Wurm Team Blog » jsanglier

Is Wurm the future for MMOs?

jsanglier — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 11:29:00 +0000

I have recently been chatting to a group of MMO players at a site called MMO Voices. They are a self made group of around 200 gamers lead by a character called Beau Turkey. On a suggestion from yours truly, they have made Wurm Online their “Game of the Site” and have set up a little community on Golden Valley. A couple of them, including Beau have become quite addicted to our game even after only a few days and have been chatting about it madly. Beau has made the point on a blog post about how “Fantasies are not real, but collaboration is”, and how Wurm Online offers a level of collaboration and community that he has not encountered before. Beau has a real point here and this is something that occupies my mind a lot as I contribute to Wurm Online in my own small little corner.

This sort of game is the real future of casual social networking. Currently MMOs are split into two rough areas – those that have predetermined adventure of some sort, like WoW, and those that give you a graphic environment to do nothing but chat, like Twinity. Wurm is neither of those, because it offers both, but with a twist and that is what Beau puts his finger on; collaboration.

The best real life analogy to Wurm is probably the office or other work place. Social interaction within the working environment it far more lively and has more momentum than does sitting around a bar every night. This is because everyone is there for the same reason and has certain tasks that they have to do. In the modern office, these tasks do not take away from social intercourse but actually enhance it by forcing interaction; “pass the pen please.” This commonality allows relationships to grow very easily and firmly without having to know great details about the other people – in fact, too much detail can cause problems!

Wurm, almost uniquely, and possibly accidentally, offers the same environment. When you log in to your community on Golden Valley or Independence or Wild, there are things you need to do – either for yourself, or for the community. But most of what you do does not stop you being able to chat; it is amazing how much you can say while chopping a tree down!

I watch the conversations sometimes as I am digging someone out of a mine or planting a thousand trees at Glitterdale (oh, THAT is where the trees came from!) – there is something about Wurm that makes me more nosey than is natural for me!

“Hey, have you played the new XX game?”
“Yeah, last night – pass me a nail, will you?”
“Isn’t it amazing?”
“Oh wow, yeah, loved the crafting system. Oh, damn, I have left the forge on.”
“Going to play it later? Maybe we can talk on Vent.”
“Probably tonight, if I get these tools imped up – got an order for a pile of shovels from someone.”
“Okay, fair enough. Well if you are free I will see you then. I’ll be back later to farm anyway.”

And no one mentioned that they were actually playing a game already! This sort of conversation happens all the time in Wurm, and I am told by more experienced gamers than me that this is very unusual in games, as is the fact that people tend to automatically collaborate on wurm rather than compete. On Wurm you are happy that someone else is more skilled that you – its useful! I have never seen someone Jealous about someone else’s skills.

I have noticed more and more how players are using Wurm as their default social environment – especially on premium servers in the villages – and some go off and play other games as their gaming experience. The trick for the people working on Wurm is how we can leverage that more, persuade more people that Wurm should be their base camp for the rest of their fun, and of course fun in its own right. I have some very long term (and secret) ideas that hopefully will bind the community aspect of wurm even more while allowing even more adventure and more layers within the Wurmian society. Whether they will come off or work, I don’t know, I am still experimenting, but I think this game is a window into the future of gaming, and maybe, despite some occasionally clunky graphics (which are beginning to look rather wonderful, by the way Art Team!) and code bugs that drive Rolf up the wall, Wurm Online may be proving to be rather ahead of its time!

Oi! I cant login!

jsanglier — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:50:13 +0000

Let Me In ...

What happens when three members of the team suddenly find they cannot actually login to the game to do their work? For that matter, what happens when another member of the team suddenly finds they cannot login to the forum; in fact, cannot actually SEE the forum at all? And what happens when it all happens within just a few days? The truth is that running an online game, especially one where the team just cant leave it alone but desperately want to continuously improve it (sticking their fingers in the cogs would be closer), is never ever going to be a smooth run. There is always going to be that certain little Swedish gremlin that is going to wake up and smell the coffee when you really could do without his interfering ways.

