The Bridge

fbueckert

6:02 PM

Huh. Someone downvoted the meetup idea. I wonder why.

Ronan Forman

@fbueckert Because they hate fun?

fbueckert

@RonanForman Could be. Well, I'm more curious than offended; I like understanding people's motivations.

James

@fbueckert This is sooo not the website for you then :D

Everyone on Stack Exchange site is a bit of the 'Man behind the curtain' :D

fbueckert

@James I'd argue that a person who hates fun doesn't belong here much more than I do. Seeing as how Gaming is all about the fun.

Me, I'm just maniacally cheerful.

James

@fbueckert I am talking more of the understanding people's motives

All you get from this site is speculation :)

tiddy

6:10 PM

Does this meetup include gaming?

fbueckert

@James And I'm fine with that. I have no issue with things not being known.

Sterno

I don't want you to all meet up, because I'll miss it and then you'll all be like, "Remember that time we met up and so-and-so did that thing that was hilarious?", and I'll be all "NO I DON'T! SHUT UP!"

StrixVaria

@Sterno Then don't miss it.

James

@tiddy No Trolling :)

fbueckert

@Sterno Haters gonna hate, no matter what contortions the argument has to go through to justify it.

James

6:12 PM

@Sterno I fear it wont be 'so and so' so much as 'James' :D Down Vote Down Vote Down Vote! (Go Go Gadget Puppets?)

tiddy

@James I was serious

James

@fbueckert Had a noob economist trying to argue that prices of things are not relative because the worth of 1 apple is 1 apple...

@tiddy We are nerds, can more than 2-3 of us gather in one location and games Not ensue? :)

fbueckert

@James Which is awesome, if apples were the world currency.

Sterno

I didn't downvote the meetup, but I still feel certain saying that if you're looking for a reason for the downvote, you can blame @Wipqozn

fbueckert

@Sterno We can blame him for everything that goes wrong with the meetup!

James

6:14 PM

@Sterno Yeah I do not think they let tortoises into Canada :(

fbueckert

@James They don't NEED to let him in. He's already here!

James

Oh, My God... Time to go vote for a new meetup location.!

Ronan Forman

Okay, my first DayZ game, I'll give me 5 minutes.

fbueckert

@James Part 2 is all about the Where. :P

James

@fbueckert So I see

And @FAE I do not see no giant Edit button on the map :P

I think we should have the meet up in the location with the fewest number of ourselves.. so we can all just go on vacation together ;)

murgatroid99

6:18 PM

@fbueckert according to the map, the location will be everywhere

James

"Today a flashmob of nerds showed up in tim buck too, we have no idea why." hehe

murgatroid99

@James are you logged in to google?

fbueckert

@murgatroid99 Quantum entanglement is still being a bitch. I'm afraid a central location(s) is still going to be required.

James

@murgatroid99 On every other google page I have open save that one it seemed :D

murgatroid99

@fbueckert we could do the meetup in skype or something

James

6:21 PM

I am now, On the map! :D

fbueckert

@murgatroid99 Which would sort of defeat the entire purpose of this exercise.

James

@murgatroid99 We already have a mumble.. which can be scary at times :D

Lazers

0

Q: Knifing Animation In battlefield3

How come when sometimes I try to knife an enemy, my soldier will sometimes sit there holding the knife up instead of going through the knife animation?

battlefield-3

2

Q: Does having a Steel or Silver sword drawn affect sign damage?

Is IGNI damage on The Witcher 2 A.O.K.E.E affected if you equip a Steel Sword or a silver sword in terms that you attack monsters or humanoids, or should you just draw the weapon that has the most +Sign damage?

the-witcher-2

murgatroid99

@fbueckert I know. But we are scattered so widely and I will be in school for several months

Ronan Forman

So far I've been spawned dead 4 times. And I have no idea how to get to 'player select screen'

fbueckert

6:22 PM

@Lazers Also, HOLY CRAP WHAT KIND OF USERNAME IS THAT!?

James

@RonanForman It should be happening before you even get to spawn man

fbueckert

@murgatroid99 That's what the discussions about where and when will be about.

Ronan Forman

Maybe I'm not spawning dead, but I'm dying before spawning.

murgatroid99

@fbueckert the gamertag kind?

fbueckert

I figure give it about another week or so, let everyone that can dump their pins onto the map, and then we can start figuring out our central meetup locations.

