RaiderZ is actually a fairly good game

It’ll be my review this week, the closed beta test has been ongoing and I got in as soon as it splashed down.

Needless to say, it’s pretty well built, and fun; although I can see the enchantment wearing thin very soon.

That is all.

Around Rage: The Bigger They Are…

At least at near the beginning of the game they were kind enough to give me a ride… I must admit, though, I do not like driving games and I dislike racing. Fortunately, Rage allowed me to escape most of the racing and driving for greener pastures (such as blowing people’s heads off.)

Still, the segment there was felt a little too frustrating for me. The controls are awkward and racing itself is annoying.

The good doctor is nicer than he looks.

 

At first, I thought this guy was huge—he seems to be wearing a refrigerator on his back. It took me quite a few sniper rife rounds to eventually take him out…

But then… Well--

 

I met this notable fellow.

He was kind enough to telegraph where the bits of that parking garage would land when he threw them; but it didn’t mean he was a pushover. I wasted lots and lots of missile launcher ammo on him, his shiny chest, and his shiny head.

MMO Anthropology Interviews Magicman Editor-in-Chief of MMOBomb.com

Magicman (Michael Byrne) editor-in-chief of MMOBomb.com came onto MMO Anthropology to speak about his experience with MMO gaming. The meeting took place in Aion Online and brought up topics such as having friends in game, the free-to-play model, and how people interact through MMO game worlds.

Link, via YouTube via MMO Anthroplogy.

The Critical Path Project and the importance of games

As an anthropologist—and in particular one who studies cyborg culture through video games—the fact that games change the world is something never lost on me. We’re in an advantageous period of development for human communication and culture, that splendid moment when spark meets fuel in the luminiferous aether of social gaming.

We have entire communities that evoke themselves from simple MMO games, where Minecraft can become a cult phenomenon just because of its simplistic form and infinite creativity, and where Call of Duty and other similar online games have minor Internet-celebrities on YouTube pulling in millions of viewers a month.
Gaming is the next-bright horizon that culture will-yet-consume and we’re watching it happen.

http://criticalpathproject.com/

Visit the page, click on a few of the links and, if you’re at all culture minded like I am, perhaps you’ll enjoy some.

Visiting Minecraft: Little House on the Quarry (Part 2/2)

A castle and a beach home—in Minecraft

Let’s see where this takes us, shall we?

via MMO Anthropology.

MMO Anthropology Interviews Nelson Williams Editor-in-Chief of Vox Ex Machina

Friend-of-the-blog MMO Anthropology interviewed Nelson Williams, editor-in-chief of Vox Ex Machina recently and here's the resulting footage. I hope that you forgive the fact that apparently the normal transition zoom is missing from the beginning--but otherwise it seemed to come out rather well.

Link, via YouTube via MMO Anthropology.

Visiting Minecraft: Little House on the Quarry (Part 1/2)

Minecraft, a place to make homes…

Not a bad examination of how Minecraft can be used to build and create – a sort of organic approach to constructing a world.

via MMO Anthropology.

Around The Secret World: A Problem with Zombies

Funcom’s The Secret World is a wonderful MMORPG with powerful, deeply atavistic Lovecraftian stories – this screenshot it from the first town that is being besieged by zombies.

Many of the quests have cinematic and even fully-voiced animations that have your character mostly standing dumbly and listening to a story about the reason for the quest and why. This is the hallmark of plot quests and it’s good to watch them at least once.

This has been put to good use by Star Wars: The Old Republic but it takes on a different quality in horror-themed The Secret World.

Kingsmouth has a zombie problem – I have a solution.

Fire. Kill it with fire.

 

Okay…

So zombies aren’t the only problem Kingsmouth has. RUN! RUN!

At least, that’s what I thought to myself until I recollected that I have an AK-47 that shoots lightning and that particular problem ended up deep-fried very quickly.

The other player helping out didn’t hurt either.

Star Trek Online Developers Gozer and Heretic Signal Resignation

Star Trek Online has seen two developers mark their calendars with a figure resignation, both Geoff "Heretic" Tuffli and Dan "Gozer" Griffis have signaled their departure from Cryptic Studio's MMORPG game with future resignations and left behind their notes on the forums.

http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/26/star-trek-online-content-designer-dan-griffis-to-depart-cryptic-in-a-few-weeks/

"Star Trek Online content designer Dan Griffis to depart Cryptic in 'a few weeks'"

Looks like Gozer is departing and above is the link to the .VG247 on the subject.

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=278521

Also, "jumping ship," is Geoff "Heretic" Tuffli who left his mark on the STO Perfect World forums with an apology and a sad farewell to the players.

Developers have a lot of social context and currency with the virtual worlds that they develop for. They're, in a way, the architects of the aesthetic and the code that governs how the community interacts with that virtuosity and within themselves; as a result, they're often the target of adulation and scorn in turn depending on the cycle of development. Not often do they work directly with the community--but sometimes they do become part of the very worlds that they develop and design.

