The One About V2.9

Work has been rather overwhelming lately. So why am I here blogging when I really should be clearing the tons of work piled up and awaiting my attention?

That's precisely the reason. Blogging = Destress.

It's like a filtration process whereby you clear your mind of all random thoughts so that you have more mental space for concentration & planning for the arduous tasks ahead, if that makes sense to you at all.

Well, anyway, I'm in the midst of preparing for V2.9. Just spoke with IMC and sent them the final version of voiceovers, the winning loading screens and maps. And since I have that folder opened, I might as well post up a few random mini maps...

Here's Secret Tower, a new raid map...


Not sure if I have mentioned this before, there are gonna be 2 new RNPCs, Claire and Calyce. So this mini map is likely to be where Calyce is situated. Or maybe an instance of one of her quests, perhaps?
IMC has reverted that the client for the test server is likely to be ready some time next week. Hopefully integration goes well.

More on random thoughts. Saw some photos taken at the IAHGames iCafe during L'oreal Ladies Day last Tuesday...

Well, it's Tuesday again today - So grab a gal pal and head on down for the free sure-win lucky draw.

Oh yah! I have more good news! I was discussing some other sponsorship matters with Toshiba recently and I mentioned to them about the Ladies Tuesday at the iCafe... and sweet! They are providing a 2 GB Papu-Chan MP3 player for the grand prize lucky draw. In light of this, we are likely to extend this event till October and come up with some other form of mechanics to give away sweet lil' Papu Chan!

The Adorable lil' Papu-Chan

Source: http://www.rueducommerce.fr/sonnum/images/produits/info/screenshots/pa-chan.jpg

The One About Weizhen's Article

It's definitely a sign.

Just after my proposal to L'oreal for sponsorship for the September Gamer Girl Feature had been approved, I received a call from Weizhen, who writes for the local Singapore newspaper 'The Straits Times'. Very coincidentally, she was writing an article about female gamers and was interested to know more. So I shared with her some of the upcoming events that we are hosting for our gamer girls and some of the possible reasons why gaming is really getting popular amongst the female population.

One of the reasons I cited was due to the 'Tupperware Party' effect. Ok... I know it sounds silly and all, but it was a term I coined on the spur of the moment at that point in time cos it really seemed like the best analogy.

Gamer Girl Gatherings are the new Tupperware parties! I recall reading somewhere that Tupperware became popular because women brought their women friends along to these lavish and outlandishly themed parties. I can see the same phenomenon happening in this day and age where our gamer girls bring their gal pals along to our real life gaming events and game launch parties, like the one we held at Zouk last year.

I look forward to a day where gaming comes hand-in-hand with other female-dominant activities like retail therapy a.k.a shopping, beauty treatments, clubbing etc. Like a casual games terminal at a pedicure station: 'Game while you pedicure!'

There is an incredible amount of potential and opportunities that ties gaming to the female consumer goods industry as the female population gravitates more and more towards gaming and I sincerely hope that when that time comes, I would have been one of the pioneers to have proudly championed this cause and helped contribute in growing this industry.

Many thanks, Weizhen, for being one of our champions! :)

Full Article here.

Extract:

Project coordinator Eva Yuan, 27, set up a guild of 40 other regional gamers within action game Granado Espada. They play regularly online.

'It helps when games have interactive chat functions, beautiful graphics and are playable even for people who are not dexterous. I don't just want to chop monsters,' she said.

Gaming companies have responded to this by organising activities solely for female gamers. IAH Games, for example, is lining up 'gamer girl gatherings' for December.

Its community manager Danielle Hrin Kuek said these are the 'new Tupperware parties'.

The One About Granado Espada Gamer Girls in Playworks Sept 2008 Magazine


Phew! I just finished writing my GE column for Playworks magazine's September 2008 issue, which spotlights Granado Espada Gamer Girls. I had previously emailed some of the Gamer Girls which I had seen in Facebook and Friendster to interview them. Most hadn't replied me yet, so I could only use 6 of the replies I had received so far. I'm also having difficulty adding some of the girls in Facebook/Friendster group as friend in order to interview them, so do add me up if you are part of the Granado Espada Gamer Girl group.

Here are some random snippets of the magazine article:

"Any interesting incidents happened to you in GE?”

Emmylia: I get a handful of people saying 'YOU'RE A FAKE GAL!' Or,'Meh? You don't sound like one, I don't believe you're a gal.' - Got those a lot while I was recruiting for the all girls' faction I'm in.

"What is a typical day like for you in GE?"

Abby: Chatting with fellow gamers, trading and leveling up my characters. I love training my ‘Lisa Lynway’ character since she is a belly dancer, just like me!

Abby & Lisa Lynway - The Belly Dancing Duo

"What is a typical day for you like in real life?"

Alisha: Work takes up most of my time on weekdays. Evenings are 99% utilised for GE! Ok… in between there's still some blogging, chatting on msn etc.

