Week 5: 2/2

The second question to answer is how 3D spaces are used to reflect personalities and interests.  There are 3 main ways this is accomplished.  The first, and most common, is through your gear.  In Guild Wars, all gear has the exact same base stats, some are just rarer then others and cost more ingredients.  As such, you have at least 6 armor sets that are all different looks that you can dye different colors and make all your own.

The second way is through the hall of monuments.  As you collect certain achievements, your hall will slowly fill out more, and as you get excessive options, you are able to pick and choose which ones to display.  But unless someone is in a group with you, they will never see it and the overall design won't change, merely the contents displayed.

The final, much more relevant way to answer this question is with guild halls.  A guild leader can buy a hall from a bunch of different types, over 10 I believe.  Each of these has a unique layout and theme to them.  Some appear to be a Gothic style castle while another is a palace from an Egyptian esque area.  There are also some basic upgrades you can get that improve the guild hall, mostly for guild battles.  Almost everyone will have these upgrades after some time though, so the only real way to show off your personality is in the initial style of the guild hall.

Week 5: 1/2

The first question for this week is what sort of formal/informal behaviors do I notice in game compared to real life.  There are actually quite a few.  Verbally speaking, among friends people tend to talk the exact same way.  I have yet to notice a change that would surprise you.  There are some little things like people can be more rude, or rather a lot more dismissive in a group or trade scenario.  If it's an informal event then you can be treated just like a nuisance they can't be bothered with.  Formal occasions are a lot better.  If it's a group run then people fall in line and quiet down when work needs to be done and chat casually again otherwise.

Non verbally though  I have noticed one particular action that I find somewhat funny.  If I am talking to a person, and I move my character to be inside their character, or at least right beside them, they have a tendency to move away and get their "personal space" back.  This was only really observed when the player was being talked to, otherwise they were fairly oblivious to events.

Week 4: 2/2

The second question this week was mostly answered in week 2, and the question is "What virtual goods are bought and sold online and how do they effect the broader economy."  To answer the first question, the items are weapons, equipment enhancements, vanity items like mini-pets/shape-shifting items, higher forms of currency, crafting ingredients or items for the Hall of Monuments to achieve a higher score.

As for how the economy effects the broader economy, in Guild Wars it can effect the actual economy directly.  Gold sellers, which are banned if caught but still operate, will sell in game gold for real life currency having an impact in that way.  Also, it is possible though highly uncommon for item sales to be conducted in real currency but sites like guildwarsguru.com help with this.  Now, there are also micro-transactions that Arenanet, Guild Wars' creators, offer and they are bought with real money.  Outside of these options though, Guild Wars' economy has no effect on the greater economy.

Week 4: 1/2

This week continues the economy questions from week 2.  The first question is a simple one, how are goods sold in game.  Well, there are 2 main ways.  The easiest but not the most accommodating is to stand in town trying to sell your item.  This can take a while, especially for very rare items that go for absurd amounts of gold.  As such, there is an aid you can use in game that is part of the search function.  On top of helping you get into groups, it also allows you to broadcast your goods, keeping them not only in trade chat but also in a listing that any other player can scroll through.  This method is probably best for selling either common goods, or items that are going to be very good sellers because you are selling to people actively trying to buy.

The other method is through third party sites like www.guildwarsguru.com.  They have an "auction house" there that works just like Ebay.  Players can put up their items and the price, players bid, and if they sell they arrange to meet up online to trade.  Or they can cut that part out and just post on the forums for the same result.  Now, this hits a lot more people and is a very passive means of selling because not only do players have to be aware of the site to begin with, but they have to search for your item.  So the only hits you will get are serious ones that will sell, but it could take a bit longer if people aren't actively searching for it.

Week 3: 2/2

The second question I am to answer this week is to list 5 people I meet online every week, and what they get out of the game/how they view me.

The first person goes by Farin Herfer, one of my real life friends who plays.  He is also one of my guild members online and they are mostly playing Guild Wars for the entertainment factor and to get benefits when Guild Wars 2 comes out.  And being friends already, he said he viewed me as such still.

The second person is Anton Stormbringer and he is the leader of the guild I'm in.  He has been playing Guild Wars for a while and so his reasons for playing are not just for entertainment, but also to be with friends he has online. His view of me, and everyone else on this list, was more of an acquaintance, in that I am known but we're not close friends or have even shared much.  We are merely friendly with each other, more so then with strangers because we are in the same guild.

The third person is Quickshot Jack and the fourth person is Evalyn Galehart.  They are both in my guild or alliance and they're answers were very much along the lines of Anton's.

The final person is I Wont Be Owned and I met him while attempting to trade.  He gave me some advice and helped me get into more of the economic side of Guild Wars.  We haven't talked quite as much as the others and so, while friendly, we are on slightly more distant terms.  He plays Guild Wars for entertainment value and to group together in a PvE environment.

Week 3: 1/2

For the past week I have been continuing with mostly what I had been doing before.  I have sought out groups in to experience more joint play, just logged online to sit in a city and read chat, etc.  I even attempted to do some PvP.  Sadly, Guild Wars has devolved to needing very specific builds in PvP to do well so after dying a lot, I just called it quits for that.

As for my first question this week, it's to discuss how I am treated based off of my gear compared to others.  In short, there isn't much difference in how you are treated if you have bad gear.  This is mostly due to the fact that your gear doesn't change appearances, only power, until you hit max level.  At max level, you have access to other gear appearances, and most of them, while cool, aren't really difficult to get so at this point in Guild Wars, gear doesn't inspire awe in other players.  The only gear that could come close is the Obsidian armor that takes massive quantities of gold and expensive ingredients.  I know from myself that I found a little more respect for no reason other then that they had this expensive gear.

