I absolutely would love to know how many people people are REALLY playing World of Warcraft vs Lord of the Rings Online vs Warhammer Online vs Total Global Annihilation (Online) and so on. Heaven knows its not in the interest of gaming companies to tell us. To me, it means they have something to hide. Every company is all so excited to reveal their numbers when they are trending up. When they are silent, that can only be bad news.
So I’m a big fan of Openedge’s “XFire Game” that he runs most Mondays. By tracking a game’s performance week to week, you can get a sense for how well its doing. But there’s a LOT of variables! XFire doesn’t track every online game — if it did, Farmville and Scrabulous would be knocking the gnome out of World of Warcraft. Most players don’t have XFire installed. Competing game time trackers like Raptr could be draining numbers from XFire across the board. Some players could decide XFire really isn’t doing much for them and abandon it. Games with both an Asian and Western presence could find their true numbers under-reported. Games that are popular on non-PC platforms, such as DCUO for the PS3, might find their numbers VASTLY under-represented.
We really need a better metric for this. Something like a Nielsen ratings for MMOs, with a bit of code attached to each game that “phones home” when run.
I’m sorry, did I say that DCUO is doing well? It’s going gangbusters! Check it out after the break!
Tipa
New on Facebook: The Send Me To Prison app
“Hacker 4 Life? Turn it into a career. Study hacking and get a degree. We match you with programs quickly.” I’m surprised there’s not a Facebook ad for how to shoot a politician, but maybe my profile doesn’t include enough gun references. The picture in the ad shows a bit of JavaScript that authenticates that … Read more
GodsWar Online — the easiest MMO you’ll ever play
I’m a sucker for Facebook games; it’s my not-so-secret dirty little secret. Especially RPGs. ESPECIALLY MMOs! That’s just gonna be made of win for me. There’s been a little pirate panda sitting on my ad bar for a couple of weeks now. First 3D Facebook MMO, hmm, okay. I went to the page and it … Read more
Daily Blogroll 1/16 — Lazy Sunday edition
Yeah, I like TV. I can say that now; for years I refused to watch it. Rotting my mind and all. But having just come off a marathon 30 Rock Season 2 bender, I find I really want to get back to playing MMOs because they are LESS addictive than television. With MMOs, you chat with people, group with them, make friends. With TV, it’s just sitting with the cat and a bowl of popcorn on a lonely couch. So, you know, on the scale of pathetic leisure time activities, MMOs are way above television.
But I still like it! The GOOD shows, I mean. Since you and I like only the good shows, I don’t need to list them, but I think we know Brennan and Booth are gonna get together.
In MMOs, though, well… we’re not in Azeroth anymore. Unless we are.
Facebook unveils one-click “SUE ME!” app
There’s really no way advertising a BitTorrent site urging people to almost certainly illegally download music and movies could EVER get anyone into trouble…