Glasser choice theory 5 basic needs

The most recent episode of The Psychology of Video Games podcast touches on a subject we don’t tackle very much: moral choices. It’s an interesting listen (there’s even a quote from Richard Garriott in there about a specific moral choice in the Ultima games), but the discussion focuses mostly on story-driven roleplaying games like Mass Effect, which often present small and large choices to the player that have a small or large impact on the way the story plays out. The psychologists argue that Moral foundations theory – a social-psych framework for understanding human morality – doesn’t quite work in video games, as players are presented with very different parameters and motivations and rulesets than in real life. (This is why we can’t always assume someone who slaughters a village in a game – or the academic on this podcast who plays Hitman – thinks that’d be OK in real life!) I thought for this week’s Overthinking we … [Read more...] about Massively Overthinking: Morality and compelling choices in MMOs

See, I said that wouldn’t take too long! Here we are back at the Secret World Legends scenario discussion. This time, however, we’ll be addressing the bad and frustrating side of the newest scenario, Occult Defense, as well as scenarios in general. Now, before you go thinking I am nothing but a negative Nelly, go ahead and read part one to see all the things that were great and cool about it. There I focused on all the positives. This time, however, we cover the other side. Remember my less-than-ideal comment? (Hint: If not, it’s in the title!) All is definitely not a bed of roses in SWL scenario land; there’s a good share of thorns. And those thorns pricked me good when I dove in for the first time this week. While I do expect a mix of good and bad with gaming changes, I was pretty disappointed with the bad side — mostly because I feel they are unnecessary negatives. Before I delve into this prickly situation, I want to be very open that I purposely … [Read more...] about Chaos Theory: The prickly side of Secret World Legends’ less-than-ideal scenario situation

Yesterday, MMO blogger Wilhelm Arcturus of The Ancient Gaming Noob dropped a fun conspiracy theory in the comments of our piece on EVE Online covering how CCP is rather inexplicably moving EVE Vegas to San Diego in 2020. “This is actually the first sign that Pearl Abyss is planning to buy some or all of Daybreak,” he prophesied, “and the San Diego event will become PearlCon 2020.” I think he started out half-kidding, but ever since he posted it I’ve been a dog with a bone about this thing because damn, this is plausible, guys. Consider the scenario: Pearl Abyss, which is worth a truckton of money thanks to Black Desert and its other ventures, bought CCP Games and EVE Online last September and then promptly set up a SoCal base of ops here in the US. This week, CCP Games just announced that EVE Vegas will not return in 2020; instead, the event will move to San Diego, which is an odd out-of-the-blue choice given that it’s neither central, … [Read more...] about Leaderboard: Do you buy the ‘Grand Daybreak Unification’ theory?

Starting a business is difficult, there’s no doubt about it. But sustaining, nurturing, and growing a business is far more difficult than simply starting one. Starting a business is just laying out ideas, which always seems very fascinating during the initial phase. But when you actually jump into the swamp, only then do you realize all of the facts. Many start a business with guns blazing, but the majority of them don’t last long (or we can say that they “fail to sustain”). On the other hand, some entrepreneurs enter the market, conduct a failed experiment, and then come back stronger and mightier. What is the difference between the two? Which approach should you choose so that your business sustains and grows over an extended period of time? Allow me to make it simple for you. Remember this bold statement: “Half the war is won in the mind even before the war gets started.” Wise words. That statement prevails … [Read more...] about 11 Strategies Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know

Before this past week, I had not really followed the news about the Mists of Pandaria expansion apart from a mention here or there in my RSS reader.  So now that I am leaving the wow-free zone that I have created for myself, I am trying to catch up on all the tidbits of progress.  I admit, when I first got wind of the expansion I was just as bitter and cynical as the rest of the “kung-fu panda and pokemon” complainers.  I am not sure if it is the long leave, or the news I am reading itself but I am looking forward to it. Never a Real Choice One of the big complaints that did manage to invade upon my fortress of wow-less solitude, was the “dumbing down” of the talent trees.  When I first heard the news, like a good chunk of my friends, I was full of rage over them needlessly simplifying a process that already worked “just fine”.  I bemoaned switching to a system that gave up choice in favor of “hand holding”.  … [Read more...] about The Illusion of Choice