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Study uncovers MMORPG gender-swapping epidemic (10-05-2008)

"Building upon that research, and perhaps adding an extra layer of complexity, a
new study out of Nottingham Trent has found that 54 percent of all males and 68
percent of all females ""gender swap""--or create online personas of their
opposite sex. The study found that males and females had different reasons for
gender swapping, with female gamers primarily seeking to avoid ""unsolicited
male approaches"" and male swappers finding that they are treated far better by
other males. In the words of one male participant quoted in the study, ""Nerd +
Boob = Loot."" Titled ""Gender Swapping and Socializing in Cyberspace: An
Exploratory Study,"" the study was conducted by Zaheer Hussain and Mark
Griffiths and surveyed 115 participants, 83 of which were male and 32 female.
The survey was conducted through various MMOG-enthusiast forums, and the
researchers noted that flaws to the study may include the relatively small
sample size and the self-reporting format. ""What makes these findings important
is that in most instances, the gamer has the opportunity to choose the gender of
his or her character and to develop other aspects of the character before
beginning to play,"" concluded the researchers. ""Choosing to gender swap may
have an effect on the gamer's style of play and interaction with other gamers
and could even have an effect on guild membership."" Researchers also noted that
the study supported previous findings that ""suggest the female persona has a
number of positive social attributes in a male-oriented environment."" Yep, this
is true. I am a male and play as a female character. You will always be treated
better when doing such. Also, people who say this is gay obviously have no idea
what they are talking about, and need to stop repeating what they heard other
people say years ago. Choosing to play as a female avatar has no reflection on
ones sexuality.

Some people just like to be treated nice, some like the way female characters
look better, and in some cases you don't even have a choice. (FFXI for example)
" "A new data-mining report from the US Director of National Intelligence has
revealed that top spies are developing software that they hope will detect
violent extremists in online worlds, as reported by Wired. Mysteriously titled
The Reynard Project, the software will study the way gamers behave online, and
for the second stage will ""automatically detect suspicious behaviour and
actions in the virtual world."" So, it hopes to discover what ""normal""
massively multiplayer online gaming behaviour is like, and set off alarm bells
if people are deviating. The ultimate aim is to catch all those violent
extremists who have been using their time to infiltrate World of Warcraft. or wow
The report has been approved by Congress, and if it ""shows early promise,"" it
may become a full project. Umm....we are not supposed to have any freedom in
this country are we. This is starting to get ridiculous beyond belief. guild wars gold Now we
are going to be monitored in the video games we play too. What next. Implant
chips into our brains that alert the authorities to any negative thoughts we may
have at the time about absolutely ANYTHING. lineage 2 adena Not cool at
all. lmao! whats too much is too much. but i guess desperation doesnt know
boundaries. plus the article is vague as all hell. they are basically telling us
we are being watched, but why , not really. gold wow what is extreme behavior.
if i am a ganker and a heavy pk-er am i am an extremist. I mean this could be
something good and useful but than again considering whos involed and how did
they explain it, wow or
it seems like a very disgusting new way of privacy invasion! just an easy way to
monitor 11 million ppl...shameful!!! Those who say they are just trying to
protect us... haven't you ever heard Ben Franklin's quote... ""Those who desire
to give up freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserver either
one."" "

Publicado por wowhunterzone a 05:09:43 in wowhunterzone | Comentarios(0) | Trackback(37) | Permacoplamiento

Paris getting hit by Blizzard Invitational '08 Paris getting hit by Blizzard Invitational '08 (10-05-2008)

