Who's Winning the Gold Farming War?

Steve at PlayNoEvil has some interesting analysis up on the current state of gold farming in MMORPGs (though he does admit that since hard stats are difficult to come by, "any analysis is more akin to reading tea leaves"); using data provided by mmobux, he looks at the pricing trends to try and divine what might be going on in the wild world of selling gold:

If anti-gold farming initiatives were effective, gold prices should go up as the cost of business increases for gold farmers. (NOTE: This assumes that demand is fairly constant. If game companies could actually convince their players not to buy gold, than prices would drop with a glut of gold on the market and no one to buy it. I've not been able to get volume data from any gold sellers, but my sense is that their customers are not going away.)

The Gold Farming War - Who's winning? [PlayNoEvil]

NCsoft Shuts Down Illegal Servers

Joe Ybarra on Stargate MMO, Free To Play, Licensing

It's hard to fault people for being really ambitious, and Joe Ybarra (producer of games ranging from The Bard's Tale to the Matrix Online, and now of Stargate Worlds) certainly sounds ambitious. Ybarra talked to Gamasutra about the problems of licensing IP, the MMO industry today, where Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment is headed. First, though, there's the Stargate MMO to worry about:

We have a lot of investors, because our company has all been privately funded with a range of investors, and of course our job is to make sure that they make a lot of money out of this process.

So, Stargate is actually, of course, our first product, and it's the one that's the most visible product, but if you look at what it takes to be a real player in our industry, part of what's made the better companies successful is the fact that they have scale.

Y Control: Joe Ybarra On Cheyenne Mountain's Massive Plans [Gamasutra]

Blizzard Versus Glider: The Motions

Last year, Blizzard decided to go after Glider (the botting program that lets you skip past the grind and get to the good stuff); Michael Donnelly, the guy behind Glider (who has apparently made nearly $2.8 million off of it) is fighting back, and now both sides have filed motions arguing their case. The summary judgment briefs and analysis have been making the rounds the past week or so: Blizzard claims that Glider infringes on the EULA of WoW by copying portions of code and is pissing of WoW players (as well as gobbling up resources), while Glider is saying that grinding to level 70 is boooooring and they're just helping players get to the fun bits. Both sides are seeking to be declared victorious without having to go through a protracted legal battle. We'll see what happens and who comes out on top.

Terra Nova has mirrors of the summary judgment motions, as well as a quick little wrap-up; Rock, Paper, Shotgun gets to the nitty gritty and also has a poll (question: 'Should Blizzard crush Glider?' options: 'Aye! Bots = cheating,' 'Nay! Grinding = misery,' 'Ayenay! Blizzard should provide a levelling service themselves' - thus far, 'Aye!' is winning), and PlayNoEvil has some analysis up from a security standpoint.

Blizzard v WoW Glider: Interesting, no? [Terra Nova]; Democracy Inaction: Blizzard vs Bots [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]; World of Warcraft Warden vs. Glider - Which is the Lesser Evil? Who owns my computer? {PlayNoEvil]

Goodbye Gold Farmers, Hello Gold Frauders

Chinese Game Industry Deals 'Paralyzed'

China Launching 'Operation For Tomorrow' Crackdown

What would modern China be without campaigns? This one's lacking in a snappy name and related propaganda, but the government is gearing up to go after those hotbeds of moral decay, crime, and WoW: internet cafes. Introducing "Operation for Tomorrow," targeting unlicensed websites, internet cafes, and porn.

Internet cafes have been repeatedly targeted for breeding juvenile crime and promoting truancy, despite widely ignored rules barring anyone under 18 from admission. Located in towns and small cities throughout China, internet cafes mainly offer online games that are popular among young people. Authorities have blamed the cafes for Internet addiction and for encouraging juvenile crime as a way to earn money to play online games.

First the problem was that kids were so busy playing WoW and other MMORPGs that they didn't have time for anything else; now the problem is that WoW's keeping them too busy ... with crime? Does this mean we'll see a related drop off in suspect addiction 'treatment' methods?

