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Player vs. Everything: Raid leaders are jerks Most raid leaders I know are jerks. I'm not making generalizations about personal character, of course. People who end up in those positions tend to be helpful, dependable people who are genuinely committed to the progression of the guild. |
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MMOGology: Gamerz is speshul Gamers have always taken a degree of flack about their hobby of choice. Some people call gaming a waste of time (whereas watching TV is completely productive), some people bash it as anti-social escapism... |
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Making/Money: Newbs at Auction One of the most frustrating aspects of being a new player in an established game, to my mind, is the cost of start-up crafting materials. Hit up any public market area, auction house, trade square or similar as a newbie and you will see what I mean. |
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Player vs. Everything: Learning by doing In most MMORPGs, it's practically considered a right of passage to learn advanced concepts by the sweat of your brow and with a big helping of independent research. We're MMO players, after all! We don't need tutorials guiding us through the advanced aspects of the game. Right? |
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Stephen King goes batty about video games Stephen King is "the man." He's one of my favorite authors and a very big reason why I'm a writer today. I've followed the ebb and flow of his career, from his meteoric rise (and eventually perpetual stay) on the New York Time's Best Seller list... |
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WoW blamed for bad parenting Here's a recent news item from the Contra Costa Times, about a kid who played way too much World of Warcraft: "[World of Warcraft had become] the one place he was joining the world. Bringing him back to the real world took... |
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-15-2008 @ 10:04PM
Brommon said...
+50 DKP to the author of "Raid Leaders are Jerks" (despite the inflamatory title, it's actually a really well-written piece) for managing to work Machiavelli's "The Prince" into a discussion of MMO raid dynamics in a meaningful way. As our own Scott Andrews said recently, a raid is not a democracy!
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4-16-2008 @ 2:51AM
Ashwin said...
Heh, about gamers is speshul, it reminds me of how here in england playing even a bit of WoW is unproductive but apparently going out and binge drinking to the point of nearly killing yourself is somehow not only acceptable but encourged amongst your peer, dunno if you Americans have the same problem.
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4-16-2008 @ 7:08AM
Prometheus said...
Yes, that's a very good point. I get called "geek" for playing a bit (okay, a lot) of WoW by people who have no social life themselves. But it is strange that people think watching TV or going out drinking is a better alternative to gaming.
4-16-2008 @ 9:23AM
CapnSkillet said...
Yeah when I was a kid my parents wanted to limit my gaming time to two hours a night, but I would always ask what the difference was in gaming and watching TV. At least gaming develops hand-eye coordination and requires SOME brain activity.
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4-16-2008 @ 11:52AM
Fugmug said...
For MMOGology, add that to the ever-growing list of ridiculous excrement.
Being an older gamer, I can state that I grew up and went to school with kids who definitely showed traits similar to Asperger's Syndrome.
But get this.... THIS WAS BEFORE ANY REAL VIDEO GAMING. We're talking about the days *BEFORE* the Atari 2600. They would organize their lives around Star Trek, never open their comics to read them (Go right in the bag, and get taped shut) and turn into jelly at any change in their routines.
Yeah people tried to say it was too much television that caused this, or their minds getting filled with "sci-fi junk".
So now video games is the cause of these symptons instead of just being the hobby that people (who already happen to have these symptoms) flock to?
Remember folks! Anytime the bean counters say you're in need of a grant, come up with something that blames video gaming or corporations or government.
And as a special note to the folks at wowinsider: Listen, everytime someone says something stupid in the media, you don't have to give them a bigger soap box by repeating it here. Okay? Thanks.
Fugmug
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