Simple question: Can you have numbers in your name? What about special characters like spaces or dashes.

This is important to me for... reasons.

(Serious question btw :D :D :D).

Originally posted by BitterClinger

More American were murdered in Chicago in 2012 than NATO forces (incl. U.S.) were killed in Afghanistan. This isn't because Chicago has a high concentration of rampaging gamers, and it isn't because Chicago doesn't have enough gun laws.

LET ME THROW SOME STATS AT YOU ... softly:

. In 2011, according to fbi.gov, California had 1,790 total murders, 1,220 which were caused by handguns. This number doubles that of any other state, including TX that had 1,089 murders, 699 were with firearms.

Found here.

 . In 1920, Britain passed a law requiring civilians to obtain a certificate from their district police chief in order to purchase or possess any firearm except a shotgun. To obtain this certificate, the applicant had to pay a fee, and the chief of police had to be "satisfied" that the applicant had "good reason for requiring such a certificate" and did not pose a "danger to the public safety or to the peace." The certificate had to specify the types and quantities of firearms and ammunition that the applicant could purchase and keep

.  In 1968, Britain made the 1920 law stricter by requiring civilians to obtain a certificate from their district police chief in order to purchase or possess a shotgun. This law also required that firearm certificates specify the identification numbers ("if known") of all firearms and shotguns owned by the applicant

.  In 1997, Britain passed a law requiring civilians to surrender almost all privately owned handguns to the police. More than 162,000 handguns and 1.5 million pounds of ammunition were "compulsorily surrendered" by February 1998. Using "records of firearms held on firearms certificates," police accounted for all but fewer than eight of all legally owned handguns in England, Scotland, and Wales

. ...the homicide rate in England and Wales has averaged 52% higher since the outset of the 1968 gun control law and 15% higher since the outset of the 1997 handgun ban

. Chicago did a handgun ban in 1982. In 1995 the law was amended and in 2010 many of the laws passed in chicago and suburbs were repealed. In 2005, 96% of the firearm murder victims in Chicago were killed with handguns.

More...

@Scarfe: I don’t believe in white lies. I believe they often do more harm than good. I believe a better response is to just sugar coat the truth. Also, I believe it says a lot about a person who is too afraid to tell the truth and would choose to blatantly lie to your face multiple times.

@Sovrath: It’s beyond just trusting them as friends/guildmates. The whole point wasn’t that they left, it was that they were willing to scheme behind many of our backs, then tried to tear the guild apart.

@Mistmaker: “Welcome to the real world” is likely one of the biggest cop outs for bad human behavior. At least I am speaking out against it and talking about advancing ourselves for the better. Or perhaps shining a more “realistic” light on gaming behavior and how it isn’t far from real life afterall.

@Erictlewis: Many companies are different. In the game industry there are quite a few companies that have families that work there, let alone friends. Don’t agree with it? That’s the company’s problem, I guess.

As for playing solo, lately I’ve had less of an interested in MMORPGs. It seems to be because of the amount of guild drama that comes with running a decent sized guild. Perhaps why I took to playing Dishonored and Assassin’s Creed.

Originally posted by JerYnkFan

IMO, single player MMO is an oxymoron.

 

That's the point. Too much emphasis on single player elements in a "massively mutiplayer" game. This was a "hit or miss" concept with a lot of people :\ Guess I'll be more apparent next time.

Originally posted by LordDmaster

MMO=Massivley Multiplayer Online

MSPO=Massivley Single Player Online

So are we talking about MMO's or MSPO's?

Or you trying to make a Single Player Online game with alot of people "Not" working to gether?

Or

Are you trying to make a Single Player Online game with alot of people "Working" together?

As "Thorbrand" said; "No such thing" in my world. But this is your world and I'm just a squirrel trying to get a n...  Game.

 

And as I said to Thorbrand: Try reading the article and not just the title.

Originally posted by Thorbrand
No such thing as a single player MMO. Definition of a MMO makes it impossible to be a single player game. This is what companies need to be held to what defines a MMO before they can claim their games are a MMO. No such thiing as a single player massivley multiplayer game. I think that pretty much explains it.

Instead of just reading the title and commenting... try reading the whole article. I was using it as a hyperbole. Basically exaggerating a lot of game's use of questing and story. Focusing more on single player elements rather than multiplayer.

Then again, if you'd read, you'd know.

Originally posted by defector1968

graphics = 40%

class balance = 40%

rest = 20%

Ah, so for you graphics and "balance" make up 80% of the game, yeah? By that logic, I guess that's why some games have very linear and boring questing.

aka:  RIFT. Or why some games have incomplete questing.

aka: Age of Conan. Or why some games are far from polished.

aka: Warhammer. Or why some games feel forced out before they are ready, missing key features of many MMORPGs.

aka: Star Wars. Or why some games have mediocre dungeons and instances PvP.

aka: Guild Wars 2 . Or why some games seem to lack pretty much everything.

aka: Final Fantasy XIV. This list could go on...

