Well i havent posted anything in a while and prob lost my loyal readers, but hey lets see who is still out there.

Anyways not too much has been going on in my EQ2 world just working on Cinderbella she is finally lvl 70 and 58 sage, so i have been grinding her out. I have said this all to much but i love the shadowknight class and cant wait to work on her some more.

Also on my Origional toon Kuzab, me and a few Real life friends have created a New Guild and this guild dates back to the day of Eq1, “Heart of the Black Dragon” we had this guild in eq1 for the longest time and we accomplished so many differernt things before Eq2 was launched, we ran into each other in game a month ago and started the idea of bringing the guild back and see where it takes us. I am still part of my other guild i only took 1 toon out, i will always be part of my Knights i do not want to leave them.

However the new guild is going well we have 10 members and are working on getting the guild leveled up as of last night we are at lvl 9 or 10 i cant remember but is going well, of course no guild hall as of yet, just alot of Heritage quest and tradeskill writs are being done as well as collecting as many status items as i can. i must of spent 30plat on status items so far. the guild last i checked has 15Plat saved in the bank and we are working on saving for a GH and some basic aminities.
I feel the nastolgia from the past living again in this new day and age and enjoying the paladin class with Kuzab.

The guild is more or less a east coast guild looking for players that want to enjoy the game and proceed through it different challanges, we are Freeport based at this point and that makes it difficult for Kuzab to enter being only lvl 55 and KOS. But these are some of the challanges that we must face to make our mark on Norrath once again.
Sooner or later the Name “Heart of the Black Dragon” will strike fear in the eyes of Norrath once again.

Also i wanted to wish my readers a Happy Holidays at this time of the year what ever ritual your family may celebrate i hope it is the best one yet and remember to kiss and not kick a gnome during this time of the year, gnomes need love too.

untill next time, Happy Hunting in Norrath.

~Chubby~

I got a comment on yesterday’s post that questioned what some would consider one of the primary pillars of the MMO experience:

Dear Wilhelm

I think your overestimating the social significance of MMOs. After many years play as a non-guilder/PUGster, I’ve come to the conclusion that meeting people in MMOs is like going to Kindergarten.

. you make instant friends for the day (and everyone is bubbly)
. you’ll never see them again (they just disappear into the aether)
. you speak like a little kids
. everyone tends to be greedy, but in an innocent way

Its fun, but its not that significant…

Now, I had my own snarky response to this.  I was snarky because I do not think that, in general, I espouse a philosophy on this blog that places emphasis on social interaction.  A recurring theme here is playing with the same four people once a week and rarely getting involved with anybody else in the game.

In fact, yesterday’s post was worth posting because I actually did, grudgingly, go play with some strangers.  I am certainly not the poster boy for socialization.

I did end my response with something that I can sum up by paraphrasing Tom Lehrer:

The social aspect of MMOs are like a sewer; what you get out of it depends on what you put into it.

Frankly, when it comes down to it, my experiences are probably more akin to the commenter than not.  But even as somebody who tends to be a solo player in multiplayer games, I have managed to collect a string of friends and acquaintances over the years.

So as a legitimate point of view for an individual, I cannot really fault his statement.  But as a sweeping generalization of the total MMO experience, I just cannot get there.  I know too many people for whom the social aspect is the main draw.  After all, one of the four quadrants of the classic Bartle Test is “Socializer.”

How about you?  How significant do you see the social aspects of MMOs in your view?

It’s time again for the Steam Holiday sale, and that can only mean one thing: MMO Sales to be found all around! Here is a list of the games you can find on sale at Steam this week, all of which should be on sale until January 3rd. You have a week and a half, so don’t put it off too long!

Please remember that all of these price are in USD.

[Update] Eve Online Dominion is now on sale. Added to list.

Mega Packs:

• Everquest: Underfoot Complete Collection (Game + 16 expansions) $39.99 $35.99
• Everquest: Starter Pack (Game + 15 expansions) $19.99 $4.99
• Star Wars Galaxies Complete Collection (Game + 3 expansions) $19.99 $9.99
• Everquest 2: The Shadow Oddessy (Game + 4 expansions) $19.99 $4.99
• Final Fantasy XI Ultimate Collection (Game + 4 expansions) $19.99 $11.00
• Guild Wars Trilogy (Game + 2 expansions) $49.99 $44.99

More sales after the break!

Titles By Price:

• Everquest 2: Runes of Kunark Starter Pack $19.99 $4.99
• Pirates of the Burning Sea $19.99 $4.99
• Lineage $9.99 $4.99
• Vanguard† $19.99 $4.99
• Eve Online: Dominion $19.99 $5.00
• City of Heroes: Architect Edition (Game + expansion) $19.99 $9.99
• Lineage 2: Gracia Final $19.99 $9.99
• Champions Online $29.99 $10.19
• Age of Conan††  $19.99 $13.39
• Guild Wars GOTY Edition $19.99 $17.99
• Cities XL Regular Edition $39.99 $19.99
• Cities XL Limited Edition $49.99 $24.99
• Fallen Earth $49.99 $24.99
• Guild Wars Nightfall $29.99 $26.99
• Guild Wars Factions $29.99 $26.99
• Global Agenda††† $49.99 $44.99
• Aion $49.99 $44.99

Disappointments

For the fact that holiday sales are supposed to knock people on the fence, off the fence, who may be considering buying your product, there are a number of sales that I take issue with.

In regards to Aion, Global Agenda, and the Guild Wars Trilogy, they aren’t exactly sales as much as they are temporary price reductions. Although any sale is good, taking five dollars off of a full priced game is not going to shift me into the “I have to have it” mode that, say, the Everquest bundle for $5 will. I am not saying that Aion should put itself on sale for five dollars, but the fact that I can get a better deal off of my store employee discount, makes this not much of a sale.

I was also surprised to not see Crimecraft (either edition), nor Warhammer Online on this list. The two titles could use the influx of subscribers that a sale would bring in, what with Warhammer shutting down servers and Crimecraft going free to play.

†According to Steam, activation and download may take up to 48 hours after purchase for Vanguard.
†† According to Steam, Age of Conan keys can not be used on existing accounts.
††† Although Global Agenda is on sale now, it will not be available until February 1st, 2010.
†††† In most cases, current accounts are not eligible to receive additional time by purchasing these keys off of Steam. Check your individual game before purchasing.
†††††Some titles, such as Everquest, will not allow you to redeem the free 30 days unless you have some form of payment. Make absolute sure you check before you buy.

Translated as 'The Future of Everquest II'

10 years on and Everquest is finally about to reach it’s climax with the recent Seeds of Destruction title and now Underfoot. The story it seems has been unwinding itself from a time way before Velious and we are about to fully see the complex and in depth plans that sony’s team of lore writers has had for Everquest I and II since it’s conception.

It all hangs on this most intruiging and unusual artifact known in part as the Chelsith Stone which represents a clock and counts down, somewhat like the Mayan calendar rounds to ‘Ages End’. Which sony released a teaser for sometime before EQ1.

The stone runes, found below were translated by many lore buffs on the forums to mean ‘The Future of Everquest II’, but the more interesting components lie within the symbols.

What has been confirmed by many players on both EQ1 and EQ2 forums is that the centre top represents Brell Serellis. who adorns candles on his head and  was responsible for a pact with the ‘good’ Gods early in Norraths creation to keep the legendary dragon God Veeshan in check and who was known to exclude several gods from this pact who eventually sought revenge but were defeated at the hands of the players in the Planes of Power expansion.

“Dragons First – The Age of Scale

Veeshan, Crystalline Dragon and ruler of the Plane of Sky, was the first god to notice the world of Norrath. She found it pleasing and deposited her brood onto the frozen continent of Velious. Dragons walked the land and flew the skies - powerful beings of great intellect, wisdom, and strength.

