The shiok part for Mr Bangbang

Well guys & gals,

Since babywaky has been spending much posts to talk about her new look, I shall also bring out the latest look of Mr Bangbang, at a much lower cost ($300,000 dens lesser) then hers but yet packed in more items.


Now that we've been walking through this path of buying in-game items, I do notice TWO TRENDS

(1) Association with real life character
People who know me would probably be able to tell straight off that the clothes and items I purchased are very similar to me in real life. This would be something that I would buy in real life too and it makes me happy to see that I can get to look more like myself and feel better when playing after that. It's the same with babywaky as you look at her game character. Hence it's interesting to note that each item speaks somewhat of the player's real life character.

(2) IMBA pricing for clothes and Items
The interesting thing about the game items is that there is a huge disparity between the male and female items. By and large, female items cost more to purchase and therefore most likely have to result in buying of A-cash cards. The mentality behind that would probably be that ladies will not be stingy to spend therefore it appears that the game is targeting female consumerism. How true that is of the fashion market as well where they keep prices of female clothes low so that they are more enticed to want to buy. Both approaches also induces consumerism, though the pricing maybe be in two varying directions.

So in consideration, the OBSERVATION is this: this is more then just a game!!! It's a consumerism business!

My NEW Look (Part 2)

How did it happen? How did I manage to earn 350k so fast?

Well, this boy comes to our centre to study, do his homework, get us to help tutor him in his studies... (yes, we have 'tutors', people who know the subjects well enough to render help to secondary and sometimes even JC student at our centre). He also comes to the centre to play computer games with a group of friends and cyber wellness mentors once a week.

Yesterday, he was having some time off studies to play Audition. He had just sat for his chemistry practical exam earlier that day. He came to ask us to help him with the solution to a chemistry problem.

I happen to casually mention something about having to spend a long time playing Audition before I can change my character's clothes like he did to his since I'm not spending any money on A-cash.

The Conversation (not exact words but the gist of it is here):
Let's just call him ZK in this case

Me: Wow...I think I'll take months before I can buy new clothes for my character... I've actually worked out the sums already...
ZK: Huh? Why need so long? What you want to buy?
Me: Really...I calculated already...I need around 400-500k dens...
ZK: No need so long to earn!... 400k can earn quite fast...
ZK: Wait ah... I have a Chemistry question to ask you...

(Getting a piece of paper to show me the chemistry question...)
Me: You can earn much faster because you play so well!! (my definition of faster was 2-3x but he didnt know, his definition was many times more!)
Me: I've 18k dens already, I'm aiming to earn 30k, settling for a less expensive style, so that I can change my horrible hairstyle first...
ZK: 30k??!!? Err...you log into your account... I play for you la... (his definition of fast is 100x faster than I thought)
Me: Huh? Really??
ZK: Yup...you can change your hairstyle today...
Me: Serious? Okie.. (I still didnt really understand how fast he can earn dens but the thought of being able to change my hairstyle that same day got me logging on to my account immediately)

And he earned that 30k in less than 10 min!!...And so he carried on to help me with the next 320k in the next hour... More than enough for me to purchase not only a new hairstyle, but a new set of clothes and shoes as well!!... I had a complete makeover!

Picture this:
I earn at best ~150 dens per game; He earns ~11,000 - 35,000 dens per game!!!
Let's just be 'conservative' and say he gets an average of 15k dens per game (That's already 100x faster than me!)

I've always thought the max. one can earn per game is ~250 dens per game (if you top every time you play with a full 6 players game). But this guy showed me there are many other modes of gameplay for earning lots of dens if you are really good at the game (a pro like him).

Well...so that's how I earned my 350k dens that day and got my NEW look... He helped me earn dens using my account while I worked on the chemistry question to explain the solution to him.

I'm really happy with that... =D

My NEW Look (Part 1)

As I've mentioned, I earn an average of 150 dens per song (or gameplay). Doing some sums in my previous post, I also estimated that it'll take me at least 10 months to earn enough dens for a change of clothes for my character.

Well... check out my new look! (on the right)

I just earned 350k dens in an hour yesterday!!

How did I do that?

Well, I 'earned' that through other means - I tutored someone Chemistry while he helped me earn the dens. (You may consider it a more positive form of 'gold-farming')

It was a win-win for both of us. He needed help in Chemistry and I needed help to earn this ridiculously huge amount of dens... (at least it was for me)

Well, I've NEVER thought of 'exploiting' my friends who come to me for help in studies. I just help them.

But yesterday, this super-pro Audition player volunteered to help me! And he 'opened' my eyes to the amazing ways to earn dens in the game!

