Aeria Games:Power and the Money,Money and the Power [biggest fraud part II]

So.....

Where was I?

In the first article we had an overview of Aeria Games office dynamics.Now let's take it one step further.

Before proceeding to the article I wish to clarify one thing.All that you read,and all that you are going to read are 100% first hand experience of a player who spent 3 years with Aeria Games,half of it as a Game Sage on 2 different servers.

As I mentioned Game Sages are ''volunteers'' who volunteered to be exploited by Aeria in many many diverse ways for 2500 ap per month.
How a Game Sage is chosen by Aeria stays a large mystery,unto which I will happily bring some light in the following paragraphs.

Let's explain this step by step.

A server is set up.Let's take the...FRENCH SERVER:PROELIUM from Shaiya Online.You can see that the server names are successfully chosen by Aeria,they care about their gamer communities national feelings,after all these feelings and bonds play a major role in providing them their monthly INCOME.I have no problem with this.Let them exploit national bonds,I am not a nationalist,so bah.

...However,one thing I would like to mention about their strategy is that Aeria Games uses the national bond very cleverly,they would authenticate their servers running according to different countries customs and habits and they would develop ''tolerances'' to their players differences.

The best example of this,I think is the time when Game Masters in French Server:Proelium forbid the entire servers community speaking ENGLISH in game.Now,now...I know what you are thinking...English is an INTERNATIONAL language,it is almost same as the common language in Lord Of the Rings World,the one that all Elf,Dwarf and Human speak to understand each other.This clue must have hid it-self from the sight of the French Game Masters,under all those msn windows that are used to chat with female Game Sages during loooong,boring office hours.Oh...I think there was only ONE Game Master for French Server when this happened...Anywaaaaaaay.This is an entire different part of our story that I will share in details.

So,tolerances...Right.

What was the point of not letting English language in the French Server?
For one thing,some of Aeria Points buyers were really French Nationalists.And they did not like to let players who were not french play in that server.So asking Aeria Games limiting the FREEDOM of PLAY and the FREEDOM of SPEECH in a F2P that they were paying seemed RIGHT to them.This is no surprise.The real surprise was the fact that it ALSO appearead RIGHT to the GAME MASTER.Why wouldnt it?They pay,they get what they want.Simple,pure,dirty,capitalist logic.At this point,we began to question Game Master's true identity,lol.So if money works for everything,what a game master would not do?Let's take a look at definitions:

[Gamemaster is usually associated with role-playing games. In a role-playing game the Gamemaster's purpose is to weave the other participants' player-character stories together, control the non-player aspects of the game, and create environments in which the players can interact. The basic roles of Gamemasters - rules help, moderation, and storytelling - are the same in almost all role-playing games, although differing rulesets make the specific duties of the GM unique to that system.] from Wikipedia.

According to this definition,anything not related to these duties would not be relevant to game masters job.

It doesnt seem so for Aeria Games,especially not so for Berlin office.It appears these are also included in Game Masters duties for Aeria Games:

*Taking the side of players who are willing to pay for in game items.

*Answering tickets of players who pay for in game items in less than 15 minutes.

*Leaving all the tickets from players who dont pay for in game items unanswered for at least 3 days.

*Manipulating game dynamics in order to give in game item buyers (they are generically called AP buyers) what they want.

*Sponsoring private guilds,giving them free GM links,items so that they would stay in game and make other players envy them.Cash,cash,cash.

*Satisfying their manly needs through msn,basically with female Game Sages.This one is understandable right?Long,boring office hours,they need a friend to cheer up.A friend that they wont pay to chat.(smiles)

*Organizing in game events that would benefit AP buyers.


Hard work!But pays good.

Besides these,It is also the duty of a game master in Aeria Games to choose volunteers for a server from the thick pile of volunteer applications.

And this is when things get complicated for the office.

But this,I will explain in the next part,very very soon.

So until then ,CIAO gamers!

P.S:the video is an online interview that explains Shaiya Online's in game dynamics.I thought it would perfectly complete this article in which I explain in office dynamics.The voice belongs to the actual Product Manager of the French Server,Proelium,the ex Game-Master that if you played in that server,you will remember very well.Here is another genuine side of Aeria Games,no need to fire employees,or hire new ones,instead RECYCLE THEM!



to be continued,for a very long time...


