Recently, the “bible of psychology” – the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – has been undergoing the process of revision, as is the requirement of any medical dictionary describing the illnesses that health care providers use to define a diagnosis.  This may seem like boring egghead stuff to many, but the DSMMD is what insurance companies use to define what they will and won’t cover and in many states, it’s the reference used to define laws about what is mandated to be covered by various benefits packages.  So if your doctor diagnoses you with something that’s not in that book, you probably won’t get insurance to pay for it nor will it be seen as a legitimate reason to miss work or apply for additional benefits from government, unions, or employers.

The current revision is not likely to include “gaming addiction” in it.  The current revisions include a new section, “behavioral disorders” under which only one thing appears: “gambling addiction.”  That one, as generally well-defined as it is, is a contentious entry, so less well-recognized possibilities like “gaming addiction” and such don’t have a chance.

Which for some of us will mean that our friends or family aren’t likely to suddenly stage an “intervention” and have us dragged off to some rubber room for treatment, since our addiction isn’t official.  This doesn’t mean we can heave sighs of relief and go back to our button pushing, though.

The “addiction” (officially called “Internet use gaming disorder”) will be listed in the appendix to the DSM, which is where concepts needing more study are listed.  This is usually a fast-track to consideration for inclusion the next time around.

So why the focus?

The occasional story about people with what are obviously serious problems – for which either games are blamed or are used as a focus – crops up in the media.  Parents in China letting their kids live in squalor and near death because they’re too busy playing games or some 400 pound mouth breather who has to be extracted from their home using heavy machinery because they’ve become almost literally glued to their chair playing some game.. these stories make headlines because they’re freak shows.  Nothing but pure blood and guts gets better headlines than a good, old fashioned freak show.  And even that is not immune from a game tie-in.

The thing is, it can be argued that the common definition of “gaming addiction” isn’t really defining a problem, just a symptom of other problems.  Most seriously problematic gamers are using games as an outlet or focus for other issues they have.  The drooling pedophile playing games to “pick up chicks” isn’t addicted to gaming, he’s addicted to a twisted sexual deviance.  The parents who ignore their children to play a game are seriously mentally ill and obviously unfit parents, but they are just as likely to manifest this with an addiction to watching TV or drinking as they are gaming.  The morbidly obese freak show that has to be extracted from his chair using the Jaws of Life isn’t addicted to gaming, he’s just as likely to be addicted to Jerry Springer or Twizzlers.

The argument for these types of behavioral addictions being legitimate is based on (limited) studies showing that those with proported psychological addictions can have the same neural activity changes that substance addiction (long held as legitimate in psychological circles) can have.  This means that the same neural activity associated with alcoholics or drug addicts can be found in serious game addicts.

In fact, some psychologists and treatment centers actually treat “gaming addiction” even though it’s not officially recognized as a problem.  The issue here, however, is whether or not this is really a problem.  Survey-based research suggests that it could be “one in 11 gamers”, which is a not insignificant number.  Still, it’s easy to blame gaming on underlying issues and the surveys often don’t include questions that might find another cause.

For example, asking school-age children if they have ever had their school work suffer because of gaming or their friendships suffer because they’d rather play games does nothing to find out if they used games as a distraction because something else (depression, anxiety, trauma..) might have been involved.

Considering the questions asked by one survey (listed here at Kotaku), I’d say every school-age gamer (and even some of us who are adults) could score “pathological.”

So not only does more study, but I’d say a lot more study needs to be done before we can clearly define what is gaming addiction.

So here’s a quick rundown list of what I consider the top 5 headed for debut in 2013.

#5 – MechWarrior Online

The MechWarrior franchise has been a favorite console game for many for years.  This is basically the online, multiplayer version of the latest rendition with a lot of tweaks to make it more massive multiplayer friendly.  It will be based on teams of 8 going head-to-head on large maps of various terrain types.  Sort of like a futuristic World of Tanks.

The game layout and play are similar to, but not the same as the console version.  Most of your play skill will be focused on controlling your Mech, which is controlled in two ways – legs (movement) and torso (view/firing).  Joining factions can yield perks and bonuses as well as specializations.

#4 – Dust 514

This is a first person shooter set as an MMO and with some RPG elements.   It’s basically an FPS for EVE Online and the storylines and such of EVE will affect Dust 514.  Think of this one as the PlayStation version of EVE, since it will be primarily focused on that platform.

The game is a great one, despite not truly being an MMORPG.  Players are basically infantry troops dispatched from space ships to battle on various planets in the EVE universe.  Most of the controls and play revolve around the usual humanoid (with “battlesuits” and upgrades) that appear in most FPS games.

