Two Games.

       During a recent online discussion, a remark, intended to be insulting, was thrown my way.  Being discussed was the viability of brawling vs. sniping.  The remark was that sniping has been nerfed, and brawling buffed, to the point that sniping is only viable in (expletive) PUG matches.

       While this was clearly intended to insult me, by implying I was not an elite competitive player, it did not.  Firstly, because being an adult with a life, who lives in a home I pay for myself, I don't have the time to devote to competitive play.  Secondly, it's true.  Sniping is mostly for PUGs.

       This caused me to reflect on the dual nature of this game.  In competitive play, you have a team that communicates via voice comm., (via third party software AHEM) and has a team created to support each other in the various combat roles.  To see one in action is amazing, and shows a simple fact, since even the bad teams are good compared to a PUG team.  Communication and coordination trump individual play, no matter how skilled the player, and always will.

       The competitive community is what you will mostly see in the forums.  They are into this game far more than the casuals, like myself, and it shows in many ways.  Mostly in their assumption that everyone in the forums plays competitively.  The numbers do not reflect this, but the online community is mostly competitive players, so they tend to forget that most people only play pick up games.

       The PUG community, (if it can even be called that) is a mixture of beginners, casuals, and those of us who actually used to go to the local battletech center to play.  ($20 for 10 minutes. {that's about $33.00 in today's dollars} Bear that in mind when complaining about the cost of this game).  The game play in PUGs is markedly different.  The lack of coordination, or the ability to count on your teammates to act for the good of the team, or even in a sensible way, results in a very different successful play style.

       There are very few pushes, almost no planning, and many unintended friendly fire accidents.  And while you would think that this environment would lend itself to up close and personal combat, it doesn't.  It happens, but it is not the productive brawling that occurs in competitive play.  It is simply a way for LRM boats on each team to get locks on a Mech that someone else is targeting.

       So the game is really two completely different experiences, depending on how you play.  Most of the disagreements we have about balance stem from this fact.  While there is no ready fix for this, native voice support would go a long way.  Good Hunting.

Turnaround for MWO

       There seems to be a huge amount of optimism, and suggestions, posted in the official, and unofficial MWO forums following the announcement of the sale of the game to "The Right People".   While I too feel this, and look forward to seeing what changes come, I am advising patience and caution.

       Patience because even if they immediately begin to turn everything around to the way the community has been politely suggesting for months (with ropes, torches, and pitchforks in hand), it will take time.  Given the nature of the changes, quite a bit of time.

       Due to school demanding my time (in between my job and kids) I haven't played in a while. (Weeks)  I'm done now. (MBA)  But I hadn't played because I felt the game was stagnating.  I am going to keep up with the updates and see where this goes though.  I feel the same optimism the rest of you do.

       I also advise caution.  Just because the right people own the game does not make the things they (and we), want economically viable.  Remember many have already given up on the game, and may not ever return.  As far as MMOs go this one is Medium, not massive, Multi-player, Online.  Smaller player bases make some features cost more than they could ever return.  I don't work for them and am not privy to their numbers, but I suspect if the things we wanted were economically viable, they would be done already.

       In any case there is the old Hollywood adage: "Good, Fast, Cheap.  Pick which two".  This applies to most things.  Now you could argue we had none of the above before, but even best case scenario: a good, fast game won't be cheap.  A cheap, good game won't be fast, and a fast, cheap game won't be good.

       So be optimistic, but be patient with the new owners.  And don't be surprised when not as much changes as you were hoping for.  Good Hunting.

The likely and unfortunate sale of Minecraft

       There are currently rumors that Microsoft is in talks to buy Mojang/Minecraft.  These sources (Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg) also state that Notch is the one who initiated the talks.  I would say that these rumors are likely true.  This is not based on the reputations of the reporting companies, (Although they are right an alarming percent of the time), but on recent events.

       Allow me to explain.  Notch and the rest of the team have expressed, in recent months, their displeasure at being harassed and second-guessed bu certain types of server owners.  These are the ones who sell items on their servers that are free in the game.  Not original content, game features.  This meant they were not only completely unethical (Selling someone else's content without licence), but also violating the End User Licence Agreement. (EULA).

       There was a big to-do over this "sudden" enforcement, with many of these server-owners, which represent a truly small minority of server operators, making a big stink over being told they can't sell someone else's work.  It was at this point some despairing tweets came out of the development team.

       Then we have the takedown of Bukkit.  If they were to sell the game, a site that allowed the downloading of nearly identical content would obviously need to be eliminated.   This all adds up to a picture that either a sale of the game or company is about to happen, or some other, very major announcement is coming.  Also likely not good.

       The writing is on the walls.  As of my writing 16,646,675 copies had been sold.  If each major update (1.1, 1.2 etc.) sold for 15 dollars (and a few cent) they would make back the 2 Billion dollar price.  This is assuming no other content is sold in game, (it would be) and no money from merchandise, (which there would be).  This would also give Microsoft (or any purchaser) access to the player base.

       I believe this will happen, and it saddens me that the greed of a small few, will wreck things for the vast majority.

      Fingers crossed anyway.  I have never wanted to be wrong so badly.