boredom
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Professor uses facial recognition to spot bored students
If you've been to college or university, you'll know the feeling: when your professor drones on for hours on end, but you're hesitant to bring it up out of politeness (or fear of said professor's wrath). You won't have to be quite so shy in Wei Xiaoyong's science classes, though. The Sichuan University educator is using a custom-built facial recognition system to scan students' faces and determine whether or not they're bored. The approach gauges the emotion in your face over time, helping Wei refine his lectures so that he doesn't lose your interest.
Your phone knows if you're bored by how much you use it
Researchers at Barcelona's Telefonica Research lab have developed a smartphone-based algorithm that determines a user's level of boredom based on how much they're using the device. The algorithm also takes a number of factors such as time of day and how long it's been since receiving a call or text into account as well. With it, the researchers were able to accurately gauge a user's level of boredom 83 percent of the time.
The Soapbox: Can we reward fun over persistence?
MMOs are games of repetition. Advancing past a certain point is always a matter of doing the same thing over and over, whether it's repeating raids in World of Warcraft, playing the market in EVE Online, or taking part in the same event to clear daily achievements in Guild Wars 2. Whether or not you enjoy these repeat performances can make the difference between the grind from hell and a pleasant upward climb, but it's still a game of repetition. It's not exactly the ideal state of being. Nearly every new game seems to recognize this and advertise itself as free from grinding, which at best is true in a very narrow sense. You won't be grinding daily quests, but you'll be grinding events or PvP maps or dungeons. So why don't we have a game out there that rewards fun instead of persistence? Is it possible to create a game that's free of repetition and focused on enjoyable experiences?
The Daily Grind: Do you multitask while playing MMOs?
Yesterday evening was pretty typical of weeknights at the old homestead. There was a bit of MMO playing and a bit of television watching. Atypically, though, these two events occurred simultaneously. I might have been bored with my MMO or bored with Star Trek: Voyager on Netflix. I honestly can't remember but the point is that neither activity was engaging enough to pursue exclusively. What about you, morning crew? Are you usually immersed in your MMOs or are you prone to multitasking? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Officers' Quarters: Mind the gap
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available from No Starch Press. In my opinion, it is Blizzard's biggest failure when it comes to WoW: the Gap. The Gap between the last major content patch of an expansion and the next expansion is always far too long. The Gap is always extremely difficult for guilds. The Gap kills momentum and morale. The Gap disintegrates rosters. Why does it happen every single time? Honestly, I have no idea. The Gap bores and disappoints everyone, but at least we're used to it. We don't like it, but we expect it. However, if your guild has never faced it before, like the one in the email below, it can cause something of a panic. Hi Scott! I'm not an officer in my guild or anything, I'm just one of the players that's been around since Burning Crusade. It's a long time to have a guild running, but we're running into some issues and I'm not sure how to handle them, so I thought maybe you'd have some advice. Our guild is a progression raiding guild, but we don't work super hard at world firsts or anything like that -- we take our time and clear the content with the goal of clearing it before the next tier and the next expansion comes out. In Burning Crusade, we managed to clear Sunwell just before Wrath launched. In Wrath, we managed to just squeak in a heroic Lich King kill before Cataclysm came out. Sounds good, right? Well ... now we've run into a problem, and it's causing the guild a little strife.
Wings Over Atreia: Happy Newb Year!
Oh, that feeling when a game is new and everything is an adventure! Say what you will, but I cherish those moments of still being a newb and getting to experience things for the first time while exploring a new world (mind you, that is newb as in "new person," not n00b meaning "hopelessly moronic"). The problem is, once you have been in a game for a while, that whole aura dissipates and you lose that feeling of wonder. I envy those just now coming to Aion, as those of us who have been here for the past two plus years have lost that initial excitement. And when you've lost that newbie feeling, then it's gone, gone, gone, whoa whoa whoa... Or is it? When you have played the game for a long period of time, you tend to settle into a rut that is hard to break out of. Log in, do dailies, do arenas, do dredge. Toss in a siege. Rinse and repeat. In the past, Wings Over Atreia has delved into some of the reasons to stay in game when things become a bit monotonous and we sludge through some of the more difficult times. But why should we sludge? Why not find ways to make Aion more interesting when you hit that plateau? Some players have done just that. A little creativity (and sometimes some really insane friends) can really make a difference and bring back that newbie feeling -- or at least make things interesting while adding some variety to gaming.
