I'm ALIVE!

Whenever a blog goes silent it is usually due to one of two reasons: A) the person is too busy and B) they just lost interest. Luckily for me it is the former and not the latter.

Indeed I am now just working on Dungeon Runners. We’ve needed it for a long time, and we got it – another community person! She’s working on Lineage I and Exteel communities and she’s doing a fantastic job. Around the same time I joined Dungeon Runners full time CuppaJo also joined Dungeon Runners as our Associate Producer. We used to work together on the COH and I was curious to know if the boards were talking about it. Indeed they were, and I got a huge kick out of it:

COH forum thread

I'd post a reply in that thead, but ya know, my account actually isn't active and I wouldn't dare post as 'Cricket' under any other account. Since that particular account was work related (not my personal play account) account support put a block on it after I left COH. But that's okay. It's more of a security thing and I completely understand. It ain't like I'm gonna go back in there and wreck the place up. Oh lord. That thought it so absurd I just can't help but find that funny.

I also was humored by the notion that many think CuppaJo and I must have some kind of gaming curse....the games we moved to didn’t do so well so eventually we just landed on DR. The success (or lack of, whatever the case may be) actually has nothing to do with it.

I actually left COH for a one main reason - the dev team (which was Cryptic at the time) were out in California while I’m in Texas. Working remotely with the dev team, marketing, and the producers wasn't easy. Now up to that point that was always the case, but it always did make more sense to have the community team out in California. So finally it happened. They were generous enough to make me a relocating offer but I declined. Mostly it was because I'm terrified of California's cost of living. Oh, and the governor happens to be the Terminator. THE TERMINATOR. That movie scared me when I was little.

When that relocation offer happened another community spot opened up here when someone left to go work elsewhere. Whew. So I took that. And my titles were - hold on to your hats -

Auto Assault (closed a few months later)
Lineage I
Exteel (was in beta)
Dungeon Runners (was in beta)

I won't lie. It was hard. I couldn't be everywhere at once. I actually had the same issue on COH after CuppaJo left but before Lighthouse got on board. One person can only stretch themselves so much.

Finally the day came when we could hire another community person to take over Lineage I and Exteel. That’s when I went to (stayed, technically) with Dungeon Runners. I had to pick a game, and I decided to go with the game that had the development team in house. I’ve never really worked with a dev team closely before so I couldn’t say no to that opportunity. Then I heard CuppaJo accepted an AP position for Dungeon Runners, leaving her Tabula Rasa Associate Producer position. I was pretty damn happy about that. She accepted the position because we needed a producer BAD after our previous one left. It simply was a matter of filling a need and we knew she'd fit right in. And yes, I knew she’d actually like the job :) CuppaJo is one smart cookie; she wouldn't accept a job unless she has a good feeling about it. She also wants to go where she is needed the most. She’s a good sport, that Cuppa.

I can personally say I don't think I bailed out of any sinking ship. Exteel is actually doing very well. Lineage I is also holding on strong like a rock. (Why that surprises some people I don't know.) I don't think I cursed either one of those games, whew! Auto Assault closed months before, which, coincidentally enough - happened the same week when I was out of the office due to a rather personal (life changing) experience. It was rotten luck, and thank goodness we had good people around, good people who were a part of Auto Assault long before I was. I certainly felt bad that I couldn't be around for it and I have no doubt that from the outside it probably looked rather inconsiderate of me. But, that goes along with the job. Community Managers can't always worry about very single outward appearance unless or we'd all burn out real fast. I still think of Auto Assault and I even still have some Auto Assault stuff I’ve been holding on to. I don’t have the money to ship it out, but I hope I can give it to some die hard Auto Assault fans one day.

I was a little surprised by the "old mods vs new mods" turn the thread took. I know, I know, I shouldn't be. I just haven't been on the COH boards in awhile. I completely forgot about one COH forums characteristic trait - loyalty. Whether it is for a certain red name, in-game character, etc. COH players have always proven themselves to be quite dedicated to their beliefs. It goes with the spirit of the game. And damnit, it makes me want to play COH again. It’s too bad I got my hands full as it is. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it was my 2nd MMO but my first MMO love. Awww.

Now I'm not just being all super nice here when I say the current COH forum team (mods and community managers alike) are a pretty solid team. The structure improved, and I think CuppaJo and I are both glad to see that happen. Now I'm not saying CuppaJo and I are chopped liver. I'm proud of what we both did and I think we ROCKED every situation we faced.

