This is also the first time I have not seen Ethic’s Asheron’s Call 2 closing ceremonies in the top 10. People may finally be emotionally moving on from AC2. I never did make that Lugian Tactician.

: Zubon

Most devoted MMO players are protectionists.  If a player makes it past Blizzard’s fabled level 10, the player starts to care about the game.  The character gains some degree of permanence, and things start to matter.  Then this feeling grows in step with the advancement of the character.  Things like friends, guilds, and community start to become important.  The road to becoming a fanboy is paved with progression mechanics.  Eventually the MMO player becomes a defender of the realm.  Her realm.

Yet, their gaze is outward.  These defenders see gold farmers, cheaters, bad developers, and other MMO games as the enemy.  They stand valiantly against this horde willing to protect their land wherever there is an audience.  Most of the energy is simply wasted.  The good developers are already drawing the battle lines, and they can do so with magnitudes more effect than the powerless player.

If these defenders of the realm just looked inward instead they would realize just how much power they actually have.  Only instead of fighting the personified evils of the MMO world, they have to realize their power is in nurturing.  The community is theirs to create (or destroy).

There are so many actions of random kindness the defenders can take, which are so simple, and can have such a resounding effect.  A wealthy player can become a veritable Robin Hood to poorer players.  A knowledgeable player can pass on wisdom so that player-students can learn the game without being ridiculed.  Even the simple act of sticking around to help the next player with the boss spawn can lighten a person’s day.

This perfect world is but a Friday dream, but I have seen differences.  In Syp’s recent Massively column for Lord of the Rings Online, his first reason for playing the MMO is community.  Merric and Goldenstar discussed his list in their podcast, A Casual Stroll to Mordor, and compared the Lord of the Rings Online community to World of Warcraft’s, where they felt belittled at every turn.  Can it be so simple that a happy community creates more of a happy community?  Have MMO communities created an unsafe place where players are afraid to ask for any simple kindness?

I can tell you that I remember the time one of the server’s elite took hours of his time to teach my casual guild a raid.  I cannot remember specifics to any rage-quit scenarios that left us with empty spots.  I can tell you that I remember the time I gave a guildie half my gold so he could buy a mount because my gold was just sitting there.  I cannot remember any time I needed help and no one answered, though I am sure it has happened plenty.  I can remember how much fun it was to play Santa Claus to all the freshly minted players arriving out of the noob world. 

This weekend, I plan on making more good memories.

–Ravious
my simple religion

I’ve been playing WOW now for almost two weeks. In that time, I’ve racked up around 120 hours of play time. Today I reached level 40. Once a character reaches level 40 in WOW, they can purchase something called “dual spec” for 1000 gold. This game feature allows a character to respec their talent tree between two different specializations. For example, a Paladin could spec for tanking for one raid and then use the dual spec feature to switch to healing for the next raid. My priest is currently set up as a pure healer, but I desperately want to be able to switch to a DPS spec when soloing.

Perhaps I’m spoiled by games like Lotro. There every class has the option to switch to a DPS setup for a fee so cheap you forget it exists. Basically, it allows you a much greater degree of diversity in the way you play your character. Its hard for me to accept just one role for the life of my character.

So when I realized that obtaining 1000 gold by level 40 was unrealistic, I made the decision to purchase gold. I bought about 1000 gold for about ten dollars from the Microsoft of gold-farmers. You know, that company that owns Allakhazam, THOTTBOT, WOWhead and a bunch of other fan sites? They got my ten dollars.

After my purchase I stood around in town setting up my new talent setup for DPS so that I could solo for a while. I got a tell from a guy who had been giving me advice about the game. He had been quickly becoming a friend over the last two weeks, so I excitedly told him about my purchase and how much fun the game was about to get for me. Of course, I told him I purchased the gold I needed for the dual spec feature. He was silent a few moments and then said to me, “I don’t even want to know you when you do noob shiite like that.” and he put me on his ignore list.

