Tradeskill Perspectives

Halloween desserts

2011-10-31T10:31:00.000-07:00

We're having a pot luck Halloween lunch today at work, in addition to a costume contest and department decorating contest. I spent an amazing amount of time this weekend cooking, both to bring stuff to Saturday's halloween party, and for the pot luck. Leftovers from the party also came to the pot luck so there's no shortage of goodies! Here's some recipes: Pumpkin pie Puff pastry to line a

The Path of the Beastlord

2011-10-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

My Beastlord lore article is now officially posted, so here it is also. This was an interesting story to write and I had to do a bit of research, since the first precursors to the return of the beastlord class actually happened during the mystic epic weapon quest several years ago, although players did not realize that then. But since I don't play a mystic, I hadn't done the epic quest, so

Elements of Lore

2011-10-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

Game teams can be very different in their organization from one company to another. I've got some friends working at other companies who tell me their team is very compartmentalized: one player writes the quest outline and dialog, another one puts it in the game, a third one does things like choose what the quest NPCs and items look like, a fourth creates the reward items, etc. Other companies

What Do Players Want?

2011-09-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

A selection of quotes from nightly /feedback reports that amused me, interested me, or made me think. Sometimes I sure wish I the feedback reports could tell me the context behind the report; particularly for that first one. I wonder what was happening! --- Text: confine gnomes. --- Text: I've actually become bored with typing this but we **NEED** more hotbars... My warden is

What do game designers do anyway?

2011-08-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

We recently posted a job opening on the EverQuest 2 team for a game designer to fill my old role managing tradeskills. As most people know, I was hired directly from the player community, without any game design experience; in fact for many years I was an I.T. manager responsible for all things I.T. related in the Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and New Zealand offices of my

Red shirt!

2011-07-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

Normally I wouldn't bother to repost this, but today it seems rather appropriate, so ... =) Your results:You are Mr. Scott You are a fun-loving foreigner with an amazing ability to get any job done on time. Often described as a "Miracle Worker". Mr. Scott 75% Chekov 75% Jean-Luc Picard 65% Uhura 65% Geordi LaForge 60% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 60% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 55%

Influence of Gaming

2011-07-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

I caught this NPR program on the influence of gaming as I was driving around today. Interesting listening. Link to the whole episode

Great Expectations: in-game stores

2011-06-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

People are strange. In particular, people's reactions to in-game stores are strange. In-game microtransactions seem to bring out very mixed and contradictory feelings in people, and at the same time seems to blind them to the fact they're contradicting themselves. Some things Dave "Smokejumper" Georgeson said in one of his early interviews after joining the EQ2 team expressed a truth of in-game

New position! aka, WWSJD?

2011-06-07T22:02:00.000-07:00

So, apparently it's been far too long since I updated this blog; and the reason for that is that just when I thought work was already flat out busy, I accepted a new position, and it got suddenly EVEN BUSIER. So here's a quick catch up. If you're even bothering to read this blog then you probably already know that since May 2007 I've been a game designer on the EQII team, in charge of the

Recent G.I.R.L. blogs

2011-06-07T21:11:00.000-07:00

Things I've been writing elsewhere while I wasn't writing here! G.I.R.L. Talk with Tiffany Chu G.I.R.L. Talk with Jennifer Chan G.I.R.L. Talk with Judy Tyrer

What Do Players Want?

2011-03-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

A selection of assorted feedback from the past week: --- Text: Guys i am dying for more hotbars. This game is incredible, but ten hotbars isnt enough! =) --- Text: i think there should be more guards patroling new halas just for protection and to make the city feel alive --- Text: please make key mobs un-despanwable for idiots like me --- Text: thanks for yet

Egg-free Guinness Pudding

2011-03-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

This is a version of the Guinness Chocolate Pudding recipe I posted earlier, modified so it contains no eggs. Ingredients 4 tsp Bird's Custard Powder (which contains no eggs) - US residents can generally find this in import stores such as World Market 4 tbsp milk 0.5 cups sugar, plus 3 tablespoons 1.5 cups of Guinness stout beer 2.25 cups of heavy whipping cream 4 ounces of dark chocolate (I

Why gnomes are great

2011-03-01T21:45:00.000-08:00

(This will be a rather short post as there is a cat fast asleep on one of my arms so I'm typing slow and one-handed.) As I mentioned in my last post, the final day of the Destiny of Velious launch events is today, and it's a series of flying races run by those mechanically-minded tinkerers, the gnomes. Check out this video of the races! And here's a great screenshot taken by Gnobrin, one of

Velious is here!

