The Alt Issues: Content and Progression
Many players identify themselves as altaholics, or alt-addicted in some way. I’m not one of those players. In most games, I choose my main character near the beginning and then stick with him. So I’m probably not the most authoritative word regarding alts. Disclaimer out the way:
Champions Online could be alt paradise, but right now it’s more of an alt trap. From what I’ve seen, a lot of players are creating and re-creating, rolling and re-rolling. Alt after alt they climb up close to level 20 and then restart the game.
So what’s the problem?
- There’s only one quest path. On each alt, you’re repeating the exact same quests. As you level, you encounter bugged quests and things get really sparse at times. Champions is in sore need of more quests and more content overall. Doing the same exact things on each alt must get tedious after the third or fourth alt, let alone the eighth.
- The better content is at higher levels. That’s been my experience so far, that Champions ramps upwards. The gameplay expands into better mob abilities and on Monster Island in particular (Lumeria not-so-much) the world feels more integrated, or at least it does when a flaming lava meteor hits me from the island’s resident volcano. Nemesis quests also get better as they go. 5man quests start out in the late 20’s. Quests get more varied and creative, unfortunately they bug out more often too. If you re-roll at 20, you’re missing the good stuff.
- Character progression comes together around level 30. It’s not until getting over the mid-range hump that the Powerset Frameworks really come into their own. A lot of powers overlap and compliment each other and it was around level 30 that I really got into the groove and rhythm with my character in combat. I watch other players around me and although some still seem to be having problems with their builds, a lot of others appear to move along gracefully: It’s noticeable when someone pulls the pieces of their powers together into a coherent and capable whole. It almost sounds like magic describing it, I know, but it is what it is.
- Crafting lacks. There aren’t a lot of side activities outside of combat and what’s there (crafting) isn’t spectacular. That’s fine, I don’t think Champions is a do-everything kind of MMORPG. The combat is the big attraction for sure, but more things to do would make alts more compelling.
Point #1 is the pivotal one, the rest would fall into place if it were solved. I think players would push themselves to higher levels, the rewards for doing so are good, but they need to have fun getting there.
The quests themselves have decent variety. The repetition is in redoing the same ones again and again. If you burn out on alts, it could burn you out overall.
Even alt-resistant as I am, I’ve become enamoured with Champions’ character creator and the Powersets are the clincher, I’d love to try more builds (outside of the Powerhouse). I’ll probably end up playing more alts in this game than any other. I just hope I don’t end up stabbing my eyes out with my mouse (it could be possible, but I’m trying not to think of the resulting image) while I go through the same questing I’ve already thoroughly immersed myself in with my main.
Cryptic is promising more content, across the board. I hope they keep up on that.
This game could become alt paradise. It’s not there yet.
Note: I’m thrilled with my main (currently level 36). Overall this game has surprised me, I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would and I’ve been playing it less casual than I’d planned. See disclaimer at the top.
Swearing, cussing and profanity.
Let me start this topic with a personal confession: I never once used a swear word until I was 16 years old. At least not what I considered a swear word, although the list is probably the commonly accepted one. In some regions it’s called cussing, spouting profanity, expletives, or vulgarities.
Then I used one swear word on a dare and never swore again until I was 21.
Self-Limiting
Now I feel I limited my vocabulary in an artificial way that stunted my growth in the language that I love. As a writer that makes me feel ashamed and disappointed.
I should have taken the freedom to cuss like a sailor at a younger age. It would have given me a greater command of the English language and I would have been much less of an obnoxious tight-ass (if you think I am now, you should have seen me then). It was small-minded of me to judge people for using what I considered “vulgar” words: I was looking past the person, past what was actually being said, and fixating on my own offense at a word.
Let me be clear: I like thoughtful people.
You know where I found my greatest lesson in regards to swearing? Dr. Seuss. From Dr. Seuss I discovered the word Euphemism and it had an impact on me later in life. Substituting words is inevitable if you refuse to accept the most natural words for exclamations. It’s filtering. When I was young, I was encouraged in Sunday School to substitute and since I already refused to swear, I gleefully accepted some of the examples which included “Cotton Picking!” and “Schmuck!”. Those sounded silly and harmless to me at the time, but the first has racial overtones that I would never intentionally use and the second is perversely gross and I was using it inappropriately.
