Raph’s Website » FlowPlay, Maple money, and racing

FlowPlay, Maple money, and racing

March 19th, 2007 (Visited 3528 times) Tags:

Spent the last few days sick, so here’s just some pointers to articles that struck me as interesting:

Another new virtual world called FlowPlay, but this one aiming at including a lot of casual games. Nifty tidbits: it cites Club Penguin as an inspiration, and it’s on a very Web-like timeline of launching this year.
Nabeel Hyatt dug up some numbers on microtransactions, and among them is the tidbit that MapleStory is doing quite well in the US, with North American players having spent $1.6m on it in February alone. He’s got stats for an assortment of other worlds there as well, including Habbo and K2, the folks who are bringing Kim Hak Gyu’s Granado Espada to the US.
Reuters is reporting that playing racing games where you drive recklessly may encourage driving recklessly in real life. Already some players are questioning the study or dismissing it, but frankly, I think there’s merit to the argument; we’re talking about an activity, driving, that is largely reflex-driven. My dad was astonished when he saw me drive a GoKart last year — he remembered me as a tentative driver as a teen — and I had to tell him, “It’s thanks to Need for Speed…”

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Elvin Li wrote on March 20th, 2007 at 8:14 pm:

The Marriage - Mar 20, 2007 - Raph Under the gaming influence - Mar 20, 2007 - Raph FlowPlay, Maple money, and racing - Mar 19, 2007 - Raph The Sunday Song: This Don’t Groove - Mar 18, 2007 - Raph King Lud IC’s on fire - Mar 17, 2007 - Raph

闲话而已 wrote on March 20th, 2007 at 7:52 am:

姐姐手术成功了!谢谢大家 - 2007-3-20 - 白骨的移动城堡 FlowPlay, Maple money, and racing - 2007-3-20 - Raph 怎么才能上Google英文网站？ - 2007-3-20 - (author unknown)

GigaGamez » Archive Casual Game MMO Startup Gets $500K Angel Funding « wrote on March 20th, 2007 at 10:17 am:

[...] tip: Raph.) Share/E-mail Sphere Topic: Online Worlds, Casual Games Tags: mmorpg, flowplay, three rings, [...]

GigaGamez » Archive Casual Game MMO Startup Gets $500K Angel Funding « wrote on March 20th, 2007 at 11:14 am:

WorldIV » Second Math wrote on March 23rd, 2007 at 1:07 am:

[...] way of Raph Koster, Nabeel Hyatt dug up data showing the success of Micro Transactions (focusing on Maple Story, Habbo [...]

Morgan Ramsay said on March 20th, 2007 at 1:53 am:

… some players are questioning the study or dismissing it …

I question the terminology used for the study. What is "reckless driving"? Speeding? While I’ve played plenty of racing games, I enjoy the sandbox games that allow you to do whatever with your vehicle. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and San Andreas are my favorites for this type of play because they allow me the freedom to take risks. You don’t have the freedom to take big risks when you’re driving the average 80-90 mph on the Southern California highways—well above the 65-70 mph speed limit—because the potential consequences of those big risks outweigh the benefits.

What is a "risk" according to the study? My mom used to say that driving is like having one foot on the gas pedal and one foot in the grave. Driving is a huge risk, period. Statistics indicate that more people perish in traffic collisions than in plane crashes. More people probably die from traffic collisions than from cancer—every day. Honestly, if we’re going to take such a big risk travelling, we might as well go all out. There’s zero sense in being coy because if you don’t screw up, chances are someone else will.

Being a risk taker, however, is not equivalent to being reckless. I calculate my risks. I scan the environment for obstacles and other conditions. I consciously make mental notes of the present and projected locations and motion patterns of other drivers. Using this information, I forecast the future, and I visualize the outcome I want from the actions I’ve yet to execute. I’m not a reckless risk taker. I would also say that because racing is competitive, I don’t think players of these games are actually reckless. They may take risks, but it’s likely that they considered those risks and factored those risks into their plan.

