NightMission

As others have pointed out, PL’ed players without a clue about how to actually play their characters have always been with us. I’ve seen the gamut from the level 50 tank who I had to show how to tank while playing my controller since all he had done was door-sit Drek farms, to the pair of fire/kin controllers who didn’t listen when I told them to back away from then get behind Dominatrix so she wouldn’t hold them (they stayed held for the majority of the fight), to the recent pack of AE assembly line PL products who don’t know how to get to Steel Canyon.

Some are teachable, others trainable, others fall under the “Horse? Meet water, drinking is optional” axiom. Some will thank you for trying to help them, others will pitch a fit.

Are there more of them now than in the past? Based on my personal experience since AE became part of the game, which by no means should be taken as any sort of authoritative or valid representation of the rest of the CoH population, is that there are more of these disasters in progress running around the streets of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.

When I16 does land, it may be that some of the AE buildings will serve as quiet little preserves for the clueless PL’ed. Hopefully they will be housed, fed, and generally be kept from the rest of the player population until such time as the ease of AE farm leveling becomes a boring routine, when the shininess of ticket rolls lose their luster, and they either move on to some other game or actually take a little time to learn how to play their characters. Then and only then can they be slowly introduced into the larger CoH community without harm.

Until that rarified day, which may only exist in the small section of my mind reserved for Utopian delusions of “what may be,” I will continue to treat the clueless as I always have: Kicking them from team when they don’t listen or whine excessively, mock them for not being able to read a search comment, train them when I have no other choice or am feeling generous, and basically avoiding them the rest of the time. Just remember this, the ignore button is our friend and so is the kick button. Use them wisely.

This PSA from Night Mission Enterprises: Don’t call us, we won’t call you.

[ QUOTE ]
I think that Mr. Myers probably entered the field of sociology in an attempt to make sense of a large aspect of life that makes no sense to him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Myers is a communication professor, not sociology. I know its a bit nitpicky to point that out, but no one likes the idea of a sloppy researcher in their discipline. Including me.

Dollymistress-

More than a few folks are somewhat less than amused by Myers’ so-called research. VickiVee even set a letter to his university asking them to review his study, which was forwarded to the head of his IRB committee. I posted a reply that he was most likely going to be on safe ground in terms of informed consent unless his Institutional Review Board decided his methods were excessive.

After reading your post, it certainly sounds like you found them excessive. If you feel that Prof. Myers did indeed go too far and should answer for it, you should consider sending the letter you posted here to the Chair of the IRB for his university. If no one comes forward saying, “Yeah, he went over the top. I know because I was the one he went over the top on,” he'll have an easier time justifying the methods he used.

The address for sending such a letter is on pages 11 and 12 of the Blow Your Mind Twixt thread, at least on my browser. If you don’t want to dig through all that, just send me a PM through the forums and I’ll send you the information.

Another fine PSA from Night Mission Enterprises. Don’t call us, we won’t call you.

My main isn’t here on Champ, it’s an old bio, a bit cheesy, but since Si is the one asking…

Night Mission
Dark/Dark Scrapper

Bio:
Three college friends built a triangular lantern as part of class project. The panes were stained glass showing a stylized midnight sky and the frame was decorated with arcane symbols they collected out of various books dealing with the occult. Unknowingly, they had created a magical conduit that bestowed each of them with supernatural abilities the first time they lit it. Each of the members of the triad now embodies an aspect of the three faced god: The Youth, The Warrior, and The Wise Man. They are now the champions of the Night Sky Lantern. The Arcane Night Mission embodies the Warrior’s aspect. Born under a bad sign and marked with the second sight, he has been infused with an enchanted shadow that empowers and protects him. Over time, his powers have increased. Night Mission now possesses the ability to make himself nearly invisible and can project fear. He was twice gifted by the heroine Moon Crescent and is the founder of the Cold Brotherhood.

