It's Okay to be a Bad Player

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Never played it

According to the ESA “Over 164 million adults in the United States play video games and three-quarters of all Americans have at least one gamer in their household. As the leading form of entertainment today, video games are an integral part of American culture”. So when you factor in the rest of the world, I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people play video games and that still surprises some people. Now it’s been known for a long time now by video game developers that two thirds of their customers never complete a single player game. It’s a similar story in other game genres. The majority of MMO players never play any endgame content such as raids. A lot of players don’t make it to level cap either. Yet, so much of the game related content produced by gamers themselves does not represent this. So much of the gameplay videos you find on YouTube comes from technically adept players. Similarly, many popular live streamers gain their audience through being competent. 

Now you can cogently argue that there’s not a major market for watching footage of people playing badly, unless it’s presented in a humorous fashion. You can also argue that the term “bad player” is loaded to begin with, as it implies that there is a mandatory skill curve that we all have to progress through and abide by (guess what, you don’t have to). It’s a classic false axiom that so many gamers still cling to. So when I use the phrase “bad player” in this post, I mean it as “someone who is playing in a manner that may not be optimal or even unorthodox, who isn’t driven by a need for continuous self improvement or a sense of competition but is still deriving enjoyment from their approach to the game”. Now if we go with this definition, I think it’s safe to say that not only are there a lot of bad players about but they make up the majority of the player base. And that is fine.

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Something, something Tyler "Ninja" Blevins

There is still a major cultural divide in the video games community. Those who see games as inherently competitive and those who play games for “fun”. I’m painting with broad brush strokes here but it usually comes down to some variation of these two philosophies. However, this is not an even split. I’m sure there is sufficient data out there to show that the latter group is the larger. From my perspective, it certainly seems that way anecdotally speaking. When you consider how many games genres have evolved over the last two decades, adding quality of life improvements such as quest trackers, auto looting and fast travel it seems that the developers know this as well. Games with corpse runs, excessive penalties for failure or death, or punishing learning curves tend not to find mass appeal and settle into niche markets. And any game that relies heavily on twitch mechanics is going to face a dwindling player population among the middle-aged. This is why not every game is not Dark Souls.

Just like the cult of youth and beauty that blights popular culture despite it not being applicable to most of us, we also see the equally unrealistic myth of the Über Gamer everywhere. However, if all the distinctly average players decided that they were a disgrace to gaming per se and subsequently took up train spotting, the video game industry would go bust (and freight yards,railway sidings and bridges would be very crowded). So not only do I support and extend a sense of solidarity to all bad players like myself (because I hate arbitrary hierarchies) but I actively encourage players to do things their way. Not only are we keeping a lot of regular, decent people in work but we’re challenging capitalist dogma that everything is about conflict, winners and losers. We may be keeping Bobby Kotick rich but we’re wearing our mediocre, poorly organised ,“I don’t even know what these skills are for” play style as a badge of honour. And so this is why I will continue to RPG spam in Call of Duty Warzone.

Call of Duty Warzone Matchmaking

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I’ve been playing Call of Duty Warzone for about a month now and have documented my progress through the game and my attempts to improve my performance. It would be generous to categorise me as a distinctly average player. But I don’t worry too much about this as I am not alone. Not everyone is a high end player, although one’s perspective on this can be skewed as it is the most competent players that tend to dominate games. However, through simply playing CoD WZ regularly, despite my low body count per game I have slowly progressed through the ranking system. I am currently ranked 103 (the cap is 155). CoD WZ is generous with XP and each game’s score is not just based upon your kills. Your final position out of 150 other players is also a factor. There are additional marks for damage and a lot of other superfluous factors that the devs had added to ensure that even the weakest players move forward through the rankings. 

Now despite what Infinity Ward have said publicly, there is a matchmaking system in place and sadly it appears to be somewhat basic. Rank features in group placement plus some backend stats regarding kill ratio. To cut a long story short, a month on I now find myself placed in games with players of a comparable or higher rank than me. Many of whom have reached the maximum tier through ability and not attrition. The net result is that my enjoyment of Solo Battle Royale matches has somewhat diminished. As an average player I expect to die when going head to head with someone with superior skills. But when this happens two thirds of the time, it does sour one’s experience and pleasure. There are sufficient random factors that mean I can sometimes find myself in an optimal position or I quickly obtain good gear but these are becoming fewer and far between.

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I played a Solo Battle Royale game yesterday in which I chose a relatively isolated part of the map to land (The building site in the Novi Grazna Hills). I looted several houses and got a half decent assault rifle and sufficient armour. I think I did this in under 5 minutes. In the same amount of time another player had landed nearby, collected sufficient money to call in a Loadout Drop, select their optimal weapons selection and then sniped me through a window at a considerable distance. I was quite impressed but it highlights the problem with the current matchmaking system perfectly. This other player knew the map inside out and had robusts skills. It raises the question, what are the benefits of us being placed in the same game? It’s not as if I offered any sort of significant challenge to them. And if this happens continuously to me, it doesn’t exactly motivate me to keep playing.

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I am not a fan of “Git Gud” culture. As I’ve written already in previous posts, I’m happy to try and learn some general tips and tactics to try to play more efficiently. Becoming a better player does improve your overall enjoyment. But I’m not looking for a “job”. Let the high end players with their stats and gaming philosophy play with comparable players. I would prefer to tool around in the shallow end with those of a broadly comparable mindset and ability. Unfortunately, the current matchmaking system doesn’t seem to be able to accomodate this. Does this mean that I’ll end up abandoning Solo Battle Royale games? No. But I will be more cautious and adjust my expectations accordingly. In the meantime I have found a compromise. CoD WZ has 5 versus 5 Multiplayer games which use very compact maps. These are great levellers, due to the frenetic pace. A poor player armed with an RPG and a SMG that they fire from the hip can do just as well as a good player. This mode doesn’t crush my interest and keeps me engaged. Something the devs could learn from with their wider matchmaking.

Pay to Play

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When The Culling first launched in October 2017 on PC and Xbox, it’s quirky take on the Battle Royale genre earned it some fans and a degree of interest. However, due to the immense success of PlayerUnkown’s Battleground, its playerbase soon fell into decline and the developers Xaviant abandoned the game within three months. Then in July 2018 The Culling II was released, much to everyone’s surprise. Sadly, the game was patently in an unfinished state and was poorly received by fans and critics alike. There was a degree of animosity towards Xaviant for walking away from the first iteration of the game and then expecting players to pay again. Due to the ongoing popularity of Fortnite, this sequel was dead in the water within a matter of days with players unable to find anyone else to compete against. Not even a speedy transition to a free to play business model could save it. 

Thus everyone assumed that The Culling as a franchise was over and done with. Whenever a new video game genre establishes itself, there are always winners and losers as developers seek to jump on the bandwagon and capitalise on the success of one market leader. So it was somewhat of a WTF moment when developers Xaviant announced that a revised version of The Culling would be relaunched on May 14th. The game has now been renamed The Culling Origins and will feature improved graphics, a revised HUD and more robust AI. However, the game retains its core take on the Battle Royale genre. Owners of previous versions will be able to download the new version for free. At present this iteration of the game will only be available on Xbox but the developers intend to bring the title back to Steam as soon as possible.

There’s nothing unusual about a developer tweaking a product and making numerous attempts to bring it to the market. Whether developer’s Xaviant are showing stoic fortitude or simply flogging a dead horse is up for debate. However, the standout aspect of this game relaunch is the business model. New players will pay $4.99 USD, which will grant them a one day trial period. After the trial they're limited to one free game a day and should they wish to play more they'll have to spend a “match token” for each subsequent game. Match tokens can be earned by winning an online match or purchased through Xaviant for real money. Token packs start at $.99USD for three match tokens and go up to $4.99 for 20 tokens. Alternatively, players can choose to purchase seven days unlimited access for $1.99 or 30 days for $5.99, roughly equivalent to $70 (just shy of £60) for a year. The loot crates seen in previous versions of the game have been removed.