Early Gods and Their Interventions - The Elder Age

In time, another god noticed Veeshan’s work. Brell Serilis, the Duke of the Underfoot, secretly created a magic portal to a cavern deep in the belly of Norrath. Through this portal, he seeded the depths of Norrath with all manner of creatures and sealed them within a labyrinthine chamber of mystical Living Stone.

With his own supplicants in place, Brell Serilis then discussed the fate of Norrath with the other gods: Tunare the Great Mother, Prexus the Oceanlord, and Rallos Zek the Warlord. With words befitting the King of Thieves, Brell proposed that they accept an alliance of sorts, to divide the planet amongst them for the purpose of keeping the Dragon Wurmqueen in check. All agreed to the division; however, Rallos Zek pledged his allegiance to none.”

The Symbol in Neriak

EQ2 released information regarding a specific God of Undeath known as Anashti’Sul who, with the help of the Shadowed Men has returned from the Void where she had been banished by the other gods for some terrible act. She is extremely pissed and seems to have in possession two statues which represent two swords known as Soulfire and the Qeynos Claymore, two legendary artifacts from Everquest I and this old symbol with the new blue layer on top.

The Symbol with the new layer in EQ II

Theer and the combined Soulfire and Qeynos Claymore

Enter Theer, the Avatar of the Nameless and the slayer of Gods. He is returning and when the Soulfire and the Qeynos Claymore come together he will be back to bitch slap the Gods for the terrible imbalance that has been caused. Anchors from the Void are all over Norrath thanks, in part, to the players of EQ1 who have been travelling with the help of Zeboxxuruk to different points in time changing the actions of Discord and Zeboxxuruks mistakes.

EQ1 - Seeds of Destruction: Zebuxoruk in a shattered version of Norrath

‘A new rift has opened in the Plane of Time. This rift leads to a bleak prophecy of the end of existence. The world of Norrath lies in ruins. The planet has shattered into millions of shards, spinning in a silent void around the rapidly blackening star of Ro.

In the wreckage on a small shard of the world, a lone figure sits quietly tending a small seedling growing between the rocks. The lone figure is none other than the fallen god Zebuxoruk.

Zebuxoruk is certainly insane, but has a unique insight into the current state of the world and possibly might hold the knowledge to guide adventurers in the quest to prevent the destruction of Norrath. Only he can direct adventurers towards specific moments in time where the armies of Discord were able to disrupt the timeline.

If they are able to stop the forces of Discord, the destruction in The Void will slowly be repaired. If not, all hope will be lost.’

Kurns Tower (EQ1 Left) (EQ2 Right) Showing the Shadow Men's Anchor

These actions have caused some terrible problems in the timeline,

after we were supposed to ensure that the timeline returned to normal as it was before the Zebouxxuruk’s medeling we had to face Kurn’s in his Tower in the field of bone and he managed to escape. But now in EQ2 since the shadow oddysey we have Anchors that are opening all over the world, particularly in Kurn’s Tower, which seems to represent the Palace, and is assisting the Shadowed Men who search for some unknown purpose.

‘Report to Shade—

– All sigils with anchors, especially those with anchors and shields

– All rods

– Anything that appears to be of Combine or elven manufacture.

– Anything bearing the name Aataltaal

– Anything else must be taken to Karnik, to be brought to the eyes for further examination’

Further more, a specifically important individual in the history of Norrath, is ancient elf Aataltaal (mentioned in the parchment above) and in EQ1, EQ2 and EQRPG.

‘Journal of Aataltaal

Final Entry—

It is with heavy heart on this long night that I write what I know to be my last entry here. I have deliberated on this issue, and always I come to the same conclusion. These are a brave people in Landing — noble, able, determined. Yet as long as I stay, they shall defer to me out of respect for what I have done in these early years. I would simply pass on the rulership to another, but any whom I favor shall be treated with the same thoughtless deference, and these people must have a ruler they have chosen from among themselves. For this to happen, I must be gone entirely, beyond any hope of their finding me. Of course, in a matter of hours the question may be moot. An army of the Deathfist unlike any I have seen marches toward our walls, and at this moment a band of accursed Teir’Dal assassins positions itself beneath our feet. I am confident, with the warning I have received from these strange scientists of the arcane, that I have plotted a course through these troubles. But my sense that the city and its people shall endure is no guarantee that I myself shall live through this night. The paladins of Marr have sworn to lay down their lives to protect mine, but a stray blade or spell of death may always find me. Still, I must be the bait, and only a complete victory over the Teir’Dal allows my remaining forces to reinforce the walls and defeat the Deathfist.

After that, the city is safe. Difficult years may lie ahead, but these people deserve a chance to plot their own destinies. I cannot in good conscience bring the entire city along on the dread road I must travel. Lady Delailith shall return to Landing should it require help, but my heart tells me that she will never need to do so. A finer people I have not known on Norrath, and I love them enough to set them free of my shadow.

Tonight, even if he sees the end of it, Aataltaal dies to the mortal world. At least until such a time as events may require me to reveal myself again.

By Mine Own Hand,

Aataltaal’

———-

‘An addendum:

The deed is done, the Teir’Dal smashed, the Deathfist lay in ruins. I take this journal, along with all else that has been entrusted into my care, to depart from this free port back to my homeland a continent away. After living unfettered on this rough land, I can never again accept the policies and obligations of Felwithe. But for the same reasons Aataltaal must go, so too must I. Already they turn to me, asking his fate — and why not ask a sage to find such knowledge? Even if I can hold their questions off until they relent and remit, I foresee they will choose me to fill his place. I am too clearly associated with him, and his memory cannot fade until mine has.

Already I have removed my name from the battle-lists, burned all correspondence, and sworn my agents never to speak my name again. In one human generation, I will be a myth. In ten, I will be forgotten. I mourn to never see the Academy built, to never again know the smell of the market and feel the warm, relentless sun on my face. But I shall find a new place in the unexplored wilds of Faydwer and there spend my last days. When my last breath gives forth, I shall be buried there, in whatever new home I have made.

My agents can bring me word of Landing’s progress, and, as my master wishes, I shall return should it ever have need, Rod in hand, to aid it. Yet I have had a Moment of Truth, and have perceived that there shall be no such trouble until I am long gone, when Luclin shall be buried in Norrath.

But enough. This truly shall be the last entry into this journal, which I must take away as I remove myself.

By Mine Own Hand,

Delailith’

‘The Spirit Deities

Several  powerful divine spirits  are worshiped  similarly to deities by Norrath’s more primitive. They are  different than  the deities  of Power,  Influence,  and Nature as  they  do  not exist  to  rule or be ruled by a plane of  existence nor are they tied to mortal beliefs. They are divine creatures imbued in the physical  and spiritual world of Norrath  itself. Shamans and beast-lords, especially agnostic  ones,  draw their power from and  form bonds with the spirits  of animals and nature. These  spirit deities  are the most powerful examples of such spirits.

Drinal, The  Silver  Reaper

Very  few beings  know  of The  Silver Reaper,  associated with  the gray moon seen  from Norrath on  all nights  -  Drinal. This moon was named after the spirit  deity of night, destruction,  and death by a humanoid tribe of nomads before the era of great cities and civilizations. Drinal, although  representing  that which  is dark,  is a neutral deity who represents  the necessary end of  the cycle of life. He does not maintain his watch over death out of malevolence,  but out of the necessity for it to occur  in order to  fulfill  the cycle of  life. His Lujien  followers personify Drinal as an upright white wolf whose paws,  tail,  and maw are midnight  black. It  is  said that Drinal wields a  silver sickle,  the  symbol  of the  crescent moon that is most sacred to Drinal and his bestial worshipers. ‘

The Temple of Cazic Thule, home to the Lizardmen the Alliz Tae Ew

‘Alliz Evol Ew
Second Edition

This is a folktale concerning the lizard people of the Feerrott.

This is a story that tremors in the earth like the worm of below. It splits the tail as it does the tongue. This is a truth that can become a lie if it is spoken too much so beware. Listen to the tale and you will know. Choose your Ew and you shall know. Know the Alliz Evol Ew.