When it comes to personalities, yes, both the current crew and the old crews both have plenty of that going around. Now with what you prefer, hmmm, that all just boils down to personal preference. I think all of our personalities work. Now with me, it took me awhile to find my style – my voice, so to speak. I’m much more casual now and I’m generally a little quirky. I’m not ashamed of admitting when I’m wrong and I’m a big advocate of speaking plainly. My confidence – and my sense of humor – has grown. And when it comes to writing in general I just think that simplicity is the way to go. I know I’m not the best writer in the world, but I try to write with a certain amount of feeling involved. That may not work for everyone, but I think it suits me.

NCcoin and Game Time Cards

Some of you may have heard of NCcoin - it's our brand new* company-based micropayment transaction system. Micropayment systems certainly aren't new to gaming, and the truth is we were long overdue for something like this. But it doesn't mean it WILL be used for every game. I think that's an easy assumption to make, but I don't think it is an accurate one. I'd be truly surprised if that ever happens. Regardless, I won't say never. I just think that's highly unlikely.

But I do know what it does mean...at least one more game will *eventually* accept NCcoin. It could be a game that's already out there or it could be a game that hasn't been released yet. It may be a combination of the two. We shall see.

There's a lot of flexibility here with NCcoin - not just for us, but for our customers. You can buy as much or as little as you want. Flat fees are very simple, very clear cut, but they don't consider how much game time you may actually use that month.

Several have expressed their concerns over NCcoin ...if people can buy their way out of actually 'gaming' you run the risk of souring the whole 'work hard for what you want' experience. I think City of Heroes players in particular were worried about that (despite the fact I haven't heard a thing about COH accepting NCcoin). Either way, no matter what the game may be it HAS to be carefully balanced in order for it to work.

Right now you can only use NCcoin to buy items in Exteel, but what if you could purchase time with it in other games? Think of it as a parking meter...you don't need that parking spot for a whole month, so you just pay for the time you actually do use.

It may or may not work. I honestly don't know. Assuming you have the same amount of customers as before it could possibly bring in LESS revenue. It also could be abused by botters, social engineers, and other bad boys and girls who should know better. But on the other hand, the business model may attract additional players who may not have otherwise bothered to play at all.

Speaking of time, as of today you can use game time cards to purchase NCcoin:

Exteel Announcement

NCcoins expire a year after their purchase date, but that's a good thing. You don't ever have to worry about spending it all right away. You can if you want, but there is no pressure.



*'New' was when we launched Exteel (months ago)

Don't let this be you.

Horrific Domain of Legends

I just wanted to give a shout out to the Horrific Domain of Legends - it is a wonderful Dungeon Runners fansite from Europe.

They made this cool video that accurately captures our playing style:

Dungeon Runners video

Sweet. Thanks guys!

One thing that is hard to capture (on video or otherwise) is our kooky sense of humor. The best way to experience that is to just get in the game and see it for yourself.

And if you don't find anything funny in the first 10 minutes of gameplay I want to hear from YOU.

When gamers bail

Community Managers often deal with a variety of "I'm leaving the game" comments, but there are two kinds I see the most:

The first type is the most common one, the ones that are said out of frustration and/or anger. Generally they are triggered by a patch note or some sort of game announcement that they don't particularly like. Sometimes they change their mind and stay, but not always. Sometimes they end up liking the change and others just decide it wasn't so bad after all. There are even situations where a change seems bad in theory yet somehow works well in practice. We also have situations where the devs may go back and rework it further. After all, not everything is done right the first time around, right?

These comments can sometimes be viewed as threats - or tactics to force us to re-think our actions - but I don't like to make those assumptions. If someone says they are leaving the game I'm going to take their word for it. In no situation will I try to convince someone to do something they don't want to do. Sorry, I do love my players, and I do hope people want to stay with the game, but if someone has decided it is the best thing for them then who am I to come along and tell them otherwise? It certainly isn't because I enjoy seeing them go. I especially dislike it in situations where someone is upset. I don't like it when people make decisions when they are not feeling like themselves at the time. But I will always tell them that I wish them the best and that I do hope they decide to come back, if they feel up to it. And I do mean that.

I understand how frustrating it can be to know a change is coming and you feel powerless to it. When a group of people decide to change a game they do run the risk of changing the fun factor for at least someone out there. Obviously the goal is to IMPROVE the fun factor, but fun means different things to us all. In some situations the fun may still even be there, it's just a different type of fun. But I've played enough games in my day to know exactly what it feels to love a game that is no longer what it used to be. There have been games I've left, characters I've abandoned. Yes, those situations do happen. But that's okay too...to each their own. I'm one of those "there is something out there for everyone" believers.

