"do not touch the crab pet" i8'm sorry but i am on the floor crying rn

An article about Taina Malen, from Marketing at Star Stable Entertainment!

https://animationxpress.com/latest-news/star-stables-taina-malen-journey-building-a-gaming-community-for-girls/

(I sure hope this shows up in the tags)

Since it’s an article, not a video this time around, I’ll paste it here for folks to read easier, under the read more because it’s a rather long article, but highlights include:

Taina Malen, chief business developer officer and chief marketing officer, has been at SSE for 9(+) years

Not specifically stated, but I’m guessing she’s the reason JA and every single other real life musician was brought in to SSO, since JA showed up in 2014, 9 years ago. 

“they plan to expand on” their book publishing. hah. hahah. hahahahahah. Guess this was when they were trying to keep things quiet. 

They “explored” licensing with toy companies, but now the focus is on Android to expand their market soooo that toy deal we heard about is gone?

It is very much Girl centric, Girl Power, Girl Gamer, for Female Audiences, the Female Market, stuff.

Seems the average SSO player sticks around for 4 years, which is a lot longer than average games keep players around. Many players are still sticking around after 10 years. Yay longevity

They talk about Ride With Us. It’s... a lot of fancy nonsense.

SSE is currently working with Ferly and Cake Entertainment on an animation, so I guess Mistfall hasn’t died? But looking for financing and distribution (dear god Star Stable Streaming I can see it now)

SSE is working on a Live Action pitch. God I hope it’s just more of those silly live action commercials they did a super long time ago but I fear it’s not.

Give the actual article a read below, or with the link above!

The gaming industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years. While men have traditionally dominated the gaming industry, female pioneers have broken boundaries and paved the way for future generations of female gamers and leaders. One such leader is Taina Malen, the chief business development officer and chief marketing officer of Star Stable Entertainment. Malen’s contributions to the gaming industry serve as an inspiration to aspiring female gamers and leaders, highlighting the importance of diversity and inclusivity in the industry.

Talking to AnimationXpress, Malen, who has over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry having previously held positions in CANAL+, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros, opens up about her journey and the industry.

“Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing companies,” said Malen, who comes from a background in music, film, TV and pay TV. “I, along with some former colleagues, started an esports initiative called Esportal before joining Star Stable.” Esportal is still operational today. Interestingly, one of its owners was also a shareholder in Star Stable.

When Malen joined Star Stable, it was still a small team of 14 people. Her role was to set up marketing disciplines, customer service and brand extensions such as music, publishing and animation. “Over the past nine years, the company has expanded to over 200 employees,” she said. “Throughout this journey, the mission was to build a platform for girls in tech and gaming, and this has remained a constant. The vision that ‘every girl is a hero’ has guided everything the company does, including the development of the game Star Stable Online.”

The company’s core product is its game, but it is into book publishing as well. It has 15 titles in 14 languages at present, which it plans to expand on. The team sees this as a great way to expand its brand by promoting its characters outside of the game. They also create their own music, with some of their characters being artists in the game. They have collaborated with female singer-songwriters and artists to bring their game characters to life. Malen’s interest in music began early on when as a youth, she went on tour with Europe, the legendary Swedish rock-band, which taught her about the industry and broadened her network. She has studied journalism and is passionate about communication and writing. She believes that entertainment is all about “emotion and connecting with people,” and loves working with creative individuals.

Along with that, the company has explored licensing opportunities with Just Play as their master toy, and collaborated with H&M in the Nordics to connect with brands that focus on female audiences. This year, they plan to expand onto new platforms such as Android as they continue to seek out ways to get their product into the market.

“The primary target of our game is girls, and we pride ourselves on being the world’s leading horse game,” she shared. “While horses are a crucial aspect of the game, it’s not just about collecting and riding them. Our game is full of magic, mystery and even evil forces that players can work to overcome and make Jorvik Island a better place.”

There is a lot of text in the game, so it’s essential for players to be able to read. Their core players are typically between the age group of 8-18 with 14 being the average age . “As young girls aspire to be like older girls, our player base spans a wide range of ages, making it challenging to target a specific age group. Our players tend to stay with us for around four years and more, with some of our oldest players staying for 10, which is quite a long time in the gaming industry. Overall, our game offers an exciting experience with weekly updates that keep our players engaged for an extended period.”

When the company began 11 years ago, the concept of a “girl gamer” was non-existent. They aimed to create a brand that focused on producing quality entertainment for girls who did not associate themselves with traditional video games that involved first-person shooting. Despite the industry’s slow start, it has become more receptive to female gamers in recent years. Although there is more entertainment available now that appeals to any gender, there is still room for improvement when it comes to creating content specifically for girls.  

“There are a lot of men making the games and products. Women developers are quite scarce,” Malen said. “However, at the company where I work, we have more than 50 per cent women across the board, including younger generations. In general, I feel that the gaming industry has been male-oriented since the beginning and it still is. Based on my experience in the entertainment industry, I would argue that this is changing in the country where I am, but I’m not certain if this trend applies to the rest of the world.”

Malen shared that their new marketing initiative called ‘Ride With Us’ acts as a brand platform for the business. The platform’s purpose is to give customers a way to connect with the business regardless of their interests, age, or stage of life. The first campaign under this encourages everyone to take part in the community of the brand, highlighting the fact that despite differences in appearance and behaviour, there is still something that unites individuals.

