gamerDNA.com | The Blog

The truth is… we love this place… and we enjoy looking at all if the great stories, games, characters, images, etc that people are adding every day. Every so often, those of us in start-up land have to give presentations for people… and to showcase the vibe of this place, I like to include profiles about some of our members… their stories… their GamerDNA! Here are a few people I recently featured in a presentation.

Mirrorshade
A huge fan of Sword of the New World and pirates!

Nerthing
Loves Guild Wars and Diablo and has beta tested many titles.

plutonick
Probably the most hard-core WoW player on the site… who is a recent AoC convert.

Isaacquotien
…knows how to spin a yarn about WoW adventures…

Arrek
Can tell a tale about Star Wars Galaxies that makes you feel like you were there!

From time to time, we hope to feature more of our members on a regular basis. In the meantime, if you think you have something to say or something to show, head over to the GamerDNA Life forum… it is meant for you to show people the awesome stuff you are adding to your profile!

Remember those forum changes we were talking about the other day? I went ahead and took a phase-1 pass. I added in all the new forums, and I moves a few around… however we left the names and some of the older forums up while we figure out what to do with all that great content. We are also interested in feedback. So you know where to drop it.

If you are wondering to yourself, “Where are these forums of which he speaks” try here:

http://www.gamerdna.com/forums.php

Who doesn’t love a LAN party!? http://noreaster.lpane.net/

Not only does this look like the most fun you can have outside a vat of maple syrup, but the people at GamerDNA are going to record it for posterity. DNA Minions Sam and Imran are taking off their company slave hats (there are bells on the ends) and putting on their reporter fedoras. They’re going to be wandering around with video cameras, and asking “What’s in your GamerDNA?”

Please do go to the party. Besides, the proceeds go to Shriner hospitals for kids. If you’re part of a generation of gamers, it’s good for your karma to help out the next generation of gamers, you know? Also, there will be swag. Go forth and rock, and hey, let me know how it went!

Okay, to close out the week o’ “time played” factoids, let me bring it down to the personal level.

I went in search of the GamerDNA members who had played the cr….ud out of FFXI. I wanted to interview them for this space, hear about their passions and plans for the future.

But it looks like my old friend “burnout” is still a big part of the MMO world. The top players in terms of raw hours have all moved on. Now, this is anecdotal (a handful of players does not constitute a statistically significant sample, screeching morons on message boards to the contrary), but I still found it interesting. The top FFXI players didn’t go to any one new game. One is playing AOC. Another is playing WOW. And another is enjoying “Smackdown vs RAW” to a degree I personally find disturbing, but hey, whatever rings your bell, man.

We are working on ways to compare and contrast the stickiness of console MMO players against the stickiness of PC MMO players. My hypothesis is that it’s easier to walk away from a console. What do you think?

Again, as with yesterday’s fun fact, these numbers do not reflect the most played games on the Xbox, as measured by the raw number of people playing them. These are the games that have been played for the most TIME. The MMO takes the top spot, but who is next?

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I’ve always been a data junkie - online, it’s easy to mistake “loud” for “correct,” and the only antidote is information in the form of hard numbers. Working here gives me a window into all kinds of numbers, and although we’re using the numbers to build cool tools and features, sometimes it’s fun to just look at the numbers for their own sake. Trapper and Jon and I thought it would be fun to share these tidbits with all of you on a regular basis, on the assumption that lurking somewhere in our community is a nerd streak as wide as my own.

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Hey, if anyone reading this has a Sony Station ID, and plays SWG, go vote for our very own Zel’s entry in the painting contest: http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=688338

Zel is the artist and designer behind many of our site themes, and we are incredibly lucky to have someone like her in the family!

So, tell me what you guys think:

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I’m back from Boston, and boy, are my arms tired. I mean, wow, it was great seeing the GamerDNA HQ. There were a few details that really stood out for me that I thought you’d enjoy hearing about:

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Edit by Trapper, Jun 17 2008:

Sanya is traveling, so I am going to throw the notes up here… and make a few comments:

1. Advertising added to GamerDNA.com
   You knew this was coming… we have bills to pay and ads are one of those ways!
2. Wowzorz Horde Theme
   Check out the new theme from our theme-ace Mellisa!
3. Game icons
   We added over 20 game icons in our pursuit towards game-icon nirvana.
4. Guild event scheduling not working correctly.
   It is “semi-working”… more about this in a second.
5. Fixed issue of duplicating experiences on import.
   When using the experience RSS import (Experience Imports tab in the DNA Panel), they were duplicating. This is now solved.
6. Character Boxes Remain Greyed out
   When you go to add a character of game type “Other” it will now behave correctly
7. New theme: MapleStory
   A new theme for Maple Story is right around the corner…. the files are there and the theme should be activated shortly.

