I still remember my first moderator gig with some clarity, and how much I enjoyed taking on the responsibility. That was about 7 years ago, on an Unreal Tournament mod forum with about 200 active members.

These days I’m part of a team that runs a network of fansites. The two that I am directly involved in have about 500 people browsing at any one time. The older of the two records that the highest concurrent user count was 6,830, which seems impressive, though it’s a relatively small percentage of the total membership: 202,375.

Things have changed a lot over those 7 years. People began to realize that there are two attractive reasons to run a gaming website: It’s a lot easier to make a profit using adverts than it used to be, and it’s a great addition to your resume if you have aspirations to end up working in the games industry.

Take Guild Wars 2 as an interesting case study: Well over a year off release, and I’ve already found 13 other fansites competing with my own Guild Wars 2 Guru. Most are in various stages of “under construction” and may never make it any further than that, others have a lot of potential: There’s at least one that is run by a professional web-designer, and one run by a programmer with web development skills.

The old-schooler in me feels like that’s just unfair competition, not at all in the ‘indie’ spirit of fansites. The rest of me enjoys being pushed to step up my game. Guild Wars Guru was the number one Guild Wars fansite by a pretty large margin, and thats not an edge I plan to lose.

It’s not easy though; Gone are the days where you just make a basic front page for news, slap on a phpBB forum and open up to the masses. It’s not just about providing a pleasant environment and letting the members do the rest. You are competing on every level with other sites, who all want a piece of the community pie. They might have more resources, more experience, or even more money behind them.

Here’s a quick list of the things a top tier fansite will provide:

• Guides, maps, and other resources.
• Articles and columns.
• Screenshot and video gallery.
• Podcasts.
• Blogs.
• Forum. (But not just any forum – It has to be tooled up with all the latest bells and whistles: Dev trackers, anti-spam measures, picture resizing plug-ins…)

Not to mention it needs to be stable, responsive, and look professional and aethetically pleasing. Oh, and you will need people to maintain it, add future features, and of course, moderate the forum.

That’s what you are up against, in what is very much a case of “if you can’t handle the heat…”.

So how do you possibly compete in this shark-infested cut-throat world of skulduggery and intrigue?

Getting into the fansite business is like marketing a product. You get an idea, you work out your target demographic, you develop it, and you market it.

Here’s the four steps you should be thinking about:

1. Who will you target? Specialization is an easy way to separate you from the pack. What role can you fill that others won’t? Will it be a PvP oriented fansite? A design/suggestion oriented fansite? Perhaps you want to market specifically to mature fans? Take it in the no-nonsense e-sports direction, or aim for a more friendly role-playing community? Maybe you’re ambitious enough to feel like you can tackle multiple sectors with a larger and more general site, even though that will pit you against tougher competition.
2. What are you going to offer? So you figured out where you want to take the website, and know your demographic. Who is the competition? Why do people come to your site instead of theirs? Are you going to offer tools for guild recruitment? Are you going to offer commentated match videos? Are you going to integrate some social networking functions? Blogs for community members, staff?
3. How are you going to develop it? What resources do you have? What resources can you find? What are the capabilities of your current staff, and in what areas do you need to build on that? You may need to find writers, people skilled in graphic design, web developers, or someone with experience of running a community.
4. How are you going to market it? Websites don’t advertise themselves, how are you going to get the word out? Are you going to develop branded signature images and encourage members to use them in forum profiles elsewhere? Are you going to advertise in-game?

If you don’t have the drive and resourcefulness to know you can get through all of the above then you might as well bow out now. The whole process is a hell of a time investment from you and whoever you enlist, so don’t be nonchalant about the commitment.

Too many fansites sink because people didn’t quite understand how much was involved, or because their morale hit the deck when the doors finally opened and nothing but tumbleweed rolled in.

There’s no other way to put this: The AI of your companions is absolutely abysmal. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been trying to wing it through an easy fight, only to flip through my team-mates and see none of their skills are recharging. A game of this caliber having AI so poor can only be intentional; they are forcing you to micromanage or use their ‘combat tactics’ system.

