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Dean Hall is leaving behind DayZ and Bohemia Interactive
Games are a bit like children. You work with other people to craft them, to help them go from little more than a twinkle in your eye to something capable of surviving without you. Dean Hall created DayZ, but he's jumping ahead to the part where he metaphorically kicks it out of the house and tells it to get a job. Or he's kicking himself out of the house... the metaphor is a bit tortured, but the important point is that he's leaving DayZ behind. Why leave a game that's still early in testing and doing well? As Hall puts it, keeping him on the project could eventually lead to his being someone who tells others how things are done rather than adapting along with a changing game and culture. Instead, he's heading to New Zealand with plans of opening a different studio. The changeover is not happening immediately but should take place before the end of the year. [Thanks to Zipzopboobidybop for the tip!]
Storyboard: Now I only want you gone
Roleplaying friendships are like any other sort of friendship. The person you started roleplaying with at the launch of the game may not be someone you want to keep roleplaying with through the whole of your time with the game. The question isn't whether or not this will happen; it's when it will happen and what you're going to do when you realize that you don't want to play with this person any longer. What sounds like the simplest thing in the world becomes much harder due to the simple fact that none of us likes telling someone else, "I don't want to interact with you any longer." That means you've got to read the signs and derive a lesson -- and also learn the way that your signals are going to be read, even if you don't mean it that way. So what signs do you get, what signs do you send, and what do you do?
The Daily Grind: How do you leave a game?
Everyone leaves an MMO eventually. Sometimes it's a low-key affair; you realize you haven't logged on to Lord of the Rings Online in forever, you cancel your subscription if you have one, and you move on. Sometimes it's done in the heat of the moment, with one failed World of Warcraft raid leading directly to a cancelled subscription and the angriest uninstall you can manage. Sometimes it's even a planned absence, like a month-long vacation from The Secret World just to keep your interest going. That's not even getting into the question of whether you keep the client around or not (on the basis that you might go back some day) or if you get in touch with your in-game friends to let you know. There are a lot of ways to leave, in other words. So how do you leave a game? Do you tend to quit in a huff or just slowly drop off? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Warhammer Online's Keaven Freeman leaves Mythic
Lead Developer Keaven Freeman is no longer heading up Warhammer Online. Freeman wrote a goodbye post on his personal blog stating that he is leaving Mythic Entertainment to "explore new growth and new career possibilities." "It is with heavy heart I report I am leaving Mythic Entertainment. I have worked with Mythic since 2007, and it quickly became my family," he said. Freeman expressed his gratitude to the company and fans, saying that his time with WAR was rewarding: "I'm by no means saying everything was perfect -- there was a lot I could have done better, in hindsight, but I think we really managed to take some giant steps forward as well, as non-perfect as those steps may have been."
Anand Chandrasekher resigns from Intel after 24 years, leaves scandal mongers hanging
Well, as tech industry resignations go, this one's not exactly sensational, but Anand Chandrasekher's plan to leave Intel is no doubt a popular topic of conversation with chip makers this week. The chief of the company's Ultra Mobility Group (UMG) and the man behind Atom, apparently resigned "to pursue other interests." Intel Architecture Group's Mike Bell and Dave Whalen will co-manage UMG in Chandrasekher's stead -- and that's about it for sordid details. His resignation isn't apt to be marked by a Mark Hurd-style scandal, and we have a feeling this is a pretty straight forward changing of the guards, but, then again, we said the same thing when Dirk Meyer left AMD.
