Students Blog

Comapring Terra Nova and Virtual Cultures to other online communities reveals some fairly obvious contrast. To really discuss the importance of the two entities, however, I would like to borrow from a Terra Nova blog by Florence Chee. Florence discusses his experiences as a gamer in WoW, vs. his real life tendency to view things as an anthropologist. He uses the term "passionate detachment" to explain his approach to analyzing games. He must be passionate about the experience (certainly, while playing WoW, he is fully enthralled), but to write objectively about online culture and communities, he excerts a level of personal detachment. I believe this "passionate detachment" can be used appropriately to descibe the concept of a site like Terra Nova. Certainly, these sites are populated by people much like Patricia; they are avid gamers that are passionate about interactive entertainment. However, at some level they can detach themselves. By conversing over why online experiences create the aforementioned "passion," they become more aware gamers, designers, etc.

If you log onto Terra Nova, there is very little explanation for new comers. This really is a forum of ideas, and its lay out is intended to grab the attention of those that truly find some form of detachment. Terra Nova and Virtual Cultures are essential to the evolution of the medium; there are some very interesting topics being discussed on a day to day basis.

Logging on to the WoW and UO websites is vastly difference. These sites are truly focused on extending the "passion" of the online experience to their meta-communities. Each site, in addition, heavily favors new players (the new player tab tops the side menus of both websites). Ultimately, these sites attempt to further the community of the game while serving the game's underlying fiction. Trusly, visiting the WoW and UO websites explains why a site like Terra Nova exists. How do these websites help build communities and control online experiences? How important are they to a player's actual play-time? Can websites such as WoW eventually become more integrated into the log-on and play experience?

Posted by Ryan Wilk at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Comapring Terra Nova and Virtual Cultures to other online communities reveals some fairly obvious differences. To really discuss the importance of the two entities, however, I would like to borrow from a Terra Nova blog by Florence Chee. Florence discusses his experiences as a gamer in WoW, vs. his real life tendency to view things as an anthropologist. He uses the term "passionate detachment" to explain his approach to analyzing games. He must be passionate about the experience (certainly, while playing WoW, he is fully enthralled), but to write objectively about online culture and communities, he excerts a level of personal detachment. I believe this "passionate detachment" can be used appropriately to descibe the concept of a site like Terra Nova. Certainly, these sites are populated by people much like Patricia; they are avid gamers that are passionate about interactive entertainment. However, at some level they can detach themselves. By conversing over why online experiences create the aforementioned "passion," they become more aware gamers, designers, etc.

If you log onto Terra Nova, there is very little explanation for new comers. This really is a forum of ideas, and its lay out is intended to grab the attention of those that truly find some form of detachment. Terra Nova and Virtual Cultures are essential to the evolution of the medium; there are some very interesting topics being discussed on a day to day basis.

Logging on to the WoW and UO websites is vastly different. These sites are truly focused on extending the "passion" of the online experience to their meta-communities. Each site, in addition, heavily favors new players (the new player tab tops the side menus of both websites). Ultimately, these sites attempt to further the community of the game while serving the game's underlying fiction. Visiting the WoW and UO websites explains why a site like Terra Nova exists. How do these websites help build communities and control online experiences? How important are they to a player's actual play-time? Can websites such as WoW eventually become more integrated into the log-on and play experience?

Posted by Ryan Wilk at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since I can remember, Yahoo Games has had an active and consistent tournament schedule for nearly all of their multiplayer casual games. Players are encouraged to practice and earn rating points until they are ready to enter the tournaments. Yahoo keeps a complete list of tournament results for bragging rights etc. Player interaction consists only of traditional chat, and it is especially hard to keep to track of if you're talking with large game rooms of up to 200 people. Introducing avatars would make it easier for Yahoo Games players to remember and identify specific people within the community.

Because of the daily playing limit for Kingdom of Loathing, I did not get far enough to experience most of the social interaction mechanics of the game. I was able to try the very limited PvP, but did not make it to the chat, clan, or trade systems. The innovative part of KoL is also what limits it. Designed using barebones web technology, KoL cannot display multiple players or avatars on the map. Other than its technological limitations, Kingdom of Loathing provides a compelling community experience including a very active message board.

I'm curious to see if the final version of Puzzle Quest shows multiple avatars on the map. Although it is not built into the game, a clan structure will likely evolved as it does for all multiplayer RPGs. Given its casual emphasis and rock-solid single-player gameplay, Puzzle Quest does not appear to need any special event or tournament structure.

