Welcome to Friday.  Enjoy!

Want to work for Sony Online Entertaiment?  Here’s the San Diego jobs I’ve managed to parse from Monster.com’s listings:

• Senior Oracle DBA- Contract
• Senior Oracle Database Developer
• Software QA Engineer- TEMP
• Customer Service - Game Master
• Senior UNIX/Linux Systems Administrator
• Senior Java Developer- PS3

I was checking the listings actually to try to find out “sekret sauce” type inf0z on whether or not SOE had lost/gained any new developers, etc.  Rumors have been rife lately on the subject, and I’m always on the lookout for more solid information.

Who knows?  Maybe I’ll post this sort of list weekly from now on just to keep everyone up to date on who or what SOE’s looking for.  In the meantime, I’ve put up links to both the San Diego and Seattle studio job listings in my links to the right.

Per Reuters:

“Sony Corp. will unveil Wednesday “Home,” an online network for its new PlayStation 3, which supports streaming video and advertising and will host virtual characters in common areas and private rooms.”

What’s astounding to me is that Kotaku was dead on when they posted rumors of this announcement last week.  In fact, it would certainly seem that Sony knew Kotaku was dead on when they threatened to pull all contact from Kotaku if they ran the story.  Sure, Sony eventually made nice with Kotaku, but it still leaves a lot of concerns in my mind regarding the whole drama. 

After all that tempesting in teapots, it would seem that all Kotaku did was to post a rumor about a possible release…a rumor that ended up being pretty close to right on the money.

Imagine, if you will, that you’re waiting on the docks for a ship to come in and take you away to another place. 

Imagine your surprise when a ship arrives, but it is not the standard transport ship you’re used to.  What if the ship arrives and it’s flying different colors, or perhaps has a different design than you were expecting.  What if this ship was something entirely unique.

Imagine now that this ship is a merchant ship, allowing you to sell whatever is on you for the best possible prices, or perhaps buy some items that you could not gain in any other way. 

Imagine also that the ship might instead be transportation to some rare and exotic “microport”.  Perhaps it’s a lost island, or a hidden pirate town, or some other such place.

Imagine the impact such a seemingly random occurance might have on a playerbase.

As a follow-up in my ongoing series to build the ultimate Kendricke-centric MMO, I’d have to eventually choose a genre, right?  Might as well get it out of the way up front, because at some point, we need to figure out if it’s going to be space aliens or elves, or what have you.

 Now, obviously, from a business perspective, I’d be mad to hit high fantasy.  Seriously - Ultima Online, Everquest, Everquest 2, World of Warcraft, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Warhammer Online, Middle Earth Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online…  this genre’s packed!

That said, I’d love to see an Earthdawn high fantasy MMO.  Earthdawn was a high fantasy pen and paper RPG put out by the now-defunct FASA corporation (the brainchild of Jordan Weissman and L.Ross Babcock - of Battletech and Mechwarrior fame).  Since this is my personal idea of a perfect MMO, I think we’ll touch on that as well.

Of course, there’s another hot FASA property I’d love to see MMO’d:  Shadowrun.  What’s not to love, right?  Rich racial traits and traditions, tons of character classes with a skill tree based system that allows for serious multiclassing, a fully flushed magic system, and a cyberpunk meets mysticism mythos that is a cross between the Matrix, Bladerunner, and the Lord of the Rings.  Trolls with tribal tatoos jacking-in to their high end street bikes to duke it out with monoblades and SMG’s against megacorporations who are bigger than goverments.  What’s not to love, right?

I realize that Anarchy Online tried this and largely failed.  I realize that there’s The Matrix online.  Neither of which really had the market pull because I truly believe they combined mediocre design, mediocre support, and worst - lack of elves.

Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I hate elves.  I nearly never play the daisy eating tree huggers, no matter what the game.  However, there’s apparantly a ridiculously large market for elf lovin’ gaming hippies out there.  So, elves have to be in.  Besides, without elves - ya got no Shadowrun, chummer.

So, because I’m lazy right now and don’t want to go out reinventing the wheel to create a brand new, outside of the box genre, we’ll choose to work on both the Earthdawn AND Shadowrun genres during this little experiment.  Who knows, right?

