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Gaming Steve Episode 34 - 01.10.2006
Welcome to my first interview podcast for 2006 where I got the chance to sit down with Jeff Strain, Founder and President of ArenaNet, and makers of the hugely successful Guild Wars.During our talk we discuss the upcoming expansion Guild Wars: Factions, Jeff's thinking behind creating a dynamically generated MMO world, the technology behind their worldwide servers and content streaming system, the upcoming schedule for new future content, as well as much more. Enjoy!
Gaming Steve Episode 34 Program
- 00:03:16 GameTalk: Interview with Jeff Strain from ArenaNet, the makers of Guild Wars.
- 00:31:00 Show Mail: I answer your audio and email questions.
- 01:09:00 Final Thoughts on my contest from last week, the new Gaming Steve T-shirts, and what I'm currently playing.
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Assassin vs Ritualist in new Arena.
Isle of the Nameless (new training ground).
Male Ritualist looking all evil.
Damn Steve, you're really on top of these. A few months ago I was waiting weeks for podcasts. Keep it up.
Posted by Max Lawlor at January 10, 2006 5:06 PMHey, I love Guild Wars and am very excited about the expansion. By the way, if anyone wants to talk to me, add Reah Wahh to your friends list.
Posted by Wahh at January 10, 2006 5:27 PMVery stoked on the frequency of the podcasts nowadays. Always look forward to them, gonna start this one right now.
Posted by robotplague at January 10, 2006 6:36 PMI used to like GuildWars very much, but Not anymore. Why?
I guess I have the same reason as other people have. GuildWars has a really bad story line. Many people have finished the game many times, including myself. GuildWars PvP lacks of optional and boring (compare with WoW).
I was thinking to buy the upcoming expansion, but I don't think the expansion will be as good as the first one. I heard people can play just buying the expension. I think it's really ridiculous. What's the point of MMORPG?
Please make GuildWars as fun as WoW, even though it lacks of race and professions.
Thank You
Posted by Hussein Yapibie at January 10, 2006 8:34 PMFor the guy asking about games with coop mode I would recomend splinter cell chaos theory. The are exclusive levels for this mode and you have to really work together to make it through lots of fun.
Posted by virtua at January 10, 2006 8:36 PMbut unlike other mmorpgs you can quit the game not feeling like youve been wasting money or time, many people try mmorpgs and are stuck with the cost of the box when they quit, as well as the recurring fee.
You on the other hand payed for the box and its always there for you, whether you play or not:)
Posted by happydan20 at January 11, 2006 12:23 AMIs this a part 1(it seems awfully short for one of your shows, Steve ; ) )
Posted by Kalle at January 11, 2006 1:21 AMYay, my voicemail got answered. It's also the last time I will do a voicemail because I sound terrible.
Posted by DoggySpew at January 11, 2006 6:56 AMI think I'm going to try Guild Wars, now that I hear what it's like. Before it was just another mmorpg, but I like the thought of an online game that has features to decouple character power from the amount of time played in the game.
Might be a good excuse to pick up a new video card too :)
Posted by db48x at January 11, 2006 9:18 AMGreat interview Steve.
Posted by Alan at January 11, 2006 11:21 AMThis comment is for "why are MMORPGS so popular?" I once asked a therapist why some video games are so addictive. The answer was amazingly simple, and is a major hint to game designers why games like "Zelda" are popular.
The answer was a system of random rewards. She explained that a lab rat that gets a food pellet everytime it pushes a little bar, the rat will soon learn to only push the bar when it needs to. If the lab rat gets a food pellet after a random number of bar pushes, the rat will push the bar compulsively not knowing how many pellets it will get.
By analogy, this behavior is compared to gambling addiction, and seems best applied to slot machines. However, games like Zelda don't always reward you for defeating enemies. Every once-in-awhile, and fairly frequently, you get rupees, hearts, and bombs. Most MMORPGs have a similar reward system, but much more complicated. MMORPGs tend to have you collect things, sell things, and trade things in addition to ready-to-use rewards. So once you get a thrill from this sort of reward, usually from the power it gains you in the fantasy environment, you're hooked!
Posted by Robb at January 12, 2006 9:14 AM