I've been busy working on some new publishing methods.  Have no fear, I'll soon be back to posting regularily on All About B, but in the meantime enjoy the fruits from some of my other labor.

 

b.

Due to the fact that I have the coolest job in the world, today I had the pleasure of attending the 2005 Microsoft Meltdown game development conference.  I didn't realize how much I was going to geek out until I was getting breakfast and bumped into a dev who works on Star Wars Galaxies and we waxed nostalgic about the merits of having maintenance fee on player placed buildings in order to maintain server size. We were standing with a guy who works on Battlefield 2 and he was fascinated that you could come home from a two week trip and not only find bills in your mailbox, but a stack of "bill" reminders in your video game.  Not sure he was convinced this was a good thing at all.

 

A short time later we shuffled into the jam packed main room for the morning welcome and keynote.  That is when I remembered that David had told me, Mike Morhaime, President of Blizzard Entertainment was giving this year's opening keynote.  Although I haven't logged on to WOW in quite some time (the pull of the SWG force is strong), I was no less excited to see him speak today than if it had been day one of launch back in November.

 

The focus of Mike's talk was the lessons Blizzard learned during the launch of World of Warcraft.  I was especially keen to hear about this from Blizzard's side of the fence, since I was one of the many players frustrated early on by server queues, lag, and downtime at launch.

 

After sharing with us the top 10 Gnome Pick Up Lines; my personal favorite being #10 Hey!Down Here, Mike then went on to share 10 lessons learned from the WOW launch.  I thought folks might be interested in hearing these, so I jotted them down:

 

10.  Having a Test Site is NOT optional - Mike emphasized that despite the time and expense involved in setting up a full test site, it is mandatory if you expect to deliver superior service.  At the launch they did not have a test site and as such a lot of the down time was due to testing server configurations.

 

9.  Staff for the future - better to have several idle hands prior to launch, than to have to conduct a hiring frenzy during launch.  Whether it be database folks or customer service reps, in order to have a good experience you need the people-power.

 

8.  Murphy loves to Forecast - I'm not sure you can really blame Blizzard for not anticipating the demand for WOW at launch.  An example of how they had underestimated future success was the midnight launch sale party at the local Fryes.  By 11:30, four thousand eager gamers were in line to buy their copy, with only 2,500 copies inside the store.  The good news is they were able to scoop up all copies from neighboring stores to supply the demand; the bad news is on launch day many customers were greeted with empty shelves.  As Mike put it: When thinking of the Fryes Launch party, that's when we devs have to remind ourselves that these events are planned by Marketing.

 

7.  A Key Relationship - Mike couldn't stress enough how important partners are when launching a new MMO.  Your investors need to be willing to invest as needs arrive.

 

6.  Think Long - Stay Flexible - The idea here is to think about the future of your game way beyond day one of launch.  He spoke of the launch in China, and the willingness to enter that market despite political and economic challenges.

 

5.  Be Ready with an Endgame -  This realization was huge, in that it never occurred to Blizzard that there were people who would blow through the standard game content so quickly.  Blizzard has since been able to offer new content including Battlegrounds, the PVP Honor system, and new instances, but none of this was ready in time to meet the needs of the powerlvling community.

 

4.  Plan for Migration - As a player I was really surprised to hear that they are thinking about issues like faction and population balance on game servers.  Sounds like there is plan coming to allow players to move accordingly.

 

3.  Structure for Global Success - Blizzard opened offices in France, Korea, and China, but realized that there has to be global commitments (even titles) at their corporate offices in the US to get the company thinking outside of North America.  He also emphasized the importance of traveling and meeting with international players to gain better insights.

 

2.  Testing is Everyone's Job - I suppose this one is pretty self explanatory, but with a twist.  Mike said it would be worth the money and the time to literally shut Blizzard down for two weeks solely for play testing.  Part of the Blizzard Culture is for everyone to test content as it is developed, and that is one key to their success.

 

1.  Quality isn't always free -  I didn't know this, but there are several titles that Blizzard has developed, some fully baked, that never saw the light of day.  Why?  Because at the end of the day they were not happy with the gaming experience.  Mike mentioned that every game company should have a "High Ground" which is something you stand for and that the company can rally around.  Blizzard's high ground is to create "high quality gaming that we are proud of".

 

And with that he closed his presentation and I stalked him for a quick picture.  I have seen quite a few keynotes in my day, and I have to say this was one of the more enjoyable ones; perhaps because I feel a personal connection to the folks at Blizzard through my WOW play.

 

Now if I could only figure out a way to track down John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment to discuss a little matter related to the nerfing of the entertainer profession in Star Wars Galaxies.

 

b.

 

To celebrate the recent two year anniversary of Star Wars Galaxies' launch, Sony Online Entertainment granted all players double experience points from Tues, June 27 - Tues, July 5th.  If you are any sort of power gamer, you realize that this is HUGE!  It's like SOE just gave you back half of your life because you can accomplish so much more in less time.  Granted I'm guessing most power gamers will continue to play just as obsessively after the double xp period expires, but for some reason it feels good to know we "could" choose to use the extra time for other pursuits (i.e. going outside, riding a bike, social human interaction).

 

In order to make the most of this gift, I had to set myself up for a steady run of "grinding" (i.e. monotonous, repetitive activity to earn quick xp).  I share these steps with you now:

 

1.  Go to the bathroom.  Before you do anything make sure to make a stop at the loo.  This will at least give you a few hours of uninterrupted play.

 

2.  Gather your snacks.  Depending on the length of your grind hunger is pretty inevitable.  Trust me, however, that if food is not near by you will probably continue to play until you pass out from low blood sugar, so make sure you have something to nibble on close at hand.

 

3.  Speaking of close at hand, make sure anything you might need is within arms reach.  This includes your phone, television remote control, stereo controls, etc.  Again, it is doubtful that in the middle of the grind you will want to leave your seat for any reason - even if you get stuck with a Matlock marathon running on the TV - if the control isn't within reach you would most likely suffer through.

 

4.  If there is any sort of outstanding task or chore hanging above your head, I highly recommend sucking it up and doing it first.  That will leave you free to grind until either your hands get frozen with carpel tunnel syndrome or you fall asleep drooling on your keyboard.

 

*Special Note*  If you have a significant other be sure to warn them in advance and set expectations accordingly.  DO NOT - I repeat DO NOT use these phrases:

 

In a minute

Be right there

Just give me a minute to finish this quest

I promise, just give me five more minutes and then I'll log off

I need to do one more little thing and then I'm all yours for the rest of the day/afternoon/night.

 

These statements are all LIES, and will only proceed to make you both miserable.

 

Happy Hunting!

 

b.