Educating you kids about what is appropriate to communicate online is still the best solution. Companies will look for better ways to assistance parents with this, and that's a very good thing. The only true way for you kids to be safe online however is to ensure they never give out any personal information online through education and of course punishment for breaking that rule if they do it despite understanding the dangers.
As for unwanted attention from others, show them the ignore feature and encourage them to use it very liberally. (If only we could get adults to do that too!)
Make an expansion pack, charge $30 and people can't get enough of it.
Make 5 DLCs with 1/5 the content and charge $6 each and people explode in rage about how the company is out to nickle and dime them to death.
People are silly. :)
That being said there's plenty of bad DLC there that's not work the price, but at least we get the choice not to buy it. In the X-Pack model you aren't given much choice.
A pretty harsh reviews, I'll have to wait and see tomorrow when I get to play for myself and come up with my own take.
I will say that a pattern that has been seen repeated is that when a company who made a reputation of making legendary/ground breaking games releases something that is simply above average or heaven forbid average, they will be blasted by fans and media. It happened with S-E, Blizzard, Bioware and many others.
Perceived Reality - Expectation = Happiness
That is to say if you expected a game to be a 10 and it really was a 7 that's -3 and you are exceedingly disappointed. If you expected the game to be a 4 and it was a 7 that's +3 and you are quite pleasantly surprised.
@Sorithal I think it's more to facets of the same coin. Just like sports raiding is split into two categories.
1. Just for fun, Casual, no pressure, everybody gets a trophy level. (Recreational League) (Non-Competitive)
2. Professional, Competitive, no mercy, must be the best Hardcore level. (Select/Professional League) (Competitive)
Obviously there are variances in those two groups but in general #1 just takes however they get and tries to enjoy themselves regardless success or failure, and #2 is out to succeed whatever it takes (within reason).
It isn't so much that raiding in WoW or any other game changed more than it was the advent of people that want to be Professional Style Raiders.
"It's a WoW clone." has devolved to the point of being nothing more than a troll comment, and people fall for it every single time, so I guess grats to you Mr./Ms. Oranuro.
Look, any MMORPG that is at it's heart a theme part experience is going to have some, and likely very many similarities to WoW. The simple fact of the matter is that WoW was a popular game that appeals to a wide range of games. It's only natural for companies to try an Emulate and improve on that formula.
The point of the interview was the game makes small innovations not large ones for the genre. This, while acceptable in other types of games or in other industries altogether seems to come across from a very vocal forum posting, news commenting, user reviewing community as completely unacceptable. Innovation doesn't need to be world defining to be considered innovation and SWTOR does do some things we haven't seem before, and others that are still rare in the genre.
I used to feel much the same way do did about MMOs. That was back in the days where I had 6+ hours to play every day and not much else to do. Waiting 30 minutes for a good group to form because we'd be together for the next 5 hours enjoying ourselves was alot of fun.
Sadly with a full time job and other real life commitments I only have 1-2 hours to play on most days. Suddenly the thought on large amounts of downtime, travel time, inconvenience of spontaneous PvP on my way to do something isn't as appealing. Games like EQ1 and FFXI had to take a back seat to games that I could just jump into, do want I wanted to do and get out.
Games like WoW, Rift, ToR, and the like appeal to people that are not super insane hardcore about their game because of the get in and get out factor. The Developers realize they can appeal to more please by adding instant fun type features to their game.
For the people that say "Just don't choose to do it". It is in fact easier said than done. In a game that requires other people to play, you'll have a hard time finding other to do it your way if it's not the "path of least resistance", as that is generally what people gravitate toward.
MMO Family: Why safe chat isn't so safe (and why that's OK)
Feb 8th 2012 8:34PM (Massively)As for unwanted attention from others, show them the ignore feature and encourage them to use it very liberally. (If only we could get adults to do that too!)
FFXIII-2 Lightning DLC strikes Feb. 7, more DLC plans outlined
Jan 31st 2012 4:45PM (Joystiq)Make 5 DLCs with 1/5 the content and charge $6 each and people explode in rage about how the company is out to nickle and dime them to death.