The many worlds wrap around us like the smell of the swamp on our tongue. THe world with the five moons and the two moons are only real. The worlds that are not real do not exist until they do. The world of the shattered moon and the world of no moons and all moons do not exist. The Alliz Evol Ew know this. And we know they are real.’

“We already have four titles in development, three of which we’ve already announced.”

The Plane of Knowledge, believed to be home to the Alabaster Tower

Zebuxoruk says ‘When the timeline is weak enough, a new assault will come to Norrath. By then your powers will be so great that both past and future will be evacuated, their peoples to make a last stand in the Now. What a magnificent effort that shall be, though it will be utterly futile. At the moment of your greatest despair, look up and see the Alabaster Tower which shall offer your salvation.

Discussion continued on the following forum post: http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=465387

Bolly of the Redemption Guild, Vox Server

Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada has high hopes for Final Fantasy XIV, believing it has a good chance of taking on Blizzard’s unstoppable World of Warcraft and snatching a sizable chunk of the vulture-ridden MMO market. 

Wada states that Final Fantasy XIV will rival WoW because it’s a sequel, and nobody has ever had a successful MMO and a successful sequel to that MMO: ”WoW is a tough competitor, but whether you are talking about EverQuest, Ultima or Lineage there has never been a company that has a continuously successful number one and two MMO.”

He also unequivocally said “yes” to Develop when asked if he believes that Final Fantasy XIV could pull WoW from its throne, although he added that that it would be “tough” to do so. 

Wada’s logic seems a bit kooky to me. Surely most MMOs don’t have a sequel because they don’t need a sequel. MMOs don’t work the same way as other games, and this is why World of Warcraft has never needed a World of Warcraft 2. If anything, a sequel is evidence of failure in the MMO market, since your first game obviously didn’t do a good enough job if you need to make a new one. 

It seems that Squenix may not be understanding how MMOs work … but a little thing like “not having an effing clue” has never stopped publishers before, right?

Canum is the viking fellowship’s Lore-master.  Lore-masters are a pet class that do debuffs and can give members of the fellowship power when needed.  Which is a lot with Redranth!  I’ve known Canum a long time since our Noble Rage days playing Everquest.  He was our second best wizard in the guild behind Nindakin.  Nin took him under his wing and taught him the ways of doing crazy huge redonkulus nukes in EQ.  Anyway Canum provides us with a lot of jokes at his expense because he is playing a female character.  This is called being a Shim.  People that play shims have many excuses.  One is they would rather look at a girl’s ass all day in 3rd person then a dudes.  Another is that guys playing MMOs will treat them nicer and maybe even give them free stuff because they think they are an actual girl.   MMO Viking thinks any reason is inexcusable!  If you are a dude in real life, don’t play a girl on your MMO!  Not cool!  Only women playing MMOs should play women characters.  You might think Beo has been burned in the past by a shim.  This is incorrect.  Beo does his research before giving away free stuff and chatting up women in MMOs.  Anyway Canum is an easy target for jokes in the fellowship, with guys saying they are checking out his rack and etc.  Canum, Borthos and Adanther all know each other in real life which is cool.  Ada is Canum’s cousin and Borthos is Canum’s best friend / roommate.  Scionof, who I haven’t introduced yet is Canum’s real life father.  This is all very cool.  I actually started playing LOTRO because my brother Hask wanted me to play with him.  He doesn’t play nearly as much as I do but we have fun when I do catch him online.  Hask and I both have lifetime subscriptions to lotro so I am sure we will be playing this in 10 years still off and on.  Congrats Canum on hitting level 64 today, 1 more to go!

As the winter cold descends on some of us (and a heckuva lot of snow on others), it seems that we gamers holed up in our techno-coccoons are trending toward the familiar rather than the new.  Many bloggers have drifted back to the good ol’ reliable MMOs of yesteryear, taking shelter in them.

And for good reason — as September 2009 was a month of new (and refurbished) MMOs, December 2009 is a month of expansions and major patch releases, the siren call of nostalgia with the promise of NEW! and IMPROVED! to go with it.

LOTRO has pumped out their well-recieved (if slightly skimpy) Siege of Mirkwood expansion; World of Warcraft’s update glacier finally crawled forward enough to release the much-anticipated Patch 3.3; Warhammer Online’s sporting a shiny 1.3.2 patch; EVE Online’s unleashed their five hundredth expansion, “Dominion”; EverQuest 2 has “Sentinel’s Fate” and it’s older brother EverQuest is gaining “Underfoot”; and there’s probably many more to add to this list if I had the time or inclination.

Two of these in a month is just a coincidence — three or more is a marketing strategy.  ‘Tis the season to renew one’s vows of faithfulness to the old and steadfast instead of the young and unproven, and many companies figure (quite rightly) that gamers are willing to return to their old stomping grounds if the incentive is attractive enough.

Besides, new MMOs aren’t exactly beating down our door right now.  Star Trek Online is the nearest, and that’s around February 2010, and past that is anyone’s guess.  The time is ripe to revisit older games (or try them out for the first time) because there isn’t the allure of a big new shiny anytime soon.

So whether you’re in with the old or out with the new, enjoy your holiday gaming!

Yitu hat mir ein Blogstöckchen zugeworfen und fragt: “Was bleibt wenn man ein MMO beendet? Wenn man EVE, WoW, WAR, AoC usw. usf. beendet? Welche Eindrücke bleiben? Nur ein MMO-Museum?”. Hmm. Was soll man da sagen? Ich erzähle euch einfach mal diejenige MMORPG-Geschichte, die mir am eindrücklichsten im Hirn kleben geblieben ist^^.

Es war vor vielen Jahren, ich war noch Student und spielte, rückblickend betrachtet, wahrscheinlich zuviel Everquest. In jener Zeit war gerade die Erweiterung Omens of War erschienen, mit neuen Zonen und harten Gegnern. Es lohnte sich, dort mit einer Gruppe zu grinden, weil die Mobs vergleichsweise viel Erfahrung brachten und Runen fallen ließen, die man für Zaubersprüche brauchte.

Gleichzeitig war es aber auch ziemlich gefährlich dort, weil die Gegner so unglaublich fies zuhauten. Eine Gruppe von 6 Leuten, die sich ungefähr auf meinem Ausrüstungsniveau bewegte, konnte gerade mal einzelne Monster relativ verlässlich besiegen. Wenn der Puller 2 Mobs auf einmal zum Camp brachte, dann schlug meine Stunde, denn als Illusionist konnte ich den ungebetenen Gast mit meiner Zauberei mezzen, also aus dem Spiel nehmen und für einige Zeit blenden, während der Rest der Gruppe sich um Gegner Nr.1 kümmerte.

Meistens klappte das auch, aber nicht immer, denn jeder kleine Fehler eines Gruppenmitglieds konnte in so einer Situation das Scheitern bedeuten und die Gegner konnten meinen Hypnose-Versuchen zu allem Überfluss auch noch widerstehen. Wenn das geschah, dann wurden sie ziemlich wütend auf meinen armen Illusionisten und begannen, ihm mächtig den A**** zu versohlen. Diese Behandlung überlebte meine Spielfigur ungefähr 3 Sekunden lang, so dass ich meistens noch Zeit für einen zweiten Zauber-Versuch hatte – wenn der wieder in die Hosen ging, dann bedeutete das einen Gruppen-Wipe. Diese Momente waren wirklich hektisch, das könnt ihr mir glauben ^^.

Nun gut, eines Abends war ich wieder am Spielen, mit 2 Kollegen aus der Gilde, Tank und Priester, und drei Leuten, die wir am Wegesrand aufgelesen hatten. Der Krieger war in die weite Ebene vor uns hinausgelaufen, hatte ein Monster aufgegabelt und war auf dem Rückweg zur Gruppe, die am Kartenrand an einer Klippe kauerte. Schon von weitem war zu sehen, dass das kein Single Pull werden würde, und ich hackte “Add” in den Gruppen-Chat und machte mich bereit, das zweite Monster zu übernehmen. Plötzlich tauchte aber noch ein riesiger Schemen hinter unserem Tank auf, und dann dann sogar ein 4. … 4 Gegner auf einmal – und dieser Verrückte hatte das nicht bemerkt und steuerte weiterhin auf uns zu, anstatt sich ehrenhaft zu stellen und alleine zu sterben!