We have seen many changes in video game business models in recent years. Subscriptions have been replaced by free to play and live services revenue schemes. The Season or Battle Pass is the standard for the Battle Royale genre. The base game is free and you are then “optionally” charged for cosmetics items, weapon unlocks and sundry perks. It is an act of hubris to move to a pay to play model and the fact this has been undertaken by a minor player in the market is even more curious. Now let’s clarify what is meant by the term “pay to play”, because at some point there is a cost associated with any video game that someone has to pick up. In this case the term means having to pay incrementally to continue to play the game. In essence this is a virtual version of the old coin-op arcade games. If you don’t want to spend a single penny on The Culling Origins beyond the purchase price, you have to win every time you play to earn the appropriate token for the next game. Chinny reckon.

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The concept of ownership in parts of the leisure industry is waning. Companies prefer recurring payments rather than a single one off transaction. A decade ago console game developers objected to the second hand games market. They briefly tried to tie the use of physical media to a unique activation code to prevent resales. However, the transition to online live service games ultimately solved this problem for them. I do not object to paying a monthly fee to play an MMO, as I can play as much as I want during that time without restriction. But the idea of having to pay to play a single match in some games or for a fixed period of time such as an hour, is not something I find palatable. Free to play has negatively impacted upon game design. Impediments are built into a game that can be “fixed” by money. Paying per game would be even more detrimental in this respect. I’m sorry Xaviant but I hope this model fails. It is not something I want to see gain any traction in mainstream gaming.

Political Campaigning in Video Games and the Gaming Community

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An example of the “angry mobs” found in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

I read an article on Kotaku this morning about Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from NYC and how she was using Animal Crossing: New Horizons as a means to meet the public. According to Kotaku “she was planning on visiting random people’s islands so she could “leave a doodle or note on their bulletin board”. She opened her DMs for four minutes, giving followers a chance to leave some Dodo codes so she could come visit, before heading off on an evening of being offered fruit and hopefully some wholesome online interactions”. Now I am not especially familiar with either Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Animal Crossing: New Horizons and my first thoughts were that this was essentially just a PR exercise. However, upon reflection and bearing in mind the recent focus on organisations such as Cambridge Analytica, it suddenly doesn’t sound so superficial after all.

In this instance, as the politician in question has to be invited to interact with a member of the public, the process is conducted with mutual consent and such behaviour cannot be labelled as invasive. However, what I think is interesting here is the way in which politics is evolving and finding new ways to reach out to the electorate. The days of mass consensus governments are over in both the UK and US politics and electoral success now hinges upon making incremental and targeted gains with specific demographics. We have seen how Facebook has been used to reachout to specific age groups, therefore it comes as no surprise that video games and their associated communities offer a similar opportunity. So many games have a social element to them, be it in-game or via a third party online service such as Reddit or Twitch. They may not offer an unfettered political platform but they can certainly be used for targeted campaigning.

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"Man talks utter bollocks”

It’s a common refrain from certain gamers to “keep politics out of video games” (although often this just means the politics they don’t like) but I think those days are well and truly over. Wherever there are large sums of money to be made, there is political lobbying. The recent “lootbox” debacle proved that video games publishers do not want any legal measures in place to curb their business practices and they mobilised a great deal of political leverage to do so. And then there is a growing trend for “shock jock” live streamers, offering “hot takes” on the latest talking points simply because it gets an audience and therefore generates revenue. “Popular online personalities” and “influencers” can offer political lobbyist access to groups they traditionally cannot reach. Extremist groups also use online gaming communities for recruitment and grooming. So when you consider how many people play games these days, be it on PC, console or phone, it’s surprising why politicians haven’t targeted such communities before now.

"Git Gud"

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This post is about my attempts to improve my performance while playing Call of Duty Warzone which I’ve been doing for the last three weeks. However, many of the examples I reference are equally applicable to other games. Also, I want to clarify what my overall goals are. I’m not aiming to be the best of the best. I just want to be more accurate when aiming, learn some basic tactics and not make too many obvious “noob” errors. But I refuse to accept that age alone can exclude you from certain genres of games. Admittedly, quick reflexes may well be the prerogative of youth but age has no bearing on tactics. Hence I’ve spent some time looking into how I can become a better CoDWZ player and I must say that there has been an overall improvement that I’ve found useful. Here are a few points that have helped. Much of which is common sense advice that is often overlooked.

First off, there is only so much that you can figure out and solve yourself. Therefore, don’t be afraid or averse from learning from others. Do your research, which can be fun to do as long as you don’t make it a chore. YouTube is often a good place to start due to the old “show don’t tell adage”. Just remember that some YouTuber are good at expressing themselves and imparting information. Others are not. Also remember that some advice is in tablets of stone. For example, increasing armour stats improves your survivability in a game or adding a foregrip reduces weapon recoil. However, builds, loadouts and tactics recommendations can sometimes be very subjective. The contradictory nature of such advice can be very polarising, like shops offering too much choice. Sometimes you just have to make a decision, choose a course of action and stick with it until you know whether it works for you or not.

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Don’t forget to explore your games settings as there are often a wealth of options that you can adjust. Changing such things as the field of view can make a world of difference. The more you can see, the quicker you can react. Experiment with your mouse sensitivity until you find an optimum performance. Remap keys to suit your needs, especially if you are left handed or do not favour specific kinds of default layouts. If need be, buy a gamepad for extra functionality at your fingertips. Some games will allow you to use a keyboard and mouse simultaneously with a game controller. I use this combination sometimes in games such as GTA and Ghost Recon, as I find an Xbox controller is better when using vehicles. Programmable keyboards or running macros can also be very useful for semi-automating complex key commands. Your graphics card software can also be a useful tool in optimising your game settings. It can sometimes fix graphical issues that you cannot correct using a game’s own internal settings.

The quality of your internet connection can also have a major impact upon your gameplay. If possible, connect your PC to your router via an ethernet cable. Carry out an internet speed test and determine the performance of your connection. The key stat is latency. Latency being the time/delay it takes to send information from one point to another. It is measured in milliseconds and you want it to be as low as possible. High levels are detrimental to online gaming and can result in very frustrating gameplay. With a game such as CoDWZ, latency can make all the difference between winning a gunfight. Often I’ll open fire on an enemy and they will respond. I then die and the killcam shows that they in fact shot first. But this happens when you find yourself joining multiplayer games with a high latency/ping level. Sometimes it may help to join games in different geographical regions to address latency. Ironically, just because a server is located nearer to where you live, doesn’t immediately mean that the latency will be lower.

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Perhaps the most prudent advice to consider is to adjust your mindset. If you want to learn the mechanics of any game and improve your performance, then you have to reconcile yourself to the fact that failure is the best teacher. With a game such as CoDWZ you can join a game, find somewhere to wait it out and take a very defensive approach. It will earn you XP and you will increase your rank. But it also means you’re just playing a very fancy online version of “Hide and Seek”. You are not really learning anything other than the best places to conceal yourself and you can only go so far in the game with such tactics. If you come to terms with the fact that until you get better, you’re going to die, then why not play more experimentally? When someone shoots at you, don’t always tactically withdraw. Try and flank them and have a go at taking them down. If you die, you’ll still earn XP. You may even get lucky and encounter another player just like yourself.

Learning a new skill can be an enjoyable experience. But don’t try to walk before you can run, set yourself realistic goals and don’t push yourself too hard. Otherwise the entire process will become a chore and continuous defeat will become frustrating. I do not know the complex statistical formulas for most of the MMOs that I play. But I have learned sufficient to know what numbers I need to not be squishy. I’ve also reached a point where I know what is my optimal skills rotation. I may not be able to name the skills but I know from the icons on my hotbar what they are and the order they should be in. I know my limitations with regard to what I can achieve when playing video games. I will not be a high end player but I think there is scope for me to be a wild card and to have occasional flashes of inspiration when the pieces all fit together and I don’t play like a fool. When that happens, this will be my version of “git gud”.

A Month in Gaming

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April has been an usual month. The ongoing lockdown here in the UK (and elsewhere in the world) has afforded me more gaming time than usual. The policy of social distancing has reduced my caring duties to just three hours a day. Hence I and many others like me have much more leisure time available. I initially thought that this situation would be the perfect time to try some of the many of the games that I have stockpiled over the years. However, despite trawling through many titles, I still failed to find anything that immediately took my fancy. So I decided to take stock of my overall gaming activities and whether it was time to revise them and try something new. And by new I don’t just mean just buying a new game but taking a step out of my current comfort zone into a genre I don’t usually play. So that’s exactly what I did and the results have been very interesting.

