 |
Worldcon: “World of Warcrack” panelAugust 26th, 2006 |
So yesterday morning I moderated this panel. The folks on the panel were a distinguished bunch: Bill Fawcett, who dropped anecdotes about when Gary would use NPC thieves to rob his party blind — yes, he meant gary Gygax; Justin Lloyd, who started developing games sometime in the Pleistocene; Mike Stemmle, who’s a lead on Star Trek online nowadays, but of course is best known for his work on LucasArts adventure games; and Scott Campbell, who among other things was lead design ona little RPG called Fallout.
The audience was, as expected, a lot of WoW players. But more than that, it was also a group that had been playing MMOs for a while, and a variety of them, it seemed. The ostensible topic was “why are these games popular, and why is WoW king,” but the issues raised were what i thought merited blogging about. Semi-coherently, at any rate, since I was at a suite party until 2:15am last night.
The reasons the panel advanced for WoW’s success were very straightforward, and nothing very shocking:
- They took the time to get it right.
- They spent a fortune doing so.
- They had two of the biggest brands in gaming to work with, Warcraft and Blizzard, with a gigantic in-built audience of core gamers.
- They made sure that there were no penalties to things you did; death has no sting, and timesinks are minimal.
- There’s very regular positive feedback.
But what was more interesting was this set of reasons that the panel also advanced:
- Blizzard focused absolutely on the fun, with no pretenses towards being anything other than a game; no frou-frou dreams of being a virtual world.
- Blizzard focused on combat, and everything else was icing.
- The game permits massive amounts of “playing alone together,” never making you interact with others.
I think the thing that struck me about this formulation was that as we discussed it, I couldn’t help but think about how easily these are framed as negatives. I mean, if you restate those as dictums for success, they come across as entirely missing the point of MMOs.
- They’re games about killing orcs. Other stuff is a distraction.
- Socialization is bad.
Ironically, Bill Fawcett just
put out this book, which
answers “why is WoW king?”
in great detail.
I expected to get a little more pushback from the audience when I baldly stated that WoW was one of the least social MMOs I have ever seen; perhaps the vigorous consensus from the panel deterred the audience from jumping up to defend the social integrity of their guild, or whatever. Instead, lack of socialization morphed into a virtue, as a result of WoW success, permitting users to play with little commitment.
What did happen was a few plaintive questions from the audience, such as one gentleman who wanted to know when MMO games would grant equal dignity and respect to non-combat players; the first round through the panel, the answer was basically “well, the games will grant plenty of token nods,” or “go check out these social games,” until another audience member pointed out that we were ducking the question. Which finally led us to open up the question of whether the streamlined orc-slaying power fantasy of WoW is really the future; I pointed out that most of the world probably views that behavior as, well, tacky, and it’s not all that likely to spread hugely beyond the market of core game players.
The juggernaut cannot be denied, certainly. But Bill Fawcett asked the others on the panel at the end, given unlimited budget, what would we make? Nobody answered with “something like WoW.” Instead the replies were “something different,” “a dozen small niche games,” and the like. Oh, and “Star Trek Online,” from Mike.
It may be that the mass market, accessible, appealing virtual world is in fact one that exploits the core characteristics of MMOs as little as possible: variety because of the emphasis on place rather than single game, the presence of other people, and persistence and the ability to absorb change.
It won’t, for me, anyway, be the most interesting virtual world, but I am certainly willing to concede that it’s likely to be the most immediately fun.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site. [?]Type in a relevant tag, and click the button, and help organize this blog's information.
[More Help]
I agree.
[...] Worldcon: “World of Warcrack” panel on Raph Koster Worldcon: “World of Warcrack” panel on Raph Koster So yesterday morning I moderated this panel. The folks on the panel were a distinguished bunch: Bill Fawcett, who dropped anecdotes about when Gary would use NPC thieves to rob his party blind — yes, he meant gary Gygax; Justin Lloyd, who started developing games sometime in the Pleistocene; Mike Stemmle, who’s a lead on [...] via Raph Koster [...]
[...] Interesting points raised, especially coming from Raph. Bearing many similiarities with the direction SWG is taking and the mythical new audience.Can you guess which part the SWG cannot copy from WoW and why this is the reason NGE failed?But more interestingly, look at the people present and stand in awe (yes, seriously) as not one of them wants to make another WoW. Anything but.Also important because of STO. [...]
[...] Esto si q da miedito (en ingles): LinkPobres de nosotros… S W GINGRID XOSSISHLa Lagarta SilenciosaLiberty - Lok [...]
