RiftJunkies reports that Trion has hit on an obvious idea that has to have their competitors kicking themselves for not having implemented it first. The open beta build added an in-game twitter client that can post both pictures and screenshots.
The feature can be set to automatically tweet in-game achievements, labeled with the character name and the #rift hash tag. The problem that RiftJunkies notes is that this tag was being used by regular players to post their thoughts on the game. Though players can change the settings, many people will probably use the default option. This could potentially make the hash tag useless for its original purpose, as it gets overwhelmed with achievement spam.
When people suggest that Rift may be getting overhyped, others argue that the hype is okay because it is legitimate grassroots buzz coming from real players. Auto-tweets aren't exactly astro-turfing, but I wonder whether Trion (and the inevitable companies that imitate this feature) will regret diluting the buzz with material that's much more advertisement than authentic endorsement.
I really want to say something like "Twitter shouldn't be spammed with every little pointless upgrade and achievement", but then again, aside from toppling regimes and being Sarah Palin, what else is Twitter good for?
ReplyDeletePatch notes today.
ReplyDelete* Moved auto-tweets to using a #riftfeed hashtag instead of #rift.