| Title | Qt3 Games Podcast: the battle against MMO fatigue |
| Author | Tom Chick |
| Posted in | Games podcasts |
| When | December 28, 2011 |
Bill Abner joins us this week, bringing a report from the front on the war against MMO fatigue, where Jason McMaster is still valiantly fighting and Tom Chick is engaged in a mostly successful flanking maneuver. Casualties are heavy all around..
Read the full articleHey! I love listening to Bill talk about Dark Souls. Bill talking about Dark Souls is the reason I asked for (and received!) it as Christmas gift.
I totally didn't do the Customer Service Rep post any justice. It's way too amusing for me to properly process.
Get Bruce Geryk on next.
I love spreading misery whenever I can. Seriously, I hope you like it as much as I did.
I'd really like that
Had his apologies happened when you recorded this? He managed to evaporate most of the sympathy when he basically started his apologies with "If had known how big Penny Arcade was I wouldn't have been a dick".
Do GDC panels ever end up online. Your panel sounds interesting Tom.
I'm not sure about that, Mr. Slug. I did one last year that was videotaped, but I think they put the videos behind some sort of login thing for members. I'm not sure.
Also, to be fair, the panel is going to be a variety of opinions about how free-to-play affects design. My whole screed about how it damages the process is my own opinion and not the focus of the panel. :)
On the F2P MMO discussion, I took what was said in that Bioware interview to be more about what can be accomplished with a subscription model (and more importantly) in the scope of content and gameplay vs. F2P. On that point, it seems like they are largely right. Players are usually spending $50 upfront which means they can put more resources toward development.
After watching several MMOs turn to F2P, F2P may become what broadcast TV rights are to films. If so, it would be better to plan ahead for it during initial development to make the transition easier and manage investor expectations, but use the launch and first year or so to take advantage of higher price points.
Oh well, I guess I will just have to make a game and get someone to fly me to the US.
The panel sounds super interesting still. Free to play is becoming increasingly important and I find game design talk super interesting. I think I disagree with you though. I don't think FTP has to be bad for a game. I would agree it often has been but I don't think it has to.
Fantastic podcast! Tom, is the LOTR boardgame from the 1970's the SPI game War Of The Ring (not to be confused with the modern Fantasy Flight game?) Still have my copy of that and the similar gameplay Star Wars takeoff "Freedom In The Galaxy" from the same era. Lots of game mechanics, difficult game, but there's some interesting strategy to be had there.
What disturbed me about SWTOR was the announcement of gay relationships content coming soon. I mean really was there any gay relationships in the movies? Incestuous maybe, but not gay. So why add it to the game. This was based supposedly on forum requests. I gotta wonder who goes on a games forum and says you know what we need some good old fashioned gay love to make this MMO really shine. Let's take to the forums and demand it! I mean really all the things this game needs to fix and could add and this is where there going. Just seems like a weird priority.
sex and relationships in games is a bioware thing though so it would be requested because it is their game rather than because it is a star wars game. If roleplaying relationships is going to be a part of the game should everyone not be represented?
Yep, that's the game, Chris. I love that huge board! What a great interpretation of Tolkein's maps! I've never actually played the game, and from reading the rules, I don't think I'd ever want to. But I love that I own it. Well, at least I tell myself that to justify the cost.
Scud, that's what Bioware does in their games. Personally, I applaud that they're willing to write homosexual relationships into their games, whether it's the Star Wars, Mass Effect, or Dragon Age universes. I just wish the relationships they wrote weren't so trite and embarrassing.
BTW, does anyone know if there are romances in the game currently? Given that companions are fixed for each class and would therefore be homosexual relationships half the time, and that some companions are droids, I'm guessing that romancing your companion isn't currently a part of the game.
I believe they do, but I'm not sure if for free. I've worked with CMP Media for a while and had a gig working on their GDC audio recordings (other than writing I work in audio/video editing)
We ended up putting up 10 years or more of stuff on a site.
The discussion on MMOs was very interesting to me, probably mainly because I'm a long-time MMO player. City of Heroes is my primary addiction, and I've dabbled in DCUO, WoW, STO, LOTRO, etc. I found it interesting that both Tom and Bill mentioned how much they enjoyed the combat style in DCUO, which is more console-action-ish than your traditional MMO. I found it exactly the opposite...I enjoy the slower-paced, less twitch-reaction style of combat in MMOs like WoW or CoH. It would be interesting to do a gamer survey to see which way people tend to lean.
Yea, romances are currently in the game. I got xp or whatever they call with my companion for nailing a chick on one of the planets. I guess he was impressed. I'm not opposed to gamers writing homosexual relationships into games where it might be appropriate. I just think it's inappropriate for this game which is based on a movie that children cherish. I can't remember a single homosexual character in the star wars movies. So in my opinion when I hear star wars I have perhaps a preconceived notion of what type of content that includes and to me this type of lifestyle is not what I assume would be included. Incidentally I also think nailing chicks in the game is inappropriate for the same reason. While there was relationships in the movies they took place off screen. I play a lot of games with my children who are in another state but because of this type of content I probably will not play this one with them.
I loved DCUO to. I thought that it was a fresh take on a stale genre (MMO's). And I have never particularly been hardcore into superhero stuff. my problem with the game was that I was much to lazy to ever keep up with the 3 quick left taps and 1 right tap on the mouse to trigger abilities. That took way to much work for me so I was lazy and just stuck with the everquest style hotkey pushing. But over all I liked it and will probably check back in from time to time. With the free play model I thought that limiting the money so low was a bad move on there part though it that it made the auction house worthless. Without us free to play players having adequate money to buy stuff it probably impacts the P2P players in making it very hard for them to sell things. Perhaps in the AH they should of followed aTurbine model