Mein Puls ging nach oben, ich wähnte unser letztes Stündlein geschlagen, aber dennoch begann ich meinen Job zu machen, legte auf maximale Reichweite den ersten Hypnose-Spruch auf den ersten Add. Er saß, aber nun hatten zwei Gegner direkt auf mich Aggro und liefen in gerade Linie auf mich zu, nur einer trachtete noch dem Tank nach dem Leben.

Ich hackte weiter auf mein Keyboard, Ziel wechseln, Zaubern auf Gegner und… *zack* wieder ein Monster aus dem Rennen, nur eines prügelt mich noch, aber der Schamane hat den Mob vom Krieger geslowt, also seine Angriffsgeschwindigkeit verlangsamt, und heilt den Tank. Währenddessen habe ich meine Verteidigungsrune hochgefahren, nachdem mein erstes Schutzschild schon längst gefallen ist, der Priester heilt mich auf Maximalleistung, und ich klammerte mich wie an einem Strohhalm an mein Leben und zaubere meinen letzten Mezz, der… wieder sitzt! 3 Mobs stehen benebelt in der Gegend, meine Handflächen schwitzen, niemand ist tot und mein Herz schlägt ziemlich schnell.

Der Kampf war ab diesem Zeitpunkt in unserer Hand, wir klopften uns gegenseitig auf den Rücken und die Jungs in meiner Gruppe waren genauso überrascht und froh wie ich ^^.

Nun, und was bleibt jetzt, wenn man ein MMO beendet? Keine Ahnung, aber bei mir auf jedenfall diese Erinnerung an einen meiner coolsten MMORPG-Momente ^^.

In Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture, T.L. Taylor addresses what she perceives to be a lack of role-playing among the players of the game EverQuest (1999). She

writes, “Although the game, with its world of magic and mythical creatures, seems to suggest a role-playing genre, players rarely employ any kind of formal RP orientation outside of

special circumstances or the one server dedicated to the play style.”(30) Though I agree with the notion that what could be considered “traditional” role-playing behavior is largely

absent among the game’s players, I contend that there still remains a formal system of role-playing among the players that is both widespread and integral to the social structure of

the game, and the community that populates it. In this paper, I will argue for a distinction within what we classify as role-playing behavior between what I call “theatrical role-playing”

and “team oriented role-playing”. Though it may be the case that theatrical role-playing is largely absent from EverQuest, it appears that team oriented role-playing is especially

prominent within the game, and plays a vital role not only within the game’s social sphere, but also within the gameplay itself.

For the purposes of this paper, the theatrical role-playing sometimes seen, but often absent in EverQuest has roots primarily in tabletop role-playing games, most notably, Dungeons

& Dragons (1974). In Dungeons & Dragons, players create fictional fantasy characters that they portray throughout the game. The interaction between player and character in this

form is similar to that of improvisational theater. Though theatrical role-playing has existed in various cultures long before the creation of Dungeons & Dragons, this is the incarnation

from which EverQuest is largely based upon. As an unofficial online successor of Dungeons & Dragons, EverQuest maintains many of the conventions found in Dungeons & Dragons

such as unique races, classes, level-based progression, and a medieval fantasy setting. However, despite the similarities in character mechanics and background setting, as Taylor

notes, EverQuest players rarely engage in theatrical role-playing.

This lack of theatrical role-playing is in large part due to the absence of active narrative in EverQuest. In a standard Dungeons & Dragons game, there is a dungeon master (or DM), this

person is technically not a player, but instead fills a role similar to that of a narrator. The DM narrates the story and events in which the players interact through their characters. In

addition, the DM is able to actively respond to the often creative and dynamic theatrical role-playing that takes place on the part of the players. For example, in Dungeons & Dragons,

it is possible to accomplish many tasks through theatrical role-playing, such as bluffing a guard into opening a city gate or convincing a king to offer a greater reward for the rescue of

his daughter. In this way, theatrical role-playing can directly affect the outcome of the game.

In contrast, EverQuest places very little emphasis on story or narrative. Though elements of back-story and narrative exist in EverQuest, such elements are rarely reinforced within

the game itself, leaving players to search for background information outside of the gamespace. Instead of being guided through the game by a narrator, EverQuest players are placed

in a seemingly open world to explore; often with little knowledge of its history or culture. In addition, the absence of a DM and the limitations of computer game programming and AI

(artificial intelligence) create an environment in which theatrical role-playing is not actively rewarded. Players who do engage in theatrical role-playing are often left to create their

own fictional stories and events through which to role-play around. Taylor describes the motivation of these players as follows:

Role players in EQ (though fairly infrequently found outside the dedicated role-play server) are seen as people dedicated to the back -story and narrative structure of the world. They

game through developing characters, alliances, and plots – though there is no formal mechanism in the game for rewarding this activity and it therefore has little part in leveling.

(Taylor 72)

Though there is a clear lack of theatrical role-playing in the world of EverQuest, nearly all players engage in a separate form of role-playing. This alternate role-playing behavior

serves as an integral part of both the social interactions among players and the function of gameplay. I refer to this form of role-playing as “team oriented role-playing”. The theory

behind team oriented role-playing is that players take on roles and responsibilities in a way that is similar to playing a “position” in a team-based sport while playing EverQuest. This

affects not only how they interact with other players, but also affects how the game is played by each individual and their identity within the game.

In EverQuest, team oriented role-playing begins with the creation of a character in a similar fashion to that of Dungeons & Dragons. Character creation ultimately determines the

general role a player will have throughout the game. For example, if a player chooses to create a warrior, they will be expected to defend their allies in combat by taking the majority

of damage. In contrast, if a player creates a cleric, they will take on the role of a healer and rarely engage in direct combat. In this way, creating a character in EverQuest is much like

selecting a position in a team-based sport; when a player selects a position to play on a sports team, they determine what role they will have on the team.

Though it is possible to neglect or play against a character’s natural function, the vast majority of EverQuest players embrace the character roles that class selection entails. Which

class a player selects also determines a significant portion of their identity within the game world. Players often refer to themselves in-game by their class, and often refer to others

according to class as well. It is worth mentioning here, that while a character’s class is an integral part of a player’s identity within the game, a character’s race is often of little

consequence. Race selection (choosing to play an elf, dwarf, or some other creature) has little effect on player to player interaction, and what little statistical difference that exists

between races at the start of the game is largely negated through equipment bonuses later on. This is strikingly different from theatrical role-playing where a character’s race often

directly affects a character’s identity and behavior within the game.

Though players adopt general roles through the selection of their class, another layer of team oriented role-playing becomes apparent while players engage in group gameplay

situations. In these situations, specialized roles are often temporarily adopted by players in addition to their general roles. Examples of such roles include party leader (the person in

charge of inviting or removing group members),master looter (the person in charge of collecting and disbursing treasure), or puller (the person in charge of finding and bringing

enemy targets to the group). Though a player’s general class role (such as defender or healer) is a static part of a player’s identity within the game, the specialized roles that players

adopt within a group can change at any time. Therefore, while a player may hold the identity of “puller” within one group, they may have a different identity while in another group.

Such specialized roles within groups are an important component of team strategy and responsibility among players, and are commonly adopted among all EverQuest players.

In addition to the class and group roles that players embrace throughout the game, there is yet another layer of team oriented role-playing which takes place within guilds. In

EverQuest, guilds are organized groups of players that unite under a shared name. These organizations are created and governed within the game by the players themselves. Each

guild has at least one player who adopts the role of “guild master”. While the only official position in an EverQuest guild is that of the guild master, most guilds delegate additional roles

among members such as “officer”, “treasurer”, or “recruiter”. Such roles serve as another element of team oriented role-playing, and actively contribute to a player’s identity and

behavior within the game.

