neils clark

Most of the people who know me well know that I love the Weekly World News, harbingers of pivotal cultural phrases, like “Experts say.” E.g., “Experts discover radioactive alleycats inhabiting Martian dumpsters.”

It’s a cool magazine and I just had to get that out of the way.

While I’ll assault those around me with the latest and greatest from the WWN, I’ve kind of been out of sight this last month while I pre-tested and collected data for a long exploratory study. Many of the factors tested were based off of literature review conducted after the M.A. thesis, in the process of writing a book on gaming addictions. The survey covered videogame immersion, socialization, game structures and factors which could influence addiction. Or so-called addiction. In some ways that remains to be seen. The respondents were either current or former World of Warcraft players.

Though most players know that gaming can be a major problem with some people, the link between their problems and addiction is still, in many ways, tenuous. My website has always used the word addiction, but my reasons for that are probably as complicated as the word itself. I overthink things to a degree that would probably give most people the illusion of being trapped in the ball pit.

So the factors being analyzed dealt less with the way we’ve been looking at excess gaming and more about factors like going “between worlds” or encouragement to play gotten by other players. Some of these were potentially pathologic, though most were not.

But before I talk more about it, the free open-source survey app I used: limesurvey, must be hailed as easy to use, dependable and, of course, amazing. I would recommend it without hesitation and nobody’s paying me to say it.

Back on topic, there is a lot of data. Enough to warrant writing “there is a lot of data” rather than using the contraction “there’s a lot of data.” You’d still have the italics, but it would be a completely different feel.

I is drowning in data.

So far it’s been relatively easy to eyeball the statistics. Key factors appear to be (for starters, anyway) the meaning that players attach to in-game relationships, raiding and raid-related communication and the applicability of Internet Addiction Disorder criteria. The most fulfilling and vexing, so far, have been the relationships that seemingly came out of nowhere. So right now I’m working on regressions for some blog bullet-points, the first set of those will be what this data says about our current way of measuring addiction. The plan is to fully analyze those before moving on to a game’s structure and culture, then finally “addiction factors.”

Finally, one last time I’d like to say that no online survey can diagnose addiction. The person who built mine (that would be me) isn’t qualified to diagnose addiction either. Addiction is complicated. The people who diagnose it in individuals pull that insight from more than just quick and quippy questions. If you took the survey and have questions, then emailing through this blog is a great way to get a hold of me. That said, my sincere thanks to any and all who participated. And anyone whose been interested enough to keep reading.

Neils Clark :: Jun.30.2008 :: Game Addiction, Games, General, Media Experience, Neils' Gaming Journal, Real Men Write Poetry. True Story., Research :: No Comments »

‘Warcraft’ Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing ‘Warcraft’

Neils Clark :: Jun.13.2008 :: Games :: 5 Comments »

I’m saddened to report that World of Warcraft has gotten easier.
They’ve always been in flux, the game mechanics. One skill gets tweaked to be more powerful, this talent gets nerfed so that rogues can ceaselessly own warriors, etc. et al. But World of Warcraft is easier today than it was at release, even a few months ago. They even made it easier to level from 1-50, so that people could stock up on higher level characters for the next expansion (right, that’s not what I’m referring to here).

The painful ease of which I speak: certain key mobs (i.e. monsters) are no longer elites. Elite mobs, for those untainted by Warcraft, are those that possessed far more deadly abilities than normal monsters. It was an ingenious game mechanic to add them and far better to have certain key mobs present the player with bigger challenges.

For my upcoming research (more details soon) I’ve, you know, found it necessary to add a few levels onto certain key characters in order to experiment with a new form of sampling. I’ve been incredibly disappointed with mobs that I always looked forward to as a refreshing challenge. Monsters with more deadly powers had to be taken seriously, with preparation and skill. Add to that there was always a, shall we say contingent chance that you’d get torn to pieces. It makes the otherwise mindless grind a bit more thrilling. Gets the blood pumping, yaknow?

