Game Guts - Gaming Inside Out

On like Donkey Kong

2011-09-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge fan of Donkey Kong. We've got an multi-arcade game at the office, so I can play it properly (i.e. standing up) pretty much every day, plus I play it on an emulator at home. I'm pretty ok at it, but nothing like the "pro" players you hear about from "King of Kong" and such. How good am I? Well, the famous Donkey Kong kill screen occurs on level 22. I can regularly reach level 4, but have never made it to level 5. My high score is in the 70k range, pros can get millions.

Donkey Kong is hard. Really hard. Now that I play it regularly, I've classified how I die in to a number of categories.

My Own Damn Stupid Fault - A simple lack of reflexes or a lapse in judgement results in my demise. This happens less and less as I play more and more. Still, about a 3rd of my deaths are MODSF. These are the deaths where I throw my hands in the air and let out a special word or two. Like "darn!", but with feeling. Typical MODSF errors include failing to jump properly to get a Hammer and landing on a flame guy or not making the leap from the right-elevator to the upper platform on the Elevator level.
Tricky Situation Fail - There are many situations in DK that are simply hard to survive, though not impossible. Barrels spaced too far apart to jump both, but close enough that double jumping each is very hard (I'm getting better at this, however.) Also, the Spring on the Elevator level is always tricky. While it's my fault when I die as a result of TSF, I don't beat myself up about it, because those situations are legitimately difficult. I've never made it past the Spring on Level 4, though I've read about how to do it. Very tricky.
Impossible Situations - There are situations in DK that I don't think it's possible to survive. Getting cornered by flames on the Rivets or Factory level, barrels falling in just the wrong way on the barrels level. Great players know how to avoid the situations. I'm not great, so I just die.

I've read comments following DK competition record articles where gamers honestly don't think DK is fun. While everyone's entitle to their opinion, there's no getting around how fun I find it. I'm going to reach level 5. I'm going to break that 100k score mark. When? No idea.

-Adam!!!

Bitten by the Bug, Possibly a Tyranid

2011-08-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

It's happened. I want to play games...with people...again and often. Since parting ways with Hidden City Games roughly three years ago, I've almost completely succeeded from the hobby of playing games. What was a daily part of my life has become something I struggle to do more then two or three times each year.

Mentor Legion Commander, ATTACK!

I don't want to buy any games I'm buried in gaming stuff as is. I want fewer boxes of games in my house, not more. What I want is to USE these boxes of games. First up, quite possibly my favorite all time game, Warhammer 40k. Only D&D could rival the hours I've spent on 40k, and if you count the time spent painting minis and constructing terrain, it's likely I've spent more time on 40k than any other hobby in life. Even so, I haven't played it in four or five years.

Chaplain with Jump Pack and Power Fist. In the old days, he was quite the tank buster. Not sure how he'll do under the new rules. (I think fine.)

New editions have changed the rules twice since last I played. Prices of 40k miniatures appear to have doubled since last I played. I'm frankly shocked by the prices. Even if I really start playing frequently, which I doubt, there's no way I will purchase more than a few small miniatures, if any. If I do want more minis, bargain purchases from eBay and used items from friends would be the most likely option.

I've got Space Marines and Imperial Guard (a LOT of both) and the Marines are ready to go. The composition of a Space Marine army appears to much as it has been since 2nd edition.

In addition to Tanks, I have a lot of Imperial Guard troopers with heavy weapons superglued to their shoulders. I need to turn those troopers into two-man weapon team units. I'm going to try and find some parts to do nice conversions with them. My first project! Awesome!

Don't worry, his Gene-Seed has been successfully recovered by the Platoon Medic.

I've started painting. I don't have all the supplies I need to finish the bases, so I've suspending painting until I get to Hobbytown again. Also, I want to paint some more Ultramarines, but I forgot to buy Ultramarine Blue last time.

My first new painted mini in years. I'm pleased though I know I can paint better. See the crappy gravel on the base. The bases on my other minis are pretty modest, but that's not nearly good enough. Yes, that's 15 Rough Riders in the background. I want to field all of them someday.

So the next thing to do is sort out how to actually get playing. If I must, I can probably find a local game store with a 40k night. Not my first choice, as I have so many friends that play. I want to play something, not necessarily always 40k, at least twice a month on weeknight evenings. Not being able to drive might put this off until Autumn, but nice weather has always made it hard to game, so that could be for the best. Besides, I've got mini's to paint.

-Adam!!!

What I wish I could say:

2011-04-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Regarding ourWorld players who try to gain access to other players' accounts:

"If we catch you requesting passwords, Emails, or access to another account again, you will be banned. We're not fucking around."

The actual text we use is somewhat muted in comparison, though in action, that's exactly what we do.

And we're not.

-Adam!!!

Minimum Comics

2011-01-13T09:34:00.000-08:00

Not really gaming related, more like a pet project. My goal is to post 100 strips in 100 days (give or take) then decide if I want to keep going.

Minimum Comics

-Adam!!!

Defining the Brand and the Product with Care

2010-10-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

In regards to things I really care about, I hate it when marketers or spokespeople refer to whatever their company creates or does as 'the brand' or 'the product'. Both terms are generic and emotionally detached. For the serious fan of the whatever-it-is, that lack of specificity and emotion is at best irritating and at worst insulting.

In general, I want the people who make or run or manage something I care about to appear to be as emotionally engaged with the thing as I am.

I'm not that emotionally concerned about Tide, so they can call it "product" as far as I'm concerned.

While it helps, this engagement doesn't have to be 100% sincere. I'm sure Disney employees aren't (all) as jazzed about Disney* as the guests, but when everyone's doing their job right, the guests would never know.

Frequently corporate spokespeople don't show that sort of care for their charge, and it bugs me.

Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

*Some totally are!

ourWorld Mobile!

2010-09-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

While we're just getting into what a cool ourWorld mobile app (or apps) might be, the latest version of Flash for Android has real ourWorld running, for real, on a phone.

I'm annoyed I have an iPhone for the very first time!

To be fair, it's runs pretty darn slow, but run it does.

Adam!!!

http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Don't Bring a Resume' to a Flaregun Fight

2010-05-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

by Adam!!!

For my entire career in the gaming industry, people have asked, "how do I get to do what you do?" It's a fair question but difficult to answer. The real answer is you need to be connected and you need to have skills. It helps tremendously to have friends in the gaming industry, and if you want to make your living working with them, those friends need to respect what you bring to the table. It doesn't matter if you're an artist, designer, programmer, or just a nerd with people skills, contacts and skills are the surest way to get in the door. I've seen many people do very well with huge doses of one and not so much of the other, but most people need both.

Pick out the genius game designer or artist in this GenCon crowd

Social Skills. It's a stereotype that geeks lack social skills. I've seen this first hand at gaming conventions thousands of times over. That said, as geekdom gets more mainstream, and it clearly has, this stereotype has withered considerably. The people I consider the coolest people I know now fit squarely in the geek category. They are good, funny, decent, friendly people who can and do excel in most social situations, even non geeky ones. Also, they are nerdcore. My point is that the nerdy talent pool is so large that the total social misfit may have a harder time than they did when the industry was younger, and less polished. If you really have trouble with people, you'll need to be a genius in other ways. Provided people don't hate you, being a genius can get you a long ways (so I've witnessed.) If you're a genius and are great with people, that's the recipe for geek stardom.

Do What You Do. If you want to make games, the best thing you can do is make some games. If you're a programmer, program. If you're an artist, make art. My view is that until you are making money, you need to share whatever it is you do with as many people as you can manage. Don't get hung up on getting paid. If you really are doing work worth being paid for, the money will come. You have to get noticed and respected first. If you're a paper games guy, like me, make paper games. I'm not nearly as prolific as I'd like, and I believe that's why making games isn't my main gig. My friends who really are game designers design many more games than ever get published, and some that really deserve attention. I've designed maybe five truly playable games (spent nearly a year on one) and through a remarkable stroke of luck got one published. That doesn't happen unless somebody is really lucky and really connected*. At the time, I was both.

Share Share Share. It doesn't cost anything to share your work, ideas, art, or games. Do whatever is is you do and get it out to the world. Do things that get people talking and sharing. Gaming industry insiders do have expertise, but they have limited bandwidth. If you don't know them personally, give them another reason to pay attention to what you bring to the table. If you're standing in a crowded room, trying to get attention, get yourself flaregun.

I said at the beginning you need to have friends. Doing something really cool is the most effective way to get industry people to talk to you. Being really cool is the best way to make friends. Skills and Connections. Connections and Skills.

*Also lucky was the enthusiasm for our project my partner and co-designer, Luke Matthews, brought to the table. I wouldn't even have the one game if not for him.

http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Personal Bandwidth, Personal Filters, and Wil Wheaton

2010-05-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

by Adam!!!

Last week at W00tstock I knew several people involved with the show and a couple of people who were actually in the show. Being the geek that I am, I had hoped, but not expected, that these personal connections might be parlayed into meeting some of the headliners, particularly Adam Savage from Mythbusters or king of geeks Wil Wheaton. My friend Paul, who went with me to the show, created a little game called Guillotine, of which Wil Wheaton is a fan. This lucky situation gave Mike (our friend in the show) an excuse to introduce Wil to Paul in the crowded Moore Theater lobby just after the show. Wil had a hundred plus persons long line of fans to attend to at the time of meeting, so the entire encounter lasted maybe 45 seconds. The brief nature of the meeting was not a problem as the dude had pending business, and could not be long delayed. I don't think Wil noticed me at all. I'm frequently in sidekick mode when I'm with my mega talented friends, so that's no problem either.

Wil Wheaton says "don't be a dick"

The entire encounter got me thinking about why Adam Savage or Wil Wheton would want to meet someone. I have concluded that the accomplishments of a person are one way to define the value of a personal connection, when one of the people has a limited amount of personal bandwith available. Paul had created a game that Wil played and enjoyed, and that accomplishment meant that Wil would appreciate meeting him. If Wil was a huge fan of my game,Torches and Pitchforks, I suspect he'd have wanted to meet me as well. (It's possible he is a big fan, and he totally missed out meeting his game design hero, but I sort of doubt it.) The setting is a huge deal as well, as Wil had hundreds of fans to deal with. If we'd met at a party or over drinks, things would have been totally different.

As soon as more people want to meet you than your personal bandwidth can comfortably handle, you need to start filtering your connections. In the case of Wil, he had a few seconds for a special exchange with Paul, no time for me, and then he gave a long line of fans each a few moments. For the fans part, they had to stand in a very long line for their time. Everybody understood, and I think it was rewarding for everyone.

I have become a primary representative of ourWorld, as I communicate more often and more directly with more players than any other single person at the company. It's a huge responsibility because one false step can result in serious negative repercussions. The number and manner of contacts I receive is such that my ability to filter successfully has become more and more crucial to doing my job well.

Most of my filtering comes in the form of prioritizing and narrowing the communication methods I accept. I answer pretty much all support@ourworld.com email. Players who send me Forum Private Messages get replies, but not timely ones because lately I've only managed to check the forums weekly. Players who send messages to my ourWorld avatar, itself a public figure in the game, tend to get ignored entirely and the avatar's About Me section says so.

Like Wil on the evening of W00tstock, I have to decide who, when, and how I can deal with different people and who I have to ignore so things don't break down. In most cases, I don't really know the person who's contacting me, so they wait in the line, just like the fans at W00tstock after the show. This is the role of the support Email address. It's fair and everyone gets a little virtual face time. Also like the meeting Paul had with Wil, the more one of our players brings to the table, the happier I'll be to set aside some special time for that player. In the case of our players, being a paying customer is the easiest way to bring something extra to the table. Volunteers, moderators, and playtesters get special consideration as well. I'd like to moderate the amount of time I spend handling the anonymous line of players and apply more of my time to the special members of the ourWorld community. I haven't been very successful at it so far, but I will continue to strive in that direction. I firmly believe that much of a community's strength comes from a subset of highly active members or leaders. In the case of a product like ourWorld, the strength of the community is directly impacted by our ability to support those leaders.

Just thought of this right this moment. All of the current communication options I have for ourWorld players feel like that crowded theater lobby. It'd be great I could create a setting more like a small party or gathering. That allows for better two way communication and stronger overall connections. Just an idea, but worth considering...

http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

100 Best x 2

2010-05-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

Nice review of a pair of books published by my friend Chris at Green Ronin.

Wired - Best Family and Hobby Games

I know most of the people whose quotes are shared in the review, and they are all profoundly knowledgeable in the ways of games and gaming.

-Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

The Cathedral of Enforcement

2010-05-09T15:55:00.000-07:00

by Adam!!!

I proudly attended W00tstock 2.0 in Seattle Friday night. It was chock full of nerdy goodness, and most of it can be found on YouTube.

Ladies and gentlemen, my brother in enforcement, Stepto:

http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

It's Hard to Change

2010-04-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

by Adam

We update ourWorld every other Monday, pretty much like clockwork. That's a lot of changes, updates, improvements, fixes, and additions to a site that was pretty darned modest when it was launched on April 1, 2008.

