How to trick your players with smart(?) design!

I've started noticing some things lately when playing a few games. I knew for a fact that these productions were big, maybe even too big. Another thing they have in common is Electronic Arts.

What is priority when you got too little time for a too big project?


Wow, this games is awesome!.. oh, wait a minute...

Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic... the Sith Lord who should have been more epic.

When I first started playing Dragon Age, the original, I loved it. When I finished it, I loved it. The designers clearly had lots of time and made sure the game was good all the way through.

Then there's games like Dragon Age 2 or why not Star Wars: The Old Republic (which I right now play and have for a long time rather enjoyed). The beginning of the game is quite good. It's actually so good that you can't wait for the later levels. It has to only get better, right? 'Cause that is how a game should be. The more time you invest, the better content should be awarded to you. Not anymore.

I believe that if a Game has too little resources before release, the first levels of the game is strategically designed to be really good, in order to capture the player and make him/her invest. Once the player has invested in the game, he/she might still be disappointed by the not-so-good late levels, but since the investment already has been made there's less incentive to stop playing.

Smart move by the designers! But is it... really a smart move? What will the expectation for future games? Is it worth the cost in reputation? I honestly don't know. Do you?


When I first met Johannes Thorén...

... I was working on this forum quite used to all kinds of weird people entering the forum and introducing themselves. Then one day a guy called "Stripps" came. He seemed like a very sincere young boy hoping to one day become a very good poker player. Obviously that never happened. :P

Over time Stripps became more and more active in the forum and one day he was doing so well that I hired him as a freelance moderator. That's when we finally decided to bring some of our people down to Gibraltar for a week or two. That's when I REALLY met him.

He looked a bit different than I had imagined, but I liked the fact that he looked like a younger sibling of Per Wolf, my former Line Manager. They also had quite a similar personality. Both extremely messed up but very happy at all times.

To celebrate this, we raped Johannes head. See the video below:

New Project: When I first met...

It's amazing how you come up with awesome ideas when you lie awake trying to get back to sleep at night. Finally I manage to actually remember one of them so that I could put it into action (you have no ideas how many ground breaking ideas I've lost 'cause I've finally fallen asleep... damn it!

In the upcoming blog posts I will, in the end, include one RANDOM friend and write about when I first met this person... and what my thoughts was. :P This could be embarrassing at some points, but fuck it, that's how I roll!

In this launch post I'll actually start off with two friends. I'll use random.org to help me choose which friends to talk about.


When I first met Håkan Sjölin

Kåt-Håkan Sjölin, looking like a boss!

It was a normal day at my old workplace and I was just about to go up to the kitchen and fetch myself some Nutella toasties. I ran into my old line manager Leo, who told me that there's a guy here for an interview... some blond Swedish dude that apparently worked with Gus before. Hmm... Someone here to take my job?! Nah, I'm too valuable :P

Finally up in the kitchen I see some freakishly ginger-blond guy in something that was suppose to look like a suit and I started to suspect this was the guy. He was talking with Gus, which made me even more sure. But to just be safe I started by speaking some English... turns out it was quite clear that he was Swedish (his accent). Then when he switched to Swedish I thought that his Stockholm accent was a bit tainted... I wasn't quite sure if he was native or not, so I tried to speak as clearly as I could.  Turns out he was native, it was just me not being used to talking to a person who is constantly... excited :P.


When I first met Nicklas Lindgren

Nicklas Lindgren, drawn by David Palm 2012.

I first met Nicklas on the first day of University actually. He was one of the other aspiring Game Designers that had arrived to conquer the University of Skövde.

My first memory is when we were on the top floor of the Game Dev. Building and someone had (I think Cidh?) spilled some water on the floor. Before someone managed to dry up up Nicklas was suddenly standing there trying to breakdance, slide around with his feet or whatever he was trying to do. At that point I was quite sure that he was going to be "The Arrogant Player" or "Mr. Popular" of the class. Turns out I was wrong... and right.

