by John Hoskin on Jun 02, 2008
Welcome to the 840th Edition of Loading...
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Daily Column
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First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.
If the Top 10 isn't enough, we now show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)
Age of Conan - 200 BPM World of Warcraft - 77 BPM Lord of the Rings Online - 30 BPM EverQuest 2 - 23 BPM Warhammer Online - 17 BPM Guild Wars - 14 BPM Lineage 2 - 13 BPM EVE Online - 13 BPM Vanguard - 12 BPM Tabula Rasa - 9 BPMSometimes this industry is as quirky as a Johnny Depp movie. More often than not it isn't the developers who are full of themselves. It is the people who write about the industry. Often, they are also the malcontents in the player community. Blogs are a great tool which have turned into a pox on the Internet. Our industry is plagued by "know-it-alls" with little or no knowledge of the industry, who thanks to blogging tools and Google have a soapbox on which to rail incessantly about their discontent with the game of the week.
Let's go back to Johnny Depp for a moment. He often plays a pasty-faced idiot-savant who has a passion for something, whether it be scissors, pirate adventures or the recurring theme of chocolate. Most of the malcontent bloggers are a like like Depp's characters. They passionately believe that they know something, but they aren't sure what it is. This passion is only dwarfed by the belief that if they write something in a blog that others will care to read it, that it will carry some weight. They somehow have come to the conclusion that they are the
This isn't to say that blogs are the only medium filled with virtual drooling and vitriol. The official forums of nearly any MMOG title are so filled with half-wit comments that they become nearly useless. Case in point, a thread of epic proportions complaining that the breast size of characters in Age of Conan had been reduced.
The astute points made by gamers who 'get it' are often lost in the noise, which brings me to Hoskin's First Law of Game Communities: Don't host official forums for anything other than support.
I can hear players crying all the way from Oslo to Los Angeles. Let me explain. There should be forums. For a community to grow it requires a place to communicate. Customers, potential customers, guilds and the media need a central hub to inhabit and to share ideas. The problem isn't that developers are ill-equipped to fun forums, it is that there is a perception issue. If a customer posts in an official forum they expect an official response. It doesn't matter how unimportant the question is or that no amount of support staff could ever answer every question. Each poster is the center of the universe. When their question isn't answered they become upset, posting more, until the vicious circle turns the official forums into a place that those customers pleased with the game fear to tread.
Forums hosted by a third party can still allow developers to answer the questions that require answering without giving the impression that every query carries equal weight. They allow for moderation, a culling of the noise without the developer being compared to the Nazis. They allow the developer's community managers to get this, develop a community without constantly fighting fires.
There are several excellent third party resources available if developers would only let go. One of the few golden coins in the launch of Vanguard was that they didn't have official forums. They managed to botch that up by using three separate third party systems which only confused players, developers and the media. Pick one third party solution and run with it.
No matter how hard a developer tries or how large they are, they aren't going to make wine out of the vinegar that is an official forum.
So, some questions for the players
Why do you want official forums? Are you happy with official forums for the games that you play? What changes would you make? How often do developers answer the questions that affect you?I eagerly await your answers in the forums!
"Ten Ton Hammer is proud to team with Eidos and Ideazon to announce the Age of Conan Zboard Contest. The true warriors of Hyboria will be battling for gaming gear to give them an even greater edge against the competition.
Prizes:
* Age of Conan Collector's Edition (sold out in stores and selling on auction sites for $150)
* Age of Conan retail box ($50 value)
* Ideazon Zboard, the Ultimate Gaming Keyboard (a $50 value)
* The Limited Edition Age of Conan Keyset, customized with over 70 game specific commands labeled to keep you focused, (a $20 value)
* An Exclusive in-game item that boosts all non-physical damage, the Enruned Kosalan Ring (can't be obtained any other way!)".
The AoC launch hasn't been fun for everyone, including a few souls who were banned. Ben delved deep, far deeper than any mortal man to retrieve these Funcom comments on recent player bans. Cody took time away from his budding poker career to try another card game. Then he took more time away and wrote about it in this Maple Story: Exclusive Demonstration of the iTCG. Nothing could stop Cody from writing more, and from his talented mind came Jumpgate Evolution: Exclusive Look at Crafting and PvP.
The gauntlet was thrown down, but Danny delivered with not one, but three contests.
'Torque Me' Contest Winners 'Wonderland $100 Giveaway' Winners Age of Conan Zboard ContestWe also have a new comic, a motivational poster for 'Failure'.
A big shout out to the Ten Ton Hammer WoW guild for taking down Prince Malchezaar for the first time. Our guilds are all run by members like you. Way to go guys and gals!
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.
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[A big thanks to Phil Comeau for putting together the links, headlines and taglines today. ]
16 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 16 in June! 1312 in 2008!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today
Images/Video
Fiesta Online: Exclusive Combat VideoInterviews
Age of Conan: Funcom comments on recent player bans Maple Story: Exclusive Demonstration of the iTCG Jumpgate Evolution: Exclusive Look at Crafting and PvPContests
'Torque Me' Contest Winners 'Wonderland $100 Giveaway' Winners Age of Conan Zboard ContestOp/Eds
World of Warcraft: Daily Quests - The New Grind?Community
World of Warcraft: UI Mod database updates Age of Conan: Clan Soup #12 Vanguard: Dalmarus' Chronicles - Is Camping Season Here?Comics
Ten Ton Comic: Demotivational Poster - 'Failure'Guides
World of Warcraft: Forming the Perfect Group Lord of the Rings Online: Crafting Critical Mastery Update Tabula Rasa: Spies Warhammer Online: Crafting Classes - Cultivation SkillHot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to
Ten Ton Comic: Demotivational Poster - 'Failure' Age of Conan: Funcom comments on recent player bans Maple Story: Exclusive Demonstration of the iTCG Jumpgate Evolution: Exclusive Look at Crafting and PvP Age of Conan Zboard Contest World of Warcraft: Daily Quests - The New Grind? Age of Conan: Post-Launch Exclusive with Jørgen Tharaldsen ION Game Conference: SOE's Alan Crosby and Craig Dalrymple Free to Play MMOGs: Can you afford them?Real World News
Sex and the City makes $55.7MOh, it's not what you think; the thongs were on their faces
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