Filed under: Opinion

The Daily Grind: When did a bad game have a good idea?

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 10th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Game mechanics, Tips and tricks, Opinion, The Daily Grind

In a recent post, Syp of Bio Break was observing neat ideas that other games really ought to steal. One of them was the trophy system in Warhammer Online, and while he personally feels that it was implemented poorly, it's still a neat idea. As he puts it, just because you feel a game is lackluster or even bad doesn't mean its ideas were also bad.

Even if said ideas aren't very well put together, taken as pieces, it's sometimes easy to see something in a game you dislike as an aggregate that seems like a fine idea when isolated. After all, pen and paper games have historically cannibalized from games of any caliber -- why shouldn't MMOs do the same?

So today,we're asking you to think of a game that hit you as lukewarm at best and find something in there that seems like a worthy idea. Whether it's a system that's in a game focused toward a genre you don't care for or just a game that struck you as lackluster, if you played it, odds are there was still something worth porting to other games. What would you suggest?

The Daily Grind: What made it click?

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 9th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

There's almost always a moment. If you're interested in MMOs beyond just enjoying the game while you play it -- and truth be told, if you're reading Massively you pretty well qualify -- then there was most likely a single experience you had somewhere along the line that convinced you these games were special and interesting. Something beyond just a diversion you could take or leave. There was something the game that made you sit up and say that you were experiencing something unique, something that may or may not be commonplace these days but seemed new and fresh at the time.

Perhaps it was the first time you took part in a major PvP battle. Perhaps it was your first struggle against a difficult monster in PvE, realizing that you actually had other real people at your side fighting the monster. It could have been the first time you crafted something you were proud of, or even just a close friend you made in the game that you wouldn't have met otherwise. Today, we're asking you what moment in an MMO first made the whole idea click for you. And for bonus points, looking back on it now, does it seem like you were excited over something silly, or does it still feel unique?

The Digital Continuum: Can story supplant grind?

by Kyle Horner Feb 8th 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars offers a setting with incredible chances at strong storytelling and it's for this reason I've been watching closely for any hints at the story elements in Star Wars: The Old Republic. This recent developer blog on the driving forces behind the Sith Inquisitor's tale really dug its claws into my mind.

Before now, I'd always assumed most choice elements within the story of any given class would be mostly binary. That was the easiest solution for BioWare, who has created quite the challenge for themselves with the premise of a full singleplayer storyline experience for each class within the game.

Flameseeker Chronicles: Keeping an old game new

by Rubi Bayer Feb 8th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Opinion, Flameseeker Chronicles

"Guild Wars is an old game." As the game approaches its fifth birthday and Guild Wars 2 continues production, that's a phrase you'll hear more and more. While it's true that the game has been around for a while now, age doesn't necessarily equal stale or boring. On the contrary, it means you've got an established game with an experienced development team behind it, and they've had time to work out all those bugs, kinks, and emergency patches that are so common in new games. Even better, you've got a strong player base that knows their way around.

The largest factor in what makes a game fun for you is your attitude and outlook, so let's take a look at some ways to keep from falling into the trap of assuming there's nothing left for you to do in Guild Wars.

The Daily Grind: Would you play a single-player version?

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 8th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Whether we mean to or not, we get pretty invested in the online worlds we inhabit. It's a natural step to go from a single-player setting that's already gotten our emotional investment to a larger one (as proven by, oh, some game or another), but oddly the reverse happens far less often. We only occasionally see a game that takes the setting of an MMO and uses it as the basis for one person's adventure. This despite the fact that we're usually more attached to our characters than we are in a single-player game, since our avatars in an MMO are defined entirely by us.

Of course, part of this is the narrowing of scope, and part of it is the difficulty of marketing to people that they can take a break from their characters online to play the exact same character offline. But for the times when you don't want to log in and deal with assembling a group or competition for farming or any of the slings and arrows of playing online, it could be a nice diversion. What do you think? Would you like to have a single-player game based off of your MMO of choice, or would you rather that the online games you enjoy not creep into your single-player time?

Second Life official forums to be replaced Tuesday

by Tateru Nino Feb 7th 2010 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Forums, News items, Opinion, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Linden Lab is in the throes of closing the official Second Life forums and is creating alternative discussion spaces in its Clearspace blog/forum hybrid.