As we can see, team oriented role-playing is an integral part of the EverQuest experience and reveals itself in a variety of ways throughout the game. Since its emergence from within

EverQuest, it has become a vital component of the modern MMORPG, and can be seen throughout many online virtual worlds in existence today. Though it is different from the

theatrical role-playing behavior traditionally associated with role-playing games, it can still be seen to be a formal role-playing system that represents an important evolution within

the role-playing genre; and an important piece of any study or analysis involving player interaction within an online virtual gamespace.

Works Cited

Taylor, T. L.. Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. London: The Mit Press, 2009. Print.

Greetings everyone!

It’s that time of year again – the time for putting up decorations, singing carols, fighting for a playoff spot, gaining a few pounds, and the time when everyone constantly clicks on the launcher trying to gain access to the newest EverQuest expansion! For some of you, the wait is now over! …and for people like me, the weight is now starting!

With the Seeds of Destruction expansion, we gave you a sneak peek at a few zones.  For the Underfoot “Early Access” launch, we wanted to give veteran players a little something extra for their dedication and loyalty to EverQuest.   That’s where the concept of the Road to Underfoot came to life.

The Road to Underfoot kicked off with the Giants, Giants, Giants event. In this event, players fought against some of the largest foes across the gaming world.  Next, the players took on the form of some of their favorite monsters and battled against Ancient Heroes like Vox and Nagafen.  Finally, the Road to Underfoot ended with the Breaking of the Seal.  Cliknar forces broke through the Wall of Living Stone within the Hole on Norrath and armies of flooded out from the realm of Underfoot putting Norrath in danger.  Only brave adventurers can help save Norrath in time.

Though Underfoot will officially launch on Tuesday, December 15, 2009, everyone who completed the three Road to Underfoot events and pre-order and purchased the Underfoot expansion gained access to explore the Underfoot a week before everyone else.  The “Early Access” launch on December 8, 2009 includes the full expansion.

Next week on December 15^th, we’ll see the official launch of Underfoot which allows access to everyone else who purchases the expansion.

In this year of EverQuest’s 10^th Anniversary, we’ve seen the community rally together and show how much they support the game we all love.  The EQ team would like to thank everyone for helping to keep EverQuest going strong.  We’re committed to the game that started it all and to the passionate people that play them. We have a lot planned for the game over the coming year and hope to see everyone continue to be part of EverQuest’s history.

I wish you all a healthy, happy and prosperous holiday season and a plethora of Underfoot content! Last one in is a rotten egg!

Thom “Phathom” Terrazas
Producer, EverQuest on behalf of the EverQuest and SOE Team

Adanther the Guardian is the next member of the Viking Fellowship I am going to talk about.  After Beowyf and Nindrojrir, Adanther might have the third most actual lotro gameplay time.  Which means a couple things.  The best thing is he is around to help out and will do so whenever asked.  Another thing this means is like Beo and Nin he doesn’t have much of a real life!  Just kidding about that last part, well kinda.  When Ada and Borthos first started playing lotro we yelled at them for both picking guardians, because we already had our Fellowship tank Redranth.  Borthos finally relented and made a Rune Keeper thank Thor.  I make fun of Ada sometimes for being a guardian and not the main tank, with comments like “Hey Ada summon me”  as if he was a captain and etc.  But I have come to realize he does come in useful as the 2nd Tank of the fellowship, great for off tanking especially when there is 2 boss monsters at once.  Also he helped me on one of my final epic quests in Moria when Red wasn’t around which was awesome.   Adanther is another of the X-Everquest crew from Prexus.  In Everquest he played a Frog Cleric which was funny and I enjoyed.  Ada has sworn to never play a healer since though.  Beowyf is jealous of Adanther for a couple things.  Ada gets to wear cool heavy plate armor and gets to wield a huge bad ass two-handed hammer.  MMO Viking loves battle hammers.  Adanther should of been a dwarf but that’s ok.  Being the race of man, the largest playable free person race, the hammer he wields is giganormous.  Seriously that thing would weigh 95 lbs in real life.  Adanther you should name your hammer something cool like “KICK-ASS”.     

The start of the year end lists is upon us.

I saw over on Sneaky Hobbits that Turbine’s Lord of the Rings Online was the number one entry MMORPG.COM’s user ratings for 2009.

That, in and of itself, is not controversial in my mind.  LOTRO is a good game built on the hugely popular Middle-earth lore, Turbine has been dedicated to improving the game over time, and it has a loyal user base.

But, of course, the prospect of a list was too much to resist.  I like a good list… and love a bad list even more so some days, so I decided to see where other games fell.

Here are the top 33, which represent all of the games ranked 8.0 or better out of a scale of 1 to 10.

1. Lord of the Rings Online 8.38
2. Atlantica Online 8.30
3. EVE Online 8.29
4. Fallen Earth 8.28
5. EverQuest II 8.26
6. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes 8.25
7. Guild Wars8.23
8. Ryzom 8.23
9. Warhammer Online 8.23
10. Dark Age of Camelot 8.22
11. Guild Wars Factions 8.22
12. Final Fantasy XI 8.22
13. Guild Wars Nightfall 8.21
14. Perfect World 8.20
15. City of Villains 8.20
16. City of Heroes 8.20
17. The Chronicles of Spellborn 8.20
18. Champions Online 8.16
19. Ultima Online 8.15
20. Runes of Magic 8.13
21. Lineage 2 8.09
22. Requiem: Bloodymare 8.08
23. Anarchy Online 8.08
24. EverQuest 8.08
25. PlanetSide 8.07
26. Asheron’s Call 8.07
27. Sword of the New World 8.06
28. World of Warcraft 8.06
29. Dungeons & Dragons Online 8.04
30. Dekaron 8.02
31. Battleground Europe 8.02
32. ROSE Online 8.01
33. Cabal 8.00

That is an… interesting list.

When you consider that the difference we’re talking about here, the gap between a rating of 8.0 and a rating of 8.38, is about the same as the difference between a B and a B-, you can assume that these games are all enjoyed by groups of players who each think about as highly of their game of choice.

These games are all equal to their users in some very abstract sense.

Yes, I know we’re looking at an epic mis-use of statistics with bad, and probably inadequate, samples, self-selecting respondents, no weight given to number of respondents, no range of responses shown, and no indication of the gap, if any, between professional reviews and these player reviews.  So you have to take that in stride when you look at this.

Now when any one of us goes over that list, I’m sure we all see something on there that makes us go, “No way.”

For example, I see Requiem: Bloodymare on that list and frown slightly.  I played the game for a bit and never mentioned it, thinking that was exactly how much coverage it deserved.  But somebody likes it.  Several somebodies in fact, enough to get it an 8.08 score on this list, putting it ever so slightly ahead of World of Warcraft.

I’m probably less surprised by the games that made it to 8.0 or greater than those that did not.  Wizard 101, Pirates of the Burning Sea, and Aion fell just shy of the 8.0 mark, while Darkfall, with an ever vocal community, was way down the list with a score of 7.09.  No doubt a forum post will fix that. (“Go vote for us!” posts are perfectly acceptable in my opinion.)

How about your favorite game?  Did it score above 8.0?

I was a bit bored this weekend, and in my search for something new to do I thought I would try Everquest 2 again. I played it about the same amount of time that I did during the first trial…about fifteen minutes. That is obviously nowhere near enough time to form a defensible opinion, so this in no way resembles a review. It’s merely my initial impression, which is…unplayable.

