kladionica ponuda…

[...]Raph's Website » Tired of hearing about the NGE[...]…

[...] ultimo arreglo final y que firmo la sentencia de muerte de SW:G fue, aunque Raph este cansado de oirlo, el New Game Enhancements que eran un remake completo del juego. Simplificándolo en exceso, [...]

[...] on SWG) who is sick of hearing about it and mentions that Smedley has apologized repeatedly Raph’s site *June 1, 2007 – SWG Vault Reconciliation Mentions a recent interview but doesn’t cite it *June 15, [...]

[...] is the most consistently readable and smart of all The Escapists’ contributors, despite some controversy – and is at least straightforward, for pity’s sake – and his interview with Magic The [...]

[...] Varney is the most consistently readable and smart of all The Escapists’ contributors, despite some controversy – and is at least straightforward, for pity’s sake – and his interview with Magic The Gathering [...]

[...] Koster is Tired of hearing about the NGE That’s No Moon on Broken [...]

1. What was the nature of the SOE relationship with its licensing partner, LA?

Consdiering what happened with Obisidian’s KOTOR 2 (pushed out incomplete), LA seems to control their property with an iron fist. It’s been said again and again that the approval process for changes takes a long time and that LA has the final say so.

2. Who within that relationship originated the the idea of the NGE? Sold the idea? Rode herd on the idea until it launched?

Most likely someone at LA. Someone asked why the game wasn’t doing as good as WOW was at that point. The ball started rolling from there. I think it might have been some form of group think that as people got sold on the idea one by one, no one stopped to say “omg this sucks” because that would mean throwing out all the work they had done previously.

3. Who – if anyone – opposed the idea? Or changed the idea while it was in gestation?

No clue. And here is something NO ONE HERE, except Raph, seems to have realized: They need to earn a living. This means doing exactly what your job is. If your job is to make something work, and the boss says make it work, you don’t ask why. If you ask why, rock the boat, you get fired. You get fired so hard, it’ll be difficult to get a job in the same field. Whoever it was that spawned the idea, the responsibility lies with them.

4. What was the calendar of the NGE? When was it originated? What resources were allocated to it? Which areas were neglected because capital and manpower were denied them?

No way to tell without insider information that will most likely breach an NDA and cause someone to get sued.

5. What was the fallout within SOE and LA? Who was promoted and who, faint hope, punished for NGE in action when its implications became clear?

Same as 4.

As far as the data mining goes, I never realized that angle until Raph mentioned it and I started making some connections. I was at the first 2003 fan fest, and one of the devs said that every piece of text ever typed into the game is saved. Algorithims exist, and my current employer actully developed this kind of software, to go through vast volumes of freeform text and derive statistical analysis based on certain key words. It was originally developed for the auto industry to look at questionaires sent out by manufacturers. (You want to talk real money here, the cost of developing an MMO is miniscule compared to launching a new vehicle design)

Impication? Simple. They can comb the vast amounts of your chats, tells, spatial, guild chat, group chat, cross-server tells, in-game mail, etc. and see what players are telling eachother. They also can use this same software on the forums and get a decent overall picture of not only what players are saying about SWG, but what they’re saying about other games IN SWG.

The software is extremely advanced. It’s not just saying “WOW was mentioned 298357223 times during the first week of June”. It’s saying “45% of people mentioned WOW in positive light about the gameplay mechanics during this time frame.” This is extremely useful statistical data that coming out of this software.

Like any software though, it’s still at the mercy of “Garbage in, garbage out” and I think that’s the lesson that needed to be learned from this particular data mining experience.

Then again, I’m in marketing so I’d tell you it was a lesson in marketing.

[...] read the article and Raph Koster's reaction a bit ago. I mostly agree with him: Smedley HAS apologized, and he's even quoted in the [...]