[youtube link to Ride With Us video]

To inspire more women to join the gaming community, she added, “The most important thing is to stay true to yourself and believe in what you want to do. If you have faith in yourself and trust your instincts, I think you can accomplish anything. I believe that as long as I stay true to my values, whether they are personal or professional, and trust my intuition, I can overcome any obstacle. If more women stand their ground and get the chance to be heard, the world will be a better place.”

Star Stable is currently working with Cake Entertainment and Ferly on their long form animation, the script for which is ready. They are looking for the final piece of financing and distribution before launching the production. Additionally, they have finalised a live action concept that they will soon start to pitch to companies around the world. Aimed at a young adult audience, they plan to produce this project with someone, yet to be seen.

INDIGO QUAD MELTtDOWN LMAO OKAY TtHISS ISS SSO FUN. I (7.5, OLIVE, ANY PRNS) EXPERIENCE SSO MUCH SSHITt JUSSTt BY PROXY OF TtHE TtROLLSS I INTtERACTt WITtH. ONE OF TtHESSE TtROLLSS ISS AN INDIGO (8.SOMETtHING, M) WHO ISS... A LOTt. HESS NOTt SSOMEONE I ACTtUALLY **LIKE** BEING AROUND VERY MUCH BUTt WE EXISSTt NEAR EACH OTtHER. HESS GOTt TtHISS PAN-ROTtTtINGLY SSTtUPID ONE SSIDED BLACK TtHING FOR SSOME OTtHER GUY I KNOW (PURPLE, 8, M). AND IM SSURE YOURE LIKE 'WOAH!! HEY NONNIE! HOW TtHE HOOFBEASSTt FEED DO YOU KNOW SSO MANY HIGHBLOODSS???' TtHE ANSSWER TtO TtHAT ISS I HAVE NO IDEA. NONE. ANNNYHOW. INDIGO 'GUHCKK' (FAKE NAME) AND PURPLE 'POPPETt' (ALSSO FAKE) END UP GOING OUTt TtO EAT ONE NIGHTt. AND IM TtHERE BECAUSSE POPPETt ASSKED SSINCE HE WANTtS NOTtHING TtO DO WITtH GUHCKK ONE-ON-ONE. ITt ISS SSO FINE AND NORMAL ATt FIRSSTt. A CASSUAL NORMAL TtHING WITtH TtHREE TtROLLSS WHO TtOLLERATtE EACH OTtHER. I CANTt SSTtRESSSS HOW AVERAGE TtHINGSS WERE. OKAY. SSO TtHEN GUHCKK PULLSS OUTt A BOX WHILE WERE ALL SSTtILL EATtING. AND I CAN TtELL POPPETt ISS SSTtRESSSSED BECAUSSE HE FOLDSS HISS PRONGSS TtOGETtHER ALL SSPOOKY LIKE. AND IM A LITtTtLE WORRIED IM ABOUTt TtO BE ASSKED TtO BE A MIDDLE LEAF??? BUTt NO. NO OF COURSSE NOTt. GUHCKK LOOKSS POPPETt DEAD IN TtHE BULBSS AND OPENSS TtHE BOX TtO REVEAL SSPADE RINGSS????? FUCKING MATtCHING SSPADE RINGSS??? KEEP IN MIND TtHEY ARE NOTt TtOGETHER. ATt ALL. POPPETt GETtSS OUTt OF HISS SSEATt JUSSTt ASS GUHCKK SSTtARTtSS TtO GO ON AND ON ABOUTt HOW MUCH HE LOATtHESS HIM AND I AM TtRYING TtO FINISSH MY MEAL 'RIGHTt IN FRONTt OF MY GRUBLOAF' SSTtYLE. WHEN HESS DONE TtALKING POPPETt LOOKSS HORRIFIED, TtROLLSS ARE SSTtAIRING, AND ITtSS LIKE A SSCENE FROM A MOVIE. HE OBVIOUSSLY SSAYSS NO. I AM SSITtTtING BETtWEEN TtHEM. I AM FIRSSTt TtO SSEE GUHCKKSS EXPRESSSSION ****TtWISSTt.**** LOOK. OKAY. TtHISS GUY TtOOK OUTt TtHE LASSTt QUAD WHOD REJECTtED HIMSS FUCKING GANDERBULB. HESS PRETtTtY COLD AND ABTt ASSCENSSION AGE. SSO I SSEE HISS FACE FALL AND BOOM SSUDDENLY I AM SSTtANDING BEHIND POPPETt! WOAH, WEIRD. TtHE FIRSSTt TtHING HE DOESS ISS TtHROW TtHE BOX ON TtHE GROUND AND SSHATtTtER TtHE EXPENSSIVE ASSS RINGSS. TtHEN HE FLINGSS HIMSSELF FULLY ATt POPPETt. LIKE NO HESSITtATtION ATt ALL. TtROLLSS ARE SSTtILL WATtCHING. IF I DIDNTt KNOW TtHESSE GUYSS I WOULD BE TtOO. IM IN ITt TtHOUGH AND WATtCH ASS HE PUBLICALLY TtRIESS TtO GETt POPPETt TtO BE EVEN VAGUELY BLACK WITtH HIM. POPPETt DOESSNTt HATtE HIM LIKE TtHATt, TtHOUGH AND ITt ISS REALLY OBVIOUSS. GUHCKK TtHROWSS BLOWSS ATt HIM FOR A WHILE AND BECAUSSE POPPETt ISS A GENERALLY KINDA SSTtRANGE GUY, HE BARELY REACTtSS ATt ALL. HE JUSSTt KIND OF TtAKES ITt. BUTt NOTt IN A MEOWBEASSTt WAY IN A UNFLINCHING WAY. ALL TtHE WHILE GUHCKK ISS SSCREAMING AND PUNCHING AND MAKING A BIG FUCKING DEAL OUTt OF EVERYTtHING. SSOMEONE TtAKESS TtHE BROKEN RINGSS BEFORE I HAVE A CHANCE TtO GETt ATt TtHEM. ITtSS CHAOSS. I HAVE NEVER SSEEN ANY TtROLL REACTt LIKE SSUCH A MANGRUB ATt REJECTtION. ITt GOESS ON SSO LONG TtHATt SSECURITtY ACTtUALLY BREAKSS ITt UP WHICH NEVER FUCKING HAPPENSS. GUHCKK ISS TtOO MUCH OF A BIG SSHOTt TtO FACE MAJOR PUNISSHMENTt, BUTt WATtCHING HIM GETt DRAGGED OFF WHILE POPPETt JUSSTt CASSUALLY SSWIPED BLOOD FROM HISS SNIFF NUB. I TtHINK TtHERESS VIDEOSS OF TtHE FIGHTt SSOMEWHERE ON GRUBTtUBE. I KNOW ITtSS NOTt SSTtANDARD FARE TtO TtELL SSTtORIESS ABOUTt TtROLLSS YOU ACTtUALLY KNOW. BUTt I TtINK ABOUTt TtHISS ONE OFTtEN ENOUGH TtHAT I FELTt LIKE I HAD TtO SSHARE.

