Welcome
to the 1,176th
edition of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily
MMORPG news, coverage, and
commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Finding the key to the player
retention lock is the Holy Grail for most MMOG developers, yet it can
be difficult to pinpoint the exact motivations that drive us to log
into our favorite game month after month. The task becomes all the more
challenging once you see a critical mass of players lumped at the level
cap further along in the lifespan of a given title.

Filling in for Ethec as he makes his way to Iceland for this
year’s EVE Fanfest, Reuben “Sardu” Waters
dons his + 10 Cap of Loading… and shares his thoughts on
what keeps players hooked on an MMOG long after the shiny newness wears
off. That, plus a pair of WoW editorials, an exclusive Global Agenda
interview on the Recon class and more await you in Loading…
Characters, Classes and Carrots.

cellspacing="0" width="100%">

The Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here's
today's top 5 Pulse results:

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/41"
    target="_blank">World
    of Warcraft
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo">Dungeons
    & Dragons Online
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/254">Aion 
  4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest 2
  5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">Lord of the
    Rings Online 

Biggest
movers this past week
:

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/175">Lineage
    2 (Up 3 to #16)
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1234">Runes
    of Magic (Up 3 to #18)
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest
    (Up 6 to #20)
size="-1">Recent
MMO Releases
  • size="-1">8/25
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1012">CrimeCraft
    (release date) size="-1">
  • size="-1">9/1
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/co">Champions
    Online (release date)
  • size="-1">9/9
    - Dungeons
    & Dragons Online Unlimited

    (release date)
  • size="-1">9/15
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1234">Runes
    of Magic "The Elven Prophecy"
    (expansion)
  • size="-1">9/22
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/177">Fallen
    Earth (release date)
  • size="-1">9/22
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/254">Aion
    (release date)
size="-1">Upcoming
Releases
  • size="-1">10/9
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2129">Cities
    XL (release date)
  • size="-1">12/1 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro" target="_blank">Lord
    of the Rings Online - Siege of
    Mirkwood (release date)
  • size="-1">12/2
    - DOFUS
    2.0

    (release date)
  • size="-1">Early
    2010

    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB

size="-1">Important
Dates

  • size="-1">10/1
    -
    10/3
    href="http://fanfest.eveonline.com/">EVE
    Online
    FanFest
  • size="-1">10/23
    - 10/24

    - href="http://www.cityofheroes.com/herocon/index.html">Hero-Con

Loading...
Daily

For all the bullet point features that get listed on the back of MMOG
boxes boasting the biggest innovations the industry has witnessed since
the birth of virtual sliced bread, one of the key components of player
retention remains firmly rooted in the realm of social interaction. For
some it may be a large, active guild that’s heavily into end
game raiding, while others opt to traverse the vast expanse between
online microcosms to check out the newest title to hit store shelves
with a small circle of close friends. Or maybe it’s a more
basic desire to beat the living snot out of other avatars in PvP that
keeps you coming back to your current MMOG.

Assuming any personal socialization requirements are fulfilled in your
online gaming life, what is it about a given game that keeps you hooked
over a longer period? Don’t get me wrong, social bonds can be
a powerful force indeed, but even the closest of friends will often
have a difference of opinion when it comes down to what makes a given
experience fun enough to pursue over a longer period of time.

Based on my highly scientific research into the matter (which included
a lengthy discussion with one of my cats earlier this morning)
I’ve found that most players fall into one of three main
camps in terms of what keeps them playing a given MMOG once the shiny
newness wears off; the character driven, the class patriots and carrot
chasers.
 