In this case, something happened a few days ago that meant that people from Golden Valley suddenly couldn’t use the Portal to go to Independence, down south in the Freedom Isles. Actually, that wouldn’t have been too bad, but much to their surprise, not only were they they still standing where they had started, but they appeared to have changed and were now wearing the rather fetching Lincoln green of those southern folk. Very trendy, one might say, but the Golden Valley guards loitering round the portal finishing their sandwiches, just saw a flash of green, decided “that doesn’t belong here,” and went for it! Ooops.

Not to worry! Send a carrier pigeon to a rather nice lakeside town somewhere in Sweden and it will be fixed in a jiffy! And so it was. More or less.(...)
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The Wired Up Team

jsanglier — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:38:31 +0000

I am having one of those Wurm days where I am reminded that some things used to be done a lot better. In this case I am missing the almost irreplaceable efficiency of working with people face-to-face. When I started in the media/entertainment business in the 1970s our studio-to-studio intercom was a large grey phone, we had no email or Internet or even a fax machine, we had no computer database organising our library and … well, it was a long time ago.

However, despite that, we were still working in surround sound (Dolby Stereo), we were producing orchestral recordings as good as now (except we used REAL orchestra’s) and there was nothing sound, picture or live event we didn’t try to achieve. We never had the situation of not being able to do something because we didn’t have the right plugin – there was always a way. However, sometimes you have no choice, and sometimes technology can help you achieve something that would be almost impossible otherwise. At Wonderful Wurm Inc, only one of us is in the official Wurm office. And that is Rolf. Well, fair enough, he is paying for it! So he is the lone guardian of the coffee pot, the company water cooler and the stone forge where all the code stuff is smelted before knocking into shape.

(...)
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Want to write a review for Wurm?

jsanglier — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:19:55 +0000

I get the odd message from players needing writing hints and tips; specifically about writing reviews about Wurm. There is without doubt a vast difference between a good review and a bad review, just to state the obvious for a moment, but what is forgotten sometimes is how a good review not only says a lot about the game, but also about the person writing the review; readers will judge the writer by the quality of their article.

Reviews are an odd beast and have changed much since the Internet has enabled all of us to become instant published writers. Originally most reviews were authored by professional reviewers; normally experienced journalists who had an expertise in the subject. We still get those, though I am often appalled by the terrible standard of writing and bad construction that is published by game reporters.(...)
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Getting the word out there

jsanglier — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:58:47 +0000

Advertising and promoting anything can be a complete pain at the best of times. Who do you sell to? How do you sell to them? How do you attract their attention? Does it matter what you say? It really is the ultimate form of completely artificial conversation. Yes, voice overs really do talk like that in real life; when you spend everyday underlining and emphasising particular words to get the client’s message across, it becomes kind of habit forming. I find it almost impossible to type without talking out loud! With most of my clients I have to do a balancing act between what they feel they want and what my 30 years in advertising tells me will probably (but not definitely) work. After all, although I may understand advertising better than they, it is their business and they know it and understand it far better than I do.

An online game poses some rather unique challenges from the marketing point of view. The nearest established real life comparison I can make is probably advertising annual membership to a golf club. Although you are selling a single product, the game of golf, you are not just selling a single item, you are selling a time commitment; spending a couple of thousand on your annual membership fee is kind of crazy if you never actually play any golf! So, when an online game markets itself, it has to say not only “this game is fun,” but “you will enjoy playing it continuously hour after hour for the next year or more.”

That is a BIG sell for anyone – whatever your budget.(...)
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The New Wurm Team Blog

jsanglier — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:47:10 +0000

Okay, listen carefully!

This will be the new home for the output of the Wurm Team – from Rolf all the way down to a small mouse that lives at the back of the team forge. This will allow all the developers and the GMs to give you information on what is being planned, what we are up to and what will happen next – or last, if we forgot to tell you about it.

At the moment I am still working on the layout and back end, bending WordPress to do what I want it to do, rather than what it thinks I should do, if you get my drift. Once that is done, I will open this site up to the team and they can sharpen their quill pens.

Wont be long!