[f] AbsOlUtEly InsAne Idk hOw yA’ cOUld EvEn bE thAt mUch of A wrIgglEr OvEr rEjEctIOn, ImmA hAvE tO gO lOOkIn’ fOr thAt vIdEO, sOundEd lIkE A rEAl knOck dOwn drAg OUt scUfflE. [f]

Fair Warning: This post is very rambly. Super fucking long. And has a bunch of paragraphs about topics that to be quite frank deserve their own post. This is me TLDRing like 7 different essays because I have a lot to say and can't shut the fuck up but this is despite it all still a tumblr post.

The fact that SSO exists at all in the year 2023 is not an achievement in and of itself.

That's the TLDR to this post I'm about to write because that's basically what I think, but there is a longer discussion to have here. And I think it's a discussion worth having because despite it all we still live in a world where gender makes people irrationally fucking mad, and so therefore here I am to talk shit about a horse game which I have called mediocre all day.

Well, if you don't want to read this entire thing, here's all you need to know:

If Animal Crossing in the year of 2020 can define the first year of the pandemic for basically half the internet, then SSE can optimise their game a little better in the year 2023.

And here's wonderwall: (But before wonderwall, obvious disclaimer that I'm just one cis not-het woman Swede who has opinions about things, I'm not going to solve centuries of oppression on my fucking tumblr dashboard. Neither are SSE gonna solve it, nor immortalise it, with their mediocre MMO, we all know this we are smart, let's go.)

To SSO's credit, I think it's nice that SSE has wholly embraced the fact that they are a very feminine game primarily played by and targeted towards young girls, despite it all we still need more of that, and it's cool that they're trying the most. (Just wish they wouldn't completely throw their especially above average transmasc audience under the bus for  this but that is genuinely not my post to make as I am not transmasc and this post isn't about that, but all I'm saying is that SSE aren't flawless and I was here for both 2011 and 2022 so I happen to know when they literally lie about why this game was created in the first place.)

However,

There is a difference between "We want to bring quality to this audience which usually doesn't get quality" and "Because we're the only ones targeting this audience we don't need to worry about quality". Settling for the latter, especially today, isn't actually that progressive nor is it helping anyone, especially if we're talking about the game's general quality.

So, I know that talking about like, what is a "good" game or whatever will always be a wall to wall conversation, because everyone has different ideas of what good means. (see: Some people going "I enjoy this so it's good" and some going "I enjoy this but it Isn't good" at Dorian's poll) This isn't a problem at all it's simply how the human experience works. However, if we're talking about the good as in "objective" quality, then I think we need to remember something.

It's not 2011 anymore, and being a girls game, standalone, isn't an achievement anymore. We expect some fucking effort by now.

We don't live in a world where you as an 8 year old kid have to pick between playing COD or playing SSO exclusively (a choice made in 2011 by me as an 8 year old for reference, I literally was there, don't worry). We have a lot wider a selection of games to choose from, and we live in an industry which has also gotten a Lot better at actually celebrating less traditionally masculine games.

For example, Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, to name two examples, would probably be pretty dismissed in 2011, had they released then, because they're games that in general are seen as more feminine. (Slower, cute aesthetics, about farming, has cute little guys in them in AC's case.) But nowadays, they're some of the most popular games around, and they're games that most people, regardless of gender, have played. And obviously people still make fun of them, but it isn't cool to make fun of them anymore. Y'all remember when everyone and their mother was playing New Horizons as it came out during the perfect time for everyone to play it just as the pandemic started? And that's a really feminine game if we want to divide games into feminine and masculine, which we at the end of the day will do because humans are obsessed with binary opposition. And it still defined a whole year for a whole bunch of people!

And obviously you might say that it's unfair to compare little ol' SSO to these games. And it is. If we're comparing them as games on a technical equal ground. But we're not. I'm exemplifying that games that are more feminine/played by a lot of women don't have to suck.

