rude talk or spamming (both filtered by an ignore list, removal from channels or a separate channel window) and e-mails from gold sellers (submitted to GMs). I thought Asheron Call's system of quest activated PvP switch was a novel solution, too. What intrigues me about WoW is that the PvP system is so "painless," that I, a devout anti-PvPer, am considering participating in the PvP battles. That's a testimonial to Blizzard's design.
After having met Raph multiple times at UO luncheons and listening to him talk at length about his ideals of gaming, I'm fairly certain he's as deluded as I am about the nature of humans. When they implement a system that screens players before they can join a game, the system keeps a tally of their in-game transgressions and prevents them from playing if they break the rules, THEN perhaps we'll see the utopias Raph describes.
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When we enter the next era, someone, possibly Blizzard, will conquer that era as well. Like the MMO era so far, it may not be the first to market, or the second that wins the prize. It will be whomever makes the effort to understand the genre, engineer a solid product and appeal to as many people as possible.
Personally, I'm looking forward to the first internet3, interplanetary-linked holodeck MMO. My undead rogue is going PWN those punks on that non-planet, Pluto. :-)
EQ was second fiddle to UO for years and was always playing catch-up. It came out a year later than UO, even though they had another year to use newer graphic technology the graphics in EQ sucked in a major way, and the only way they kept people playing was by adding new content/expansions every 8 months.
IMHO, what finally allowed EQ to take the throne and reign as top MMO for years was UO being acquired by EA, EA allowing stupidity (like Todd McFarland) to occur and generally ruining UO to the point that EQ was the better choice by default. In essence UO committed suicide and let the runner up win for a few years.
It became painfully obvious that EQ was NOT what every gamer was looking for when WoW and EQ2 came out at the same time. EQ sold, what, about 250,000? WoW hit 2,000,000 in two months.
I don't see EQ being a good example of anything except how to build an addiction engine.
I think Seagate has the lowest failure rate of the big three I'd consider (Seagate, Western Digital or Fujitsu) - this from memory, not statistics I could look up.
Seagate and WD both offer 5 year warranties. I've RMA'd a few drives with Seagate at my work. They have yet to refuse a return.
Look at enterprise usage. Most SAN's, NAS's and enterprise servers will have Seagate drives in them. There's a reason: reliability.
If you're really concerned with performance and reliability, go with the Barracuda line. A bit more pricey, but worth the reassurance of Seagates top line.
As for using different drives in an array, no there are no issues. As long as the RAID controller can talk to them, it will use the smaller of the two (or more) sizes as the "base" for mirror or RAID calculations. The overage on the larger drives will be wasted. (even though they both may say 200Gb, there will be a slight size difference.)
Another brand prone to high failure rates. Though I never saw one live up to it's "fireball" name. Dead weight, sure, but not fireball.
Looks like Maxtor is definitely going downhill, or up in flames.
Only thing I really suspect about this story is the part where he "ran the drive out of the case." Was he grounded? Was it on carpet or a bare, non-conductive surface? This smacks of static electricity buildup.
I still won't buy Maxtor, though, or any local store brands that are made by Maxtor.
- Be the second highest on the mob's aggro list, so if the MT gets booted, the OT will have aggro.
- Recapture aggro back from any that someone mis-targets (hunter, mage) or grabs aggro due to actions (priest, druid)
- Drop some damage (yes, I guess this is where you were going, but I think building aggro is higher priority than dealing damage)
I know there are DPS warriors and that they have their place in groups, raids, battlegrounds and general PvP. I just don't think anyone should be surprised that Blizzard makes changes that negatively affect warrior DPS since that's not their function.
ALL fantasy (books, film, TV, table games, RPGs, video games, MMOs, etc. ad infinitum) "borrow" from the root sources: mythos.
I don't know the truth and I doubt it will ever be revealed, but it sounds like Blizzard offered Games Workshop a video game to evolve their tabletop game and GW declined. Blizzard therefore changed the content enough to make it original by legel terms and ran with it all the way to multiple banks. This can definitely be seen as "borrowing" IP but recreating it in your own fashion. I'd compare this to me trying to paint the Mona Lisa. Sure there are some similarities, but you would definitely see my differences and personal artistic style.
