| |  | Copyright |
| | | Read What People Are Saying About This Book: |
| | | About the Authors |
| | | About the Technical Reviewers |
| | | Acknowledgments |
| | | Tell Us What You Think |
| | | Foreword |
| | | Introduction |
| | | Part I. Executive Considerations |
| | | | Chapter 1. The Market |
| | | | Do We Enter the Market? |
| | | | Basic Considerations |
| | | | How and Which Niche? |
| | | | Market Analysis: Who Are These People, Anyway? |
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| | | | Chapter 2. Planning and Budgeting |
| | | | Cost of Entry |
| | | | Budgeting and Return on Investment (ROI) Factors |
| | | | Talent Pool: Management and Hiring Issues |
| | | | Differentiation Between Product and Service |
| | | | Budgeting the Development and Launch |
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| | | | Chapter 3. Project Management/Manager |
| | | | Project Plans |
| | | | Yes, It Really Will Take at Least 23 Years to Complete |
| | | | Why Production Slips Happen |
| | | | Project Realities |
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| | | | Chapter 4. Marketing and Distribution Concerns: Retail Box, Download, or Both? |
| | | | Downloading: Not (Yet) a Viable Option |
| | | | Buying Shelf Space |
| | | | The AOL Model: Do You Need to Actually Sell the Client? |
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| | | | Chapter 5. Calculating and Expanding the Profit Margins: The Cost of Doing Business |
| | | | Some Numbers |
| | | | Add-On Profits |
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| | | Part II. Design and Development Considerations |
| | | | Chapter 6. Basic Design and Development Issues |
| | | | Practicalities and Advice |
| | | | Design |
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| | | | Chapter 7. Digging Deeper into Development and Design Issues |
| | | | Technical Considerations |
| | | | Where to Start? |
| | | | Building the Right Tools |
| | | | Host Hardware and Bandwidth |
| | | | Player Hardware and Software |
| | | | Customer Support: Dude, Where's My Tools? |
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| | | | Chapter 8. Getting into the Design |
| | | | Acquisition and Retention Features |
| | | | The Themis Group Player Satisfaction Matrix |
| | | | The Critical "New Player Experience" |
| | | | It's the Socialization, Stupid! |
| | | | The Importance of (the Other Guy's) Storytelling |
| | | | World-Building: Just What Is "Content," Anyway? |
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| | | | Chapter 9. Other Design and Development Issues |
| | | | Console: Oh, Brave New World! |
| | | | One Problem: The Designers |
| | | | Development Issues |
| | | | Balancing Creativity with a Schedule |
| | | | The Test Process |
| | | | The Freeze: Closing the Loop to Launch |
| | | | Ramping Up Player Support |
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| | | Part III. Launching and Managing a Game |
| | | | Chapter 10. Launch Day |
| | | | Launch Philosophy |
| | | | The Importance of a Technically Stable Launch |
| | | | Who's in Charge on Launch Day? |
| | | | Disaster Control |
| | | | If Disaster Happens |
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| | | | Chapter 11. Managing a Game Post-Launch |
| | | | Barbarians, Tribesmen, and Citizens |
| | | | Transitioning from the Development Team to the Live Team |
| | | | Managing the Expectations of the Players |
| | | | Player Relations: The In-Game GMs |
| | | | The Service Philosophy: Acquiring and Retaining Subscribers |
| | | | Security: Keeping Honest People Honest |
| | | | Community Relations: Processes |
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| | | | Chapter 12. The Live Development Team |
| | | | Live Development Team Responsibilities |
| | | | The Publishing Process |
| | | | The Publishing Plan |
| | | | Patch Creation and Publishing Schedules |
| | | | The Live Test Server |
| | | | How Often Should You Publish? |
| | | | Critical Bugs and Exploits |
| | | | Bug-Fixing Versus Nerfing |
| | | | Planning and Implementing Major Expansions |
| | | | Implementing an Expansion |
