Loading... Hockey MMOG

by John Hoskin on Jul 31, 2008

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Daily Column

Loading... putting the 'Mo' in MMOG.

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?)

Warhammer Online - 200 BPM World of Warcraft - 142 BPM Age of Conan - 84 BPM Tabula Rasa - 15 BPM Stargate Worlds - 14 BPM Lord of the Rings Online - 11 BPM EVE Online - 10 BPM Copernicus - 10 BPM Atlantica - 9 BPM EverQuest II - 7 BPM Atlantica - 6 BPM

Warhammer continues to dominate the MMOG traffic market thanks to the Paul Barnett Comic Con video, with only World of Warcraft within striking distance. Copernicus, 38 Studios working title makes its first appearance in the Top 10 thanks to the recently released concept art. I have been accused of writing about Warhammer too much, helping drive its Pulse number up, while rarely discussing EverQuest 2 and Lord of the Rings. The fact of the matter is that Warhammer is approaching launch, so they talk to me, *a lot*. I rarely hear from the EverQuest 2 guys or for that matter most of the other developers unless I'm at a games show. It's the nature of the industry. There is building the game mode and marketing mode. Right now WAR is in marketing mode. This isn't to say that they aren't still working on the game, but they have more faces available to chat.

It's an odd work week for me, not that every week isn't odd, but this one is especially peculiar in a I wouldn't pick up a snail in my hand because it is disgusting, but people pop them in their mouths as a delicacy kind of way. That this week is odd may seem strange given that I just returned from an assignment that whisked me 3,000 miles away from home to walk among people dressed up as Batman, but bear with me.

I went from covering the MMOG industry from the inside of an enormous convention center filled with people dressed as anime character to covering the MMOG industry from inside an enormous facility housing a hockey rink, with people dressed in full body armour. As Cody will soon find out, (Congratulations Cody on your new baby boy) you do things for your children that you would never do for yourself. This week is one of those times. I await my 'Father of the Year' award, though I know it will never come. Some guy who drives a Lexus while talking on his phone instead of listening to his kids always wins that award. I think that's because Lexus sponsors it.

My son is attending a hockey camp from 10-4 each day. He's a great kid who rarely asks for anything, even when he really, really wants it. Think back to when you were a kid and you had your heart set on something. Now imagine not asking for it, no matter how much you wanted it. You just took a glimpse into the creature that is my son. The one caveat is computer games. He asks for these, probably because I'm happy to buy them for him. He likes what I like. I'm all for that. Let's call it family bonding time. Rock Band has become our 'Rock Out' hour each night. I'm pulling us down though, which is especially discouraging since he's the drummer, by far the hardest instrument to play.

Back to the hockey story, the facility is close to my office, but far enough away that driving him and then coming back to work is impossible. He's still little, and needs me to help him tie his skates, snap on his helmet, give him a pep talk, etc. before and after each hour of ice. I take his slobber filled mouthguard, carrying it to be rinsed as if it were the holy grail, careful not to drop it, every hour on the hour like the old faithful of Ice Pad #2. I hang his equipment to dry when he goes for lunch and I watch him when he is on the ice. I watch other children go through their paces until my son reaches the front of the line. Much like a police officer, it's a job that entails minutes of boredom followed by seconds of sheer terror as he struggles to get through the drills that the instructors have created to turn our young athletes into skating superheroes. He succeeds and he fails, but he succeeds more than he fails as the day progresses.

So, I'm working from the rink, which is a surprisingly enjoyable experience. This facility has public wi-fi, so I can sit in the stands, laptop perched atop my legs while I answer email, write, do research, etc. I could watch my kids play hockey all day, and for a week, I get to do just that, while I work. It dawned on me as I was tapping away on my keyboard listening to the sounds of the rink that hockey and hockey schools share a lot of similarities with MMOGs.

But how can that be? I hear you say. There are no skates or pucks or goaltenders in MMOGs. You must be mistaken Mr. Hoskin. Perhaps you have gone mad? Have the fumes from the propane ice cleaner addled your brain?

I may have gone mad, long ago, but there are similarities nonetheless. The kids for all intents and purposes start at level 1. The beginning of camp is like launch day in a MMOG. There is a feeling of anticipation in the air. The stench of hockey equipment, much like the stench of the unbathed waiting for the servers to turn on for the first time lingers in the air. Everyone is the best player in the rink. There have been no judgments made, no opinions formed. It's a land of milk and honey; anything is possible.

Then, bang, the gates to the ice open and the players flood out scattering across the ice, going around in circles, without instruction. From within the mist an instructor appears. He may as well have a golden exclamation mark above his head. The players flock to him, kneel on one knee and listen as he gives them a quest, or in this case the instructions to their quest, a drill too complex to explain here, requiring stamina (STA), agility (AGI), strength (STR) and intelligence (INT).

As the players complete their quests their skills increase, just like yours do while you play a MMOG. As they learn new skills they progress through the game of hockey. They don't receive visual and audible clues like we do in a game, but rest assured that they receive them. A tap on the shinguards by the instructor, a positive word, a successful run in a puck handling drill all shower the player with experience , building their confidence and their enjoyment of the game.

There is a will to succeed. The players are not only competing against themselves, but against 20 other elite players and against the other team. They trash talk, goad each other and discuss the quests. It's a lot like ventrilo except you can see the people behind the voices that belong to girls.

There is a will to improve. Make no mistake, the rewards are great, but the path to those rewards involves a lot of hard work. The drills may be quests, but they can also be grinds. Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. If you practice doing something the wrong way, you will end up doing it that way forever. Ask a golfer or a druid healer in World of Warcraft.

There is a will to compete at a higher level than the other players. The teams bond, much like guilds do. The players all want to be superior to their comrades. It's hard to get them off the ice. They would play all night if they were allowed to only to wake bleary-eyed the next day ready for more.

There is team play. Like guilds, the teams form and the players become friends. Age, ability and ethnicity are forgotten.

There is solo play. Each player attempts to complete the drills faster and more efficiently than the rest. Even their team-mates are to be left in the spray of ice and snow if possible. You can't solo through the levels, well in a way I suppose that you can, training by yourself, but the end game is a group experience.

There is LFG. Some drills require a partner and nobody wants to be left out. Hands raise, skates scrape across the ice as player partner up looking for a pairing that gives them an advantage. Weaker players can't find groups. Neither can the ones who annoy everybody. Sound familiar?

There are even classes. Some players are natural scorers, the dps of hockey. They knock out the other team with their stealth and cunning. Others are natural defensemen, the healers, the buffer between the dps of your enemy and your tank. A select few are goaltenders, most like the tanks in MMOGs, these brave souls stand between what hurts and what hurts more, a goal against you.

So you see, we MMOG players are not that unlike a hockey player or a football player or a basketball player. At our core, we do something that we love, that we are passionate about, sometimes to excess, but always because for us, it is what we yearn to be doing.

I know you're thinking something. Share! 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 Karen Hertzberg for putting together the links and Real World News.]

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