The Daily Grind: What do you do during downtime in the game?
MMOs, especially older ones, often suffered or benefited (depending on whom you asked) from having a somewhat more sedate pace of activities. Even in the most action-oriented games, there are periods of downtime, whether they come from travel times or waiting for the other two players in your party to come back from the bathroom. It's not enough time for you to think that you should just log off and do something else, but it is enough time that you start to find your attention wandering at least a little bit. So what do you do during the brief downtime in an MMO? Do you read books while you wait for your World of Warcraft raid to get underway? Do you have the television on in the background while you play World of Tanks (preferably tuned to the History Channel)? Is it a simple matter of tabbing over to read another site while you warp around in Star Trek Online? Or do you just entertain yourself with emote spam, jumping, and various inventory toys? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Captain's Log: Bridging the gap
Captain's Log, Stardate 64711.7... Hello, computer (and players)! Wouldn't you agree that all MMO players have felt, or will feel, some sort of boredom with their games of choice at some point in their lives? Whether it be because they have leveled up four toons, maxed out their gear, completed all of their dailies for months, or can run raids in their sleep, a little bit of boredom is no reason to launch the escape pods between content pushes. This is especially true in the Star Trek Online universe. I recently felt the boredom mentioned above and started playing RIFT as a way to "take a break" from STO; as I started my journey through the lands of Telara, I could not help but think that I was "cheating" on STO. I say "cheating" because I can honestly say I love STO and am so proud to be a lifetime member. So why did I start to play RIFT? Well, I leveled up four toons, maxed out my gear, ran my dailies for months, and can now run the raids in my sleep. But the thing is, I know that MMOs are evolving, living creatures, and I know that STO's future is quite bright. But while you wait for that blinding future, let me outline some ways to bridge the gap. Ensign, warp 10! Let's talk about some things to do...
Exploring Eberron: Playtime over the holidays
It's Christmas Eve, and most everyone is on some sort of holiday break. The interesting thing about holiday "break" is that it's often not so much a break as it is a different kind of hustle and bustle than the usual one. Still, it's supposed to involve at least a little bit of downtime, and we MMO fans look forward to indulging with some extra time in our favorite games. While it's hard to find time to spend hours raiding, the design of Dungeons and Dragons Online allows players to take a half-hour here and there to relax and play. The downside of this is that there's a lot of content, and it's easy to wind up staring at the game thinking "I have no idea what I want to do." A few suggestions can usually get the ball rolllng, so follow along after the jump for some ideas on how to make the most of your DDO downtime!
Anti-Aliased: Don't worry, it gets better in time
You know, I had no clue what to write about this week until I realized it was a topic that had been haunting me forever. It's a topic that everyone can relate to, and one that I'm sure we've all experienced at least once. Personally, it's a topic that I never hear the end of. Any review, any game impressions that I write up almost inevitably will be shot with this line: "What, you didn't play until [insert level X or time requirement here]?!?! Then you didn't experience the game!" You know what, let me say it straight. I'm sick and tired of hearing that line. Completely sick of it. I played your game, it was bad. And you want to know why it was bad? Let me tell you, in full detail, why it was bad, and let me go on to tell all of you why "it gets better in time" is a really, really lame line.
The Daily Grind: Pick up and play
As soon as you log on to City of Heroes, you can look up a randomly-generated mission via the newspaper or police scanner, dart off to the location, and most likely have it cleared out in fifteen minutes. A tank in World of Warcraft can log on, set themselves up via the dungeon finder, and often be done with a dungeon run before they finish their favorite episode of The Office. It's a far cry from a Dragoon in the heyday of Final Fantasy XI sitting in Jeuno for three hours without a party invitation. Say what you will about grinds, but the barrier to accessing content has never been lower. The ability to pick up and immediately get moving in many MMOs has become quite a selling point, but there are players who feel that it rewards quantity and almost hyperactive runs through content rather than depth of play. What do you feel about systems to let players jump in as quickly as possible? Is it a major selling point you'd like to see more of, or a growing weakness that's turning persistent worlds into glorified lobbies?
