a look over the shoulders of the gods

[hans1976]

well I'm half way through. Makes interesting reading, and sure beats actually doing some work at work my fav bit so far is this:

...For example, if the game developers determine that a wizard spell is too powerful, and decrease its effectiveness, chances are that the entire wizard's guild will buzz with anger that they have been unfairly targeted for "nerfing" (decreasing of their abilities). Savvy customer relations personnel will anticipate which groups that an upcoming change will most affect, and work with the appropriate organizations in order to set expectations. Representatives from the community, appointed or self-selected, provide an interface layer between the general customer and the game developer. If community relations can work with the wizard guild leaders, to persuade them why an upcoming change is good for the game as a whole, those guild leaders can be very useful in talking to other members of their guild and passing the word along, to prevent player dissatisfaction. In other words, the in-game political power that those leaders have acquired, can be useful to the game developers when controversial changes are needed.

it's all about the communication =) and with Xavier now hanging out with us it looks like things are moving in the right direction

Soooo.... Now that Sxarlet is our GL, he will be treated specially? Or will the Guides and GM's develop a feel for who is influential and than treat *them* specially?

[sx4rlet]

Soooo.... Now that Sxarlet is our GL, he will be treated specially? Or will the Guides and GM's develop a feel for who is influential and than treat *them* specially?

Treated specially? Is that positive or negative? Do I get extra cookies?
*wonders if I got a total ignore from the GM's*

No, seriously. What Rushin quotes is the way is the way it should work. Not only Xavier, but ingame persons too. That can be guild leaders, but also other players that have influence in some parts of the game.
If they get to see those persons to see their view of the story, that it is important to the game, instead of the nerfing, the community will accept the changes quicker.

If I look at how the community responds to the guides and gm's I think they are already a way ahead then all the other MMO's I know of.

[rushin]

If I look at how the community responds to the guides and gm's I think they are already a way ahead then all the other MMO's I know of.

that's so true; the relationship ingame with players and support is truly a joy. All I meant previously was that it's good to see a dev communicating directly with the player base, because however nice the guides and gm's are they are not the ones coding

*choc chip & hazelnut cookies?*

[mrozzy]

8M. Hmmmmm

I pay 12,50 to play per month. I dont have a multi month thingy.

I guess upkeep for the game as a whole is about 400K per year (no, more) 1.000K per year. An avarage games lifecycle is suppost to be 4 years, but I am nit sure what the plans and expectations with NEL are.

The total costs are now about 12.5M, which means one million months in four years, which means 250K months per year, which means 40K users avg over 4 years.
Nope, dont think Ryzom will get there...

So either: get lower upkeep, get more players or stretch the games lifetime.

No entirely correct I think, when I do the calculation:

12M development costs (8M development + 4M beta)
1M/year upkeep (probly more)

That makes 16M total costs over 4 years, so they need about 1.28M paid months (16M/12.5) or 320k/year or 26.667 paying customers each month on average over 4 years. With only 5% of the 0.5M beta accounts they had, actually paying for the game .. they are almost there ...

[micrix]

Soooo.... Now that Sxarlet is our GL, he will be treated specially? Or will the Guides and GM's develop a feel for who is influential and than treat *them* specially?

In this example they talk about nerfing a mage spell and the reaction of the mage guild. Atys has got no mageguild or such.

But guess what happenes when somehting like a race gets nerfed and a player who is elected representant of this race (unfotunately Tryker indendants are NPC, btw. ) is taking a word with an GM or DEV ? I n this case this player would not only represent a huge number of Tryker but also a huge number of players (customers).

Anyway. I see it like others. Relations between players and companyppls is fine.

In RL i work together with DEVs. They do understand a lot but they often have another sense of getting things done Probably cause they are most aware of flaws then any other...

[hans1976]

The calculation was very much from the top of my head and in a hurry, thank you for the correction

So GM saying hi when I run by, is by design? *eyeing Flump suspiciously*.

Psylo, System Analyst / Functional Designer / QA too?