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Ryan Shwayder has posted a short rant on why he feels Warhammer Online's Public Quests are anti-social. His reasoning behind the claim comes down to the notion that because players can be jerks, they'll always act the role. We're apt to not subscribe to the idea that everyone online become dissenting human beings, because if that were true than every MMO's social aspects -- which is all of them -- wouldn't ever work.

We're not saying that PQs are perfect, but they're hardly breeding grounds for total infantile behavior. These are a new form of PvE and they're going to take some time for Mythic to work out the kinks. We're also inclined to mention that nobody wants to play with people who take every chance they get to screw someone over. Even with anonymity in play, people will still remember someone who was going out of their way to be a real pain in the neck.

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If you happen to run into him, don't tell him we said this, but we keep very close e-tabs Ryan "Blackguard" Shwayder, following him around forums and checking his blog rather frequently. It's not that we have some unnatural affection for the man (although we do), it's more of a professional curiosity. We're watching and waiting from the shadows for the day when Ryan will perhaps have a bit too much to drink and sit down at his computer and finally dish all the details for 38 Studios' top-secret project, for which he is both a game designer and community manager.

In the latest post on his blog, Ryan notes the overwhelming acceptance of PvP servers not only in World of Warcraft, but in the recently released Age of Conan as well, with over 50% adoption in that case. They've gone from begrudged niche in some cases to being as necessary for a sustained end-game as raiding or crafting. Specifically, Shwayder notes, "Now that it's clear there is money in PvP and it's not niche, I'm betting we start to see some high-budget PvP MMOs soon." Is that right? High-budget PvP MMOs in the future? Like, we don't know... Copernicus?

Ryan Shwayder has apparently decided that typical development studios are simply too cumbersome, so he's looking to start his own studio and, taking a cue from Blizzard, reduce the business model from raid-sized to the much friendlier 10-man format. Evidently, this will help keep development costs well under the $1 billion mark recently cited by Activision's Bobby Kotick as the magic number it would take to dethrone WoW. The new studio, known as Mad Alchemist, is already hard at work designing a project code-named Vernal Equinox, which will be the culmination of their minimalist design philosophy.

Of course, if you want to tighten that belt, you have to lose some fat. Consequently, Shwayder's team had to cut some features from the Vernal Equinox design doc in order to accommodate their design philosophy. Since players always have so many complaints about things like the level grind, gear acquisition, class balance, and things like that, they're going to do away with them entirely. In fact, because downtime can also be so frustrating for players, they've decided to do away with multiplayer entirely. Vernal Equinox will be the first offline MMO!

We've got to give props to Ryan for delivering one of the first April Fools' blog posts today to actual make this blogger chuckle.

The recent announcement of research results into cross-gender play in Massive games has prompted some criticism from MMO industry heavyweights. We mentioned in our original post on the study that there was a disparity between the research done and the coverage of that research in the resulting Inquirer article. Veteran designer Richard Bartle has the best analysis of the journalism surrounding the article; his disassembly of the Guardian article about the report is extremely thorough.

Jeff Freeman (of the Mythical blog) follows up with further discussion of the original paper - noting that it can barely be described as research. Sarah Jensen Schubert, in a comment on Raph Koster's blog, summarizes Freeman's frustration well: "They surveyed 119 self-selected participants, largely recruited from the Allakhazam off-topic forums. I think it's crap." As a closing thought, Ryan Shwayder's 'rant' on this subject is worth reading as well. He takes a humorous look at some of the suppositions made by hand-wringing journalists and his own playstyle.

What do you make of all this? We've previously explored cross gender play among the readers of this site, but it's worth revisiting in the face of all this misinformation. How prevalently do you see this behavior in your gaming - and why do you do it?

What do you get when you get when you combine a major league baseball player (Curt Schilling), a famed fantasy author (R.A. Salvatore), and a great comic book guru (Todd McFarlane)? You get 38 Studios, and 38 Studios is working on a new MMO codenamed "Copernicus."

Now the studio has licensed the BigWorld engine for Copernicus. Since the game is at a very early stage of development, we know very little about it at this point, except that its prestigious managers are optimistic about its future. Reps from both 38 Studios and BigWorld made nondescript statements saying things like, "BigWorld provides the most proven, robust, and technically solid game engine available," and "we are thrilled to be working with such a professional and talented group of game developers." Good for them!

Brett Close described the rationale behind the choice in greater detail in an interview with Ten Ton Hammer. Excellent server-side tech and tools that will help the team get the game to market as fast as possible were the given reasons.

Taking a break from his recent infatuation with updating the back-end of his website and rattling his plastic saber at Moorgard, Ryan Shwayder has posted a new rant that gives his perspective on the pervasive, though oft-bemoaned, time-sink quest. You know the one -- that fed ex quest where you're sent to an NPC fifteen or twenty minutes away, click through a few windows of text, then run back for your piddling little reward. Ryan argues that while those quests certainly have their place, especially when it comes to introducing and endearing players to new zones, in excess they make for very dry and mundane gameplay.

I take Ryan's point, but I still think there's more to the issue. He says that while filling up a game with fun content is difficult, it can be done without artificially extending the durability of the content. Perhaps my perception is limited by experience, but it's hard for me to imagine an MMO that doesn't rely substantially on wasting time to spread out the rewards and keep gamers coming back time and again. Part of what makes accomplishments in MMOs so much more profound is the sheer volume of time it often takes to complete them. Without that commitment, would these accomplishments mean as much? Would getting Anathema/Benediction on my Priest way back when have meant as much if I could have farmed for it for a couple days? I doubt it.

For those of you who have been around the MMO block, this is undoubtedly some welcome news. Of course, for those of you new to the world of MMOs, but who just love the genre (like we do) this is a great announcement! Ryan "Blackguard" Shwayder, game designer for 38 Studios and custodian of the Nerfbat, has re-opened his Nerfbat forums! Originally opened in 2006, they've been re-imagined for 2008. With recent topics ranging from talking about Alts, if MMOs on Consoles and PC are able to be equally good, and other tasty poll tidbits, this is sure to be a great place to get your discussion on with other MMO fans and fiends.

Added on top of that, Ryan says that he'll also periodically be putting out more "Tales from the Tavern" posts, highlighting the hot topics from the Nerfbat forums. This is especially useful if you like to read along, but just don't have the time for another forum right now. Either fully immersive or bite-sized, you can't beat a good discussion. We'll see you there!

Ryan Shwayder pointed us to this fun little rant he posted on that most nefarious of MMO subjects: "the grind." Yes, the grind, that mythical beast that lies at the bottom of every MMO, slowly sucking the fun out of it. Wait, "mythical"? That's right-- Shwayder says that there is no grinding in MMOs. That constant, repetitive killing that you do to push your character to higher equipment and levels? That, my friend, is what you bought the game for.

An interesting point, and in a sense, he's right-- the only RPG I've ever played without a little repetitive grinding is actually Progress Quest (and if you're in on the joke, you know you don't actually play that game at all). It is true that "the grind" only rears its ugly head not when players are signed in and playing the game, but when they're out of game, and looking at all the stuff they need to do to wield that +5 sword of boar slaying. In a good game, actually grinding is actually fun.

Then again, we are only human, and there is so much boar killing you can do before you decide to move on. And since playtime is more and more at a premium, there's nothing wrong with developers making something that previous required 100 boars killed to require only 50, and create a whole other reward for those other 50 boars. But Ryan's also right in saying that the grind is mostly in our heads-- if we got everything we wanted right away, there'd be no reason to play the game. "Grinding" to the highest levels is what playing most MMOs is all about.