Archive for September, 2007
Posted by Stropp on
September 5, 2007
Gold Selling or RMT is always a hot topic amongst players of MMORPGs. It even ranks ahead of the use of powerleveling services as the major peeve of players, even though having a powerleveled player in your group is a lot more damaging to gameplay. A lot of folks simply see buying gold as cheating.
Maybe there’s some envy there too. I don’t know. I can imagine a lot of players who spent weeks or months grinding gold for their epic mounts being annoyed at the guy who simply bought his with real money.
The MMO developers too, don’t seem to like it. Blizzard routinely announces the banning of thousands of accounts of gold sellers. They don’t like it. Or do they?
Tobold has put up another insightful post titled How WoW Could Ruin Gold Farmers Easily. He puts forward the idea that the simplest way to stop gold sellers dead in their tracks is to remove the option to send gold by mail. It’s such an obvious conclusion, and absolutely correct.
Removing the option to send gold by mail won’t completely shut down the gold seller community, but it makes it far more difficult to do business, increasing the cost to the gold seller. Not only do they have to maintain their farming, they now need to build a distribution network. And that’s a lot more expensive because they need to have people in game 24/7. They need to be on when the customers are playing. This would go a long way to ruining the gold sellers.
Not being able to send gold by mail only really hurts the gold sellers. Sure, there is a reasonable inconvenience to players who want to transfer gold between characters, but Tobold has a solution to that. All other transfers, such as between guildies or player customers, can be conducted using the trade window. You even get rid of the COD scams.
The question then is, will Blizzard remove the option to send gold by mail?
I don’t believe they will because World of Warcraft needs the gold sellers.
“Hold on a minute,” you say, “Blizzard bans gold sellers all the time.”
Well yes, but Blizzard only ever ban accounts. It appears that they don’t ban credit card numbers. So if a gold seller gets hit with a ban, he can simply go out and buy a new box, and sign up using the same card. It’s only going to sett him back the cost of a new box, and you can be sure that his gold stocks are spread around a bunch of different accounts. It’s unlikely the distribution account has much gold in it at any one time. As Tobold points out, gold is selling at 80 USD per thousand. He’s making a profit, and the loss of an account can be written off as the cost of doing business. The gold seller can probably even claim it as a tax deduction.
Credit cards are much harder to come by, even though the countless offers you might receive in the mail seem to indicate otherwise. A company can’t simply keep asking for new cards with new numbers. And in any case they’d be linked to the same business address which could also be banned.
Blizzard could also trace the gold routes. Unlike real world money laundering, where real life criminals can clandestinely move large sums of money about, all the gold in WoW is traceable. Are gold transactions actually logged in WoW? Only the devs know for sure, but it can be done, and it’s not all that difficult. All that’s really needed is a log of transactions and algorithm to spot known patterns. It would then be wise to manually check positive matches rather than autoban every match, but that’s another issue.
So if it’s not that hard to find and completely ban a gold seller, not to mention making it difficult to do business, then why isn’t it done?
Because World of Warcraft needs gold sellers.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, a lot of folks consider buying gold cheating. If you look at the spirit of a game like World of Warcraft, yeah, it’s cheating. But the cheating argument ignores one fundamental quality of human beings.
Humans are like electricity. They always follow the easiest path.
No matter what you put in their way, the average human will look for the best and most efficient way of getting around a problem. It’s genetic. When a game puts a problem in the way of a player, the natural and most instinctive approach is to find the easiest solution. Given the problem of being able to afford an epic mount in World of Warcraft, pulling out the plastic and buying some gold is easier than spending weeks trying to farm.
I believe the mere fact that players feel like they need to buy gold to get ahead means that there is something fundamentally wrong with the gameplay. Think about it. If you’re a game developer, and a lot of your players want to skip a part of the game, doesn’t that tell you that it isn’t fun?
In the case of World of Warcraft, a lot of the more important gameplay mechanics rely on the player making lots of gold. Buying spells and abilities, respeccing talents, buying ammo, and even leveling up tradeskills requires a huge amount of gold. Then there are the mounts.
Really, to tell a player that they shouldn’t buy gold, and then make it impossible to progress without buying gold, or spending a lot of time farming strikes me as somewhat naive.
If Blizzard were really serious about dealing with the gold sellers, they would look for ways to narrow the money sink, not widen it.
