Virtual Worlds are Hot right now

[aridash]

Originally Posted by Ozi

The logical thing for someone like google to do is simply to buy a stake in Mindark and work with them. The first step is for MindArk to get their IPO done.

you dont need to be public to be bought.

come to think of it though, what on earth has Google got to do with any of this? they are a ad agency attached to a search engine, MA/EU is a game/content provider. there is no cross over beyond adverts which is hardly relevent.

[Sarah Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by Uni

Having a custom avatar and fancy clothes is one of the most important things for VW users in general, it has advantages also for EU.
It adds to cash flow, makes loot pool little bigger again or rises some prices
of basic hunt loot.It's certain that it won't lower nubmer of players, but the oposite.I think thats the reason MA makes all these changes

Ofc, what I meant was that building something on socialising only will not work in a long run. When all medial noise lowers down, ppl will go and look for something to do actually. Looking good is ok, but when there is something else to do. Looking good as the only goal is pretty boring...

Plus, I'm pretty sure that Google and other companies working on VWs now are not planning their enterprises as something lasting forever. They will build soap bubble of "being cool" inside one of them, get advertising money (and not only advertising money) and when the hype goes down, they will rebuild it with a different name...

[xaph]

Originally Posted by xaph

Just a thought very open to comment .
Yes Google can affililite with the strong in this field, but only if there is a negotiated path for profiting via web browser type applications. They may have the capacity to install MMPORG'S but I suspect the prospect of and installed package of the propensity of Crytopia/EU may be too much at this stage. Particulary if it was on offer to every man and his dog to download, its free to forget .

That being said biggest losses would be big for MA or others , if they were that inprudent to accept a Google deal (or other) to share bandwidth cost and download server capability to supply such packages.

Given that I doubt that MA of any other MMORPG would commit as they are likely to be taken over by Google (or other) with financial failure
EU.

Just an exerpt of ideas

Perhaps a bubble within yes...

[tedt]

Yes there's a LOT of competition coming.. There's more money to be made in the games industry then in the entire Hollywood movie industry.. So be wise and think about where you want to invest Do you trust MA? ... I didnt stop investing here for no reason

[CozMoDan]

I agree, it seems like almost everyone, with the fact that more players are better for all of us and them also. Of course we have to hope that MA does not get greedy on us and they remember the old adage " A constance dime beats a rare dollar" Ten percent of a billion dollars is way better than 50% of 100 million. I don't think trying to get more from current players is the solution and I kind of think that may be MAs thought also. The engine gives me that idea. I don't think any of us hardcores would quit playing if the engine never got here so I would say MA is doing that just to attract new players. I also hope that when the new players get here the loots will go up, not only because of the infussion of new money but because of an adjustment of the payoffs by MA. Within reason I do believe that more payoffs generate more players but I do not wnat it to be at the expense of MA going broke or really not making enough money to justify the investment.

As for the new engine and hardware needed. I just bought a new, what I call, a cheepy laptop, 804 USD before taxes, add another 50 USD for taxes. HP with a nvida 8400 and 256 megs deicated memory. It runs EU fine and I did run CE2 demo and that also looked very good. I have an older machine with an ATI 9800 PRO and 256 megs and it runs EU fine and I would think it would also do fine the the demo, although I haven't tried it yet. But to let all know how old it is I just replaced th MB battery and they last about 5 years. So I think, and I hope, that hardware will not be the main issue.

What I think is the main issue you ask? To me it is the slow start of the game. Let me explain. It takes, IMHO, a hardcore gamer to start with sweating and skilling and getting killed and sweating again and repeat. Then buying the wrong guns and not be able to kill anything big and so on. I know about the mentors but one doesn't that when he lands and there are those that would take advanage of others. And just the complication and many, many fassits of the games can be overwheming. All the learning takes time and a lot of FPS players will get board quick. They like fast paced games and killing sanbbies are not. I hope all see my point. The bad thing is I don't know what can be done about either. It is so much like RL that you could say 1 year in EU is like 10 years in RL. You start as a baby and learn and progress and by the time you are 3 (30 in RL) you can get around nicely if you have paid attention. Some will never learn and some will learn faster but in the end it still takes an amount of time and that is unlike any other "Game" I have ever played.

[Sirhc]

Originally Posted by kygon

the .dot com bust showed ppl that you cant just throw millions of $ at something and expect something good - I wonder what expertise they actually have , I can see it now "we make good search engines, cant be much harder"

I would think most big companies would have learned from SL. The spent quite a bit of money setting up their prescence there only to have those areas turn into ghost towns overnight. Its sort of like our Ad screenies in EU. They are there and do catch people's attention to the point of being annoying so in some respect that works and brings in some additional revenue for EU.

Virtual Worlds are supposed to be an escape from everyday life just like MA states. So smart advertisers and companies are better off spending money on getting simple brand recognition in games of all types. So in EU don't try to sell us an iPhone on the vid screen but make up some iCom device that fits our virtual world and plaster Apple all over it.