I don’t think it takes much thought to put a filter on words. You can train yourself into systematic response. I know it, I did it for many years. Even as a child and teenager I was self-controlled in this way. Too self-controlled.
The Debate
I’ve heard all of the arguments against swearing, since I’ve used most of them myself. I can recite them if you wish, because they’re by rote and not very inventive. Here’s the first one: “swearing is unimaginative” or “swearing is lazy” or “swearing is unintelligent”. These are all the same and they are nastier personal insults than any swear word I can think of.
You know what’s unimaginative? Insulting someone instead of actually addressing the argument.
Insulting doesn’t require swearing, but when swearing is involved it’s usually more direct, less passive-aggressive, efficiently descriptive and compressed.
If I want to be really nasty to someone, I intentionally do not swear, because it’s possible to get deeply personal and completely cutthroat in non-swearing insults. It’s not that the swear words are less effective, it’s that other insults can snipe under the radar. Yeah it’s passive-aggressive and if I want to be a real asshole, I will use people’s objection to swear words against them. I usually feel dirty after dishing those sort of insults, but if I simply cut to the chase and swear, I feel clean.
I also prefer that others are direct with me when they choose to insult.
Think about it. Which are the more honest words to use?
You know what’s also unimaginative? Assumptions that all swearing involves insults. Some people never get past the offense they take at hearing a word and declare all expletives as insults, completely skipping past all context.
Mark Twain said “profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer” as well as “There ought to be a room in every house to swear in. It’s dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that.”
There’s evidence now to back up Mark Twain’s theory that it’s actually healthy to exclaim, especially in situations where adrenalin or endorphins are involved, but also in situations of daily comfort and social relations. Once people take their offense out of the equation, it’s good for morale. If you filter an exclamation, you lose benefits both psychological and physical.
Lewis Black argues that “fuck” is so flexible it works as punctuation.
Generally I’ve found that when people swear, they know the full meaning of their words. How many can say that of the euphemisms they apply? You’re speaking unintelligbly to me if you use words like darn, drat, fudge, etc. because you’re either using nonsense words or you’re applying words in a nonsensical way. I’ll sheepishly admit I fall into that old trap myself at times.
Another poor argument against swearing: “Think of all the people who won’t listen to you” or simply “Swearing limits you”. That’s a bit of double-think. Who’s limiting whom? The person swearing, or the ones refusing to listen because they heard a naughty word they automatically discount? It’s ass-backwards reasoning to say I should filter my output because your input is limited and closed-minded.
An even worse argument? “Would you speak to your Mother that way?” or switch Mother with Grandmother, or Daughter. Why does that question always use a female relation? It’s inherently sexist, but somehow the argument isn’t supposed to be as effective if it’s my Grandfather, Father, Uncle or Brother. And yes as a matter of fact, I speak clearly and directly with my loved ones. I believe they deserve that respect and hopefully they show it to me as well.
I could go on, but I’ll just bring in my closing remarks.
An honest plea
No matter what religion or creed you may follow, I hope that you can read the above thoughtfully and understand my position that swearing isn’t inherently vulgar or a reason to discount and dismiss what a person has to say.
I know not everyone has the social or workplace environment they can safely swear in without repercussions.
I’ll thank you in advance for taking the time to honestly think about it and perhaps make the world a more comfortable place by accepting exclamations and all words of the language in their context.
Gold spam and search engines.
Richard Bartle is annoyed at the everpresent gold spam that follows MMO-related searches and content. He’s putting the blame firmly at Google’s feet, arguing that IP owners should inherently be able to control what gets put next to their IP.
Flawed argument
His YouTube example is via a third-party site (WoW.com). They had plenty of other options including paying for ad-free videos on YouTube or simply allowing visitors to stream / download video directly on their own site. As many have learned, bandwidth for popular game videos is expensive.
When you opt for free solutions using someone else’s services and accept that there will be advertisements, you throw away all of your rights to aggressively protect your IP. There are many paying options for those kinds of services, the point here is they went with option: Free.
Blizzard themselves could also provide these videos rather than pushing the costs off onto third-party sites for easy promotion. Again, that’s their choice as an IP owner.
