prexus
Latest
Enter at Your Own Rift: Revisiting anonymity in our games
It seems like ages ago, but back in July of 2010, Blizzard shook the MMO world with the announcement of RealID. You probably recall the firestorm, but the long and short of it is that Blizzard was planning to make all posts in the forums display each poster's real-life first and last name. The protests against it were so loud that Blizzard backed down from the move and life resumed as usual. The intend was to integrate social media into Blizzard games, particularly Facebook, but it became a huge can of worms because it forced everyone who wanted to post on the forums to reveal their true names. But social media is continuing to grow, and there are lots of ways that game companies have made use of it. In this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, let's look at Trion's approach and revisit the idea of anonymity in MMOs.
The Tattered Notebook: Auctioning raid loot, place bids now!
If you've spent any time in EverQuest II, you've probably seen auctions in public channels for fabled group and raid loot. And if you've walked past entrances to raid zones, you've probably seen the herd of semi-afk toons waiting outside, watching chat, and ready to zone in and loot at a moment's notice. Those who object to this practice have a few strong arguments. But the main one is that they believe in the philosophy of "earn it to wear it" -- that you should put in the effort and the time it takes to defeat a raid encounter in order to reap the benefits. They also argue that it cheapens the overall sense of value that raid gear has if "everyone else is wearing it." While I find that argument a bit dubious (and I have a little story to explain why), there are several strong arguments, both for and against the selling of loot rights. Read on for a closer look.
