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Van Hemlock Episode 49
Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:52:00 GMT [download/play]

This week we're back with some more new and another bind-bogglingly large list of games as we discuss what we've been playing over the last fortnight. There was even a brand new game that hadn't been released at the time of recording in a flagrant breaking of the three month rule.

You can leave us a comment over at Virginworlds.com, follow us on Twitter for the Friday question as @vanhemlock and @jonshute or leave us a letter with a law firm to be delivered on this date if you find yourself trapped back in the wild west.

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Episode 49 Discussion Thread

'Yikes!' by Akely

Submitted on 2009-05-09 13:04:56 CST
I somehow missed this show and found out listening to show 50... so the comment is a bit late, but anyway:

Enforce Socialization:
I do not think that the Killer/Achievers have to BECOME socializes in order to progress. The die-hard achievers will TAKE PART in the social group do reach their goal. They will not socialize in the sense that they'll make friends, banter and generally "be nice". They see the grouping/raiding as a necessary thing to acheve their goal.
You see these people all the time in pick up groups. They tag along, say nothing, do their best in combat and as soon as the goal is reached they head off - PERHAPS with a "thx 4 grp".
In my experience these can become social with a small group of people. In fact: one of my best friends is just like this. He is social and chatty when around Guildies only, but pick up groups he sees as a tool to go somewhere, achievement wise.
One has to remember that it is perfectly fine and OK to play the game like this. The people with that *Bartle Test Diagnose" are just made that way. I'm a SEKA myself, and my AKES friend get a heck of a lot more leveling and looting done than I do. So much I sometimes get a bit envious.

"Lost Girls"? Never heard of it. Recognized the girl names from elsewhere though...
/me goes Googling

'Late listening' by Sente

Submitted on 2009-05-09 23:28:06 CST
I had the same issue as Akely with this episode of the podcast, saw it after I noticed that #50 was there.

Richard Bartle's categorisation along the lines of the archiever/explorer/socialiser/killer types for MMOs is not something entirely new he has come up with. In fact it pretty much corresponds to his old descriptions of stable world types, given certain combinations of the palyer types above. It is in chapter 3 of his book "Designing Virtual Worlds" frm 2003.

There is some interesting read there about player types and other ways to categorise player types and how a player may chnage over time also.

Glad that you liked The Siren Supremes :)
Improvements to the browse and search tool in Mission Architect is something I am looking forward to. But since they are bundling it with Issue 15 it might be at least a couple of weeks before it may pop up.