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This week @AIESema, @MaxTheGrey and Astromech EPC-173 talk about the continuing updates from Bioware in the most recent dev stream and also a detailed discussion on why RNG is not what we deserve but is likely what we need. We also touch on other game and community news for the week from SWTOR in general and remind everyone that our casual, family-friendly multi-game guild is always looking for new members. Our officer channel on Jedi Covenant is at /cjoin aielfo and more guild information is at http://aie-guild.info/swtor
Fast forward right to about 22:30 min (21 min in the mp3) if you want to get to the part where we talk about RNG. Here’s the behavioral science links I mentioned as well:
Wikipedia on BF Skinner and schedules of reinforcement.
Great blog post summarizing how this science applies to game design.
MP3 Direct Download Link
YouTube Link
Catch the live podcast and chat room on Tuesday nights around 10:30pm central at http://twitch.tv/newoverlords. Follow and subscribe on Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, etc. to hear podcast news and see our other guild streams.
Podcast theme music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com
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Your ideas on RNG are pretty much wrong, at least as it applies to SWTOR now. The RNG grind is the problem at this point. It is directly why I have decided to leave the game and why I have removed my payment info. You are misapplying the studies you quote.
If they had a reasonable RNG level (not all end game gearing being RNG) and new content people would probably put up with it, but as it has been applied by BW, it is a total fail. Want proof, look at http://mirror.torstatus.net/shards/us/trends and http://web.archive.org/web/20160125091419/http://www.torstatus.net/shards/us/trends and you will see how much the game has dropped in a year and how little a bump the new expansion gave them.
I am sorry to see you actually believe the BS you are quoting. It does tell me your podcast isn’t worth listening to in the future.
FYI, I have played since launch. I will not be back as long as they have the RNG grind. Many others are the same way.
You’re comment here, “…as it has been applied by BW” is the part where we agree. As I have had to clarify (though I did say it multiple times even in this show) I don’t like it either! 🙂 That said, the science behind variable reward schedules is “science” and applied in the right way can be a benefit, whether it seems like we like it or not. I just find that kind of research interesting and revealing on how many games (and other reward systems) are designed. But yes… don’t like… is broken in some ways… want it to change… on this we all agree! (BW agrees too since the first changes are already coming and they said they are open to more.)