GW in their turn "borrowed" from Dungeons & Dragons and all the spinoff franchises (books, artwork, cartoons, figures, etc.) to fashion their own IP.
Gary Gygax will freely admit he and Dave Arneson were completely influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth books. They, too, fashioned their own IP.
While I gladly accept the title of "Father of Modern Fantasy" bestowed upon Tolkien, in any of his biographies it is well known that he drew his ideas from numerous resources: C.S. Lewis, religion, Norse mythos and Finnish mythos. He gave England a bolder, more legendary history to counter the only other fantasy that existed at the time: fairies. While you may see pieces similar to legends and other stories, it is unarguable that the compilation is original and completely Tolkien's.
Finally all of that mythos, regardless of the country, came from the collective story telling, exaggeration and imagination of our ancestors as they sat in the dark, pondered the meaning of life and tried to explain what they didn't understand.
So what we're now playing and will be playing in the future are just extensions and evolutions of those original stories told around fires. The only reason this becomes an argument of who owns what or who created what is because of another evolution, the legal system. MMO's are just another form of storytelling, one in which we get to play a part and be involved in the story. Who knows what form storytelling may take in the next century.
If EQ is realistic, give me cartoonish anytime.
I'd much rather play a game that simply looks good whether its in a comic-book, cartoonish, anime or surrealistically painted style. Every game that tries to look "real" fails miserably in my book. Likewise for the console games. I hear people rave about Madden football. It looks like watching a stop-motion game on an old TV using an antenna instead of cable or satellite.
The push to reach certain levels does get tedious at times because there are not soloable quests every few levels so grouping or grinding is required for short stints.
I think you were not involved enough. The phrase "The game begins at 60" is very prevalent on every server and is very, very true. RL friends that joined me in WoW a few months ago were tired of hearing me say that, but once they had there first 60's they discovered the truth. Now they're playing more than ever and most of the time they're playing those 60s.
You do not have to belong to a guild ever. There are often pickup groups (PuG) for any and every instance, raid, battleground, PvP raid, etc.. The phrase "I don't like guilds" to me always means "I've never been in a good guild." :-)
Guild Wars is tedious. I beta tested it and could immediately see what a slow grind it would be.
There's really no point to any game at all, now or in the past. Oh, wait. There has been, is and always will be one point: entertainment. If it's not entertaining to you, then, of course, there's no reason to play.
Good luck wherever you go.
Warriors are not meant to deal damage. Warriors are meant to stand there, take damage, provide a single target for the healer to focus upon and keep the mob from killing those that are dealing damage.
If you're talking PvP, you have a point, but not for serving as a main or off tank in an instance.
If you do decide to try again, come to Lightbringer (PvE) and e-mail Barrelboy. I enjoy helping others learn how to get the most out of WoW. Good luck to you.
All I can say to them, to you and to the handful of people with this mindset that I've encountered in game: you're missing the point.
EQ players are the most common players of this kind because they were trained to grind. I've had to un-train a numer of players in WoW. "Don't grind. You don't have to grind. Just quest and just play." WoW is not about leveling, it is not about getting uber loot or having all the gold. It's about the experience.
Take your four basic player types: achievers, explorers, socializers and PvPers.
Achievers (this is where you fit) want to do everything first and to the highest level. You reached 60 and you were done. Other achievers want to complete instances, collect all the pets, have a complete set of uber gear or have an immense amount of money. They're still playing because it takes months of steady play to do all this.
Explorers want to visit every possible location. This requires reaching level 60 due to the risk involved in visiting these places. My daughters (8 & 5) do this in the safety of a town when my wife or I cannot escort them to actually play. There are still places that people cannot reach due to the design of the world. The concept of one day reaching those places is keeping them in WoW.
Socializers. Just open a space and provide a channel and these people are happy. With about 60k people per realm, it's easy to strike up a conversation or a debate. Add to this the fantasy background and this group of people find themselves doing quests and exploring dungeons just to accompany with their friends.