James

6:24 PM

I vote we all go down to Mr Smooth's

Ronan Forman

By the looks of it we should meet up in the ocean.

James

Newfoundland? :)

(Stupidest name for a location evar by the way :P)

tiddy

Looks like it would be your typical USA West, USA East, and I dunno...London?

RESPAWN

See... nobody ever considers USA Central. :(

James

@tiddy Those who don't have far to travel could chip in for those who have farther to travel to show up :)

RESPAWN

6:25 PM

grumbles that there really needs to be a PAX Central somewhere...

Blem

In case someone missed it WoW: Mist of Pandaria beta promotion started

tiddy

@James that's very generous but I think a little unlikely

James

@tiddy Well Id help at the least

maybe @fbueckert and other game giver awayers would.

murgatroid99

@Blem I think in your question the word you were looking for was "tier"

fbueckert

@James You and I would be probably of the few who COULD actually do something like that.

Blem

6:27 PM

@murgatroid99 most likely

James

@fbueckert Guess people better start sucking up ;)

Rapida

I'm surprised I'm the first person to customize their pin on the meetup map

fbueckert

@James I was thinking I could pick one or two people up along the way, since I suspect I'll be roadtripping it.

Ronan Forman

@James What does 'waiting for character to create' mean?

fbueckert

And let them chip in for gas money or something; cheaper for all involved parties.

tiddy

6:30 PM

You'll also be dealing with students/professionals who will need to find time off

fbueckert

@tiddy I am one of those aforementioned professionals. :)

tiddy

K

RESPAWN

@fbueckert For some reason this is the picture that first came to mind when you discussed picking other people up.

fbueckert

I thought the consideration for vacation time was implicit in the arrangements.

@RESPAWN Ok, now I HAVE to meet you. Just so I can smack you upside the head. :)

RESPAWN

@fbueckert LOL. Sadly, pretty much all of my vacation time and travel money are already spoken for for the rest of this year.

That's horrible English on my part...

fbueckert

6:32 PM

Has the MoP beta started yet? Or just the site promotion?

RESPAWN

In other words, I can't afford vacation time or money to travel anywhere else outside of my current plans.

fbueckert

@Blem That question of yours sounds horribly speculative if the beta hasn't started yet.

James

@RonanForman It usually means its trying to fetch your data from the central server and then make the character.

Blem

@fbueckert what? the beta has been going on for ages and the raiding part just started, that is why the promotion started

fbueckert

@Blem Hence why I'm asking. I don't know these things, as I stay away from WoW.

James

6:35 PM

@fbueckert You are like really far away from London Ontario :P

fbueckert

@James I know.

It's further than Toronto for me.

user2334

So glad we have a MoP promotion 2 months before the game comes out: getting totally high quality questions like the one we get for every expansion and search WoWhead for me

user2334

Nice to see that BS advertising campaigns are far more important than question quality

Wipqozn

0

A: How do I breed a Peridot dragon?

Cactus and Crystal is a good combo. Another good combination is Fog and Iron.

I can't tell fi that's an answer or not.

Ronan Forman

Maybe I ought to wait until I have someone to play with, I'm completely lost.

How do I equip this hatchet?

murgatroid99

6:37 PM

43 mins ago, by murgatroid99

@Lazers those questions always seem to attract answers that answer "what are examples of sufficient conditions to breed an X dragon?" instead of "What are the necessary conditions to breed an X dragon?"

Blem

I say we use this for selecting where to have meet-up

James

@RonanForman Right click it, I forget the option but you have to make it stop being a tool. You can not use it as a tool and as a weapon at the same time.

Wipqozn

@RonanForman inventory (g) -> right-click hatchet -> unequip from toolbelt

murgatroid99

@Blem Ukraine it is, then

Wipqozn

Also, I just assume you're talking about DayZ.

Blem

6:38 PM

@murgatroid99 that is actually not that bad for me

Ronan Forman

@Wipqozn Yes, why am I shooting this?

murgatroid99

@Blem It's actually completely bad for me

James

@RonanForman Cause Arma has no melee weapons

Wipqozn

@RonanForman You need to reload your hatchet before firing.