I have been curious about the Battle Royale genre for a while, since the explosive growth first of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds and then Fortnite. I’ve read a lot about the success of both these games and the way that, despite offering essentially the same experience, they have pursued different audiences and markets. I have often considered trying either one of them but the demographics of their respective playerbase has put me off. The arrival of Call of Duty Warzone subsequently provided a tipping point, as I have prior experience of the franchise and the game offers a Battle Royale experience in a format that is acceptable to me. I’ve written elsewhere about the game and my attempts to improve my gameplay performance but to summarise here, it has been a positive experience to try something new. Although there is a strong element of twitch gaming in Call of Duty Warzone, it is not the only defining factor. There is much that a player can do to succeed in the game and progress through the ranking system.

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As a result of trying something new, I have temporarily sidelined The Lord of the Rings Online. I was surprised how quickly Update 26 (now called Mists of Wilderland) was released so soon after being previewed on the test server. And as a result the new zone launched with a lot of bugs. I don’t especially like questing in new areas when they’re swarming with players and find forming an orderly queue to kill a specific mob somewhat immersion breaking (and annoying). So I’ll return to LOTRO in a month or two when the area is a little quieter. My other MMO of choice, Star Trek Online, has been pulling out all the stops to keep players engaged and to entice those who have moved on to return. At present, I’m just logging in once a day to do a featured Task Force Operation. This earns a token that can be handed in for either a C-Store ship or for a stash of Lobi Crystals (which can be bartered for fancy gear, crew or yet more ships).

I briefly dusted off Sniper Elite 4 but my overfamiliarity with the maps soon put pay to that. I am really looking forward to the fifth iteration of the game as it really is such a different experience to the hectic pace of other game genres. As for May, I think I keep playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare. I’m still working my way through the campaign, playing multiplayer against bots as a means to practice my aiming and familiarise myself with the maps. And despite only being a distinctly average player, I am having a lot of fun in Warzone. My only complaint is that I play Solo Battle Royale and would like at some point to play as part of a four man squad. But I don’t know anyone else who plays the game and I am reluctant to join a PUG. However, with an excess of time on my hands, even that may change. No doubt next month’s post will highlight yet further changes in my gaming habits, as this seems to be a theme at present.

Gamer Motivation Profile

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As so many Blapril contributors have posted their Gamer Motivation Profile, I thought I’d follow suit and write about mine. The survey is provided by Quantic Foundry who according to their own website are a “a market research company focused on gamer motivation”. Their aim is to “combine social science with data science to understand what drives gamers”. It’s all presented in a very slick and comprehensive fashion. As with all such services, you have to answer a series of questions designed to probe your gamer psychology and ascertain what drives you when playing video games. Once you complete the multiple choice questionnaire you’re presented with a graphic which shows your primary and secondary motivations, along with a written summary. You can drill down into the data and see how your answers determine the outcome.

Apparently, I am Aggressive, Spontaneous, Relaxed, and Grounded. And as ever with such surveys, the results are ambiguous. I would certainly agree with the first statement but only when I’m playing specific types of games such as Call of Duty Warzone. I like to play aggressively as it often yields results. Spontaneity is also correct on this occasion. However, if I’m playing a different genre of game then these terms are less accurate. I guess the terms relaxed and grounded are also applicable to me if you consider them in terms of my approach to gaming per se. I play games for entertainment and amusement. I harbour no dreams of being the best of the best but I do like to succeed within the parameters I set myself. However, when reading the more detailed report, I do feel that the profile is more accurate. The Immersion Component shows that I focus on story, which I do. The Achievement Component accurately reflects why I play FPS games, clearly indicating its all about power. What can I say, I like shooting things with overpowered weapons.

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The problem with surveys such as this, is that I often feel that I cannot answer many of the multiple choice questions. All too often my response is too nuanced or simply doesn’t feature in the spectrum of answers to choose from. Furthermore, as I’ve already indicated, my answers are frequently not universal to gaming per se but will vary depending upon what type of game I’m playing. I take a far more measured and methodical approach to playing an MMO, than I do with an asymmetrical multiplayer video game. I will take the time to plan and execute a long distance stealth kill in Sniper Elite 4. I’m often sidetracked from quests in games such as Red Dead Redemption 2, because of a compulsion to just go out and explore the world. And as for the recommendations that Quantic Foundry make on the strength of your survey results, they can be made just as successfully based on the titles I’m already playing. 

Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt that you can make very accurate gamer assessments based on data analysis. I just think it needs to be more than just a five minute, multiple choice survey. I think far more complex and flexible questioning is required. And let us not forget response bias, which is a general term for a wide range of tendencies for market research participants to respond inaccurately or falsely to questions. Perception plays a strong role in our lives. I’m sure some people worry at either a conscious or subconscious level, “does the survey results reflect well upon me” and then temper their responses. However at my age, I’m happy to embrace my flaws. I like to be OP and am not concerned if I can’t win a game with skill or aplomb. I’ll happily “camp”, “nade spam” and shoot you in the ass from behind. A win is a win and it’s all about that dopamine release.

“My Five Favourite Game Series”

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I was tagged in a Tweet recently by Belghast in which I was asked to name my five favourite game series. This question has subsequently gained traction and spread among the Blapril blogging community. Paeroka over at Nerdy Bookahs and Krikket from Nerd Girl Thoughts have already posted their thoughts on the matter and have made some interesting choices. So I thought I’d expand my initial response into something a little more substantial. As ever, this post comes with caveats. I don’t do “favourites” in the sense that such things are the abject apple of my eye above all other things. My selection of five represent what I consider to be good and robust franchises that have continuously delivered quality entertainment. They are more what I would call “exemplars”, although I enjoy them all. 

Sherlock Holmes. It is clear that Ukranian Developer’s Frogwares have an abiding love for Conan Doyle’s iconic sleuth. It manifests itself in so many little details in this series of adventure games. The games offer ever increasing sandbox landscapes, filled with clues to discover. The point-and-click game-play is ideal for this genre and this intellectual property. Players interrogate suspects via branching dialogue trees and gather evidence for their investigation. Characterisation of Holmes and Watson are spot on and the games ooze stylised period atmosphere and charm. There is even one entry that successfully strays into the Cthulhu Mythos without jumping the shark. If you like all things Holmes then these games are a must.

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Call of Duty. You don’t have to be the world’s best FPS player to enjoy the Call of Duty franchise. If you like hyperbolic, overblown, raucous Michael Bay-esque set pieces and pseudo Geopolitics, then the single-player campaign in most of these games will offer such things in spades. Multiplayer is similarly “turned up to 11” and you can gain XP and unlock weapons simply by participating. You don’t have to be an “über” player. There are plenty of players of a comparable standard to yourself who will happily act as cannon fodder. Even a crap player gets lucky now and then. I rely on such metrics while playing CoD Warzone, which is far more fun than what it deserves to be. Someone parachuted into my helicopter rotors recently. What’s not to like?

The Elder Scrolls. For over 18 years The Elder Scrolls franchise has provided densely plotted and innovative role playing games. The narrative focus has always been on the rich and complex lore and the stories have never favoured binary notions of right and wrong. Furthermore, developers Bethesda Game Studios, have always encouraged and supported the modding of their games, ensuring their longevity. Players are still exploring Morrowind nearly two decades after its initial release. Although it took a while to find its feet, the franchise has successfully transitioned into the MMORPG genre with The Elder Scrolls Online. In many ways The Elder Scrolls is the benchmark for fantasy based RPGs.

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Sniper Elite. The Sniper Elite franchise is at the opposite end of the gaming spectrum to Call of Duty. It is a game where you’re positively encouraged to take your time, pick your location and plan your shot. You’re rewarded for planning your strategy and considering your route around the various game maps. That’s not to say you can’t go in all guns blazing if you choose. But it’s so much more satisfying to find an optimal location, tag the nearby enemies and then make that perfect shot. And then there’s the x-ray killcam, where you can sit back and rewatch the carnage you’ve just caused. Furthermore, with each version the game just keeps getting more and more refined and polished. 

Mario Kart. It’s always a bold statement to claim that a specific title is a near perfect game but Mario Kart in all its iterations is damn close to such a definition. It blends competitive racing with a degree of combat but its power ups and buffs level the playing field. The icing on the cake is that the game is couched in the Super Mario aesthetic, which is bright, cheerful and fun. Mario Kart has an innate ability to successfully transition to all new platforms and to deliver its core tenets. Few games achieve such a thing.