At the request of a friend, I’ve read through this thread, the newspaper article, iltat’s and VikiVee’s letters, and Prof. Myers’ paper. Let me add a few things to the discussion as someone with a background in social research online. I know some of what I’m posting isn’t going to make some of you following this thread real happy, but don’t shoot the messenger bearing the bad news. I’m just adding a few points that might be relevant to the discussion. I have a tl;dr at the bottom for those of you who don’t want to slog through all of this.

First off you might be asking, “Who is this clown?” I’m a sociology grad student who is also doing qualitative research into online games. My interest is social support, not deviant behavior, and my methodology is rather different from what Prof. Myers used. For those of you interested in such things, I used participant observation combined with focus groups for my data collection.

I agree with Mysidia that Myers’ work was more or less an observational case study and not really an experiment in the classic sense of a scientific experiment. It falls out of being a participant observation since this study was not watching the “natural” social processes in the field, but instead engaged in deliberate set of behaviors in order to provoke a response. Myers’ paper was a piece of qualitative research more interested in the dialog and actions of the observed rather than the quantitative counting of noses or comparing results between a test and control group.

On the point that Myers did not get informed consent from his observed subjects: Sorry folks, he’s probably in the clear on that one. This kind of observational data collection is of behavior taking place in an environment with no expectation of privacy (see NCSoft’s privacy policy), so as long as he maintained confidentiality by not using anyone’s real name (in-game and forum handles should be changed as well), he would not be required to gain informed consent from those he observed in game. Same for getting the go ahead from the game company hosting the game. For example, if I was observing mosh pits, I wouldn’t be required to get permission from the club owner to watch a mosh pit in their club. I can just pay at the door, go in, and conduct my observations.

As for the consent of the parents of minors: When you combine this from the EULA;

[ QUOTE ]

(a) Eligibility. By clicking the "I Accept" button you represent that you are an adult 18 years of age or older or, if under 18 years of age, that you have the consent of a parent or guardian and will provide their details where requested.

[/ QUOTE ]

with the afore mentioned no expectation of privacy, he probably won’t get into trouble for that either. His Institutional Review Board (IRB) committee will probably see it something like this: While the game is something the players pay to participate in, the game world they play in isn’t like a bathroom where there is that wonderful expectation of privacy. It’s more like the nightclub I used in my earlier example. Now if Myers conducted interviews or focus groups, then he would have to get the proper informed consent and have the opt-out option from those participants. My own IRB review covered this extensively, and I specifically talked to the head of the committee about it. Chances are there will be no reprimand based solely on not getting informed consent.

On the other hand, unlike my research, Myers did not just watch people interact while playing. He engaged in provocative action in order to test social boundaries. This is where he hits the line of questionable ethics. His “breaching behaviors” did cause people distress and made at least one individual mad enough to issue a death threat. Applying that sort of stimulus to a group without informed consent or offering therapeutic counseling to those who feel they suffered harm afterwards may be something he will get reprimanded for. However, since Myers claims he did not break the rules of the game with his bad behavior, only the social rules of the players, he might be able to argue that his breaching behaviors were something players should have reasonably expected. Additionally, he can argue that his actions were the only way to successfully assess those social boundaries. Personally, I think his methods were a bit dodgy here. There are other means of assessing those boundaries without honking people off in a persistent fashion. I can only guess what, if anything, Myers’ IRB committee will do about this one. My bet, no action.

Now before I get strung up as a heretic, sympathizer, or collaborator, let me say that I wasn’t all that impressed with Myers’ paper or his methods. In the realm of qualitative research, there is an expectation of self-discloser about your role as researcher in conducting the study. To quote iltat:

[ QUOTE ]
Myers presented the extreme negatives of our community as the standard. No one condones the threats that were directed towards Myers, but he leaves out that he verbally attacked, insulted, harassed, and stalked many of these same individuals. Some of his harassments are still present on our forums.

[/ QUOTE ]

Now if this verbal abuse was not approved by his IRB in advance, that could be some hot water right there. Stalking is prohibited under the EULA, which would leave him a leg short in defending his research methods before the IRB. Even if it doesn’t result in a reprimand, it constitutes inadequate self-discloser, at least in the reporting, and should be considered sloppy.

