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[The Daily Grind: Are social media connections in MMOs useless?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/18/the-daily-grind-are-social-media-connections-in-mmos-useless/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/18/the-daily-grind-are-social-media-connections-in-mmos-useless/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/18/the-daily-grind-are-social-media-connections-in-mmos-useless/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

I first started to notice it in Champions Online. Cryptic gave us the ability to broadcast our achievements in the game over Twitter: "CapnCrunch has reached level 10!" At the time, it felt like a silly idea that wouldn't catch on, but for some reason, it has. More and more we're seeing studios working hard to integrate popular social networks into their MMOs, and more and more I'm wondering... why?

RIFT has been big on doing this, implementing the ability not only to set your account to automatically tweet achievements ("Hey guys, I jumped off a bridge and didn't die!") but also to post them in Facebook. The game also allows you to record video and take screenshots to post online, which seems to me to be more useful but still probably not as captivating to a potential personal audience as one might hope.

So my question today concerns these social media connections in MMOs -- are they useless? Are they just a fad that few people use? Do the ones who do use them end up annoying their followers with a stream of spam messages? Or do people actually enjoy the ability to have their games tie in with their social networks and see how their friends are progressing?

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!

MassivelyThe Daily Grind: Are social media connections in MMOs useless? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 18 May 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>achievementschampionschampions-onlinefacebookmyspaceopinionriftscreenshotssocial-mediasocial-networksocial-networkingsocial-networkstdgthe-daily-grindtumblrtweettweetstwittervideoyoutubeWed, 18 May 2011 08:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Civilization Network bringing Facebook persistence to Sid Meiers' series]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/21/civilization-network-bringing-facebook-persistence-to-sid-meiers/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/21/civilization-network-bringing-facebook-persistence-to-sid-meiers/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/21/civilization-network-bringing-facebook-persistence-to-sid-meiers/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Civilization Network may not exactly be an MMO, but it's the closest a new game in the series has ever come to the concept. The announcement isn't too surprising as we've heard rumors in the past of a potential persistent version of the game being developed. Frankly, it's nice to finally know the pioneering developer's next game.

Meier himself explains the general design goal of Civilization Network on the official Facebook page, and it's more or less all about cooperation with friends and family. That's not to say there's no competition either, but the biggest edge a social networking game has is similar to an MMO -- cooperation with other players.

We'll be watching this project closely, as the blending of MMO qualities with a series like Civilization is by far abnormal. The next piece of the puzzle is the game's business model, but as of yet there's been no announcement of how Firaxis plans on making any money with the game. You can watch for beta news on the game's official Facebook page, and we highly suggest it.

MassivelyCivilization Network bringing Facebook persistence to Sid Meiers' series originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>civilizationcivilization-networkfacebookfacebook-appsfiraxissid-meiersocial-gamingsocial-networkingsocial-networksWed, 21 Oct 2009 19:00:00 EST<![CDATA[InterPlay conference coming May 22nd]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/06/interplay-conference-coming-may-22nd/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/06/interplay-conference-coming-may-22nd/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/06/interplay-conference-coming-may-22nd/#commentsFiled under: , ,

theMIX agency and RoomFullofPeople just recently announced plans to host InterPlay, a one-day event that will explore the overlap of online games and social networks that has nothing to do with that other Interplay. The conference is planned for May 22nd and will take place at the Kabuki Hotel in San Francisco.

If you happen to attend you can expect to see speakers from companies such as Bebo, DoubleFusion and Electronic Arts. Their will also be a strong showing of venture capitalists to offer their own perspectives on several subjects. The panels being offered seem like they'll vary, some of the included examples are "Micro-Transactions and Virtual Goods", "Funding the Social Gaming Sphere "and "Advertising and Marketing on Social Games".

Sounds like a fairly well-rounded event and being that it's only one day it should be full of interesting discussions for those interested in either social networks or virtual worlds.

MassivelyInterPlay conference coming May 22nd originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 May 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>beboconferencedoublefusionelectronic-artsinterplaymicrotransactionsroomfullofpeoplesocial-networksthemixvirtual-worldsTue, 06 May 2008 19:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Multiverse co-founder describes new virtual world order]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/12/multiverse-co-founder-describes-new-virtual-world-order/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/12/multiverse-co-founder-describes-new-virtual-world-order/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/12/multiverse-co-founder-describes-new-virtual-world-order/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Multiverse's Corey Bridges spoke at the SXSW conference about the effects digital distribution and the democratization of advanced development tools will have on the industries of gaming, social networks, and virtual worlds.