#3 – Firefall

This is a third person shooter set up as an MMO and with a lot of RPG thanks to its strong emphasis on cooperative play.  The legal battles over who owns Firefall are over and the developers and producer are ready to go live.  Created by former Blizzard Entertainment designers, the game has clear World of Warcraft and Starcraft connotations in some of its graphical content.  But the game play is very different from WoW or SC.

The fight is to reclaim earth after alien aggressors have taken it over.  Battling these Chosen requires cooperation between the heroes (players) and takes place on an open world with storylines that work in a personalized way similar to Guild Wars 2.

#2 – Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

The FF franchise is a love it or hate it entity.  Some players can’t stand the games while others treat them with the awe usually reserved for religious figures.  Whatever your take, you have to admit that the soon-to-release Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is going to be awesome.  Basically, they’re dumping the former FFXIV and rebooting it as a new build and they’ve managed, so far as I’ve seen, to do so with excellence.

Despite not being a fan of FF, I have to give props here.  The graphics are some of the best you’ll ever see.. in any game.  The game play is highly story driven, something most MMO RPGs today can’t really claim, and the difficult learning curve of the former renditions game play has been replaced by a smarter control system.

#1 – The Elder Scrolls Online

It’s almost cliche to call this one the best release of 2013.  Nearly every list seems to have it there.  But do you know what?  That’s because it deserves it.  This game is set within the already-uber-popular Skyrim and Oblivion universe and is a prequel to the popular single player games that have dominated many a gamer’s obsessions.

Players choose one of three factions seeking dominance in Tamriel and play in a story that takes place during the time of legends a thousand years before the current RPG.  From graphics to game play to the excellent, story-driven MMORPG encapsulated in tis game, it’s definitely deserving of the top spot on this list.

So it came as little surprise that the president ordered the $3,000 suit and tie Vice President Joe Biden to “do something” about the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.

So what is the Veep going to do?  Why, hold a meeting with gun rights advocates, gun control advocates, and.. video game makers.  Because, as usual, video games are getting blamed for these shooting deaths.

Despite ample evidence and research showing that this isn’t true.  But hey, who cares what science says when politics are at stake?  

Lets look at the tenuous links between gun violence like the Sandy Hook and Aurora, Colorado (aka “Batman”) shootings and video games.  I say “tenuous” because, well, they’re coincidental at best and most of the arguments used to blame them are used to exonerate less politically expedient things like guns or bad laws.

The Games the Killers Played

Adam Lanza, the killer at Sandy Hook, was reported to have an “eerie lair of violent video games” according to the NY Post, a paper well known for its objective reporting (not).  According to some guy who claims to have “worked” at the house, Adam had posters of guns, military stuff, and played a lot of Call of Duty.

The guy then goes on some more about the posters and graphics on Lanza’s basement walls and then says a few words about how he “should have killed him then” and how the young man wouldn’t answer questions when people tried to talk to him.  Oh, and for the conspiracy seekers out there, the paper also says that the “assault rifle” Lanza used to kill  his mother was then left at home when he left for the school.

Of course, Lanza was said to be autistic, which would explain his unwillingness to talk to people.  Nothing concrete has been said about his mental issues, though autism and Asperger’s (a part of the autism spectrum) aren’t linked to violence either – in fact, quite the opposite.

So, we know that Adam Lanza played Call of Duty, but we also know that he was said to be obsessed with militaria.  That obsession is likely what lead him to enjoy CoD.  How many of you playing video games (any game) have posters or books about those games hanging around your game space?  Heck, one look at the walls in my office here and you might assume, by this game=violence logic, that I am a burgeoning motorcycle drag racing, tractor-loving, truck driving, sword and sorcery-obsessed, map freak.  Because my walls have posters and pictures with the KillaCycle, Super Trucks cards, U.S. and World maps, and swords and knives hanging from them.  Don’t leave out the lava lamp either.  Oh and a map of the Lord of the Rings Online regions, an obvious link to my violent tendencies, which only manifest when my 6’3 frame is stuffed into Hobbit garb.

Turning to the Batman Shooter in Colorado, we have even less to go with.  Most of the links between James Holmes and video games are from his more distant past with nothing current.  He “played cards, video games and watch[ed] movies..” according to the LA Times Blogs.  Worse?  He played his games on the Wii, probably the least offensive platform available, though Nintendo is the violent source behind our cover graphic.

That’s it.  The only link for Holmes.  Not even a game title, just the generic “played the Wii” and “cards.”

Games Not Causing Violence

It’s easy to blame movies and video games for violence.  They have it in them, so they must be “indoctrination” for it.  Everyone who goes nuts and bloodies up the place watches and plays them.  Right?  Obvious link!

