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Fox News discusses Star Wars: The Old Republic's gay expansion planet
Star Wars: The Old Republic fans already know that Makeb is the Planet of Gay, containing far more gay than even the fabled Gay Level on Coruscant. Or perhaps it's just the sight of the game's upcoming expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, which will feature the first implementation of same-gender romances in the game. These romances will be limited to characters already on the planet rather than new or existing companions. This is not new information for most players. However, it's news to Fox News, whose take on the planet's status is... slightly different. According to Fox News, Makeb will be the "gay planet" added in the expansion, likening the current limitation of this new content to segregation and noting that many players are opposed the inclusion of same-sex relationships in the game. There is no mention of the number of players requesting the feature, nor of the variety of (presumably) non-gay quests and content available on Makeb. In short, it's missing a number of nuances regarding the situation, something that might be good for a raised eyebrow or two from fans and detractors alike.
Drama Mamas: Preemptive polyamorous preparations
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. Results! We want them! If you've written in to us and we've answered you, please send us an email letting us know what happened. We already have a few responses, but we'd like to collect a few more to fill up the next Drama Mama: Results Edition ... coming soon. On to this week's letter: I'm writing as a "preemptive strike". Like a good boy scout (err... girl who would be a good boy scout if she was a boy), I want to be prepared. This would be excellent material for a Soap Opera or a Greek Tragedy, so grab some popcorn and enjoy. I run a fairly big raiding guild (about 30 active raiders). Many of us are very close, and a few of us have hung out in real life. We know a lot about each others' lives and we laugh, cry and celebrate when life events occur. Now to the fun part. Two of my officers (We'll call them "Ross and "Rachel") are married to each other. Ross is a raid leader. They have an open marriage (I don't judge and neither should anyone reading this). They're happy and comfortable in their marriage so as long as they're happy, I'm happy. I consider myself very close friends with this couple.
Storyboard: Hey, I know you!
I am not a private person. I have a job that requires me to put my name on things, so that right there is a layer off the privacy shield. But beyond even that, I like to give shout-outs to people I think are cool and make my presence in a game known. It's no secret that I work here, it's no secret that I write columns here, and in most games that I play and write about regularly, my character names are kind of open secrets anyhow. Hence why I can walk around in Final Fantasy XIV and bump into people who tell me that they really liked an article I wrote, which is kind of a surreal yet awesome experience. All of this means that my reputation precedes me... which is not necessarily a good thing. While I'm all about keeping up the OOC communication, there comes a point for some players when their characters stop being Sven Ergunsdottir (played by Paul) and start being Paul's Norn guy with the name. There are challenges to playing alongside someone you know better in real life either because you know one another or because the person in question is a jerk who writes a bunch of readily available articles. So how do you handle roleplaying with people who know you very well?
Drama Mamas: Can you keep calm and carry on?
We all choose how to react to the world around us. Nobody's exempt -- we're so much more than the sum of our knee-jerk reactions to life. Yet it's also true that harnessing raging emotions is hard, especially when things hurt, and sometimes we're just not up to the task. When continued pain seems inevitable, sometimes treating ourselves with respect means making a measured retreat. The trick is knowing which situations merit dogged perseverance and which deserve said measured retreat. Hey Drama Mamas I am a raid leader for my guild, I handle guild progression and the GM handles farming and alt runs, After a long struggle we finally are all set up to make some serious momentum in Mists of Pandaria after using DS to bolster our ranks. Furthermore about 2 years ago I brought my girlfriend into the game and guild. Recently one of the guild members we picked up in dragon soul started raiding heavily with us. He quit his other guild where he had lots of friends to join us. I am a tank and for our progression I asked him to be my Co-tank. We did arenas together for a while and became fairly close. Then the other day my girlfriend (also on the progression team) and I broke up. If that was not enough, she then started dating my Co-tank. I found out that the two of them had been in contact ever since they first raided together.
Breakfast Topic: Do you play WoW with your significant other?
