You taught me so much about the possibility of new and exciting things. You were more diverse, more refreshing and had quite a few new tricks to teach me. My previous lover could never move like you, and you proved to me just how deeply beauty could reach. I would sometimes just stare at you in disbelief, soaking up every inch of your angelic qualities. So what if my friends didn’t like you. I liked you, and you made me very happy for our brief time together.

When I heard of your illness, I was angry. Angry at the possibilities lost and the lack of interest from those who were supposedly there to support you. Sure, the support soon came, but it was just too late. Some say your condition was preventable, but others say you were cursed from inception. I won’t listen to those people because I loved you. They don’t know you like I do. They don’t respect you like I do. They won’t miss you like I do.

I’m sorry that I missed your funeral. I tried everything I could, but they just wouldn’t let me in. Even as I sat outside and watched them let others in — others who didn’t even know you at all — I just stared at those doors, wishing I could be a part of the last moments with you. Just to see you one last time. I needed that. But I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Just know that I tried.

As I sit here today thumbing through our old photos and home movies, it brings a bitter sense of closure to what we had. Sure it wasn’t always the best of times for us, but it was still us. We had fun and I’ll cherish those memories forever.

Rest in peace, Tabula Rasa.

I hear many people complaining about the lack of information coming out of game developers these days. Either it’s not enough information, or it’s not the information they want. BioWare is releasing screenshots every single week for their upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, and it’s never enough for people. They want “real infoz”. With Guild Wars 2, it’s the same story. The game was announced almost 2 years ago now, and players are angry (I mean, really angry) that they haven’t heard anything more than an explanation of the backstory, how the Hall of Monuments will work between GW 1 and GW 2, the new PvP features….. can you detect the sarcasm yet?

Does anyone here remember the days when you would go to a game store, glance across a row of game boxes, pick up a few that caught your attention, read the back and make a purchase solely based on that? That was about a $30-$40 investment into something you knew nothing about, aside from some PR mumbo jumbo and some pretty art on the box. I’m talking before the web, here. Your purchase may have been influenced by word of mouth or a PC Gaming magazine review, but that was about it.

Now we have screenshot galleries, playable demos, free trials, open betas, video trailers and it’s still not enough. Heck, even game developers are becoming rock stars these days, and we know more about the people who make these games than ever before, thanks to Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Google and personal blogs.

Where does this sense of entitlement come from? Is the Napster generation to blame? Has the availability of free media raised our expectations, as more people just expect to continuously get more for less? I think we need to just take a step back sometimes, and look at the bigger picture here. Games will come out when they’re ready, and creating a consumer rush only hinders development and launch quality.

Hi, my name is Shawn and I’m a recovering fanboy.

Yes, it’s true. I used to think Guild Wars and ArenaNet could do no wrong. Everything about the game was perfect and I didn’t want to hear anything to oppose that mystical fantasy. When people would complain about how the game sucks because it’s instanced, or ZMG!1 it caters to PvE only, or PvP only, or whatever, it actually physically upset me sometimes.

Well now I realize that a) there are better games out there and b) attaching yourself to only one game is unhealthy. Not only that, but when you surround yourself with only one game, it closes your mind to the whole reason you play games in the first place: to have fun and experience new things. You can’t experience new things if you’re locked into the same farming run day in and day out, and you can’t have fun if you’re getting upset and flaming people on forums because they used the name of thy holy game in vain.

Are you listening, Warhammer Online fanboys?

Seriously, you people are the absolute worst. The game hasn’t released yet, a select few are actually in the beta right now playing the game and they are under NDA to keep their mouths shut, and you’re defending the game like this? Wha? Hengh?

This is simply a case of those people who want to claim they were into something before everyone else. “I used to play Warhammer pen and paper before all of this even came out” or “My dad invented Warhammer”. Shut. Up. First of all, you’re 14, so you didn’t play Warhammer pen and paper in the 80’s. Second of all, this transparent attempt at being an early-adopter is a waste of your time because no one believes you. I don’t care about your love for the Greenskins or whatever other buzzwords you read about lately. The game hasn’t released yet. The developers haven’t gauged player reaction yet, which will inevitably change the game a few months after release. You will cry when it’s released and you will cry again when they make all these changes to appease the initial crying.