Posted by Torin Kampa at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The player community in WoW and Second Life (for this blog I am saying it is a game) functions differently than developer/ industry pro communities. For the players the community functions as a form of leisure or escape, it gives them a form of entertainment and they play it because they want to, players in these communities are more functioned with play, group bonding and relationships. On the other hand, the developer/industry personal community serves as a matter for research and analyzation to give the pupil in the industry the different perspectives of gaming. They work together, for the most part, to create newer and hopefully better games. This community differs from the other in that it serves not to play, but the opposite, work. So for the player community it functions for fun and in the industry community it aids and helps with work. They are complete opposite and the strange thing is that the same game can function from two different sides of the field; work and play, leisure and "homework". It is ironic that the two communities cover much of the same content and yet their areas of influence are very different. As a developer I would weigh the player community more heavily in my estimation, the reason why I say this is because the games are made for the players in the first place, the games are not made for the developers. The developers work for the players by making the games, it is the player that decides whether or not the game is worth playing, not the developer. The developer has to keep an open mind as to what interests the player and what keeps the player in "play mode" so that they would want to play the game. If it wasn't for the player, the developer would have no job, so therefore I would heavily weigh my decision on the player community. I believe in order to be a more open-minded, down to earth,and well rounded individual, you have to approach the game from all sides of the field. It is defiantly worth participating in both as a developer and player, the two are just as important. With no developer, who would make the game? The two are worth subscribing to, but I would have to say the player community if by far more valuable, however, it still is a good idea to follow the developer community as well, just to get a sense of who the people are and to see how they tick. It is always good to know how people tick, a good lesson in life. Unfortunately, yes, the 30th is our last class session. :(
I absolutely love this class. I love you guys, Great work. ^_^

Posted by Celeste McWhorter at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The article assigned for this week discusses how regular events are a crucial element of community building. It is interesting to note, and the article does this thoroughly, that online events and meetings closely mirror their real life counterparts. The article specifically mentions an array of support-oriented communities, such as iVillage’s allHealth, which use events as a primary means to continue interest in a specific program. These chat room events most closely replicate real-life meetings, introducing a moderator and/or specialist to answer questions and help those in need. Only late in the article are games discussed at length. In our discipline, communities are organized around games as the “main event” (271). Having a community centralize around an interactive game allows for a great variety of community structures.

Yahoo! Games may be considered a very casual gaming community. Surely gaming is the primary event, but the website utilizes its casual, unorganized nature to regain players over time. In other words, a majority of the Yahoo community does not necessarily need, or want, a regular schedule of events to retain interest. This is not to say Yahoo ignores its community. It allows for chat in each of its games. This feature could be labeled as topical chat (it is intended to serve the game at hand), but because players are often on during casual hours, the chatting spreads into general conversation. In addition, Yahoo organizes tournaments to strengthen preexisting community and encourage new players to take part. Overall I think Yahoo does an adequate job considering their overarching casual goals.

Puzzle Pirates offers the most immersive community we have analyzed this semester. The game covers many of the community requirements outlined in the reading. There is always a casual place to chat, allowing players to discuss the game or unrelated topics. In addition, the game embraces greeters, assisting new and inexperienced players, and OceanMasters, who are admin type leaders able to assist in most online situations. In addition to this welcoming help, the game allows the player to develop a unique avatar and home (the player can physically see his position within the community), and an easy-to-use friends list. Lastly, Puzzle Pirates is an active, event based community. The main game screen, for example, has an events tab which is always full with community events, competitions, and tournaments. This variety of events gives players numerous options for involvement, creating a diverse and approachable community. Overall, Puzzle Pirates makes an effort to include a variety of players, from socializes to achievers, into its numerous community events.

Posted by Ryan Wilk at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week's reading pinpointed "events" a core element in community-building, a task of great interest to any game designer working within a subscription system where prolonged play generates greater returns. As the article states, a reliable and regular continuity across time is an observable characteristic which indicates a community does exist, as opposed to, say, a functional group which meets only under circumstances or to address certain issues, like a committee, or a group which meets under intense circumstances for a short period of time only disperse afterwards, like a conference or convention. Of course, regular and engaging events are only one element of the ambiguous concept of "community," and so seeking community involves both locating events as described by the article but also finding the other "features" that come to mind at the mention of the word "community:" shared interest, a common goal, a space to call one's own, sometimes a hierarchical structure.

