One Tired EVE Pilot doesn't care about game stories. So who does? That's a question I can't really answer. Role-players? Possibly. Hardcore fans? Maybe. The gamer looking to get lost in a fantasy world? Another possibility.
It's not that people don't care about the story, but they just don't care for poorly implemented story telling devices. I read 1,000+ page books every couple of weeks, but you won't catch me in-game reading chat boxes. I play games to have a living story where a battle is not narrated... it is won or lost in my actions.
Cut scenes in general are poor story telling devices simply because most game developers aren't cinematographers. There is a couple games like Warcraft 3 and Final Fantasies 7-10 that have used great cut scenes to help tell a story, but cut scenes alone do not make a story go. The game play needs to help tell the story as well and that's something I've yet to see done well.
Art is another big area. If a sewer is dark, damp, and stinks like yesterday's garbage... then visual clues like buzzing flies, visual fog, and proper lighting is required. Imitating smell without smell is hard, but artists are smart and I think it can be done without a 100 word text box describing the stench.
The avatar and animations are also important. The way an avatar runs or moves can tell a lot about the history of the character. I would rather see a Goblin Pirate limp across the ship deck than read a text box tell me that he lost it ten years ago in a battle. Resident Evil had your character slump over and stumble as you became injured and it replaced the health meter quite well.
Our minds make the words to the story we see on screen. Pictures are worth a thousand words and a proper game using the proper story telling mechanisms is worth a million.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Monday, January 16, 2006
Trying to understand things on the internet is hard
What do spray cans, groping, and racism have to do with each other? I don't know. Why are you asking me? I wish I knew, but I don't. Why?
Because I am trying to understand something on the internet. While hitting up my favorite Blog search engine, Technorati, I came across the search term "xiaxue". What is xiaxue you ask? I really wish I could tell you, but I have an inkling from the search results at Technorati that it has to do with spray cans, groping, and racism!
Well I'm not really sure... this is the Internet after all.
Because I am trying to understand something on the internet. While hitting up my favorite Blog search engine, Technorati, I came across the search term "xiaxue". What is xiaxue you ask? I really wish I could tell you, but I have an inkling from the search results at Technorati that it has to do with spray cans, groping, and racism!
Well I'm not really sure... this is the Internet after all.
What To Play: WoW, EVE, or EQ2
I've been thinking recently of what MMORPG I should head back into for a bit. I have not had an active subscription for two months strong now. I've really felt no pull towards any of them to start playing them again. Battlefield 2, Call of Duty 2, and various Half Life 2 mods (Goldeneye Source, Dystopia, Counter Strike : Source) have kept me busy. But like Ogier steddings in the Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan, there is a longing to return.
World of Warcraft
I have an account and a level 60 Troll Shaman on Azgalor. There is a lot of new content from the 1.9 patch that may interest me. However, I doubt I would continue playing my Shaman. Most likely I would start a new character elsewhere to level up for the expansion (which I'm not sure I will be buying).
EVE Online
I love the trading and corporation aspects of EVE Online. I've tried to learn the game, but I've fallen flat on my face. I can't stand playing games that are painfully slow and confusing to learn. I know if I put the time in, I could be rewarded, but there are no guarantees in EVE Online.
Everquest 2 : Trial of the Isle
Ethic at the Kill Ten Rats blog has been trying out EQ2 and the Trial of the Isle. He has somewhat peaked my interest in picking it up again for a spin. It is doubtful I would play past the free 14 days, but giving it a try would satisfy my curiousity. I like the idea of play and forget without paying.
Update: 8 Jul, 2007 - Edited post and applied labels.
World of Warcraft
I have an account and a level 60 Troll Shaman on Azgalor. There is a lot of new content from the 1.9 patch that may interest me. However, I doubt I would continue playing my Shaman. Most likely I would start a new character elsewhere to level up for the expansion (which I'm not sure I will be buying).
EVE Online
I love the trading and corporation aspects of EVE Online. I've tried to learn the game, but I've fallen flat on my face. I can't stand playing games that are painfully slow and confusing to learn. I know if I put the time in, I could be rewarded, but there are no guarantees in EVE Online.
Everquest 2 : Trial of the Isle
Ethic at the Kill Ten Rats blog has been trying out EQ2 and the Trial of the Isle. He has somewhat peaked my interest in picking it up again for a spin. It is doubtful I would play past the free 14 days, but giving it a try would satisfy my curiousity. I like the idea of play and forget without paying.