[...] The Sunday Poem: On the Carretera Panamericana, South of LimaThe billboards along the road, dry, Sandblasted pink and pale, Aren’t even markers of distance yet. At my age of fourteen and at 80 at least The little crosses by the highwayside Look like stupidity—I see a straight road, Air sharp as thirst, dunes and sand piled high, The beach somewhere ahead. We even stop to look At one grave, and puzzle out [...] ManifestingAs just about everybody has noted, Greg Costikyan’s grand experiment to bring indie gaming to the center of the gaming world has launched: ManifestoGames.com. A lot of old indie game faves are here, from Crimsonland to DROD, plus a bunch I have never heard of before. Check it out. Worldcon: “World of Warcrack” panelSo yesterday morning I moderated this panel. The folks on the panel were a distinguished bunch: Bill Fawcett, who dropped anecdotes about when Gary would use NPC thieves to rob his party blind — yes, he meant gary Gygax; Justin Lloyd, who started developing games sometime in the Pleistocene; Mike Stemmle, who’s a lead on [...] Another game law struck downWell, “preliminarily injuncted” anyway. CNet reports that this time it was Louisiana’s, on the by-now familiar grounds that games are protected speech, there’s no solid evidence of harm to minors, and the terms were all left vague. Pretty much the same grounds that all the other laws have foundered on. At this rate, we’re building up [...] PalabraSo I finish dinner, then I wander about the hotel lobby here at Worldcon, and see a sign saying “Gaming Registration This Way.” So of course I follow it. At the end of a series of posters I find a room where there’s some kids playing something loud, a few scattered tables with Carcasonne and [...] I’m at WorldconAfter a day of meetings and six hours of driving. I parked, registered at the hotel, and went straight to register for the con. In the space of five minutes I saw Joe Haldeman and Harry Turtledove. It’s so big that I am unsure where to go or what to do now. Find food is probably a [...] So much for revenge.Today Microsoft is giving away Texas Hold ‘Em as a free download on Live (they will charge for it tomorrow). So I grabbed it. Elena has never played poker. We walked through the help screens, then I started a single-player game with $150. I lost a few, I won a few, and I was at $120, [...] Table Tennis RevengeLong ago, I blogged about how I suck at Rockstar Table Tennis and my kids were crushing me. The tables (ha ha) were turned yesterday, as they played the real thing for the first time. David had trouble hitting the table, and Elena had trouble hitting the ball on a serve. Then I showed them a real [...] State of Play IV Asia announcedAnd it’s going to be in Singapore! Well, that lowers the chances I’ll attend, I suppose! I haven’t made it to the last two because work pressures kept me away, but this year I was looking forward to it. Here’s the announcement for State of Play IV Asia, whose topic is “building the global metaverse.” [...] ( vote for this news ) [...]
[...] WoW TBC Spelldatabase auf Curse Heute, um 18:32 Uhr erstellt von: Bergdoktor Noch ned so ganz strukturiert, aber denke das wird die aktuellste Datenbank dazu bleiben. News auf Curse mit links zu ihren TBC Sektionen: http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/news-321-1-burning-crusade-spell-database.html WoW World of Warcrack Heute, um 17:29 Uhr erstellt von: Bergdoktor So war der Titel einer Podiumsdiskussion mit Raph Koster, über den Erfolg von WoW. Passt eigentlich garnicht, aber geht ja auch um die Aufmerksamkeit. Einige Punkte haben sie ganz gut formuliert, aber zumindest beim Punkt Timesink liegen sie eigentlich total daneben oder hätten es etwas differenzierter formulieren müssen. # They took the time to get it right. # They spent a fortune doing so. # They had two of the biggest brands in gaming to work with, Warcraft and Blizzard, with a gigantic in-built audience of core gamers. # They made sure that there were no penalties to things you did; death has no sting, and timesinks are minimal. * Blizzard focused absolutely on the fun, with no pretenses towards being anything other than a game; no frou-frou dreams of being a virtual world. * Blizzard focused on combat, and everything else was icing. * The game permits massive amounts of “playing alone together,” never making you interact with others. Rest: http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/08/26/worldcon-world-of-warcrack-panel/ Allgemein FB vs. GC Heute, um 17:09 Uhr erstellt von: Bergdoktor Fazit nach unserem diesjährigen Besuch: Neuigkeitswert = Null, überfüllt das es schlimmer kaum geht, unter einer Stunde anstellen kam man zu garnix. Ausser bei irgendwelchen Pferdespielen und dergleichen. Mädels waren ok, die 2 besoffenen mit dem Megafon z.B. (Fotos