My admittedly limited experience with puzzle pirates leads me to believe that genuine communities can form there, though I haven't been able to join one myself. It is an event driven game, though not "regular" events in that scheduled events direct the social flow. The sheer amount of players on puzzle pirates enables users simply to rely on events always happening; log on, and there is an event to be had. Moreover, if the events lack in regularity and reliability, they make up for it by successfully incorporating most of the elements in the article attributed to "competition" events, generating a desire to "come back for more," not because one necessarily sees the same faces at the same time, but rather, for the thrill of winning, or at least trying to. These features - sheer number of players, 24 hour availability, competitive atmosphere - could also be attributed to MSN games, yet Puzzle Pirates enables real communities whereas MSN games does not because it approaches the concept of the community holistically, including the ability to form "crews" (common goals, hierarchy, shared interest, and a personal "space" in the form of the boat) to add to the competitive aspect.

I recognize that the excerpt we read is a chapter in a book, and presumably all the other features of "community" I mention are covered separately in other chapters. As the relatively new field of multiplayer online games continues to develop, I imagine the inclusion of all these community based features will become industry axioms and creative focus will shift to innovating new ways to offer these features to players - for example, new ways to offer events. My experience within MMORPGs is limited, but nonetheless I think, for example, that celebrating Chinese New Year in Guild Wars was a clever achievement, creating an event that will certainly be anticipated in the future, but, unlike a weekly or monthly event, gains concentrated value in its rarity. The event itself was rare, but also special items that were handed out at the event proved valuable in the internal market both during the festival and in the following weeks. Later, I was able to notice St. Patrick's day celebrated in world. I've never played an other MMORPGs, but I wouldn't be surprised if this celebration of holidays is a regular thing, nonetheless it aptly represents what I'm talking when I imagine "innovations" in community feature, such as events, are in store for the future.

Posted by Vincent Malic at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In terms of community, Toon Town and Kingdom of Loathing to an excellent job of uniting players together. The players have to opportunity to chat with one another and come together as a group in guilds, it gives the players a sense of belonging as if they were in a family. They also do an excellent job of hosting events for their players, especially Toon Town. The thing that makes games like Toon Town and Kingdom of Loathing really terrific is that they give their players the opportunity to have something to look forward to is a real treat, it gives you a meaning to live out life to its fullest, even though it is a game. Games have a community and in these communities people can find their own fulfillment. It provides a haven a home away from home to those players that are stuck in unfortunate circumstances in their real lives and it gives them another sense of reality that is positive. Most of all these communities in games gives these types of players hope.The parts of the games that are innovative, specifically Toon Town, is how the creators were able to incorporate mini games within the environment, which gave the players a chance to bond with other players in the same community. A game that would be lacking in community would be Bejeweled and the reason why is because Bejeweled has no community. There is no community in Bejeweled because Bejeweled hasn't gave any of its players the opportunity to interact with one another. This interaction is essential because with out it, there would be no community. A way that Bejeweled can improve is by incorporating a community mechanic. They can do this by adopting the way Puzzle Quest uses versus mode. By applying the same method of game play, Bejeweled will develop player interaction and with the start of player interaction marks the beginning of a community. They can even take this a set farther by hosting a tournament. By hosting a tournament, like the ones hosted for Quake, there will be more hype around Bejeweled and more players would want to play the game. They can even give out prizes to the players that out performs the rest and they can even give out a grand prize to the champion of Bejeweled.

Posted by Celeste McWhorter at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Puzzle Quest Demo is a very addicting game. I love the fact that the game incorporates bejeweled as a way to level up. It feels like you're playing multiple games, because there is the story material, then there are bejeweled puzzles. The game has alot of dynamics and it is hard for the players to get bored of it. I am a huge fan of japanese animations and comics, and therefore I like the graphics alot in this game. The heroes are all typical japanese characters. One negative thing about the game is that I feel extremely 'alone' when I'm playing the game. If it is possible, maybe a multiplayer aspect can be added into the game. Perhaps, there can be group quests, or bejeweled puzzles that require more than one person to solve? The character design is plain in this game, but for some reason, I see that as a positive feature. You do not get the chance to move your character around in this game, and also due to the single-player aspect of the game (no interaction with other players), it would be a waste of time if the game lets you perform really detail character customization when no-one, including yourself, will look at the characters at all. The main purpose of this game is the puzzle, not really the appearances of the heroes.