People are silly. :)
That being said there's plenty of bad DLC there that's not work the price, but at least we get the choice not to buy it. In the X-Pack model you aren't given much choice.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 review: Fixing the past
Jan 30th 2012 7:46PM (Joystiq)I will say that a pattern that has been seen repeated is that when a company who made a reputation of making legendary/ground breaking games releases something that is simply above average or heaven forbid average, they will be blasted by fans and media. It happened with S-E, Blizzard, Bioware and many others.
Perceived Reality - Expectation = Happiness
That is to say if you expected a game to be a 10 and it really was a 7 that's -3 and you are exceedingly disappointed. If you expected the game to be a 4 and it was a 7 that's +3 and you are quite pleasantly surprised.
Leaderboard: Play the game vs. play the system
Jan 16th 2012 3:45PM (Massively)I think it's more to facets of the same coin. Just like sports raiding is split into two categories.
1. Just for fun, Casual, no pressure, everybody gets a trophy level. (Recreational League) (Non-Competitive)
2. Professional, Competitive, no mercy, must be the best Hardcore level. (Select/Professional League) (Competitive)
Obviously there are variances in those two groups but in general #1 just takes however they get and tries to enjoy themselves regardless success or failure, and #2 is out to succeed whatever it takes (within reason).
It isn't so much that raiding in WoW or any other game changed more than it was the advent of people that want to be Professional Style Raiders.
James Ohlen hits back against critics, defends SWTOR's innovation
Jan 12th 2012 6:22PM (Massively)"It's a WoW clone." has devolved to the point of being nothing more than a troll comment, and people fall for it every single time, so I guess grats to you Mr./Ms. Oranuro.
Look, any MMORPG that is at it's heart a theme part experience is going to have some, and likely very many similarities to WoW. The simple fact of the matter is that WoW was a popular game that appeals to a wide range of games. It's only natural for companies to try an Emulate and improve on that formula.
The point of the interview was the game makes small innovations not large ones for the genre. This, while acceptable in other types of games or in other industries altogether seems to come across from a very vocal forum posting, news commenting, user reviewing community as completely unacceptable. Innovation doesn't need to be world defining to be considered innovation and SWTOR does do some things we haven't seem before, and others that are still rare in the genre.
RIFT offers cheap client, lots of bonus XP for Christmas
Dec 21st 2011 2:21PM (Massively)"I'm starting to think that Rift's hypothetical F2P date gets pushed back more often than Harold Camping's rapture date. "
You have won on the Internet, nicely done.
Try the Eligium closed beta this weekend exclusively through Massively
Dec 15th 2011 3:56PM (Massively)No idea, but they have Panda Monks! We all know everyone wants Panda Monks!
On the first day of giveaways, Turbine gave to me... [Updated]
Dec 13th 2011 3:32PM (Massively)Garriott's Portalarium announces first game, and it's about garage sales
Dec 7th 2011 3:16PM (Joystiq)A man once known for creating large amazing game worlds...now is making a garage sale shopping game and sees that as big future of gaming.
Sad, very very Sad.
Get into a RIFT Instant Adventure faster than watching this promo video
Dec 7th 2011 3:02PM (Massively)I used to feel much the same way do did about MMOs. That was back in the days where I had 6+ hours to play every day and not much else to do. Waiting 30 minutes for a good group to form because we'd be together for the next 5 hours enjoying ourselves was alot of fun.
Sadly with a full time job and other real life commitments I only have 1-2 hours to play on most days. Suddenly the thought on large amounts of downtime, travel time, inconvenience of spontaneous PvP on my way to do something isn't as appealing. Games like EQ1 and FFXI had to take a back seat to games that I could just jump into, do want I wanted to do and get out.
Games like WoW, Rift, ToR, and the like appeal to people that are not super insane hardcore about their game because of the get in and get out factor. The Developers realize they can appeal to more please by adding instant fun type features to their game.
For the people that say "Just don't choose to do it". It is in fact easier said than done. In a game that requires other people to play, you'll have a hard time finding other to do it your way if it's not the "path of least resistance", as that is generally what people gravitate toward.