Whenever a new game or expansion is about to be released, fans are always dying with curiosity and anticipation. Will it be as good as we hope or worse than we expect? But one thing people often don't realize is that the Devs are just as excited and anxious, for pretty much the same reasons!
Players complain about being bound by the NDA when they wish they could share what they're testing with their buddies, but imagine designing something for months and having to keep quiet about it? This is when we finally get to show off those (hopefully!) cool features we secretly worked on. It's also when we find out if it was a hit or a miss.
Since we're still frantically working on finishing some of the features, the content is being delivered in stages. I can tell you that there's nothing worse than realizing that one of your features isn't going to make the next publish because of whatever bug. Whether the bug is your fault or someone else's is totally irrelevant. It's just disappointing. You know annoyed you feel when you're waiting for a highly anticipated patch just to be told the Devs delayed by another week? However valid or not the reason for the delay, you still feel cheated. So we're all in the same boat, just for different reasons.
But for our features that do make it, there's a mix of dread and excitement about how it will be received. I won't lie, after the last publish I was all over the forums reading players' comments about their first impression of the latest additions. Did we live up to their expectations? Exceeded or majorly failed?
After that though comes the "time to bang your head on the wall". Silly things such as "we would love to test this but you guys forgot to give us the tool to craft it with". Or better yet, "sure, I'll fight the boss monster if you guys would be so kind to put a doorway in". And we're like: how the heck did we forget that?! Silly stuff that makes you want to kick yourself. We're just as frustrated that you're not able to try some of the stuff. More so even, because our oversight caused it.
I spent the week-end beta testing on my normal player account. There's nothing more enlightening than to be down in the trenches with the rest of the guys, especially when they have no idea who you are. You share their pain on the mobs that are way overpowered or so easy they bore you to death. I've said this before and this week-end reinforced that conviction further: you cannot understand your players' pain unless you experience it first hand. You HAVE to play your own game.
Next week will be crazy. There are a lot of bugs to fix from the previous push. And from my own experience this week-end, a lot of tweaks and balance are needed to get some of the features to go from functional to fun. But there are also more features I want to get in so I better find a way to meet the cut off date somehow! Because I'm a big kid, and I just can't wait to show off the new toys we get to play with! :D
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Dilemma
Design vision and player wishes often seem to clash. Sometimes it's a minor difference in opinion/expectation, sometimes it's fairly significant. And that can be seen in some of the heated posts on game forums. Players wonder why the heck we don't just give them what they want. Some designers will take the "cuz I said so" approach while some will take the "there's a good reason, just trust me" approach.
I personally believe in the honest, open dialog approach. But I understand why so many don't. Frankly, players chew you up regardless so it's reasonable to ask yourself: why bother?
As designers, we have to strive not to fall into the: I'm gonna do this because I can, I got the power and because that's what "I" like. Which is somewhat paradoxical as I also consider designers to be artists and I do not believe an artist should bastardize his art to please others. He should be true to his vision and let others discover its beauty.
But then, we're not truly artists, are we? I guess we're more like scriptwriters on a TV series who have this (hopefully) awesome story to deliver in so many episodes. Sometimes we need to adjust some characters or events based on our audience's response. I remember thinking that when I watched the cast interviews of Battle Star Galactica before the finale. They were saying how Anders (who was only meant to have a small 2-3 episode role) was turned into a main character in reaction to the fans hating him so much for hooking up with Kara (I hated him for it too and ended up loving him by the end of the series!).
Like scriptwriters, we cater to an audience that gives almost instant feedback throughout the creation process. Sometimes our response will go against their wishes and still work out for the best (as in BSG) and sometimes it won't. But invariably, the fans' voices will influence the direction we take, sometimes steering us in a different path than originally intended.
In UO, I've been facing that same dilemma, namely with the gardeners. My vision as a designer, which was also shared by many on the team, isn't shared by quite a few of the gardeners. A bug introduced a way for players to grow some plants in hues we didn't want them because frankly they are an eye sore. While the bug was quickly fixed, we decided not to revert the few "ugly plants" they had obtained during the bug, since we figured that would be the end of it. But turns out players remained with a number of colored seeds that allow them to keep growing those horrors and cross-pollinating them, which makes me cringe beyond words.
So I looked into the code on how to revert all existing ones and neuter the remaining offensive seeds. Once I found the solution, I went to the gardeners forums to make a post telling them the fix for these abominations was on its way! But what I found was a really long thread of excited players sharing their experiments results, building up cross-pollination charts, giving each other tips on how to achieve certain hues and certain breeds. It was like watching a bunch of kids in a toy store. I had this strange mix of major annoyance, amusement and pride at how nice the kids were playing with each other.
And I just didn't have the heart to post... After thinking about it long and hard, I just reverted the "fix". It's still a hard to swallow humble pie but if it doesn't create imbalances and is just a matter of personal preferences, sometimes it's ok to let design vision take the backseat.
I personally believe in the honest, open dialog approach. But I understand why so many don't. Frankly, players chew you up regardless so it's reasonable to ask yourself: why bother?