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Aeria Games:Biggest Fraud in Gaming World [ part I ]

Hello fellow gamers,

I would never even dream about these:but all that you are going to read is 100% truth.
I would never dream about having such trauma and insults through an online gaming companies staff,aka Game Masters.

Let's begin with clarifying things as usual.

Aeria Games:an established american gaming company that faired well in last 5 years internationally and put an office in Berlin,Germany in order to broadcast to Europe.
Aeria Games,strategically,hires employees that are well versed in at least 1 european language,that understand marketing a product (F2P games in this case) and that also have community management skills,as their online community would need ''managing'' in their opinion.

Wait, I will not spoil the story so soon :)

They structure their marketing strategy locally,meaning they would open a server for each country,US,German,French,Spanish,Turkish et caetera.And they would choose their employees or in Santa Clara,or in Berlin as they function basically from these 2 offices.By the way Berlin office recently moved to a nicer flat thanks to German servers high success or thanks to their operation managers laziness,as the new place is closer to his new rented luxurious flat.You should meet that guy,Spencer Chi,really nice,handsome,clever;a young american in his thirties who has taiwanese origins and who eats like a pig,he likes t-shirts with dragon symbols and he uses his Apple Iphone like a pro,shooting pics from every work trip he made.Really nice guy.He gets drunk quiet easily.He should work on that...Right..

As they are really really caring and they want to make sure their employees feel at home in the office;they even include a gaming room to their offices,next to series of Macintoshs linked together for each servers system admins,game masters,and community managers,the latter have a more global function in Aeria,they make sure the entire community is entertained and is following the extremely monotonous work of GMs,monster spawns,relic captures and a dozen of other GM events they stole from their volunteers creative minds and compiled on a list that the whole Berlin office is using when they are short on in game events,and this happens quiet often.(yes;volunteers,I will explain,dont worry,continue reading!)

What was I telling...Oh yes;volunteers!What are volunteers for Aeria Games?

Well as most of you know the monetary system of F2P's,these games makes money through in game items.And these items should be sold in some way to players who naively think they are playing a 100% free online game.Aeria Games came up with a monstrous solution to this marketing dilemma...

So,what they do is simple and genious,GMs handpick some pro gamers in the server,they contact them in game in a friendly way and they provide them ap( Aeria Points,meaning items that can be earned through paying with real cash,PayPal etc) items.So the entire community envies the pro player and begin spending as much as possible to look like ''pro'' .This is the first wave of volunteers,unofficially.They feed Game Masters and the entire Aeria Games employees.

There is a second wave of volunteers,and they are called Game Sages.What a cool name! A Sage...Reminds me of zen masters who transcend physicality.Almost God-like!
These are players that are highly exploited for precisely 2500 ap per month,this would equal to 25 dollars in cash with real money.

Game Sages,per the company definition;are players who volunteer to help other players and Game Masters to run events,manage the community,and help in forums and in game to others...You need to apply to become a Game Sage and you should have a very good experience of the game you are applying to,a helpful character and will to put up with Game Masters personality disorders.The last quality is especially relevant to our story.Take it from a medical student who will major in psychiatry.And all these for 2500 ap,25 dollars per month.

Game Sages have nothing more than a regular player per company official definition,however they have contact with GMs,and they can chat with them mostly through msn to organize events,share ideas,and basically to replace them when they dont feel like working.Yes,Aeria managed to market this concept through its entire community and it sells like no gold would sell.Just the name tells it all:Game Sage;a respected place to be in a F2P...Right...


Not quiet right.Or not quiet the right place to be in a F2P as Shaiya Online:Light and Darkness where all the GMs are men in this itty bitty Berlin office if you are a...............


GIRL GAMER!!!!


to be continued...very soon.

part II: When a Game Master asks for more !

Gaming as a product.How to kiss the [right] frog?!

Hello fellow gamers...

So...summer is here and we are still in front of our monitors waiting for the next MMORPG to show the light? =)

Whatever is your reason to be here,I welcome you to this blog where I share a bit of my personal life mixed with a semi-pro interest in the gaming world.