The theme and mechanics go along well, but as other people have already said, the theme does not really have to be relating to the medieval era. The theme can be changed to any other reasonable themes, such as ancient characters, modern characters, futuristic characters, and that will still fit the mechanics just fine. I believe the names and the characters aren't really the main reasons why people would consider playing this game. The mechanics of the game is the most important element and therefore should not be changed because it is the mechanics that make the game what it is. However, maybe the designer can think about changing the amount of text in the game. after playing for about 15 minutes, I started skipping all the text so that I can get to the bejeweled part as soon as I can. Perhaps a more effective way of conveying the story has to be implemented to even further improve the game.

Posted by Aaron Ko at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Puzzle Quest is a very interesting adaptation of Bejeweled. Just last week, in my video-game production class, two employees of Pogo.com challenged my team to adapt the bejeweled "match three mechanic" into a new game. Although we did try to incorporate combat into the bejeweled system, we did not near the overall effectiveness of Puzzle Quest. This game is addictive on several levels. First, there are multiple facets of rewards. While in combat, the player is rewarded by earning money, damaging his opponent, or gaining mana to caste spells. Each one of these elements is well balanced, challenging, and ultimately entertaining. In addition, outside of combat, the RPG fan can indulge himself by leveling up, customizing his home, or buying gear to help him in battle. Overall, the game is a great casual/hard-core hybrid that is very addicting.

I was at first skeptical of the game's theme. Because the bejeweled system as been manipulated into so many forms, I felt fantasy would just add to the mountain of look-a-likes. I was quickly proven wrong; the implementation of traditional RPG combat (gaining mana, turn based strategy, etc) meshes perfectly with the primary match-three mechanic. After my first battle, I had fallen for the overall dramatic premise.

If I had to propose a different theme, I would have to go with the traditional GTA inspired gangster genre. This probably wouldn't really fit in with the casual gaming market, but it certainly would add some comic relief. The art assets would change as follows:
- Three matched bullets would cause damage (rather than being equipped with swords and shields, you would have an array of guns and body armor)
- Three bags of cash would gain you cash (replaces gold)
- The art assets to replace mana and experience are more challenging; perhaps a jail cell for experience points, and an assortment of drugs and alcohol to replace mana? (this casual game might have a mature rating…).

Posted by Ryan Wilk at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wow. This game is seriously addicting; I had trouble putting it down to write this post. In fact, I kept playing even after the demo prevented me from leveling up. Puzzle Quest takes Bejeweled-style gameplay to a whole new level by adding skills, items, and spells. Unlike many other RPGs, it features an incredibly engaging and replayable single-player mode, and I can imagine that multi-player will be even better. It will also well suited for the PSP because each puzzle doesn't require that much time to complete, and the game is not as complex as a PC or console RPG. Puzzle Quest is a polished, rock-solid game that features incredibly thoughtful hints and context menus, which completely eliminate the need for tutorials or documentation.

The medieval fantasy theme fits well with Puzzle Quest's game mechanic even though I believe it is mostly irrelevant. At first I read all of story cut-scenes, but eventually I just skipped them. The art and the interface is attractive, appropriate, and consistent, but it's the game mechanic that is truly compelling. Alternatively, the designers could have chosen a futuristic theme with humans, robots, and aliens, instead of warriors, knights, and wizards. The story, art assets, item names, and skill names would have be swapped but the core mechanic could remain exactly the same.

Posted by Torin Kampa at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This game works because it make playing Bejeweled even more fun to play. The reason why is because that the game mechanic gives you a reward for playing the game, you don't just play the game to go to the next level, you actually get rewarded for it like getting gold, experience points, and it also gives you an incentive to collect certain rows of three. Also the game also encourages the player to collect gold buy building ones own players sanctuary. That alone will give a materialistic person like myself a reason to play. The story element associated with that is a nice touch and helps the game become immersive rather than just playing a puzzle game like Bejeweled, also it makes playing the puzzle game more engaging by having you compete against the computer in a battle.

The game doesn't work in that it is too much like Bejeweled, there needs to be a new way to play the game and come up with a brand new unique puzzle to play against the rival. Also the avatars and characters in the game are not unique and the game mechanic doesn't let you design your own character. The game doesn't let you decide which side of good or evil you want to be on, you are automatically placed on the good side, though the player may want to join the dark side but the game does not provide such an option.

A different theme could be the ever so popular fantasy theme and that could be changed with a mere skin change. Avatars would have different clothing and the wizard avatars would be a more advanced wizard (i.e. sorcerer.) Especially gaining mana for spells which is already a game mechanic is very fantasy immersive for the player engaging in the game and would have a more immersive feel while playing it.

Posted by Celeste McWhorter at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)