Now to the second reason someone would say they are leaving a game. Again, it is just one of the many reasons, but it is a common reason.

Sometimes we gotta leave a game because life is giving us a swift kick in the you-know-what. Sometimes we just need to get our priorities straight, we no longer have the time, etc. When someone is in a situation where they have the SAME exact routine for a long period of time SOMETHING usually is going to have to change. I totally get it, and again, sometimes people are surprised when I express how supportive I am. I hope they aren't surprised or disappointed by my reaction. I am NOT happy to see them go, but I am happy that they are doing what they think is the best thing for them. And I always want to let them know that they are welcome to come back whenever they feel it is time, if it is ever the right time.

Real life always needs to have priority over everything else. It's the truth. We are human beings first, gamers second. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Swamped.

Internal testing of the new forum software is in full swing.

Lunchie Munchies

I'm doing what I normally do around this time - eating at my desk.

Speaking of food, we're lucky to have vending machines in the building (food and soda) where everything is only a quarter. Sometimes we don't have much time to eat and I dislike companies who try to take advantage of that by making some extra cash on the side. I once worked for a company that charged 1.25 for a single candy bar...but a) that roughly *8* years ago, so subtract inflation and b) we *all* made next to nothing. Here we pay for things at cost and I very much appreciate that. Now if you are trying to watch what you eat and you see donuts AND cupcakes for 25 cents each, well, I guess it can be an evil thing too. I'll NEVER take some things for granted, whether it be 25 cent snacks or something more important as say...health insurance.

The Best Video Game Review Show *Ever*

I don't know if anyone remembers this show, but it was called Judgment Day.** I believe it was mostly on when G4 and Tech TV were independent from one another. When the channels merged it did stay on, but my joy was short lived. It's been off the air for roughly two years now.

Or so I thought.

I'm a *big* fan of wikipedia, and I was wondering what good ole' Tommy and Lucas were up to these days. Alas - the show is still around!

It's now called "Reviews On the Run" and it is only shown in Canada. There have at least been some *talks* of bringing it back to the US market, so there is hope:

"Specific details about the negotiations have not been disclosed. As of December 2007, the show has not returned to U.S. airwaves."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reviews_on_the_Run

G4, please bring this show back to the US. I got nothing against Canada - in fact I like the country, and I personally don't want this jealously to get in the way of my feelings for Canada. Please don't let this tear two nations apart....

So why do I consider Judgment Day to be the best video game review TV show ever? (I say that like it's a big market to begin with, heh.)

It's simple. They wrote their own reviews. They didn't sound overly scripted and you can tell they actually played the game themselves. They are true gamers so they were rather passionate about their views. I have nothing against game industry folks who may not necessarily enjoy video games in their spare time (and yes, they do exist) but you can generally sniff them out. You can also tell that they have a lot of experience reviewing games on any platform, which is a big bonus. Many in the industry focus on console games ONLY despite the fact that PC online gaming is still huge. Their knowledge is simply well rounded.

And whether they like a game or hate it, you'll at least you know why. They did a good job explaining why a game may be frustrating to some (invisible walls do suck sometimes!) They also listed the pros and cons so you could get a feel as to whether YOU may personally like the game, even if they didn't. Naturally, every reviewer out there is going to have their own personal tastes. But they did seem to keep the general viewing audience in mind, and I liked that neutrality. So what's the bottom line when it comes to creating a game review: INFORMATION. And they supplied that.

They also made me laugh, and they truly seemed to enjoy themselves. And quite frankly, it was nice to see several reviews in a single show. I'm always trying to keep up with what's going on in the gaming industry and Judgment Day just made that process a little bit easier.

You know what I also learned from wikipedia?

"Lost cast member Evangeline Lilly's first job in television was as a "Hardware Girl" for Reviews on the Run."

That would be "Kate" from Lost. Ha. I never knew she was a hardware babe, which was their version of booth babes.

No matter what it's called, "Judgment Day" or "Reviews on the Run" or whatever, BRING IT BACK!!

PS: I'm jealous, Canada.

*shakes fist*

**This has nothing to do with the fact that Lucas gave CoH some really amazing reviews. I swear. Cough cough.

It's the day you don't believe anything you hear

Well, it's true :) Today is that ONE day I don't want to post any legitimate announcements.

