To be or not to be, that is the question -- whether 'tis nobler in Allods Online to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous aggro, or to take up arms against a sea of mobs, and by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep -- to sleep, perchance to enter Purgatory. Aye, there's the rub -- for in that sleep of death what penalties may come when we have shuffled off this mortal server must give us pause.

The most recent bit of news out of Astrum Nival's upcoming free-to-play MMO Allods Online concerns the nature of death, and what better way to discuss that then touching upon Hamlet? Well, perhaps actually talking about it. The short version, however, is that the inhabitants of the game consider death as a fairly irrelevant situation altogether. Elves, for instance, view it as an opportunity to create a particularly beautiful moment of their lives. Orcs take it in stride, much like losing a match of goblinoball, in the sense that there will always be another match. The reason for this rather lackadaisical attitude toward that undiscovered country from which no traveler returns is detailed in the latest bit of news, as well as gameplay effects of passing on in the game. Though reading more is not an enterprise of great pitch and moment, lose not the name of action and take the time to read it.

It's the last week already? Well that went fast! It seems like only yesterday when I woke up in a daze to find my computer had "Thank you for purchasing Darkfall, n00bcakes!" splashed across its screen. Yet, here we are, four weeks later! My clan's city now looks like a real place of habitation instead of a pile of smashed rubble, combat is starting to become more commonplace than one attack every week, and I'm actually wearing armor instead of being naked most of the time. Amazing how things change over time.

This week's events seem to all come down to one sentence: "Are you concerned about the security of your stuff?" (NSFW) You should be concerned, as my clan's warbands were taking what they wanted from cities and hamlets, all with me in tow. What happens when I get exposed to "hardcore PvP?" Well I guess you'll just have to read and find out.

The second hamlet: Wherein we learn that fire is hot

We rode onwards to our next target when suddenly a fireball roared towards Wardragon, barely missing him. The next hamlet had already seen us, and a fire mage was casting spells from atop the main keep. We rode onwards, splitting up our formation to avoid the incoming fire (literally.)

Once again, we quickly cleared the hamlet of everyone, except the fire mage, and three of our men started to clean out their quarry and their farm. The other three of us played an annoying game of cat and mouse with the fire mage who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, keeping his interest while we cleaned them out and put their stuff into the bank.

Once again successful, we jumped on our mounts and rode towards the sea. The last hamlet was on an island out from the mainland, so we reached the beach and jumped off of our mounts to swim across. It was here that our trailing 6th man reported that he was being followed by the people from the last hamlet. They were apparently angry, and concerned about the security of their shit.

Wardragon noticed a smaller, desolate island on the map that was close to us, and we used that ground to make our stand. Initially we had counted 6 men in the force... then that was 8 men... then it was 12 men. Arrows were being flung from all sides as we darted between broken buildings. I peeked out from around a corner only to catch a sword to my chest from... Pluto Nash?

Hamlets one and two had teamed up to end our reign of theft and tyrrany -- combining their forces to out-man ours. I danced around on the beach for a while with Pluto, who was now wearing a very nice sword and a full set of banded armor, jumping and parrying his blows while I asked for help over Ventrilo. Wardragon came to my aid, but it was too late. With one last slash I fell over onto the ground while Wardragon picked up where I left off.

The end of an era

While I lay on the ground, coughing up blood, I thought back on all of the things I had seen and done in Darkfall. All of the harvesting, and then more of the harvesting, and then all of that time grinding PvE mobs, then more harvesting, then killing newbies, then more harvesting, then admiring my city, then AFKing on the bloodwall, AFKing on the bloodwall, AFKing on the bloodwall...

Dying here was actually more fun than most of the things I had done in Darkfall. There was more action in one 30 minute stretch than my entire playing experience, and I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that. Plus, as I lay there dying, I was about to lose most of the work that I had done during those long stretches of playtime.

Darkfall is an interesting game that varies between an intense grind and a game of cat and mouse. It is competitive and brutal in its nature, where only those with large amounts of time or a willingness to cheat the system prevail. On the flip side, however, when it all comes down to a battle or a clash of forces, Darkfall gets to be quite fun. I guess what remains is a very Machiavellian question -- "Do the ends justify the means?" Is it fun if the culmination of hours of tedious gameplay is an extremely fun sequence?

Dear readers, I'm not touching that question with a 30 foot pole. As for that battle, I'm sure you're wondering about the outcome. Did Wardragon and his men win the battle? Or did they die horribly like I did? Well, I don't know much about that, but I can say that I love my new set of banded armor. My compliments to the designer -- Mr. Pluto Nash.

Since the beginning of August, Ina Centaur and crew, in collaboration with SLiterary, have been plotting a reproduction of Hamlet in the virtual world of Second Life. According to their production blog, they researched everything about the characters to recreate them, down to the skin and clothing. In addition to explanations of wardrobe, animation, and tech, they also feature ways you can sponsor their shows, which take place at the SLiterary Globe Theater.

Ina prepared a storyboard Machinima of Act 1, Scene 1 as an example of how the show will be. The SL Shakespeare Company will be hosting a screening, followed by a question and answer session with the Hamlet directors and cast, on Sunday, November 25th, at 4pm PST. There will be an encore presentation on Saturday, December 1st, at 11am PST.