As designers, we have to strive not to fall into the: I'm gonna do this because I can, I got the power and because that's what "I" like. Which is somewhat paradoxical as I also consider designers to be artists and I do not believe an artist should bastardize his art to please others. He should be true to his vision and let others discover its beauty.
But then, we're not truly artists, are we? I guess we're more like scriptwriters on a TV series who have this (hopefully) awesome story to deliver in so many episodes. Sometimes we need to adjust some characters or events based on our audience's response. I remember thinking that when I watched the cast interviews of Battle Star Galactica before the finale. They were saying how Anders (who was only meant to have a small 2-3 episode role) was turned into a main character in reaction to the fans hating him so much for hooking up with Kara (I hated him for it too and ended up loving him by the end of the series!).
Like scriptwriters, we cater to an audience that gives almost instant feedback throughout the creation process. Sometimes our response will go against their wishes and still work out for the best (as in BSG) and sometimes it won't. But invariably, the fans' voices will influence the direction we take, sometimes steering us in a different path than originally intended.
In UO, I've been facing that same dilemma, namely with the gardeners. My vision as a designer, which was also shared by many on the team, isn't shared by quite a few of the gardeners. A bug introduced a way for players to grow some plants in hues we didn't want them because frankly they are an eye sore. While the bug was quickly fixed, we decided not to revert the few "ugly plants" they had obtained during the bug, since we figured that would be the end of it. But turns out players remained with a number of colored seeds that allow them to keep growing those horrors and cross-pollinating them, which makes me cringe beyond words.
So I looked into the code on how to revert all existing ones and neuter the remaining offensive seeds. Once I found the solution, I went to the gardeners forums to make a post telling them the fix for these abominations was on its way! But what I found was a really long thread of excited players sharing their experiments results, building up cross-pollination charts, giving each other tips on how to achieve certain hues and certain breeds. It was like watching a bunch of kids in a toy store. I had this strange mix of major annoyance, amusement and pride at how nice the kids were playing with each other.
And I just didn't have the heart to post... After thinking about it long and hard, I just reverted the "fix". It's still a hard to swallow humble pie but if it doesn't create imbalances and is just a matter of personal preferences, sometimes it's ok to let design vision take the backseat.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Beta Testing
Now that ours is but a few days away, people are getting even antsier and desperately hoping to make it into the beta. I know the feeling all too well. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Everyone and their brother is spamming me for beta code requests. Some I know will rock it, others... not so sure. So the question is: are you truly beta test material?
Beta is a critical phase for us. This is when months and months (sometimes years) of hard work finally get handed over to players for thorough scrutiny. This is when we first find out if this ship will sink or sail, if it has holes and where is the water leaking in from. Water we don't see because we're too busy on the deck. Unless our testers take the time to explore every nook and cranny in the hold, there is a chance we'll only realize we're sinking once we're way far in high seas.
The truth is a lot of people sign up for beta not to test but just to quench their curiosity and for bragging rights. I can't blame them either, because I've done it too. But knowing that the number of codes issued is limited, it is important for people who sign up to understand that as much as we try to account for every silly things players will do during normal gameplay, we can't catch them all. Testing is what allows for the issues from such behavior to be addressed. If new skills or systems are way overpowered or unbalancing, if the UI isn't overly friendly, if some of the content needs some tweaking, beta is the time to bring it up so they can be fixed before the game ships. There's no damage in a closed environment, once it hits production shards, it's a whole different story.
So if you sign up, try stuff and use that feedback form or the in-game bug report feature. Nobody expects you to do as thorough a job as a QA Tester would. We only expect you to play as you normally would and bring up what doesn't work. Nobody knows better than you how you enjoy your specific game style. If you mainly play a crafter, we don't expect PvP feedback from you, but we sure as hell would like to know if the new content works for you. Don't get a code just to let it rot.
Beta testers have tremendous power. There is no other time you will have the Devs as attentive to your every word as during beta. It doesn't mean you will get everything you want (especially if your request would require massive system changes), but now is your best chance of having a real impact. I beta tested a few games myself and often heard people just randomly bitch about this or that but when asked if they submitted a bug they would just say "why bother?", which blew my mind. Or some would say things like "I'm sure someone else already reported it". Do not worry about submitting duplicates. Never assume someone already submitted, and don't just sulk about what you don't like.
Beta isn't about you finding out whether or not you like the new expansion. It isn't about status. It isn't about just hanging out with the Devs and participating in the few events. It's about making sure the expansion will launch as smoothly as possible. So don't take up the place of someone who would truly help polish the game through this critical phase. If you sign up and get a code (for UO or any other game), please log on often, play and use the heck out of the bug report feature.
PS: details and ways to replicate is a Dev's best friend. :)
Beta is a critical phase for us. This is when months and months (sometimes years) of hard work finally get handed over to players for thorough scrutiny. This is when we first find out if this ship will sink or sail, if it has holes and where is the water leaking in from. Water we don't see because we're too busy on the deck. Unless our testers take the time to explore every nook and cranny in the hold, there is a chance we'll only realize we're sinking once we're way far in high seas.
