Posts by James Murff at Massively

James Murff

Spokane, Washington - http://www.nfopocalypse.com

Under The Hood: Factional Warfare

by James Murff Jun 22nd 2008 (1 year ago)

As sort of an addendum to the last Under The Hood on player choices and consequences, I present to you this article. I didn't have room to add my thoughts on factional warfare, unfortunately, and it's a system that really deserves an article all its own. Why is this such a major factor in most MMOs? Why is it that most major MMOs today have clearly defined sides? Why are those Horde jerks so mean in World PvP? It all boils down to the classic factional warfare model.

Under The Hood: Choices and Consequences

by James Murff Jun 14th 2008 (1 year ago)

Despite the persistence of most MMOs, there's one thing that the majority of them lack. I am, of course, speaking about consequences for your actions. Sure, you can kill some NPCs for experience and you yourself level up, but what about the world? The NPC just respawns and continues on his merry way, ready to become fodder for another adventurers weapons and skills. You gain some money and items. There's no real tangible effect on the world as a whole. What about exploring the truly excellent part of MMOs, the persistence? What about making a player's choice actually affect the game world?

Make your own MMO with MMORPG Tycoon

by James Murff Jun 9th 2008 (1 year ago)

The TIGSource Procedural Generation Competition is nearing it's finish, and one of the more polished entries takes a fascinating look at MMOs. Titled MMORPG Tycoon, it gives you an MMORPG and demands that you fix it to please the player base. And that's easier said than done.

You have the ability to control most aspects of the game world, from where towns are placed, to how high which stats are per class, to where players respawn, to which levels can use which zones. You can also name your MMORPG anything you like as well, meaning that if you want to have your game be called "World of Warhammer EVE Rasa", you can do so!

Under The Hood: Colored Segregation

by James Murff May 24th 2008 (1 year ago)

There are a lot of different game mechanics, ranging from the downright simple to the ethereal and hard-to-explain. I've talked a lot about the more subjective stuff, such as lore and paradigms and this and that, but only a few times have I hit the nitty gritty. So this week, I'm taking things to a controversial (not really) place. Judging items based on their color and how fantasy MMOs follow the same color patterns for identification, at least to a certain point.

The Goons are building an Age of Conan city

by James Murff May 21st 2008 (1 year ago)

AoC

In a show of devotion to either Age of Conan or Something Awful (we are unsure which), the SA Goons and their guild, the Hordes of Goonheim, have begun construction on the first user city on a PvP server. It's also possibly the first user city in the game. In a post on NeoGAF, a Goon going by Justin relates how they got the city started and the celebration-by-trampling over their accomplishment. Hats off to those devoted Goons willing to sacrifice their time, money, and most importantly, social life to build an Age of Conan city.

One can only wonder, though, that what would happen if the Goons dedicated more time to philanthropic causes than building cities and running EVE Online alliances. The Katrina fund was just one example of the power of good that goons can do when prompted (even though it was shut down by PayPal). What if they spent more time volunteering than playing Age of Conan?

[Via JoBildo]

Cryptic reveals more about Champions Online costumes

by James Murff May 21st 2008 (1 year ago)

Champions Online

Cryptic

Cryptic has been dropping details on their newest outing in the superhero genre, and the future is looking brighter all the time. In yet another Ask Cryptic segment, three of the fine designers for Champions Online (Arkayne, BraiNEateR, and Continuum) have revealed some more information about their game by answering questions from the community.

There's some interesting news on what raids will be in the game, how statistics will work, and how the Champions universe will fit into the MMO realm. The big news, though, is the costume creator. In a vast improvement from the already robust CoX creator, Champions Online will allow for up to 4 colors per costume piece. Not only that, but players will be able to assign materials, textures, and bump-mapping to each individual piece. Want some rivets on a metal trenchcoat with canvas texturing? You got it! In addition to this, costumes now have far more asymmetrical options, allowing you to make a character who has, say, a huge left arm and a tiny weakling right arm.

This news just pumps us up more for Champions Online, because when you hand that kind of power to the community, beautiful things are made. And some hilarious things too.

Under The Hood: New Beginnings

by James Murff May 17th 2008 (1 year ago)

Part of any MMO is starting from scratch. Whether you just started a new MMO, or a new character, the first few hours playing can determine whether or not you want to keep playing that game or character. So why is it that most MMOs have a lack of early game content? Countless times I have heard players complaining how hard it is to get into a game because the early content is all about grinding. In a sense, though, this ties into last week's article, and the desire of developers to have you keep giving them all your wonderful green money.

Under The Hood: Stories and Lore

by James Murff May 10th 2008 (1 year ago)

Part of any game is how the lore of the world interacts with the players although a lot of times the players don't realize it thanks to boring quest descriptions. World of Warcraft has the rich Warcraft universe behind it, Lord of the Rings Online has its own lorebook, and City of Heroes and Villains has a richly detailed history of super-powered beings. So why is it that we don't see the lore at the spotlight all that often?

Under The Hood: Puzzling Developments

by James Murff Mar 21st 2008 (1 year ago)

There's an interesting counterpoint to the increasing amount of games following the traditional MMO mechanics layout. No, I'm not talking about space MMOs and the mechanics they follow. We covered those last week! I'm talking about the gradual seepage of puzzlers into the genre. It's a budding paradigm, and has both failings and virtues. Naturally, it's time to dissect them.

Under The Hood: The Depths of Space

by James Murff Mar 14th 2008 (1 year ago)

Riding on the coattails of my last article, I realized that it would be a good idea to explore that new frontier. No, not cowboys and Indians. Outer space in MMOs is rapidly becoming the new "generic fantasy continent(s)" that almost every other MMO takes part in. It's also pushing the envelope, in one case letting players practically run your game, and in another cases exploring new and varied game mechanics.