But for a moment, let’s presume that I’m not really lazy and that I’d really like to try something new.  What else is there out there?  Let’s think on that for a moment, shall we?

• High Fantasy:  The granddaddy of MMO genres.  Everyone and their brother has an MMO based on elves and dwarves and swords and sorcery.  Even Age of Conan could be basically said to be a high fantasy title. 
• Mythology:  The first cousin to High Fantasy, I would place Greek and Roman classic mythology in this category.  “Gods and Heroes” looks to be an interesting game coming out that would include this.
• Egypt:  All things Nile and Pyramids would fall into this category.  “A Tale in the Desert” is the obvious winner, with a lesser appearance by the upcoming “Stargate” MMO produced by Cheyenne Mountain.
• Cyberpunk:  Man as machine.  Man in machine.  Man vs. Machine.  Anarchy Online is the only current title (if you can call it current) in this genre.
• Space:  Big space ships.  Little space ships.  Planets and space stations to visit.  The now defunct Earth and Beyond was in this category, which is now dominated by EVE Online.  One could make the argument that Star Wars Galaxies fits here as well.  Obviously the upcoming Star Trek Online fits neatly in here.  Tabula Rasa seems to fit neatly in this category as well.
• Comic Book Heroes:  Look!  Up in the sky, it’s a man in a cape, a woman in dental floss, and five guys in matching spandex.  City of Heroes/City of Villians is the only current title in this genre, soon to become crowded as well with SOE’s upcoming DC Heroes Online and Sigil’s Marvel Heroes title.  An argument could be made for Toon Town Online here.

Not too many “new” games out there, are there?  It’s all been done before, right?  So what could be different?  What SHOULD be different?

I mean, there’s no current Wild West MMO…but does that mean there’s a good idea out there for such an MMO?  I mean, if you think current gamers are complaining about “too much brown” (hereafter referred to as “TMB”), wait till you put out a game that’s pretty much built on tumbleweeds and dirt trails.  Then again, there’s about 8 hojillion cowboy an Indian fans out there - I mean outside of the U.S. “out there”….

Would a historical MMO set in fuedal Japan or China take off outside of Asia?  I didn’t include the genre above, because it’s a HUGE genre, and has dozens of games involved - in Asia. 

What about a pirates MMO, though?  No, seriously.  I mean it.  I think it could work.  I think it would really work.  It doesn’t even have to be historical, and could be based on a slightly different world than our own (where junks from Singapore face off against Spanish galleons).  A slight reinvention of history (ala Wild, Wild West) could be great fun.  It could be even better if you moved toward a bit of a Steampunk style of adventure (reference “Ars Magica”, “Mars 1888″,  or the animes “Steamboy” or even “Howl’s Moving Castle”). 

On second thought, I think I want a genre that mixes a bit of Steampunk, Earthdawn, and High Fantasy.  It could be different enough to really draw in those who are sick of “just another fantasy MMO” (JAFM), and with enough innovation, could even pick up those who are looking for JAFM.

Now that we’ve chosen a genre (well, sort of), I think I’ll start fleshing out some of the scope in our next installment…

I recently became introduced to an old DnD comic called Zogonia.  While perusing through the archives of this strip, I found myself literally laughing out loud - and quite a lot.  This has got to be one of the best comics I was never aware of. 

 Now, for your moment of zen:

Like many members of my demographic, I was very much into Alternative music during the late 80's and into the 90's.  I got to thinking about an old favorite song this morning as I spoke to a few Everquest 2 players I've been speaking to and against since 2003 or so.  One particular song is by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, and it's called "What I Am". 

It's odd that I was thinking of this song during our conversations this morning, but there it was, like a soundtrack to the discussion.  Differing lyrics would come up throughout the process:

"I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know if you know what I mean."

These players, like many MMO players these days, felt that their opinions were the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.  Facts, schmacts - they know what's "really going on" at SOE.  I read conspiracy theory atop conspiracy theory from players I've known to be intelligent and respectful for years.  It was like coming home for the holidays and finding out your old college roommates had joined a cult, and nothing you said could convince them of the error of their ways.