Recently I have been working on a MMROPG TV show project as you can read below.
It is a slow work basically because I am the only one planning each piece of it until the pieces look good enough to my perfectionist eyes,and even thn I worry a lot,I dont sleep well,I wake up and go on working on it,planning,restructuring,worrying it will look artificial because I put too much thought on it...Meanwhile,I forget about my exams,my lunch time,my weight...

Today I realize I had isolated my-self for 4 whole days building interface for our future network as we (I have 1 team member now...but this we can apply to my future cooperations =) ) expect our own community to be present through our web site on net and we want to make sure they stay connected to each other...So I put social media tools such as twitter,facebook pages,blogs to be able to reach and connect them in a holistic way...

Too many hours of net made me realize I was seeking something inside of my-self on the pages...I was seeking to create something so successfully authentical that it would be close to anything crazy and out of border...A ''border-line'' project so to speak.

SO...I found my-self immersed in marketing strategy texts,social media ideas,innovative approaches of spreading ideas and most importantly; inspirations on ''how to put a strong community together''

I met a few very inspiring people on the way...I wont mention their names as I am pretty much sure they know who they are...Instead I will talk to you about how they influenced me (because even when I wanted to keep my purely authentical approach,people showed up and they influenced me to be more ''me'' and less ''other'')

From what I understand now connecting people under a same umbrella of interest requires a strong effort and continuity.Plus a growing trust on your community members.Nowadays you need to push that old idea of putting your brand or product in the eyes of your target audience in hopes that they will get hypnotised on your pub or add and so they will finally use it,or click it...Instead you need show them why they can trust you and your product.What is behind the product?Who is behind the product?What are his strong points,what are his weak points.

It is not only about getting them to use the product...But it is about showing them who you truly are and what you put inside this product of your-self.

Everyone drinks water...We need it to survive.But some companies put mineral into it and some puts fresh mountain water...This is diversity,products need to adapt to peoples diverse ways and qualities.

Some of the strong points of my inspirations were; their unique approach on everything they do,their passion,their willingness to link what they do with their fields of sincere interests.Their products were not their boring office works,but these products were coming from their life,their day,their inspirations,their life experience.So,the product was no longer an artificial need,but a sincere creation,an artwork in it-self with all the energy of the creators unique symphony.

Another one of their strong point was their open-mindness...Their ability to welcome new ideas and adapt them into their unique approach.They were not fearing criticism,instead they were able to see that those criticisms were feeding their work as they could smash the idea of old in the criticism and instead rebuild another concept...That is..a new trend.

Let's talk about weak points also,as each character in the gaming world has them,so did my inspirations.

I think their worst weakness was an ultimate trust on their community.Let's face the reality...Nothing is perfect or pure good...Even the most charitable organisations have dark corners within their web.And to be honest,one dark spot can spread into the whole communities face.If we get too personal about protecting the image of the community we can end up being labeled snob or selfish..Or at best a violent character...This is important for the community management,if you are to build trust,you need to be balanced.And this is a non-polar balance based on logic,strategy,passion and compassion combined...One small crack in the leaders sword can split the community in two.One small effort to exaggerate the situation can lead to loss of trust;that is loss of your community member.Be it only one or be it millions;loss of members is a failure and failure will follow failure if you dont fill those cracks in your sword.

Fortunately,those who are able to see the human side of the manager will pull their lesson of this and go on contributing to the community,directly or indirectly.

SO is life...We can not go on blaming life because it is not perfect,instead we should continously ask for more,better dreams,sweeter tastes and we should do our best to make them happen.This is humane and this is what love is about...

Thanks much to my inspirations,with each of whom I deeply and humane-ly fell in love.

Ok...Let's get it right:MMORPG Communities,from virtual to real [part II]

Hello Gamers,

so...let's get it right this time.Here is the second part of the article:

[MMORPG Communities,from virtual to real]

Is gaming your choice?

Or is it the choice of XxX Company?

Where you define the border between your game and the brand?