Buzz Cafe, ourWorld, circa 2008

Things that didn't exist when we launched:

Gems, or anything you now buy with Gems.
Friends (at least not like friends are now)
Condos
Marketplace
Gifting in any manner
Chat for under 13 year old players
Electric Avenue, Wonderland, Soho, Nevermore, Beat Street, and the Beach
Crews
About half of the Games in the Arcade
Poker, Pool, nor Dance Planet

Basically, ourWorld was a flash game site with a 3d chat feature were you could dress up your avatar. Oh my, how it has grown.

Buzz Cafe, 2010. Note the massive changes to the interface, including the Friend's Bar

We get massive numbers of requests and suggestions for ourWorld, and most we can't act upon. The reasons are fairly universal for a game of ourWorld's sort, and I expect the managers of our competitors (YoVille, SmallWorlds, etc.) base their upgrade/addition decisions on similar criteria as us.

Will this make us money?
That's the big question. If the answer is no, chances are we're not doing it. We can't. Every update and improvement, no matter how small, costs the time of our talented staff, and that time costs money. What's the return going to be on that cost? Features that we charge for (for ourWorld that means Resident Members only or items that cost Gems, our premium currency) are an easy sell. If the idea is cool and it will obviously generate revenue, the team rolls up its sleeves and gets to work. Those sorts of projects usually have top priority. Our new Critter Garden fell into that category.

That doesn't mean that every update has to actually be a direct revenue generator, with a monetary cost to our players. Non-revenue generating improvements happen all the time, but we weigh them far more carefully before tackling them. If we don't think the change will move the needle in terms of the overall quality of the site, player retention, and ultimately subscriptions and Gem purchases, the project will likely get a pass. We gets lots of requests for small improvements to this or that portion of the site, and while we often agree making the improvement would be, well, an improvement, the effort involved would not drastically impact the overall quality of the site. Such incremental changes are unlikely unless they are very simple to make happen.

Example: We get requests for improved Email tools, where players can review sent messages and recover deleted ones. Yes, that'd be super, but there's no way that impacts the bottom line.

It's also the reason some of the older features haven't been improved, even though we know they could use the attention. The same effort could create a new location that would generate attention and excitement, while renovating an old feature provides far less in terms of reaction. Bummer, but true. On the other hand, when we discover an actual problem, like when it was hard to arrange furniture in your Condo, we redid the interface so it was far more clear. The change was simple to make and it made a distinct improvement to the experience for all of our players. The effort required matched up with the improvement to the site, even though a better User Interface doesn't contribute to the bottom line in any measurable way. General improvements do have value, they're just more modest and harder to measure.

Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Snail Mail Mayhem

2010-04-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

by Adam

We get a pile of mail-in ourWorld payments each day. Most have $10 as that's the deal we promote for mail-in payments and it's a pretty good deal, overall. In a few cases we've received envelopes full of hundreds, though sadly that doesn't happen very often. Sometimes we get things that are a bit out of the ordinary...

Four ones, thirty dimes, and twelve quarters. Before I opened it, I was afraid it would be pennies!

Very cute anime style girl.

Coins! Gems! The little girl in the middle is saying "ourWorld"

If I could, I'd vote for more art and less coins (seriously kids, it's not a great idea to mail cash!) but both are awesome!

Adam

http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

How to REALLY get Free Gems in ourWorld

2010-04-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

by Adam

There are dozens of blogs and sites dedicated to the unending quest for free ourWorld Gems. Many provide the latest Gem Codes and details on any Gem related offers that might be going on. I'm going to try to list every consistent way a player can get free Gems, plus the advantages or disadvantages of each offer. I'm not including contests, like the Webhunts, as they do not provide Gems to a large number of players.

Invite Friends - ourWorld's original free Gem offer. Invite new players to play via Email or Link (like the one to the left), and as they gain levels you get Gems. 1 per level gained, awarded every 5th level. This can be quite lucrative, as one player who linked from this blog reached level 100, providing my account with 100 free Gems.
Advantages: Once new players accept the invite and play, free Gems just appear without any additional effort from the referrer.
Disadvantages: Players making fake accounts and leveling them have forced us to cap how the Gems are awarded. While this has no effect on players who use the program as intended (inviting new players) players who are cheating the system with accounts they make themselves become confused then the Gems stop coming.

ourWorld Newsletter - About once per month, ourWorld releases an electronic Newsletter that includes the game's latest features and a Gem Code worth 10 Gems.
Advantages: Gem Code works once for everybody.
Disadvantages: Players under 13 don't get the newsletter. Newsletter is released on an irregular schedule. The Gem Code works once per account and expires a few weeks after the Newsletter is released.

ourWorld Toolbar - Every Monday, around 12pm PST, players who have installed the ourWorld Toolbar get a new Gem Code worth 10 Gems. The code only works when the game is launched through the Toolbar, preventing non-Toolbar users from getting the Gems.
Advantage: More free Gems are awarded via the Toolbar than any other method. Also, it's not a terrible Toolbar. I've installed it both at work and at home.
Disadvantage: Players who's accounts are created on Facebook and Tagged can't use the toolbar, nor can players using less mainstream web browsers. Some players (and their parents) are afraid the toolbar will harm their computers. Despite false rumors to the contrary, the thing is not capable of harming anyone's computer. The Gem Codes work once per account and expire after one week.

Gambit & Super Rewards - Some game sites use these (and similar) programs as their sole source of income. They are essentially sites with hundreds of promotional offers, both free and otherwise. The companies that host the offers pay Gambit & Super Rewards when the offers are completed, and ourWorld gets a cut. The reward for the player is paid out in Gems.
Advantage: These offers are the only way a player can get a large number of Gems without actually purchasing them. Some are very easy, requiring little more than a few minutes of attention.
Disavantage: The offers change rapidly and there is no way for ourWorld to review all of them. ourWorld selects the 'safest' offers available, but there are still complaints about spam and other problems. Not all the offers are truly free, so players must pay attention when selecting them. There are also many reports of 'completed' offers not paying out, though ourWorld has no say in whether or not an offer is checked off as completed. These problems have improved dramatically in the last few months, as the promo offer industry has gone through a bit of shake up recently.

TMPSocial - ourWorld's latest free Gem offer appears directly in some ourWorld players' inboxes. Players follow the link, view the material or add the Facebook app, and up to 20 Gems are awarded.
Advantage: Easy, quick, and the Gem payout is larger than the usual Gambit or Super Rewards offer for the effort required.
Disadvantage: Not all players get the offers. New players and younger players don't get them. Facebook has been required for most of them. There have been a few reports of Gems not being awarded, but we haven't been able to verify the reasons. Like Gambit and Super Rewards, ourWorld only awards the Gems when TMPSocial tells us the offer was successfully completed.

I'm sure I've forgotten something, but that's the basic list. The business of games like ourWorld is to sell Gems, not give them away, so if somebody says you can get a lot of Gems for free, it's either a scam or there's a catch. Even most of these offers aren't really free. Players are being paid in Gems for performing an action ourWorld is getting paid real money for (not much money, but some.)

If you look at it, shelling out $5.99 for 150 Gems and membership is probably the easiest way to get Gems of them all. Coming soon, $10 ourWorld Gift cards for 1 month Resident +300 Gems will be appearing in US stores everywhere! (Photo coming soon as well!)

Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Wylde's Critter Garden

2010-04-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

We launched a new feature on ourWorld this week which might be our best yet. I don't want to brag, which is good because I had very little to do with this one.

The garden uses ourWorld's existing Condo system and adds a Farmville/Farmtown style game mechanic

The game is called Critter Garden and it has a lot of things going for it. First, everyone in ourWorld can play it, for free. Even better, players who want the fancier stuff can pay us for fancier nests, more nests, and garden upgrades.

Also, the new garden features some of our best art yet. The artists, animators, and modelers really outdid themselves, and more great stuff is on the way. I work with a bunch of geniuses, and I can't stress enough how lucky I feel to be on their team.

If you're in ourWorld, feel free to stop by Wylde's garden.

That's right, sheep eggs. Got a problem with that?

Adam!!!

http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Roger Ebert, less wrong, more misunderstood?

2010-04-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Roger Ebert, of whom I am a huge fan, has taken a lot of heat for his "Video Games aren't art" stance. Chris Anderson of Wired, who I am also a huge fan, has published a clarification, which if accurate goes a long way to soothing the pain of Ebert's betrayal of all I hold dear (kidding.)

Tasty Choices! Is the plate you construct art?

Chris Anderson's Clarification

The crux of the issue is how Ebert defines art. His definition centers on the intent of the artist more than the experience the person engaged with the piece. I still disagree, but can respect his view now that I understand it better. When I read his original article for whatever reason I missed this point entirely. I may have been reading with emotional blinders on.

Ebert: I believe art is created by an artist. If you change it, you become the artist...Art seeks to lead you to an inevitable conclusion, not a smorgasbord of choices.

And there you go. The thing is, I still consider thought and emotion provoking games like Half Life 2 art, and I don't feel like I am the artist when I play them. Ebert may actually be giving games too much credit. Most allow choices, but the final results of the games are normally fixed, or a narrow set of fixed possibilities. Games like Spore, where the player really does have a vast paint brush to play with, allow the player to be the artist, but the game itself is still, to my dismay, rather linear with a more or less inevitable conclusion. Still art.

Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Some Weapons Bad, Some Weapons Cool

2010-04-20T22:50:00.000-07:00

I'm not a fan of guns or tanks or most weapons of war. I do find them to be intriguing machines, but I can't get past the horrible reality of thier intended purpose. When I see a tank, for example, I see a tool for killing first and an impressive piece of machinery second. Guns, as a rule, hold no interest for me whatsoever. For some reason, warplanes are a different story. I am so impressed by them that I easily forget their purpose, and as such really enjoy them. Even being aware of the horrors of the Great War, WWI planes, in particular, I just love.

Get that limey, Red Baron!

Slightly on topic, I think this explains why I prefer fantastic combat games to gritty reality. From Warhammer 40k to Unreal Tournament (yes, I'm behind the times in my FPS's) There is one exception. I seem to be able to mow down legions of Nazis and not feel even the smallest tinge of guilt.

Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Roger Ebert is both right and wrong. Mostly wrong

2010-04-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

Ebert "Games can never be art"

Edit: A wonderful response to the article from Brian Ashcroft

Half-Life 2 stirs my emotions in a number of ways. Does that make it art?

A game itself may or may not be art, but the components, be they physical or electronic clearly are. It's not even a question. A masterfully crafted chess set isn't art? How about the backgrounds in a Final Fantasy game? How much art in a game does it take before the entire thing is an artistic experience? That's up to the artists and the person experiencing the game, and not anyone else.

I define art as something that stirs emotion in the person that experiences it. This allows things that were not originally meant to be art to be presented as such and still succeed. Andy Warhol agreed with me. It also means that some people aren't stirred and don't recognize the artistic value. That's fine, too. In my world, that's how it works.

Most really great art also has detractors who claim it isn't art. I kind of like the idea that appreciation is a zero sum prospect, where others' dismissal allows the rest of us to experience an even greater level of emotion towards the piece.

Adam!!
http://www.gameguts.blogspot.com/

What you can learn...anywhere.

2010-03-25T08:29:00.001-07:00

What you can learn from a lousy teacher...

By Seth Godin

If you have a teacher (of any sort) that you cannot please, that you cannot learn from, that is unwilling to take you where you need to go because he is defending the status quo and demonstrates your failure on whatever report card he chooses to use, you could consider yourself a failure. Or you could remind yourself...

Grades are an illusion
Your passion and insight are reality
Your work is worth more than mere congruence to an answer key
Persistence in the face of a skeptical authority figure is a powerful ability
Fitting in is a short-term strategy, standing out pays off in the long run
If you care enough about the work to be criticized, you've learned enough for today

Trust Comes from not Sucking

2010-03-09T17:51:00.000-08:00

I get my internet from Comcast. It's expensive, but it's fast and generally reliable. They also provide some cool features every now and then, and based on an Email I just received, I thought maybe they had a new one I could use.

It says: You now have acccess to Secure Backup and Sharing. You see, I just lost a bunch of data from a failed hard drive, maybe I'm interested in this. *Click*

Here's the Email. Activate now...it's included. Sweet. If I want more than two GB of space, I need to pay extra. That's how these things work, so that's cool. Quick & Easy. *Click*

Activate, yes, I want to activate. Easier yes, it's easier. I get it. *Click*

What the hell? What happened to 'included', what happened to 'easy'. They sent the friggin' Email to this account, on this computer. There are no instructions in the Email they sent me, not counting claims of how easy it is. I've invested less than 5 minutes in this "Easy" and "Secure" system, and I've already decided there is NO WAY I can trust them. No place to click, no further instructions, just a big, fat, sorry, we didn't mean YOU, minus the sorry.

Idiots.

Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Viralality

2010-03-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

Success of online games depends on 'going viral' and ourWorld is no exception. We continue to work on improving our presence on social networking sites like Facebook and Tagged as well as partnering with an ever growing assortment of gaming portals, including MiniClip.

The basic process of "going viral" is to making it easy and rewarding for individuals to share what you do with their friends and family. The tricky parts are designing "easy" and measuring "rewarding" in ways that actually matter to both the you and your existing players.

