NPE
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Facebook quietly released a meme creation app called Whale
The internet is built on glorious, glorious memes. It's no surprise, therefore, that Facebook wants to own the creation of these wonderful jokes alongside messaging, photo-sharing and everything else that's currently part of the Zuckerberg empire. As The Information reports, the company's internal NPE team has quietly released a meme-making app called Whale in the Canadian App Store. You can upload your own photos or choose from the company's stock library before adding a hopefully-viral combination of text, emojis and filters. Whale also comes with various grid layouts and, if you're feeling really creative, a freeform drawing tool.
EVE Vegas 2014: CCP on the new player experience and permadeath
Every time some huge scandal or record-breaking battle erupts in EVE Online, thousands of new players flood into the game ready to create epic stories of their own. Confronted with a confusing interface and a practically mandatory tutorial that takes most of the day to complete, most of those players, unsurprisingly, don't stick around. The past few updates have improved things by adding tooltips to the main UI elements and introducing a new notification system, but there's more to come. At EVE Vegas 2014 this weekend, CCP Rise discussed his plans for a new Opportunities system that will replace the tutorial. To help design the system, developers got together groups of gamers who had never played before and dropped them into EVE with little to no instructions. The playtests highlighted a lack of action compared to expectations and showed how confusing things like the map, station UI, and hangar inventory system can be for newcomers. Many of these problems are very easily fixed and may even be solved in one of the two remaining patches this year. In an interesting move, Rise went on to talk about his idea to add a form of permadeath to EVE Online. Although you lose your ship when you die in EVE, it's actually only a financial loss as your character is reborn in a fresh clone. What Rise wants is for people to make new mortal characters with no clones and a fixed number of skillpoints to allocate to skills. It's possible that this could close the gap between old and new players by allowing newbies to purchase single lives with the focused combat skills of a veteran. This isn't something that will be introduced any time soon or even that's definitely coming, but the fact that CCP is talking about the idea publicly now is intriguing.
Apple is now the undisputed No. 1 victim of all patent trolling
When you're one of the world's most valuable companies, it's not hard to find people hoping to lift a few bucks from your coffers by whatever means they can. And when it comes to patent trolling, the top target of patent trolls is none other than Apple, according to international law firm Winston & Strawn. A patent troll is an individual or company that buys patents for the sole purpose of using them to sue companies, while never using those patents for their own products or services. Apple has been attacked over patent claims ranging from how the iPhone's screen rotates to how iOS processes in-app payments, and while the company's legal team is able to squash the majority of these lawsuits, several have been successful. Patent trolls, also known as nonpracticing entities, are going after the largest companies because that's where the money is -- with the most popular products and the biggest markets, Steven D. Atlee, a partner with Winston & Strawn, tells TUAW. "A patent litigation can cripple a smaller company, and even some of the larger companies are spending a good chunk of their revenues defending against such claims," he said. And the money Apple is spending to defend against such litigation is climbing, as the number of lawsuits levied against the company by nonpracticing entities has skyrocketed from 18 in 2008 to 44 in 2012, according to data from Patent Freedom. But it's not all doom and gloom, and legislators are becoming aware that patent trolls are working solely in the interest of their own pocketbooks, rather than to actually protect the patent in question. "There are some changes in the courts and in the legislature which are making patent suits easier to defend," Atlee said. "It is no longer a given that the plaintiff will be able to get an injunction or court order barring the sale or importation of the accused product. Also, legislators are looking at rules which will make bringing patent cases more expensive and risky for the plaintiff." [via TechHive]
Patent suit du jour involves videophone features, hits Apple and AT&T
For non-practicing entities -- companies that make a living purely out of holding patents and then licensing them to and/or suing companies that actually make things -- business is good (as usual). The latest NPE strike, reported by FOSS Patents, means that Apple, AT&T and US Cellular are getting hit with lawsuits saying the companies are infringing videophone patents. The suit, filed by Visual Interactive Phone Concepts Inc. in a Michigan District Court, says the use of a "videophone interactive mailbox facility system and method of processing information" violates two patents. The patents in question aren't very detailed, and seem to be more a vague method than an invention. The allegations claim that the 2 cellular companies and Apple services "act as a mailbox facility system." Well, OK then. Since the claim is so generic, it's likely other mobile phone OS and hardware vendors that include video calling functionality in their products will be sued as well. VIPS Inc. previously reached settlements with the targets of patent suits in 1999 and 2007. We'll see how Apple and AT&T choose to respond, and whether they think the cost of litigation will outweigh the cost of simply biting the bullet and licensing these patents.