It seems more and more gaming companies/websites are getting into the prankster activity each year. This is cool, but the more it happens the less likely you can get someone to fall for ANY of it. Bah. Too many pranks were attempted around the same time this morning....it's probably best to pull the pranks real early on April 1st or really late on April 1st. If you post it real late and they can't read it until the next morning it's not cheating, right?

On to other things.

I really can't wait for our new message board software. I just got admin access to an internal testing version yesterday and I do plan on putting it to good use this afternoon. We've been using the same version of UBBthreads for sooo long. It's time to get with the times!

Once we have a decent version running internally we'll have a better idea for a live publish date :) My goal is to give as much advance notice as possible since some downtime is inevitable. I dread the actual conversion process but I want to get it all done and over with. The quality of life features alone are to DROOL for. The only thing it doesn't have right now is a Dev Digest, and that is a concern of mine. It doesn't necessarily have to be a Dev Digest but we need SOMETHING just like it. All red name posts need to be flagged...we have to make it so official comments don't get lost in the mix. We'll get something worked out. I've seen the difference a Dev Digest can make now that Exteel doesn't have one. The Exteel one broke, and rumors (intentional or otherwise) run more rampant now. They are easy to debunk, but I would prefer it if we could remove that problem all together. And we will. I have the faith and the determination needed for that :)

ACC Video Game Seminars

This news really only applies to those who live in the Austin area (sorry!) but I still thought it was worth sharing...

Austin Community College regularly holds a variety of Video Game Seminars that are free to the public. The next one focuses on "ActionScript for Casual/Web Games" and I urge any interested Central Texan to go check it out. It is free, and we all know that "free" is quite possibly the best damn word in the universe.

More info on ACC Video Game Seminars

With all the bad publicity video games seem to get in general I feel very blessed to live in such a pro-game industry city.

Inconvenience.

You know, it's a shame, but such is life - the things I think you all would find interesting are generally the things I cannot go into details about. Maybe one day I can write a juicy "tell all" book and pray I don't get sued. All the names could be changed to protect both the innocent AND the guilty...HA!!

Okay, new topic.

I've seen this too many times - several business oriented software programs use imported spell checkers that are completely whacked. And there is one particular program we use here likes to auto-correct by default. I'm the typo queen, so I love spell checkers. But I'm not a big fan of auto corrections. When I used to write Knowledge Base articles for CoH it would drive me crazy.

But it's not even so much that. Businesses tend to use the word "inconvenience" a lot, yes? Well you can mispell it *oh so* slightly and it will switch to a COMPLETELY different word, and why it is ALWAYS this word, I don't know.

And that word word incontinence.

"We apologize for the incontinence."

WHY oh WHY?

Busy Bee

I've been quiet...I've just been really busy lately so I had to slack on posting for a bit.

I'd also like to add that daylights saving time is a pain in the you-know-what.



You know, I really wish I had a flat panel monitor at work, but at least I can put stuff on top of it. Here we have Butters from South Park, (my fav SP character) an official Lineage II Coke can from Korea, and Heroclix piece of Lockjaw, who is the coolest superhero dog EVER.

Speaking of dogs...Houston, we have a problem.



Charlie the forum avatar dog is now apparently a movie critic, and he is NOT a fan of the movie Sean of the Dead. I'm still not sure how he got his hands on it, nor do I really understand why he did this. He's normally a good dog. You can also see what looks to be a somewhat cluttered living room. We have my sneakers, a PS3, a Wii, a Wii controller and a laptop case, amongst other things. The PC and my laptop are just out of sight ;)

Back to work. I'll post again soon.

NCsoft GM Interview

I did want to draw some attention to this one because it is VERY RARE for a GM to speak publicly. I wish they did it more, but I've been in their shoes and I completely understand why it is the way it is.

Here we have LemonCobra (Lineage I) discussing about his GM duties:

Q&A with GM Lemoncobra

"I NO BOT!! I NO BOT!!"

MMOFury and Dungeon Runners

"Dungeon Runners certainly deserves a pat on the back for a great content update to a game that we feel was already a blast to play. This patch is also a reminder that NCsoft is committed to keeping fresh content on this free to play title, which adds value to any gamer that invests the time to level a character."

- Quote from http://mmofury.com/

MMOFury was gracious enough to award Dungeon Runners their "Patch of the Week" award. Sure, it was for last week and I'm slow, but hey, we seriously feel very honored here :) Thank you, MMOFury!

*bows*

Read all about it here:
http://mmofury.com/gamingnews/news.php?extend.14

Dungeon Runners

Or, Stephen Nichols'(TM)Dungeon Runners(TM).

