So I am reading in the news that the US is keeping immigrants out right now, and that the produce growers in California are suffering greatly because their workers are unable to come and work for them. [See one of the articles I'd read]
I drive or walk down city streets in various cities and see homeless people, who one presumes would work if work was available to them. The only reason they are homeless is because there is no work available for them to earn some form of wages, right? (I realize the realities of the situation are far more complex than this, but it's one paragraph in my blog, give me a break. For more information, read this.)
It seems obvious to me that a matchmaking system is needed here. Some way to hook the two up.
Any suggestions?
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
What makes MMORPGs finally stop being fun.
Back in “the day” I was in a big guild (top in my server, certainly contending for a notable guild cross server) for years, and when the guild eventually died off, I stopped joining big guilds (or guilds at all), and eventually stopped playing MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games).
Playing in a MMORPG (or most games) is only fun for me if I'm at (or trying to be at) the top of the game. And in MMORPGs, you eventually get funneled into a cycle of time sinks to advance your character - including tens or many tens of people doing it at once for a huge amount of time, and then doing it a lot.
It's not that doing that (playing the game and achieving those goals) isn't totally fun and worth it (it's very rewarding in many ways), but that you do eventually reach this point - where the tasks are no longer fun. And I’ll tell you why.
You show up at the same time, you do the same series of tasks, you get paid points (your real motivation to show up) so that you can spend those points to have things to help you to get to the top of your game.
Which sounds just like a job - which is the aspect of the game that makes it stop being fun.
Yes, you get to do it (workplay) with friends and it's a fun thing, but it has still become a job. You are only showing up to most of these raids to earn points to buy things to go to bigger raids (get promotions). And it's when you apply that aspect (finances and commerce and attendance and rules that guide you through that funnel of the game) to the game, it stops being fun.
I have a prediction for the next big improvement in MMORPG gaming. One must design the game so that you have no need for an institution or entity (like a guild or corporation) that you earn points (or any other type of commerce tokens) within that is separate from the game currency.
Perhaps they must build the guild points in to the game system itself, or just build the game structure in such a way that the content does not require repetitive raiding of the same content to equip everyone. I’m sure they will eventually think of something.
I think a guild should be able to do joint ventures like raids in addition to a variety of community efforts, both while the entire guild (or a large portion of it) is online at the same time, and also when they are online at separate times.
How about an event that has to be completed sometime in a 24 hour period, and two groups can do it during hour one, and a couple of hours later three different groups can do their part, a couple of hours later another group does theirs … and by the end of the day, as long as everyone has done their part correctly, the reward is granted to each of those parties who participated in their parts?
Another idea: There should also be a way to make a guild activity a way of helping other guildmates, and still rewarding the group and the entire guild who is acting at once.
For instance, if 40 out of the 80 people in the guild are online at once, they can be working on multiple goals. One portion of them could be advancing some guild objective, while two other groups could each be working on advancing some individual’s objective (a quest advancement for one person, camp an item for another) and during the guild event, each goal accomplished somehow awards everyone participating in the guild event, no matter which goal they are on.
These are only a couple of ideas off the top of my head, I have plenty more. I’m sure the game designers and execs can come up with other ways to implement these kinds of improvements to the game to keep them fun.
Playing in a MMORPG (or most games) is only fun for me if I'm at (or trying to be at) the top of the game. And in MMORPGs, you eventually get funneled into a cycle of time sinks to advance your character - including tens or many tens of people doing it at once for a huge amount of time, and then doing it a lot.
It's not that doing that (playing the game and achieving those goals) isn't totally fun and worth it (it's very rewarding in many ways), but that you do eventually reach this point - where the tasks are no longer fun. And I’ll tell you why.
You show up at the same time, you do the same series of tasks, you get paid points (your real motivation to show up) so that you can spend those points to have things to help you to get to the top of your game.
Which sounds just like a job - which is the aspect of the game that makes it stop being fun.
Yes, you get to do it (workplay) with friends and it's a fun thing, but it has still become a job. You are only showing up to most of these raids to earn points to buy things to go to bigger raids (get promotions). And it's when you apply that aspect (finances and commerce and attendance and rules that guide you through that funnel of the game) to the game, it stops being fun.
I have a prediction for the next big improvement in MMORPG gaming. One must design the game so that you have no need for an institution or entity (like a guild or corporation) that you earn points (or any other type of commerce tokens) within that is separate from the game currency.
Perhaps they must build the guild points in to the game system itself, or just build the game structure in such a way that the content does not require repetitive raiding of the same content to equip everyone. I’m sure they will eventually think of something.
I think a guild should be able to do joint ventures like raids in addition to a variety of community efforts, both while the entire guild (or a large portion of it) is online at the same time, and also when they are online at separate times.
How about an event that has to be completed sometime in a 24 hour period, and two groups can do it during hour one, and a couple of hours later three different groups can do their part, a couple of hours later another group does theirs … and by the end of the day, as long as everyone has done their part correctly, the reward is granted to each of those parties who participated in their parts?
Another idea: There should also be a way to make a guild activity a way of helping other guildmates, and still rewarding the group and the entire guild who is acting at once.
For instance, if 40 out of the 80 people in the guild are online at once, they can be working on multiple goals. One portion of them could be advancing some guild objective, while two other groups could each be working on advancing some individual’s objective (a quest advancement for one person, camp an item for another) and during the guild event, each goal accomplished somehow awards everyone participating in the guild event, no matter which goal they are on.
These are only a couple of ideas off the top of my head, I have plenty more. I’m sure the game designers and execs can come up with other ways to implement these kinds of improvements to the game to keep them fun.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Rude Gum People
In my running series of rude people posts, I bring us to a subset of rude littering people, to rude gum littering people.
These are the folks who are walking along, chewing a piece of gum, when suddenly they decide they've had enough of it. They can't wait until they walk 20 more feet until they are at a trashcan - they are compelled by some force within to spit gum out of their mouths and on to the ground right where they stand.
They have no thought or realization of any events that might occur after the gum has left their mouth or fingers - it is gone, past-tense, no longer even a memory. The thought that a person might later on (minutes, hours?) accidentally step on that piece of gum does not enter their mind - as long as it is not them.
It's not so much, I think, whether or not the person is capable of conceiving of events concerning the gum once it leaves their mouth. They just do not feel a desire to do so.
One hypothesis for this behavior I am considering: For these people, taking other people into account is a painful experience.
I am open to other suggestions if you have them. Please click the COMMENTS link below and tell us how you feel.
These are the folks who are walking along, chewing a piece of gum, when suddenly they decide they've had enough of it. They can't wait until they walk 20 more feet until they are at a trashcan - they are compelled by some force within to spit gum out of their mouths and on to the ground right where they stand.
They have no thought or realization of any events that might occur after the gum has left their mouth or fingers - it is gone, past-tense, no longer even a memory. The thought that a person might later on (minutes, hours?) accidentally step on that piece of gum does not enter their mind - as long as it is not them.
It's not so much, I think, whether or not the person is capable of conceiving of events concerning the gum once it leaves their mouth. They just do not feel a desire to do so.
One hypothesis for this behavior I am considering: For these people, taking other people into account is a painful experience.
I am open to other suggestions if you have them. Please click the COMMENTS link below and tell us how you feel.
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