PvPers. In my opinion WoW has the best PvP system of any game available. I have never liked PvP at all (UO, Camelot, AC, AO, SWG) because whoever loses always pays some penalty or at least suffers emotionally to some degree. Yet here I sit with a new character on a PvP server. That has to say something about how good the system is. Duelling, battlegrounds and PvP servers. All levels for all tastes. As to your wait time comment, that was recently remedied with cross-realm battlegrounds. I've heard numerous people saying they haven't had to wait more than one minute to enter a bg.
Of course many, many players will exhibit some or all of these attributes. I'm a socializing achiever with occasional explorer tendancies. :-) Add to this that amongst all these types you'll find two kinds of players: casual (less than 30 hrs/wk) or hardcore (greater than 30 hrs/wk).
I cannot speak for raiding or instancing since it differs for everyone nor can I compare it to EQ since that's the one MMO that never interested me at all. From what I've experienced of instances and raiding (up to UBRS, DM, Strat and ZG), it is truly a challenge. It takes a great deal of coordination to gather a group of the right skills and get that group working together as a team, performing specific tasks to accomplish major events. I think companies could learn a great deal about teamwork from watching a raid team. Why are people still playing WoW? Because Blizzard has found the magic formula of being able to provide a huge variety of game catering to all manner of gameplay styles in a single world. Casual socializers stand next to hardcore PvPers and trade crafts or stories. Everyone satisfies some aspect of achievement simply by playing.
To anyone who states "I did it all in WoW and quit," I can only laugh. By "did it all" they mean they leveled one character to 60 and visited every instance. In my mind "did it all" means I've played every class to 60, completed most of the quests, accumulated some uber loot and a good chunk of money and played from both sides of the fence (both factions). If I had played 16 hours every day since I started the day of retail release, maybe, just maybe I might have done all this, but I seriously doubt it. I'm fairly certain Blizzard designed WoW so that no one can do it
What I think is driving the increase in difficulty and hidden secrets are the players themselves. Games were originally designed as a diversion, something you did in your spare time for fun. Now it's an entertainment industry and we have players who will stay awake 72 hours straight to be the first to beat the game, and they will try any and every assassinine comination of putting rock #42 on top of the innkeeper's head to reveal some hidden secret. The developers must make the games harder to prolong the game's longevity and replay ability.
One of the first strategy guides I remember was "How to Beat Home Video Games." It had numerous cheats, hints, tips and easter eggs for Atari 2600 and Intellivion consoles. (Anyone else remember the transmolecular dot in Adventure? :-) At that time the games were mostly reflex and endurance testers so whatever "strategies" these books imparted was only the tip of the iceberg.
Once I started on computers (1983, Apple II) I found new guides, namely the Infocom books. What really impressed me about these books was the multi-level hint system. If you just needed a nudge, you only revealed the first clue. If you needed further help, you revealed the second. If you just couldn't get it and you needed it handed to you, you revealed the bottom spoiler. THAT'S how I believe ALL strategy guides, hint books and game websites SHOULD be. I think a few Zorks and other adventure/RPG games incorporated this into their help system.
I've purchased my fair share of guides. WoW had a surprisingly simple manual as is expected in a dynamic MMO these days. The game is going to change with the first patch, so why bother with a book describing the details? I played for months before finally purchasing the Brady Games guide. What impressed me was that as much as I felt I had done, the book revealed details that I had overlooked, little things that made a big difference in how I played. That, too, is what these guides should do.
I'll buy the books for the artwork, for filling in the details and for providing nudges in the right direction. I do not buy the books for spoilers, hacks and cheats. That's what the user community on the internet is for, and I only need access that if I'm desperate.
What I'd like to see is an online book from a source like Brady games. You pay for it (much cheaper than paper version), and you download a PDF (or proprietary reader). If you want to print it, that's up to you. When the game changes, the book changes and you're free to download it again (included in original purchase price). Brady has made an attempt to provide updated content to their original WoW guide, but it doesn't work for all versions of the book (my friend's does [bought 2 months after mine], but mine doesn't) and they've already fallen far behind. Hosted on the website where you download the book, the publisher could provide hint sites or an online system like the Infocom books ("Still need a hint?")