Not only that, the word on the street is it will be heavy on the PvP (even though this isn’t entirely true, but people are idiots, which is the main point here anyway), so this means the bloodthirsty little 14 year olds whose entire lives revolve around killing another character on an effing computer game will finally have a place to call their own. At least until they find out the game sucks.

Rule #1: you can’t please PvPers. There, I said it. Let’s look back at GW for a second as an example. Once that game became so heavily PvP-oriented with tournaments everywhere, the forums turned into a Chuck-Norris-teabagged-your-mom-i’ll-eat-your-soul mess. I’m so sick and tired of complete idiots ruining my experience in a platform that is supposed to be fun and a change from normal life. If I wanted to interact with morons all day, I’d go work customer service at Walmart.

Take it from a recovering fanboy: you’re only going to embarrass yourself when the game ends up sucking. Right AoC fans?

Yes, I’m still alive. And I’m only now realizing what busy really means. Remember back when I bumped GuildCast down to every 2 weeks, because I was having time issues? Yeeaaaahhh… I’d love to have those “time issues” again.

A few weeks ago I got hired by Massively.com as a blogger. This means I actually get paid to blog about MMOs. I mean, seriously, they pay people to do that? Apparently they do. But the drawback to this is that it’s not exactly enough to quit my day job over, so I’m doing both jobs still, just as we’re entering the busy season for my day job (i.e. 12-16 hour days ftl). Plus 2 other podcasts. Plus a weekly audiobook. Yes, I know, QQ moar noob, but I’m not really complaining. Well, I am, but in that special Shawn way of complaining where I’m so extremely happy and grateful that I’m at this point in my life, but it’s not easy.

I’m enjoying the Massively gig more than anything, and I am so enthralled with how all of this works. I won’t give out any trade secrets, but I feel like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, to use an over-used analogy.

We have some projects we’re working on, and I’ll be very excited to officially announce those, but until then I will continue to shoot for the sky and hopefully one day make this gaming journalism thing a full-time gig.

When I started podcasting over 2.5 years ago, there were maybe a dozen gaming podcasts. Maybe. And that includes general gaming podcasts and only 2 WoW podcasts at the time. Now there are thousands and thousands of game-related podcasts. It’s really quite incredible, and it makes me so proud that I was able to get into that whole scene early.

BUT.

Yes, there’s always a but. Lately, podcasting has taken an ugly turn. It’s an inevitable turn, but ugly nonetheless. I’m talking about the corporate influx of podcasts. Now, I don’t care if Ford has a podcast about their upcoming cars and trucks, or Nestle makes a podcast about their newest line of dark chocolate truffles or whatever, I’m speaking of major game developing companies doing their own versions of what the average-Joe gamer has been doing for years.

Here’s what gets me the most about this, it’s the progression of events that led up to this.

Step 1. Enthusiastic Gamer starts podcast about their favorite MMO.

Step 2. Enthusiastic Gamer (now Enthusiastic Podcaster) contacts the developer team of his favorite game for interviews and any exclusive breaking news regarding said game.

Step 3. Game developers pat Enthusiastic Podcaster on the head and comments on how cute it is that some random guy with a microphone is talking about their game.

Step 4. Enthusiastic Podcaster continues to be ignored for interviews, and generally seen as not real media or journalism.

Step 5. Enthusiatic Podcaster reaches a unique download count of nearly 10,000 for each episode.

Step 6. Game Developers notice that this new-fangled podcasting thing on the interwebs might actually be something afterall.

Step 7. Game Developer’s publisher gets the ball rolling on their own podcast, featuring inside reports from the devs themselves, top quality audio with top quality equipment and an automatic listener-base of hundreds of thousands from the start. Who cares how enthusiastic they are.