Update: 8 Jul, 2007 - Edited post and applied labels.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Dungeons and Dragons : The DM difference
With all the post-NDA opinions floating around about Dungeons and Dragons Online's beta I have been thinking about a crucial part of what has always been the most important aspect of a tabletop game of D&D. That aspect of course is the real, live, and breathing Dungeon Master (DM).
Let's step back to DDO for a minute. Turbine has gone a long ways to make sure the aspect of the Dungeon Master was not forgotten. They have added pop up text boxes that go into some detail about each and every area a player visits. Also there is narration to help better explain some of the different events within a quest or adventure. It gives an overall impression of there being a DM present, but in reality I doubt any player will ever believe a DM is truly watching over their play.
Turbine has decided that the DM is not a role that needs to be filled by a human. After all, that's what they have servers, graphics, real time combat, and the game itself for. There is no need for a DM to be there. Turbine's quest team has hand built numerous quests and areas for players to adventure in. They have gone the extra mile to make adventures that are exciting and multi-faceted. What possibly could a DM be needed for?
Human > Computer
It is a simple fact that a human would serve as a better DM than a computer.
Your party has been rolling through a dungeon. No monster, trap, or ambush could stop you. No monster, trap, or ambush could... because the dungeon doesn't change based on how well you're doing. The difficulty hasn't scaled. The computer is not smart enough to do so.
Insert a human DM into that situation and you have a different story on your hands. The DM could throw down a trap to slow the party while he prepared the next wave of attackers. What may start as an easy fight could escalate quickly as the DM jumps in to control one of his summoned creatures. Now the party is fighting against a real opponent.
This even extends beyond just interacting with the party as they adventure. It pays its dividends in the end also when the true reward of adventuring in D&D pays off and that is at the division of the experience points. A computer is going to reward you the same amount for the same quest (with diminishing returns for DDO). A DM on the other hand is going to analyze the fight. Was it hard for the party? Do they deserve a little extra maybe? Do they deserve less possibly because they took the easier path? These are questions to think about the next time you earn experience in any MMORPG.
What about getting a bad DM?
Well it is a possibility and I would like to think there would be quite a need for DM with the number of adventurers playing. So the possibility of getting a poor DM that is unable to enhance the adventure is a real possibility.
Things like DM rankings and scorecards would go a long way to alleviate this. After every adventure the party could rate their DM and a DM would rate his players. Other things such as rewarding a DM for achieving better rankings and giving them more power as they achieve higher ranks could also help. These are things that just haven't been explored and until real DM are placed in game it is hard to expand upon them.
For some ideas on ranking and rating systems check this article out.
Its too exploitable
I know what people are going to say. A bunch of buddies get together and jump into an adventure with their buddy buddy DM. The DM makes the adventure a cake walk and then rewards insane amounts of experience at the end. Everyone else feels cheated because there is nobodies all of a sudden level 10 after a week of playing.
No one likes cheaters and sadly cheaters will always look for maximum return with the smallest investment on their part. Its a sad fact, but there are ways to deal with it.
One idea is to randomly assign the DM to an adventure. That way no party can “shop” for a DM that will help them exploit the system. But honestly do we need to go so far as to push the players and the DM apart?
Honestly the simpler fix would be to just not connect the game to hub worlds. Disconnect the player base from itself and offer a separate way of connecting. Server browsers work great in FPS games. Give the adventurers a simple chat interface linked with a game browser so that players can hook up for a game. Each game could then be stored for players to join in later.
Without the connection of hub worlds the effect of the exploiters would not be seen as a negative on other players experience. The exploiters would be playing their own games and the other gamers would be playing theirs. If an adventure called for a party of five level 5's then it would not matter really how each character entering got to level 5.
Again the DM has control of the adventure. If players come in with items the DM doesn't feel are appropriate they could be easily replaced or restricted. If a character comes in weak the DM could boost them up for that game and that game alone.
Conclusion
The DM holds a great power in D&D. Without their presence the D&D experience is not the same. Pretty graphics and flavor text will never replace the human imagination. D&D has never been about what 1,000's of other players are doing, but more about what you and your small group of friends are doing. An online version of D&D needs to simply increase the size of the pool from which you pick your fellow adventurers and in turn hopefully make some new friends.
DDO may be a faithful representation of the world and rules of D&D, but it will never capture the spirit.
Update: 28 Aug, 2008 - Updated labels.
Let's step back to DDO for a minute. Turbine has gone a long ways to make sure the aspect of the Dungeon Master was not forgotten. They have added pop up text boxes that go into some detail about each and every area a player visits. Also there is narration to help better explain some of the different events within a quest or adventure. It gives an overall impression of there being a DM present, but in reality I doubt any player will ever believe a DM is truly watching over their play.
