The Internet is a Gift

When I was fifteen, having an MMO was totally a luxury. Thinking back on it, I'm seriously not sure how my parents manage to afford the fifteen-bucks-a-month fee for City of Heroes, and I'm even less sure why me and my twelve-year-old brother were allowed Read more

Fiasco Night at the CSP!

Story games took the spotlight last Thursday at the CSP, with UWB student Jay Loomis facilitating a crazy night of Fiasco If you haven’t played Fiasco, then your life must be sadly devoid of hijinks. Made by Bully Pit Games, Fiasco marries the best qualities of Read more

Quake LAN Party!

Bring your favorite method of playing Quake and join us for our LAN Party! Quake will be available at the CSP as well on PC and Wii! (using Gamecube Controllers of Read more
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The Internet is a Gift

When I was fifteen, having an MMO was totally a luxury. Thinking back on it, I’m seriously not sure how my parents manage to afford the fifteen-bucks-a-month fee for City of Heroes, and I’m even less sure why me and my twelve-year-old brother were allowed to roam freely online when we weren’t allowed to watch All That on Nickolodeon. But that’s not the point.

Pictured: My adolescence

The point is, I went to the City of Heroes website a few weeks ago to reminisce, and I saw a word that I didn’t understand.

That word was “free”.

Free? I thought. It must be some terrible misunderstanding, because MMOs aren’t free. They’ve never been free. That’s why I can’t play them, right? Because I’m a poor college student and they cost money, right?

Apparently I’m like, way behind the times or something. Apparently Everquest has been free to play since March, DC Universe Online is free too, as are Champions, Dungeons and Dragons Online, and Lord of the Rings Online. All of these games used to be paid subscription only, and now they tend to follow a tiered model: some features are available for free, others are only unlocked if you pay for the full content of the game. In some cases, as with City of Heroes, the entire game is available for free download.

And download it I did, for a GPA-destroying week of life-saving in Paragon City. It turns out, free MMOs are really counter-productive for my life.

But are they productive for the companies who make them?

Goodness, yes.

TAKE MY MONEY. TAKE IT NOW.

 

When Everquest 2 switched to a tiered mode, Sony reported that subscriptions had gone up 300%. Facebook games like Farmville have already shown us that microtransactions are insanely effective, and now big-name MMOs like Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online are implementing similar systems on top of their free-to-play models. In Champions Online, players can purchase additional character classes through microtransactions.

This is so evil but so awesome. It’s also brilliant, but seriously a long time coming. Games like Counterstrike have been free-to-play online for roughly a thousand years, and every new shooter that comes out has online multiplayer. MMOs have long occupied an awkward zone that requires financial commitment- and these days, who wants that?

The game is free. Turning yourself in R'hllor's chosen might cost you.

By making subscription fees optional, I doubt that the makers of MMOs are losing anything. It’s similar to the philosophy of artists releasing their music for free download online: you give people a taste of what you have to offer, and if they were willing to spend money on you in the first place, well, chances are they probably will. Free MMOs can open the field up to new players, without scaring anyone away with hefty subscription fees. And, well, if someone loves the game enough to spend money on it, the option is always there.

In case you can’t tell, I’m a huge fan of the concept of a “gift economy”, defined as an economic system where there is no formal agreement for reciprocation. It’s certainly an idealistic, but if you haven’t noticed, it’s kind of what the Internet is based on. All these services we take for granted like Facebook, Google, Youtube… Megaupload… we don’t pay these people a fee. There’s a more subtle transaction taking place that values time spent, monetary donations, and publicity more than hard cash. Is this something that I can see happening in, say, the local grocery store? Um, probably not. But the technology world has a long history of free content and I’m happy to see that MMOs are finally falling in line with the trend.

Sources: Examiner.com, Gamasutra

 

Posted on May 18, 2012 by terenewen in Analysis Leave a comment

Fiasco Night at the CSP!