So by, conciously or subconciously, implying that SSO Can't be as good as other games or Shouldn't Be Expected To Be simply because women's games just Are worse, you're dismissing the fact that feminine games Do succeed, especially recently. Not only on the market, but as entertainment. And no matter what game you make, no matter what damn resources you have, you better make sure that your audience can fucking play it with the specs you yourself recommend. Because letting a company get away with settling for mediocrity further normalises girls' games not needing to be as good because they're already so shit that someone even trying is good enough. Which in 2023, is Not good enough. Even young girls deserve not to shill out tens of thousands, which they Do Not Have, for super PCs just because SSE forgot to optimise their open world game.

Lastly, all I'm saying is that if we're going to say "Yes, SSO is good." Don't follow it up with "Compared to women's games from 2005 that are so dead nobody remembers them anymore." Because SSO is a game that exists in 2023, and at some point we have to acknowledge that. And if this game wants to survive another decade, I think the first people who need to move away from 2011, is its audience.

Women’s games don’t have to suck. And implying that they do says more about you than it does about the game. Especially if your idea of “good standard” for women’s games. are almost 20 years old. At some point, we All have to move into the present times. Even if your game of choice is a little behind.

average mid-level sso player experience:

> start quest in location 1

> told to go to location 2

> accept another quest along route asking you to go to location 3

> complete quest in location 2

> continuation of questline wants you to go to location 3

> ride through location 1 on route, accept new quest for location 4

> go to location 3 and complete 2 quests

> accept 3 new quests from same npc

> run around location 3 for a while

> get bored and overwhelmed

> log off with unfinished quests

> start again next day

WHY IS THE AVERAGE NAPPING EXPERIENCE 4 US SSO HORRIBLE?????!!?!!!?? 1? 1?? DO PEOPLE ENJOKYYY NAPS???? I WAKE UP AND THE BODY AACHES LIKE ABSOLUTE HELL AND ON TTOP OF THAT OUR HEAD IS SEARING!!!!! ????!!! WHAT IF I JUST FLOPPED OVER AND DIED OONE DAY. HUH

Aragon Research Selected RPost as the Hot Vendor of the Year for eSignatures and Digital Transaction Management

What makes a “Hot” eSign Vendor “Hot” rather than “Hlēow”?

The next time you’re having a bad day (traffic, spilled coffee, didn’t get your full 8 hours of sleep, mixed up food delivery order), just think of what life was like for those living centuries ago in, say, medieval England. To quote the English philosopher, Hobbes, life then was “nasty, brutish, and short.” And this is coming from a guy who lived when indoor plumbing hadn’t been invented yet. 

Life expectancy for the average, non-land-owning medieval person was around 27 years! Even if you managed to live like (or be) a king, you were only going to add five or so years onto this expectancy. There are two not-too-surprising culprits for this: war and disease.

Yes, we still have plenty of war and disease going on in 2023, but these are fairly limited in scope and reach compared to what the average medieval person would experience. War touched nearly every person back then (there was the 100 Years War that raged between England and France), and disease was much more lethal and widespread. The Black Death of the mid-14th century wiped out almost half of Europe.

What made disease so much worse in that time was the fact that it was so darned cold everywhere. A small hearth fire was all that could keep families warm through months of brutal winters, and it’s not like anyone had any of those North Face down jackets. Heat was a life-sustaining luxury then that most of us consider now as an afterthought. Think about that the next time you wrestle with your co-worker over the office thermostat! 

So, it’s with heat in mind that we at RPost are pleased to report that we were selected by one of the leading tech analysts, Aragon Research, as Hot Vendor of the Year for eSignatures and digital transaction management. In Part II of Aragon Research’s Hot Vendors for 2023 report, Aragon Research selected RPost as one of two eSignature / Digital Transaction Management vendors that are making an impact in the market as the most noteworthy, visionary, and innovative.

Medieval life was very much about tradeoffs: cheaper land vs. lower life expectancy, cleaner air vs. terrible roads. So, I would ask you: Would you prefer to work with an eSign provider that is fully integrated into Office 365, iManage, NetDocuments, Gmail, Caret, and with Google, Microsoft and AzureAD SSO?

Or would you prefer to focus on an eSign provider that declares in its manifesto a commitment to feature-richness, security and privacy compliance, the highest levels of legalities, and an elegant user and admin experience?

Or perhaps you’d like to show off to your teams that you found an eSign provider that is friendlier to work with and costs less than half of what other large eSign vendors charge so you and they don’t need to ration or share user licenses?

With RSign, you’ll get ALL of this thanks to 21st century technology! If you choose to work with us, you can forego any future discomfort in being stuck with a “Hlēow” provider. (For the curious, “hlēow” is Old English for lukewarm).

And it gets better! As a testament to RPost’s service friendliness, if you are in an existing contract with another provider, we’ll even provide a “buyout” option that lets you ramp up RSign economically while your other provider fades out over whatever months are remaining. Plus, we’ve teams standing by to help you migrate any templates and create great automation rules. 

Feel free to contact us to learn more about RSign, an eSignature platform so hot that I think it could have raised medieval life expectancy by at least 20 years or at least saved squires a ton on parchment costs 🤔.

Few Quick Thoughts

I’m seeing a lot of mixed feedback recently on how frequently SSO is releasing horses and I wanted to throw a few thoughts into the mix. Some of them may be “no duh’s” to those familiar with my stances on this matter, but I wanted to put it out there again for new folks.

Firstly, it’s important to remember that a lot of SSO’s income to support a multimillion dollar project like an MMO is going to come from its microtransactions on Star Coins. They do need to release content regularly in order to encourage players to buy and that does not make them a bad company. What would is if:

This was a predatory system using some kind of gambling mechanic to lock content (see loot boxes and gacha games that lock main feature content around drops).