The Problem with Housing in MMORPGs

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Housing in the MMORPG genre continuously fails to reach its potential. Despite the scope it offers both in functionality and gameplay, it has seldom progressed beyond offering storage and some arbitrary customisation. Hence this is a perennial subject of debate for many MMO communities. Given the popularity of this subject, it would appear to indicate that there’s a potential market for expanded housing functionality. And yet many MMO developers still display a blindspot for this issue. You’d think that the scope for monetisation would prove a big enough incentive but housing just doesn’t seem to be especially high on their priority list. It is odd considering that the MMORPG genre is a fundamentally social one. Housing in theory offers so much scope to capitalise and explore this aspect of gaming. Yet it remains a cul-de-sac and an afterthought.

I have a Deluxe Premium House in The Lord of the Rings Online. It has crafting stations, storage, a “visiting banker” and a summoning horn which calls a vendor NPC. I have made an attempt to decorate it stylishly but beyond that I seldom visit it as it doesn’t offer anything else. There are some minor quests in the Cape of Belfalas housing zone but they are not repeatable. This is a real shame as they are quite enjoyable. Especially the one where you take an old and faithful dog out for a walk. The only real advantage my house offers is a fast travel skill that has a 1 minute cool down. I specifically chose a house at Bay Road as it is the nearest to a cluster of NPCs offering Auction House, Provisioner and Stable services. So my house mainly provides a travel hub service and nothing else. It all seems such a waste of resources. I suspect that the new Rohan based housing coming with Update 26 is not going to be anything radically different.

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Star Trek Online deals with housing in a somewhat different way but ultimately still faces the same issues. Your ship is your house to all intents and purposes, providing shared storage and in some cases, access to the Exchange (auction house). You can visit Engineering, Sick Bay and your ship’s councillor and the NPCs will provide Duty Officer Missions. But again, there’s not much on offer beyond this. You can place trophies in the Captain’s Quarters and in the communal lounge. And you can also visit the bridge of your ship, although there’s only so many times you can sit in the Captain's chair and hit the “engage” emote before it gets old. Again this feels like a major missed opportunity. Some vessels offer minor variations on these services, such as bespoke Duty Officer Missions but it’s hardly a major selling point. Considering the amount of customisation you can do to your build and gear in STO, it would be nice to see the same ethos extended toward your ship interior.

If you ask a hundred MMO players what they want from housing in their game of choice, you’ll get 100 different answers. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why developers are reticent to tackle anything housing related. Personally, I’d like to see in LOTRO some sort of collective undertaking, similar to the Fleet Projects in STO. A system that allowed those living in a specific housing phase to contribute to group endeavours that would upgrade community resources. I’d like to see quests and tasks in housing areas. Why not give players a reason to visit their house and interact with their neighbours. Offering unique items can certainly be an incentive. In STO I’d like to see some quest content that offered you a chance to customise and augment your ship’s interior. Rather than just duty officer assignments, it would be nice to have some bespoke missions that involved the crew of your vessel. Something that would make your frequenting your ships various departments more than just a cosmetic exercise. It would certainly be useful to have all resources you find on Earth Spacedock available on your ship.

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Although I never really warmed to the rebuilding of Hytbold in LOTRO, some of the systems found in that part of the game could be augmented and used in a housing scenario. Any form of interactivity is an improvement over just functionality. Perhaps a housing area could also have some sort of bespoke story quest line. Something that gives some character to an area, so it isn’t just a glorified storage service. What I don’t want to see is just an increase of cosmetic items. Although it is fun to be able to personalise the look of your virtual house, there needs to be more to it than just another collection to grind for. If customising leads to unlocking content then that would certainly add more depth. But I suspect that many developers simply prioritise PVE content development over everything else, for practical reasons. Although you can argue that taking a risk with housing could well pay off. But I suspect that it will remain an untap resource and all we’re likely to see in any new MMOs will be the straightforward “by and collect” approach we see in The Elder Scrolls Online.

Play Your Own Way

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This post comes with caveats. In a perfect world, common sense would prevail and I wouldn’t have to list them. But we live in an age where some people take great pleasure in being professional contrarians and deliberately obtuse. So let me state clearly and unequivocally, I am not advocating that your gaming pleasure should come at the expense of someone else's. If you sign up for a 12 man raid and have a specific role to play, then do so to the best of your ability. Fooling around has consequences in such a scenario. However, that is not what is being discussed here. Nope. What I am suggesting is that you should take your pleasures, where you can find them. And if they have no tangible impact upon other players, then you are totally entitled to play your game of choice in a manner that suits you. It’s a simple axiom, yet it still proves to be very difficult for some gamers to comprehend and more importantly accept. Allow me to explain by means of an example.

I was playing Call of Duty Warzone a few nights ago. I like to play Solo Battle Royale mode, which consists of 150 players parachuting into the warzone in a free-for-all fight. Now not being the world’s best “runner and gunner”, I try various different tactics to keep me engaged and occupied when playing this game. On the occasion in question, I decided to grab one of the helicopters you find dotted around the map and took to the skies above Verdansk. Now this doesn’t come without risk, as you can take fire from players equipped with LMGs and surface to air missiles. If you alight upon a rooftop, you are at further risk as there’s full access to these areas via stairwells. Players can also call in airstrikes and artillery bombardments. So if you decide to fly a helicopter as a means of avoiding the firefights happening at ground level, you have to keep moving and keep an eye on the contracting “safe zone”. Well to cut a long story short, this is what I did. I managed to stay aloft and get into the last three players, however I eventually succumbed to the gas and crashed.

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Now for me, this was just an amusing experiment and diversion. It’s not something I intend to do continuously but I’ll certainly try it again with another type of vehicle. It’s a means for me to keep engaged with the game. However, it has come to my attention that “this sort of behaviour” is an anathema to some CoD WZ players. And you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out who. Every game has their own version of the “Fun Police” but it seems to be especially more endemic to PVP genres. There’s a certain type of player that considers their own approach to the game to be the only relevant position and doesn’t care for any form of dissent on the issue. They’re self appointed arbiters of what is and isn’t (in their opinion) the correct way to play. It’s an utterly intellectually bankrupt position but we sadly live in an age of such dogmatic tribalism. And it was some of this brigade who were most displeased with my shenanigans as they felt it wasn’t in the spirit of the game.

It will come as no surprise to you that these baseless complaints fell on deaf ears. My activities incommoded no one and as there is no universally accepted game code, such complaints are irrelevant. If you want to ensure that everyone you play with cleaves to the same ideology as you, I would advise not joining public groups but instead creating private games. All of which can be done easily in CoD WZ. But such people would much rather have something to complain about and see every minor social interaction in life as some part of a wider ongoing culture war. The best way to counter such entrenched stupidity is to mock it. Therefore, I strongly advocate and extol the mantra of “play your own way”. You are not beholden to slavishly follow someone else’s interpretation of the rules. Do what brings you pleasure and fun. If you want to collect all the shinies, then you do that. Roleplay a Bolivian, amputee, bee keeper if you see fit. Only play a specific zone in an MMO if that’s your jam. Dress up alts, eschew levelling, ignore the prevailing game meta if you like. You are free to do what you want, how you want within the terms of service. Angry arguments to the contrary are just white noise from the socially dysfunctional. Bollocks to them.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare

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I originally climbed aboard the Call of Duty bandwagon in 2009 when Modern Warfare 2 came out. I enjoyed the campaign and the multiplayer so much I promptly bought the first instalment. I then stuck with the franchise up until 2013. I didn’t especially like Ghosts, although I enjoyed the option to play as a dog which was different. Overall I was somewhat tired of the FPS genre from then on and so didn’t keep up with any further releases. For me the best iteration of the game was Black Ops in 2010. The campaign had a densely plotted story and the multiplayer was extremely polished. The multiplayer maps were well conceived allowing for fluid and engaging gameplay. Six years on and I recently got an itch to play Call of Duty again. The soft reboot of the franchise with Modern warfare in November 2019 promised a return to basics. The recent inclusion of a battle royale mode with the release of Warzone finally clinched the deal. So I bought a discounted version of the standard game recently and dived back in.

