You have to stop fishing in my pond

You have to stop fishing in my pond

So think of a fishermen who's come to a pond to catch fish. . . 

He's doing okay, and has caught some of the fish out of the small pond then released them only to catch them yet again and enjoy his time. He doesn't have a huge catch but the ones he has are good.  

Then a second fishermen shows up and begins to catch the same fish in the small pond and releases them to be caught again by the first fisherman. 

Now both fishermen are catching the same fish, no new ones and each has less than if there were one fisherman as both are sharing the small amount of fish in the pond.

 

The first fisherman has an idea, he tries something new and catches some fish who never came up from the bottom of the pond before as well as the same old fish as well. Now he was more and his creativity has put him ahead.

The second fisherman see's this and copies or emulates the first fisherman and manages to catch the same fish that came up from the bottom of the pond as the first fisherman did because he copied the method used.

Now again both fishermen are catching only half of the fish again. 

The first fisherman then moves to a new pond and tries something completely different and creative, but the second fisherman see's it and copies or emulates it again saying he saw it on another fishing show the idea can't possibly be the first fisherman's and he's free to use it to with a small variation.

Now again all the new fish that the first fishermen caught are being caught by the second fisherman using the tricks and creativity of the first. As well again their numbers are even. 

The problem is, if the first fisherman gives up and leaves the pond the second fisherman will just keep catching the same fish and never get more and have no ideas on how to get more fish, but the first fisherman having given up will have nothing. However if the first fisherman tries to move to a new pond and try new creative things to get new fish, the second fisherman will just watch him, copy him and end up taking all his ideas and half of his catch again. 

How do we stop this? How do you get the second fisherman to stop copying, stop emulation your ideas and creativity that you want to use to expand, that keeps shutting you down?

Seems like a true paradox . . . 

It's a terrible thing to have so many creative ideas ready to go to get more fish and increase the catch, but you can't use them for fear of being copied / emulated and all your hard work stolen by the other fisherman. 

Struggle all you will, there is no way out of the net.

 

What you are doing is ruining your own brand

What you are doing is ruining your own brand

Stop! 

Please stop doing dumb shit. 

Man I can't say this enough. If a gigantic company is telling you to run ad's to make money on a site that we don't want to end up like YouTube, then man, give your head a shake. 

Is it worth the fucking 0.05 cent's to piss off your entire fan base, scare off any and all new comers to your content as they are met with 20+ second ads cause you have to have that fucking nickel.  

 

They are telling you straight up, don't fucking run ads! Stop! Stop running fucking ads!

Man, some people just can't get it, they will never get it. Not till one day they log in and realize how bad things are. How the audience has moved on and YOU were the contributor to it. You could have taken a stand, you could have left the system at the default, but man you wanted that 0.05 cents right. Now your brand and content is dog shit no one will watch because they can't stand sitting though your crap.

This sucks, because I like group games, but man I can't. I can't sit there letting someone benefit off my content on their channel and run ads. The ads have to stop.

Its literally no different that a guy faking his numbers on his channel by buying bots. The person running ads during their stream is just as guilty at fucking over the community. They both are doing terrible things to the potential audience who just wants to connect with them. 

They are not your wallet man, they are there to be entertained not made to watch ads, not made to support you unwillingly, not lied to about your viewership. Stop faking viewer ship, stop buying bots, stop using devices to inflate ANY numbers, and stop running ads. 

Anyways, you can't control others the only thing you can do is limit your involvement and content with them. I think I am going to step back and run solo content for a while, see if I can't get people to stop by and actually talk instead of making them wait to watch ads before they even see what I am playing.

Branding, the failure of the many

MMO SLAYERS / UPM GAMING / PIXEL SLAYERS

Branding and building a following online. The idea is to get the most viewers across all social media (especially where money is involved) and get participation. For Mmo Slayers it's about getting people interested in games to play together, for UPM Gaming its about d&d and for Pixel Slayers its about Minecraft.


Its great to see people create and creation is fun! It can be profitable and it can be a way of life for some. For me, I have always been trying to build a business, ever since high school I wanted to run something, but was too late to the online party. I have tried real business, thought of stores, built websites and all of it never panned out.

Then I watched Game Grumps . . .

Its not about what they do (play games), but about the small secrets they let slip here and there. I have recreated some of what they do on YouTube and found some money in it yes, but the main draw is to get EVERYONE to work together.

