Profile: Niamb
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• • World of Warcraft: Ezra Chatterton Passes On

  • So very sad to see a life snuffed out at such a young age.  Kudos to Blizzard for making a memorable moment in this poor child's short life.  My condolences to all who loved him and there seem to be many.

  • Posted: 10/29/08 4:10 PM
    General Discussion
• • World of Warcraft: How to Raid Endgame and Maintain a Life

  • I agree.  It is indeed possible to raid and maintain a real life.  You have to be a in a guild with other responsible adults who agree to adhere to firm rules.  You also need enough raiders so that the real life issues that arise among adults don't impact the ability of the guild to raid.

    Rule number one: Real life comes first.  Adults understand that when your spouse's relatives are there for a visit, you won't be raiding.  Ditto for your kid's recital night.

    Rule number two: Even if the raid wiped when the boss was at 1% that last time, we are  past the official ending time for our raids and we are done.  Adults have jobs and responsibilties that have priority.  Showing up for work half asleep because the raid pushed on till midnight is not fair.  The ending time is firm.  No more pulls after the official stop time.

    Additionally, there are a limited number of raid nights.  Adults can usually afford to devote two or three evenings a week to a hobby.  Additionally, raids are limited to 3 - 4  hours in length.   Weekends are for family.

    With a guild that adheres to rules such as these, it is possible to both raid and maintain a real life.  You won't be raiding at the bleeding edge, but it is possible to access most of the end-game content.  My guild was working on Illidan when the update went live.  While that isn't Sunwell, I think most would certainly consider it end-game raiding.

  • Posted: 10/29/08 1:11 PM
    General Discussion
• • World of Warcraft: Mounting Interest

  • Sorry for any inaccuracies, but these articles are written approximately a month before they are published.  My clairvoyance fails me again.

  • Posted: 10/28/08 4:13 PM
    General Discussion
• • General: G.I.R.L. Power

  • Originally posted by Abrahmm
    

    From my experience, that program seems like a big waste of time and money. I don't know one girl in real life that actually likes video games, my gf barely has the attention span to play Pac Man(which is her favorite game btw).

     

    Maybe your girlfriend's lack of interest reflects the fact there is there is little that in the current video game market that appeals to women.  I am a real life woman who plays video games.  I've been heavily into MMORPGs for over 10 years and frankly I am shocked at how the distaff side of the market is ignored.  There is very little in the current crop of video games which is designed to appeal to women. 

    I know folks will reply to this post that there are absolutely no difference between men and women, beyond body parts.  Hey, I went to an all woman's college and I took that Women and Society course.  I am also the mother of a daughter and a son.  On the whole men and women are more similar than they are dissimilar, but to assert there are absolutely no differences between the two groups flies in the face of evidence.

    Tastes overlap, but some features appeal more to women, others more to men.  The ones that appeal to women are largely ignored.  The ones that appeal to men are given time and resources.  And then guys wonder why they can't get their girlfriends interested in online gaming.

    I loved Ultima Online back in the day.  Yes, I loved questing and killing dragons.  But what I enjoyed the most was role-playing.  I loved my house.  I loved crafting items and selling in my player run vendor mall.  I loved our role-playing village.  I loved growing and crossbreeding plants.  I loved being able to change the appearance of my character.

    Now let's look at World of Warcraft, the behemoth of MMORPGs.  Role-playing is an aspect of online gaming that attracts a high percentage of women.  Does WoW support role-playing?  Yes, they have role-playing servers, but if a game doesn't have attractive locations for weddings....it's not RP friendly.  No such place (private, attractive, not subject to random attacks by mobs) exists in the entire game.  Role-playing is difficult in public spaces, which brings me to the next issue.

    WoW does not have housing.  I loved having a house to decorate in UO and SWG.  Many of my guy friends enjoyed their houses too and got especially creative in making items for their houses, like making a grand piano out of black dyed shirts and chess boards.  Many of the guys I knew, however, had their houses decorated with storage packs.  This is something that tends to appeal a bit more to the fair sex.  WoW has no housing.  It has no villages where one can role-play in private.  Many of the guys I knew used housing to attract their significant other to play UO.  What hook can they use to entice them into WoW?  Most women who become active in MMORPGs are initially introduced to online gaming by a significant other.

    Women tend to care a bit more about how their character looks.  WoW has very little leeway in character customization.  Until Blood Elves there were no attractive female choices on the Horde side.  Armor, while leveling up, makes one look like an explosion in the Crayola factory.  Guys care about how their character looks.   Gals tend to care a bit more.  Again, WoW is full of fail here.

    Women are likely to be interested in the creative aspect of online gaming.  In SWG one of my characters was a dancer.  She was part of a guild that put on shows in the various towns around the galaxy.  That game allowed you to coordinate dance routines with a troupe.  Nothing like that in WoW.

    Women tend to be more into the social aspect of online gaming.  Men are more likely to prefer PvP.  Yes, I've known some women that were awesome in PvP.  Yes, 50% of those how played SIMS online were guys.  But to pretend there are no differences between what is likely to appeal to the two sexes is naive.  There is a lot that could be added to WoW that would make it a more female friendly place to be, but Blizzard has put those on the back burner.

    I've played WoW since open beta and obviously I find enough appeal to keep renewing my subscription.  I'm more into working with my guild to take down a tough boss than I am into hanging out in the SIMs disco.  Still, there is a lot that could be added to this game which would enhance its appeal for me.  Maybe having some female designers on the team might make the universe of MMORPGs a more female friendly place.  And guys usually like having the ladies around, so it'd be a win/win, plus tap into a huge potential market that is currently being largely ignored.

     

     

  • Posted: 8/19/08 4:08 PM
    General Discussion