Thinking Apes, Silicon Angels, and the KAW Grand Strategy

Introduction

Dear Devs, dear friends, dear all:

As I embark on my third year as a resident of the KAW community, I thought it an opportune moment to reflect upon the several hundred hours I have devoted to this venture in the past and my hopes and aspirations for the next several hundred hours. This essay is reflective of the times in which it is written – namely the current and ongoing heated debate surrounding the Estoc Wars and the rules and mechanisms thereof – but my goal in writing this is more ambitious, to offer my perspective on the nature of the KAW community and our symbiotic relationship with the Devs.

The Bottom Line: Cash is King

It is a popular theme on the forums to make untoward comments about the Devs and their appetite for Crystals and Nobility purchases. But without these purchases the Devs will move on to developing other products and the world of KAW will just slowly fade away.
Fortunately, the Devs are currently devoting significant resources to improving KAW and we should all be grateful and thankful to the Devs for investing in our world. But let’s be realistic, ATA is not a charity. ATA is an entrepreneurial venture whose essential purpose is to maximize shareholder value, to generate an adequate return for the investors. It is public knowledge that ATA is funded by Angel Investors from Silicon Valley and these investors are looking for an IRR of at least 20%. That is a lot of health crystals!

Moreover, one would expect ATA to fund its further growth and expansion (incl. faster servers, I hope) via a round of Venture Capital financing in the short to medium term, and that represents a lot more health crystals…. Why exactly we KAW residents care about this is discussed below, keep reading!

Getting Ahead in the World of KAW

If we accept for the moment that the LB rankings are a representation of success in KAW, how one gets ahead in KAW is simple: Either one spends a lot of time or a lot of money. (Understanding game mechanics is also relevant but, honestly, at present a distant third as a decisive factor.) Those who really, really crave for that top ranking must evidently invest both an enormous amount of time and significant sums of real money.

Setting to one side that small universe of people with both unlimited time and bottomless financial resources, my observation is that most residents of KAW either (a) have plenty of time to play but little or no free cash to invest; or (b) have the financial resources to make frequent crystal and nobility purchases; however, playing time is significantly curtailed by certain real life phenomena such as work and family, et cetera.

My thesis is that the players, who comprise category (b), albeit perhaps in the minority in terms of absolute numbers, are the ones who bear a disproportionate share of the financing of KAW. The problem - as I see it - is that certain aspects of the game mechanics are increasingly favoring those in category (a). It simply is not possible to KAW while doing certain things, e.g. treating patients, meeting clients, delivering presentations, going to court, lecturing and so on and so forth (you get the idea). Moreover, KAWing is often incompatible with quality family time. The category (b) players, to stay in sync with category (a) players, make-up for the fewer hours invested into gameplay with a greater reliance on purchases of crystals and the like. The Devs should like this scenario and support this dynamic, as the category (b) players are the ones who are financing the free riders, who play KAW with little or no financial contribution.

What is Getting Ahead in KAW?

The LB, “Top Kingdoms – Overall,” has the subtext: “The most powerful kingdoms in the land.” This is not an accurate description. The LB is some measure of “success” based upon some algorithm adopted by the Devs. Factored into the LB rankings are such things as “Allie Market Value” and “Number of Battles Won.” These factors, however, say little or nothing about how powerful the Kingdom is in battle.

First observation: there should be separate rankings of power, taking into account only build, permanent items, bonuses, BFA, and perhaps equipment. (Moreover, an amalgamation of this pure power ranking could be used to rank clans for Estoc War matching, which should lead to better matchups.)

As an aside, many members of the KAW community watch their rankings. Seeing one’s progression in the rankings maintains interest in the game, especially for goal oriented individuals. While it may have been plenty two years ago to have leader boards of the top 10,000, this is no longer enough. It is now possible for someone to actively play for many months without approaching the top 10,000, which breads frustration.

Second observation: Understanding the game, approaching the game as a bit of an intellectual (strategy and tactics) and social (e.g. leadership, organizational behavior) challenge (rather than merely hitting the “repeat” button) is rewarded very poorly in the rankings.

Allow me to interject a personal note here. I learned of KAW some 2 years ago from the President of a University where I teach. As a professor of mathematics, he found it interesting trying to find the optimal builds and strategies. Wars were commonplace then and the core of KAW gameplay required and rewarded players knowledgeable about the game. KAW has moved away from this, in particular with the advent of EBs; however, the new Estoc War mechanism, if properly implemented, should stem this tide.
Winning wars requires what KAW now lacks, the need for strategy, tactics, leadership and organization building. For me – and for many others – the success or failure of the new Estoc war system will be decisive in terms of future KAW involvement.

Clearly the Devs (as evidenced by their substantial efforts) also see the new war system as the panacea that will spark KAW with new life and vigor. But this has not happened to a significant extent. Why is that? Read on.

How Estoc’s Edge can Rejuvenate KAW

KAW is – or should be – a game that is first and foremost interactive between the players, assisted by the features of the program as devised by the Devs, based on industry studies and feedback from the community. There are countless on-line games based on the human vs. machine model; there is no reason why KAW should emulate them. The Estoc wars can once again make the human vs. human element central to “life” and “success” in KAW.

In order for the Estoc’s Edge to facilitate the transformation of KAW back to a strategic and tactical battle between humans, I respectfully suggest that the following criteria need to be addressed and satisfied:

The rewards from winning Estoc Wars are such that over time it becomes near impossible to be “successful” in KAW without regularly prevailing in Estoc Wars.