By player I was thinking "womanizer", which was COMPLETELY wrong. Until he met his Monika he was only interested in (mega) men. But I wasn't completely wrong. I don't think there's many people on this earth that have played so many different games as this guy. At least non-PC ones. 

Shotguns, accidents and I an invitation for... you!

Could I have chosen a more confusing title? Probably.

Work has taken up a lot of my time lately... but in a good way. A lot of good things are happening every day and we are moving forward with quite nice results so far. Working with Johan, Louise and Andy makes me think about the old days with Pelle, Johan, Håkan and Fredrik at P.com. Every day has a few laughs, a few wtf's and new philosophical thoughts on life around lunch time.


Pull!!

13/25 hits. Next time I'll probably do 1/50... :( 

Last weekend I was invited by Phil to join him and his colleagues from the Gibraltar Port to shoot some Clay Pigeons. Only having one (bad) experience previously, being 12 and only hitting 1/10, my hopes wasn't that high... but hey(!), it's something new to do!

There where 5 stations, each with a sound funnel who register when you say "pull"... or cough something similar to that. You shoot 1-2 shots at each Pigeon and then switch station (game balance ftw). Costs £18 for two boxes of ammo and that lasts for about an hour, if not more.

Personal Invitation: If you want to come with us, let me know and I'll write you down on the list. The plan is to go next weekend, but I will have to get back to you on the date/time (will update it here).


Sure, let the guy fûckin' bleed to death on the street, you tw@ts...

Last week a friend of mine was in an accident here in Gib. Some idiot rammed him from behind when riding his scooter. Of course, the guy/girl shoots off (hit and run a la carte!), but then, when lying there in his own blood and gore the other cars carefully try to go aaaaround him. Don't want to get your tiers dirty, you know. People were walking past this poor fellow, looking at him... and walking away. No one even cared to ask how he was and if he was okay. People didn't give a shit.

Luckily, my friend was fine, just lost a bit of blood, skin and belief in the people of Gibraltar.

Now what do I think about people who live here? Well, have a guess...

What makes a Friend?

NOTE: I'm drunk atm, and I am always a bit too philosophical about life and all that when I'm in that condition...

I've been thinking lately about a few things. Friends that say they wanna meet up and do something and then never get back to you, friends that not contact you for a long time and kind of fade away a bit... then friends that live nearby that you hang out with and stay in contact with quite often.

What is the difference? Who is the real friend?


People who care about you

Even if a friend tell you "we should do something someday!" and not really get back to you on that, or doesn't keep in touch very good, it doesn't always mean that they are not really caring or are not really your friends. I think that if you really consider someone a friend and you know the feeling is mutual, that stuff is okay.

When things really matter, you truly see who is your friend and who is not. You'r brother dies or you lose your job - they are there, no matter what. You feel like shit and give them a call, they listen. That's what it's all about.

I think many people take too drastic decisions about who their friends are. Think a bit further before you make up your mind. It is worth it.


People who care only about themselves

Who is not your friend? That is easy. People that only talk to you when it is something about them that they need to talk about. They never ask how you are, what you have been doing (at least not sincerely) or if you need help/support with anything. They simply want attention and pity.

To these people I say: Fuck off, I am not your friend. Suck someone else's blood, you leech. I can't be bothered with you stealing my time.


I'm pretty sure about who my friends are. Are you?

Baby Skurt: GET OUT!

I think we are all thinking that very same thought right now. We ordered a damn baby god damnit! Johan did his part, now it is time for Trine to let the bun out of the oven. I have been dreaming about their baby getting born like 3-4 nights now. It is making me mad!


Furniture distractions

Right now I have some furniture delivered to take my mind off things (I have no idea why I get so emotionally involved in these things, so don't ask me). The sofa, tv table, bed, cloth hanger thingy and chairs are in place. Today we are going to finish the dinner table and tomorrow the wardrobe.

Right now, in the middle of everything, things are looking like this (CHAOS!):

My little Princess was not too happy about me sharing this photo, though :P

Star Wars: The Old Republic update!