I have to say, that really hurt my feelings. I was so excited about the game, but then I didn’t feel like playing. All day today, I’ve been wanting to do something in WOW, but when I try to log, in I feel a pain in my chest and log back out. I’m not even sure why I feel so bad. I certainly don’t feel bad about purchasing gold. I’m not especially worried about my former friend reporting me and getting me banned. He may do it, and I may get banned, but for some reason that’s not scary to me. I guess because I know I’d just start another account and purchase gold again for the dual spec feature. I just feel so bad that someone could be angry at me for just buying gold. I’m not used to people putting me on ignore, either. I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before. I just… feel so bad right now. This feeling sucks.

In the Prologue, Turbine blew me away.  They created a kind of montage where Elrond walked with me around his library discussing the whereabouts of the eight Rangers I was to rally.  Every few steps Elrond would discuss the whereabouts, demeanor, or skills of the Ranger, and the Ranger would pop into view as if my character was visualising the man we were discussing.  I could picture the essence of each zone as Elrond talked.  Lothrandir would be just out of the cold wind watching the icy landscape below while northern lights gave color to the snow, and Calenglad would be looking out at the great lake Evendim on a starry night as far off chantings of the broken Angmarim floated from the ruins across the water.  The team/person that thought up this scene should be congratulated for far surpassing what could have been a simple laundry list of Rangers to collect.

After a few more NPC waypoints in Chapter 1, I found the cave with Radanir.  While there is pointed jest in my recreated scene where I met with Radanir, my paraphrased dialogue is not very far from the truth.  Radanir gave absolutely no explanation as to why I should go kill the orcs without him.  Now, the Chapter would’ve been better done as a solo instance fighting alongside Radanir than a shared cave where little hobbit minstrels can scare the poop out of me by running up behind me and yelling.  But, I can accept that less development time was available to this small Chapter than, to say, the Skirmish.

However, I feel that the quest text writer completely ignored the player, instead assuming that the player would be happy to do whatever the Ranger wanted.  I feel that if any attempt was made to explain the complacency of the Ranger, it would have been acceptable.  The next quest with Candaith, asks the player to retrieve a hidden cache of items while Candaith breaks down his camp.  While still a little trope-like, for gameplay and story reasons it seems acceptable.

Unlike the majority of players, I read every snippet of quest text in the MMOs I play.  Not only do I find it interesting, but I feel that if someone actually spent the time to write it there must have been a reason.  For example, the quest text writer for Radanir does get redemption points for bringing up the attack on Celebrian, Elrond’s wife, who was severely wounded by a similar orc party.  I have to quibble though because she was not “lost” to the orcs.  She was captured, irreparably wounded, and freed by her sons from captivity.  Celebrian then went to the Grey Havens and sailed to the West.

Anyway, I am not sure what rollercoaster ride of quality in the story will bring as I move forward.  I am still looking forward to the story and lore around the Rift Skirmish.  For the most part, Turbine’s text and use of lore is of a very high quality, and I hope this one blip can be polished over.

–Ravious
I am the author who scratches these rhymes

In the age of 140 character communication it’s becoming standard practice for developers to tease their audience with sporadic tidbits of information, be that through Twitter, forums, or other mediums. It’s guerrilla warfare tactics in the fight against stagnation, but just how effective are these seemingly random ‘micro-updates’? A sincere effort to maintain a more responsive and fluid relationship, or just the easiest solution to a tricky problem?

To me, any effective communication strategy revolves around the ability to manage expectations. Everything you say or do is weighed against past events, and evidence that you are reneging on a precedent or accepted belief will always upset someone. Recognizing how these expectations are built is crucial, because they have just as much impact on the reaction to a message as the message its self.

Any form of communication will earn you an overwhelmingly positive response in the beginning, simply because it is unexpected. Whether it’s the first developer blog, the first post on a fansite, or the first tweet, the community’s reaction will always be encouraging. It’s comforting to imagine that the strategy will continue producing that positive vibe month after month, but of course it’s never that easy. Keep anything up for too long and you build an expectation around it; the stimulating effect fades as it becomes routine, leaving only disappointment when it’s absent. Thus a guaranteed positive turns into a potential negative, and much of your hard work is undone.

