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Hyperspace Beacon: The rest of SWTOR's year-end report
The end of the year is nigh, and as I promised, I will give you my final thoughts on Star Wars: The Old Republic and its achievements for 2013. I wanted my assessment to be based on something other than squishy feelings. Of course, opinions are extremely subjective, but that doesn't mean they cannot be based on something a bit more substantial. In July, I created a mid-term report card for SWTOR using Dr. Richard Battle's studies as the starting point. Bartle's study allowed me to step out of my normal playstyle and observe the game from the standpoint of different types of MMO players. Some players find discovery and exploration to be the most important part of an MMO. Others want to achieve the highest scores or defeat the biggest bosses. Some want to prove that they are better than other players in direct combat, and yet other players want to use the game as an interactive chatroom or work with a group to achieve a goal. Few people fall neatly into one category or other, but nearly everyone will have a dominant motivation. A couple of weeks ago, I graded the game based on the perspective of Bartle's Killer type, giving SWTOR a C- in the category. Because of Galactic Starfighter and 4v4 arenas, I raised the grade from the F I gave it during the mid-term report. I gave the game an A- for Achievers, B for Explorers, and C for the Socializer earlier this year. Has SWTOR been able to raise its grade in these other categories?
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR mid-term report card
It's history lesson time. In 1996, Dr. Richard Bartle, who earned his PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Essex, wrote a paper analyzing the different types of gamers who play massively multiplayer games. At the time, these games mostly consisted of MUDs (a genre Bartle helped create), but there were certainly enough data from Bartle's study that could be ported over to MMORPGs, which is exactly what Erwin Andreasen and Brandon Downey did in 1999 and 2000 when they created the Bartle Test. Since then, the Bartle Test, which breaks up online gamers into four general categories (achiever, explorer, killer, and socializer), has been used as a standard in discovering which online games players would enjoy most. Why bring this up? Well, we are about six months into the second year of Star Wars: The Old Republic. The first year was fraught with high expectations and slow delivery. Many failed attempts at greatness made the first year of SWTOR a bit of a downer. However, in this second year, in light of the ever-changing market of MMORPGs, the Star Wars MMO took steps to put itself on a better path. Using the Bartle Test as my litmus test, I will break down and grade this year's performance so far.
Flameseeker Chronicles: What's your golden carrot?
On the Sunday of the most recent beta weekend for Guild Wars 2, I found myself trying to figure out precisely what incentive my friends and I might have to go through the explorable mode of dungeons before we hit level 80. The question arose, in a roundabout way, because there's not a tremendous amount of XP available (you spend more time killing fewer things), which makes sense if you're a developer trying to discourage players from entering a dungeon they have no intention of completing in order to farm experience, but it left us wondering whether we'd feel compelled to participate in explorable mode dungeons as we progressed through the game. The point of the matter is, unless you're well and truly enamored of the armor attainable through a specific dungeon's tokens, there might not be much empirical motivation to get through a repeatable dungeon. This stood out to me because so much of the game's reward structure is so clear and well-designed. Although I'll certainly never make the claim that the game will please everyone, or even that ArenaNet's fine folks are trying to please everyone, it is evident that they're building in support for a wide variety of play and reward styles.
The Daily Grind: How much of your social life comes from MMOs?
While we may be the target of mockery or quizzical expressions for mentioning our online friends, relationships in MMOs are often a significant part of a gamer's social life. After all, gamers are places where we all share a common interest, can go on uncommon adventures, and have the potential to forge bonds that transcend the game itself. So how much of your social life comes from MMOs? Do you have a great group of friends or a guild that's there to support you, laugh with you and have fun with you? Did you ever fall in love in an MMO and perhaps find your way to the altar together? Do you log in more to hang out and be goofy with your pals than to grind your way to the level cap? Are MMOs just a small fraction of your social scene or the majority of it? For a bonus question and a cookie, does your MMO social life mirror your social life outside of the game or is it the polar opposite? Do you have a few friends in real life but a ton online, or are you the same party animal in game that you are out on the town? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of our 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 The Daily Grind!
CrimeCraft's executive producer talks on the game's strengths
CrimeCraft may have launched with a bang, but that bang appeared to be less of a gunshot and more of a car backfiring. Vogster Entertainment's MMOFPS was met with somewhat mixed reviews, moved to a free-to-play model, and found itself banned in Australia. But the game persists, and executive producer Matt McEnerney recently sat down with Warcry to discuss issues ranging from the Australia ban to the game's focus. In a rather refreshing moment, McEnerney flatly states that the game is not for everyone, going on to state that those players who fall under Bartle's classification of Explorer or Socializer will be less likely to enjoy the game. It's a positive mark of candor, and certainly helps strengthen McEnerney's points on what the gae is trying to do and what it's best at. The interview also covers the current endgame option, whiich focus heavily on PvP amidst the game's warring families of gangs. On the Australia ban, the producer's statement is essentially one that the government can ban the game from shelves but not hard drives -- which strikes us as a little criminal, but when you're talking about a game called CrimeCraft, do you really expect much different? Those interested in the game should take a look at the full interview, which is a bit more honest in places than we've come to expect from the genre.
The Daily Grind: What's your Bartle quotient?
The Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology has long been a staple of the MUD and MMORPG community. We've ever mentioned it here a couple of times.The Bartle Test (developed by -- you guessed it -- Richard Bartle) is a series of questions the answers to which result in the test-taker's Bartle Quotient. In your Bartle Quotient, you're told how closely you identify with each of four types of MMO gamer pychologies -- Achiever, Explorer, Killer, and Socializer. The final figure is a ranking -- from most dominant to least dominant -- of those types in your own gaming personality. For example, this blogger is an ESKA.The test has been criticized over the years as an innacurate or insufficient measurement, but it's remained popular nonetheless. Take the test, and tell us where you stand. Do you feel it's accurate? If not, where did it go wrong?
Exemplary conduct: WoW expansion adds over 80 new emotes
There have been some leaks from the "friends & family" alpha test for World of Warcraft's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Our sister site WoW Insider has kept up with some of the finer details from the leak, but one recent bit of info got us thinking.The info: WotLK will add over 80 new emotes to WoW players' social repertoire. That's awesome, but it leads us to ask a question: why don't social emotes get more attention in the MMO genre? In general, things like that are sporadically tacked on as small bonuses, if they get added at all. Developers don't make them a big priority. We understand the reasons; gameplay always comes first, right?Well, maybe not always. MMOs are unique in gaming because of their social and community aspects. Emote animations play a part in social interactions. Maybe developers should think about more than just raid mechanics. Maybe they should consider devoting resources to expanding social interaction features. You don't have to be a Bartle Socializer to appreciate emotes, do you?[Via WoW Insider]