According to previous figures from Linden Lab staff, fewer than 700 of 18.1 million registered Second Life accounts ever participated in the official forums provided by the Lab. The partial closure of many of the most heavily trafficked areas of those forums when Lab announcements were migrated back out to the blog in 2006 did little to boost participation in the official forums.

The official vbulletin-based forums "did not scale" according to Linden Lab and were difficult to maintain, even for such modest usage levels as they experienced.

Star Trek Online reaches one million accounts

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 7th 2010 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Culture, Opinion, Star Trek Online

If it's not too dated, you can feel free to do the Dr. Evil voice as you read the announcement in your head. Star Trek Online has reached one million registered accounts, an impressive milestone for any game. The announcement follows in the vein of Cryptic's announcement that players had created over one million characters in Champions Online, which was also an impressive milestone... well, until you started to do the math and ask why they were counting the number of characters created rather than players.

There are similar questions to be asked about the latest Star Trek Online announcement, if you're the suspicious type. In short, we don't know the criteria that is being used to get the figure being thrown around. One million accounts could refer to open beta and head start accounts, or it could refer to everyone registered on the forums, even if they've long since stopped posting. It's an odd metric to use.

Still, it's a sign of how strong the IP of Star Trek still is after all these years, and as one of the few major launches planned for the year it's bound to attract quite a bit of attention. Congratulations to Cryptic, and here's hoping that those million accounts stick with the game after a few months.

Enter the Star Trek universe with Cryptic Studios' Star Trek Online. From hands on reviews of the early levels and space combat, through noob questions and developer interviews, we've got everything you need to know about the game trekkies are dying for. Check out Massively's Star Trek Online page for the latest!

The Daily Grind: Does viewpoint matter to you?

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 7th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind

While the ancestry of MMOs were played via text-only clients and thus didn't have to worry about it one way or the other, the modern generation of games has either a first-person view or a third-person view. (Experiments with a second-person view were briefly carried out via webcams, but it proved distracting.) And it can produce some passionate opinions on both sides, much like, well, every other issue about MMOs under the sun.

Proponents of first-person views are quick to point out that it's more immersive and forces a player to be more aware of the field beyond what they can see. It lends depth to the game, frees you from concern over needless aesthetics of gear, and it was how things were done back in the day of EverQuest. Proponents of third-person views, on the other hand, point out that it gives a better view of the world as a whole and is more responsive to controls. It lets you see the character you've sculpted, gives you a better sense of what's going on, and it was how things were done even further back in the day with Ultima Online.

So today, we ask you -- which do you prefer? Is a good first-person or third-person mode a must for you to consider the game, or do you simply prefer to play one way or the other?

The Virtual Whirl: Questions from the virtual mailbag

by Tateru Nino Feb 6th 2010 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Economy, Opinion, Second Life, Virtual worlds, The Virtual Whirl

This week, in The Virtual Whirl, we're going to take a selection of reader questions that we've received in comments and in the virtual mailbag and do our best to offer up some useful answers. Join us as we whirl through the mail.

The Mog Log: Starting new in Vana'diel

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 6th 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Game mechanics, Guides, Leveling, Opinion, The Mog Log

Getting started with Final Fantasy XI can be rather daunting the first time. You might be lucky to have a friend right there holding your hand through the starting areas... or you might accidentally wind up vendoring several thousand gil worth of items because you didn't properly grasp how the auction house works. Or you might throw away a bunch of zinc ore because it's taking up too much space. Or you might put yourself on everyone's blacklist by accidentally locking your chat mode in /yell.

You can draw whatever conclusions you want about my early memories of the game. They're not pretty.

Assuming you've mastered moving, the basics of looking around in your inventory and interacting with NPCs, and so forth, it's not always immediately evident what you're supposed to do, what the best job for a starter character is supposed to be, and so on. Thus, for those of you newly interested in the game, we have a small guide on some of the less immediately transparent elements of the game. (For those of you who already know Sky and Sea inside and out, you can skip ahead to the end. I can promise there's something there.)

The Daily Grind: What IP do you want to see as an MMO?