Well, not so fast.  In a letter to V.P. Biden this week, The Entertainment Merchants Association asked him to look at the evidence and research that’s already been compiled on the subject – and there’s a lot of it.

“EMA was sad — but not surprised — to see some blame gun massacres like the Newtown shooting on video games, motion pictures, and other forms of entertainment that contain depictions of violence. Make no mistake: blaming movies and video games is an attempt to distract the attention of the public and the media from meaningful action that will keep our children safer.”

Even the U.S. Supreme Court agrees with that, having shot down California’s attempted video game censorship bill that focused heavily on violence.

Early studies focused on the issue usually found video games at least partially culpable, but a study in 2007 by Dr. Christopher J. Fergusson of Texas A&M found that many of those studies had publication bias and none showed a causal link between violence in-game and violence in real life.

In 2010, Fergusson returned and teamed up with Dr. Stephanie M. Rueda with a study sampling 103 young adults with a “frustration task.”  One group played no games, one played a non-violent video game, one played as the “good guys” in a violent game, and the last played as “bad guys” in a violent game.  Their results?  The games (all of them) had no discernible impact on aggressive behavior.  In fact, the group with no outlet (non-gamers) were more aggressive than the others.

Now, consider this: the game industry is growing fast, which means more gamers, but the violent crime rate is dropping..  Correlation?

U.S. Violent Crime Rate Dropping

If you’re going to use the “games are played by violent criminals, so they must be causing the violence” logic, then you have to apply that same logic to these facts: game sales in the U.S. are up and violent crime is dropping.  Therefore, more games equals less violence.  Tell that to the NRA!

In 2008, video game sales had reached a peak of 11.7 billion dollars in the U.S., up from $9.5B the year before and $7.4B the year before that.  In 2011, they were $17 billion and while no numbers are in yet, it’s likely that 2012 will see another bump, though not as dramatic.

Violent crime, meanwhile, peaked in the U.S. at 758.2 per 100,000 back in 1991 and has dropped by nearly half, down to 386.3 per 100,000 in 2011 by FBI crime statistics numbers.  Interestingly, the 1990s were when the video game industry moved rapidly from arcade to home units with consoles and PC games.  Coincidence?

The same correlation has been made between gun sales and violence, between concealed carry permit issuance and violence, etc.  Both of those have risen dramatically in the past two decades while the violence rate has dropped.  Correlation?  Only if it fits your agenda, apparently, because the same people who claim that correlation will dismiss one involving video games.

The Real Problem Is People

No, the reality is that video games, guns, movies, etc. cannot be blamed for the horrific things that some people do.  What can be blamed?  People.  Throughout all of human history, we’ve had those who are off kilter and who do atrocious things.  Sometimes, they do it under color of law (think Hitler), other times they do it on their own (Lanza).  But they’ll still do it.

The focus should be on mitigation, not prohibition.  If we keep the people who have questionable or violent tendencies from being able to inflict great harm – i.e. stop them when they try – we protect ourselves.  When we make ourselves easy targets by attempting to prohibit behavior that can’t possibly be realistically stopped, we end up with tragedies.  When alcohol was prohibited, we saw the rise of Al Capone and friends.  When drugs were prohibited, we saw the rise of the Cartels and street gangs.  It follows that the same will happen if we attempt to ban guns, video games, or anything else as well.

Face it.  Creating “gun free zones” and making every owner of violent video games a suspect doesn’t solve the problem.  It just makes us feel “safer” without actually creating any safety.  It’s akin to putting a sticker saying “this car meets the highest safety standards” on a Yugo.  Just because it says it’s safe doesn’t make it so.

Well, unlike the other chumps, I’m no politician.  You can take these predictions to the bank.*

So, without further ado, here are my destined to be correct predictions for 2013 gaming:

Mobile Will Keep Growing

This is a no-brainer.  This is the fastest-growing segment in the gaming industry right now and has been for all of 2012 and most of 2011.  It will continue to be so in 2013 as the rise of the smart phone continues.  Sadly, it will end badly within a few years as no one could have foreseen that Skynet of Terminator fame was actually a mobile network, not a supercomputer.  The good news is that the rise of the machines won’t happen in 2013.

Microsoft and Sony Will Release New Consoles and Like the Wii U, They Will Fail

Gaming consoles are on an average 7-year update cycle, which means that box you just got for Christmas will be oudated next year as both Microsoft and Sony release new versions of the Xbox and PS3 for 2013 – probably just in time for the holidays, of course.

Like the Wii U, though, these consoles will see lackluster sales figures.  Why?   Because console gaming as a whole is on the outs.  Sales are dropping and interest in waning thanks to the growth of other, more dynamic gaming segments.