Facebook has mastered easy. In fact, it became so easy that Facebook members who weren't interested in every last application began to complain about the massive number of referrals their friends were sending, both on purpose and through semi-automated systems. Facebook has began reigning in these referrals, making it a bit more difficult to get the word out if you're not already successful on the platform. Not impossible, just more difficult.

Rewarding is tricky because the purpose of referrals is getting new players. In ourWorld we give Gems (in game currency that normally costs real money) for referrals, but many, many of those referrals are fake, just people making accounts and leveling them up themselves for the free stuff. We've capped the awards players can make doing this, but clearly the goal of finding new players could be hit more squarely. The key to really nailing referral awards would be something that makes inviting actual, real, friends is really valuable, both to the player and to the friend.

Valuable to the current player is fairly easy. They've already bought into the game and in-game awards are meaningful. The people being invited, however, don't know anything about the game. Promises of Gems, Clothes, Furniture, or Power Items are essentially meaningless. The only thing in the game they know about is their friend. That means the invite needs to focus on spending online time in a cool world with your friend, and it has to be easy to do with no strings attached.

To the real keys to a viral feature: Easy, Rewarding, Easy, Friendship, Easy.

I think we can work with that.

Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Culture of Crime

2010-03-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

When players find a loophole in a game that benefits them, most will exploit that loophole. In regards to online games, my view has always been that if it's possible, it's allowed. It's up to the designers and programmers to prevent and close loopholes, and not the players to police themselves.

In the case of ourWorld, a recent loophole closure prevented players from using 'dummy' accounts to buff up their main accounts through the game's gifting system. Many players had dozens of accounts, and a few had hundreds. Use of these dummy accounts let players get items that normally cost real money for free, in potentially unlimited amounts.

Here's the thing, we're not certain that practice was actually bad for the game. It may be that some number of Gems (the for-real-money currency of ourWorld) greater than we currently provide for free is what's best for the game's success. We're looking quite hard at this, actually. I'm not at all certain what the answer here is.

I am certain that closing the loophole was the correct course of action from a cultural standpoint. I think large numbers of players knowingly scamming a game is toxic to the community. Players shouldn't feel like they have to run what is obviously a scam to get the results they want from a game. Players who choose not to run the scam shouldn't feel like they're foolish for leaving 'free stuff' on the table. The entire situation creates discord and I'm glad that we've put a stop to it.

If it is decided that more free Gems injected into the ourWorld community is best for everyone, the process should be done inside the game, in a manner that's above board and for everyone. If it's not, well, then our job will be to make sure the game with the current level of Gem awards is still drop-dead-amazing. Time to go back to work!

Adam!!!
www.gameguts.blogspot.com

Let's Me and You Fight! (Old School)

2010-03-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason, my favorite fighting game of all time has faded into obscurity. Likely the reasons I liked it so much are the reasons for its lack of enduring success.

Bushido Blade

Most people don't remember this game from the prime Playstation 1 years, but back in 1997, when fighting games were absolutely the dominant form of game, it stood apart.

Unlike nearly every game before or since, Bushido Blade didn't bother with life bars. Your attacks could have two effects. Wound or Kill. Some battles lasted a second or less. Because blocking was so very important, everyone who played the game got really good at it, and the results were amazing. Dodging, parrying, thrusting, and ultimately positioning yourself for that final blow. The battlefields were large and fairly plain (even for the time) but included a lot of cool touches. For example, in the bamboo forest, attacking too close to a tree would cut it down. Some battles would be put on hold for a bit of forestry, before the death-dealing could commence.

It included a fairly interesting solo adventure mode, but, like most fighting games, one-on-one duels where the highlight of the game. Ultimately, I think the lack of the expected life bar and the potential for really short games turned off too many players. Combine that with a sub-par sequel and a publisher that was more interested in making vast piles of money with Final Fantasy games and the book closed on this amazing and unique fighter. Bushido Blade never made the jump to the next generation.

Such is life...and violent, brutal, death.

Adam!!!
http://www.gameguts.blogspot.com/

Fan Site on Steriods!

2010-03-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen...The ourWorld Cereal Killers

Damn fine site. You got a better one? Let me know!

Deja What Again?

2010-02-18T12:40:00.000-08:00

From Virtual World News:

Richard Garriott's Portalarium Aiming At A More Mainstream Second Life?

Later in 2010 the company plans to release CenterPort, "the virtual world social hub for the OpenLife ecosystem, a broad yet fully integrated meta-community." CenterPort will start as a social network app, though the company promises that it "will be more graphically advanced than what you see out there on social networks today." It will include a persistent avatar and "a semi-3D world" where users can buy virtual clothes, housing, accessories, and more. Currency can be acquired either through ad-supported mini-games or direct purchases.

Some of the development features may be new, but the general description of their product sounds, well, like another game I'm pretty familiar with, right down to the poker game.

When Ultima 3 came out, Richard "Lord British" Garriott was THE rockstar of game developers. Also, he more or less invented the MMORPG with Ultima Online.

Maybe the report is missing important details, but I don't see the innovation here. With Flash 10 coming, even moving away from Flash seems like an odd move. Still, the dude's got a worthy track record. I for one will stay tuned.

Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Dantes Internet

2010-02-16T18:56:00.000-08:00

Not sure where this came from, but I love it.

-Adam!!!

The Volunteer Train - CHOO CHOO!!!!

2010-02-16T17:18:00.000-08:00

Somebody gets a lot more traffic than I do! One of the more popular ourWorld blogs must have posted about the volunteer program because over the weekend I have received hundreds of new requests from ourWorld players who want to be volunteers. As most of the requests have come from qualified players (over 13 years old and over level 30) it looks like there will be lots more volunteers in the next day or so.

This is very good news, as we'll want a lot of volunteers to make our new Helper program work.

Following the next update (scheduled for Wednesday, Feb 24th) all the volunteers will have the option to help other players. If they turn on the Helper tool, they will get alerts when somebody requests 'Live Help'. The system will transport them to the players room and they will (hopefully) be able to answer questions. It's a pretty simple system, but if our volunteers do half the job I think they can do, it'll be a great boon to new players trying to sort out our game, which has become quite complex as it has grown.

Adam!!!
www.gameguts.blogspot.com

Step 3: Profit!

2010-02-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

Flowplay got a great write-up in TechFlash

Step 2 is 'make a kick-ass virtual world' (Step 1 is just to impress potential investors)

To see ourWorld grow and succeed over the last couple of years has been and remains truly exciting. Big thanks to the players who have shown extraordinary support for ourWorld. Without you guys, it's all for nothin'.

Adam!!!
www.gameguts.blogspot.com

Build a Combat Robot in one Day

2010-02-11T20:25:00.001-08:00

If you didn't know, I build combat robots (or if you're picky about termonology, R/C fighting machines) and it's a lot of fun. It's also easier than most people think. Normally I have an idea for a machine and build it a hour or two at time over the course of a couple of weeks. Well, with a new baby in the house and Jeni with a new job, time's been against me. Now the event is Saturday and I only had 2/3 of a robot (I registered 3). I needed at least one more.

I have a lot of vacation saved up, so I decided to take the day off and re-build my son's robot, "Vision #9". Today was my only day to work on it, so I had to finish. And I did!

Vision #9 (front) and Mister Twister (back). Both 3 pound Beetleweights

My Build Photo Album

See these and lots more robots fight at the Northwest Model Hobby Expo!

-Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

Pulling out the Rug

2010-02-10T12:23:00.001-08:00

It's always easier to add features to a game than to take them away. A lot of games will put off taking features away until a major event, like a new edition or version, both from a practical standpoint (paper games aren't good at mid-stream changes) as well as a PR standpoint. Players hate losing things they are used to. If you wait for a big event, you add some sugar to the medicine by introducing an assortment of new features that are replacing those that are being lost.

We don't have that luxury with ourWorld, because our game gets incrementally updated every two weeks. Even a huge update is a smallish change in the overall scheme of things. This last week, we implemented a change in ourWorld that prevents players from buying gifts for other players unless they first make an actual purchase. The problem was that each coupon code for Gems (ourWorld's for-profit currency) we issued worked once for each account. This allowed one code to provide a small number of Gems to a large number of players. Free samples, more or less. The problem was that players were creating large numbers of 'fake' accounts, loading them up with free Gems from the codes, and bleeding those Gems into their main accounts. The problem reached epidemic status a couple of weeks ago when we accidentally released Gem codes worth more than the usual 10 and the number of fake accounts skyrocketed, throwing off all our statistical data for the week, and reducing the value of a single Gem to a fraction of its normal worth.

We had to make a change, and our choices were to reign in Gem Codes or reign in gifting. We think there's a lot of value in releasing a modest number of Gems each week for everyone, so we addressed gifting. The problem isn't gifting, the problem is free Gems combined with gifting. The solution turned out to be simple to implement. Players who have collected all of their Gems for free can't give gifts. Once a player contributes to the site monetarily (and there's a lot of ways to do this) they can gift normally after that, including with their free Gems.

We aren't really taking away a feature, really we're taking a way a loophole that has been badly exploited. Of course, many players don't feel that way. The ourWorld forum has erupted with complaints and polls and "how can we get ourWorld to change this back" threads. I totally understand. Players used to be able to get something for nothing, and now they can't. Even so, I've got to take a hard line with this. I know people are mad, but I've been to this rodeo before, many times, and the furor won't last. The best interests of the site and my company are my primary goal, and I know this is the correct call. It was true when the first Magic cards were banned (not a lot of fun, that) and when any game I've ever worked on was canceled due to lagging sales (BattleTech TCG, Harry Potter TCG, Clout: Fantasy...and more.) Sometimes the rug simply has to go, and there's nothing to it but to do it.

If anyone really wants to know, the gift limitation was my idea. Direct your hate mail thusly.

Adam!!!
http://gameguts.blogspot.com/

High Maintenance Customers

2010-02-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

Some customers require a disproportionate amount of attention from the support team. They write or call nearly everyday, often with some sort of problem. Usually the problems are legitimate, if not a bit on the nit-picky side. The question isn't what to do with that one customer. She's a great customer, so you help her as best you can, every time. The question is whether everyone is having these same problems, and only this one great customer cares enough to tell you about them.

The question stresses me out.

It has been my experience that a small percentage of players have far more problems than the average player. I'm not sure exactly why this is, exactly. For computer games like ourWorld, it's most likely an unusual system set-up or poor internet connection, but there's no way to know for sure. Some people are a lot more picky than others as well. It's not surprising that some of the bigger spenders are also some of the most vocal about problems (I would be too!) I'm also hopeful that I'm correct that it's only a small percentage, because if lots of people are having these problems, and simply not letting us know, that's bad news.

Now that we've added a forum for ourWorld, it's easier than ever for players to share their experiences with us, and so far it's been good. We've certainly learned things we didn't know from the extra input, but nothing earth shatteringly wrong has been discovered (that we didn't already know.)

Maybe some people do have more problems than others, and that's just how it is.

Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show

2010-02-08T14:02:00.001-08:00

This was AMAZING last year. Check out their video (which I haven't watched with sound, so who knows what they are saying.)

http://www.nwpinballshow.com/video/index.php

For a single entry fee of $20/day there are hundreds of pinball machines and video games set to free play.

AWESOME!

-Adam!!!

Um...Ewww

2010-02-08T13:06:00.001-08:00

Just got this Facebook notification:

"Warning! Pet Society Is About To Explode! It's so packed with Valentine's Day stuff it could blow at any minute!"

Me no likey.

-Adam

Are you a Hunter or a Farmer?

2010-02-08T11:52:00.001-08:00

This is my interpretation of a recent Seth Godin blog post as it relates to online social gaming.

The difference between hunters and farmers in the gaming public has been apparent for years now, but only recently, with the explosion of social networking sites like Facebook, have games for farmers taken off as successful. I don't mean just social games like Farmville and Farmtown, though they certainly fit into the category. I mean any game where the barriers are time, patience, and social skill rather than direct obstacles to be defeated as rapidly as possible.

ourWorld is primarily a farmer game, populated with an assortment of hunter games. Most of the 100 or so flash games in the ourWorld arcade are hunter type games. The disconnect between the games and many of the players who just aren't all that into them has been obvious to us for a long time. Changes like allowing basic chatting and other activities to replace gaming as the means to level up have addressed this disconnect, and things seem to be fairly well balanced now, though I believe the disconnect still lingers.

I believe the contrasts between hunter and farmer games are already known, but are being labeled differently and perhaps incorrectly.

Hunter - Farmer
Male - Female
Traditional - Social

Are all three of these pairings the same? In a very, very, broad sense, I think it's fair to say that more hunters are male and they tend to play more traditional games. Conversely, more farmers are female and tend to play more social games. As soon as you start to get more specific, however, things get less clear. What exactly is the difference between a traditional game versus a social game? The two get more intertwined every day. Sure, a lot of girls and women play social games, but lots and lots of guys do as well. Mafia Wars is a farmer game, but not targeted specifically at women (as far as I can tell.) Same for Farmtown.