Character driven players are those people whose primary aim in an MMOG
is to build up the best single character possible with the specific
class or role they fulfill simply being a means to an end for achieving
that goal. As a result, many of these players will toil away for hours
in character creation, as it can be an endless source of frustration to
get to level 20 only to realize that there’s something about
your character’s eyebrows that bugs you. Once that look is
locked down tighter than a banshee’s mouth stuffed with super
glue, however, the gloves come off. Or more accurately, the gloves are
exchanged for the best pair with the highest stats their character can
obtain at any given level. A perfect example of this type of player
would be the rising tide of href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/74979/" target="_blank">gear
score obsessed WoW players who
tend to measure a player’s value to a raid not by their
personal skill or even their personality, but by an arbitrary number
based on which items they have equipped.

The second group is the class patriots. I’m sure
we’ve all witnessed the defensive posturing and chest beating
that occurs on the forums the moment you either offer up an opinion as
to why you prefer X class more, or worse still, they discover that
their precious class of choice is about to be altered in some minuscule
way with an upcoming patch. While these players may occasionally create
other characters, they always drift back to their class of choice and
will boldly declare it to be the best of the bunch to anyone who cares
to listen. Class patriots can even be found in
“classless” MMOGs such Champions Online or Fallen
Earth. So long as players are given the tools to build up a character
that can fulfill a specific role that classes typically account for,
these players will find a way to shape their characters to fit that
mold.
 
The third, and most common group, would be the carrot chasers. I say
most common because, apart from the given of a social environment
inherent to MMO gameplay, potentially achievable goals are at the core
of just about every gameplay mechanic in current titles. The most
pronounced example of carrot chasers would of course be the hardcore
end game raider. Even when they claim href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/75010" target="_blank">there
are other factors that keep them
logging in for the next raid night week after week, ultimately
it’s the desire to obtain something new that
keeps them hooked on the process.

How about you? Do you see yourself as fitting into any of these very
scientifically defined categories? Or are there other aspects of MMOGs
beyond social interaction that keep you logging into your favorite
game?

Your thoughts welcome in the  target="_blank"
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=46725">Loading...
forum.


Shayalyn's
Epic Thread of
the Day

From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=546">SWTOR
General Discussion forum

href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=46693">Broken
SWTOR site/forums

Yesterday, we talked about what href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=46129">fully
operational
might mean in reference to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Today, we
learned that it likely referred to BioWare opening up applications for
the href="http://tentonhammer.com/node/74916">SWTOR beta.
And
if you heard about the advent of beta today, you're not
alone--apparently thousands if not hundreds of thousands of eager
gamers and Star Wars nerds slammed the SWTOR site so hard that it was
closed for maintenance for most of the day.

While the site
maintenance issues may be over by the time this epic thread goes to
press, there's still plenty to talk about in today's epic thread. What
does the hammered SWTOR site say about the game's popularity? Can the
game possibly live up to the hype it's generating? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=46693">Have
your say!

==============================
Awesome
Quotes from the
Epic Thread

"
Well, from what I recall PC's with top specs usually get the early
invites. What are top specs nowadays anyway?
"

- SirRobin
==============================

Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!


9 new
Ten Ton
Hammer MMOG features today! 94
in
September! 1,046
in
2009!