Gamasutra put together a great summary of the talk. The thesis: just as they are stripping the entrenched establishments of the music and film industries of much of their oligarchical power, new technologies will transform online gaming and virtual worlds. According to Bridges, virtual worlds are just getting started. "WoW is not a fad," he said, "it's a harbinger." Furthermore, the virtual worlds will be in the hands of indies, not the major conglomerates, and they'll be synergized with social networks.

Bridges also touched on the notion of a more splintered industry made up of smaller projects catering to lots of niche tastes, as opposed to the huge Hollywood-budget productions we see today. A while back someone said that it would take at least a $1 billion super project to take on World of Warcraft. But maybe, as it was with the Roman Empire, the wolves at Blizzard's gate will be countless smaller tribes made up of the so-called unwashed hordes.

MassivelyMultiverse co-founder describes new virtual world order originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>corey-bridgesgamasutraindiemultiversepredictionsprojectionssocial-networkingsocial-networkssxswsxsw08virtual-worldsworld-of-warcraftWed, 12 Mar 2008 21:00:00 EST<![CDATA[GDC 08: Entertainment content convergence in online worlds]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/19/gdc-08-entertainment-content-convergence-in-online-worlds/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/19/gdc-08-entertainment-content-convergence-in-online-worlds/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/19/gdc-08-entertainment-content-convergence-in-online-worlds/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , ,


We spent most of Monday ensconced in the GDC Worlds in Motion summit track, which made "standing room only" seem extremely spacious -- most of the sessions were packed to the gills and then some. It seems like more than a few industry types are interested in the intersections between gaming and virtual worlds. Case in point, the following session we've paraphrased (hopefully not too liberally!) from Reuben Steiger, CEO of Milllions of Us, a company that builds marketing campaigns and content for virtual worlds.

Reuben: Storytelling is the bedrock of human culture. (Looking at a slide with a real campfire on the left and a user-created campfire in Second Life on the right) -- users in virtual worlds are recreating this storytelling tradition. I'm going to make a contention: the internet has failed as a storytelling medium. Instead, the norm is bathroom humor and ridiculous jokes.

So virtual worlds: are they games or not? What defines a game -- linguists and semioticians get real worked up about it. The audience might say "virtual worlds are games without rules, competition, goals or fun." And it's hard to blame them. Extreme openness has defined virtual worlds, where fun can be in a way you define as opposed to what some game developer feels is fun. But the appeal of virtual worlds is that we can tell stories on a broader and less walled playing field.

Continue reading GDC 08: Entertainment content convergence in online worlds

MassivelyGDC 08: Entertainment content convergence in online worlds originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ARGsclub-penguindisneyenitechlabsfeaturedfox-tvgaia-onlinegdc08gdc08fanboygossip-girlmillions-of-usmoureuben-steigersarah-connor-chroniclessecond-lifeSLsocial-networkssony-homestorytellingsummer-slamvirtual-worldswebkinzworld-wrestling-entertainmentwweTue, 19 Feb 2008 08:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Social networks and gaming: are Myspace and Facebook MMOs?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/25/social-networks-and-gaming-are-myspace-and-facebook-mmos/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/25/social-networks-and-gaming-are-myspace-and-facebook-mmos/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/25/social-networks-and-gaming-are-myspace-and-facebook-mmos/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Just because you aren't slaying bandits and completing fetch-quests when you're on Facebook doesn't mean it isn't an MMO. Or at least that's what Gabe Zichermann has asserted in a USATODAY.com article on social networks and online games. Zichermann is making a game called "rmbr", which will be played by tagging and sharing photos.

A quote from Zichermann on the issue: "The reason why Facebook is a really compelling MMO is because it's fun and you get something out of it". That sounds pretty sketchy, but if you think about what MMOG means, these social networks like Facebook and Myspace do almost have the bases covered -- they have a large number of people online and interacting with each other -- all that's left to satisfy is the "game" part, giving people more things to do essentially, and with applications like Scrabulous already incorporated in to Facebook, it seems like only a matter of time before this happens.

Continue reading Social networks and gaming: are Myspace and Facebook MMOs?

MassivelySocial networks and gaming: are Myspace and Facebook MMOs? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 25 Nov 2007 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>facebookgabe-zichermannmyspacenexonrmbrscrabuloussecond-lifesocial-networksSun, 25 Nov 2007 19:15:00 EST