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Gamescom, GDC EU dates announced for 2013

MJ Guthrie — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, News Items

The more than 275,000 attendees of this year's Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, were the first to see the planned date for the 2013 convention -- if they noticed the large banner hanging overhead, that is. Folks wanting to get a headstart on planning for the event can mark their calendars: The fifth annual Gamescom will be held August 21st through the 25th, 2013. To get in on GDC Europe, plan to get to Cologne a few days earlier as this convention will run August 19th through the 21st, 2013.

The 2012 Gamescom saw the introduction of mobile and social titles to the usual line-up of console and PC gaming. Organizers noted that 83 different countries were represented between the exhibitors and trade visitors of the con. GDC EU 2012 broke previous attendance records with over 2,100 game industry professionals attending the event.

For more about this year's conventions that just wrapped up, check out Massively's 2012 Gamescom and 2012 GDC Europe coverage.

Gamescom, GDC EU dates announced for 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC Europe 2012: Funcom's Morrison says focus on the why, not the what

Matthew Rossi — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 10:45:00 EST

Filed under: Age of Conan, Game Mechanics, Interviews, MMO Industry, The Secret World

MMOs as a rule tend to have a focus on providing content for us, the players. It makes sense; they want us to play their games, so they give us as much stuff to do as possible so that we'll keep playing. But why do we want to do that stuff in the first place? Craig Morrison, creative director at Funcom Montreal, posed that question at his GDC Europe talk, saying that MMO design needs to shift to consider that option. Gamasutra covered what he has to say: "Everytime a player logs in, they need a 'why'," noted Morrison. "What we really need to be thinking about is the why -- it's the bit that we don't really consider enough. Players need a reason to be playing it. What is motivating them?"

Referencing both Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Simon Simek's work on motivation, Morrison's talk ranged from discussing how games go wrong by focusing on only one kind of player to encouraging the development and fostering of community. "Unless you expose the players to the community and encourage community interactions, there's not that much difference between your game and a single-player game," he opined.

GDC Europe 2012: Funcom's Morrison says focus on the why, not the what originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC Europe 2012: Designer says American gamers can't handle failure

Jef Reahard — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Events (Real-World), Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, Miscellaneous

Game designer Don Daglow turned a few heads while participating in a GDC Europe panel this week. The industry veteran and co-designer of AOL's 1991 Neverwinter Nights MMORPG said that Americans don't deal well with failure, particularly in gaming.

"The idea of failure has been dramatically reduced," Daglow said, before going on to opine that this stems from an educational system where failure has been removed from the curriculum. He also said that many gamers blame their failures on the game itself instead of analyzing their mistakes and trying again.

GDC Europe 2012: Designer says American gamers can't handle failure originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC Europe 2012: F2P developers should expect 70 percent initial user drop

Jef Reahard — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Business Models, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play

Batting .300 is the gold standard for free-to-play games, according to former Empire: Total War designer Jan van der Crabben. He told listeners at a GDC Europe keynote that free-to-play developers should expect to lose 70 percent of their initial registered users.

He said that player retention is the key issue facing the new business model, and despite the fact that most players leave F2P titles shortly after registering, those who stick around for a few days will usually keep playing.

Van der Crabben, who is currently designing browser-based F2P games at Travian, pointed to World of Warcraft as a model, noting its mechanical effectiveness at retaining users by presenting them with cyclical gameplay. This amounts to "kill[ing] stuff to get better to get more abilities to kill more stuff," he said.

GDC Europe 2012: F2P developers should expect 70 percent initial user drop originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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World of Tanks was rejected by publishers as 'cheap Asian stuff'

Brendan Drain — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business Models, Culture, Events (Real-World), News Items, Free-to-Play, Casual, World of Tanks

Since its release at the end of 2010, Russian tank MMO World of Tanks has grown to become a global sensation with over 35 million users worldwide. The incredible success of this free-to-play giant has gone on to spawn upcoming offshoots World of Warplanes and World of Warships, but you might be surprised to hear that western publishers initially rejected the game.

At GDC Europe today, Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi revealed that Western publishers originally didn't accept the game because of its free-to-play business model. "They were very arrogant," Victor explained, adding that the game "was described as cheap, Asian stuff." The rampant success of World of Tanks and the free-to-play business model has since grown Wargaming.net from a studio with 120 employees into a global business with over 1,000.

World of Tanks was rejected by publishers as 'cheap Asian stuff' originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Do you expect big news from this week's confluence of conventions?

Eliot Lefebvre — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, News Items, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous

GDC Europe, GenCon Indy, and Gamescom all happening at the same time? It'd be completely unbelievable if it weren't happening right now. This week sees three major gaming conventions all taking place, and while all three are focusing on different areas of the gaming world, you can't focus on one while ignoring the others. That means that next week is going to be full of coverage of all three events, and if you've been following the convention calendar, you're no doubt eagerly anticipating this.

But will there be any major news? After all, sometimes these events don't produce news so much as a few interesting footnotes. With so much gaming concentrated in a single week, it would almost make more sense to wait until the ruckus has died down to make any big announcements. So do you expect big news from this week's convention extravaganza? Or do you expect a whole lot of noise and not a lot of signal?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Do you expect big news from this week's confluence of conventions? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 12 Aug 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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