Hey, I like to boost his ego. It seems to make him all giggly.

"Is it really free-to-play?"

I get asked that question a lot. The answer.... yes, yes it is. There is NO catch. You don't have to pay for any software either, just download and start playing. We don't try to lure you in with some free content then pull some evil bait and switch on you. For some reason a lot of people think you have to pay for high level content, but there is no CUT OFF. You can play, play, and play, leveling all the way up to level 100. (BTW, whoever started that rumor, I will find you one day and set the record straight!) And I'm not talking about agonizing, painful "OMG I must start paying now because I take this anymore" type of gameplay, either. The balance is pretty solid. You may not have some of the extra perks paying members have (which is still only 4.99 a month) but it still quite do-able, and quite enjoyable.

So how do we make money? Surely we're not some non-profit organization. Alas, we are not. We got bills to pay, bling we want to buy.

Like I just mentioned, premium content is 5 dollars a month. Most people like paying because they don't ever have to see an ad (although we haven't seen too many of *those* lately...). You also get extra bank space, which is a BIG plus, because it's always nice to have extra space for your extra gear. I personally like having the major potions that together nicely. Members can also wear purple and rainbow loot - that's the good stuff - while non-paying members will find they can only wear certain types of purple and rainbow gear. Certainly, being a member usually means you can up your quest difficulty (which in return boosts the chance you'll get something sweet) while non-paying members may find they will need to weight the risk vs reward a little more carefully.

HOWEVER....you aren't gimped as a non-paying player. You just don't get the extra perks, but there are plenty of perks there already. Dungeon Runners isn't meant to be a hard game, although there is enough of a challenge to keep the interest up. It's very casual, very fast paced.


SO WHY DON'T WE HAVE MORE PLAYERS!!

I often wonder why. Why don't we? Sure, we got a decent player base, but as a gamer I've tried a playing a zillion MMOs. And they are not forcing me to say this when I say Dungeon Runners far surpasses the expectations I have for any "free to play" game.

Well, Dungeon Runners was originally intended to be a "word of mouth" game, ala online viral marketing.

*Shivers at the mention of the word 'viral', but continues on*

The idea is that the game would market itself, just by being free. Well, unfortunately, it takes a little bit more than that; if not enough people know about the game in the first place then how on earth can we expect them to tell their friends? Awareness is the first thing any product needs.

And is it the responsibility of the community to tell the whole world? Isn't that a lot to ask? We're a low budget game, yes, and to keep our prices low *insert yellow smiley here* we do have to have to keep our marketing budget small. That is something we may have to live with.

So, let's go on the theory that we want the community in the streets in ridiculous costumes holding big DR signs. (Hmm, I see a future contest idea brewing there....) The game is still intended for casual game play, yes? It seems kinda strange, we do want to attract the casual gamers, yet this is basically volunteer WORK that you primarily only see out of hardcore gamers.

It's a pickle. So where do we strike the balance between the two....?

Tools. Hand over the goods, and throw it all out there, and see what happens. This is the current goal, we'll see how it goes from there.

That, and I try to do what I can :)

Official Forums: Yae or Nay?

This is a topic that comes up quite frequently in community management circles - should online games always have official forums? Are they necessary? Should they always be expected as a basic necessity?

IMHO it depends, and it depends on many, many factors. Once everything has been considered I think it is up to the producer to decide which course of action best suits his or hers team's needs. The community person is there to primarily serve two sides: the needs of the developers (getting them the feedback they need) and the needs of the community (getting their feedback TO the dev team.) As long as those needs are met then things are heading in the right direction. Because in the long run, just having official forums isn't enough to meet those needs. "Official" certainly doesn't mean it's better. Anyone can have forums if they just want to give players a place to post back and forth with one another. It's also easy to assume that you can't meet these needs WITHOUT official forums, but that isn't necessarily true either. Several community reps live without official forums, and this in turn gives them the extra time they need for several unofficial forums.

When I accepted this position, 2 out of 3 of my games hadn't even been launched yet. Beta forums are a MUST, but what about after launch? I sat down with the Dungeon Runners and Exteel producers and I asked them for their input. Now, keep in mind that no product has an infinite about of resources and time. Would they prefer I manage official forums, or would they prefer I spend that time working on other community related matters? In the end, forums won out, and I agreed with them. Both of these communities were very small when starting out (and at the time, they were receiving very little attention) and they both needed a central location for that extra focus. Every product is different, so I'm not a big fan of saying that official forums are needed for every online game out there.