So what is the value of these micro-updates? Their complete lack of schedule and random content makes them an ideal candidate to keep expectations shifting from day to day. Provided you can keep the content varied, interesting, and significant it will keep the audience on their toes, always looking forward – never becoming entirely numb to that buzz.

This form of communication is possibly also more suitable for the younger generations of gamers, famed for their short attention spans. Where a developer blog or Q&A transcript might arouse a bit more interest from your core audience, a brutally paired down message will impact a broader audience with much greater speed – provided there’s an existing positive expectation that ensures peoples immediate attention.

So be wary of letting your micro-updates become a drip feed of banalities, just because they tend not to carry much individual weight. With every update you build an expectation that directly influences the impact of that medium, and how effective it is at keeping your community content and forward looking.

This post was brought to you by Dan Gray, author of BiffTheUnderstudy.com

* If this is set 30 years after Nemesis, and 22 years after Romulus was destroyed, how is Spock narrating it when he was sent to a parallel universe shortly thereafter?

* While the ground fight battles are fun but repetitive, the space battles are the most amazing eye candy I’ve seen since LoTRO’s Lorien. The graphic geek team who worked on this deserves medals.

* The goldspam in this game is worse than Ironforge, Orgrimmar and Bree combined. It was literally impossible for me to ask a single question without it being instantly whisked out of the chat buffer.

* Props to the Trek geeks who worked hard to ensure this game follows established stories/lore. LoTRO is the only other game to do so, in my experience. SWG tried, and ended up…well…NGE is all I need to say.

The idea is that adding someone to a network creates value for everyone else. If you have no friends on Facebook, it is just a platform for solo Farmville. Every additional user creates additional potential value for every other user. In many of our online games and social network, the primary value we are seeking is that connection with other users. It is not just that users create content; users are the content.

Via network effects, winners keep winning. You play World of Warcraft because all your friends play it, and your friends play it because all their friends do. Hopping games means losing that huge network, which is why you are trying to talk your entire guild into making the jump to the new game (take the heart of your network with you).

“Critical mass” is the first major sub-concept you want. There is some threshold at which a network becomes truly valuable. If you cannot consistently find a group, your game lacks a critical mass of players (or you’re an asshat). Once you have critical mass, you start seeing all those benefits from additional players.

Good blog topic: tiers of critical mass in your game. Is it solid during peak hours but not as playable for an Australian? Does your game need a low-level redesign like LotRO just had because there is no longer a critical mass at the lower levels? How much does it suck to reach the level cap and wait for that critical mass to develop? You could also run with game lobbies, where they either fill quickly (gogogogoogogog!!!) or flounder at 1 or 2 people as other pop in, wait 30 seconds, and leave. A Team Fortress 2 server I often enjoy engages in the contemptible practice of always displaying itself as almost full; it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, because why bother being the 3rd person on an almost-empty server, while getting the last slot on an almost-full server ensures a lively game.

If you hate WoW, lock-in is the next sub-concept you want. Once the major value comes from the network, what the network is organized around matters less, so crap that seemed like a good idea at the time sticks around. Reference hatred of everything Microsoft makes: if only we could get everyone to switch to Unix, the world would be saved, but until we do, people keep getting Windows because everything is made for Windows, and everything is made for Windows because everyone has it.

A related topic is that the effect can end hard and fast when a new network replaces the old. If everyone is on MySpace because everyone is on MySpace, when you think everyone is going to Facebook, you might see your entire network flip in an avalanche (and you took your whole guild with you). Again: self-fulfilling prophecy, potentially with a new lock-in.

The interesting point there is what it takes to overcome lock-in. WoW had to be far better than EQ to replace it, although WoW seems a special case since it expanded the market by an order of magnitude. If you want to take over WoW’s place as the default game, you cannot just be 5% better. You need to be better than WoW+network even before getting your own network effect. This is hard.