2011-02-27T15:09:00.000-08:00

(Warning: may contains some small spoilers.) It's been too long since I last posted, in my defense I can only point to our fantastic new expansion Destiny of Velious which shipped last week to huge success! It kept us very busy making it, but I've seen almost nothing but positive comments about pretty much all aspects of the expansion, and everybody with fond memories of Velious from EQ1 days

Recent G.I.R.L. blogs

2011-02-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Some of what I've been writing while I wasn't here ... Making Mother-Friendly Games G.I.R.L. Talk With Abby Watt The Ghost of Christmas Presents Rescuing the Princess.... From Stereotyping Got several more Q&As coming up over the next month on the G.I.R.L. blog too, so watch out for those!

Exciting week!

2011-01-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

It's been an exciting week around here! Not only is the Destiny of Velious beta getting underway for EverQuest II, but there's lots of other things happening too. Last week saw the soft beta launch of "Dungeon Overlord", a facebook game that I've been playtesting in alpha for quite some time. It's reminiscent of the old DungeonKeeper games (which I loved), in that you can build your

It's beta time again, beta time again...

2011-01-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

January, and it's that time of year again ... beta time for the upcoming EQII expansion, due to release in February! This year's expansion is called Destiny of Velious. If you haven't seen the teaser trailer we showed at Fan Faire yet, here it is. I love the music, which sounds both epic and somehow nostalgic, and the video itself gives you a little teaser of what some of the zones will look

More Mighty Muggs!

2010-12-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

Regular readers of this blog (yes, all 3 of you) might remember that I and other SOE staff decorated some little figurines called Muggs to auction off at this year's Fan Faire. (My blog about the one I made can be found here.) The SOE Muggs, awaiting auction: Well! Little did we suspect it, but we apparently inspired Dellmon and Aliscious, the co-hosts of the EQ2Talk podcast, to make their

What Do Players Want?

2010-12-05T09:26:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the blog silence - between moving house and work getting busy as we approach the holidays and upcoming expansion beta, I haven't had a lot of spare time! But here for your interest now are some interesting/amusing/just plain odd selections of player feedback submitted over the past week. (It should be noted I have already implemented at least one of these since seeing it ...) =)

Gamer Entitlement Going Too Far

2010-10-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

Anyone who works in or even near the game industry is probably familiar with the phenomenon of entitlement - how people who play games feel they are entitled to rather a lot more things from a game than the game's developers, or legal terms of use, might actually reasonably expect. This happens in other areas of life too of course, but for some reason computer game players seem to get

Yay, Arixystix!

2010-10-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

A co-worker of mine from SOE has just become a former co-worker, abandoning us to work full time at her real-life crafting. She's an artist and has worked on a number of SOE's games over the years, most recently FreeRealms and Clone Wars, but she's been doing more and more "real life" crafting over the past couple of years and finally decided to try and make a full time business of it. It's a

Butter Tarts Recipe

2010-10-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Butter tarts are apparently a Canadian classic (though I had no idea till I left Canada and nobody had heard of them). They're delicious and easy to make, and I still have some former co-workers who drool at the memory and demand I make them when they visit. So here's the recipe, in two parts (pastry, and filling). Pastry can obviously be used for any kind of tart instead, also! Short Pastry

Minecraft, Everybody's Doing It!

2010-09-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, for reasons that we don't entirely understand (although Malcolm Gladwell took a look at some factors in his book "The Tipping Point"), an idea, or meme, or a product suddenly gains rapid popularity. "Going viral" it's often called these days, meaning that it's no longer being spread by the owner advertising it, but it is spreading via other people, spreading infectiously, like a virus

Recent G.I.R.L. blogs

2010-09-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

Some recent posts I've written for SOE's G.I.R.L. blog: G.I.R.L. Talk with Lesly Irwin Fan Faire: It's All About the People Joe "Rystall" Shoopack also followed up with some of the previous G.I.R.L. scholarship winners in this Summer Art Internships post.

What do players want?