The truth is a lot of people sign up for beta not to test but just to quench their curiosity and for bragging rights. I can't blame them either, because I've done it too. But knowing that the number of codes issued is limited, it is important for people who sign up to understand that as much as we try to account for every silly things players will do during normal gameplay, we can't catch them all. Testing is what allows for the issues from such behavior to be addressed. If new skills or systems are way overpowered or unbalancing, if the UI isn't overly friendly, if some of the content needs some tweaking, beta is the time to bring it up so they can be fixed before the game ships. There's no damage in a closed environment, once it hits production shards, it's a whole different story.
So if you sign up, try stuff and use that feedback form or the in-game bug report feature. Nobody expects you to do as thorough a job as a QA Tester would. We only expect you to play as you normally would and bring up what doesn't work. Nobody knows better than you how you enjoy your specific game style. If you mainly play a crafter, we don't expect PvP feedback from you, but we sure as hell would like to know if the new content works for you. Don't get a code just to let it rot.
Beta testers have tremendous power. There is no other time you will have the Devs as attentive to your every word as during beta. It doesn't mean you will get everything you want (especially if your request would require massive system changes), but now is your best chance of having a real impact. I beta tested a few games myself and often heard people just randomly bitch about this or that but when asked if they submitted a bug they would just say "why bother?", which blew my mind. Or some would say things like "I'm sure someone else already reported it". Do not worry about submitting duplicates. Never assume someone already submitted, and don't just sulk about what you don't like.
Beta isn't about you finding out whether or not you like the new expansion. It isn't about status. It isn't about just hanging out with the Devs and participating in the few events. It's about making sure the expansion will launch as smoothly as possible. So don't take up the place of someone who would truly help polish the game through this critical phase. If you sign up and get a code (for UO or any other game), please log on often, play and use the heck out of the bug report feature.
PS: details and ways to replicate is a Dev's best friend. :)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Expansions
So as most of you now, we're currently in the last miles of our next, more than long overdue, UO expansion. I'm not going to discuss the details of that specific expansion here, but I wanted to share my thoughts about expansions in general and my issues with them; namely the fact that they make old content obsolete and raise even higher the barrier to entry for new players.
One of my biggest problem with expansions is that they usually rhyme with new lands and dungeons. How is that bad? Because new expansion doesn't mean new players. While they tend to bring a certain amount of new players, they're usually aimed towards player retention, so your currently bored players have something new to chew on. The influx of new players isn't significant enough to offset the exodus of existing players into the new areas.
In a game like UO, it just means that perfectly good systems are going to waste. The impact on our players is fairly minimal. But in a level-based game like WoW though, it's a different story. Looking at their latest expansion (which had quite a few really good things in it), I couldn't help but sigh. Another skill cap increase, meaning a noobie will have 80 levels to grind through before they can start playing with high level friends. New uber epic gear for level 80s to strive for, meaning once noobie manages level 80, his gear will still be too weaksauce to play with his friends in the cool instances. Even though they reshuffled the points required so that it takes you the same amount of time to reach 80 as it would have taken to reach 70 before the expansion, there are less people around to help you level or do those low level instances because everyone is in the new lands. So noobie is once again SOL.
Then look at resources and crafting materials. All the new cool recipes involve new mats that drop only on the new mobs. Why ever bother with old mobs then, especially since the old recipes using the old mats are trash compared to the new ones? Granted, they have the whole Achievements system put in, which seems to be all the rage these days with every game (I'll make a blog entry specifically about that at some point). But that only makes you go back once then never again.
I took WoW as an example because most people know it or of it and it covers the majority of the issues I find with expansions. But UO has had many of the same issues through its various expansion. I'm not against adding new lands. I just find that generally it's not done in the most efficient way. You shouldn't sabotage your own previous designs by making it useless or obsolete. I don't think the size of the playground matters as much as the quality and the number of the things you can do in it. I don't believe in having perfectly fine game systems just go to waste because we're pushing players towards the new shinies.
If an old system has become a little stale, give it a bit of a face lift. Even if you create new areas, mobs and resources, you should tie them to the old lands. Your new uber recipe should use mats from both worlds. You don't need to create an entire new dungeon with mostly useless critters just to have a new epic encounter. You could simply add cool new features to an existing dungeon that will grant you access to a new boss, and only create a new area in that dungeon for the boss' lair.
Instead of spending months/years building new regions so old ones can be abandoned, I would rather see all that time devoted to making new art assets and new badass creatures. As a player who just bought an expansion, when I receive the new "sword of ultimate pwnage", I want to see a wicked cool sword with awesome effects. Not the same old, rehued rename lame sword I've been using the past 5 years. Having a sexy looking new world populated with the same tired renamed/rehued creatures with a bit more stats is quite the turn off.
I was discussing this with a friend who said he wants new lands with an expansion because he gets tired of seeing the old places. My response to him was that if he's having fun, he won't care whether the land is old or new. Players aren't a grasshoppers swarm that needs to move from region to region once all sustenance has been drained out of it. It is our job as designers to make sure food doesn't run out in any given region. Period.
In my humble opinion, expansions should be about optimizing existing content and adding more content that will enhance player's experience. Not creating new areas to be cannibalized.