Quoting from a ressearch:

''Children tasted 5 pairs of identical foods and beverages in packaging from McDonald’s and matched but unbranded packaging and were asked to indicate if they tasted the same or if one tasted better.... children preferred the tastes of foods and drinks if they thought they were from McDonald’s. Moderator analysis found significantly greater effects of branding among children with more television sets in their homes and children who ate food from McDonald’s more often.''

I am not comparing gamers to children;children are perfect for this kind of ressearch because they always tell the truth and they give their undivided attention to a given task.

It is a well known fact that gamers are unique,different and most of the times ''walking at the edge'' personalities.Each gamer have his/her own preference when to gaming:

*Adventure

*Role Play

*Strategy

*FPS

or;

*Caster

*Tank

*DPS


Some of us take the easy road up to levels,yet some of us like to spend the entire year focused on leveling 1 character,which,I am afraid by time and given effort seems almost alive to our infected minds...

Diversity:speaks through our multi-task-able fingers.

Yet we can not really put a long time on deciding which brand to choose between MMORPG Games.

For us;it is just another game to try and if the game FITS us,we keep on playing it.This is our virtue:we dont fit in...We make things FIT us.This is our instinct.
And instincts do not need time for reflexion.



So...What does really make a game perfect for our fingers?

Is your game just like another product you get to know through its brand?
Or is it a very personal experience of yours which develops through your own mindful choices...


Let me clarify,this is where we become aware of our gamer identity:hardcore gamer vs social gamer.

A hardcore gamer will put his/her soul into the game,his passion,his creativity.The brand it-self matters not;the hardcore gamer knows that;


He,as a GAMER,is the BRAND.


whereas the SOCİAL one will listen to his/her friends,trying to get to know the games one by one until he/she finds the ''Perfect Brand''




[to be continued]





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Let's play a Game,for Animals...

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Hello fellow gamers...and animal lovers,

today I wont be writing about games and MMO's.Instead I am presenting you the above video to demonstrate why I am choosing to play games instead of socializing.

Cruelty,violence...Arent they the hallmarks of many video games?Have you ever questioned why we have so many violence in video games?No?

To ease your effort,I give you 1 answer:

-To begin with,we have it inside our hearts,as humankind.

and we need to keep it alive,spinning like a broken movie in front of our eyes,until we know how to deal with it.Meanwhile,we are doing this to other sentient beings.

This is not judging,this is pointing out where all the blood is coming from...


Let's play a game now,you and me...

*Close your eyes,sit quietly,alone...

*Keep watching your breaths until your thoughts stop racing...just watch...Watch until you feel your heart is filled with peace and soul.

*Stay like this for at least 5 minutes,feel the sweet sunlight on your skin,your heartbeat,the air filling your lungs and through your nostrils...

*Remember your mother,your family,your loved ones,your sweetest memories...Watch them in your minds eyes,again,until you feel living them again,like the first time.

*When you feel you are really ALIVE and HAPPY imagine a hand reaching unto you.

*You suddenly feel an incision unto your veins,your heartbeat is becoming slowly irregular.

*You feel you are loosing the air in your lungs...

*Now you feel all of your blood being sucked by a blackhole,you can not PREVENT it.

*You can not think...All you can feel is that you want to LIVE and LOVE again.

*Life is now leaving you...through your veins,through your lungs.You watch everything you loved fading,for you.It should not be you,but it is.

*The operation is completed,You are another number in the list,your body that you loved and cared for all your life,they carelessly throw it to the GARBAGE.

Wanna play?

I dont think so....

8 Reasons to Choose your Game over a Guy

1. Your character will never lie to you.

2. There is no chance of finding your character flirting with someone else's keyboard!

3. There is no sexually transmitted disease on cyberspace.

4. Even when you dont log in for some months,you will find your character as it is,faithfully waiting for your fingers to animate it.Whereas your regular guy would have already found someone to replace you,nicely.

5.Your MMORPG character will always stay with you!

6.He will never complain while you drag him to the places you want to go!

7.You can make him wear everything you wish and choose his appearance.

8.If you think you are through,you can just log off.






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an epic plan...in taxim/İstanbul

Hello fellow gamers,

SO....Everyone enjoying the pleasures of the week-end?Alcohol?Sleep?or...grinding@your favorite spot?WoW?Lineage 2? SCII???