Story continues in the next post.

Earning 'dens'...

I've done my sums to find out how long it'll take me to earn enough dens to change my character's clothes...

Well, being a newbie, but a relatively 'good' noob compared to my friends (hehe...sorry guys...), I earn an average of 150 dens per song I play. I also earn 1,000 dens every time I get my license for the next level.

Other estimations:
Duration of each gameplay or song = 5 min
Average playing time per week = 5 hours/ week

Estimated dens earned per week ~10,000 dens

So to earn 400,000 dens, I'll take 40 weeks or 10 months.
I'll have to grind for 10 months and wait patiently to earn the dens to change my clothes. (And I may not even hve time to play 5 hours/week sometimes).

10 months!! No wonder some (or most youths) would rather get the A-cash cards for instant gratification.

Bangbang's audition journey

Yoz peepz,

Finally I can blog about my very own audition journey. Actually I was the first of the cyberwellness team to venture into audition for the very reason that I love music and dance related games. And I am glad that my other team players are venturing because it makes it all the more fun to be playing Audition. To me, the game is just spelled SHIOK!!!

S IMPLE

H IGHLY ENGAGING

I NTERESTING MUSIC

O RIGINAL

K ICK ASS DUDE!!!

After some time of playing, I finally got myself upgraded from a "Stiffy" to a "Novice" and the feeling is undescribable. But that actually makes me more motivated to want to reach the next license level and pit my hands and rhythm to see how fast and easy I will get it. Currently at this level, the license was relatively easy to get so it wasn't that great a challenge yet and knowing myself, if the license was more difficult to get, I may find myself playing more and the satisfaction derived after will definitely be greater then the current one.

hmmmm.... does that spell more audition-ing for me?!?!

Maybe.....

Maybe not...

Let's wait for the next update which will be when I get the next license.

Till then.... rock on!!!

Omelette Plateau's Audition Experience

I started playing Audition a week ago seeing how 'passionate' wakylala was with it. (HAHA)

I spent a long time signing up for an audition account, though I won't regret doing so.
First, I had to get an Asiasoft Passport Account. Thereafter, I had to activate my Audition account and create a character. I think I spent half an hour on that before I finally managed to create both the Asiasoft and Audition account.

I named my character omelette_plateau, which is actually a combination of my favourite food which is omelette and my favourite subject geography. (BEAMS)

While I created the character, I get to chose some basic apparel for omelette_plateau before embarking on my first dance experience in the virtual world.

My first few attempts were horrible, missing manymanymany keys and omelette_plateau stood there most of the time, while others were dancing away.

After a few more plays, I improved and I enjoyed the game more. I can even choose my favourite Korean songs such as tracks from Wondergirls to dance to!! (and sing to sometimes..haha)

What’s more, when one or more of your friends join in the fun and dance together in the same room, we can complain about how fast the song is and cheer when we play the game well. (of course hearing lots of each other's 'ohhs' and 'ahhs' when we miss the beat)

My take on the game?
It is good entertainment though gaming does have its own negative consequences. But it is still a stark fact it does serve as a good ice-breaker. (:

Written by: Omelette Plateau
Edited by: Wakylala

(Omelette plateau is one of our volunteers who started playing Audition with us. She's a sociology undergrad-to-be)

I've obtained my Novice License!!!

I am officially 'promoted' to a NOVICE today.

Heyz 'STIFFY' Bang Bang, Semukun, Cyberyappy, Gnez... get the license soon... dun remain as *noobs* for so long!!! =P

A novice license is obtainable when you reach 100%EXP for level 5. Without the license, you cannot earn any expereince points. It is like a license to level up to lvl 6.

To obtain my 'Novice' License, I have to pay 200 dens and complete the task (as shown below) - to acheive an overall score above 200,000 with at least 10 perfect dance sequences including 2 consecutive perfect sequences.

Dressing Up (Part II)

After asking some youths at the centre, I found out that I can buy an item 'indefinitely' using A-cash.

If you have read my previous post, it means that I won't have to pay $5/week to 'maintain' my new style. I'll just have to pay more to have them 'indefinitely'. (well, indefinitely as long as the game doesn't 'close down')

So I did my sums again...

To change from

Sassy Cropped Hairdo: 6,600 @cash

Pink/White Apple Print Top: 9,000 @cash

Belted Jeans: 9,000 @cash

Sweet Heels: 3,600 @cash

Total: 28,200@cash

I'll need to buy a $30 A-cash card that would cost me SGD$30.70 (incl. GST)

Seriously, I think I'd rather spend this $30 on something more 'tangible'...

