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Ask WoW Insider: Help a teacher compete with WoW
Welcome to today's edition of Ask WoW Insider, in which we publish your questions for dissection by the peanut gallery -- now with extra snark and commentary by one of our writers. This week a Swedish teacher writes in:Dear WoWI,I am a teacher in Sweden, teaching kids aged thirteen to fourteen. I am also a WoW player, something that has both pros and cons when dealing with my students. Among my students a great deal of the boys are playing WoW and most of the time, not a day passes by without they not discussing the latest content, the coolest instance and the best gear. This is a huge dilemma, especially when most of the boys don't do anything else but talk about WoW. In Sweden, teachers today have to compete with WoW in a frustrating way. We have huge problems with students who can't focus on school due to they playing too much. Since I am a WoW player myself, I have started to think about how I could use this in school, to get my students to actually learn something. I am teaching English and it is obvious that WoW players in this age, have developed their skills a lot and this is something good. My questions are, if the readers of WoW Insider have any constructive ideas on:1) how I can compete with WoW and gain my students focus and concentration on school work2) how I can use WoW in my teaching to develop their language and communication skillsWhat I am doing now is both a desperate try to get things back to normal, but also something that has never been done here before. have figured that I will have to use my students' interests in my teaching in order to reach them. Considering I play WoW myself, that should be easily done. But I also get dead tired of listening to them chatting every single minute about Wow and never put any effort in school work. So I need help, suggestions, ideas from other WoW players. Back when I was a young-un, the big distraction for me was Dungeons and Dragons. We'd sit in the back of the room drawing up dungeons on graph paper. In addition to walking uphill in the snow, both ways, to school, the personal computer hadn't been invented, much less WoW-not that that's a bad thing; I look back on my time in school and am grateful MMOs didn't exist at all, or my barely 2.5 gpa back then would have seemed honors worthy.I can't offer any advice on #1, so I'm hoping some other educators chime in on this one. In terms of #2, it's been my observation that most WoW players need language and communication development themselves, so good luck with that.Anyone who's taught instead of daydreamed learned able to help out?Got questions? Don't wait! Send them to us at ask AT wowinsider DOT com and your query could be up in lights here next week.
Vote for the best piece of advice!
Last week I asked you to leave a comment with tips of anti-advice you could give to players. Things like "Be sure to move in the flame wreath so you're not cold when the blizzard hits!" or "Just walk up to Archimonde, he won't agro until you hit him." You all responded in force and gave lots of good tips and pieces of advice. Now for fame and no-fortune, lets vote for the best one!I'll close the voting next weekend and announce the winner on Monday April 21st. Vote now! I did! %Poll-12641%
Move in the flame wreath, and other fun bits of advice
I really don't know why, but lately my friends and I are trying to get each other to do something stupid with content we've already mastered. Last night I found myself talking to a good friend of mine and the conversation went something like this:Me: "I'm bored. What are you up to?"Her: "Aran."Me: "Remember to move during the flame wreath."Her: "And stand in the blizzard, right?"Me: "Yeah, so you're cold when the flame wreath hits you."Now obviously this is the exact opposite of what you want to do. But the sheer absurdity of it makes me laugh. I mean, who among us hasn't seen flame wreath and thought, "Hey, it'd be really funny if I moved right now. Everyone would probably want to kill me... but still, it'd be a great Leroy moment."I don't think I'm alone in this. I've heard other people joke about it as well. That makes me feel good; proves that while I'm a geek, at least I have some company. But what I really want to know is what you all think about this. So here's what I want. Leave a comment with a piece of absurd advice that only WoW folks would understand. Then, next weekend I'll pick the top five or so and we can all vote for the most absurd piece of WoW advice. No prize for the winner or anything like that, just bragging rights.So tell us all - what is some of the most absurd and funny advice you can think of?
Edward Castronova reveals lessons learned from Arden
As you may recall, Edward Castronova, professor at Indiana University and researcher of virtual world economics, had been developing a Shakespeare-based MMO, only to close it down because, in his words, 'It's no fun. We failed to design a gripping experience.'In the current issue of Wired, Castronova offers his '5 tips for making games that don't suck', based on his experience. To summarize:
Is your home theater good enough for Theo Kalomirakis?