For a long time, I’ve believed that the absolute best way to prevent RMT is by minimising the need for in game currency. Tobold has it right when he says that by cutting out the ability to send gold by mail, much of the gold selling will be curtailed. However, that really is only part of the solution. If players don’t need gold for basic gameplay activities, they won’t need to buy it. If gold selling is stopped without eliminating the money sinks, there will be a lot more frustrated players.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that getting spells, mounts, or any other in game item should be easy. But there are better ways other than with gold. Quests are the most obvious method to acquire things. The higher level the mount, for example, the tougher the quest line should be to get it. Even spells could be acquired by questing. With a little imagination, the quests could allow a player to customise their spell and ability lines.
I imagine the gold sellers are licking their lips in anticipation of Wrath of the Lich King. The throat of the money sink is about to become wider than ever before.
This is why World of Warcraft needs gold sellers. A player needs to be somewhat hardcore to put in the effort required to get the amount of gold required to progress. Casual players simply cannot afford the time to farm, and even hardcore players would rather be doing something else, like raiding. Without gold sellers, a lot of players will simply not be able to access the new content. Sure some will grind out gold for weeks to afford the mount/recipe/enchant that they need. But a lot won’t.
These players will stop playing, or they’ll do something else. What they won’t end up doing is buying more expansion packs. After all there is no point in purchasing content that can’t be accessed.
Blizzard needs to keep casual players engaged. If the only way it can be done is by players buying gold, well so be it. The bannings of gold sellers are more to keep the RMT ecosystem managable rather than eliminating it outright.
BTW, I’ve never bought gold, though I did have a momentary rebellious flash when I heard how much the flying mounts were going to cost before the release of TBC. Why haven’t I bought gold? Simply because I’d like to do the journey without non game factors coming into play. Maybe also because I’m waaaay to stingy. It’s also probably why I haven’t played any of the freemium games out there that are free to subscribe, but charge for premium features.
So do you think I’m off my tree? Agree with me? Let me know in the comments.
Popularity: 10%
Posted by Stropp on
September 3, 2007
Way back in the dim dark ages, oh lets say 1994, I bought my first laptop computer, a 486 DX2-66. On the day I picked it up, while waiting for the salesperson to get it from the storeroom, I had a browse through the computer games section. I not only came home with a new computer that day, I came home with System Shock.
After spending some time playing with my new toy, I decided to install the game. It came on seven floppy disks and took quite a while to load onto the computer. Then I fired it up and over the next few weeks had one of the more memorable gaming experiences of my life.
System Shock was the first first person shooter that I had played, and after I had completed it, I wanted more shock. So I went and bought Doom, Rise of the Triad, and several other less memorable games. Even though these games were great games, I was disappointed. I wanted more of the story, more of the interaction and more of the fully 3D worlds (and cyberspace.)
It really wasn’t until much later that I got my wish. System Shock 2 was released. Then there were the Deus Ex games. A little game called Cybermage was in there somewhere. My gaming storylust was sated for a time.
And now, the latest of the RPG style first person shooters, Bioshock has been released.
To be honest I wasn’t really looking forward to Bioshock. I’ve been more immersed in the whole MMO genre, which is what this blog normally covers, for the last few years. I knew it was coming up of course, but it was only on its release that I really took a look. My attention was grabbed so I took the plunge and bought myself a copy.
Gameplay
While I haven’t completed the game yet, I’m having a blast. Bioshock has some truely scary moments, and I have a feeling I haven’t seen them all yet. I’m finding Bioshock fairly challenging, however, I’m set for medium difficulty and it’s been a while since I’ve played a FPS.
For me, the biggest selling point of Bioshock is that there is a very strong story that is told through your interaction between the main antagonists, and by hearing the audio diaries of some of the victims of Rapture. I’m a big story guy. I love deep and complex stories. Bioshock is not disappointing me in that regard.
From the moment you enter Rapture, the city under the sea, your main opponents will be the splicers. Splicers are the citizens of Rapture who have gone that extra step in genetic self modification. They are also quite mad and will murder you as much as look at you. Some of them also move around like demented dancers on amphetemines. They’re quite hard to hit.
There’s also Ryan. The coldly psychotic leader of Rapture. The man whose genius led him to build a city under the sea. He contacts you from time to time to taunt you and make threats, much like the mad computer Shodan in System Shock. You are assisted in the same way by Atlas, Ryans main opponent.
Bioshock implements the standard FPS mechanics that players know and love. Move using the WASD keys. Look and fire using the mouse. That sort of thing. There’s nothing really special here, it works as expected.
There are two forms of attack that you can use. Firstly, the standard weapons like the pistol, machine gun, and wrench. These use ammo, and there are three types of ammo that can be found for each weapon. The weapons are also upgradable from kiosks that occur throughout the city.