I think it's a good idea for a game designer to have a clear idea of who he or she is making their game for, but finding categories that are stronger than just "boys vs girls" or "traditional vs social" will make those ideas more successful.

-Adam!!!

Destroy All Critics!

2009-12-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

There is ZERO reason to waste bandwidth complaining about the quality of a web comic. I can (and do) ignore most of them without anyone's help. PVP, on the other hand, is awesome, and everyone should know about it.

Back when content always cost money, the purpose of a critic was to tell you what was good and what was bad so you didn't waste your hard earned scratch on crap. That's still more or less true when it comes to things that you can't try out for free. The thing is, there's not much you can't try out for free these days.

With the free model in place, what does a critic have to do? Well, in the age of the internet, a role of critic gives way to that of an advocate. There's no longer any point to criticizing as everyone has access to the same (or at least adequate) content that a critic does, normally for free. The new problems is that of sorting the wheat from the chaff, and that's where the critic/advocate again becomes useful. There's hardly any use for 'bad' reviews these days. I can find things I hate on my own, thanks. What I need is a concentrated dose of what's awesome. What that is amazing would I possibly miss if the advocate doesn't alert me to it?

People seem more naturally predisposed to rant about what they hate, but that's of no use in the internet age. Useful information centers around what's great and why. Provide that, and you're contributing.

-Adam!!!

Pac Man vs Mario Brothers

2009-12-21T13:47:00.000-08:00

-Adam!!!

Stubborn as a M.U.L.E.

2009-12-16T11:58:00.000-08:00

My favorite game of all time. Suck it, Mario.

The original M.U.L.E. game, on the Commodore 64, is probably my favorite game ever. Yes, I'm old. While I've been able to play it on C64 emulators for years, controls and life in this modern age have prevented me from playing it as it was intended, with two to four real live human opponents. That has just changed.

The new version has got 'it' and 'it' is a big pile of tasty smithore. YUM!

Planet M.U.L.E.

After years of rumor, M.U.L.E. is once again available FOR FREE on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It's brand new, buggy as hell, failed to run on two of the three computers we've tried installing it on, but on MY computer it works like a charm. The game is about 95% the same as the original, and most of the differences are bugs to be addressed in future updates or very minor improvements. The devs say on their forum they want to duplicate the original game as faithfully as possible before adding options that deviate (too far) from the classic's perfection.

While it runs on my PC, it seems like this game really needs to be on Facebook and on mobile phones. It seems perfectly suited to those platforms.

-Adam!!!

I am Dirk the Daring. Dragon's Lair!

2009-12-14T09:53:00.001-08:00

There is no question that the original Casey's arcade left a permanent and powerful mark on my childhood. Even now, the smell of freshly popped corn brings me back to the hot, crowded, neon-purple-lit techno cave that consumed so much of my middle school years and so many, many, multi-colored tokens.

Casey's was the Everett Washington home of Dragon's Lair. For 25 cents (all the other games at Casey's cost a nickle, offset by a cover charge.) we could enjoy a visual gaming experience unlike any other. It was magical.

20 years later, Dirk the Daring still has running, jumping, grunting, and slaying to do.

Now that magic is captured on the tiny, tiny iPhone screen, and you know what? I can still smell the popcorn when I play it.

-Adam!!!

It's My Turn to Get the Pizza You Asshole I Need it More!

2009-11-13T21:11:00.000-08:00

From Slate Magazine

Et tu, Mario?

By Jamin Brophy-Warren

Wait until Christmas? My wife thinks so...

Jesper Juul, a video-game researcher and professor at NYU's newly minted Game Center, argues that multiplayer games give us three things to balance. Players want to win and they want the game to be fair, but they also need to navigate whatever relationships they have outside the game—that is, if you shoot your friend in the head in Call of Duty, you'll have to answer for that in the offline world. My brother and the jerk from E3 were solely concerned with winning. I mostly cared about the game being fair. None of us, though, sat down and talked about the third factor—what we were planning to do during our journey as in-game teammates.

I recommend the entire article! (Don't worry, it's short)

-Adam!!!

Shut My Mouth, Open My Ears

2009-10-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

I've been struggling with how to manage the ourWorld volunteers for around six months. Everyone agrees we should have them, but what they should do (and why they should do it) have remaining frustratingly elusive questions. To make matters more complex, the players really want to be volunteers. Requests to join the program (such as it is) have been staggering.

I realized, just yesterday (around six months late) that what the volunteers do is important, but a distant second to what they are really for. The primary job of the volunteers is to tell me what they think. My most important job is to listen to them, with all other jobs remaining important, but not the first priority. My old strategy for meeting the volunteers' needs was finding things for them to do. By doing that I would somehow take a step towards solving all the challenges of a volunteer program.

Starting this week, listen first will be the my volunteer motto. Listen and act.

Note: Listening is not the same as agreeing. The answer to many volunteer issues will be 'no', but it will be a considered answer, and an honest one.

-Adam!!!

Movie Time!!!!

2009-10-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

Once again we're having an ourWorld YouTube contest. If you're an ourWorld player, you might want to give it a shot, as the top prize is 1000 Gems and all valid entries will get rewarded.

http://www.youtube.com/ourworldmovies

For details, see the ourWorld Blog

-Adam!!!

Virtual Security, Pretators and Solicitors

2009-09-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

The economy of a virtual world is one of the most important aspects of its community. Normally, a robust economy is tied closely to the success of the site.

The down-side of an economy focused game with a free-to-play component is that there tends to be a lot more have-nots than haves, and in many cases the have-nots do not have the means to upgrade, even if they truly love the game. When they do love the game, they can get desperate. Enter predators and the solicitors.

Predators convince other players to give them their Login Information (Email and Password for ourWorld), usually in exchange for the promise of something, normally currency or membership. Other reasons player ask for Login Info include players offering to trade accounts for 'fun' and more recently as a membership condition for social groups within the game. Not sure if that last one is ever legit. I've only just noticed that in the last couple of days.

ourWorld's automated report system caught and reported me making this image! Also, nobody gave me their info. Better luck next time (KIDDING!)

Solicitors run around giving their Login information away willingly to anyone that will listen, often just announcing the info to whomever might be in the room with them. They hope that somebody will take over their account and load it up with free goodies. Its sounds crazy but it happens all the time. Normally by younger players, but not always.

Ramifications of these actions are still relatively limited in ourWorld. It's not possible to give or trade your items away directly, and the ourWorld Marketplace (that allows sales to other players) is still limited. Basically this means there is no easy way to profit from taking another player's account in ourWorld. For the most part, the worst a person can do is vandalize the account, spend the account's currency, sell the accounts items, and lock the owner out.

It is likely we'll add more robust transactions. Trading, maybe, and other ways for players to interact with each other in ways that may benefit one player more than the other. When that happens, suddently stealing accounts can result in a direct benefit to the thief's account. If you can dump items or currency into your account, its becomes very tempting to try and gain access to others. When players are running around announcing their passwords to strangers around them, it becomes pretty easy as well.

If more robust player transactions happen, people illicitly collecting Login Info will become a huge problem (not that it isn't now) and we need to be very strict about how we deal with it (not that we aren't now.) What we really need to get across is this one simple rule:

Never give your password to anyone for any reason, EVER.

Everyone follows that rule, and the problem simply vanishes. I am baffled about what more we can do to spread this simple concept.

-Adam!!!

Linear Progression - Two Versions

2009-09-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is a revisit of a very old series of posts I wrote back when I was focused on card games, rather than virtual worlds. For the most part, the theories are the same, though I've split and clarified them a bit. My original post from 2007 described what I here call Consumer Progression. The second group, which I'll call Engagement Progression, borrow from the original, but describe a different sort of behaviors. In both cases, people move through the progressions until they stall, reach the end, or abandon the game. Making it easy as possible for players to progress is one way to ensure a game's success.

Consumer Progression - Three broad categories that describe the spending habits of consumers. The categories form a linear progression with each consumer starting at Tourist when they first experience the game. A purchase elevates them to Customer. A habit of regular purchases may then elevate them further to Whale.

Tourist - a person who has experienced the game without paying for it. In the case of games with a freemium model, these players often make up the largest portion of the games players. Other examples of Tourists could include free trial players, player who have borrowed or
played a friend's copy, and even players of pirated copies (depending on how you look at it, and the nature of the game.)
Customer - Anyone who has made any sort of purchase, no matter how small, becomes a customer. They are a radically different animal than the Tourist for a number of reasons. The most obvious is their value. The average customer's likelihood of making a second purchase is an
order of magnitude higher than the likelihood of the average Tourist making a first purchase. Because they make up the most profitable group of players, overall, it is essential that the needs of the Customers are kept as the highest priority.
Whale - A customer that makes either extremely large purchases, or extremely regular purchases, becomes a Whale (originally a casino term for extremely rich and profitable high rollers.) A customer that keeps their subscription active, but makes no additional purchases is a
great customer, but not a Whale. If I had to pin a number on it, a Whale is a customer that purchases at least triple that of the average Customer.

Engagement Progression - Categories designed to measure how much a player cares about the game, and to some extent, how emotionally involved they are with it.

Noob - Players that have just started. They have already decided to stick around long enough to give the game a chance, so its up to the game to impress them, entertain them, and not confuse or frustrate them. Noobs typically have no emotional connection to the game, and in the case of social networking games, they are a often a source of much anti-social behavior.
Player - Most of the people playing a game are players. They like it, they come back, they may even pay (if not required to.) They don't have any use for the crutches Noobs so often require, so its the game's job to either hide them or make them clever enough to not get in the way. If a player has an emotional attachment to the game, it is either weak or directed more towards the other players in the game.
Fan - When a player becomes emotionally involved in a game, that player becomes a fan. Fans are willing to take action beyond simple purchases. Fans write blogs and manage online forums. Fans volunteer. Fans are players who have formed an emotional bond with the game.
Elite (Super Fan) - Similar to a fan, but truly, truly dedicated. The 1%'ers, though in truth, they represent less than 1% of the players. These are players who get more out of a game than the designers could have ever intended, and they typically want to contribute back to the thing that gives so much to them.

Its always dicey categorizing people, but I believe looking at these categories, it is possible to make reasonable choices about new features, costs, and services. Combine these notions with information specific to your game, spending habits Whales vs. Customers, for example, or number of players showing Fan-like behaviour vs. simple Player behavior, and decisions become easier to make, with more chance of success.

-Adam!!!
GameGuts Blog

Noob Tools

2009-09-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

Buy-in levels: Tourist, Customer, Fan

Experience levels: Noob, Player, Elite

Levels match each other roughly (but not always)

Noob needs are more distinct than the other two. In fact, many games allow the experience between players and elite result from a gradual progression, rather than a distinct shift in the game's focus when the gamer's status shifts.

Noobs, on the other hand, often require special attention in order to progress their status to the more rewarding Player status. Typically, Players find the attention Noobs require distasteful, so those features must be hidden as soon as they are no longer needed.

This means a game requires a robust 'Noob experience' that is clever enough to conceal itself as soon as it is no longer needed. The more complex the game, the more robust the Noob tools must be.

-Adam!!!

This Isn't How It Was Supposed To Be

2009-09-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

Despite what I do for a living, I don't actually buy that many PC games. Tonight's lesson explains why.

One of the first non-board games I ever played was the paper-and-dice Champions RPG. It's a cornerstone of my youth, and I still keep the books, though it's unlikely I'll every use them again. When I heard about Champions Online, I was sold.

Last weekend, I went to a BBQ with a bunch of my old gaming buddies, and they were all planning on getting Champions Online. I got excited, and when that happens, I act stupidly.

I talked my wife into letting me drop the $50 on the game and headed out to pick it up tonight. I haven't been this excited about a game since Spore (the last PC game I purchased.)

After two hours of frustration, I've come believe my laptop's video card isn't up to running Champions Online. I'm really, really upset. I've spent $50 that I don't think I'm getting back on a game I may never get to play. Buying a new computer is not an option. As I use a laptop I don't think getting a new video card is an option. It didn't occur to me the game wouldn't run AT ALL. I'm used to running with the graphics turned down, and that doesn't bother me.

Does. Not. Run. At. All.

$50.

This happened when I purchased the Orange Box for my old desktop machine a few years ago, but a $30 video card solved that problem. For the Orange Box it was worth it, but I don't have that option this time. I mad at myself for being so stupid about buying a game I can't play and I'm mad at Cryptic for building a game that I can't play.

This isn't how I was supposed to be feeling right now. I was supposed to be fighting crime right now. I guess the forces of evil will win this round.

-Adam!!!

Ground Up in the Rumor Mill

2009-08-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

This week there are ourWorld rumors regarding Gem Coupon Codes. To be clear:

There are no valid ourWorld Gem Coupon Codes being distributed right now!

For those not in the know, a Gem Coupon Code is a 16 digit, alpha-numeric code that, when valid, adds something like Coins, Gems, etc. to an ourWorld account.

Coupons Codes are activated on the ourWorld SETTINGS page.

We use Gem Coupon Codes for the following reasons:

Rewards for surveys and similar offers. (usually for 20 Gems.)
A special bonus for Newsletter readers. (always 10 Gems)

Both of these codes are designed to work once per account for a limited time. 20 Gem codes usually last about a week, 10 Gems codes usually last about two. After that, they just quit.