We've seen some fairly fanciful home theaters of late, but have you ever wondered where to get pointers on tweaking your own -- free? For what we can only assume is a limited time offer, HT mastermind Theo Kalomirakis is offering up his brutally honest critiquing skills gratis if your setup passes the muster. Apparently, all you have to do is send in snapshots of your setup, room or even your blueprints, and if he thinks yours is worthy of being addressed, he'll voice his opinion in an attempt to better what you've got going. Interested? Hit up the read link to catch the Sound & Vision article along with his e-mail address -- it's not like you've got anything to lose but time, right?
Ask Massively: The beginning
Ask Massively is a brand new feature here on Massively-- it's your chance to take control of the little conversation we've got going on, and ask us MMO experts whatever you want. Want to know what MMO you should be playing, or why something in your favorite MMO is a little strange? Have a question about the site, or need an MMO standby explained? We're here to explain and elucidate the answers to all your queries, whatever they be.To ask a question of Ask Massively, you can either put it in the comments on this post (for next week's edition), or drop us a note on the tipline. And this column will run entirely on your questions, so please let us know if there's something you want to know, no matter how complicated or how silly.Click the link below to check out the first edition of Ask Massively! A warning: for the first edition, I cheated a little bit-- these are all questions from my friends. But next week, you'll have the chance to get a question of your own answered.
Five ways you can make life easier for new Mac users
As we close out 2007, there are thousands of new Mac users just beginning to explore the wonderful world found on those shiny computers that were tucked under the tree/menorah/nonsectarian gift deployment venue. If there's one thing we'd recommend that experienced Mac hands could do to make the adjustment easier... well, there isn't just one thing, there's five. Got other suggestions for onboarding the switcher nouveau? Drop them in the comments.1. Don't buy Apple RAM. This should be stenciled on every Mac box, printed on UPS driver caps, and possibly placed on street stickers outside the Apple Stores (I kid! Don't sue me). I recently priced a 512 MB upgrade for a vintage G4 iBook, and while I would have liked the convenience of the Apple Store for quick pickup, I could not possibly justify the 300+% markup over crucial.com's or OWC's price for the exact same part ($150 vs. $38). I doubt that an educated-customer avoidance of Apple memory, either BTO or upgrades, will make much difference to pricing policies, but this situation is so insanely out of whack that something has got to give. Update: Several readers have pointed out that you should hold onto your factory RAM in case you need to troubleshoot problems down the road, a good suggestion -- Apple support or Genius Bar techs will often ask you to return your machine to as-shipped condition. If you want to cross-check that you're getting the same manufacturer as Apple uses, you can always compare RAM prices and part specs in a jiffy at dealram.com. Reader JC did a quick survey of manufacturer markups on RAM and suggests that Apple's pricing may not be so far out of line when compared to other high-end computer vendors like Sony; still, I stand by my statement that buying Apple RAM is too expensive.2. Make a shareware gift basket. You've got the massive downloads folder and the experience with your favorite Mac programs; why not leverage that? Burn a CD full of your top shareware apps, or register a couple of them in your buddy's name. Nothing says "I care" like software.3. Give the gift of bookmarks. Your experience as a Mac veteran has populated your browser bookmarks with a zillion helpful sites; export them and send them on over! If you need a starter list: macfixit, macintouch, macworld, dealmac, macosxhints, versiontracker, iusethis, and of course our humble little blog.4. Provide a personal support gift certificate. An email that says "call me anytime" might give too much license for midnight pleas for help -- maybe a stylized one-sheet saying "This certificate good for three hours of handholding, gentle instruction, wireless troubleshooting & general Mac advice" will set the ground rules.5. Deliver the Kool-Aid. One of the hardest transitions for recovering Windows users to make when adjusting to the Macintosh Way is the attitude: expecting things to "just work" instead of having to tweak registry settings and swap out DLLs, being willing to cooperate with your computer instead of fighting it all the way. Sit with your buddy and watch them work for a bit; if you notice points of friction, try to lubricate. Remind them they can still right-click, allow them to plug in a printer and not go searching for drivers. See the light in their eyes return.