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| | | Part IV: Articles from the Experts |
| | | | Chapter 13. Microsoft's UltraCorps : Why This Turn -Based Game Failed |
| | | | Turned-Based Conquest Games Are Not Mass-Market |
| | | | Too Easy to Exploit the Game Design |
| | | | Constant Bugs and "Hacks" Destroyed the Game's Credibility |
| | | | Lack of Publicity and Marketing by Microsoft |
| | | | Failure to Refresh the Game Often Enough |
| | | | The Zone's Sysops Were AWOL |
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| | | | Chapter 14. Anarchy Online Post-Mortem |
| | | | The Foreplay |
| | | | The First TrimesterDevelopment of the Bone Structure (The Technology) |
| | | | The Second Trimester: The Heartbeat of the Auto Content Generator System |
| | | | The Last TrimesterGetting Ready to Be Born |
| | | | The Birth: The Launch |
| | | | Post-Launch: Infancy and Toddler Years |
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| | | | Chapter 15. Glory and Shame: Powerful Psychology in Multiplayer Online Games |
| | | | Buzzword Snow |
| | | | A Unique Audience |
| | | | A Unique Medium |
| | | | The Power of Shame |
| | | | The Problem with Glory |
| | | | Pure Meritocracy: The Ultimate Glory Game |
| | | | Cumulative Character Games: The Devoted All Go to Heaven |
| | | | Achievement Versus Development |
| | | | Summary: Development over Achievement |
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| | | | Chapter 16. Case Study: Online Game Lifecycles |
| | | | Achieving Mass Market Status |
| | | | The Current Top Four MMOGs Worldwide as of December 2002 |
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| | | | Chapter 17. Fighting Player Burnout in Massively Multiplayer Games |
| | | | The Exponential Curve of Death |
| | | | More Content? |
| | | | Play Less, Please |
| | | | Conclusion |
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| | | | Chapter 18. Post-Mortem: Mythic's Dark Age of Camelot |
| | | | The Community |
| | | | The Beta Starts |
| | | | Server Backend Configuration |
| | | | The Business Arrangement |
| | | | Lessons Learned |
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| | | | Chapter 19. Managing Deviant Behavior in Online Worlds |
| | | | What Are Some Kinds of Undesirable Behavior? |
| | | | Why Undesirable Behavior Is a Complex Problem |
| | | | Why Do People Engage in Abusive or Undesirable Behavior? |
| | | | Establishing a Code of Conduct |
| | | | Detection |
| | | | Verification |
| | | | Corrective Action and Remedies |
| | | | Encouraging Desirable Behavior |
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| | | | Chapter 20. The Lighter Side of Meridian 59's History |
| | | | Prologue |
| | | | The Timeline |
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| | | Part V. Appendices and Glossary |
| | | | Appendix A. Executive Considerations Checklist |
| | | | Appendix B. Bios of Interviewees |
| | | | Jeffrey Anderson |
| | | | Richard A. Garriott |
| | | | Gaute Godager |
| | | | Scott Hawkins |
| | | | Thomas Howalt |
| | | | Daniel "Savant" Manachi |
| | | | Kathy Schoback |
| | | | Damion Schubert |
| | | | Jack D. Smith |
| | | | Gordon Walton |
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| | | | Appendix C. The Bartle Quotient Survey Questions and Some Results |
| | | | The Bartle Test |
| | | | Bartle Survey Results for Five Leading Games |
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| | | | Appendix D. Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs |
| | | | 2002 Introduction to the Article by Dr. Bartle |
| | | | Abstract |
| | | | Preface |
| | | | A Simple Taxonomy |
| | | | Interest Graph |
| | | | Changing the Player Type Balance |
| | | | The Social Versus Game-Like Debate |
| | | | Player Interactions |
| | | | Dynamics |
| | | | Overbalancing a Mud |
| | | | Summary |
| | | | References |
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| | | | Appendix E. Online World Timeline |
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| | | | 2002 |
| | | | Sources |
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| | | | Appendix F. Glossary |
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| | | Index |
