Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[GamerDNA: A brief look at free to play games]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/06/10/gamerdna-a-brief-look-at-free-to-play-games/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/06/10/gamerdna-a-brief-look-at-free-to-play-games/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/06/10/gamerdna-a-brief-look-at-free-to-play-games/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

By Sanya Weathers for GamerDNA

When you're the market leader in MMO games, you can afford to do a little innovating - though not so much as to disturb or ruffle the customers you've already acquired. When you're making a top drawer MMO with thirty million dollars of other people's money, you can't afford to innovate. Refinements, sure. But no big risks.

So where's the innovation? These days, you see it in the free to play genre, and its close cousin, the "freemium" game. Both of these games make their money from microtransactions. In order to get a customer to fork over a microtransaction, these games require customers that are vested into the world.

But free to play means the player has invested nothing but the time spent downloading the product. And there's a perception among some industry professionals that "easy come, easy go."

Gallery: GamerDNA: A brief look at free to play games

Average days played per weekAverage hours per sessionAverage days played, first five weeksAverage hours per session, five weeksTop games for...

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MassivelyGamerDNA: A brief look at free to play games originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>f2pfree-to-playgamer-dnagamerdnasanya-weathersWed, 10 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Gamer DNA: Plenty of market opportunity in MMOs [part 2]]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/05/gamer-dna-further-conclusions-from-digging-deep-part-2/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/05/gamer-dna-further-conclusions-from-digging-deep-part-2/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/05/gamer-dna-further-conclusions-from-digging-deep-part-2/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Continue reading Gamer DNA: Plenty of market opportunity in MMOs [part 2]

MassivelyGamer DNA: Plenty of market opportunity in MMOs [part 2] originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 05 May 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>chartseditorialgamer-dnagamerdnaguest-editorialmmommogsanya-weathersstatisticsTue, 05 May 2009 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Gamer DNA: Plenty of market opportunity in MMOs]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/05/gamer-dna-further-conclusions-from-digging-deep/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/05/gamer-dna-further-conclusions-from-digging-deep/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/05/gamer-dna-further-conclusions-from-digging-deep/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Today, we have another in a continuing series of articles written by the highly talented Sanya Weathers for GamerDNA. In this, her latest column, Sanya looks into the numbers and just what the breakdown for MMO players means.

When you compare groups of MMO consumers, grouped by game title, it's easy to be overwhelmed by World of Warcraft's market dominance. Indeed, many developers have learned the wrong lessons from Blizzard's success, and copied/are copying WoW features - without copying WoW's reasoning, methodology, or execution. The results are products that feel derivative and incomplete, with features that the consumers identify as being less than organically developed. Furthermore, WoW's market reach is so extensive that the most influential players in a social network sense will identify a borrowed feature as being WoW's (even if WoW itself borrowed the feature), and cost the new product credibility as innovators.

Still, when you just look at the data, it's hard to avoid the desire to copy WoW. As we saw last week, WoW players log in more often, and play for longer sessions.

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MassivelyGamer DNA: Plenty of market opportunity in MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 05 May 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>chartseditorialgamer-dnagamerdnaguest-editorialmmommogssanya-weathersstatisticsTue, 05 May 2009 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[How much do guilds matter?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/25/how-much-do-guilds-matter/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/25/how-much-do-guilds-matter/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/25/how-much-do-guilds-matter/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Today, we have another in a continuing series of articles written by the highly talented Sanya Weathers for GamerDNA. In this, her latest column, Sanya runs down some interesting and illuminating statistics about players and guilds, and just how they fit in to the macrocosm of MMOs.

A long time ago, in a fantasy world far far away, I wrangled guilds as part of my job. At first, I wrangled them because it was terribly efficient for one person struggling with a beta. Why deal with thousands of individuals when I could deal with fifty, and put them in charge of their own groups? Guild leaders will always be more informed, more tuned in, and better suited to herding their own cats than a studio representative could ever be.

But what started as expediency turned in to more.

As a community weenie, I had my dearly beloved "frequent flyers" - people who sent in feedback, usually through email no matter how many systems I built for them to use, with a regularity previously reserved for clocks, robots, and dripping faucets. If it was 3 PM on a Thursday, it was time to get mail from him, him, her, and what I was pretty sure was a him but hadn't ever asked.

Continue reading How much do guilds matter?

MassivelyHow much do guilds matter? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>change-in-levelclass-breakdownfeaturedgamer-dnagamerdnaguildguilded-vs-unguildedguildsjoystiqfeaturesmetricssanya-weathersstatisticstime-playedunguildedWed, 25 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Numbers support players returning to World of Warcraft]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/22/numbers-support-players-returning-to-world-of-warcraft/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/22/numbers-support-players-returning-to-world-of-warcraft/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/22/numbers-support-players-returning-to-world-of-warcraft/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


With the recent launch of World of Warcraft's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, industry watchers have been poring over the numbers, trying to see what can be gleaned from the data. With 2.8 million copies sold in the first 24 hours, Blizzard's 800-pound-gorilla continues to break records. Following the flood of numbers, our friends over at GamerDNA have just come out with their own Wrath reports, based on their member data from anywhere between a few days to a few months before Wrath's launch.

As expected, there was an increase in the number of returning players, out to experience all that Wrath has to offer. We admit we're curious about potential skewing of the numbers, though. On the surface, it would be largely what one would expect - Wrath launches, the numbers went up. However, we'd note that they started running a World of Warcraft-themed contest for Razer gear on the 12th, and a SwagDog guild promotion on the 19th that may account for at least a small portion of the metric increase; how much of a difference remains to be seen. Also noted is the number of WoW pages created on their service after the launch of Warhammer Online, which is by itself, a fairly interesting point.

Overall, if you're a numbers fan, they've certainly served up some interesting observations based on their member statistics. Definitely worth checking out if you're curious about how things are trending for Blizzard's MMO behemoth.

MassivelyNumbers support players returning to World of Warcraft originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gamer-dnamarket-statisticsmarket-trendsplayer-created-pagesreturning-playersstatisticstrendingwarhammer-onlineworld-of-warcraftwotlkwowwrath-of-the-lich-kingSat, 22 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST