D*C MMO, home of The SnarkCast» Gaming News

A Rant in F-U-Major

Grim — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:56:42 +0000

Ok, so I don’t do a whole lot of serious op-ed stuff outside of the SnarkCast…

However, something happened today that got my attention. I am more excited about this change in World of Warcraft than I’ve been about any change in any video game ever. Considering that I’ve been a gamer for nearly 30 years, that is no mean statement.

The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name — with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.

You can read the rest of the statement here.

Blizzard is making a ballsy move, and one that has been LONG overdue in online discussion forums. You know as well as I do that Internet forums are a haven for trolls and other jacknuts who hide behind the anonymity that the Internet provides in order to act like 10-year-old asshats. It’s darn near impossible for most forums to enforce any kind of meaningful identity check because it’s easy to lie about who you are and not get caught. In theory, this is highly desirable because there are some fields of discussion where anonymity promotes freedom of expression.

World of Warcraft is a different beast. Free speech rights are not an issue. This is a close community of paying customers who interact with developers and other players in order to gain insight and information about the game they are paying for. Why do you need anonymity for that? You don’t. Blizzard, the only party in this situation with any meaningful power whatsoever, already knows who you are. They have the ability to link character names to account information, and all parties in the discussion are aware of this. Now they are choosing to remove the cloak of anonymity in order to foster intelligent and more mature discussion, and I say BRAVO!

To be sure, there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth from those who want to continue to troll and act like jerks while hiding behind an anonymous facade. In fact, if you will notice some of the complaints in the thread mentioned above, you’ll see some familiar guild tags to anyone who has any familiarity with online griefing and trolling. ( anyone?)

To those folks, let me propose an idea which might make everyone happier. Leave the official forums alone. Don’t post there anymore. Start your own “Free for all” forums for World of Warcraft fans who want to engage in the kind of behavior that will be curbed by the lack of anonymity on the Blizzard forums.

This issue has been a pet peeve of mine for many years now. As some of you may know, I’ve run an EverQuest online community for 8 years now. While I allow users to select whatever name they like for posting on the forums, I verify contact information for every user who registers. If someone logs in and starts making my forums an un-fun place to visit, I want to know who to go after in order to make them stop. It’s not flawless, and I’ve had to play whack-a-mole with trolls, retards, and asshats on occasion, but for the most part users knowing that I know who they are cuts down on the jerk factor considerably.

Invariably, the issue that your garden-variety asshat brings up is “It’s a free country. I have the right to speak my mind”. Not on my forums, you don’t, and not on Blizzard’s either. Rather than waste Blizzard’s time in tracking down and smacking down every jerk who wants to use his Internet connection as some kind of cathartic release at the expense of their fellow players, Blizzard has re-introduced the concept of community accountability. If you want to be a jerk online then do what I did and start your own podcast/forum/blog. You don’t have the right to trample someone else’s online garden.

Warhammer 40k – The MMO

Grim — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:05:11 +0000

I love E3. The plethora of trailers and announcements makes updating a site like this damn near trivial…

I can’t help but notice how many elements of this game closely resemble a certain game we all know and love. The thing is… Warhammer was first. The question is, can they make the material engaging enough and make the gameplay fun enough to give folks something new?

I hope Vigil does a better job than EA/Mythic did…

Let the E3 hype machine begin!

Grim — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:40:27 +0000

As some of you may know, E3 (bigtime gaming tradeshow) is coming up, and with it, hype for the latest and greatest games scheduled to hit shelves anytime from next year to 5 years from now.

I’m not sure when this one is coming, but I am very pleased to see a trailer for it…

Finally, Grim Pwns Lich King

Grim — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:09:51 +0000

Ok, so I had a bit of help… (Hey Guildies!)

First, the “Before”

and, nearly 4 weeks of attempts later… The “After”

What does this mean for you guys? It means you won’t hear me bitching about this fight anymore on The SnarkCast!

This is a triumph!

Grim — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:29:51 +0000

I’m making a note here “HUGE SUCCESS”!

Portal, arguably the best non-MMO game ever created, is now FREE! (At least, it’s free until May 24th)

You must get this game. You must play this game. The cake is a lie!

