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Daily Column

Loading... the Sports Illustrated of MMOGs.

First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.

If the Top 10 isn't enough, we also show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)

1. Age of Conan - 200 BPM
2. World of Warcraft - 113 BPM
3. Lord of the Rings Online - 41 BPM
4. EverQuest 2 - 39 BPM
5. EVE Online - 29 BPM
6. Jumpgate Evolution - 27 BPM
7. Warhammer Online - 26 BPM
8. Guild Wars - 24 BPM
9. Vanguard - 20 BPM
10. Lineage 2 - 15 BPM

Jumpgate Evolution rockets (see what I did there?) into the top ten landing at #6. This is the first time that JE has made the top 10. If you haven't looked into this game, you should.

Apparently the reach of World of Warcraft knows no bounds.

"BEIJING, Jun 13, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- NCTY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The9 Ltd. (Nasdaq: NCTY), Blizzard Entertainment and China Merchants Bank, jointly announced Friday that they will jointly issue credit cards featuring the online game World of Warcraft (WoW), as part of their cooperation on brand and marketing, according to tech.sina.com.cn.

The cooperation with China Merchants Bank will bring convenience to WoW players, as credit account will be linked with game account.

In addition, the credit card will give players a psychological recognition among credit card holders, and break the gap between the virtual community and real world."

Even the Chinese banks understand that community is what it's all about. Now, imagine if your MMOG account was in some way linked to your bank account. The possibilities are endless.

• You deposit your paycheque and the next time you enter the bank in Azeroth a bunch of Goblins rush out to pull gold from your pockets, scurrying back to 'invest' the money for you.
• ATMs pop up in Shattrath.
• Need a mount, but can't afford it? Maybe your financial assistant at the Bank of Orgrimmar will give you a loan?

It gives online banking a whole new meaning.

Some of you have been meaning to get into the game industry, but didn't know how. Here's one way... EA-Mythic is hiring customer support for Warhammer Online. Imagine telling your family and friends that you "work as a customer support rep for WAR". They may ask which war you are referring to, or what is blazes you are talking about, but it wouldn't matter. War on terror? Meh. War in Iraq? Meh. This is WAR with three capital letters.

Segue to more capital letters, this time a headline that landed in my inbox titled, 'Study Finds Video Gamers Are Not Lonely Losers'. Thank you Channel Web, whoever the heck you are for covering this breaking news.

"He said that gamers who played Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), such as World of Warcraft, (which currently has over 10 million fee-paying monthly subscribers) were more likely to exhibit problematic game play. However, Loton said it is significant to note is that even these "problem gamers" did not exhibit significant signs of poor social skills or low self-esteem. Only one percent of those identified as "problem gamers," appeared to have poor social skills, specifically shyness.

"We also looked at whether problematic play is impelled by social difficulties, by using a multiple regression analysis to see if high scores on the social skills and self esteem scales could predict problematic playing scores," Loton said. "Our findings strongly suggest that gaming doesn't cause social problems, and social problems are not driving people to gaming." -- Channel Web"

Why would people playing massively multiplayer games be lonely? And let's face it, every time that they don't frack up the PUG that I'm in they are less of a loser, though it could be argued that being in a PUG denotes you as a player without four close friends. Hey, we're trying alright!

Let's about face on the loser issue and get to the other end of the spectrum. Today I'm getting personal with Shannon Drake of Funcom! Enjoy

1. What brand of computer
   do you use?

I have an Everex laptop, some
ungodly HP machine, and my computer of choice, a Mac Mini. Oh, my e-cred!

1. If you could live
   anywhere, where would you live?

New York or LA.

1. What is your favorite
   food?

Lutefisk. It’s all they feed
us up here.

1. What brand/model
   of vehicle do you drive?

Timberlands, at the moment.

1. Who is your favorite
   industry personality?

Erling Ellingsen. I secretly
admire the brown jacket and pet it when he’s away from his desk.

1. When was the last
   time that you cried?

I was left standing alone in
a world that’s so cold. I wondered if I was too demanding, or just
like my father, too bold. Maybe you’re just like my mother, since
she’s never satisfied. Why do we scream at each other? That’s what
it sounds like when Shannon cries.

1. Do you have pets?
   If so, what are they? Names?

None whatsoever. I am too much
a wandering nomad to subject an animal to it.

1. The time you remember
   most when a teacher yelled at you.

When I said, “You know what,
in the future we’ll have computers to do all the math for us, so why
don’t we just skip this whole me learning to do multiplication thing.”
My mom was also summoned for a parent-teacher conference because I didn’t
color in the lines.

