One reason I am focused on this particular game
is that it is owned by a company whose stock I
own. An investment guru named Robert Hsu
believes it is on track to continue its present
course of growth and profits, and it is already up
a bunch since he first recommended it. They
have locked up the exclusive rights to Field of
Honor -- a 3-D multiplayer online game. Zacks
(an online investment company somewhat akin
to Standard and Poors) rates it a "sell", giving
NCTY its lowest ranking (5); but this appears to
be the automatic result of the stock having
already far exceeded its precalculated "target
price"; in other words, they were clueless and
the reason for the low ranking is simple math.

I wouldn't buy stock in any video game company.
A couple of bad games and they are history. Yesterdays
star companies are bankrupt today.


WoW has lost quite a few members since it first started.
They are now starting to advertise 'free trial' versions
of the game... a sure fire sign of a dying game.


Hey -- I got a free trial version of Rybka: does this
mean the program is already doomed to be super-
seded by "Wally-chess", "Fred's Free Chess" and
"Chessmaster 1.0"? ;D

When mmorpg's start giving free trials away it is because
they are losing subscriptions. No successful mmorpg has
given away 'free trials' when they are first released.

Ah, so the cost is not really that much of a problem
if players can jump ship at will and try new games
which come along, then. This WoW game, and a
few others like it, are played heavily in China, by
young people who are not exactly wealthy. The
cost per hour is relatively small. Much like text
messaging, even a small fee, if multiplied by many
millions of units, adds up.

those players are called 'farmers' they grab items in game
that everyone want and sell them for real life cash... its
a lucrative job for people in china and the bane of
mmorpg creators. Often they build characters up to the
maximum level and then sell the accounts.


of thing, and you will sometimes find them playing
backgammon, for instance, at a chess tourney.


Ive yet to see any othergame played at chess tournaments.

One reason these massively multi-player games
do well is that kids have a lot of time on their hands
to play. Me, I spent a good deal of time weeding
and then watering my lawn today. Now it's 3 am
and of course, it rains... .

lol after I moved out of my parents house I swore I would
never pick another weed So I don't waste any time on that ...