I was truly shocked to read today that Jeff Freeman, formerly of SOE and an amazingly nice, smart guy has died at the age of 39, apparently having taken his own life.
Sadly I never got to know young Mr Freeman as well as I'd liked to have and from now on there'll be no more educated discussion of game design, the industry or the many facets of being Jeff.
Wherever you are now, man,
travel well and rest easy.
... as some of the more observant of you might have noticed I haven't posted "in some time" (yeah, forgot my login, lol, what a newb).
Anyway, I'm over here now http://almagill.livejournal.com where I'm still spouting the same crap, just more frequently.
I like Il Divo. Good music to plooter around in the car too.
So yesterday i was moved to buy a couple of their CDs. Abut what's this? I can't play them on my PC, my normal media player, as there's some sort of copy protection?
Or rather, "You have to update several files in order to play this disc" and then you're given the option of installing crap knows what on your machine or sit listening to it grinding and clunking away while you try in vain to cancel MPlayer, get back to the desk top, eject the disk...
A quick google reveals that the boys discs are produced/distributed by Syco Music and that the copy protection comes via BMG. On close inspection ther eis the TINIEST of labels with who knows what random logos and the url www.bmg-copycontrol.info. The site that leads to is, what's the word... shit? Oh it's nicely designed, flash animated sqooshy graphics and all manner of knob knockery, but it doens't tell you how you can use the damned disc or what this software it wants to install is.
So I can only assume it's faulty and will be chucking it back over the counter at Virgin for a refun tyvm. "Not suitable for the purpose for which it was purchased", that is, it won't play on my PC.
More info on BMG and co at The Register
Meanwhile, sorry boys, but I'm going to judge you by the company you keep. No more Il Divo in this house. So that's a clear case of copy protection affecting sales.
Jeff Freeman blogs... infrequently ;)
Aw Dundee, you don't post much mate, but you do post some good stuff y'know.
A long and contentious article by Mark Wallace of 3D.com.
Now, before reading it remind yourself that, as the author admits, comparing SL to WoW is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. But the exact premise of his argument is that SL may be getting bigger while WoW starts to go into a lull.
This is sort of supported by the sort of models that the two games prefer to use when looking at themselves, SL sees itself as being closer in form to a communications type network, as more people join, more people join, whereas WoW is usually looked at onthe conventional 'rapid climb/ peak / drop/ plateau and decline' style of model that, well, most businesses use.
Worth a read, worth thinking over later, and worth bearing in mind when people start throwng subs numbers about as away of 'proving' that game A is better than game B.
Heavy, Heavy Sarcasm intended, btw
Just read this article http://tinyurl.com/hq55m by Sean Twist in the LFP which has left me going "Huh? WTF?" on so many levels it's amusing.
I'll start with the obvious. "Where's the rest of the article, guy"??? It's like you've had this one great thought for something to write in your column and then wandered off to go back ingame and shimmy some. (Having played an ent in SWG for 2+ yuears I just know that's not the case, lol).
So... this guy offered you his gun? Was this meant to be symbolic? Am I just too dumb to get the whole 'dude with gun and chick with norks' thing?
Damn, Sean, I really, really don't like ragging on somebody who is just doing their job but that article is possibly one of the lamest SWG pieces I've read since the one that came out just after launch where the writer was whining about 'all there is to do in Galaxies is sit in a field and make pots...'
GAH!! What's your point? Is it really just that you had no idea that people play other genders in RPG's? Do you think ALL the players in BF2 are ALL guys? And anywahy,what's the issue here? Transgender RP is even an issue? For chrissakes... there's people in that game are playing different species.
;)
(And oh you can bet your badgermuffing beard that I'm creating a new toon today... screeny to follow)
Damien at ZenOfDesign kicked off a debate about clas / skill systems in response to an article by Thomas Mortensen at MMORPG. You have to read the ZoD thread first for half of what follows to make the slightest bit of sense, and even then you're going to disagree as people (players) seem to want to be EITHER class or skill based.
Anyway, it's sparked off a postathon by every dev/commentator/blogger who has an opinion to opine, and it's great :)
Brenlo (Bixiebopper) writes: "It’s all about choice. So is one system any better than the other? Not in my opinion, folks just have preferences. Besides, it’s what happens after your character is defined that really counts."
Raph Koster is on the class/skill debate too.. naturally :) he comes down on both sides of the fence:
"The question is, as always, what is the appropriate mix for the job. If you are making a game centered around teams, with clear singular objectives and one core system and mechanic, and nothing much else in the mix, then yes, of course, go with classes. Anything else would be a bit strange.
But if you’re making a virtual world with more than one thing to do, more than one game system, then they’ll make less sense. As soon as you have parallel game systems that don’t really overlap in their objectives, you’ll need to account for the fact that someone might be a hockey goalie and a herringbone stitcher. And the more of these you add to the mix, the less sense classes will make."
Well, this is MY blog space, so even though I feel as intimidated as heck by having so many big names in one entry, I gots my own opinions on class/skill systems:
"Neither classes nor skill based systems ’suck’ in and of themselves. It depends on what the player is expecting to be able to do within the game structure and how well the game design allows them to do that that results in a perception of suckiness.
For instance, I roll a combat toon in a class based system and find that I can’t, for example, heal others. Does the class system suck, or does the problem lie in my choice of build?
In a skill based system, I chose to invest on, say, defensive skills and heals to the stage where I can only do a little damage in combat but am effectively unkillable. Again, does the system suck or my choice of build? Obviously somebody who dislikes def stackers will have one PoV, the def stacker will have another.
A skill based system that allows a player to build a good low level (in terms of effectiveness, not necessarily combat level) toon with a borad but shallow range of abilities allows the player to experience more of the options that the game allows before choosing to specialise on one particular field.
Obviously the best example I can give of this is SWG where it was possible to take all the novice professions (thinly masked classes) and be a huntin’, shootin’ dancin’ medic who could do a little crafting with the resources he harvested. As your character developed you could then choose to drop the skills you didn’t need, or even have to sacrifice some that you’d have liked to have kept ie, at Master Ranger / Master Rifles it was not possible to have a large self heal as you couldn’t keep any of your medic skills.
You could of course drop the master box of one of the profs and invest in medic but then your effectiveness as a hunter would be impacted. (Which of course takes me onto my other favourite hobbyhorse, choices and consequences. I’ll save that for another day ;) )
A well structured class system will allow the player to have, for example in the EQ ranger subclass, effective specialist combat skills and sufficient self buffs and heals which are consistent/coherent with the professions descriptors and player expectations. You will, of course, have to depend on other players for the skills and abilities that fall outside your chosen class.
As I said, Idon’t think either system necessarily sucks, depending on it’s implementation. I do agree that a class system is generally easier to introduce to a player as you can point them at a defined archetype and say “that’s a paladin, that’s a pirate” and they’ll understand what can and can’t be done by that class within the game context. On the other hand, a free ranging skill based system allows for the sort of dynamic mix that you do find in real life where people have a multitude of skills that they can apply in different situations and which vary in value depending on their appropriateness for that situation.
OK, I’ll stop there before this becomes a dissertation on Acquired and Ascribed Roles, Expectations and social token exchange… "
