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The Daily Grind: Would you buy a game based on the people in charge?
February 23, 2013

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Yoshida, following the conclusion of a worldwide tour and shortly before he flew back home to do a live Q&A session for people around the globe. The dude is intense.
Between watching what Naoki Yoshida did to the original version of Final Fantasy XIV and getting a hands-on with the new version, I will now play absolutely any game that lists him as the director. I don't care if his next project is Barbie Dancing Fun Time -- I will buy it if his name is on the cover. Or download page. The point is that the man has convinced me that he can take a game and make it into something great.

Of course, video games in general have shown many times that a name doesn't make for a game. And a big-name MMO designer doesn't necessarily have the same luck with the second game as with the first (see Ultima Online vs. Tabula Rasa). But there are a lot of names out there that are associated with big projects, for better or worse. So would that influence you? Would you buy a game based on the people in charge?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

MassivelyThe Daily Grind: Would you buy a game based on the people in charge? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Feb 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    WRUP: The stupid benchmark game edition
    February 23, 2013

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    In hindsight, I shouldn't have tweeted about it.
    Final Fantasy XIV released its benchmark this week. To celebrate, I've been playing the benchmark. Specifically, I've been tweaking settings to see how high I can get the score to go without sacrificing any major visual quality. This is stupid at face value, but it's especially stupid when you consider that I ran the benchmark at maximum resolution and settings and got a score that told me, "You're good; you can run the game like this just fine."

    In other words, I have turned a test program into a crude facsimile of a game in which I see how I can game the test. I say this without pride.

    Most of us at the Massively offices will be playing actual games rather than whatever stupid nonsense this is, so this week's WRUP is still relevant. Check out our plans past the break, and let us know what you'll be doing down in the comments!

    Continue reading WRUP: The stupid benchmark game edition

    MassivelyWRUP: The stupid benchmark game edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Feb 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      The Game Archaeologist: Origin stories of modern MMO studios
      February 23, 2013

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      The Game Archaeologist Origin stories of modern MMO studios
      A good origin story always captivates me, especially when it gives me a new perspective on something I've come to appreciate over the years. I love looking back at actors' first few films or hearing about how, say, Atari and Microsoft got their start.

      With MMO studios, these origin stories abound and are equally fascinating to me. For example, who would've known that the makers of a couple of SNES titles would one day be running the largest MMO in the world? Or what if few gaming hobbyists in the '80s hadn't created MUDs and then gone on to revolutionize online PvP play?

      Today we're going to go back to the very beginning of several modern MMO studios to see when and how they came into being. Who knows... it might change how you see them forever.

      Continue reading The Game Archaeologist: Origin stories of modern MMO studios

      MassivelyThe Game Archaeologist: Origin stories of modern MMO studios originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        The Tattered Notebook: Getting started with EverQuest II adornments
        February 23, 2013

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        The Tattered Notebook - Getting started with EverQuest II adornments
        So let's talk about adornments in EverQuest II. If you're a relatively casual EQII player like I am, you may not have any adornments on your gear. Heck, you may not even know what adornments are or why you might want them! The Tattered Notebook is here for you, and while adorning can seem like an unnecessary pain in the butt at first, availing yourself of the system will make your avatars much more powerful in the long run.

        Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: Getting started with EverQuest II adornments

        MassivelyThe Tattered Notebook: Getting started with EverQuest II adornments originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Feb 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          DayZ now on Steam, Hall goes behind the scenes for new mocap
          February 23, 2013

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          DayZ now on Steam, Hall goes behind-the-scenes for new mocap
          It's time for another DayZ dev blog, and this time the camera follows mod guru Dean "Rocket" Hall as he goes behind the scenes at Bohemia Interactive's motion capture facility. The occasion is an excuse to talk up the new zombie animations in store for the mod, and Hall himself even gets into act, donning a mocap suit and stutter-stepping across a greenscreen stage environment.

          DayZ is now available directly through Steam, provided you have Arma 2: Combined Operations installed already. Click past the cut for the full video blog.

          Continue reading DayZ now on Steam, Hall goes behind the scenes for new mocap

          MassivelyDayZ now on Steam, Hall goes behind the scenes for new mocap originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          The Mog Log: Across the country for Final Fantasy XIV
          February 23, 2013

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          Perhaps a redone header is in order with some of the new art. Let me think.
          On Wednesday last week, I got on an airplane to head across the United States, starting a long and grueling trip. I spent half of Wednesday in the air, half of Thursday either on a train or in a car, and more or less all of Friday in the air once again returning home. All of this for about two hours of playing Final Fantasy XIV and a couple of interviews, in case you missed everything going live on Thursday.