Seriously. I know that there are tons of longtime fans of this game. It was many people’s first MMO experience, and many people are still happily playing. I started with Warcraft, however, and moved on to games such as Warhammer, EVE, a few months playing LotRO, Aion, Age on Conan, etc. – all more modern games with better graphics. I expected the graphics to be very basic (as indeed they were). But the thing that I absolutely hated was combat. I felt so disassociated from the game. The character seemed quite stiff, and there was a noticeable time interval between pushing a button and the character actually doing anything.

I understand that the crafting/professions system is quite good in EQ2. But I never got to experience it, because my main feeling in the starting area was:

I. Cannot. Play. This.

In the recent interview with SW:TOR Devs it was revealed that TOR would have companion characters that would allow people to play the game in a solo manner. This immediately started a posting deluge in the MMO blogosphere where many bloggers are criticizing the move as a way to take the Multiplayer out of MMO and more or less ruin the genre.

Keen from K&G’s Gaming Blog

Tobold

SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

Ravious at KTR

Syp at Bio Break

Now I’m not trying to hide that I’m a big supporter of solo play in MMORPG’s as stated here, but I do believe that there is a reason to have group recommended content in these games as well as having group only content i.e raids. I do think it silly to get up screaming on a soapbox about how this is going to kill the genre that we so love. (I should note that not all of the posts cited above are against companions.)

Now I’m not going to cry here and say because I have a job, wife, kids, house, etc. (translated responsibilities that keep me from gaming at normal times and for great lengths of time) that the developers of MMORPG’s need to cater to me and make them easy. Not that these aren’t valid concerns for companies, but this is not the crux of the point I am trying to make. What I am going to say is that why does the opportunity to solo at points in the game mean that a game has sold out to the masses or gone easy. Can only the Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, and LeBron James of the world play sports? Or can I go out back and pick up a basketball and play on my 9-foot net, or is that ruining the game?

I used to play EQ and for various reasons stopped for a great deal of time. I resubbed over a year later and the game had implemented a mercenary system where you could purchase a mercenary (companion if you will) with in-game currency (not MT’s) that would act like a PC and group with you to fight by your side. It was a great boon for that game as finding groups in low level content was nigh impossible and, unless you were in a guild, it was near impossible to find a group of six people (the designed group size for EQ) to play. The devs designed these mercenaries to slowly become less viable over time to solo with. You could solo (or molo as it was coined) very easily through level 60 or so, but after that it became increasingly difficult to progress in the game by yourself.

There were haters on mercenaries in that game as well (mostly hardcore raiders) but by and large everybody had one and used them when they needed to. In EQ, if you were in a zone and there was a party with 4 PC’s and 2 mercs, they would almost always drop a merc to let you in. Leveling was much easier in groups at higher levels and less grindy, at least from my perspective. The great thing about mercs was that you could play the game from the moment you logged in to the time you logged out. No waiting to find a healer or tank or for a full group. I played with a group of three and when we each had our mercs out, we had a full EQ group. If one of our guildies popped on and said, “hey, can I jump in?” we immediately dropped a merc and let them in. If a random PC came to where we were playing, we’d drop the merc and invite them in. Simple as that. Could the three (six with mercs) of us go raid somewhere together…no because mercs weren’t good enough to bring on a raid even if they were allowed.

The inclusion of mercenaries in EQ did indeed change the game. Did it make an “easy mode?” No…grouping was still required for much of the content, especially the newest content. Were mercenaries forced on you? No…you could easily play without one. (I concede that the early levels without one were tough, but the game is so old that there were no groups to be had at those levels.) Did I prefer to play solo as opposed to grouping? Not really…I liked hanging out with my friends playing the game and would always opt to group with them over soloing. Could I have merc’ed my way to level cap? Sure…I could have by fighting the same small group of mobs for weeks on end and without seeing the majority of the content.

Anyway, I felt angry when reading some of the posts as well as some of the comments on those posts by the MMORPG “purists” that keep saying “stop ruining my genre” because companies are making games that don’t fit their ideals. So what if WoW has 6 billion subscribers and is an “easy” game. Don’t play it! There are still games that thrive that are hardcore games and/or are more akin to what they like. Please, feel free to go play them. The great thing about the increasing number of games in the MMO market is that if you don’t like one…go play another.

I think there is a mass market for the type of game that BioWare is touting and I for one couldn’t be more pleased. If that makes me a casual, fail, easy, (insert term here) gamer, then feel free to print up my name tag. I don’t care what anyone else thinks of me. If I’m having fun in a game, then it is a good game, at least to me.

-Pid

Meridian 59 - one of the first modern MMOs, but often forgotten in the face of Ultima Online and Everquest.

Psychochild made an interesting post recently – why haven’t MMOs lived up to their early potential? Why hasn’t the early potential of games like Ultima Online or Meridian 59 with all their freedom and player-driven worlds been built on? Why have more controlled experiences like Everquest 2 or World of Warcraft dominated the genre?

Some people like to blame game designers as having some kind of failure of imagination, or publishers for only looking at the size of WoW’s player base and forcing designers to create clones. To some extent, this is a truth in this, but there is another, less frequently commented issue: it is what the majority players’ want. MMOs are as they are due to an issue of gamer culture.

It might not be what ex-MUD players want, who were used to having more control over their characters / the world among a small community of other, mostly friendly MUDders. It might not be what ex-UO and / or ex-SWG players want, who get to view those experiences through the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia and ignore macro-grinding out skills or badly designed character advancement systems or being a sheep among PvP wolves. But it is what the mass of players want.

When EQ came out, it unseated UO as the most popular MMO not only by being shinier and newer (and 3D), but by offering clear direction in how to progress. It lacked the depth and potential of UO, but EQ provided something more important: signposts for the way forward. When WoW was released, it polished those signposts even further. Comparatively Everquest 2 arguably tried to take a step back towards sandbox and this (along with many, many launch issues) saw players not hang around.

Or even compare Star Wars Galaxies with WoW. On one side, the spiritual successor to UO and holder of one of the best known geek IPs all backed by major MMO and entertainment companies. On the other side, a first-time entrant to the MMO market based on the respected RTS output of one studio. I don’t believe there is one single factor for WoW’s success, but it proved how big the MMO player base could get if offered the right features, with one of these features being gameplay that was easy to play solo or in short bursts.  SWG might have done okay in terms of sub numbers, but it never met management expectations, which was why the New Game Experience (NGE) was foisted onto players. A big difference was the time commitment required to play and advance in WoW versus SWG.

Ultimately there are more casual players (or: players who aren’t going to commit a lot of time to a game) than there are hardcore players (or: players who are going to commit a lot of time to a game). In the short-term, both will pay the same amount in sub fees to play, so it becomes a sensible business decision to aim that multi-million development budget at the larger number of casual players. Over their play lifetime, hardcore players might end up being worth more, but it isn’t necessarily much more – hardcore players might lock in long-term sub payment plans to take advantages of discounts while casual players might pay from month-to-month. This means a casual player who pays $15 a month for 8 months is worth the same as a hardcore player who pays $10 a month for 12 months, plus the casual p(l)ayer can end up costing less in terms of bandwidth and data management (although admittedly these costs aren’t as high as they used to be).

So, why isn’t there a next-generation-with-a-big-budget UO on the way? Quite simply its because there isn’t the market size to support it. Look at the MMOs that are currently being developed – I can’t think of one that is really trying for sandbox. Darkfall and Fallen Earth have tried – make your own decisions about their success in achieving it – but these are both indie projects. Currently leading the MMO hype train is Star Wars: The Old Republic which would appear to be the most theme park-oriented  MMO you could possibly imagine – a sharp contrast to the open- and player-driven structure of SWG.

Where Is Your Sense of Adventure?

One of Psychochild’s points is that recent MMOs lack a sense of adventure. This is also mostly due to the focus on short-term gaming – casual players aren’t going to have time to explore, so it isn’t worth developing ‘hidden’ content that most won’t see. This becomes even more true as MMOs get older, where even ‘unhidden’ content can be completely ignored by the mass of the player base if it is superseded by more recent additions.

Alternatively, if hidden content is attractive enough, it becomes a major destination pretty quickly – being a tourist trap is pretty much as far from hidden as you can get.