Just saying. 80% should go to everything else. 20% to graphics. And I'm not saying that the above mentioned games are failures, but I am saying that I feel as though resources put into some areas were half-arsed or almost completely neglected due to money getting put in the wrong places. I think that's something many of us (though not all) can agree on.

Originally posted by Mawnee
Why does everyone always discuss this subject like it has to be one or the other? I want BOTH!

Because we are talking about the allocation of resources. The thing with MMOs is that they are not like regulary single player games. A lot of the resources go into make it pretty, question/story, making it multiplayer, pvp, and/or endgame pve. Quite a few MMOs will take away from endgame and "gameplay" in general to make a game have better questing and/or graphics.

That's the point. If you don't have the resources, why waste them on graphics instead of gameplay? With a one-time purchase game it might work, but with a sub-based game it won't.

There are a lot of comments regarding just ignoring this, but I don't think ignoring is the right answer.

It may be easier, but it doesn't cause change. I'm not talking about getting out your torches and pitchforks, but I am talking about being more vocal towards a gaming lifestyle. It's a personal choice and many can maintain gaming for freetime and still have friends and a decent social life and/or relationships.

It's an unkind and bitter stereotype and isn't the only one that societies across the world embrace. I guess I am just one of the few that think action is better than no action.

How can you expect change if you don't put in your two cents?

Originally posted by Xasapis

Looks like if you're passionate about something these days, you're "addicted" to it.

 Too bad, and I thought facebook gaming made gaming in general a more acceptable form of entertainment.

There's a difference between passion and addiction. Big difference.

@Vyeth - Was a typo, sorry.

Originally posted by LachyFTW
Dyeing your hair blue could be another one.

Anime? Maybe this would make sense. Video mames? No.

Punk music. Yes.

Originally posted by Topherpunch
Honestly, I wish Pokket would just stop giving us updates on games. You want a real MMO, play Darkfall: UW, you want another WoW clone, listen to Pokket.

 

Read the column. It is not an update on games, it is an update on the industry. Asking y'all where you think it is going from here, up or downhill? Was meant to make you think, not try to sell you Toy Story the MMO.

There's a lot of Darkfall comments on here. If I took the time to mention every MMO in the works, or recently released, including Darkfall, then I WOULD be giving you an update on games. I'm not here to do that. I'm here to analyze them and the industry. Game Face is where I update you.

Originally posted by Tayah

I'm thinking Titan will probably be the next real big mmo release. A little off topic and I hope this isn't taken the wrong way. This piece seems heavily edited. It's more well written than Pokket's usual columns.

It's a bit edited, though there is nothing wrong with my previous columns. I write with a lot of long sentences. The average reader doesn't like long sentences. My punctuation is usually correct, though. I'll try to make more use of shorter sentences from now on.

I agree that Titan will have a lot of hype. Hell, it already does.

I'm glad to see a lot of debate on this column. I think this has been a topic circling many communities for the past few weeks. I wanted to write something on it to see what others had to say about it.

Originally posted by Sovrath

I'll offer a differing opinion.

I would say that people who don't play games should not be in the position to design games. I would say that people who don't play game could be in positions where being a gamer might not be needed.

Look at Curt Schilling. he was clearly a gamer. But not much of a businessman. Does it matter if you are a gamer if you can't keep the budget on track or bring in new investment?

If I find an amazing artist then it might not be important that they play games but that they are an amazing artist who can bring concepts to life?

What about someone who is an amazing animator? Maybe for movies. But they dont' play games? I think I'd rather take someone who wasn't a gamer but knew their craft well and could be utilized by those who are designing the game.

One of the things I've noted from my limited experiene at game conventions is that there are a lot of people working at game companies who are very unprofessional. I sometimes wonder if some of the issues that seem to plague game companies are that they are run/staffed by gamers and not professionals.

Of course, if you are designing a game then being a gamer and one that understands the game/demographic you are working for would be incredibly important.

 

The problem with, let's say the artist, is that you end up with things like "space pope" in SWTOR. An outfit that looks hilarious (and kind of bad) on male characters, and even silly for female characters (who it seemed designed for because all healers are female, right? *rolls eyes). There were some cool outfits, I'll admit, but most of the artists seemed like they didn't have a firm grasp of what something (like a healing sage) would want to look like. Anyone familiar with the MMO market KNOWS that people want to look bada$$... even if they are HEALING. They don't want to look like they are in a white ball gown, going into a raid with others, to serve tea and crumpets to those on the battlefield.

Perhaps a little research would reveal  that people want to look and feel good about their characters, or perhaps just knowing MMOs would have sufficed and saved the trouble. I know a lot of talented artists that play games. Not avidly, but enough to understand. End of story.

