Dungeon Runners releases characters in XML
Filed under: Dungeon Runners, MMO industry, Tips and tricks, Free-to-play
This isn't quite the idea of MMO-to-go yet, but it's the first step towards something really huge in MMO gaming: a character API. An API is an Application Programming Interface-- basically a document or method of how to get computers to talk to each other through different applications. Facebook apps are made with the Facebook API, applications that hook into iTunes use the iTunes API, and so on. With an API, programmers can take information from one source, and do almost anything they want with it in other programs. Players have already done some amazing things with World of Warcraft's Armory (even without an actual API-- I'm pretty sure most of that is just HTML scraping), but now NCSoft's Dungeon Runners has upped the ante-- they've made all the character data in the game available to anyone as an XML file. With just a URL, you can access info on any player in the game, already marked up in XML.What does this mean to you as a player? It means that programmers can create any number of applications using this data-- they can display your DR character's info almost anywhere at any time. And a skilled programmer could even track the info over time-- tell you how fast you leveled, how often you change your armor or gear, or how fast you've earned gold in the last day. And who knows what else people could come up with-- the best part about opening up information like this is that it gets used in all sorts of ways that no one could ever predict.
Jeff Freeman's exactly right: "This is really cool... just in case you don't get that." We're just scratching the surface of this stuff, but eventually you'll be able to do things like get text messages on your phone when your WoW auctions sell, or be able to monitor your guild's bank or your PvP team's wins via RSS (which itself can then plug into almost anything) When developers break out data like this for players, the possibilities are endless.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-31-2008 @ 3:51PM
Ken said...
Uhm, the WoW armory data is XML. Just look at a character sheet and view the source.
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1-31-2008 @ 6:23PM
Arturis said...
You are completely missing the point. Yes, the Armory is backed by XML injected data, and yes, several people (myself included) have written apps that snag that XML data and manipulate it. But the difference is, Dungeon Runners is releasing an API that tells you *how* to access the data. Since there is no Armory API at this point in time, those that want to make use of the data basically have to hijack it and figure out how to parse it.
It took me several weeks to figure out how to access the "of the " random enchant info (of the owl, of the bear, etc) of an item without any documentation to point the way. I would *LOVE* for Blizzard to put out an official API or webservice, so that we could access all the data (and we know there is one, Figureprints.com makes use of it, we just dont have access to it)
2-01-2008 @ 11:47AM
Ken said...
Ok, I see what you're saying after looking at the XML data from Blizzard. It does seem to be very cryptic. I couldn't even figure out how to get the item stats for a non-random item from my quick perusal of it.
1-31-2008 @ 4:35PM
Ted said...
You sir are apparently not familiar with the considerably older EVE-Online character/corporation xml features.
Some really really nifty applications out there for it.
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1-31-2008 @ 8:02PM
Mike Schramm said...
This is true. EVEMon is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. But I want more-- official support from big developers like Blizzard and Turbine, and even better tools to put all this data to good use.
Arturis is right-- a lot of cool stuff from the Armory, but it's all scrapes and hacks. Blizzard has yet to release an API like this one. Or even their own tools-- they've been rumored to be working on a cell phone app with Armory-ish functions.
1-31-2008 @ 8:58PM
Ted said...
One of the things I really like about how Eve did theirs is the security they built in, with the read-only and the full access web keys that are generated from the account screen.
I'd love to see guild, guild bank and other management (and logs omg omg) via APIs
1-31-2008 @ 9:11PM
Mike Schramm said...
Combat log data? Now you got me drooling. /infogeek
2-02-2008 @ 7:30AM
Jeff Freeman said...
Combat log data? Now you got me drooling. /infogeek
Funny thing is, it'd be better to generate something like that client-side, I think, and upload it to a server when you exit the game.
i.e. Just like thotbot receives its data, but in this case you ought to be able to upload your data to your own web site, or your guild website, or just leave it local and access it with a desktop 'wadget'.
I say funny, because WoW's in a much better position to deliver such a thing, via user UI mods, than even DR - plus at least one of the devs there didn't seem too keen on the idea of client-side data generation anyway.
Regarding WoW's XML support: well it's not actually support, is it?
Regarding EVE's: I'm a big fan of how well they have delivered in this area. I didn't know they also had character data available.
I'm not sure it is a valid response to "this is cool!" to say, "hey, some other game does it, too."
I mean... ok, so it's NOT cool?
As I said on another blog, if cable news networks can report utter fabrications about video games in prime-time to millions of people, then my blog posts - and posts on massively - shouldn't be held to a higher standard than that - or any standard, I guess.
Because that's profiling, and profiling is wrong!
It's not as if he claimed the XML feed was full of hardcore porn, marketed to teen-agers obviously, as you can infer from it being an *eXtream Markup Language* file.
Got a topic for my next post, though.
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