Mike Wants a Game Job

A few days ago I visited the Pokemon trading forums on GameFaqs for the first time and found something I was not expecting: a bustling economy. I've always had a strained relationship with economies in massively multiplayer games; by the time I"m ready to start exploring such aspects they are already glutted with players who have seemingly infinite reserves of goods and capital and, as a newcomer, it is very hard to break in. Personally, when I know there are rare or more powerful items out there that other players possess in abundance, I begin to get envious and disgruntled by the fact that I cannot seem to obtain these items. This eventually turns into distaste for the game, which lingers until the next time I log in and am reminded once again of my comparative poverty, driving me off again. I’m able to get a fair amount of enjoyment out of the game up until that point, but once it becomes necessary for me to interact with the game economy the experience quickly ceases to be fun for me.

It happened to in Diablo 2, Kingdom of Loathing, and Magic (not a videogame, but the "spend more money to win more� philosophy seems applicable here), and I’m afraid the next victim of this trend may be Pokemon. I’ve always wondered: is it possible to have a balanced economy in a massively multi-player environment? How does one prevent hacking or players using multiple accounts to garner more than a fair share? How do regulations or a lack thereof influence player enjoyment?

 So far, I’ve found that Urban Dead has my favorite form of massively multiplayer economy: none. Characters cannot trade items with each other, and even if they could, there are not any rare or super-powerful items that would cause a large of amount of jealousy. Any item in the game can be scavenged from the appropriate building, with malls being the ultimate in one-stop scavenging. I know that once I’m ready to get myself a shotgun, all I have to do is head towards the nearest mall and start looting, not spending hours seeking out the one item the shotgun trader wants. The creators kept things simple in this respect, and this design element has kept me focused on the adventure and role-playing aspects of the game, keeping me happily occupied with my character’s survival instead of his economic standing.

While the economy of Urban Dead works, in my opinion, I realize that it is an extreme way to control an economy. I’m certain there must be some happy balance between fun and business out there, perhaps one where rare items are limited and very specialized so as not to make them the end-all-be-all of the game. Of course, I could solve the problem for myself by just playing the game and not worrying about being the best and having the best items, but then that just wouldn’t be me. A gamer has to keep his self-esteem up somehow, you know?

Seriously though, anybody have any spare Pokemon? There are still a few out there I haven’t caught.

Sorry for the lack of a second update last week, folks. I know I've been setting a bad precedent here, but it is extremely annoying when you have a lovely post ready to upload only to have your website time-out and delete the post without having saving it. It's a feeling similar to not saving a game for three hours then having a freak lightning strike or needlessly difficult boss end your quest, almost like you’ve had that time forever stolen away from you. Whenever something like that happens, be it with a videogame or writing, it takes me a few days to work up the desire to get back into it, so here I am.

Speaking of things that can make me stop playing a game, I’m working on a formal essay regarding difficulty in videogames. In my opinion it’s a design element that can make or break or game and can influence future profits by luring or scaring consumers away from a particular franchise or game design studio.  Originally I had planned to make a single blog post on this subject, but I soon realized it was a topic I could not speak about without going into detail. Hopefully this will give me a chance to practice my formal writing skills and give those of you who read this blog something to critique.

In the meantime, I urge you to check out Urban Dead, a browser based MMORPG set in a town besieged by zombies. Players can be either human or undead and learn new skills while struggling to survive in an expansive cityscape. There’s a limit on the things you can do each day which may seem annoying at first, but it soon becomes clear that it’s a nice little hook to keep you checking in throughout the day. UD is a lovely way to kill some time while bored or at work (not that I would ever do anything like that), plus you get to kill zombies.

Man, I hate the undead.

Before I get started today there are a couple pieces of business to take care of. First, I have created a new e-mail account for messages related to this site: mikewantsagamejob@gmail.com. Please use it instead of the e-mail address mentioned in my very first post. Secondly, I hope to begin podcasting within the next couple of weeks so keep your eyes open for that. New podcasts will be posted every other week or sooner, depending on how quickly it takes me to create a new episode.

Now on to more interesting matters: a couple of days ago I was referred to an article by CHUD.com's Devin Faraci regarding the controversy surrounding the adult only rating for Manhunt 2. In the article the author uses this issue to assert that the videogame industry is still primarily targeting teenagers, a fact which severely limits its potential as an art form. Until videogames present their audience with intellectually, emotionally, and philosophically mature themes, he argues, they will forever be a form of crass entertainment.

As a gamer, I found the article completely infuriating, but I must admit that it made a number of excellent points. Certainly a game like Manhunt 2, the main selling point of which seems to be how much brutal, disturbing violence it can showcase, does not meet commonly accepted standards of art, but are there games out there that do? Furthermore, what constitutes art? Is it the intent of the artists, the ability of the work to evoke something in its audience, or is beauty simply in the eye of the beholder? This is a subject with too much complexity to delve into in a simple blog post, but it's something I plan to explore with more depth and perspective in my podcast. For now, I would like to say this: there are not many games out there that I would consider art, but they are indeed out there. In games such as Planescape: Torment, Okami, and Katamari Damacy, it is clear that the designers and artists responsible for these games created worlds, characters, and stories that they poured themselves into in order make them beautiful and inspire awe in their audience. For Mr. Faraci to call the work of these dutiful men and women "disposable junk" is incredibly insulting both to them and to the audiences that enjoy them. Certainly there are games out there that were clearly treated as a product to be marketed, but games such as the ones I mentioned do not deserve to be lumped into this group, as I am sure movie aficionados would be loathe lumping together Pirates of the Caribbean 3 with Citizen Kane. 

Like I said, I'll be exploring this topic more in the future but for now I would like to end on an upbeat note. This video is a must-see for any old-school Nintendo fans, particularly those that faced the endless frustration of Bald Bull, Super Macho Man, and Mike Tyson/ Mr. Dream. Goddamn I hated those guys. 

One Two, One Two Punch, Mac.

-Mike