James

So dont forget to reload your axe

Wipqozn

6:42 PM

@murgatroid99 nah man, mine gave me the middle of the ocean. A much better location.

murgatroid99

@Wipqozn we could all meet on a boat

Wipqozn

@murgatroid99 I'm too lazy to grab the I'M ON A BOAT video.

James

Seeing those two messages of mine starred next to each other might lead people to the ~~right~~ wrong conclusion :D

murgatroid99

►

Oh, yeah, language warning on that

In case anyone didn't know

James

@murgatroid99 Are you on a boat?

murgatroid99

6:50 PM

7 mins ago, by murgatroid99

@Wipqozn we could all meet on a boat

James

@murgatroid99 I am 100% down for we all just vacation in the same location ;)

fbueckert

@James I'd be up for that, too.

But, organizing that many responsible adults to be in the same place at the same time is almost impossible.

Ronan Forman

@fbueckert I'm neither responsible or an adult!

James

@fbueckert Awww, are you uninviting me from the gathering !?

@RonanForman Ninja'd :D

fbueckert

Wow, talk about misconstruing my statement. :P

Lazers

6:52 PM

-1

Q: What is the first tier of raids in Mist of Pandaria?

Watching the stream of the guild that Arqade sponsers got me wondering what raids will be available in Tier 14(release of Mist of Pandaria)? How many bosses will each raid have? and who is the main antagonist in each raid?

world-of-warcraft

0

Q: Will a step down converter from 220V to 110V-100W "burn" a Nintendo Wii?

I was checking the normal AC 110V to DC adaptor that comes with my Nintendo Wii and it says "52W" but my only options for buying are 50W, 60W or 100W. I am assuming the 50W won't be enough so I don't know if I should buy 60W or 100W. Thanks in advance!

technical-issues wii

James

(removed)

fbueckert

The implication in including responsible is that most of us can't just up and leave at very short notice; we have to arrange things well beforehand.

James

@fbueckert Are we not going to have to do that no matter what we do?

fbueckert

@James Yes, because we're responsible adults. Otherwise, this would just be, "Arqade meetup in Toronto tomorrow! Be there!"

James

@fbueckert So same problem no matter how we do it so no need to worry about it :)

RESPAWN

6:58 PM

Personally, I'm thinking it might be more entertaining to meet up with the irresponsible adults.

At least, that's the way it was when I was win college.

Resorath

I'm not a fan of this new contest. Nothing is more boring than watching someone else raid, plus it spoils the fun of doing it yourself for the first time. And since I didn't get picked for MoP beta, I guess I can't participate.

fbueckert

@James And any way you look at it, someone's not going to be able to make it. There's no way we can plan this in any reasonable time frame to ensure that everyone can make it.

Blem

@MarkTrapp Wouldn't the 3 raids you mention that will be at release be considered tier 14

Gaming Topics From Outside

1

Q: How do I allocate more memory to Chrome?

I am trying to play a browser based game on Chrome. My system runs Ubuntu fine and is a new laptop. The game gets choppy when I play. How do I allocate a little more memory to Chrome so I have some more browser-power to play this game?

google-chrome games browser memory

user2334

@Blem We have no idea. I can speculate that tier 14 might be split up amongst them, but I haven't a clue. Blizzard hasn't said. For all we know, 2 weeks before launch, Blizzard will say "X raid is tier 15, but we wanted to get some beta testing in".

Blem

7:10 PM

@MarkTrapp changed the wording for you then

GnomeSlice

'Gothic' Complete Pack & 'Arcania' Gold Edition for 80% off ($10.00) for the lot)

spugsley

hey guys :)

Blem

@spugsley hello

Lazers

7:25 PM

1

Q: Does playing on Proud mode give more rewards?

Does playing on the Proud difficulty (compared to lower ones) give more rewards, like more XP/drops or anything else? I think it did in Re:Coded, what about Dream Drop Distance?

kingdom-hearts-3d

GnomeSlice

Lol, look at this revision

Koviko

@GnomeSlice Haha, yeah. That one was awesome. Total rant-kill.

GnomeSlice

What... Cortex Command can't play in fullscreen on this PC?

> can not set video mode!

Okay, I set the game resolution to my desktop resolution, and now it CAN run in fullscreen, but when I do run it in a window it's just a solid pink filled window.