It is a smaller build than normal, but this is because we did builds on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and hot fixes on Tuesday and Thursday… so in short we have been building non-stop since the launch last Monday. 100,000+ pairs of eyes are more powerful than 6 pairs of eyes… so we are doing our best to keep up with the bug fix madness… It would be great to not have any bugs, but we are moving forward at a pretty blistering pace… and although we remain ever vigilant, sometimes the speed gets the best of us! We want to do better though… and will get there.

I spent the last couple of days at OnHollywood, a conference for digital media and entertainment companies.  While there, I sat on a panel moderated by Kara Swisher (Wall Street Journal writer and co-producer of All Things Digital) where we discussed the intersection between social media and entertainment.  I’ll post a copy of the video once it is available.

I also gave demos of the new version of gamerDNA.com … Here’s the official announcement we made at the conference:

HOLLYWOOD, CA AND CAMBRIDGE, MA, June 12, 2008 – At OnHollywood, GamerDNA Inc. launched GamerDNA.com, a new crossroads for gamers, games and the websites they hang out on.  GamerDNA is a platform for gamers to join forces with friends, preserve their experiences and share the stories of what they’ve discovered in games.  The site builds upon the technologies developed for the popular 360voice and GuildCafe websites.

“As we developed GamerDNA.com, we discovered that we could be so much more than yet another destination website for gamers,” explained Jon Radoff, CEO of GamerDNA Inc.  “When we realized that we could become every player’s portable gaming identity—complete with a history of gameplay, experiences and preferences—it changed everything about our roadmap.  It isn’t just about our own properties.  We want to make every game and every gaming website more personal and rewarding.”

The company benefits from an initial registered member community of about 250,000 derived from the 360voice and GuildCafe websites.  In addition, the company has already secured exclusive distribution agreements with other Web publishers to deliver GamerDNA-enabled content and applications to over two million users per month.

“OnHollywood is showcasing the companies that are creating new opportunities in entertainment technologies including games, video and music ,” said Tony Perkins, CEO of AlwaysOn, the event host for the OnHollywood conference.  “GamerDNA is an innovative business that combines disruptive technology with a unique distribution model.”

The GamerDNA platform (which includes Web-services that allow games and websites to incorporate gaming histories, preferences and identity into their user experiences) is currently in closed development with a limited number of partners.  However, anyone may now take part in the community that’s being created by visiting: http://www.gamerdna.com

About GamerDNA Inc.

GamerDNA is building a community for the millions of people around the world who are passionate about the immersive, engaging experiences that can be found through games. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, GamerDNA is funded by Flybridge Capital Partners and led by a team of online media and computer games veterans from Eprise, New York Times Digital and Electronic Arts Mythic. More information is available at: http://www.gamerdna.com

You may have missed the press release. We’ve ordered a Frostmourne sword, and we’re going to give it to someone who uses the GamerDNA panel to upload an image of their character.

Log in. Open your panel. Upload an image (screenshot, stick figure drawing, a photo of yourself in costume) of your World of Warcraft character. Go to http://www.gamerdna.com/saycheese. Choose that image from the dropdown list in the upper right hand corner.

That’s it.

If you went to more trouble to create your portrait than a stick figure or a screenshot, you’ll automatically be entered into a drawing for WOW game cards when you enter the Frostmourne contest.

Tell your friends

I just wanted to chime in and let everyone know that we are aware of a few issues following the cut over to the new GamerDNA.com site.

1. Guild event scheduling is hurting
   We have a known bug that is making the scheduling of guild events not function correctly. Something is causing the dates to change after submitting them. We are working to track down the issue. It turned into a bigger snare than we had thought it would be, but we are getting there.
2. Browser support
   Unfortunately, our support for Internet Explorer 6.0 is degrading as we move forward. This is mainly because all of us use Firefox 2, and IE 7 for development… and we double check in Safari. So outside of those three browsers, We are a small team and we simply don’t have the resources to test all pages and functionality in every browser. We will be continuing to work to improve support in some areas and making the site more friendly to as many browsers as possible, but using the latest version of your browser will always help!
3. Profile page appearing too wide
   Speaking of browsers, in Firefox 3 RC, Safari, and Opera 9.x the profile page, member home, and game pages are stretching beyond the screen width. This is due to the picture strip at the top of those pages not behaving the rules of layout! We are aware and working on a fix.
4. Performance
   We have seen complaints about site performance and will be continuing to tweak servers and pages to get things running smoothly. From our side things seem to be running fairly well with a few moments of weirdness. We are looking into the weirdness.
5. Login issues
   A few people have reported that they are getting logged out of the site at random times… or that they are unable to log in. We are investigating this as well, but it is hard to recreate so the going is slow.
6. Search Engine
   Our site search engine is still turned off as we look at higher performing alternatives. The one we were using throughout our closed beta up and died when we went live with it. But we will raise it from the dead as soon as possible.

