CoA, Reagents and Cracked.com
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http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html
Yeah, reagent gathering absolutely sucks so much. I know of quite a few people who have reagent fatigue.
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wow that almost makes me want to never play a video game again…. almost.
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I'm actually not all that surprised, since this is how I view a lot of modern games' conception. It would be wrong to demand any professional outfit ignore how economic their idea is, but some cash cows are easy to spot a mile away - those that don't rely on ingenuity so much as trying to find formulae for "enjoyment" and replicating them massively, where too much focus is on how economic an idea is. A good sign for me that a game is made for people's enjoyment over economic success is how moddable it is and how much support is given towards modding things.
It reminds me of another person who wrote to a company advising them on how to exploit unaffiliated artists on the internet for cheap and superior quality artwork for their use. The key word really was exploit and he quite bluntly explored who was vulnerable to such tactics, but that's another story.
Ultimately, these industries can use whatever means they want to to try and entice players to play their games. It's up to people to decide if the end product is something they enjoy. The concept of carrot-and-stick to motivate people and animals is an age old approach; I don't think that's anything like what the reagent system in CoA is - that was simply an attempt to get people to grab others on the server and explore the world.
Reagent hunting is what you make of it. I think that's the simplest way to put it - I've hated the few times i've been handed shopping lists and actively rebelled ICly against pursuing them because OOCly I have zero interest in farming regions hoping for the item i'm looking for to drop - on the other hand a character of mine was once asked to retrieve the ear of an elf as part of a ritual and the emphasis was put on "You only have one ear to get - try and make it something memorable getting it". It boils down to how much time you have to play and spend thinking about CoA. I know if I was given a list of even three reagents to gather I would inevitably end up either reagent chasing with uninspiring sendings or giving up and looking to do something on my own terms. With the one ear though I felt no pressure over it and struck a few deals with some crooks and ultimately sent the elf back to Arabel missing an ear and with a message for the Theur Everae rather than racing for the most economical method of getting ingredients required for TEH WIN.
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Did you know if you find all 12 reagents, two crag cat skins, a yak bladder, and three bodak teeth and take it to all twelve silver obelisks in the Underdark and Thunderpeaks, you can find the Armor of Awesome. But you have to be level 10, Like us on Facebook, and sign up for our regular e-mail updates.
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And if you gather four of those armors together and bring them to a secret smith who's location is written on a random drop letter which you have to put together from five pieces. You get the ultimate sword of awesomeness.
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http://kotaku.com/#!5384643/i-kept-play ... -addiction
The woman I had once told was the love of my life was sitting undressed in my bed not a foot away from my computer desk, begging me to join her, and I kept putting it off. I was so close to level 40 I could taste it. I was in the Dreadlands, kiting large enemies back and forth, killing them slowly with my Bard songs. I still remember the urgency I felt, along with the annoyance that this woman was trying to keep me from reaching my goal. Couldn't she understand how important this was to me?
=(
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Yeah, I agree Brocky. Silly women dont know how important that god damned levul tin is. =(
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That is why I refuse to pay a monthly bill to play a game. take that WoW!
