June 2003

• Damage and Stuff (Math and Code) Ben Chambers
• MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Derek Licciardi
• • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Mike Shaver
  • • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Mike Shaver
  • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Daniel Anderson
  • • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Matt Mihaly
    • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Luca Girardo
    • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of themarket. Ron Gabbard
  • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Chris Holko
  • • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Matt Mihaly
    • • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
  • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Justin Coleman
  • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of th e market. Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
  • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of th e market. Jeff Fuller
  • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Matt Mihaly
  • • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Tess Snider
  • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Luca Girardo
  • • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Tess Snider
    • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Matt Mihaly
    • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Jeff Fuller
    • • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of themarket. Chris Holko
      • • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments ofthemarket. Scott Jennings
        • MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of the market. Jeff Fuller
• New Column by Dave Rickey "Engines of Creation" Now at Skotos Christopher Allen
• Announcing Shadow Door: an NPC Control Interface for Neverwinter Nights Robert Zubek
• ADMIN: So, what has been happening? J C Lawrence
• [Meta] Forward of moderated message J C Lawrence
• New Here MIKE MacMartin
• • New Here Mike
  • • New Here MIKE MacMartin
    • • New Here Miroslav Silovic
      • • New Here MIKE MacMartin
• Looking for a GUI Mud Development program Snicker Furfoot
• • Looking for a GUI Mud Development program Ben Greear
• ADMIN: List archives are now restored. J C Lawrence
• The Price of Being Male Rayzam
• • The Price of Being Male Sasha Hart
  • The Price of Being Male Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
  • • The Price of Being Male Rayzam
    • • The Price of Being Male Byron Ellacott
      • The Price of Being Male Dr. Cat
    • The Price of Being Male Castronova, Edward
    • • The Price of Being Male Boyle, Paul
      • The Price of Being Male Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes
      • • The Price of Being Male Rayzam
        • • The Price of Being Male Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes
          • • The Price of Being Male Rayzam
            • • The Price of Being Male Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes
        • The Price of Being Male Marian Griffith
        • • The Price of Being Male Paul Schwanz
          • • The Price of Being Male Rayzam
            • • The Price of Being Male Paul Schwanz
              • The Price of Being Male Vincent Archer
              • • The Price of Being Male Rayzam
        • The Price of Being Male Castronova, Edward
        • • The Price of Being Male Sasha Hart
          • The Price of Being Male Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes
          • • The Price of Being Male Amanda Walker
          • The Price of Being Male Richard A. Bartle
          • • The Price of Being Male Castronova, Edward
            • • The Price of Being Male Richard A. Bartle
          • The Price of Being Male Tazzik
            From: "Castronova, Edward" <ecastronova@Exchange.FULLERTON.EDU
            > From: Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes kamikaze@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu
            
            >> Most men don't want to appear female, simply because that's not
            >> what they are or care to be viewed as. And that really is normal
            >> and OK; not everyone is an androgynous bisexual transvestite.
            
            > truer words were never writ. not everyone is an androgynous
            > bisexual transvestite.
            
            > *******
            
            > the argument is, men just like being men, so a preference by men
            > for male avatars is not discrimination.
            
            > but instead of just assuming that men like being men, and calling
            > that normal, let's go ahead and ask the question: why do men like
            > being men?
            
            While this line of discussion may merit some sociological
            considerations, I fail to see how it would truly relate to resale
            value of a certain character - at least in regards to the claim that
            there could be discriminatory factors at work. I think we can all
            take it as common knowledge that men and women prefer to create
            characters of their own gender in these types of games, so why is
            that basic truth being so quickly tossed aside when comparing the
            selling prices?
            
            Do you honestly believe that there should be no other factors
            considered during the sale of the character, other than the level
            and skills possessed by it? Would it not make much more sense that
            players spending hundreds (or, heaven forbid, thousands) of dollars
            on a specific character might be a bit more picky about what they
            are trying to buy? It should not be difficult to imagine that a
            character which closely resembles what a player would have created
            for himself would have more value than one which does not.
            
            Perhaps more thought should be put into evaluating the driving force
            behind what makes someone purchase these characters in the first
            place. Obviously, this will vary depending on what the player is
            planning to use the character for. If it is merely a mule to
            powerlevel the "real" characters he owns, or simply being purchased
            for the items it has, then I would see the other factors (race,
            gender, name, etc...) as being much less important. However, for
            those players looking for a high level character they plan to
            actively play (who I consider to be the primary purchasers of the
            characters), it stands to reason they will want one that most
            closely resembles what they would have created themselves if they
            had the time.
            