This ultimately gets to the heart of where the addiction discussion can crap on games. If developers make commercial decisions that are the least bit influenced by wanting to create something that’s easy to keep healthy, they play with a delicate balance between fun game design that goes in tandem with our real world obligations - or attempts that fall flat. Without any thought to real-world balance, you get something different. Something I’d suggest Warcraft felt in the time of 40-man raiding and Grand Marshal/High Warlord grinds. There’s an incredibly alluring dynamic in the game world - but the toll exacted by preference to that world would, and has, added a new dynamic to the online-space-race that’s finally going to gas up for its pageant.

I know at least four people who just fly around Shattrath when they play. They have this world that they’ve invested in - largely in a time when the raiding spirit was only somewhat plagued by the notion of balance. Now the world firsts are long gone, the essence of raiding that brought in so many people is tired and people are looking for a unique new kind of dynamic within games but interlaced with reality. Raiding has always been on the menu of the hardcore gamer, WoW made its contribution, but whether by the attrition of exhausting addiction or the imbalancing of the WoW raid dynamic, there’s an essential spirit that’s gone missing.

And yet the bonds that hold Warcraft together are only beginning to bend. This online space race, the commercial war of the worlds, will be a lot of things. Interesting is one that I’m betting on, though for more betting see my last post.

Neils Clark :: Jun.07.2008 :: Games, Media Experience :: No Comments »

AoC, Warhammer Online and every other game out there will serve to divvy up player populations for an eventual virtual world takeover under the banner of EA Bioware/Bioware Austin’s under-development MMO.

That’s a Mage in Westfall, right?

This is very likely why the timing of Warhammer and Warcraft’s release dates has been liquid. Timing is literally going to be everything when it comes to WotLK (Warcraft’s upcoming expansion) and Warhammer Online’s release. I suspect that both Blizzard and EA Mythic are dealing not just with actual delays in production, but a cat-and-mouse game, heavily based on user statistics and strategies in attracting population. There’s just too much money in this for that not to be a top consideration. Having 700,000 users ready for a beta is impressive, but like AoC it teeters on that edge, where the publisher really needs to be a 2150+ rated PvPer if it wants to compete with all the investment that gamers have in WoW. WoW has its detractors as well, though some of these carry over to virtual worlds in general.

From what I gather having played their games and met their people, EA Bioware/Bioware Austin could, in the words of the immortal Tim Gunn, “Make it work.”

Or perceived addiction serves to burn out the entire industry, making this whole experiment in game-like virtual worlds (in the words of my friend Nik) “a flash in the pan.”

“FEAR THE RAVAGER!” Comic ©2008 Jared Norberg, reprinted with permission.

Neils Clark :: Jun.06.2008 :: Games :: No Comments »

After a quick conversation about which Azerothian (World of Warcraftian) God was top dog, a friend and I settled on Addictor the Ravager.

Addictor the Ravager! Fear his awesome reach!

Addictor now battles the Pantheon of Age of Conan, which already boasts 400,000 visitors. Honestly I don’t think that’s critical mass. Their pace has to quicken significantly and soon if they hope to capture the long-term income that the linked news piece suggests they need.

A lot goes into grabbing and sustaining MMO player populations, with many hardcore players (to an extent regardless of Crom’s skill in combat) very likely to turn back to WoW come Wrath of the Lich King. I tried going in-depth on one of the big determining factors with the Beating Warcraft at its Own Game article. But there were many, many other enabling factors employed (knowingly or not) by Blizzard when they united the diverse ‘tribes’ of gamers. Many of those moves were long term, not fully utilized by Funcom. At least not with a great deal of the player populations out there.

Then again, did Funcom really want to live forever?

Neils Clark :: May.27.2008 :: Games :: No Comments »

A quick google maps search of “Highway to the Danger Zone,” actually winds up revealing a small section of interstate, just east of Roswell New Mexico.