CCP discusses NPE in EVE Online expansion
With only a few weeks to go until the launch of Dominion, the EVE Online team has got to be pretty busy. CrazyKinux was lucky enough to get a bit of time with Game Designer Eris Discordia to talk about the details of the NPE - New Player Experience. The discussion covered some interesting ground, such as how CCP is working to keep the NPE easy for players to use and understand, how far it's come since 2003 ("You started in space and you had to shoot a drone and that was pretty much it."), and how they would like to see it improve from here on out. They also talked about the reasoning behind the way the NPE is set up, as a crash course designed to get you through the basics and into the game, rather than a more scattered, drawn-out approach. It's an interesting read for any veteran EVE Online player, and a valuable one for anyone new to the game. The full interview can be read here, and a big thanks to CrazyKinux and Eris Discordia for taking the time for it!
EVE Online devs seek your input on improving the New Player Experience
EVE Online can be a daunting game to get a handle on. Still, the New Player Experience (NPE) that greets rookies today is far better than the early tutorials that some of us at Massively, and no doubt a number of our readers, experienced 'back in the day'. There are many careers and mini-professions a player can choose to pursue in EVE, but conveying this in the NPE -- and guiding these new players towards these playstyles -- remains a challenge for CCP Games. This is the focus of the latest dev blog by EVE Online developer CCP Soundwave. He explains how player feedback has made those first weeks of gameplay a much smoother learning experience for the game's rookies. However, he notes that they're continuing to improve the NPE for the next expansion. To that end, CCP is seeking input from the players on these questions:
An angle on EVE's New Player Experience and the game's harsh realities
There are few MMOs on the market today that can seem as intimidating to a new player as EVE Online. Some of this comes from the infamous things people have heard about the game, tales of deception and betrayal, but there is a fair amount of complexity to EVE as well and no shortage of digital villains prowling New Eden's thousands of solar systems injecting risk into the game. The first days and weeks of gameplay experienced by many pilots has led to more than a few descriptions of the experience as an initiation of sorts, conjuring up images of hazings, an analogy that actually holds true in many respects. Anyone who sticks with the game learns through trial and error that the setting of New Eden, by design, can be quite harsh. Even if you're not into PvP, it pervades EVE Online; at the very least players who are to succeed in the game must ultimately learn to adapt and evade the more malevolent players, if not defend themselves from attackers directly.While EVE will likely never be as easy to get a handle on as some other MMOs out there -- the game's depth and complexity actually being a major draw for its subscribers -- CCP Games has taken steps to better ease new players into New Eden with the New Player Experience (NPE) which was part of the Apocrypha expansion launch. But is EVE's New Player Experience, which does not separate rookie pilots into a safe zone to learn the ropes, the right way to introduce players to the game? This is the focus of a WarCry article by Steven Croop titled "Aura is Aura by Any Other Name".
The Black Rabbits Academy teaches piracy in EVE Online
Among all the massively multiplayer online games on the market, EVE Online is perhaps the most complex game running, which is part of the title's appeal. The learning curve has, in the past, dissuaded some MMO gamers from really digging in to EVE, but that curve has been getting a bit less steep as the tutorial improves. The Apocrypha expansion's New Player Experience also aims to make those first weeks in New Eden easier. That said, the best resource available to new EVE players is the game's playerbase itself. It's always best to learn from others and when possible, with others. That's one of the unique things about EVE -- players form corporations for various purposes, one of which is to provide schools or academies where various facets of the game are taught by experienced players. Players can learn alongside others who share similar interests. You want to learn the ropes of the game? You can join EVE University and take part in their organized classes or listen to speakers on various topics in New Eden. Want to learn how to kick ass in PvP? Take a class at Agony Unleashed and they'll turn you into a killer in no time. But EVE University and the other training-focused corps tend to focus on the more 'legitimate' aspects of the game. But what if you want a training course that lets you learn about and become part of New Eden's criminal society? There are options.