"For most developers, hosting a convention dedicated solely to the company's
wares would be considered audacious at best. Of course, when that developer is
Blizzard Entertainment, and every game touched turns to gold--irrespective of
how long that alchemical process takes--one massive event per region is hardly
enough. With BlizzCon and the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational occupying North
America and Asian markets respectively last year, the Irvine, California-based
superdeveloper is pitching camp in Europe for the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment
Worldwide Invitational convention and tournament. The first-of-its-kind Blizzard
event for Europe is slated to run June 28-29 at the Porte de Versailles
Exposition Centre in Paris, France. Tickets are priced at €70 (about $110), and
go on sale Thursday, March 20 on the developer's official Web site for the
event. In addition to invite-only tournaments in which professional gamers will
vie for $100,000, the 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational will host a number of
casual tournaments, cosplay contests, live musical performances, and developer
meet and greets. Attendees will also receive a swag bag that contains an
exclusive WOW in-game pet as well as ""a beta key for an upcoming Blizzard
Entertainment game."" At last year's events, Blizzard's devout were first
enraptured by the long-awaited reveal of Starcraft II in Seoul and then sent
into a bona fide tizzy on the debut of World of Warcraft's next expansion--Wrath
of the Lich King--in Anaheim. This year, speculation is rife over whether
Blizzard will use the event to unveil its new, original massively multiplayer
online game. There's also speculation, fueled by several job postings on the
developer's Web site, that the next installment in the infernal Diablo franchise
could debut. In a study conducted by Jane Barnett and colleagues at Middlesex
University, psychologists found that gamers were more likely to be calm or
simply tired after playing, rather than itching to go outside and kick someone's
head in.

The researchers surveyed 292 male and female online gamers aged between 12 and
83 and had them play the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of
Warcraft. They were asked to complete a survey about anger, aggression, and
personality prior to and following a two-hour session of WOW, which is only
rated T for Teen in the US and 12+ in the UK. Mostly, the researchers found that
people were more tranquil after a good bout of Azerothian bloodletting. ""There
were actually higher levels of relaxation before and after playing the game, as
opposed to experiencing anger,"" Barnett said in a statement before adding the
caveat, ""This did very much depend on personality " "In February, game industry
luminaries congregated en masse on two separate occasions to share ideas,
schmooze, and honor the best games of 2007. or wow
For the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' part, top award winners at the
D.I.C.E. Summit included Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4 and Blizzard
Entertainment's World of Warcraft. Two weeks later, the Game Developers
Conference counsel heaped accolades upon Valve Corp. world
of warcraft powerleveling for the deranged first-person puzzler Portal,
which came packed in with The Orange Box. Not content to just make great games,
it now appears many of these award winning studios are also great places to
work, according to a recent study conducted by Game Developers Conference
organizers CMP Group by way of Think Services for Game Developer magazine and
its Game Developer Research division. In conducting its study, Think Service
combined sales and marketing stats with survey data gleaned from game developers
and other professionals within the industry. wow po
Perched atop the rankings was Nintendo's Kyoto studio, which is responsible for
top-selling Nintendo DS and Wii titles Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Brain Age and
its sequel.

According to CMP, survey respondents called out the studio's focus on quality in
particular. Coming in at second was the Activision-owned studio Infinity Ward,
which was praised for its working conditions, professionalism, and attention to
quality. eve isk
Rounding out the top five were World of Warcraft purveyors Blizzard
Entertainment; Electronic Arts' Canada outfit, which handles FIFA Soccer 08 and
NBA Street: Homecourt; and Valve, which most recently developed The Orange Box
and operates the online distribution mainstay Steam. Bethesda, you're kidding me
right. The same developer that lets you manipulate the world of lame AI in
Morrowind and Oblivion. wow
powerleveling Sure they have a great idea, and because of the sheer scope
and size of the world people tend to be more forgiving, but really the only way
to play those games is to define your own rules. Otherwise it is just too easy
to manipulate the AI and all that is broken... And bioware hasn't had a game
worth talking about since KOTOR. " .