Further, I think we’re going to see challenges to this field when Google and Apple (finally) release their smart televisions, which will be ripe for built-in console gaming via the Internet.  Just imagine how awesome Farmville 2 in 3D will be on your huge screen TV!

Smart TV Gaming Will Launch

It won’t be big in 2013, but it will start this year.  As I said, both Google and Apple are very likely to be releasing their smart TV systems this year.  Other ideas, like expansions of streaming boxes from Ouya and others will also be seen, making normal dumb TVs into Harvard graduates with just a few plug-ins and an Internet connection.

With these smart televisions will come games.  Lots of them.  In fact, every game currently being billed on Facebook and your Android phone will probably suddenly be available for your Google TV too.  When this happens and the segment begins to see interest, better games will follow.  Though maybe not next year, certainly before Skynet takes over and slaughters us all.

Gesture and Gyro Tech Will Be It

The latest thing?  The Kinect will become so last year as, thanks to intelligence software design, any camera will become capable of interpreting gestures for game play.  Add to this the huge number of tablets and large-screen smart phones on the market that already have gyroscopic sensors and you’ll see a new segment of gaming suddenly getting huge.

Going beyond the touch screen, gestures and gyros will make many kinds of games become totally immersive.  At least, up until that cop interprets your wild movements on the bus as trying to light the fuse on a bomb.  Good luck explaining yourself after you’ve been tased.

F2P Will Enter the Console

My most outlandish prediction is this: free-to-play is coming to a console near you.  Yep, caving into the power of the MMO, gaming networks like PSN will start offering F2P titles.  In fact, this is already happening.  Old game titles no one will pay actual money for anymore are already being offered for free through these networks.  This will extend, however, to one or two new releases this year.  Then, once that slippery slope is stepped upon, the slide will commence of its own accord.

Remember, folks, you read it here.  A La Peanut Butter Sammiches!  I’m out.

*This article contains forward-looking statements that are not intended to predict the actual future.  Any investments made based on these predictions are solely at the investor’s risk and neither Killer Guides nor Aaron Turpen are responsible for the outcomes.  These predictions are given with no guarantee or warranty and are purely for entertainment purposes only.  So don’t sue us.

Like a presentation by Al Gore, the completely fabricated view was then propagated by repeat-box outlets like TGDaily.com.

Here’s the real news: gaming is getting bigger and will most likely reach $82 billion in revenues by 2017 – about $20B more than it does right now.  For an industry that’s supposedly dying, that’s some pretty good growth.  That’s according to DFC Intelligence as reported in Forbes.

“But wait,” you say.  ”Aren’t you just swapping one lame release for another?”

Nope.  Unlike NPD’s data, the DFC report includes all of the gaming industry, not just consoles.  It includes “revenue from dedicated console hardware and software (both physical and online), dedicated portable hardware and software, PC games and games for mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets, music players and other devices that can play games as a secondary feature.”

Basically, if you take console-based sales alone, then yes, the gaming industry appears to be in a slow death spiral.  If, however, you look at the entire industry, you see overall growth despite the fall of consoles.

Here are the things driving game sales right now, globally:

• PC game sales, which are at about $20B for 2012 and will continue to grow.
• Mobile game sales, which are the fastest-growing segment of the industry globally.
• Online distribution and usage game models are gaining traction quickly. Even on consoles.
• The MMO and MMORPG segment, which is maturing and becoming huge business, will continue slow growth as it diversifies.
• Online gaming will continue to grow.  It was a big part of the market in 2011 at $19B and should top $22B in 2012.

Basically, the only game segment dying off besides arcades are console-driven games and the hardware that runs them.

The biggest problems consoles face is lack of relevance.  Their only redeeming factor is that they have the edge when it comes to game controls and the playability this gives real-time games like first person shooters and such.  That edge is withering fast, though, as low-cost controllers for PCs and even mobile devices saturate the market and new control types like kinetic and optic controls (think Wii and Kinect for non-consoles) begin to proliferate.

In fact, the growth of the tablet sector in hardware is directly fueling certain mobile game sales and these devices (like the phones they’re often akin to) have built-in gyroscopic sensors and thus can be controlled with intuitive mixtures of tablet movement and touch-screen.

So, sorry, Angela, even though your PCMag article managed to get keywords like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Halo 4 stuffed into it liberally, the overall premise of your message is wrong.  The gaming industry is not dying.  In fact, it’s one of the few global industries that’s thriving.

So is this all just whiny cow puckey from a bunch of female developers with an entitlement or glass ceiling complex?