['Combat tactics' is the ability to script situational reactions. For example: You could use one of the tactics slots on your healer character for a "if health =<25%, use generic healing spell" script. You get more slots as you level it up, also requiring you to spec that character into Cunning.]

Now don’t get me wrong, the idea of combat tactics is great! I’m not going to object to anything that gives me more customisation of my team. There’s just one problem with it: I have to put points into it in order to get enough ’slots’ for it to become useful. Why in the Makers name do I have to ‘level up’ what should be a core game mechanic? Why should I sacrifice skill points I could put into stealing or coercion just so I can run my team effectively?

Even that isn’t really why I object. The simple fact is that there is no good reason for the AI to be so poor. I can understand that they want to encourage you to use the tactics system or micromanage a bit, but even the best AI in the world will still benefit from either. Again, I feel pushed into playing the game their way, and it sucks.

Time to report in after a weekend spent hacking and slashing my way through the kingdom of Ferelden.

Alistair regretted saying helmets were for pussies.

I’ve got mixed feelings about Dragon Age so far: The story and the character development has certainly been impressive, but it’s just not drawing me in with the same intensity as older Bioware/Black Isle titles.

A large part of this stems from Bioware’s decision to depart from the pen and paper gaming style of Baldur’s Gate, which I believe is a definite step in the wrong direction for them. It’s an issue of transparency, and how (despite their fears of it becoming a ‘math sim’) having clear and consistent systems can help create a more believable environment.

Baldur’s Gate immerses you in a world of equals, where even a lowly peasant has HP and armor class values. You know that any character, friend or foe, is working by the same rules as you. They are using spells that are available to anyone in the game world, their equipment functions the same way as yours, they have the same class/specialization limits as you, and so on.

That feeling is lost in DA:O, where it is simplified to the point of it feeling like “you vs. monsters” with NPCs as little more than a tool to help tell the story.

Small touches matter. In Baldur’s Gate you can look at any NPC, monster or even special character and take a good guess at what they have equipped. You often can tell if an item is unusual, or augmented with some kind of magic. Then (if you decide you want it badly enough) you can attempt to pick-pocket it, or even try and kill the NPC to loot it from their cooling cadaver. Almost without exception it would be there, and you could pick it up and equip it immediately. (Notable exceptions being Elminster’s hat and Sarevok’s armor. How I tried so hard for those items. ).

Incidentally, this is where the ‘Biff The Understudy’ name of my blog originates: He’s an NPC that appears in the rare instance that you kill a core NPC (one critical to the core plot) to read their lines and continue the story.  A necessary compensation for the vast freedom you have.

In Dragon Age not only is loot barely related to what your victim had equipped (kill a guy in full plate wielding a two-handed axe, he drops a chain mail codpiece and some furry gloves), you are pretty much limited to attacking things that are pre-determined to be enemies. Not only does that really hurt the immersion, it also makes playing a chaotic/evil character a whole lot less fun. What happened to luring a town guard into a dark alley and butchering him for his shiny greaves?

I miss rules being applied equally between all characters within the game: The feeling of being another person within a world, rather than constantly being reminded that I am the protagonist and having the game treat me entirely different to anyone else. Even worse than that is when the game restricts what I can do, in order to prevent me from messing with where it wants to take me.

Good old Candlekeep Inn, moments before the walls are slathered with the blood of the innocent.

Then there’s the issue of party member choice. Bioware have made your comrades too important. For example: I find that I am stuck with Alistair in my party because he has such importance to the story line that I don’t want to ditch him too often. That also means I have to watch my actions, because he’s quite the honorable type. Another strike against playing a chaotic/evil character.

Add that to the smaller party size (4 instead of 6) and having far fewer potential party members (8 instead of 24) and it starts feeling like characters are pressed upon you, reinforcing the feeling of separation. It’s not ‘you and your merry band of people you have picked up during your travels’, it’s ‘you and these other really important people’. You don’t feel like you can comfortably customise your party make-up to fit your character choice and get some fun combinations going, and you don’t really have the room to do so anyway.

