Brace yourselves, the Revolution is coming...

With Nintendo already having released their next-gen console and Sony and Microsoft soon to follow suit, the next generation of console wars is on the horizon. There's plenty of fancy corporate speak, rhetoric, and big ideas being tossed around, but are the Big Three really delivering on all the best features that they could be offering?

To find out, I've decided to invent my own hypothetical "perfect" console design and compare and contrast its specifications with what we can expect from the new and upcoming consoles. I say "perfect" in quotations because of course there truly is no such thing, as there will always be hardware advancements or new ways discovered in which the software could be improved or streamlined with each passing year. There's also necessary sacrifices to consider in order to bring cost under control. My goal with this console's design is ultimately to aim for the most meaningful and robust feature set as possible while trimming the fat as needed in order to make it into an affordable and elegant product.

As a longtime gamer who has owned nearly every major gaming hardware platform since the NES and enjoys just about every genre, I would like to think I have a lot of experience and insight to draw from, so hopefully this should be an interesting read if nothing else. Now what would this console be like you ask? Prepare yourselves mortals, as I shall now unveil...

Brace yourself.

The Derpalon Revolution!

...Yeah OK, so I basically just stole the old codename of the Nintendo Wii, but hey, it's Nintendo's loss because it's a pretty sexy name if I may say so, and it aint my problem they decided to drop it in favor of a less attractive name, so DEAL WITH IT.

I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite blog on the Extranet.

Moving on, let's take a look at its general feature set.

Starting with the hardware, the Revolution would house an x64-based chipset, taking advantage of the latest 64-bit computing technology. In fact while we're on the subject, let's just get the biggest cat out of the bag right now. The system's overall architecture would basically resemble a PC with no real significant proprietary deviations. Why this decision? I have a number of reasons. Traditionally, consoles have used proprietary architectures that may offer several advantages, but most of those advantages only benefit the company and not necessarily consumers or developers. For example, proprietary architectures make it more difficult for developers to code for the system as well as port their titles to other systems, so if the Revolution was hypothetically stomping the competition in sales, developers would feel more inclined to make their titles exclusive to my system and consider porting it to others later if at all. This would benefit me, but not really the developer. In general, proprietary designs are just restrictive and limit creative potential. Besides, consoles have been slowly moving toward becoming comprehensive media centers anyway, and they've always been at least one step behind PCs in their feature set because of their restrictive nature, so rather than constantly playing catch-up with PCs, why not essentially *be* a PC from the get-go?

Know your place, peons.

That all being said, the system is more than just a glorified gaming PC; the overall hardware architecture is only PC-based to eliminate unnecessary restrictions, but the system will still deviate from traditional gaming PCs in several significant ways as I will elaborate on later. For now, let's just say my goal with this system is to make it as open and accessible as possible, which is the main reasoning behind this design.

Continuing onward, let's finally get into specifics:

The Processor: An Intel Core i5 Sandy Bridge Quad Core CPU. The reasons behind this should be fairly obvious. It's a powerful mid range CPU that generally offers the best performance for your buck without getting too excessively expensive for the average consumer.

The RAM: 8GB DDR3 @1600 Mhz. I thought about reducing this to 4GB because in truth you don't really need the extra space. What's more important is the speed. Consider all the performance the Playstation 3 was able to push out of merely a combined 512 MB of RAM between its GPU and main RAM. However, with RAM being so inexpensive these days, you might as well go the extra mile in this case.

Internal Storage: 320 GB 7200 RPM 32MB cache SATA hard drive. I thought about doing a solid state drive but here was where I felt the system could seriously afford to trim some fat. While it's true that solid state drives are significantly faster, they're a lot more expensive for a lot less storage space, and they generally have higher failure rates than standard hard drives, so ultimately I felt it would be more beneficial overall to cut down on the price with an additional bonus of getting more storage space out of it.

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti. With 384 CUDA cores running at 830 Mhz, the GTX 560 Ti is a suitably powerful mid range card that won't empty your wallet while still delivering smooth and crisp 1080p graphics. It was tempting to go for an AMD card instead, but the NVIDIA drivers come with some useful bonus features like adaptive VSYNC for more stable framerates without having to put up with screen tearing, and FXAA, which handles anti-aliasing at better performance than the traditional MSAA method.