There, it appears to be working now.

user2334

@Blem Thanks; I think David B made a good point, though. I dunno, I think this whole contest is completely misguided as we're not really asking about real-world game problems, just seeding the site with stuff nobody's going to care about once MoP launches

GnomeSlice

I really want them to finish this game. And soon.

Blem

7:39 PM

@MarkTrapp I don't like the promotion either, but if people wont let that question go i don't see how any questions will be asked for the promotion since all is subject to change

Koviko

@MarkTrapp ... Did the contest start already?

Blem

@Koviko It started when it was posted

user2334

@Koviko Yeah

Koviko

Oh. Damnit. I should have waited on my last WoW questions.

I was mostly just asking questions trying to encourage more WoW traffic.

user2334

@Koviko They have to be about MoP, but there is no MoP tag. Confusing to say the least.

Koviko

7:41 PM

But I think a contest works better than me. lol

Like, specifically MoP?

murgatroid99

@MarkTrapp Not exactly: "All questions and answers tagged world-of-warcraft that end the contest with a score of 5 or more are eligible for the awesome prizes listed above."

user2334

@Blem That's been my point all along. I dunno what to say other than I hope to be surprised we can ask even a few questions that are useful after launch.

user2334

@murgatroid99 The rules are confusing: the point before that says "Your questions can be about anything related to Mists of Pandaria - they don't have to be just about the beta raids."

Koviko

This is going to be hard.

murgatroid99

@MarkTrapp the one I quoted seems to be the most specific one in regard to eligibility

spugsley

7:43 PM

@fbueckert I hate to be the one to tell you this but....I got another legendary :p

fbueckert

@spugsley Shall I continue my hatred rants? :P

user2334

@murgatroid99 I can see that: at any rate, I left a comment asking for clarification

murgatroid99

@MarkTrapp sounds like a good idea

spugsley

@fbueckert please do :p

fbueckert

@spugsley Aww. Well, I'll see if I can muster up at least a little hatred.

But so far, I got nothing, I'm afraid.

RESPAWN

7:48 PM

So... apparently dueling pistols used to be an Olympic event.

fbueckert

@GnomeSlice Wow, hate much? Poor guy, has to work out his frustration by ranting on the internet. Too bad nobody cares.

RESPAWN

london2012.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/…

fbueckert

Jul 29 at 17:32, by fbueckert

5 Insane Real Sports They Need to Add to the Olympics

RESPAWN

@fbueckert Haha. First thing I saw was the dog dancing. I'd certainly watch that if there were a medal for it!

fbueckert

@RESPAWN I'm more about the Japanese 75-man no-holds brawl, myself. That looks crazy.

Blem

7:54 PM

posted a reply(http://meta.gaming.stackexchange.com/a/5198/13269) to the promotion
I hope @Lauren has some input on it.

Lazers

0

Q: Two-handed weapon builds/play-styles that are actually viable?

I started an Orc character last week in Skyrim and decided to make him a two-handed weapon bruiser. Just doing Bleak-Falls I needed lots of potions... My attack speed was so slow that while doing a standard attack with a Greatsword, I'd get hit one or two times before I even swing. I have since ...

skyrim

RESPAWN

@fbueckert Haha. Heck yeah it does. I'm surprised nobody gets seriously injured. Or... maybe they do.

fbueckert

@RESPAWN Knowing the Japanese, it's not fun if no one gets hurt.

RESPAWN

@fbueckert Very true. This is the land of Kancho and... ok. That's the weirdest thing that I can come up with off the top of my head.

Now, meeting time!

/wrists

user2334

@Blem I don't think we should relax the rules for the contest, otherwise +1: if we're going to get questions like the two we have gotten so far, I don't think this is going to be a success.

user2334

8:02 PM

We were discussing this before, and I thought this was more about getting the contest running a week or so before the launch: two months just seems way too soon to ask questions of lasting value

fbueckert

@MarkTrapp We could, technically, close all questions as speculation, as we have no idea what will or won't change from the beta.

murgatroid99

@fbueckert I really like the spin kick volleyball thing

fbueckert

@murgatroid99 It's like soccer and volleyball had an unholy child.

murgatroid99

@fbueckert it's beautiful

user2334

@fbueckert No argument from me there, except when it's clear it's not going to change ("What's the level cap going to be?" as a really bad example) but others are convinced that because it's such a large beta pool, it's no different than Minecraft or what-have-you

fbueckert

8:05 PM

@MarkTrapp That hasn't stopped Blizzard from re-vamping things on a dime before.

