AJ's+Network+Gaming

4/30/10
Well I guess this is the end of the road. I learned a lot about online gaming from doing this project, probably more so than I would have learned just recreationally playing the game. Not going to get into the details because that is what the presentation and the paper are for, but I did learn a lot.

Also I am not going to lie, I have become completely addicted to this game. I promise I have spent well over 15 hours playing this game and I can't stop playing it. At first I kept justifying it to myself that it was ok because I was doing homework, but really I knew I was just playing it! Oh Well! BEST PROJECT EVER!!!

My final stats:26 wins, 18 losses, not bad. Quite a few of those losses were Charter Communications' fault for the Internet connection failing. Thanks again Charter.

Its been real, real fun. If anyone ever wants to drop the puck with me, my gamer name is ajames2.

Alright, I'm out!

4/25/10
So I think I have pretty much given up on this whole league thing. I'm in a league, but I have no idea how to even set up a game with the other players in it. I have to say this is a really poor online mode for this game, considering I can't figure out how to play it. It shouldn't be that hard.

So instead I have just been playing a lot of one vs. one matches against players online. Through that experience I see that there really are all kinds of players. For the most part everyone takes the games pretty seriously. Every once in a while you get some joker that decides to just try and piss you off. They will have their players dive and try to take you out, just playing ridiculous, trying to get into fights, delaying the game. It is really annoying to play opponents who do this.

Granted I am only playing the game for recreational purposes, but like everyone I want to see my overall ranking and level improve, but if you quit games or don't finish them you get knocked points. So if you care about your ranking you are forced to put up with the garbage that these careless players throw at you. My level has actually gotten worse and my ranking has gone down (in large part to me quitting games because of stupid people). Pretty annoying, but I guess that is just what you get when you randomly play opponents. Overall, I have to say that the individual mode where the user has total control of the team is the most fun compared to other modes. I think it is a unique experience to be able to play as just your avatar in a multi-player game, but it isn't as much fun as having total control.

4/20/10
I was asked by an opponent I played recently to join his league. I find this to be important because I have been trying to get involved in a league for quite some time. I have created a league, but no one is joining it so I hope that this league actually evolves and I can experience what this is like. I feel like I have a complete understanding for how the game functions and all of the available features, except for the league play. Hopefully this works out.

4/16/10
I still haven't figured out the whole "league play" option on the game and it is more difficult because I don't have any friends who are players on the game. But what I did do was join a club. The club is different than league play because instead of playing members from your league, every game you play in earns points towards your club. Hopefully that makes sense, I will explain in further detail.

In club play you play with your NHL 10 avatar. You create a player and you take that player and play with him in games against other players. Unlike exhibition games where you have total control of the team, you only have control of your avatar in the game. You get matched up with other player's avatars to construct a team and you play a game. During the game your player's performance is tracked and based on how well you play you get graded (A, A-, B, D, etc.) Your statistics and grade along with whether you win or lose all gets recorded and impacts your overall club ranking. Your performance impacts your individual rank within the club as well as the club's overall rank compared to other clubs.

It is complicated to describe, but it is a very simple idea. The club that I joined is called the "Bash Brothers". The overall ranking of this club is 3477, so pretty bad! And it shows because I just started playing in this club with my avatar (who is not very good) and I am already the 5th best player in the club (out of 47 members). You are not obliged to remain in the club, you can leave at any point that you want to, but it is a nice feature that allows you to feel more connected with other players as opposed to just playing pick up matches. Below is a picture of the club's leaderboard.

4/13/10
I just got done playing an opponent in a game and I found that after the game you can look at the highlights of the best moments. Not only can you look at them but you can save them as videos or take pictures of a specific scene and then upload those to your easports.com profile page. This way you can share your best plays and moments with other die hard fans. I say die hard because I'm not really sure who exactly would want to go online to look at other people's fake hockey game highlights...but hey it's still a pretty cool interactive feature.

Below are a few pictures of my most recent game. One is a picture of my players and the fans after a goal, and the other is a picture of my guy getting knocked out and injured by a big hit.



4/11/10
====I started playing some online exhibition matches versus random opponents. What happens is you wait in a lobby and then you are matched up with other players looking for a match at the same time. They match you with opponents based on your skill level so that the game is fair. Currently my skill level is a 2. I don't really know what that means or how it is determined but according to the overall leader board the best player in the world is a 40...so I have some work to do.==== ====I started exploring with some of the other online modes such as clubs and leagues. In league play you can establish specific rules for the league structure as well as specific gameplay rules. Those who create the league can invite other gamers to join their league, but in order to join a league you have to have the league password. I tried to join a couple of leagues but I could not get access. I think I am going to create my own league so that I can get some experience with this online feature.==== ====I also tried playing in online team play mode. This is when you are paired with other players and you play on the same team against other opponents. In the normal versus mode (exhibition mode) you have total control over every player on the team. In team mode you play as a specific player or position and you have to collaborate with the other players. I find team play to be a little bit more difficult because I am used to having total control. It seems like some players have really good team chemistry.==== ====Below is a picture of my profile on easports.com. You can see a few of my recent games along with some of my accomplishments. Also you can see the overall leader board along with where I rank in comparison.====



**4/6/10**
====For my network gaming project I have decided to use the game NHL 10. I think this game is going to provide a good sample to examine because the game offers a variety of different online game play features. Options range from playing a quick exhibition match online to joining a league or building an online franchise.==== ====Also, you can create an avatar on both the game itself, or you can create an avatar through EA Sports (game producer). Just now I have created an avatar on easports.com. I have a user profile which will keep track of all my gaming statistics, uploaded videos, messages, and all other similar features found on social networking sites.==== ====Once I begin playing the game I will create an avatar on NHL 10, which will be in the form of a hockey player of course, and that avatar will be able to earn higher ratings for his attributes as my performance increases.====

Here is a screen shot of my EA sports profile page. There isn't a lot going on because I just created it, but you can see the avatar I created over on the left.