[MUD-Dev] Re: Massive Online Gaming magazine

[Dr. Cat]

From: "Zach Collins (Siege)" <zcollins at seidata.com>

> Since you'll be writing for them, perhaps you can acquire and post
> an explanation for what criteria determines a game's rank as "Top
> five", "Second tier", or "Other".  My impression is that Anarchy
> Online isn't in the top five in terms of population or income, and
> how is Furcadia within the top eight, not to mention Lineage's
> second-class ranking.  I'd also appreciate seeing some data to
> help back up that explanation.

I don't think they actually make the claim anywhere in the magazine
that they've grouped all the games 100% perfectly according to size
of userbase or income.  While they have a general tendency to
allocate pages of coverage to games based on how many users they
have, which is a sensible editorial policy...  I think making
exceptions to that where they feel it would be interesting and
entertaining to their readership is also a sensible policy.  Their
"Spotlight" section is a good example.  There may be games in their
"Ping" section that only got one paragraph, even though they have
more current users than some of the three chosen for expanded
coverage in the first issue's "Spotlight": Jumpgate, Underlight, and
Shattered Galaxy.  I believe those games were chosen based on their
perceived level of interestingness, rather than on size.

That said, I do think the main "High-Population MOGS" and
Medium-Population MOGS" came fairly close to matching what would be
a correct "top eight" list, even if it's not 100% correct.  Close
enough for government work?  :X) Anarchy Online, as I understand it,
is more tight-lipped about subscriber figures than the other four in
their "High-Population" section, so it's hard to know whether they'd
fit better in "High" or "Medium", and I think any mistake there is
excusable.  I do think AO may well have higher usage still than the
three listed in the "Medium" section.  (Presuming you count
Lineage's usage levels in the US market, where they're in the
five-figure range in total subscribers, not in Korea where they have
millions - and where sales of the magazine will probably closely
approximate zero!)  Furcadia has about 30,000 regular players.  I
would guess WW2 Online to ne somewhere in the five figure range too,
though I haven't heard any specific numbers.  Are there some other
games out there in the US that could edge out one of those three to
be "more deserving" of a spot in the "Medium" section of the
magazine based on current usage levels?  I'd say perhaps so.  It's
hard to keep track of all of them - though I think the "Ping" list
in this magazine is probably one of the best current lists, if not
THE best.  But I do think each of the three chosen has plenty of
reasons to justify getting the coverage they're getting.  From being
the US branch of the biggest online game in the world, to being a
very unique, innovative (and ambitious) attempt to be the first game
to model planes, tanks, trucks and footsoldiers all interacting on a
huge battlefield (WW2 Online), and whatever it was we've done with
Furcadia (I forget but it musta been something good.)

I do know the coverage in those sections will shift over time.  They
expect that Star Wars Galaxies and The Sims Online will very quickly
find their way into the High-Population section once they're
released, for instance.

*-------------------------------------------**-----------------------------* 
   Dr. Cat / Dragon's Eye Productions       ||       Free download!
*-------------------------------------------**   http://www.furcadia.com
  Supporting user-created graphical worlds. ||  Let your imagination soar!
*-------------------------------------------**-----------------------------*

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