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LotRO Leveling Guide: Man and Hobbit in Archet
Lord of the Rings Online is a great game. It has been met with much acclaim and has managed to establish itself in an ever-growing field of MMOs that reside in the shadow of World of Warcraft. The game, however, is not without its critics and detractors. However, what they cannot deny is that LotRO manages to wrap itself comfortably in Tolkien's lore of Middle-earth. When first logging on to LotRO and presented with the choice of races, the one that arguably stands out the most would be the loveable (or loath-able) Hobbit. Elves, dwarves, men; been there done that. Hobbits, however, unique to Tolkien's imagination, offer a different experience. What I present to you is a guided tour through the first five levels of a Hobbit in Lord of the Rings Online. So, take your shoes off and get ready to blow some smoke rings. (Note: Massively.com does not condone nor endorse the smoking of anything ... real or fictional.)
Mojo Money Night promises more finance-based programming in 2008
Those who felt strangely compelled to watch Wall Street Warriors religiously will be stoked to hear of Mojo's plans for the new year. Apparently, the male-centric channel will be devoting Thursday nights to finance-based offerings, and aside from the return of the aforementioned program, we'll also be treated to two new shows. The block, which will aptly be dubbed Mojo Money Night, will feature Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist -- a show focusing on the life of a capital management investor -- and Junkies, a new series all about "serial entrepreneurs." The action gets going on January 24th of next year, so we'd go on and pencil in a reminder in that perpetually crammed planner of yours.[Image courtesy of Mojo]
CONFIRMED: You're all fun, but selfish about your passion
Attention ladies of Wii Fanboy! Struggling to assess the suitability of the guy you're dating? Want to know how your beau really ticks? Then don't pursue a relationship centered around honesty and open communication - that's just really stupid.Especially when you can gather all the necessary information by looking at which console he owns. To prove this works, MSN's Dating column gathered a group of "experts" in the fields of psychology and gaming, and asked them to spew relentless pop psychology claptrap what they thought each console says about its owner.Turns out owning a Wii makes you a "fun guy," and "not the typical slack-jawed, bleary-eyed gamer who wants to sit on the couch staring blankly at the screen for hours on end," though we're going to be hard-pressed to keep that facade of casual coolness going when a certain game arrives. Apparently, us male Wii owners are also selfish about our passion, and smart with money (is that because Wii is, like, omigosh, cheaper than the other two?).But wait, there's a disclaimer at the bottom there: "Of course, these expert opinions won't apply to all men who own these consoles, so don't consider them absolutes." Sheesh, good job they came clean.Click past the break for the verdicts in full.
Men more likely to steal, lie about casual games
A Reuters report yesterday took an interesting angle on the conclusions of the Casual Games Association's recently released 2007 study. While others commented on the casual space's size and growth, Reuters decided to focus on how men are lying, stealing bastards when it comes to casual games. According to the CGA report, while men are just as likely as women to play casual games, the fairer sex is much more likely to pay for these games (women make up 74% of paying players). What accounts for the difference? According to Retuers, men are "more determined to find a free version or try to thwart anti-piracy protections on games." Or, y'know, they could be playing the copies their wives bought. We hope that's it, because finding a crack for a $20 game of Peggle is just sad.But that's not all -- the Reuters report also reveals that men are more likely to hide their secret casual gaming shame. "The hardcore gamer who is playing 'Halo' with his buddies isn't going to brag that he just beat the next level of 'Zuma'." CGA Managing Director Jessica Tams told Reuters. And if they won't cop to playing Zuma, what are the chances they'll admit to an undying love for Flower Shop: Big City Break? Not large.Well it's time for the healing to begin. Men, use the comment thread below to come out of the casual gaming closet and announce to the world your proclivity for matching gems and dashing between diners. We won't judge you ... much.
All the World's a Stage: It's not just about sexy butts
All the World's a Stage is a weekly column by David Bowers, investigating the explorative performance art of roleplaying in the World of Warcraft.Roleplaying the opposite sex happens. It is alluring to some, and repulsive to others -- a lot of people do it, while a lot of other people very openly proclaim (as if they know these things) that anyone who does this weird, manipulative, deceitful, and so on.People also tend to come up with various excuses for why they play a character of the opposite sex, as if they need to justify themselves according to their own gender's traditional expectations. Some men say, "if I'm going to have to stare at a characters butt for hours while I play, I'd rather it be a hot and sexy butt," while some women say, "I get all kinds of unwanted attention if I play a girl, and the only way I can get away from it is to play a boy." All that may be true in some cases, but it's hardly the whole story behind opposite-gender roleplaying.First of all, let me just say it here and now: you have every right to create whatever character you want, particularly in an actual roleplaying environment, and particularly if you intend to be faithful to the character you're creating.
