Carrie -
I love Puzzle Pirates. I've been playing it off and on since the beta. It's a phenomenal example of a casual MMO, and it has a very well thought out economy. I especially love the new(er) doubloon ocean. What a great experiment!
JVP -
This is, in part, what I see Google accomplishing in the next few decades: unifying online and offline content in a cohesive environment. Just look at Google Earth - and all of the new hacks for Google Maps.
With Google now creating a service similar-but-different to PayPal, one can only imagine what their next few steps will be.
There are *created* limits to the amount of money that exists in virtual worlds. Usually the amount of money in a game explodes because players found a bug and are exploiting it, or simply because game designers aren't economists. I think it's a great idea (whomever said it) to have an "Alan Greenspan" on staff.
The problem in most MMOs is that once the hardcore players reach maximum level, they don't have much to spend money on, but they have access to more gold than lower level characters. They're really left with two choices: create other characters and 'twink' them (give them high level armor & weapons, items characters of that level couldn't afford), or they hoard their money to buy things, like rare drops.
This drives prices up, as in-game auctioneers will sell to the highest bidder, and high level characters have - and have access to - the most gold.
I was playing EverQuest when Shadows of Luclin came out (2002-ish) - SOE introduced horses for the players that cost insane amount of money, simply to try to reduce the amount of money that existed in the game. You'll see all sorts of things like this - especially in the games where players can 'own' land and build houses or castles, and things for the castles..
Another way around the money hoarding issue is having items/armor/weapons degrade over time (or forcing characters to buy food & water to survive). This makes players either pay to "repair" their items, or purchase new ones every few months.
I highly recommend Terra Nova if you're interested in a more academic look at the game industry. There's a lot of discussion on player rights, economies, development, etc. Edward Castronova is just one of the many fine contributors.
And to go back to a topic, the new(ish) game Guild Wars has two play modes - RPG and PVP (player vs. player). With RPG, you start out at level 1, with no skills, and play through the game to work your way up. If you choose PVP, you create a level 20 character (that's the top level), but with limited skills. Any skills you unlock by playing your RPG character are also available to your PVP character.
To explain the difference a bit more, the end game in EverQuest, or Star Wars Galaxies, is that there isn't one. There are increasingly more difficult quests to embark on, that often need a cohesive team of 50 or more players in order to be successful.
In Guild Wars, the end-game is guild-based gladitorial style combat for rank. Until the expansion packs are released, anyway.
Back to the Dark is Rising movie proposal, I think Haley Joel Osment would be a good choice to play Will.. now, of course, he's a bit too old.
I'm completely blanking on any other child stars, other than Dakota Fanning, who I can't really picture being anything other than slightly creepy and/or completely darling.
So true. So very, very true.
And it's sad that this "logic" is so pervasive in our society - and has been since the Puritan English colonies.. it's something, I fear, that isn't going to go away any time soon.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 5 |
| 2004 | 1 |
Total: 6 comments. View all these comments on a single page.
The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Theresa:
Show all comments by Theresa.