It's Monday and I have been sitting here for over an hour drawing a blank trying to come up with a topic for a good column. Forget it, you haven't read a good column here in the past, so chances are that you don't expect one to appear today. Part of the problem is that I've been sitting here going through my mail-bag reading the "strange MMOG happenings" that I asked the loyal Loading readers to send in on Friday. One in particular was especially amusing.
Katie wrote that she found it strange that hunters could just stick out their hands, waggle their fingers and hearts would bubble up between them and their prospective pet. After a few moments they had a best-friend who was committed to them for life.
As she so eloquently put it, " I wish I could do that with men."
Touche Katie! Touche!
In other strange news, Chris Klug of StarGate Worlds appears to have been a cartoon character before beginning work at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment. Those of you playing along at home need only look as far as the Scooby Doo episode titled, 'There's no creature like snow creature' in which the Chris Klug character plays a professional snowboarder. I knew that Chris had a theatrical background, including going to school with Holly Hunter, but I had no idea that he had worked with industry icons like Shaggy and Scooby.
When I asked why players kept visiting sites owned by gold farming companies the answer that hit my in-box most often was that there were no alternatives. If you wanted to gather information from a World of Warcraft database for instance, your only real choices were Thottbot and Allakhazam.
Just call us the mailman, because we always deliver. On Friday we opened the beta test of our World of Warcraft database. Grab the software, play until you drop and then upload the goods to our servers. 1,000 quests were uploaded over the weekend. Let's crank that number up and get some comments posted. Once we know that we are stable on quests we will start adding items, NPCs and the rest of the goodies that you are collecting. We even have a pretty cool feature coming that I haven't seen anywhere else. Wait for it.... no really, wait for it. I can't tell you what it is yet.
Make your mark. Mark your territory. Post a comment. If you are shy you can E-Mail me.
Looking for a place that your guild can call home that doesn't run gold ads? Look no further than GuildPortal.com.
Exclusive new TenTonHammer.com Content!
Let us entertain you or at the very least waste some of your time at work.06.05.2006
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MMOGs: Paying For Friends?
"Ten Ton Hammer bears down on the business of MMOs. Does Guild Wars hearken the end of the pay-to-play days, or are we stuck paying month-to-month? How does the payment scheme affect a gamer's will to play? Answers to these burning questions and more in the Ten Ton Hammer main edition of our weekly cross-network editorial extravaganza." -
Auto Assault: Avenger Class Guide
"Our Avenger class guide has received a hefty amount of updates and new information. We've reorganized the skill list and the entire guide itself, and added more information such as tips on how to play the class!" -
Auto Assault: Cash, Cars And Business
"This week's common content editorial is all about monthly fees. Monthly fees, a rather hot-topic issue with the Auto Assault community, allow access to play Auto Assault while at the same time assisting in it's continued development and support. So if you were ever wondering if Auto Assault was worth the cash, then this is the editorial for you!" -
Dungeons and Dragons Online: Doing Business
"Ever stop to consider just what it takes to keep a massively-multiplayer online game operational? In this week's common content editorial, Ralsu ponders DDO's monthly fee. What do players expect for their money? And are they getting it?" -
EverQuest 2: Guide to Half Elf Racial Quests
"Just because you're not a whole elf doesn't mean you don't need quest help sometimes. Kiara heads into the starting areas to give you the low down on all the Half Elf racial quests." -
EverQuest 2: How Much Is This Costing Me Again?
"If you are like me, you are only reminded of what playing MMO's cost when you get your bank statement. Of course, that is assuming you actually look at your bank statement. You'd have to check the mail, which is all the way out in the garage, and it's kind of warm this time of year you know? Some of us have a number of subscriptions. Some of us also spend agonizing hours monthly, deciding if this is the day we should cancel one of them." -
Guild Wars: Kiting and Damage Mitigation Through Movement
"Long title, great guide. Perfect for intermediate to high-PvP play. Experienced PvPer Warskull has contributed his guide to kiting. New to PvP? Read this now. Experienced at PvP but still dying a lot? Read this now." -
Guild Wars: You Bought It. You Got It.
"Guild Wars is an MMORPG game with a unique marketing strategy. Once you've bought the game, you don't need to pay any additional fees to keep your account active. In this editorial, we take a look at how ArenaNet is making this strategy work." -
Lord of the Rings Online: When Playtime Is Pay-Time
"The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar hasn't launched yet, and won't until next year, but one thing's certain--it will have a monthly fee. Shayalyn suggests that online games are good entertainment for the money...as long as they're entertaining. And what makes a game entertaining over the long haul? Community." -
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Battling Corpse Runs
"Combat and Corpse Runs, the two main components that make or break a game for many players. Medeor takes a look at these two components and shares his thoughts on Vanguard's approach to these elements." -
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Ice Cold Beer, Compliments of Sigil Games
"Ok so they aren't actually handing out cold beers...but don't let that dampen your spirits, what they are providing is just as good. Today is Common Content Monday across the network and we are all looking at those monthly fees MMO's charge to play. Are they good or bad? Do they affect how one plays the game? Do they have any benefit other than what some people assume is just to make the game companies rich?" -
Warhammer Online: Doing Business
"Almost every MMO out on the market today has a monthly subscription that players need to pay; Warhammer Online will be no different. That being said, will it really be âworth itâ for players to pay a Monthly subscription and in doing so what kind of situation will players and the game publishers be putting themselves into when they bring the almighty dollar into the equation?" -
World of Warcraft: A Look At Your Monthly Fees
"Does paying a fee drive players to squeeze more enjoyment out of the game, or does it make players more likely to quit at the first significant hurdle? Nobody likes the monthly fee, but what good comes of it? Are game's pricing models a good fit for the player base, and do they change based on the player base? For games without a monthly fee, such as Guild Wars, do you find yourself less forgiving of other fee-based MMOs? Does the lack of a fee make players less intense about playing regularly?"
Vin Diesel Fact of the Day - Vin Diesel played Batman, effectively ending Michael Keaton's career.
Now on to the real world. You can't make this stuff up.
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Europe Gets Game Addiction Clinic [Thanks Michael]
In other news, the land of soccer hooliganism worried about video games. -
Police Listen To Jack"ass" Thompson - Seize Video Games
Attention whore Thompson last seen giggling, pulling wings off of flies. -
16 ft. Long Aircraft Carrier Built Out Of Lego Blocks
Canadian Government makes bid to add it to their naval portfolio. -
GameSpot Gets Gut-Punched For Poor PS3 Pricing Guesstimate
In other news, TenTonHammer's Mudry got a wedgie for his Darkfall E3 preview.
As always, thanks for visiting TenTonHammer.com,
-- John "Boomjack" Hoskin
