Every inconvenience is a challenge.

[Crica]

I think the point they are illustrating is that adrenaline rush

Adrenaline rushes make me puke - no, I do not consider the feeling of having to puke to be "alive".

I consider the feeling I get when I do something I enjoy, which does not include puking from an adrenaline rush, a feeling of "alive" for me.

Again, not everyone feels the same - that poster stated everyone does, which is bunk.

[Crica]

Realize this is also your opinion, which is worth 100% of what mine is.

Saying his statement was bunk is not opinion - his statement was that ALL humans feel the same - since I do NOT feel the same, his statement was bunk. (bunk means false, fyi)

[Xoo]

Adrenaline rushes make me puke - no, I do not consider the feeling of having to puke to be "alive".

I consider the feeling I get when I do something I enjoy, which does not include puking from an adrenaline rush, a feeling of "alive" for me.

Again, not everyone feels the same - that poster stated everyone does, which is bunk.

I think you're still missing the context. I'm not exactly referring to the thrill of skydiving as it relates to thrills you might experience ingame. Are you trying to tell me you take no additional emotion and bonuses of excitement in a tight situation (ingame) wherein you emerge victorious?

[Crica]

i tend to agree with the statement we, as humans, feel most alive when faced by danger and threat

You can agree with it all you want, doesn't make it true.

I don't feel most alive that way, therefore I KNOW it's a false statement.

[Crica]

Are you trying to tell me you take no additional emotion and bonuses of excitement in a tight situation (ingame) wherein you emerge victorious?

Correct.

I enjoy games that allow me to work towards known and guaranteed goals that have a clear beginning and ending in sight.

Games that do not have that simply annoy me and I don't play them.

[Xoo]

Challenge =\= inconvenience ....sorry.....but no...you need your head examined.

I think it's more a matter of perspective. One man's trash is another man's treasure, so to speak. I think that was the intended point of the article.

[JakeRoon]

I think it's more a matter of perspective. One man's trash is another man's treasure, so to speak. I think that was the intended point of the article.

I understand what you are getting at, but we need to comprehend the definition of inconvenience. You see, the author seems to think it's a subjective term. It's not. Either it is, or is not inconvenient (example: the first class line at the airport is not inconvenient, the coach line IS) . Perhaps a better word would be "tedious"; because it IS in fact subjective, one man's tediousness is another man's joy. (RL fishing for example)

Yes, the DEGREE of inconvenience is subjective, but the fact that it is inconvenient ..is not.

[Peptaru]

This one guy keeps trying to make alive have its connotative meaning when it isn't being used that way.... when you say "alive" if you understood it as it was intended you wouldn't need to put it in quotes.

[Sephrick]

Inconvenience is just the wrong word to use. I think what the original source meant is obstacle.

Waiting 10 minutes for an airship was an inconvenience in XI, but was never "challenging" or worthy of being considered "gameplay." Waiting for the airship because it pulled away as you ran up to it plus flight time meant a player could walk away from their computer for 15 minutes.

I can play the "waiting for the airship" game without giving a dime to a developer. It's called washing my dishes, folding my laundry or taking out the trash -- because those are the sort of things I did during the airship wait inconvenience.

But still the quote removed from context isn't as sound as within. It's still making a case for an open market free of auction houses. He's saying why design a game around the "convenience" of auction houses when some players want to play the game as a crafter/shop keeper only.

Sort of how SE originally started to design crafting classes. An idea, sadly, that never came close to fruition. Now, just like the rest of the game, we're half way between content. DoHs that take forever to level for little reward because we have a psuedo action house and no content for them otherwise. They're not even allowed full access to the leve quests.

In his article he makes the case that the "inconvenience" -- which should be called "obstacle" -- of a game with no auction house is that a player has to put in effort to sell their wares. They can't just list it and forget it. That opens it up for what XIV originally intended, a social world where players get to know each other through a system of bartering and trade.

I agree, but unfortunately I don't think FFXIV was/is being designed to be as challenging as its predecessor - To the joy of some, and to the dismay of others.

Blame World of Warcraft or Canada.

An interesting statement given the linked blog post.

On what gauge are we rating the difficulty of XI? Is it by amount of perceived inconveniences?

If so, XI may take the cake. But that doesn't mean there's any quality -- or discernible challenge -- in those inconveniences. XI was riddled with examples like waiting for the airship. Come to think of it, XI very much was a game based around waiting. Waiting for transportation. Waiting for a party to gather. Waiting for event cool down timers. Waiting for HNM pop windows. Waiting for the infamous "JP midnight." Waiting for an exp bar to slowly fill while mindlessly killing the same weak fodder. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

And after all that waiting, there was a glimmer of game play.

But I'd rather SE assume "inconvenience" means "obstacle."

I'd rather the "inconvenience" of having to talk to my fellow players to find the items for which I am looking than one of having to wait for content.

But if "inconvenience" is the mark of good design and supposedly fun and challenging entertainment than the gaming industry should have just called it quits with E.T. because it will never get much "better" than that.

[Peptaru]

If you take inconvenience to mean obstacle, do you really need to look past sky when it first came around (or even just the zilart missions, and divine might)? old CoP with caps and figuring out how to deal with Sea NMs? even the aht urgan crap before it was stuck into wikis. granted as time went by they made it easier and easier until it declined into its lack-luster (easy mode) current form, more like WoW, more like XIV is currently. But hidden among the bullcrap waiting for things like airships and parties (seriously, you could party with your LS's anyway like people say to do now in XIV) there were a huge number of obstacles.