The rules of the Estoc Wars and the rewards earned therein are compatible with the social philosophy of KAW, namely with the social interaction between players in and out of clan.

The rules of the Estoc Wars are structured in such a way as to allow for wide participation of KAW residents of all strengths in KAW and from all walks of life in the real world.

KAW remains true to the axiom that it is a game of achievement and not a game of luck.
My 2 cents worth on each of these three categories follows.

EE Rewards

The significant increase in rewards from EBs and perhaps other rewards would appear to be a step in the right direction. If a level 5 EE represents, for example, a 100% increase in plunder and drops and what not, kingdoms and clans without the EE will over time certainly falter in comparison to those with such an edge. The only comment here is that if the EE wars are to play a central role in future KAW “success” then the rewards must encourage people to want to play.

The Red Paladin items also seem to be a step in the direction of offering an advantage to those who win Estoc Wars.

EE Rewards and Clan Membership

I take the view that the most unfortunate aspect of the present EE war scenario is the penalty imposed on Kingdoms that move from one Clan to another. While I appreciate that the Devs seek to foster Clan cohesion, the way of achieving this that the Devs have adopted flies in the face of what KAW is and what makes KAW attractive. We visit our friends in other Clans. We visit our allies in other Clans. We visit our owners in other Clans. We take turns training new players in our training Clans. We help our allied Clans finish EBs. We visit random Clans to make new friends. We visit other Clans to join clan chat to discuss and resolve issues. The list goes on. Placing any penalty on moving between Clans is plainly wrong and in terms of garnering interest for Estoc Wars totally counterproductive.
There has been discussion of a timer resolution to this issue, i.e. the ability to leave one’s Clan for a limited period of time without penalty. This seems like only a partial solution and unnecessarily complicated. My proposal is different: let each Kingdom have a “Home Clan” and limit it so that each Kingdom can participate in EE Wars only and exclusively from that “Home Clan.” This promotes Clan cohesion without limiting the social fluidity of the KAW community. If a Kingdom switches Home Clans, there would of course be a penalty, perhaps even a total loss of any EE bonus. And this should be relatively easy for the Devs to program.

Estoc Wars for all Kingdoms

As discussed above, it is impossible for many folks to KAW at certain times due to real life commitments and it is counterproductive for the KAW community and for the financial wellbeing of the Devs to have an Estoc War system that excludes such people.

If the “Home Clan” model is adopted, it would be possible for individuals to participate or not in a particular EE War without penalty. Those who can be involved would be in their Home Clan, this Clan would sign-up for the EE War, at a fixed time before the start of the EE War the Rosters would lock, Kingdoms in the given Clan who are not in their Home Clan would be automatically kicked (this also solves the problem of inadvertent leakers), the match-ups are calculated, and off to War we go.

The Veil of Evasion partially accomplishes this but is a very rough fix, giving people an all-or-nothing option (in for the entire war or out).

This still leaves one problem: what about those who could participate in most but not all of an Estoc War? Again, I would argue that it is counterproductive to exclude such people. For example, if an EE war starts at 21:00; however, I have a night class and teach until 21:30, under the current model I either sit out the entire war or leak like crazy for the first half hour. Or I need to travel to work or put kids to bed or whatever. Neither leaking nor being forced to sit out the entire war is the best result.

My proposal is as follows: allow the use of Mith to go into stasis for a while (cannot hit or be hit). Perhaps one hour of stasis at the cost of one Mith, a new spell of sorts. For a 4 hour Estoc War a maximum of 1 or 2 hours of self-induced stasis; for an 8 hour Estoc War a maximum of 2 or 3, etc. These spells could be used individually (i.e. 1 hour each, several times) or all at once (for a 2 or 3 hour period of stasis). If one or more spells are used before the Estoc War begins, they would be effective for the corresponding period of time at the outset of the Estoc War. This would counterbalance the lack of flexibility associated with the auto-join feature adopted for the Estoc Wars. This is, after all, similar to real life. Troops in war are rotated on the front lines; some troops rotate for a period of time from the battle to rest.

This raises a question, as to whether a Kingdom in self-induced stasis would regenerate. Again with reference to real life, I would propose that it does regenerate, just as resting soldiers regain their strength. Yes, this raises another tactical opportunity and complexity, which is desirable to make EE Wars more challenging.

KAW is Not a Game of Luck

As outlined above, what differentiates KAW from similar games is the combination of strategy

 

The end of my essay - was cut off

KAW is Not a Game of Luck

As outlined above, what differentiates KAW from similar games is the combination of strategy

 

The end of the essay. Third time's the charm, I hope:

KAW is Not a Game of Luck

As outlined above, what differentiates KAW from similar games is the combination of strategy and tactics against human players in a social environment based upon a series of algorithms. In this regard, the random fails in the enchantment of equipment have no place in KAW – enchanting as currently implemented is like throwing dice. By analogy, it would be like adding a random element to the game of chess (if you want to move your Queen, you may lose your turn, and you may even lose your Queen). It does not make the game better or more attractive when a player receives Inferno in an EB or Mith in an Estoc War, only to have these winnings (and often much more, even weeks’ worth of winnings) randomly disappear in the red tinted smoke of a failed enchantment screen.

Conclusion

I respectfully suggest that the proposals outlined above will (1) encourage more “category (b)” individuals to be active in KAW, which is, from the perspective of the symbiotic relationship between the Devs and residents of KAW, highly desirable for all involved; and (2) help to retain the unique nature of KAW by supporting and fostering an interpersonal KAW dynamic that stresses people over computers, strategy over randomness, and creates in KAW a fun playground for all its inhabitants.