Turbine has decided that the DM is not a role that needs to be filled by a human. After all, that's what they have servers, graphics, real time combat, and the game itself for. There is no need for a DM to be there. Turbine's quest team has hand built numerous quests and areas for players to adventure in. They have gone the extra mile to make adventures that are exciting and multi-faceted. What possibly could a DM be needed for?
Human > Computer
It is a simple fact that a human would serve as a better DM than a computer.
Your party has been rolling through a dungeon. No monster, trap, or ambush could stop you. No monster, trap, or ambush could... because the dungeon doesn't change based on how well you're doing. The difficulty hasn't scaled. The computer is not smart enough to do so.
Insert a human DM into that situation and you have a different story on your hands. The DM could throw down a trap to slow the party while he prepared the next wave of attackers. What may start as an easy fight could escalate quickly as the DM jumps in to control one of his summoned creatures. Now the party is fighting against a real opponent.
This even extends beyond just interacting with the party as they adventure. It pays its dividends in the end also when the true reward of adventuring in D&D pays off and that is at the division of the experience points. A computer is going to reward you the same amount for the same quest (with diminishing returns for DDO). A DM on the other hand is going to analyze the fight. Was it hard for the party? Do they deserve a little extra maybe? Do they deserve less possibly because they took the easier path? These are questions to think about the next time you earn experience in any MMORPG.
What about getting a bad DM?
Well it is a possibility and I would like to think there would be quite a need for DM with the number of adventurers playing. So the possibility of getting a poor DM that is unable to enhance the adventure is a real possibility.
Things like DM rankings and scorecards would go a long way to alleviate this. After every adventure the party could rate their DM and a DM would rate his players. Other things such as rewarding a DM for achieving better rankings and giving them more power as they achieve higher ranks could also help. These are things that just haven't been explored and until real DM are placed in game it is hard to expand upon them.
For some ideas on ranking and rating systems check this article out.
Its too exploitable
I know what people are going to say. A bunch of buddies get together and jump into an adventure with their buddy buddy DM. The DM makes the adventure a cake walk and then rewards insane amounts of experience at the end. Everyone else feels cheated because there is nobodies all of a sudden level 10 after a week of playing.
No one likes cheaters and sadly cheaters will always look for maximum return with the smallest investment on their part. Its a sad fact, but there are ways to deal with it.
One idea is to randomly assign the DM to an adventure. That way no party can “shop” for a DM that will help them exploit the system. But honestly do we need to go so far as to push the players and the DM apart?
Honestly the simpler fix would be to just not connect the game to hub worlds. Disconnect the player base from itself and offer a separate way of connecting. Server browsers work great in FPS games. Give the adventurers a simple chat interface linked with a game browser so that players can hook up for a game. Each game could then be stored for players to join in later.
Without the connection of hub worlds the effect of the exploiters would not be seen as a negative on other players experience. The exploiters would be playing their own games and the other gamers would be playing theirs. If an adventure called for a party of five level 5's then it would not matter really how each character entering got to level 5.
Again the DM has control of the adventure. If players come in with items the DM doesn't feel are appropriate they could be easily replaced or restricted. If a character comes in weak the DM could boost them up for that game and that game alone.
Conclusion
The DM holds a great power in D&D. Without their presence the D&D experience is not the same. Pretty graphics and flavor text will never replace the human imagination. D&D has never been about what 1,000's of other players are doing, but more about what you and your small group of friends are doing. An online version of D&D needs to simply increase the size of the pool from which you pick your fellow adventurers and in turn hopefully make some new friends.
DDO may be a faithful representation of the world and rules of D&D, but it will never capture the spirit.
Update: 28 Aug, 2008 - Updated labels.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Battlefield 2 patch 1.2 and Armored Fury
EA is at it again today with the new Battlefield 2 patch 1.2 and the announcement of Armored Fury another booster pack. Also with the announcement they put a price tag of $9.99 on the two announced booster packs; Armored Fury and Euro Force.
Onto the 1.2 patch notes and some commentary.
Onto the 1.2 patch notes and some commentary.
- * Helicopter now carry 8 missiles rather than 14
- * TV-Guided missile now have a shorter range
- Both of these will go a long way to balancing the attack helicopters.
- * Hit points on all air vehicles have been reduced
- * AA missile lock on has been improved
- More nerfs to the overpowered air power. Ground pounders rejoice!