If the strategy guide companies are smart, they'll partner with these subscription based games to get a share of the income. Pay an extra $0.50 a month and receive access to the online strategy guide, constantly updated with hints from the developers. I honestly wouldn't want to see a model like this, but I like the concept of it.
While I expect that SoaP has been pirated and upload, I seriously cannot see it getting downloaded by more than a few hundred people.
Look at the internet hype and the numerous downloads that Episode III had.
Typical enterprise making a sacrifice to try and improve their PR with customers, peers, etc.
Personally, I think AOL should fire everyone, help all the people that did the real work get real jobs with some meaning in their life and pay the board members back their original investment plus 20%.
The rest of the money should be used for a campaign where all the former AOL executives should go door to door across america, collect all the unwanted CD's and apologize to Americans for retarding the growth of the internet and for retarding its customers about how to really use a computer and the internet.
I researched CRT projection, LCD, Plasma and DLP projection for a year before finally pulling the trigger and buying DLP.
Plasma burns out. The gases simply lose the ability to hold their charge and have to be recharged which from what I've heard costs as much as a new TV. This is the expectation of the plasma TV companies: disposable TV. They expect you to buy a new TV every 3-5 years. The plasmas I've looked at were "fuzzy" when action was on the screen. A soccer or hockey game was continuously blurry.
LCD's suffer from pixel death. Granted they've improved greatly over the past year, but if I were to purchase an LCD it would have to have a zero pixel death policy.
CRT projection requires frequent adjustment to remain sharp, plus these are the largest and heaviest of these choices.
DLP is lightweight, the picture is extremely bright and sharp (I watch a LOT of hockey), and the only part that fails is the bulb. My set is over two years old and I have yet to have to replace the bulb. We use a computer on our set using the DVI input. It is rather awesome to play WoW on a 50" screen.
A newer technology that came out since I purchased my DLP is LCD projection. In the future when we look to purchase a second large screen, I'll research LCD projection to see how it compares to DLP, but due to my extreme satisfaction with DLP, I doubt it will sway me.
The only factor I do not know about that the article mentions is power consumption. I'd guess that DLP is the lowest of all of them due to the fewest components, but I'd have to look it up.
This very likely will end up like the Beta vs. VHS war. I claim that DLP projection is the superior of all of these technologies, but it appears the consumers will choose the inferior and more expensive ones.
I left console games behind with the Super Nintendo. For me it was a mix of seeing that console games were not evolving quickly enough (even though a new version came out every two years), would never surpass computers for flexibility and overall superior performance and yes, the controls were getting too complex for what should be a simple handheld controller.
Therefore, since I matured into computers games, I don't expect my gaming experience to change much more over the next 30 years than it has changed over the past 20. The underlying technology (chips, memory, HD) will continue to get faster and larger, the graphics will continue to move towards realistic 3D rendering possibly to the point of holodeck type projection and the software will continue to get more complex. However, we've been using the keyboard and mouse for nearly 30 years. I doubt that will change very drastically. Having 105 keys on your keyboard and an interface capable of navigating 3D space qualifies as the ultimate controller to me. Those of us that can touchtype 65+ wpm definitely have an advantage, but that's a learnable skill.
I probably will be playing WoW 2056. I've gamed in UO and WoW with 50 and 60 year old players. They're definitely no slackers. I expect to be in the same situation when I reach their age.
As for the kiddies with their limited-ability game consoles, let their parents keep wasting money on them each year and may they eventually learn the power and the longevity of computer gaming.
I seem to recall one call LAN Werks (sp?) that had numerous pictures on their website. What struck me was the obvious high amount of capital that was sunk into the place: large screen TVs all over, "current" PC hardware with 19" or larger flat panels, comfy chairs, a copy of all offered games on every PC. I'd guess $250,000 just to fill the space and open it up.
I'd like to see a successful business model of this, because based on my experience just regarding PC hardware, it's a continuous sinkhole.