It's been a while since the last update, so here we go...

My Jedi Sentinel guy, Yokee, has finally passed level 25 and can thereby get a drivers license... although it will cost me. Yokee's lust for love has driven him down a dark path. Cowards and other pathetic beings are starting to really annoy him. Well, at least he got his Datacron hunt up to speed, something positive to cling on to. Every time he opens a new Datacron he feels stronger, wiser and much more powerful. Rumor has it that there is one ultimate Datacron somewhere. If only he could find it.

Unless his smuggler cousin Moto finds it first, that is! Although Moto isn't as fanatic about Datacrons and power as Yokee, but he does like the sound of credits entering his account. Maybe this Relic that Yokee sent him will help him earn some credits. Credits always comes first... but not even credits can fill the void of his lovely jewel: The Century Magpie (his ship, duh!).

Yokee has joined "The Revenant" guild on the Progenitor Server. There are some awesome people in there.

Games: Taking Advantage of Problems

I've been thinking about problems quite a bit lately. There is always problems everywhere and people are always whining about them. Sometimes you solve the problem, sometimes you can't. But, have you ever thought about taking advantage of the problem?

In this post I will give you an idea of what I'm taking about. After you've read the post, think for yourself if any of your current problems can be taken advantage of to your benefit.


Help! People are misusing my product to make $!

There are many different perspectives we can look at this, but I choose the Design & Business perspective for some unknown reason.

Problem: People are farming in-game gold and selling it outside of the game, illegally. There is even an industry for this. Players gets pissed off, abused and many even leaves because this problem grows. You lose revenue.

Reaction: Spontaneously you would just take the aggressive approach to this and just ultra-ban any kind of illegal activity, but if you want to play smart you need to look closer at the problem. What are we not seeing here?

Why is this illegal business model working? Because people want easy ways of getting in-game money. They want a short cut. They enjoy a short cut - it makes them a happier player (even if it some times actually ruins the experience for the player).

So what can you really do? Obviously the need exists and there is a proven market for it. This is actually quite simple: Get into the market, compete with these illegal businesses and make it not/less worth while to buy illegal coins.

Example: EVE-Online was quick to find a smart solution: The introduced PLEX - an ingame pilot license that grants the user, when using it, 30 days of game time. This PLEX was created because a player bought it with real money, from the developer, and received the in-game virtual item. The player could now either use it himself or simply sell it for in-game money to other players to the highest bidding. Actually, there is even an entire market section for the PLEX right now. It is working great, the illegal activites has been reduced and the company is even earning more money now than before they had the PLEX... OR the illegal farming problem. 

Wicked, huh?


Here is delonewolf (damn Frenchie :P) from Youtube that explains a bit about the impact of PLEX in EVE-Online:

How you will die in Gibraltar...

Living in Gibraltar is a death trap. In this post I will reveal some things that probably could get people fired. Simply because they are practically being the cause of future deaths.

I know that what I am about to write is a bit offensive and could really piss some people off, but please do try to put yourself in my situation and think for yourself: "Is this really okay?".

Here is two stories of how you could die and one is actually about when I almost died here. Take your time and read it.


In case of fire

I have now collected enough stories to properly, without exaggerating, tell you the story of how fire or smoke will kill you in Gibraltar.

In Kings Warf as well as Waterport Place, for instance, there is a fire alarm that sometimes goes off 3-6 times a week for over a month at a time. No firemen ever comes though, since everyone kind of knows it is not for real. But that is not the worst part. People don't respect the fire alarm anymore. Now let me go on to the second story...

In EuroTowers, just 2 days ago, there was a fire alarm in the middle of the night. Automatically all hallway doors shut, as it should, and a signal was sent out to the local firemen (and this is the local firemen of a very small town). My mate, who lives in the same building (because I can't be bothered by the alarms anymore) told me that when he tried to get out, the emergency exits were locked and there was no way to get them open. They had to take the normal stairs and on the way open all the hallway doors in order to get out. Then, after 20 minutes, the firemen arrives. They calmly walks around scratching their heads and finally decides to randomly pick a block to enter... the wrong one of course. After a bit of convincing they finally found the right building to enter.