They were aggressively targeting children and supporting unhealthy spending habits. I would argue that this could be up for debate because of a point I’ll bring up in a minute, but having content released on a monthly schedule does not make this predatory, it just means SSO is widening its catalog of options for players.

Horse development does not cut in to development of quests. The horse team and world team work on totally separate projects, and while it would be nice for SSO to more fully break down each of those teams’ full areas of development, releasing horses more regularly doesn’t mean SSO isn’t also working on quests.

I have seen the criticism that horses being released so frequently and not fixing existing horses is an issue and I do think that’s fair. While it’s most likely the horse team needs to hit a monthly quota on releasing a new breed, I also think more time needs to be put into existing models and fixing glitches, to include methods of updating old models (my suggestions withstanding). More than half of SSO’s current horse “catalog” can’t use modern tack and for a game that has a large dress up/fashion element, that’s rather shocking.

I think it is a dangerous mentality that some members in this community are developing that they feel the need that they must buy new horses at release. This is not a good way to look at any business, and, as someone who often falls into overspending tendencies myself, I would encourage you to look at your own spending habits before blaming SSO for being exploititive. Them increasing their catalog does not demand that you buy the whole thing.

I understand that there is a concern on the magical horses in the game and their frequency, which, again, I do think there is some degree of overpricing on those particular horses and SSO not clearing up if they will be limited or not. I think that releasing a new magical horse, even if they are only offered once, every three months is not ridiculous, though it would be better if we could be confirmed that horses will return.

I do think that it would be better to pair these horses with holidays specifically though and have a rotating herd of magical horses offered during the holiday events, like we currently have with Brincle and Fawncy for the winter holidays, but I still think considering their limited time nature and the fact that players will most likely try to collect these horses for “clout,” it would be a better practice to lower prices for limited time horses.

SSO has been offering bundles around the releases of these horses, which I think are great, but that they need to offer these for lower bundles down to the 1k bundle. Asking for players to buy at least a $50+ bundle every three months is not ok, and that should be challenged by the community, as it would set players up to spend in the $200+ mark on horses that people will often reaction buy because it’s limited.

I don’t think that horses, overall, are a fair price in real world currency conversions, and I think the dev team has, in some ways, expressed a degree of agreement on that. When I interviewed Leila, she said that horses are priced as they are because they’re supposed to be an experience and part of the main gameplay loop between quests, but she agreed that current gameplay of buying a horse does not reflect that $30 price tag and if the team can’t add that kind of content with a new horse experience, then the price should be lowered.

If you feel like, as I do, that the price of Star Coins is overpriced, then vocalize it, with your words and your actions. But more specifically, give reasons. $30 is the average price for an expansion pack for most MMOs, so push SSO on responding to whether or not each horse matches a $30 experience in content and what they plan to do to reflect the amount of money that they’re asking for.

Devs and PR team don’t control the prices for Star Coins! While the devs may set Star Coins in game, they have no control over how much Star Coins cost for us to purchase. This is on the higher ups in the company and it is important to remember that! While it is important to vocalize concern on prices to the team, remember who does and doesn’t set the prices lest you silence something that may have been well intentioned.

I agree wholeheartedly on the comments that the in game prices set for what is the new JWH are fair, as this is clearly one of the higher end horses in the game.

 I do however think you can and should make a case for the real world cost, since, again, by the devs’ admission, buying and training horses is supposed to be a core gameplay loop and that’s not accessible without asking players to spend a lot of money or avoid the game for long periods of time while they save.

And I’ve realized this was less than a few quick things, but there it is all typed out. Obviously conversation is always important, and people who tells others to shut up for having differing opinions is never helpful. It’s important to be critical and fair with that criticism. Criticism only helps us refine our understanding of something and improve it, though no two people are going to have the same opinion. What is important is that we’re respectful and put our criticism towards where it needs to go and not towards each other.

Past week (Snooker Shoot Out)

I had a busy week for a change! It started with a couple of office days - one to prep some tennis kit for an event in St Petersburg that I would not be attending, and one to prep a van for the Snooker Shoot Out in Leicester, which I did attend. I'm going to go out on a limb and say St Petersburg would have been a nicer place to spend five days.

My memories of last year's SSO were a little hazy, but I recalled a hectic couple of opening days as we dealt with some technical gremlins. Our prep day went very smoothly - too smoothly - and sadly upon arrival at the Morningside Arena on Wednesday, the same difficulties arose again. They centred around getting our audible sounds into the arena, and things were only fully sorted with less than hour to go before kick-off.

I was with Gregor & Lewis, and as I am the only one who'd had any prior snooker experience I took the lead in scoring the matches, whilst the other two shared shot clock duties. They both eventually took a turn at scoring with me sat on lifeguard duty, and on the whole the week went well for us. The most notable difference this time around was the inclusion of a crowd, which I'd suspected would make the world of difference having watching clips from previous years. The etiquette at the SSO is a lot less restrained than your average snooker event, with heavy drinking and chanting actively encouraged! The crowd got steadily bolder and rowdier as the week went on, and it made for a great atmosphere. A good example of this was during Stuart Bingham's 147 attempt - he egged them on as they sang 'we want a maximum' after every pot, and when he eventually missed, they chanted 'we want our money back' instead!

