Skarner, The Crystal Failure

League of Legends is one of my favourite games on the net at the moment.

It's fun, it's free and it packs in a whole bunch of updates frequently. Why waste £10 a month on a game like WoW, in hope of getting a new raid at the end of the season. (And of course, after months of playing one raid, of all the development time they have, only one raid is released).

League of Legends releases frequent balance changes, weekly community "Summoner Spotlights" on Riot Games' Youtube channel, new skins every 2-10 days and Riot (bless there hearts) is finally releasing a new map soon, that features a whole new game style! And I couldn't be more excited!

Except... there's one more thing they release. Every fortnight, a new champion is released into the game. Now of course, this isn't a bad thing. New champions are very good! They keep Summoners on their toes, to learn the new mechanics of said champions, can sometimes change the style of game you play and provides a fresh sight to the same old map you see day-in day-out.

But... one bone to pick I have with new champions, is the same bone to pick I have with League of Legends itself. And the majority of the DotA/MOBA-style-games out there to be fairly honest. It's the players.

Oh yes. The bloody players.

Wowcrendor shows in his video the sheer stupidity, bad attitude and fucking shit-headedness of most players in League of Legends. 

(Disclaimer: Before someone suggests I play HoN, Heroes of Newearth has possibly a worse community than LoL. And I think that HoN should be a sponge that soaks up all the players mentioned above. That way it could actually do something for the DotA player base. No offence to those of you that play HoN that are actually good at the game).

Now I want to draw attention to the one that picks Skarner. This happens every two weeks, in the weekly champion cycle after a new champion is released in my experience. Every single twat that logs in then sees a new champion, and this isn't directed at Skarner, this happens with EVERY new champion. 

They say "OOOOOH NEW CHAMPION! SHINY!". Now what makes Skarner unique is that he is a scorpion. A crystal scorpion. Which increases the shine level of the champion by +9000 (You try and think of a random number). These dicks think "OOOOOH! SCORPION COOL! I COOL!". They will then either flock to the store to buy it either with spammed IP or purchased RP, or use the free cycle and join any game possible with  Skarner. They have only had the champion for less than a minute, not researching what he does or is, not having adequate runes/masteries, and not looking into how to build him well.

Now on the other side of the Atlantic (Yes I play on US servers, as do most of my friends) I decide I fancy a game of League. I hop onto it and choose one of my built champions that I have experienced and sure enough, I run into the Summoner playing Skarner in a random picked team. Now I don't usually play random teams because I can't stand playing with people I don't know, that are usually idiotic pricks. 

I see this guy's name is GolumPWNZ1337 (Says it all really) and he picks Skarner. I prepare for the worst.

Of course the game goes terrible and this guy goes all the way through acting like he is the dog's fucking bollocks and the rest of us are a piece of shite. Without acknowledging that he has a lower Kill/Assists and higher deaths than I do.

Now my suggestion isn't that people shouldn't play new champions. New champions are great! And if I played LoL more, I could probably afford to buy new champions when they come out. But if you do want to play a new champion, then please for the love of god just look at a bloody build guide so you at least know how to play the guy properly.

I am Zamros, and this made me feel better.

Suing

Oh suing. We hardly knew ye'!
This post is mainly being invoked by a certain "B" suing a certain "N" for a certain trademark of "S". But we'll get to that later.

Suing! The act of finding small fault in something, and taking it to court for a large sum of cash! Yes, my friends. The great art of suing has returned to the world! Not that it ever left really... All over the world, particularly in a land called America (Disclaimer: I shall leave all jokes about America aside in this blog post because they have a culture of suing), this noble act is practised by the dozen every day.
Of course if you are reading this, you don't care about real problems, like single mothers, damages, life-threatening conditions and all that junk. You want to know the juicy stuff about game developers and publishers suing other game developers and publishers for X amount for reason 1-a trillion.

