May 2004

Interview with a Dark Elf Assasin
Conducted by CLIMaX
____________________________________________________BIO

Name: Joy Guild: Dragon Riders Location: California Fave video game of all time: Pit Fall, Frogger Monthly Hrs Playing Games: 120 Music of the moment: Apoptygma Bezerk Author of the moment: Jean Baudrillard Website of the moment: Fontfreak.com Fave snack: Cookies

_____________________________________________INTERVIEW

[CLIMaX]  What led you to play Lineage II? Have you always played MMORPG's, RPG's and the like? Have you paid a monthly subscription to play other games before?

[Truth]  I just started playing online MMORPG's about a year ago when I got my first computer. I got this burly system and wanted to see what it could do so I started playing my boyfriend's video games. I tried Planet Side first and if dying every 5 minutes is your idea of fun it's a great game but I didn't have the patience. Then Star Wars Galaxies came out I loved how customizable it was and played so much that my boyfriend bought me my own copy. Next, he bought me Final Fantasy and it was fun at first, the graphics where really nice but the game was to repetitive that I just lost interest. If I could have beta tested any of them I'd have saved my money. Now I am playing Linage 2. I have met more people in this game than any other, I think. The extra chatty environment is appealing to many players and I find that NC Soft has done a good job combining many of the better elements of many MMORPG's and their ingame support is outstanding.

[CLIMaX]  Describe Lineage II from your toon's point of view. In L2's game world what does it have to do to evolve to a more skillful, powerful person? Why did you select your character? Do you have more than one?

[Truth]  I play Truth, a Dark Elf. I guess I must like wearing a g string as armor. *shrug* She suits my personality, what can I say. But I didn't design the outfit. My Clan the Dragon Riders is full and always seem to have a waiting list. I feel lucky to be with so many good players willing to do what it takes to make progress in the game. Linage 2's System makes it pretty hard to progress in later levels without the support of a clan, and some goals of the game require you be in a high ranking clan. We are working toward owning a castle and someday dragons. :) Owning castles will be highly contested because there aren't many. No doubt we'll have to join an alliance of clans because it will probably take hundreds of fighters and mages to take a castle which initially will be held by NPC's. And, it going to take as many to defend it. That part of the game is what many players are in it for. That's what we're leveling for.

[CLIMaX]  The leveling system of Lineage II has been described by critics and supporters as "grinding". Leveling up your character in the early stages of play can be pretty boring unless you work with a group either hunting or in role play. Tell us about your own solo, group and role playing experiences in the game.

[Truth]  If you've ever played Final Fantasy or Star Wars: Galaxies the so called "grinding" here should be a breeze for you. But if you want to be god of the game on day two go put a cheat code in on your Nintendo. Yeah, I admit leveling is a bit of work but I have been going at a nice pace so far and nothing has been so hard or long that I'd use the word grind or hard, and most importantly I 'm just not bored. Most games can't hold my interest for more than a week or two and I'm looking forward to next week already. The system here is real ly party friendly and my whole clan is funny and chatty no matter how long the hunt we are always laughing the whole time. Who knew mom's safety in numbers theory would pay off some day after all. :P

[CLIMaX]  Have you ever PK'ed or killed another player? What are your thoughts on how it works in Lineage II? Does the karma system in L2 check most players from PK'ing for easy rewards or personal satisfaction? What about Player versus Player?

[Truth]  I think PK exploiters give the system a bad rap. It's a fair system as long as you remember never to do it in a noob city where hundreds of loot-hungry noobs might be taking potshots at you; this can lead to unfair and unfavorable circumstances. :) Most people shoot first and ask questions later when they see your name in purple or red which means you've attacked someone or killed someone, otherwise your name is in white. There are plenty of legit reasons why your name could be purple or red but when you're walking around that way it's open season on you. If you're killed while purple or red the killer's name stays white and she can pick up items you drop when you die. As far as the required PK'ing, well, that's called PvP or Player versus Player. This is used to siege or defend a castle and possibly some other clan war features that may come out in Lineage's II's Chronicle I patch. That's supposed to be released in June 2004. We will see. I bet it's gonna cost some people there shirts and their pants but if you want to be Queen you gotta pay your dues.

[CLIMaX]  Lineage II has a very structured in-game clan creation system that requires players to put in a lot of time and effort to form an "official" clan. But there are many clans playing Lineage II already that existed before the game existed. Tell us more about your clan experiences.

[Truth]  Lineage II's requirement that you are part of a clan to progress in later levels of the game can be a good way to keep customers. People want to stay where their friends are and while there are lots of pre established Clans that have come to play Lineage II I have chosen to start my own clan. My only previous experience with a Clan was with a pre established clan in another game and it went something like this: after waiting over a month on the clans request for a game patch to come out to progress with my character they stalled me for an additional two weeks, told me that the whole clan would have to vote on it and then requested a written proposal with full plans for what I wanted to do. Needless to say, I quit, not that it affected them. I want to promote a very different experience for the people that have joined my clan. I have taken the time to play with and get to know my members. I encourage them to express their opinions, especially if they differ from mine. I find that they often have good idea's or reasons I would not have thought of myself. I have put up a message board where they can openly discuss anything they like. 

[CLIMaX]  What is the state of the gaming industry for women players today? In general, have game devs moved from a Duke Nukem mentality to a City of Heros mentality because they want women and men to have parity, or is it all just marketing moves to generate profits. Is there a difference between the two?

[Truth]  Women make up more than 50% of the Earth's population and are, therefore, the world's largest consumer group. The gaming industry however did not seem to want a piece of that market until recently. It seems that more and more companies are looking to market to a broader audience and are including more female characters, more customization, and other things a player can do besides brutally killing the same creatures over and over and over and over again (boring). So, woman are trying more games than ever and actually enjoying them as a pass time. Until now it had been that annoying thing that our boyfriends did all day when we wanted to go out. However, I don't think that the gaming industry's move towards a more well-rounded game was necessarily an attempt to include women. I believe it has more to do with playability and there desire to keep the customer playing. If they can't keep a customers playing more than a couple months than than half of there development costs where for nothing and customers are not likely to want to buy games from them in the future. Pleasing their customers and filling their pockets go hand in hand. I think to truly appeal to woman on a broad level personalization will be key. We want to be able to customize our experience. I played Star Wars: Galaxies for three months because I could change my hair on a whim. Another example of the how powerful the option to customize is was when I spent $20 for a custom cover for my cell phone; I thought I would only be willing to pay $10 for it but when I saw it I laid my money down.