Aren't the talent trees going the way of the dodo or something?

user2334

They've done a bunch of huge revamps already in the last couple of months, even with 1.2 million people having access to the beta. And they only just started raid testing and testing other core expansion features, like scenarios and pet battles

Blem

@fbueckert yes, but no one says the way it is implemented in beta now is also how it will be at release

user2334

@fbueckert Yeah, but that happens pretty much every expansion, and the revamp is pretty stable at this point in time, except for specific talents getting retuned or replaced

fbueckert

@Blem Exactly

Blem

2 days before release Blizzard decides to revamp WoW as a Facebook game to battle with farmville!

fbueckert

8:08 PM

@MarkTrapp But that's sort of the point. We have no idea what's going to change between now and release. For all we know, this talent tree is an experiment.

@Blem Not that that's hard. :P Zynga lost 40+% of their stock value.

Blem

@fbueckert KICK THEM WHILE THEY ARE DOWN!

fbueckert

@Blem Lawyers are suing upper management for selling off their stock three months ago. :P

Alleging insider trading.

Which, if Pincus's personality is any indication, is exactly what happened.

user2334

@fbueckert I dunno: the talent revamp was one of the first things they introduced in the beta, so it's really unlikely they'd do that. They might—heck, they just completely redid the Pandaria starting areas—but I think "they might scrap the talent overhaul" isn't the strongest argument against speculation, especially when there are other areas that are totally still in heavy development, like raids

Koviko

@fbueckert Anything that makes Zynga sad makes me happy.

user15026

@Koviko This. This, this this.

Koviko

8:11 PM

@MarkTrapp Considering I hear so many people complaining about imbalance, it's possible that the talents will be rearranged.

user15026

It frustrates me that most mobile games lately either follow the Farmville model of play, or the Angry Birds model of play.

fbueckert

@MarkTrapp You're sort of proving your own point. Blizzard is, and will continue to, revamp anything as necessary. That's the whole point of beta. Anything is on the chopping block.

Koviko

@fbueckert The sad fact is that since WoW is always changing, we will run into this issue at every patch as well.

fbueckert

@Koviko Better yet, anything that KILLS Zynga will make me an extremely happy camper. The stupid "casual microtransaction games" fad can go die in a fire.

@Koviko Patches are fine; they denote a stable point in time.

Koviko

@fbueckert Oh God, yes. My girlfriend has fallen victim. She plays 4 or 5 Zynga games and pays "a little here and there" in all of them.

user15026

8:13 PM

@fbueckert Oh yes. I hate those games.

fbueckert

Beta, however, is the entire damn thing in flux, with no guarantee anything will stay the same.

@Koviko Introduce her to Kairosoft games. She'll love you for it.

Ian Pugsley

@fbueckert Casual/microtransaction games are fine - unethical and immoral business practices are not.

Koviko

@fbueckert Plus, we KNOW that the Beta isn't what release is going to be like. Otherwise, we will be randomly d/cing for all of the known causes

fbueckert

@IanPugsley And the vast, VAST majority of these games are engineering to be psychologically addicting.

Koviko

Running, walking, jumping, questing, looting, or playing the game.

user2334

8:14 PM

@Koviko Rearranged? Sure. But completely replace the talent system as it is now? Really, really unlikely. They don't have enough time to go through testing on that.

user15026

@fbueckert THIS. Kairosoft games are awesome, and they are not microtransaction-y. :)

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Actually, they have a microtransaction game out in Japan right now. >< Base game is free, extra stuff costs $$.

user15026

@fbueckert Nooooooo.

Ian Pugsley

@fbueckert That's the entire idea behind gamification in general? It's ugly, but it's all of gaming.

Koviko

I wish microtransactions were micro-er.

A couple cents here and there, I wouldn't mind.

user15026

8:16 PM

But they do have a LOT of games in Japan that haven't come out here thataren't like that

Koviko

But WoW has defined the limit I am willing to pay per month on a game.

