Holidays and Uplinks

So again with the massive links to outside articles and shows. I have to say that the Community team over at Carbine really got moving. I've read through a lot of the official interviews, not surprisingly the core information is about the same. These are skilled professionals after all. But I'm going to touch on a couple of the Uplinks with my opinion and I think there is a pair of holidays to look at.

Boring work out day, I will be doing ~40 of 4 different exercises before I collapse into bed tonight.


There were a couple of Uplink Analyses done. One was on Transparency between developers and players. An interesting topic, one that is always in flux. I remember back in the days of World of Warcraft Year 1 and 2. You found out what was happening to the game when it happened, usually. There were no open guild forums and DB resources. Each guild was its own island. It's interesting how this growing community in World of Warcraft resulted in this sophisticated network of communities that crop up instantly for new games. It must be a great challenge to deal with that as a new company all at once instead of growing into it naturally.

My request to developers is to talk to us like people and like players. There seems to be a tendency in the industry recently to over sell. Under promise over deliver, look to Scotty. Also showing some respect to existing or past games and the teams that were behind them. So far, from Carbine I've gotten a pretty even handed tone. They are excited about their game, they think it's going to be great. They are proud of their team and feel they have the skills to make a quality product. They also understand the industry and seem to respect its players. There is a nature in gamers, we want to know everything and we want to know it now. Some things are important to know, where feedback can help guide design. Some things aren't like that, and as a player I have to trust the development team to know the difference. Most things I would rather learn through experience. knowing too much can kind of ruin the mystery and fun of it.

The next Uplink topic is Group Vs Solo play. A fine topic, I include it in today's update because I don't have a ton to say on the subject. I enjoy solo play, I enjoy group play. I enjoy being able to have accessible group play that can be done in pickup groups with minimal organization and is just fun, relaxing game play. I also like to have challenging small group play that I can do with my friends on Vent. I also think challenging large group play should be available to those who want it. That's not me anymore, I don't have the time to be a valuable member of a raid group these days. But I certainly understand the draw. I also think it elevates the game as a whole when the developers are pushing to make really challenging content for the most skilled and organized players.

And I'll wrap up with the post from July 4th 2012 about the pair of holidays that are celebrated by the Exiles and Dominion at this time of year. The Exiles celebrate their discovery of Nexus and finding a home after years of wandering the galaxy. Meanwhile the Dominion celebrates the original founding of their Empire and the day 1600 years later that they first planted their flag on Nexus. The Exiles celebrate with jubilance and glee, while the Dominion displays order and precision. I think it's great that they can give a pair of holidays that, while in character, are still very close to the real world counterpart. Our fellow fans/players in other countries may not agree with me on this one, but I promise to respect your transplanted holidays also.