jerks
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AMC is considering letting people text in movie theaters
Just as AMC was starting to win customers back by replacing every old seat in its auditoriums with recliners, the company wants to destroy that good will among moviegoers. That's because CEO Adam Aron thinks letting people use their phones during a movie would be a good idea. "When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off their phone, don't ruin the movie, they hear 'please cut off your left arm above the elbow,'" Aron tells Variety. "You can't tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That's not how they live their life." Yes, he actually said that.
The Daily Grind: Are you an MMO jerk?
I've been doing some auto-fishing in ArcheAge recently, and not an hour goes by without a passing player trying to bump my avatar and disrupt his casting motion. On the one hand it's kind of funny since I'm not AFK and thus am able to immediately continue fishing. On the other hand, I have to wonder about people who go out of their way to screw with someone, especially when there's no benefit to the screwer and there's -- at worst -- a minor inconvenience for the screwee. What say you, Massively readers, are you a jerk in MMOs that allow jerkish behavior? 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!
The Daily Grind: Do you see more saints or jerks in-game?
Well, this will certainly be an extremely subjective topic today, but I say we embrace it! We've all heard and experienced horror stories with players who are extreme jerks in MMOs, from the mouthy trolls in general chat to the scammers out to fleece your hard-earned goods. But are there equal or perhaps greater numbers of generous, kind players whose good deeds don't make the headlines or leave us steaming for hours? Personally, it's really hard to say. The jerks can be really vocal and noticeable, which may make them seem proportionally larger than they really are. The saints can't be doing all sorts of nice things on a one-on-one basis that go virtually unnoticed by others. I see a lot of jerks in PUGs and a lot of saints while leveling in PvE, and I'd like to believe that there are more of the latter than the former. What do you think? 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!
Xbox One griefers may have Twitch privileges, dessert taken away
When Microsoft revealed its reputation system for Xbox One in July, it sought to match the worst members of the gaming community with one another based on a long-term gauge of their behavior in online games. Now, the console manufacturer will begin issuing warnings for those that fall into the "Needs Work" category of players following feedback from other members of the community. In an Xbox Wire blog, Microsoft said, "these warnings are based on community feedback collected since Xbox One launched," so bad reports from others shouldn't take effect from just a few weeks of play. While Microsoft plans to "introduce rewards for good behavior," the more noteworthy course of action applies to the bottom-tier of the community. Those that fall into the "Avoid Me" category will see penalties on their account, such as "reduced matchmaking pairings" and restrictions on other Xbox Live functions, such as the ability to use "certain privileges such as Twitch broadcasting." Microsoft clarified in September that Xbox 360 reputation scores don't carry over to Xbox One. [Image: Microsoft]
The 9 people you need to avoid in WoW
Almost five years ago, I wrote an article titled The 10 people you need to know in WoW. For some reason it never occurred to me to write a counterpart on the people you need to avoid. While I think these unpleasant folks are less important and influential than the people you actually want to have around, there's no denying that, once present, they can do a lot of damage to your ingame experience. If you haven't had at least one supremely frustrating experience yet as a result of the douche-nugget brigade, you are fortunate indeed. For the rest of us, some of the following players will be all too familiar.
Storyboard: Making villains work
A while ago, I talked about the fact that roleplaying in MMOs most closely resembles comic books. This is apropos of the current discussion because both mediums have a fundamental issue with how villains are supposed to work. A good villain should be roundly trounced by the end of a story, but you also want to bring back a villain for more antics later on. So as I begin the follow-up to my recent column on the topic, the question becomes how you can make a villain who's entertaining and satisfying to encounter without becoming boring or making everyone wonder why no one has stabbed him yet. To be fair, there's no way to absolutely fix this problem. Someone will always have the idea that stabbing the villain to death will alleviate the problem, and that assumption is pretty much right. But there are ways to minimize the issue without making everyone seem like a colossal twit or creating the soap opera problem (wherein everyone is a malicious jerk every so often and no one seems to make long-term changes). This week I want to examine how both antagonistic and malicious villains can be played to avoid those pitfalls.