2010-09-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

Some bits of nightly in-game feedback that caught my eye recently for being amusing, or unusual, or interesting, or just plain incomprehensible. --- Text: I would like to see a house item called Doors. This way we can have doors in our houses. Floor item, position and grow to the desired size. These would save state so that they would not auto close. Also, I would like to see them have

Fan Faire

2010-08-18T22:20:00.000-07:00

SOE's Fan Faire this year was August 5-7 this year, at Bally's Las Vegas, same place as last year. Some of the (many) highlights for me this year included meeting some folks I played the original EverQuest with, almost 10 years ago. We three all played halflings, back in the day (some of us still do!) I also knew the lady in the panda suit from EverQuest (she's been a regular at Fan Faire

Mighty Mugg

2010-08-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

Meet Qho Augren! Qho is a young boy from the Village of Shin in EverQuest II. He gives a small questline called "A Gathering Obsession", in which he explains his fascination with harvesting and his intention to be a harvester when he grows up. However, since his parents say he's too young to go out harvesting yet, he asks your help to bring him back samples from all over Norrath so he can

Player-eating spiders, and why collecting real data is important.

2010-07-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting conversation with a couple of co-workers at lunch today. We were reminiscing about fond memories from older MMOs, and a number of examples were brought up. A newbie zone in WoW which was directly adjacent to a very high level zone, leading one co-worker to be very swiftly eaten by a very horrible spider. Another co-worker in WoW who tried jumping into the Ironforge, thinking

G.I.R.L. blog Q&As

2010-07-06T17:19:00.000-07:00

Over the past month or two I've been doing some little Q&A sessions with women who work in the computer game industry. I've been lucky to talk to some very interesting and smart ladies, who took the time to answer questions about themselves, their jobs, and their opinions about women in gaming! The goal of these little Q&A blogs is to demonstrate that there ARE plenty of women working in gaming

What do players want?

2010-07-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

A selection of some /feedback from players: --- Text: Astonishing graphics. Unique MMO, perhaps the greatest MMO ever to exist. --- Text: there sould be something that makes you jump really high like i was sittin here thinking this is a game of endless possiblitys why not be able to become lycan or vamperic not fully but u should understand where i am coming from --- Text: A

WARNING: DO NOT PUSH BUTTON!

2010-06-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

Some days I'm just in an odd mood. As poor Vanesta found out. A few months ago when we were planning out the in-game loot items for the upcoming Legends of Norrath set (the online trading card game that ties in with EQ and EQII) I had another of those moments. I'd been working on Tinkerfest quests at the time (a gnomish festival of all things clockwork that comes around once a year) and

Visiting home

2010-06-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

Today I logged in to the original EverQuest to take some screenshots of things for ideas for work. I loved the game and played it devotedly from 2000 to 2005, but before this week, I haven't really been back to EverQuest since EverQuest II launched. I had fully intended to continue logging into EQ and play both games, but EQII completely captured my interest, and then became my work also, and

Om nom nom ... Guinness pudding!

2010-06-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

This isn't my recipe at all, I found it (via a friend) on the Sprinklebakes blog, and she herself got it from Epicurious. However, I've made it a few times now and everyone loves it, so reposting here with my notes and modifications to share the joy (and also so I can easily find it again). Ingredients 4 egg yolks 0.5 cups sugar, plus 3 tablespoons 1.5 cups of Guinness stout beer 2.25 cups of

Advanced Journeyman Tasks

2010-06-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

Since joining the EQII design team I've been steadily adding more and more tradeskill quest content into the game (prior to my hiring there were next to no tradeskill quests at all). After revamping the tradeskill tutorial series I started adding a one-every-ten-levels series given out by a Grandmaster crafter in each home city. The quests were a learning process for me as much as anything;

Just can't live without it ...

2010-05-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

I had dinner on Friday with a friend who plays World of Warcraft, and at one point she mentioned that she keeps hoping that I might realize how much fun the game is and come join. I did give WoW a try a year or so ago; they had a recruit-a-friend promotion on, so my boyfriend (who does play on and off) gave me a trial key and I got to somewhere around level 20 before cancelling. Alas, I had to

G.I.R.L. blog: Catching up

2010-05-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

Some of the G.I.R.L. blog posts I've written over the past few months, but may have missed linking to: Should Barbie Be A Game Designer? April Fool's Day Reflections Thinking Pink? Please Don't The Grandmother Test Risk Taking In The Bike Lanes Happy Birthday, EverQuest II Q&A With Rebecca

What do players want?