Physical Media: Blu-ray Burner Drive. The system will be able to play Blu-ray and DVD movies in addition to games, and the ability to burn discs is supported so you can create physical backup copies of games you download digitally.

The Controller: Wii U Pro Controller design, which technically is just a further refinement of the Xbox360 controller design, but so far out of all the controllers I've used before, this one is unmatched. The curvature of the controller fits snugly in your hands and the button layout is as perfect as you could ask for. The new placement of the right joystick might take some getting used to if you've been using an Xbox360 controller for a while, but I think in the end the new location makes more sense. In addition, the controller has a mini-USB slot so you can plug it into the console for the rechargeable battery like the PS3 controller. As some personal tweaks to the design that I would make, the controller would also support a 3.5mm jack so you can easily plug in your standard PC microphone for voice chat. Furthermore, the recharge cable will be a full 10 feet long, so unlike the PS3's cables, if you get stuck running low on battery while playing, you won't have to sit up close to your TV. And finally, I would ditch the rumble pack feature but include a motion gyroscope. The rumble pack was an interesting experiment but ultimately it's just always felt gimmicky and it's especially annoying when you set your controller down and suddenly it just vibrates off the table and falls to the floor because somebody thought it was a good idea to use it during cutscenes. As for motion controls, I seriously considered a more fully-featured motion controller, and while I did feel the Wii's motion controls improved the gameplay experience for some games, most of the time it only offered marginal improvements at best or felt like a shoehorned nuisance at worst. Nonetheless I really wanted to give developers a wide range of freedom with this console, so I also considered bundling a motion controller in addition to a standard controller with it, but in the end I feel this is another necessary area where fat must be trimmed. I still include the motion gyroscope though because I saw some decent uses of it in PS3 titles like Uncharted where it was put to good use for balancing obstacles and the like. Also, the system would still have a built-in bluetooth adapter, so motion controllers can be easily adapted to it down the road. The Revolution has mouse and keyboard support too; though it wouldn't come included with them, but who doesn't have these already laying around somewhere anyways?

The Case: 4 USB 3.0 ports on the front for controllers and 4 more ports on the back for whatever other peripherals you might feel inclined to use. There's a power button, and there's an eject button for the disc drive. Nothing fancy really. The outer design isn't that important to me. The big spectacle here is about what's underneath. The case would have a modular, easily-disassembled design so that parts can be upgraded with little effort. Much like the Xi3 Piston, the goal here is to give the system the capability to upgrade like a PC but without all the hassle if you aren't as tech savvy. Internally, most of the parts all snap together neatly with connections being mostly cordless, so even a novice can follow the simple instructions for installation. However, where this system deviates from the Piston is in its form factor. It's no grapefruit-sized PC unfortunately, being significantly larger than the Piston. The reasoning behind this is mostly a cost-saving measure. It's more expensive to manufacture smaller parts, and additionally, the larger size makes it less cluttered and more spacious inside, which again makes it easier for novices to work with when upgrading parts. It may not look quite as pretty in your living room, but you'll save a pretty penny in the process, and maybe even a headache too.

I have no idea what you just said, so here's a bunny with an Oreo on its head.

Finally, we've covered all the hardware basics, but what does the Revolution have to offer in terms of software?

Naturally, as the Revolution would be the most open console to date, it would utilize a modified version of the free and open source operating system, Linux. Built on top of the Linux operating system is the Revolution Dashboard--your basic equivalent to Steam's "Big Picture" mode for Windows PCs. This would be the first interface you would be greeted with upon powering up your console.

The Revolution Dashboard: Here you can easily navigate through your games list and start jumping into whatever you want to play. You can buy games physically or download them from the Revolution Store that is built into the dashboard. It also comes with a number of other features built into it right from the get-go. If you download a game digitally, you can create physical backup copies on blu-ray or DVD, and you can do the same for DLC and patch updates as well. You can create a friends list through your Revolution Network account and easily invite them to a party where you can text or voice chat with them. You can browse through your video library and listen to your favorite music while playing your games. You can likewise access shared media over the network and stream it to your Revolution if other networked PCs have media sharing enabled, and finally, online play is free of charge with the exclusion of subscription-based MMOs.