Poll: More men play women than women play men
Perhaps brought on by the news that a Chinese MMO wants to reveal gender bending gamers, Cary posted a pretty interesting poll over on the WoW LJ, asking readers what their gender is and what sex they play as on their main character. The general consensus seems to be that most people play as their own gender, but overwhelmingly, more women play as their own gender than men. The poll itself seems a little off to me, as it's really pointless to compare the percentages given, but by crunching the numbers a bit (and please remember how bad at math I am), I get that 40% of men who answered play the game as women, while only 11% of women who answered play the game as men. Here's more data on this, that we've covered before.Very interesting. We've touched on the reasons for gender bending in game a few times before, and there are all kinds of reasons why people play as characters of the opposite sex, from staring at an attractive behind to garnering more money and attention (or less attention) from other players, to roleplaying a character.But really, none of that matters too much-- it's just a game, and for whatever reason, people are welcome to play it as they please. A better question might be how you refer to the gender of other players. I've gotten in trouble a few times here by referring to players on the forums (including CMs, way back when I started) as one gender when it turns out they're actually another, so eventually I just decided to call it how I see it: if someone plays a female character I call them "her," and a male character gets called "him." For people playing a different gender, sure, it might come off a little strange. But it comes with the territory, I guess, of pretending to be someone else for a while.
Study says social games make people more social
Our good friends at Joystiq reported on a study earlier from Nottingham Trent University (it's in England) about MMO gamers and their social behaviors. And supposedly-- are you sitting for this one?-- massively multiplayer online games actually help people meet others and make friends. Go figure!They surveyed 1,000 gamers (which is not a huge sample, actually), and found that almost half had actually met another player in real life, and one in ten developed "physical relationships" with someone they'd met in a game. 40% of people discussed sensitive issues with online friends rather than real-life ones, and 30% of players were attracted to another player. 80% of players also played not only with online friends, but with real-life friends and family as well. And according to the study, women were more likely to both be attracted to other players, and to eventually date them, and while women play for "therapeutic refreshment," men play for "curiosity, astonishment, and interest."50% of respondents said World of Warcraft was their game of choice, so while the study was actually about MMO players, it's not a stretch to say it's just about WoW players (and pretty hardcore players, too-- average play time per week was 22.85 hours!). Like I said, 1,000 people is a pretty small sample, but apparently a journal approved it-- the study will be published in CyberPsychology and Behavior.
Male-centric MavTV readies HD feed for 2008
Despite the fact that Mojo is already vying for male eyes, the independently operated MavTV is hoping that a 100-percent HD flavor of its programming will steal a few of those pupils in 2008. The network is planning on dishing its HD feed to some 55 US markets, as well as select areas in Australia, New Zealand, and India, and will offer up a mixture of "original sports, gaming programming, and general content related to the male demographic." Unfortunately, we've no timeframe to go by aside from Q1 of next year, but you won't find us complaining about yet another purely high-definition channel coming along to take on the competition.
Casual gaming girl power; overall boys rule console market
Solid information is starting to trickle in about what actually comprises the gamer demographic. Companies are starting to ask who is actually playing their games instead of just assuming it's 16-year-old Timmy Smith living in some square state with his mom and dad, sibling, dog and house with a white picket fence -- and yes, that's who marketing companies still think they're pandering to. According to the ESA 70 percent of gamers are over 18 and 62 percent are male; however, a study commissioned by PopCap Games found that 76 percent of casual gamers are female.The demographics have been shifting dramatically as the Atari generation, who grew up with video games, has children and begins raising a more gaming friendly generation. The console market continues to be 58 percent male, but all things considered, that isn't too large of a gap. Most cross demographic hits like The Sims and World of Warcraft are found on the PC and many people casually game when they're at work anyway. Maybe the answer is as simple as when the husband and wife are at home, wife doesn't want to sit and watch husband play Gears of War so she goes to the PC and games whether that be a casual game or, um, non casual. The demographic information is still nebulous at the moment, but at least we're starting to get a real picture of demographics in the industry.
Technology is a girl's best friend?
It's fairly obvious companies have realized that men aren't the only ones doing damage on the credit card at the gadget store, but recent studies have drawn some perplexing conclusions about just how much the ladies love their tech. Putting a presumably prominent notion about women to the test, Oxygen Network (a cable company owned and operated by females) found that 75 percent of the women they surveyed would choose a plasma television over a diamond necklace (take that, DeBeers). To further substantiate the findings, women were found to own about 6.6 gadgets each, while men sported 6.9 -- definitely not a very macho-sized difference. Not even the closet was safe, as 86 percent of ladies said they would prefer a digital camcorder over a fresh pair of designer kicks. Women said they would likely increase their involvement with digicams, cellphones, email, and SMS over the next 5 years, drawing the gender technology gap ever closer. Of course, studies like these should always be give attention with a grain of salt, but we'll admit that the industry is better off with gals' design concerns and needs in the mix, and besides, how else would we be able to excuse ourselves from rebuying all our gadgets in pink?[Thanks, David]
INHD introduces MOJO TV lineup for adventurous men
INHD is rolling out a new programming block Mojo, a lot like Cartoon Network's Adult Swim albeit aimed at "men who live accomplished and adventurous lives". Apparently if you are one, you'll just know. Basically, they are targeting the early adopter demographic they feel is the most likely to own an HDTV with what they think they we want to watch. Several of the shows kick off June 18, with a few more to follow later, all will air primarily on Sundays and Wednesdays during prime time.