Step 8. Enthusiastic Podcaster loses most of their listeners, resulting in the dreaded podfade.

Sony did it. Blizzard did it, and now NC Soft is doing it. We all knew it was coming, and quite honestly, I’m surprised it took them so long. But it’s here.

Does this mean the end of grassroots podcasting? No, of course not. There will still be people who enjoy the real opinion from the real gamer. And to be quite honest, I think in a sick twisted way, this might be a good thing for podcasters. It gets the word out that podcasting isn’t some strange cult fad, and it’s growing.

All I ask of the devs is… don’t forget who started it.

Wow, what a crazy week it’s been. GuildCast is ending next week, so I’ve been making some preparations for that. The final episode is written and now it’s all up to recording, editing and releasing. Plus, this last weekend was the GuildCast Grand Finale Event ™ held during ConNooga in Chattanooga, TN.

The convention itself wasn’t much to gawk at right away. We got there like RIGHT WHEN THEY OPENED at noon on Friday and it was D to the EAD. But to be fair, this was the first day of the first year of this con. I’m sure it will only get better.

We walked around a bit, mainly looking for other people, but also to get a feel for the event’s layout in case a mad rush of people suddenly stormed in, throwing off our equilibrium completely.

Well, that never happened, but it was at least making fun of the fact that it was not an amazing time.

The next day, on Saturday, we got in around noon as well and there were considerably more people there. Still not to the level of PAX or E3, but it was a nice-sized turnout. Saturday made it all worth it, definitely.

I placed my assortment of podcast stickers and flyers out on our “Fan group table” and we were off to see the rest of the con. To me, anywhere where there’s live music that’s halfway decent is an automatic good time. Extra points if they play 80’s music and dress in silly costumes. So when we saw Radio Cult I was thoroughly entertained. Sarah thinks it’s because of the bubbly (i.e. completely insane) lead singer chick, but they were all very talented. I did make a suggestion (to Sarah) that they change the name of their group to Attention Whore. What? Seriously, that’d be an awesome band name.

Afterwards, a few of us got together at the hotel bar and drank the evening away. It’s always fun to be the sober one in a group of drunk people while they tell you how they REALLY feel about you and your podcast, including what other people have told them. Yes. Fun.

On Sunday we had to get to the convention center at 10 because apparently I was speaking at a Podcasting Panel. Boy am I sure glad I got there with about 5 hours of sleep under my belt, because it would have been a shame for those 2 people to miss my infinite wisdom on podcasting. Pedantics aside, if those guys actually make a podcast and were inspired by something I (or the other podcasters on the panel) said, then it was seriously worth it. I wish them the best of luck.

The weekend wound down and we all decided it wasn’t so bad afterall. Granted, the most fun we had was outside of the con, with just a few of us hanging out together doing the hokey Chattanooga touristy stuff, but it was worth it.

Now, I have my sites set on PAX 08. If it’s even half as fun as it was last year, I’ll be there in a heartbeat, but the way that event has been growing each year, I imagine it will be even larger and more fun this year than last.

For the remainder of the week, I’ve spent every day so far doing an interview with someone new from the Tabula Rasa Community. Last night John and I interviewed Tia, the European Community Coordinator for NCSoft. That was really a blast and I’m so glad she agreed to do that with us. All day at work today I’m thinking about how much I want to go home and edit that thing. Stupid work getting in the way of the important stuff!

Hi, my name is Shawn and I’m a recovering Free-2 Play-er. The reasons I never imagined I would ever pay a subscription to play an online game stem from the fact that it’s just how I was raised. I eat every bite of food on my plate. I snatch the extra soap at hotels. I’d grab extra ketchup and napkins with my order at McDonalds so I’d never have to actually buy ketchup and napkins from the grocery store. I’m a cheap bastard.

Well, after awhile, you start to realize that paying $1.49 for a bottle of ketchup is just worth it sometimes. The same goes for your online gaming experience. Wait, did I just compare online gaming to a condiment? Yes. Yes I did.