James

Gaming can make a better world

user2334

@fbueckert They nailed down a launch date: while things can be fine tuned and what-not, it's unlikely they'd just completely scrap something that's been stable for months in beta two months before launch. No doubt they'll be changing content or retuning things all the way up to launch, and I think that alone should make this an exercise in frustration, but the threat of Blizzard pulling a 180 on core systems this close to launch is, I think, largely an academic concern.

fbueckert

@IanPugsley The "casual" crowd of games are specifically designed to not only hook the user as quickly as possible, but also to drain as much money from the player as possible. The designers don't view their players as players at all. They view them as money machines.

user15026

@fbueckert are we talking microtransaction games? because not all casual games fall under this model.

fbueckert

8:18 PM

@MarkTrapp Alright. Talent trees might be a bad example, but unlikely != won't. The thing is, we just don't know. Which, as you said, is a massive exercise in frustration.

user15026

This is a major beef of mine - not all casual games are farmville.

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Yeah, I'm referring to the microtransaction family of games.

I tend to lump microtransaction into the casual genre.

Ian Pugsley

@fbueckert This isn't unique at all to casual or microtransaction-based games (see all of Bobby Kotick's comments ever), and it's not true of all casual or microtransaction-based games.

user15026

@fbueckert Not all casual games fall under there. Look at Gamehouse's catalogue. Mind you, this is all PC stuff, but still. I know Mobile games are more likely to be microtransactions, but even that isn't entirely true.

fbueckert

@IanPugsley Oh, certainly not. There are definitely games out there for non-mobile that certainly fall into the "designers want to make fast money" pile. Just look at all the shovelware for the Wii and Wiiware.

user2334

8:21 PM

Dangit, made it 20 months without this answer getting automatically converted to CW. I hate that "feature".

Ian Pugsley

@fbueckert My only point is that there's nothing inherently wrong with casual games or microtransaction-based games, and that immoral/unethical business practices can be applied to any kind of game.

fbueckert

And bringing up Kotick is a good point; I hate that man with a passion. He represents everything that gaming's not about.

user2334

I may or may not have searched Gaming.SE's user list for "Kotick" before realizing who that is >.>

fbueckert

@IanPugsley The genre's themselves are not bad; it's the absolute amount of crap in those genres that gives it such a bad reputation.

murgatroid99

@MarkTrapp at least you got hundreds of rep from it

user15026

8:23 PM

@fbueckert Can we make a differentiation between "casual" and "microtransaction" please?

James

This Just In: Amazon Instant Video now available on iPad! WooT

Ian Pugsley

@fbueckert I wonder if volume has much to do with it, though - things like FB, IOS, and Android have a low barrier of entry into actually getting a game out.

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Do you know of a microtransaction game that can't be defined as casual? So far as I can tell, the whole microtransaction genre is encompassed in casual games.

StrixVaria

@fbueckert Tribes: Ascend?

Team Fortress 2?

user15026

@fbueckert yes, but not all casual games are microtransaction, which is my point.

Lazers

8:26 PM

1

Q: How were talent trees overhauled for Mists of Pandaria?

There have been a lot of reports on the massive changes to the talent trees in Mists of Pandaria, but I haven't seen one place where everything is documented on how the new trees work. How have they changed from the current version, and what features have been added to make them better?

world-of-warcraft

0

Q: Which quests can be completed while in a raid group?

I noticed that the daily quest "Among the Champions", part of the Argent Tournament, in Icecrown can be completed while in a raid group. Are there any other quests that share this property?

world-of-warcraft

0

Q: Friends on Dragonvale

Can many people put their usernames on Dragonvale so I can get more gems? My current friends ne'er play, thus I do not get gems often:( By the way, my username is "j*Mo//ey( ;" exactly

dragonvale

0

Q: How to improve my melee/kite wizard?

My 1/2 melee, 1/2 kite wizard build. Stats: All resist at 425 Armor at 3304 DPS at 36001 HP at 36124 Max Arcane at 161 (with Astral Presence* on) 12 arcane regen (with Astral Presence* on) +12% movement +32% Magic Find crit chance at 20.5% crit damage at 149% Passives: Astral Presence, Galva...

diablo-3 diablo-3-wizard

Ian Pugsley

@fbueckert Are you not counting F2P games with microtransactional bonuses, I assume? Things like Tribes: Ascend and Combat Arms?

James

@Lazers VTC

fbueckert

@IanPugsley Touché. That's what I was looking for.

