While working on my first Adventures in F2P article, I’m also trying to figure out a format to use. Your suggestions are appreciated. But I’m working on at least some guidelines to stick with over both which games I choose to write about and how I write the articles.
First, I pretty much go off the assumption that they all cater to the Asian penchant for grinding so that much is a given and I fully expect it with every F2P I try. They all have Item Shops, and I do plan on examining and writing about what those shops contain and what the most popular items players buy are, if I manage to get that information. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that all item shops are not equal, so knowing what they contain and what players buy is interesting, at least to me.
Second, I will only write about those F2P titles which held some appeal, in whatever manner. I do demand a certain level of “polish” (sorry Darren) in my games which F2P games don’t often meet. Part of what I’ll consider “polish” also includes native support for modern wide screen resolutions. If I can’t select my monitor’s 1680×1050 resolution from within the game’s options, it will be uninstalled. If I see a small amount of appeal in the game, I might see if there’s a text configuration file where I can manually set the resolution but that is still a huge negative in my eyes — it’s the 21st century and I’m playing a graphical game so I expect and demand graphical options not tweaking configuration files in a text editor like I’d do on a Linux server. Also, just because I can set the resolution doesn’t mean the game itself will actually support it rather than stretching things out and breaking the UI, so that will also be a factor in which games stay on my hard drive long enough to get considered for an article.
Third, it’s probably rare to be able to go so far as recommending an F2P game and that is not my goal. Even if the articles seem to read like a review, they are not intended as such but merely to highlight the game or its features that appealed to me in some degree. Something I’m trying to come to grips with myself is I tend to think in terms of “Western Polish vs. Eastern Lack of Polish.” I worry that actually saying that could be construed as harsh, even bordering on prejudice, despite what I consider to be obviously aimed at a universally low level of quality that comes from the Eastern games, not directed at the wonderful Eastern peoples and their cultures. But perhaps I should just stick with the safe “Pros and Cons?”
Fourth, I’ll be attempting to look at grouping in F2P games. Back when I first starting poking around in the F2P scene I quickly became of the opinion that they were all about solo dps with very little grouping. I say dps because I never got the impression that your class actually meant anything, that it was just a matter of personal preference if you’d rather see your character dps in heavy armor and swords or a robe casting spells or from a range with a bow. Therefore what I will probably do for these F2P games is play a healer class, when applicable, going on the assumption that just like in our Western MMOs healers are both desired and in short supply, therefore increasing my chances at finding groups.
Fifth, I’ll ask this one of you: how in-depth do you want the articles? A comprehensive full overview of everything the game offers, including multiple screenshots? A short article that just touches on the few neat or innovative features? I’m leaning towards the longer article and discussing each aspect of the game from graphics, sound, UI, available classes, etc., to the item shop, localization and so on.
[Edit: I forgot to copy #4 in the article before I clicked Publish the first time, so those of you on the RSS feed will see #4 being new and #5 being the former #4.]
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