Richard Bartle clearly expresses that he found the video via WoW.com, not via a search on YouTube (or Google). This isn’t a gatekeeper situation.
Welcome to advertising
The ads are clearly marked “Ads by Google” so I’m at a loss with his rant about associating IPs and property confusion. I’m sure that the CFL would be quite welcome to purchase ad space during the NFL Superbowl. It’s just the nature of advertising to go with the highest bidder.
Shooting the Messenger
I find gold spammers / farmers quite unsavoury and it makes me nauseous how they continue to collect gold via keylogging, identity theft and other nasty methods without any more punishment than temporary bans. However, as long as the sale of the gold is legally legitimate, I don’t see how Google or any other business should be roasted over the coals.
The fact is that a significant number of players buy gold. I may not agree with them and I certainly don’t agree with the methods which the gold is collected, but there’s clearly a market and a large percentage of players don’t find it immoral or distasteful. So when Lum the Mad suggests Google should police it as a community standard, I wish I could agree with him, but how is it reasonable to expect Google to pick sides?
Convince those players to stop buying gold and the whole problem would be solved. Or better yet, stop providing gold farmers with such a readily exploited and valuable resource.
The games industry as a collective whole hasn’t done much about gold spammers other than wave the ban hammer around and make loud noises. There hasn’t been much effort to address them legally. Blizzard’s lawyers have chased the makers of bots and private servers, hardly to the heart of the matter. Of course, who wants to do more than throw a few bans around when a significant portion of your customer base is involved?
Blaming Google is convenient, but they’re the least guilty on the list of involved parties.
Side Effects include a Corporate Internet
Richard Bartle’s perspective seems to be that IP / Trademark owners should get complete control of the space around their promotional material. Why should the IP / Trademark owner have such automatic entitlement?
When you choose to carry your product through promotional channels that are convenient and cost-effective, you also choose the compromises that come along with it.
If you want complete and utter control, pay for it. Either go for premium services or foot your own costs of distribution and promotion and opt away from piggybacking on the success of others.
The most absurd part of this entire argument is the suggestion that Google’s ~70% search marketshare gives them a blanket monopoly in content delivery across the entire Internet.
If Google was defacing every website that passed through search, I’d be on Richard Bartle’s side for sure, but the embedded advertisements he’s complaining about offset an inherent cost that Google takes on providing video bandwidth, caching websites, etc.. These are optional services. I fail to see how any defacto monopoly trumps optional. It’s a hollow argument.
If YouTube holds any effective monopoly in video distribution it’s because it’s cheap / free for content providers and popular amongst people who want to watch videos without constant hitching, reloading, etc. It’s not that YouTube has superior tech, it’s that they’ve footed the bill.
Richard Bartle is wagging his finger at the wrong target.
Should NDAs adapt to bloggers?
I just posted a comment on Keen & Graev’s regarding NDAs, that “It’s not sane or reasonable to expect them to be dropped during closed beta” and now I’m going to apply some doublethink.
The NDA is the NDA is the NDA
Back when I was at Electric Playground, we used to have this semi-regular argument. Believe it or not, I’d try to stay out of it while two other principles would debate whether we should respect NDAs 100%:
EP1: “It’s their game, they’re letting us see it early and we agree to the rules.”
EP2: “But the mags can give out more info, how’s that fair?”
EP1: “They have exclusives. We’d be breaking their exclusives.”
EP2: “How are we expected to cover their games honestly if we’re locked with what we can say?”
EP1: “We say it later.”
… etc., etc. …
This is a mock conversation from the early days of EP. Later it was agreed that being professional meant following legal agreements to the letter and that trumped any other debate.
Sometimes I say things like “NDAs are not about fairness, get over it”, because I’d been beaten over the head with that fact so many times. I almost said it when Syp complained the Champions NDA was unfair. But then, I used to think Copyright was more absolute than I do now. When the game changes, you adapt right?
Enter the blogger
More and more, I find the best game reporting comes from the independent blogosphere. I’m not even talking about the heavy-weight blog portals. If it weren’t for the exclusives, the mag-like portal sites wouldn’t be worth the light they cast on my desk from viewing them. Just take a look at my link list on the left hand side there, I use that for my daily browsing and note there’s no Kotaku or other such nonsense on it.