How do you speak with someone who refuses to acknowledge that opinion is not the same as fact, I wondered?  You can't really hit them with logic if they're refusing to see it.  They'll just interject more opinions to counter.  The argument becomes pretty circular pretty quick in that situation.  My friend insists that SOE is clueless and managed by idiots and I try to point out where I think my friend's opinion might be a bit over the top, particularly since he was (at this point) just ranting on about internal organization structures at SOE he couldn't possibly have knowledge about.  Of course, because I didn't agree, I was immediately branded as uninformed, unreasonable, or uncredible - because my opinion didn't match to that person's "facts".  In my head, Edie Brickell wailed on:

"What I am is what I am are you what you are or what?"

The discussion always takes an ugly turn once personal attacks and judgements start to fly.  So, now, not only was SOE somehow clueless because my friend was upset by the recent tradeskill revamp, suddenly I was clueless for asking for proof.  I should have known my day was going to be a long one when I saw the conversation take that turn.  Stubbornly, I trudged on only to get hit with more personal attacks. 

Now, this isn't some sort of open forum whackjob that I expect to resort to "I know you are but what I am" tactics.  This is someone I've respected for some time - a leader in the Everquest 2 community.  Regardless, he keeps on keeping on, and the hits just keep on coming as well.

I do my best to ignore the personal slings and digs, and keep trying to keep on task during this roundtable discussion.  The drama keeps getting poured on.  At this point, somewhere in my head, the mental stereo cranks up a notch, and Edie starts screaming out:

"Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep!"

…

I back off and back away, but this whole incident is a reminder to me that even the most level headed people have their boiling point.  It also reminds me that dedicated MMO gamers become very emotionally invested in their chosen pasttime.

Massive updates like Live Update 24 are going to rile some feathers.  Some of that "rile" is going to manifest itself in ugly ways - attacks against developers, other players, and even long time friends are going to bubble out in the heat of the moment.  Frustration and anger runs deep and it's only a matter of time before the right issue comes along to make a deep enough cut for some folks.

As humans, we're resistant to change.  We prefer security and comfort zones and predictability plays a large role in that.  We like to know that the sun's going to rise, the tide will come back, and tradeskilling will still play an integral part in the world of Everquest 2.

Though many players like the changes, there's still a selection that do not (see my last post for my predictions on this).  For these particular changes, it seems the balance of upset comes from the oldest, most veteran tradeskillers.  They've seen their profits drop.  There are more players entering tradeskilling, and at the same time, stats on most items have been downgraded.  This leads to massive changes in demand from the overall market.

Now, it's going to take some time to shake out, but in the meantime, some players aren't willing to wait.  They want changes and roll backs NOW - not later, but RIGHT NOW - and they're not afraid to use any tactic they can to get what they want.  It's leading to some ugly discussions on the forums, even in areas previously thought to be relatively mature.  Personal attacks are flying and not even the developers are safe here.  I've seen outright threats and demands regarding which developers need to be fired (briefly, before the offending posts are removed, of course), but nothing like I have over the past week or so.

Maybe it's just because it's so personal.  Those long time friends I mentioned?  One attempted to explain to me this morning that it's "justifiable" to "publically shame" developers if they don't move quickly enough to correct an issue.  That's just bad juju right there. 

The moment we all stand up and say "it's ok to attack someone, provided you have a good reason", it's game over for constructive discussion.  Logical points and reasoned arguments give way to zingers and one-liners.  The discussion shifts from "what can we do to fix this" to "who's fault is this?"

Moorgard once parodied some of the arguments raised on various forums with his "Open Letter to Big Timmy's Burger Palace".  Blackguard directly addressed the issue on the official forums some time back as well in response to some fairly mean-spirited posts at that time which implied the developers didn't care about the Coercer class. 

We allow ourselves to say things anonymously online that we'd never say to the faces of people.  Most players who meet a developer would be respectful, even when raising hot-button issues…but on the forums, there's apparantly no-holds barred when it comes to tactics. 

Are we all truly such children?  Do we even have a clue of what we're saying to each other - about each other? May we're just incapable of understanding the vitriol we spew at each other.  Maybe we're all just unaware of the thin ice beneath our feet when we start tap dancing. 

"Philosophy, is a walk on the slippery rocks
Religion, is a light in the fog."

Maybe we just don't realize that some tactics aren't working…and if they do, is it really worth the price we pay? 