Blah blah, these are all standard features we've seen in consoles before. Well now, let's get into some of the more interesting stuff.

For any additional software needs, you can now tap the Revolution Button at the center of your controller and bam, the dashboard now minimizes to your Linux desktop. Want to watch YouTube or Netflix? Fire up your foxy Mozilla web browser and head on over to their website. Want to do word processing on your TV? Download LibreOffice. Want to Skype someone? You can download an app for that too. If it runs on Linux, it runs on the Revolution. New services and applications don't have to go through any approval process to run on my system; if someone's made an application for it, you can just go download it. If you're feeling too lazy to switch to your mouse and keyboard, you can navigate your entire desktop with your controller too, with drivers built-in to allow you to control the cursor with your joystick and prompt you with a digital keyboard interface on-screen when you need to type something.

But there's still more. When I was playing Halo 2 Vista on my PC, I noticed that the game automatically disables the Windows Aero interface to conserve system resources while the game is playing, but a lot of other games for PC don't do this out-of-box. Thus, the idea came to me for "Performance Mode". Just tap one of your shoulder buttons on your controller while in the Revolution Dashboard and quickly enable Performance Mode to automatically disable graphics rendering of any unnecessary visuals running in the background on your Linux desktop, thus maximizing your gaming performance. Or, you can even go a step further with Full Performance Mode, and the Dashboard will automatically close any non-essential programs and processes altogether in addition to the previous steps, leaving only the necessary processes for gaming. Just make sure you've saved any data that you don't want to lose in those open programs before enabling it (a warning prompt would be displayed before confirming it).

I'll show YOU performance, Loco!

Last but not least, the Revolution Store would enforce a strict "No Connection Required" policy for all single player content. If a game is capable of being played by yourself, there's no reason you should be forced to connect to the Internet. This is the key differentiation that separates the Revolution service from Steam. Even with Steam's offline mode, you are still required to temporarily connect to the service upon installation to authenticate your copy before you can play offline. In other words, even if you created a physical backup copy of your game, you still can't play it after installation until you authenticate through your Steam account online. While this may only seem like a minor inconvenience now, this still effectively translates to a ticking time bomb, or perhaps more aptly put, an extended rental for all your games. If the Steam service ever shuts down, changes its terms, or drops support for games among your library, you can no longer play them. Not so for the Revolution. The fact of the matter is, when you put DRM in your games like this, all it does is hurt the legitimate consumer and to some extent even legitimizes what pirates are doing, because now they are offering a superior version of the product wherein your ownership is not only free of charge but is also free of online restrictions. And that's just it: Steam's DRM measures don't really stop pirates either. As I write this, nearly every single player game you see on Steam can be found cracked online and downloaded within minutes if you just know where to look. So the question is, why do publishers insist on treating the legitimate customer as guilty until proven innocent while this sort of backwards draconian regulation isn't even actually effective at curbing piracy? That's why when you add this all up, I simply can't justify supporting this approach to DRM.

Nonetheless, I understand the developer's desire to protect their product and ensure they get paid what they deserve. I am not opposed to all DRM for this reason. The Revolution Network service would still allow and support online authentication for multiplayer content since players require a connection to access it anyway. Developers can choose to use a CD key method or have the Revolution Network detect when two instances of your account are logged in at once and automatically boot you from the game. Of course this is by no means a comprehensive solution to the problem, but so far it's the only solution that comes at no extra cost to the legitimate consumer, and with pirates being effectively shut out of at least half of a typical game's content, it should be enough incentive to encourage purchasing a genuine copy.

And that about wraps up the general overview of major features I'd like to see in my ideal console. In truth, the Revolution doesn't really make that many big innovations. It's just about being as straightforward, open, and accessible as possible without needing to rely on any fancy gimmicks or rhetoric. The overwhelming message I've picked up from gamers is that they like their standard button controllers and their mice and keyboards, and they don't really need a bunch of souped up social networking distractions to enjoy their games. This console is about offering a blank canvas to developers with as little obstruction as possible, so they can craft the games they want and players can enjoy them to the fullest potential; because really when it comes down to it, what good is any console without its games? At the end of the day, it's the games themselves that drive the console, not some glorified piece of hardware or clever new software feature, so the design should be built around improving that experience primarily above all else. Think of the Revolution sort of like the Sony version of the Ouya console; it's all about being free and open like the Ouya, but with the added bonus of a more robust feature set and powerhouse of hardware typical of Sony. On top of this, I wanted to combine the flexibility of a PC with the accessibility of a console, and I think the Revolution would be able to effectively accomplish that.

