| Today's online video games (MMORPG's) are | | | | players in many games are almost always either guild |
| extraordinarily complex worlds that take a lot of time | | | | leaders or in a leadership position. You can even |
| to master. Whether you play a couple of hours a | | | | assign other people to gather information and keep |
| week or a couple of hours every day there are some | | | | notes for you and for your guild. This is a great |
| fundamental rules you should follow to maximize what | | | | savings of your time.Kingdom Key 3: Keeping track of |
| you achieve within these online worlds.Kingdom Key 1: | | | | the enormous amount of information. You are playing |
| Tracking and managing your time spent This is the | | | | a game that is enormously complex. It is probably |
| most important key. Regardless of how much time | | | | more complex than the city you live in. There are more |
| you play you have to make the maximum of your | | | | people, more tasks, more quests, more locations and |
| time. This means keeping track of what is going on | | | | more opportunities. Do you know every location and |
| and what you learn in the game then applying a simple | | | | every street in your city? Probably not, and when you |
| rule: Do what makes the most use of your limited time. | | | | need to find something where do you look? In the |
| Let me give you an example of what I mean. Often | | | | Yellow pages or on map quest! You need to create |
| times you will embark on a quest or harvest and mine | | | | your own yellow pages for the game you play. Get a |
| raw materials. Let's say you do a specific task that | | | | brand new empty notebook and take extensive notes. |
| takes you 1 hour to complete and your reward is 1,000 | | | | Where are the interesting things? Run into something |
| gold. This is great. You now understand that for this | | | | unusual and don't know what it is all about? Write a |
| particular task one hour is worth 1,000 gold. But this isn't | | | | note about it in your book. I guarantee you that at |
| the end of your learning. There are many other tasks | | | | some point in the future you will need that note! Draw |
| that you can do. Maybe there is a simple harvesting | | | | small sketches and take down all sorts of information |
| task that reaps you 100 gold every five minutes. Well if | | | | you discover. Did you find an interesting mine or a nice |
| you do the math on this task you will see that in one | | | | plant that you can harvest? Did you find a den of |
| hour you can actually earn 1,200 gold. This is a 20% | | | | goblins and can't fight them yet? Having all this down in |
| improvement of your time. By doing this you will | | | | a notebook will make you so much better as you |
| actually be squeezing in an extra hour of game time | | | | progress through the game. This step is hard for some |
| every five hours. See how this can be significant? This | | | | people to do because it means actually taking your |
| careful tracking of your time also works in the other | | | | hand off the mouse and not playing the game for a |
| direction. There may be a complex task that takes | | | | minute but it is well worth the effort. It is also a very |
| you a five full hours to complete. But this task rewards | | | | good idea to make notes about other players in the |
| you with 10,000 gold. If you were to do the original | | | | game. Did you meet somebody that is an expert on a |
| one-hour task for five hours you would have earned | | | | certain topic or quest? Write that person's character |
| 5,000 gold. This more complex task has earned you | | | | name down and a quick note about them. You will be |
| twice as much gold.The simple rule here is to keep | | | | able to look them up in the future when you need that |
| notes on the various tasks you do and to record how | | | | type of information.Kingdom Key 4: Do your Out of |
| much of a reward these tasks earn you. You will | | | | Game ResearchBut Don't Cheat! Every popular online |
| quickly see which tasks earn you more money for the | | | | game has lots of websites, forums, and chat rooms |
| time you spend. I will often do a very specific task for | | | | affiliated with it. People are very passionate about |
| one full hour and include all the ancillary necessities in | | | | these games and many people give lots of tips, hints, |
| the task, which might mean trips to the shop, repair of | | | | and ideas about the games. Spend the time out of the |
| equipment, buying, selling or anything else that the task | | | | game surfing the Internet for good information that will |
| entails. At the end of one hour I have an exact count | | | | help you solve quests, find resources, and make more |
| of what I earned. This gives me accurate data that I | | | | money faster. But, never do anything unethical, don't |
| can compare to other tasks.Kingdom Key 2: | | | | use cheat programs, automated programs, or any |
| Harnessing the Power of other People This key is also | | | | other type of software or information that the |
| very important whether you are new to an online | | | | developers of the game would consider a violation. |
| game or a seasoned player. There are people in the | | | | And always avoid any website that offers these kinds |
| game that know things about it that you don't know. | | | | of cheats. If a website will help you cheat the game |
| This is plain and simple, and you have to get them to | | | | company they will have no problem cheating you too. |
| help you to get better faster. There are three things | | | | Some of these websites lure you to them then |
| that you can do to maximize your benefit from other | | | | secretly load programs, viruses and worms on your |
| people. The first thing you should do is join a guild or | | | | computer so they can steal your game password and |
| clan as soon as possible. It should be a medium to | | | | login information. Trying to cheat is just not worth this |
| large clan because this will give you access to a wider | | | | risk. At the minimum you will get caught by the game |
| variety of people, and it should be a clan that is in | | | | company and banned and at the worst your account |
| alignment with your goals for the game. If you really | | | | could be hijacked by an unscrupulous webmaster and |
| like PK (Player-killer) action then you should join this | | | | you could log in to your character one day to find all |
| type of guild. If you really like magic or a certain type | | | | your stuff missing and your account emptied |
| of character you should join a guild that focuses on | | | | out.Kingdom Key 5: Remember to have fun!It is after |
| that. The second thing you should do is join online | | | | all just a game and that's the whole point. If keeping |
| forums that are devoted to the game. Forums have | | | | track of all this stuff becomes a chore to you then |
| an absolute wealth of knowledge about games and | | | | scale it back a bit and spend time just enjoying the |
| they give you a quick understanding of the people that | | | | game and chatting with other characters. Acquiring the |
| are knowledgeable. You can quickly form a friendship | | | | skills I have outlined here takes time. They are habits |
| with an experienced player after just a few friendly | | | | you will get into over time. Just don't give up on them. |
| forum comments and posts. The third thing you can | | | | Do them a little at a time and before you know it you |
| do, and this is the most difficult, is to start your own | | | | will have a great compilation of information about the |
| guild or clan. If you have the people skills and leadership | | | | game and you will gain a reputation as one of the best |
| ability this can be the absolute best thing you can do | | | | players in the game.Will Kalif has been a guild leader in |
| because you can guide groups of people toward | | | | three different online games and has attained a |
| tasks that benefit your guild and you can achieve your | | | | respectable rank in several others. |
| personal goals at the same time. The wealthiest | | | | |