2010-05-08T16:46:00.000-07:00

More selections from in-game /feedback: --- Text: For the love of god (seriously it's that bad! =), please allow us to hide the white names displayed above the plushies from the daily chronomage plushy quest! --- Text: when do defilers get their turn at being OP? --- Text: I wish there was an appearance slot for colored light sources. --- Text: Attunable should

It's a guide's life

2010-04-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

EverQuest and EverQuest II have a volunteer guide program, where players who enjoy interacting and roleplaying with others can volunteer a few hours per week and are given the tools to run little unique quests and events. (Guide FAQ for more info). I like to think of guides as the fairytale characters of EverQuest - the scruffy beggars or scary crones or ugly toads that the hero/heroine meets

What do players want?

2010-04-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

Some more selections of player /feedback submitted in-game. I thought these ones really demonstrated how opinions are often completely contradictory. Note that all these comments were received on the exact same day, based on the exact same set of in-game conditions. --- Text: grats on the resist changed in battlegrounds. Now my wizard cannot beat any class in a 1vs1 situation. Roots

Shadows of the Betrayed

2010-04-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

Shadows of the Betrayed, EQII's first tradeskill signature quest, was discovered on March 2nd, exactly two weeks after the launch of the "Sentinel's Fate" expansion. This is the quest that I had obliquely referred to prior to the launch when I talked about "quest wrangling". I had hoped to be able to add a tradeskill signature quest in for this expansion, as I had a wonderful set of tradeskill

What do players want?

2010-04-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

Today Dellmon of the EQ2's Day podcast reminded me I haven't posted player feedback in ages. I stopped as we approached our last expansion, since during beta, when most of our feedback was about NDA-covered beta things, I couldn't post them. But since Sentinel's Fate launched it's just been laziness, I'm afraid! So, without further ado: Selections from recent player-submitted in-game feedback ..

Ada Lovelace

2010-03-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

Apparently it's Ada Lovelace Day today. I'd heard of Ada Lovelace, but the day was new to me, and it seems to be very new in general. From what I've read, it was established last year to try and raise awareness of women in science and technical areas, and bloggers are encouraged to blog on this day about women in technology fields. Almost 2000 people blogged last year on this day, and it's

GDC 2010: Achievements

2010-03-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since I posted here, but in my defense, I took some time off after the expansion launched, and at present I'm in San Francisco after attending GDC. For those readers not in the industry, that stands for Game Developers Conference, and is a week-long conference consisting of discussion panels, round tables, lectures, a large display floor, and lots and lots of opportunities to

Food for thought

2010-02-22T23:45:00.000-08:00

Been too busy leveling up my characters in EQII to spend extensive time blogging this week! So just a quick update with a couple of interesting links I've read lately. Be Lucky - It's An Easy Skill To Learn: research by Richard Wiseman at the University of Hertfordshire, England suggests that being lucky is something that can be learned, and more to do with a person's attitude and state of mind

TGIF!

2010-02-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

It's Friday of launch week, and the expansion launch went super smoothly on Tuesday. I don't recall an EQII expansion launch that went so uneventfully, and had people logging in so early! So what's expansion launch day like? Well, it's a pretty long day for some of the team - key folks including the team leads were in the office from an ungodly early hour in the morning. Greg "Rothgar" Spence

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas... in February

2010-02-15T11:34:00.000-08:00

It's Monday morning, less than 24 hours before the launch of EverQuest II's sixth expansion, Sentinel's Fate. I feel a little like it's Christmas eve, both excited about all the fun to come and anxious whether everybody will like the presents I got them. I even spent a good part of Saturday night dreaming about it - dreaming about people running through the bigger quest lines, worrying whether

Random vs predetermined

2010-02-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

An "anonymous" poster left the following thoughts on an earlier blog post of mine, which I thought was interesting: Earlier this evening, while crafting some provisions, I was musing on the absence of "randomness" in the item portion of EQ2. Recipes produce endless carbon copies of whatever you want to make. Loot seems to be pre-defined as opposed to being randomly generated from pre-established

Quest wrangling

2010-01-30T11:32:00.000-08:00

This morning I am wrestling with a quest that I want to add for the coming EQ2 expansion, The Sentinel's Fate. Since the beta is still under NDA I can't talk about any details, but I can say that writing this particular quest has been giving me grief for the past few days. I've talked a little bit about the process of writing quests before, on the official EQII blog. Here's a link to that post,

Farewell, STO, and good luck!