One of my biggest problem with expansions is that they usually rhyme with new lands and dungeons. How is that bad? Because new expansion doesn't mean new players. While they tend to bring a certain amount of new players, they're usually aimed towards player retention, so your currently bored players have something new to chew on. The influx of new players isn't significant enough to offset the exodus of existing players into the new areas.
In a game like UO, it just means that perfectly good systems are going to waste. The impact on our players is fairly minimal. But in a level-based game like WoW though, it's a different story. Looking at their latest expansion (which had quite a few really good things in it), I couldn't help but sigh. Another skill cap increase, meaning a noobie will have 80 levels to grind through before they can start playing with high level friends. New uber epic gear for level 80s to strive for, meaning once noobie manages level 80, his gear will still be too weaksauce to play with his friends in the cool instances. Even though they reshuffled the points required so that it takes you the same amount of time to reach 80 as it would have taken to reach 70 before the expansion, there are less people around to help you level or do those low level instances because everyone is in the new lands. So noobie is once again SOL.
Then look at resources and crafting materials. All the new cool recipes involve new mats that drop only on the new mobs. Why ever bother with old mobs then, especially since the old recipes using the old mats are trash compared to the new ones? Granted, they have the whole Achievements system put in, which seems to be all the rage these days with every game (I'll make a blog entry specifically about that at some point). But that only makes you go back once then never again.
I took WoW as an example because most people know it or of it and it covers the majority of the issues I find with expansions. But UO has had many of the same issues through its various expansion. I'm not against adding new lands. I just find that generally it's not done in the most efficient way. You shouldn't sabotage your own previous designs by making it useless or obsolete. I don't think the size of the playground matters as much as the quality and the number of the things you can do in it. I don't believe in having perfectly fine game systems just go to waste because we're pushing players towards the new shinies.
If an old system has become a little stale, give it a bit of a face lift. Even if you create new areas, mobs and resources, you should tie them to the old lands. Your new uber recipe should use mats from both worlds. You don't need to create an entire new dungeon with mostly useless critters just to have a new epic encounter. You could simply add cool new features to an existing dungeon that will grant you access to a new boss, and only create a new area in that dungeon for the boss' lair.
Instead of spending months/years building new regions so old ones can be abandoned, I would rather see all that time devoted to making new art assets and new badass creatures. As a player who just bought an expansion, when I receive the new "sword of ultimate pwnage", I want to see a wicked cool sword with awesome effects. Not the same old, rehued rename lame sword I've been using the past 5 years. Having a sexy looking new world populated with the same tired renamed/rehued creatures with a bit more stats is quite the turn off.
I was discussing this with a friend who said he wants new lands with an expansion because he gets tired of seeing the old places. My response to him was that if he's having fun, he won't care whether the land is old or new. Players aren't a grasshoppers swarm that needs to move from region to region once all sustenance has been drained out of it. It is our job as designers to make sure food doesn't run out in any given region. Period.
In my humble opinion, expansions should be about optimizing existing content and adding more content that will enhance player's experience. Not creating new areas to be cannibalized.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Random (Rated M!)
Haven't posted in a while since I was in the middle of moving. Thankfully, this painful process is mostly done. So for my "comeback" post, I figured I would give you a little insight into some of the conversations of your devoted Dev Team. Please be forewarned, as stated in the title, that this is rated M. So if you are easily offended by crude words or nudity, you might want to skip this one altogether!
In order to protect the identity of the (not so) innocent, I will refer to the everyone based on their role on the team, ie Artist, Designer, Worldbuilder, Engineer, QA, Admin (for Producer, MD, and ADM) and DAoC for members of the Camelot team. Having no shame whatsoever, I will not hide my own contribution to the following!
Artsy Pants
1. I go over to the artists to request some new art, knowing my chances are slim.
Me: Hey, I know you guys are busy, but what are the chances you guys could make me a crack tile.
Artist 1: A what?!
Me: You know, like a crack on the ground. We have one already but it's tiny and I need a big one.
Artist 1: You want a big crack?
Me: Yeah, a very big one. You know, a "big ass" crack.
Artist 2: Did she just say she wanted a big... "ass crack".
Me: *blushing furiously* NO!! NO! I'm sorry, I just meant, a big hole!
Artist 1: Oooh you want a big hole? And what you want to do with that hole?
Me: I just want a big hole, crack, fissure, w/e you want to call it for stuff to come out of.
Artist 2: A fissure now is it? So you want a big orifice that has something coming out of it? And you would like us to provide you with that?
Me: I'm not gonna win this one am I?
Artist 1 & 2: Nope.
Me: I hate you all! *walks away*
Artists 1 & 2: ROFL
2. We're commenting about the SA poster were the female gargoyles have boobs bigger than their head and where the male gargoyles frankly don't give us women much eye candy to drool over.
Engineer: Nah, they aren't too big!
Me: Dude, seriously, compare their size to her head!
Engineer: They're not... errr... oh wow!
Me: Told ya!
Engineer: Bah, still looks fine.
Admin and Me: *roll eyes and mumble something like "typical male"*
Artist: LOL
DAoC: Frankly, I don't care about the boob thing, but something else bothers me.
Artist: Oh?
DAoC: If gargoyles are hatched, how come she's got a navel?