inc später) Abgreifen (AB, nicht aus) konnte man auch kaum was, und wenn hätte man ein paar Stunden irgendeinem dümmlichen Anheizer zuhören müssen. Die GOA Party (rechtes Bild) danach war genauso überfüllt, damit hatten die wohl selber auch ned so ganz gerechnet. Die ersten 40 Leute warn irgendwie nur von Avalon. Wir warn wenigstens früh genug da, aber auch leider etwas früher wieder weg da wir noch 3 Stunden durch den Wald fahren mussten. Allgemein Wieder mal Goldfarmer - Artikel über IGE Heute, um 13:39 Uhr erstellt von: Bergdoktor IGE ist eine der größeren Firmen die Game Item, Gold und Levelservice anbieten. http://www.ige.com/ Gamasutra hatte ein Interview mit ihrem COO, und die Story darüber gibt einen recht guten Überblick wie sowas funktioniert. IGE gehört z.B. auch Thottbot (http://www.thottbot.com/) und Allakhazam (http://www.allakhazam.com/). Über 400 Angestellte, demnächst wohl 600. Quelle: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060825/carless_01.shtml WoW TBC News 24.08.2006 um 21:23 Uhr erstellt von: Bergdoktor Die Alpha läuft ja schon, erste Details leaken durch (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=roguetalzh8yw8.jpg), obwohl man ja einer fight-club artigen Vereinbarung zustimmen musste. https://beta.worldofwarcraft.com/expansion/ Was aber etwas Bedenken über den Erscheinungstermin aufkommen lässt, ist ein Interview mit Blizzard COO Paul Sams (http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=19280). Neben der Ankündigugn dass jedes Jahr eine Expamsion kommen soll, schreib er "We’re still quoting very confidently winter and we will be more specific on the timeframe quite soon." WINTER ist ein wirklich langer Zeitraum, denn der geht bis 21. März. Eventuell kommts ja doch erst Anfang Februar. Die Beliebtesten release Dates scheinen Anfang Dezember und Anfang Februar zu sein. Anfang Dezember ist aber noch nichtmal im Winter, genaugenommen. Allgemein GCDC über MMOs 23.08.2006 um 15:10 Uhr erstellt von: Bergdoktor Auf dem Developer teil der GC gabs eine Diskussion zum Thema "The Future of MMO", Teilnehmer waren unter anderem Eugene Evans von EA/Mythic, und einige ex SOE Leute. Einige interessante Passagen: Evans talked about Mythic’s behind-closed-doors showing of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning running on an Xbox 360 earlier this year, saying that the game would require a very different interface to work on a console. Armstrong suggested a game in which the integration of PC and console players would be optional or restricted to certain instanced areas as a possible solution, although when she asked the audience of around 120 for a show of hands supporting the idea, only one went up. PC gamers, it seems, don’t like to share their gameworlds with console players unless doing so gives them some kind of advantage, as you’d expect in a first-person shooter or real-time strategy game where the mouse is king. Also eher nix mit WAR auf Konsole. Über Goldhandel "That discussion segued nicely into one about players using real-world money to pay for in-game items, which the majority of the panel was against," ahjo, mal schaun wie lange das hält, aufhalten werden die es auch nimmer können. Whether or not companies will find a way to get rid of gold farmers once and for all remains to be seen, but you can bet that the battle is far from over. Naja, zumindest Blizzard hat ihn aber schon recht offensichtlich verloren The idea of being able to use a cell phone or PDA to trade items or to level up skills via minigames, for example, would be great for players in need of an MMO fix while away from their computer. Das birgt auch viel Potential für lustige Werbungen … Level dir deinen Pala auf dem Handy, mit dem WoW Monatspaket … Gratis dazu der Furzrap oder was weis ich Quelle: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6156198.html Allgemein Sucht und MMOs - neue Studie 23.08.2006 um 00:53 Uhr erstellt von: Bergdoktor Hier eine Zusammenfassung der wichtigsten Erkentnisse. Die ganze Arbeit scheint eine ältere Studie von Nick Yee als Ausgangspunkt zu nehmen (über Everquest), und trennt hier erstmals explizit zwischen "Sucht" und "Engagement". * First off, it split things into “addiction” (based on a few standardized definitions and questionnaires) and “engagement,” which was viewed as less harmful. * Seeking PvP advancement was a significant predictor of addiction or engagement, but more so for engagement than addiction. * Belonging to raiding guilds or guilds with a bigger emphasis on hardcore goal-oriented play showed a tendency towards addiction. * Playing with real life friends, engaging in side activities, and belonging to social guilds was related to engagement instead. * Lacking real life friends in the game didn’t increase your odds of addiction. * Players who were addicted showed