2010-01-26T07:44:00.000-08:00

Star Trek Online open beta ends today at 6pm, after being extended an extra day. Last night was the last night I'll get to play though, as I'll be at work till after 6pm today. So, I logged on for a bit to try a few last missions and attempt to get a feel for the "massive changes" that were touted in the great 21 Jan beta patch. I tried to play over the weekend also, but extended unscheduled

STO follow up

2010-01-19T22:16:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in a previous post that my expectations for Star Trek Online were not extremely optimistic. But, rather than judge on the basis of gut feeling and limited information, I signed up for the open beta to see for myself. Obviously, with my own upcoming game expansion to work on I haven't had a lot of time to play, but I've played enough to reach a few conclusions at least, and my initial

Easily Distracted

2010-01-12T21:39:00.000-08:00

I'm just not very good at levelling up in MMOs, I'm afraid. It's not that I don't like them - I do - but something about the leveling process fails to captivate me. I know it's supposed to get me hooked - just one more quest till the next level, just one more hour till the next reward - but I guess there's just something missing in the area my brain that controls that area. I have had the same

Where no MMO has gone before

2010-01-08T22:31:00.000-08:00

It's January, and if you're a Star Trek fan you may be aware that there's a Star Trek based MMO currently in beta, and due to launch on February 2nd. (If you haven't been following it, here's a handy link to "everything we know about Star Trek Online" from the STO forums which will likely answer most of your questions.) Rumours of the game have been circulating for years; it was originally

It's good to be home again

2010-01-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

After a lovely Christmas vacation in the United Kingdom, I'm back home in San Diego getting used once again to warm weather, sunshine, and my adorable cats. I'm still getting over a cold, but the sunny San Diego weather should soon cure me, I hope. In the mean time, the first order of business (after unpacking and greeting the cats) was to log in to EverQuest II, where a number of seasonal

Tradeskills on holiday

2009-12-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

I'm on holiday in England at the moment, doing a bit of touristing and catching up with family and friends. My significant other has unfortunately caught a cold though so we're spending a quiet afternoon inside in the warm while he tries to sleep it off, leaving me a bit of time to catch up on email and stuff. I don't have much relevant to tradeskills to say really, but here are a few vaguely

A_random_sexy_elf_girl_001 hits YOU for 5000 platinum!

2009-12-01T22:43:00.000-08:00

It's a well known truism in MMOs that you can roll up a sexy female avatar and people will rush to give you free stuff. While there may be some degree of truth to this, I've never found it to be quite so cut-and-dried as all that. What I do find though is that in pretty much any MMO I have played, if you are friendly and polite and make conversation, particularly "in character" for whatever

For Posterity

2009-11-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

This photo was taken in Jan 2008 ago in a bar for Luke (Feconix)'s birthday: me attempting to strangle Ben (aka Beghn), one of my predecessors at work. (Updated with correct info thanks to Cuppycake!) Although I do occasionally want to strangle Ben, he actually turned out to be a really amiable guy, the kind you'd be happy to have a drink and a chat with in a pub any night. Anyway, I had a

Links 'n' things!

2009-11-17T23:59:00.000-08:00

There's a new blog in town ... the SOE Artists blog! And this week there's a great article up by EverQuest II animator Tom Tobey. Not only does he give a fascinating insight into what kind of work goes into animating characters in the game, but there's also a little sneak peek at the panda men from EverQuest II's upcoming expansion, The Sentinel's Fate. In other news, EQ2Traders has a great

What's Aion Doing Right?

2009-11-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd been playing and enjoying Aion lately, somewhat to my surprise. While I haven't had much free time to play it, aspects of it have impressed me very much and I'm still enjoying it when I can log in. Aion seems to be one of those games where people either love it or hate it; I rarely hear anybody in between. I actually had no intention of playing it

G.I.R.L. blog: A Touch of Hero Worship

2009-11-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

This week on SOE's GIRL blog I talked a little bit about Felicia Day, creator of the web series "The Guild": A Touch of Hero Worship What I didn't mention (as it wasn't quite finished when I actually wrote the post) was that I decided to dress as Felicia Day's character Codex from "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" for Halloween this year. And to do that, required a little bit of Real Life

The darker side of Facebook applications

2009-11-06T15:01:00.000-08:00

No original thoughts from me in this post, but I know quite a few people read this blog who don't necessarily read other gaming news sites, so I thought I'd share a few articles about the shadier side of Facebook/MySpace games and applications that have been receiving a lot of attention within the gaming industry lately. (Those who actually work in the industry have probably already read them,

What do players want?

