Murder, FFXI, and Ninety-Nine Nights 31
Gamasutra has a few great writeups of some of the sessions I didn't make it to. Murder, Sex, and Censorship covers some of the moral elements that go into game creation. Creating a Global MMO was a talk given by some of the folks behind FFXI, on the challenges of creating a multi-hemisphere online title. All about Ninety-Nine Nights was an examination of the character design put into the 'massive warfare' title for the Xbox 360. Interesting stuff. The morals session actually became quite heated, thanks to the presence of CA Assemblyman Leland Yee. From the article: "'How many people do you think have been hurt by video games? How many people have been helped by video games?' Gee asked. 'This technology will allow us to have a full spectrum chemist, or a full spectrum virus,' which school children, scientists, or doctors are able to experiment with in a safe environment. Gee also noted that, socially, legislators should care not only about keeping children from harm, but also about helping them."
Ninety Nine Nights (Score:2, Interesting)
Corrected link (Score:3, Informative)
Double standards (Score:4, Insightful)
It doesn't cost you money to go all crazy about "porn" or "violence" in games. You can hype yourself into hysteria and when the game creator finally gives in, you feel like you've accomplished something.
At the same time you use TV and computer as a cheap replacement for a babysitter. Spending time with your kids? What a horrible idea! Spending time with your kids at something they want to do (like, say, playing computer games or surfing the 'net)? What an incredibly horrible idea!
Instead you install net-nanny on your kids' computer and hope it keeps them away from the dreaded porn. And you make sure they don't get to play anything more violent than Barney in Teletubbyland.
Then they go out and get their lunch money taken away...
Prepare your kids instead! Life ain't fluffy and cute. If you keep them from learning and keep them gullible, you pretty much work into the hands of every con artist out there.
Or why do you think scams are so efficient?
Re:Mod Parent Up (Score:2)
Maybe because it sure is comforting for the own consciousness. Neglecting your kids isn't something you should do as a responsible parent. Now, it takes a lot less energy and time to get hyped up about something than it takes to actually do something sensible with your kids. Unless you do it with some efford, but then it feels like you're REALLY doing someth
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
There is no hunter. Little red riding hood gets herself and her grandmother killed because she talked to a stranger.
The little mermaid DOESN'T marry prince charming, she turns to foam on the sea waves.
The Iron Giant just gets blown up, he doesn't magically reassemble.
Etc.
Re:Double standards (Score:1)
But The Iron Man (Giant for Americans) does. He is alien tech on a level that seems like magic. The book(s if you want the Iron Woman) are quite good, and many things were not brought into the film.
In fact the book starts with The Iron Man falling off a cliff and getting broken to pieces. He then starts re-assembling.
Unlike your good example of The Little Mermaid, The Iron Man does not fail and die at the end of the story (it does not exac
Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:1, Interesting)
FFXI has, according to the article, 500,000 subscribers. WoW has 6 million subscribers and is also a global MMORPG.
So why FFXI? Because they were the only MMORPG company stupid enough to dump the entire world on the same set of servers. Technically challenging? Of course. Allowing people from China, Japan, North America, and Europe to p
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, the reason for an Aussie preferred server isn't that Aussies like playing with only Aussies. The reason for an Aussie prefered server is Aussies (and you can throw me in there, because now I live in Japan and are closer to their timezone than the US's) have peak playing hours which are waaaaaaaaaaay off the American ones, and when WoW is in its MMORPG moments you need a bunch of people playing together to make it fun. For example, our weekday raids last four hours starting at 1:00 AM in the morning California time, and require 20-40 people. Or, much more irksome, PVP starting up on a server requires several dozen players simultaneously online, attentive, and desiring PVP. Designating a server as Aussie preferred just lets everyone know "Hey, if you go here you can find people in your time zone".
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:2)
Says who? The only reason you hear WoW players complaining about it so much is because theres no built-in translator function so if you can't speak English, you're automatically labeled a gold farmer.
In fact, Blizzard had to add "Australia perferred" servers which are hosted in North America, since peak Australian hours are almost exactly opposite peak N
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:1)
Which version are you playing? I've been playing the PS2 version since it's launch in the US and haven't had any trouble with updates at all. I'm on broadband though.
Phantasy Star Online had good region handling (Score:2)
This lets you stay with people that speak your language, while at the same time being able to go to other regions whenever you want to.
This is out of the question with World of Warcraft, because Blizzard has a huge interest in keeping them separate. The Chinese version is *much* cheaper than the American version, and American pl
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:1)
Another truely global MMOG is Eve online, one server, all nations (heck, it isn't even based in NA), theres sometimes a language bar
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:2)
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:1)
I personally think putting PC and PS2 players together was a good idea, but mixing Japanese, American and European players was a noble experiment, but a failed one.
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:1)
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:1)
{Optical hat} {Do You Need It?} 14/18 {White Mage} {Can I have It}
Wow, that is such a crappy setup, I mean, how can ANYONE understand that, when each of those words is translated into the language of the player.
Sorry, but from someone that's actually played this game quite well, the Auto Translator while not perfect does the job, does the job better then any other gam
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:1)
{Take Care!}
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:1)
I like how I can party with people from all over the world when grinding, it makes it more interesting. The ping is just FUD, it works fine for a MMORPG. The updates are a little bit messy, but that has nothing to do with the global thing here.
Twice each month I can't get into the game for patching reasons, how often do you have to wait in line to get to grind in WoW?
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:1)
And exactly what do you have against Japanese people? Are you some kind of bigot? I can communicate with them just fine. In fact, I find the exchange rather enjoyable. It sure as hell beats talking to little 13 year olds on WoW who spam "n e 1 wan 2 dual me? lolz" I swear to God that Blizzard must've gathered the stupidest people on the planet and gave them free copies of WoW and said "Go forth, little f
Re:Why not ask WoW about global MMORPGs? (Score:1)