Who am I kidding though? This is starting to sound like a big advertisement for it as if this console will ever get made. Too bad really, because I think it would be pretty sweet, but a guy can dream, right?

Oh, and did I say I was going to compare and contrast this design with the Big Three? Yeah... about that. This is starting to get pretty TL;DR-ish as it is, so I'll just stick to a very short commentary on this last part. As you can see, there are a number of features this console would possess that neither Nintendo, Sony, nor Microsoft will likely be offering in their next-gen consoles anytime in the near-future. The flexible PC-based design allows for user-created mods, hardware upgradeability, and backwards compatibility for old games on a level that their systems just couldn't offer. Then if we branch out to the new competitors up and coming this console season, Valve wouldn't touch my populist "No Connection Required" policy with a 10-foot pole, and the Ouya lacks the hardware horsepower to compete on my level, so I think this places the Revolution in a very attractive position. It should be clear now that there's still quite a few things that the big wigs could do to improve their systems, but for now we'll just have to be content with what we've been dealt. Thanks for reading if by some off-chance you made it to the end of this long-winded wall of text, and let me know what you think of this idea for a console. ;)

Revisiting the Xi3 Piston

Interestingly enough, just days after posting my commentary on the upcoming game console in development from Valve, marketing director Doug Lombardi of Valve Corporation issued a statement clarifying some misconceptions about its development. In his statement, he explained that the Xi3 Piston is not in fact the official "Steam Box" console, and that Valve only did some exploratory work with Xi3 last year before ultimately breaking off involvement for the time being. Now the Piston has become Xi3's own pet project unrelated to Valve, and they are moving forward with plans to launch it at a starting price point of $999.99 USD, with higher tier models available at additional cost.

Nope, aint our console folks.

With these facts now disclosed, I feel it necessary to do some reflections on my previous editorial. I was originally writing under the assumption that the Piston was the official Steam Box, but now it appears this is clearly not the case. In addition, it has been revealed that the Piston will likely run on Windows OS, not Linux as was also a part of my previous assumptions. For the most part, this doesn't change my opinions in relation to how I feel about Valve's upcoming Steam Box, as most if not all of my points still apply to it, but this does significantly change my perspective on the Piston.

Most notably, now that it seems the Piston will be running on Windows, this means that gamers should be able to have other options besides Steam DRM-locked games for the system. This would make me much more supportive of it if it weren't for the introduction of a new caveat; the price point.

$$$

At roughly $1000 for its starting price, this puts the system at a significant disadvantage against other upcoming living room media centers from the Big Three, which will likely be priced at half the cost of the Piston at maximum, if not certainly even less.

Nintendo has already launched their next-gen system the Wii U at the price point of ~$300 and they have had difficulty staying afloat. Considering that this is Xi3's first attempt at directly competing with the console market, they also have no real devoted following of fans to rely upon as Nintendo does if all else fails. With all this in mind, the Piston is likely destined for failure if they can't at least find some way to bring the cost under control.

Sony made the mistake of being too arrogant with the loyalty of their fanbase last round during the launch of the PS3, and they assumed that people would still buy their console anyway despite its hefty price point of $500 at launch. As it turned out, they were wrong, and the system suffered from slow adoption for quite some time before they were able to pick up some strong exclusives and drive down costs. With as steep a price as we're looking at with the Piston and no fanbase whatsoever, it's poised to fall off the sales charts immediately beyond the point of no return.

Yeah, well I'm still the only console that can grill your hamburgers.

