Loading... What Killed the Fanboy?

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Is the fanboy dead? If so, are we better off without him? We'll take a break from the news ticker delivery of post-E3 goodness to step back and consider what might have killed the blind enthusiasm which typified the MMO community for so much of its existence and look at where we're at now. DDO's Eberron Unlimited devs tackle some hard questions, an enlightening spate of Torchlight info and video from E3 2009, and Paul Barnett sums up this year's E3: it's all in Loading... What Killed the Fanboy?

An attractive young woman that loves MMO gaming as well as all manner of geekdom, and whose voice will be featured in an upcoming MMO. Is she a myth? An illusion? Nope, she's Vikki Wong, Ten Ton Hammer's Gamer Girl of the Month for June 2009!

The Pulse

You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is Pulse?).

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results this week:

World of Warcraft EverQuest 2 (UP 1) Star Wars: The Old Republic (UP 6) Lord of the Rings Online (UP 1) Warhammer Online (UP 1)

Biggest Movers in the Top 20 today :

EverQuest (UP 13 to #14 ) Star Wars Galaxies (UP 13 to #16) Ultima Online (UP 6 to #12) Recent MMO Releases 5/15 - EVE Online Apocrypha 1.2 (patch) 5/19 - Warrior Epic (launch date) 5/19 - Vanguard "Halls of Pantheon" (content patch) 5/28 - Dragonica (CBT key giveaway) Upcoming Releases 8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date) 9/1 - Champions Online (release date) 9/1 - Aion (release date) Important Dates 7/23 - 7/26 - San Diego ComicCon 2009 8/21 - 8/22 - BlizzCon 2009

Loading... Daily

As I jumped from site to site looking at E3 coverage and comments (and I have to say that benchmarking is both the most painful and pleasurable part of my job), something struck me. Cynicism, as we well know, is rampant, but it seems incumbent on developers and marketing teams to prove that this feature, game, or expansion is worthy of attention. So the marketing becomes even more glib and, as a result, the potential fans even more cynical.

Did the fanboy die at some point? If so, what killed him? Was it the sense of betrayal occasioned by the premature launch of games like Vanguard and Age of Conan and the perceived failure of Stargate Worlds? Are studios developing titles for an increasingly extinct generation of gamers, those raised on MMOs back when "accessibility" wasn't a buzzword? Or have we simply grown into a more wizened set of gamers largely immune to marketing's bag of tricks?

I prefer to think the latter. Enthusiasm has its place, and I spend as little time in official forums as possible because o-boards tend to be hangouts for Internet bullies who live to squelch even valid enthusiasm. But blind enthusiasm leads to misinformation and unreasonable expectations, and that's largely where fanboyism got us.

Ten Ton Hammer has been accused of being a fanboy haven in the past, largely because 1) it's never the mission of guide-driven community sites to poo-poo a game (who goes looking for info on how to kill a boss and wants to read a snotty opinion piece?), 2) our forum mods don't tolerate insults and personal attacks, and 3) if we play 20 levels and those 20 levels are good - we'll tell you exatly. We're not going to tell you that the game sucks at level 40 based on hearsay and herdthink. When we get there and find out it sucks, we might, if we have something new to say. For these things, I don't apologize.

But that said, we do spend an inordinate amount of time exposed to landfills full of marketing material in hopes of finding the odd gem, and it does affect us. Restaurant critics don't train their palate by reading menus, and likewise we have to play particular MMOs constantly to know MMOs in general.

Our task isn't helped by the enormous quantity of poor MMOs on the market, each more than willing to clog our inboxes with nonsense, or by the fact that these games take months to truly understand and critique. An IGN or Gamespot writer can play The Sims 3 for a few evenings and have more than enough to write a comprehensive review and several guides, if they're so wont. We have 10-man raid of part-timers working feverishly on World of Warcraft and they're still barely able to keep pace with the enormity of the game and the sheer rate at which new content comes out. MMOs remain the most rich and dynamic way to game, so we're not complaining. It's just that the reviews and fan-schmooze model doesn't work for us.

So I got that off my chest, and now it's your turn. Is fanboyism dead? How can MMO coverage improve without falling into the PR trap? Tell us in the Loading... forum, or as usual, feel free to email me.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Final Fantasy XIV Forum

Favorite FFXI Job?

It's a living...

Sony
made a big stir at E3 this year when they announced that Final Fantasy
XIV, the next installment in the beloved franchise, will be a MMOG
for Playstation 3 and PC.

