Blogger and MOP reader Serrenity recently pointed us to a Kotaku article on the subject of video game nostalgia. Author Alyse Knorr maintains that video games, unlike some other media, are “uniquely” potent in the nostalgia department because they can be frozen in time and provide “comfort” to those who partake. (Of course, old video games can also make you want to bash your head on your keyboard in frustration.) I didn’t see much to disagree with in the piece, though I definitely think the MMO industry faces different problems than the games Knorr discusses, and don’t believe there’s something wrong with seeking comfort in games in the first place. Back when Nostalrius and Vanilla WoW was a constant topic here, I argued that nostalgia most definitely can get people to go back and check out old games or play emulators. But when people stay, it’s something else. “No one accidentally continues acting on nostalgia,” I wrote back … [Read more...] about The Daily Grind: How much does nostalgia drive your MMO play?
How much flash storage do i need macbook pro
The Daily Grind: How bad are delays for MMOs, and how much does communication help?
Last week, a newly minted Ship of Heroes fan posted a comment on the game’s official forums saying he’d studied in-development MMOs and settled on backing Ship of Heroes specifically because of its “open and honest communication” – and also because a rival MMO, in his estimation, had suffered serious delays and lapses in said communication that “cost [it] some trust from [its] community.” (For his efforts, he got a lengthy written update from the lead developer and CEO, which we covered here.) I wanted to bring it up because I’ve seen similar narratives forming around indie MMORPGs, especially Kickstarter MMOs. Most of them suffer delays, some multiple years of delays. “Open and honest communication” definitely buys them a ton of sympathy through those delays. But even then it seems as if there’s a tipping point, when it doesn’t matter how much the devs and CMs are running themselves ragged to communicate: People … [Read more...] about The Daily Grind: How bad are delays for MMOs, and how much does communication help?
How much time will you spend playing?
Just curious. When this game is available to you, at whatever package you signed up for, how much time will you invest? How much time do you play? What if you "love" the game? Personally, I've been on another alpha and have liked the game, so I spend about 30 hours a week on it. … [Read more...] about How much time will you spend playing?
Leaderboard: How much time should you put in to become a great player in the typical MMO?
Earlier this week, GIbiz put out a piece on the Shanghai Dragons, the Overwatch League e-sports team representing China. In a letter to fans, the team appears to have inadvertently revealed that it’s grotesquely overworked; in bragging that the team has the “most intensive training scheme among all the teams,” the team manager admitted that the group trains 12 hours a day, six days a week. That’s 72 hours a week. As GIbiz points out, not only does this “seem to fly in the face of Blizzard’s goals for a sustainable league that supports its players,” it also doesn’t seem to actually be working, as the Dragons haven’t won a single game in 32 matchups. It’s almost as if hustle/crunch culture exhausts and drains people rather than beefs them up! Most of us are never going to be, or even aspire to be, professional e-sports gamers to the degree that someone will pay us thousands of dollars per year to train and play. But I bet most … [Read more...] about Leaderboard: How much time should you put in to become a great player in the typical MMO?
How Much Traffic Do You Need To Make $100,000 With AdSense
Is it really possible to make $100,000 a year from Google AdSense (or by selling ads on your website/blog)? If so, then the real question is how much traffic do you really need to make big bucks with Google AdSense? While it’s true that we can’t predict the Google AdSense income exactly, we can optimize the ads in different ways so as to make the most out of it. Also, you must make sure that your website category is advertising friendly because your AdSense income depends a lot upon the category of your website. You can use Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool to find out the competition in your industry. If there is enough competition (i.e. if the suggested bid by AdWords for keywords in your niche is high) then we can assume that Google will fill your ad spaces with high paying ads (see how AdSense works). For example, if you Google search “loans” then you’ll see a lot of ads so it means that if you have a blog related to personal finance then there will … [Read more...] about How Much Traffic Do You Need To Make $100,000 With AdSense