There are a fair number of our readers who admit to being addicts of Duels.com, a World of Warcraft-like game that lets users create characters, add weapons and spells, and duel each other. It’s asynchronous, meaning one player can fight another without both having to be online.
And in the few months since it launched, the site has grown to the point that nearly a million duels per day are fought on the site.
Today the company launched version 2 of the site and changed their corporate name from Oxygen Games to Challenge Games. Most of the new features in v 2.0 are geeky and only interesting to hard core players (lots of new ways to kill your opponent). But the site is also starting to launch tournaments, where a large number of players gather to fight all at once, and “ladders,” a way of ranking players based on Elo chess ranking systems.
But the most important feature: female avatars. This was quite simply overlooked by the team when they launched the site – they assumed the vast majority of players would be men. But players have been yelling for female avatars in the Duels.com forums since the game launched. Now, women can play the game with an avatar that has at least some basic biological similarities to their real life body.
Duels.com has the look of a winner. Traffic is steadily increasing after the launch spike, and a lot of players are spending real money to upgrade their characters. CEO Andrew Busey says that more than a few people have spent more than $1,000 to buy some super awesome sword or armor for their character.
The company will launched more games next year, including a sports-themed title that will have more general appeal than Duels.com. “People are embarrassed to say they are addicted to a fantasy dueling game” said Busey. “They’re more willing to tell their friends about a sports game.”
WHAT THE HELL IS SO ENJOYABLE ABOUT KILLING OR MUTILATING OTHER VIRTUAL HUMANS???????????????????
you can do it at work
@1 you can do it at work
I can’t understand why you pay more than $1000 for a virtual sword. Why would you do that?
I’ve played this game since TechCrunch first covered it. I don’t know why it’s so addicting. I find no real strategy is involved in fighting a duel, and it’s simply not rewarding to win one. Honestly, I think the only reason I play is a compulsive character flaw.
This site is very addictive. Can’t wait for the sports version. This site will make the cut when the bubble bursts. I wish I had acted on this idea two years ago. Did not have the money or resources. I really like what they are doing. If you like virtual gaming, check them out!
There is a lot of strategy in the new Action System.
Mindless violence upsets me!
Now, when I frag in Halo, thats a different thing!
fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Most of the female avatars in games like WoW are still owned by men…
is this some sort of pet project of yours
look , there have been HUNDREDS of browser based strategy games that have had FAR higher numbers. Most of the companies are lucky to pay the bills. whats different here?
I’m going to open a free blogging service, you wanna feature it?
For some evidence of what makes this game so stupid, check this out. It’s a video of one of the “best” players showcasing his skills.
http://www.duel...deo-tutorial-1/
He’s brainlessly clicking a lot of buttons, over and over.
Nice Work! Andy and the rest of the Duels team are kicking butt.
I was wondering why this one merits the coverage too. Compare its traffic to TribalWars.Net, a German-based MMOG:
http://siteanal...et/?metric=sess
I’d be surprised if Duels.Com was even in the top 20 of MMOGs in traffic.
Wow thats alot of killing, How many people play that game?
Dale
http://dzrbenson.com/blog/
Is this article a joke?
Duels is absolutely nothing like World of Warcraft, unless you want to compare a tricycle to a boeing 747 because they both have seats.
There is no real gameplay here, not even button mashing. Combat, and I use the term very loosely here, is automatic and requires nothing from the user other than previously gearing up their “character”.
If nothing else, please stop calling this a MMORPG or even comparing it to one. Hell, Minesweeper and Solitaire have more interactivity. Hell, you don’t even have to login to “play”. I made a character when the game launched, played for a week or so, and then that was it. I’ve logged in every once and a while since then and my character is still gaining experience and levels from the automatic combat from challengers testing their mettle on me in skirmish mode.
I expected more from techcrunch. Hell, I’m pretty disgusted with the press in general when it comes to reporting on the game industry.
I think the area of asynchronous MMOGs is pretty interesting. It allows both casual play and much easier play with real world friends (since you don’t have to be online at the same time) that creates the possibility for true viral growth. I’ve blogged a bit about this at http://lsvp.wor...hronous-gaming/
I’m also surprised by the coverage of Duels on techcrunch.
We are a online / browser game creator / publisher. Our TCG game Urban Rivals (http://www.urban-rivals.com) has been out for 2 years, we have more than a million players, 500k games actually played per day (and not just clicks), many innovatives features (for a webgame) like friends feed, groups, advanced collection management etc.. AND we are actually paying the bills :p
We tried to get press coverage from TC many times but it did not seems to interrest them. Why duels since it’s obviously “nothing new”?
sad that such a bad concept and business model is catching on so faast
do all players eventually die???
just reading this gives me a stomach migraine
I have to say when the game first came out I loved it!, mostly because of the challenge of building a strong player and reaching level 40 (highest level in the game).
I do have to say I am disapointed in “Duels 2.0″ – the game play completely changed and I am given only one “free” chance to rebuild my char to meet the new challenges of the game vs the 2 or so months I spent building it the first time through.
To make the game more “geeky and only interesting to hard core players” seems like a poor business model. I felt one of the enjoyments is I was able to be competitive as someone who doesnt want to invest hours into reading and studying for a game. I can only imagine the backlash wow would get if suddenly they decided to cut all your skills in half.
Its sad actually, while I wasn’t one that spent $1000’s I did spend real cash to help my player but I am probably done with the game now.
I am not into these type of “applications” but I do think it is cool to have them online and successful. I wish it had been available 25 years ago
any venture investors in this company?
re: venture investors — i heard it was backed by sequoia…
Massive Multiplayer Online Gaming = Relationship building process
the addiction as World of Warcraft shows, permeates into the real problem solving skills, networking and relationship building.
the future of gaming is the real social networking (both become undistinguishable)
Ujwal
exoticbuddha.com