2009-11-03T21:46:00.000-08:00

Selections from recent player-submitted in-game feedback ...---Text: i think it would be pretty neat if sk/pally's squire helped out their masters, even if they just miss all the time or do like 2 damage, they just stand around and watch their masters get beat on.. also same thing would be cool for rangers companions, they just eat grass while im being killed, doesnt seem like they love me

The Good, The Bad, and the Moral

2009-11-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

Evizaer over at That's A Terrible Idea posted a nice discussion of the overuse of good vs evil in games. It's certainly not just talking about MMOs, but the comments apply very much to MMOs as well as other types of game. And since I work in MMOs, I had a few thoughts relating to them. Looking back at the original EverQuest, which set a lot of the base assumptions that subsequent MMOs have

Ratios

2009-10-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

Fall is here, and so is a wealth of new computer games! My significant other has just finished Uncharted II and is currently engrossed in Borderlands, and I've been playing with the superhero themed Champions Online, and the beautiful Asian influenced Aion.Both games have surprised me in different ways, both good and bad. I'll leave comments about Aion to a different post, just noting that I'm

G.I.R.L. blog: Adventures in D&D

2009-10-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

Another G.I.R.L. blog is up, this time it's my aged maundering about the trials of being a girl with a D&D Players Handbook.Adventures in Dungeons and DragonsYeah, this is the cover I remember! =)

Community Management

2009-10-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

"Wait a minute," I hear you say, "why did are you talking about community management when that's not your job?"Actually, the blog title may be deceiving. Since I don't work in community management, I certainly don't actually presume to blog about how or why to do it. However, it's on my mind because Cuppycake does do it, and very well, and she recently linked the following article which I found

G.I.R.L. blog: What's In A Name?

2009-10-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

A little pondering about naming quest NPCs, and just how DID some of those characters get their names anyway ...What's In A Name?

A week of customer service

2009-10-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

Ah, customer service and the consumer experience in general, how powerful you are. A good experience can win a customer for life, and a bad one lose one just as fast. And I'm not just referring to customer service within computer games, although that's just one example of how important the experience is in general. No, I've had a week of the most mixed experiences in very diverse areas.The

G.I.R.L. blog: My First Multiplayer Game

2009-09-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

A little bit of "good old days" remininscence for my birthday on the G.I.R.L. blog:My First Multiplayer GameAlso for my birthday BBQ, I made a (rather lazy) version of the cake from Portal:Not quite as good as the version I made a year or two ago for a friend at work (below), but I didn't have a lot of time this weekend.This weekend's cake was just a regular white cake, with orange chocolate

Home-made Macaroni & Cheese

2009-09-27T19:38:00.001-07:00

Ingredients 8 oz macaroni (usually elbow macaroni, but you can use anything really)1 cup breadcrumbs (can use up stale bread this way)3 oz salted butter2 oz flour4 oz cheese (cheddar or whatever you prefer)2 cups milk (optional) 2 sausages/hot dogs1 tsp mustard powdersalt and pepper Instructions Boil 8 oz. macaroni (about 10 minutes) till almost cooked, but still on the firm side. Drain these

View predicates

2009-09-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

If you're not actually working in game design the term "view predicates" might not necessarily mean anything to you without explanation, but the concept is pretty simple. The word "predicate" is from the Latin praedicatum, from praedicare ‘make known beforehand, declare’. In game design it refers to something that's required (a condition that has to be met) before you can do something else. For

G.I.R.L. blog: Character Creation

2009-09-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

A new GIRL post is up today:Character CreationEnjoy!

Tradeskill quests

2009-09-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

I try to log into Test server one night a week to chat with the players there. I find it very useful, as it's a rare night that I don't come away with at least a couple things to fix or confirm. Although we designers and then QA do our best to avoid bugs, it can sometimes be a handicap already knowing how something is supposed to work. There's really no substitute for seeing how large numbers

What do players want?

