EA - Goes RPG Social

skavenhorde

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According to Gamespot EA has aquired KlickNation. KlickNation is a social role-playing game developer.
Now dear readers you might be saying to yourself, "But Skavenhorde, why do we care what EA buys?" This might be a reason to care:
Speaking to the acquisition, BioWare head Ray Muzyka said, "KlickNation's expertise in building innovative and compelling RPGs for social platforms makes them a seamless tuck-in with the BioWare team at EA. We share the same creative values. The new BioWare Social unit will bring BioWare and EA franchises to the growing audience of core gamers who are looking for high-quality, rich gameplay experiences on social platforms."
Thanks, Korplem for the posting a thread about this in the forums.
More information.
 
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I don't usually throw up on reading PR speak, but I came close this time.
 
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I met the founder and CEO of KlickNation just two weeks ago. He came to speak at my university to recruit students and let me tell there was more than a few people that were interested - and he was quite surprised how many of them played D&D. Like us he seems to be an old-skool RPG fan and started this company in his attic in 2008 but now he's rolling in money.

I asked him about Heroes of NWN and he claimed his games were much bigger. Clearly now that he's Bioware Sac he knew a lot more than he was telling me.

KlickNation's RPG's make money through in game purchases like any FTP MMOG out there. The thing that got me though was this 1000:1 lottery at $10 a pop to get a special item. He went on about one player spending $100-200k to get it.

I told the other professors after that its tantamount to online gambling though (though when I pressed the CEO about it he said it wasn't illegal and quickly changed the subject).

Coincidentally (or not) Facebook just announced an online gambling component slated for next year.
 
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Sounds like a great guy :p

Seriously, if I was in his shoes and people wanted to be idiots like that then I would let them and offer more of it. I just wish some of these guys would take the money they make and actually make something that is worth a damn. Why not try both if he is such a old-school RPGer.
 
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I just wish some of these guys would take the money they make and actually make something that is worth a damn. Why not try both if he is such a old-school RPGer.

They probably don't think there's any money in it.
 
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I told the other professors after that its tantamount to online gambling though (though when I pressed the CEO about it he said it wasn't illegal and quickly changed the subject).

Well if the special item is not tradable or isn't supposed to be tradable then there's no gambling. If its a grey/black market that's assigning value to this item he's still not getting into gambling. In both cases it would be analogous to getting a bunch of gold from Buccaneer's Den in UVII. If it is sanctioned and has a set monetary value (the company somehow tracks the real world market value of the item) then he could be skirting the line.
 
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Great another newsbit that give me more chills about Bioware and EA's future. As skavenhorde said if people want to be idiots and throw there money away let them. There the reason why F2P is so popular and why publishers are liking the model.
 
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Plus, F2P is indirect DRM, too.
 
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Plus, F2P is indirect DRM, too.

That too almost forgot as they basically give you the full game with restrictions. They still haven't given a good campaign like any sp game though.
 
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Gareth Fouche (Scars of War) wrote a blog piece about "social gaming" that I agree with:

http://garethfouche.com/revulsion

Still, if I was a business manager within a large organisation, this is what I'd do.

Great post - a little unsettling as well and one reason I tend to avoid those games, as well as F2P games and anything that tries to get you to buy something to make the game "better" or more "fun", or make you more "competitive".
 
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KlickNation's expertise in building innovative and compelling RPGs for social platforms makes them a seamless tuck-in with the BioWare team at EA. We share the same creative values. The new BioWare Social unit will bring BioWare and EA franchises to the growing audience of core gamers who are looking for high-quality, rich gameplay experiences on social platforms.

Every time Ray opens his mouth these days, a seemingly random collection of corporate cliches just seem to fall out. He is a walking buzzword bingo card.

Also Facebook gaming is the next bubble. The Farmville company is worth $9 billion? Yeah right.
 
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After reading that, I'd kind of like to seamlessly tuck my fist into Ray's face. :p
 
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Gareth Fouche (Scars of War) wrote a blog piece about "social gaming" that I agree with:

http://garethfouche.com/revulsion

Still, if I was a business manager within a large organisation, this is what I'd do.

I love when people speak sense your also right. If I could maker a game with a minimal budget and offer items and new maps for cash you get rich. Nothing like idiots wasting there money by giving it to me.

Reminds me of any illegal drug substance but its still legal. Welcome to nickel and diming and people seem to love it.
 
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But what about us who don't want to be social? We who just want to have fun and play great games? I want social media and games remain separate. Having to deal with facebook weekly is enough trouble for me. WHY on earth do people fancy this crappy social media?! Why can't they just connect to IRC network or send an EMAIL like in the good old days. So that being said, the last thing I want to do is spend my quality gaming time on facebook.

Look, I'm no hermit, but I want gaming to remain as my own personal thing. I want it to be a way to escape the hectic real life. It grants me an easy way to relax and have good time in a whole different universe, like a good novel does.
 
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Well if the special item is not tradable or isn't supposed to be tradable then there's no gambling. If its a grey/black market that's assigning value to this item he's still not getting into gambling. In both cases it would be analogous to getting a bunch of gold from Buccaneer's Den in UVII. If it is sanctioned and has a set monetary value (the company somehow tracks the real world market value of the item) then he could be skirting the line.

there is a huge difference between receiving fake gold in buccaneer's den and using real money against fixed odds. When you do that you are gambling.

By saying they are acquiring item that is not exchangeable is the same argument that the company is making and is by the very definition "skirting the line".

The Feds (in the US) banned online gaming several years ago for good reason but the Poker websites attempted to claim the law was not clear. The Feds have now shut them down and even the casinos wanted nothing to do with them (they banned them from sponsoring players for the World Series of Poker for example).

The Feds don't like companies trying to quibble on this issue and will shoot first and ask questions later. I'm trying to make this clear to my students that if they choose to work at companies like this they could be asking for trouble and besides that to consider if they could wake up with themselves in the morning. With $100k waved in front of their nose the words "compromise" and "justify" come to mind.
 
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