Zen Of Design

The design and business of gaming from the perspective of an experienced developer

Month: June 2002 (Page 2 of 2)

Everquest: Still Not As Dangerous As Love

June 5, 2002 /

21 year old kills himself over Everquest, mom wants to turn around and sue Sony Online. This is an old case, but thanks to CNN repeating the story, the mass market now can think that EverQuest is as deadly as shooting up.

I don’t want to denigrate the kid. He was a poor lonely kid with a lot of health and social problems before he ever set foot into Norrath. But his mom needs to be hit with the clue stick. Don’t stop at just one clue, please. Here are a couple freebies, no charge. Continue reading

Another One Bites the Dust

June 4, 2002 /

In case you ever wondered why GameMasters (and other Customer Service people) seem so tense. (Oh, yes, OSI and 3DO both got emails that looked a lot like that sounds).

R.I.P to another online gaming pioneer. 10Six had a difficult time in the massively multiplayer arena, falling short of its moniker by two or three orders of magnitude. It’s main problem was that it added skill-advancement and stuff acquisition to the first-person shooter arena, resulting in an insurmountable gap between the hardcore player and the casual user. Hopefully, those who follow those same footsteps will have been paying attention.

Die-hards (both of you) can hold out hope, however. The core team has claimed on their boards that they are going to try to relaunch it again, free from the borg. I don’t know how likely it is to happen, but it is certainly possible.

An Introduction

June 4, 2002 /

Welcome to what may well become, eventually, a running commentary on whatever the hell I feel like talking about. Do you feel that? That’s excitement, sonny, and it’s damn-near palpable.

Don’t expect commentary aimed at the slack-jawed masses. This is a high-brow operation, aimed at a more refined crowd. In the long run, there may even be cutting edge game theory and analysis, as well as discussions about music. At some point, perhaps I will even incorporate art. Hopefully, we will all learn something.

I will confess to being saddened, as one of my favorite sites, the Jabbering Head of Lincoln, has been replacing with a fractured dyke which, once your dutch digit has been removed, releases a torrent of pr0n links upon its unsuspecting clicker. Sites like this make baby jesus cry, and I can’t help but wish something mindblowingly horrible would happen to the moron who inflicted this upon the masses.

Stupid quiz of the week: what role-playing stereotype are you? I am apparently a demi-god. I find this strangely reassuring.

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