Your first reaction (as was mine) to the thought of a monthly MMO subscription might be something like “What? $15 a month! PLUS buying the game too! Thats just absurd! I’d never in my life pay that much money for a GAME! It’s just simple entertainment!”

Well, let’s break that down a bit. Let’s approach this with the cost of the game factored into the monthly fee as well, to be fair. So with a $50 game, that comes out to $19.16666 USD a month, but for the sake of argument and tax, we’ll say a nice even $20 USD month.

What can you think of in your life that you pay $20 or more for a month?

If you’re a smoker, you’re paying roughly $5 a pack on average. Even if you smoked a half a pack a day, which also is average, you’d be spending about $75-$80 a month.

Ok, so let’s be honest. Most gamers aren’t smokers. Fair enough. Let’s delve into some other past times, hobbies and downright addictions. What else in your life would equal $20 a month?

• One family dinner for 4 at any fast food restaurant.
• Turning your thermostat down 1 degree in the winter is said to save you 10% of your heating costs per month. If your bill is $100 or more a month on average, you can easily turn that thermostat down 2 degrees for a $20 savings. A long sleeve shirt won’t kill you.
• Skip buying the newspaper every day, read your news online.
• In fact, how many magazines do you subscribe to, and not even read? Each magazine subscription is anywhere from $12-$40 a month.
• Do you really need 500 channels on Satellite TV?

I could get even more extreme with this, like making suggestions about buying generic instead of brand named foods, or saving gas by not driving like you’re in a NASCAR race from stoplight to stoplight. But I think you get the idea. If you enjoy playing MMOs, and you enjoy the experience of gaming online, just weigh that experience against the other everyday things that have become habit, to determine what you can cut out to make room for that subscription fee. And put the ketchup packets back.

Recently this has been a hot topic among MMO gamers. We want to get away from the evil, oppressive subscription payment plan of games like World of Warcraft, right? But what ever shall we do? Would we rather pay per item or skill or have some other sort of micro transaction plan inside the game? Do we have no subscription fees, but charge for expansions or new chapters? Do we sell play time on little plastic cards that can be renewed online or purchased in retail outlets?

There is no definite answer of course, but this is something I’ve played around with in my brain for quite awhile now. So I’m going to break down the facts and give my opinion and observations on each.

First let’s take the good old reliable monthly subscription. You pay a set amount, let’s say $15.95 USD and you get access to all content in the game. This is after buying the initial game, which for argument’s sake we’ll say $49.99 USD if you bought it when it was first released. So with this method after 1 year, you will have paid roughly $230. After 3 years, you will have paid $590 USD. This of course is assuming there were no other expansions that were purchased. It is strictly based on subscription fees. The best example of this is World of Warcraft, sans Burning Crusade.

Pros:

• You know what to expect each month.
• The price won’t fluctuate, and can be figured easily into a budget.

Cons:

• Even when you don’t play, you still pay.
• It may force you into a mindset that you need to play more to “make it worth it”, so your life begins to revolve around the game more.

Ok, fair enough, now let’s look at pay per item or micro transaction plans. This is where you pay a certain amount, whether in-game itself or on the game’s website, to obtain “better” items than the non-paying players. These games are typically free to download and make their money strictly selling extras. The long and short term costs for this are variable, so we can’t compare that. This is becoming more prevalent in games today, but why?

Pros:

• Game can ideally be played completely for free if you choose
• Great for those who don’t care what their characters look like, but are simply into having fun casually.

Cons:

• Players are restricted and can’t access the entire game
• Money can add up if not regulated somehow. The expenses can easily add up to be much more than a flat subscription fee would cost, much like cellphone ring tones and mini games.

Next let’s move on to the game card option, where you pay a certain amount of money for a certain amount of play time. Again, this is not based on in-game items, but on the time played. This is an especially popular option in the East where cybercafes rule the MMO playerbase.

Pros:

• Unlike subscriptions, you only pay when you play.
• Perfect for those who don’t play enough to warrant a monthly subscription fee, but just need an occasional fix.
• Game cards can be bought at major retail stores, and can easily be given as gifts.