"Have you ever dated someone you met in-game? Do you believe that romance can be found in-game? "

Eva: Yup… we were amazed that we could finish each other’s sentences. Although he eventually got back together with his ex (in real life) but well… possibilities exist. :)

If you were a beauty product, what would you be and why?

Carine: Mascara~ because the eyes are the windows to a person's heart and soul and I want to help everyone have beautiful eyes~

* * *

And these are definitely my two favourite snippets:

And what item in GE would your dream guy be and why?

Sheila: I'm going to go with Great Sword. The stances for it usually have a slow attack speed but when it comes to fights that matter, this weapon can be very powerful with a little bit of skill and patience. But if skills are carelessly spammed, the weapon ends up rendering the character useless. In that same sense, I like guys who have a lot of restraint and make sure everything they do is well thought out. Basically, flirting isn't appreciated if it's not serious!

Eva: Elite Penetrator of course, for obvious reasons… HAHAHA!!!

Eva quests for her Elite Penetrator

... You just gotta love Eva's forthcoming ways. ;)

Edited 20 August 2008: Due to some scary bugs found during testing, schedule has been changed to 21 August 2008, Thursday, 1200hrs (GMT+8) -25 September 2008, Thursday, 1200hrs (GMT+8)

The One About Beijing Olympics 2008

I happened to be reading Blacksword's Granado Esapda Blog and came across his entry on the Beijing Olympics 2008 costumes in China GE.

Well, the good news is... we spoke to IMC about it and asked if we could also use those costumes and they have agreed to let us use it as a 1 month promotion for the Limited Edition Box. Details are still in the midst of being finalized and if all goes well, the promotion will last from 21 August 2008, Thursday, 1200hrs (GMT+8) -25 September 2008, Thursday, 1200hrs (GMT+8), whereby when you do a 'Claim Item' using the Emilia The Sage RNPC Code found in the Limited Edition Box, it would then provide "Emilia The Sage" RNPC Card and 5 x Beijing 2008 Sportswear Costumes (for both genders). But like I said, details are still being finalized and is very much dependent on whether the patch for these costumes is buggy or not. Thus, please wait for the announcement on the website first before any attempts.

(Remember to thank Blacksword for his blog entry and Mewmender for his forum thread that gave rise to this inspiration as well!)

Here are some sample pictures of the Beijing Olympics 2008 costumes from Blacksword's Blog

Male Fighter

Male Musketeer

Female Elementalist

Female Wizard

Female Scout

Another promotion we are planning to hold is for the 750Gpoint GVC card between 15 August 2008, 1200hrs (GMT+8)-18 September 2008, Thursday, 1200hrs (GMT+8) .

Once the promotion is activated, all 750 Gpoint GVC codes are to provide:

a) Standard 750 GPoints value
b) Additional 250 GPoints
c) Additional 1 Enhancement Booster

Once again, I reiterate, wait till the website announcement is up before claiming!

Meanwhile, some updates on the Paid Game Services of Change Character Name, Family Name and gender... the website graphical user interface is complete and we'll be doing the tricky part of integration with the various systems over the next few days. Currently, we're still on schedule to launch next week on 21 August 2008, Thursday.

Here's a sneak peek at the website interface:

Main Menu

Change Gender Menu

Last and best of all (well at least to me, since its my current pet project), is that last night, I got a reply from L'oreal who has agreed to the proposal for the sponsorship for the upcoming September Gamer Girl feature! Woot! I can't wait to get my hands on those L'oreal products... MUAHAHHAAHHHAA!!!

The One About Granado Espada Gamer Girls

So I've gotten to know quite a couple of girls within the Granado Espada community and upon learning from Philippines [CM]Veya that she was planning to set up a Granado Espada Gamer Girl site in the near future, I thought that this might be the right time to bring the female community to the next level - of bringing them into the spotlight, holding various events and promotions specially for them, as well as to perhaps, cater to their needs as a female gamer.

I'm currently working on a proposal to pitch to beauty product companies for a weekly feature in September of the various gamer girls in our community from all walks of life and countries. Hopefully the pitch works out so that our charming featured ladies can each walk away with a little something for their beauty regime.

In any case, I've started up a Granado Espada Gamer Girls group on Facebook here and a Friendster version over here. If you're a Granado Espada Gamer Girl, do join up and share a bit about yourself in the group. I think it'll be pretty darn awesome to share various tips & experiences about our lives - whether it is about our virtual lives in GE or our real life ones.

I'm sorry dudes, but ONLY dolls (read: chicks, females, girls, women) are allowed into this group. I'll be kicking out all other male population on a periodic basis. Nothing personal, it's just... gender. Both guys and dolls can join up the Official Granado Espada Group on Facebook over here.

In the meantime, if you have any ideas on what kinds of contests, events, promotions you hope to see for the Granado Espada Gamer Girl Group, do drop me an email or post it on the Facebook/Friendster message boards. I'll be happy to hear your ideas!

Credits: Above picture created by [CM] Veya