2009-09-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

More selected feedbacks that amused, confused, or interested me, from our players! <3---Text: I've only been playing EQ2 about 5 months but it is my very favorite game. I only have one complaint.I think it should be sexier. An actual underwear or bikini naked look. Sexy appearance items and gear that shows leg, stomach, and cleavage (more than just the monk gi's). Sexy race specific

G.I.R.L. blog updates

2009-09-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

Couple more of my G.I.R.L. blogs have been posted. Yeah, I suck at thinking up clever blog titles!A Goo-d GameI'm not as weird as you think I am ...

What do players want?

2009-09-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

A selection from nightly /feedback reports.---Text: I would like to suggest if you would, a wardrobe for the house that we can put say.. 60+ items into that we wear for appearance armor. Some friends and I were discussing this, our banks are so full of appearance armor that we have no room for other important things. Having the ability to store them inside our home would be wonderful.

Beware of Flying Halflings

2009-09-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

Not really tradeskill related, but I was on EQ2's Test Server tonight while another developer, Gninja, was asking for volunteers to test out a new fight that's going into the game soon. So I joined the raid as they were short some people. Unfortunately I was a little overzealous about equipping myself well enough, put on some of the best items in the game, stole aggro from the tank, and

Cornish pasties

2009-08-28T01:44:00.000-07:00

This is a traditional English meal which was probably originally made with a much tougher pastry so that farmers and workers could just slip it into their pocket to eat cold at lunch time. Nowdays it makes a tasty dinner or lunch either hot or cold.Ingredients1 lb ground beef1 medium potato (or half a large one)1 medium onion (or half a large one)1 tsp saltflaky pastry sheets, store bought

G.I.R.L. Blog updates

2009-08-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

My first few posts on the G.I.R.L. blog are now up:And so it begins again...A busy weekend in San DiegoThe tales we tellReal life got suddenly busy lately so I've been a bit slow updating this blog, but I hope to be back to a more regular schedule soon. The idea is to talk about crafting stuff (both game and RL) here, and general women and gaming thoughts over there.For those who play EQ2, you

What do players want?

2009-08-13T14:08:00.001-07:00

More selections from player feedback reports:---Text: I have lived on this newbie island since 2007, I watch adventures arrive here everyday and then rush off to the mainland seeking fortune. I myself like life on the island and feel no desire to ever leave it. I have one terrible misfortune though, I am completely homeless. There is no housing for those of us who live on the island. I am

Away in a manger...

2009-08-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

One of the great aspects of Fan Faire each year is the opportunity to meet the folks who play our games, and to talk to them about what aspects of the games make them passionate. And we have a lot of very passionate players! And one of the things the EverQuest II team has done for a couple of years now is take away a list of top requests from Fan Faire, address them (where appropriate), and

Bacon and Egg Pie

2009-07-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

This is kind of similar to quiche, but unlike quiche it is not open top, and uses puff pastry instead of the more common short pastry.I cheated and used Pepperidge Farms frozen puff pastry, thawed just enough to no longer be frozen but not so much as to get soft and sticky.Ingredients:2 sheets of flaky pastry (not sweetened)6 eggs2-3 slices of baconsmall onionsage, rosemary, and thyme (or "herbes

Old news

2009-07-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

I first saw this news when Cuppycake pointed it out on Ars Technica yesterday, which makes it old news by game industry standards, but I think it's important enough to call out in multiple places so I will repeat it here anyway.EA puts sexual bounty on the heads of its own booth babesTo sum up: EA is advertising a contest that actively encourages contestants to "perform acts of lust" with their,

But it's just not FAIR ...

2009-07-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

I'm currently readon an interesting book by James Surowiecki called The Wisdom of Crowds. Basically, it's an examination of how groups of people make decisions, both good and bad. And many of the points that he highlights are quite different from what you might expect.I'm only about half way through the book, but I came across the description of some interesting sociological experiments in

Absolute pants

2009-07-17T10:47:00.001-07:00

Ahhh ... the next expansion approaches in EverQuest II, and with it a level cap raise, which means 10 more levels of recipes for me to create for every tradeskill class in the game.And although I have spreadsheets and scripts and things to generate large numbers of items in bulk, there is still hands on tweaking required, and inevitably, bugs. Particularly when large numbers of items are

What do players want?

