deadlyaccurate

I usually decide to rebuild my machine in time for a specific release. My last system was good and lasted me about three years with only marginal graphics performance hits. Once I get to the point where I have to set graphics settings to low-medium instead of medium-high, that's when I start looking at upgrades.

I also bought my Xbox 360 for Rock Band. In fact, I still only have a half dozen games for it, and most of them are either from Harmonix or Rockstar.

@aurickle Agreed. I thought it was a little bit tacky to do it that way.

@Yoh That's what I saw, too. It's hard to call a game F2P when it locks you into only a couple of small zones unless you subscribe. That's a trial.

I played the open beta, and I had a lot of fun, but I doubt I would subscribe. Too many other games to play.

I was impressed with the starter zone when I tried last year, but as soon as I went to the main island, I was so underwhelmed I quickly uninstalled. Instead of quests with story elements, it was just "go bring me 5 [x]." I'd never had a game splat so quickly and thoroughly.

I bought a one-year Commanders sub after the F2P conversion (it ended up being about $15/month) even though I've played and dropped it a couple of times. I love the wordless stories you can discover. I wish they had more of them. Love the NPC chatter, the world, the crafting system, how you can wield a golf club or a baseball bat or a box cutter and piece of sink pipe.

Absolutely loathe the UI, though. So ugly.

Ugh. An IPO? Really?

Here's my prediction for a publicly-traded CCP:

Year 1: Very little visible change. They'll probably put a few more things in their store, but they won't do anything drastically different. It usually takes about a year to start ruining a company.

Year 2: Some corporate restructuring. A few people will leave in the company, especially the developers who feel stifled by corporate red tape. The in-game store will have even more things for sale. Players will start to see emails about in-game store sales on a regular basis. Some of the more hardcore elements will be toned down to gain more subscribers ((longer invincibility timers at lowsec gates, for example).

Year 3: The in-game store will be the main focus of development. Special deal emails will be common. Any actual game content development will be focused on gaining new players, not improving the game for the existing player base. Some of the most hardcore elements of the game (theft, scams, fraud, gate-camping, etc.) might become bannable offenses, because shareholders don't want to scare off new players.

Year 4: EVE? That's that space game that used to let players fight wars and scheme against each other, right?

I get into theme park MMOs for about 3 weeks and then pop out of them again, even the really good ones. But this one, I can see playing far longer. They sound like they're doing so many good things that simply refine the whole system. It sounds like they understand that "making it more fun" doesn't mean "simplifying to the point of boredom."

I hope it holds up in the end.

@SnarlingWolf The purpose is to encourage more women to enter the field by bringing it to their attention. One day, hopefully, there will be no need for competitions that limit by sex or race, but look at any photo of game developers and count the ratio of men to women. I've never seen one that was even close to 1:1. The vast majority of game developers are white males. They don't need encouragement to enter the field. They're the unspoken assumption.

I'm hoping for the OASIS from Ernie Cline's READY PLAYER ONE novel. Barring that, the game will have the freedom of Minecraft, the player-caused intrigue of EVE, and the beauty of Crysis, Their future incarnations, of course.

It's my #1 hobby, but I don't let it interfere with the things that need or should be done, and it doesn't interfere with my time with my husband (who's also a gamer). I may let the dishes or laundry slide for a few hours, but I still hit the gym, keep the house clean, feed the pets, visit family, etc.. I probably game 2-3 hours a night during the week, more during the weekend (I don't have kids).