Month: November 2007 (Page 2 of 2)

Synchronicity and the Promise of ‘Massively Multiplayer’

November 15, 2007 / Damion Schubert

Raph has a thought-provoking post today. At its core is a question about synchronous vs. unsynchronous gameplay, and the expectation of exclusivity that most MMOs seem to want.

His general gist: MMOs appear to be the only social space that want your time exclusively. Bars don’t build their businesses, hoping that everyone is locked into that business model. He argues we’re closer to theme parks, once you’ve paid your entrance fee. He asks, “Why are we more like theme parks than the neighborhood bar?” Continue reading

How Game Economies Can Fail to Incentivize Fun

November 11, 2007 / Damion Schubert

When WoW announced that you could buy a flying epic mount in the Burning Crusades for 5K gold (up from 100g to get your original mount at level 40), a lot of people predicted that WoW’s economy would have some significant problems. But it was the opposite problem that you might expect – it turns out that there wasn’t ENOUGH gold in the system.

The problem is that the primary way for new gold to enter the system in a fun and interesting way was via questing. Once you are level 70, quests can give 10-25 gold on completion of the quest (once you’re 70, experience you would have earned if not maxed out is converted to gold). The problem, of course, is that quests are a finite resource. You run out of them. Continue reading

Cryptic Sells City of Heroes to NCSoft

November 11, 2007 / Damion Schubert

This was, perhaps, inevitable, but I’m still surprised at the lack of discussion of Cryptic selling the rights of City of Heroes to NCSoft, including handing them a shake and bake live team of Cryptic employees.

This is an interesting next (final?) chapter in the Cryptic-NCSoft history, which includes the launch of a tight, successful (if a little niche) MMO, which drew the interest of the major hitters in the comics industry, namely DC and Marvel. Marvel tried to sue Cryptic, and NCSoft helped provide a legal defense. The matter was settled quietly eventually, but then Marvel attempted the ‘can’t beat em, join ‘em’ strategy, handing Cryptic the keys to the elusive Marvel ghost ship. Continue reading

The TV Writer’s Strike, and How It Could Be Gaming’s Gain

November 9, 2007 / Damion Schubert

The Scriptwriter’s strike kicked off this week, with the primary bone of contention being the Scriptwriters getting more money from DVD sales and/or Internet work (especially relevant, now that many television shows are shown for free on the Internet). By contract, show runners can only run scripts they have in the can, and in an interesting twist, may only shoot scripts as they are written (which terrifies everyone concerned).

So far, public opinion seems to lean in the scriptwriter’s direction, as they’ve done a better job at creating a grassroots campaign for their cause, as well as getting the stars to come to speak on their behalf to the press. The studios, in a response that can only be described as the stupidest possible response this side of the RIAA, appear to be considering responded by cancelling shows (mostly marginal, but some hits such as 24 are already reportedly being pushed off a year – if they come back at all). Continue reading

My Trip to Canada and Indiana

November 7, 2007 / Damion Schubert

Sorry for the lack of communication. I’ve been on the road all week, first to Edmonton to talk about game design process. Currently I’m in Bloomington, IN, to give my Zen of Game Design talk for the virtual worlds department that houses such luminaries as Lee Sheldon and Ted Castronova. While there, I hope to give Lee some shit for the end of this.

As a happy accident, I got to tag along to the Mass Effect launch party while in Edmonton. They sure know how to drink up there. I suspect it’s because it’s too cold to actually do anything outside. Just finishing a lot of crunch to make a kick-ass game probably was a factor as well.

My Only Slightly Less Snarky, but Much More Thorough, Thoughts on Designer Scripting

November 7, 2007 / Damion Schubert

I didn’t start the fire, I just threw gasoline on it, with a terse, 3-line post that was, as Joe correctly surmised via a private message, totally a troll. Then it exploded.

I like fire. It quiets my inner demons to watch things burn. So while I was on a plane yesterday, I cobbled together a few more logs to toss on top of it. Continue reading

No Scripting for You!

November 1, 2007 / Damion Schubert

Ubiq’s law of scripting:

Programmers always say, “No designer scripting!” This lasts until they see the production schedule.

Then it’s all ‘hey, didn’t Joe used to be a Java programmer?’, and then everything goes down the slippery slope from there.

Original comments thread is here.

CEO of EA: Games Are Too Expensive