Today we have a very special guest blogger… Headmaster Merle Ambrose from Wizard101! Merle has some very important information for you about how to keep your KingsIsle Account safe and in good standing.
The popularity of any game brings with it those who seek to take advantage of other players. We have many ongoing safeguards to protect players from sharing personal and account information within the games, however it is up to you to keep your account information safe outside of the games.
We’d like to take this opportunity to remind our players that any website offering you Crowns, Memberships and items for free or at a discount should not be trusted.
Anyone that asks for your password is clearly doing nothing more than trying to steal from you.
Anyone that asks you to download a program to cheat at the game is cheating you.
Don’t fall for it, it will cost you your account, your characters, your pets and all your other hard-earned game rewards.
Theft is never ok, and players found to be in receipt of stolen goods will be sanctioned. It is up to you to keep your account information private, and if your account is found purchasing or interacting with any of these fraudulent websites your account will be banned.
Be sensible and ask yourselves if this person or website is really going to give you an item worth real money for free or for less than you can buy it regularly. The answer is no, they’re not. They’re going to take your account away and disappear, or worse, use your account to scam other people. It’s not a very nice thing to do, but the only way an account can get compromised is if you share your account information with someone. Some people mistakenly call this a hack. To be clear, giving someone else your account information is account sharing. This violates the Terms of Use and will result in your account being banned. You are fully responsible for all activities conducted through your account. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and for any use of your password to gain access to your account and your account information.
Please heed our cautionary tale and protect your account information, or you will find yourself banned from all KingsIsle games.
Not sure if a site is safe? Visit our list of approved affiliate sites at https://www.wizard101.com/game/community/fansites
My name is Sara Jensen Schubert and I’m the design lead of Pirate101. That means that I manage all of our talented world, systems, and UI designers. I allocate tasks and bug fixes, and keep the team informed. I’m also the primary contact for people from other departments when they have questions. I make many small decisions every day!
My typical day at KingsIsle goes something like this:
9:30 AM
- Arrive at the office.
- Check my email to see if any problems have arisen, or any other issues that deserve a reply.
- Check our bug tracking program to see if any design bugs have cropped up. If they have, I make sure they’re valid design issues and route them to the appropriate designers.
10:00 AM
- I drop by the designers to see how they’re doing.
- A producer comes by to ask about the design team’s tasks for the week.
10:30
- Throughout the rest of the day, there’s more email and more bugs. It’s the same procedure as before – keep an eye out for emails that need a response, and review incoming bugs to be sure they’re valid before assigning them out to the right people.
- I read the forums to look for interesting conversations and bug reports.
11:30
- One of our UI designers calls me over to review a feature he’s prototyping. It looks good! We discuss options for improvement and he gets back to work. We take a screenshot to send to the management team to make sure we’re on the right track.
12:00
- Lunch time!
12:30
- Return to yet more email and bugs.
- One particular email is from a designer who’s having trouble redesigning a boss fight in game. I play the fight and offer suggestions. We exchange a few ideas and settle on a solution.
- Another email is from a designer with a game design document. I read it and offer my feedback.
2:30
- A designer comes to me with a great idea for the next update, but it requires new art. We discuss it with the art lead, and it turns out we have time to do it! It’s officially on the schedule now. A good idea goes from a thought in somebody’s head to a real task in the space of an hour. I love it when stuff like that happens – it demonstrates how much we value individual creativity here on the P101 team.
3:00
- A design document is ready to go to art and tech for implementation, and I revise it to ensure it includes all the information it needs.
- A programmer drops by my office to ask a question about a feature he’s implementing. It turns out it’s a bigger problem than we thought, so we rope in a few other people and turn it into a mini-meeting. After getting everyone’s input, the problem gets solved.
4:00
- A designer drops by with a question about a bug fix.
4:30
- A few bugs arrive that I can fix! I update my game editor and get to work.
5:30
- Email, bugs, and office visits start to slow down, so I get a chance to play the game!
6:00
- Time to go home.
My days are busy, but satisfying. It’s fun to keep the team running well and to manage so much information. And it’s great to be a part of the effort towards making a fun game better!
Sara Jensen Schubert
Design Lead (Game Systems)
Here at KingsIsle, we were extremely excited when researchers at Trinity University approached us on wanting to do a study on gaming demographics using an anonymous survey of more than 35,000 Wizard101 player volunteers. Today Trinity researchers Dr. Aaron Delwiche and Dr. Jennifer Henderson share some of their findings with us!
As you know, millions of people of all ages get to play Wizard101. But what do we know about these people who play in the Spiral? In a study recently published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Dr. Aaron Delwiche and Dr. Jennifer Henderson learned some interesting things about Wizard101 players. More than 35,000 players responded to their survey about how, when, and why they play Wizard101.
For example did you know that, on average, adults over the age of 50 play Wizard101 almost 10 hours a week more than younger players? These researchers from Trinity University also found that older players were more likely to underestimate their playtime. Younger players did the exact opposite, often thinking that they played longer than they really did.
These researchers also learned that approximately two thirds of the players under the age of 50 were male, while two thirds of the players over the age of 50 were female. Did you have any idea that Mom and Grandma were playing so often? Well, you probably did, because older female players were more likely to have characters at higher game levels than younger players.
But players of all ages shared common ground when reporting how much they value the connections and friendships made within the Spiral. For example, one woman said “this game has given my family a way to play together and communicate more often even though we are thousands of miles apart. It has brought us closer together and that means the world to us.”