Frankly, a lot of what I’m seeing in this hashtag is just a lot of whining and moaning from people who need a reason to complain about their lack of (or perceived lack of) respect and/or advancement in the gaming industry.  Do a little research (just click on their names and find out what websites they link to, usually their own) and you can see that they aren’t advancing, well, because they’re just plain lame.  Sorry, but if you’re a “gaming journalist” and your personal blog is full of typos and misspellings… you suck.

Does that mean women in the industry don’t have a legitimate gripe?  Of course not.  It just means that you have to wade through the chaff and manure to get to the kernels of truth.  As per usual.

Here’s someone with a legitimate gripe: British student journalist Katie Williams.  I have two reasons for saying this is legitimate.  First, she spells it out honestly and with honesty comes a ring of truth.  Second, I’ve actually seen some of this in action first-hand (not with her, but with others like her).   Especially the “stand up for yourself” and get shot down anyway thing.

Or this comment from Marina Rossi: “Because once I’ve been told ‘we don’t need women in order to know what female players want from this industry’”  Holy cow that’s brutal.. and true.

The problem, as I see it, is that women seem to expect that they’ll be treated “just like everyone else” even though they’re in a room full of men and, well, acting like women.  Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.  Men are testes-driven creatures.  I should know, I’ve lived with myself for a really long time and my thoughts track to “boobies” as often as a Labrador thinks about squirrels.

I can’t say “just deal with it,” though, since it is a problem.  But it’s a problem that this Twitter hashtag meme is highlighting, but not fixing.  It’s a negative response to a negative issue.  So, I say, forget the #1reasonwhy crap and instead, focus on why it is that women should be treated more equitably in the gaming industry.

Lucky for me, I didn’t have to risk being called a sexist pig (which I will freely admit to being) and try to start my own counter hashtag for this idea.  Some chick beat me to it.

The counter-tag, #1reasontobe is where women in gaming are listing their reasons for being in the business to start with.  Frankly, a lot of them have really thought this out – or at least, though it out enough to come up with some blockbuster 140-or-less comments about their reasons.  This is a much better way to combat the negative sexism that fills more than just the chainmail bikini artwork and risque Easter eggs.

I mean, read some of these:

“Because writers from other mediums treat me like I’ve come from Narnia – full of wisdom and insight about a strange new land,” says Rhianna Pratchett (who started the counter-tag).

“Because using tech to achieve something visual/interactive/tangible that people connect with is brilliant fun,” says Carina Mclane.

“The #1reasontobe where I am now is because my mother made sure I played computer games with my brother ‘It would be important one day’,” says Nia Wearn.  Actually, I’m gonna cry foul on this one.  No mom ever encourages video game play.  It’s against nature.

“..because some of us (myself included) have never encountered these scenarios. Which hopefully means attitudes are changing,” posits Nicole Zeckner.

And what women-centered meme wouldn’t be complete without the ultra-girlie remark?  ”#1reasontobe in games: because my 15 year old niece plays games, and she’s an inspiration,” gushes Caryn Vainio.   Whose nickname is “Hellchick”…  Wow..  This women is a tempest of contradictions.

Anyway, I realize that some of what I’ve said might be construed as sexist or counter-productive to some bra-burning cause or whatever, but do I have to point out the obvious – AGAIN?  Women are different from men; and men, being astute observers who (as I’ve already mentioned) run much of their perceptions on the product of their testicles, notice this.  Even (gasp) at work.

So the fact that you think pink is cool, have a grasp of what your “15 year old niece” is doing, and fondly remember stuff your mom did for you (that didn’t involve food, candy, or bypassing your tyrannical father) marks your as female.

Sound sexist?  Well, guess what.  Men don’t think pink is cool, have no clue what any relation of theirs is doing (or of birth dates) and remember their mom in vague June Cleaver ways that always involve satisfying a basic food group (which for men includes candy).

Welcome to life, where men and women are different, yet have interlocking parts.

Does the gaming industry have a sexism issue?  Sure.  Will complaining about it solve anything?  I highly doubt it.

Here’s my advice: focus on the positive and make sure that those around you know that you’re in this industry because you love it.  Act like you should be there and show them that you ought to be.  That’s it.  In an office with 10 men and one woman, you can’t expect the conversations and commentary to be 100% non-sexual.  Or even 50% non-sexual.  This is how men are.

Sorry, but you’re not going to change that.  What you can change is how men perceive you (and by proxy, other women) whom they’re working with professionally.  Show them that you’re just as good, just as committed, just as professional as any of them can be.  Respect follows.