Note: The above image is from January 2005. Isn't it quaint? I love playing MMOs with the guy in my life -- whoever that may be at the time. I even stopped dating someone once because he was uninterested in trying out EverQuest with me. (We didn't have that much in common anyway.) The Spousal Unit and I have played multiple MMOs together over the years. Even though he has dropped WoW and moved to SWTOR, we are having a fantastic time PvPing together. (Fight at the objective!) Video game dates are a cheap way to date your partner and can really help strengthen a relationship -- as long as both people want to play and are enjoying the chosen in-game activities. When a couple disagrees on what they should be doing in Azeroth together, bad things can happen. Recently, a woman wrote in to Drama Mamas wondering if she should try to play World of Warcraft with her husband, who is an avid player. She isn't a gamer but was willing to try it in order to spend more time with her spouse. Trying out games in order to spend more time with a partner is normal and often rewarding. But a husband who refuses to learn how to play his character and makes his wife and guild carry him is just one of the instances why WoW playdates don't always work.
Google to switch on 'semantic search' within months, emphasize things as well as words
A search engine should be about more than just keywords. MC Hammer believes that passionately and Google must do too, because over the next few months and years it'll gradually adjust its own algorithms to put greater emphasis on "semantic search". Under this system, search queries are run through a vast knowledge database that discovers relationships with other words and facts. A Mountain View exec explained it thus: If you search for "Lake Tahoe", you won't just get ranked websites containing those two words but also key attributes about the lake, such as its location, altitude, average temperature and Bigfoot population. If a piece of knowledge isn't the in the ever-expanding database, the search engine will still use semantic search to help it recognize and evaluate information held on websites. In doing this, Big G hopes to compete with social networks that are amassing their own valuable (and sometimes intrusive) databases full of personal information, while also encouraging people to stay longer on its site and see more targeted ads. Google, who is Viviane Reding?
Hitting on girls with subliminal video game titles is surprisingly effective
We may have strange taste in mates, but we don't think the above pickup lines from comedy group Simple Pickup are all that bad.In reality they're terrible, of course, but as far as "subliminally inserting video game titles into pickup lines for random university girls" goes, the guys above do a pretty good job of things. They're even slightly successful -- maybe not "sticking my thing in her Portal" successful, but still. Numbers were received.We're not saying this is a challenge, but we challenge you to use these in the local young-person setting of your choice. Ladies, we expect you'll have more success than the gentlemen. And yes, we mean the Portal kind.
Trade skill crusader brings back customer service and sweat equity to crafting
WoW players today tend to consider the deterioration of the in-game community in terms of relatively recent influences like the Dungeon Finder and then the Raid Finder. We sometimes forget that design tweaks and new systems have been chipping away at the paradigm of Azeroth as a place to forge ongoing personal relationships for years now. Take a gander at the beginning of this analysis I wrote on the death of the Azerothian salesman all the way back in the hyper-modern era of The Burning Crusade circa 2007: Forget the endless debate over hardcore versus casual -- there's another moniker that we here at Insider Trader hold dear: salesman. What's that? You don't know any salesmen in WoW these days? You're not alone. Times have changed since craftspeople toiled to build reputations as the go-to traders on their servers ... when Ironforge was the hub of civilization, where a few elite enchanters held court over the entire server with coveted formulae from such exotic locales as Stratholme and Scholomance. It's a brave new world in today's Outland. Most enchanters don't enchant for the general public at all, unless you provide mats and a tip. And in any profession, with so many other players on the servers who have the same patterns (even rare patterns are generally available from more than one player) and so many easy ways to make money (hello, daily quests!), there's little reason to hang around town to build a regular clientele. Components provided or created by other professions are readily available on the Auction House -- there's no need to seek out and nurture relationships with another player from a complementary profession. Have the conveniences Blizzard has developed for today's crafters meant the death of the salesman? Most WoW players would agree that convenience and self-service is the way of today's game. But for one stubborn tradesman on Sentinels (US), life as an Azerothian salesman is anything but obsolete. Daen, a dedicated craftsman and proprietor of Daen's Crafting Emporium, single-handedly maintains what may be one of World of Warcraft's last remaining bastions of personal craftsmanship and trade skill service -- with a twist. This proprietor not only aims to provide personal service, but he does it at no charge, with the insistence that customers devote sweat equity to their mutual creations as well.
The Call of Nyorloth: Your favorite Azerothian relationships
Nyorloth, the newest blue poster on the forums and a lore specialist, has already opened up the floor for lore discussion with a great topic for Love is in the Air. There are many types of relationships all over Azeroth, from romantic to bromantic, friendly to rivalrous. The question is which work the best? I think my favorite relationship in Cataclysm was the father/son bonding and relationship building that went on between Eitrigg and his son Ariok. Eitrigg seems to want to bring his son along for the ride as he redeems his people and weeds out the bad blood amongst the Blackrock clan. Ariok is proud to serve under his father, and that relationship feels real, honest, and not forced. Just a father and son doing something together that they love -- subterfuge and war. Head on over to the thread and help out Nyorloth with his first post on the lore forums. Another hearty welcome to Nyorloth!