Because MMOs separate players, the network effect differs a bit. WoW may have the biggest network, but it has many sub-networks because you cannot reach your friends on other servers or across Horde/Alliance. Paid transfers mitigate that. A Tale in the Desert (until recently), EVE, and Darkfall have smaller but proportionately more powerful network effects because everyone is on the same server, so you really do have access to everyone. Segregating by level reduces your network effect because you still cannot play with your friends; alts, sidekicking, and flatter leveling curves reduce this, and at least you can send your newbie friend some toys from your level-capped character.

Negative effects can exist past the critical mass, notably crowding. Instancing is intended to evade that, but you have certainly played in an area that has too many people in it (and all those other guys are stealing your kills). Larger networks are also more attractive to griefers, trolls, and other people your system needs a way to deal with.

Good blog topic: when are we going to see games that take advantage of interoperability to increase their effective network sizes? You see publishers with stables of games, but they have few interactions. If I can take something from Game X when I go to Game Y, Game Y is a lot more attractive, and I am also more likely to go back to Game X with my toys from Game Y. (I need to find the Charles Stross book that uses this.) Every veteran achievement-whore would love to show off his (our) trophies from the last game, to further than illusion of permanence, create a feeling of continuity, and prove that you are not some newbie idiot. Have you seen someone pick up a Steam or X-Box game just to add more achievements to their list? Some games are advertising that harder than gameplay. Linking networks increases their effective size, and while many software developers are taking advantage of that, MMOs remain mostly separate bits of art. Could this contribute to the rise of Facebook “social games”?

As the network leader, interoperability seems like something that could only hurt Blizzard by aiding others’ networks, while they gain by forcing the choice between the biggest network and all the rest. If Blizzard were more pioneering than adapting, however, I could see them trying to link their next MMO to WoW. Keep your achievements, cross-game chat, pre-reserved guild tags, that kind of thing. If you want people to try your new network without necessarily killing the old, you can connect them. It will at least funnel people from the old to the new without risking losing as many to competitors.

I think I have gone on enough. You could get a post as long as this one from any of the sub-topics within. Please, take one and run with it. This is not just an educational opportunity; once we have a critical mass of readers who understand network effects, you can refer to the topic without rambling on at this length, taking advantage of the existing MMO blog infrastructure.

: Zubon

(The protagonist, Me, runs in to the cave and meets with Radanir, the Ranger.)

Me: I am so glad I found you.  Aragorn, your leader, has need of you in Rohan.  You must go there at once.

Radanir: Of course, Aragorn’s will be done.  However, there’s some orcs in this here cave.  They are too close to the elf outpost. They must be vanquished.

Me: Okay, let’s kill them quickly so you can make haste to Aragorn’s side.

(Silence passes as Radanir appears unsure how to proceed.)

Radanir: How about this?  I stand here.  You go kill the orcs.  Don’t worry though, I’ll still stand here until you leave the cave.  Then you go tell the elf outpost of our victory.

(Me sighs, accepts his fate, and begins to run in to the cave.  Radanir yells at Me as he goes out of sight.)

Radanir: Don’t worry!  I’ll tell the others that come in to help you out!

Either way, opening up dead mobs like paper mache is an addictive part of vanilla MMO play.  One lucky kill or resource node can provide a player with the feeling of elation.  This “windfall” granted by the random number gods seemingly puts a spike in the efficiency of time versus reward.  Suddenly the lucky player is beating the system (and other players). There is a heavier term MMO lexicographers use to analogize the loot systems found in the big MMOs.  Instead of a colorful, lively pinata used at children’s parties across the world, these wordsmiths liken the system to a slot machine.

