the wow world

The benefits and drawbacks of new IP

2008-12-29T23:44:00.001-08:00

The benefits and drawbacks of new IP lie almost diametrically opposed to preexisting IP. There is no economic sure-thing when pitching a new game in a new setting. Yet there is hope here. New IP that catches the target audience's imagination is generally far more likely to achieve blockbuster appeal than a mere sequel. The problem is just getting there. MMOs are a new enough industry with only a few generations of game design so we haven't seen this phenomena in a profound way yet. The closest we get is EQ's success, though it initially only had one competitor. One of the appeals of RPGs in general and MMOs specifically, is the ability to explore a game's "sandbox." When dealing with old IP the only thrill is finding in the new game what has already existed in the old. New IP is on a completely different level because what lies beyond the far horizon is truly unknown. Even the past is often shrouded in mystery. Past and present are ready to be discovered while the future is an unwritten page (at least from a gamer's perspective, if not the developer's). This allows for an open ended world, the discovery of geography, history, politics, and culture. The world's story is only now being told. So in a purist sense, new IP is better. Yet what if the world designers have bad taste? What if the stories are stupid, the monsters uninteresting, and the politics dull? It's a risk. Hence the appeal of existing IP.
At this point, I should take a step back and clarify one major point about existing IP. My statements above do not mean to imply that creativity and originality are dead in games that use worlds that already exist. Some worlds are broad enough to have plenty of room for new things while other games are set in different time periods from what is already known. In fact, existing IP can be broken into two distinctive categories that have a major impact on the level of their originality. These two sides are what I would call Story IP vs. World IP. Story IP includes all of the qualities of World IP, but not vice versa. I shall explain. In the term World IP, I refer to the use of a preexisting world. Its geography, history, peoples, and culture are known. But within that world, there is no distinct singular plot. This is where Story IP differs. Story IP has its geography, history, peoples, and culture too, but all of them are fundamentally linked to a single overarching plot that gives that world its purpose. Middle Earth is Story IP while Forgotten Realms is World IP. An easy rule of thumb as to which category preexisting IP falls into is the nature of the source material. If it's a game, odds are you're looking at World IP whereas if it's drawn from a book or a movie it is almost always Story IP.
When Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings, he wasn't trying to create a broad world full of diverse kingdoms, concurrent events, and intermingling politics. Quite the contrary, everything that is encountered in the books leads toward one overarching purpose: the war of the Ring. There is no room for another epic plot. Sure there can be side stories of Boromir's travels or the Gaffer's potato growing troubles, but there is no place for another world-shaking plot to exist alongside the ring. (As a caveat, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were not initially part of Middle Earth whose true basis is told in Tolkien's opus, the Silmarillion. There is a little more room for other plots in the First and Second Ages, but the Third Age is all about the ring, though one could argue that the First Age is equally dominated by the Silmarils.) This is not to say that the Middle Earth doesn't have an incredibly rich history, it most certainly does. But the one war of the ring drives all of its momentum.

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After posting the last column

2008-12-29T23:43:00.000-08:00

After posting the last column, an interesting topic arose about originality in gaming. So, I'm pushing my next topic back to spend some time on this issue, particularly as it relates to the use of new or existing IP (intellectual property). There are merits and drawbacks to both types and I will attempt to address the major ones here. I will admit from the outset that I generally prefer new IP though I have enjoyed many games of the other variety.
Originality is a hard concept to measure because it is a subjective idea. Two people discussing a game, book, or movie may have different perceptions on the roots of certain concepts. It also depends on where a particular person wants to start their timeline. For example, one could argue that the Warcraft world is not original because it draws inspiration from Tolkien. Consider the concept of elves. Prior to Tolkien, elves / fairy folk were generally considered small (often miniscule) such as in Celtic and Nordic mythology. It was Tolkien who first made elves taller than humans. Therefore, since Warcraft has tall elves, rather than small ones, it is building from Tolkien even if its Night and Blood Elves have many distinct differences from Middle Earth's Noldor, Vanyar, and Teleri. But elves aren't original to Tolkien either. He borrowed from various mythologies which borrowed from earlier mythologies and so on into pre-history. Everything that exists, both in fiction and in reality, has links to what has come before so nothing is truly original. The adage "there is nothing new under the sun" holds true.
In order to achieve something that is measurable, as I mentioned above, I will investigate originality in the sense of what is commonly called new IP. Intellectual Property in games generally refers to world concept rather than game mechanics and I will hold that premise here. That is to say, is a world distinct (if not entirely original) from any previously existing one. Azeroth is distinct from Middle Earth is distinct from Norrath while Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Neverwinter Nights are drawn from the same root IP: Forgotten Realms.
There are several obvious benefits to using preexisting IP and the greatest is economic. One of the founding principles of advertising is name recognition. People are more likely to buy a brand name they are familiar with than something unknown, even if the unknown is better. Since game companies are in the business of making money, it is natural for them to use popular IP. Even before they've begun designing the game, they've already achieved name recognition. Money is a powerful motivator and for this reason alone, existing IP will usually trump what is new.
In addition to money, existing IP offers the comfort of familiarity. For an example, let's step back to eight years to the early days of MMOs. If you were going to purchase your first MMO in 2000, you would have only three to choose from: Ultima Online, Everquest, and Asheron's Call. Of these, only UO was drawing from existing IP. If you'd ever played a prior Ultima game you'd have a feel for what the world would be like, what kinds of monsters, factions, history, and geography you would encounter. EQ, on the other hand, was new IP though it did offer familiar concepts like dwarves, elves, and dragons. On the furthest end of the spectrum lay AC which was not only new IP, but also much further removed from familiarity. Not only was Dereth unknown, but also were the creatures that inhabited it: three-legged shreth, monolithic lugians, and so on. All other things being equal (which they admittedly weren't), a gamer making a product decision at that point with no other information would have been more likely to go with the familiar.