Of course being that the Piston is essentially still a PC at its core, its one saving grace is that gamers will already have access to a large library of excellent games for it at launch, but regardless, at a minimum price point of $1000, it's only going to appeal to the hardcore PC gamer market, which would rather custom build their PCs to get more bang for their buck anyway. The large majority of console gamers will likely take little interest in the Piston when they're typically on a tight budget and they're looking for a fully-equipped media center for their living room, which they can get from the other consoles for much cheaper.

I suspect that the main culprit behind the Piston's large cost is its small form factor in conjunction with its powerful hardware. As a general rule for PCs, the more power you try to cram into a smaller space results in exponentially higher costs. This is why laptops nearly always are outperformed by desktop PCs in terms of price versus performance gained. For these reasons, if I were in Xi3's position, I would consider expanding the size of the platform to drive down the cost of the hardware, as well as consider providing an option without the solid state hard drive, as it is mostly an unneeded luxury to the average console gamer that the system would be best targeted to. With just a few simple trimmings to its base design like this, I think it could be quite competitively priced as a living room media center that can rival the Big Three and potentially pull in a new market to the PC gaming scene. As it currently stands however, the Piston is just too highly-priced to justify its existence.

Implications of Valve's New Console

Long time no see. I've tentatively decided to continue updating this blog after a long hiatus. No idea how long this will last, but let's just see where it goes.

As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, Valve has announced their first entry into the console market which they are calling Piston. They're backing hardware manufacturer Xi3 for production of the console, and they've already showed off a prototype model for it. There's a lot to like about its features that make it stand out compared to the other Big Three, but it also comes with one major drawback which I will get into later.

For now let's talk about the good stuff though. First of all it's really only a "console" in the sense that it's meant to be hooked up to your TV instead of your computer desk. Beyond that it is basically just a miniature PC. Now you might be thinking at this point, "So what? Big deal. Haven't you heard of HDMI cables?" And yes, it's true that you already can just run a cable from your computer to your TV to accomplish the same thing, but it's still really inconvenient unless you've dedicated an entire PC to your TV, because I don't know about anyone else, but lugging my desktop back and forth isn't exactly a one-step process with all those cables and accessories that I've got to attach to it. The nice thing about the Piston is that it will be a PC specifically built to work with your TV, so I can play my favorite PC games on the big screen with relative ease. But it goes much further than that. Because this is a system marketed toward console gamers, this could finally provide a window into the PC market that many budget gamers have been waiting for, as well as a window for those who aren't as tech savvy as the rest of us. That means more of your friends will finally be able to play with you in your favorite PC games. Another big deal about this system is the possibility that it will run on Linux, and that means we can finally expect to see a large library of AAA-quality games coming to the free and open source operating system. In the future PC gamers may at last have other options besides Windows as their operating system of choice thanks to this device, and that's a huge game changer right there that could really throw Microsoft for a loop. The Piston is also very upgradeable. In the demonstration Xi3 showed us, the system can be disassembled pretty easily into individual parts and replaced with new ones. However, because of the Piston's unique and small form factor, the price for parts could be more expensive than normal since you likely won't be able to buy any 3rd party PC parts for it. Still, the fact that it's upgradeable means that you never need to completely toss it out. You can keep upgrading it over time instead.

Well hello there, little guy.

Probably one of the most interesting possibilities with this system is the fact that it could make motion controls viable on PCs, because as far as I know, no one likes to flail their Wiimotes around at their computer desk. And then of course there's all the usual benefits you can expect from essentially being a PC. 60+ frames per second for most games, true 1080p resolution, user-created mods; it'll do your laundry, make you a sandwich, get you laid.

OK, maybe I made up a few of those.

