Tabula Rasa honors biggest fans by naming in-game items after them

by Shawn Schuster Jan 29th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Screenshots, Culture, Events, in-game, MMO industry, Patches, Opinion, Tabula Rasa

As I mentioned in an earlier post regarding Tabula Rasa's Deployment 16 hitting the test servers, one interesting feature included with this patch was this tidbit: 40 unique weapons named after players. This might be something you glanced over as you searched for more info on the PAUs, but this simple addition has made so many people excited, including myself.

The official list of immortalized players hasn't been released yet, but from the buzz at the PlanetTR forums, the ones who were honored are quite happy. I've skipped the plural narrative here to gush a bit about how much something like this means to me and presumably, the other 39 people honored as well.

As shown in the header screenshot, John "Shuttler" was honored as well, being my co-host and eventual host of the popular TR podcast, TabulaCast. Others include many who submitted images for our "Honoring Tabula Rasa through screenshots" feature we ran last month here at Massively. Sure, these items will only last for another four weeks, but it's the fact that the team took the effort to thank a few of the people who have stuck by them for so long. Say what you want about the game or NCsoft, but it's something like this which will live on in our fondest memories.

Tags: community, destination-games, ncsoft, players, tabula-rasa, tr, tr-deployment-16

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

NeuroMan42 said on 9:42PM 1-29-2009

It seems pointless really. It would be cool if the game was still gonna live but doing this now just is silly.

Alarie said on 10:16PM 1-29-2009

I don't think it's pointless. Sure the game is getting shut down but screenshots last a lifetime.

I say congrats to all who got items named after them!

Ghede said on 10:28PM 1-29-2009

Immortalized! For all of, what, a year before people go "Tabula what?" or "Oh yeaaaahhh. That game. I hated it."

double9s said on 10:49PM 1-29-2009

Jesus, you guys are cynical (not you, Alarie). I'm stunned that anyone could be so mean-spirited about this.

Congratulations, Shawn. It's pretty badass to have an item named after you.

Sam said on 3:00AM 1-30-2009

Gratz indeed, that is extremely badass

It's nice to see the TR developers using such a unique way of thanking those who've helped out.

Tyranor said on 4:59AM 1-30-2009

That is cool! Kind of a shame the game is shutting down though...being immortalised for a couple of weeks really doesn't count...

Tom said on 5:36AM 1-30-2009

I think this is a very neat idea, naming items after players.

Please, please keep this game going, ANet, in Free-to-Play w/Cash Shop/MT/Pay for Additions option to help pay for it. That's how this particular game should have been offered from the start.

Johnny_Velocity said on 6:11AM 1-30-2009

You know, I DETEST games that hand-pick favorite players or forumites to reward. We'd all love to be able to play a game 24/7 and post on the message boards 100 times a day, and start fan sites, but many of us have things that get in the way, like family or jobs.

That being said, in TR's special situation of publishing new content a month before closing, this is a GREAT thing to do, and any players who have supported that grossly mismanaged game from start to finish deserve the recognition.

That's right, I'm actually praising NCSoft for something. Mark it down - it's not likely to happen again.

JoeK said on 9:12AM 1-30-2009

Correction, you're not praising NCsoft, you're praising the developers at Destination Games. NCsoft is the corporate decision makers to didn't see TR meeting their goals. Destination Games is the developers who worked hard to make TR the game it is today. It's also those same developers, not NCsoft, who've kept such a close connection to the community and are now thanking them with this last update before their bosses, NCsoft, pulls the plug.

So yes, you can still hate NCsoft, just know that it's the Destination Games developers who deserve the praise for all the great work they've done, and it's them we should be keeping an eye out for for the next games they work on.

Johnny_Velocity said on 9:46AM 1-30-2009

Ah, good point. I feel...better?...now. NCSoft still sucks as a corporation - I can sleep tonight! ;)

Arkanaloth said on 10:03AM 1-30-2009

seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for a game that's going to get shut down in the extremely near future... hmm...

Psychotic Storm said on 10:16AM 1-30-2009

either enjoy the dedication of the designers, or well...

still if you imply a last minute save, I hope you are right.

WrrLor said on 11:00AM 1-30-2009

Still one of the best games as far as player / dev communication. Even without official forums, the game designers and community folks always kept a close connection with the fans.

The way this game is ending is more than sad, it is a slap in the face to the faithful that loved it.

I say kudos to them for keeping the hard work up. They could have all said, "Screw it" and taken the last few months to surf or work on their short game.

Well played, Destination Games.

Houston said on 12:51PM 1-30-2009

They have at least 40 players?

Psychotic Storm said on 7:07PM 1-30-2009

many many more thank you.

look if you never liked TR good for you, at least have some decency and allow all us who loved it to enjoy its Swan Song.

Henry said on 7:41PM 1-30-2009

How to keep Tabula Rasa running: offer players the chance to be immortalized for a cool million. Of course, it'd only be worth it if the items were good (Windforce, Godly Plate of the Whale from Diablo) and not unremarkable (everything in every other game, including TR).