Another aspect to adventuring is a sense of the unknown. If someone has been playing MMOs since UO, it is going to be pretty hard to surprise them with something new. Especially if they can (and will) go to the game wiki and read up on any content they want prior to setting out. Being new and surprising is scary. Being surprised is a good way of running into failure, which is something that most players try to minimise. There is also the chance of going out to explore an area and find absolutely nothing of note, which is wasted time. So either the developer has to have enough hidden content that means players can explore with a high probability of finding something, or else only the truly dedicated explorers will ever be likely to see it (without using the wiki, of course).

Lord British discovers that player freedom has a smokey flavour.

Blaming the Victims

Also, let’s realise that pretty much every MMO experience that hands freedom to the player ends up being a lesson in why players should never be given too much freedom. UO’s early potential was perfectly summed up by a player killing the lead designer in-game while he was giving a speech: if you open the door to the possibility, players will take advantage. And that advantage ends up with dead monarchs.

The other issue with freedom is that the more options you give someone, the more paralysed by choice they can become. It’s the paradox of choice – by giving players multiple goals, you end up seeing them freeze in case they make the wrong decision and pick the wrong goal to aim for. Much easier to be told to kill ten rats and know that is exactly what you have to do – at least that way you have direction and purpose.

Of course, most players say they are bored with killing ten rats and I’m sure a lot are. But it certainly isn’t seeing players stream back to sandbox titles seeking something different. Nope – they go to the next MMO with familiar game mechanics. (Being bored with killing ten rats is actually more of a presentation of that goal than the execution of that goal, but that’s another issue entirely.)

I Walked Into A Door, Honest

The next wave of major MMOs certainly aren’t returning to sandboxes for inspiration either; instead they are looking at the FPS genre (such as APB) or single-player RPGs (Star Wars: Old Republic). The reason for this is simple: that’s where the players are. EQ, followed by WoW, pretty much beat down the entire sandbox genre. Although there are a few out there – EvE being the biggest – they really are a niche in the market. Plus operating a sandbox pretty much guarantees a studio has to be prepared for players looking to manipulate the system wherever possible – CCP’s policy of letting players scam and deceive each other nearly unhindered is a part of letting players have their freedom.

Putting down rules to “play nice” is the antithesis of sandbox play, which should be equally open to everyone working together to create a utopia to every high level player ganking every n00b they see, desecrating the corpse and driving the unworthy from the game. Certainly MMO players will try to exploit mechanics within theme park MMOs, but the impact there is generally less and people are more accepting in those titles of being bound to play by certain hardcoded rules provided they generally don’t block their characters’ forward advancement.

EvE Online does a lot of things differently, all of which contribute to what it is. Being a sandbox is only one of those features.

At the end of the day, MMOs are as they are because that’s what the player base has shown there is a demand for. It’s not just “everyone copies WoW”, it’s that there hasn’t been a sandbox game that approached being a breakthrough success for a very long time. EvE was a gradual success as a sandbox after starting out as an abject failure, but EvE also does so many things differently it is arguable how much you can cut ’sandbox’ out from ’single server’ and ‘high drama’ and point at it as a singular reason for success.

Other sandbox MMOs haven’t attracted the same kind of attention – Darkfall and Fallen Earth might both be the most sandbox-y titles for a long time, but neither shifted a huge number of box copies at launch. Sure, they might be profitable as indie titles and grow, but conventional wisdom is that MMOs get their largest player bump from launch and box releases – starting small might be the quickest way to bankruptcy.

Going back to the original question, MMOs haven’t lived up to their original, virtual world promises because the audience has changed and indicated that online game > virtual world when it comes to what they will buy. Building a virtual world is an immensely difficult task and current experience shows that you won’t attract the same size audience compared to a new theme park MMO.

Ultimately if players want a new sandbox MMO, they’ve got to prove there is a demand for it. This hasn’t happened in recent history, which is why the future belongs to the MMOFPS (FPS being major unit shifters) and theme park MMOs with geektacular IPs like Star Wars and Star Trek.

I’ve been wondering lately if the gaming community is wounded.  Granted, we are in the phase of “between time” where our favorite MMO’s are at the tail end of last year’s expansion and not quite ready to release this year’s expansion.  I can’t speak about how things are with stand-alone games or console games as I haven’t played either in over a decade.  MMO’s have also been stagnant for a long time now with only clones with minor variations being released.  People beg for and call for innovation, but when innovation comes along, they scream “Too hard!” and jump ship.
 
But all of that isn’t really the point here.
 
I have long said that the gaming community has never been as strong as it was back in the EQ days.  I’m not talking gamer numbers here… I’m talking about the strength and enthusiasm of the community as a whole.  Since I wasn’t in on EQ from the beginning, I don’t know when the whole community thing started flourishing, but I do know it was well-established by the time I started playing and was still going strong up until just a few years ago.
 
Some of you are probably scratching your head and thinking, “What the hell are you talking about?”
 
Back in EQ, it seemed that a new fan website sprung up every 15 minutes.  Message boards were everywhere and they were all active.  Every class in the game had its own website dedicated to that class and members of that class, as well as others who had some measure of interest in that class, flocked to those boards.  Posts, write-ups, and walkthroughs by the hundreds were posted every day and most sites maintained a fairly constant online presence of 100 or more people at all hours of the day and night.
 
Over time, quite a few of the sites disappeared as the kings of the mountain were established.  People knew that if you needed information about a quest, general information about a mob, or a brief description of a zone, you went to Allakhazams.  If you had questions about spells for a particular class, you often went to castersrealm.  If you wanted to know what was in a particular zone or how to get around, you went to eqatlas.  If you wanted bard-specific information, you went to the concert hall or eqdiva.  The list goes on.
 
Hundreds of sites visited and contributed to every day by hundreds of people. 
 
And here is the really shocking part… aside from a very small number of sites, flame wars were non-existent.  People got along.  People were interested in helping each other figure things out, exchanging ideas and strategies, and finding solutions to problems.
 
No longer.
 
What message boards do exist for games these days are full of flames and child-like behavior.  There are few people who still visit the sites because those who once enjoyed contributing to the community grew weary of the trolls and instigators and simply quit visiting.  Many of the EQ sites have vanished completely or hardly see any traffic any longer… and it isn’t because of the age of the game.  It is because of the low quality of people who do actually contribute.
 
It goes beyond that though.  In recent years, fan blogs have replaced the message boards and fan sites of yesterday.  A lot of people who were once active in the gaming community or who once ran sites turned to blogging.  For me, I found it was a great way to express thoughts and ideas that I once would have put on a message board somewhere without having to deal with the tidal wave of flames and inane response that is now the norm on regular websites.
 
It seems lately, however, that the fan blogs are starting to dry up.  Much like the old mainstays of EQ, those who run the blogs seem to be either losing interest in the blog itself or gaming in general.  The lackluster attempts by the gaming companies have, I admit, given me more than a small amount of lethargy when it comes to giving a rip about what is going on in the gaming world. 
 
Two and a half years ago, when I first created this site, I would hit every site on my blogroll every single morning.  Every single morning, all of those sites had at least 1 new post up.  Every single morning, I couldn’t wait to write something myself and see what, if any, response it garnered.
 
The list over to the right has changed over time.  Sites have been added and others have gone away.  Only a few have been there from day 1.  That is the nature of the beast I guess.
 
Over the last few months, however, I have started to realize that maybe the old guard is simply ready to pass the torch.  There are very few people that I started gaming with a decade back who are still playing a game of any kind.  Back then, none of us could even fathom a time when we wouldn’t have some form of online entertainment.  Talking to them, it isn’t that they don’t want to be playing something.  They aren’t playing for the simple fact that game developers seem to have given up even trying to do something new.  It’s like the comic book industry from the 90’s.  A couple of titles went ballistic due to a pretty cover, a certain storyline, or a particular artist and then suddenly everyone is churning out copy after copy, clone after clone, until finally, the industry collapsed under its own greed.  Where are all those companies now?  Most are out of business.  The survivors are still trying to find a way to recover.
 
