Conan

Yes, mood plays a huge role in gaming experience. Have you ever felt that the game is turning into a second job?

Some games are poorly designed thus making it feel like a chore. I mean how many times do you have to pick up a quest from a NPC in MMOs. It get's boring sometimes.

Conan

Does anyone if there will be a new EQ expansion coming out soon? I find it difficult to keep up with all the expansions.

danille

October 2009

__________________

Danille Impholder
The Magician's Tower
Bristlebane ~ Sol Invictus
Keep Norrath Safe
Caretaker of AYA

Conan

Thanks for that Danille, that's a long time to wait for an expansion when you take into account that EQ is losing popularity.

Selvane

You might want to look at the work of Nick Yee, he did an extensive doctoral project centered around much of the same material you are looking at.

http://www.nickyee.com/

That's his website and he has some real intesting stuff there and his research was very well done and indepth.

Sel

Conan

Hey, thanks for the link.

I've heard of Nick Yee. His site is very good.

Conan

Who here thinks EQ is dying? I sure do think it's dying!

drco

No, I don' think so.
Since you have not played EQ and have not been around the people who do, I think you may simply be looking at numbers.

SOE may reduce the number of servers if paid subscribers decline, but EQ will be here for a long long time. Yet they are now in the process of creating a NEW server. If the money did not justify it, I doubt SOE would do so.

My wife and I just came back to EQ. I left 5 years ago, my wife about 3 years ago.

On the Xegony server I would say most of the players are old hands. Many have left and returned, many have never left.

When I came back I had no idea the guild I had been in was no more. Which surprised me, since I was an Officer in Immortal. Immortal was one of the oldest guilds on Xegony, and though the Tag still exists, from what I have seen none of the people I knew are still in it. Most are now in either Undying, or have moved on to one of the so called Uber raid guilds.

Here is a good way to do a simple test.

Check the number of toons in the Bazaar. Last night before I logged there were 1,230 traders. Right there is 18,288.50 per month. And those toons are just sitting there selling wares. While a number may be plat sellers, I would venture to say most are 2nd accounts. I know my trader account is separate from my playing account.

As for the premise that EQ is addictive, bad for you, etc...etc... "fill in your favorite PC excuse here.." In the words of my old granpappy, "poppycock."

People who screw up their lives, make constant mistakes, violate the law, etc...etc... always look for an excuse. Psychology and it's various "theories" feed into this, and allow this idea of "blame it on the game" to feed into it.
It's like the woman in Wisconsin who blamed EQ for her son's suicide. I lived in Wisconsin when that occured, turned out her son had attempted suicide a dozen times over the past 20 years, long before EQ even existed. His excuse, the world hated him, because he was fat and his girlfriend in EQ left him for another EQ player.

Here is a question for you. When is the last time you have read about an EQ player, stealing, robbing, standing on the street corner, etc...etc... to pay for their EQ account?

EQ players who spend a large block of their free time in EQ, simply do not spend time in other "recreation" areas. Such as spending 5 hours a night watching crap on TV. Or paying 15.00 for a movie that sucked.

danille

One year between expansions seems just about right to me. I've been playing EQ for six years. They do have updates in between expansions.

Conan

Drco, you made some good points. Lots to think about there.

I need a name for my project/thesis. I was thinking of calling it the "MMOPROJECT". But I think it's too basic. I need something more catchy like the "The Daedalus Project"!

Can anyone think of a good name for my MMORPG Project? Something different and new which stands out. Please post on here or email me your ideas at [email protected]

Thanks in advance.