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Massively reports from AGDC!
Warhammer may be already well into launch mode, but some of us aren't all about play this week. That's right, Massively.com is reporting live from the Austin Game Developer's Conference! AGDC is traditionally one of the year's biggest MMO love-ins, as developers and publishers get together to talk about the field of online games. Today through Wednesday we'll be offering up blog posts about panels, keynotes, and events from Austin, Texas.And, of course, that's just the start. Look to this space next week for interviews and deeper insights about the events of this week. If you have a chance between RvR scenarios and Public Quests, be sure to check back for tons of news from AGDC 2008!
Damion Schubert interview pt. 2
Another element you seemed to feel strongly about in your talk was guild tools. We're talking about designers who play their own games, have a feel for their own spaces. Why are these designers, who are playing their own games, not turning around and creating the kind of guild tools that we feel should be available? More and more they seem critical, why aren't they being addressed? Damion: Because they're hard. The number one guild-killer is drama. At the end of the day it's not raid slots, it's not even loot distribution. Most guilds have a system, they use it. Most players suck it up and live with it or they move on to another guild. Most of the time it's two guys crushing on the same girl, or a guy deciding that he's sick of the guild master and undercutting him, or a guy getting drunk and launching profanities in the guild chat channel ... these are problems that can be addressed by tools, but what makes the guildmaster's life hard right now is the drama. If we can find a way to reduce drama, to help police the drama, to know what's going on inside the guild it will become much easier for guild leaders to keep their guilds together.
BioWare Austin's Damion Schubert explains his endgame philosophy
We had the pleasure of sitting down with Damion Schubert at AGDC 2008 earlier this month. A longtime commentator and respected developer, Schubert is currently the lead combat designer on BioWare Austin's un-named MMO. While discussion of that still somewhat secretive project was verboten, Schubert kindly gave us a chance to follow up on his talk at this year's conference about the MMO endgame.We chatted with the designer about a number of issues, including the role of the endgame for new or casual players, the dangers of guild drama, and the overall problems with the endgames of today. Schubert was very careful in his discussion of that last question ... "I think that if somebody could find a way to create a good 25-man PvE experience that could be done ad-hoc, that could be less about "We need these people here at this time" and more about "Hey, show up if you can and we'll try to get this done." I think that's something that players would find a lot less scary."Read on for our full interview, with insights on the MMO endgame from an industry icon.