            If I was to buy a character online, would I pay more for a male
            character than a female one? Absolutely! In fact I would need some
            serious incentive to ever purchase a female character, for the
            simple reason that this is not how I would chose to represent myself
            to my fellow players. If you want to debate my reasoning for
            preferring to create male characters for myself, that is fine.
            However, I think you need to seriously reconsider the idea that my
            potential price variance between genders is in any way a different
            topic.
            
            Taking these simple truths, I fail to see how the price difference
            could be a surprise to anyone:
            
            1) The majority of men prefer to play as male characters.
            
            2) The majority of players in these games are men.
            
            3) Greater demand equates to a higher price, especially in an
            auction setting.
            
            There is nothing extraordinary in those statements, so why are we
            trying to find deeper meaning to the obvious? Sometimes 1 + 2 = 3,
            regardless of what 7 or 8 is doing. Trying to claim that a player's
            preference when creating a character could be completely disregarded
            when it comes to purchasing a character seems like quite a stretch
            to me. If you wish to examine the social implications of why men
            prefer to present themselves as male avatars, go right ahead. You
            simply need to understand that the price difference you are seeing
            is likely a direct result of that statement.
            
            It looks to me as though we already have a pretty clear cause and
            effect for this situation, without trying to force some inferences
            of sexual discrimination in there. If you want to raise the price
            for female characters, you need to increase the demand. If you want
            to increase the demand, you need to get more females playing these
            games. Trying to "fix" the situation with statements suggesting men
            should not have a preference towards representing themselves as
            *men* seems a bit over the top.
            
            
            Brendan
          • • The Price of Being Male Richard A. Bartle
            • • The Price of Being Male Tazzik
      • The Price of Being Male Richard A. Bartle
      • • The Price of Being Male Marian Griffith
        • • The Price of Being Male Sasha Hart
          • • The Price of Being Male Tom
            • The Price of Being Male Marian Griffith
            • • The Price of Being Male Sasha Hart
              • • The Price of Being Male Marian Griffith
                • • The Price of Being Male Sasha Hart
          • The Price of Being Male Richard A. Bartle
        • The Price of Being Male Castronova, Edward
        • • The Price of Being Male Richard A. Bartle
        • The Price of Being Male Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
      • The Price of Being Male Paul Schwanz
      • The Price of Being Male Daniel Anderson
      • • The Price of Being Male Travis Casey
        • • The Price of Being Male Paul Schwanz
          • • The Price of Being Male Travis Casey
          • The Price of Being Male Chris Holko
          • • The Price of Being Male Travis Casey
            • • The Price of Being Male Sanvean
              • • The Price of Being Male Sasha Hart
                • The Price of Being Male Tom
                • • The Price of Being Male Sanvean
                  • • The Price of Being Male Tom
  • The Price of Being Male Paul Schwanz
  • The Price of Being Male Amanda Walker
  • The Price of Being Male shop@isparkinson.co.uk
  • The Price of Being Male Boyle, Paul
  • The Price of Being Male Ola Fosheim Grøstad
  • • The Price of Being Male Sheela Caur'Lir
    • • The Price of Being Male Jeff Crane
• Are gold pieces taxable? Koster, Raph
• • Are gold pieces taxable? Boyle, Paul
  • • Are gold pieces taxable? Amanda Walker
  • Are gold pieces taxable? Thomas Leavitt
  • Are gold pieces taxable? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
• Functors / Loki (was: New Here) Eli Stevens
• Architecture Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
• • Architecture Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
  • • Architecture ceo
    • • Architecture Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
• SW:G this is so unfair Marian Griffith
• • SW:G this is so unfair Marc Bowden
  • SW:G this is so unfair Martin Bassie
• Players policing themselves (was: MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of themarket.) Derek Licciardi
• • Players policing themselves (was: MMO Launch issues ruining potential segments of themarket.) Marian Griffith
• Q&A with Ken Troop, Lead Designer at Turbine Michael Tresca
• • Q&A with Ken Troop, Lead Designer at Turbine Threshold RPG
  • • Q&A with Ken Troop, Lead Designer at Turbine Mike Shaver
    • Q&A with Ken Troop, Lead Designer at Turbine Chris
• Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
• • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Zach Collins {Siege}
  • • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
  • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
  • • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
    • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Rossmann Peter
    • • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) ceo
      • • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
        • • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) J C Lawrence
          • • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
            • • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) J C Lawrence
          • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Rossmann Peter
        • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Rossmann Peter
        • • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) J C Lawrence
          • • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
      • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
      • • Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) Peter "Pietro" Rossmann