What else should be considered?

Money and resources - I'm not just talking about purchasing forum software or basic technical maintenance. No matter what ESRB rating a game may hold living without any type of moderation is next to impossible. Of course the amount of work varies from community to community, and going into it you may not know exactly how much. In many situations MMOs can use volunteers, but it's important to check into the legalities of that in addition to any company policies. In some situations you need 24/7 coverage, even in holidays, depending on your influx of new users. Many out there have made a career just with moderation, and they do have families to feed.

Now I don't see this often, but I sometimes see individuals who think it is "okay" to act up because they see there is a moderation team already present. Having a system in place to handle such problems is not our way of saying "we expect this out of you". We frankly don't. The truth is, no one wants to have more moderation than they absolutely require. It's a waste of a good resource because every employee is an asset. Time is money, friend. Moderators *can* do a lot more than just moderate, if they have the time!

I sometimes see that same mentality in "well I can cuss because there's a profanity filter there to stop it" statements. It's there to absolutely stop it in any case that it can, but it isn't there to ALLOW cussing.

Okay, I derailed there. Back on topic.

Another factor: does the game already have a well established presence? If yes, perhaps the idea of going without official forums should be considered. (Money and resources have to be considered in this, obviously.) But be forewarned that you are leaving everything about forums in THEIR hands. The community person will still be as official as ever in their posts/announcements, but if any drama breaks out it is up to forum owners on how to handle it. This can be a curse and a blessing, so the MMO should already have a good pre-existing relationship with a forum fansite before they even think of going without official forums.

Official Forums: the official madness!

Some say official forums are "breeding grounds for negativity" simply because they are official. Perhaps this is a tad bit pessimistic, but there may be some truth in this. When a poster expresses him or herself he or she keeps their target audience in mind. Official forums, naturally, tend to have more posts that are directly aimed towards staff members. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, but sometimes it's nice to sneak on "unofficial" forums and see what people are saying when the target audience involves other players. It can be just as brutal, but the perspective is different - and usually easier to analyze.

The forums can show an ugly side to any game.

I know, this is breaking news to you all. People sometimes wonder why we allow people to use our resources to say BAD things about us. A negative post by itself is not against the rules, of course. If we only heard good things it would be extremely difficult to even know what on earth is really going on.

Forums can get heated - arguments do break out. And when people see all that stuff in the bugs and technical forums section all stuck together like that...yikes, it can look bad. It can make ANY MMO can look broke, even if that MMO happens to have a pristine reputation.

Do we really want all of that negativity on OUR site? Do we want people who are having zero problems with the game, folks who just forum registered to say "hello" to others, seeing all this stuff on our message boards?

When you go with official forums you are saying "yes" to that. But I'm okay with it. All those problems people read about on the forums may not be commonplace, but forcing them all on a "unofficial" forum doesn't make those problems any less real.

There are other things to consider, of course, but I think I've babbled on enough for now :)

I'm currently getting over some type of bug - no pun intended. It's the kind that makes you want to sleep, sleep, sleep. Caffeine+Crickette=FTW!

Posted on Plaync.com: NCsoft Announces Fiscal Year 2007 Results

Now keep in mind this is how the company stands on a global scale. I was tickled to see Lineage I gain 4%, but I'm afraid most of those were not in the North American market. We're holding steady, though, we're defying all the odds!

More and more people are asking me about Aion, but I'm being completely honest when I say that I have no inside information. Sorry! I can't say a peep about it. I don't work on Aion, but it is really nice to see all the interest it is gaining.

There is an official Aion site: Aion and I recommend checking it out. It's a complete teaser, but you can sign up for future news and information.

From what I understand it is pronounced "I-ON'. The A throws me off, too.

Dungeon Runnahs!

It was long overdue: an official DR fansite kit is being created. We'll hopefully have it out within a couple weeks or so *knocks on wood*. Everything has to be signed off and approved, but I can't wait to see the end results.

Well now it's back to work for me. I got a lot to catch up on!

When most people mention "Lineage" in the United States they are generally referring to Lineage II. Just go to google and type in "Lineage" and see for yourself: most hits refer to Lineage II. It's pretty safe to say that Lineage II is the more popular between the two, at least on this side of the world. Because of this I generally refer to "Lineage" as "Lineage I" so people know what I'm talking about.

It's just strange how we have to differentiate "Lineage" from "Lineage II" (and not the other way around) because Lineage did, after all, come first. It's the game that started it all for NCsoft*, so we still have some bragging rights, even do this day :) Speaking of bragging - Lineage I is the only Mac compatible NCsoft game out there.