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altered over time

2008-10-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

The most important factor for the spread of any communicable disease is its reproduction number, or “R number”, which is the number of people to whom an infected person will typically transmit th eve money e pathogen in a population with no immunity.

If the R number is greater than one, the epidemic will spread, while if it is l cheap eve gold ower than one, it will decline. The most contagious diseases, such as measles, can have R numbers that reach 15 during the height of epidemics, though lower values are more common. The R number of smallpox is generally about 5, though it can reach as high as 10, and influenza typically has an R number of about 2. As Blizzard would not release deta eve online isk ils of the number of infections over time, it was impossible to calculate how the zombie plague’s R number had altered over time.

Professor Ferguson said a value of about 5 seemed likely. This would have been expected to buy eve isk grow had Blizzard not intervened. “It would eventually have gone up to 10 or even 20, and you’d have seen 90 to 95 per cent of all players becoming infect cheap eve gold ed,” Professor Ferguson said.

allow you to create key intermediate materials

2008-10-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

Despite CCP's economic woes, the developers' blog is still filled with a lot of updates regarding EVE Online. Speaking of the economics, t cheap eve gold he newest blog entry outlines in detail some buy eve gold new alchemy mechanics that are being implemented to help ease the high demand on a limited supply of materials and minerals (dysprosium and promethium, for example). We've created six new reactions which allow you to create key intermediate materials without relying on the rarest moon minerals.

This isn't, of course, an efficient process! Each rare mineral has been assigned a more common counterpart, which can be used in the place of the rare buy eve online isk mineral in these new reacti cheap eve gold o eve online isk ns at a ratio of 20:1, which roughly approximates the difference in moon count between the rare mineral and the common mineral in each case. Keep reading after the jump for more information on other recent blog entries, including a buddy invite contest for a new, signed computer.

EVE Fanfest 2008 will be held Nov. 6-8 in Reykjavik, Iceland. In anticipation, CCP is keeping track of who can lock down the most buddy invite conversions before the start of the festival. The winner will become the proud owner of a massive Special Edition Commodore EVE Rig signed by the dev team.

Here is the direct quote

2008-09-28T22:53:00.000-07:00

Here is the direct quote from his blog: "BTW, for those who might be temp warhammer online online gold ted to think that we are doing this so we could offer our own service or because we do make money off their boxes (traditionally, gold sellers will quickly shift to buddy disks and free trials though to lower their costs) let me tell you this.

I’ve been offered “a piece of the action” both personally and corporately in the past warhammer online power leveling if I will either cheap warhammer online gold turn a blind eye or help them in their actions. This would have netted me and/or Mythic a very, very tidy sum, far more than we would see from box sales. My answer was and always will remain the sam warhammer online power leveling e: Go to hell."

In the rest of the blog, Mark Jacobs just says "no thanks" to all the gold farmers spammin' it up. Makes me wonder about some other MMORPGs that I've played, that seemed to be stuffed to the gills with gold farmers -- were those buy warhammer online money studios taking bribes, per buy war gold haps? It seems like it would be easy enough to report and ban gold farmers spamming chat channels -- but many MMORPGS seems to have trouble doing so.