It’s quite silly to even presume that racing simulations turn out reckless, risk-taking retards given that flight simulators and other combat simulators are used to train highly effective, efficient military professionals.

The researchers then studied 68 men and found those who played even one racing game took more risks afterward in traffic situations on a computer simulator than those who played another type of game.

Then the researchers had 83 men play either a racing game or another type of game, and found that those who played the racing game reported more thoughts and feelings associated with risk-taking than the others.

Yeah, that’s credible… not. So, let me get this straight.

1. The researchers had guys play a racing game, which is simply a vehicle simulator with competitive rules, and then play a driving simulator, in which players create their own rules? Being guys, of course, their rules are inherently competitive and they assumed risks as necessary. Now if the researchers had studied racing-game players who drive on the real road and found that these players actually do take more risks on the real road, then the study might be credible. Right now, it’s hogwash, and looks like another lame attempt to provide ammo for game regulators, as evidenced by Kubitzki’s cheap policy suggestion at the end of the article.

2. Gee, I wonder why racing-game players reported more thoughts and feelings associated with risk-taking? Oh, I see. It might be the fact that video games are interactive environments that are designed to provoke thoughts and feelings… In a competitive racing game, risk-taking is thrilling, and the thrill of racing is entertaining. Y’know, if I were the developers behind the racing game these researchers used, I’d be damn proud of my work.

Derek Licciardi said on March 20th, 2007 at 6:32 am:

While I’m a firm opponent of the causality assigned to games and violent behavior, I can’t deny the effect of NFS:MW one time had on my driving. Do shooters make me want to go out and kill someone? No, but I can say that after multiple hours of blazing through the streets of NFS:MW on the 360 that driving a real car felt slow. It was very similar to the feeling you get on the highway if you crank it up over a 100 mph and then return to 60 mph.

For me the effect wore off after a few miles of normal driving but the feeling was surreal for about ten minutes. It only occured once and it happened only when I played for hours and then immediately jumped in a car to go somewhere. (Immediately as in the wife and kids were in the car waiting while I finished that one last race…) It didn’t make me drive recklessly but there was a perceptible difference in the feeling of driving to the point where, for lack of a better way to say it, it just felt different.

Do game influence us? There’s no denying that. Do they make us reckless drivers, murderers and criminals? That’s a bit much.

moo said on March 20th, 2007 at 7:19 am:

Yeah, the study sounds bogus. Players who play a high-speed driving game are then found to drive more aggressively in… another driving game. Correlation != causality. All the standard complaints.

If they want to make a point about actual driving habits, they need to study people who are, you know, *actually driving*.

moo said on March 20th, 2007 at 7:20 am:

Oh, and while we’re talking about Flow…
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/03/12

Lloyd Pickering said on March 20th, 2007 at 7:31 am:

Just thought Id add a link to a BBC article which caught my eye a couple of weeks ago which relates to the racing:

Here’s a couple of interesting snippets…

The survey revealed that just over half of frequent game-players pass their driving test first time, compared with only 45% of those who only play games infrequently.

The poll also found that 34% of the 1,000 young drivers questioned think computer games can improve real-life driving ability, with two in five reckoning the games can help their reflexes.

Lloyd Pickering said on March 20th, 2007 at 7:33 am:

Above link didn’t want to work

BBC Article

Kim Pallister said on March 20th, 2007 at 7:57 am:

Hmm… Flowplay is in Seattle. Any idea who’s behind it?

Kim Pallister said on March 20th, 2007 at 7:58 am:

doh. never mind. Just saw the other link.

Amaranthar said on March 20th, 2007 at 9:08 am:

So, can we say that games save lives? Think about it. Someone else screws up and pulls out in front of you. Your quick reactions and familiarity with risky moves allows you to evade a collision. The same could be said for other possible incidents, a tire blowing, etc.

