Here’s a chart of how some common MMORPGs are seen by players of other MMORPGs. The idea is inspired by this image comparing some popular programming languages (we even ended up using the same Office Space stock image).

In related news, Danny has got me hooked on a muh-more-pig-uh called Valkyrie Sky. It’s a mash-up of the fantasy MMORPG and shmup genres. It’s pretty okay for a freemium game, but the English is rather… Engrishy at times (For example, the weather sometimes says “It’s a clear day. Feel so good.“)

– Alex

I spent the last week leveling my pally to 80.  When I got to level 79, I realized that it would be a cool idea to show people the effect of getting to 80.  So I leveled my pally to 1590000/1600000 experience.  Finished the last quest, and left them in front of the quest giver.  I went to work with my laptop with the intention of letting my buddy Justin do the honors.  Justin had a 74 Rouge before quitting, vowing never to play again.  I figured it would be a nice gift for him to get the final sensation of getting to 80.  After trying to convince him all day to just play for a split second more and close the book on WOW forever.  He finally agreed.  We gathered other people around the office who wanted to see level 80 achieved.  Justin selected the quest giver to <accept> the award of experience and gear.  The experience number rose from my pally, but no golden glow and no achievement.  I had miscalculated how much experience he needed to level.  Needless to say, the crowd was pissed.

For Valentines day I decided to bake Winne some epic cup cakes.   I got the receipt from http://www.epicurious.com/video/holidays/holidays-valentines-day/1915458794/making-red-velvet-cupcakes/1915433406.  After about 4 hours of hand mixing and hand frosting I was finally finished, and they were delicious.

Danny

Don’t you hate it when you have PVP gear on, but you don’t realize it until you get to the first boss? This happens to me a lot because I have periods where I don’t play for weeks at a time. I get back to do an instance, and forget that I have to re-equip / activate my PVE talents.

Silly me.

Danny

Alex and I have been talking about making a game for a while. The game I had in mind was an epic fantasy, where the hero learns life lessons and solves puzzles that makes the player feel like they kicked ass. Too bad we have way too many other things on our plates.

Also see you all at PAX EAST.

Danny

Rant re: Crappy Sequels and Clones

The problem with bad sequels and clones are that they only copy the gimmick part. That’s the easy part to remember and crystallize. With MMORPGSs, it’s a minimap in the top right, a bar full of skills, and the standard lineup of classes (tank, DPS, healer, mage, etc.). For JRPGs, it’s usually stuff like a mute hero with a funny haircut, numbers falling out when you hit enemies, and items that restore HP. With the movie Jaws, it’s a giant shark oh my god get in the chopper

The thing that’s missing is an assemblage of great scenario design, music, characters, art, “gameplay”, context, history, set pieces, etc. For a good sequel, you have to copy that too (hard), or else make up your own (even harder). All too often, that part of fudged by adding additional features; it’s the traditional Mega Man effect, adding feature after feature each release, ultimately diluting the experience. It’s like stapling a Twinkie to a steak.

So that’s the difference between old Sonic and new Sonic. That’s the difference between Jaws and Jaws 4: The Revenge. That’s the difference between the Beatles and the Jonas Brothers. That’s the difference between a thunderstorm and licking a 9-volt battery.

– Alex

I bet if we used all that time spent on playing WoW, we could’ve had
daily hovercraft trips to the moon set up by now.

– Alex

MMORPGs are a big time drain, but not to say that we have anything better to do on a regular basis. I mean would you rather just sit around to some beers, or would you rather be slaying some FU*KEN godly SPIDER MONSTER KING, will all your friends and post for pictures?

Sometimes it is nice to just sit and relax with a beer just to shoot the shit, but often times I’d rather be doing something like playing a new board game like DND, or trying to accomplish a goal, like develop a plan to help Hati. Wouldn’t it be grand if there was something you and all your friends could get together, and with the power of your collection of minds, produce something that can impact the world? I’ve got to come up with an application or something that can make use of this, like folding at home but for group gatherings.

Danny

According to Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, it takes 10000 hours to become an expert at a task.  As we’ve seen with kids who start playing hockey at four or in the case of Tiger Woods who started playing golf at two, practice makes perfect.  This got me thinking about tasks that we do for hours on end, which we never get good at.  For example, how about about sleep?  Why can’t we master falling asleep instantly, or feeling completely rejuvenated after only a few hours?  What about walking up in the morning?  I’ve done it thousands of times, yet I still have trouble getting out of bed.

Danny

Re: Practice

I think the idea is that it has to be an intentional (conscious) practice. Don’t practice things you’ve already done well in the past, instead do things which you’re bound to fail. I’ve seen this lack of practice with people who are computer illiterate; they don’t care about becoming a power user, they care about doing their work (or getting their porn). Once they know how to do something (e.g. open a web browser), they keep doing it the same way and only that way. They don’t try new things, because it might “break the hard drive”.

It makes sense; we can’t be masters at everything because we only have so much attention to distribute during a day. If you actually payed attention to everything you did, you’d spread yourself too thin and never get anything done. We avoid doing things we’re bad at because, well, doing things badly makes us feel stupid.

Did a quick search for the post I first heard the story from and came up with this inspirational (sort of) blog post:

http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/03/how_to_be_an_ex.html

– Alex

Did you ever introduce someone to something you were good at only to have them beat you at it later? Take for instance World of Warcraft, you show someone how to play WOW when you are level 60, and the next thing you know they are playing 40 hours a week, and have 3 level 80s before you even get one! I think Asian cultures have this fear more then western ones. That’s mainly why a lot of knowledge was lost, because the masters never show the apprentice everything, for fear of losing their own self worth. It’s a shame because the master eventually dies, and the art slowly loses pieces until it’s gone. I think this is because Asian cultures handle relationships using respect, rather then love. If they apprentice loves you they are likely to take care of you even after you reveal everything. However if the relationship is based on respect, and you have held yourself higher based on your knowledge, then you run into the risk of the apprentice losing respect for you once you have revealed all your knowledge. I think some families are formed this way too. They are built on respect, rather then love or both.

-Danny

Lately I’ve been quite addicted to WOW. I think it’s the fact that progress in WOW is so clear cut, while progress in life is more fuzzy.

Above are the 4 signs of addiction, I’m sure some of you have experienced at least 1 of the 4 symptoms.

Danny

I used to go shopping with my girlfriend, and would be bored to tears. Then I learned a trick, by saying the clothes she’s buying isn’t worth it, or “no you don’t need it”, I finally managed to become “no fun” to shop with. She simply goes with her other female friends, who are like “yes girl totally buy that”. Win win.

-Danny

Daydreaming

I tried to draw as whorish a blazer as I could (yes, those Google image searches were legitimate), but it ended up looking like one from Aeris/Aerith Gainsborough’s wardrobe. =/

– Alex

I regret to inform you that I am back on the WOW bandwagon, after 8 months of going cold turkey. I finally caved and bought expansion WOTLK, and have resumed paying my monthly taxes like a diligent Blizzard citizen.

Shortly after logging into my level 70 epic geared mage account. I am ganked by a horde rogue. After he camped my body for 4 deaths, I began to wonder why I subject myself to this type of torment. Nonetheless I pressed on, and I am currently 4 levels away from actually playing the “real” game. By “real” I mean the worth while content known as “raids”, where most if not all the main storyline is told. Though I feel unready to take orders from a 12 year old, who has 1337 gear, simply because he has no job and no responsibilities other then WOW. My only option to get anywhere near that level of play time is outsourcing. But we know how well that goes…

Danny