I can agree that not all execs need to be gamers, unless they are the execs that are, ultimately, calling the shots. Either they need to surround themselves with advisors that know and REALLY understand the game industry (and don't just read charts from gaming trends that are 2 years old), or they need to take the time to understand it themselves.

On that note, I thought of my new topic. Thanks!

Originally posted by Quizzical
It depends some on the exact job description.  Anyone with any say in design decisions for the game surely needs to know the game industry.  But a janitor doesn't.

But that's just common sense imo. Also, for most facilities, they usually hire a company that handles cleaning to take care of cleaning up. They typically don't hire janitors directly like a high school would.

Stevenra: I like to think I've been very unbiased in A LOT of reviews, first impressions, etc of games that I cover. I was rather pessimistic about SWTOR, Tera, and GW2 before they launched and, while I won't say they are the game of my dreams, they are certainly something to fill my time with. I tend to give both the goods and bads of every game I've tried out. I don't give you what devs want to hear, but I do try to put the negatives nicely. There is a major difference.

kaiser3282: That is completely false, sir. The Mythic version of WAR was RvR/PvP focused and had to put in PvE. You may be thinking of another version of Warhammer put on by a different company that was PvE focused and got cancelled.

Freezzo: The suits call the shots on A LOT of things, and in SWTOR's case, Lucas Arts also puts their hand in the jar. Like Matt Higby said at the Future of MMO panel at PAX, there's a lot devs want to do, functionality they want to put into the game, but there is only so much they can do due to budget, time restrictions, shots called, etc. To think devs don't know what's missing from their game as they play, is really to think foolishly. Ofc they are going to say they like the game they spent hours, days, months, years working on. I'm sure they are still proud.

Originally posted by Yakamomoto

Well at your position you are a kind of opinion leader, being into journalism and MMO reports.

 I find it a little disappointing for journalists to state an opinion on a game in beta (damn, it was so much better on release than in beta!), also writíng an article which is supposed to wrap up the current state of MMO storytelling, questing and cutscenes and not do research on TSW, the most innovative MMO in all three areas, seems incomplete. 

In fact, these three points are (imho) groundbreaking und unparalleled in TSW. Therefore.. quite disappointed to read about the usual fetch kill quests of other MMOs, not menitoning investigation missions, stealth missions, missions that require crafting in TSW etc. also the Twin Peaks type storytelling/cutscenes.. never seen anything better in an MMO. Perhaps you like to look up some investigation missions on Youtube so you know what is possible today, besides fetch/kill 10 rats quests. Check some walkthroughs and videos from the Egypt story missions "Black Sun Red Sand"and "The big terrible picture" and you will see what I mean by innovation :) 

minor spoiler: a Caeser cypher decoder might come in handy :D

 

 

Let me point out a quote from my column above:

"I guess the more obvious advancements to this were Aion, then SW:TOR, and even Guild Wars 2. I'm going to name these because I remember them well and played all three."

End of story. I am a journalist, yes. But I simply cannot play every single MMO, let alone every online game, that is released simply because I want to talk about an aspect of gaming that affects MANY games beyond that one game I decided not to buy.

Also, as you can see in my article, I didn't cover every area of questing, I mainly just covered wall-of-text questing and cutscenes (since we've seen a lot of those). If I wanted to cover every type of questing in one sit-down discussion... well, I'd be writing a book, not a column lol Perhaps I will one day though.

When a journalist or writer sites examples in their article, they don't site every example known to man, they only site a few that are relevant. Would have been helpful to use TSW? Perhaps, but the other three sited were just as useful in proving or disproving the point I was trying to make. If you got the idea, then the column was a success, regardless of there being a game that has decent cut scenes and questing.

Although, I still think the DK starting area in WoW is the best questing and story integration I've experienced thus far.

On that note (my post above), that's why you all should leave comments! If you think TSW had great cutscenes, you're obviously welcome to comment. Heck, I want to go back and give the game another chance now just to see for myself again @_@ lol

For some reason I couldn't edit my post... :\

Originally posted by Yakamomoto
Question: Why do you write an article about story, cutscenes and questing and NOT write about Secret World??  Because it wins in every category by a long shot? Sorry but this article is incomplete

Because I am not going to write about a game I wasn't interested in and didn't play. I got to experience some of the game in beta, but it just didn't get me hooked to the game and, ultimately, I didn't want to spend money on it when I had other games I wanted to buy (I'm poor :s). I'm not saying the game was bad. I'm just saying it wasn't my cup of tea. And I don't really agree with doing a report that analyzes games and you include games you have very little experience with ^.^

Originally posted by LunarZer0
When are they going to stop letting this person make articles and videos? She is a terrible writer,and her videos are super boring and lame. What happened to people like Coyote who were good. I actually visit this site less and less because they keep giving her more and more articles and videos to post.

Then stop reading and watching them. Pretty simple.