One thing about this, just as in sports, a person can familiarize themselves with the physics involved in situations and thus be better prepared for the real thing. In studies it is proven that athletes can mentally picture the movements and effects of situations “on the field”, and then perform better because of their mental immages. The same is surely true from games. If you know how a car will skid, how it reacts, and you’ve done manuevers like this in a game, you can surely do these manuevers better in RL. The fear that freezes reactions is lessened, and the understanding of how the vehicle will react to the situations involved, speed, direction, conditions like ice, can litterally save your life.

I’ve had several incidents over the years where I avoided what could have been tragic only because I had a clear understanding of how to make the vehicle react and the reactions after.
A guy comming the other way fell asleep at the wheel, crossing the center line right in front of me. I hit the breaks and turned my wheel sharply towards the dirt, going into a skid, let go the breaks (and this is why I hate anti-lock breaks) shooting me towards the dirt, then did the same thing in reverse to get back to the road path before actually going off the birm. Without understanding how my car would skid and recover, I would have been nailed head on. My reactions were instant and natural, and I felt no fear at all as I knew exactly what the outcome would be.

I had never done this in a vehicle before. My mental “training” didn’t come from video games though, it came from watching things like “The Dukes of Hazard”, sledding, sports, and other normal things.

There’s been other incidents too, where previous mental immages helped me through tough situations that required quick reactions, yet had no formal physical training. I’m sure many of you can come up with similar examples. We are a product of our experiances. Yet, that doesn’t mean we are fools who disreguard safety.

Amaranthar said on March 20th, 2007 at 9:21 am:

All these new games, and yet not one, new or old, is the old standby desire of an immersive, interactive world simulation. And no, a game with player created content is not immersive, at least not in the “world” view, because of the lack of cohesiveness. Unless of course that player created content is firmly controlled.

Steven Davis said on March 20th, 2007 at 1:13 pm:

The most interesting part of the Nexon story (OK, besides the healthy money) was that their payment cards are in Target. Turning game playing into an exit line impulse buy is probably going to bring in a lot of customers.

Wayne Imlach said on March 20th, 2007 at 4:14 pm:

I can certainly vouch for the educational aspect of driving games – I took my first driving lesson in the US just a few years ago (I am in my thirties), but neglected to make it plain to the instructor that I had never driven a real car before. Being both ‘older’ and ‘British’ she must have assumed I was taking the lesson to brush up on American driving rules, rather than learn to drive. To cut a long story short, I felt quite comfortable behind the wheel for the two hours of the lesson, whether it was driving leisurely through a residential neighbourhood or crossing several lanes on the busy freeway to make the next exit.

Due in no small part I presume to many hours behind the tabletop wheel playing virtual driving games.

At the conclusion of the lesson she was somewhat shaken when I commented in passing about my ‘first time behind the wheel’. Oddly enough subsequent lessons where with a different instructor…

Amaranthar said on March 21st, 2007 at 5:18 am:

Wayne, I tought drivers training for a while. Now, I’m not making any of this up, this story is true. I had a car load of 4 high school kids and one of them was nick-named “Mouse”. He was a small, quiet, geeky kid. On the day we went out on the highway the first time, on a 2 lane (one each way), picture this. We’re going one way and comming the other way are two semi trucks. We’re about 100 feet in front of the first semi going 60 MPH, and the second semi quickly pulls out into our lane to pass the first. I instantly reached for the wheel to take control and try to move us into the birm to avoid an accident, but “Mouse” forcefully slaps my arm away and shouts “I GOT IT”, (instinct told me to let the guy with the guts have control) and smoothly moves us over onto the birm and passed the semi, then pulls us back onto the road. We live!
I had to have him pull over, because the adrenalin rush had my hands shaking, as well as everyone else’s.
I gave “Mouse” a new nick-name that day. “Mouse the Lionhearted”. Oh, yes, he passed.