That is one hard f**king statement. I have pushed friends from school, work, gaming friends, and so on. Man, no one wants to work together, they just don't. If there is no upfront payoff, if it's not easy, if it's not their idea, they want no part of it. However look at the idea behind Game Grumps, he got a band to work with him, he got comedians to work with him, he got people who did their own thing to work with him, how the hell do I get everyone to work with me?

My thought, based off what I've learned is to have a mass YouTube channel (JUST ONE) where everyone works together. I put up D&D, a friend steams dark souls, another guy streams our Minecraft servers and does interviews, another reviews mmo's. WE WORK TOGETHER!

Why? Because, it's work, its so much work to do it alone. Think of it this way, if you did your small show two days a week (or released videos), and another did their one video another day and another did his/her stuff a different day. Now your channel has stuff coming out almost every day, every week.

THE KEY IS CONSISTANT CONTENT

But no one wants to do this. They want their own channels, their own group names, their own brand. So each in turn fails or puts out little to no money or fame. There is no way to force anyone to work together I have tried and I have tried. The key is to find someone who wants to join you, but that is also like finding gold in Odin's beard.

I was sparked by Andrews idea of a podcast since I listen to postcasts and was thinking of a podcast for me and Jeff to do after D&D. Jeff is just not a creative type and would try his best, but his heart would not be in it. However Andrews idea sparked this, because he is trying, always trying to get something, anything moving and so am I. I want to do this podcast because I think it can gather a following, but again who's brand are we using?

In my mind I have the perfect layout for the podcast and how to deliver it and where we should host it and how we can tie it to YouTube etc. In his mind he has a way he wants it done and how he will present it and we both will never agree past a point, because he wants to build one brand and me another. There is no boss cause there is no money, so no one person can go ahead and take over or have everyone follow their lead. This is the hard part of down fall of the idea in the end. While I want to participate and make it rock, I think "Man this would be much better one UPM Gaming's YouTube channel and blogs to build the brand!"

Now that is my thinking ahead, nothing has been done yet. It was just reading Andrew's blog (which is always good and never abandoned) that got me thinking about all this besides after each Sunday night D&D game. Hmm is there potential here to take his passion for Minecraft servers and match it with my streams of his servers in videos on YouTube or will we just end up at a creative roadblock again?

Just quick thoughts off my head which I felt I needed to put into a blog post both on Slayers Inquest and on UPM Gaming's blog.

More on branding and creative co-operation to come I am sure!

End of Summer Edition 2015

Another summer in MMO Slayers and not so great for the old MMO in general. Echo of Soul was another let down as you only had access to one class with a pre-set toon and it was created by a company making Facebook games.

Wildstar goes F2P in the fall and with that comes the ever bailing list of dev’s who helped build the game. The latest is one jumping to Blizzard Entertainment for a safer and more secure future with a big name company. Remember they have Overwatch coming out soon, and a host of successful games and content.

I am staying subbed to Wildstar until F2P I hopes of cashing in on special incentives, however this is not a big deal as I did the same with ESO to not play one day after it went F2P. I just have no interest in the F2P world all together. I expect to pay for quality and feel safe behind a paid game. To date the main paid games are World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy Online, both not expected to ever go F2P.

Speaking of Final Fantasy I have as well re-subbed after the expansion to see what is new. The overall is that nothing is new unless you have BOTH reached level 50 and completed the LONG story line. The story line is a go here, go there, hand in quest that never ends until late into 50^th level. The quest also has you all over the map from country to country, which features non-discovered locations behind high level zones you have to navigate through and expensive gold cost warp points.

I am currently level 42/50 and going for the 50^th just to say I got there. Oh and if you wanted to try the new dragon class, you start at level one. Not to say this game isn’t the best looking MMO on the market, because it is, however like Wildstar, you get sold on the screen shots, log in and then remember why you didn’t have FUN playing the game. 

GW2 has reached a new high of greatness. Not only has this game stood the test of MMO time with hundreds of players ALWAYS in game, but its constant new content after new content over the two years it’s been out has it as a favourite. Now the expansion pulls us further in with new classes, zones, things to do and endless outfits, colors, weapon skins and more. An MMO labeled as pure FUN, it never gets old. I myself have two level 80’s and am working on my third who is currently level 43/80. 