Age of Conan – Rise of Bryan

Grim — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:00:13 +0000

Just to prove that World of Warcraft is not the only source of funny videos out there, check out Roleplayin‘ when you get a chance. Here is their preview of the upcoming Age of Conan expansion.

Defeated!

Dani — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:00:35 +0000

So I’ve been playing SC2 for about a week and I can’t quite get the hang of it. But I do know that RTS games have a pretty big learning curve. (I never played the original Starcraft.)

So far in the beta, the only part of the game available to play is multiplayer. Playing through the storyline is probably what I’d like more. Blizz has implemented a new system through their Battle.net site to allow SC2 to search for players, which is kind of like the battlegroup based search for cross-realm PUGs in WOW. So I’ve not had to wait very long in queue to play any of my matches, which is nice. Coincidentally, I’ve not had to play each match very long to have my butt kicked. Perhaps the reasoning behind only having multiplayer content available is to work out kinks in the Battle.net system and make sure its running smooth before moving on to the next phase. I, for one, am anxious to see the storyline component.

There also won’t be any LAN play in SC2, a fact that some people, including Hitler, are pretty upset about. (I promise this will be my last Hitler video.)

More later!

Cataclysm and You — Class Changes

Grim — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:00:40 +0000

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or don’t play World of Warcraft (not sure which one means you are more out of touch… ), then you may have heard about the upcoming expansion called Cataclysm. You are also probably wondering “What’s going to change for me?”

Fear not, my fellow geeks. WoW.com is on the case. They have announcements and analysis for all of the upcoming class changes and it looks like every class is getting a taste. The only class that hasn’t been announced yet is Paladins, but I think we can all agree that next to Warlocks, they are the class in most dire need of a severe nerfing.

Of course, we, the fearless staff of DC*MMO, are happy to do our part to repress, supress, and distress the Warlocks among us. We even had a “Live-action Warlock Nerfing” at Dragon*Con a couple of years back…

MOAR DOTZ!

-Grim

StarCraft II Collector’s Edition: Yes Prz!

Rafe — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:00:02 +0000

The box looks like it'll stand up to a Zerg rush...

It’s a rare day when $99.99 doesn’t seem like a stupid amount of money to pay for a video game. Steel Battalion, with it’s “you’re going to need a bigger boat lap” controller was one of the earliest titles to hit the century mark. Blizzard seems to have found a way to justify separating us from a C-note with the Collector’s Edition of StarCraft II, even though there’s no release date set yet. For those of you who haven’t seen the trailer yet, Dani posted about it here.

In addition to the sequel of the wildly-popular original, a Duke Nukem-esque ten years in development, there are a whole passel of goodies tucked into that big honking box:

THE ART OF STARCRAFT II: WINGS OF LIBERTY – 176 pages of concepts and 3d renderings

JIM RAYNOR “DOG TAG” USB DRIVE – Replica of Jim Raynor’s in-game dog tag is a 2GB USB thumb drive, pre-loaded with the original StarCraft and Brood War Expansion

BEHIND THE SCENES DVD – Dev interviews, all the cut-scene animations (with director commentary), and discussion of the original SC’s place in gaming lore

STARCRAFT COMIC ISSUE #0

GAME SOUNDTRACK – 14 tracks from the game itself, plus a couple of bonus tunes. I’m a sucker for game soundtracks – they make the daily commute suck less, that’s for sure.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT IN-GAME PET – Maybe you’ll want Baby Thor as a companion to your shenanigans in Azeroth

BATTLE-NET DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT – Unlockable goodies, including in-game army icons, unique avatar portraits, and an exclusive version of the in-game Thor unit

This is where I make everyone’s head explode by admitting I never played the original StarCraft (I was a Command & Conquer guy), but this list of goodies does make my wallet itch, just a little.

Starcraft II Wings of Liberty

Dani — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:00:00 +0000

As many of you may know, the Starcraft II open beta has started; and I got picked to be a beta tester! So here’s the cinematic trailer to get you drooling. Stay tuned for weekly blog updates about my shenanigans in Starcraft II!

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