Breakfast Topic: We get bored
Sometimes everyone on my server simultaneously gets bored, or antsy or just a little bit more wired then normal, and things happen like the screenshot pictured above -- that's about half of the mammoth train that was walking slowly around the perimeter of Dalaran. Why was it formed? Where was it going? No idea, but as I watched them slowly shuffle by, I obligingly hopped on my Black War Mammoth and joined the train. Because it was late, I'd just finished a solid run of ICC-25, and it was something to do while I chatted with guild members. This sort of thing happens just before the raids, too. One guild member will pull out a D.I.S.C.O. ball, another will start throwing around Party G.R.E.N.A.D.E.s. Before you know it, the dank corridor that leads into the depths of Icecrown Citadel has suddenly been turned into a happening place to be, the ground littered with "Spectral Tiger" mounts, Ogre Pinatas and kettles of Goblin Gumbo. Sometimes Archmage Vargoth puts in an appearance. He can't help it; there are usually four or five flaming draenei dancers congregated around a Brazier of Dancing Flames, and the girls just drive him crazy. Does stuff like this happen on your server? Spontaneous dance parties, mammoth trains, stacks of flying mounts hovering above the Dalaran well? What happens when your server gets bored? Trade chat aside, mind you -- we all know how /2 gets when people are feeling feisty.
Eleven ways to stifle boredom in the iPad line
One of most excruciatingly boring experiences of my life was waiting in line on June 29, 2007 for my first-generation iPhone. The day was clear and hot, and although I had my laptop with me, it quickly ran out of juice as we waited for the official opening of the store for iPhone sales at 5 PM. Some people appear to have infinite patience, but TUAW reader Cody is like me -- he gets bored easily. In an email, Cody said "I will be standing in the Best Buy line for well over 5 hours. Do you have any suggestions on ways to help time go by? I think it would be helpful if you compiled a list and posted it on TUAW!" Well, we're at your service, Cody! And hopefully, these ideas will keep hundreds of thousands of iPad owners-to-be from suffering from terminal boredom in the early morning hours in line. Please note that several of these suggestions require that the person standing in line own an iPhone, so if you don't own one already, get thee to an Apple Store now! Do live streaming video the entire time you're in line. TUAW bloggers will be giving you live coverage of iPad Saturday at a number of locations across the country, but there's just not going to be enough local coverage everywhere. Grab yourself a copy of Qik (US$0.99) or Ustream Broadcaster (free), maybe buy yourself a Sima LED Video Light to strap to your head to brighten things up at 2 AM, and bring a lot of fully charged Monoprice battery packs. After all, we don't want to miss one thrilling moment of your time interviewing each and every person in the line at least twice.
The Digital Continuum: The trouble with sticking to MMOs
I get to these points where not a single MMO will stick with me any longer than roughly one month -- sometimes less. That wasn't always the case, though. There was a time when I could play a single MMO nearly every day for three or four months before getting tired of it. And a lot of my friends are in the same boat, trying to regularly play an MMO but mostly faltering. This isn't new to me. In fact, I've been here before and I know how to get out of the viciously boring cycle. This week's The Digital Continuum is all about renewing the luster to your MMO experience, and maybe a little more.
The Daily Grind: When is it time to give up?
It's almost the end of the year, time for us to evaluate what we're doing and consider dropping our bad habits. And... well, sometimes your favorite game becomes one of those. Sometimes your most-played class gets hit with the nerf bat so hard you can barely walk any longer, or the game's updates are constantly dropping more and more content you find boring or don't even get to play. You might have loved the game for a long time or even just a little while, but time isn't aging it well and you're increasingly dreading logging on. Today, we ask a sad question: when is it time to shake your head and decide that enough is enough? Does one major power-down on your character of preference tell you that you're not really wanted, or do you stick around until everything has been drained dry? Are you the sort who gives the game time and chances to win you back, or do you leave and never even glance back at where you came from? Or do you never say goodbye and just keep playing in the hopes that things will turn around and you'll be glad you waited?