I hardly think I’m alone in that regard. They may not have the same access to the source, but the likes of Keen, Syp, Ethic and the rest of the MMO blogosphere in particular, have their fingers on the pulse of this industry. Publishers take note: They know your games better than you do. They’re insightful and passionate. You should treat them better than you should. You can start by paying attention and giving them clearance from your NDA.
I’m not recommending that NDAs be released early. Oh god no. I still agree that an NDA should stick around right up until launch day, because you don’t really want every nerd-raging kid barking about bugs and other nonsense when they aren’t even paying to play. Not only may those bugs get fixed, but the average beta-tester holds no investment into your game, no gratitude and no shame to trash it in the nastiest ways for no other reason than he feels like it. Keep 98% of your beta testers under the NDA, absolutely. Fairness doesn’t enter into it.
I think it’s time for the NDA to change, for the perception of valid journalists to expand. Maybe what’s needed are community managers who can spider around to find even the emerging new bloggers who should get a shot at talking more about the game. Trust me, they’ll become your cheerleaders, even when they’re critical.
So I’ll apologize directly after the fact for my comment on Keen and Graev’s. Not because I was wrong in general, I wasn’t (not even about Mark Jacobs’ koolaid). It’s still not reasonable to expect an NDA lifting early. No, I apologize because it was aimed at Keen, one of the guys whom I think the NDA shouldn’t be applied to.
Double-left-join three-table select query
Warning, SQL geekness ahead.
One of my complaints with a lot of pre-made web software (Wordpress, Drupal, etc.) is that the database overhead is high.
The argument usually goes that scaling makes it a non-issue, but that’s just a fancy cop-out saying “get faster server infrastructure and more RAM” to dismiss any performance issues. I hate it when software dictates higher costs though, it’s supposed to solve problems, not create them. In a large working environment, ease-of-use is cheaper, but in more humble projects like mine, efficiency of code is cost-saving. That’s the threshold between using a pre-made framework / CMS versus DIY.
*ahem* Anyway, getting back on track before I go into a full-on rant:
SQL statements are typically made as small queries like:
select user_id from user_tbl where user_id = $check_id;
select user_name from user_tbl where user_id = $verified_id;
Anyone remotely aware of SQL would put those into one query:
select user_id, user_name from user_tbl where user_id = $check_id;
This isn't meant to be a tutorial tho. Here's a more complex example that illustrates what I work with while creating Gameslate (breaks added for readability):
select item_source_tbl.item_id, item_name
from
(item_source_tbl left join item_earned_tbl on item_source_tbl.item_id = item_earned_tbl.item_id)
left join item_own_tbl on item_source_tbl.item_id = item_own_tbl.item_id
where
(item_points = 0 and item_cost = 0)
or
((act_points >= item_points and item_earned_tbl.user_id = 1) and item_cost = 0)
or
((act_points >= item_points and item_earned_tbl.user_id = 1) and item_own_tbl.user_id = 1);
Crazy eh? Let me break it down a little. There are three tables involved:
- item_source_tbl stores all the possible items that could be earned and bought.
- item_earned_tbl stores info about earning items. Items have a count (in points) towards earning which users accumulate into this table.
- item_owned_tbl simple table storing who owns (purchased) which items.
What the query above does is "select the name and id of all items that are earned (or required no earning) and are paid for (or free)". It could be made easier with different tables, but these tables store a bunch of other info as well for other tasks. It could also be more complex if I added sanity checks, but I'm the only one on my server with database access so I stopgate that at user input (web code).
MySQL is beautifully fast with these kind of queries, but I usually don't see this sort of thing in most code for frameworks, especially not in object-oriented code (which tends to break things down into pieces). Granted, it's hard to read, but it's efficient and plays into the strengths of the SQL server. I sometimes wonder why so many projects use SQL at all when they're going to separate into simpler queries, but I guess the answer is more about convenience than performance.
It's all great until next year I look at the code and wonder WTF it does again, even with comments. =)
It's hard to keep track of this stuff during a heatwave melting my brain.
Content, Content, Content!
We keep getting told that content is expensive. Sure it is, making content is more expensive than not making it. Is it too expensive? Bullshit.