To me virtual worlds are close enough to reality that I can identify with my avatar but not so close as real life. Its a way of letting me pseudo live out those day dreams I had when I was a kid about all my favorite Sci Fi movies.

I don't mind the corporations trying to bridge into virtual worlds so long as they integrate into the virtual world they set their sights on. If I have a super efficient and useful iCom device in EU that might make me think about an iPhone in real life.

If virtual worlds are going to be successful the corporate world is going to need to take some imagination classes before they see a dime of my paycheck. If not I think many companies suffer the same issues running their own VW as the corp sites did in SL.

[Joat]

Originally Posted by Sirhc

I would think most big companies would have learned from SL. The spent quite a bit of money setting up their prescence there only to have those areas turn into ghost towns overnight. Its sort of like our Ad screenies in EU. They are there and do catch people's attention to the point of being annoying so in some respect that works and brings in some additional revenue for EU.

Virtual Worlds are supposed to be an escape from everyday life just like MA states. So smart advertisers and companies are better off spending money on getting simple brand recognition in games of all types. So in EU don't try to sell us an iPhone on the vid screen but make up some iCom device that fits our virtual world and plaster Apple all over it.

To me virtual worlds are close enough to reality that I can identify with my avatar but not so close as real life. Its a way of letting me pseudo live out those day dreams I had when I was a kid about all my favorite Sci Fi movies.

I don't mind the corporations trying to bridge into virtual worlds so long as they integrate into the virtual world they set their sights on. If I have a super efficient and useful iCom device in EU that might make me think about an iPhone in real life.

If virtual worlds are going to be successful the corporate world is going to need to take some imagination classes before they see a dime of my paycheck. If not I think many companies suffer the same issues running their own VW as the corp sites did in SL.

I can only agree.
The thing is, I'm in EU for entertainment, I want less of RL-stuff visible in
the VW, since it creates a quite "dull" feeling. I want to see shiny nice
spacecraft, not an obsolete Toyota (even thou' in another place and time
it had been nice. )
Stick to basic storyline, create things that fit that one and as Sirhc said,
when I see company name and a futuristic item, I might look at what
they have to offer in RL.
Sadly thou', since I'm in EU for entertainment, this goes for my money too.
I depo to enjoy some hours of fun, not lose them in less than one hour
just because my type of gaming isn't fit the "dynamics" in EU. Give me
more fun per ped spent, and I'll for sure depo more. Stick to storyline
here too, and raise funfactor a lot, and many of people that has "quit",
will most probably come back too. Ok, I guess we have to wait until
system has capacity for it, but when it does.... please, do it!!

[blubalou]

Originally Posted by Sirhc

... So in EU don't try to sell us an iPhone on the vid screen but make up some iCom device that fits our virtual world and plaster Apple all over it.

...

I don't mind the corporations trying to bridge into virtual worlds so long as they integrate into the virtual world they set their sights on. If I have a super efficient and useful iCom device in EU that might make me think about an iPhone in real life.

.

Ukash weapons rule!

I live in the USA., so I'm out of luck, but I made a real effort to see if I could make a depo via Ukash just so I could get one of these guns for free.

Well said Sirhc.

[Ozi]

Originally Posted by Sirhc

I would think most big companies would have learned from SL. The spent quite a bit of money setting up their prescence there only to have those areas turn into ghost towns overnight. Its sort of like our Ad screenies in EU. They are there and do catch people's attention to the point of being annoying so in some respect that works and brings in some additional revenue for EU.

Virtual Worlds are supposed to be an escape from everyday life just like MA states. So smart advertisers and companies are better off spending money on getting simple brand recognition in games of all types. So in EU don't try to sell us an iPhone on the vid screen but make up some iCom device that fits our virtual world and plaster Apple all over it.

To me virtual worlds are close enough to reality that I can identify with my avatar but not so close as real life. Its a way of letting me pseudo live out those day dreams I had when I was a kid about all my favorite Sci Fi movies.

I don't mind the corporations trying to bridge into virtual worlds so long as they integrate into the virtual world they set their sights on. If I have a super efficient and useful iCom device in EU that might make me think about an iPhone in real life.

If virtual worlds are going to be successful the corporate world is going to need to take some imagination classes before they see a dime of my paycheck. If not I think many companies suffer the same issues running their own VW as the corp sites did in SL.

I totally agree. I am more interested in seeing a Virgin Space Craft, or CAT Miner bot/digger, or Browning .45 BLP, or band aid FAP etc. With imagination there is lots companies could do to integrate their brands into EU without their exact products. The players of EU are smart, they can get the link between the in game Apple iCom and the RL iPhone.

I think EU being set in the future really suits companies that wish to portray themselves as being leading edge and forward thinking.

[aridash]

Originally Posted by tedt

Yes there's a LOT of competition coming..

i disagree, i think theres only one poorly backed competitor. there are many virtual worlds of course but the underlying "RCE" just isnt being developed by anyone else, they see revenue comeing from two much easier to manage routes, subscription or the sale of money.