It's a short one!

I have been in Los Angeles all week on vacation visiting Tabris and Crash and the rest of my fam. It was glorious, but does not make for glorious updates, but I will try to make due.

Most of Phank is playing either Final Fantasy or EVE. Syke caught his son having an interesting conversation though, and sent this screen shot in:
A few Phankers are not playing any MMOG's but instead playing platformers or old school games until another game comes out that we can all play together. Tabris is playing all kinds of retro games like Earthbound. Tylia is playing EQ a bit still (I think) and I have no idea what people like Zagtor is playing, but I think it's called "school."

Cindal on the other hand is playing something else. I have hesitated mentioning it because Phank are like nomads, changing games every three months since EQ. So everyone freaks out when I put a new game on the updates, and grab thier wallets with a sigh.

So start sighing!
That's right, Cindal is in the Alpha and Beta of WoW. I am not saying if I am in Alpha/Beta, but suppose I am, I certainly havn't been able to play since 1) I have no time and 2) I can't get ahead of other Phankers on the burnout curve. What is a burnout curve? Let's have a look.
In the above amazingly scientific and researched graph, you can see the 3 month cycle most Phankers go through on games. If there is only one good game to choose from, we will keep returning to it, example Everquest. But if there are two games, the cycles may take turns. Some people just stop playing any games for a while. So if Gracor starts playing on month one, and Jumpp starts playing on month 3 then their burnout cycles will not line up. Some Phankers have 4 month cycles or 2 etc. EVE has a short burnout, but you keep coming back in the lows of other games.

On another note, Final Fantasy is in no way slowing down for us. In fact, Final Fantasy is about to change the entire MMOG world as the first MMOG to actually have major money advertising. Most of us have seen the commercials. Consoles always get more advertising than computer games. So now that they have PS2 FFXI, we will see all kinds of new players coming into our genre. Should be interesting. Not only that, but many Phankers, including the ones playing EVE a bunch right now say they will stick with Final Fantasy for months (some say years) to come. Jumpp is even quoted as saying he will not even try WoW.

Here is Cindal and her demon.
I don't see WoW being out any time soon. I imagine it will come out mid summer or for Christmas. Most likely for Christmas.

To be truthful, I am of the camp that likes bright colors and cartoony style more than reality, so I really hope WoW does well to encourage others to make stylistic games instead of reality.

On another note, I will not be posting any pictures or any reviews that will spoil the experience for each of us, and I suggest not reading any web sites or spoiler sites. Oh god, here I go again... a rant. Don't worry, I will keep it short!

Another problem with people starting a game at different times is the temptation to show off knowledge, help too much, whine for help too much, feel slow/stupid, race to first, feel left out, blablabla. We talk about this stuff a lot in Phank, because we try to remind each other not to do this crap. So I am gonna suggest going without guild chat for your first 5 levels at least, to not read ANY web sites with tips/hints until you level at least that much, and once you are past 5 levels to still encourage a better guild chat. I would even go so far as to not tell anyone you are online for the first 5 levels.

People wonder why they can't recapture the sense of wonder EQ had. This may be why.

Anyways, I am glad to be back, and can't wait to get some proper screenshots for next weeks update :)

This just in... Olriech and Naydien sent in some more screenshots to make this update truly confusing to us all. OMG Grab Yer Wallets!
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