2009-07-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

More selective samples of in-game /feedback---Text: There should be a Mana Stone upgrade quest, and the stone still could be used, but would travel behind the player has a glowing pet rock!---Text: I would just like to say : Whoever decided to make one of the Necromancer fighter pets a zombie wearing nothing but white boxers is a very, very mean person.---Text: shard of love is lame[Domino note:

Summer pastries

2009-07-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

It's a hot summer day today, and instead of crafting in a computer game on a hot computer, I have been crafting the real way, in the kitchen, trying out a few easy recipes using frozen pastry.Cherry pastriesIngredients- frozen flaky pastry (I have been using Pepperidge Farms brand)- fresh cherries (any kind is fine - if using sour cherries, use extra sugar)- white sugar- confectioner's

Fan faire 2009 pictures

2009-07-07T20:36:00.001-07:00

Having unearthed the cable for my camera in the unpacking process, I've finally been able to download the photos I took at Fan Faire this year! Here are a few...Domino and Kaisha:Domino and Lera, the (not a) Frostfell ElfOne of our wonderful volunteer Guides, all the way from Germany! Breakfast with Tosta and Spindel of the Vagabond KnightsFyreflyte having fun with itemsDomino and Dellmon of the

Tata Domino at Fan Faire

2009-07-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the annual SOE Fan Faire, a big convention type event where players of SOE games congregate to meet each other and the developers, attend panels to hear what's coming up in the SOE family of games, and generally have a good time. For SOE staff it's a lot of work, although rewarding and fun.Typically my day starts around 7-8 when I will find a good, filling breakfast -- my

What do players want?

2009-07-02T11:15:00.001-07:00

More (very selected) player feedback from last week:---------Text: please send me betainvite to sentinels fate.---------Text: I am SO HAPPY that its Odus THANK YOU---------Text: In case nobody has said this in a while, I -like- that the next expansion is going to be Odus.---------Text: I WANT VELIOUS---------Text: Voice chat engine isn't really up to handling

Moonlight Enchantments!

2009-06-23T21:35:00.001-07:00

I was on holiday in Hawaii last February, sitting in the back of a car that was driving me to a scuba dive when it suddenly occurred to me that it would be pretty cool if you could occasionally stumble across an enchanted mushroom ring in a forest somewhere in the game that would give you access to some strange new zone that wasn't normally accessible. (Yes, my mind turns to thoughts of work at

What do players want?

2009-06-22T09:40:00.001-07:00

A (very selective) sampling of last week's player /feedbacks.Text: HiWhen EQII first started we were able to change the colors of our undies. I'd like to see this option return. Thank you.Text: i'd like to see some blood in this game, after playing for so long the cutting noises of a blade or a thump of a club does not immerse me anymore.Text: So food persists through death, but a dietys blessing

Emergent gameplay

2009-06-18T18:17:00.000-07:00

If you don't read a lot of articles and theories about game design you may not have heard the term "emergent gameplay" before. It's pretty much what it sounds like from the name - new ways of playing a game that emerge, rather than being immediately present. Often these new ways are unexpected by the people who made the game ... kind of like buying a toy for a child, only to discover the child

Game Update 52: Monument and Might

2009-06-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Whew. Game update 52 went live today with lots of fun content for pretty much every play style. As usual for a Tuesday I logged into Test server this evening to chat with the folks there and test out a new quest tool to be given to the volunteer Guides. I do like chatting with the folks on Test server and for the most part they are very good about not flooding me with TOO many questions that

What do players want?

2009-06-12T17:40:00.001-07:00

Some (very selective) highlights from this week's player feedback reports.Text: Combine a dirge and troubador and make a troubadirge! :D troubadirge=uber.Text: The next expansion better be Odus or the gnome gets it! You hear me?!Text: Coercer mythical looks stupidText: Hello Friends,It has recently occured to me that it would be very easy and cost effiecient for Sony

Creating happiness in MMOs

2009-06-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

TED.com has been around for some years, but in 2006 they started making public the many interesting talks they have hosted. Today I watched a fascinating talk by Nancy Etcoff, a psychology researcher based at Harvard: On Happiness And Why We Want It.Etcoff discussed her studies on the psychological basis of happiness, and pointed out a number of interesting points. Most interesting to me was