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EVE's Alliance Tournament IX ends in controversy

Brendan Drain — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Events, in-game, Guilds, Lore, PvP, News items

The Alliance Tournament is one of the highlights of the EVE Online calendar. Every year, tens of thousands of people tune in to watch teams from competing alliances battle it out in a massive knock-out style tournament. With rules in place to limit the number and value of ships a team can field, the Alliance Tournament is as close to a fair fight as you'll find in EVE. This year's tournament came to a close last night after two weekends of qualifying rounds, exciting knock-out matches and a controversial final.

Skip past the cut to find out how this year's tournament ended. Be warned that this post will spoil the outcome of the tournament. For those of you who missed the live stream, we'll be compiling an in-depth summary with links to videos of all the matches once CCP has uploaded the matches to YouTube.

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EVE's Alliance Tournament IX ends in controversy originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Devil in the details for Final Fantasy XIV's fatigue

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game mechanics, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV

When the news broke yesterday regarding the fatigue system in Final Fantasy XIV, it made virtually no one happy. Even the system's defenders generally had an attitude of "it's not all that bad," and most players were up in arms over the very idea. But a day can make a lot of difference, and as it turns out, we didn't quite have the clear picture of the fatigue system that we thought we did. The official translation from Square-Enix covers most of the same ground, but adds several important facts.

The two most salient points are the fact that the limiting factors are not time-based but value-based, and the fact that the "cooldown" on fatigue sets in as soon as a player starts doing something that won't grant skill or experience points. There's no word on whether or not this will be the case during time spent logged off, but it means that the much-loathed figures about how much time would be productive are not altogether correct. Take a look at the official translation, which should provide a much-needed balm for several angry Final Fantasy XIV fans.

[Thanks to John for the tip!]

Devil in the details for Final Fantasy XIV's fatigue originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fortune and failure in real-money trading

James Egan — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Economy, MMO industry, Virtual worlds

Although many western MMO gamers profess a distaste for all things RMT, it's definitely become an aspect of these games and virtual worlds that we're all aware of to some degree. But it wasn't always that way. In fact, it wasn't so long ago that the notion of people working in virtual settings and earning real world wealth was, quite frankly, bizarre.

Julian Dibbell was one of the first journalists to expose the idea of RMT and the possible existence of 'virtual sweatshops' to mainstream readers years ago, before such ideas and practices became almost commonplace in virtual worlds and MMOs. Dibbell has continued on with this tradition since the days of writing about Black Snow Interactive, more recently in his book 'Play Money' and with a piece he's written for Wired, titled "The Decline and Fall of an Ultra Rich Online Gaming Empire."

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Fortune and failure in real-money trading originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Confessions of an EVE Online macro'er

James Egan — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, Exploits, Game mechanics, MMO industry, PvE, Opinion, Legal

You've encountered them before. Those guys. Them. Next to the ISK spammers, they're a plague within EVE Online.

They have gibberish names and sit in ice belts all day in exhumers, macro controlling large mining operations. At the first sign of trouble they gang warp out to safety. Or they're automating courier missions in an endless procession of macro'ed industrials, day in and day out. Or they're part of the infinite army of 0.0 ratting Ravens that automatically warp to a safespot and cloak once someone enters the system. They're all in China, right? The macros are all used by large ISK farming operations where people work in 23/7 shifts... right?

Apparently, that's wrong. EVE-Mag is running an article written by a self-proclaimed macro'er. Only he doesn't work in a sweatshop in a developing nation. He doesn't grind long shifts for ISK. He's an American in his early thirties, with two kids and a family dog. Just a regular guy. He writes under the pseudonym "EVE Player" and poses a question to his readers, "I have macro'ed the holy crap out of certain video games. I've been doing it for more than 8 years now so tell me; at what point did you notice your EVE experience going down the tubes because of me? I'll bet your downward spiral really has nothing to do with me macro'ing, now does it?"

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Confessions of an EVE Online macro'er originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MMO addiction drives man to poison family

James Egan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, News items, Legal

Addiction as it applies to MMOs and internet activity in general is a contentious issue. Many of the more unusual or extreme stories regarding the actions that result from digital addiction tend to come to us from Asia, especially China. The pace and fervor with which China's internet savvy population has seized the web and all that it offers -- both good and bad -- is staggering. The web has become integral to entertainment in China, particularly for the younger generation, but it's brought with it a host of societal problems and crime.

Only days ago, the Chinese government classified Internet addiction as a mental disease, a fact which may well stay the execution of Hu Ange, a 22-year-old man who poisoned his own parents... apparently so they would not interfere with his addiction to the online game Legend. Hu was sentenced to death, but the case is now being appealed on the grounds that he is mentally ill.

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MMO addiction drives man to poison family originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's Pandemonium in Final Fantasy XI

James Egan — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Forums, Game mechanics, Guilds, Endgame, News items, PvE

News has spread of a grueling new enemy encounter in Final Fantasy XI. The Notorious Monster (NM) Pandemonium Warden is one of the strongest opponents players can face in the game. But it seems Square-Enix may have raised the bar too high, given the extremes to which players must go to defeat Pandemonium Warden.

A linkshell (guild) called Beyond the Limitation recently faced off against Pandemonium Warden over an 18 hour period, but the NM was still going strong. The NM shapeshifts into multiple forms, making it even more of a challenge to defeat; Beyond the Limitations fought Pandemonium Warden through twenty of his possible forms, some of which took hours to kill. Pet Food Alpha, a Final Fantasy XI community site, quotes a member of Beyond the Limitation stating: "People were passing out and getting physically ill. We decided to end it before we risked turning into a horrible new story about how video games ruin people's lives."

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It's Pandemonium in Final Fantasy XI originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mythic's Paul Barnett on believers and heretics

James Egan — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Warhammer Online, News items

Paul Barnett, the Creative Director at Mythic Entertainment, is not a man who minces his words, particularly when it comes to Warhammer Online. We covered how Barnett envisions Warhammer Online being free of the 'corruptive' influences of World of Warcraft. Gamasutra expanded on Barnett's talk at the Develop Conference and Expo in Brighton, distilling other aspects of the speech down to his top lessons learned. Barnett emphasized the importance of simplicity in game design, citing other titles that became mired in complexity. "People like the illusion of choice... they like a long menu at a restaurant despite the fact they will always order from the same three things," he said.

On the topic of having a singular vision, given the time and cost involved, he stressed that game developers tend to fall into two camps: heretics and believers. Mythic hasn't "got time for people who have no morale or don't think we're going to succeed, and mess around in palace intrigue. Heretics must be burned publicly. It doesn't matter how talented they are. If they're a heretic, they go, because cancer spreads." Conversely, he stated his preference to hire less-talented 'believers' with intense drive over those talented 'heretics' whose skills come with limitations. Have a look at the Gamasutra piece for more of Barnett's views on game design and a little more of what we can expect from Warhammer Online. Some of his ideas are bold and intended to stir up controversy, but the man definitely has some memorable lines.

Mythic's Paul Barnett on believers and heretics originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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