Wallstrip Chat: Daniel James

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  ypplayer

  09/26/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Wallstrip Chat: Daniel James

  It's surprising to hear Daniel James talk about
  recognizing and valuing the attractions of "community"
  and "cooperation", as changes in Puzzle Pirates over
  the last 2 years have largely undermined precisely
  those once-attractive elements of it.
  
  Certainly, when the game was first released, the focus
  was on community and teamwork. The best way to get
  the 'prizes' -- the "fancy hats" as DJ says -- was to
  find a good "pirate crew" of other players, work
  cooperatively with them, and reap the rewards. As a
  result, players interaced with each other a lot, worked
  cooperatively, formed friendships, mentored new
  players, and put down long-term roots in the game
  and its community. A very effective way of attracting
  and retaining a client base.
  
  But 2.5 years ago, OOO introduced on-line poker into
  their pirate world -- essentially offering on-line
  gambling to minors. And while this is just "play
  money" on some servers, on the micro-currency
  "doubloon servers", where many minors play, the game
  money used in gambling is frequently bought with real
  life cash. (Gamers buy game "doubloons" for real
  money, then sell those doubloons to other players for
  the "pieces of eight" used at the poker tables).
  
  In addition to the ethical considerations it raises, the
  introduction of poker also completely changed the
  nature of the game.
  
  By offering in-game poker's winners the ability to
  make "pirate money" literally hundreds of times faster
  than any other game, the entire focus of the game
  shifted away from "teamwork" and "cooperation" to
  individualistic poker playing -- resulting in many
  players, seeking to accumulate their next "buy in"
  amount of game money, having little or no interest in
  teamwork or cooperative play or community.
  
  Three years ago, those players who had the "fancy hat"
  were the successful team leaders, mentors, and
  salesmen. Now those who have the "fancy hats" are
  almost always simply the big winners at poker...
  convincing new players that that's how to get ahead in
  the game and leaving most non-poker-winners either
  impoverished and scrounging for their next buy-in or
  discouragedly giving up on the "high end" (i.e. game-
  money-requiring) parts of the game... or quitting
  altogether.
  
  As a result, much of the character which made Puzzle
  Pirates an early success -- the cooperation, the
  community, and (especially) the variety of synergistic
  activities offering comperable rewards to a wide range
  of play styles -- has been destroyed, and Puzzle
  Pirates increasingly reduced to little more than a
  pirate-themed poker site with some cute (but
  increasingly irrelevant) tetris- or bejeweled-like
  puzzles thrown in on the side. At this point, the
  trickle-down effect of poker's introduction on the in-
  game economy has now effected every part of the
  game, and made it unattractive to precisely the kind of
  community and puzzling-oriented players who gave
  the game its early social and financial success.
  
  It is, of course, impossible to tell whether the long-
  term financial benefit to OOO of adding poker has
  been positive or negative -- whether adding poker to
  the game (and completely changing its character and
  focus as a result) has earned OOO more money than
  they might otherwise have gained, or (if so) whether
  there might not have been better ways to increase
  revenue without cheapening the product. Only
  comparison to an alternate universe could determine
  that for sure.
  
  Either way, however, the gaming industry may soon be
  holding Puzzle Pirates up not as a model of clever on-
  line gaming economics, but of how corporate greed or
  poor management decisions can lead to the sacrificing
  of a products' integrity and destruction of its one-time
  unique and attractive charm -- and probably (as a
  result) the games long-term survival -- all in the
  hopes of getting a few more bucks from gamblers.

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  2

  miller2008

  04/29/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Wallstrip Chat: Daniel James

  Hi,
  
  A very smart and diplomatic answer. It?s really appreciable and generous.
  
  Miller
  
  Virtual Currency