by Julie Whitefeather

This week is the beginning of a celebration in Everquest 2 that I have been anxiously awaiting - Brell “day”  But Brell day has given me pause for thought, and not just thoughts about how drunk I can get in game.

Read on…

Imitation and Flattery

by Julie Whitefeather

There is an old expression that says imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.  Sometimes it is  true. At other times it is just a game developer taking a short cut. Either that, or a coincidence of mind boggling proportions.   If you log on to Lord of the Rings Online (Lotro) you will see that Turbine has their own little version of Brell Day going - they call it the spring festival (see picture at above right).  This is indeed a case of imitation being a case of flattery.  Turbine has even added a twist or two of their own - like when you get drunk on one of their special kegs (their version of the Magic Brell Keg - see picture below left) you get falling down drunk (literally) and wake up in another part of the world.  This case of Turbine’s imitation of Brell day, intentional or not, gave me pause for thought…

Is imitation flattery?

There is a tendency, as we have discussed before in this column, for players who have been part of a game for any length of time to forget those qualities of a game that made it so fascinating when it was brand new.  Yes I understand that it is only natural for someone to get bored with a game after while. I was visiting Walt Disney World once and I spoke to one of the “locals” about this very issue.  Yes, it seems it is possible to get bored even with Disney World.  The same is true with games.  But every now and then someone comes out with a game that, by its very design, engenders such depth that there is still a great deal to hold one’s fascination with the virtual world, even after the level cap has been reached.  Everquest 2 is one of those games.

There is a scene in the movie/play Fiddler on the Roof when the main character sings a song about wishing he were a rich man.  One of the reasons he gives is that if you are rich people think you must know what you are talking about.  In the video game world, people often see companies like Activision/Blizzard and their game World of Warcraft (WoW) and think that just because the subscriber base is so large the company must be right about their game design.   But that isn’t always the case.

For example, if you have ever played WoW and found the design of the infrastructure and the culture of that virtual world enjoyable, it isn’t the developers at Activision/Blizzard you have to thank - It is the developers at Games Design Workshop.  You may have heard of them. They are the folks coming out with a little thing called “Warhammer Online”.  This is one of those cases were imitation is definitely not flattery in any form.  The WoW universe (which post dates the Warhammer Universe) is so astoundingly similar that it appears to have been lifted wholesale from the Games Design Workshop game.  Lets be nice about it and say that it REALLY IS a “coincidence of mind boggling proportions.”

So what is the point?

The point is that an enormous player base doesn’t build in quality. Even Rob Pardo (vice president of game design for Blizzard) has said in interviews that the same people who started playing WoW are not the same people who still play it. This particular MMO depends on a new influx of players.  On any given weekend, when I play EQ2  or Lord of the Rings Online I constantly hear players use any manner of explicative and derogatory adjectives to describe the end game (or lack there of) in WoW.

One thing that you can’t imitate or duplicate is the community formed by the players themselves.  Not long ago in an interview John Smedley indicated that the average age of the subscriber base for SOE was 31 years old.  It is the game design itself of EQ2 that seems to attract a different sort of player.  What do I mean by that? Consider how Richard Garriott once described WoW; he called it a system of inventory management.  Having played WoW and experienced their version of  “end game” I can attest to how right he was.  Such a design appeals to the greed in most people.  But I have not seen any of that in the EQ2 community.

But it is not just the players that make a difference in the SOE community - it is the staff of SOE as well.

One of the names you know, if you love crafting like I do, is a developer that goes by the name  “Domino, SOE Dev and Chocolate Goddess.”  This woman has made a big difference in the player community.  When the devs recently decided to make change to lore items, only allowing one of each in a house (just as you can only have one in your possession) they didn’t simply impose this on the community.  Domino asked for input instead. She realized that there are many Lore items that devoted crafters use in decorating their homes.  The crafting community in EQ2 is so developed, in fact, that it is very much a game within the game. It is part of what adds such depth to this game.  But Domino is just one example. Let me tell you of another SOE staff member whose  name I do not know, except to call him by the name I know him - Emali.

The kind of company you “take home to meet your parents”

Just the other night, as I was crafting in Gorowyn, I “heard” (ok read as in a broadcast message) a crash from the nearby section of the city where all the Sarnak Alchemists practice their trade.   I rushed outside of the residential area to discover the source of the commotion and there, much to my amazement and delight, was a baby dragon called “Emali”.

Emali spoke not a word, but communicated entirely through emotes.  It seems he had stolen growth potions from the Alchemists in hopes of growing bigger. In the end, however, they were simply fertilizer. This wonderful staffer never broke character for an instant. I got to know Emali - we danced together and even shared a meal. In exchange for the meal I brought him he gave me a wonderful red robe (called the “Robe of Loving Tidings”) which I cherish.  It was great fun provided by a dedicated staff member.

This is just an example of the difference that SOE has made in gaming communities across the internet.  While a larger company may be concerned about making enough money to pay off the Gross National Debt of a small nation, SOE is concerned about paying the bills.  In a recent SOE pod cast, the staff said that Matrix Online will keep it’s doors open as long as the servers are paid for.  And THAT ladies and gentlemen is an attitude that has, and will continue to make a tremendous difference. In the end the difference between games like WoW with an enormous player base, and EQ2 is this… 

To me, WoW is like the guy you take home for the weekend, EQ2 is like the guy you take home for a to meet your parents, and for a lifetime.

 See You Online

Julie Whitefeather