This post is not intended as a review. There have been plenty of those already. What I mainly want to do is share a few thoughts on the way Call of Duty Modern Warfare handles the various kinds of multiplayer modes. The campaign is acceptable and does what it’s supposed to do. Does it go out of its way to be controversial? Yes but the franchise has form for this. But let’s face it, these games are bought for their multiplayer component and that is where the franchise strength and innovation has always been. At present (Season 3) there are over forty multiplayer maps available in the game. Some of these are small and deliberately confined, offering rapid gameplay for small teams (2vs2). Then there are medium maps offering a more traditional multiplayer experience. Some of these are remakes of classic maps from CoD4, CoD MW2 and CoD MW3. And then there are the larger ground war maps, designed for 64 players in total. These offer a far more tactical approach to the game, rather than pure run and gun gameplay.

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Out of all game modes, I enjoy Team Deathmatch the most. For me this is the most purest multiplayer experience to be found in CoD MW,  unburdened with complexity or gimmicks. However in the latest instalment of the game, the degree of my enjoyment is very dependent upon which map is being played. Some such as Azhir Cave or Hackney Yard offer a sufficient variety of environments to afford the player a good choice in loadouts. These maps provide fluid gameplay but the players still have a choice of strategy. This is CoD MW at its best. However, the dial gets turned up to 11 on many of the smaller maps such as Gulag Showers. These are fine if they are played with the correct size team but if utilised with larger populations they become just a frenzied free-for-all. Spawn, spray gun fire, die, rinse and repeat. It’s manic gameplay that means that everyone will get a number of kills simply by random chance. And then there’s the Ground War maps which work best if each team plays in a collaborative and coordinated manner. Or else you spend half your time just trying to find where everyone else is at. Alternatively you can dig in and camp.

Then there’s the Plunder Mode, where the objective is to collect cash hidden around the map and then arrange for its collection. The principle is sound but the reality of the situation is not the same as the concept that is sold during the tutorial. The matches often take far too long. They’re limited to either 30 minutes maximum (which is forever in this fast paced genre) or until either squad has collectively banked $1 million. All too often the majority of players are concentrated in one area of the map, focusing on the same stash of money. These fights again just become a free for all, which makes them initially amusing but such an approach gets old quickly. Unlike the Warzone multiplayer experience there is no mechanic that forces the gameplay along or advances the situation. As a result Plunder Mode often descends into a “wee stooshie”, robbing players who crave a more measured approach of any measured fun.

Finally, Warzone is a surprisingly good attempt at the Battle Royale genre from the Call of Duty developers. It manages to add just enough innovation to the formula to make it sufficiently different from other games. The standout mechanic is the chance to re-enter the game, if you die early on. You respawn in the Gulag Showers map armed with just a sidearm and go one on one with another player. The victor is redeployed in the Warzone. Then there’s the looting in the actual combat zone itself, which is streamlined and equitable in the initial stages of the game. However, there is the ability to have prebuilt loadouts air dropped into the game and this can make a sizable difference to proceedings. Experienced players therefore tend to end the latter stages of the game better geared and with useful killstreaks and buffs. Warzone also works better with team based gameplay as this encourages a more proactive approach to exploring the map and seeking out the enemy.

As ever with multiplayer games, the wild card in the proceedings is the human element. If you play with a group of friends then you’ll more than likely find the engaging gameplay you seek. Play with strangers and it becomes far more of a lottery. Players will abandon pick up groups if they underachieve or differ in skill. Playing Warzone with 150 solo players is also a challenge. The sensible thing to do is the aim for where you think the centre of the ever decreasing circle will be, grab a weapon and find somewhere to dig in. You can frequently find yourself in the last remaining 20 players this way but it doesn’t make for the most compelling gameplay. Also joining a game populated by experienced players who know the maps well and have unlocked optimal loadouts can also make Team Deathmatch an uphill struggle. The flaw in most of the multiplayer permutations in CoD MW is that you have to play a lot to unlock resources and learn your way around before you get the most out of the game. Hence newer players may well become despondent at being cannon fodder and thus leave the game.

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However, CoD MW has a saving grace that can throw a lifeline to new players who find themselves battling the learning curve. There is a multiplayer practise mode which allows you to play against bots of varying difficulty. It allows you to customise your loadout (and there is an insane amount of scope to customize your weaponry), pick a specific map and experiment with the various game modes. Furthermore, the AI of the bots is quite challenging. There is also a tutorial for Warzone, although it is confined to a specific part of the map (The Quarry) and doesn’t offer the scope of the other multiplayer practise modes. I would certainly recommend practise mode, especially for those players who dislike live PVP and its associated “culture”. Overall, Call of Duty Modern Warfare offers exactly what it claims to and if approached with the right mindset, will provide varying degrees of entertainment. If you have friends you can play with, then you’ll experience the best that the franchise can offer. As ever dedicated servers are sorely missed and every now and then you’ll have a poor game due to the players or the host quitting. The developers also need to come up with an incentive for players to stick around until the end of the match. However such issues have always been inherent with any sort of PvP. If you bear all of this in mind then the latest instalment of CoD can offer you hours of entertainment.

Bullroarer Update 26 Preview #1

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Standing Stone Games are currently previewing Update 26 for The Lord of the Rings Online on the Bullroarer Test Server. The new zone, the Wells of Langflood, follows in the idiom of Vale of Anduin with a comparable aesthetic. However, as this region is further north and at a higher altitude, there is a prevailing mist in most areas. The landscape also slowly climbs North as you approach where the arms of the Misty Mountains and Ered Mithrin meet. Overall it is a bright and colourful zone filled with wildlife. However, there are also various mobs from Mount Gundabad and several advance camps of Trolls and Orcs. There are also numerous Dwarven ruins indicating their historical presence in the region. The Eagles also feature in the area and obviously appear in several of the zones quest storylines.

There are four stables in Wells of Langflood. Limlók is the main Beorning settlement in an area called Floodfells. Further North there’s a second smaller settlement, Thokvist, just off the central road that traverses the zone from North to South. This area called Misthallow is quite small and penned in by mountains to the East and the river Anduin to the West. Further North there is the area known as Framsburg, which was the ancient home of the Éothéod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Many of the ruins are now home to Trolls and Orcs. And at the very Northern Apex of the map there is a third stable of Hlithseld. This area is more mountainous with narrow, twisting paths, overlooking ancient Dwarven remains. The new zone ends here at Elderslade and obviously will lead at a future date into Gundalok. There is a road that leads to the North East to the West of Rushgate.

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The fourth stable is by far the most intriguing. It is located in the hidden village of Lyndelby which lies to the West of Framsburg on the opposite side of the river. It is accessed via a narrow winding path through a mountainous ravine and lies nestled in the arms of the Misty Mountains and North of the river Langwell. This secret valley is lush and fertile and home to Holbytlan, possibly the River Hobbits that SSG alluded to recently. It makes sense canonically that such a settlement could exist and their proximity to the Éothéod explains why Holbytlan appear in the legends of the Rohirrim. The mountain also shields this Hobbit community from an enemy enclave at Sundergrót. Among the Dwarven ruins, the enemy has siege engines and other weapons of war. Access to this area is via a makeshift bridge that traverses the Anduin and along a path West.

The Wells of Langflood is an agreeable new zone. If you enjoyed the ambience of the Vale of Anduin, then this is more of the same. There are numerous mountainous vistas with impressive views and the ambient music is once again integral to the atmosphere of the zone. As ever, about a third of the area shown on the map is inaccessible and SSG have done their usual trick of using the environment to funnel the player from quest hub to quest hub. I am definitely looking forward to returning to such a bright and verdant zone region having spent several months in Imlad Morgul, which I found to be a depressing and gloomy environment . As ever please note that Bullroarer is a test server and there is always scope for content to change prior to its release to the live game.

In addition to the pictures in this post, here is a link to a gallery of screenshots via Google Photos. All are available at the original screen resolution of 1920 x 1200.

Classic Game Themes: More of my Personal Favourites

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Back in August 2018, I posted seven of my favourite tracks from various video games that I’ve played over the years. I thought recently that it was high time that I did the same again. So here are a further five musical cues that I especially enjoy. All of which contribute greatly to the respective games that they feature in. Unlike film composers, musicians that write for video games do not always enjoy comparable exposure or attention. Yet often they have a more complex remit, having to write material for dozens of hours of content, rather than just two or three. Furthermore, the complete soundtrack to many video games often remain conspicuously absent, with fans having to data mine the game client to find the tracks that they love. Which is why it is important for those that enjoy video game music to show their support. Perhaps then more publishers will release full and comprehensive game soundtracks for digital download.

