Great Posts IV: Why Alliances Fail

Of course this also covers why guilds fail too, but it was written very well and without alot of the bitterness that creeps into other posts of a similar nature.  Have a read:

Securitas Protector, EVE – Mag

The only thing I’m not sure about it punishing people for not doing alliance fleet ops. Of course I’ve never been involved in the wholesale takoever or defense of a region.  We can’t even seem to lock down a long system by ourselves, so Liberty’s stakes were obviously much higher.

But I do think this is where assigning people roles in the corp or alliance can be helpful.  Or perhaps a schedule – Alliance members commit to patrol in fleet one night a week, etc.   I have a feeling long term players of EVE are people who have to take some initiative on their own to continue to advance and enjoy the game.  So I am loathe to punish people who might be out doing just that.  But if you can harness those players who are still looking for direction by giving them some plans or corporate/alliance goals to be working towards…well.

Example:  I was mining last night.  I know my alliance wants to really crank industry up to help with PvP ship losses.  I’m happy to give to the cause…if I know what I should be giving and what its going for.   I could turn over a blanket amount, but I’m not to that point of trust in our leadership yet.  However, to hear: “hey we’re trying to crank out a line of battlecruisers to improve our pvp wing, please donate 10% of your refined ore to the corp hanger” or something along those lines…well that draws the alliance in closer and gives me a purpose and a warm fuzzy about my help.  Which in turn equates to me sticking around longer.

Anyway, enough rambling.  I expect to start some industry this week, so expect a post soon about my first industrial cash influx…or lack thereof.  (-:

Great Posts III: Hardcore vs. Casual

Over at Stylish Corpse, Ysharros asks what the dividing line between hardcore and casual is.

Its a great question, and I think I have an answer (note the “an” as opposed to “the”).

Hardcores aren’t there to have fun (bear with me here).  At least not the fun intrinsic to the game itself, but perhaps fun sourced at what gaming allows for – a place to shine in competition.

Example: I know a guy who maxed every character class in WoW, maxed loot drops, perfected every raid strategy, etc.  Last month he moved to EQ2.  He stayed up 24 hours straight to do betrayal quests and hit level 30 in his first day.  Less than 48 hours later, he was at 40.  To him, EQ2 was not fun because it was EQ2, but because it was an opportunity to compete, and he wanted to win.

He was hardcore – don’t forget that hardcore in this frame of reference is not a defined noun, but an adjective.  And it modifies “gamer.”  Casual players play games, hardcore players play games to win.   They play games as a means to an end.

If I’m right, this explains the simmering tension and sometimes hostility associated with the hardcore/casual divide.

Casual players do not understand how a gamer can lock themselves into a single game and play it over and over, sometimes ignoring large parts of the game as designed to focus on perfecting a single element or subskill relative to that game.  Hardcore players do not understand why casual players are so unmotivated, lazy and uncaring.

Casual players do not understand why Hardcore players would pay $15 a month for internet game competition when they could easily get internet game competition in copious amounts for free.  Hardcore players wonder what kind of idiot would pay $15 a month for such a rich and detailed competition and then refuse to compete. 

Casual gamers wonder why these people are invading their fantasy realms and demeaning them by treating them as just another game.  Hardcore players wonder why these people treat these games as somehow special or different from any other game they pick up off the shelf at Buy N Large.

Or, to somehow dissolve the divide into an easy stereotype, while still being fully aware of all the advantages and disadvantages of doing so, let me sum it up for you:

Casual players = relationship oriented.

Hardcore players = task oriented.

I knew that psychology degree would come in handy one day.

More on Chaos later.

Great Posts II

If you want to see some festive goodness, head over to Wall of Text, where br3ntbr0 has uploaded fantastically informative video walkthroughs of some of the classes.

Also, I think I solved the great mystery.  AoC was 16/3 in terms of days right?  Well with the preview weekend, WAR ends up being 9/4/2.  Yes that’s 4 days less total, but it also devotes 4 days to rewarding loyal customers through the Preview weekend for the Collector’s Edition people, and the first 50k people excited enough to type in their pre order codes.  And I think they get a pass on 4 less days since it looks like they won’t need them to have the game in good shape for launch.

I wondered why Mythic had not gone one better as they have been, and it turns out they had.  They had just done one better in a way I hadn’t thought about – taking care of the people who take care of you.

Great posts deserve a pat on the back…

And even though this one is a few weeks old, I thought it was great, and did a good job of explaining the reasons you should get in on the ground floor of an MMORPG you’re excited about.

Sometimes you do get burned – Vanguard, SWG, and (increasingly it looks like) AoC have done it.  But others…well theres lots of lifelong fans of EQ, WoW, and others.

I also have realized one of the reasons I love reading these blogs is because of the people who write them.  Most of them, even though they have wildly varying opinions on things, all start from the same place – married, a couple of kids, love to play and get solid time, but are not “hardcore.”  That’s me, and so I enjoy seeing what experiences they are having.  It helps me to have more fun, and to better focus the game time I do have.