- * Support kits have had their primary weapons adjusted for accuracy
- * Sniper kits have had their primary weapons adjusted for accuracy
- * Anti-Tank kits have had their primary weapons adjusted for accuracy
- Hmmm wonder if this means they will be more accurate? I may go back to playing support and sniper now. Nothing like letting 100 bullets fly at someone two feet away and not hitting them with the support guns or the 50/50 accuracy of the sniper rifle sometimes.
- * "Dolphin Diving" is no longer possible
- Dolphin what?
- * Players can no longer jump and shoot at the same time
- And a whine hear the world round was heard the day the bunny hoppers were nerfed!
- * "Prone Spamming" is now fixed
- * "Sprint exploit" is now fixed
- Exploit fixes are always good!
- * The Sa80 weapon has been improved
- * The G3A3 weapon has been improved
- Don't even know what weapons these are... oh well.
- * Reload while sprinting has been enabled
- Fin a fucking lee.
- * Chinese and MEC APCs can now shoot through penetrable materials
- Now they didn't specify if these were the main gun or the side guns.
- * Damage decreased for the M134
- * Medic defibrillator paddles have been adjusted. They now reload while not in use.
- Medics rejoice... no longer pulling out the paddles and having to watch them re-reload!
- * Server search filters now work properly
- What??? They FINALLY fixed the server browser filter issues. I will believe it when I see it.
- * All mines (Claymore, Anti-vehicle, C4) can now be picked up by the same class that dropped it by using the “G” key.
- Snipers rejoice... no longer is it a "wait and see if I got a TK for using a claymore!"
- * Mines can no longer be destroyed with other explosives
- What you do in one patch can always be undone in the next.
- * Flash bang effect radius decreased
- Good... never made sense that flashbangs worked 100 feet away and through walls.
- * Added unlocks for Sniper and AT kits
- Say what? Interesting.
- * Fixed a bug in terrain rendering with night vision, whereby terrain was still dark in dark areas.
- * Fixed a bug whereby mods that are not bf2 or not xpack permutate shaders every time a level is loaded.
- * Fixed a bug whereby non-xpack mods cannot use xpack shaders.
- * Fixed bug in TV guided missiles of Havoc helicopter
- * Bug in MP7 fire rate fixed. Ammo count increased and mag count and damage decreased
- * APC Update – “Chinese and MEC APCs can now shoot through penetrable materials”. This fix was a miscommunication to the patch team. Chinese and MEC APC’s have been reverted and the LAV25 now no longer shoots through penetrable materials.
- Awww damn... hope none of you had your hopes up.
- * Vehicles no longer disappear when viewed from some vehicles with a HUD (e.g. Tanks).
- * Performance gain found in static mesh rendering.
- * Detonation radius from grenade launcher explosions has been reduced.
- * Grenade launcher projectiles now have a minimum time before arming.
- All the poor noob toobers spamming Strike at Karkand will quit... I mean it! I can't say much since I had a love affair with the noob toob grenade launcher for a while.
Battlefield 2 : Euro Force... my predictions
EA has announced that Battlefield 2 will recieve a booster pack entitled Euro Force. Here is a list of what it will bring.
Now onto my predictions.
1. It is no secret the Chinese Army is the most underplayed army in BF2. For good reason; the Chinese maps are large and prone to air power raping the entire map. On top of that there is no single good map for scoring points in the Chinese map set.
So one of these new maps is going to be very (and I mean VERY) similar to Strike at Karkand. It will offer equally fast paced combat in an urban setting without the use of any air power. People will flock to this server because it will gain as many (if not more) points than Karkand does. EA probably believes this will somehow even out the balance between the armies.
2. A patch will be appearing shortly before or after the launch of Euro Force. It will make Euro Force unplayable and be removed. It will be taken back and retooled and then be released with the next big update.
3. The pack will sell well because of the new Karkand like map and EA will be convinced they can keep making money off these minor content updates. Its a good idea, but after Special Forces I don't expect too much meat with the release of each of these booster packs.
EA has failed to integrate the game play of SF and Battlefield 2 as it is which has segregated the community. I don't see this pack being that great, but give the stat boys a map to whore points on and they will pay... they will pay.
3 New Maps
- * Operation Smoke Screen
- * Taraba Quarry
- * Great Wall
4 New vehicles
- * Main Battle Tank - Leopard 2A6
- * Main Battle Tank – Challenger 2
- * Fighter – Eurofighter (Typhoon T1)
- * Attack Heli – Eurocopter Tiger (Tiger HAP)
7 New Weapons
- * HK53A3
- * Famas
- * SA80 L85A2
- * SA80 L85A2 with UGL (AG-36)
- * HK21
- * Benelli M4
- * P90
- * L96A1
1 New Army
- * European Union
1 new award
- * European Union Special Service Medal
Now onto my predictions.