Azeroth Interrupted: Reader Mail -- How to tell your friends about WoW
Each week, Robin Torres contributes Azeroth Interrupted, a column about balancing real life with WoW.This week, I'm answering an email from Sylvanra:Dear Robin,How do I tell my friends about WoW? It isn't a common topic of conversation, but when it does come up I usually get a little negative attention for playing, then the conversation goes on. Because of this, I kind of play it down, but I answer questions about my hobby truthfully, I certainly don't want to jeopardize my real life relationships! But I would like to somehow let them know more about WoW and why I play, without getting the negative attention I have gotten in the past. I love my friends to death, but we certainly don't agree on how we spend our free time!-SylvanraDear Sylvanra,I'm very open about my WoW habit. I wore my Wrath of the Lich King t-shirt to Disneyland this past weekend, which got me accosted by a young kid outside of the Snow White ride who wanted to make a character on my server so he could chat with me more there. A Disney castmember even interrupted his safety spiel to shout out his love for the game when he saw what I was wearing. It's obvious that there are a lot of WoW-lovers out there who are dying to talk about it. But there are also a lot of WoW players who prefer to keep their hobby on the down-low, including one or two of my friends who thought that wearing a Blizzard t-shirt to Disney was just a bit too fangirl. I don't know if Blizzard is paying for product placement or if shows are trying to reap South Park-like rewards for WoW-related episodes, but mainstream mentions of WoW help those of us with friends who give us grief for our hobby. Not that we should be embarrassed about spending our leisure time in Azeroth, but I agree with you that some friendships are worth keeping even if they don't understand your choice of recreation.
Money money money by the pound
I get the feeling that I am missing something. All around me my friends and guild mates are raking in the cash, sporting multiple epic flying mounts and I sit idly by on my little Snowy Gryphon wondering where I am going wrong. I know of people on my server and others that are walking around with 10k + gold in their pockets (and boy they must jingle a lot) and I am at a loss. Knowing that I have a marvelous resource out there in you readers, I figured it was time to ask the experts. How do I make mad cash? Some suggest doing daily quests, and valiantly I tried that, getting about 800g before alts claimed a good chunk of it for gear and training. I know I should ignore alts if I want to raise cash, but at least one of them is a pet project that I can't give up simply because of money. I have also been told that working the AH is a great way to make cash, and when I tried to manipulate the market I ended up losing 200g to AH fees and barely any sales were made. That just doesn't seem to be a good use of resources to me.I ask this question of everyone I know that has managed to get an epic mount, and the answers are so varied I know not what path to take. It appears that within this game as in the real world, in order to make money you have to already have some. Unfortunately, all my previous rainy day funds were spent on building my gear and enchanting it for raiding. Where does that leave me? Not broke, but so far from epic flight training I wonder if I will be ready for the next riding tier when WotLK is released. What do you suggest? What are the best ways to rake in the dough?
Rerolling for fun and... well, for fun, there's no profit.
Tommy writes in with an interesting question: do we have any tips for rerolling? Since I've played on a lot of different servers in order to play with friends, I felt like I could give this one a shot.First off, if you're really rerolling instead of merely rolling up an alt (and it's a tenuous difference at best... but starting on a new server, for instance, is different from rerolling on your original) you need to make some choices. Rerolling horde when you originally played alliance means you're going to be making some adjustments, even if you're starting a character of a familiar class. You won't have to relearn everything, of course, but the quests will be different, for starters. Horde and alliance auction houses tend to be different on the same server, depending on which faction is more numerous, so don't assume you'll be able to get all your gear from there.
iPhone power tips from Mac | Life
Mac | Life has a huge roundup of "25 iPhone Power Tips"-- just in case you've been living under a rock since late June, here's everything you missed about the iPhone, from how to unstick a stuck slider, to using aluminum foil to insulate an audio cable from the iPhone's signal, to where to go for iPhone 411. Of course you're here already, baby, and if you haven't noticed, that we have a page completely dedicated to iPhone itself, then look no further.Some of the tips are a little obvious (like #6: surprise, surprise, if you can't see the camera button while the phone's turned away from you, place your finger before you turn it-- brilliant!). And there are plenty of omissions-- I know for sure that Battlefleet, the best game I've seen on the non-jailbroken iPhone, is missing, and there's nothing at all about Installer.app or any of the craziness you can pull off with that. That's a big deal, even though it may be a little more underground than Mac | Life wants to go.But there's some good info here, especially if you've just recently plunked down the cash to AT&T and want your tips all in one place. Just make sure to come back here and pay attention when you're done.
