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[UC Irvine to compare WoW players from America, China]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/13/uc-irvine-to-compare-american-chinese-wow-players/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/13/uc-irvine-to-compare-american-chinese-wow-players/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/13/uc-irvine-to-compare-american-chinese-wow-players/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

The University of California at Irvine has been granted $100,000 to study the differences between Chinese and American World of Warcraft players, according to the Orange County Register. The study will mostly focus on explaining why American players are much more likely to employ modifications such as Cosmos than Chinese players are, but project lead Bonnie Nardi made some interesting observations outside the scope of this particular endeavor.

For example, she noted that Chinese players are for some reason more likely to talk about the aesthetic appearance of the game than are Americans. Whereas American players often play with their children, parents, or siblings, Chinese players are unlikely to do that. "The older generation dislikes video games," she said, and playing with siblings is obviously rare since most Chinese of the gaming generation have none.

"The vast majority of Chinese players are not gold farmers," she said. "They're ordinary players like anyone. The media has blown that story out of all proportion. Many people think Chinese play for a job. They play for fun." Enlightening stuff. We're looking forward to seeing what else comes out of her research.

[Via Ten Ton Hammer]
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MassivelyUC Irvine to compare WoW players from America, China originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Meet Ben Foxworthy, the newest programmer working on Champions Online. He's apparently responsible for all sorts of gameplay elements including missions, contacts, NPC spawning and world interaction. With so much content to program, Ben must be an incredibly busy guy -- or so you'd think. All joking aside, we have a deep appreciation for programmers here at Massively, since many of us are math-inept when it comes to anything beyond basic addition and subtraction required for our table-top gaming jaunts.

It seems like Ben landed at Cryptic rather early on in his career, having only graduated from the University of California last year. We'd say he's a lucky man, but then we found out he bought a thousand glowsticks on eBay once. Everyone knows that's almost five times more bad luck than breaking a mirror across the back of a black cat that's crossing your path. At the very least Ben's wearing a pretty awesome Champions Online shirt that we claim in the event of his untimely glowstick-related demise.

MassivelyA look at Champions Online's newest programmer originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ben-foxworthychampionschampions-onlinecontactscrypticcryptic-studiosebayglowstickglowsticksmeet-the-teammissionsnpcsprogrammeruniversity-of-californiaThu, 05 Jun 2008 08:30:00 EST