All of us: OH SHIT! LOL!
3. We're having our weekly team meeting to update everyone on our current progress, what we've accomplished this weeks, hurdles and other tidbits.
Artist: Gargoyles finally have underwear!
All of us: *cheers and applause*
Me: So now that you're done playing with panties, you can get some real work done?
Admin: REGINE!
Everyone else: LOL!
Me: *with a not so innocent look* What? He said he was fiddling with undies!
Admin: *shakes head*
4. But nope, the underwear fiddling is far from over! I'm passing by the artists' desks when I overhear QA and Artist 1 discussing gargoyle undies issues.
Me: Dang brother, are you seriously still messing around with those undies?
Artist: No ma'am! I've done all the fiddling I could do, and passed them on to the next guy.
QA: And the next guy (*raises hand*) passed it on to the other guy.
Artist: Who is now trying to pass them on to someone else. You interested?
Me: Oh hell no! Them undies have been around too much for my liking. They must have all kinds of bugs by now.
QA: Quite the understatement!
Me: You can keep those to yourself, tyvm!
QA Woes
1. I'm talking with the artists about the new monsters when a QA passing by spots me and calls out my name.
Me: Go away, I don't want to talk to you!
QA: WTF? What did I do?
Me: I hate you! You're always giving me bugs!
*Moment of silence*
QA: You know, that kinda sounded wrong.
Me: Huh? Ohh?! OMG, I didn't mean it like that!!!
Artist: Dang QA, I thought you guys were supposed to help squash bugs. Not pass them around!
QA: I thought that's what I was doing!
Me: You guys suck... -_-
2. QA comes to my desk while I'm discussing with Admin
QA: Hey Reg, you know that word you used for your new system for SA?
Me: Yeah, what about it?
QA: Well you used it as a noun, but it's actually a verb so (suggestions) would fit better.
Me: Really? One of you guys suggested that word!
QA: Maybe, but it's not cuz English is our first language that we all speak it right!
Me: So I see.
QA: So can we bug it?
Me: Yeah, fine.
Admin: Wow, you just got vocabulary bugged!
QA: Bug write up: Designer language skills - FAILED!
Me: Haters! :(
3. Just when you thought it was over, the bugged undies come back with a vengeance. I go over to QA's desk to give him some extra info to help him test my latest contribution to the game. He's in the middle of explaining to Admin some of the undies issue. So I peek in!
QA: Female gargoyle for some reason has see through panties. But the male is just fine
Me: Oh wow!
QA: Yeah, that's pretty bad.
Admin: I don't think that would go down too well for our Teen rating.
Me: No kidding. That's quite the bush!
QA & Admin: LOL!
Admin: You haven't heard what he named her when she was hued all red!
Me: Huh?
QA: *hues the gargoyle red* Meet Ms. Firecrotch!
Admin & Me: ROFL
Me: You guys are so bad. *starts walking away*
Me: I guess we'll have to make craftable razors for Tinkers and shaving cream for Alchies!
Fails
1. An engineer drops by my desk to show me the latest improvements to the SA Map. I go to the link he provided me which loads a screenshot of it.
Me: Oh nice! I like this very much. A million times better than the old KR one.
Engineer: Yeah, it's pretty cool. Now lets see if we can get the other features in.
Me: *tries to click the X on the map to close the gump*
Engineer: OMG, did you just try to close a gump on a JPG?
Me: *blushes*
Engineer: LOL, epic fail! *walks off*
Engineer: Guys, guess what Sak just did?
Me: ugh!
2. We're having another weekly meeting
Engineer: So among you non-KR users, how many will start using the SA client when we launch?
Admin: I definitely will to macro.
Everyone: WHAT!? WTF?!
Admin: *blushes furiously* NO!! NO!! I meant, I like how you can set up macros with it. And it's much more user friendly than 2D for crafting!
Everyone: LOL.
Me: mmmmhmmm, you just so outted yourself! *eyes Admin suspiciouly*
Admin: You can all bite me!
In order to protect the identity of the (not so) innocent, I will refer to the everyone based on their role on the team, ie Artist, Designer, Worldbuilder, Engineer, QA, Admin (for Producer, MD, and ADM) and DAoC for members of the Camelot team. Having no shame whatsoever, I will not hide my own contribution to the following!
Artsy Pants
1. I go over to the artists to request some new art, knowing my chances are slim.
Me: Hey, I know you guys are busy, but what are the chances you guys could make me a crack tile.
Artist 1: A what?!
Me: You know, like a crack on the ground. We have one already but it's tiny and I need a big one.
Artist 1: You want a big crack?
Me: Yeah, a very big one. You know, a "big ass" crack.
Artist 2: Did she just say she wanted a big... "ass crack".
Me: *blushing furiously* NO!! NO! I'm sorry, I just meant, a big hole!
Artist 1: Oooh you want a big hole? And what you want to do with that hole?
Me: I just want a big hole, crack, fissure, w/e you want to call it for stuff to come out of.
Artist 2: A fissure now is it? So you want a big orifice that has something coming out of it? And you would like us to provide you with that?
Me: I'm not gonna win this one am I?
Artist 1 & 2: Nope.