Other stories of note include 15 year-old Stan Moody (who looked about half his age) making it through to the second round, and a couple of incredibly exciting last-minute ties followed by blue ball shoot outs (snooker's equivalent of penalties). But for me my favourite outcome of the week was the eventual winner, Hossein Vafaei; he scored the highest break of the tournament (123) in his opening match, and looked very sharp and focussed throughout. What made his standard of play all the more impressive was that he'd lost his grandmother a few days prior, but it seemed to be fuelling him in the best possible way, as he was virtually faultless throughout the tournament, ruthlessly brushing aside anyone unfortunate enough to be drawn against him.

Having said that, his progress was very nearly derailed in the semis by Liang Wenbo, who played some of the worst snooker of the week but managed to inexplicably squeak through a number of close matches. Liang raced to a break of 48 before he missed a straightforward black - and when I say 'miss', I mean he mis-cued so badly that the cue ball went past the black ball and into the pocket! This humongous howler left Vafaei with the table at his mercy but still work to do, but once again he did the business to rightfully dispatch the woeful Liang and make the final.

The final was Vafaei v Mark Williams, who himself had been the other standout performer, so it was a fitting final match. Having said that, it was incredibly one-sided - Williams broke off and then sat and watched while Vafaei smashed in a sensational red, followed by a lot of other balls to claim the title in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it visit! It was a fully deserved victory, and he seems a likeable guy anyway, but given what Vafaei had recently gone through it made me even happier to see him lift the trophy - which he did before the presentation committee was in position, prematurely triggering the confetti to the director's annoyance!

What Are the Best Practices for Implementing Multi-Factor Authentication?

New Post has been published on https://www.aheliotech.com/blog/implementing-mfa/

What Are the Best Practices for Implementing Multi-Factor Authentication?

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is one of the best ways to reduce your risk of cloud account compromise. Microsoft, which sees about 300 million fraudulent sign-in attempts per day on its cloud services, states that MFA is 99.9% effective at blocking them.

So why don’t more companies use it?

According to LastPass, roughly 57% of companies implement some form of MFA. That leaves a lot of companies that don’t. The various reasons for this include:

Employees find it inconvenient

It’s an extra expense

It’s too complicated

But without the protection of MFA in an IT security strategy, the costs and inconvenience can be much higher. The average cost of a data breach has risen to $4.24 million.

Here are some of the important reasons to use MFA for improved cybersecurity and business continuity:

Increased security

Securing sensitive data

Anti-fraud

Improving work-from-home security

Modernizing the cloud account access process

Data privacy compliance

Preventing insider threats

Combatting phishing

Part of a zero-trust architecture

If you follow best practices when setting up multi-factor authentication, you can make the experience better for your staff, keep costs to a minimum, and simplify your login experience.

Implement MFA Company-wide

It doesn’t do you any good to deploy MFA in silos. If you use it for one department or team and not another, you’re greatly reducing the security benefit from using it.

It’s best to deploy MFA across the company, including all users and all accounts. This simplifies the workflow because employees aren’t using a different login procedure for different apps.

You can also more easily protect all your cloud accounts with consistent security policies that use the same types of MFA factors.

Offer Different Types of MFA

There are different types of multi-factor authentication that can be used, depending upon the security needed for a particular account or user. If you try to implement a “one size fits all” approach, then you may be sacrificing either convenience or security, depending on the situation.

For example, for a user in the accounting department with a login to your online banking, you might decide that a security key (the more secure method of MFA) is warranted. But for your marketing team logging into your social media posting software, SMS-based MFA might be fine.

There are three main types of MFA you can choose from and with any of these, you can deploy additional measures. These all receive the PIN a little differently:

Receiving the MFA PIN by SMS (least secure, most convenient)

Receiving the MFA PIN through an app (mid-level of security & convenience)

Receiving the MFA PIN via a security key (most secure, also costs the most)

Use Adaptive MFA

A great way to balance user convenience with data security is to use adaptive techniques with your multi-factor authentication. For example, you might have a higher level of authentication required if the person is logging in from outside the city where your company resides.

You could also use contextual information, such as network, device settings, or time of day. While this takes a little more time to set up, it can increase the convenience factor for your employees by giving them fewer barriers to cross if they meet the contextual requirements that designate someone as a legitimate user. 

Some examples of adaptive MFA include setting up an additional security question if someone is logging in from an unknown IP address. You might also remove one of the authentication requirements if the person logging in is on-premises.

Adaptive MFA gives you more power to refine user access security by automating some of the checks and balances, such as where a user is located, when they’re logging in (e.g., is it midnight on a Saturday?). For user activity that is out of the norm, you can create the necessary additional authentications to ensure they’re an actual authorized user and not someone trying to break into your account with a stolen password. 

Use MFA With a Single Sign-On (SSO) Solution

You can get over a big hurdle of user pushback on MFA by implementing it alongside a single sign-on (SSO) solution. This is a session and user authentication service that allows people to sign in once and gain access to all connected accounts.

So, if there were six different cloud applications that an employee used daily, instead of having to log in to each one and then go through the process of receiving and inputting the MFA code for each, users would only have to do it once.

Once they’ve authenticated through SSO, the SSO app authenticates them and signs them into the various cloud accounts that are connected.

Set Up MFA That Works for You and Your Employees

AhelioTech can help your Columbus area business set up multi-factor authentication to increase security and compliance without slowing down your staff.

Contact us today for a free quote. Call 614-333-0000 or reach out online.

sso headcanon #?

I should reblog my headcanons because I don't remember what number I was on and I wrote those years ago.

Pandoric writing headcanons! Plural because it's little ones!

The Pandoric written language can be read in any direction. Left to right, right to left, and vertically. Like Egyptian hieroglyphics, the direction the symbol is facing indicates the direction it should be read in (and if it is in columns or rows).