Ian Pugsley

@fbueckert @StrixVaria got a great one - TF2's player base and profits have apparently been crazy after the F2P conversion.

fbueckert

Alright, so, yes, we can separate the two out as two different genres.

The point I'm trying to make is that where casual and microtransaction intersect, is where we get vapid, zero-depth games trying to make a quick buck. Agreed?

user15026

8:28 PM

@fbueckert I don't know - I find some are better than others, but I tend to be able to avoid dropping money on them

user2334

@murgatroid99 The rep points are less important to me on that answer than the downplaying/removing of primary authorship. Two people made a minor corrections, but the answer was my own research over a long period of time.

murgatroid99

@MarkTrapp It was converted because you made too many edits, not because a lot of people edited it. Not that I disagree with you about whether it should have happened

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn From an article I read about SimCity Social (or whatever it's called), the whole tagline was "More City, Less Ville". When people actually got around to trying it, it turned out to be more vapid than Ville games. Which is an achievement.

Alok

@fbueckert While I completely agree with you; its never going to happen so long as nickel & diming remains profitable :(

James

@Alok Super Profitable

user15026

8:31 PM

@fbueckert eh, I wouldn't say it is more vapid, but it is very intense on the "you need to have friends playing" bit, which is getting less and less awesome.

user2334

@murgatroid99 Right: community wiki designates a post is a community collaboration, which that answer was not. Which is why I dislike the auto-CW feature. Its intent was to prevent people from abusing bumps, but I get burned by it regularly (on other sites) for keeping my answers up to date, even though that's what we're supposed to do.

user15026

@fbueckert You might find this article interesting - it is basically exactly what you are talking about.

Koviko

@AshleyNunn However, Facebook doesn't like the idea of you having anonymous friends that play

Encouraging you to spam your real friends.

fbueckert

@Alok Well, the bubble is bursting on casual microtransaction games. I don't think it'll be long before Zynga goes belly up. And small developers relying on the same model will also die. I suspect in a couple more years, that intersection will no longer be an intersection.

Koviko

@fbueckert Microtransaction gaming has been around a lot longer than Zynga has... Pretty much every F2P MMO has been following that model forever.

user15026

8:33 PM

@Koviko Yeah, most of those games don't get that the chances of you having friends that play is pretty low.

user15026

@Koviko this too.

Koviko

I used to play a couple Facebook games. The only way I could bear them was using a Chrome addon that automatically did all of the busy work so I could focus on the gameplay

Then, Facebook threatened to sue the creator

fbueckert

@Koviko Hence why I'm saying we'll no longer have casual microtransaction games; people like them for a bit, but then either want a game with more depth, in which case they become a gamer, or they get bored and stop playing. Either way, the sustainable income just isn't there. Hell, it's in the name, for crying out loud. "Casual microtransaction games".

Koviko

And they banned his Facebook account.

@fbueckert Mm, I missed the casual part. I need glasses.

user15026

@fbueckert "in which case they will become a gamer"? Really?

StrixVaria

8:36 PM

@AshleyNunn This site is going to completely eat up all my free time.

user15026

@StrixVaria my apologies

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn If they want games with more depth, we've won. They've become a fledgling gamer.

StrixVaria

I love reading about game design and game theory.

RedRiderX

Virtual Reality headsets have arrived, and it's a new KickStarter!

kck.st/NU6QRn

user15026

@fbueckert We are going to have to agree to disagree on what makes a gamer.

fbueckert

8:37 PM

@AshleyNunn Alright, fair enough.

I wouldn't mind hearing what your definition is.

user2334

@RedRiderX Have we learned nothing from the 90s? I feel like VR headsets are computing's version of Lucy with the football

user15026

@fbueckert I think a lot of my issue comes from reading this as "casual gamers are not gamers".

user15026

Which would, in many contexts, make me a non-gamer

user15026

My 12k rep would like to politely disagree ;)

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Ok, yeah, that was my implication. My definition of gaming doesn't usually include casual gamers specifically because most of them think gaming is games like Farmville. They don't understand that gaming is so much MORE than just clicking buttons.

user15026

8:43 PM

@fbueckert ....isn't all gaming clicking buttons of some sort?

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Ever OCD'ed on getting a perfect score or highest rank of a level?