Publicado por wowhunterzone a 05:08:17 in wowhunterzone | Comentarios(0) | Trackback(17) | Permacoplamiento

BlizzCon 07: Second WOW expansion officially unveiled (10-05-2008)

"ANAHEIM, Calif.--Following two very public leaks in Germany and the US,
Blizzard Entertainment surprised virtually no one today when it announced the
second expansion to its wildly popular massively multiplayer online role-playing
game, World of Warcraft. Titled the Wrath of the Lich King, the expansion will
add a passel of new content to the game, which now boasts a staggering 9 million
players worldwide. The announcement was made by Blizzard's Frank Pierce this
morning at BlizzCon, the Vivendi Games-owned publisher's annual fan event.
First, he briefly talked about some content updates that introduce guild banks
and integrated voice chat via live content updates. Then he discussed Zuluman, a
new 10-person instance in the Ghost Lands featuring Forest Trolls battling
against Blood Elves. He looks like an understanding fellow... Then, after coyly
mentioning that Blizzard's ""dev team has been working on bigger things,""
Pierce officially unveiled Wrath of the Lich King. The expansion will open up
the continent of Northrend--first seen in Warcraft III--to WOW players for the
first time. The expansion's storyline will center on the lich king Arthas
Menethil, who was prominently featured in the expansion Warcraft III: The Frozen
Throne. Arthas has ""merged with the spirit"" of another lich king, Ner'zhul,
the former orc shaman and Undead Scourge leader introduced in Warcraft II: The
Tides of Darkness. Now, the joined ghostly monarchs have ""set things in motion
that could threaten all life in Azeroth,"" according to Pierce. Apparently,
players will be introduced to the story as soon as they set foot into Northrend.
BlizzCon venue, the Anaheim Convention Center. Wrath of the Lich King will raise
the level cap in WOW to 80 and will add new abilities and talents to all
classes. It will also introduce the Death Knight hero class and a new
profession--inscription--that will let players permanently enhance spells and
abilities.

The expansion will also add new character-customization options, such as
hairstyles and dances. wow po
As for Northrend itself, the realm will feature several new zones to explore,
with ""hundreds of new quests, monsters, and items,"" according to Pierce. The
expansion pack will also introduce numerous five-person dungeons, as well as 10-
and 25-person raids. The not-quite-undead scourge. Pierce also said Blizzard
developers have big player-versus-player plans for Wrath of the Lich King. wow The
add-on will sport new areas and battlegrounds, and will add siege weapons for
the first time. It will also introduce buildings that can be destroyed by siege
weapons, adding another level to combat. Pierce's presentation concluded with
the first trailer for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. guild wars gold The
cinematic began with a voice-over of Arthas telling two humans in a burning
forest that ""I was once like you."" After some shots of a massive forge, two
other humans--a male and female--are shown being battered by a gigantic Yeti.
The male runs off into a snowy forest, where he is surrounded by undead. The
next shot shows the male human in black Death Knight armor, standing before a
seated Arthas on a throne. gold f¨¹r wow kaufen ""In the
final hour, all must serve the one true king,"" proclaimed Arthas before the
convention center lights came up. " "Today, Activision and Vivendi Games cleared
yet one more hurdle lying in the path of their $18.9 billion merger. The
European Commission, which is part of the European Union, has approved the deal
under its antitrust guidelines, concluding that an Activision Vivendi mash-up
""would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic
Area or any substantial part of it."" According to the EC's report, the merger's
reach was measured on both a horizontal and vertical scale.

wow
gold In terms of horizontal competition, the EC deemed the
Vivendi-Activision union would ""continue to face several strong, effective
competitors, such as Electronic Arts, and the game console manufacturers, such
as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft."" Addressing vertical synergies, the EC noted
that Vivendi's ownership of Universal Music Group would give Activision an
advantage in licensing music but concluded that other publishers would continue
to have access to a ""sufficiently large portfolio of music rights from
alternative suppliers."" The EC also noted that the merger would not impact
wholesale distribution competition of PC games in the UK.