There is a second type of Gem Code Code that we don't use too often. The single use code. These codes don't expire with time, but they only work once, ever. Once HotZexyGrl12 uses the code, it's spent and her friends can't get those Gems.

Clearly a culture of Coupon Code swapping has cropped up in ourWorld. I wonder what the ratio of players who read the newsletter/did the survey is compared to the number who are swapping codes and getting them off of sites like this. There's nothing wrong with the swapping, but when we start getting angry letters from parents because the bogus code their kid got doesn't work, that's a problem. Yes, this is actually happening.

What's this all mean? It means our messaging about Coupon Codes has been lost or at least muddled. In a sense, they don't cost us anything (not counting my time.) That said, if the norm for collecting these codes no longer includes their designed purpose, we may need to change our Gem Coupon Code strategy. That might be very good news, or very bad news, for the players who rely on these codes for their Gems.

-Adam!!!
GameGuts Blog

Free at Last

2009-08-09T23:43:00.000-07:00

I've just finished the free audio-book version of Chris Anderson's Free: The Future of a Radical Price. While there is a fair amount of controversy regarding the book, free is the baseline price for most Web-based games, like ourWorld, Yoville, Club Penguin, and pretty much everything else in our category. In other words, we're neck deep in free, and living with the necessities, benefits, as well as the pitfalls of it.

Because free is the default base price for all of our games, the gaming public takes it for granted that the games will be free. In fact, we use the 'freemium' model, where the minority of players that do pay are supporting the vast majority who are playing for free.

The book relied most heavily on Maplestory for its gaming examples. In Maplestory's case, everything in the game could be achieved with effort. The non-free items save players time, but do not provide access to anything that the non-paying players can't achieve given time.

In ourWorld, we certainly sell items that save player time (subscribers level up 2x faster, and an assortment of non-free items can increase that multiplier even further.) In addition, there are items that the highest level players can earn with out paying, but players who don't mind paying can get whenever they choose. Unlike Maplestory, however, we have hundreds of items that only paying players have access to. These items don't do anything but impact how the avatar and living spaces look, but as looks and image is what ourWorld is all about, it's socially rewarding to have these "Gem-Only" premium items.

With free as the default price of online games like ourWorld, the challenge is really how to balance the free version of the game with the premium version. What should be free? What should cost money? When we started last year, almost everything was free. As the site matured, the ratio of free to non-free has shifted steadily toward the latter. As the players gaining benefits from this shift are supporting the site, this is not a problem at all. In addition, while growth is slower, the non-paying players still have more features than they did this time last year, even if glass-half-empty users only see the ever increasing number of features they 'unfairly' don't have access to.

I expect more and more aspects of ourWorld to become free as new non-free items are released. As non-free features age, the cost of giving them away gives way to the benefits. This happened with Condos (ourWorld living spaces) a few months ago, and the result has been totally positive for both the players as well as the bottom line of the site.

Free at last!

Adam!!!
Gameguts Blog

Too Much love

2009-08-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

I don't use my main ourWorld character, Wylde, very often any longer. This is why:

Can I just Reply All?

Each of those '!' is somebody who wants to chat with me. I just can't keep up! Don't worry, I still play ourWorld all the time, I just use less well known characters.

-Adam!!!

Geat Idea, or Greatest Idea?

2009-08-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Plans under way for memorial to gaming icon in Lake Geneva

There are about as many opinions about Gary Gygax as there are numbers in the average bag of D&D dice, but there is little doubt that his influence upon hobby gaming was massive. It can be argued that in regards to gaming, he was the single most influential person, ever. If you narrow that statement down to 'hobby gaming', I don't even think there's an argument.

I'd love to see that statue. Of course, there's some concern that it'd come alive to defend treasure hidden somewhere nearby. We'll deal with that issue when the time comes.

-Adam!!!

The Amazing VooDoo Economics of Farmtown

2009-08-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

My obsession of the month has been Facebook's Farmtown. I am particularly impressed with the way the Farmtown designers have bent economics to match the goals of the game, leaving real-world economics behind.

It's Pumpkin Season!

Like most virtual world-type games, the value of Farmtown money isn't based on supply and demand. The supply of both money and goods is, of course, limitless, so the prices are arbitrary. The demand has no impact on price, so the goal is to maximize demand (i.e. players) as much as possible by increasing the size of the player-base. Attracting more players is the baseline goal of all games, and Farmtown uses all of the Facebook viral tricks to achieve that goal. In addition, they use a novel approach to employment economics, which, while simple, is new to me.

If you are a Farmtown farmer, these are your costs to grow crops:

Plow
Buy seeds

Once the seeds are grown, you harvest and get paid:

Harvest and sell immediately OR
Harvest and store, selling at the Market for +10% price*

Here's paradigm shift. The Market is full of people who want to work for you, and getting that bonus 10% is how you find those players in the first place. Players who work for you get paid BUT:

Unlike in the real world, instead of the farmer giving the workers a cut of the farms income, the farmer gets paid MORE when using a worker and the worker gets paid by the game, NOT by the farmer. That means the farmer's choices are:

Harvest and sell immediately for the least money OR
Harvest and store, selling at the Market for +10% price OR
Hire somebody else to harvest, selling at the Market for +20% price, plus the worker gets 20% value of the harvest. Note: Harvesting becomes a bit of a chore, so you're saving time and effort as well as making more $

Hiring somebody to Plow your fields also is 25% to 50% cheaper than doing it yourself in addition to the worker getting paid. Again, it's a chore you get to avoid while saving money and the worker is thanking you for the 'free' money.

The game simply doles out more money for the cooperative behavior they choose to encourage. Unlike the real world, there's an infinite supply of cash, so this works with no side effects. I've always thought of virtual economies as trying to replicate supply and demand of scarcity based real-world economies, but Farm Town has proved that there are other options, depending on the goals of your game.

* note: I'm totally estimating the % benefits, but the gist remains valid.

-Adam!!!

It would be amazing...

2009-08-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

If I could blog from my iPhone.

Yes!

The End of Online

2009-08-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Most online games are played on a computer or video game system. The rise of these systems as a source of entertainment has supplanted TV, toys, sports, and traditional play as the primary source of entertainment for a lot of kids. The conventional wisdom, from the President on down, is that kids need to get off the couch and go play outside. I don't have a problem with that, at all.

My prediction: As being online gets cheaper and easier, smart toys will start appearing that making playing outside as cool or cooler than sitting on the couch. Off the top of my head:

Bats, balls, gloves, and sporting goods we haven't thought of that automatically record your stats and measure your records against your friends, and the world at large.
Action figures that allow kids to take part in grand adventures, shared by other kids all over the world.
Geo-cache style park games, played by individuals, small groups, or as part of a larger world-wide campaign.

These ideas are mostly 'old-toys-only-better', which means I'm certainly off the mark. The idea that people need to be sitting on the couch to get play benefits from the online world is just old fashioned thinking. Once smart toys are priced competitively with dumb ones, a new brand of old fashioned play will return in a big way.

Who wants to sit in from of that stupid screen all day, anyway? It doesn't *do* anything!

-Adam!!!

NeoPets Scam

2009-07-01T14:00:00.001-07:00

Just read this and it looks legit:

"If you have children that play on the popular virtual world game Neopets, you might want to warn them of a social engineering scam gleefully targeting 12-year-old kids. Neopets users looking for rare items are sent private messages from the scammers, who direct them to sites hosting keyloggers & trojans. They then use the infected PC as a means to get to data the parents might have stored there, be it credit card details, Paypal accounts or online banking. Seeing the screenshots of some of these people talking about putting these children into botnets is just unbelievable — if ever you wanted proof that people up to no good online will go to any lengths to get their hands on some money (or even just feel good about outsmarting a 12-year-old), here it is."

There is no question that ourWorld players would fall for this sort of scam. I don't think I need to panic and change anything, as our filters and policies already do what's possible to prevent this sort of thing. I guess I just needed one more thing to worry about.

-Adam!!!

Member's Only

2009-05-05T09:29:00.000-07:00

That's some cooooool water.

We added our first public Member's Only area to ourWorld yesterday. The players have been asking for a swimming pool since pretty much always, and we finally released a swimming area called the Beach.

Only Resident Subscribers can go there*.

As expected, there is a vocal chorus of "not fair!" from the free-play community. While I understand their reaction, it's hard to muster a great deal of sympathy from my personal perspective. Most of ourWorld is free, but new features more and more are for paying players. You know, the people who keep the site running with their dollars.

It's unfortunate how weak the free-player's position is, really. When they threaten to leave the site and never come back, the net loss to the site is usually close to zero. I wish it was a bigger deal. I wish the free-players could contribute more to the site so they could be given more in exchange.

If wishes were subscriptions, we'd all swim.

-Adam!!!

* Free players can go to the Beach if Grouped with a Resident subscriber, so it's not totally off-limits.

A World Record For OFF TOPIC!!!

2009-04-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

Drum roll...

Here 'goes...

-Adam!!!

Now they've got it...

2009-04-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

Penny Arcade has hit the virtual nail upon the virtual head, again.

It's Really Quite Simple

OurWorld's payment options.

Credit Card
5.99 for 1 month subscription, automatic billing (150 Gems/month)
49.99 for 1 year subscriptions (150 Gems/month)
5.99 for 100 Gems
20.00 for 600 Gems

Mobile Phone
7.99 for 110 Gems (mobile phone)

Pay by Mail
10.00 for 1 month subscription (300 Gems)
49.99 for 1 year subscriptions (150 Gems/month)
5.99 for 100 Gems
20.00 for 600 Gems

PayPal
49.99 for 1 year subscriptions (150 Gems/month)
5.99 for 100 Gems
20.00 for 600 Gems

What could be simpler?

-Adam!!!

ourWorld - Lookin' Good!

2009-04-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the crowd!

No stormy skies in ‘ourWorld’ as virtual world maker raises cash
by John Cook

“OurWorld” has already attracted a whopping 1.3 million registered users. Many of those have signed up in the past two months following a crucial marketing partnership with the online gaming portal, Miniclip.
That’s the same distributor that helped Club Penguin, the wildly popular virtual world for kids that was sold to Disney for up to $700 million in 2007. Morton says that Miniclip has on the order of 57 million unique visitors each month, a tremendous base of traffic from which to draw.

In the next two months, Morton estimates that registered users for “ourWorld” will surpass two million. Much of that growth is being driven by Miniclip deal, which features an embedded version of “ourWorld” on its Web site.

Yep, that's about it.

-Adam!!!

Lions and Tigers and SPIDERS! Oh My!

2009-04-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

WOW!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Stan!

2009-04-07T23:21:00.000-07:00

What Does It Mean To Be An Industry Leader?

by Stan!

When WotC bought TSR in 1997, one of the first things Peter Adkison impressed upon us all was that he believed Wizards could be BOTH a supremely successful company AND a leader in the hobby games industry. That WotC could make a strong and growing profit and AT THE SAME TIME help grow the other companies and teach them how to make more money for themselves. He saw WotC as an evangelist for gaming as a hobby and leisure-time entertainment ... and was HAPPY when our actions helped other companies to grow stronger. He was close friends with the CEOs (not to mentions designers, artists, editors, and general staff) of MANY other hobby game companies and was HAPPY to help them both professionally and personally. Peter was, and remains, and Industry Leader ... and, as a result, under his management, WotC was a leader, too.

I recommend reading the whole thing.

-Adam!!!

Majority Report

2009-04-07T20:35:00.001-07:00

We added a "Report" button to ourWorld this week. Players may now report naughty-doers directly to me and I can evaluate the report and take whatever action I deem appropriate. Usually I do nothing, sometimes I add an extra filter to the person's chat (and send an Email explaining this), and a few require full account deactivation. Of course, there's a catch.

Prior to the Report buttong we got 5-10 'reports' via Email per week.

Since yesterday I have received about 3000 reports with the new button. 90% are useless. Most are too petty to bother with. If we muted everyone in ourWorld who was marginally rude, we'd not have any members at all! Many are completely incoherent. There's room for improvement in the system. The funniest are personal attacks meant for the target of the report, sent to me by mistake. One such report was so profane that I had to take action against the reporter. It included in it the threat of being reported. Oops.

That's not to say it's not working. I've found and taken action again several players who were clearly violating the Code of Conduct. Really bad actors, trust me. The Report button provides info the players don't see which allows me to take action without taking anyone's word for it.

The system just needs refinement. We launched the Report button with too little friction (it's too easy to do) and with too little explanation about what it is and isn't for. No biggie. We'll refine it into an even more useful tool, and then I'll really be the man with the ban...hammer.

-Adam!!!

The Registration Email from Legends of Zork.

2009-04-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

Good stuff. Enjoy.

Hail Adventurer!

Are you ready to embark on a life of excitement, fame, wealth, and coconuts?
Yes, we thought you might be. Obviously, the fact that you’ve just registered with us was a bit of a give away...

Speaking of registration, here are the details you’ve registered with us:

Username: XXXXXXXX
Password: XXXXXXXX

Unless of course you haven’t registered with us? Perhaps some vagrant on the internet is running around creating Legends of Zork accounts for random people? Maybe he’s also giving out free candy and puppies, because frankly, if you haven’t just registered with us, that guy has done you a HUGE favour!