Me: I hate you all! *walks away*
Artists 1 & 2: ROFL
2. We're commenting about the SA poster were the female gargoyles have boobs bigger than their head and where the male gargoyles frankly don't give us women much eye candy to drool over.
Engineer: Nah, they aren't too big!
Me: Dude, seriously, compare their size to her head!
Engineer: They're not... errr... oh wow!
Me: Told ya!
Engineer: Bah, still looks fine.
Admin and Me: *roll eyes and mumble something like "typical male"*
Artist: LOL
DAoC: Frankly, I don't care about the boob thing, but something else bothers me.
Artist: Oh?
DAoC: If gargoyles are hatched, how come she's got a navel?
All of us: OH SHIT! LOL!
3. We're having our weekly team meeting to update everyone on our current progress, what we've accomplished this weeks, hurdles and other tidbits.
Artist: Gargoyles finally have underwear!
All of us: *cheers and applause*
Me: So now that you're done playing with panties, you can get some real work done?
Admin: REGINE!
Everyone else: LOL!
Me: *with a not so innocent look* What? He said he was fiddling with undies!
Admin: *shakes head*
4. But nope, the underwear fiddling is far from over! I'm passing by the artists' desks when I overhear QA and Artist 1 discussing gargoyle undies issues.
Me: Dang brother, are you seriously still messing around with those undies?
Artist: No ma'am! I've done all the fiddling I could do, and passed them on to the next guy.
QA: And the next guy (*raises hand*) passed it on to the other guy.
Artist: Who is now trying to pass them on to someone else. You interested?
Me: Oh hell no! Them undies have been around too much for my liking. They must have all kinds of bugs by now.
QA: Quite the understatement!
Me: You can keep those to yourself, tyvm!
QA Woes
1. I'm talking with the artists about the new monsters when a QA passing by spots me and calls out my name.
Me: Go away, I don't want to talk to you!
QA: WTF? What did I do?
Me: I hate you! You're always giving me bugs!
*Moment of silence*
QA: You know, that kinda sounded wrong.
Me: Huh? Ohh?! OMG, I didn't mean it like that!!!
Artist: Dang QA, I thought you guys were supposed to help squash bugs. Not pass them around!
QA: I thought that's what I was doing!
Me: You guys suck... -_-
2. QA comes to my desk while I'm discussing with Admin
QA: Hey Reg, you know that word you used for your new system for SA?
Me: Yeah, what about it?
QA: Well you used it as a noun, but it's actually a verb so (suggestions) would fit better.
Me: Really? One of you guys suggested that word!
QA: Maybe, but it's not cuz English is our first language that we all speak it right!
Me: So I see.
QA: So can we bug it?
Me: Yeah, fine.
Admin: Wow, you just got vocabulary bugged!
QA: Bug write up: Designer language skills - FAILED!
Me: Haters! :(
3. Just when you thought it was over, the bugged undies come back with a vengeance. I go over to QA's desk to give him some extra info to help him test my latest contribution to the game. He's in the middle of explaining to Admin some of the undies issue. So I peek in!
QA: Female gargoyle for some reason has see through panties. But the male is just fine
Me: Oh wow!
QA: Yeah, that's pretty bad.
Admin: I don't think that would go down too well for our Teen rating.
Me: No kidding. That's quite the bush!
QA & Admin: LOL!
Admin: You haven't heard what he named her when she was hued all red!
Me: Huh?
QA: *hues the gargoyle red* Meet Ms. Firecrotch!
Admin & Me: ROFL
Me: You guys are so bad. *starts walking away*
Me: I guess we'll have to make craftable razors for Tinkers and shaving cream for Alchies!
Fails
1. An engineer drops by my desk to show me the latest improvements to the SA Map. I go to the link he provided me which loads a screenshot of it.
Me: Oh nice! I like this very much. A million times better than the old KR one.
Engineer: Yeah, it's pretty cool. Now lets see if we can get the other features in.
Me: *tries to click the X on the map to close the gump*
Engineer: OMG, did you just try to close a gump on a JPG?
Me: *blushes*
Engineer: LOL, epic fail! *walks off*
Engineer: Guys, guess what Sak just did?
Me: ugh!
2. We're having another weekly meeting
Engineer: So among you non-KR users, how many will start using the SA client when we launch?
Admin: I definitely will to macro.
Everyone: WHAT!? WTF?!
Admin: *blushes furiously* NO!! NO!! I meant, I like how you can set up macros with it. And it's much more user friendly than 2D for crafting!
Everyone: LOL.
Me: mmmmhmmm, you just so outted yourself! *eyes Admin suspiciouly*
Admin: You can all bite me!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Fangirl
A while back, in a blog entry that would probably better qualify as a rant, I was expressing my rather unflattering views about groupies. So it's a little ironic to be talking about myself today as a fan girl. Though I will say there is a difference!! (At least there is in the twisted little world I evolve in!)
Last Thursday, we were having a design lunch to discuss SA (among other things) but mainly to come up with ways to try and fix the never ending saga of the ghost cams. And it was one of those discussions where you can see the goal, you can almost touch it, but there are so many hurdles in between you and it. You bounce ideas off of each other and they get shut down with very valid arguments, then revived with as valid counter arguments, and so on and so forth.