Perhaps it’s just nostaligia, but I can’t help feeling dissapointed. Bioware appear to be moving away from what I know and love about their games, to appeal to a younger and more casual (growl) audience. I can’t really blame them for that decision if it’s necessary for the short term success of DA:O, but I do feel they have blown any long term shot at having another classic on their hands.

The best analogy that springs to mind would be comparing Baldur’s Gate to a classic fantasy novel, where DA:O is a slightly cheesy ‘choose your own adventure’ book. The novel might be entirely linear, but you love turning every page to discover where the epic adventure will take you next. The CYOA book gives you a kind of false freedom, providing the opportunity to have an impact on your direction at the cost of being limited to a few set actions at every step.

They called it the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate… Perhaps if Baldur’s Gate got really, really drunk, knocked back a handful of Viagra, and jumped in the sack with Mass Effect.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a copy of the Guild Wars 2 Art Book…

Fantastic collection of concept art, from the cream of the industry.

… and for the hell of it threw one of the better looking Guild Wars t-shirts in with my order. Hell, why not? There’s some odd pleasure to be found in being such a devoted fan. I imagine people with an interest in professional sports have the same feeling when they buy this years jersey or a signed ball.

Then I went home and threw them on the shelf, next to my Guild Wars Nightfall baseball cap, under my Guild Wars Factions poster, just next to my Guild Wars EotN map… and it struck me that perhaps there is some money to be made here.

I wonder how much traffic the PlayNC store gets? I wonder how that compares to the in-game store, and how many more t-shirts, art books, posters and other merchandise would sell should they be added there.

Perhaps, and I’m spitballing here, ArenaNet could supplement a good chunk of their income with merchandise sales? Right now they sell a smattering of items through the PlayNC and Penny Arcade stores, but it is obviously not a priority. It certainly has nothing on the selection available for World of Warcraft, through Jinx.

Guild Wars has had some fantastic t-shirt designs put out over the past few years. I have Assassin and Dervish t-shirts picked up at various events that have all been worn into the ground. Sadly they aren’t available to buy anywhere, only a few other designs I’m not quite so fond of. I also have a decent looking Guild Wars Nightfall baseball cap, and whilst it’s a little too nerdy for me to want to wear it’s still surprising that it’s never appeared anywhere else. Then there’s the Guild Wars 2 t-shirt which looks awesome, but was a limited run for this year’s conventions. The little merchandise that is available has been scattered between the PlayNC store, Penny-Arcade and elsewhere, meaning a lot of people aren’t even aware of its existence. I’m surprised at how many people aren’t aware of the awesome Charr t-shirt by Richard Anderson, for example.

Given their recent focus on the microtransaction style in-game store, it seems like a logical step to start adding merchandise there. It’s a convenient and easily accessible place for fans of the game to browse and buy.

ArenaNet’s highly talented art team could certainly come up with some kick-ass designs for Guild Wars 2 apparel (not to mention the books, posters, figurines, and whatever else they wanted), and I’d imagine there would be a significant demand for merchandise were it centralized.

Out of curiosity I threw together a little poll on Guild Wars 2 Guru, to find out what kind of merchandise people are interested in. Results were quite interesting:

T-Shirt / Polo		68	51.91%
Hoodie / Sweatshirt		46	35.11%
Baseball Cap / Beanie / Hat		17	12.98%
Books on Art / Development		78	59.54%
Figurines		52	39.69%
Posters / Stickers		54	41.22%
Soundtrack		79	60.31%
Other		31	23.66%
None		13	9.92%

I really hadn’t expected books and soundtracks to top the poll, having always been a t-shirt fiend myself. Though perhaps not so surprising, considering Guild Wars does have the legendary Jeremy Soul composing their soundtracks, and an unmatched art team (the book is awesome, by the way).

How profitable can merchandise be to a successful MMO developer? I imagine digital download merchandise like soundtracks can be pretty lucrative, but what about t-shirts, figurines, etc.?