For me it was a hilarious week-end.As I mentioned I had to meet my team for the MMORPG TV show and organize a few things for the show.Let me tell you a bit about our hang out <3

It all began with the short haired girl.(Zeynep)She was gonna meet me at the.....auto wash(!)She surely acting mysterious =) I questioned my-self whether or not it was a strategy of sorts..By the time I got there,she was sitting with her big sunglasses waiting for her mom's Jeep to come out of the auto wash.and I was slowly realizing that the night in front of computer writing stuff for the show had a deep impact upon my biology,my REC vs Sunlight was below 0,so to speak.

well,this short haired mysterious girl made me cry as she opened her bag to show me how she had printed the program overview I had emailed her before coming to meet me.
Also,she had her short hair done by the hairdresser and all.
Her hairstyle seemed familiar to me ....as hours passed,I came to understand that she had the exact same hairstyle as her character in that MMO we had played together for months!Of course,as you can guess,I was scared to death;we were playing on opposite factions then....Fortunately,she had not brought her + 45 intelligence staff,so I ''phew'' ed and went on with my relationship..... errrr....presentation strategy.

Speaking of relationships,we had to go pick up another member of our party...I mean another member of our show team from his office.
He came out of the building very fast,when we met and shook hands,it was obvious that he had full strength build!My poor caster fingers screamed and I was knocked out.But I casted a ''mute'' on him with my ever crazy talk and spelled his mind with all the gaming strategy we discussed in the car so when we hit Taksim square he pleasantly agreed to side with me for the show.

As we walked to find a place to drink a beer or two,we were all buffed up ready to discuss our fatal presentation strategy.Of course our attention range was about 20 minutes so once in each 20 minutes a gamer story was pouring out of our infected minds,under the weirdest stare I had ever seen from the guy serving our table.

1 hour later,the last member of our team joined us,big with his build and faith,our immortal paladin had come to shine upon us!

It all fit purrrfectly.I had recruited the best players for my team.Together we formed a homogenized whole which can be mortally funny if you are not wearing your + 5 dexterity armor.

We ended the night dancing@Line,my laptop on sleep mode on our table,full of plans and hope for our future times together.

When guys disappoint you forever.

Hello Gamers,

I am sorry about this more than enough break on my blogging.I have been so busy with my upcoming MMORPG show's design and concepts that I had barely time to eat or sleep...

I know I was going to be writing another article about MMORPG communities,but I am fed up.Needless to say,as much as I share a common point or ' passion with guys,I am not so different from any other girl around.

And this girl is fed up with guys too.

Let me tell you,I am surrounded with beautiful women in every way.I dont need to be jealous about their beauty,they are stunning,smart,funny,sensible,social and I have a deep appreciation for these women.They play online games and most of them kick ass.

On the other hand,I am also surrounded ....no ''haunted'' by different kinds of guys.They are gamers,managers,CEO's,fathers,co-workers,students...
They are sometimes hot,sometimes very smart,sometimes affectionate...sometimes arrogant under the guise of ''telling the truth''


And they dont discriminate...no ,literally.I feel a deep nausea and sadness while writing this.In every and each of my interactions with them,I approached them sincerely,in a humane way...It did not take a second hour for them to comment about how cute I was or try their chance on me.

I understand the call of nature.But why not honoring the other human enough to use your ''cortex'' to control the urge?I think I know why...

Most men are completely insensible about what women may feel.It doesnt matter,women are ''battles to win'' for them.Epic wins!and epic fails...Sadly,in our [modern] society,even humans became items.There is no '' need'' to control an urge with an item.It's just like the npc.You click,it works?Cool...It did not?It surely is bugging!

And I am bugging,right.Report me to the Game Master, now.I need get fixed as I dont choose to date any of them until I understand they are completely ''dispelled'' of this poison.


It is indeed a poison to dispel.ALL HEALERS ON MEN !Mana pots ready?

I am not an item.I am a soul in a female body,who experiences the same world as you,in a slightly different way.Deal with that.