Nevertheless, congratulations on registering (or being registered) with one of the fast growing casual adventure games on the internet! This is without a doubt the smartest thing that you’ve done since you bought all that washing detergent at bargain prices, and it will be almost as rewarding. Don’t get me wrong, at Jolt Online Games we know that the work we do is top quality, but no one can argue against the joys of having your shirts whiter than white.

Happy Adventuring,

-The LoZ Team

Your Greatest Adventure Lies Ahead...and Down. Zork.

2009-04-01T16:00:00.001-07:00

Legends of Zork

Don't know if it's any good yet, but I'll be checking it out big time in the next couple of days.

I am fully prepared to be eaten by a grue.

-Adam!!!

All the cool kids are on Facebook

2009-04-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

And now ourWorld is too. http://apps.facebook.com/danceplanet/

Dance Planet is the gateway into ourWorld.

-Adam!!!

(C)ontent

2009-03-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

My favorite new Facebook app is Living Social. I've decided to jump in to the book section with both feet. When you switch a book from 'reading now' to 'read' the app immediately asks you to review the book, which I did.

Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future (Facebook link)

Adam Conus, about 2 hours ago

A compilation of Cory Doctorow penned essays focusing on Copyright, DRM, and technology. Some of the older works (from 2+ years ago) are showing their age. For example, he takes shots at the failures of Amazon's Kindle (1st version) which, at least in part, ring hollow with Kindle 2's release.

A lighter, and slightly more reactionary view of copyright than what is found in Lawrence Lessig's Remix and James Boyle's The Public Domain, it's still full of style and insight. Of the three, I recommend Remix the most strongly, though all three books shed different light on the same subject.

If you find application of copyright in the digital world interesting, like me, or enjoy Doctorow's writing on sites like Boing Boing, also like me, you'll probably get a lot out of Content.

Copyright Copyright Copyright - A 30 year thought experiment

2009-03-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

Penny for your thoughts? Or are they copyrighted?

I've just read Remix by Laurence Lessig, The Public Domain by James Boyle, and I'm halfway through Content by Cory Doctorow. I'm swimming in progressive copyright theory right now, and it got me thinking.

What would the US be like if copyright lasted a flat 30 years?

In the public domain:
All the music, movies and TV of the 70's and earlier
Movies like Star Wars and 2001.
All earliest video games
Most of the 'classic' games. Monopoly, Dungeons and Dragons (early editions), Scrabble, Risk, etc.

Peer to peer file sharing would transform from a semi-criminal operation to a completely above board and essential part of everyday life. All of the old material would be available, for free, on the internet, all legal. In addition, an entire industry of compilations, reissues, remixes, and reimaginings would be possible. All free from licencing fees, permissions, and red tape. The majority of 20th century copyrighted works is NOT available in any form, nor are the copyright holders even known in many (most?) cases. Those works go from their current state of almost complete unavailability, to becoming completely accessible, with no effort at all.

The people most negatively impacted by a radical curtailing of copyright would be:

Large media corporations.
Artists who make money from work they did years and years ago.
Lawyers who make their living defending the previous two's "rights".

The purpose of copyright is to provide for the public good by ensuring that content creators can benefit from the fruits of their labors. The original methodology was to give creators an artificial monopoly over their creation that lasts long enough for them to get paid, but no longer. The sooner the content was in the public domain, the sooner the public as a whole could benefit from the work. That second part got lost in the shuffle and copyright has grown from the original, lasting 28 years from the creation of the work, to the current, lasting 75 years past the death of the creator.

Would George Lucas have created Star Wars if he had known he could only control it for 30 years? Would Gary Gygax have made Dungeons and Dragons? Would Dylan have written all that great music? I can't get into other people's heads, but I think most of the great works of the 20th century would still have been created, even with a far shorter shelf-life on the artificial monopoly we call copyright.

Would Lucas still have produced the new Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies if the source material was in, or soon to be in, the public domain? If not, somebody else could have. Is that a bad thing? Lucas is still the only person who can make 'official' movies, but what if they are forced to compete with everyone creating Star Wars content? That competition might have made a difference, quality-wise. Change the equation from 'who can make Star Wars' to 'who can make the best Star Wars'. Now apply that formula to everything (or at least everything 30 years or older.)

Make no mistake. Copyright is not a God given right given to content producers. It is not a reward to content producers. It is a legally created 'temporary' monopoly designed to encourage creative works.

What if anyone could create:

A Star Wars, Star Trek novel, comic, or movie.
A remix of Led Zepplin, Beatles, Bowie, Dylan, Hendrix song.
A video game starring Mario
Anything you can think of, from material created before 1980.

I believe there'd be a tidal wave of content using newly public domain works. Most would be terrible, but some would be amazing. Some would be of far greater quality than then current owners of the properties are willing or able to produce from within their monopoly protected walls.

What could you create?

-Adam!!!

Making Fun Obsolete

2009-03-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

You are old and slow, Pac Man

I've just read a glowing review of Street Fighter IV (SFIV), recently released on (I think) XBox360 and Playstation3. It struck me that a 2d fighting game can get a 9+ out of 10 rating in a landscape dominated by 3d games. I'm sure at least some of the execs and designers behind SFIV would have preferred they abandon their 2d roots and make a 3d fighting game like all the other top fighters in the 21st century. That would've, of course, been a horrible mistake. The Street Fighter franchise now stands alone as the last great 2d fighting franchise, and a seemingly profitable one at that. Well done, Capcom.

Will there be a Street Fighter V? Will it be 2d as well? My guess is yes and yes. It may be that Street Fighter carries the torch of A-List 2d Fighters to the end of the genre's line. My money's on it, actually. Will anyone try to duplicate their success? Probably, but now that Street Figher is *the* 2d fighter, I doubt the public has any need for another. I also doubt there is the will among developers to try and create a "Street Fighter" killer-type game, designed to knock it off it's 2d fighter throne. There's just easier targets to hit.

Is the 2d fighter, in the form of the Street Fighter franchise, the oldest viable gaming genre? Older game archtypes like the maze game (PacMan), shooters (194x, Galaga, Tempest), seem to have run their course. All that can be done within the framework of those games has been done, it seems. Unlike 2d fighters, driving games, and platform games, some old games didn't have a way to grow as computers became more powerful. I think 3d games, both exploration and shooters replace those older game-types rather than enhance them. The old games were fun, but new games are more fun. The "new and improved" treatment either failed (most new Sonic games), or transformed the game so completely that it no longer resembles the original (Metroid).

If you love the old games, as I do, they are still there. That's all that really matters.

-Adam!!!

Twist and Shout!

2009-03-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

Seth Godin once again transforms the obvious into the practical (making me wonder why it isn't easier to do.)

The pillars of social media site success

By Seth Godin

Why people choose to visit online social sites:
Who likes me?
Is everything okay?
How can I become more popular?
What's new?
I'm bored, let's make some noise

None of these are new, but in the digital world, they're still magnetic.
If you want to understand why Twitter is so hot, look at those five attributes. They deliver all five, instantly.

Is this everything? If not, it covers a lot. In the case of virtual worlds, making noise isn't the only solution to "I'm bored", but it's a great one. Boredom is the thing ourWorld players complain about the most, at least to each other. Perhaps they need a few more chains to bang around with. I'm not sure I've considered the ability to be heard and seen as a primary solution to the boredom problem, but it might be the key to it all.

-Adam!!!

They are so Ghey

2009-03-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

I think this is very, very cool.

Aeria Games Adds Same-Sex Marriage To Dream of Mirror Online

Anyone who's spent any time in a virtual world knows that in-game 'romantic' relationships are as common as tails on squirrels. As a moderator for a teen-centric site, there are all sorts of aspects of these relationships that concern me greatly. In most cases, it doesn't matter what I think.

Its also concerns me that we have to ban the words "gay" and "lesbian" from the ourWorld chat because we don't trust our players enough to use the words in a positive light. Even a quick review of the chat logs shows that our fears are well founded. Both "gay"and "lesbian" are used almost exclusively as insults, thrown around with disturbing regularity (While technically filtered, it's easy to misspell a word radically enough to defeat any filter: ghey, g4y, qay, ga7, etc.)

For a game to look past all that and officially sanction same sex marriage is very, very cool to me. It shows that while many players haven't grown up regarding sexual preference, at least one game company has.

-Adam!!!

Facebookery

2009-03-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

Facebook users are up in arms about the new, 'terrible', format. I can see why. I don't think I like it, either.

From Slate Magazine:

But eventually we adjust. Over the next few weeks, you'll probably grow increasingly comfortable with the new Facebook. You'll discover the path of least resistance to get to the stuff you like best, and you'll learn ways to tame the noise coming from everyone in your network. (The site allows you to block certain people's updates from appearing on your home page; over time, you can expect Facebook to add more refined ways to filter what shows up.) Soon you'll also forget much of what you loved about the old site. In a month or two, the new Facebook will come to seem like home.

While I generally agree with this, I think Facebook may face another side of this problem. The new version requires a lot of attention. A LOT. I may grow tired of it at an accelerated pace, because as compelling as Facebook can be, I do not expect it to become essential.

I can quit any time I want to, I just don't want to.

-Adam!!!

Delightful Stuffy Monsters Based on Childrens' Art

2009-03-16T18:50:00.001-07:00

Off topic, to be sure. Who cares?

Of 24 different beasties, this is my favorite!

Article from Boing Boing

Resident Evil Racism - Part 2

2009-03-14T21:12:00.001-07:00

Because my post originated in the comments section of the Huffington Post article, I didn't have room to say absolutely everything I wanted.

A hornet's nest

I have a fervent belief in the freedom of speech and how it applies to all forms of media, including video games. I think Capcom could have saved themselves a lot of trouble, at least in the US, by not having a Resident Evil game set in Africa. It may have also saved them trouble if the hero doing all the shotgun blasting is always the same race as the zombie targets. I admit, I would be more comfortable with those solutions. I do NOT believe that they should have to make those sorts of changes if they feel their game...the director's artistic vision....is better as is. That's their call, not anyone else's.

-Adam!!!

Resident Evil Racism

2009-03-14T21:08:00.001-07:00

The following is a response to this article:
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Racism is a concern to everyone with any sense. That said, Resident Evil 5 is a game with the same plot as RE 1-4. A government agent character has to fight his way through an army of infected Zombie-people. The last installment, which I enjoyed, had our hero mowing down legions of undead Spanish peasants.

It's a zombie type horror game, and as such lots of extremely bad things happen to formerly alive, formerly innocent people. Once they become monsters, what exactly should the game have happen? Is Africa just off the table for the setting of a zombie game? Should Capcom abandon the white main character of the franchise because the setting is Africa?

The RE series are extremely violent, R-rated type games. While I wouldn't let my 7 year old play them (or watch me play them), I refuse to let others dictate to me what is and is not ok for me. I'm extremely liberal pacifist who happens to enjoy First Person Shooter video games. Sometimes it's aliens, sometimes its futuristic distopian cyber-soldiers, often times its Nazis (it's always okay to kill Nazis, they don't have feelings), and in this case is zombified people who happen to be African because that's where story is set. I don't think that makes me a bad person. I just want to play good games. I don't think it makes the people who made any of these games bad people. They're just trying to make good games.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Want vs Need

2009-03-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

When I worked for Wizards of the Coast, handling support for Magic: The Gathering, there was a common belief that we released too many card-sets, too rapidly. The cries were frequently forms of "You are forcing me buy too many cards, I can't keep up."

The key word..."forcing"

Even the lightest application of reason concludes that we weren't forcing anyone to do anything. Entertainment products are not a "need", they are a "want", and as such optional. We weren't selling insulin to diabetics, we were selling slips of cardboard to teenagers.

That said, the hobby game industry was the beneficiary (and possibly the originator) of what we called the Repeat Purchase Model. For hobby games, it started with Role Playing Games. You purchased the basic set, books, or whatever, and the fans were treated to extremely regular releases of technically optional, but frequently essential, supplementary material. While fans frequently grumbled about the amount they felt obligated to buy, lack of such material was considered the death of the game.

The Repeat Purchase Model was advanced into hyperdrive by the invention of the Collectible Card Game. Now a single product could be sold over and over again to a single customer. Profits could be made from casual customers and fortunes made from a relatively limited number of fanatics. By establishing a culture where the newest cards replaced, rather than supplemented, the oldest, players were compelled to keep buying lest their investment be compromised. They didn't necessarily want to buy more cards, but if they wanted to keep playing, it was required spending. A Want was transformed into a Need.

The culture that created this system was to some extent accidental. When Magic was new, the game was not perfected and the cards contained errors and flaws that would not come to light until much later. Newer editions fixed, or attempted to fix, these problems through text and rules revisions. Tournament play addressed these problems by limiting what cards would be allowed in the most heavily supported formats. Eventually, older cards and card sets were deemed to be fun, but flawed. Players that did not have access to them felt slighted when playing against those who did. Using old cards was, and is, an offense just short of cheating.