Now guys and girls. Imagine if this was the real thing. First of all, only a small percentage will bother to leave there homes. Then, if they do, they can't get out from the exits that might save their life. Then, 20 minutes of fire expansion (watch the clip at the bottom to see how fast fire spreads) the firemen finally arrive. But there is no need to rush, the fire can wait... right? So while you are dying upstairs the firemen calmly wander around until the find the right door to enter.

If you survive this scenario, you are either very lucky, skilled or simply invincible. If you are a cripple, old, pregnant or a child however... you are DEAD! See you on the other side!

Now, boss of fire guys, if you read this I really hope that you invest in people that have brains. These guys are clearly less smart than our local monkeys or simply want to watch innocent people burn to ashes. The Gibraltarian incompetence never seize to amaze me.


The day when I almost died (for real)

Construction workers (or welders) of Gibraltar is also not really of the highest quality, just like the guys at the tax office, at the bank or any similar place. Don't get me wrong, there is surely lots of qualified people here as well and this is probably the fact of many places around the world.

Anyway, did I tell you about when I almost got a brick in my head a few months ago? It is totally true and I can tell you that if I was standing one meter to the left, I can guarantee you that I wouldn't be sitting here blogging right now.

The new buildings in-between Kings Warf and Euro Towers was finally finished... or at least that's what we thought. Thing were still falling off the roof, you see. When I was walking to Morrisons, I took the new and really nice short cut through this area. When passing by a newly built Bus Stop something suddenly BANGS down on the bus stop, bouncing of it and onto the street... right in the middle of me and two people passing by on a scooter. They stopped and we were looking at each other for a few seconds with faces white as... bird shit(?), before we decided to say WTF and then move on.

Incompetence almost killed me that day.

The fact that many children are playing around this building makes me really nervous and the fact that I have experienced so much incompetence since I got here (my first one was the Rental Agency "Find a Property" that moved me into the wrong apartment and gave out peoples keys like they were freebies).


To finish off I must balance this post out with some positive things. I do love to live in Gibraltar and it has many good sides, nice people and very smart companies. I have had some of the best years of my life here, but even so, when it comes to safety I think that I would probably not want to raise a kid here. I like my offspring to have a decent chance of survival. I'm sorry, but Gibraltar cannot provide this.

After two weeks at work...

What have I achieved? What do I think about my new job? What will happen next?

Before answering these questions I would like to briefly mention to all SWTOR-friends out there that I am playing on "The Progenitor" under the name Yokee. Add me ingame! :)


The cake is not a lie

At this company the cake is definitely not a lie. You work hard, you learn a lot and in the end when things go well there is a great feeling of accomplishment rushing through your body. To do this much and to touch so many previously unexplored areas has been eye-opening for me. When you do things your self, and succeed, life is good.

I like this job.

Monday will be a big day. The boss is back, got a newcomer starting and we will have a team building evening with the Swedish drink "Glögg" and some Rock Band with the team. Unfortunately the newcomer is a singer so... I wont be the star anymore. That sucks. Ah well, I was never really any good at singing anyway :P


SOPA/PIPA dead, but ACTA is more alive than ever

We achieved a great victory recently. Perhaps you haven't heard? SOPA and PIPA has gone down into the trash bin after our protests. But an even bigger threat is still out there and has already been accepted by 22 countries (including the United States and Sweden). I wonder if these countries took the decision with the voice of the people or with the voice of their own ego and hunger for power.


Why not ACTA? (read more at stopACTA.info)

You are considered a criminal if you, for instance, would share something you learnt at a seminar you paid to attend to. You are a thief and will be treated as such!

- Youtube will die
- Twitter will die
- Flickr will die

Good bye Sharing.

Unwrapping my Star Wars: The Old Republic

After having a very busy but satisfying day at work (isn't it fun when so many things are happening all the time?) I finally got to bring the little paper, that now will grant me an awesome evening, to the post office to pick up a package.