Facebook and similar casual gaming portals, currently dominated by game developer Zynga – who faces competition from some fast-emerging powerhouses – are the most popular way people play games now.  Just five years ago it was a small, niche market where only a few million people played annually.  Now?  For every gamer who plays an MMO, RPG, and console game, there are more than three casual gamers playing on smart phones, tablets, laptops and PCs through social networks like Facebook, Google, and more.

Here’s a sampling of how big this is, in terms of sheer player numbers.  Since 2011 when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 released, that top-selling title has sold more than 29 million copies.  That’s a lot of gamers buying a box game for anywhere from $15 to $40 a pop.  Now compare it to this: Zynga in only one day on Facebook tracks more than 300 million game players for its small arsenal of popular casual games.

For this reason, many platform-only development houses are turning to other ideas to keep up with the times.  Electronic Arts, for example, has put their popular semi-social game The Sims on Facebook.  Not once, but twice.   Although the attempted The Sims Online a few years ago (ya, I admit, I played it) was a decided flop, social networking has matured to the point where The Sims is one of the more popular titles on Facebook today (no, I don’t play that).

The three major console makers (Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony) enjoy a market dominance that is, frankly, detrimental to its own health.  That is showing as the industry shows year-on-year losses in console games in a continual down trend as flagging innovation, dipping sales, and less and less interest from the gaming world combine to whittle away at the traditional foundations of the gaming industry.  Newcomers like Zynga and new types of gaming, like social and the fast-changing MMO segment, are taking over.

Console games probably won’t die – at least, the solo game style won’t.  But what was once the titan of the industry is going to become the dwarfed cousin of the gaming world as multiplayers and social gaming take over.

Is this a good thing?  Depends, I guess.  I personally am playing several Zynga games right now and will be talking about them in the near future here on The Killer Guides Blog.   Do I enjoy them more than my MMOs and RPGs?  No, but not any less either.  They’re a different animal and bring a much more convenient, fast-escape type of play that you can’t get with a console.  I can load up FarmVille2 in between writing projects to clear my head or I can quickly spend ten minutes in CastleVille completing little quests as I wait for a phone call.  The beauty of casual games is that you can shut them off literally at any point and not lose a thing.  Ten minutes or three hours of play makes no difference.

As it is, casual gaming is obviously the “next big thing that’s already here.”  Your love of CoD or WoW won’t change that.

An Overview of SWTOR F2P

Before we talk about the free play affects, we should first look at how BioWare plans to implement F2P in the game.  It begins with the introduction of a new currency, called Cartel Coins, which can be gained in various ways – all of which involve the player spending real world money on the game.

Game subscribers will get a monthly stipend of CCs commensurate with their subscription level plus a bonus for being subscribers up to the F2P point.  The longer you’ve been a subscriber, the bigger your bonus (based on months paid and played sequentially).  The stipend starts at 500CC per month (for monthly subscribers) and grows with the bonuses.

Coins can also be purchased just like game cards (and will replace game cards, actually) in increments starting at $4.99 for 450CC on up to 5,500CC for $39.99.

Most of the in-game changes revolve around this new currency.  The new Cartel Market will be where the CCs are exchanged for in-game stuff.  Once you buy CCs, you become a Preferred Player, which gives you easy access to things like your Cargo Bay and many convenience features plus Global Chat.   You’ll find a full list of those bonuses on the SWTOR announcement for F2P.   If you’re a current subscriber, you will find that outside of the new Marketplace and your new CCs, not much changes for you.

Players who choose to just go free will find that they have limited access to what regular players of the game take for granted.  They will not have access to Artifact items (unless acquired before the F2P takes effect) and cargo/inventory will be limited unless unlocked (purchased) as will legacy species and perks.  Some player creation options are also locked out for F2P-only gamers.

In a nutshell, this is how the F2P system will work in SWTOR.

How This Affects SWTOR

Some of the strings attached to the “domino-like deterministic path cruel fate has set all of us on,” as Nathan Grayson at Rock Paper Shotgun puts it, will mean that the “last great white hope for subs in a post-WoW world” has caveats.  Namely, free player restrictions.

These restrictions are designed, says ControlBlue at DarthHater, “..to convert demo players into subs through frustration.”

Less chat access, limited instance runs, fewer space battles, and almost no player vs player (PvP) skirmishes will greatly limit the game for F2P players.  Add to that the slower experience gain and you have a game that for many players considering spending money on an MMO may be too boring and slow for them to open their wallets.

This leaves only story content, which in my opinion is rather limited in SWTOR, and relatively generic MMO game play, only made interesting because it’s in the Star Wars universe, to keep new players interested in the game.

I predict that while it will mean a fast influx of new players at the outset and probably some paying customers for the short-term, after the holidays, we’re going to see player numbers at SWTOR haven’t gained much and what they have gained will be offset by even fewer subscribers.