Week 2: 2/2

In the second half of this week, I have been considering the types of people that play this game as well as basic interactions between players.  I'll start with the easier question of player interactions.  In regards to the interactions towards me, it depends on the context.  If it's the random player and it is just a business deal it's very much a "talk or leave, I don't care" attitude.  When a sale is being discussed, most people don't even get more polite.  It isn't rude, but would be offensive if it was in a business in real life.  If it's a party, things are more friendly.  Compliments may be used if they notice someone doing an extremely good job but otherwise things are kept on a professional basis, very much a "let me do my job" kind of thing.  People are a lot more courteous in these situations as a lot more is at stake if the group breaks apart.  The most friendly interactions is always those within the guild/alliance.  If you are talking with someone there, it is like you are instant friends.  People warm up a lot quicker, joke around a lot and it's like you were just welcomed into a group of other friends.

As for me, a lot of my interactions are always on the excessively polite side.  I treat the game world as if it was real life and accordingly I always show extra respect to people, withhold name calling and such and doing whatever I can to keep amiable interactions going.

As for what sort of people are attracted to this game, it's hard to say.  Unlike Facebook games, it takes a bit more dedication and so casual gamers are out of the question.  A side of this game that I have yet to take a solid look at is the PvP side of things (Player versus Player).  This is also a fairly substantial side of the game in that it's the main form of expanding content still being supplied for Guild Wars.  So the E-Sports audience those that like the intense, competitive games would be attracted to this.  But it also would attract your typical RPG player in all their forms.  The heart of this games PvE content is story driven, and can be accomplished as a team or by yourself.

Week 2: 1/2

Getting a group is a lot harder then initial appearances if you aren't a specific build.  Every class does a basic thing, but through many years of gameplay, a couple skill combinations have jumped to the front as being exceptionally powerful.  While I did get in one or two groups, it proves challenging to get into a lot because these groups are seeking these powerful builds over a lot of others.  That said though, the group or two I did get in behaved very similar to my first.  Everyone was polite, but they did talk a bit more this time around.  The groups had a few more people, one of them had 4 real people and another was a full group of 8.  The more people present, the more talking there was as more people engaged in idle conversation.

While seeking groups, I managed to spend a lot of time in some of the more major cities and I did get a good taste for the economy in game.  The majority of items fell under one of these categories:  Vanity items, higher form of currency, hall of monuments items, rare/high end items, crafting materials.  

The higher form of currency is usually Globs of Ectoplasm in this case.  There are others, but this is the most common.  Guild Wars limits your maximum funds you can carry on you at 100 platinum.  A Glob of Ectoplasm, which you have no limit on, is worth around 10 plat.  So for high end exchanges that could be anything over 100 plat, Globs of Ectoplasm are usually used and these sold for right around market price, fluctuation depending on how may were being sold.  

Vanity items are either Everlasting Elixirs or Mini pets.  I was shocked at how much some of the rarer ones go for.  I had a Everlasting Elixir of the rarest quality and despite being a very lack luster transformation it sold for 50 ectoplasm, or 500 plat.  In Guild Wars that's a small fortune that if spent correctly, can go a long ways. 

Hall of Monuments items cover a wide variety and these all are sold at a premium despite not being inherently pricey.  The Hall of Monuments is an achievement system in game where you dedicate items that span from Mini Pets, Armor, Weapons, Titles for tasks, etc.  These points carry over to the sequel game that is to be released and anyone who is going to play wants to max out these points.  One of the items commonly sold are Armbrace's of Truth.  These are turned in for rare weapons, which while the weapons sell for around 60 plat, the Armbrace's managed to sell for 23 ectoplasm. 

Rare and high end items is fairly self explanatory.  The rarer the item, the better the stats and this is especially true here.  The best rarity is usually unique and they can have special stats that no other item of the same type could possess.  These seemed to sell for a minimum of 100 plat.  

Finally, there are crafting materials.  The more common things were being sought after by people because they don't yield much profit, about 4 plat for a stack (250) of wood.  But a single Ruby can sell for more then an Ectoplasm, but they are a lot more rare and are used to craft gear.  These were being actively advertised by people looking to sell.

Week 1: 2/2

This is a couple days later and unfortunately, people don't do very much during the week.  As such, the group search wasn't the greatest but I did get into one or two groups, mostly very small ones where we had computer allies assisting us.  In this case, our group work centered around accomplishing one goal, beat the mission.  In most cases, this is kill enemy "x" and sometimes it adds in "defend y also."

This group was formed through alliance chat.  Like in town, a shout went out over the channel asking for assistance and I offered my help.  While doing the mission, chat was fairly quiet and things took on a semi professional tone. Neither of us messed up, and as long as we did our job no one said anything.  The most chat throughout was basic stuff like, "oops, wrong way" or asking if we're ready.

Now, after experiencing this there is one more big question to be answered this week, what is the main purpose of this online community?  From what I can tell, it is to progress to the end, to beat all of the story together, and to then enjoy a series of events with your friends you have made through your adventures.  But unlike other games, the social aspect isn't the focal point.  This is like a single player game that had multiplayer integrated in to make things more entertaining.

My next post will be into next week where I will be discussing the culture of the game, who plays it, what they buy, etc.  I will also attempt to engage in more group dynamics to better explore this today's post in more detail.