This mainly came to my attention when W. Axl Rose sued Activision for misuse of the Guns n' Roses anthem "Welcome to the Jungle" on the game Guitar Hero III. Now, of course Axl Rose is a very controversial person indeed. I have my opinions of him but in this case I shall keep them to myself as despite his various negatives, he remains to this day a very talented singer, pianist, musician and performer. The main focus on this lawsuit was the use of Slash (or a Slash-like character) in the game. Of course most people will know of the feud between the two, but I shall leave that aside. This ludicrous reason led Axl to sue Activision for $20million! Now I am not one to really call myself an expert. I am a teenager from England and in my area lawyers and policemen alike are hated with a passion. God I love London. But all personal issues aside, what the FUCK? I have no idea what the American legal system is like, but how can he sue this company for a bloody image of a former band mate, who I might add co-wrote the song? Believe me, it pains me to defend a company like Activision but I see no legal ramifications in suing someone for an image nonetheless! It's like delving into every video on the net of Guns n' Roses playing live with the original line up and replacing the images of his former band mates! Come to think of it.... If that were possible, I would hijack my good friends at Gamesbyte and doctor good ol' Indy's segments to make him sound more like Wulff ;)
...I see I've gone completely off track now so I will move onto what brought up this wonderful topic.

It seems Bethesda (Or specifically Bethesda's lawyers) have decided to sue Notch for a pending trademark of the name "Scrolls" for an upcoming video games of Notch's, because of the word's use in Bethesda's famous "The Elder Scrolls" series. Now, I'm no expert in the subject. I should probably find an American to talk about this. Shit I did it again... Yes. Congratulations Bethesda's lawyers! Join Axl Rose and Tim Langdell in the esteemed "Hall of Lawsuits that make no fucking sense"! Es mierda de torro!
So take this instance for example. I am an indie developer called Scotch. I have made a successful sphere-based farming simulator called DigMake that has sold over 3million copies and is still in beta. I decide that not all my creative talents have been used in DigMake and wish to expand my horizons. I decide to make a Strategy game with elements of a book-game called Find Freddie and a popular corrigated card game called Ju-Bi-Moh! (I'm running out of ideas, shut up) I name the game "The" because its a snappy name that everyone would know. But noooo! A company that makes excellent games' lawyers decide to send me a 15 page statement telling me to change the name of the game, because they have a 3 word trademark for a game series, that is nothing like the game I am planning, and "The" is a word used in it.

It might just be me, but I find it ridiculous that Bethesda's lawyers are doing this and like most of the gaming community, will support Notch through this. I also hope that Bethesda call their lawyers out on this ludicrous lawsuit and hope to see Scrolls (Or whatever it shall be called) in the future. But that's just my opinion on the matter of course.

I am Zamros, and this made me feel better.

The Diablo III "Real Money" Auction House

Now, this is a controversial subject to say the least... That's why I can't wait to discuss it!

This "Real Money" Auction House in Diablo III has been hyped to all hell recently, since it was announced by Blizzard during the Diablo III press conference.
To summarise, Blizzard announced that like their popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, Diablo III will have an Auction House system featured in it.
But unlike WoW, Diablo III will have not one, but TWO auction houses. One will be solidly built around an in-game gold economy, whilst the other will be able to sell the same things, plus gold for real money.
That is correct, Blizzard are going to implement and support a way of selling gold and items in Diablo III, thus legalising what is currently illegal in WoW and many other MMOs.

Of course, all over the net, people are up in arms about this. Angrily saying things like "Blizzard are cash-grabbing nonces", "This is just going to support chinese gold farmers" and ":OOOOOO MMMMMMOOOONNNNNNNEEEEEEHHHHHZZZZZZ!?!??!?111?".
Usually, I will have a very strong opinion on one side of an arguement. But with this, I am uncertain about what my opinion is on this matter.