To kick off the opening of Ten Ton
Hammer's new FFXIV forum, we've posted several threads filled with
information about the game (you'll find them stickied here). Ralsu has also posted a poll, asking folks to name their favorite jobs from the current Final Fantasy MMOG, FFXI. Go cast your vote and
weigh in on the discussion, then make some new threads to talk about
your dreams for the upcoming game from Square Enix. 

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

"I was a fan of the red mage. I'm the sorta girl who just loves versatility and the red mage could do so much for a single job."


- Savanja
==============================

Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!

8 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 66 in June! 703 in 2009!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Featured Articles

DDO Unlimited Interview with Turbine Developers - Unlocking the New F2P Model
Few massively multiplayer online games have been as scrutinized as Dungeons and Dragons Online. Based off a legendary intellectual property, many gamers were surprised when features of the game were different than normal MMOs and included highly instanced areas, small servers, and a number of additional quirks that simply weren’t the norm. Fast forward three years, and DDO has come light years from its beginnings. In a recent announcement, the developers at Turbine revealed that DDO would be going free to play, and Ten Ton Hammer quickly got on the phone with the developers – Adam Mersky, Fernando Paiz and Kate Paiz - to get the details. E3 2009 Torchlight Preview Video with Runic's Travis Baldree
Scheduled for a fall release, Torchlight is a boldly styled action RPG with tons of loot and randomly generated dungeons, but as you'll see, players can also easily modify the game to suit their interests. Runic Games President and Project Manager Travis Baldree describes the background of the game and reveals two of the game's three classes - the melee powerhouse Destroyer and the magic-wielding Alchemist. We'll watch as Travis shows the editor in action, and later Travis tells us how Torchlight the action RPG will transition into Torchlight the MMORPG. Torchlight: E3 2009 Preview
This year at E3 we got a chance to check out the Action RPG Torchlight which is being created by Runic Games. Runic games
is working hard on Torchlight which captures the
charm of the Diablo style as well as bring some new elements of game
play to fans of the genre. After the single
player game is launched, the company plans to launch an MMO later on
set in the same game world, so read up on the latest from the single player game in this E3 2009 preview! Paul Barnett Sums Up E3 2009 (video)
Creative Director Paul Barnett took a break from bringing panache to Warhammer Online crowds to emcee the EA booth's open stage and work the show floor at E3 2009. Paul shares his observations of this year's show, giving E3 2009 high marks for quality products and presentation without the money-slinging chaos of previous shows. With scenes from around E3, EA's booth, and a few scenes from Paul's warming up the crowd for the Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer, this was the perfect way to close out our video coverage from E3 2009. Enjoy! Sins of a Solar Spymaster #15: A History of the Second Great War, Part One
For players that want a chance to truly affect a game's environment, history, or future, EVE Online stands at the front of the pack of choices. Boasting tens of thousands of players online, all on the same server, EVE Online allows those willing to form massive corporations and alliances the opportunity to participate in events unseen anywhere else in the genre. This week, our resident EVE insider, The Mittani, breaks down the events leading up to and during the Second Great War for the masses.

Other Goodness

16 New Exclusive Aion Beta Weekend Screenshots
Aion has been getting a lot of discussion since its first beta weekend preview and that isn't about to stop today. We have put together 16 more exclusive screenshots from the event for you to enjoy and see what kind of fantasy-based content you can expect to experience in Aion. 6 New Screenshots for LOTRO - Volume II: Book 8: Scourge of Khazad-dûm
Turbine has been releasing new content for their flagship MMORPG, Lord of the Rings Online on a regular basis. With the upcoming release of Volume II: Book 8: Scourge of Khazad-dûm, players will get another dose of the Tolkien universe as they continue the epic storyline and get a slew of new content. This week Turbine sent us some new screenshots to show off some of the content that players will see in the 'Hall of Mirrors'. Turbine Releases New Screenshots for DDO: Eberron Unlimited
Turbine recently made the huge announcement that Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO) will soon be free-to-play with its coming update, Eberron Unlimited. To give players both new and old to DDO a look at some of the content to come, Turbine has released 16 new screenshots to show off some of the content players can soon experience for free.

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:

Paul Barnett Sums Up E3 2009 (video) E3 2009 Torchlight Preview Video with Runic's Travis Baldree Torchlight: E3 2009 Preview Ten Ton Hammer's Gamer Girl of the Month for June 2009: Vikki Wong E3 2009: Dragon Age Preview E3 2009: The Agency "Bergerbilder Estate" Preview Video Blizzcon Blitz 2009 Ticket Giveaway Paul Barnett Sums Up E3 2009 (video) Global Agenda Hands-On Preview Final Fantasy XIV at E3 2009

Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

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