And finally, in other MMO news, the EVE world is still reeling from the death of Sean Smith, and its consequences – plus more discussion of The Secret World’s woes, adventures in EVE, and Farmville failings…
- Tobold discusses the potential failing in Zynga’s business model – the fact that their games rely on messaging your friends, which falls down if you simply separate your Zynga social life from your real one – “Their business plan behind that is that this way they’ll quickly gain millions of players for each of their games, and access to a network of people who trust each other, and are thus a juicy target for advertising. Only that while real money is hard to fake, social capital is extremely easy to falsify.”
- Bravetank has entered the world of EVE, and today she writes a fascinating tale of how she ended up being led into learning some of the game’s infamously complex mechanics – “My dps was 16. I’m embarrassed typing it. I was basically dong nothing more than giving the supply ship a nice bit of therapeutic shiatsu massage – a tad painful but boy does it work the joints.”
- Game Delver thinks about the aftermath of Sean Smith’s death, and the increased public light it has shone on gaming – “What I find most interesting about this particular case is just how public and important Mr. Smith’s status as a serious Eve Online player has been. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton even mentioned his background as a gamer. “
- Lewis at Stnylan’s Musings considers the way that Smith’s death has united the EVE universe – “To be an EVE-player however is not to be divided by servers or realms, but to share in the same dangerous sandbox. It makes it easier to achieve name-recognition (Chribba and Dr Caymus, The Mittani and Verone), and even to interact with them on occasion. “
- Nosy Gamer spreads word of a fundraiser to help Sean Smith’s family
- And finally, Syp considers the woes of The Secret World, and looks at four sticking points which are hindering the game’s growth and success – “There’s a cash shop in place, and the game is segmented nicely into different world zones. So just make the first (Solomon Island) free and charge for Egypt, Transylvania, and so on. “
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