Monday, August 25, 2003
Just a quick rant. Yet another MMORPG has been announced in the form of Ultima X: Odyssey.
Now as part of the announcement for this "Diabloesque" (In Diabloesque they mean they couldn't think of any other way to describe the revolutionary game play other than referencing a 5 year old isometric game) MMORPG utilizing the latest Unreal Engine.
Now here's the kicker and I quote:
Speaking of player-vs-player combat, it's entirely consensual in this game, so you can't get attacked unless you mutually initiate a duel with someone (you can even wager gold or items on the victor.) Guilds can get together and create a multiplayer duel, as well. Best of all, they have the option of starting a multiplayer duel in a private realm free of interruption from griefers. It's like having your own private medieval deathmatch server. How big a part these bouts will play in the final game is really up to the players and whether they want to participate in them.
Since when exactly can you categorize a cheap dueling system as PvP? A duel between one or more parties is simply a duel, it is NOT a PvP system. Are they really that desperate to bring out their marketeers to exaggerate and lie about game features that they're going to start calling duels PvP? Whats next, a robust virtual economy will be half assed loot system and a npc vendor in every city to buy your junk.
Now as part of the announcement for this "Diabloesque" (In Diabloesque they mean they couldn't think of any other way to describe the revolutionary game play other than referencing a 5 year old isometric game) MMORPG utilizing the latest Unreal Engine.
Now here's the kicker and I quote:
Speaking of player-vs-player combat, it's entirely consensual in this game, so you can't get attacked unless you mutually initiate a duel with someone (you can even wager gold or items on the victor.) Guilds can get together and create a multiplayer duel, as well. Best of all, they have the option of starting a multiplayer duel in a private realm free of interruption from griefers. It's like having your own private medieval deathmatch server. How big a part these bouts will play in the final game is really up to the players and whether they want to participate in them.
Since when exactly can you categorize a cheap dueling system as PvP? A duel between one or more parties is simply a duel, it is NOT a PvP system. Are they really that desperate to bring out their marketeers to exaggerate and lie about game features that they're going to start calling duels PvP? Whats next, a robust virtual economy will be half assed loot system and a npc vendor in every city to buy your junk.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
The (sad) State of MMOG Communities
Is it just me or are MMORPG game communities seriously suffering from a lack of planning and attention by their developers?
Other than the actual gaming experience, service stability, communites are right up there as a must have but are one of the most neglected aspects along with customers service.
This isn't to say they don't "try", most companies make a concerted effort hire hire staff and put basic community elements in place such as forums, chat, basic command or object based guild features, and as of late the push to give players the ability to create "virtual player run cities".
This process for the most part has had a negative side effect on the player base as a whole, and a major disapointment for those of us that thrive on being part of and building communities such as guilds.
Hang in there as I try to bring this together. In a typical MMORPG you have your server, your entire player base on that server, and various cities or towns where the players start our their virtual lives and use as a base of operation.
:: more to come ::
Is it just me or are MMORPG game communities seriously suffering from a lack of planning and attention by their developers?
Other than the actual gaming experience, service stability, communites are right up there as a must have but are one of the most neglected aspects along with customers service.
This isn't to say they don't "try", most companies make a concerted effort hire hire staff and put basic community elements in place such as forums, chat, basic command or object based guild features, and as of late the push to give players the ability to create "virtual player run cities".
This process for the most part has had a negative side effect on the player base as a whole, and a major disapointment for those of us that thrive on being part of and building communities such as guilds.
Hang in there as I try to bring this together. In a typical MMORPG you have your server, your entire player base on that server, and various cities or towns where the players start our their virtual lives and use as a base of operation.
:: more to come ::
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Welcome,
I've started this BLOG as an outlet for creative expression against the current state of the industry for Massively Multiplayer Online RPG's which has severely veered off track ever since the post Ultima Online era.
If you're wondering about my experience I've been gaming online since the mid nineties playing pay to play dialup games on services like Compu$erve, up and through my college years where I discovered netrek and MUDs/MUSHs over the university internet connection. Since the demise of popularity for those 8bit graphic or text only games I began playing games such as Ultima Online and haven't stopped since.
My opinions as they say are purely my own, while I'll hit upon topics affecting the industry, rant against the games that continue to ignore good game design, my own opinion is just that. I whole heartily welcome well thought out discussions and comments by the whopping 4 or so readers that I may have. ;)
Frankly, while there have been some positive changes in the current generation of MMORPGS, the frightening trend of catering to the lowest common denominator attempting to grab as much subscription revenue as possible has come at the cost of player bases and game quality.
If that wasn't enough, add insult to injury by continuing to release titles from beta 4-8 weeks before they're completed with major bugs and incomplete features still to be addressed. Not only is a defective product being released and sold to the gaming public, customers are forced to pay another $24-30 in subscriptions until the game is working as advertised.
And what do we as customers do? We buy it right off the shelf all wide eyed and slack jawed in hopes that this will be the latest greatest online game ever made, or as least that's what the marketeers said about it...
I've started this BLOG as an outlet for creative expression against the current state of the industry for Massively Multiplayer Online RPG's which has severely veered off track ever since the post Ultima Online era.
If you're wondering about my experience I've been gaming online since the mid nineties playing pay to play dialup games on services like Compu$erve, up and through my college years where I discovered netrek and MUDs/MUSHs over the university internet connection. Since the demise of popularity for those 8bit graphic or text only games I began playing games such as Ultima Online and haven't stopped since.
My opinions as they say are purely my own, while I'll hit upon topics affecting the industry, rant against the games that continue to ignore good game design, my own opinion is just that. I whole heartily welcome well thought out discussions and comments by the whopping 4 or so readers that I may have. ;)
Frankly, while there have been some positive changes in the current generation of MMORPGS, the frightening trend of catering to the lowest common denominator attempting to grab as much subscription revenue as possible has come at the cost of player bases and game quality.
If that wasn't enough, add insult to injury by continuing to release titles from beta 4-8 weeks before they're completed with major bugs and incomplete features still to be addressed. Not only is a defective product being released and sold to the gaming public, customers are forced to pay another $24-30 in subscriptions until the game is working as advertised.
And what do we as customers do? We buy it right off the shelf all wide eyed and slack jawed in hopes that this will be the latest greatest online game ever made, or as least that's what the marketeers said about it...