Of course I'm going to start with the negatives. I'm British, my whole world is based around negatives. There are places, particularly in China, where people are employed (or sometimes forced) to play video games for extensive periods of time, farming gold and items, and selling them for real-life currency. Earning themselves the name "Gold Farmers". This auction house system is going to provide an easier way for these people to sell their items and gold for money, effectively some people could say (and some people already have) that Blizzard are supporting these offices, and even sweatshops or prisons that will be used to farm and sell the in-game gold.
This could cause a huge upset to the economy. You will either have gold-farmers that post their auctions for extremely low prices, which will not only stop legitimate players from selling their hard-earned items; but will also make players on the other side buy them even more because of the low prices. Kind of like how supermarkets undercut eachother's prices in real life.
Or you could find the overzealous farmer, that tries to play the auction house like most players, and will post his items for the normal price (or just a bit lower) to make a bit more money than posting it lower.
However, Blizzard have indeed implemented ways of stopping both. There are numerous fees that are not only legally required, but required to stop outrageously low price drops in the game's economy. Their are, to my knowledge, three fees in place.

1. A sum of money must be placed on each auction as a deposit. Like in WoW with a sum of gold, and I'm assuming the same will be in the Diablo III gold auction house.
2. A transaction fee is a legal requirement, so when one sells, Blizzard must legally charge one a sum of money on the transaction.
3. Blizzard's (Greedy Grubby Cash-Grabbing) fee. Of course, Blizzard has to make money from this, 3% of the money made from each sale goes towards Activision Blizzard.

 This means that players and gold farmers alike, must be careful when handling the real-money auction house, so as not to lose money by aggresively posting and cancelling. Because if an auction fails or is cancelled, the deposit is lost forever. And if someone posts for an obsurdley low price, they will make minimal money from it, or even make a loss!

Now in any case, no matter what Blizzard do there is going to be gold-farming in Diablo III. That is just a fact. If there is a real-money auction house, there will be a way of gold-farming in game. If there isn't, they'll set up gold sites, do it anyway and make more money from it.
Out of anything infact... the real-money auction house is oddly, not preventing gold-farming, but reducing the profit that these people that we find oh so annoying make from farming for long hours each day.

Now to get to the good stuff.
Take this imaginary man called Jeff. Jeff is 39, has a wife, kids, good job and plays Diablo III. Because of the job and family, Jeff will not have as much time to play Diablo III as the average player. So he will not be able to farm for long hours for the item he craves so much. With the real-money auction house, he can buy the item and have fun with it without all the hassle.
Now take this imaginary kid called Timothy. Timothy is 16, he's finished school, he has rich parents and as a result is very spoilt. He also plays Diablo III. Because of his rich parents, and spoilt personality. He believes anything he wants he can buy. Now this may be true, but this will come to an extent. He will be seen in whatever town he is in walking around in his shiny gear and might even brag of how easily he obtained it. Now Jeff approaches him because he and his friends plan on running an instance and need a Demon Hunter for the group (The class that Timothy plays). Timothy readily agrees to join their group but they find out quickly that he is not as skilled as his gear says he is. He is indeed, a whiney scrub in purples (WoW reference). The instantly kick him out of the group and find someone else. He undergoes the same fate with every other group he tries to get into.
Finally, there is one last imaginary character called David. David is 25, unemployed and plays Diablo III. Because of the current state of the economy in the real world, David finds it hard to find a job. So he spends long hours playing Diablo III. He aquires alot of stuff that wouldn't do him squat in real life, and he finds little use for in the game. So he posts it on the auction house. Eventually, he becomes well-inclined as to the inner workings of this in-game economy with real money. And manages to make himself money from it. Admitedly the money is small compared to what he could make from a job. But what money would he make otherwise?

The real money auction house could not only be a curse on the game, but a blessing as well. Yes it allows easier access for gold-farmers. Yes people with lots of money can easily buy items with minimal effort. But it can also provide a bit of funding towards true players of the game.
If you have a problem with the auction house, you have 2 options. Either buy the game and don't use it, or attempt to boycott the games release.

I am still unsure about what I think about the auction house but I know I am still going to play the game and seek any enjoyment I can from it.

Anyway, that was just my opinion on the matter. The auction house is a controversial concept, and I will continue to discuss it as I find out more about it. I will also be following Markco's new gold guide to see his opinions on the matter and any updates about the subject.

I am Zamros, and this made me feel better.