I have no real-life friends tat play EVE with me. For about a month I had one, but he grew weary of the complicated nature of the game, and the ten or so different windows that you had to have open at any given time. This friend moved back to World of Warcraft. Honestly, I can’t completely blame him. I do miss the mindless play of that game sometimes. As I’ve said before, EVE actually takes a lot of excess brain power to play. WoW, however, tends to not be that way.
So I debate about going back to WoW. That would mean leaving EVE for a while, since I hate to have to be paying for two MMOs (I hate paying for one, but that’s beside the point). Maybe one day I’ll start PlanetSide back up too. This is a common theme for me, to switch back and forth between games. I tend to get bored doing the same thing over and over, a little variety helps keep me involved in the game.
www.eveonline.com
www.worldofwarcraft.com
www.planetside.com
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Communication
So far as EVE goes, I’ve talked about WHAT we communicate. I’ve only briefly discussed HOW we talk. Yes, there is an in-game chat feature that lets people basically text back and forth or IM each other. However in a more hectic situation found in-game such as a battle, of if you’re just too plain lazy to type, the typing out of what you want to communicate can be frustrating to downright degrading to the playing experience.
To solve this, the game has a built in voice communication system. However, as with most games the in-game voice application is shunned. Usually lag skyrockets, and the game becomes unplayable. This holds true in PlanetSide and World of Warcraft as well. So, the use of a third party program is often utilized. The two that I’ve always seen used are TeamSpeak and Ventrilo. PlanetSide almost entirely used TeamSpeak while WoW used Ventrilo. This doesn’t always hold true though, as there is some spillover into both games. I haven’t actually figured out the distribution in EVE yet, as I haven’t progressed far enough into the game so that voice communication is a must.
The use of a third party program also allows the users to play games that normally don’t have voice capabilities built in, such as old yet still very playable StarCaft. Of course there are drawbacks to the programs. Ventrilo has a user fee for hosting a client that others can connect to (normal users are free, only the host “server” has a subscription) for any size party. A Team SpeakServer is free for non-corporate use or for I believe under 40 or so users. However, TeamSpeak tends to have a somewhat lower fidelity to it, and as such is sometimes considered an inferior program by some users (I personally have no preference, but the free aspect of TeamSpeak is very appealing to me).
http://ventrilo.com/
http://www.teamspeak.com/
To solve this, the game has a built in voice communication system. However, as with most games the in-game voice application is shunned. Usually lag skyrockets, and the game becomes unplayable. This holds true in PlanetSide and World of Warcraft as well. So, the use of a third party program is often utilized. The two that I’ve always seen used are TeamSpeak and Ventrilo. PlanetSide almost entirely used TeamSpeak while WoW used Ventrilo. This doesn’t always hold true though, as there is some spillover into both games. I haven’t actually figured out the distribution in EVE yet, as I haven’t progressed far enough into the game so that voice communication is a must.
The use of a third party program also allows the users to play games that normally don’t have voice capabilities built in, such as old yet still very playable StarCaft. Of course there are drawbacks to the programs. Ventrilo has a user fee for hosting a client that others can connect to (normal users are free, only the host “server” has a subscription) for any size party. A Team SpeakServer is free for non-corporate use or for I believe under 40 or so users. However, TeamSpeak tends to have a somewhat lower fidelity to it, and as such is sometimes considered an inferior program by some users (I personally have no preference, but the free aspect of TeamSpeak is very appealing to me).
http://ventrilo.com/
http://www.teamspeak.com/
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Gold Farmers
Gold Farmers.
Every MMORPG that has some sort of “currency” in game has them. Gold farming is actually a legitimate business in some countries, usually China or Korea. At first thought, you might envy these individuals who get to play games all day. However, think a little bit about it. They grind all day doing the SAME thing constantly. They don’t play for fun. They can’t stop when they get bored or tired. The places they work at aren’t nice dorm rooms, or dens with plush chairs and refreshments or restrooms right around the corner.
Mentioning that makes my next musings seem… trivial and selfish.
Gold farmers (gold sellers, ISK sellers, spammers, etc) are found to be very annoying and disruptive to players. World of WarCraft has some of the worst. They implemented a “Report Spam” function in the chat window a while back. EVE has ISK sellers. ISK is the EVE currency (if you didn’t catch that right off). A main difference between gold sellers and ISK sellers is that the WoW GMs don’t always “kill” the spammer. They also have limited campaigns warning people to not purchase their products. EVE’s GMs actively hunt down the spammers and gleefully let all the players in that chat channel know when they take him down/ Additionally, EVE runs campaigns to actively discourage players from purchasing ISK, even to the point of running the little PR campaigns like those seen done by the governments during WWII.
Both games have made it “illegal” to purchase the gold/ISK from these sellers. The claim is that it disrupts the in-game economy. This is true to a point, until you realize that the farmers still made the gold in game, by doing what every legitimate player has to do. Most likely the biggest reason its illegal is because they are utilizing another’s work (in this case, either WoW or EVE itself) to make a profit.
Here is an article I had read some time ago.
--Eric
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/magazine/17lootfarmers-t.html
Every MMORPG that has some sort of “currency” in game has them. Gold farming is actually a legitimate business in some countries, usually China or Korea. At first thought, you might envy these individuals who get to play games all day. However, think a little bit about it. They grind all day doing the SAME thing constantly. They don’t play for fun. They can’t stop when they get bored or tired. The places they work at aren’t nice dorm rooms, or dens with plush chairs and refreshments or restrooms right around the corner.
Mentioning that makes my next musings seem… trivial and selfish.
Gold farmers (gold sellers, ISK sellers, spammers, etc) are found to be very annoying and disruptive to players. World of WarCraft has some of the worst. They implemented a “Report Spam” function in the chat window a while back. EVE has ISK sellers. ISK is the EVE currency (if you didn’t catch that right off). A main difference between gold sellers and ISK sellers is that the WoW GMs don’t always “kill” the spammer. They also have limited campaigns warning people to not purchase their products. EVE’s GMs actively hunt down the spammers and gleefully let all the players in that chat channel know when they take him down/ Additionally, EVE runs campaigns to actively discourage players from purchasing ISK, even to the point of running the little PR campaigns like those seen done by the governments during WWII.
Both games have made it “illegal” to purchase the gold/ISK from these sellers. The claim is that it disrupts the in-game economy. This is true to a point, until you realize that the farmers still made the gold in game, by doing what every legitimate player has to do. Most likely the biggest reason its illegal is because they are utilizing another’s work (in this case, either WoW or EVE itself) to make a profit.
Here is an article I had read some time ago.
--Eric
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/magazine/17lootfarmers-t.html
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Online Identity
It’s true, I don’t really know any of the people I play EVE with. Nor do I know any of the people I play other online or multiplayer games with. Of course there is the exception if I’m playing with a real-life friend.
But who are these people? Are they “good” people? Or are they “bad” people? Are they male, or female? Are they who they claim to be?
One fellow player had this to say:
“If someone says they’re a guy, they’re a guy. If they say they’re a girl, they’re a guy. If they say that they are under 18, they’re an FBI agent.”
Despite this cynical view, often it holds true (except for the FBI part).
Ponder that.
But who are these people? Are they “good” people? Or are they “bad” people? Are they male, or female? Are they who they claim to be?
One fellow player had this to say:
“If someone says they’re a guy, they’re a guy. If they say they’re a girl, they’re a guy. If they say that they are under 18, they’re an FBI agent.”
Despite this cynical view, often it holds true (except for the FBI part).
Ponder that.
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