]]> http://bifftheunderstudy.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/funding-free-to-play-mmos/feed/ 0 Dan Gray Guild Wars 2 Art Book http://bifftheunderstudy.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/the-death-of-traditional-mmorpgs/ http://bifftheunderstudy.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/the-death-of-traditional-mmorpgs/#comments Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:05:19 +0000 Dan Gray http://bifftheunderstudy.wordpress.com/?p=478 ]]>

So right now there is an interesting debate going on between Tobold and syncaine, on whether the next Blizzard MMO has a shot at getting over one million subscriptions. Syncaine thinks it doesn’t, because WoW’s success is largely down to timing and the sheer amount of work put into it over the years. Tobold does, and blames the failure of more recent MMORPGs on failing to have the same attention to detail and craftsmanship as WoW.

I like the premise of the discussion, and I think there are some very valid points being made, but I wouldn’t quite agree with either of them. I’m a firm believer that the age of traditional MMORPGs is coming to an end. (By ‘traditional’ I mean the standard quest systems, crafting systems, economy, leveling, shoddy PvP… and so on.) I’m not going to go out on a limb and say the next Blizzard MMO will fail, because we don’t know enough about it yet, but it’s possible it might if they stubbornly stick to the same formula.

I will go out on a limb and say I think people are getting tired of grind. I’d say that there’s a huge gap in the market opening up for a non-traditional MMORPG, and there aren’t many who recognize it. Put it this way: You have three restaurants opening up, a good sushi restaurant, an ok sushi restaurant, and ok steakhouse. It doesn’t matter how much you prefer sushi over steak, you are more likely to go to the steakhouse than the ok sushi restaurant. If you want sushi you will go to the one you know is good. People aren’t going to quit playing WoW, with the massive time investment involved in playing it, for a new game that is even just kinda similar.

To continue with the analogies, I’ll respond to Tobold’s analogy from this post. For those who can’t be bothered to open the link, it goes something like this: Sculptor makes great elephant statue (WoW), it sells for a great price, others try to imitate (AoC, WAR, etc) but don’t put in the same effort, are surprised when theirs sell for low prices. The reason why this analogy doesn’t work is simple, 10 million people can play the same MMO; 10 million people can buy the same elephant statue. The lesson for the other sculptors is not that they weren’t doing a good enough job, it’s that they shouldn’t have been making another god damned elephant statue in the first place. It doesn’t even matter if they do as good a job as the original sculptor, because (not only has he been regularly improving it for everyone who bought it) nobody wants two elephant statues in their house anyway.

The next truly successful MMORPG will be something entirely different to the games that define the genre right now. It will follow a new forumla, and offer different challenges. It wont have the same completely meaningless, time consuming and grindy character progression. It wont have ridiculous fed-ex quests, or frustrating time/money sinks. It might not even have levels, or an economy. It almost certainly will not be subscription based. It will have solid and enjoyable casual gameplay, and it will have complex and rewarding gameplay that recognizes the hardcore players with real skill.

Until that game comes along I sincerely doubt any other new MMO will retain over three million active players/subscribers.

Just a quick note to let you (yes, all two of you) know why my blog hasn’t seen much love recently.

I’m a huge fan of Guild Wars, having played since beta, racked up 6000+ hours over multiple accounts, and so on… (yes, I am trying to improve my image after the last entry). Over the past few years I’ve also helped out a number of Guild Wars fansites, one in particular being Guild Wars Guru.

Guild Wars 2 Guru has been planned ever since the sequel was announced, and over the last few months has finally come together. Just in time, too! ArenaNet opened the gates on Guild Wars 2 at PAX this year, unveiling an awesome trailer and holding developer panels you can view here. They haven’t slowed down since then either, with interviews, Q&As and more concept art coming out every week.

The community at GW2Guru is already quite large (3,000 members and 50,000 posts since it opened about a month ago), and helping to set the right tone and oversee moderation has been no small task – not to mention keeping up with news on the front page. It’s fantastic to be in the position to help grow a community from the ground up again, with new opportunities and fresh challenges. It also helps to have such a great team to work with, having all weathered their fair share of trials and tribulations on the original site.

Things have calmed down a little, for now, and I’m hoping to spend some more time writing here over the next few weeks. In the meanwhile, if you are interested in Guild Wars 2 (and you really should be) head over to GuildWars2Guru.com and see what we are doing.