1. It is no secret the Chinese Army is the most underplayed army in BF2. For good reason; the Chinese maps are large and prone to air power raping the entire map. On top of that there is no single good map for scoring points in the Chinese map set.
So one of these new maps is going to be very (and I mean VERY) similar to Strike at Karkand. It will offer equally fast paced combat in an urban setting without the use of any air power. People will flock to this server because it will gain as many (if not more) points than Karkand does. EA probably believes this will somehow even out the balance between the armies.
2. A patch will be appearing shortly before or after the launch of Euro Force. It will make Euro Force unplayable and be removed. It will be taken back and retooled and then be released with the next big update.
3. The pack will sell well because of the new Karkand like map and EA will be convinced they can keep making money off these minor content updates. Its a good idea, but after Special Forces I don't expect too much meat with the release of each of these booster packs.
EA has failed to integrate the game play of SF and Battlefield 2 as it is which has segregated the community. I don't see this pack being that great, but give the stat boys a map to whore points on and they will pay... they will pay.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Dungeons and Dragons (DDO) beta preview/review wrap-up
Update: 29 Nov, 2009 - Removed post as all links were broken. This will be kept as a historical placeholder.
This originally linked to various articles detailing previews/reviews of Dungeons and Dragons Online's beta.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Virgin Worlds : Panic at the Console; a look into MMORPG gamers
The Prognosticator over at the VirginWorlds blog has an interesting article up entitled "Panic at the Console" which delves into the differences among FPS and RPG gamers. It also touches on the differences of MMORPG gamers.
I wrote a somewhat in depth response which has now been included into the original posting. I've cut and pasted it here for your reading pleasure, but for the full effect please read the linked article above.
I wrote a somewhat in depth response which has now been included into the original posting. I've cut and pasted it here for your reading pleasure, but for the full effect please read the linked article above.
Assuming of the 5 million or so MMORPG players that are playing out there (which I'm doubtful of, but we'll play ball) it is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of players that would play MMORPGs if they didn't come off the line like solid brick walls. There seems to be little, if any, move to make MMORPGs more accessible (please don't read that as simpler) to the mass audience.
You hit the idea on the head that RPG gamers come from a different breed. I'm not so sure if you can limit it to past systems. You need to remember that back in the day of the Atari 2600 there was almost TWO TIMES the number of gamers in the market. Yes you heard that right and if I could get the link to Nolan Bushnell's speech I would :P
RPG gamers also come from the roots of D&D (duh!) and that is something you can compare to the experience of being a non-Atari gamer back in the day. It has never and will never be about the graphics, technology, or the feature list.
It will remain to be about the PEOPLE.
Also I think you are complete backwards on people coming in through WoW and moving onto "harder" games. It is quite the opposite. People get stressed out on the overly time sink methodology of games like Everquest and jump ship to the more casual friendly WoW.
WoW in no ways should be seen as a market entry point for new gamers. It is bringing in new players, but the experience it promotes DOES NOT make people get into what you are classifying as harder MMOs. Don't confuse more time consuming with harder. It could be debated for years how hard WoW's end game content is compared to EQ's. Its the delivery mechanism that counts here and WoW delivers a system that a new gamer isn't going to be destroyed in.
On another note I don't believe time played is something the MMORPG market has cornered. I would even wager that the average Counterstrike player has more time online than most MMORPG players over a much shorter time span. Sure there is a lot of cross population amongst FPS players and what games they are playing, but the same is true of the MMO market (except within the HARDCORE circles).
What I'm getting at is that ONLINE play is what is stealing the market. MMORPGs are just charging for that time and hence are getting the attention of the venture capitalists looking to fund projects that are going to prove to be a genuine revenue stream.
Video gaming was born in the social aspect. It was not something that was developed as a solo experience. Pong (or Tennis for Two) was two players remember. The majority of early games focused on playing together. It wasn't until after the video game crash and the eventual launch of the original NES that spurred more single player games.
You give players a way to play together and they're going to eat it up. This is something MMORPGs have been charging for, but they by far do not have it cornered.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
World of Warcraft 1.9 Patch
Update: 8 Jul, 2007 - Removed post. This will be kept as a placeholder for historical value.
Originally, this post contained links to various World of Warcraft patch download websites.
Carnival of Gamers X - Winter Carnival
Carnival of Gamers X (10 for the non-romans out there) has graced the front page of the KillTenRats blog. Go over and check out the articles linked. There is a great selection!This is my first Carnival of Gamers appearance and I submitted my "MO5 - The SOE effect… part II… MMORPG madness" article.
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