WoW Players need not apply

The job market at the moment is tough, and it seems tougher for some people than others, and in particular World of Warcraft players seem to have been singled out.

Gamesindustry.biz reports today that employers are specifically requesting recruitment consultants not to send them World of Warcraft players.

The post, spotted cites a recruiter working in the online media industry as saying that employers think WOW players are too sleep-deprived and distracted to be effective in the workplace.

“Employers specifically instruct him not to send them World of Warcraft players,” said the poster. “He said there is a belief that WOW players cannot give 100 per cent because their focus is elsewhere, their sleeping patterns are often not great, et cetera.”

This seems to fly in the face of many recent articles which focus on the positive of MMOG games such as World of Warcraft, where the skills necessary to persevere and suceed in the game are the same types of skills that can develop a hardworking and diligent employee.  Infact President Obama’s cabinet advisors even include WoW players.

But in the meantime, unless you’re after a job leading the country, it may be best to keep World of Warcraft off your CV.

The Megatrends of Game Design – Article (1) Multiplayer Gaming to the Rescue

Pascal Luban, vetran games designer, outlines the trends that he sees emerging in Game Design and the Games Industry over the next few years.  This post, and other posts continuing this exploration have been based on the articles The Megatrends of Game Design Part 1, and Part 2.

The first megatrend that Luban raises is the necessity of increasing the commercial life span of games. 

The lifespan of games can be surprisingly short, developers are committing to hundreds of thousands, sometime millions of pounds on game development, on a long investment period of around 18-14 months.   And the window of opportunity sale the game, and recover the costs and make a profit can be incredibly short, sometimes only a matter of a few months.  And along with this the publishers run the risk that their competitors are simultaneously working on a similar product, which may well beat them to till.

This retail environment is not one that encourages the large amounts of time and cost needed in R&D.  So what are the ways to extend the commercial lifespan of games.

(1) Multiplayer Gaming to the Rescue.

Multiplayer games, commonly known as MMOG (massively multiplayer online games) are seen as a way of engaging the player in a longer term environment.  One where the player has to not only acheive their targets, but also to do so in an everchanging environment and against a real, live and unpredictable competition.  Some recent games including Call of Duty 4 have made definite decisions to develop MMOG into their platforms.

With Fantasy Couriers we perceive the Multiplayer element as being a key part to the enjoyment of the game.  Some games are all about you versus a situation, or an opponent, but this is never a situation that could ever apply to a business environment.  In business there is always competition, always a cheaper product, a better service, or an alternative option.  Even you are lucky enough to be the single supplier of a product you still have to compete with all the other products and services that consumers have the option of spending their money on instead.

The courier market was chosen for the Fantasy Couriers business simulation game because it is one of the most competitve markets out there.  Small errors in pricing can mean catestrophic results to a company.  It’s also a market that suits multiplaying, because there are so many different pricing and business strategies that can be adopted.  There are very few industries where the impact choice of high price low volume, and low price high volume is better demonstrated.

BBFC and the UK Games Industry move closer to agreement over Game Ratings.

Computer games and videos play a significant role in most Children and young peoples lives.  And as a result the issue of ratings on games is a recurring topic amongst the games industry producers and suppliers, and between political and social organisations.

Currently, PEGI is the system most used in Europe, whereby the games are rated from 3+, and guidelines exist as to what is suitable at each of the key levels.  PEGI is a European standard operated by the games publishers.

 

Currently the British Board of Film Classifications (BBFC) have no direct regularity authority over any ratings on any computer or video games.  However the Byron Report (described as remarkably balanced and no-political) suggested that BBFC logos be carried on the front of all packaging, as it’s ratings, images and standards are all very familiar to the UK public.

 

The rating system relies on a single recommended age box, along with a number of smaller boxes indicating what types of potentially objectionable content you may find in the game. These smaller boxes simply confuse matters – not least because the task of expressing an abstract concept like “horror” in a tiny black and white picture is the kind of thing you expect to find in a lateral-thinking puzzle game, not a sober attempt at implementing a rating system.

 

Arguments against the continued use of PEGI include the fact that it is Pan- European, and that cultural differences, religious and social differences all mean that what is “acceptable” cary widely between the European member countries.

 

After months of bitterly opposing the BBFC’s further involvement in game rating, however, Britain’s Games publishers seem to have changed tack. This week, UK games publisher association ELSPA tacitly acknowledged flaws in the PEGI system – and instead proposed a new “traffic lights” system, which would be much clearer for consumers, not to mention more visually striking.

 

In fact, what’s most visually striking about the new logos is how much like the BBFC’s they are. The rating system is admittedly different, but ELSPA’s new traffic lights really do bear a superficial resemblance to the BBFC’s own rating stamps. They even boast the explanatory text box on the right, replacing PEGI’s utterly awful content icons.

