Random Shots: Defending The Solo Player (Again)

• Another interesting discussion has cropped up over and Bio Break and Stylish Corpse intending to defend the solo MMO play style. Syp gives us a bullet list (yay!) of various reasons someone might prefer solo play while Ysharros fights back at the anti-soloer. So much of the arguments we see on the internet come from 1) the lack of nuance available in stark text, and 2) the fact that the standard style of blog discourse is a rant post. I'm not holding myself up as a paragon of nuance and equanimity. Far from it, in fact. But I can't help but jump into the discussion with both feet and try to calm to waters a bit.


• As I originally articulated way back in March 2007, I am a solo gamer. I primarily play MMOs alone, only grouping up when the moon is full, when Jupiter aligns with Mars, or the bones fall in the prescribed pattern. It's not that I don't like to playing group or raid instances. They are often a lot of fun and some of the most interesting content in the game. My problem is that I cannot be shackled to time demands of anyone other than myself or my family. I've tried it, it was fun, but I'm done with that now.


• Defining myself as a solo gamer does not mean I resent group content in MMOs. Quite the contrary: I want there to be games to cater to every audience. Since MMOs were built on a foundation of forced grouping, there should be games for group players. Hardcore PvPers deserve to have their own game, where they can kill and triumph away from the carebears and WoW tourists. Roleplayers should get a game that lets them dream and act. And soloers should have a world where they can come and go as they please, have fun while they're playing, but not be tied to a game longer than they want.


• But I see arguments all the time about people mad about soloers in their MMOs. Or group content that can be soloed. Or PvP and PvE balanced to the determent of the other. Or roleplayers being ignored entirely. And everyone blames the other for the lack of developer attention. Especially since we should be blaming the developers themselves.


• Developers are in a bad position and I understand that. Tastes change over time and you can't change course in a running game very fast. Also, businesses don't want to exclude potential subscribers by designing a specifically niche game. World of Warcraft has tried to balance many play styles at the same time, but everyone complains that everyone else is ruining their game. Darkfall is the definition of hardcore PvP, but they still have people clamoring for better PvE.


• If you don't like how the game is designed, vote with your wallet. The only message you can send is in cash. Flooding the forums, blogs, twitter, or whatever will have little effect on the company. The language of business is money. Support the games that support you and abandon games that don't.

Listened Lately: Shut Up, We're Talking #47

• As it's one of my favorite podcasts, I was frustrated this week when the crew from Shut Up, We're Talking took on the topic of avatars as tokens (initially expressed by Tobold and refuted by Raph Koster) that arose from the Shake Your Bunny-Maker achievement in World of Warcraft. The goal of the achievement was to find female characters of level 18 or greater and bestow upon them a set of bunny ears. While many people found this to be a humorous bit of pop culture snark, a small group took such offense to the overtly sexualized theme that they were essentially driven from the game for a week.


• My frustration though, with both Tobold's initial post and with the SUWT crew was the outright dismissal of that minority position. Further frustrating was the conclusion reached on the podcast that putting some psychological barrier between player and avatar was a sign of maturity. I can't fathom the hubris involved in assuming that the position advocated from a personal level is not only immediately valid, but also the superior to any other argument without even examining the counter.


• For some people, the purpose of a role playing game or virtual world is to inhabit that world in a way most games do not allow for. Not everyone acts this way, but it is not invalid to do so. As Raph Koster points out, it is very human react to an avatar in an automatic way. Yes, over time one learns to look beyond the superficial. But one must also understand that avatars are projections of self into the game space, each chosen for specific reason and with specific intentions. Some might choose an avatar solely for game purposes, for personal aesthetics, or entirely haphazardly. But some do so to express themselves in ways they can only do so in a virtual world. Losing control of that avatar, even in such a minor way as sprouting bunny ears, has very real implications for these people.


• I have said this time and again on this blog and elsewhere. I have a propensity toward playing female characters in games. Of course it is easy to fall back on the old standard "If I'm going to stare at a character's backside for hours on end, it might as well be one I find pleasant." But it would be foolish of me to not admit that might I also feel protective of these virtual women that I guide through their lives. Or that I'm expressing a femininity in the game that I cannot in the real would. Or, conversely, that maybe playing a female character allows me to psychologically distance myself from my avatar so that I do not become personally invested. Maybe it is a combination of these or more.