Confessions of a Warrior Noob [edit]
How well I remember the day I that created my warrior. I had seen a gnome walking around with an adorable name, a cute hat, and all that plate armor much too big for her, and I was suddenly inspired with a character idea that I just had to make real. As a roleplayer, I was fiercely excited to play this undauntedly brave gnome who would proclaim in an adorably child-like voice: "I am NOT cute! I'm the most fearsomest warrior you'll ever see!" The character was wonderful fun to roleplay for a long time, and brought plenty of laughs with my friends, but after finally reaching level 40 and getting my cute mechanostrider mount, I realized I was getting killed way too often, killing monsters way too slowly, and just not having that much success at the actual "war" part of being a warrior. I had heard of a number of warriors complaining in the forums and it seemed that the class was just way too weak. So I gave up and blamed Blizzard for my bad experience -- but oh, how I was wrong...
Officers' Quarters: Surviving Karazhan
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. Last week was an exciting week for me with the premier of my new column. I've had a week's worth of questions piling up, so let's look at one of them today. I was wondering what you guys do to address straight-up performance problems. We've been successfully raiding Karazhan for about a month now, but when we swap in other warriors/healers we always seem to have performance problems. We've had sit downs and group meetings. We've discussed things in open guild chat and privately with the ones we're having problems with. Just seems like nothing will effectively get through to them. I've never played WoW with a group of people that just don't seem to care about how well they do. They don't seem too interested in progressing their gear or play experience outside of Karazhan. They're not really breaking any guild rules, they're online during raid times, they try to participate, but I hate to decide on raid spots between a player who has rock solid attendance/performance versus a player with solid attendance but poor performance. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you in advance, Ty from Hellscream Thanks for writing, Ty. Kara is a zone that has created a lot of problems for guilds who are used to bringing 20 or 40 players on raid nights. Suddenly officers have been confronted with the reality of exactly what each player can contribute in a small but challenging raid. As we make judgments for who gets to go, who's on which team, and so on, friction is inevitable. Guilds have been undone by Karazhan -- don't let it happen to you!
Download.com posts list of top iTunes add-ons
I could've sworn that Download.com got rid of their Mac software section a while ago, but alas: digg submissions never lie. CNET's Download.com has posted a list of top iTunes add-ons for tackling everything from grabbing album art to watching who is listening to which songs from your library. Included in the list is RadioLover which lets you record streaming radio, as well as iPodRip with (thankfully) an accurate explanation as to why its abilities aren't included in iTunes itself. This list actually part of a guide Download.com wrote called iTunes Advanced, which includes some handy tips for things like adding an equalizer column to your list of songs to easily assign custom EQ settings to specific songs, as well as a list of hotkeys for the default iTunes visualization mode.Seasoned iTunes pros will probably balk at getting iTunes advice from Download.com, but there are probably at least a couple handy tidbits here for just about everyone.
Getting a game idea published
Over at the IGDA, there's some advice for a hobbyist game developer looking to pitch (and protect) a game design. Pitching a random idea for a game to a developer or publisher isn't easy, but there are some solid hints on how to get an idea towards reality: Come up with a demo Attend game industry events to make contacts Read up on the pitching process Pay attention to NDAs Indie game development competitions and pitching opportunities offer a lot of scope for an idea to become an actual game; accessible platforms like Flash and the Xbox Live Arcade add further ways it can happen. One thing's for sure, though -- you have to be serious and committed to make this process work.See also:Advice for wannabe game developersThe life of a lapsed game developer
Advice for wannabe game developers
The days of the bedroom coder are mostly behind us, though casual games and mini-games still provide the opportunity for a single coder to make it big -- not to mention one-man projects like Rag Doll Kung Fu which don't quite fit into the above categories. If you're interested in running your own game development project, Download Squad has some business advice for you. Covering engines, team-building, documentation, project management, testing, marketing and the all-important "making money", this article is a useful starting point and gives a good idea of what's actually involved in a small-scale game development project. Of course, you'll want to do further research before embarking on such a project yourself.