As a result, the departure of developers from an MMO game brings with it a different and distinct sensation than the sense of developers who worked on a static, published single box game. Certainly now we're seeing more episodic content; but MMO developers personally affect and cast great shadows over the online communities that their games support.

So when they leave, it's a bit of a big deal.

Link, via MMO Anthropology.

Blizzard Doubles-Down on Cheaters With Permaban Threats

Cheating is a big deal in the MMO industry, and as everyone knows, Blizzard recently flipped the switch when it comes to their real-money transfer auction house so they’re on the wire when it comes to protecting the value of virtual items. Diablo II is an excellent example of what happens when hackers and cheaters can duplicate items and produce a great deal of virtual items into a market that considers them valuable.

In an article on SiliconANGLE, I went into a discussion of Blizzard’s newest approach which is to strike down anyone caught cheating in any manner. This comes on after Blizzard has banned over a thousand people in almost 24 hours after the launch of the AH; and further there are rumors right now of several duplication hacks persistent in the game (note: I haven’t had a chance to substantiate any of these.)

However, it seems likely there will appear a duplication bug. With the presence of the RMT AH this sort of thing will inflate the in-game economy and devalue virtual items so Blizzard will probably be quick to come down on perpetrators as well as the code itself to stop this.

In fact, right now Blizzard requires people who use the RMT to use Authenticators; however, this will not stop duplicate hackers from producing, and then laundering their items through numerous toons to finally get to the one that produces the money via the RMT if we expect to see a money-mob arise from the money making aspect of Diablo III.

Link, via SiliconANGLE

Star Trek Online Lock Boxes and Lobi Crystals

Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment just cannot help themselves when it comes to the grab-bag items called “lock boxes.” The Ferengi lock boxes, distant cousins of the Cardassian lock boxes, have been around the servers for more than a month now, dispensing randomly starships and terrible loot for microtransaction currency bought master keys.

How have these affected the in-game economy?

Link, via MMO Anthropology.

PlanetSide 2: Female Not-Bikini Armor

Oh, wait, this is a science fiction MMORPG; that’s a problem with fantasy MMORPGs.

Spotted this one in a recent Massively.com article on SOE’s PlanetSide 2.

The much-anticipated, upcoming sci-fi MMORPG PlanetSide 2 is showing off that they’re offering trooper armor for both boys and girls. In a sort of way seeing this brought up the old controversy about fantasy-settings where for some reason boys get gauntlets of iron-palisades across their entire bodies, and girls barely have their torsos protected while showing off cleavage and belly.

Who says PlanetSide 2 is going to be a dude fest? OK, it might be, but at least it'll have some nifty female avatar options. Sony Online Entertainment is also thumbing its nose at game industry tradition when it comes to clothing women in skimpy combat attire.

The company's latest press release features renders and screenshots of fem-troopers in full battle gear. There's not a bare belly nor a shapely thigh in sight, just functional equipment designed to keep avatars alive rather than stimulate opponents.

Science fiction armoring, however, rarely suffers this strange gender dimorphic double-standard; often the girls get just as much protection as the boys. Which would make more sense no matter the setting.

There may yet be hope.

Of course, I should point out that SWTOR is kind enough to give equal protection cross genders as well to Republic troopers.

Fiction Spotlight: “Something Funny Happened At Matsuri”

I remember Matsuri festival back in Phoenix, it's a fun and interesting time of cultural discovery and development. For a portion of desert in southern Arizona, the city does have a notable contingent of Nipponese citizens. As a result, the festival can be quite an experience -- also there's more than enough animé fans in the city willing to participate in the live-action version of their favorite pastime.

Of course, this means something altogether different for Vex Harrow.

As a result, this week’s spotlight Something Funny Happened at Matsuri features the festival and a lot of Nipponense-related elements.

The shining example of this particular booklet is that it includes four pages of manga drawn by one of the Vexations artists and a beautiful cover.

I’ve decided to make this one the spotlight for this month because Matsuri will be upon us soon this year, and it’s about time to pay some homage not just to the Nipponese heritage and culture, but also the way that Americans see them through the lens of literature, animé, and manga.

I am also reminded of the World War II Japanese Internment camps, one of which was situated near Phoenix, Arizona. A terrible and stupid act by the United States that Star Trek celebrity George Takei is working on bringing more attention to so that hopefully it will never happen again.

Link: Something Funny Happened At Matsuri by Kyt Dotson

[Reposted from: Mill Avenue Vexations Blog]

Around Tristram: Diablo 3 or Bust

First, let’s start with the bust.

Upon the launch of the game, Blizzard’s servers buckled under the popularity and many people saw these sorts of errors crop up. I was one of them – although that’s not my screenshot – there was a plethora of errors that got displayed.

Fortunately, Blizzard managed to get things under better control this week and we’re seeing more stable servers.

They also apologized for their issues.

I’ve been setting myself up with a very nice Witch Doctor. It’s a fun class that in the beginning feels like she plays as a sort of pets + crowd control class. However, as with everything that Diablo 3 does, there’s a lot of different mechanisms that come into play with each of the different skills.

Role can change literally at a level.