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The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Blood & Wine: The Slopes Of The Blessure. By Piotr Musial 

I enjoyed the Blood & Wine expansion the most out of all the content for The Witcher 3. The region of Toussaint is beautifully realised and oozes charm and sophistication. Based heavily upon the South of France, Piotr Musial’s ambient music reflects this and features a superbly non-ironic use of an accordian.

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Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns Theme. By Maclaine Diemer

It didn’t take me long to fall out of love with Guild Wars 2 after the arrival of its first expansion. Yet despite the flaws inherent in the new zone, the main theme was not one of them. This pounding motif is both portentous and grandiose. Just listening to it makes me want to return to this MMORPG.

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Two Worlds II: The Road is Still Long. By Borislav Slavov

The quality of the soundtrack for Two Worlds II is quite surprising. This is not an RPG produced by a Triple A developer. Yet despite the budget, there is a great deal of depth and musical sophistication to the game’s score. This track which features at the end of the game really nails it with it’s triumphal tone.

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Star Trek Online: Age of Discovery Theme. By Kevin Manthei

Kevin Manthei has been the driving force behind the music of Star Trek Online for over a decade. He is dependable, adaptable and totally gets what “Trek” is about. I actually prefer his title music for Age of Discovery more than the official theme for the show itself.

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Guild Wars 2: Sanctum Sprint. By Leif Chappelle

The Sanctum Sprint is a high speed race, complete with twitch gaming tactics. It’s frenetic and entertaining (or at least it was when I last played it in late 2015). I’m not quite sure how composer Leif Chapelle concluded that a Mariachi style motif was relevant but it works well and oozes character.

LOTRO: Producer’s Letter 2020

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After several month’s delay and various rumours about internal corporate dissent, Standing Stone Games have finally released this year’s Producer’s Letter. Its arrival has produced a collective sigh of relief from the playerbase, as neither Executive Producer Severlin (Rob Ciccolini) or Community Manager Cordovan (Jerry Snook) seem to shine at corporate communications. In fact there has been an information vacuum for over six months. As for the letter, it certainly promises a lot of new content for The Lord of the Rings Online coming over the next year to eighteen months. And at first glance it sounds as if there’s something for everyone. A catalogue of PVE content, adjustments to the Legendary Items systems, a designated PVP server, more Premium Housing (this time in Rohan) and a further Legendary Server offering greater content difficulty. However, as ever the devil is in the detail and until we know more the vagaries are somewhat frustrating. 

A new PVE Epic Storyline “The Legacy of Durin and the Trials of the Dwarves” is scheduled to run over 2020-21. The first instalment called Mists of Wilderland, that will take players to the Wells of Langflood, is to be released in late spring. Later in the year after the release of Aragorn and Arwen’s wedding, SSG are adding the War of the Three Peaks. This is scaling content open to all players allowing them to come to Durin's aid, as the Dwarves advance to Mount Gundabad to deal with the Orc threat. All of this content is the “meat and potatoes” of LOTRO. Raids, instances and PVE quests are the things that keep players engaged and playing. If the overhaul to the LI system is fair, sensible and not yet another grindfest, then I shall be pleased. Legendary Weapons are a great concept that have never met their full potential since their introduction in 2008.

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I am however, somewhat reticent about some of the other ideas mooted in the Producer’s Letter. I’m not sure what the population is of the two current Legendary Servers but is there any real value in offering a third? Offering more difficult combat in the manner described by SSG, with the Eye of Sauron boosting mob performance sounds intriguing but if this is then met with a reciprocal boost in player performance, exactly what has been gained? It sounds somewhat similar to the existing “Inspired Greatness” mechanic that allows single players to solo content that was originally intended for groups. And where I welcome a new PVP combat server for fans of such content, for any competitive and ranked gameplay to have any longevity, it will require regular updates. Other competitive games have seasons, themed material and a great deal of developer/community interaction. If the LOTRO PVP players are simply encouraged to relocate to an environment that is static as the Ettenmoors in the existing game, then it’s not much of an improvement.

Spreading the LOTRO playerbase across multiple servers is both a risk to business and community cohesion. If players old and new, commit to one of the new servers and it doesn’t work out the way they hoped, will they return to their old servers? Certainly for new players it means starting afresh. And for established players returning to alts that have fallen below level cap, catching up can be an uphill struggle at times. It’s a shame that SSG cannot offer a variety of play styles and activities on the current live servers thus ensuring that LOTRO players although pursuing different goals are at least in the same virtual Middle-earth. I also don’t like to see such words as “temporary” in any road map style communication. These are after all public business plans. Short term objectives don’t always inspire confidence. However, once again I will reiterate that LOTRO is a 13 year old MMO and frankly having any timetable for new content is a good thing compared to the alternatives. Let us see what comes of it all.

MMO Etiquette

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Whose round is it?

A lot of MMORPGs are experiencing high levels of new or returning players at present (for some particular reason). Despite this particular genre of games having radically evolved over the last two decades, there is still one fundamental component that has remained a constant. Namely the human factor. Hence there is plenty of scope for both old and new players to clash, disagree and fall out. Why, you may ask. Well mainly because behavioural and social norms that prevail in the real world, do not necessarily translate so well to a virtual environment. Visual cues such as body language are not available and it’s harder to pick up on tone and nuance from plain text, typed in global chat. However, we can all take steps to prevent any misunderstanding that can lead to a “wee stoushie”, by refreshing our respective memories about some basic MMO etiquette.

So here are some simple tips in no specific order. Some are more important than others but all can contribute to a better player experience and a less fractious atmosphere. 

• No Ninja invites to groups or guilds. Do not random spam complete strangers with unsolicited invitations to groups or guilds. Always ask first. Failure will just get you instantly placed on an ignore list.

• When in a PUG (Pick Up Group), always address the various members by their screen names and not by class. Courtesy is king in a social game.

• Do not aggro dump. IE if you’re being chased by every mob in Christendom, don’t run through groups of other players in an attempt to lose the mess of trouble that’s following you.

• Call people out on racism, sexism and homophobia. Don’t let it slide. Alternatively, take a screen capture of any text based abuse or bigotry and report the offender to the GMs. MMO players get the community they deserve. If you facilitate assholes by giving them a free pass, then you’re shitting in your own virtual watering hole.

• Do not tolerate ill manners or bullying in raids and other group activities. Give offenders one warning to cool their heels and if they continue, then kick them from the group. If you don’t have control of the group, then leave, citing the offender as the reason for your withdrawal.

• A pre-agreed time for a raid is not optional or flexible. It is absolute. Be punctual. Kick or exclude those who are late, so that they learn to tell the time. Most children can master this.

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• Only roll on loot that is relevant to your class. Always agree upon rules regarding the division of loot prior to starting and group content.

• Never beg for gold in chat in any zone. Just don’t. It’s just unseemly. We all earned our gold. Why the fuck can’t you?

• Don’t crowd the mailbox or any other public interactive resource. Get the fuck off your mount and stow your pet. Be as cognitive about virtual personal space, as you would real life personal space.

• Don't just walk out on your group without saying a word. If something comes up and you have to leave your PC, then let all others concerned parties know. If a raid is not going well or you’re running out of time, then politely point out that you’d like to leave at the first convenient juncture. 

• If you’re in a specific zone farming resources or pursuing a slayer deed and you encounter another play, consider playing collaboratively, rather than playing against each other. A simple exchange of “tells” can remedy this matter. Sometimes people prefer to play alone. If that’s the case maybe start your activities as far away from the other player as possible.

• You may not know the intricacies of a specific raid, especially if it is new content. Sometimes all involved are learning on the fly. However, if you have been asked along specifically because of your character’s class, then make sure you’re up to speed with the basics.

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• If a group activities requires consumable, then bring consumables. Not a bunch of damn fool excuses for forgetting them.

• Keep text based chat clear and concise. Do not lapse into slang and esoteric terminology unless all our au fait with such things.

• Use public chat channels for the purposes they were created for. IE restrict trade enquiries to trade channels, for example. And remember players have usually logged into an MMO to play the game and not listen to your “armchair views” of identity politics, the Eucharist and its theological implications and Etruscan pottery. Confine your bloviations on the contentious to private channels.