So with all these positives going for it, what could possibly be so bad about it you might be asking. And the answer is Steam. This console could potentially serve as a death sentence to any remaining non-Steam options for game distribution, and that could have some very unsettling consequences for the industry. I seem to be the only one nowadays that still remembers Steam is a DRM platform. I know this has apparently become a radical idea these days, so brace yourself for what I'm about to say, but I still strongly believe we should be allowed to actually own our games when we buy them. Under Steam's distribution platform, we never truly own the games we buy. You can't resell them, and they all require an online activation even for single player content. And yes, it has an offline mode, but it doesn't matter because you still can't use it until you at least once go through online activation with your games. That means all your games are held hostage to Steam's authentication servers, so if the Steam service shuts down for any reason, the next time you try to install any game from your library, even if you created a backup physical copy you won't be able to play it because it can't be authenticated through Steam's servers. Of course some people might say at this point big deal, it's not like Steam is going to be shutting down any time soon. But there's still plenty that can go wrong by putting such blind trust into a corporation. Maybe down the road Valve might decide that the Steam store is just getting too big or some of the games are too old and it's just too much hassle for them to keep on their service, so they stop supporting them. If any of those games happen to be among your library, they're now gone. Or consider another scenario. Gabe Newell isn't going to be around as the benevolent dictator forever, what if he suddenly decides to step down? Maybe the new man in charge might make Valve go public with its assets, or worse sell it off to another faceless giant like EA. Since the Steam terms of service can be changed at any time, and you HAVE to accept them or else again you lose your entire library, do you really want to put your trust in EA dictating those terms to you? This isn't entirely outside the realm of possibility; EA has considered acquiring Valve before.

What? Nothing could possibly go wrong with me in charge.

But most importantly this principle of treating "games as a service" makes preserving the history of the industry so much harder. When all these games keep getting tied down by online services that fluctuate, change their terms, and shut down all the time, it's nearly impossible to be able to go back and revisit them several years later without just resorting to piracy. To me it seems like a really depressing future for the industry if we continue to view games as so disposable that we don't care to try and preserve the classics for future generations, because we're not going to be around forever to appreciate them. It just really frustrates me that gamers have so quickly become submissive to the encroachment of DRM and have almost completely forgotten that they used to despise Steam and for good reasons which are still valid to this day.

What all this boils down to is that I foresee this system continuing to erode consumer rights and taking away ownership of our games. After all, when PC developers look at how they want to distribute their game, why limit your market to just PC gamers as a standalone product when instead you can grab both that audience and console gamers by putting your product on Steam? To me this is a terrible prospect, but I'm sure most people probably won't even think twice about it.

But hey maybe I'm forgetting something. This is basically supposed to be a miniature PC isn't it? Then I can just buy non-Steam games for it anyway, right?

Nice try.

Except for one problem; there's no disc drive. But then you might say hey, no biggie, it's got a bunch of USB ports, I'll just buy a USB disc drive for it. Except for one problem; it runs on Linux. What PC games are you going to find on Linux besides those available on Steam? Not very many.

So as much as I'd love to get on board with this little experiment, I just can't as long as Valve insists on Steam being an anti-consumer DRM platform. No benefit is worth handing over all ownership of your games, and as much as Gabe has been a benevolent dictator so far, he's still a dictator. I'm sure there's plenty of people out there right now who will disagree with me on this, and I get that, because Valve has done a lot of other nice things for the industry as well, but I hope after considering these points you can at least understand where I'm coming from. Until next time folks.

I used to be an adventurer like you...

Today marks the end of Deedlitt's journeys through the world of Warcraft. Many friends were made, frostbolts fired, regions explored, and dungeons conquered. Deedlitt concluded her adventure with an assault on Scholomance, the Lich King's school for students of dark magics. But rather than entertain you with the details of it, I'll just let the screenshots do the talking while I instead take a moment to look back on my observances with Warcraft's social structure and economy.

First Boss of Scholomance

In week one, I took a look at what the overall social nature of Warcraft was. I did this by contrasting it with Second Life. In Warcraft, social interaction is primarily built around the game's main objective of improving your character. Cooperation with other players is essential to acquiring better gear. However, this isn't the sole driving force of interaction within the game. Other factors naturally draw players together as well, such as the usual desire for friendship. Gaming is always better with good company.

Rattlegore

In subsequent weeks, I noted how much to an extent that player interaction could affect the gameplay experience. It can mean the difference between continuing playing and unsubscribing from the game. Keeping players constantly interacting with each other keeps the experience feeling fresh and unpredictable when otherwise mundane quest objectives aren't enough. Social interaction can only carry an MMO so far though. What initially lures players to an MMO of Warcraft's flavor is the well-executed gameplay; the social interaction in combination with this is what keeps players hooked thereafter. Both elements are important factors in crafting a quality MMO experience.