TERA as featured above has a new class of over the top insanity called the Gunner. This class uses an oversized gun the size of a bathtub to lug about and shoot down enemies with, expelling shells the size of small dogs on the ground. TERA also had a cataclysm of their own, eliminating old zones and making new zones, now with a game we have little info on, wants us to learn how the new zone navigate together.

World of Warcraft itself sent out a message that they will NOT be allowing flying in their new expansion as the game was designed for exploring on foot and all the puzzles expect this type of game play. However after another in a long line of recent community backlashes the games creators caved in and allowed flying to be present in the game after a simple quest. The game like previous has outdone it’s earlier works and have gear drops equivalent of end game available now to anyone who runs a simple dungeon. Expecting to continue for the year Warlords of Draenor is doing great. 

Our minecraft world was on the brink of vanishing and never coming back, but now with renewed vigor the world is returning to its old map with some of our recent creations added to it. A video series has launched showing off events of the final days of this 3-4 year running server. Many of us eagerly await the new world, moving in and recreating famous structures from the past.

Shroud of the Avatar was available for 50% off which circumvents the pledge of 45$ needed for early access and access to some special in game features which are only available to pledgers. Lots of criticism has plagued this game through its alpha development which with either end up surprisingly amazing like Starbound did or completely flop and rush to retail status with nothing done, but player towns and crafting of homes worked on. This game is in a weird limbo between amazing and flawed beyond fixing. While I have the overwhelming desire to play and play, there is only one character to have, which gets wiped every patch. I do get the opportunity to start over with 5000 gold and just go explore, fight and play, which is pretty neat on its own. The big downside for me is the big upside for the others, every town in this game isn’t a town, but a player housing zone. While you may think that these zones are neat, they only have housing features that are usable by the players who own them. There is nothing here but a collection of homes which you need never visit unless you owned one in there, BUT if you do, you have 7 days to log in or your house is GONE. Yes like before the downside of old UO, only seven days before you house is wiped from the game, with all your possessions. This to me is an ancient way to do things and mighty bad in my opinion as housing is the foundation of this game, it’s your base of operations for playing.

For us, Kaldain is finally back on the MC servers, and doing an excellent job running the page, myself I try to keep up with news, screenshots, and the like, and we have Ryan back and actively posting again which is great. We have lost a member but also balanced the group drama as he can post on his blog in happiness and we don’t have rants in the group anymore. All seems to be going well here, we even have people finding us now on google and asking to join as outsiders who are looking for a nice gaming group to join, sadly they haven’t posted besides the admissions form, but maybe soon they will see what we play and will join up with us. 

As the last year has shown there is nothing new on the horizon like there used to be in the glory years and we are making our way into the world of single play which has stepped up its game lately.  However the better these single play are the more we are separated from online MMO group gaming. I still am calling the death of the MMO and it being a thing of the past. The next big thing is ready to come through and it will finally not be a WOW clone.

The Slayers Inquest - ERA 2 Begins

As both MMO's released last year failed to attract sufficient players, neither was named game of the year and all MMO's F2P, B2P or holding on to a sub for a dwindling community, the golden age of the MMO ends.

As with our original site, a site founded by three people to now which one has left to pursue new options. The remaining two need not wallow in the left overs of failed MMO's, but rather celebrate the rise of top quality Single Player, Multi-Player games. Example's would be Dragon Age Inquisition, The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Elder Scrolls 6 and so forth into the future.

Myself I do not see leaving, for I find this a selfish and needless act. Ah our good friend Gary Gygax who gamed until he died around the age of 77 years old. He had times of fame and times where he left his company and didn't do much with but put off some not so great competing games, the good times came back later in life as new breath was given to an old product.

I see it quite the same, no need to dwell on Minecraft worlds, to not post on a forum, to live in isolation because MMO's are dead. Let's enjoy new great games and celebrate them and what we can do in them. There is still Dolby to enjoy them together, there are many still multi-play games with seasons like Diablo III.  I for one think things have changed but are not gone in this group, if anything we've grown in posts, news and information.

As for the remainder of this inquest I shall turn to a video. I am making a video version of this which I will upload, along with video, photos and more.

Now that chapter 2 of this site has come, let's continue the information and the gaming.

The Slayers Inquest "I R Bored to Teirs" Edition

.....ZZZ   .....ZZZ

The MMO is dead. Were a MMO slaying site and I think we slew them all. The golden days of the MMO are gone, we don't group in one, we barely play one alone and if so totally alone (no other in game players). Communities are starved as too many are spread to far across too many games.