Cons:

• The cost per minute is much higher than if you were to pay the flat rate of a monthly subscription.
• If you lose the card, you’re out of luck.

Now let’s take a look at the old no-subscription fee plan. This is not a free game, yet it is supported solely by expansion packs and new chapters of the game. This was an option created by ArenaNet for the game Guild Wars. The initial game on release day is $49.99 USD, as are all subsequent chapters (3 games in all). There was also an expansion pack that was $29.99 upon release. If you were to compare this directly to the monthly subscription plan, you’d see that buying all chapters and the expansion, while still not paying a monthly fee in a 1-year period would result in a similar cost of $180 USD. This is lower than the $230 for that same year of WoW, yet in the long-run, over 3 years is when it is most cost-effective. Assuming you did not spend any money on other things like new character slots ($9.99 each) or other bonuses (typically in the $4.99 - $9.99 range) then you will still spend only $180 USD for those 3 years, while a subscription-based MMO will cost you $590 USD. This is a remarkable difference, yet lets go over some pros and cons.

Pros:

• Much cheaper option in the long run, while still sticking to an expected budget.
• As with the pay-per-item option, you only pay for what you want.

Cons:

• If you decided to not pay for all chapters or expansions, you will not get the entire game experience.
• Other limitation such as a low number of character slots, urging you to purchase more slots
• This eventually becomes like the pay-per-item option where the developers are offering in-game items for sale as a bonus, yet you’re still paying for the game itself.

And finally, we have the option to pay in larger chunks at a time, at a discounted rate. Some examples of this are LOTRO’s lifetime membership deal that was only available to beta testers and pre-orderers where you paid $199 USD only once, and you can play forever. This isn’t an option that’s available anymore, but they also have the option to pay in smaller chunks like 3 months, 6 months of 1 year at a time. Tabula Rasa is like this also, and with each longer chunk, the monthly fee breaks down to a smaller amount. For instance, for 1 year of LOTRO you’d pay $143.88 USD, which translates to $11.99 USD a month.

Pros:

• You’re set for life, or even just for a longer period of time.
• This can work out to be the cheapest option in the very long term, even cheaper than the “free-to-play” option

Cons:

• Very expensive up front
• If you pay a large chunk and then don’t like the game, you’re SOL

I’d like to take all of this a step further and dissect the long-term effects that some of these payment plans might evolve into, concerning the people who use them. With a monthly subscription plan there are no surprises. The type of person who would be willing to get involved with this is usually an organized person who likes to know what to expect. Or, to be honest, many people who do this are older gamers who only know this way of MMO subscription, and may be afraid to dabble in any of this new-fangled other stuff the kids are doing these days. Either way, I have no problem with any of this.

In something like LOTRO, the large-chunk or lifetime option is bound to attract some hardcore gamers who don’t mess around when it comes to their MMO of choice. The problem with this is the game didn’t actually provide that hardcore content (high level content) that those hardcore gamers needed.

In the case of Guild Wars, with it’s “free-to-play” option, it attracted many new gamers to the genre. But the inherent problem with this, is many of these people bought the initial game and since there’s no monthly fees, they use it as a big avatar-based chat room. It has the opposite effect as LOTRO, where it actually attracts many casual gamers who are not that serious about the game. This, coupled with the fact that ArenaNet has said themselves that their failed initial plan to pay their bills by selling new chapters every 6 months, makes for some disastrous results, in my opinion.

So what’s the solution?

Well, does anyone really know? I don’t think so, but I think we’re getting comfortably close to a real answer. Personally, I enjoy the larger-chunk option because I do the same thing with my auto insurance, website hosting and groceries. I’d rather go to the store once every 2 weeks and stock up, than to go back every day for the little things I might need here and there. It’s more efficient and just makes more sense to me.

So those of you who play multiple MMOs with multiple payment plans, I challenge you to look around at the community. Tell me there is no difference between the people who play games with different payment options, at least drastically different ones. I’d venture a guess that you will notice this trend, also.