I went through my blogroll from the top to the bottom this morning for the first time in a long time.  As I have said on more than one occasion, I have largely quit caring… about gaming, about blogging, about industry news, about all of it.  The industry is stagnant and uninspired right now and that doesn’t exactly garner interest on my part.  I do still like to keep up with what everyone else is doing or thinks, so I thought I would hit all of the various sites.
 
What I discovered is that, apparently, a lot of people are feeling the same way I am.  Most of the sites on my list haven’t been updated in weeks, if not months.  Several have folded up their tents and said their goodbyes.  Others are updating far less often.  Pretty much no one has anything new to say because there is very little way to put a new spin on something that has been done a thousand times by a thousand companies.
 
The community is wounded because the industry is wounded.  And from what we have seen over the last few years, I’m not sure if I am hoping more for some miracle cure for what is wrong or for the whole industry to finally be put out of its collective misery.

I have no idea what this has to do with December...

Welcome one and welcome all. Although I realize that for half of the world, December 1st has come and gone, I speak for all when I say: Welcome to December! Festive seasonal holiday deals continue this month in an effort to bring you into that festive cheer, just cheerful enough to reach for your wallet (or memory if you have your card number memorized like I do).

December roundup after the break…

New games! Everyone loves them, and everyone who hates the term “wow killer” hates them, if that makes any sense.

Alganon launches today! Noted World of Warcraft clone Alganon goes live today after a luxurious delay from last month in order to continue optimization of servers. If you’re thinking of buying Alganon, do it quickly; The title is in a soft launch phase and is available for 50% off, only $19.95 as opposed to $39.95. I don’t know why I originally imagined Alganon was free to play, but there you are.

But what about those of us who are already paying for MMOs, Omali, you say. Well, there’s good news for you as well! This month sees the launch of several expansion packs that will tickle the taste buds of new players and veterans alike.

Today Eve Online launches Dominion, a new expansion that looks to revamp the alliance and territory control system, after a delicious nineteen hour downtime and the patching process. As with all Eve Online expansions, Dominion is free.

Also launching today, on the paid side, Lord of the Rings Online launches Siege of Mirkwood. Siege of Mirkwood continues the time honored expansion pack tradition of raising the level cap and opening up new places to explore, as well as continuing the game’s ongoing storyline.

Darkfall players will receive a large expansion in just a couple of days, barring any further delays, in the form of new upgrades to the sea and naval combat portion of the game. Bringing in controllable sea fortresses, housing on the ocean, new skills, a wildlife AI addition, and various other tweaks and balances, this will be Darkfall’s second expansion since launch earlier this year.

Later this month brings the latest addition to the enormous Everquest expansion line: Underfoot. Do you dare face the giants in the sixteenth expansion? Find out on the 15th.

December is also the time of the year when push comes to shove, and release turns to delay. There are only 31 days for MMO developers who have been calling on a 2009 release date for some time now. Games we’re still waiting on include:

• Huxley, the sci-fi shooter.
• Earth Eternal, which is currently in open beta, is set to go live this year.
• Dungeon Fighter Online, a two dimensional beat em up button masher goes live, hopefully this month.
• The oft-delayed Mortal Online is expected to launch this much. Not much to say from the beta frontier, although the NDA has been lifted.
• And more…

I was a bit too lazy to post this to 2BG:

WESTWOOD, MA. – November 2, 2009 – Turbine, Inc. announced today that its award-winning title, Asheron’s Call® (AC) has entered its 10th year of operation. Launched on November 2, 1999, AC immediately set the standard for online immersion, storytelling, and worldwide live event capability. As one of the original Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPG), AC is a fully developed world – complete with a deep history, committed community, and compelling ongoing storyline. Turbine will celebrate this major milestone by running live events throughout the day that will bring back some of the most loved (and feared) signature lore characters and villains of its rich 10-year history.

“Asheron’s Call has served as the foundation on which Turbine was built,” said Craig Alexander, Vice President of Product Development of Turbine. “For a decade, AC has represented one of the industry’s most consistent and well-loved franchises further demonstrating the longevity and quality of Turbine’s persistent worlds.”

Launched in 1999, AC is a critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game that draws together thousands of players within an evolving and dynamic persistent world. With an exciting ever-evolving storyline, thrilling adventures, quests, and frequent content updates, AC immerses players in an intense role-playing environment. An extensive system of formal Allegiances and player influence greatly enhances social interaction within the game. AC has received several awards over its 10-year history including being ranked #27 of Gamespy’s Top 50 games of all time. For more information, please visit http://ac.turbine.com.

Asheron’s Call was my second MMO. I chose it simply because I was able to play in the beta. I had actually gotten into the fourth EverQuest beta round, but because EQ didn’t like my video card, I wound up with a nice coaster (these were the days when game devs would mail you a copy of their beta because most everyone was still on dialup). My first MMO was Ultima Online, and while I wasn’t looking for a replacement for that game I, like many early MMO players, was curious about this relatively market that was starting to grow.

AC was the smaller of the first three, and another fantasy-based MMORPG, something the market is still overwhelmingly in favor of (designer-wise, at least). It was my first ever real 3D-engine game, I think, on the PC, so I was very easily impressed. Monsters named after Matt Drudge were my favorite, but the most important design aspect ever was in AC:

Asheron’s Call had the fez, the most important piece of headwear ever designed in the entire universe. Fezes were native to the Gharu’ndin, a race in Dereth, and so I immediately and always played one (sup, Tafiq al-Jafar!).

Initially I was drawn to AC’s unique magic system, which included a personal taper. You had to actually learn what components made which spell, which I found fascinating. I spent a lot of money failing at trial and error magic sessions, and I wish more MMOs included this type of design in their games.

An aspect of AC that is still unique, but one that I didn’t take part in was Allegiances. Allegiances were the guilds of AC, and they were very much a pyramid scheme. Vassals swore to patrons, who received a small portion of the XP their vassals earned. To this day I still get a kick out of this design.

One of the things that endeared me to Turbine was their stance towards bugs. There was a nasty bug that they accidentally introduced into the game; I forget what it was or what it did. But the producer came out and said something akin to, you know what, we made this error, and it’s not necessarily fair of us to completely punish players for abusing this error (within reason). That a game developer pretty much admitted to fucking up, which was unique then (and to a certain extent, unique now) was ballsy, and impressive, and I’ve never forgotten that after all these years, even if the details are very much hazy.

Asheron’s Call was never hugely popular. It was third behind EverQuest and Ultima Online back in the day. In fact, the authors of Dungeons and Dreamers simply ignored its existence, electing instead to put Dark Age of Camelot in its place, a game that was released two years after AC hit the market. Turbine wound up splitting from Microsoft, AC’s original publisher, and failed with Asheron’s Call 2, where I think you could have played drudges as a race. Turbine has done okay over the last ten years, and Asheron’s Call still chugs along despite its age. I did wind up returning a year or two ago, and quit after 6 days… World of Warcraft spoiled me. But I’ll always remember Dereth fondly.

Happy birthday, old friend!

A few days ago I handed out a homework assignment to any EverQuest 2 bloggers/players out there — I wanted to hear what features of the game they considered to be better done than WoW (or features that WoW simply doesn’t have).  Not for bashing purposes, but just out of curiosity why these gamers had gravitated to EQ2 over Blizzard’s little boy.

So if you’re curious, like I was, check out the following posts:

• Stropp
• The Wizard of Duke Street
• Ysharros
• We Fly Spitfires
• Cuppytalk
• Stargrace (with video!)
• Suzita Starshadow
• The Ancient Gaming Noob
• MMOment of Zen

P.S. – An older article on the same subject at Elder Game

P.P.S. – And Hudson’s previous thoughts on the subject.

P.P.P.S. – A rebuttal.