1. Favorite candy bar

I don’t remember the name,
because it’s in Norwegian. But it’s blue and has a very happy cow
on it. That cow loves her some chocolate.

1. What games did
   you play in the last week?

I play the hell out of Team
Fortress 2 and, naturally, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.

1. Favorite Cereal

Unfortunately, I’m well past
the age where I can eat fun cereal without having seizures, so it’s
Cheerios for me. I’m old. L

1. What are your hobbies?

Sports. I’m currently obsessing
over my currently tanking fantasy baseball team and catching every game
I can on NASN. Red Sox suck. Yankees rule. That is all.

1. Where did you grow
   up?

New Orleans, Louisiana.

1. What is the last
   YouTube video that you watched?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

1. What is your favorite
   TV show?

30 Rock is the best show on
TV.

1. Oprah or Springer?

Being Southern by birth/grace
of god, I watch Springer to look for relatives.

1. Dogs or cats?

Cats are smart, yet evil, and
the last thing I need is competition. Dogs.

1. What is the first
   MMOG or MUD that you ever played?

Gemstone III via AOL (e-cred
destroyed!) and their hourly charges. I distinctly remember the very
lovely, “You spent $800 on a game and it doesn’t even have graphics!?”
conversation the next month.

1. You have been chosen
   to represent the human race, aliens pick you up and bring you to their
   leader, your first sentence is?

I recite every lyric to “Men
in Black” by Will Smith.

1. Benny Hill...genius
   or idiot?

I have terrible taste in comedy,
so I will vote genius

1. Favorite Looney
   Tunes line....

The entire “Kill the Wabbit!”
scene.

1. What is the first
   game that you ever worked on?

It was a game called SHANNON
RULES on our old Apple IIe. It was all about telling the world how much
I rule. And the text scrolled back and forth across the screen. This
is also the extent of my programming experience.

1. Coffee or Tea?

Beer.

1. Cake or Pie or
   Pi?

Pie, since I am a math atheist.

1. What is your favorite
   sport to watch?

Baseball is an excuse to sit
outside on a gorgeous spring day, drink lots of beer, and shout colorful
obscenities without being a sport you have to think much about. It is
truly the most perfect sport.

1. What is your favorite
   sport to play?

I’m a hilariously dirty basketball
player that loves hanging around under the net for rebounds and throwing
elbows into faces. I’m pretty much the Charles Barkley of Norway.
It’s hell in the hole, baby!

And Finally….

27. The Universe decides you
hold all the cards....what's your first move?

Raise, all in.

Thanks Shannon! Thanks readers! Have a great weekend!

That's it for today! The Loading Forums await you. Do you feel the need to contact me personally with naughty pictures or derogatory comments? Here's my E-mail.

--
[A big thanks to Phil Comeau for putting together the links, headlines and taglines today. ]

13 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 1043 in June! 1439 in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Images/Video

• Aion: Concept Artwork
• StoneAge 2: Screenshots & Concept Art
• Beyond Protocol: Latest Build Images
• NeoSteam: Exclusive Video - "Leaving the Trenches"

Previews

• Tabula Rasa: Outbreak in Velon Hollow

Forums

• Lord of the Rings Online: Hobbit Talk

Community

• Vanguard: Teasing Us With Power
• Age of Conan: Clan Interview - The Exodus Syndicate
• Age of Conan: Border Kingdom Cryer - LordOrion Speaks

Guides

• Age of Conan: Tempest of Set Spell List - Lvl 1-20
• Warhammer Online: Zone Portal - Your Preview to WAR
• World of Warcraft: Collecting
• World of Warcraft: Rogue Poisons Quests

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to

1. EVE Online: Exclusive Q&A with Empyrean Age author Tony Gonzales
2. Ten Ton Comics: 'Wisdom'
3. PlaySpan: CEO and Founder Karl Mehta
4. Top 10 Free-to-Play Games
5. Age of Conan: Post-Launch with Jason Stone
6. Age of Conan: Lost in Hyboria - Ode to the ESRB
7. Ten Ton Forum Developer Tracker

Real World News

• Man charged with possession of fake weapon of mass destruction
  

  Didn't they hang Saddam Hussein already?

• Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'
  
  Also less likely to belong to 9/11 conspiracy groups
• Armpit sniffer jailed
  
  Now that his Secret is out, he hopes to meet the Right Guard in prison
  

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com. Thanks to Phil Comeau for doing the heavy lifting with the links.

- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team