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Recruit for Ryzom, win fabulous prizes!

Justin Olivetti — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Contests, Ryzom, Free-to-play

Ryzom is undergoing a recruitment drive at the moment, and the team is looking to the players for help. A spiffy contest has been posted on the official site to see which players can rope in the most new warm bodies for the cause.

Each player is tasked with recruiting friends and family members via a unique link that will count toward their tally during the month of November. After November 30th, the Ryzom team will see which players have netted the biggest catch and will dole out rewards accordingly.

The first place winner gets a choice of tempting prizes: either an original concept art drawing or an Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 graphics card. Second place can choose from the drawing or a lifetime subscription to the game, and third through sixth place winners will receive a three-month subscription.

Ryzom is currently free-to-play with an optional subscription package.

Recruit for Ryzom, win fabulous prizes! originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Captain's Log: Building a successful fleet

Brandon Felczer — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Guilds, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Captain's Log

Captain's Log, Stardate 65093.1...

Hello, computer (and players)! In the Star Trek Online universe, fleets are the foundation that ensures ones' in-game (and even out-of-game) experience is one that is active, social, and fulfilling. Whether you enjoy PvP, Special Task Forces, role play, or a combo of all the above, there should be a fleet out there for you to call home. But, what do you do if you can not find one that suits your warp core? Well, you start your own! That's right! Gather your friends (or make new ones), visit the fleet contact on Earth Space Dock, think up a clever name, and click that "create" button.

Okay, okay -- I make it sound a lot easier than it actually is. Building a fleet takes a lot of work, time and dedication, but is possible with the right spirit at the helm. Then, just when you have it built, successfully running it becomes an even bigger challenge. During this week's Captain's Log, I am going to take you on a tour of duty as we explore a possible structuring to your future fleet. Based off of one of the most successful fleets in-game, Stonewall Fleet, which has had over 1,400 members sign-up for membership, let's take a look at the roles they have in place to make it all happen.

Ensign, warp 10! Let's help our readers create the perfect structure to their fleet...

Continue reading Captain's Log: Building a successful fleet

Captain's Log: Building a successful fleet originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Guild Counsel: Power Couples

Karen Bryan — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Guilds, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous

Last week, in honor of Valentine's Day, The Guild Counsel took a look at the challenges and uniqueness of online relationships in MMOs and the role guilds have (and don't have) in the equation. It might seem a little strange to some, but there are many who can vouch for the fact that these relationships are indeed strong and can turn into successful marriages. Thanks to those who shared their stories!

This week, we're shifting gears a bit to look at spouses in guilds. Whether they met online or not, married couples can affect a guild differently from individual members. And when one spouse is in a position of power, things can get even more complicated. Read on for a look at how to avoid having the MMO version of Heidi and Spencer in your guild.

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The Guild Counsel: Power Couples originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Guild Counsel: Want to join my guild?

Karen Bryan — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Guilds, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous

Out of all the issues involved with guild management, there's nothing more important to a long-lasting guild than a solid, time-tested process of screening potential members.

Surprisingly, when you look at many of the traditional methods of filtering potential members, very few of them actually succeed in rooting out whether an applicant will be a good fit or not. Sure, a guild and its applicant both want to progress, they both want loot, and they both want to succeed. But when it comes to things like pace, behavior, playtimes, or guild culture, it suddenly becomes a lot harder to find that perfect match.

I've seen many ways to screen applicants, and believe me, I've let some real stinkers into guilds I've led. Let's look at some of the more popular screening techniques and see why they're not always the best ways to evaluate applicants.

Continue reading The Guild Counsel: Want to join my guild?

The Guild Counsel: Want to join my guild? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Do you invite your friends?

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Not every game has one, but several do -- the opportunity to invite a friend who hasn't played the game before, or try and entire someone back to the game again after a prolonged absence. After all, we have friends we know outside of our games that still enjoy flying around and smashing orcs (or alien horrors, or gang members, or anyone unlucky enough to wander into your space), and it's fun to bring people you interact with anyway into your favorite virtual world. You've got automatic leveling partners and people who know how you like to work, what could go wrong?

Well, they could not like it. Actually, they could get annoyed at you bugging them about the game and decide not to play based solely upon that. Or they could wind up going in a completely different field of the game than you enjoy, or they might bring a whole bunch of real-world drama into a world you had been using to avoid that drama. So there might be good reasons to let your friends just keep enjoying whatever they like and keep your MMO friends separate. What do you do? Do you invite your old buddies, or do you stick with the fresh start?

The Daily Grind: Do you invite your friends? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What do you look for in a guild?

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Guilds, Opinion, The Daily Grind

A large part of MMOs is the social aspect of gameplay, and a large part of being social is trying to find a guild that suits your style. From listening to guild recruitment shouts in cities and recruitment channels to reading all of the recruitment posts in fansite forums and official forums, there's many things you need to take into consideration when picking a guild.

So for today Massively readers, we wanted to know what you look for when you're choosing your guild. Do you look for a casual environment where you can go at your own pace with other guild members? Do you look for a guild that's all about the PvP? Is roleplaying a high priority on your list? Or do you want to go for a guild that does all of these things in different combinations?