Ras Frostwhisper

Keeping a steady economy is important to the game as well. If it's too easy to acquire high quality items, players will lose interest because they no longer have objectives to strive for. If it's too hard, they will equally lose interest because they feel like they'll never be able to reach their goals. Warcraft strikes a careful balance with this, which likely explains one major aspect to the game's wild success.

Illucia Barov

As an aspiring game developer, I should consider these lessons carefully with my own games. Much of game programming is like solving a puzzle; you need to find a way to make all the pieces fit. If any are missing or out of place, then the experience will feel wrong or incomplete, and players will notice.

Darkmaster Gandling

Even still, World of Warcraft is not without its own problems. The game world has gotten so big as a result of the game's expansions over the years that it has created a scarcity of players when traveling the continents. This results in middling segments of the game becoming fairly dull as there are too few players to interact with. The gameplay then picks up again when approaching the level cap as you can join in with all the seasoned players at the top, but many players may give up before then. Also, the game still lacks enough content to satisfy more competitive players. While Warcraft provides numerous dungeons scattered across the world for players to work cooperatively in raiding, PVP content is limited to only a handful of instanced battlegrounds and arenas. It would appeal more to competitive players to have more open world PVP-based objectives.

Regardless, World of Warcraft still remains at the top of the MMO food chain, and developers would do well to study and learn from it. Farewell and thank you for following the adventures of Deedlitt in World of Warcraft!

Slaying the Two-Headed Beast

It was now time for us to strike at the leader of the Gordunni ogre clan, Cho'gall, who was hidden deep within the ruins of Dire Maul. With the aid of an army from the Stonemaul Hold, we interrupted their meeting and stormed their defenses.

Disrupting the Meeting

Cho'gall was powerful, but he couldn't handle all of us and we brought him down. Our tenure at Dire Maul was not over yet, however. Before we progressed further into the ruins once more, Udderwin and I had some business elsewhere to take care of.

Battling Cho'gall

Specifically we had reached level 40 and could now acquire epic mounts that run significantly faster than our old ones. I grabbed my new hawkstrider as soon as I arrived in Silvermoon City. Then, I used a teleportation spell that I had learned through my mage training to return to Orgrimmar immediately.

A New Hawkstrider

From there, I worked on my tailoring until Udderwin returned with his own new mount. Once he had arrived, we were now ready to head back into Dire Maul. We entered the Capital Gardens section this time to hunt down Immol'thar, a fearsome two-headed beast that has been the cause of much distress for the region. It was going to require a full party to bring him down.

Fighting in the Capital Gardens

Joined by Miaku the priest, Silabus the warlock, and Brenal the rogue, we battled through the Capital Gardens tirelessly in search of the beast. It was a long journey however, as the gardens were expansive in scope. We had to stop a couple times throughout the dungeon to let certain group members take care of real world business.

Rocking Out Awaiting Miaku's Return

Finally we encountered Immol'thar's chamber, but it seemed to be protected by magical energies. We needed to destroy several pylons transferring power to it before we could gain access.

Immol'thar's Chamber

With the barrier down, we were finally ready to do battle with Immol'thar himself. Our first attempt at bringing him down was close but we failed. His swarm of eyes overwhelmed us and took us out. It was clear if we were to defeat him we would need to make sure his eyes are eliminated first as soon as they spawned so that they did not slowly build up and overpower us.

Preparing for Immol'thar

Our second time we stayed clumped together so that I could cast my arcane explosion spell and be in range to take out all the eyes at once as they appeared. The strategy worked very effectively and we defeated Immol'thar this time. Udderwin and I also made new friends with Miaku the healer in the process.

Battling Immol'thar

The last of Dire Maul's tribulations were now behind us.

Shrinking Giants

There were still quests that remained to be done before leaving the ogre encampment of Stonemaul Hold. Today Udderwin and I aimed to finish them off. We started off with another quest involving that strange device that shrinks beasts into a container. This time they wanted us to collect hippogryphs (giant bird creatures) with it.

Hunting Hippogryphs

Afterward, we took to the western shorelines of Feralas where we were tasked with collecting elemental cores from the water elementals that patrolled the coast. The drop rate for these cores caused a slight contention between Udderwin and I, as the cores seemed to conveniently keep dropping for him but not for me. Eventually he was able to collect all ten cores while I still needed six more.