The Daily Grind: Are you a part of your game's community out of game?
The foundation of an MMO is people playing together. While there are plenty of soloers -- and the smart developer will make content for them as much as for the group players -- there's a definite community inside of an MMO. That community often continues after logout, though. Thanks to forums both official and not, social media groups, IRC chat, and even real-world meetups, players can continue the social interactions beyond guild or group chat. Of course, that's if they're comfortable with it. Players vary widely on this, so where do you stand? Do your in-game friendships extend beyond the walls of Azeroth, Telara, The Wasteland, or Tyria, or do you prefer that what happens in game stay in game? 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!
The Daily Grind: Have you ever attended an in-game wedding?
Last week Bree talked about in-game funerals, giving readers an opportunity to chat about those they'd attended. Several people mentioned in-game weddings, so in today's Daily Grind we're going to turn to that markedly more cheerful event. It's not uncommon at all for people to meet that special someone in an MMO, so the concept of celebrating that relationship in the game where it started doesn't follow too far behind. Quite a few developers have acknowledged that by providing wedding attire and accessories for the happy couples, with some even going so far as to provide a wedding system with in-game perks for those who have tied the knot. Whether it be a RP union between two characters or a ceremony for two players, have you attended an in-game wedding? Have you participated in one? Use that handy comment button below and tell us all about it! 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!
Storyboard: The couple that roleplays together rolestays together
When Ms. Lady first got into MMOs, she had a very firm opinion on roleplaying, filled with subtleties and coherent arguments. Her overall thesis was "roleplaying is dumb," backed up with further evidence such as "you're dumb for liking it" and "let's talk about something else." This lasted until she really tried it, at which point she changed her thesis to "roleplaying is awesome" and supported it with "I was dumb to say that" and "you'd better not put this in an article several years from now." What I'm getting at is that we roleplay in-game together. Quite a lot, actually, to the point that a good number of my roleplaying anecdotes involve her in one capacity or another. Roleplaying in a committed relationship poses its own unique set of issues, however, the sort that just don't happen when you are roleplaying with people who live at least in another house. So here are a few tips to ensure that while you and your significant other will probably still argue about pointless things, roleplaying will only be an infrequent guest star to the stupid argument party.
WIREDoo search engine gets running man stamp of approval (video)
MC Hammer already proved that you only need one hit record. But can you get by with just one search engine? Not if you believe his pitch to the Web 2.0 Summit this week, which promoted a "deep search" technology called WIREDoo. The rapper-approved tool emphasizes relationships rather than keywords, which yields very different results to Google's. Type in 90210, for instance, and instead of pages of links about the TV show, the pre-beta WIREDoo brings up stuff about the neighborhood -- schools, homes, the crime rate and other supposedly useful information. You'll find the full presentation after the break, but don't expect any nostalgic dance moves -- Hammer is serious about this, just like he was about those revolutionary tablets.
Global Chat: September 12-18, 2011
Welcome to this week's Global Chat! We love hearing what you have to say at Massively, and we love it even more when we can share the best comments with all of our readers. Massively staffers will be contributing some of their favorite comments every week, so keep an eye out every Sunday for more Global Chat! This week our readers had some things to say about both sides of the gaming fence: the development side and the player side. Follow along after the jump to see what we talked about and contribute your own thoughts!
Wings Over Atreia: Till log do us part
The sounds of the bluetail crestliches filled the air as the creamy white leaves drifted about on the breeze. Lifting his muscular arms encased in formal attire instead of the customary platemail, Pwnzoo stretched and rolled his shoulders, trying to relax as he waited, eyes avoiding the guests who arrayed themselves around him. Soon, he thought. My sweetheart will arrive soon and all will be well. He cracked his neck and took a deep breath. Relationships. They are everywhere; heck, Aion even nods (and markets) to relationships by offering a wedding dress/tuxedo through the NCsoft Store. When something commands as much of your time and attention as playing your favorite MMO does, relationships of some type are bound to form. And some are even lucky enough to have their real-life partners play right alongside them; wife-aggro takes on a whole new meaning when she shanghais you for an Udas Temple run! Whether they're in-game, a part of real life, or just an online fling love affair, relationships can and do have a profound affect on game play in Aion for everyone, not just those within said relationship. And while a Balaur's share of the effect is drama, that luckily is not the totality of it! Sometimes relationships create stability and camaraderie for groups and are beneficial to the community. Lovers'-leap over the break for Wings Over Atreia's look at relationships and their effects in Atreia.