While the culture started off semi-accidentally, it has been embraced by both manufacturers and players as the status-quo. It is now expected that the first editions of a card game will likely be flawed and eventually supplanted by newer, better versions. New cards will replace old. New rules will replace old.

This culture is not without its downside. Players who feel coerced into making purchases do so cognizant of what's going on. They may be spending money now, but the product must deliver EVERY TIME or else they'll get off the merry-go-round, doubtful to return. Once off, the ride is spinning far to quickly to jump back on again with any ease. There's always a new ride (Online MMO's, anyone?) to replace the old one.

With any product, including Virtual World subscriptions, of which I am trying to apply these lessons and theories, the goal is not to make a want feel like a need. There is a backlash when a purchase is made and the perceived need falls short of expectations. Also, its hard to feel good about purchasing something you need.

Wants, on the other hand, are all about feeling good. The customer (or fanatic) is making the choice for themselves. If the product falls short of expectations, as they do from time to time, there is less backlash when the decision to buy is owned by the customer, rather than projected to the publisher.

Virtual Worlds, like Collectible Cards, are entertainment products. They are about fun, and good feelings. Coercion is not the correct tactic. Enticement is.

Want > Need

-Adam!!!

Less is More (4k Games)

2009-03-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

Java4k.com is cool. 60+ games, all under 4k. Sure, they wouldn't play on my Commodore Vic-20, circa 1984, but don't hold that against them.

4bsolution. Collect the glowy things. One of the prettier games, hence the photo.

Programming with such strict restraints is a fascinating, and entertaining, exercise. Each designer needs to focus on what is essential to the game's appeal, disregarding all else. Simple can be extraordinarily fun, as anyone who's played with a ball can attest.

Well Done!

Dominion Chat Police

2009-03-09T00:16:00.000-07:00

Lets accept the Club Penguin numbers that say 4% of all virtual world players make some sort of purchase. Let's also take into account that after two weeks, the odds of a player making a purchase drop by 50%. Very rough statistics, but I believe them.

So, how does that impact how I should treat free-account bad actors? What is the risk to the bottom line if those players simply vanish?

Free customers bring value to the site in three ways:

They become paying customers
They refer other players who become paying customers
They add value to the site through participation in the community.

Lets say I get a report that PlayerX is leaving threatening messages. Without even confirming the validity of the report I can look up Player X's account info. I learn that:

Value possibility 1: Paying Customer. Player X has been playing for three months, and made no purchases. At this point there is a 1 in 50 chance something will happen turning him/her into a paying customer. 1 in 50 is not enough to give the player the benefit of the doubt.

Value possibility 2: Refer a Paying Customer. Player X has used the 'Invite Friends' promotion to refer one player to the site Assuming the reference is real. PlayerX has brought PlayerY to the site. PlayerY played six days, two months ago, for free. Didnt' refer anyone. There are other types of references, of course, but I have no evidence that PlayerX is a 'sneezer'.

Value possibility 3: Contribute to the community. PlayerX has generated one complaint from another player. You can assume that for every complaint, there's more people impacted, maybe a few, maybe dozens, maybe hundreds. How valuable are these players compared to PlayerX? Player X's contribution, based on limited evidence, is already a net-negative.

I don't make it a habit of deactivating accounts based on single accusations of wrong-doing, but if I did, I doubt I'd go far wrong provided I keep in mind what sort of customer is likely valuable, and which sort is not. What makes a player valuable?

If the player has made any sort of purchase, of course.
If the player has referred other active players or paying customers.
If the player has ligitimately contributed to the community (hard to measure, but if I could, I would.)

Also, my opinion is that most of the people who fall into one or more of the 'valuable player' categories above, don't have complaints made against them, with the exception of the occasional feud. Those player care about the community enough to take care of it. They usually provide solutions, not problems.

-Adam!!!

Face to Face ( to Face)

2009-03-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

These are the three virtual worlds I'm most familiar with. I thought I'd compare their visual style next to eachother, with a focus on Avatars. I tried to get shots with both boys and girls, fancy and plain, in each. To make things simple, I also tried to get avatars just sort of standing around. All three of these games have dance-type moves, but getting a shot of each, of comparable quality, would have been tough.

The Dude hanging out on the beaches of SmallWorlds

Again, The Dude. This time in YoVille

No Dude in ourWorld, but it's still me.

I tried to get a shot of a boy and girl from Gaia Online, but I just couldn't manage it. Needless to say, they have very cartoonish, anime style avatars that don't, strictly speaking, animate. Not terrible, but not great either.

-Adam!!!

The End of Days

2009-03-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Every day I deactivate free ourWorld memberships. Every day I wonder why I'm doing it.

Boom, but why?

Some of our partners don't even offer the option to deactivate a free membership. You just can't. Technically we don't offer it either, but since I can do it, I do.

One player suggested she was doing us a favor, not requiring us to take up memory with her account info. I *think* the usual idea is that we jettison whatever information we have about that player, so they feel somehow more anonymous. Of course, we're not jettisoning anything, we just flip the switch so they can't see it anymore.

For a while, players were working our 'free gems' referral system by creating dummy accounts that fed into their real accounts. That's fine with me, except that a few of the players decided they wanted me to deactivate these dummy accounts for them. It's one thing to work the system for free stuff. It's another to take up my time doing it, for no reason at all. I was polite, but firm, with those players.

ourWorld is an eco-system. Players earn various forms of currency, they leave messages for one another, they become friends with one another, and the system sustains this action through the site's features. It also means the players are extremely inter-connected. It's not even possible to just 'delete' somebody, as that would throw all that inter-connectedness into chaos.

Deactivating free accounts for no good reason may be a mistake. Parents requesting thier child's account be deactivated is a legitimate request, so I'm not saying not do it at all. Potential customers may not be aware that I can reactivate the accounts, and therefore not return when they otherwise may decide to. A longshot, to be sure, but closing doors is generally bad policy.

What I'm saying is, don't expect a "Cancel Account" button on ourWorld any time soon.

-Adam!!!

YoVille's Got It Goin' On

2009-03-04T16:05:00.000-08:00

Yoville Hits 6.6M Monthly Uniques Across Facebook And Myspace

With 6+Million users, no wonder it's crowded

I have to say we're looking very closely at YoVille's success. We feel ourWorld does a lot of things better than YoVille (not everything, but a lot) , and we're very excited about our upcoming Facebook launch. Hopefully, there'll be a few players left for us.

I'm looking forward to a three way battle between YoVille, ourWorld, and SmallWorlds. May we all win!

-Adam!!!

Be Our Guest, Be Our Guest!

2009-03-03T10:35:00.001-08:00

Everyone has to be a new user at some point. The process, it seems, is hard on everyone. ourWorld uses a guest system for brand new users. Before you have even saved your character or chosen a name, you are a guest. Your name is simply "guestXXXXX" and you can roam around, chat, and play games. Many of the complex interactions are prohibited, for an assortment of practical reasons, but you can certainly get the gist of the game. Because we don't know how old guests are, they are also limited to the chat filter reserved for players under 13 years old, just in case.

Guests, however, have become somewhat controversial. They can be difficult, rude, annoying, and generally unpleasant. In some cases guests are existing players who want to be jerks without tarnishing the reputation of their normal identity. Many established players want nothing to do with them, and as a rule avoid the public places where guests spend most of their time. This means that guests only get to socialize with other guests. Even the well intentioned majority of players are subjected to (possibly) the worst social experience the game has to offer in a small percentage of highly concentrated anonymous bad actors.

We've discussed a number of possible solutions. Here's a sample:

Guest Island, a guest only location where new guests appear. Guests must register to leave Guest Island. That doesn't really solve the problem, it just insulated existing members from it.
Muting Guests - If you want to talk, Pick a name and save your character. This we're trying out. We're concerned that it will have too strong a negative impact on full registration. (I'm in favor of it, though.)
Limiting where Guests can travel. - Like Guest Island, but open to all players. The Boardwalk in ourWorld is already Guest-central, so this wouldn't be a huge change. This might be a good idea, provided the location we choose is dynamic enough to hold their interest.

All of these things narrow the Guest Experience, which seems like a bad thing, but its not. First, we want you to register, and its really easy. Requiring registration before getting the full free experience isn't too much to ask. Most sites require registration before you get in at all. Also, too much experience for a first-time can be overwhelming. ourWorld's complexity overwhelms a lot of new players. They stand there on the virtual street surrounded by choices having no idea what to do.

From a idealistic standpoint, I want a guest experience that is so clear and engaging, that guests don't have time or desire to be jerks. Players tend to be less abrasive once they've earned even the smallest quantity of social capital. I wonder if there's a way to provide that right out of the gate?

-Adam!!!

Gone Commercial (And Loving It!)

2009-03-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

MiniClip is one of ourWorld's biggest partners, and to celebrate that partnership on this Blog I've added the MiniClip banner to the bottom of the page. No, I'm not trying to hide it down there, it just didn't fit on the sidebar well enough.

Hey, none of these games is ourWorld? Well, I'm sure they're ok too.

In case you're wondering, oh yes, you can play ourWorld right off the MiniClip site. Good times.

-Adam!!!

Show Me What You Got

2009-03-01T23:44:00.000-08:00

I haven't had to hire anyone in quite a while, but I expect I'll have to again, eventually. I will type all the potential hires names into Google. I'll see what I can find on Facebook. I'll see what I can find on LinkedIn. In short, I'll see what I can find.

I'm not looking for embarrassing pictures from your college days (but I'll enjoy them if they come up.) I don't care about that stuff, unless that's all that's there. No, I want to know what you've accomplished, and if any of those accomplishments are reflected on web. Not everything we do is reflected on the Web, but plenty is. Example: I wrote an extremely mediocre story 15 years ago and posted it to a Usenet site. Google my name and it'll come up, I think it reflects well upon me that its there (provided nobody reads it.)

I've working on the internet for years, so there's a lot on me. I'm also narcissistic, so I keep close tabs on what Google thinks are the most important things about "Adam Conus". I wonder what Google thinks about you?

Edit: This post wasn't an excuse just to post Google's uber-cool Dr. Seuss graphic, but as that's the best part of the whole thing, I'm going to say it was.

-Adam!!!

Socially Networked

2009-03-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

Not sure if it's Twitter or just dumb luck, but traffic to this Blog doubled in the last 24 hours. That's an average of about 13 readers per day to a record 26 yesterday!..I hope the Blogger servers can handle it.

I'm not the only one branching out. OurWorld is too.

ourWorld's Twitter Page
ourWorld's Facebook Page

If ourWorld posted similar % gains, that'd be something.

-Adam!!!

Twenty Six Hundred

2009-03-01T00:21:00.000-08:00

Play classic Atari 2600 games online. A whole bunch of them, all in your browser, all for free.

Adventure was always my favorite, and it's still great fun to play. The first game (that I know of) to feature an "Easter Egg". I love the fact that I still know my way around the mazes after 20+ years. Why can't I remember where my keys are from half an hour ago?

Atari 2600 - Adventure

-Adam!!!

Virtual Pan-handling

2009-02-28T14:04:00.000-08:00

One of the main reasons I play ourWorld is to experience the game as typical players experience it. When I play ourWorld, I do so as a regular player, with a regular membership. Nothing more or less than any other member with a paid subscription would have.

One of my policies has been to accept all friend invitations. I don't want to miss out knowing somebody who I really want to know. Unfortunately, that's not how it really works. Too many friends essentially eliminates friends as a useful tool. They're just random names on a 1000-strong list, and I still only know a couple dozen as 'real' online friends.

While my account is no different than any other, I do use it for a few official functions. When players win ourWorld Contests, I use my account to award the prize codes. An unfortunate side effect of issuing these codes with my main account is now people think it's okay to ask me for free coupons and Gems (ourWorld currency, normally only available for real money.)

I could handle one or two people a day asking for free stuff, and then taking no for an answer. Unfortunately, since awarding the contest prizes, I now get lots of people asking repeatedly. So many requests that it's sapping the enjoyment out of playing ourWorld, and that is intolerable.

My solution is semi-harsh, but I plan to stick to it. Players get one free pass. Ask me for free stuff (or give me a sob story about how you can't afford anything, which is worse) and you get one warning. Ask me again, and you're off my friends list.

From a purely pragmatic standpoint, players panhandling for free stuff are not the players who are ponying up their credit cards and purchasing memberships and virtual currency. That means my friendship is based on how actually friendly they are. Most of the ourWorld friends I talk to regularly are very nice and I don't care if they are members or not. Even huge sites like Club Penquin only have about 5% paying members. That said, if you're a high maintenance user, bugging me daily, you might consider making a purchase. I will happily contribute to a relationship based on social niceties. I will happily contribute to a relationship based on an customer/provider relationship. While its hard to mix the two, I think I do a good job with friends who are also customers as well. Bring nothing to the table, and I don't think it hurts me or ourWorld much to remove you from my friends list. That's all I'm saying.

-Adam!!!

Twitter-Done

2009-02-27T22:50:00.000-08:00

It keeps coming up in media, in casual conversations, even at work. Twitter.

I signed up months ago, but this time I'm really going to try and sort out what Twitter can do for me. Heaven help me.