EVE Careers Guide available as free download
A major strength of the sci-fi massively multiplayer online game EVE Online is that there are no classes and certainly no professions that a player is locked into. EVE's professions are freeform, but this can lead to new players being unsure about what to do (or be) in the game. The title's developer CCP Games is attempting to remedy this. One of the resources that complements EVE Online's New Player Experience in the Apocrypha expansion is the "EVE Careers Guide", which introduces new players to the gameplay possibilities in New Eden. It's largely put together by Benilopax of Warp Drive Active: Industry podcast fame and Richie Shoemaker (aka "Zapatero"), the Editor of E-ON -- the official magazine of EVE Online -- who we've interviewed at Massively in the past. The EVE Careers Guide is a PDF file with interactive links throughout to navigate between sections, providing a comprehensive look at the game for rookie pilots. Zapatero welcomes new players to EVE Online, explaining the game in broad terms: "Many have found their own path in EVE by taking turns that are wildly divergent from what its makers envisaged. EVE is about relationships, prejudices, trust, greed and creativity more than it's about spaceships, trade and combat. New Eden is a very human universe, and with almost 300,000 people making up the population, it's a very dynamic one. Yes, it's harsh and uncompromising, frustrating and callous, but it's also illuminating in scope, vast in stature and utterly unique."
EVE Community Spotlight: LaVista Vista part 2
The first CSM seemed to have a very difficult job, given that they had to structure their operating guidelines as they went, and of course deal with skepticism from the playerbase. Do you think the situation is different for the CSM now? Vastly different. A lot of time during CSM1 was spent on administrative stuff which was often inefficient. We now have a structure which works fairly well, even if it leaves some things to be desired. We are yet to reach our max potential, which won't happen for another few CSMs I'm afraid. But CCP has certainly realized that the CSM is a useful concept and is useful for them. I think in the future we will see more tools for the CSM being implemented as Xhagen manages to tie up enough people at the office so that they will commit to doing these things which will benefit the CSM and community. Once we have streamlined ways of doing things, while leaving us room for being creative, there's immense potential for a CSM which will not only work great while people who have experience with being on it, but once an ENTIRELY new set of people take office and start working with this foundation that is built. Continuity is EXTREMELY important. The idea that an entirely new set of people will take office and there's no real guidelines or continuity gives me nightmares. That's why I think it's important that CCP in the future is even more helpful towards the CSM and that there is more communication. We have build a solid foundation for now. However it's not hard to tear down if people aren't taking responsibility.
The lowdown on EVE Online's New Player Experience
Among all the massively multiplayer online games out there, with their respective learning curves, EVE Online perhaps has the deserved reputation for being the hardest MMO to get a grasp of. Much of that confusion is because the game itself is such a departure from your standard fantasy MMO, in almost every respect: open world/single server, PvP can happen everywhere, a harsh setting, and a UI that's a far cry from anything a player has seen in World of Warcraft.The EVE in-game tutorial has been revamped a few times in order to make it easier for new players to get a handle on things. What is currently offered is a noticeable improvement over the tutorial of a few years ago, but CCP Games is in the process of completely reworking a player's first steps into the game's setting of New Eden. EVE Online developer CCP Fear's latest blog is, in his words, required reading for anyone interested in the game, new player or not. He says, "I want to get one misconception out of the way. This blog *will* concern you and everyone else. If you have played for a year, 6 years, 3 months or a week, you will want to read further than this. Chances are there will be changes that will affect you!"
