Terra Nova

Is Flexibility Power?

Gustavus Adolphus thought so. The great King and General used flexible military formations to create Sweden's great empire. (Sweden had an empire? Who knew?) Today, the US military prefers guided missiles, robots, and drones to heavy artillery. Flexibility results in a W many times simply because it adapts to changing circumstances, and there's nothing like a conflict for generating those. Moreover, people seem to fall into mental comfort zones that lead to big, expensive, heavy, cumbersome resources, sure-things, that run along on rails and have the capacity for decimating anything in their path. That's great, so long as the things you're targeting agree to step in front of you. Flexible enemies won't.

Square Enix, developers of Final Fantasy XIV, have gambled that most people don't really think of flexibility as power. In this video (thanks to Travis Ross for the link), they explain their new solution for a rather intractable problem: When you put millions of people in a game with levels, some of those people burn through the levels quickly, others more slowly. Real life is like that, too. Name an achievement area; no matter what it is, some people zoom right to the top, the rest of us plod along. It's because we all have different resources: Some have more time than others, some understand fighting with pikes and muskets better than others, some are taller, some have a brain well-adapted to grasping the intricacies of Lady Gaga's social circle while others of us do not.

Such inequalities in skill are inevitable; they are part of being human. Are inequalities in outcomes also therefore inevitable?

Step into my Neverland

On IGN, an announcement for the Michael Jackson MMO we've all been waiting for: Planet Michael.  The announcer 'couldn't stop laughing'.  No violence.  You win using 'the power of dance'.  Using your keyboard, not your actual body. Free to play. Virtual items will be available for 'real-world currency'. Charitable contributions enabled. 

From the press release:

Planet Michael will be an immersive virtual space themed after iconic visuals drawn from Michael’s music, his life and the global issues that concerned him. Entire continents will be created that will celebrate Michael’s unique genius in a way that underscores his place as the greatest artist of all time. Michael’s longtime fans will feel at home as they find themselves in places that seem familiar and yet unknown at the same time, and new generations will discover and experience Michael’s life in a way never before imagined. At its core, Planet Michael is a massive social gaming experience that will allow everyone, from the hardcore fan to the novice, to connect and engage in collaborative in-game activities with people worldwide.

Though my initial inclination was to disparage, maybe this could work... MMO universes drawn from the world-views of famous individuals.  Elvis-verse?  BeatlesWorld? DalaiLamaUniverse?  PicassoPlanet?   LadyGagaLand!  I'm impressed that Planet Michael's mechanics are designed to uphold his pacifist leaning and philanthropic efforts, and I can imagine that forays into his imaginings are ripe with possibility <chortle>.

I predict the vanity MMO will become a trend, and as much as I hate to say it, could be the break-through-to-the-mainstream (the Second Life commercial push all over again).  What do you all think?  Will we see the Housewives of Beverly Hills obsessed with their first virtual worlds?

Scholar's Brief to the Supreme Court

On Friday September 17th, a coalition of 82 scholars in the social sciences, medical sciences and media effects filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the case of Schwarzenegger v EMA.  This case refers to a California law which seeks to ban the sale of "violent" games to minors, effectively carving out new limitations to the First Amendment (no other form of "violent" entertainment is regulated by the government in such a way).  The scholars' amicus brief specifically addresses the scientific merits of the case California puts forth and finds them without support in currently available data.

New Author: Chris Ferguson

Professor Ferguson, Texas A&M, has been a consistent voice opposing the regulation of video game content. While we don't agree on everything, we do agree that it is not a good idea to erect entire policies on the basis of thin media effects found in the lab. There's a particularly unreliable study floating around at the moment, but we'll hear from Chris about that in a little while. First, though, comes his take on an amicus filed in California's game regulation case.

Take it away, Dr. Ferguson!

Times notices video games in classrooms

Yep. You might have to be registered for it, I don't know.

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LOTRO F2P Seems to Be a Success

On September 10, continuing a trend away from the subscription model, the Tolkien MMOG LOTRO opened the doors of Middle Earth to anyone. I hadn't dropped in to check until tonight; I couldn't sleep so I thought I might kill some orcs for awhile. I was surprised to find, at this hour (3am US EST), a queue on my server. The game normally had 8 servers, now it has 15. There were more people than usual questing at mid-level, and quite a few young hobbits running around the Shire. I don't know about the end-game - as with most MMOGs, its more of a sport than a fantasy RPG at that level, so I don't have characters up there. 

In other words, it seems that Turbine's guess that F2P would greatly increase interest was accurate.

The economics of this involve network effects and entry costs. If your product provides exponentially more value when more people use it, you really want to take a loss on the first users. Those early users are the source of value of potential new users, and having them in your game means that more outsiders will join.

There's also an aspect of low entry cost here - why indeed should there be any barrier at all between the new user and the experience? The prior test drive mechanism required people to get the software at the store, sign up to pay, and then quit within a month if they were unhappy. The new method lets people simply download the client for free and click 'Play.' So long as you can eventually get revenue from these more casual folks - through simple in-game points systems and such - this can work.

The question is, will you get enough revenue? By opening the door, will you get enough new people that the nickle-and-dime revenue strategy makes up for the loss of good, solid, almost-guaranteed subscriptions?

The fact is, even though F2P started among casual games, it is the main model of new launches these days. It will be interesting to see whether LOTRO's move further extends this trend to the intense-game space, or conversely provides a counter-example.

So far, it looks like a winner.

If you read it in the NYTimes, it's...ah, nm.

James D. Fielder (thanks for the tips!) sent us a New York Times report about H&M, MTV, and Snoop Dogg selling virtual items. Very cool - nice to see the MSM paying attention to how the world is actually changing (instead of wasting our time refighting 1969 over and over). Nonetheless, the article is interesting for other reasons too. It begins with "Intrigued by the willingness of millions of consumers to pay real money for things that do not exist..." and ends by referring to "pretend items." Joining the spirit of the article, then, I'd like to say that while I read this pretend piece of news, and I did notice that it doesn't exist, I am not willing to spend real money on it. The article is just a goofy, unreal plaything produced for people who waste their days in the fantasy world where the New York Times is treated as if it is were a source of unbiased information.

Contribute to Georgia Tech SL Study, Get Paid

I haven't posted for some time (though I do have some ideas percolating), but I wanted to let you all know about a study of Second Life that Celia Pearce is undertaking. She is looking for DC-area SL vets who can participate (and who will receive gift cards or Linden Dollars). The info is here.

NCSoft EULA Provisions Ignored

User thoreau (thanks!) notes this story about a man suing NCSoft over the hours he poured into Lineage II. The company argued that he abandoned his right to sue by signing the EULA. The Court disagreed.

What does it mean?