Additionally, as most social researchers do when reading an article, I looked over Myers’ bibliography. The thing that struck me is that we have a grand total of one author in common. Myers did not reference some of the leading names in online research such as Wellman, Rheingold, DiMaggio, Hine, and particularly Williams, who actually did a study of deviant behavior in an online environment already. Part of doing research is doing a literature review to become familiar with what has already been done. Again, sloppy in action.

My last “sloppy” to cover is something iltat pointed out in his letter to the editor:

[ QUOTE ]
Myers portrayed our community as one filled with anger and hate, but a minimal amount of research would quickly find the error in this assessment. Our community includes a player-founded “taxi service” and “emergency medical technicians” who voluntarily help new players. Our forums include well-wishes for players who have babies, get married, or go off to war. We have sponsored charities, conventions, and even a few weddings. None of these made it into Myers’ paper.

[/ QUOTE ]

iltat is right. Doing research in an MMORPG is doing research in one small part of a very large online world. By only looking at the one small part of what is already a small part of that world without trying to take the larger MMORPG community you are studying into account is doing a disservice to that community and will skew your conclusions.

For those with a case of tl;dr:

Chances are that Prof. Myers is not going to be in trouble with his IRB committee over his research. There is one area I think he pushed the ethical lines, and in my opinion should not have done so, but he may still be on the safe side of not having an ethical violation. (Hmmm, strictly within the letter but outside the intent. Sound familiar?)

Even if nothing comes of an IRB review of Myers’ research, I believe it is not up to snuff with much of the preexisting research into online interaction. Unless one of his other articles is far better than this, his work will not be a source for my own research.

This PSA brought to you by Night Mission Enterprises. Don’t call us, we won’t call you.

Casey? Casey Jones?

[ QUOTE ]
On another completely unrelated note, I have LoTG's for sale for 160m each. They're red side on Virtue.

[/ QUOTE ]


*laughs and puts in bids quite a bit lower than 160M* Not on a bet, you bandit!

Stillhart-

I am truly sorry your project got so badly derailed. As something of regular spectator of forum train wrecks, I could see that the bridge was out before the locomotive left the station on this one. Nor was I the only one to warn Casey Jones that there was a stopped freight train on the line.

However, if you’re still interested in getting safely to Canton, you could always write the guide you had in mind and ask the individuals you think could have some positive input directly. Given his/her/it’s somewhat frequent and lengthy posts in this section of the forums, I suspect that a certain spectral barnyard animal may be willing to help you out, same with a particular lighting bolt, maybe the nice fellow, or the Georgia feline. Whomever. Going about it that way, you can write the guide you want with some of the input you want without leaving the door open for all and sundry to wander in and hose it down by engaging in a bodily function before it even gets off the ground.

Now let me lay a few torpedoes on the tracks: Even if you use that saw by, any posted guide of Myth/Facts about the market, no matter how well written and non-confrontational, will still draw in those who will disagree with it. And some of them will be quite vigorous in their disagreement. See several pages in this thread, for example.

Anyway, offering condolences and a hopefully constructive suggestion before the inevitable caboose catches up to this thread.

P.S. No, don’t ask me to help if you decide to follow my suggestion. I’m not an expert and I don’t have the time.

I like to do this when I get the chance, plan out the build, decide on the sets and plain IOs I want, buy them, craft them, etcetera, but I generally prefer to wait until the character is up into the late 30 before I really start getting serious about getting everything I need together to begin crafting. That’s more a matter of personal taste than any kind of hard and fast rule. If you want to have your character set out by 35 or even 25, go for it.

I usually don’t do much salvage and recipe hording, I just make the enhancement and store it. The main reason is to save space. Rather than fill up my slots on the market and my personal salvage storage, which can take up to three or more storage slots, I just use the one slot for the finished product.

