Quaggan SMASH: Guild Wars 2 reveals its most cute -- and deadly -- race yet

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Previews, Guild Wars 2, Races

Look at that guy up there? Isn't he just the cutest thing ever? Oh, ignore the teeth -- Quaggans are big softies, really.

ArenaNet is back with another exposé on the races of Guild Wars 2. This time the studio's focusing on the Quaggan, which it calls "our most cuddly race." But what do cuddles and creatures that look as though they should already be sold as plushie dolls through the ArenaNet gift shop have to do with the rough-and-tumble fantasy world of Guild Wars 2?

While the peaceful and polite race wouldn't normally make waves, the Quaggans have an interesting ability to "hulk out" and go on rampages when they get mad. As the saying goes, "Do not make Quaggan angry. You would not like Quaggan when Quaggan is angry." Therefore Quaggans have to be mellow to avoid a non-stop WWE battle royal -- although at times, unleashing their inner aggression can save their hides. It's this dynamic ArenaNet latched onto while fleshing out the race's place in the world.

You can read more about the dolphin-like Quaggans over on the ArenaNet blog.

Quaggan SMASH: Guild Wars 2 reveals its most cute -- and deadly -- race yet originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC 08: Entertainment content convergence in online worlds

Barb Dybwad — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Club Penguin, Second Life, Webkinz, Virtual worlds, Massively Event Coverage, Gaia Online

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.

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GDC 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.

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