Dr. Delwiche and Dr. Henderson’s next study from this survey will take a closer look at intergenerational gaming. What sorts of rules do families have about playing Wizard101? When players are in the Spiral, who decides which quests to undertake? What do family members say they learn about themselves and each other by playing the game?
Dr. Aaron Delwiche and Dr. Jennifer Henderson
Trinity University
Chat is an important part of any online MMO, and today Mr. Lincoln from Wizard101 Customer Support has some helpful tips to keep you and your character safe and out of trouble!
Chat is a feature of online games that many players find extremely rewarding. It can assist you in making new friends and form groups to quest for adventure in online worlds. Chat in KingsIsle games, however, is a privilege and should always be used with judgment and caution. Choosing your words carefully is very important when online!
It can be difficult to understand someone’s tone of voice when they are online, which can lead to communication problems. Choosing to be sensitive to those around you is a great way to approach chatting with others in any game.
When playing online games, you will run into all kinds of people. Some you will like to chat with, and some you just won’t. Remember, in our games you always have the “Ignore” option to ignore someone or you can escape them by switching to a new realm in a flash! Rather than getting into an argument or picking a fight, it’s really quite easy just to move on and talk to other people you enjoy.
We also appreciate you reporting any inappropriate chat using the in-game reporting tool. It really works and it helps us quickly identify and investigate chat to see if it fits into our guidelines and rules.
Another very important tip is to NEVER, EVER give your password to ANYONE for ANY reason. A KingsIsle employee will NEVER ask you for your password and you certainly shouldn’t be sharing it with anyone else. If or when your account gets hacked due to you sharing your password, the account can be permanently muted or banned depending on the hacker’s actions! That kind of risk just isn’t worth it. So if anyone ever asks for your password, just say NO.
In Wizard101 and Pirate101 there are 3 different types of chat:
- Text Chat
- Filtered Chat
- Open Chat
Text Chat is preselected for you when you start playing our games, and only allows you to chat with KingsIsle approved sayings. Open Chat in contrast lets you say a great deal. For Filtered Chat and Open Chat, there are certain words that have been removed from the game because of their inappropriate or potentially inappropriate nature. Trying to “get around the filter” is against the Terms of Use. Our Player Forums and in-game chat rules are one and the same.
A good rule to follow is “Just because you can say it, doesn’t mean you should”. Again, chat is a privilege in our games, not a right. It can be taken away if you choose to expose other players to vulgarity, inappropriate language or harassment. When you play online we’re all about having fun, but never at the expense of others.
Being kind to other players can pay off by meeting some really nice online friends. If you are lucky enough to play with family members or real life friends, definitely consider using True Friend codes. You can give these to the people who are really special, but always use your best judgment. If ever you should need assistance with your chat features (or any other issue) you can write to Customer Support at help@KingsIsle.com.
Following the rules makes for a happy gaming experience for you, and for all the other players around you!
Mr. Lincoln
KingsIsle Customer Support
Recently the New Braunfels Public Library hosted a very special event for their youth: some Pirate101 playtime for around 16 children and young adults. This event was a partial finale to their full month of reading spotlights focused on Pirates and Pirate-themed reading material. Young readers were encouraged to “Dig up a good read!” Yarr! There be a treasure trove of knowledge awaiting ye’ in books, mates!
We’ve always had a very healthy relationship with Kit, our favorite librarian from the New Braunfels Public Library. If you read the Pirate101 or Wizard101 newsletters, you will recognize Kit’s reading suggestions as she is the main source of the books we share. When Kit told us about the Pirate event, we knew it would be well received when we decided to drive the extra hour from Austin to New Braunfels to crash the party with posters, codes, and fun! Besides bringing goodies, our ultimate goal for the day was to help out these players where we could and answer any questions that might crop up.
First things first, we handed out a few of our rare and coveted Treasure map puzzles that award a free Ninja Pig companion. Not many of these maps are left, so these kids were very lucky! The second thing we did was hand out a number of free crown codes (woohoo)! Finally we held a raffle for two amazing Pirate101 posters and another handful of crowns prizes for a couple of lucky kids. Best . . . library . . . event . . . ever! Right?!
Although the mass of computers all running Pirate101 at the same time put a bit of a strain on the event (for anyone else doing this event at your own library – we recommend preloading the game and signing in on each machine with a slightly leveled Pirate character), some of the extra download-time allowed us to answer a few great questions. Much to our surprise, we found a few players didn’t know that pressing the “New” button at the start screen could get you another character to play with. We were happy to share that you can create up to six Pirates (or wizards as the case may be) per account.
We were asked a lot of other great questions like, “How do I train a companion beyond my own level?” and “What do the questions I answer at the beginning of the game do for my character?” Of course you can’t train a companion beyond your level, but we shared a little hint about keeping your companions slightly under your own level if you’re short on gold, and we’ve already led on as to what your origin story questions do for your Pirate. Everyone seemed to benefit from this Q&A session . . . including us!
This library trip was another great opportunity for us to simply watch players play the game! We noticed it was far too easy to toggle off the Quest Helper (which led to some changes!) and we even helped a mom or two sign up for the game with their own accounts.
Thank you so much to the New Braunfel’s Public Library and Kit for allowing us to join in the fun. It was a great event, and one we hope will leave a lasting impression.
One-Eyed Jack
Community Manager
KingsIsle Blog 