 

However, from this coming together of ideas springs a new issue.  Who should govern the ratings – the games industry (perhaps through ELSPA) or the BBFC.  The BBFC maybe do not have enough experience in this particular market, and could have a tendency to concentrate on the visual images in the games, as opposed to the underlying games strategy or the game playing. 

 

However, given the fact that the media are quick to draw links between computer games and our “broken” society, it would be a brave government that would give control of games rating to the games industry.

 

Fantasy Couriers is an online computer game that is played by under 18’s, and as such the company seeks to abide by, and exceed, all rating systems that are relevant to the games industry, whether they be regulated by the BBFC, PEGI or anybody else.

 

“We want parents to feel completely happy when their children are playing Fantasy Couriers” says director Sandra Patterson.  “Fantasy Couriers is about challenging the players to run a business, and as such there is no blood or gore, or any aspect or horror, or any other element which could make the game unsuitable for younger players.  We have always had this as a major underlying principle in the game development, and we continue this by ensuring that the sponsors and advertisers in the game are also only promoting products that are suitable for the under 18 year old players”.

Top Five Tips For Couriers To Save Money

Teaching Van Drivers New Driving Techniques could save their company’s money, even the smallest saving on each van through fuel-efficient methods will have a beneficial impact on the company. to stay in business.  Alistair Patterson from Simply Clearances has vans traveling all over the UK every week, he has found that their fuel costs have been taking up more and more of their profits, which made them examine how they can make savings.

Mr Patterson said  “Leaving about 15 minutes earlier for each job means that we can reduce the average travelling speed from 70mph to 60mph, this has increased the mileage that we get from a tank of fuel from 480 kilometres to around 600 kilometres.  I was aware that savings would be made, but even I was surprised about the extend of these, i expected to get an extra 50km a tank, not double that!”

Industry experts say that the surprising large savings are due to a number of factors which tend to arise out of a slower average speed,  there is a lot less accelerate/brake, and this contributes a lot to saving fuel.  And the slower average speed tends to mean a generally calmer attitude which helps in spotting hazards ahead and more predictive instead of reactive driving.

Top tips for saving fuel are;

1. Plan to leave your depots a little bit earlier each day for your destinations, this should help you reduce your speed, saving you fuel, and will also help you feel more relaxed too.  Don’t forget that there is also the speeding tickets to consider and fines, if you’re driving at steady speeds, particularly on the motorways, then you don’t even need to worry about these.
2. Avoid harsh acceleration and braking, this helps to reduce wear and tear, and it saves the fuel dump every time you brake & accelerate.
3. Look forward, read the road and the traffic, plan for hazards and drive for the conditions.  This should help to reduce stop/start driving, thereby reducing fuel consumption and making you a safer driver.
4. Remove all the clutter from your van that you dont need, this should help reduce fuel consumption.  You will be surprised just how much stuff you carry around “just in case” and then never use.
5. Remove any items that may affect your aerodynamics, roof rack or top boxes they will only reduce your efficiency of your van.  Be aware of the drag of a trailer, plan ahead and only use these items when you need them, and remove them as soon as possible when you’ve finished with them.

Making a living as a courier can be a tricky business, so anything that can benefit your company must be a good thing, even the smallest saving is worth having.

Fantasy Couriers game is almost ready to play and it should help you identify new ideas with savings and your company  profits.  http://www.fantasycouriers.com

Web advertising to the fastest growing market!

Now that we seem deep set in recession, and the credit crunch is biting hard, it’s time for advertisers to think about new ways of targeting high potential customers.  Traditional forms of advertising are becoming less attractive as your advert simply becomes another “special offer” in a list of many others.

One of the fast growing forms of advertising is in-game advertising, in either sponsorship forms, and even better, product placement.   And not only is in-game advertising the fast growing, it is also one of the most targeted and most effective.

 

Some of the key reasons that in-game advertising works so well include;

•             Huge Global audience of 43 million unique users   (source, Google Analytics December, 2007.)

•             Gamers are networked and vocal about what they like…(” ¬ Comscore Media Metrix, 5-06)

•             Very “chatty” audience who regularly use IM, texting, blogs, forums and will chat about your brand/products.

•             100% organically grown audience through word of mouth marketing.

•             98% of users on high bandwidth connections.

•             A great opportunity to advertise your brand or product whilst people are enjoying themselves and are having fun!

•             Higher than average CTR.

•             Double the average exposure and branding time per ad over Yahoo and MSN, (- source Comscore Media Metrix, 12-05.)

•             Creative range of advertising solutions.

 

Fantasy Couriers brings a whole new element to in-game advertising, Giving not only the obvious companies the opportunity to advertise their products within the game, but also all of the other online retailers looking for an exciting and different form of advertising.   The retailer’s products are integral to the game, they are the parcels that make the world go round.

 

If you would like to advertise in Fantasy Couriers then contact us at advertising@fantasycouriers.com

 

Source; comScore Media Metrix, May, 2006.