Players will want relatively current (less than one year old) hardware especially for the high-demand, fast-moving, latest FPSes. I would think it might be possible to rotate out 25% of the hardware every year without losing your shirt: buy new boxes, retire the oldest ones by donating them for a tax write-off.
As someone mentioned, most players come to these cafes to add social interaction to their games. The one piece of LAN Werks (or whatever it was) that I saw as the real money maker (just like a movie theater) was providing food. Each station had an intercom where players could order food and drinks. Then they'd either run a tab on a credit card or just pay cash for every order. Obviously, there's a premium on the food because it's being "delivered," and the markup for food and drinks is typically outrageous anyway. $$$
I think another factor that would need to be considered is operating hours. Some posters mentioned 24/7 cafes. I see this as being desirable to the players, but difficult for the owner. Not only do you need staff to man the shop at all hours, but you have higher security risks. Security would need to be tight anyway since you've got a great deal of equipment that could walk out at any time. Perhaps the food and drinks service could be limited to certain "prime time" hours to allow for reduced staffing.
Having wireless and providing space and food/drink service for walk-in customers is a no brainer. Heck, a lunch cafe with wireless might provide enough regular income. I know quite a few players who like to get away from the office just to play at lunch.
Good luck with this endeavor. I'd really like to see one of these cafes do well and set an example of how they should be run.
From my own experience, I have to say that unless you're aiming for a manager's position or higher, you do not need a degree. Over the past fifteen years we've seen the shift go from degree-required, to degree-optional and cert-required to experience-required, certs-preferred, degree-optional. It may differ in your part of the world, but that's what I've seen in Texas.
You can pick up any entry level position as an application developer or web developer using your language of choice. Spend a year or two at that and you'll wind up being a senior developer. Then in another few years with your degree, you'll likely end up as a development manager or QA manager.
If you choose the hardware path, again you can start as a help desk technician with self-taught skills. Spend a year in that role and you could move to a System Administrator or Network Administrator depending on the company requirements and which side of the house you show a talent for. Another year or two at that, get certifications in your speciality and again with your degree (even though it's irrelevant) you may end up as an IT Manager.
Just prepare yourself for long hours of work, focusing on a single or just a few skills in which you can specialize but keep your ears open and learn new technologies as they come along. Personally, I highly recommend learning VMWare ASAP right now. It's becoming mainstream and will be a basic skill needed by everyone by the end of 2007.
Best of luck to you.
If I say "orc," you may think of one of ten different-looking possibilities but you know what an orc is in general. If I showed you a picture of an orc, you'd immediately say "orc."
If I say "fractaloid," you're drawing a blank. If I show you a picture of a purple, tentacled, green-haired, three-eyed creature, you'd say "space monster" not "fractaloid."
Star Wars and Star Trek have made inroads towards this end, but they didn't have nearly enough impact. "Lord of the Rings," Dungeons & Dragons and all the general mythos that those pulled from are well known paradigms that most people recognize in fantasy. In fact if you see a variation of a winged demon carrying a sword and a whip, you're first response would be, "Oh, like a balrog."
Sci-fi lacks this immediate recognition and until some mind-bogglingly-successful science fiction story comes along and sets the standard, it will always play second fiddle to fantasy.
A big part of this may lie in the simplicity of time, too. We've known about mythical and fantasy creatures for centuries. The future has yet to be written. When you're dealing with sci-fi you're dealing with complete imagination from one or a few people, not the general consensus of millions. As others doubt that imagination and believe that they would have created it another way or that couldn't possibly ever exist, then the believability breaks down even further.
I agree with what Jacobs says in TFA. I think they did a fine job with Camelot. I beta tested and played it for a while, but when I recognized it was too much grinding, I left it. The world was beautiful and the story was straight out of British, Irish and Norse mythos, which I truly enjoy. I especially agree with his statements about realistic expectations for future game designs. I seriously doubt that EA is ready for a realist, though. We'll see how long Jacobs can last in the soul-engulfing machine that is EA.