Publicado por wowhunterzone a 05:05:29 in wowhunterzone | Comentarios(0) | Trackback(1) | Permacoplamiento

Wowhead and Thottbot on Ad Strike (10-05-2008)

"As of today both Wowhead and Thottbot have gone on strike from their
advertising networks. (the people who pick what ads go on the site) They state
the reasons as -Ads that contained trojans -Ads that automatically redirected
the user to their page without clicking the link -Ads that flashed different
colors to get attention, beeped or tried to trick the users into tricking where
annoying I agree with these two sites that these advertisements have gotten out
of control, even this sight has had a couple of ads that have gone overboard to
grab attention (You have won two free iPod Nanos anyone. ). Do you think this
will make any impact on the ads these sites ad networks put on their sites or is
this just a long shot in the dark by these websites. Links that explain the
reasonings follow: I can't believe Thottbot is still that popular. I spent a
good time of my in-game youth advertising this site to everyone I came across.
And that was back when Thottbot was infamous for its relationship with IGE. I've
only visited the site a couple of times. The design makes the designer in me
weep salty tears of sadness. It's only a couple of .jpg's away from being pure
html. WoWhead I'd understand. The site's awesome when it comes to looking up
stuff. Talent calculator probably also draws a crowd. Wouldn't trade any of it
for the forums here, though." "Even with the PC Game On event on an indefinite
hiatus, PC gamers still have three major online gaming conventions to look
forward to this year. wow geld
Unfortunately, getting to them all may be a bit of an issue, as BlizzCon,
QuakeCon, and the SOE Fan Faire are all happening this weekend. BlizzCon's front
door. BLIZZCON Bolstered by its 9 million-player-strong World of Warcraft base,
Blizzard's semiannual community event leads the convention circuit, taking place
today and tomorrow in Anaheim, California.

QuakeCon and the Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire both opened their doors
yesterday and will run through August 5 in Dallas, Texas, and Las Vegas, Nevada,
respectively. wow gold As the developer of several
of the most popular gaming franchises in the world, Blizzard's BlizzCon event is
expected to draw massive crowds from its massive and loyal fan base. While not
typically associated with claustrophobia, the spacious Anaheim Convention Center
has been descended upon by human hordes filing in shoulder to shoulder to
compete in tournaments both competitive and casual, as well as to strut around
in their cosplay garb, listen in on developer panels, and get the latest details
on upcoming Blizzard products such as Starcraft 2, which will be playable at the
event. As part of this year's grab bag of goodies for attendees, Blizzard has
promised World of Warcraft in-game loot, as well as a beta key for an upcoming
Blizzard product. wow
powerleveling That ""product"" is likely World of Warcraft: Wrath of the
Lich King, the second expansion to Blizzard's massively multiplayer online
sensation sensation World of Warcraft. Following two high-profile leaks,
Blizzard vice president wasted little time unveiling the add-on this morning
concurrent with its official Web site going online. SOE FAN FAIRE Blizzard
archrival Sony Online Entertainment will be hosting its own fan appreciation
event this weekend at the Rio casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. wow gold
verkaufen Held annually since 2003, the SOE Fan Faire offers players the
chance to park their digital avatars for a weekend and venture out into the real
world to meet and greet like-minded players as well as members of the SOE
development team. As with BlizzCon, the SOE Fan Faire features panel
discussions, cosplay contests, game-themed events, and more. Hoping to trump the
furor stirred up by Blizzard's newly announced WOW expansion, SOE president John
Smedley will be announcing a brand-new online game tonight during the SOE Fan
Faire Community Address, which begins at 5:30 p.m.

lotro gold Pacific. SOE
currently has recently added several MMOG's to its burgeoning stable, including
it's internally developed stealth action persistent online shooter The Agency as
well as the recently acquired Vanguard: Saga of Heroes from Sigil Games and
Flying Lab's Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Publicado por wowhunterzone a 05:02:39 in wowhunterzone | Comentarios(0) | Trackback(115) | Permacoplamiento

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