The last few months have been single player games for the most part the people in our group have been playing and not even group non-mmo's but straight single player games. We have exhausted all the MMO's and are left with nothing to look forward to but Crowfall and other tiny company MMO's.

On the one hand there are epic single player games out and coming out like:

• Witcher 3
• Pillars of Eternity
• Fallout 4 to be announced soon
• Elder Scrolls 6 to be announced soon

Even my last entry was mainly single player games like, Skyrim, Saints Row 4, and Shadow over Mordor. The only two MMO's I hit on were Wildstar and GW2, and with the rising cost of Wildstar at $20.00/month that is a non-possibility. 

So what are we playing? Hell I even bought us a Vent server to play games more as a gaming group and no one's been on it but Andrew for MC with two of us. Hmmm I am sure the glory days are over, no more WOW at it's peak, no more RIFT being new and interesting, no foreign games like AION and TERA to explore. Nope, just play what we have, stale as the day . . . 

As you can see from the top image I even tried ArcheAge to find the rumors are all true about hackers, bots and afk players ruining this game. Atop it's a kill 5 of this and 10 of that game to start with made it such a bore. Tried to replay RIFT, but over two days of playing I got one level and well, that is not good enough in today's gaming world.

I have deleted for the first time ever, SWTOR, TERA, AION,  EVE Online, UO, and more. They are just done, they need no more updates or place taking up room on the computer. The only ones left, are WOW, GW2, FF-Online, ESO and Wildstar, and even they are not being played. 

Is this the era of the single player computer game? I started computer gaming to play online and moved away from console, but if this is the future a PS4 might be worth my time. I am more excited to play Dragon Age Inquisition or BloodBorne at the moment or hell even Destiny over PC games. 

The world has changed and MMO's are a sad sad play to win world with angry gamer's who've left and little kids and broke ass losers who join to kill time. We shall see what this year brings, but so far the shifting has begun away from the MMO towards the single player game. 

So board . . .  

The Slayers Inquest "Winter Games Edition"

It's been an alright winter and some good games have been played, picked up and re-discovered. We are finally on a track to getting people playing together in those games as well. I believe at this time our number one MMO is GW2.

The guild is doing great and everyone seems to be having fun playing it and contributing to the guild we made in game. This only get's us better and more access to things in the game. Feel free to jump in, join up with us and start building "Influence".

As for other MMO's Wildstar is the one I am subbing to this year. I have been doing great at end game after hitting 50th. I have fun alts, housing, dungeons, keys to attune, new content to explore and more. Most likely no one will be joining me in this one, which is ok as I will build my empire in the game until such time as others do join up.

This is a WOW clone that is up todate for 2015 and much more fun than the original WOW. The space angle is great and there is so far no news of this game going F2P. Hopefully it can avoid the ESO deal and keep as it is with NC Soft, maybe picking up in the future. Regardless it is my main game that has a sub un-less it goes free.

Getting back to steam I can't still put down Skyrim, with more mods now than ever. I am currently attempting to add and EMB to redo the graphics on my world, which is a bit more complex than the standard mods I have been putting into the game. I have some kick ass mods that make the game insanely fun and immersive to play. With mods still coming out daily, fully voiced, with hours and hours of content, quests, new meshes, followers, houses and more. Nothing will ever beat Skyrim unless it is a new elder scrolls game.

The absolute hours anyone can play this game is crazy and never see the same thing twice. I know we have some Skyrim fans here and some good mod discussion would be worth bringing up. I watch a few youtube shows about mods which get better every week.

Starbound on steam has updated and comes with major content! New quest lines, things to do, races, more to explore, wear and wield. If you like Terraria or Minecraft you should pick up Starbound. While this is no game of the year, it is a fun little thing to play when you need to kill time, just like Minecraft as you build and have a good time.

Some more steam games that I looked into this winter were "Shadow of Mordor" which is amazing to play, like assassins creed in middle earth. "Saint's Row 4" which is very dirty adult humor, mixed with pop culture jokes, grand theft auto movement, and the matrix all in one.

Just thought I would put some winter gaming info up for anyone who also got into these great games or is looking to try them. I think our gaming group is doing very well for it's self, we just need to get more people talking.