The Old Republic was a great idea and a good start for an MMO, but in a market saturated with good ideas and smart games, it’s just another MMO.

The issues that matter to gamers?  The economy, civil liberties, and marijuana policy.  We’ll get into these issues and discuss how each of the candidates feels about them.  After all, if you’re going to make an informed choice as part of the gamer community, you’ll need to know where each candidate stands on these key issues as well as how they view gamers in general.

We’re a mighty voting block, folks.  Let’s make it count!

The Economy

The economy is extremely important to gamers since, when it sucks, we don’t have as much to spend on our game subscriptions and extras.  That affects not only our ability to play, but also the industry itself as it fights for our more and more limited dollars.  So how does the economic policy of each candidate pan out in terms of gaming?

Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode has a solid pro-business, anti-tax policy that could help promote a better gaming atmosphere.  Gamers who are dependent on public money, such as those on welfare or Social Security, however, may cast a leery eye on the ultra-conservative Goode’s plans.

Our current President, Democrat Barack Obama, seems to be promoting a policy of “keep doing what we’ve been doing.”  While a few may believe that this will eventually pay off, most of us are probably aware that this seems unlikely.  If you’re on public assistance, however, Obama is one of the better choices to keep your benefit payouts well-heeled.

Similar to Obama, Green Party candidate Jill Stein seems content to keep the status quo in economics with one exception: she wants to put even more public money into environmental projects.  A good idea for gamers?  Honestly, outside of the higher taxes it would obviously cost, this would have little impact on most of us.

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, running with the newly-formed Justice Party, has a more moderate approach to the economy.  His plan is to raise taxes for the wealthy while cutting or eliminating them for others while at the same time increasing environmental spending.  In short, his policy is basically the same as Stein’s.

The Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico, has a policy very much like Goode’s.  The main difference is in foreign and military spending, which may create some plot line loss for firs person shooter (FPS) gamers as the sudden lack of bad guys in turbans might mean a new meme will need to be found.  Welfare recipients should also beware of Johnson.

Republican Mitt Romney, father of the mis-named Obamacare healthcare law, is the opposite of Johnson on most things fiscal.  If you enjoy your vaguely Arabic bad guys in your FPS, then Romney’s plans to expand the military further and blindly support Israel will be to your liking.  Welfare recipients and others will like him too, unless you’re a fan of Big Bird.

Civil Liberties

For gamers, few things are as important as our freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, and right to privacy.  After all, how are we supposed to dress up for cosplay, hang out in weird outfits while madly waving lore paraphernalia at conventions and carnivals, and convince the TSA that the light saber in our baggage is only a lethal weapon when wielded by forces of good?

Ya, civil liberties are extremely important for gamers.  So before you blow off a candidate’s record (or lack thereof) on letting you be free to do your thang, best know how their taking office could affect your gaming lifestyle.

Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode is very pro-freedom.  But if your plans on exercising that freedom infringe on his Christian values, you might find yourself in trouble.  The CP platform says that we’re free so long as God says we are.  It should be apparent that this means members of the Horde and those from the Dark Side will be subject to detainment. Any “alternative lifestyle” is frowned upon by Goode, in fact.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama is in the party traditionally believed to be very pro-freedom, but that in reality seems to be not so much so.  Since taking office, Obama has proven himself to be about as GW Bush as you can get when it comes to destruction of civil liberties.  On the up side, he is rumored to play Farmville.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein loves freedom in that weird Hollywood way.  That is, she loves it so long as it doesn’t interfere with tax collection and doesn’t appear to have any “right wing” connotations to it.  If you like practicing for Call of Duty using real guns.. well, she doesn’t think you should be able to do that.

Justice League Party candidate Rocky Anderson is sort of halfway between Stein and Obama on this one.  He’s not as hardcore about gun control, but he retains a lot of that Hollywood ideal to his view of what civil liberties are all about.  As a former lawyer for the ACLU, his views are not exactly balanced.

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has the advantage in this arena.   For libertarians, civil liberties are where it’s at.  They have one simple view of how freedom works: everyone can do whatever the hell they want.  Just don’t try to tax anything while you’re at it.  Think how much cooler World of Tanks would be if you could practice using an actual tank?!

Republican candidate Mitt Romney is like most of today’s GOP.  He wants to continue the policies of freedom (to be imprisoned) GW Bush while putting even more effort into blowing up foreigners.  Like Obama, he thinks that civil liberties are what he says they are.