a propensity towards manipulating other players (scams, stealing, and dominance games). But this isn’t a predictor of addiction in itself. * Speaking of which, the graph of number of players who engage in that sort of “negative valence” behavior showed a classic power law curve. * Roleplay and immersion show no link to addiction. * However, they also do not show any link to engagement, which seems counterintuitive to the author of the study. I might hypothesize here that engagement comes from actual emotional contact with others, rather than from roleplayed relationship. * The individualism of the player in question was unrelated to addiction. * If you prefer raid guilds, you always like social guilds. However, if you like social guilds, you may or may not like raiding. * As we’ve seen before, most of the female players in the study (maxed out ones, in this case) started because their significant other introduced them to the game: 41.2%. Friends accounted for another 23%. * Interestingly, women tended to have either many maxed out alts, or very few. * Older women (over 36) with lots of alts was an interesting finding. There were more women in this bracket with over ten maxed out alts than there were men — even though there were twice as many men in the age bracket! * “Engaged” players self-reported their play time as higher than addicted players. * Over 35% of respondents said they missed meals because of gaming. Eine ausführlichere Zusammenfassung auf Gamasutra: http://gamasutra.com/features/20060822/clark_01.shtml WoW The God is dead 22.08.2006 um 21:14 Uhr erstellt von: Maugan Nach einigen Anstrengungen und dem Verlust von vielen Nerven bei einigen Spielern und der Raidleitung ist es uns heute gelungen C’Thun zu besiegen. An dieser Stelle vielen Dank an die Mitglieder von Frostbringer, Hordenhaufen,die Geissel und ein paar Freunde von das Tribunal. Nun geht es auf zu Ouro, den wir bisher verschont haben. [...]
[...] Over on the thread about the Worldcon panel on WoW, an anonymous poster engaged in a bit of sarcasm: What?!?!?!? [...]
[...] Is It Possible to Surpass World of Warcraft? on GameDaily BIZ is DFC Intelligence’s David Cole taking on the same topic as the “Warcrack panel.” He comes to largely the same conclusions: [...]
[...] Worldcon: “World of Warcrack” panel [...]
[...] ! World of Warcraft : 14 2006 - , . . Blizzard , “”. , , , World of Warcraft . “” MMORPG, WoW , . , . Blizzard, Warcraft . . , “” , , Blizzard. : , , ( MMORPG), - . , Blizzard, WoW, . , , . , . - . , , Blizzard : , . , , . “ Crysis” - , . “” , , “”, , . , , , . WoW , . , . . , : . , - . PvP . , World of Warcraft - . , , - . , , . . , MMORPG - . “World of Warcraft - MMO , - ” - , Ultima Online. : , - , , , . “ ” - , “ , ” . , , - . Warcraft, Diablo ( dungeon crawler’) , . , , , - - . World of Warcraft , MMORPG : . WoW Warhammer Online. , , , Warhammer Blizzard . , . [...]
[...] Les ides de Raph Koster sont de manire gnrale trs intressantes. Je vous conseille vivement son blog: http://www.raphkoster.com IL a aussi crit un bouquin qui n’est pas dnu d’intrt. Ca fait un moment que je lis ce qu’il crit et dit et je dois dire que je le trouve assez clairvoyant. Contrairement beaucoup de gens dans sa profession, il semble avoir une assez bonne notion commerciale globale.Je vous conseille vivement ses avis concernant WoW par exemple, c’est assez plein de vrit. Contrairement beaucoup d’autres il ne critique pas mais admet le succs et l’explique tout en expliquant pourquoi il est possible et intressant d’offrir autre chose.Je trouve qu’il pose de manire gnrale les bonnes questions. Et c’est peut-tre d’ailleurs a la chose qui est apprciable avec lui. C’est quelqu’un qui questionne beaucoup et explique beaucoup sa faon d’arriver ses conclusions, trs pdagogique en somme.Aprs, on est d’accord ou pas, je pense que a dpend de la faon de voir les MMOs mais pour ma part je le trouve beaucoup plus intelligent et clairvoyant que les mecs de SOE qu’on “entend” et l. Quelques petites choses trs intressantes lire: Do classes suck?World of Warcrack panel Et beaucoup d’autres. pyrhum.net [...]
[...] ����������, ��� MMORPG ���������� ���������� ��� ��� ��-�� ��������� �������������� ����� ��������. “World of Warcraft - �������� ���������� MMO �� ���, ��� � �����-���� �����” - ������� ��� ������, ���� �� ������� ���������� Ultima Online. �� ��� ����� �� �������� �������� � ������ �������������������� ���: ���� ���� ��������� ������� ������������ ����� � ���������������� ������, ������ - �������, ��� ���������� � ������� �, �������, ����� ���� �� ������ ��������. [...]
[...] derniers jours est : pourquoi ce succs ? David Cole, de l’institut DFC Intelligence, et Raph Koster, ex-responsable chez Sony Online Entertainment (Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies) ont tous deux tudi [...]