Wizard101

Wizard101
Wizard101 logo.
Developer(s)	KingsIsle Entertainment
Publisher(s)	KingsIsle Entertainment Gameforge
Engine	Gamebryo
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, macOS
Release	NA: September 2, 2008 AUS: March 3, 2009 EU: February 15, 2011 AS: October 17, 2009 SA: January 31, 2010 TW: April 27, 2012 (terminated on October 31, 2015) CN: July 11, 2012 (terminated on November 1, 2015)
Genre(s)	Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Wizard101 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by KingsIsle Entertainment. Players take on the role of students of witchcraft and wizardry to save the Spiral, the fictional universe in which the game is played, and battle enemies by casting spells using a turn-based combat system similar to collectible card games.

A sister game Pirate101 was released in 2012.

Gameplay

Screenshot of a player in The Commons, Wizard City.

The fictional universe of the Spiral is divided into many worlds, each of which has multiple areas. Players can unlock these temporarily with "memberships", or unlock each area permanently with the game's premium currency "Crowns". A wizard first starting the game must choose a school: Fire, Ice, Storm, Myth, Life, Death, or Balance, each complete with their own set of unique spells and playstyles to come along with them.

The game is based around "duels": two teams made up of one to four players on each team or computer enemies who take turns casting spells. Spells can be cast using "pips". A player gains one pip every round, and there is a chance that that pip will be a "power pip" worth two regular pips. Spells can reduce the health of enemy creatures, increase the health of friends, add shields which reduce damage, add blades which modify the amount of damage, traps and buffs which increase damage, and more. When a player reduces a computer enemies' health to zero, they are defeated, while players with a health of zero can be healed by others on their team unless they "flee" the duel. When every player or computer on a team has zero health, the other team wins.

As the player progresses, more worlds become available. When wizards level up they gain new badge titles and automatic increases of their base statistics: health, mana and energy. Most equipment also has level restrictions. Hobbies such as training pets, fishing and gardening require energy; while crafting does not requires that, but various resources called "reagents." Duels can be played against other players in the PvP arena, and in some houses. As of January 2018, players can achieve a maximum of Level 125.^[4]

The game holds a rating of E10+ from the Entertainment Software Rating Board for crude humor and mild fantasy violence.^[5][6][7]

Payment model

The game offers a choice of either a subscription or a "Free-to-Play" option with microtransactions. Free-to-Play customers can purchase access to different areas of content using in-game currency called Crowns. Such areas only need to be purchased once, but other actions in the game may be necessary before accessing them. Crowns also can be used to buy in-game exclusive items and access PvP tournaments. The fee for PvP tournaments vary depends on whether the player has an existing Wizard101 membership. Crowns can be purchased by a game card or from the online store, or earned in small amounts through SuperRewards.

Subscriptions unlock all playable worlds, as well as allowing players to compete in ranked PvP matches and ranked Pet Derby races, enter tournaments for gold, store more items in their backpack, and gain the ability to post on the Wizard101 Message Board, along with other minor benefits for the duration of their membership.

In the European version of Wizard101, players are able to buy Subscriptions or Bundles with Crowns.

Also, certain areas and dungeons in Wizard101 can be rented for a certain period of time such as the 6-hour rentals for Mount Olympus, Atlantea, and Tartarus in Aquila.^[8] Unlimited access to ranked PVP and Pet Derby matches can be rented on a per-match or daily basis.

Player interaction

Due to its young core audience, Wizard101 restricts player interaction when compared to other games in the massively multiplayer online genre. There are three different types of chat: Menu Chat, Text Chat, and Open Chat. Menu Chat only allows the player to choose from a variety of predetermined phrases or sentences and prevents them from typing anything else in chat. In Text Chat, what a player types can be seen by every other wizard in the area either from a word bubble on top of the speaker's head or in the chat box. Private Chat is when a wizard wishes to speak in private, or "message", to another wizard. This appears on the screen in a white box to the left. The age of the player directly correlates to the communication allowable. When typed, words that appear in white are words that everyone is able to view. Yellow words can only be seen by players who have their account set to "Open Chat". Open Chat is obtained when a player identifies him or herself as 18 years or older by using their credit card. Red words are not allowed and can be seen by no one, not even the player themselves. If an adult chatter types red or yellow words, younger players will see ellipses (...) in place of the word. Also note that when players do not have Open Chat and say a Red word, players with Open Chat will not see that word either, and will see ellipses as well. Red words include not only profanity, but also words that would allow players to share real life information with each other including phone numbers, their ages, or real world locations.