Blizzard to fix exploit with Diablo III's votekick system
Playing Diablo III in Hardcore mode is a harrowing experience. No matter how good you are as a player, there's always the real worry that one careless move will mean the end of a character you've worked hard to level. Unfortunately, sometimes that careless move is simply playing in a public game, as griefers have been exploiting the votekick system to cause players to die and lose everything through no fault of their own. As it currently stands, a player who has been kicked by popular vote will be rooted in place for 10 seconds while the character is ejected. Griefers have used this to kick players in the middle of monster-heavy rooms, resulting in 10 seconds of uninterrupted monster beatdowns with no chance of reprieve. So how to fix this? Well, Blizzard plans to remove the 10 second lockout in the near future to ensure that a kicked player can still move and respond rather than get pointlessly murdered. There's no word on whether this will be a hotfix or rolled into a larger patch, but it's definitely on the horizon. Until it goes live, though, you might not want to have your hardcore characters on a public game.
Storyboard: To be the jerk
I've talked many times about the pitfalls of playing a jerk. What I haven't done is mention the benefits of playing one, starting with the fact that playing a jerk can be all kinds of fun. You've got your garden-variety jerks, you've got jerks who are stunningly competent and who treat everyone else as a lesser person because of that, you've got jerks who just don't care about other people, you've got jerks clinging to antiquated beliefs that don't line up with reality... so many jerks, so many ways to make mistakes. But also so many ways to play one correctly. Heck, you can play a character who takes pretty awful actions from time to time without issue -- why not a character for whom "awful" is the default setting? There has to be a way to make a jerk who works, right? The answer is yes, most definitely. Jerks are playable. But you have to be a bit more careful about it because as I've mentioned in previous weeks, if your first impression is "pointless jerk," no one will want to hang out with you. So let's talk about playing one in such a way that your character comes across correctly while still being worth a closer look.
The Summoner's Guidebook: Making League of Legends a better place
It's no surprised that League of Legends has a very caustic community. Players on messageboards all over the internet (including our comments section) can attest to the fact that LoL's community leaves a lot to be desired. Unfriendly players and offensive language are the norm, and these bad attitudes keep many summoners from logging in. Riot hasn't let the issue lie, though. The Tribunal was a good first step toward building a better community, and if reports are to be believed, it does a fairly good job. However, simply punishing players doesn't encourage good behavior. That's where the latest effort, the Honor system, comes into play. Honor allows players to give positive feedback to friendly or supportive players, either friend or foe. Gaining honor alerts a player of his or her good behavior, and Riot has hinted that it may be the basis of future rewards. Is it a good step in the right direction, or will it just encourage "honor trading?"
No new Apple TV this year? How about never?
I've harped on this before, but it bears repeating: Apple is in for the fight of its life when it comes to making the TV experience better. A new report in Bloomberg, citing a number of sources, seems to indicate it could be a very long time before this gets sorted and you're able to find episodes of The Office no matter which you prefer (new, rerun, America, British, on TV or streaming, etc.). It's simple, really: cable companies want you to be glued to the couch, and they really don't want you to have a smart friend helping you find what you want. They'd rather you stumble onto stuff you can tolerate, and sit there for hours. Media companies want this, but they also want all the metrics (when you started, where you bailed, your age, race, favorite band, etc.). In other words, Apple is going to have to quit being Apple to make this happen. Reading the Bloomberg article made me angry. Here are some irksome phrases to get you started: "...media companies are concerned that a better-designed Apple product will undermine their business model" "Les Moonves [CEO of CBS] said in a public appearance last year that he also has rejected different Apple TV proposals" Steve Jobs told Apple execs... "unless the company can get more content, especially live broadcasting, Apple's