The Aion server queue survival guide
So you pre-ordered Aion and you're super excited to jump into the game during the headstart release that's going on right now. You've set aside a whole block of time for your game play, you have your snacks at your side and your DVR ready to play some great entertainment while you grind your night away. You type in your username and password, accept the EULA, select the server that you made your character on during the pre-selection annnndd........you get slapped in the face with a 2 hour wait time.Don't worry, we've been there. Trust us on that. But here at Massively, we're not going to let you down in your moment of need. We've compiled a great list of fun things to do while you wait for that server queue to drop. Follow along after the break, and we'll be happy to show you the golden road to boredom elimination.
"Because I don't play" isn't an option on Blizzard's quit page
Jason Burns points out, pretty insightfully, on his blog that of all the various options Blizzard lists for quitting the game, simply not having the time to play it isn't one of them. Whenever you decide to cancel your subscription, you get a little survey to fill out, with two lists of options to explain why you're leaving the game. In the past, we've found some pretty silly options in there (and actually, it looks like they've changed quite a bit since we posted about the Will of the Forsaken nerf on the list), but Jason says that as many varied and different reasons as there are for leaving, Blizzard didn't include his: he likes the game, he just doesn't have the time to play it and justify the subscription. Which is what he eventually typed in. Like so many things with Blizzard, it would be fascinating to see the stats behind the information they're getting here -- do they see a little bump in quitters every time new patch notes come out? Is customer support really the biggest issue people have, or is harassment a major reason for people leaving as well? Just boredom with the game seems like it would be a huge reason to me, but there's not really a clear option for that either. Unfortunately, we'll probably never know the real stats behind this -- Blizzard isn't going to be revealing why people are leaving their game anytime soon. But it does seem strange that some of the biggest reasons you'd expect aren't on their list of possibles at all.
Ready Check: Ulduar and Burnout
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Naxxramas-10 or Naxxramas-25, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look at people who are leaving raiding despite Ulduar being imminent.It's that time of year again. We're hardly as jaded by farming tier 7 content as we were back in the days of Black Temple and Hyjal, but burnout has been rearing its ugly head lately, putting raiding guilds in a difficult position. Ulduar approaching will obviously put a stop to the problem - but for how long?When all the 25-man content is cleared in a handful of hours, nobody has any reason to run 10-mans and the drop-of-a-hat PTR testing schedule means we're entirely at Blizzard's whim as to when we can poke new content, it's no wonder people are becoming bored. Arguably, it's better that we don't get more than a few limited hours a week on the PTR, in order that the content is fresh when it actually hits. However, the actual effect of this drip-feeding has seemed to dampen enthusiasm for Ulduar rather than heighten it, especially as one of the most available bosses is unfortunately Flame Leviathan.
Driven to boredom: Mario Kart, the office supply racer
Collector / creator Donald Kennedy sometimes gets taken over by boredom at work. While we tend to click around our favorite websites (all Joystiq related, of course) or update our Twitter status during those boring times, Donald decides to get creative. Example: This Mario Kart homage created from everyday office supplies. Donald also solidifies his Nintendo geek-cred with a beautifully designed Animal Crossing themed Qee, complete with a 2.5" figure of the diabolical Tom Nook. Way to get those creative juices flowing, Donald. [Via Spritestitch]
Ghostcrawler suggests we play other games
Boredom and burnout is a common side effect of spending too much time with any one hobby. Still, it was refreshing to see Ghostcrawler, the Lead Systems Designer for WoW, recommend that players spend some time with other games. He points out that if you're feeling burned out, it's "not the worst thing in the world to try out some other games -- the past couple of years has been great for them." Of course, he did take the time to remind everyone that there is more to the game than clearing raid content or completing your latest PvP gear set. There are achievements, alts, questing, and tradeskills, to name a few. While this does indicate that Blizzard is feeling pretty confident in their chokehold on the MMO market, it's also a smart move on their part. There are already enough paranoid conspiracy theories out there claiming that the company merely wants our money, and less concerned with product quality than with elaborate plans designed to trick us into playing longer and shelling out more money. In fact, GC said this in response to one of these inspired theories.This reminds me of one of the loading screen tips that urges players to spend some time with their friends outside of this game as well as in it. As Ghostcrawler says, "just check back in with WoW every now and then."