Or, using a KH reference, farmed the materials for the Ultima Weapon keyblade?

user15026

@fbueckert Yes. So have a lot of people who play the games I do (time-management, hidden object, etc).

user15026

@fbueckert That, no. I am more like lets mainline the story and forget about sidequests

UQAllulloo

@MarkTrapp Pretty good endorsements here though...

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn I'm curious. How many of these casual players really try to perfect a level for the sense of accomplishment?

user15026

8:46 PM

@fbueckert I have no idea, I havent done research, but based on my forum lurkings, a fair number

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Hmm. Interesting. I wouldn't have thought it was usually the case.

user2334

@UQAllulloo Call me a cynic. It takes huge amounts of capital to successfully launch gaming hardware; heck, Microsoft spent billions. Kickstarter projects like this and Ouya seem to massively underestimate the market. But I'll eat crow so hard if any of them succeed.

user15026

@fbueckert Most people don't - they think that since it isn't like Diablo or something that none of us like really work at these games. Hell, look into the Bejewelled competitions, and so forth. People can get quite intense about these things :)

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn I don't think it's our definition of casual gamers that differs. I think it's our definition of casual. :)

user15026

@fbueckert Oh?

fbueckert

8:49 PM

I wouldn't call those people casual gamers.

user15026

What about people like me who play Diner Dash levels over and over to get the expert scores on each one? There is a large number of us.

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn The game itself might be a casual game. I wouldn't call you a casual gamer, though.

user2334

@MarkTrapp it should be related to MoP. I clarified in chat whether we should use the more specific wow-mists-of-pandaria tag, and consensus was that all expansion packs thus far are covered by the world-of-warcraft tag and we should stick with that. I realize it's a little confusing - suggestions for how to clarify are more than welcome. — Lauren 2 mins ago

user15026

@fbueckert Why not?

tiddy

You guys seem to be splitting hairs over difficulty

fbueckert

8:52 PM

Once you bypass the, "Oh, this is fun" stage of gaming into the, "I want to perfect this level" stage, then congratulations! You're no longer casual.

@tiddy Not so much difficulty, as investment.

user15026

but what if I just think of it as fun, and not a desire to perfect the level? Or what if I just want the story, and don't perfect the levels?

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn You want the sense of accomplishment that comes from completing a certain goal, correct?

Ronan Forman

I want to play DayZ but I'm scared.

RedRiderX

@MarkTrapp They might get large amount of capital with 420k on day one of the kickstarter.

tiddy

420k? That's +200k since I read that story this morning

user15026

8:53 PM

@fbueckert aye, but what if that goal is just "finish this iteration of Diner Dash, no high score, just story"?

user2334

@RedRiderX "Huge" to me is hundreds of millions of dollars. Didn't Ouya have the same sort of first day totals? If so, it'll have ~6-7 million when it's done, if it replicates Ouya's pledge timeline

fbueckert

@AshleyNunn Mm. I seem to be shooting myself in the foot. If I continue my logical progression, I'm including the Ville games in my definition of non-casual.

Let me think about it a bit more; I gotta head home, anways.

Ronan Forman

I'm waiting for a kickstarter to fail, I wonder what the implications will be,

user15026

@fbueckert hahaha no worries. I am just curious to see what your thoughts are. :)

user15026

@RonanForman Fail as in not get funded, or fail as in get funded and do terribly?

Koviko

8:56 PM

Is there a disagreement on what games are "casual?" I assumed that any game you can pick up and put down at a moments notice is typically casual.

user2334

@RonanForman Fail in what sense? Just produce nothing? There are a lot of Kickstarters that completely miss their target deadlines by months

Ronan Forman

As in get funded, but then run out of money with no product.

user2334

Ouya seems like a prime candidate: it's just got "Phantom" written all over it

Ronan Forman

Lazers

0

Q: Patch 1.5.0 Arcade and new 'Total Career Games' statistic - what exactly does it count?

I would like to know what exactly counts towards "Total Career Games" in StarCraft II. Does it count co-op and custom games, or only quick-match games? Does it include FFA as well?

starcraft-2

0

Q: How do I change window size?

Looking in the video settings there appears to be only one interface resolution setting that allows me to play windowed and the screen is tiny, I also can't resize the window. How do I play in a larger window, or alternatively, tab out of a full screen window without minimising the game?

dayz

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