...like REAL clothes for myself?? ...

...treat myself to a good meal (REAL food)???...

These items for my character in the game look good... but they are ultimately still a bunch of 1s and Os in the computer; and in case you are unaware, these virtual items bought with YOUR money is NOT yours after purchase - In theory, it still belongs to the game developer.

I have decided.

These virtual items only deserve virtual currency - 1s & Os for 1s & Os.

The only REAL currency I'd spend on these items is TIME... Time spent playing to earn the in-game currency. And not just any 'time' but my 'entertainment time' so that I won't neglect other aspects of my life.

More about this in subsequent posts... =)

Flashdance!

I have never been very fond of "Audition"... not because I hate dance or music. In fact, I love music, and dance had been in my family for a long long time (My dad and mom met through a dance class). I even want to go learn contemporary dance this year... but that is another story for another post.

However, I just don't get Audition. Even though I love dance a little, I just can't seem to understand how pressing buttons-indicated-by-arrows can be fun. So when Wakylala and a bunch of 13 yr old started playing and raging about it (again!), I just thought, "What the heck, let's try it!" After a few games, this is what I found out about Audition that draws me!!!!! AH!!!

1. I like the competitive nature of the game, where you try to out-do one another by trying to score as much points as possible.

2. It is not fun and friendly as it looks, with all the cute animation and cool dance moves. I don't really care much about those, I just WANNA GET TOP SCORE!!! ROAR!!!!!

3. The music do get to you. I am now listening to JJ Lin music, after listening to "I'm always online" on Audition for the past few days.

So well, this is my take on Audition... so don't disturb me.. while I start training my fingers now... I MUST GET TO LEVEL 10 SEQUENCE!!! ROAR!!!

In this picture, I am in FIRST PLACE!! But sadly, Wakylala took over... SHARKS!! ROAR!!!!

Dressing Up...

Well...like most role-playing games... you 'identify' with your character.
For me, one of the first things I wanted to do was to 'change' the way my character looks...

That means to the 'fashion mall' for some shopping...

In the game, there's a FASHION MALL where you can purchase 'skin lotion' to change your character's skin colour, change her hairstyle, buy clothes, shoes and accessories etc...

And so there I was at the mall...happily shopping and 'clicking away' to 'try on' the clothes and check out how Wakylala looks in the various hairstyles.

The items can be purchased using
Option 1: 'dens' (in-game currency) or
Option 2: A-cash (@cash; obtained with using real $$ to buy A-cash cards)

Finally ... these are the new looks I'd like for my character...

Option 1:



Hairstyle: 50,000 dens

Pink/White Striped Top: 150,000 dens

White Pants: 150,000 dens

White shoes with ribbon: 150,000 dens


REAL cost: many hours of playing time (approx. >100 hours)

To my astonishment, it's gonna 'cost' me at least 500,000 dens for that. This means I have to train my character very hard for quite some time to earn enough 'dens' for the 'make-over'.


Not willing to wait that long, I decided to check out Option 2 and find out how much it'll cost me to pay some money for a new look...

Option 2:


Hairstyle: 1,200 @cash (lasts for 7 days)

Pink/White Top: 1,200 @cash (lasts for 7 days)

Dark Blue Jeans with Maroon Belt: 1,500 @cash (last for 7 days)

White shoes: 1,200 @cash (lasts for 7 days)

REAL Cost: Real money to buy @cash games card (exhange rate: SGD$10.70 = 10,000 @cash)

This will set me back by at least 5,000 @cash and it'll only last 7 days!!!

No way am I gonna spend $5 a week just to have my virtual character look this way!!! (but you'd be surprised to know many youths playing the game actually would)

Looks like I've got to stick with my current out look until I earn that 500k dens ... that'll translate to hundreds of hours gaming!!! (depending on your level of proficiency in the game)
And that'll take me many months to earn!!!

Patience...

The start of my 'dance training'

I created my Audition character on 14th April 2009.

It also marked the NEW revolution at our centre...
I got into 'Audition' to play with a group of 13 year olds who come regularly to our centre... And soon, 4 other staff and volunteers also joined in our new lunch-time recreation... =)

Well... 3 days into my 'new craze', at level 3, I finally got to play with the group (who seemed like pros whenever they come to the centre to play together) and guess what... I actually 'out-danced' most of them to achieve a 1st runner up ranking!!! (well...I supposed it's because they picked a 'slower' song..hee)

Introducing... .


Wakylala...
Currently a level 5 'stiffy'... or in other words... *noob

Watch this blog for more updates as I explore this game world of dance!!