The problem with games like FTL and Witcher 2 is that, well, you can play them for weeks and weeks and weeks and I’m pretty sure that, next week, I’ll be saying “I’m playing FTL and Witcher 2” and the week after that as well. Sorry about that.
So… what are you playing?
No doubt I’ll be downloading FTL for my MacBook before the weekend is over. Since the Baldur’s Gate re-release has been pushed back to end of November, I created a Dalish elf rogue in Dragon Age to play until then. Oh, and I only just realized a few days ago that I’d purchased Skyrim and stuck it in a drawer some time ago.
I’m playing FTL, also Torchlight 2.
This isn’t related to this post but i thought you might find the article interesting. It’s about MM gaming and economists mostly.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/28/the-economics-of-video-games/
I tend to see the weekend posts as pretty much entirely open threads.
Yeah, I hadn’t read that article but that phenomenon is *HUGE* out there. I spent maybe $20 on various weapons/armor in Diablo II during my absolute worst phase with it… and I thought *THAT* was crazy. I can’t imagine people sinking thousands of dollars into the game.
But, on another level, I spend $50 on a game, right? I play it, I play it, I play it and, a week or two later, I’m done. Pah. Into the pile. If there were a way to spend $10 to make the game be fun for another week… would I do it? Yeah, probably. Well, there are people dropping that kind of cash to make the game be fun for another week, I guess.
The problem comes that game companies are trying to figure out how to make it so that *THEY* are the ones who get the money when a weapon or armor changes hands for cash rather than Some Guy… and they haven’t even come close to mastering that yet. In their attempts to get a piece of the action, they’re instead creating stuff like Diablo III.
This is amazing to me but i stopped playing comp games years ago. For my $50 i wanted months of replayablity and a game i loved.
That economists are being brought in to help “run” these virtual worlds is a weird and interesting concept. i can believe those worlds are that complex. Skynet will be born in some MMORPG rather than in the DOD.
You also have to realize EVE is the craziest of the hardcore MMO’s. Just google EVE online thefts, EVE online cracked, or EVE online insanity. For example, from another site, this story.
“I was approached by one of the leaders of Red Alliance to help [destroy this ship], but almost immediately we were down the rabbit hole. Much to my surprise, the RA director didn’t want in-game information from me; he wanted us to use the forensic resources of our intelligence agency to trace down The Enslaver’s home address. At a coordinated time, armed with this information, a RA member would apparently cut the power to The Enslaver’s house in the real world, and in EVE a RA capital fleet would assault the abruptly pilotless Titan.
[…] CCP [the makers of EVE Online] often touts this sort of thing with the bland marketing lingo of ‘player generated content.’ What that actually means is that you get to share a galaxy with Russian aluminum magnates, French-Indonesian nightclub-owning hackers, self-aggranziding ‘spymasters,’ and people who will cut the power lines to your house to destroy your internet spaceship. There’s something deliciously addictive about the sweeping, endemic insanity, one of the ever-present yet rarely remarked upon facets of this most unhinged of MMOs.”
So, EVE having a RL economist isn’t that wacky and shows that humans are still more crafty than the programming code. 🙂
I have a friend who’s marriage was almost ended by Eve. After one too many dinners alone, his wife made him choose between Eve and her. There’s been enough separation now that I can occasionally made an Eve joke…but only one!
Glitch. I’ve got a few invites if anyone wants one.
I’ve been on that same games every weekend kick for years – some combination of TF2, Civ IV, Minecraft and Binding of Isaac.
I have started Torchlight II, and, of course, FTL.
Oh, I’ve been playing Binding of Isaac a bit as well. Maribou calls it “that awful, awful game”. I’ve not yet beaten mother, however. With Magda, I’ve come closest, though.
isaac is awesome. it’s so awesome my two year old snuck up on me while i was playing it one evening and said “daddy, why is that baby crying?”
since i wasn’t really expecting him to ask, i misfiltered the truth right at him “because the guy who made it has a complicated relationship with catholicism”.
Did you get the expansion, too? Wrath of the Lamb makes the game considerably harder, partly by further diluting the items pool so you’re even less likely to get the good ones. I wonder if it throws you the new early stages if you haven’t beaten Mom yet.
There were two times the game actually upset me to the point of tears – having a small chuld might make me more prone, though. rot13’d for spoilers since our host hasn’t gotten far yet : Gur svefg gvzr V abgvprq gur yvggyr jrygf nyy bire Vfnnp nsgre trggvat gur jbbqra fcbba vgrz gung vapernfrf lbhe fcrrq naq gura jura V fnj gur sbhegu raqvat jurer Vfnnp svaqf n abbfr va gur purfg nsgre xvyyvat Zbz’f Urneg gur frpbaq gvzr naq cebzcgyl unaqf uvzfrys. V cbjrerq guebhtu vg naq nz jbexvat ba xvyyvat gur rkcnafvbaf arj svany fgntr jvgu gur ynfg gjb punenpgref fb V pna svtug gur arj svany svany obff, ohg gur barf V unir yrsg ner greevoyr naq V’z onfvpnyyl tbvat gb unir gb ubcr sbe na rneyl Qe. Srghf be fbzr birecbjrerq vgrz pbzob gb trg vg qbar.
Have you seen Indie Game: The Movie yet? It’s clear that Edmund McMillen is probably a little disturbed, but the guy’s definitely a genius at making interesting games.
Did you get a
Whoops, excess fragment there.
i picked it up this weekend for .75 cents. i concur on first bit in your rota bit – also the coat hanger, which distresses my wife to no end. i missed out on the strain of american catholicism where tears really are a weapon, so it’s easier for me to be all “bfd!” about it.
i’m curious if he expands the remake at all, or if it’s just a better platform/graphics/etc. i think it works fine as is, even if it scales like poo – no pun intended – on a 1680×1050.
i haven’t seen the indie game movie because i know some of the folks within those circles and their back and forth emotional/financial machinations are, strictly speaking, hella boring hs drama at this point.
i’m far more easily captivated by crazy mmorperger stories like jim rossignol’s “this gaming life” as it’s more like anthropology into a world i’ll never participate in. i have no idea why people play games online, but i do enjoy reading about it when it goes completely off the rails in either emergent or less savory ways.