QOTDx2: Kids, learning, games

Two quotes, one common theme:

It's like sitting a kid down at the ORIC-1. Kids are naturally curious. They love blank slates: a sandbox, a bag of LEGOs. Once you show them a little of what the machine can do they'll clamor for more. They'll want to know how to make that circle a little smaller or how to make that song go a little faster. They'll imagine a game in their head and then relentlessly fight to build it.
-- Technology - The Atlantic

malleability of environment is also a key characteristic. Even the most simplistic of farming games on Facebook ranks higher on the “affect your world” scale than World of Warcraft does… and this sort of personalization of the environment is standard not only in social games but across the social web today.
-- Raph Koster - Are virtual worlds over?

Blizz, pls stop nerfing fun

Bashiok, a blue poster for Blizzard, tells us that the keyring in WoW is going away in the next big patch.

A minor thing, and yet the thread got maxed out in posts in rapid time, with a great many players decrying the move.

The world of Azeroth is slowly getting smaller and smaller.

Quick, while he's distracted!

Fun boss fight mechanic I've not seen yet .. every time a player dies, have the boss start some elaborate process (eg. a ritual of raising a ghoul, dragging the body to some ejection chute or hungry pet, or simply teabagging the corpse,) ... during which time he's not doing damage or is even more vulnerable.

Ah, those noobs in your pug raid are useful after all.

Counterintuitive travelling

An odd observation .. I'm taken to riding my land mount around instead of flying everywhere. My Albino Drake is much faster than the second-hand nag I looted from some corrupt official, and yet I'm riding the latter. I'm also trying to avoid looking at the map, instead following the paths and landmarks to find my way to my destination.

This is a lot more fun in Sholazzar Basin than in Dragonblight, of course.