Keep in mind

2008-08-18T19:20:00.003-07:00

Bite: This is a "special skill", which causes Buy wow gold much more damage than your standard attack. Unlike your standard attack, this special move uses some of cheapest wow gold your pet's focus points so when set on auto-cast along with growl it can sap up your pet's focus rather quickly. However, using bite/growl along with your ranged weapon you'll be able to Age of Conan gold kill mobs much more quickly.3. Claw: This is the Rolls Royce of all pet attacks. It is widely considered to be far superior than bite, due to its quick recast time (just a few seconds compared to bite's 10 seconds). In addition to the quick recast time, it takes up City of Villain infamy in stock significantly less focus than bite. Keep in mind however, when combined with growl the quick recast time will have your focus disappearing very quickly.
That being said, your pet causes so Buy cabal alz much more damage your mob will likely be dead when combined with the power of your ranged weapon. This is a MUST have pet skill. Cower: This causes your pet to "disengage" from the mob it is currently agreed on, however to get the mob to leave your pet and agro you instead you need to Aion gold in stock start blasting it with your ranged weapon.

let's say you trained a standard brown bear

2008-08-18T19:20:00.001-07:00

You will have 8 non elite nape’s assisting you and cheap wow gold 1 elite nap, your goal is to keep the elite nice alive while fending off the entire dragon maw. Right now the quest is cheapest wow gold bugged due to the fact that all the mobs are mounted so melee dips is kind of worthless against them. The battle takes place literally 3 steps from the graveyard so it isn't hard to just walk over and razz if you die. So for instance, let's say you trained a standard brown bear from an area Age of Conan power leveling such as Loch Moan. Did you know that same bear can learn THREE other HIGHLY useful skills?
Unfortunately, you can't learn these skills from Hellgate Pd in stock the standard pet trainer; you have to learn them "yourself" by training other pets around Azurite. 1. Growl: This is the standard skill which all pets can learn from the pet trainer. Essentially this skill makes your pet draw agro from cheapest guild wars gold the mob, forcing it to attack it and keep you at a safe distance where you can continue to pelt it with your ranged weapon. This skill is best left on "auto-cast" where your Ddo plat in stock pet will continually growl until it is out of focus.

not all quests with Spillover are confined to Teams

2008-08-18T19:19:00.004-07:00

What is a Team? What is a Faction? What is Reputation Spillover? This is the term given to the effect seen when Age of Conan power leveling a Reputation gain in one of the Teams will raise your Reputation in all or some of the other Factions in the Team. Not all Age of Conan gold quests have give Spillover, and not all quests with Spillover are confined to Teams. Spillover is related entirely to the quest or mob giving the Reputation. Blizzard calls this Buy wow gold effect "rippling".What is Reputation Reduction? This is the term given to the effect seen when a Reputation from a mob or quest is lower because of Eve isk in stock the level difference. Once the mob goes Grey, or a quest is six levels below you, you lose 20% of the total Reputation possible for the kill/completion for each level. This goes this way for four levels, until you reach the minimum Reputation gain of 20%.The greatest trap ever (Daily) (3 Aion gold man group)- 500 repYou are told that you need to lead a group of dragon maw to attack the alder(spryer) base, once there you talk to a few epic’s then Cabal alz start an attack. There are several waves of these guys so just try to dopes them down as best you can.

he's faster than you

2008-08-18T19:19:00.003-07:00

Because if you aren't right on top cheapest wow gold of the guy he'll desman the others you could get a little range to dodge at least. Also a riding crop/palely aura makes this Age of Conan power leveling a lot easier since he's faster than you, reward is a +10% mount speed trinket.Reputation determines whether certain Naps react kindly to you or try to kill you on sight, among other things. A number of quests are Age of Conan gold only available if you have reached a certain level with a particular faction, while some quests will alter your faction when you finish them.Reputation is, for a large number of cheapest eve isk players, their end-game. After getting all the gear, and countless raids against the Horde/Alliance, this is the only avenue for further progress in the game. A Faction is a race, group, or Aion gold organization that exists in the World of War craft. Some Factions are against other Factions, so you can't be liked by both. Examples of a Faction are Storm wind (Humans) and Grimmer (Rocs).A Team is a group of Factions tied together, both in the story and on the Reputation tab. Alliance, Cabal alz Horde, and Steam wheedle Cartel are the only Teams currently in the game. "Other" is not a Team.

to save my life

2008-08-18T19:19:00.001-07:00

The biggest problem with this cheap wow gold quest is that if you die while you're on your gryphon your corpse still floats in the air, and if it's too high up you have to gee rest. However, the graveyard cheapest wow gold you are sent to when you die in this area does not have a spirit healer. -_- if your faction controls hula you can razz there...we didn't so I had to run all Age of Conan power leveling the way back to terrace since I couldn't remember where any nag and gees were to save my life.
Once you win you get to choose Age ofConan powerleveling between 4 green quest rewards, none of which are very overwhelming. Disrupting the Twilight Generator (Daily) 500 rep Kill any 20 of the mobs at the same place as the above quest. Race quests 500 each for first 5, 1000 for 6thAt this level you also unlock the Race quests. Basically Eq2 plat this is a series of 6 quests where you try to fly behind each of the riders and not get knocked off by the bombs/magic/meteors they throw at you. The first 5 aren't too bad once FFXI Gil you learn how to avoid their attacks. The final race is either really rough or bugged at the moment,