The other upside I’ve found for getting your build organized in advance is you can place some nice lowball bids for whatever you’re after far in advance of when you want to start using them. That way it isn’t just “wait until after the weekend,” its “wait for after a couple of weekends.” That can save you a whole lot of game cash.

The best personal anecdote I can think of was placing bids for five pieces of Absolute Amazement around level 38 or 39 on my Huntsman. I kept a stash of rare and uncommon salvage I needed on hand so I could craft them. Once I managed to buy one, it was made, stored, and waited for me to hit 50. If memory serves, I spent around 4-5M per recipe and used tickets for the bulk of the rare salvage.

Even doing it that way, I had some issues with available market slots. I was still buying other recipe sets and had to sell my drops, so leaving those bids up there while managing the rest of my business took a little juggling, but it was worth it in the end.

[ QUOTE ]
I sense a flow chart coming from this sort of idea. Maybe not a bad one, either.

[/ QUOTE ]

It would take some effort, but I agree. Not a bad idea.

[ QUOTE ]
And here I was just about to post how you guys are no flippin help at all!

[/ QUOTE ]

Flippin’ help? Isn’t there a couple of guides about flipping already up somewhere? Oh wait, that wasn’t what you were talking about. So sorry, me badness.

Alright, alright, enough with the jokes. Let me adjust my helmet and gird up the lance for a tilt at ye ol’ windmill. With the Myth/Fact format you’re proposing, add a link to a relevant guide from the guide and FAQ section whenever possible.

---
For example:

Myth: "Casual" players can't afford stuff because of evil marketeers"

Fact: Casual players now have more flexibility in being able to afford stuff, and the ebil marketeers can’t do anything from stopping casual players from getting the stuff they want. Instead of finding the time to run a TF to earn a recipe, causal players can now build up a stockpile of merits on their own to make recipe reward rolls or save them to buy a specific recipe outright. You can do this by simply by running arcs and O-zone flashbacks. Tickets earned running MA arcs can take the sting out of buying those rare salvage drops and can also be used to make recipe reward rolls. All of these are techniques that take ebil marketeers out of the equation entirely.

Additionally, learning a little about how the market works and what strategies work for the causal player can go a long way in speeding up the process of getting what you want. Two good guides for causal players can be found here, for an overview of the market, and here, for tips for the casual player. The main point is that you don’t have to flip salvage or join the billionaire’s club in order to get what want. You can take the slow and sure way of earning merits and tickets or you can make the market work for you without earning a degree in economics.
---

Now that example is a bit off the top of my head and may require some editing before being released to the general masses, but the basic format not only refutes the myth without being confrontational, but gives the reader the option of looking up more information on the topic if they want.

The whole horse and water axiom still applies, but I think if you want a guide where you can tell folks to “look here” so we don’t have to engage in yet another round of “flogging the zombie equine” this might work.

There. I helped in spite of my cynicism.

Maybe I’m just too much of a cynic, but my thought is that while this would be a fun thread to play with, it won’t do much to vanquish the myths and misconceptions about the market.

There seems to me there is a little too much of the attitude, “I’ve made up my mind, don’t confuse me with facts” when it comes to the market. Anyone whose mind can be changed only needs to be directed to this forum and all the market information already therein. Anyone who feels that the market and the ebil market creatures are the scourge of CoX civilization as they know it won’t be convinced no matter what gets posted. I’m reminded of an axiom that goes something along the lines of “Horse, meet water. Drinking is optional.”

Now granted, I could be wrong. This thread may herald the enlightenment of all haters of the market. It may signal the end of long needles being shoved into voodoo dolls representing the ebil ones by those who believe all marketeers have 666 burned into their left butt cheek. However, entertainment value aside, the chances that this thread will dispel the market myths are about as likely as pounding sand down a rat hole will be adopted as a viable means of vector control in cities across the nation.

No matter which scenario is correct, this thread does have some amusement potential. So by all means, listen not to someone not truly ebil, but only vaguely naughty, when it comes to the market. Go forth, spread the word, and may your luck be good.