From my experience in the gaming industry (as a whole) a lot of people don't know much about Lineage. Although both games are a part of the Lineage franchise, you can bet they are two very different games. The two should not be confused!

Lineage launched in the US in October of 2001, roughly 3 years before I joined NCsoft Austin. Right around that time I had just left a competing MMO, and that means I was adamantly spending all my time looking for more work. So I must admit, I didn't have much time to play games back then. In 2001 there were like what, maybe 3 other major MMOs to really compete against? I guess it wouldn't talk much guesswork to figure out I was at UO, hehe. Perhaps it was just the timing of things, perhaps it was the explosion of all these new MMOs that followed suit...(which I both worked for and played). I just wasn't in the world of Lineage when it all began. But I am now.

Lineage has US 4 servers: Lands of Aden, Depardieu, and Ken Rauhel. Ken is a non-pvp server, while LoA and Dep are two pvp servers with different rulesets. Then last, but not least, we have the test server. The test server provides double XP to help ease leveling and testing (to a certain degree) and every few months we wipe it to start all over again.

Yes, the graphics and style are different from what many are acustomed to now. Lineage is an aging MMO, but they will all get that way. With all these new MMOs out there it will be interesting to see what they are like in 7 years or so. We don't get very many new accounts, but we do get some. There's a nostalgic and sentimental feel to Lineage that still runs very strong. We have people who play from all over the world (in particular, Europe) and most of them have been with us for years, sometimes off and on. I personally find the Lineage community quite endearing. They got a lot of spunk. For the most part, most Lineage players don't care about other NCsoft games. Ha. But it's true...they don't. You see that in all gaming communities to a degree, but this is a trait that I think distinctly fits Lineage players in particular. They don't care about what new game we may be coming out with.
They aren't always NCsoft fans, but they are Lineage fans. They never lose their focus, and I truly respect them for that.

Lineage players are not something to be feared, but sometimes they are. It's just because they are so hardcore. There's no doubt about that...you have to be hardcore to play Lineage. But it's good to have games like that. If all games were made to be easy, if all games were made without what are often severe consequences, then certain types of gamers would be left out of the market completely. Yes, you can lose levels in Lineage. You sometimes have to work REALLY hard to get what you want. And I mean really, really hard. Some people have been playing on a single character (at least) for over 7 years now and they are *still* have goals they want to achieve, including leveling. This may not appeal to everyone, but I completely understand why Lineage gamers are drawn to it. It's hard work, but it makes you feel good, reaching your goals. A level 65 character in some games is nothing. But if someone makes level 65 in Lineage the entire community becomes completely awestruck. Nothing is ever taken for granted in Lineage.

At last year's PlayNC Meet and Greet several Lineage players were able to make the pilgrimage, either driving for hours or by flying in. All of these players have been playing longer than I have, but it was nice to hear all the good stories (which were often funny) on all the things that I missed out on. Even the Lineage II players, from what I heard, took their hats off to them that night...just for being that hardcore.

How many people out there can say they have played any MMO for seven years? Probably not too many. But like I mentioned, all these newer of MMOs are going to become older as well. I'm sure that seven years from now all those newborn MMOs will have the technology to do things that we can't do today. You can always go back and re-work a game, this is true. But unless decide to start completely clean you are going to have coding limitations. And that doesn't mean that a game has to be passed upon and buried for good just because it happens to be a few years old. A game doesn't have to have the best graphics around today for it to be an amazing game, right?

Right now we're working on Episode 6 - yes, - new content - that we will release sometime this year for Lineage. Throughout the year we also run a variety of events; the Halloween event was a fun one in particular. For those of you who never have played Lineage, don't think you've passed up your opportunity just because you didn't play it when it was brand spanking new. Lineage is a small, tight nit group and they are always welcoming new players with OPEN arms. I know this personally, for when I was new someone would always come up to me and offer their help. For some reason, people sometimes get the impression that if they decided play they would be ganked instantly, but I have found that to not be the case. (Remember, we do have a non-pvp server.) Sometimes people just think that they would be so far behind all the experienced players that they could NEVER catch up to them. Nonsense. People start new characters all the time.

So do people lose their passion for older MMOs? Does it wear off with time? From my experience, no. The community (both on the official forums and on lineageone.com) are pretty dang fierce, even to this day. Lineage I players are very frank, I've found, perhaps more so than my other communities. They will tell you how it is, point blank. They don't mess around when it comes to telling you what they want by trying to dress it up.