When playing Ultima IV in 1984, sacrifice was the most difficult virtue for me to master in the game. Once I completed the game the first time, I began to understand the virtues more and I eventually adopted them as my personal morality system. When I completed Ultima IX: Ascension, I openly cried. Not only did my character sacrifice himself for Britannia so it could continue in it's ideal universe, but the game, the series, the company and the creator were done, over, finito. There would be no more Ultima and no more Avatar.
Movies, TV shows, books and games that deal with a person having to sacrifice part or all of themselves connect with me. I think as I've gotten older and become a parent, I value life more and I value others' lives above my own. These stories make me question myself, "Could I make such a sacrifice?"
More currently World of Warcraft has a quest that almost makes me cry. It's about a paladin (Morgan Ladimore) who failed to protect his family and went mad (and evil) over the loss. You basically redeem his soul. Again it's one of those questions to myself, "Would I react similarly if I lost my family?" Since I've always identified with the paladin in every game that had one, it was especially traumatic that a paladin would give over to evil in a time of grief.
Can games make us cry? Absolutely if they provide the environment, a sense of connection to the characters or connect with us personally.
Samsung, Mitsubishi and Toshiba all have reliable DLP screens. I'd recommend Mitsubishi for an office environment strictly because of the numerous connections Mitsubishi's have. All are only about 18" deep and they're extremely light weight. My 50" is about 80 lbs.
Treat a DLP as you would a projector. 15 second lamp warm up time, there's a cool down time and you cannot turn it off and on quickly.
My wife and I play about 25+ hours a week each. I consider it a borderline addiction for us, but we're not neglecting our jobs, our children or our health. I mainly consider it our primary form of entertainment. We've stopped watching TV or going out to movies.
Pro's:
Sorry, I'm drawing a blank. Some might say that getting the game for free or discounted due to the ads is a positive, but I see that as a tradeoff. If the game can be funded by the lesser income of advertisements as opposed to the greater income of subscriptions, I'd wager the game isn't worth playing. I beta tested AO; it's not worth it if even for free.
If (or when) these do come to a MMO near you, expect to hear these phrases.
"Will someone please click on an ad so the game can continue?"
"He's hiding behind the billboard. Kill him! WTF? Damn, it's indestructible! He's firing... argh... ah... /gurgle"
"Hey, how'd you get that gun?" "I found a 'sploit that gave it to me after I clicked this ad 47,632,899 times. Be careful, though. If you click on it 47,632,900 times, you'll lose all your armor, weapons and money and be transported to the 'ur my bitch' prison cell."
"So I clicked on this ad and all of a sudden my epic charger turns into a Toyota Camry, so I take it into Onyxia's Lair and run over that bitch."
Granted that MMO's are a subset of society in general: those with computers and skills to use them, those with internet connections and those who like to play games. From that subset you then have the anti-socials who are already excluded from real society who seek to extend that anti-social behavior into the game world. These seek payback to their miserable lives by providing grief to anyone and everyone they meet. It's these few that can ruin the experience for everyone, and it's these few that cause the most issues for game developers to fix. In the end the anti-socials get what they want: attention.
Raph describes and lays out these ideal utopias of people working together, being dependent upon each other and getting along for the greater good. This only occurs if you provide the mechanisms to protect the good society from the grief of the anti-socials. Regardless of Raph's opinion of WoW, I think Blizzard has done a very good job of setting up a consensual PvP environment. The only grief I've encountered is rude talk or spamming (both filtered by an ignore list, removal from channels or a separate channel window) and e-mails from gold sellers (submitted to GMs). I thought Asheron Call's system of quest activated PvP switch was a novel solution, too. What intrigues me about WoW is that the PvP system is so "painless," that I, a devout anti-PvPer, am considering participating in the PvP battles. That's a testimonial to Blizzard's design.
After having met Raph multiple times at UO luncheons and listening to him talk at length about his ideals of gaming, I'm fairly certain he's as deluded as I am about the nature of humans. When they implement a system that screens players before they can join a game, the system keeps a tally of their in-game transgressions and prevents them from playing if they break the rules, THEN perhaps we'll see the utopias Raph describes.