This PSA brought to you by Night Mission Enterprises: Don’t call us, we won’t call you.

[ QUOTE ]
A very expensive build.... that's what it looks like to me. lol

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed, but do-able

My uncle served in Vietnam.
He died from leukemia.

[ QUOTE ]
You missed the memo? Yeah, it turns out that marketeering is evil and ruins the game for everyone else. If it wasn't for people like us with a basic grasp of economics, CoX would be a paradise of plenty. Shinies for everyone! Everyone's a winner! Here's your sticker! Yay, stickers!

[/ QUOTE ]

That made me laugh. And I still want my sticker.

If you give an idiot a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach an idiot how to fish, he will end up with a hook in his eye.

I know I’m going to get some stick for this one, but sometimes comedy is painful:

Arc Name: [u]Stop the catgirl rampage![u]
Arc ID: 66361
Faction: Neutral
Your global/forum name: @Night Mission
Difficulty Level: Medium
Recommended Team Size: Solo +, this is for fun so no EBs/AVs, just bosses
Typical duration: 3 missions, only the first one takes time.

Arc Synopsis: Mynx’s fan club is in town and they are not amused.

Notes: Run it for fun, just be ready to face this!

I mostly play villains here on Champion, but my first villain arc is still in progress.

So as a tied-me-over, here is my first one:

Arc Name: [u]Stop the catgirl rampage![u]
Arc ID: 66361
Faction: Neutral
Your global/forum name: @Night Mission
Difficulty Level: Medium
Recommended Team Size: Solo +, this is for fun so no EBs/AVs
Typical duration: 3 missions, only the first one is long.

Arc Synopsis: Mynx’s fan club is in town and they are not amused.

Notes: It’s a comedy. Play it for fun and a few laughs.

Arc Name: [u]Stop the catgirl rampage![u]
Arc ID: [u] 66361[u]
Faction: Neutral
Your global/forum name: @Night Mission
Difficulty Level: Medium
Recommended Team Size: Solo +, this is for fun so no EBs/AVs
Typical duration: Depends on how much stealth you use. Usually no more than hour.
Arc Synopsis: Mynx’s fan club is in town and they are not amused.
Link to a more info/comments thread: N/A

Notes: My first one is a comedy. No surprise there. Not too hard, does have a few bosses. Catch as much of the text as you can.

My thanks, Antihiro. I like it

If the que is open again, I’ll put in a request.

Let me know if you need anything else.


Night Mission

Night Mission with shield

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Damn it. One day I will have money enough to buy a commission from you! ONE DAY!!!



Until then, nice work!

[/ QUOTE ]

I know the feeling.

[/ QUOTE ]

Same as

But did they save the right cheerleader?

Good to see you back ST.

Blackened Cajun Chicken!

Recipe follows:

6 chicken breast halves
1 c. butter
1 1/2 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. cayenne
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. thyme leaves
1/2 tsp. oregano

Mix all ingredients except chicken and butter. Dip chicken in it. Immediately before cooking, melt butter and dredge chicken in it. Cook chicken on high heat, 10 minutes each side.

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Some good insights into the idea of an archenemy in this thread. Getting a solid concept about their motivation goes a long way for developing the character.

One idea that came to me while reading this thread: I recall from the artwork you had DarkJedi do that White Peregrine has wings. You could have an archenemy that becomes obsessed with White Peregrine because he or she envies his wings or for some reason feels that a non-angelic with wings is somehow blasphemous. That sort of archenemy doesn’t have to have had a direct encounter with WP in the past. Instead they become fixated on him from newspaper articles, TV shows, seeing him fly above the city, what have you. More of the obsessive fan (or anti-fan) rather than your old college roommate story. This individual starts stealing cutting-edge technology for the sole purpose of finding a means of destroying what their twisted mind sees as the “evil” white peregrine. Going that route you could do someone like Repentance, an AR/Rad or AR/Traps corruptor.