China Targets Internet in Crime Sweep [AP]

Multiplayer Lessons of GDCs Past

Danc at Lost Garden has a blast from the past up, in the form of a snip from a talk given by Dani Bunten Berry on good design elements for multiplayer games (all the way back in 1997). It's quite a list, but just goes to show that a lot of good design elements are pretty timeless.

"Zero sum" is bad. Games where I win and you lose are bad. Worse still is "I win and all the rest of you lose". Notwithstanding the current cultural obsession with endzone strutting by winners, losers do not enjoy themselves and if you can help take the sting out of it, you should. Alliances, cooperative play, ranked "winners" rather than "A winner" with a bunch of losers are all options. Pacing needs variety. Slow periods should follow intense ones and forced "time-outs" can offer opportunities to socialize, catch your breath and anticipate things to come. Remember, the players no longer have a "pause key" as they did in a solo-game. Strategies need "wiggle room". People have different personal styles and when playing against each other it's great to let them "do it their own way" rather than a single approach that all must follow. If possible you should balance the game such that a strategic planner for instance might not always beat the joystick jockey or the detailed tactical type. A game that allows for diverse people to play diverse ways is always best.

There's much, much more, but it is interesting to see what we're still talking about in regards to multiplayer game design. We'll find out shortly what gems this year's GDC will produce.

GDC: Social lessons of years past [Lost Garden]

10 Reasons Free To Play Growth May Be Slow

China Trying To Keep Out Foreign MMORPGs

It's no secret that foreign games, be they WoW or Korean imports, are wildly popular in China - thus, in a clear case of local protectionism, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has instituted new regulations to keep out foreign game companies:

Under the new regulation, the [GAPP] will postpone the examination, approval and licensing of foreign company products if the companies are sued or targeted for arbitration actions by Chinese online game companies.

It sounds to me like this is dealing with new products and WoW is safe from frivolous lawsuits for the time being - but this is still rife with potential problems, since many domestic games are introduced to China via partnership between foreign companies and domestic operators. The potential negative impacts on domestic companies if games are unfairly held up is huge; and some of the most recent lawsuits involving Chinese and foreign game companies have involved disputes over licenses and operations. Considering Chinese companies have proved they have absolutely no compunction about illegally operating foreign games outside set corporate agreements, I'm not at all convinced this will actually do anything in the long run other than encourage domestic companies to commit IP theft.

China Adopts New Regulations to Keep Out Foreign Online Game Companies [Virtually Blind]

Chinese Government Cracking Down on Online Gaming

Outspark Gets Lots of Funding, Talks Asian Games in the US

Worlds in Motion has an interesting Q&A up with Susan Choe and Nick Foster of Outspark, a company that has imported games like Fiesta and Secret of the Solstice for US audiences. Outspark has managed to secure $11 million USD in funding from various sources to "help PC-based online games find the same market in North America as they currently enjoy in Asia," and Choe and Foster talk about everything from importing Korean games wholesale, how they put together the project in the first place, and the carpal tunnel inducing process of picking what games to bring over:

... We all played games, to a point where I needed acupuncture for my wrist! And we played games, from MMORPGs, to first-person shooters, to racing games ....

But, in a sense, we were really looking for games that everybody can play, even the thirty-five year old women, without a lot of complications. But there are certain specific criteria we also look for in the game developers: 1. They believe in the North American, Western market. 2. They have the capacity to work with us, because — as you guys know — these games, once they're launched, that's the beginning of your work, not the end, unlike the console games.

It's an interesting look at one company who is trying to bring over some fresh blood while still appealing to a wide audience (and has the funding to back up their effort) - well worth a read through if you have the time.

Q&A - Outspark Gets $11 M Funding, Talks 'Virtual Playground' [Worlds In Motion]

MMOs Following An Ancient Epic Tradition

Zhengtu: Where RMT, Gold Farming and Gambling Reign Supreme

2007 - the Year of 'Accessible' Games?

Play MMOs, Learn A Second Language

World of Evecraft?

CDC Games Sues South Korean Company