impact on television wouldn't be disruptive..." "Moffett [analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.] added that any notion that Apple could soon unveil its TV system "ignores the business realities that make this such a complicated industry."" As the authors of the Bloomberg piece note, "This battle is nothing like Apple's previous forays into the music and mobile phone spheres, when the maker of iPods and iPhones negotiated with weakened record labels and a fractured wireless industry. Now the stakes are even higher and the competition tougher." Indeed, and I've been saying this since the first Apple TV appeared. One need only look to how Hulu jockeyed for years to block any alternative means of viewing its web content across a number of other services, most notably Boxee. Media companies want the data, cable companies want everything to never change. Thus, the two key holders to the kingdom -- a kingdom which is merely a better user experience -- are blocking Apple's route. Besides the cash reserves and a series of hot consumer products (Apple TV isn't one of them), Apple doesn't have much in the way of power-ups to defeat these bosses. And while Eddy Cue is awesome, he's not the balls-to-the-wall negotiator Jobs was. Then again, it only takes one cable company to "bet on Cupertino," as MacTheDave points out. Perhaps one brave company will embrace change, and others will follow. We shall see. Read the full Bloomberg piece, but prepare to get depressed if you value your time and effort. Media and cable companies want you to suffer a crappy experience, that much is clear. The cable industry seems to rely upon it, and with that huge economic incentive, it will trump you, the customer. This is why we love Apple products. Because the people who make them care about the people who use them. When's the last time you said that about your cable company?
DICE promises vigilance against Battlefield 3 cheaters
Finding out that cheating has apparently become rampant in Battlefield 3's online multiplayer is somewhat of a travesty, considering how much some members of our staff play it. Neither of our main combatants have ever actually spotted a cheater (at least not in any verifiable way) while playing on Xbox 360, but the game's developer is nonetheless tracking down these nefarious rogues, issuing stat resets and outright bans to offending players across 360, PS3, and PC. The Stockholm, Sweden-based devs at EA DICE "recently banned another batch of several hundred confirmed cheaters," and are only stepping up their efforts all the more as time goes on. The first measure in this initiative will be an addition to Battlelog, one which allows players to report offenders via their online profiles, regardless of what platform they're playing on. With any luck, between the community and DICE, the contingent trying to ruin everyone's online experience will be stomped out quickly.
Wings Over Atreia: In defense of PvP -- a carebear's conversion
Squealing in delight, the gamer continues down the list, eyes feasting on line after line of the perfect features. Everything ever wanted, dreamed of, right here. Could it be? Could this be The One? Visions of gaming nirvana dance about the gamer's mind. Oh the fun that shall be had! Almost quivering, unable to contain the excitement, eyes finally chance upon the line... wait, what's this? PvP? Window closed/box tossed back on the shelf. What a piece of garbage. Sound familiar? How many times have we heard the phrase "It would have been perfect without PvP" or see gamers just pass over a title that fit their wants and needs almost to a "T" just because of that one feature without even giving it a chance? How many people have been captivated by the beauty and promise of Aion but refrained from trying it because of two little words: "open PvP"? Plenty. Even among my own circle of friends I have heard that refrain many a time. To that I say: It's your loss. In fact, I propose that PvP can be not only tolerated but actually enjoyed by almost everyone. And this week's Wings Over Atreia is dedicated to showing you how. Poppycock! you say? Now, before you dismiss me out of hand, please consider where this declaration is coming from. No one can (accurately) accuse me of being a PvPer. In fact, I more fully fall into the quintessential carebear category than anywhere else -- I am a casual-ish player and a roleplayer. Even so, I can now make the following (qualified) statement: My name is MJ. And I like PvP.* Don't believe that you, too, can make this statement? Take the leap past the break for a look at some tips on how to come to enjoy this integral feature more and not let fear keep you away from Aion.