The second form of attack is by using Plasmids. Plasmids are very like psychic powers and use Eve. Perhaps the best way to describe Eve is that it’s like mana. Eve, like health, doesn’t regenerate on its own. For that you must find, or buy, Eve hypos to top up your powers. At the moment the pyrokinesis plasmid is my favorite. There’s nothing like setting fire to your enemy and watching them run around setting everything ablaze. Burn, baby, burn!
The difference from a standard FPS, and the commonality with games like SS and Deus Ex, is the ability to customize your character. You do this using various enhancements known as plasmids. You start the game with only a few open plasmid slots, but can buy more using Adam, a substance extracted from The Little Sisters. More on that later. You can also buy additional plasmids and gene tonics, you can find them laying about, they can be invented, and you can get them through photography.
Photography is a little different. You take photos of the various enemies and the camera researches them. Once a type of opponent is researched to the next level you get a reward. This might be a damage bonus to that particular type of enemy. Or it might be a new plasmid.
Which makes it important to upgrade yourself and your weapons. And for that you need Adam, which only comes from the Little Sisters. Sounds easy eh? Well it’s not. The Little Sisters have friendly guardians called The Big Daddies. Just give a Little Sister a mean look and the Big Daddy will be down on you like a ton of bricks, and they are tough. Leave the Little Sisters alone and they Big Daddies will pass you by.
But you need the Adam right? So you have to fight the Big Daddy. And once you’ve managed to take him down, you have a moral choice. Do you harvest the Adam, or save the Little Sister. Saving her will only give you a fraction of the Adam you’d get if you harvested. Harvesting is icky. I’ve done it, and each time I feel nasty afterwards. Bioshock is the only game ever to have made me feel this way in exercising a game mechanic.
Perhaps part of this is due to the relationship between the Little Sisters and the Big Daddies. The Little Sisters talk to these lumbering hulks like they are their own cuddly pets. When you take a BD down, the Little Sisters show concern for their fallen guardian. Not to mention that the Little Sisters are harmless little girls. Not quite, but enough.
Graphics
Unfortunately, my computer is unable to handle anything more than the lowest quality setting. I run a Pentium 3.4GHz with 2GB RAM and a 6600GT graphics card. I can go up to the higher settings, but the frame rate is too low to properly play. That’s okay though, because even at the lowest setting, this game looks awesome.
There has been a huge amount of work done in making the game look and feel like you are in an undersea city. Now when I first heard about the setting in an undersea city, I was expecting something like Sealab, with domes and connecting tunnels. But no. It’s not all bright and cheery. Bioshock has a real noir feel about it. Sort of like New York in the 40’s and 50’s. There are lots of towering statues and dark places. But it is a city in decay too, and that all comes through.
Bioshock is gorgeous. I wish I had a better graphics card!
Sound
In keeping with the setting, Bioshock is an audio masterpiece. The moment I stepped into the city proper, I was quite frankly, creeped out. There are moments in the game of pure fear that are not just the monster reaching out from behind the door. A number of times I have been creeping down the corridor to hear a slicer challenge me and send chills up my spine. The audio in Bioshock really sets the mood.
Downsides
There are great games, but there are no perfect games. Bioshock is no exception, but it’s close.
There don’t seem to be many bugs in the game, but I did get the dreaded Blue Screen Of Death once. The Nvidia driver crashed and brought the machine down just after getting into a new section of the city. Mind you this only happened once, and I did upgrade the driver the next day.
One of my beefs with the game play is that there doesn’t always seem to be an indication that I am taking on damage. The health indicator will go down of course, but there doesn’t seem to be a visual or audio cue that I’m getting hit. There have been a few times when I noticed there was a bad guy behind me just as it was too late. Other FPSes flash red on the screen or give some other visual cue. This would not go astray.
The other beef I have is the Vita Chambers. These are tubes that you are resurrected in if you should die. Now while they are there to help players, and I need all the help I can get, I feel like they make some things too easy. There was one fight I was in where I died repeatedly and just kept coming back until it was done. It just didn’t feel right.
There has been some ruckus on the web about 2K Games use of activations and rootkits for security. While the Securerom isn’t technically a rootkit, it acts like one, and potentially opens up a computer to attack. At least that’s the fuss. The other issue is that Bioshock can only be activated five times. It was originally twice. Bad luck if you reinstall your OS frequently. When will game publishers learn that making life difficult for legitimate customers only increases piracy? Bad publisher. No twinkie.
Conclusion
I am having a great time playing Bioshock. I guess that sums it up pretty well. A game is meant to be fun, and that is what I am having. It’s challenging and scary and has an engaging story. It has that just a few more minutes dynamic.
Bioshock is a magnificent game. If you enjoyed the Deus Ex and System Shock series, or if you like deep stories in your games, I think you will enjoy Bioshock.