Gambling in general, but specifically slot machines are based on very simple dopamine systems installed in just about every human, and those systems have been evolving for a long time to keep us alive.  Basically, we are hard wired to feel good about rewards.  The system gives us even more happy hormones when we get surprising rewards.  Slot machines basically abuse this biological system by giving the player a surprising reward, but the effect is compounded by the misguided sense that the player can figure out the system by continuing to play the slot machine. (I want to point out that “knowing the odds,” which are usually set by state law, is not the same as “figuring out the system.”)

According to Wolfram Schultz’s predictive reward signal, the dopamine systems eventually begin to preemptively supply the person with fuzzy warm feelings when the person is merely doing the activity that might be rewarding.  In the case of the MMO player, the simple act of killing a mob can supply this small burst of dopamine based on all the past experiences where we have received rewards.  Guess which rewards the mind remembers most?  You can bet it wasn’t that [Melted Candle].

However, every person has a “pain point” where the loss of money (at a slot machine) or time (at an MMO) is simply too great for the diminishing returns of any remaining dopamine hits.  While both casinos and MMO companies realize that at some point sane people have to take a break, both entities want their consumers to come back.  People have to leave with some reason to come back.  For MMOs there are plenty of other reasons to return than just the act of mob bashing. Community, progression, and unexplored content are three things that quickly popped in to mind.  Slot machine shrines don’t have any of those luxuries.  They need another reason.

Harrah’s Casino, in particular, goes back to simply giving a surprising reward.  A system watches the slot machine player to determine approximately when the player will reach their pain point (time or money).  When the system sees an approaching paint point, it notifies an employee to intercept the bogey.  The employee walks up to the player and offers the player something.  It could be some amount of money, it could be a comped room, or it could be a free meal at their restaurant.  It nearly doesn’t matter.  What matters is that the player is now fixated on the fact that they just won a surprising reward with the help of their dopamine system.

Now what surprises me is that MMOs, to my knowledge, do not use this system.  They do not seem to watch for a player’s pain point, especially when it comes to repeating group content.  There are two mechanics, that I am aware of, that come close.

The first, which has become a widely used reward mechanic, are barter tokens.  As MMO players do things, they can slowly accumulate barter tokens to get a good reward even if they have not won a good reward from the loot pinata.  The problem with this is that instead of a surprising boon that hits the dopamine system, the barter tokens becomes a fall back reward.  The goal, according to Harrah’s Casino, is not to diminish the pain but to replace it entirely with the sense of reward.

The second comes from Warhammer Online.  When a player went out questing and killed ten, twenty, fifty rats, the player would happen upon an NPC that would cry “Oi, I’ve seen yous killed fifty rats, guvnah!  I hate rats.  Let me give you some stuff for doing what you done.”  In my opinion, this mechanic is on the right track to giving the surprising reward outside of the loot pinata.  I have to believe that Paul Barnett and Co. were fully aware of these casino tricks seeing as they wanted a slot machine mechanic for the Public Quest rewards. Unfortunately, the player had to seek out this reward, which diminished both the reward and the surprise.

I lied, there is one other:  achievement systems.  Achievement systems are a dual-edged sword.  On one hand they create surprising rewards.  I loved it in Lord of the Rings Online where all of the sudden I would be notified that I just killed 300 orcs or beat 20 zone quests, and here is a small reward.  That is exactly what Harrah’s system does.  However, this only works when the player is not really expecting the achievement to occur.  When the player begins working towards the achievements and has to work more, the whole system loses efficacy.  The system also loses its ability to create a surprising reward when the amount of achievements that pop up is great enough to numb the player to gaining any surprising achievements.

I guarantee that a well-done system that truly creates surprising rewards will raise the addictiveness of MMOs to a new level.  (a) Hey, I noticed you were talking to that person for 10 minutes.  Community is pretty cool.  Here’s a few gold. (b)  Hey, I noticed you played for an hour [after seeing you haven't played longer than 15 minutes in the past 2 weeks].  Here’s a reward token.  (c) Hey, I noticed you lost your roll on every epic item in that dungeon.  Here’s a few more barter tokens. (d) Hey, I noticed you got to the end of this article.  Here’s some relief.