Scott Hartsman says gold farming hurts our games more than we know
Gold buying is one of those aspects of MMO culture that is seemingly universally denounced, yet enough people partake in the practice to keep the wheels of this grey market activity going. Scott Hartsman may be saying the obvious when he denounced gold farming and selling to Gamasutra, but apparently it is still something we need to hear. The Trion Worlds general manager shared a glimpse of just how hard these activities hit games, and how concerned he and other studio execs are about the proliferation of credit card fraud that results: "It's those kinds of things where people laugh and go, 'Oh, that never happens.' No. It happens. It happens a s**tload. To the point where, over the last three or four years, I would dare anybody to ask an exec at a gaming company how much they've had to pay in MasterCard and Visa fines, because of fraud. It happens a lot." According to Hartsman, the more these events take place, the more money studios spend on paying fines and dealing with them instead of reinvesting funds into the games themselves -- all because of the "jerks" perpetuating the crimes.
Breakfast Topic: Fun with jerks
I admit it: I'm a contentious person. Sometimes I deliberately say or do something just because it will irritate people. Usually, I try and use this power for good and I'm hardly pretending to be the most effective person at it even out of people I know, but the other night it worked out rather beautifully. I decided to go DPS a random because I was bored and wanted to play around with DPS ideas I had. Namely, if it was worth dropping some hit and expertise to hit 80% passive ArP which I could just barely do and I wanted to test it in a setting where the hit and exp caps were lower than in a raid where bosses are effectively level 83 since in heroics the highest level you'll face is an 82 boss. So I hit the queue, waited the 35 minutes (it was fairly late and close to server reset) and got a FoS pop. As soon as we get in the tank says he's never done it before and do we think he should drop the group. We all try to be reassuring, since everyone's had to start somewhere and his gear was certainly good enough for a heroic. Then the first pull began and we quickly learned that he wasn't kidding about having never done it before and that the answer he was actually hoping for was that someone else would tank, because he clearly had no idea what he was doing, period. Furthermore, he was ridiculously hyper-critical of the healer (who didn't seem to be having any significant issues healing the group) and would go on long tirades blaming the healer for not having healed him at all when the healer was clearly dropping heals on everyone in the group including him. Drop to 90% on a trash pull because you ran up the ramp out of LoS? Yell at the healer. Take damage from one of the ghostly skulls and not get healed to full before pulling the giant skeletons? Rant at the healer. Frankly, I have no idea why the guy took it. Finally, after the last pull before Devourer of Souls, where he deliberately went and chain pulled three of the Spectral Warders despite the healer having said OOM and then blamed the healer for letting him die when he had a 75% healing reduction debuff and the healer was out of mana, I'd basically had enough.
Study finds that we're all arrogant jerks, can probably fix its own damn iPod next time
Hey you -- yeah, you. The one reading this here gadget site. You know what? You're a jerk. A complete kneebiter. That's the conclusion of a recent study conducted by Mindset Media and Nielsen Research, which evaluated the "mindsets" of 25,000 American adults and found that technology fans scored high on such traits as leadership, "dynamism" and assertiveness, but had low marks in modesty and could be perceived as arrogant and conceited by others. That's fine by us -- we're not going to turn down leadership for being well-liked, after all -- but we've got a feeling those survey results are going to change as soon as someone at Nielsen needs his or her printer drivers updated. Obligatory Nick Burns video after the break.[Thanks, Benjamin; hoodie from ThinkGeek]
Anti-Aliased: Crime and punishment in MMOs
You're grinding in World of Warcraft's Stranglethorn Vale (voted most ganktastic by our friends at WoW Insider) when a level 70 druid finds it hilarious to moonfire your lowbie buttocks and camp your corpse for the next eight hours. You're grinding in Lineage II when suddenly someone completely rips you apart with Demon Sword Zariche, and the proceeds to do it over and over again. Face of Mankind players saw the days of other players killing player character police officers "just because it was fun and easy". Final Fantasy XI players dealt with the controversy of monster player killing, known as an MPK. Diablo had the problem of people raising you, killing you, raising you, killing you, raising you, killing you, raising you, killing you... I think you got the point.Griefing is a problem in MMOs -- a very big problem. As more users enter our wonderful worlds of fantasy and intrigue, more and more of them think it's hilarious to make others suffer and waste time. So why is this phenomenon occuring, and what can developers do about it?
