I can understand /lol, but /pizza?

[CannonBall]

Sony Puts Pizza Ordering in Videogames

Fri Feb 25, 7:29 AM ET Technology - AP


PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK - Demonstrating a deep understanding of what its computer-gaming audience, Sony has built the ability to order pizza into its latest online multiplayer game.



Type the command "/pizza" while playing Everquest II, a fantasy game with 330,000 active players, and get the Pizza Hut Web site, where you can place orders for delivery.


Chris Kramer, spokesman for Sony Online Entertainment, said he believes this is the first time a game accepts orders for real-world items.


Sony plans to integrate the pizza function more tightly into the game, so players can charge pizza to their monthly game subscription bill.


"The goal for the future is to eventually let people do more things like this," Kramer said. "They could type /harry potter and get the new Harry Potter (news - web sites) book delivered or /star wars and get the new Star Wars DVD."


Many games incorporate ads and product placements, but such opportunities are limited with fantasy games like Everquest.


Though the new pizza feature might satisfy appetites, caution is required as the game doesn't pause while you're ordering.


"You wouldn't want to order pizza in the thick of combat, but anywhere that's safe is a good place," said Kramer.

[Spinning Hat]

OMG... This blatant consumerism brought to you by Sony, the monolith of capitalism, purveyor of MMO addictions around the world....

[Ardamir]

330k EQ2 players? I didnt think they had that many....How many play WoW?

[insaneferret]

i seem to remember 600k bought the game on the first day

[Stang]

Damn!

[Cass]

when someone types /pizza it should bringe up a list of gyms in there area.

[Stang]

:lol:

[SilverTalon]

As I've said in-game, as goofy as it sounds at first the system does make a lot of sense. You just have to understand it.

First, if you've ever called a pizza place and gotten the minimum wage teenage kid that's barely literate and doesn't know the meaning of the word "Service" (i.e. - your average Horde player on Mal'Ganis), you understand that a computer that just displays the order is a lovely thing. This is especially true if you have any exotic tastes with your pizza and only want half toppings. You can also pay online and tip online via credit card (at least with Papa John's) which means you just sign a slip and get your pizza. No fumbling with cash, and the delivery people are more likely to be nice since they know whether or not they've got a nice tip (sucks if you don't tip well...but hey, tip better :p).

So online ordering is quicker and introduces less room for error on the part of the store itself meaning you get your order faster and it's more accurate. This is, a Good Thing.

Ok, so the pizza ordering isn't so bad, but why a command? Because otherwise they're going to alt+tab out and that may or may not cause issues. Some games do ok with that (WoW, unless you're at IF), other games it kinda screws with them to do that (PS...another SOE product) where it stutters for a minute or two and is really annoying. Why do that annoyance for something they're going to do anyway when you can simply instantiate something inside the game using hooks and APIs already provided? That way your game has less issues and your half pepperoni-half sausage pizza doesn't show up half-bacon and half-jalapeno. :)

Sorry to take the fun out of it...but mocking a system that eliminates stupid errors and gets things sold more efficiently just doesn't do it for me. As someone else in the guild said, it's not the food's fault...it's the people's fault. My opinion is you let the people be as fat and lazy as they want...take as much of their money as you can...and shrug when they die at 43 of clogged blood vessels. We've kept natural selection in check for far too long...you need look no further than the horde for proof of this fact. :p

[Spinning Hat]

This made me hungry, and I just ordered a pizza... Online ordering is a gift from the gods... :D