Story games took the spotlight last Thursday at the CSP, with UWB student Jay Loomis facilitating a crazy night of Fiasco

If you haven’t played Fiasco, then your life must be sadly devoid of hijinks. Made by Bully Pit Games, Fiasco marries the best qualities of tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons, with the insanity of a Coen brothers movie; and unlike DnD, your adventure is wrapped up in one gaming session, leaving you satisfied and eagerly awaiting your next play.

After a brief talk where Jay explained the rules, the players split off into five groups of four and set about preparing our characters, their desires, and the pitfalls that awaited them. The game is DM-less, so all the events of the game result from cooperation between players– or, if not outright cooperation, simply a willingness to build on the last situation someone created and to never say no.

Players gather for the night of their lives…

The event brought together about twenty players who were new to the game, and a few who had played it before. As planned, we began in scenarios rife for disaster, and disaster quickly ensued. In my game, I was a high school teacher who found her long-lost child, had an affair with a student, was blackmailed by another, and ended up throwing all three of them off the school roof. Other games saw rock bands besieged by King Kong, and cultists searching for a baby thief. All of this seems to be pretty much standard for Fiasco.

It may look like innocent fun, but someone is probably about to die.

This is the first casual story game event we’ve held here, but after a taste of what story games can accomplish, it’s safe to say we want more. Interested in checking out Fiasco for yourself? The website has free playsets for download, and of course, the staff at the CSP is now addicted to playing, and we’ve got a legion of new converts as well. As always, Friday game nights are a great time to come in and talk to us about it, and maybe even get a game going! You never know what might happen…

Posted on May 16, 2012 by terenewen in Games Leave a comment

Quake LAN Party!

Bring your favorite method of playing Quake and join us for our LAN Party! Quake will be available at the CSP as well on PC and Wii! (using Gamecube Controllers of course)

 

Posted on May 15, 2012 by kwelaye in Uncategorized Leave a comment

An Interview with Mike Mulvihill

Game design. Everyone wants to be a part of it, but not everyone knows how or what to do. I sat down with Mike Mulvihill, a grizzled game design veteran to not only grab some insight into his personal journey in the industry, but to also get a general grasp of what should be done if you want to get into the industry yourself!

Tell me a bit about yourself…

I was born and raised in Chicago, I went to a small college in western Iowa called Morningside College; following that I went to grad school at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota. I was really into light storytelling at that time, which was considered an “artsy” profession. But I was less of an artist and I did more active stuff, finishing college with a lit degree… I actually thought I would probably end up somewhere in film. However, that really wasn’t the case.

Mike worked on Shadowrun for several years.

Read more «An Interview with Mike Mulvihill»

Posted on May 15, 2012 by morklympious in Education, Footer, Games, Interview, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Kickstarting the Past: A Lecture in Game Design

Mike Mulvihill has worked in the game industry for nearly 25 years – designing everything from early tabletop role-playing games to the latest app-based and social-media electronic games. He has created games for many well-known and beloved properties, including Marvel Comics, Major League Baseball, Disney Pirates, NASCAR, Halo, DC Comics, Star Wars and, of course, Shadowrun.
In addition, he teaches and guest lectures at UWB and is a Game Designer in-residence at the Center for Serious Play.

Fresh off a very successful Kickstarter campaign that rekindled the world of Shadowrun, a game universe with 25 years of history, Mike will talk about crowd-source funding and its role in the future of game design.

In addition, Mike will talk about Shadowrun, and keeping a universe alive through thick and thin—from its humble origins, its history as a tabletop RPG, its Sega Genesis and SNES incarnations and even a few versions no one knows about.

As a grizzled vet of the gaming wars, Mike will address staying alive in the current market, the importance of fans, the gaming nostalgia that brings properties back and, of course, why anyone would pay $10,000 to play a game with him.

RSVP to secure your spot!

Posted on May 9, 2012 by savannah in Education, Games Leave a comment
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