Halfway through the discussion, I was explaining why one of the proposed solutions wouldn't work because applied one way, it could be circumvented, while applied the other way, it would unfairly punish legit players. And it suddenly dawned on me (again!) that here I was, little Sakkarah from Atlantic, playing with the big boys. I mean to have Leurocian sitting at my right, Draconi and Uriah (Calvin) sitting across the table from me, and Wilki on my left, all of them paying close attention to my words and valuing my input, it was just eerie. And I was like "OMG, I'm still a fan girl!" Sheesh!
I was telling a buddy of mine about it and he said he didn't know how I did it. In my shoes, he would be too intimidated, afraid what he proposed would come across as lame, that he couldn't picture himself arguing against an idea these guys would come up with and that frankly, he didn't think they would give his ideas any real consideration. First off, I pointed out to him that he already argues with them about their ideas on the forums. And he was like, "Dang, you're right!" Of course I am! :P But I also explained to him that there is one thing I've learned over the years, mostly when I worked in the music and movie industry: even the greatest of idols is just another person. And being a yes man or a yes girl (ie a groupie) is the best way to make sure no one will ever care to hear anything you have to say.
It's not because you disagree with them that you have less respect or admiration for them. If you have been put in a position where your opinion or creative input is required, then you shouldn't be embarrassed or apologetic about it. Just be true to yourself and stand by what you believe in without trying to impose it onto others. That's always been my philosophy and I'm just too darn opinionated to act otherwise! I could go on a spiel about "have faith in yourself" and all that jazz, but I won't. Ok, ok, I lie. I had in fact written another four paragraphs which really ended up sounding preachy, self-righteous and holier than thou. So I delete them! (owned!)
Anyways, I just wanted to say that you know how sometimes you put people on a pedestal and once you meet them irl you feel it was a total let down? Well, I thought it was pretty cool realizing that after a year of working closely with those guys, I'm still a fan.
Last Thursday, we were having a design lunch to discuss SA (among other things) but mainly to come up with ways to try and fix the never ending saga of the ghost cams. And it was one of those discussions where you can see the goal, you can almost touch it, but there are so many hurdles in between you and it. You bounce ideas off of each other and they get shut down with very valid arguments, then revived with as valid counter arguments, and so on and so forth.
Halfway through the discussion, I was explaining why one of the proposed solutions wouldn't work because applied one way, it could be circumvented, while applied the other way, it would unfairly punish legit players. And it suddenly dawned on me (again!) that here I was, little Sakkarah from Atlantic, playing with the big boys. I mean to have Leurocian sitting at my right, Draconi and Uriah (Calvin) sitting across the table from me, and Wilki on my left, all of them paying close attention to my words and valuing my input, it was just eerie. And I was like "OMG, I'm still a fan girl!" Sheesh!
I was telling a buddy of mine about it and he said he didn't know how I did it. In my shoes, he would be too intimidated, afraid what he proposed would come across as lame, that he couldn't picture himself arguing against an idea these guys would come up with and that frankly, he didn't think they would give his ideas any real consideration. First off, I pointed out to him that he already argues with them about their ideas on the forums. And he was like, "Dang, you're right!" Of course I am! :P But I also explained to him that there is one thing I've learned over the years, mostly when I worked in the music and movie industry: even the greatest of idols is just another person. And being a yes man or a yes girl (ie a groupie) is the best way to make sure no one will ever care to hear anything you have to say.
It's not because you disagree with them that you have less respect or admiration for them. If you have been put in a position where your opinion or creative input is required, then you shouldn't be embarrassed or apologetic about it. Just be true to yourself and stand by what you believe in without trying to impose it onto others. That's always been my philosophy and I'm just too darn opinionated to act otherwise! I could go on a spiel about "have faith in yourself" and all that jazz, but I won't. Ok, ok, I lie. I had in fact written another four paragraphs which really ended up sounding preachy, self-righteous and holier than thou. So I delete them! (owned!)
Anyways, I just wanted to say that you know how sometimes you put people on a pedestal and once you meet them irl you feel it was a total let down? Well, I thought it was pretty cool realizing that after a year of working closely with those guys, I'm still a fan.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The New FICO
Aside from language, one of the first things that hit me when I first moved to the US is how everything here is ruled by your credit score. To get an apartment, utilities, cellphone and even certain jobs, your credit score is a major factor. So imagine me freshly landed in VA being told that even though the three US companies that monitor credit are exactly the same in Canada, they couldn't use my Canadian credit history in the US. As such, I was a nobody and therefore considered a credit risk. Imagine also that for the first month, I couldn't even get gas or electricity because they won't give it to you unless you have a social security number. Except it takes a little over 4 weeks for a new US resident to get one. This all translated as me having to make big security deposits for absolutely everything, including a $700 deposit just for a stupid cell phone.