We understand some of you are upset with the bugs and we are doing everything we can to get them understood, fixed and deployed. We are doing another build today to get a few fixes in and will continue to do builds and hot fixes all week as we track things down.

That is it for now! A special thanks to everyone sending in positive feedback too… we dig that… keeps us smiling over here when the flood of bugs becomes unbearable! Everyone at gamerDNA is a gamer… and just wants to build a fun service and community that we ourselves find compelling. With all of your help submitting bugs and being patient, we will get there!

Any comments can be sent through the Feedback & Support form.

The relaunch has made some of our features better than ever. One of those features is the game page. Take the 300 pound gorilla, World of Warcraft. Rather, take the GamerDNA take on WoW: http://www.gamerdna.com/game/World-of-Warcraft

The world doesn’t need another WoW news site, and so we didn’t make one. Instead, this page weaves together all the strands from our members who play the game - the experiences, the screenshots, the profiles, and a quick list of the news stories our members have voted up as being important to them. Personally, I enjoy the Stories the most.

I have a friend, we were coworkers for years, and she had me over to her house one weekend. I was telling a story from a old online game - the gist was that my guildmates had played one hell of a practical joke on what amounted to the entire freaking server. She stared at me, and called her husband in. She told me to repeat the tale. Yep, you guessed it - they had been there. Small world.

It’s a silly story, maybe, but it’s one more tie binding us together, one more common thread. How many more stories like this will I find, especially if I put that story into my profile, and it feeds into the page for that old game?

We are having a few issues with our domain forwarding that should be pointing old addresses to our new address. So if you have a guild site hosted with us under the guildcafe.com domain, it is currently not accessible at that location. Please use GUILDNAME.gamerdna.com. That should get you to your site for now. Eventually they will all redirect automatically, but for the moment, that is not occurring.

Sorry for the inconvenience… we are working to solve the issue. Thank you for your patience!

EDIT: Fixed! Thanks for your patience! Your old guild links (XXX.guildcafe.com) should redirect properly to XXX.gamerdna.com now.

GamerDNA is off and running! Of course, with the sheer number of tasks we had to accomplish, we do have a few technical issues. The guys are going to be up all night getting things put in shipshape order. If you encounter any problems, please use our brand new ticketing system: http://www.gamerdna.com/support

The techies have had quite a day, trying to migrate thousands of bits of old site into the new and improved look and URL. If you can see this, we’re coming back on line. And if you can’t, but you can still hear me? You’re psychic, and should run straight to Las Vegas.

We’re changing our name to reflect that we’re a lot more than guild hosting. But I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea - guild hosting is still a major priority for us. I got involved with this company because I believe that guilds/clans/kinships/corporations, whatever you want to call it, are the levers that move the world of multiplayer gaming. Furthermore, the intrepid cat herders that lead these groups are the fulcrums.

Talk is cheap. Employees are not cheap, and scrappy startups like GamerDNA have a hundred places to put every dollar. We aren’t in the position to hire anyone who isn’t crucial to our mission. So, let me introduce you to the proof that GamerDNA still has gaming groups at the core of our mission. She’s a programmer named Valerie. Read on!

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It’s the silence before the storm of switching to GamerDNA FULL TIME:

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If you are in the closed beta you can see this… but for those of you out there in non-guildcafe land, here is a sneak peek at the impending homepage:

A few things worth noting:

1. This screen shot is what you see if you are logged out or coming to the page for the first time. If you are logged in, you don’t see some of the join/login elements.
2. The goal of this homepage is to really communicate what the “new” site is about. While group.clan.guild hosting is still extrememly important with it’s own dedicated resources, the aspects of YOU as a gamer… your history… activity… stories… the things that make up your GamerDNA haven’t been fully explained. So this is our opportunity.
3. The goal of the homepage will change over time. Right now it has to explain the site to new members, but also our existing members… over time the content will grow to explain ourselves less, and showcase the community more.
4. Your member home (watchlist) is available from the quick links just as it always has been, but the home link in the nav now goes to this page.
5. You can see the company blog on the page… so if you want to find this content, it is easier!
6. There is an Activity strand on the page showing people who have added new games to their profile. This is a small example of a whole array of “strands” we will be building that you can embed on other sites, gadgets, facebook, etc.

So that is it for now. Work continues as we press forward for our open beta launch. A special thanks to everyone sending in feedback. It has been really helpful. Keep it coming!