12,30 %

Is your profit if you invested in the (quite conservative) German DAX last Friday. You remember my last post?

Poker against Mrs. Merkel

I recently bought quite some German shares. Here are my thoughts.

Repost: Skill-Based Character Progression

I was about to write another post about skill-based character progression after reading about the announced Pathfinder MMO and, of course, discussing Skyrim. I then realized that I have already written everything about it before. Here's a repost.

Triumph of the Simulation

In fact, we experience a victory of the simulation right now and Blizzard is maybe the last big company fighting a few rearguard actions to keep the “gameplay first” motto alive.

That Skyrim MMO

In the last ten days there were two kinds of posts. The one kind said that there should be a MMO like Skyrim. The other said that this wouldn't work. I agree with both.

What Keeps the Mind Busy

Analyzing Skyrim allows me to add many new points to what keeps the mind busy.

On Fun, post #2232

A simple model separates every human in his consciousness and his subconsciousness.

On Fun, post #2231

There are countless posts about fun by now. And as long as I think that I make progress at pinning it down, or at least revealing interesting characteristics, I'll probably continue writing about it. That having said, let's jump in.

What is your favorite game design literature ?

Christmas is coming ...

Bug or Feature ?

To make a bit of money I decided to buy daggers, enchant them and resell them. That worked fine and I was feeling like Whiterun's local enchanter for a while.

My Final Attempt

... to convince you to get Skyrim. If you don't like being convinced stop reading now.

Huge, Detailed Open Worlds

Some people claim that it is impossible to create an open world as detailed as Skyrim for a MMORPG because that would be too expensive.

Skyrim Voice Acting

I'm trying not to be too fanboish about Skyrim. Because I hate people who are like that.

The Elder Scrolls: Online

The most interesting topic I really, really want to blog about as soon as Skyrim doesn't require every bit of my free time any more, is how exactly it would have to change to be a MMO, what the main differences to Wowlikes would be, and most importantly: why one would want that to happen in the first place.

Until I get to actually writing this post, feel free to tell me your opinion.

Why you should play Skyrim

In recent posts I pointed out what I don't like about Skyrim. It is much more difficult to point out why I love it.

Bethesda: Skyrim, not a Review

When I got tired yesterday, I decided that it's probably about 11 pm and time to go to bed. It was 3 am.

Skyrim First Impressions

Just my very, very first impressions.

Character Power Progression, again

Exponential CPP is not an aberration. It is the most natural way of increasing character power.

Skyrim Thoughts

The WoW era of this blog is nearing an end. In two days Skyrim will be released.

Transmogrification

Will players continue to use Blizzard's latest style?

Titan Layoffs ?

.. interesting: http://daeity.blogspot.com/2011/11/more-titan-troubles.html

Edit: On related news, WoW subs dropped by 1.7 mio during the last nine months to now 10.3 mio players (source).

A Proposal: Combat

Last post highlighted how important the exact implementation of the combat minigame in Wowlikes is. This post will make a proposal on how to iterate on it.

The Song

But until then the rhythms of the song, that is the combat minigame, kept your mind busy. Intellectually it was boring, but overall it was not.

Blizzard About To Squish Item Levels

Motstandet just wrote the post I wanted to write. Check it out.

Single-Player Games Are Aberrations

But have you ever wondered why we are entering this age of games right now? Why is it that all of a sudden everybody wants to play games?

It's All Games Now

Raph Koster had a well-received talk at GDC some time ago. Yesterday the video went online. I'm left a bit puzzled.

When WoW became Hardcore

Since WotLK, and especially with Cataclysm, WoW did not become more casual. Instead, it became more hardcore. I know this runs contrary to what most players believe. So, please hear me out.

Pet RMT

Blizzard added the new pet which can be bought for € and sold at the AH for in-game gold.

Games, Narratives and Simulations

It is important to judge 'games' for what they are. But if the developer fails at making up his mind about what his 'game' is supposed to be, this can be pretty difficult.

I am not trying to make a point

All I am saying is I like this video.

Ten Minutes Rift

I recorded a ten-minute Rift video. It's a lvl25 area and I am lvl50. This way I can run through and show you the wonderful graphics. I have a few points I want to make.

I'm So Sick Of Narratives

WoW right now is like original Everquest: You are forced to group. But, in contrast to EQ, you don't even decide with whom!

Doone's Titan Investigation

I have nothing to add to Doone's post.

No Return to Rift

I resubscribed to Rift some week ago, but didn't really find the motivation to play it. Yesterday I was finally getting serious and logged in.