So I was browsing the International Game Developers Association discussion group on Linkedin when I stumbled on the Reputation Share thread. Their goal is to provide a type of FICO score not for your credit history, but for your online behavior. I have to say I have extremely mixed feelings about it. Here's an excerpt from their information white paper:
"When someone registers on a site supported by ReputationShare, the service knows at least some of the following:
• This user is unknown. This email has never been used on any site in the participating network
• This user has reputation reports from 37 sites in our network. They have used these sites 5,233 times over the past 32 months without any negative incidents
• This user has 17 complaints against their reputation – 16 for spam, one for bullying...
• This user has made purchases from 73% of the e‐commerce websites they joined in our network. (You may want to greet this user with a discount coupon.)
• This user has bought from e‐commerce websites in our network 13 times, and reported for charge‐back fraud all 13 times.
• This user has been banned from one or more sites in our network for soliciting for sex from a user whose profile is that of a minor."
There is no question that it would be nice to track sexual predators, especially in MMOs. As a former guildmistress, I've had to deal with such situations: one where one of my female guildmember had to get a restraining order against a former guildmate who was stalking her in real life after she put an end to their in game relationship. Another where I found out that the 29 yo female I had just booted from the guild had been having cyber sex and phone sex with a 14 yo kid in the guild. And that makes me think yeah, I definitely would much rather keep such people out of the games I play or work on, and away from children.
Then you're looking at all the scammers, griefers and exploiters and thinking yeah, without such creeps, the game would be so much better! Problem is, people, especially in this last group, do change. My own experience (which is in no way meant to be taken as an official statistics) has been that most of the scammers and griefers are teenagers. Many exploiters also are teens with quite a few in their early 20s, but still fairly young and irresponsible. And I've found them to have really improved their ways as they mature. Problem is, your FICO has a way of sticking to you like white on rice. Repairing it can be extremely difficult.
Some of you will say "Tough luck! They should have thought about it first!" I don't quite disagree. You should be held accountable to a certain extent for your misbehavior. My problem is that FICO type of systems have too much of a "guilty until proven innocent" approach. As with my "coming to America" story, scoring systems punish you right off the bat with all kinds of penalties not because of any wrongdoings on your part, but simply because you haven't yet proven yourself.
I've known people who have always paid all of their bills on time, who owe nothing and who never borrowed because they don't believe in credit or being in debt. You'd think they'd be the ideal candidate for a mortgage right? But no, they can't get a loan because they don't have credit history. They are nobodies... Once rating Internet behavior becomes a standard, how long will it take before you're asked to make hefty security deposits because you are new to the scene or had a few misconducts years ago when you didn't know better? I support the idea behind this service, I just don't think I agree with the service itself.
So I was browsing the International Game Developers Association discussion group on Linkedin when I stumbled on the Reputation Share thread. Their goal is to provide a type of FICO score not for your credit history, but for your online behavior. I have to say I have extremely mixed feelings about it. Here's an excerpt from their information white paper:
"When someone registers on a site supported by ReputationShare, the service knows at least some of the following:
• This user is unknown. This email has never been used on any site in the participating network
• This user has reputation reports from 37 sites in our network. They have used these sites 5,233 times over the past 32 months without any negative incidents
• This user has 17 complaints against their reputation – 16 for spam, one for bullying...
• This user has made purchases from 73% of the e‐commerce websites they joined in our network. (You may want to greet this user with a discount coupon.)
• This user has bought from e‐commerce websites in our network 13 times, and reported for charge‐back fraud all 13 times.
• This user has been banned from one or more sites in our network for soliciting for sex from a user whose profile is that of a minor."
There is no question that it would be nice to track sexual predators, especially in MMOs. As a former guildmistress, I've had to deal with such situations: one where one of my female guildmember had to get a restraining order against a former guildmate who was stalking her in real life after she put an end to their in game relationship. Another where I found out that the 29 yo female I had just booted from the guild had been having cyber sex and phone sex with a 14 yo kid in the guild. And that makes me think yeah, I definitely would much rather keep such people out of the games I play or work on, and away from children.
Then you're looking at all the scammers, griefers and exploiters and thinking yeah, without such creeps, the game would be so much better! Problem is, people, especially in this last group, do change. My own experience (which is in no way meant to be taken as an official statistics) has been that most of the scammers and griefers are teenagers. Many exploiters also are teens with quite a few in their early 20s, but still fairly young and irresponsible. And I've found them to have really improved their ways as they mature. Problem is, your FICO has a way of sticking to you like white on rice. Repairing it can be extremely difficult.
Some of you will say "Tough luck! They should have thought about it first!" I don't quite disagree. You should be held accountable to a certain extent for your misbehavior. My problem is that FICO type of systems have too much of a "guilty until proven innocent" approach. As with my "coming to America" story, scoring systems punish you right off the bat with all kinds of penalties not because of any wrongdoings on your part, but simply because you haven't yet proven yourself.
I've known people who have always paid all of their bills on time, who owe nothing and who never borrowed because they don't believe in credit or being in debt. You'd think they'd be the ideal candidate for a mortgage right? But no, they can't get a loan because they don't have credit history. They are nobodies... Once rating Internet behavior becomes a standard, how long will it take before you're asked to make hefty security deposits because you are new to the scene or had a few misconducts years ago when you didn't know better? I support the idea behind this service, I just don't think I agree with the service itself.
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