–Ravious
twice as sweet

Many of us have skipped entire meals during gaming marathons in lieu of a bag of potato chips or some Twinkies.  The most recent Digital Cowboys podcast (thanks to Andrew from Of Teeth and Claws for telling me about the podcast) records a gaming marathon.  Interestingly enough one of the hosts discussed with some experts on how to sustain the crew through the pixel popping nights.  The answer: stay away from processed sugars, fats, and energy drinks.  The Digital Cowboys ate lots of fruit, juice, pasta, and most importantly, cold water.

The stereotypical gamer food will actually impede the ability to stay up well past the midnight hour.  Caffeinated soda and energy drinks will give a momentary burst of lucidity, but the quick energy will cause a sugar crash shortly thereafter.  High calorie snacks like chips and snacky cakes will just slow us down into a sleepy siesta state ready for hibernation.

Healthy snacking is the way to go.  My personal favorite snacks are baby-cut carrots. They are cheap.  They are easy on the digestive system (compared to gassy broccoli and celery).  And, I can sin a little and dip them in to ranch dressing.  Peanut butter, I know, would be an improvement and give me a hit of protein as well.  Dried fruit and nuts are also good choices.  The added bonus is the lack of crumbs in the keyboards and computer chairs.

The choice of drinks goes hand in hand with healthy snacking.  Now, I won’t even touch the issue of alcohol, and I have had plenty of game nights accompanied with a few beers or a bottle of wine.  Those nights were not important guild event nights where my inebriated, clever jokes impeded on other’s fun.  I digress.  The most important thing when staying up late or gaming for a long time is to stay hydrated.  Soda, energy drinks, and coffee actually dehydrate the gamer.  And pro-tip: dehydration makes people tired.  This is my biggest problem because I love soda.  Love it.  Water is so bland by comparison.  I’ve found juice is a good middle ground, but don’t get any high-fructose corn syrup 10% juice.  Get 100% juice.

With snacking out of the way, let’s get to meals.  Some MMO game events can become all day affairs.  Even if the event does not run through a meal time, after a long tour de force, MMO gamers can be “too tired” to make a meal.  Hot pockets or fast food becomes the fallback point.  Pizza is also another time-worn choice.  Filled with fat and processed carbs, these meals are more likely to knock a gamer out than provide the refreshment to continue gaming.

There are too many options for refreshing meals for me to list.  Grilled chicken* salad and tuna macaroni salad are two good choices that can be loaded with veggies and the dressing tailored to taste.  My favorite is tacos de carnitas.  Buy ~4 lb. pork butt (pork shoulder), cube into 1-1.5 inch cubes, throw in a crock pot with cumin seeds, bay leaves, garlic cloves, fill with Coca-Cola** until meat is nearly covered, turn on low, and walk away for 6-8 hours.  When you are hungry fill a tortilla with quickly shredded pork, salsa, sour cream, cilantro, onion, and/or whatever else, and you have a quick anytime meal that can easily be chowed down during a bio break.  If you want to go more traditional, pair the tacos with radish slices.

With all of this, I must confess I am no saint.  The last MMO snack I had was a big bag of Spicy Thai Kettle Chips.  When I woke up the next morning, the aftereffects were not pretty.  Many times I go to bed depressed because I am tired and am wondering if my gaming was worth the time.  I wonder how often this feeling was created by my nutritional decisions, or lack thereof, instead of my actual play.  Spring is coming, and my CSA bucket should be filling soon.  In writing this, I have thrown down the gauntlet to myself. I’ll let you know how it goes.

–Ravious
lightningy?

*I find grilling a few chicken breasts on Sunday to use through the week for meals, pastas, salads, etc. has been extremely helpful.  Plus it gives me an excuse to do man things with dead animals and fire every week.

**Let me restate: only Coca-Cola. Not Pepsi.  Not Sam’s Club Fizz.  There is no substitute beside a stock cut with water, or merely water with extra salt and seasonings.  Sugar-cane Coca-Cola is best, but can be hard to find.