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 6th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

There are certainly a lot of intellectual properties out there that would make for an excellent MMO. Running down the list of major games currently running shows no shortage of games based on popular franchises -- Star Trek Online, Warhammer Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Age of Conan, Champions Online -- and the trend shows no sign of slowing. But there are other franchises that could conceivably make a number of people happy -- Transformers, The Dark Tower, Doctor Who, Mass Effect, Babylon 5, and so on ad infinitum.

Of course, there are licenses that are unlikely to ever be adapted for MMOs, either because their heyday of popularity has passed or because they're just not in quite the right market. Still, we can dream, and in our heads we might have an idea for the world's best MMO based off of Macross. What intellectual property would you love to have a chance to play as an MMO? Do you think there's a chance it might happen, or are you fairly certain that it's just going to remain an idle fantasy?

Making it as an MMO blogger: The community manager interviews part 2

by Shawn Schuster Feb 5th 2010 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Interviews, MMO industry, Opinion, Massively Interviews

If you enjoyed our community management feature from yesterday, we present you with part 2!

What level of honesty should bloggers have regarding the benefits and flaws of your game in balancing the interests of the readers and the interests of your company?

David Bass: Bloggers should always be honest. But they should also be fair. Yes, game X might have some issues, but is the company consistently working to improve the game? Are you seeing excellent communication from the team? No MMO is perfect, that's for certain, but in addition to learning where our flaws are, we're also interested to learn what we're doing right. Bloggers aren't there to cater to us as a company, and if your blog is heading in that direction, most readers will notice that and may choose to shy away from it. If you stick to being honest on your blog, that's what will get the company to notice you.

Massively's developer tour of Sentinel's Fate

by Seraphina Brennan Feb 5th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, EverQuest II, Expansions, Opinion, Massively Hands-on

With the EverQuest II team hard at work on their newest expansion, Sentinel's Fate, we were invited by community manager Kiara to drop by the Shattered Lands and take a closer look at the new zones in the expansion. While we were expecting to see some nice content, it's amazing to see just how beautiful these zones are when you walk through them in person.

I'm not one to open an article with such a bold statement, but the zones we got to tour in Sentinel's Fate were impressive. Hopefully today we can impart some of the beauty of these zones to you as we talk about three major areas in the new expansion: The Hole & The Seal of the Underfoot, the Erudin Library, and the Vasty Deep Conservatory.

Gallery: EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate

The Daily Grind: How do you like side applications?

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 5th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

If you're playing World of Warcraft, increasingly, you have options available to keep you playing the game even if you're logged off. With several apps running off the Armory and the recent announcement of a planned Auction House access feature as a premium, there's almost no reason to log in at all. Unless you want to level up, quest, roleplay, raid, PvP, explore... okay, there's plenty of reason to log in, but there are more options than ever to let you handle matters inside the game while not even close to your computer.

It's not unprecedented by any means, as both Fallen Earth (coming soon) and Champions Online also offer applications for the iPhone to help take care of the game's management functions while you're away from your computer. With the continued advent of more functional mobile devices and more robust web environments through services such as Facebook, games can offload many of the more tedious bits of gameplay into applications players just run through quickly on a break at their day job. What do you think of the increasing trend? Are you happy to have the option to take care of administrative tasks when not near your computer, or do you see it as intrusive and unnecessary?

Anti-Aliased: A Cryptic opinion

by Seraphina Brennan Feb 4th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Super-hero, Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Champions Online, Anti-Aliased

So, wow, what a set the last week and a half has been. There seems to be a very strong theme going on in my inbox recently, and that's, without a doubt, Cryptic Studios. I've read unflattering comments about my integrity as a journalist, the usual statements of how this site is Cryptic's lapdog due to all of the Star Trek Online and Champions Online coverage, and, even more oddly, people want to know my opinion of Cryptic's recent actions -- specifically Star Trek Online and Vibora Bay.

Well, I was never one to shirk from the truth. I've been wanting to give my personal opinion on these events since Vibora Bay hit, so I might as well dedicate this column to my evaluation of Cryptic Studios. But, before we get to Cryptic, I have a few ground rules that I want to go over with you guys. Some facts that I'd like to set straight for, oh, I dunno, the fifth time.