I give it a rating of 9/10.
Popularity: 10%
Posted by Stropp on
September 2, 2007
We’ve all had about a month to have a look at what Blizzard will be offering in their next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.
What I’d like to ask you in this months poll is how you feel about the WotLK expansion. Do you think Wrath of the Lich King will be the best thing since sliced bread, or will it be the harbinger of the apocalypse?
How do you feel about Wrath of the Lich King?
Oh, and don’t forget to leave a comment telling us why you think the Wrath of the Lich King expansion deserves a place in the MMO Hall of Fame, or a pillion ride with one of the Four Horsemen.
Popularity: 10%
Posted by Stropp on
September 2, 2007
I started to get my blogging groove back during August, and had one of my more productive months on the blog. I still didn’t get a lot of gaming in though. However, there was quite a lot of MMO news to make up for it, with the biggest news being Blizzards announcement of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
On the beta front, even though I’ve signed up for a few, I haven’t had any notifications that I’ve got in. That’s probably not a bad thing at this point in time seeing as I have been and will continue to be pretty busy.
I was hit a bit with the flu in the middle of the month, but not hard enough to keep me out of work for more than a day. A good thing since contractors don’t get sick leave. Unfortunately, working all day with a bug took a lot out of me so I didn’t get much done when I got home at night. Happily, it’s all better now. Just hope I don’t catch the Horse Flu that’s shut down the Aussie racing industry.
Most Viewed Post
The most viewed post during August was The Politest Spammer Ever with 2948 views. I was somewhat surprised at this since it was a spur of the moment post inspired by a request by a spammer to post comment spam on my blog and telling me he was just doing his job. The reason for the number of views was that it got picked up by one of the social websites and recieved over a thousand hits in one day, the 24th.
Most Woo Hoo Moment
The discovery of not just one, but two of my articles had been syndicated by two major news portals put a bit of spring in my step. It was certainly something that I wasn’t expecting to happen. Hmmm. Maybe I should go out and buy a Fedora and a reporters notebook. That’s probably more something to do in the City of Heroes.
August Poll Results
The question I asked for the August Poll was Do you PvP?
There were 78 responses to the question with the following results:
- 21 responses for I only play PvP Servers - 27%
- 2 responses for I play PvE sometimes - 3%
- 16 responses for I’m a PvP regular - 21%
- 26 responses for I rarely do PvP - 33%
- 13 responses for I never do PvP - 17%
The most common result from the poll respondants was they they rarely do PvP at 33% of all responses. However, if you break up the poll into two parts, those who PvP and those who don’t PvP or do much of it, you get an exact 50/50 split. I expected the non-PvPers to take a resounding lead, but for the whole month it was neck and neck.
World of Warcraft
After a good start in July, I haven’t done much more with the Rogue, or with World of Warcraft. It’s not that I don’t want to. I’ve simply been more into the single player games lately (see below.)
Single Player Games
I gravitated towards the single player this month. With the release of Bioshock ten days ago, I’ve spent most of my gaming time immersed in this excellent and somewhat ethically challenging game. I’m thinking of putting a review up, even though Bioshock isn’t a MMO. I also spent a few hours earlier in the month with C&C Tiberium Wars.
Stropp’s World Banner
One of the things I was going to look into in August was getting an appropriate banner for the blog. I’ve only looked at a couple of options at this stage. Both are going to cost a reasonable amount of money. I’ve not yet decided wether I’ll go ahead with this idea.
Site Stats
- According to AWStats, Stropp’s World received 9247 unique visitors who visited a total of 12388 times and viewed 27059 pages.
- The number of RSS subscribers reached 173.
- World of Warcraft Addiction is still the top search term.
Blog Experiments
I mentioned in the wrapup for July that I’d been experimenting with Stumbleupon as a tool to get more traffic. Well as you can see by the stats above, it worked. A good portion of those numbers were referred by SU. Of course the trick now is to see if there is a permanent effect on traffic, or if my stats will return to pre-stumble numbers.
Goals for September
- Continue working on regular posts. I got back into regular posting in August. I’d like to keep this up during September.
- Regular Gaming. As with last month, I’d like to become a bit more regular with my gaming (particularly MMO) so that I can increase my game reports. But as also with last month, I’m still pretty busy.
- Experiment with other social networks to build traffic. Stumbleupon appears to have been reasonable successful, so I’ll have a look at some of the other social networking sites like Digg and Redit to see how I can use them to increase traffic.
- Achieve 200 RSS subscribers. I got quite a lot closer to this goal in August, but there is still quite a way to go.
Popularity: 9%