I’m not even level 20 yet and I’ve seen: CC, pet-powers, ranged-slow, poisons, melee-drain-tank, …

The in-game graphics are very nice looking.

Alright. That’s a minor spoiler (anyone who got through the beta missed this because it’s the part immediately after the Skeleton King.) Most of the game involved seeking the origin of the fallen star and the blue glow in the cathedral.

Here it is. It’s Tyrael. Anyone who has played Diablo 2 knows who this is and what he represents.

So far, it’s been an excellent experience.

Although truthfully a little bit of the lag can be really frustrating and a bit confusing.

Laptop Issues: Raid Array

Well, it looks like I might need to call DELL about repairs again. One of the drives in the raid array on my computer appears to be failing.

I hate to be without it again for another two weeks, but this could become very bad if it continues to persist; especially because it ruins my gaming sessions.

The symptoms are that sometimes it just freezes up—upon rebooting the raid initializer tells me that there was an error with the first disk (Disk 0) and once I get the machine launched, I have to open up the Intel Rapid Storage manager, re-initialize that disk, and viola it works again.

This only happened once last week; now it happened again this morning.

Not a good sign.

“I Am Forsaken” Looking Back at World of Warcraft

It’s been almost a year since I thought about an old fanfiction story that I wrote about Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. In the game, there’s a faction called the “Forsaken,” they’re a race of zombies who belong to the Horde.

Long considered the “evil” races, the Horde has a long tradition of races who have suffered some sort of hardship (often of no fault of their own) and overcome it.

In the case of the Forsaken, they’re a race of enslaved undead who have recently gained freedom and sentience.

As a result, I thought about how they handle an alien philosophy and a totally alien morality from living species. In fact, one of the quest chains of the Forsaken in the development of a plague that would give them the ability to kill other races and turn them into more undead.

Not exactly the nicest thing.

Why my fanction today?

This comes to mind today because I’ve received yet another favorite on my story on Fanfiction.net I Am Forsaken. The reason it’s important to me is that it takes a human perspective of death, returning as undead, and how some might feel about the alien morality of spreading plague and death.

After all, all the undead were alive once.

Link, via Fanfiction.net

Patent Trolls Sting World of Warcraft Over Virtual Worlds

Worlds Inc. has filed suit against Activision-Blizzard over the use of technology that fits with patents the received last decade entitled "System and Method for Enabling Users to Interact in a Virtual Space." This is one of six patents the company owns involving the interaction of players in highly immersive 3D spaces.

Worlds Inc. has alleged that multiple titles from the game publisher violates their patents such as World of Warcraft and Call of Duty.

"Technologies created by Worlds have helped the businesses of virtual worlds gaming and the sale of virtual goods to grow into a multi-billion dollar industry," said Worlds Inc. CEO Thom Kidrin. "While we are pleased to see that the gaming industry and its rapidly growing customer base have enthusiastically embraced our patented technologies, we deserve fair compensation for their use."

Worlds Inc. previously sued and NCSoft over their MMO title City of Heroes—the suit was dismissed in 2010 after the MMO publisher settled for an undisclosed amount.

Since 2001, Worlds Inc. has been amassing patents that relate to virtual worlds and promote themselves in press releases not as a technology company, but as an intellectual property holding company. In this fashion they have all the hallmarks of a patent troll—a company who exists only to make money off predatory lawsuits against companies who brush up against the patents that they hold.

The company talks big, promoting only the patents as affirming its hold over virtual worlds. A software developer who innovates, designs, and creates should be able to point to published works that have expanded human technology and enhanced the MMO world. Instead, in their press releases Worlds Inc. harps about the USPTO recognition of patents and none of their own architecture or innovation.

During the lawsuit against City of Heroes in 2008, Worlds Inc. claimed assets in patents from the 1990s; but looking at the patent being used against World of Warcraft the initial had been declared in only 2001—the same year that Warcraft launched.

This may be a “waking the sleeping dragon” event for Worlds Inc. as Activision-Blizzard is not a company to be trifled with. World of Warcraft is still the best populated MMO in the world and while competition has been chipping away at its player base amassed $503 million in profits (a record amount) in 2011. As a result, the patent holding company might be picking a fight with an opponent who finds them crunchy and good with tartar sauce.

Link via GamesIndustry International.

Exploring the DrunkenCraft Server in Minecraft

As you know by now, I am loving Minecraft; so I was overjoyed that there’s now an MMO Anthropology video looking over a server where users can get together and create interesting things—like trees within trees.

Link, via MMO Anthropology and YouTube.

Milestone Three: Laptop Repaired

It is now safely (or unsafely) back in the place it was when it got nearly destroyed.

DELL replaced the mainboard, the keyboard casing, and the keyboard itself (so no more unexplained scratch on the “D” key.) It’s not acted up at all since it’s return and I am quite pleased.

Kudos to DELL.

Milestone Two: Laptop Arrives at Repair Facility

According to the FedEx tracking, the laptop is safely ensconced (and signed for) at the repair facility.

Now I just have to wait for them to repair it.

As I understand, it can take up to 5 business days for that to happen.