          Would I do it again? In an instant.

          There's no way that I can repeat the amount of information that was in the roundup in a single column, so I'm not going to try. What I am going to do is talk about some of the other assorted bits and pieces of my Final Fantasy XIV experience and the surrounding events because it was truly something to see. I've been fairly skeptical up until this point, but I'll say that after sitting down and playing the beta version for a little while, I'm now a believer.

          Continue reading The Mog Log: Across the country for Final Fantasy XIV

          MassivelyThe Mog Log: Across the country for Final Fantasy XIV originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            Wings Over Atreia: The bittersweet reality of Aion's Fast Track
            February 23, 2013

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            Wings Over Atreia The bittersweet reality of Aion's Fast Track
            I called it!

            Way back in the far recesses of time (also known as last summer), we learned about a major change heading to Aion with the 3.1 patch: the Fast Track server. Although I could certainly see the benefits of a PvP-free leveling zone that heaped XP upon players even more than before, I also questioned whether such a move would herald the untimely death of the corresponding areas on the main servers.

            Fast forward to the pre-spring of 2013, by which time Deavas have had time to acclimate to the new feature, stretching their level-55-or-under wings on the Fast track server if they were so inclined. So what's the consensus? Is it all that and a bag of dado chips, or has the game lost a part of that special something that made Aion, Aion? In my opinion, there's enough of the latter to call the Fast Track server a mixed blessing.

            Continue reading Wings Over Atreia: The bittersweet reality of Aion's Fast Track

            MassivelyWings Over Atreia: The bittersweet reality of Aion's Fast Track originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Feb 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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              State of Decay Q&A talks skills, traits, and more
              February 23, 2013

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              Undead Labs mural
              Undead Labs has posted the results of its latest State of Decay-focused Q&A session. The company parsed a bunch of the best community-generated queries and posted the answers in a mammoth forum thread that represents a great starting point if you're looking to learn more about the upcoming console zombie title.

              Several of the questions involve the previously mentioned skill system, and there is also some info on traits and survivor characters. Most crucially, we learned that sexting is an actual skill in the game (as are Sudoku and Reality Show Trivia)," according to community guru Sanya Weathers. "It does nothing in a world where cell towers no longer function," she quipped.

              MassivelyState of Decay Q&A talks skills, traits, and more originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Feb 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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              The Daily Grind: Should gender and race matter in MMO character creation?
              February 22, 2013

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              Camelot
              Camelot Unchained, Mark Jacobs' upcoming RvR-based MMO, is dipping into the old-school well in more ways than one. One design feature that caught my eye is the promise that racial and gender choices will influence character stats. MMO players are pretty used to the ancient RPG idea that some races or species are going to be better at magic or archery or punching people in the face or pressing Will of the Forsaken than others, but non-cosmetic gender differences are something that very few MMOs embrace. Even accidental gender imbalances send players into a tizzy.

              The implication in CU is that these initial starting stats will be changeable based on what characters actually do, such that an Elf woman who does nothing but swing hammers will bulk up or Viking thug who practices his poetry will see that reflected in his charisma skill (I am making these examples up). But the idea that my character might start at a stereotypical disadvantage still bugs me and makes me wonder how many min-maxers out there will just play to those stereotypes because they feel they must, thereby homogenizing the character makeup of the whole game.

              What about you guys? Do you think that gender and race/species should matter in MMO character creation as it matters in certain other RPGs?

              Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

              MassivelyThe Daily Grind: Should gender and race matter in MMO character creation? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Feb 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                Storyboard: Profession discussion - The Aristocrat
                February 22, 2013

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                One of these people probably isn't an aristocrat.
                Aristocracy is not a job in one sense. You can't apply to be an aristocrat, nor can you get a degree that leads to becoming an aristocrat, and there's a marked lack of professional guilds and unions for the field. You can't even really hope to be one when you grow up, since you're usually born into it. But in the broader sense of roleplaying character professions, "aristocrat" certainly qualifies, as it answers the question of what your character does while on the road.

                Some aristocrats might hit the road because they have a duty to those of lower status. Others might be out there because they want to be anywhere other than home. Some have tastes or curiosities that can be satisfied only in a more exotic location. Whatever the reason, many aristocrats pack up their elaborate and numerous bags and head off in search of adventure, or at least the various opportunities that adventure brings along.

                Continue reading Storyboard: Profession discussion - The Aristocrat

                MassivelyStoryboard: Profession discussion - The Aristocrat originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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