Another aspect of the game is the ability for players to fight each other, either in Practice dueling, which is free, or Ranked dueling, which must be purchased with Crowns or a membership. Unlike Practice matches, Ranked matches affect the player's ranking badge or title and grant the victor or victors Arena Tickets, yet another type of in-game premium currency. Duels between players are available only in a special player versus player arena designated for the purpose.^[9] The PvP arena can be found upon entry to Unicorn Way from the Commons in Wizard City, in some houses, and within Outer Yard in Avalon.^[10][11]

Rewards for combat or completing a quest are distributed automatically amongst a group, if players decide to stay together, so players need not argue over spoils.^[12] Players may trade a special type of spell card called a treasure card, which is a spell card that can be rearranged by clicking the golden card icon in their spellbook and then can be used in battle when the player discards cards and then clicks draw. These cards can only be used once, and can be used by any player from any school of Magic. A treasure card is typically stronger than the normal variant of the card. This spell will disappear from the player's spell deck once it is used. So far the players are currently unable to trade items other than treasure cards between one another (it is possible, however, to trade most items to one's other wizards on the same account, through the use of a shared bank).^[6][13]

Online safety features

The game has parental controls that can be controlled by a "Master Account". Accounts in the same family as the Master Account can have their parental settings changed. ^[14] The chat settings can restrict the account from certain chat functions. If the player is under 13 years of age, they are restricted to pre-determined phrases and can't see text messages. If the player is 13 years or older, they can send and see text messages, but word filters are in place to censor profanity. Filtered words are marked red while typing and come out as three dots. ^[15] If the player is 18 years or older and has verified the account via credit card, the text messages become much less restrictive, allowing you to see and type words that are usually filtered, but some words are still filtered. Words filtered by the normal text chat that are still visible to 18+ chat are marked yellow and can be seen by those with 18+ chat, but not 13+ chat.^[16]

Player names must be decided by pre-determined names made up of a first name and a one-part or a two-part surname. The official game forums are also heavily moderated and forum posts must be checked by a moderator before they are visible.

Development history

According to a press release published in May 2008, the development of Wizard101 began in 2005, upon the founding of KingsIsle Entertainment under the creative direction of J. Todd Coleman.^[17] The game entered open beta on August 6, 2008, and it launched successfully on September 2, 2008. On August 25, 2010, it was announced that Wizard101 would be released in foreign territories later that year.

Wizard101 launched a European Beta version on December 15, 2010 and then released the game on February 15, 2011, in partnership with Gameforge.^[18] This eventually included releases of the game in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Polish and Greek. It was announced on August 17, 2011 that KingsIsle and Taomee Holdings Limited had an agreement to launch Wizard101 in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Wizard101 Taiwan officially launched on April 27, 2012, with the others to follow.

The Chinese version of Wizard101 had changes made to the game to conform with laws or appeal to the gaming culture in the country. Any references to skeletons or death had to be censored or removed. Quests required more monsters be defeated or more items collected. The game would suggest players to take breaks if playing for long periods of time and after two hours, or the player will enter a "fatigued" state, where rewards and stats are cut in half and after five hours, the "unhealthy" state would cut all rewards given completely. ^[19]

In July 2013, those servers stopped updating. In April 2015, Wizard101 Taiwan announced that it would shut down on May 25, 2015, but the date was rescheduled to October 15, 2015. Wizard101 China announced its shutdown date as November 1, 2015.^[20]

In 2012 KingsIsle Entertainment released Wizard101's sister game called Pirate101 which a press release described as "comfortable and familiar" to Wizard101, but featuring "entirely new design, setting and gameplay mechanics."^[21]

Reception

According to KingIsle Entertainment's press releases, the game has experienced a steady growth in the number of accounts: 2 million in April 2009,^[23] 5 million in September 2009,^[24] 10 million players by June 2010,^[25] 15 million by January 2011, 20 million by July 2011,^[26] and 30 million by July 2013. As of November 2014, there are currently about 50 million accounts created. In terms of reception, the game currently scores an average of 77.5% from ratings on GameRankings.^[22] GameShark reviewer Toni Dimayuga noted the game's overall ambiance and graphic setting as well as the overall fun nature of Wizard101 in the pro column, while the combat (in particular defeats) and the restrictive (at the time of the review) nature of chat were seen as the major minus points.^[27]

References

External links

• Official website
• Wizard101 Central Wiki