• Some games have recurring events that happen at regular intervals. Sometimes there may be an in-game timer that can inform you when they’re next available. Alternatively, there may be third party websites with scheduling information. Use these facilities. Do not just ask the obvious, like that guy you had in your class when you were 12, who was a total twat and had no sense of the dynamics of human interaction.

• Do not steal other player’s kills. Do not interfere with other players' activities without their consent. They may be setting themselves a personal challenge and may not actually want your help.

• Not everyone likes, or feels comfortable using voice chat. When grouping, always have options when it comes to communicating. If someone doesn’t want to use chat, respect their stance and leave it at that. Don’t cross examine them.

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• Don’t assume the gender of a player is the same as their avatar. Don’t assume all players are the same age as you. Don’t assume that your primary language is the same for everyone.

• Remember that you can charge whatever you want for an item on Auction House. If anyone complains about undercutting prices, ignore them. They can always purchase your items and take them off the market. Unless the developers have set specific rules regarding pricing, do what you want. Funny how people only like capitalism while it serves their purpose.

• If group content goes badly, be very careful with regard to assigning blame because the player whose competence you’re questioning, may well think the same about you. If in doubt, bid everyone goodnight and leave without comment.

• You’re not totally anonymous, despite your fancy onscreen name. Players can gain a reputation within a gaming community. It’s up to you whether that’s good or bad.

• People play MMOs for all sorts of reasons. You are not the arbiter of fun, nor deputised to enforce your own interpretation of how the game “should be played”.

• Finally, never let anyone called Colin join your guild. Just don’t. You’ll regret it.

I’m sure I’ve barely scratched the surface when it comes to MMO etiquette. Please feel free to leave further helpful tips in the comments below.

More Gaming Amnesia

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I wrote back in January 2018 about “gaming amnesia” and how if you step away from a game for a while, then often you can forget not only the basic control layout but the essential mechanics as well. Well I’ve had a couple of further instances of this recently and it got me thinking as to whether there’s a finite amount of game related data you can retain at one time. I suspect the answer is yes and that it all comes down to the old “use it or lose it” maxim. If you’re not playing a complex game regularly, then the knowledge gets superseded by information you have a more pressing need to access. Hence I do not think I’m experiencing the early signs of dementia of anything like that. Nonetheless, it can be quite frustrating and age is also a factor. Our reactions do slow as we get older and quickly recollecting information becomes more of a chore.

I decided to log into Read Dead Redemption 2 a few days ago. I bought the game last November and played it regularly until early January when I decided to focus on another title. I found my character at the edge of a lake with my trusty steed nearby. There is a very close bond between the main character and his horse in this game and it’s a central theme of the story. So I walked up to my horse Roach (yes I did name him thus) and pressed what I thought was the key to mount up. Instead I delivered a robust right hook to his body. Naturally, my equine chum took a dim view of this and promptly lashed out, kicking with his back legs. I lay twitching in a pool of blood, contemplating that this never happened to Randolph Scott or Audie Murphy. To cut a long story short (as Spandau Ballet would say) I couldn’t recollect any of the key mappings.

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Another example I would like to cite is navigating the depth of the Mines of Moria in LOTRO. Now I spent a lot of time back in 2009 learning the quaint and esoteric routes around this sprawling subterranean metropolis. There was a time when I could ride an in-game goat from Durin’s Threshold in Eriador, right the way through to the First Hall and out into Rhovanion. Furthermore, I could do all this from memory, while eating a sandwich and recording a podcast. I recently found myself utterly lost around Zelem-melek, endlessly going round in circles in Khufdul-tharâkh, shouting at no one in particular about how it would be bloody useful to have a GPS system in this bastard game. I eventually started writing down my route and making notes of landmarks, so I wouldn’t keep looping back to the same locations.

Joking aside, there are several good reasons that mitigate my bout of “gaming amnesia”. Read Dead Redemption 2 is a console port and the thing I often find about such games is that they map the keys in a most unusual way. You often find that WASD doesn’t control movement but some other utterly bizarre alternative permutation. And with regard to Moria, I was reminded by a fellow player that the area has been extensively redeveloped since its initial release in 2008. So perhaps I’m not as incompetant as I initially thought. However, I do think that it would be useful if more developers included a tutorial that could be accessed at any point during the proceedings. All too often, your hand is held purely at the beginning of a game and it is assumed that once you’ve learned the basics, you’ll forever have them at your fingertips. Patently that is not the case. I’m also sure that I’ll experience “gaming amnesia” again quite soon.Especially in light of me returning to both Neverwinter and Call of Duty.

Learning How to Live Stream Part 2

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It’s been a year since I wrote my last post about “learning to live stream”. I think that should give you a very clear indication of how well I’ve progressed. I mainly stopped streaming after a few experiments last March because of the time requirement involved. The only window of opportunity I had “go live” was from between 9:00PM and Midnight. That would have meant cutting into time I spend with Mrs P. Plus, due to health reasons, she often goes to bed before me. And as I use the spare bedroom as an office, my constant babble would have kept her awake. So this is yet another project that got shelved. However, a year later I find myself with a lot more time on my hands due to the current “global situation”. So today I fired up SLOBS once again and tried to get back on the horse. As with my previous experience, there’s a lot of fine tuning to be done if you want to live stream to any standard. So this latest outing was mainly a technical test to determine what needs to be changed in my current set up.

First off, I’m running a different PC this time round. To cut a very long story short, there is a Intel Graphics chipset on the Gigabyte Motherboard but the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 doesn’t support it and requires a discrete graphics card. So I couldn’t run a second monitor this way, as I did last year. However, my current NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti has 3 outputs; DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort. So after buying a DVI to VGA adapter, I managed to attach a second Acer X223W LCD monitor (1680 x 1050) and reconnected my existing primary Dell U2412M monitor (1920 x1200) with a DisplayPort cable. The cost was minimal (about £13 in total) and all items were delivered from Amazon in a matter of days.

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The next issue has been tweaking various settings in SLOBS. Something that remains very much a work in progress. It took a while to resolve the “there was an error fetching your channel information" error message. Google presented a simple solution; enabling 2FA (Two Factor Authentication). However, it took several attempts before my Twitch Account recognised that this facility had been turned on. And then there’s the fiddling with settings. I play games at a default resolution of 1920 x 1200 (16:10) but the stream outputs at generic 1920 x 1080 (16:9) and so the image is distorted. I managed to resolve this issue after I stopped broadcasting. I also need to display my Twitch account Chat Channel on my second monitor so I can keep up with any comments. I suspect this wasn’t working earlier due to the 2FA issues, so I had to use my Fire HD 10 as an alternative means. It’s far from ideal. Another lesson learned is to stop using my headset and to switch to desktop mic. I was surprised how hot my ears and head got.

At present another matter that’s complicating this process is my own personality. I like things to be just so and it bugs the hell out of me when they’re not. I’ve yet to master the subtleties of SLOBS interface and many of its settings are not immediately clear to me.  Hence every few minutes I’m Googling questions and then having to watch various YouTube videos for answers. I may have to speak to other streamers and see if I can essentially “crib” their settings as I’m sure that for many, this is a fairly generic process. In the meantime, I’ll try and persevere. If I stream every couple of days, I’m sure I can iron out some of the obvious imperfections and improve the overall presentation. As for sprucing up my “banter”, that’s a whole different blog post.

Completing the Minas Morgul Expansion

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Despite taking a short break out of pure frustration, I decided to grit my teeth and try to finish the Minas Morgul expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online over the last few days. As I suspected, once you start questing in Minas Morgul itself, it all becomes very homogenous. The circles of the city are deliberately ponderous to navigate and the quests are padded out with generic filler content that requires you to kill multiple types of mobs. Furthermore, Minas Morgul itself is a “lagfest” and you can often find yourself instantly in combat with a mob lurking immediately outside the door of the Rangers camps. The density of the enemies means that you’re continuously pulling aggro when travelling form A to B. And you often find yourself rubberbanding and stuttering due to the poor build of the city. Completing all of the various tiers of the city is a grueling task and upon completion you’re immediately sent to Thuringwath which has many of the same problems. Although some of the quest stories are well conceived, the realities of completing much of the content in Minas Morgul make it very much an uphill struggle.