Just don't write Lineage off because the game is, ahem, for the lack of a better word...old. Come and see what has kept so many others with us for so long, and see for yourself. Many within the Lineage community know each other (and have for quite some time) but they will always welcome a fresh face. I lived it myself (see above) and I assure you they had NO idea I happened to work for the company.

We certainly don't get a lot of media attention. Honestly, Lineage deserves more attention that it actually gets. We live in a society where "newer" sometimes gets confused with "better" and our aging games get brushed to the side. There's also so much to compete with right now. Just go to any multi-game like WarCry and you'll instnatly notice that the MMO market has become overwhelmed with so many choices.

*So what does the NC in NCsoft stand for, anyway? Apparently, it stands for "new company". Hey, it makes sense when you are trying to come up with a new name, right?

A CM's fears

Uh oh, it's blog #1...I'm willing to bet that the first blog is generally the hardest. Yes, yes, I'm starting to see that now. I want to start things off with a big BANG, but I'm willing to bet that it just doesn't work that way. These things come with time...

It's quite telling, knowing that this is actually my first blog. I know, for SHAME. How could this have happened? I think I know the answer, but I'll need to explain myself first. There's one thing I've noticed about us OCR (online community relation) folks - once we get some experience under our belt and take off that Cloak of Newbness we tend to become less afraid. And when that happens, we tend to show a bit more of ourselves, i.e., throw a little personality in the mix. So what can make CMs (community managers) even the most outgoing CMs, afraid in the first place?

What CMs worry about when they first get the job

1)Eating our own words. We hate to say one thing, then BOOM, it ends up haunting us forever. Sadly, this is a fact of life, and sometimes you do just have to go out on a limb. And the more the community loves ya, the more likely they will let you forget too ;) This is not necessarily a bad thing, IMO.

2)Not being 100% certain. We hate, hate, hate that. We know players always want concrete answers, and we love giving those answers when we can. We like being that "great know it all behind the curtain". But I've discovered this - it's okay to state something may or may not happen. Heck, I sometimes try to give the odds or a general idea of the likelihood whenever possible. Even if something may not be written in stone every community enjoys being a part of the process.

3)Sounding too casual. I can't write those "we apologize for the inconvenience please let us know if you have any questions or concerns" generic business statements any longer. I used to do that, but now I've really given up trying to NOT sound casual. I've realized I can remain professional AND sound casual all at the same time. I think I'm just one of those CMs who is always going to a)make grammar/spelling mistakes and b)type the way I speak. Yes, many GMs have to write that way, but I don't. I just don't feel like I'm getting through to anyone if I just end up coming across like a robot, typing the same expressions over and over again. I'm just going to leave the marketing words up to the marketing guys....coming from me, it just sounds like a bunch of hogwash.

4)Getting blamed for the ruining the whole game, aka, Don't Kill the Messenger. Ha, it's true. But we understand...we're the focal point for a lot of frustration because we're the ones out there working in the line of fire. We sometimes have to write and say things that we know aren't going to be well received by everyone. It doesn't necessarily mean we have full control over the situation, but we're going to be the ones who are asked to explain the reasoning behind it.

I've seen CMs handle this in different ways. To me, I see it like this: I'm the Community Manager, I get PAID to deal with this. I'm here to represent the product as a whole. It's not my responsibility to assign blame to anyone or deflect blame on to someone else. If it falls on me as a default rule (perhaps a players assumption) then it falls on me. I use "we" a lot because we're a team here at NCsoft, and I'm going to stand behind any decision made, even if it was not my own. I'm going to be very vocal about what I think before a decision is made, but once a decision is made I'm going to stand behind it. Now sometimes it makes sense to clear up a misunderstanding, but that's a different matter. It may be true - we may just be the messenger sometimes, but we should NEVER point fingers or convey information in a "this is someone else's fault" type of manner.

5)Revealing to the world we're not always game experts. We may know a lot about any particular game we work on, but there isn't a single person who knows it ALL. It's okay to say you may not know something. As CMs, we're only held up to standards of perfection in cases where we TRY to be like that. We don't have to be infallible to be good at our job.

Going back to what I said earlier...how could this possibly be my first blog? Well, technically it's my first blog, but I think I've been "blogging" via the message boards for the last few months now. It's not something I did on COH. This is something I've grown into, using the lessons I've explained above. Sometimes I can write paragraph after paragraph on the forums *Exteel cough cough* all the while staying in first person mode.

So, I figured I might as well start a real blog :)