Give us your thoughts on this matter by dropping a comment on this post. We're interested to hear how you make this difficult choice!

The Daily Grind: What do you look for in a guild? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Finding the perfect corporation in five easy steps

Brendan Drain — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Forums, Guides, Guilds, PvP, Grouping, PvE, Politics, Virtual worlds, EVE Evolved

It's said that sandbox MMO EVE Online doesn't really begin to shine until you join a good player-run corporation. There's only so much a lone pilot can accomplish and a lot of the game's most rewarding experiences are based around groups and collaboration. Wormhole expeditions, PvP, territorial wars, politics and much of EVE's other emergent gameplay routes rely heavily on forming groups and friendships in-game. In fact, I think you'd be hard pressed to find an MMO which doesn't have its game experience improved by group activities and forming friendships. But just as choosing the right corporation for your play style can make the game a lot better, choosing the wrong one or not joining one at all can ruin a new player's experience of the game.

Over the past few weeks, I've had several emails from readers looking for advice on how to find a good corporation. In this article aimed at new and prospective EVE players, I introduce a simple five-step approach for finding that perfect corporation who can turn playing EVE from a potentially boring experience into a very rewarding one.
(UPDATE: I had accidentally disabled comments, comments are now enabled on page 2)

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Finding the perfect corporation in five easy steps

EVE Evolved: Finding the perfect corporation in five easy steps originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Employers screening WoW players during recruitment?

William Dobson — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Forums, Making money, Virtual worlds

Would you consider your MMO-gaming habits to be detrimental to your performance as an employee? Lucky for us, we here at Massively are kind of expected to be invested in the MMO world, but it seems that it may be best to keep your playing a secret when looking for other lines of work. Raph Koster picked up on a thread at the f13 forums in which we learn that a recruiter in the online media industry has been told by employers numerous times to straight-up avoid World of Warcraft players. The original poster, who was chatting with the recruiter in question, mentioned some of the positives that can come from playing MMOs, but the recruiter said that none of that mattered to the employers he dealt with and WoW players would not even get a second look.

Some of the reasons cited for the rejections include bad sleeping habits, and an inability to give 100% due to a wandering mind -- presumably wandering to the next Azerothian adventure. Poor WoW has been taking all the heat lately, but it's doubtful that the fans (nor Blizzard) care too much about the bad rap. When it comes to your next job-hunt though ... we're not going to tell you to lie or anything like that, but just be a little wary of the chatty interviewer when they ask if you've checked out the latest WoW expansion, kay guys?

Employers screening WoW players during recruitment? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NCsoft City of Heroes developer team LFM!

Adrian Bott — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, MMO industry

Remember that sense of 'something big around the corner' that we mentioned? We're getting it again. NCsoft had assured players that there was going to be some serious reinvestment in the City of Heroes IP. They weren't kidding. With competition coming up from at least two angles, it looks like they're stepping up their game.

We've already seen a tantalising survey, which (despite being nothing but market research) has City of Heroes players drooling at the thought of what they might conceivably get. Now, we have the news that the CoX development team, which has already taken on several new people since the days of the Surviving 15, is looking to recruit even more. Of the job opportunities listed on NCsoft's page, eight positions relate to City of Heroes development. Zombie Man, forum regular and developer tracker extraordinaire, has listed them.

Continue reading NCsoft City of Heroes developer team LFM!

NCsoft City of Heroes developer team LFM! originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Liverpool Hope University holds open day in Second Life

Eloise Pasteur — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events, real-world, Events, in-game, News items, Second Life, Education

Liverpool, in the UK, has the distinction of having three universities. According to the BBC, Liverpool Hope University, the smallest of the three, recently held an open day wholly within Second Life. Media students spent six months in Second Life building replicas of some of the buildings as well as other elements, such as their ideal student accommodation. Potential students from around the world were then able to interact with student ambassadors for the day. This activity was supported by the head of department and the head of marketing for LHU.

Although LHU will be holding a more traditional open day in June, it is exciting to see the acceptance of Second Life both as a venue in which students can be expected to work, and for such a potentially critical activity as assisting student recruitment by the university's administrators. If you would like to see their work, the Liverpool Hope sim appears to be open to the public now.

Liverpool Hope University holds open day in Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Effective guild recruiting?

Krystalle Voecks — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:05:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Guilds, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Among the many places I crawl for news and interesting tidbits are some of the different unofficial MMO forums. But no matter if it is World of Warcraft or City of Heroes, it seems like there is always someone recruiting for their guild/supergroup/etc. Now, I'd note that I come from a relatively small guild, where several of us have played together since EQ. To me, the concept of open recruiting is a very strange one, as our group just doesn't do that. (The trade-off is that we're not on the bleeding edge of progression either.) But as someone who faces being a free-lancer in many other games that my home guild is not in, I have had to deal with pushy guild invites and pleading invites -- and those certainly never interest me.

So this morning, we thought we'd ask you -- what's your best way to find new guild members? Does your group put out a recruiting call in different forums? Do you generally have people banging down the door to get into your group instead? Do you think it's best to play with someone several times before you recruit them so you have an idea of their tactics and abilities? Or is it just x-class, x-number, bring them in and work out the details later?

The Daily Grind: Effective guild recruiting? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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