• These are the kind of things that should be examined and taken into account when dealing with a population as large and varied as game players. Dismissing points of view as immature because they differ from yours is counterproductive and potentially dangerous.

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© 2009 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Played Lately: Free Realms

• One the first things that caught my attention in Free Realms was all the little arrows on the main map pointing to areas off the edge of the current world. Lavender Coast, Silver Hill, Stormfront Mountains, Black Forest. Each marked "Coming Soon." Can you believe they would tease us so badly? They obviously know how to expand their game and they are dangling those plans right out in front of us. So instead of just retelling my latest adventures, I thought I would point out some points of interest that give us a little insight into what SOE might be thinking.



• Soon after earning my Archer profession (my favorite combat job so far), I discovered the road to Lavender Coast. You can tell it's the road since they set a warpstone right there called "Lavender Coast." I love the anachronistic construction barrier and I will miss it then they eventually open the road. As a side note, please excuse the lame outfit here. I have a really sweet archer outfit, but the armor stats on this sad ensemble are ever so slightly better. Of course I'd dress in a clown suit if it protected like plate mail.



• On one of my exploration fits, I found myself in Shrouded Glade. After passing through the cave entrance, I was greeted by this little guy, Tran. According to Tran, Shrouded Glade is the school for druids, although they are not accepting new students at the moment. Did you catch that? If that doesn't send up a red flag, I don't know what does. Druid would be an great expansion job and this would be the place to train it.



• At the far back of Shrouded Glade, behind the main building you find more construction barriers. While the town is a bit of a dead end now, I believe this will be a quite busy the first day Stormfront Mountains open. As a bonus, that is hilarious looking. There are even barriers on the other side of the river as if they want to keep the new expansion people out of the current game zone. Also notice in this pic that I'm wearing my Seeker's gear from the rare exploration collections I've found. This is my default outfit while I'm running around because I look that good.



• When I first found this place just north of Snowfall, I did not immediately think "Ah, another blocked expansion path." Without any obvious barriers set up, I thought it was just a nice bit of scenery. The only indication this might be an unfinished route to maybe Silver Hills or Stormfront Mountains is the little guy standing in front of the ice. And what does Silversnow say when you talk to him?



• Elves? Did he say elves? What kind of elves do you think is he talking about? Will they be tall, willowy Tolkeinesque elves, afflicted with immortality and insufferable smugness? Will they be North Pole elves with a knack for hand-made toys? (Would that mean a new Toy-Maker job? I dare not dream.) Do elves really like fruitcake? That would lend credence to the Christmas elf theory. SOE has said they will be expanding the playable races, so this seems an obvious choice. Another question: what the heck is that guy, anyway?


• I still haven't poked my head into every crevice the game has to offer, so this is only what I've found so far. I imagine with all the Wug-things around we'll see them as a playable race as well. I'd also love to see Tailors and Alchemists for new crafting options as well as knights and rangers for new combat jobs. And doesn't Lavender Coast just scream out for a Pirate job? You know you want to wear the eye patch and swing a cutlass, too.

Read Lately: The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

• For the last couple years, several people have told me that I should read The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. My reasons for not doing so are two-fold. First, I discovered Raymond Chandler a while back and have been stuck in the mystery and crime fiction genre ever since. Second and more important, fantasy is a broken genre for me. When I was younger, fantasy was all I read. And I read a lot of bad fantasy. But I did read some good stuff too. Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn stood head and shoulders above the mass-produced flood of titles. Then George R. R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire came out and set the bar so high for fantasy that I haven't been able to really enjoy another book in the genre since.


• The Name Of The Wind had me hooked by page eleven.


• With this book, Patrick Rothfuss has created a world and a character that is immediately appealing to my personal sensibility. You can see from the start that his main character is larger than life. At the same time, from the very first page we see that Kvothe (like quothe) is a haunted man. The descriptions of Kvothe and the silence that permeates him as well as the entire book set a grave tone.


• I told my wife that I started worrying about the book at around page fifty. After a gripping first few chapters, the novel turns to retelling the story of the main character's youth. I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes at this point. I don't know how many times I've read about the boy child learning magic at the foot of his master. Too many, to be sure. Thankfully, instead of devolving entirely into cliché, Rothfuss takes the story through a dramatic redirection fitting the tone he established earlier. Once over that rough patch (which is more likely my problem instead of the book's), I enjoyed to story clear to the end.


• This retelling of Kvothe's life takes place over the course of three days within the frame story, with each day a book in the trilogy. The retelling has a high point, but it definitely comes to a screeching halt without much resolved as we run out of pages. To mask this, Rothfuss gives the framing story a tension all its own that serves as a fine backbone for the main story being told. I'm secretly hoping the final book gives us more about this current Kvothe after learning how he became the man he is.


• Anyone with a high standard for fantasy fiction needs to look no further than Patrich Rothfuss and The Name Of The Wind. If you are as burned out by the genre as I am, this novel will welcome you back gladly.

Played Lately: Free Realms

• After all my complaints earlier, it is only fair for me to come back and say how much I am now enjoying Free Realms. How much? A lot. Quite a lot even. Enough to keep me up until 5 AM Sunday morning because I wanted to complete just one more quest, one more instance, one more collection. On and on and on. From all the press and hype, I did not expect to find myself in this position. I am ensnared.


• When I finally jumped fully into the game (in Windowed Mode to avoid crashes), I found myself at the Crossroads, one of three starting areas. I was immediately overwhelmed by the number of choices available. There was a fighting ring right there in the town to get your first taste of instanced combat as a Brawler. (Oh, I could go on about the instances. Maybe in a little bit.) Then there are the Chef, Pet Trainer, and Kart Driver jobs to try as well. And quests. Many quests around to keep me occupied. I dabbled a little bit, but soon found myself following the quests as they led me around the map. Here are a few things that I've really enjoyed about the game:


• As I suspected, the job system is a work of genius. There are so many things to do in the game. And there is fun stuff to collect for all your jobs. This genius is especially evident for the combat jobs. In most games, low level encounters are quickly bypassed as you increase in power. In WoW and other linear advancement games, only the highest level encounters are much of a challenge. Here the low level instances will always be in demand since there are currently six combat classes to level. And I know I'll want to level them all.


• The instances themselves have been a lot of fun. I think the best comparison would be to Guild Wars missions, though obviously on a smaller scale. This is everything I've been asking for in WoW for a long time. They feel like regular group instances with patrols and various aggro traps, like bosses that pull everyone in a room if you haven't cleared the area. The bosses are rather inventive as well, drawing mechanics from raid encounters to keep from getting too boring. And there are bonus objectives to complete, like escorts or finding hidden items, as well as plenty of dungeon quests to complete. One instance I ran last night, Cracked Claw Caverns, had 5 quests available beyond the regular and bonus objectives. So far I've been able to complete all of the Easy instances I've run across (for levels 1-5), but I'll be hitting the Medium difficulty (levels 5-10) pretty soon.


• Beyond the questing and instancing, I've enjoyed running around and just exploring the lands. There is so much to see and the exploration collections actively encourage you to poke your head around. Of the rare collections, I've only fully explored Shrouded Glade. I attribute that to there only being 3 tokens in an enclosed space, but I love the new backpack and hat I earned. They don't even have combat stats, but I was more excited to win them than the big hammer I picked up as a Brawler.


• Another thing that has kept me busy is the collection system. Lifted entirely from Everquest where glowing wisps make a collection item, Free Realms gives us sparkling pools of water, piles of leaves, fossils, junk, or other items to denote a collection. And there are so many collections available, it is crazy. I'm pulling my hair every time I find a pile and a new collection starts. I may start lobbying for better sorting tools. Nonetheless, I find myself constantly scanning the horizon for signs that another arrowhead or button or apple is out there to find.


• Finally, I am completely taken by the trading card game built in to Free Realms. I love that there are quests to find NPC players in game to challenge them. I don't see myself spending a lot of money on putting a bunch of decks together. But I'm having a lot of fun and I hope they keep the card duelist quests going for a long time.


• The one problem I've foreseeing is running out of things to do. I played so much over the weekend that this possibility started bothering me. On the official forums, I found a post by a player lamenting the fact that he had run out of content already. He had rushed so badly through the game that he literally did everything he wanted to do within days of launch. While that seems insane to me, I wonder how soon SOE will be pushing out the boundaries of their game. Those arrows pointing off the map labeled "Coming Soon" gives me reassurance there is a lot to come. In the mean time, I'm going to take it easy, keep doing everything I talked about above, and enjoy myself.