Living without General chat
I have a confession to make: all the whining, questions, and confusion that's been in General chat for the last few days? I haven't heard any of it. As soon as I logged in after the expansion, I typed "/leave general" and strangely enough, haven't looked back. I usually enjoy General -- it reminds me that I'm not playing a singleplayer game, and most of the comments there, while not really the smartest, are at least pretty entertaining. I figured if you're going to play a game with other people, you might as well give them the opportunity to talk with you.But Northrend has been different -- I didn't want the inane chatter, the constant stream of questions (sometimes answered, usually not), and the occasional desperate requests. I wanted to be in Northrend by myself, more or less, and explore the world as if I wasn't on the same server as thousands of people. And it's been worthwhile, for the most part -- while I've dived back in there once or twice just to check and see if certain quests are bugged for anyone else, I've mostly stayed out of there, and I think it's made the game better.Some of you will probably think I'm late to the game -- you may have removed the General channel on day one, and the Trade and World Defense channels along with it (I'm keeping the Trade channel, though -- when I am in cities, I kind of appreciate the bustling back and forth, and I've found a few deals in there). For the moment, though, I appreciate a quieter Northrend. No General for me, thanks.
When is a good time to stop raiding?
I've recently been pondering if, and when, I should retire from raiding. Playing with 24 other people to accomplish a common goal is a wonderful thing. The teamwork and exhilaration from downing a boss for the first time is something that's hard to put into words – it's fun, challenging, frustrating, and all around a great time.But when is it a good time to stop?Everything eventually gets old and dies. Yes, one day our beloved WoW will no longer exist; even though that might be a couple decades from now (although I have my doubts WoW will ever truly go off-line, but that's another article). What I want to be sure happens is that I leave this activity I love so much on a high note – and not leave when it's become a pain and something that I'll look back disfavorably upon.Right now my life allows me to raid. I have classes and WoW Insider work during the day, and at night I have time to raid for a few hours and hang out with the girlfriend and other folks as well. That strikes a good balance in life – allowing both things that I want to do by myself (WoW), and things that I want do with others (girlfriend, friends, etc...)
Terminal tip: Remind yourself about appointments
Got a place you need to be at 3:00? Want to send yourself a message to get out the door at 2:40? Terminal's "leave" command offers a simple way to remind yourself about your upcoming schedule. leave 0240 waits until 2:35 and then alerts you to get ready to leave with both text and a beep. Reminders occur at 5 minutes and 1 minutes before the time you enter, and then every minute after until you close the terminal window. (You can also kill the process whose id is listed for you when you issue the leave command.) Leave uses a 12-hour clock so you don't have to worry about whether to use 0240 or 1440. Both produce the same result. All times are assumed to be within the next 12 hours. You can also use the "+" flag to set a relative time. Say you want to work on a project for just the next hour. Use leave +0100. This sets an alarm for one hour from the current time.
What would make you leave a group?
Yesterday's forum debate asked, what is your "best reason for leaving a group?"I personally think that leaving a group is a highly questionable and situational thing. If the group is a pickup group, then you may be giving yourself a bad name by not sticking it out until the end. Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule, and sometimes the actions of other party members warrant the immediate abandoning of the group.Some of the reasons for leaving were quite entertaining:When the hunter says, "I can't find my bow. Do you have it?" It's a good time to leave.The elemental shaman says, "I'll pull," and proceeds to chain lightning.When you hear over vent, "the police are here."While the forum derailed almost immediately, there were still many posters who replied in the original spirit of the forum. Some of the more humorous replies were:"I had diarrhea.""My toes are cold.""Wife Aggro.""I'm finished here at work. Time to go home!"Or, from Nathaera, "I was tired and needed to go to bed before I woke up with waffleface."What's your best reason for leaving a group? Or, what have you ever kicked someone out of a group for?
It's official: Lowenstein leaving ESA
It's been widely reported since late last week, but now it's official -- longtime ESA president Doug Lowenstein will be stepping down early next year, as soon as a replacement can be found.In a press release, Lowenstein said he was "honored to represent the amazing companies of the ESA, to serve as their advocate and to be part of an industry which is having such a profound and positive effect on our culture and the world of entertainment."Lowenstein's departure truly marks the end of an era. When Lowenstein joined the ESA back in 1994, the two-person organization was called the Interactive Digital Software Association and oversaw a $3 billion a year industry. Today, the ESA has 32 employees and helps support the $10 billion video game industry with a wide variety of educational and legal programs.All of us here at Joystiq are sorry to see one of the game industry's longest-serving defenders move on, and we wish him great success in his future endeavors.[Via Kotaku]