Collecting Elemental Cores

Our business with the coast was not finished after gathering the cores however, as we were instructed yet again to use a shrinking device; this time on the shore strider giants. Apparently the goblins we've been working for seem to have an obsession with shrinking the local populace here. Although this time, we needed to collect the residue left behind from the device after slaying the shore striders rather than placing them into containers.

Hey, pick on somebody your own size!

There we go.

With the residue collected, our final quest for Stonemaul Hold was to take out the Gordok Clan of ogres to the northeast near the ruins of Dire Maul. They were the last source of trouble for our little encampment that needed to be dealt with.

The Gordok Ogres

The ogres were defeated, and now it was time for us to take our leave. We received orders to head further east toward another camp in Feralas, Camp Mojache. I grabbed a flight on a wyvern over there and headed to the local inn to log off.

Deedlitt in Camp Mojache

It seems during these middle stages of the game, the number of players we've come into contact with has taken a significant dive. It is interesting how the social aspect of Warcraft can impact the gameplay. We've been tending to play in shorter bursts now that we aren't spending as much time with other players. This is something significant to note for game developers considering creating their own MMOs in the future. Do not underestimate the need for social interaction in these games. I unsubscribed from SWTOR as noted in a previous blog posting for similar reasons. MMOs following Warcraft's gameplay structure tend to suffer during the middle portions of the game due to failure to provide enough opportunities for player interaction. It would be wise for developers to consider and address these problems in the future.

Robot Chickens and Zombie Deedlitt

Deedlitt has arrived at the Ogre Camp! The half orc presiding over it looks like serious business too. O_o

The Ogre Camp

Good thing I'm there to do some work for them then. My first order of business was to track down a lost robotic chicken homing beacon for a goblin who was using it for research on some Yetis. Yep, the story is as absurd as it sounds. Why a robotic chicken as a homing beacon you ask? Because why not? Derp.

The Robot Chicken

Moving along, my next objective was to test another goofy device that shrinks larger beasts so that they can be placed into a container. Interestingly while doing this quest my client bugged while I was trying to loot a corpse and Udderwin used the device on it at the same time. The animation got stuck and Deedlitt now looked like a zombie running around the jungle.

Deedlitt need brainnnsssss...

It turns out that other ogre clans don't like the fact that some chose to align themselves with the Horde, so our next task was to teach the Gordunni Clan a lesson.

Ogre Slaying

Our final quest for the day took us back up toward the northern end of Feralas where another Yeti cave was hidden in the mountains. It was in someone's interest that we collect some hides of these Yetis for them. While on the way there, we got a good laugh when Udderwin jumped off a steep waterfall and died, failing to land in deep enough water in the pool below by only inches.

Trekking Down the Waterfall

Before logging off, I decided to mention to my guild that I was actually playing this game for a class project. The general reaction was that they thought it was pretty awesome. Other friends of mine that I have told about it have remarked that it seems silly and absurd. Not unexpected reactions given the nature of the project.

Speaking with Rehab

So the big question this week is how closely does behavior in World of Warcraft correspond to that in real life? Well, as mentioned before, it can differ greatly from real life due to a number of factors. First is the anonymity provided by the online environment, which tends to make people less inclined to care about being courteous to each other whereas they otherwise would make more of an effort in real life. Second, you have the gameplay environment that's based around a medieval fantasy universe, so you're dealing with a lot of problems and challenges that are of a completely different nature than in real life. Most people in the real world aren't concerned with working together to collect swords and armor pieces for themselves. On the other hand, there are aspects which very much relate to real life behaviors. The auction house economy for example functions and fluctuates much like real world economies do. Supply and demand will significantly affect pricing. If an item is very abundant, its pricing decreases; if it is scarce then its pricing increases. Also, the cooperative aspects of WoW's gameplay to some extent offset the social problems created from anonymity. Because certain items and objectives can only be obtained through cooperating with other players, there are advantages and incentives to making friendships as you would in real life.

That is it for my gameplay recap and analysis this week. Stick around for my final week of WoW blogging! That's right folks, the project is almost over already. See you next time. ;)