I finally finished Plants Vs Zombies a couple of days ago. Thoroughly enjoyable game, and perfect for playing on a laptop whilst travelling. It’s nothing particularly ground breaking, just a nice twist on the classic tower defense format with some great humor and creativity.

Plants Vs Zombies

With PvZ finished I found myself staring blankly into the distance, tending to my Zen Garden during occasional periods of cognizance. Thankfully (120 bug sprays and 200 bags of fertilizer later) I snapped out of it, and set forth once more into the Steam store, looking for what to pick up next…

My mouse hovered over Aion for a good few minutes, feeling the temptation to try the ‘latest and greatest’ MMO. I’ve heard so many positive comments about the game, and many friends from previous MMOs have picked it up… but I just can’t bring myself to get into it. Why? Fed-Ex quests and grindy leveling. I’m so tired of both of them. Is killing ten rats in Aion really that different to killing ten rats in WoW? It just reeks of lazy game design, padding out the experience for the less judgmental masses. I’m sure Aion is a great game, but it’s not for me.

So instead, I picked up Trine! Trine is a wonderful little side scroller, with some very interesting physics puzzles to work your way through. You can switch on the fly between three characters (Thief, Mage, Knight), each with very distinct abilities. Gameplay is fluid and fast paced, and feels well polished. The only downside is the lack of online co-op, which apparently was cut from the release version of the game to meet deadlines (damn publishers). Here’s hoping that gets patched in soon to complete this fantastic game.

I just got finished watching Second Skin. Here’s the synopsis for anyone unfamiliar with the title:

Second Skin takes an intimate look at three sets of computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by online virtual worlds. An emerging genre of computer software called Massively Multiplayer Online games, or MMOs, allows millions of users to interact simultaneously in virtual spaces. Of the 50 million players worldwide, 50 percent consider themselves addicted. From individuals struggling with addiction to couples who have fallen in love without meeting; from disabled players whose lives have been given new purpose to gold farmers, entrepreneurs and widows, Second Skin opens viewers’ eyes to a phenomenon that may permanently change the way human beings interact.

Sadly, my greatest reservation about Second Skin turned out to be well founded: It clung to very stereotypical cases, studying the kind of people already associated with the MMORPG genre: Overweight addicts who are hurting their family and social life by not being able to manage the habit.

The MMO gamer in me really struggles to relate to that. I’ve been in numerous guilds and interact daily with many other players, few of which fit that stereotype. On average I’d say most are 18-25, doing well in education or employment, and managing their game life vs. their real life very well. It feels like a bit of a cheap shot, aimed at making the documentary appeal to people who are only familiar with the clichés.

I don’t want to come down too hard on that point, because Second Skin is still very well produced and very interesting. For all that the subjects are stereotypical, they are also each in situations which made their actions and attitudes fascinating to observe.

I would call Second Skin a fair and gripping representation of a very slim demographic, which in turn is an unfair representation of the whole. It would have been nice to see a contrast case to clarify that; a young, healthy MMORPG gamer who is doing well academically and socially.

I’d give it a 6/10 (arbitrary scoring system, go!), but the smattering of interesting interviews with experts and games industry noteables helps patch up some of the flaws. There’s also a few emotional moments that are fairly hard hitting, even to a stone hearted git like myself. A solid 8/10, well worth a watch.

Jeremy Monken (former CSR, Mythic) tells his grim tale to the Escapist.

The story struck a chord with me, having also worked for an MMO developer that circled the drain. Thankfully Mythic is still holding on, and WAR isn’t going anywhere yet.

The article does a wonderful job of describing the school-boyish glee that hits you when you land your first industry job, and an all too accurate description of how morale nosedives when the vultures start circling overhead.

It’s rather unpleasant to hear that many of the initial lay-offs actually had little to do with WAR, but rather EA’s financial troubles. I’d suspected that may have been the case, as the launch went smoothly and the game was well received, though a first hand account from someone in the trenches is all the more jarring.

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who isn’t all that pumped about Natal just yet.

You have to ask yourself exactly how many gamers want to get up off the couch and dance around like an idiot when they play a game?  Not too many, I’ll wager…