The book, Remix, really is worthwhile.

-Adam!!!

I Know My Family Will Be Prepared

2009-02-26T08:48:00.000-08:00

More debate over violent video games. This time with conclusions I can support.

Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?

-Adam!!!

They Know "Comfortably Numb" is Friggin' Awesome, Right?

2009-02-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

Violent Media Numb Viewers To The Pain Of Others

Another study designed to support an established behavioral theory. i.e. video games are bad.

Let me make a list of things I think could generate similar results:

A bad day at work
Traffic Jam
Headache
Most media I define as 'awesome'
Pink Floyd, Slipknot, or Barry Manilow
Dealing with agressive pan-handlers daily
Being hungry
Being full
Wearing orange (don't know until you test it.)

My point: Lots of things can impact how we react to a given situation, particularly in the short term. People are drastically impacted by their environment, and video games are a kind of environment. Have the kids play violent video games for a year and see how they act (compared to a control) a year later. That might hold some weight.

I particularly like how the article paints the research as "[filling] an important research gap in the literature on the impact of violent media."

Rubbish.

-Adam!!!

A Simple Plan

2009-02-24T16:22:00.001-08:00

I don't need another T-shirt. It's epic how much I don't need another T-shirt. I may NEED this T-shirt.

A Simple Plan

Available from threadless.com

Another slice of awesome courtesy of Wil Wheaton.

Phone Privilege Day at the Home

2009-02-24T15:17:00.000-08:00

PPDatH is an old Wizards of the Coast Customer Service phrase (coined by Jeff Harris, who should contact me if he reads this. DUDE!) We used it any time the day's ration of crazy/stupid/incomprehensible callers outnumbered the sane ones. We handled rules support for Magic: The Gathering, so the 'sane' bar was already set pretty low!

Nowadays, when I handle support, I do it mostly via Email. The primary advantage to Email is the ability to step back from the insane for a moment. Once my wits are in place, I can then tackle the problem du jour with the optimistic vigor I have worked so hard to cultivate. Still, there are days...

When I first started with ourWorld, I read up on community management. There was precious little usefull information out there on how to handle a large number of online contributers*, particularly teens. Most of the attention was spent on how to *be* a member of a community, rather than how to manage one. What written help the internet could provide, proved useful. I'll share the most imporant bit:

"You are a moderator, not a therapist."

It's shocking how often this phrase helps me do the correct thing. And there you have it.

-Adam!!!

* A quick Google search for 'virtual world community management' brings up a host of articles now. No idea if they're any good. When I have time, I'll need to see.

The Transitory Nature of Things

2009-02-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

I think there is a desire for things to be permanent, yet so much that we treasure is made even more valuable by the knowledge that its not forever.

I'm toying with the idea of a communal art-project for ourWorld, that allows players to cover up the work of the previous artists, or if left too long, vanishes with time. I love the notion that players could impact their virtual world, if only for a little while. It's just an idea, and I'll have to do some convincing to make it happen. It's not technically prohibitive, it can be monetized, and it's pretty fraking unique. Fingers crossed.

Speaking of Transitory. Here's a clip from my last robot fight. My robots were the losing pair.

-Adam

Are we that?

2009-02-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

Today's post from Seth Godin got me thinking (as they often do).

Authenticity

If it acts like a duck (all the time), it's a duck. Doesn't matter if the duck thinks it's a dog, it's still a duck as far as the rest of us are concerned.
Authenticity, for me, is doing what you promise, not "being who you are".
That's because 'being' is too amorphous and we are notoriously bad at judging that. Internal vision is always blurry. Doing, on the other hand, is an act that can be seen by all.
As the Internet and a connected culture places a higher premium on authenticity (because if you're inconsistent, you're going to get caught) it's easy to confuse authentic behavior with an existential crisis. Are you really good enough, kind enough, generous enough and brave enough to be authentically a hero or leader?
Mother Theresa was an atheist, filled with self doubt. But she was an authentic saint, because she always acted like one.
You could spend your time wondering if what you say you are is really you. Or you could just act like that all the time. That's good enough, thanks. Save the angst for later.

In the case of a ourWorld, or any virtual world for that matter, there is a question of Who We Really Are. ourWorld is distinctly different than the creators had in mind when they started. That's not a bad thing because our team is fast enough and smart enough to adjust to the realities of who most of our players are and what they like. But the switch, I think, has left us less defined than we ought to be. Are we a dog or a duck. We set out to be a dog.

Virtual Worlds based on established brands, like Disney, have the ability to take a concrete idea/brand and ask "are we that", and if the answer is no, make adjustments. ourWorld is for teens who like games and socializing, but asking "are we that" is still too broad a question. Even though we are acting like a site for teens who like games and socializing, does that establish a recognizable identity? More to the point, does it help define who the players are?

Like I said, it got me thinking. I'll have to think about it some more.

-Adam!!!

Happy Valentine's Day - Mollusk Style

2009-02-14T08:58:00.000-08:00

Octopus Blind Date on Saturday, 2/14 at noon. Witness what happens when sixteen arms, six hearts (three hearts each) and two giant Pacific octopuses meet on Valentine’s Day. Aquarium biologists set the mood with decorative hearts, roses and romantic music at the Octopus Exhibit. But it’s up to the octopuses to decide whether or not love is in the water!

"Hey baby, you got a sweet set of tentacles..." (Totally G-rated)

-Adam!!!

Happy Valentines Day (for fun and prizes)

2009-02-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

We're almost done with the ourWorld Valentine's Day photo contest. We've had thousands of entries, and I expect close to 200 finalists by the time Valentine's Day has come and gone. From there we'll whittle the best down to a few choice images, and then the winners.

To see the best entries, check out the ourWorld Photos Flickr page.

Happy Valentine's Day!

-Adam!!!

P.S. You are all bitch for doing that

2009-02-13T00:31:00.000-08:00

This blog boils down the difficulty of handling online support for kids into a pure, uncut, resin: COPPAKids

For your entertainment, I'll post a bit right here:

“ I cant make a [COMPANY NAME] acoiunt, why. Its says Im 12 years old or younger
but IM NOT. I want to make a Acount. Please let me.PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!!!

0 Comments

“ hey [WRONG NAME] my name is [BLEEP] like the car but i am not a car i love all kinds of sports do you think we could be friends and i am a great singer in the school and how did you become famous please write back

2 Comments

“
Dear [COMPANY] Feedback,

It says that I am under 12 when I am not. I am 13, but please don’t tell anyone that. I hope all this feedback is kept private. Please let me become a part of [COMPANY], I really want to! =]

From
[RIDICULOUS USERNAME]

0 Comments

“
hey [company name] people can you erase the thing on my computer that says you are under the age of 13 because im 20

p.s. you are all bitch for doing that

There's more, all 100% awesome.

-Adam!!!

All Hail the Emperor of Humanity!

2009-02-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

My past seems to be taunting me in unexpected ways this week. 10 years ago, this would have been the coolest thing ever. Now...well, it's still pretty darned close!

I want one!

WarHammer 40k was my obsession of choice for many years. I still have all the old mini's tucked away in my closet, just in case the galaxy turns out to need defending after all.

-Adam!!!

Rules Are Made To Be Broken

2009-02-12T00:09:00.000-08:00

...and thank goodness.

One of my tasks is to manage the ourWorld photo contests. Of the 950+ Valentines Day contest entries we've received so far, I've reviewed roughly 600 of them. Happily, I've been able to discard about half of the entries because they didn't follow the contest rules close enough to be considered.

The theme of the contest was couples (Valentine's Day, after all) so I required that there be a couple in every photo, and the names of the couples be either visible or provided in the text of the entry. This rule has a simple purpose. I want to give both people in the winning photos a prize. As it turned out, the rule DQ'd about 30% of the entries. We said we wanted the photos to not be from the in game photo-studio, again because the names of the Avatars would not be visible (also because those photos tend to look the same.) Another 20% out the window. A few players didn't get to the bottom of the rules where we imposed a 5 photo per player limit, designed to keep individuals from spamming us with entries. It's hard to enforce, unless players sent us 6+ photos in a single Email entry, as many did.

Could you imagine 900+ worthy entries? What a nightmare that would be! I'm torn on whether I want to keep these 'complex' rules as a filter, or make sure that future contests are as easy to enter as possible. Most of the best photos follow the rules closely, thus maximizing the chance of winning. I had to let a few good ones go, though.

If anyone reading this is thinking of entering the contest, also take note of the judging categories. Of the remaining 300 valid entries, about half didn't meet the specific judging criteria close enough to be put in one of the three finalist categories.

Fashion - Both avatars are dressed up and looking cool (or unique, or silly, or something!)
Dancing - Both avatars are performing a dance move. Some of my favorites have features avatars photographed dancing in sync. These are hard shots to capture, but worth it.
Quote - The avatars are saying something sweet or funny. This is the least populated category. Of 600 entries, I have less than 20 finalists in this categories. Emotes, 'I love u', 'wanna be my gf', aren't quite sweet, funny, or original enough to make the cut. With only two more days left in the contest, this category is wide open.

Read the ourWorld Photo Contest Rules on the ourWorld Blog

-Adam!!!

In Another Life...

2009-02-11T19:14:00.000-08:00

Graphic design is what I went to school for, and a couple of years back I took one last stab at getting back into that business. To get back into the swing of things, I decided I'd do some free logos for Battlebots teams that requested it. I was a fan and many of them really needed better logos! I had a couple of takers and was generally pleased with the results. While most of the teams are long gone (though Battlebots may be back soon), logos are forever. Case in point, Infernolab's reuse of my work:

I couldn't be more pleased that Jason thought enough of my work to reuse it after all these years. I'm also pleased it blew up without serious pixilation. My designs were too focused on web applications back then (but hey, that's why I was working for free!)

More pics of this sweet arcade cabinet.

My obsession with combat robotics is still alive and well. Our club, Western Allied Robotics, will be holding its next event at the Seattle Center House on April 12th, Easter Sunday! I designed the WAR logo and site graphics well.

-Adam!!!

Update Day

2009-02-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

I love update day on ourWorld. That's the day, roughly every two weeks, where we update the site and add new features.

This last update occurred on a Friday (normally it's on Monday) and instead of adding new features, we actually did some system house cleaning, which for many players, actually had a negative impact on their experience. It's been rough on many of those players. I agree with everything we did, but I totally understand how they are reacting. I'm sure I'd feel the same way.

Membership cancellation - We hadn't been turning off lapsed subscriptions. In some cases we provided a free coupon last year and those players had enjoyed most of the paid member benefits for months and months. Lots of players assumed they were keeping those features indefinitely, without subscribing.

Super Rewards - One of two features allowing players to earn free Gems (which normally cost real $) wasn't working out for us the way we wanted. It was deactivated. Now friend referrals and links like the image posted on this blog are the only ways to get free Gems.

Friends Limits - Some players in ourWorld have accumulated thousands of friends. It was drastically slowing down our system. Now free accounts can only have 200 friends, paid memberships can have 1000. This is causing the most pain for players.

Notice how all three of these features only (seriously) impact non-paying players. I'm being told repeatedly that players are leaving because of the changes, but how should I feel about that? If they aren't willing to become members, we're losing their contribution to the community, but little else. At least on an individual level. New players are still coming in record numbers, and they'll never know that players ever could have over 200 friends, that Super Rewards was ever there, and that back in the day, a one month membership could provide months of premium benefits.

The question remains, is the free experience of ourWorld good enough? I'm confident it is, as we keep adding to what is available to free players, just not as quickly as the premium features. Non-playing players don't consider what they bring to the table, and they shouldn't. Their job is to play and to come back if they like it, not come back if they don't. Our job is to try and keep them coming back in numbers large enough that a tiny percentage that do pay, will pay. Then, once they have paid, make sure they get their money's worth. Easy! (If only...)

-Adam!!!

Be careful, kids!

2009-01-12T09:11:00.000-08:00

If you don't read check out GraphJam every day, you're missing out.

Quick! There isn't anyone named sexiboi18 in ourWorld yet. (groan!)

-Adam!!!

Real or Miniature

2009-01-10T16:36:00.000-08:00

I created a quiz on Facebook! Can you tell which photos are of real things and which are of miniatures? Some people can!

I think this will take you to my quiz (Facebook membership required)

This started out as a regular photo!

The effect that makes the photo look like a miniature is called Tilt Shift. I've been interested in photos that have been modified this way since I first noticed it a few years ago, but never bothered to try it myself. Now there's a simple web tool that does the basic modification for you.

Check out Tilt Shift Maker!

-Adam!!!

Twas the Season...In Pictures!

2009-01-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

One of the high points of my ourWorld holiday season was dressing up as Santa. I took a lot of in-game photos, visible on the ourWorld Photos Flickr account.

I received a lot of requests. The kids wanted, in order of popularity:

A pony (an off-color inside joke, I think)
A girlfriend/boyfriend. Sometimes specific, sometimes general.
Money
World Peace
Puppy

To be fair, money and peace were a toss up, with money gaining a slight edge towards the end. My avatar now looks like it does in the sidebar here. That image is automatically updated and yes, you can click it to join ourWorld.

-Adam!!!