MMORPG communities...from virtual to real [part 1]

-World of warcraft
-Ultima Online
-Metin 2
-Cabal online


Have you ever tried playing a MMORPG?

Lets clarify the word:MMORPG means Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games.

That is;you are entering a virtual world through your character and taking a part in its adventures,be it with other real time playing players on the other side of the world,or city,be it with the computer and through quests.

MMORPGs are captivating mostly because of how they are designed to keep you playing with others through internet.All of a sudden you find your-self merging in that virtual world,within your comfort zone,building a team,supporting others,taking down monsters,winning virtual victories as a team,and most importantly;in the luxury of your own home.

The video below tells that humanity spent an important number of hours playing one of the top MMORPG's :World of Warcraft.

You may even have heard about the championnats,the training camps designed for their champion players.

Doesnt it sound a bit like virtual sports?

or a bit extreme?

True,perhaps someone claiming herself a progamer (cough...cough..) should'nt use the word extreme.

But...


Sooner or later every gamer faces this;
the conflict between real world and the time spent in the virtual one.
Our ''devotion'' to the virtual one is not somehow dependent upon our lack of fulfillment?Am I putting my finger on some fragile point of your...monitor...

If you are reading this blog you are not passing 100% of your waken hour gaming.And this is good news.

I am observing that gaming is becoming a culture,a pop thing,something to be proud of,especially in younger folks.Yes it is nice to have your friends gaming with you,discovering stuff online and together,but when you are neglecting your family,forgetting to feed your pets and instead you are ''leveling'' your virtual pet...There's something wrong.

I am browsing through many forums in a week,there are some gaming forums,some business forums,some creative blogs.I encountered a considerable amount of discussion about how games make people uninterested about the outside...

I am thinking;is it really the game it-self influencing the individual this way?
Or is it the individuals ''individual'' and ''undivided'' choice to be isolated by an online game?

Is gaming your choice?
Is gaming the choice of that XxX Company which marketed the product?
Where you define the boundary between your ''game'' and the companies product?



...to be continued

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Yes,we can!

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Just a Girl...A Gamer Girl!

Hello fellow gamers,


As you obviously are aware of that fact now,this blog is all about gaming.Let me tell you a bit about my-self.

Why I undertook such a project?...

I was a gamer all my-life,from the very moment I could type on the old good Atari XLS' keyboard,I lost my-self in the beauty of the virtual,fantastic world.Sure,the graphics were far from offering a competition to nowadays huge,dream-like,mind blowing animations and backgrounds,but it seems gamers are natural born grinders and ''the looks'' dont matter much next to the pleasure of hitting the beast,savoring the virtual victory !

Yep...It is all about winning...

And I;the itty bitty 4 years old gamer baby-girl,had DECIDED to have an epic win over my brother.

I practised every moment I could,while he was in school,while he went to play football,when he was doing his homeworks,while he hit on his first crush...

From the lovely,simple Pac-Man,to the first Alone in the Dark,from strategy games like Colonisation to the FPS Rainbow Six;

I tried my gaming skills and lurked in shadows...

Yes,I believed in epic win,and when I savored my victory over him in this game he had brought home :''Golden Axe'' I felt it was the top of my gaming experience.I was no longer ''just a girl'' in his eyes,but an equal.Suddenly he had to revise his opinions about girls abilities,and mine of course.

This was an '' Epic Win'' in all platforms...

Well that feeling haunted me all my life.And through games.It made me strive to ''make'' better each time I failed.

And you know what?Not just in virtual world;the experience I had with my brother had changed me forever.I was not feeling helpless,incompetent,the word ''impossible'' had lost its meaning for me.Through practice and perseverence,and right skills,all can be done.

I made my way through so many games and gaming communities,each of these experience left me with valuable realisations about gamers,and what they can achieve.

From now on,in this blog,I will share with you something never done before : I will give you the ''in between the shadows'' of those communities and games.

I am hoping this will be a transformative experience for each gamer as well.

Finally;I know I''ll be shot at ,because in each of my logs,I will share the ''Truth'' and sometimes it will hurt.

But believe me,I am just a gamer girl,and I know how it is to be hurt :)

SO;ciao for now!





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