Marijuana Policy

Not to stereotype or anything, but frankly, most gamers I know are either occasional pot smokers or they wish they could be, if the law allowed.  So this issue, which is taking center stage this election season thanks to places like Colorado voting to fully legalize the stuff, is right up there in importance.

Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode is decidedly anti-drug.  While he admits that the War on Drugs has badly eroded civil liberties, he thinks they need to be banned anyway.  Just because God made the plant doesn’t mean we should be allowed to smoke it.

Democratic Party incumbent Barack Obama favors continuation of the drug war.  Although he has talked about marijuana legalization in the past, his administration has continued the fight against drugs and has expanded its reach into states which have legalized marijuana in some form (usually for medical use).

Green Party candidate Jill Stein thinks that pot should be legal across the board and that we should all be growing hemp in our back yards in order to save the planet.  That, in a nutshell, sums up her view on marijuana.

Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson agrees with Jill, except for the growing hemp in your backyard thing.  That should be done on farms.

Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson again has the advantage here.  One of the LP’s most consistent sticking points has been that all drugs should just be legalized.  It would save a lot of trouble, the theory goes.  So if you’re idea of a good time is to fill your lungs from a scale model of an Aion ship.. have at it, he says.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney is a Mormon, so he doesn’t think any drug, including alcohol and caffeine, is a good idea.  Of course, since the Utah vote won’t carry him, he doesn’t publicly go that far and has only said he hates pot and other kinds of dope.

Conclusion

So there you go.  Which candidate best fits the gamer in this election?  That depends a lot on the gamer.  Those who want to continue to live on welfare will like Obama and Stein while those who prefer to just be left alone will really like Johnson.   FPS players who want to keep their bad guys obvious will want to go with Romney or Obama while those who just hate Mexicans and other illegal immigrants can stick with Goode.  Of course, if you’re a big fan of DC Comics, then the Justice League choice is obvious.

And if you live in Maine.. well, a Senate candidate there is a big time WoW player.

Before you send me hate mail, please look up the definition of “tongue in cheek.”  Thanks.

Celebrities large and small play WoW, some for real and some just for TV commercials.  Here’s a list of some of the celebs you might have dungeon crawled with and didn’t even know it.

Aubrey Plaza - better known as April Ludgate, one of the stars of NBC’s Parks and Recreation, this actress is not just an underachiever on TV, she’s also a member of the Horde.  Wait.. that didn’t come out right.

Chuck Norris - famous for being Chuck Norris, this megastar became more popular once he stopped making crap movies and started becoming the Republican Party’s unofficial celebrity endorsement machine.  Still, his infamous WoW commercials were, we hear, what he considers the height of his career’s achievements.  Of course, Norris is way too busy going on talk shows to spew politics to actually play WoW in real life.  Which, of course, means the game is still playable for the rest of us, since we all know he’d just kick everyone’s ass anyway.

Jean Claude Van Damme - the short-lived 90s action star made a TV commercial in French for WoW.  It aired in France and Belgium, but not in the U.S.  It’s doubtful that he actually plays the game, but at least he was cool enough to be represented by one of the jive talking members of the Horde.

Mila Kunis - famous for her role in That 70s Show, she is now the real-life main squeeze of Ashton Kutcher.  She dropped a bomb on Jimmy Kimmel Live and then she aced a WoW quiz from Comple Magazine, proving that she actually plays the game and isn’t just making some kind of weird paid endorsement or publicity stunt.  If you didn’t think she was hot before, maybe the fact that she plays WoW and is a huge Trekkie will seal the deal.

Mr. T - had the first of the way cool WoW commercials, featuring his awesome Night Elf Mohawk – made specially for him.  That commercial introduced the Mohawk Grenade to the game, which makes a character temporarily look like a Mr. T. Night Elf.  Sadly, he doesn’t actually play in real life.  He’s too busy helping the childrens, so we cut him some slack.

Ozzy Osbourne - as if you didn’t need another reason for your parents to forbid you from playing WoW, someone decided to make commercials featuring Ozzy as an undead Warlock.  But hey, Wrath of the Litch King was like two expansions ago, so you’re probably good now.  Ozzy doesn’t actually play WoW, of course.  It would interfere with his meds.

Verne Troyer - the hilarious actor  famous for his role as Mini Me in the Austin Powers series, plays.. you guessed it, a gnome mage.  He’s rumored to be a lot of laughs during game play.

William Shatner - in between his Priceline commercials and various Trek appearances, the Shatner plays a Tauren Shaman.  He has publicly endorsed WoW for years and the toon shown in his TV commercials for the game is based on his actual in-game character.  Rumor has it that his mount is named Enterprise.

Well, there you go.  Those are the celebs publicly outed as being a part of World of Warcraft.