MMO developers spend gobs of money. An AAA title MMORPG costs somewhere between $20-80 million USD. That should pay for a decent amount of content. Unless you’ve been dicking around, which seems to be common when people have that much money to coast on.
If it’s successful, an MMO can make millions. Hundreds of millions. If it’s hugely successful, we’re talking billions. Tell me content is too expensive again? Bullshit.
What they mean is good content takes an active and interested developer base to keep churning it out. It’s cheaper to stretch it, to give us smaller amounts of content that are more repetitive, to make us climb ladders or distract us with player competition or meta-gaming on changing stats. I say fine, give us those things too, but don’t cheap on the good solid content.
What they also mean is that in today’s corporate culture, profit margins trump customer satisfaction. Their object is to do as little as necessary to keep the customers strung along. This works especially well in an industry where there’s a large barrier to entry for competitors to catch up: Let them spend the money while you carve out your margins.
Developers are jumping up and down pointing at the small ‘casual’ games that are resource-lite / asset-lite. A little bit of coding, a small bite of art and *ding* you could be selling a game. Hey those games can be fun, but if you’re trying to convince me to pay more than the initial (small) price for them, screw you.
I’ve heard the bemoaning that some players will run through the content like it’s a race to the end. Fine, you cannot perpetually please that group, but you can for a while and the rest of us are still here too. Don’t throw your hands up in the air and toss in the towel over it.
The first M in MMO is for Massive. Make a Massive game!
Funny, I don’t feel old
Someone called me old the other day, just as a joke, but it seems to be the theme of the week. I hadn’t thought of it much, but after it was said aloud, I reflected.
Maybe it was the reflection, but nostalgia has jumped my bones. There’s that B-movie thing I posted about. I’m listening to Paul Simon (not that I ever stopped), downloading episodes of Kojak (tho mostly missed it the first time around), and wishing Paul Williams was still writing songs for the Muppets. I’m excited about Monkey Island getting a remake and new episodes. I’m remaking a level from Alien Breed 3D myself.
Even though I don’t feel it overall, there are moments when age comes to the forefront:
- Some rich guy put a golf course on the exact spot of one of my most cherished childhood locations, a place I loved for how it felt utterly remote and secluded. Near Whistler, when there was no such thing as Whistler Village, just a quiet lodge and a gas station. It still feels like yesterday, even though I visited during the bulldozing over 12 years ago. Donna found a relic from that: this rusted tool of my misery just screams old, but to me it hasn’t been there that long at all, at least not before a quarter of the area was demolished developed.
It’s still beautiful up there, but not in the same untouched way. When you remember fishing from a boat where they’ve filled in parts of the lake for property, there’s a disconnect between then and now.
- On Brad McQuaid’s blog, Ixobelle lol’d at “Progressive Metal” like it was a funny phrase and not a predominant style of music. This made me feel ancient.
- A portion of Valve’s fans freaked out about Left 4 Dead 2 while they’re supposedly still waiting for content for Left 4 Dead. I thought these irate fans must have short memories, since most of Valve’s games have been updated with mods via SDKs or they’ve been mods to begin with. I wondered if these guys were getting senile as they claimed Team Fortress 2 (a long awaited sequel to a mod) as an example of how professionally created games topped mods. Then I realized some of these fans were probably still kids when Valve came onto the PC game scene as the mod kings.
- Today I overheard someone say “before the Internet” and they were referring to the 90’s. I’ve been online in one form or another since the 80’s, which used to grant me an unspoken title of “early adopter” but now it’s more like someone who remembers black & white television (do you dream in black & white?).
- I find myself at odds with a generation that aggressively competes even during group tasks and cooperative games. Plus they seem so unconcerned about privacy issues or consumer advocacy. It’s the first time ever I’ve made serious distinctions between a younger generation, or more to the point: Distinctions that I cannot relate to and find alien. This is what makes me feel the oldest.
I dinged 40 and I don’t feel much different. It hasn’t felt very long getting here and I’m hardly done walking that road. I’m hardly ageist and I’m not a senile crank yet, just thought I’d let you know. =P
One important note: If I had the ability to roll back the clock, I wouldn’t. Even when knee-deep in nostalgia, I’m happier with right now.