The symbols function as a number system, alphabet, and mean concepts/objects. Like Futhark runes. A single sentence can use all three, and the reader has to figure out which are meant to be numbers, letters, and picto/ideograms.

Pandoria is a place of dreams. Because of this, Pandorian writing is difficult to look at. Like writing in dreams the average person glosses over the visual details. A person might "read" in a dream, the dreamer knows what is in a book or what a street sign says, but when they try to really read it gets difficult, often taking them out of the dream. Most people experience a similar sensation when they see Pandoric writing, their eyes slide over it and they can't recall what it looked like.

that's all for now, maybe I have something I'm forgetting, maybe I'll come up with something more. Maybe I'll throw this all out the window in a year! But if I keep this headcanon for more than 12 months it'll be longer than some of SSO's actual canon shhh

7 Key Advantages Of Single Sign-On

As more enterprises move to the cloud, customers expect seamless access from anywhere, anytime, and on any computer to multiple applications. Likewise, as most large corporations have hundreds of touchpoints under different labels, trying to handle them all will strain their IT departments. These problems require organizations to improve successful access management for their customers and their IT teams. That's when implementing SSO helps a lot.

SSO stands for Single Sign-On, a single-point, holistic authentication, and access solution. With SSO, users are permitted via a single login to access a suite of applications, regardless of the device, technology, or domain.

However, you only need one set of login credentials to enter multiple applications with a Single Sign-On.

Let's now look at seven key advantages of SSO.

1. Improves Efficiency of Employees and IT

A single point of entry can minimize the use of time and energy. With a Single Sign-On, it is possible to:

Reduce calls for support: Users with only one password would not need help as much to access all their applications.

Improve the user experience: There is no need to hop between several login URLs or reset passwords.

Mitigate security risks: On any laptop, in any web browser, employees can use their SSO login credentials without compromising security.

One of the most significant advantages of Single Sign-On is the potential to improve end-users' efficiency.

2. Strengthens Security Capabilities

One myth about using an SSO solution is that protection is weakened. This seems to be valid in principle, but SSO will actually decrease password theft with common-sense practices.

Users are more likely to create a strong password and less likely to write it down because they are required to remember only one password for multiple applications. These best practices minimize the danger of password theft.

3. Combines with RBA (Risk-Based Authentication)

SSO gives one "key" to sign in using a single identity to multiple web assets, mobile apps, and third-party systems. You can combine SSO with risk-based authentication (RBA) for even more security. With RBA, user behavior can be monitored by you and your security team. This way, you will demand additional identity verification if you see any suspicious user activity, such as the wrong IP, or numerous login failures. If this fails, you will prevent the user from accessing it. This powerful combination will prevent data from being stolen by cybercriminals, hurting your web, or draining IT resources.

4. Decreases Password Fatigue

Security professionals rely on unique passwords for every single program in order to avoid cybercrime. This means the average user must remember hundreds of passwords for personal and workplace use. Unfortunately, this also leads to password fatigue. If customers have a hard time logging in, before you can convert them, they'll abandon your site or app. The advantage of single sign-on is that there is only one password for customers to remember with all your applications.

5. Enhances User Experience

One of the most valuable advantages of SSO is the improved user experience. As repetitive logins are no longer required, a modern digital experience can be enjoyed by clients. Enterprise advantages include an increase in customer satisfaction and higher rates of conversion.

6. Prevents Shadow IT

Shadow IT refers to illegal workplace downloads. In the past, at office supplies shops, Shadow IT was limited to workers buying software. But the potential for risk increases as cloud-based downloads become more common. IT admins can utilize SSO to monitor what applications workers use to solve this problem. Identity theft threats should, therefore, be thwarted.

7. Increases the Acceptance Rates for Apps

Technology should facilitate our lives, not trigger irritation. Making SSO sign-up or login simpler increases the likelihood that customers will accept your apps and use your app.

Can We Discuss Adding A Level Cap?

So I’ve talked about SSO’s leveling a number of times, and there are more than a few examples of my thoughts on it, combined with the way it influences the stat system. Just as a few:

Can We Discuss Why SSO Needs More Higher Levels?

Can We Discuss How To Make SSO a Better RPG?

Can We Discuss the “Speed Is the Best Stat” Attitude?

Can We Discuss: Can We Discuss Breed Specific Abilities?

Can We Discuss: Can We Discuss Why Clothes Don’t Need Stats?

However, I wanted to talk about a different approach to this system that might help resolve a lot of the issues, while also moving SSO into a more interactive direction. And that would be putting a level cap on the game and moving to a prestige level/masteries system.

So I’m going to be talking a lot about Guild Wars 2, because I think they have an amazing masteries system and one of those systems is entirely based around mounts. And while I don’t think SSO should or can just emulate that system straight into their game, I do think it’s a good framework to look at for prestige levels compared to how other games handle it.

In GW2, after you reach level 80, the game switches to a mastery system. There’s still story, but instead of continuing to level, you gain access to several mastery trees that give you special abilities, like crafting legendary weapons, learning how to navigate the jungle, and in Path of Fire’s expansion, mounts. I think there’s a lot to be said about GW2′s mounts and how in a lot of ways they do it better than SSO, but that’s an entirely different topic. Masteries work like levels, but you can choose which one to work on/where experience you earn will go to pick which skills you want to work on. Further, in order to gain those skills, you have to complete special achievements to “buy” the skill after you’ve earned the experience. Points can be earned from simply completing the story, by meditating at special and difficult to reach locations, or by hunting down special quests. Additionally, when you complete all masteries, you start gaining a special currency for the game.