Today's New MMO Coverage and Features

  • href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/75007">Runes
    of Magic
    - Class Overview
    Runes of Magic offers a good variety of classes, allowing for players
    to choose between the four standard archetypes of tank, healer, melee
    and ranged DPS with more than just a single selection for each. While
    the number of choices is hardly groundbreaking, it still gives players
    a chance to broaden their play style with some measure of nuance, and
    with the dual class system at level ten, the choices become even less
    pedestrian.
  • href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/74999">Global
    Agenda
    : Recon Class Q&A
    with Todd Harris
    Recons play a much more active role in Global Agenda than just sniping
    from afar. Equipped with stealth abilities, traps, mines, and
    anti-stealth capabilities, recons are the perfect choice to wreak havoc
    behind the lines. Join us for a new Recon class Q&A as we learn
    more about the roles, capabilities, equipment, and some of the common
    mistakes made by new recon agents. It's all in this first of four part
    series on Global Agency's classes with Executive Producer Todd Harris,
    only at Ten Ton Hammer!
  • href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/74979">World
    of Warcraft
    : Gear Scoring - Cred
    or Noob Meter?
    Since the beginning of time, people have always measured themselves in
    the locker room by certain stats. Is gear scoring the latest craze to
    go overboard? It's a number calculated on pixels in a game, does it
    define you? This week we look at why gear scoring has taken center
    stage in World of Warcraft and wonder if it really means anything
    except an admittance ticket.
  • href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/new/sellingguide">Fodder
    Into Kinah - A Guide to Selling in Aion
    Overflowing inventories prompt us to unload all of our Aion loot onto
    ungenerous merchants but if you're using this method then you could be
    missing out on loads of glorious kinah! The game offers both broker and
    private stores to pimp your goods but to make the most of your loot you
    need to know how to use them and when.
  • href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/74973"> EverQuest
    Underfoot
    : The Underquarry Lore
    and Exclusive Screens
    EverQuest expansion Underfoot, the 16th installment of the storied
    franchise, grows closer with each passing day. Over the past week the
    good folks at SOE have been releasing sneak peaks at the content and
    what players are in store for when it goes live. In the newest update
    to the Unfolding the Lore series we delve into The Underquarry.
  • href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/guides/currencymain">Champions
    Online
    : Currency Overview
    The jaw-smashing world of Champions Online has not one, not two, not
    even three… but seven types currency! Fortunately, your
    friends at Ten Ton Hammer are here to provide an overview of the seven
    basic currency types in CO.
  • href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/74956">12 New
    Screenshots from Lord of the
    Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood

    The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood digital expansion will
    launch on December 1st, 2009, and to help show off the new content that
    will soon be available in the game's second expansion since its launch,
    Turbine has released several new screenshots to show off the dark and
    foreboding region of Mirkwood. You even get a look at the Fell Beast
    riding Nazgul of Dol Guldur.
  • href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/74940">The
    Green Arrow Unveiled in DC
    Universe Online

    DC Universe Online has unveiled many popular superheroes and villains
    in the upcoming game and this week a new popular hero has been
    unveiled. SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) has announced the Green Arrow
    and with it released several
    pieces of artwork and in-game screenshots
    of Oliver "Ollie" Queen, otherwise known as the Green Arrow.
  • href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/75010">World
    of
    Warcraft
    Editorial - The Will to
    Raid
    Everyone knows that raiding is serious business. From sun down to boss
    down, they toil and toil to send those named creatures to the soil.
    There are only so many monsters to kill however, and once you've slain
    them a few times and collected your epics, what keeps you coming back?
    That's what we got down to by interviewing some long-time raiders to
    find out just what gives them the will to raid after all these years.

Hottest
Content
:

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/75007">
    Runes of Magic
    - Class Overview
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/74907">
    Dragon Age: Origins
    - An Overview of Classes and Specializations
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/75010">
    World of Warcraft
    Editorial - The Will to Raid
  4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/74979">
    World of Warcraft:
    Gear Scoring - Cred or Noob Meter?
  5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/74999">
    Global Agenda:
    Recon Class Q&A with Todd Harris
  6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/new/PvPbasics">
    Intro to PvP in Aion
  7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/wow/guides/instances/onyxia">
    Onyxia Guide
    - How to Slay Dragons
  8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/new/sellingguide">
    Fodder Into Kinah - A Guide to Selling in Aion
  9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/guides/currencymain">
    Champions Online:
    Currency Overview
  10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/74714">Gamers
    Gone Wild
    - Are Women
    Objectified in MMOGs?

Thanks
for visiting the
Ten Ton Hammer network! 

-
Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and
the Ten Ton Hammer team

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Reuben "Sardu" Waters has been writing professionally about the MMOG industry for eight years, and is the current Editor-in-Chief and Director of Development for Ten Ton Hammer.

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