Click for a bigger picture

Neils Clark :: May.26.2008 :: Games :: 1 Comment »

So even when I’m taking time away from games, a few times a week I hop onto the different Ventrilo servers where old friends kick back and talk smack. Ventrilo, for the uninitiated, is a mix between a conference call and a chat room. My buddy Cheese and I got to talking about the friendships that you make online and off. He suggested that in games, we have “on-demand relationships.” If you’re not familiar with On-Demand cable, it’s where you use your TV remote to browse between shows that different channels offer up for you to watch at any time.

On-Demand

Part of this conversation had to do with the way offline relationships work. Someone suggested that we don’t always live by the people we’d prefer. As the conversation went, at times people who live in a proximity to one another are obligated to give support during hard times when they might not even like these people. Are these the gesticulations of people who are perceptive, sith masters or just spoiled by WoW?

“ALL I WANTED WAS A CUP OF SUGAR!!!”

Relationships online are with people who we literally pick and choose to socialize with. Does that make them more lovable, or is there a consumptive element? Or is it both? As soon as we’ve gotten our fill of that “on-demand channel,” we can flip channels or just turn them off.

“The force is strong with you. Let’s be friends.”

Obviously gaming empowers new types of connectivity, which some people really take advantage of in finding enjoyable conversation. On the other hand, when we turn off the game or, as I have done, “take a break,” what happens to those relationships? It seems that there’s really no platform that compares to “let’s grab a beer,” or “see ya at church.”

Is it the ’same as it ever was,’ or are new dynamics in play?

Neils Clark :: May.23.2008 :: Games :: 2 Comments »

From now on I’m allocating all of my time to creating a paper-and-dice videogame research game. There aren’t broad mechanics or character classes yet, but there is a suspense-ridden addiction research module!

Armed with a d4, a d10 and google, I can finally roll my way to victory!

Neils Clark :: May.17.2008 :: Games :: 5 Comments »

Superb nerdery.

I just watched a screening of the sequel to the cult gamers movie, The Gamers. The Gamers: Dorkness Rising is pretty awesome. While a 5x backstab damage multiplier is not to be had by any ballistae, the movie has its hooks: undead rotisserie, player/character gender confusion, a bard with both a high seduce modifier and personal body count, and, yes, a paladin aching to butter the dark toast of evil with some kind of light spread. Pairs well with Mazes and Monsters.

Neils Clark :: May.14.2008 :: Games :: 2 Comments »

This was the suggested reading that I couldn’t distribute after the talk (note that this was intended as a handout - hyperlinks were added to the version below, where full-text versions are freely available):

1. Secondary worlds: J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘On Faerie Stories,’ located in the Tolkien Reader. Published by Del Ray.
2. The texture of game worlds: [Dr. Thomas Malaby’s Beyond Play] published in Games and Culture but freely downloadable from ssrn.com.
3. Physical immersion: Anne Marie Barry’s chapter from the Handbook of Visual Communication. Published by Routledge.
4. Game-influenced pathologies: [Dr. Jerald Block’s Pathological Computer Game Use], available at jeraldjblock.medem.com. Note: Pathologic Computer Gaming is a similarly titled but different piece of research on that website.
5. Google [Dr. Ivan Goldberg’s criteria for “Internet Addiction Disorder].” Compare those to the criteria available at [Dr. Kimberly Young’s website] netaddiction.com. Each of these criteria certainly has some relation to addiction in the more universal sense, but it’s important that we look at how normal non-harmful, even therapeutic gaming structures could be picked up by this sort of a definition.
6. For a great look at the effect of real-world culture, check out [Florence Chee’s “The Games We Play Online and Offline: Making Wang-tta in Korea].” Published in Popular Communication 4 (3), 225-239, 2006.
7. [Nick Yee’s Daedalus project] and [Richard Bartle’s MUD player archetypes].
8. To follow that up with some theoretical definition, check out the idea of structural characteristics in Wood et al’s ‘The Structural Characteristics of Video Games: A Psycho-Structural Analysis.’ Published in CyberPsychology & Behavior 7 (1), 2004.

Please let me know if this posting was useful. I’ve been meaning to actually organize a more detailed list of good resources - if there’s enough interest then I will.

Neils Clark :: May.09.2008 :: Games :: No Comments »