When Everquest 2 was first announced, many press releases and interviews trumpted the fact that this new game's design, though dramatically different from it's predeccessor, would profit from the experience of what came before.  It's been a few years now since most of us remember first reading those bold statements here and there, peppered around the web.  We gobbled it up, too - like candy. 

Yet, here we are, over a year and a half since the release of Everquest 2, and I find that in conversations from some of my older guildmates (those who remember the old Norrath), we're still missing some basic functionality from Everquest.  I'd like to bring up some of those lost features here, to see what else we (myself and my 3 loyal readers) recall from our Everquest glory days: 

• Raid Window Functionality
  I can't begin to tell you how much I miss the Everquest raid window.  Released with the Planes of Power expansion in October of 2002, this was a set of basic, basic functions that we all absolutely appreciated at the time.  Here's a short list of functions we could perform in Everquest over three years ago that are missing today in Everquest 2:
  • Ability for Raid Leader to assign Looters/Loot officers (in EQ2, only the raid leader can assign loot directly)
  • Ability for Raid Leader to assign group leaders (In EQ2, you ask the current group leader to reassign leadership)
  • Ability to invite a single person to a raid (In EQ2, you can only invite groups to a raid - you can't invite single persons)
  • Ability to kick anyone from a raid (In EQ2, only group leaders can kick individuals from the raid - and only then if they are in the same zone).
  • Ability to recolor class text.  All your wizards could be blue and your clerics could be red.  (In EQ2, you can't customize colors on the fly.  This has to be created using a custom UI).
• LFG/LFM window
  This came out with the Legacy of Ykesha extension, back in February of 2003.  You could filter which players/guilds you wouldn't group with, preferred to group with, specifically which classes you wanted, and by how much time you had available.  It was great!
• Guild Tribute System
  Released with the Omens of War expansion in late 2004, just before the release of Everquest 2, the Guild Tribute system is still a great idea.  The basic concept would translate well to Everquest 2's current status system.  Basically, it's a way for guild's to spend status flat out, by having members donate status directly to the guild itself (in order to purchase the bonuses up front - think of an Achievement system for a guild as a whole) and then the individuals within the guild choose whether or not to opt in on certain rewards (which could cut back on personal and/or guild status).  By the way, having guild owned status would be a great way to lead into true guild halls…
• Racial Armors 
  For the love of Marr, Brell, and anyone else who might care…give Halasians their kilts, humans their heraldic breastplates, gnomes their clockwork armors, and trolls their bone helms. 
• Racial Tradeskilling
  Yes, it's nice to get a little bonus to provisioning if you play as a halfling…but can't we see specific recipes which are limited to specific races once again?  Right now, there's little to no difference - at ALL - between most characters.  (I seem to recall posting about this somewhere.)

Let's change gears and talk about fashion for a bit.  It's a hot button topic, to be sure.  With more and more shows telling me how to dress, how not to dress, what to wear, what not to wear, how to feel, how to act, how to cook, how to decorate, how to talk, and how to walk down the street, it's impossible to turn on Bravo or TLC without being overwhelmed by shows telling you how to … "be".

That said, there's something to be said about fashion in online gaming.

It's a massively important element to many players, who work for hours, days, or even weeks within some games just to earn the right to wear some clothing or gear that just looks unique.  Even if the stats or mechanics aren't all that good, players will still go out of their way to look different..  Sometimes, folks just wanna stand out from the crowd. 

However, most online MMOG's would have us believing that every player-citizen walks around armed and armored just to go to the library.  No one is ever suspicious that you just rode your warhorse into the bank, with plate mail covering every inch of your flesh, a sword twice the size of the teller, and a few hundred pounds of assorted bags and packs full of additional death-dealing devices and sundries. 

I'd love to see a game design team that steps up to the plate with some ideas on non-combat wear.  Imagine walking into a city zone and having your character automatically putting armor away to put on his or her "civvies".  Essentially, you'd have two full sets of gear to wear in such a system:  your heavy combat armor and then your everyday city clothes. 

That way, when my Templar is out in the Bonemire waiting for a raid to form up, he's in his heavy relic plate armor, but the moment he calls to North Qeynos, he's wearing general travelling clothes.