Now, this does a lot of things for the game. For the most part, you only have to earn the first level of a mastery to progress the story, meaning you can choose when you continue your additional mastery tracks. This adds a lot to giving you continued objectives in the game. It also caps out all the stats in the game, meaning there is, for the majority, a max level any one class can have in any stats. This can make balancing the game a lot easier since you’re not always having to rebalance the game for new levels and power levels. Additionally, it moves the game away from getting stronger, and into becoming smarter, creating new unique ways to play the game and interact with the world, which I would argue is more engaging content.

I particularly like how they handle mount masteries. Mounts all have unique ways of movement, but they also have unique acquisition methods too. Some you get from completing the story. Others have long quest chains to build saddles for them, or raise them from their eggs. The focus after you get the mount though is still centered around building a bond with your creature, unlocking special abilities that that mount alone can do.

This is why I think GW2′s system is way better for SSO than say looking at FFXIV or WoW, which just move their level caps with new expanions. SSO already doesn’t have combat, but it does have a broken stat system. Capping the stats would mean moving SSO in a direction where they can theoretically spend less time on balancing competitions (though there still needs to be a serious overhaul to be a good base), and into interacting with the world in more unique ways, which fits much better with SSO’s exploration focus. 

It also would help with the experience gap between new players and old players, like myself, who have had access to experience pools no one will ever be able to access again from old quests. This can help close the level gap. And it also means SSO can reprogram quests to actually give good experience amounts again to make the player feel like they’re making genuine progress.

But what would it look like?

So this is obviously speculation, but I have some suggestions. I’ve made two mock-up mastery systems for the two major areas of the game: the player’s powers and horses. And there are a couple things that would need to happen for these to work, but they both pair with one of the tracks, so I’ll discuss those first and then their corresponding track. 

The Wheel of the Year/octagon track focuses on the player’s ability. Now, obviously there needs to be a level cap to start this. I’d recommend player level 20, since 21 and 22 are kinda achieved just through, well, at least 50% from event exp, which like I said, is no longer achievable for new players. It’s also closer to the current horse level and as a D&D nerd, I like level 20. I also think level cap should represent in this case an above average skill level. Like, by level 20, you are basically an Olympian rider in skill level and a basic intent in magic.

The track itself would focus on moving past that “human” level of understanding, moving into the almost supernatural abilities the player should be developing in narrative. So there are skills to make races more interesting, which would help when more competition types are added, but basically this is along the lines of the abilities and special skills SSO has teased before, like the straight to gallop leap or immediate recoveries from failed jump, so on. Meanwhile, the Druid Circle tracks represent magic abilities we should be gaining as Aideen’s Chosen, so things like learning Soul Strike or being able to open Pandoria portals wherever, so on. I personally think if we got a full Pandoria map the size of Silverglade or something, it should be a survival focus map to help emphasize the whole dangerous magic aspect, but building these masteries could open ways to survive in that magic. On this system, little circles are passive abilities, like reducing cool downs on skills or boosting stats passively, where as big circles are actual active abilities. This should obviously vary to match each system, but there’s a lot of flexibility in this system and working these skills together, either with branches extending further out, or inbetween.

The second track is based on the Tree of Life, and it’s focused on the Wild Whisperer abilities and horses, since that seems to operate outside the other circle magics. Now, in order for this to work, SSO needs to expand the number of horses we can get in story, either for free or for a nominal shilling cost (talked about this in the Star Coin bloat conversation). I think this would also help balance the more premium cost of horses, because at least there’s a base option with any special abilities horses may have, more along the lines of weather resistant horses right now, unless special abilities were to become a part of dressage or something for bonus points. It also could help expand the “Soul Steed” system from it having to be the starter, to it being just horses for Aideen’s Chosen, because, well, supposed to be connected to all horses. This could open up more players being able to choose their actual Soul Steed, since not everyone wants to play the story with their starter.

This track would focus on expanding the abilities of those special abilities horses have. It could also make SSO’s map design way more inventive if they give all players an easy option to enter all these play styles. Imagine maps designed with super narrow areas, where there are still roads anyone can travel through, but also taking a pony through it will give you access to bonus secret areas from ducking into those tight and narrow corners. Or the inverse, traversing a canyon, and being able to leap off your a larger draft horse to high ledges and explore from there. SSO also toyed with this when the first Frisians came out around Midsummers, where there were branches you could grab without jumping on a bigger horse. I think a great addition to this would be that the standard/starter horse does become a kinda catch all, with some modified version of all of these abilities, particularly if there’s a shilling cost, or that there’s some kind of temporary stat system.

A feature I’ve seen a lot of players asking for is the starter to be a cold resistant horse, which I think would work well in this system. I think it also opens the option of potions that give temporary abilities, like the Tonic of Warming to negate the cold, or the Potion of Flying for boosting up off of your horse, as well as more expensive tack sets to equip that will give the horse wearing it the abilities of the starter and the horse with the ability a boosted one. It could still be linked back to this system, where leveling up the track even if you don’t like the free horse for it, you can still play with another horse you do like, or to combo abilities to explore the map in new and exciting ways.

Obviously, this would be a huge overhaul of the system, but I think it would mean the devs could move into a more interesting design for leveling than before, and could seriously expand what a new map in SSO means. For one, it opens all of the possibilities of the skills in a base overhaul, but moving forward, it means new ways to explore the maps and relearn the game with new abilities.