So far I have completed the Circles of Wrath, Sorrow, Madness and am currently working on the aptly named Circle of Despair. To break up the monotony, I decided to tackle the Epic Story as I wanted to see the conclusion of the Black Book of Mordor. I was suitably impressed by the way the writers tied up all the loose ends, especially the manner in which Gothmog met his fate. The link to Golodir and the lineage of his sword Dúnachar was intriguing. I also liked the way that the author of the Black Book, the Zhelruka Dwarf Voin, turned out to be a benign character and was rather moved in the final scene in which he said goodbye to his wife and son and went off to die. I enjoyed the subtle inference that he may have found Thafar-gathol. Once again the musical score by Bill Champagne was outstanding and greatly enhanced the drama. The final epilogue where you have to decide who gets the Black Book proved interesting and presented three interesting choices. I decided it should be returned to Khîl Tale-spinner as he is a descendant of Voin. But I did flirt with the notion of giving it to Karazgar.

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As ever with LOTRO, it is the strength of the stories and characters, along with the realisation of the world itself which are the game’s greatest strengths. Hence these have been the aspects of the Minas Morgul expansion that I’ve enjoyed the most. As I approach the completion of this expansion I am pleased that I have reached level cap with a relatively robust build. The gear I obtained from opening 22 Adventurer's Steel-bound Lootboxes has made a significant difference to my performance. In recent weeks I have added additional tiers to my LI Legacies and have also upgraded most of the settings. I am also levelling my slotted virtue traits, now that the level cap has been increased to 68. Yet despite these positive points, I cannot help but feel that this expansion is very much a product of two very distinct parts. I very much enjoyed the first section set during the Second Age. However, the second part feels notably weaker, with a lot of arbitrary content thrown together in a slapdash fashion. As for the new raids, I have not experienced these as of yet and am not likely to due to my kinship being quiet of late.

Waiting for the New Middle-earth MMO

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In late 2018 it was announced that Amazon Game Studios and Leyou were collaborating on massively multiplayer online game for PC and consoles set in Middle-earth. Ongoing development is being handled by Athlon Games, a global developer and publisher of free-to-play console and PC games. The studio is a subsidiary of Leyou Technologies Holdings Limited. But beyond the fairly vague press releases that can be found on the Athlon Games website (the last was posted in July 2019), little detail has emerged about the project. There has been unsubstantiated rumours that the project may well tie-in with the forthcoming Amazon Prime TV show that is set in the Second Age of Middle Earth. However, there is little information at present in the public domain to fully substantiate this or any of the other ongoing speculation. Hence, the entire situation raises some interesting questions and I’m sure like me, you have probably pondered some of them. Here are just a few that have crossed my mind.

• Will this title be directly competing with Standing Stone Games MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online?

• Exactly what sort of MMO will this new LOTR based game be, as the very term MMO is extremely elastic these days. 

• Will the appropriate licensing body allow two games from the same genre to exist simultaneously? 

• Exactly what business model will this new MMO have?

• What iteration of the franchise will this game be based upon? Will it draw directly from the Peter Jackson movies (like games such as Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War) or will it create a unique vision of Middle Earth as with SSG’s LOTRO?

Due to the lack of any definitive information, all we can presently do is speculate about the answers to these questions. Firstly, as to “do we need another The Lord of the Rings themed MMO”, I certainly think the market can sustain one. Competition can be a healthy thing and it is nice as a consumer to have choice. Products can co-exist harmoniously if they provide different experiences. I am always interested in seeing different people’s visions of Professor Tolkien's work, such as artists like Alan Lee, John Howe and Ted Nasmith, so for me a new game would be welcome purely from an creative and aesthetic perspective. There is also a wealth of lore that is available to be developed into new storylines. This is something that Turbine and Standing Stone Games have managed to do successfully over the past thirteen years. Any new game can easily explore an aspect of Tolkien’s work that hasn’t been touched by any previous product. There is no need to simply tread old ground.

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Now if this new The Lord of the Rings themed MMO is marketed in direct competition to LOTRO, then I would expect it to be a very different beast, based around the mechanics and systems that are currently popular within the genre. I do not see any benefit in simply creating an MMO that replicates what exactly LOTRO does. I would not be surprised if this new MMO was closer to The Elder Scrolls Online in its systems design. It is also worth considering licensing arrangements. When Star Wars: The Old Republic was released in late 2011, a decision was made to close the older MMO Star Wars Galaxies. Exactly why this happened has never been officially discussed, so we do not know if this was solely about concerns over competition. However, the legal rights for Tolkien’s work are administered by a completely different body, so it doesn’t mean that a similar fate necessarily awaits LOTRO. But it is prudent to at least reflect upon what happened to SWG.

Personally, I would like to see a less linear game with a far more open world environment, dynamic content that is proximity based and the chance to develop charterers that aren't solely based around combat. To be able to lose oneself in a virtual Middle Earth, where you are free to explore, craft, farm, trade or simply aimlessly meander, would be a massive step forward for fans of the IP. But I am fully aware that what delights me may well deter other gamers and that ultimately any game is going to have to find a balance between the new and established systems that are economically viable. The development costs required to create a truly open world version of Middle-earth would be substantial and more importantly, the risk of such an experimental project would potentially be the biggest obstacle. Conversely,  just using Tolkien’s world for yet another PVP or Battle Royale game would in my view be a waste of the franchise.

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I'm sure that many interested parties will be keeping an eye on Athlon Games over the next year to see how this new MMO pans out. Let us hope that further information is forthcoming regarding its development and its specific nature. However, a quality MMO is not made overnight and so I’m not optimistic that I’ll be playing this new game any time soon. If it is tied to the Amazon Prime TV show, then the games launch may also depend on whether that show gains any traction. Furthermore, the TV show may well be intended to run over numerous seasons and try and emulate the sustained success of Game of Thrones. If that's the case then this new MMO may not appear until the TV show has hit its peak popularity. And if the show is not well received the game could well be cancelled before release. Therefore, it may well be best for Tolkien fans to simply just keep an eye on this project and continue to focus on those games such as LOTRO that do currently exist and provide a specific service.

Old is New

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If you keep up with news in the MMORPG community, you’ll be aware that there has been a recent resurgence in “rogue server” offering emulation services for titles that have officially closed. City of Heroes and Star Wars Galaxies continue to sustain a player base and the level of interest clearly indicates that this is not just due to mere nostalgia. Simply put these games maintain an audience because they are good. They’re well designed, engaging and rewarding to play. Similarly, remastered games are proving to be both popular and commercially successful. Resident Evil 2 which was released last year has sold over 5 million copies and received critical acclaim. It currently has a rating of 91% on Metacritic (for those who put stock in such things). Pundits are already predicting that the remake of Final Fantasy VII will enjoy similar success. Again when you analyse the reviews and critiques available online, you find that these remastered titles fare well due to their inherent quality. Is this something newer games are lacking?

Games commentator Jim Sterling touches upon this subject in the latest edition of The Jimquisition (09.03.20). He strongly believes that too many contemporary so called “triple A” games are hobbled by microtransactions and content gated behind paywalls. Season passes promise future content thus justifying incomplete titles to be released and that creativity and innovation are sidelined when creating a game as a “live service”. Hence he states it is customer dissatisfaction with current games that makes remastered titles more appealing. They present an opportunity to play through a game with any impediment, interruption or requirement to pay more money to access further content. Furthermore, these are titles that hail from an era where the creative focus was on the gameplay and new ideas were not subordinate to business imperatives. All are cogent points that I broadly agree with, as I’ve experienced all of these over several decades of gaming.

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The mainstream video game industry is not known for responding quickly or adapting promptly to new situations. Once a successful trend is established it is frequently slavishly followed. Hence multiple genres have each experienced a brief time in the sun. All too often a couple of games will arrive late to the proverbial party and fail to find an audience and quickly close. Some titles will even get canned while in development, if the marketing tide has turned. However, sooner or later the boardrooms of these multi billion dollar companies have got to notice what is selling and what is not. EA stated a few years ago that single player games were done as a genre and yet Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a conspicuously single player game without live service trappings, has proven very successful. No matter how glacial the rate of change may be, sooner or later major publishers are going to connect the dots and see what is selling and more importantly why it is doing so. At this point will the old become new? Only time will tell.