This is not a normal package.

This is Star Wars: The Old Republic. The irony is that my land lord has had my mail for some time now and it took me quite some time to finally get my hands on it. Things moves slowly in Gibraltar. Especially peoples heads (I'll elaborate later in another blog post about the Tax Office of Gibraltar).


Who is Jo Starbender?

Is he a Smuggler... or a Jedi Knight? As you remember from this blog post, I wasn't sure what class I would play. Still, today, I am facing the same problem.

The Smuggler is charismatic, clever and fun to play as some kind of sidekick to the main story... but is he really meant to be a main character? Is he meant to be able to stand toe to toe with a Sith Lord or even a Bounty Hunter? No.

Since I first heard of the game I've pictured myself as the sneaky Smuggler that took care of the economic part of the war, smuggling goods back and forth to fund my guilds war efforts. Obviously I knew this wouldn't be the reality. This is not how the world of MMO-games work at the moment (with the exception of the brilliant, but complex game EVE-Online).

Well, I think that decides it. Jedi Knight it is. Simply because I wont be able to play the Smuggler as I've imagined it.


Who wants to play with me?

Although the game hasn't impressed me before I've actually given it a fair shot... I think that this will probably beat most current MMO's out there (maybe not EVE-Online). For a "hey, I need to please everyone" kind of Game, I'm confident in the developers behind the game, despite my earlier complaints during beta.

I would like to try to see if I can get all my friends into my Guild, or alternatively joining a friends guild. Playing together is always more fun.

Who wants to play in Momentum? Does anyone have a spot for me? Which server should I play on?

Until I see you in game, here's an old Star Wars classic:

SOPA/PIPA/ACTA: No more sharing!

Read about "Black March" here

That's right. The entertainment industry want to treat us all as thieves just because a few commercializes piracy (which I agree is bad). YOU ARE A THIEF TOO!

Imagine your neighbor robbing a bank. Then you both get put behind bars. You are both being punished for a crime only one person did. Do you think this is fair? Then SOPA/PIPA/ACTA is for you.

I wont bother explaining them all in detail, but you can get a pretty good picture by simply viewing the brilliant video in the end of this post.


Newsflash: Sharing is FREE marketing
Note: The facts below are not 100% accurate, but should give you a good idea

What many people in this industry STILL don't understand is that most of their products wouldn't have had a chance without sharing. Person A downloads game X. He plays it and then tells his his three best friends, B, C and D about it.

Person B then also downloads the game (and tells three of his best friends). BUT(!!) person C and D goes to the store and BUYS the game, and then tells their three best friends about the game.

Result: Per 1 person that downloads game X, you in average get: 3 people acquiring the game where 50% are downloaders and 50% are buyers. around 75% would probably have never heard about game X unless person A had downloaded it and spread the word.

The important fact here is that the game developer probably have earned money on this action, but he probably doesn't know it. You simply can't count every download as a loss. Merely an investment where the ROI not necessarily is optimal, but definitely positive enough to be profitable.

Please do let me know if you want me to elaborate. I could probably spam an entire blog post about it :P


Bye Piratebay, bye Megaupload, bye Sharing
Yes, these sites might be partly censored or even completely shut down. No more sharing, thief!

You people are probably too darn lazy to do anything about this. I bet you are sitting in your computer chair right now thinking "nah, it will never happen, someone else will fix it for me". Well it is time to wake up. There is no someone else. There is only you.

Similar things already happened in Sweden (IPRED, FRA etc.) and no one really thought it would happen... that "someone else" would fix it.

I will now ask you to do only two things:

1. Watch the video below
2. Think for yourself: What can I do to contribute?


What I have done to contribute is to change my profile pictures everywhere to the picture in the top of this post, to spread the video below and to try to in general spread the word as best as I can. You can do either more or less than me. It is up to you, no one is forcing you.

I bet you wont do shit to contribute. Care to prove me wrong?