The Daily Grind: Do you have departed friends from old games?
Friends leave. It's a sad reality, but it's still a reality, and it's hard to maintain a friendship when your only real common interest is a game that you no longer play together. Even though your friend might have left City of Heroes or Warhammer Online behind many years ago, you still think about your friendship and wonder about what the other person is up to -- but you were friends in the game and not elsewhere. There's no way to know, and nothing that can be done beyond sighing wistfully at the in-game horizon and hoping that your old buddy is still having fun. Play a game for long enough, and you'll no doubt find old friends that move on even while some stick around. So what friends do you remember from the games of yore that you no longer play alongside? Were they former real-life friends that gradually became game friends until you lost touch, or are they just people you met while playing EverQuest II? What sort of memories do you have about the departed, and have you ever managed to reconnect with an in-game friend you thought was gone for good? 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!
The Daily Grind: What do you think of MMO dating?
When we talk about MMO dating, we're not talking about the creepy guy in your guild who hits on all the female characters until you kick him out. No, we're talking about genuine dating, forming a relationship with someone and eventually asking the other person out on a date, possibly even in-game. Lucent Heart is unique in some ways because it offers a similar function baked in to the client, but nearly every longtime veteran has at least one story of the couple that met via the game and wound up in a happy relationship. On the one hand, if the key to making a relationship work is a shared interest, dating someone you meet via an MMO certainly seems like a viable approach. On the other hand, virtual relationships face a unique level of challenge even without introducing the possibility of a long argument over who should have rolled need on that last piece of gear. So what do you think about the idea of MMO dating? Is it a good idea with some problems or something that sounds nice but just doesn't work right? 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!
Divorce Online highlights cases caused by "gaming addiction"
Divorce Online, a do-it-yourself website that facilitates the filing of separation proceedings sans lawyers, says that a significant percentage of its "unreasonable behavior" petitions stem from cases of gaming addiction. The website highlights the fact that out of the 200 women who filed petitions between January and April of 2011, 15 percent featured complaints relating to spousal neglect in favor of titles like World of Warcraft and the Call of Duty series. Despite the fact that gaming addiction is not currently considered an actual addiction by the medical community, Game Politics notes Divorce Online's use of author Ryan Van Cleave in its press release. "A lot of the problem spouses encounter with video game addiction is that the non-gamer doesn't appreciate that it's an addiction. This means it's not a choice to spend so much time in a virtual environment versus time with the spouse and family. It's a compulsion," he says.
Drama Mamas: What to do after inappropriate chat between wife and guildie
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. Marriage is hard -- really, really hard. It's full of compromise and sacrifice. Sharing WoW as a common hobby can be a real boon to a healthy marriage, but it can also be a hotbed of temptation for an unhealthy one. Dear Robin and Lisa, I find myself in a situation that I have largely brought upon on myself. What I come to you for help in is what to do after I bust my butt fixing things. My wife and I both play WoW and lately I haven't been playing as much as I used to. Well along those same lines, I've been a bit blinded by my own happiness and blissfully living in ignorance of how the rest of my life outside of the game was going as far as the happiness of my wife. As of recently I have come to find out that she isn't as happy as I thought and that she has been sending text messages back and forth with a guildmate, that borders on the wrong side.
Runes of Magic celebrates its second birthday
Happy birthday, Runes of Magic! Two years have gone by, and you're growing up so fast. Anniversary celebrations are already underway in RoM. If your account has been lying dormant, you may want to wake it up, join the festivities, and get some free goodies while you're at it. For me, these two years flew by. It doesn't seem all that long ago that I wrote a look back at the first year of RoM. In two years, RoM has seen three major updates, and a fourth is just around the corner. The first two chapters made it into the first year, and although Chapter 4 didn't quite make it into this article, chapter 3 brought a whopping amount of content and features. If your extra ginger beer isn't cutting it anymore and you're feeling brave, move on up by grabbing a bottle of Blenhiem's old #5 and join me for a look back at the last year of RoM.
