Free for All: Some thoughts from the yellow pad

I've had a pretty busy time over the last several days. I like to stay active when I can, easily stuffing my schedule with high-power meetings and travels to exotic lands to discuss the latest game. Heck, just the other day I was flown to Russia to meet with the insane genius behind some of my favorite titles, and we bare-chested wrestled in the snow (he lost and had to buy the second round).

Well, not exactly. I did find some pretty cool games, played with my favorite titles, and overall daydreamed my way through life. A pretty typical week, really. If you'd like to hear about a few of the cool things I found, thought, and played last week, click past the cut.

RuneScape adds a fully-voiced quest

In "super really awesome" news, RuneScape developer Jagex recently added a new quest that features actual voice acting and music. It's called One Piercing Note, and so, of course, I had to jump in and try it out. I will not spoil it for you, but I was surprised that the developers went for a sort of murder mystery-style for the quest. For lack of a better word, the quest felt much more feminine than a lot of the team's typical stuff. You meet up with a series of characters and explore different clues while trying to solve an old-school murder. While there are a few humorous characters and the occasional silly line during the event, most of the voice acting is top-notch and the characters blend well.

I wonder why Jagex decided to try such an experiment. Does this mean it plans on doing more of these voice-acted quests, or does it plan on adding more voice to the existing game? I know that adding voice to your pre-existing game can be very tough and costly. I imagine that the plans are to see how successful this quest is and to use voice acting for special events or holidays. I love the new dimension it brings to the game and want to see more of the same in the future. Knowing Jagex, I suspect this is but one step in just one of the new directions it is taking RuneScape.

Illyriad alliance gives orders

While it might not seem like much to the untrained eye (like mine), one of the largest alliances in Illyriad, a browser-based MMORTS, recently asked players who wish to move next to any of their cities to let the alliance know ahead of time so they can all "discuss it." This sort of thing happens all the time in free-for-all PvP games, but in Illyriad the results can be pretty big. First of all, the price of combat is huge. Not only is maintaining an army expensive, but maintaining multiple cities and a growing one of the largest alliances in-game can be a headache. Now add all of this to the fact that making other players angry at you might not be the best idea. A player city can literally be wiped out, leaving the player with nothing but a fresh start and the skills learned over many months. If you have ever been podded in EVE Online (and who hasn't?), then it's sort of like that, minus the drab surroundings.

The interesting thing about the thread is the variety of emotions that pop up. Some players seem to take the "move slowly and kiss a lot of butt" tactic with anyone from the alliance, while others state their rage. There is even a call for a server that players can "win" at. A lot of the players of Illyriad came from games that featured limited-time-length servers, games with a true "win" scenario that would reset after a set amount of time. Since Illyriad does not have that, it does bring up a very interesting point: What if one group decided to take over the entire map? Who would be able to resist? Would the current alliances stand for it or just join in? There is a lot of intriguing psychology going on during events like these, and it's very interesting to watch. For the record, I hope something massive and violent erupts out of the announcement. Illyriad's community can be very lovely, and it's easy to forget that the players are all packing heat. It's also interesting to note how the H? alliance is essentially making a rule, something that can only happen in a sandbox game like Illyriad.

Obligatory "Skyrim is the best ever" announcements already being written

I said it on Twitter already, but when games like Skyrim are released, a predictable sequence of events usually follows. Of course I follow people from the MMO community, but that makes it only more interesting when they begin to act in a way that we've all seen before.

• First, declare that the new, awesome release has many things to teach to developers of MMO games. Be sure to point out how wonderful the graphics are and how realistic the NPC actions can be. Talk about how the lore is deep and wonderful and how you feel immersed in the game... a lot. Be sure to tick off all of the things that you can do in the wonderful new title that you cannot do in an MMO. Change your Twitter or Facebook icons to match your new obsession, and do not forget to post game jokes, walkthrough links and YouTube videos several times throughout the day.

• Second, make a post detailing how sick you have become of MMOs, and cancel the one or two subscriptions you might have. Change the look of your long-running MMO blog to reflect your new love for single-player games (even if it is just this one title). Be sure to declare that you are done with MMOs for good. Start making jokes about MMOs. Essentially, at this stage, you are in full-blown love with the new game.

• Third, (several months later) start to doubt that this single-player game will last you as long as a typical MMO. Start to remember that MMOs have thousands of players running around in them. Re-join your old guild, and send out apologies for your lack of faith. Be sure to mention how "lonely" single player games are. Maybe start throwing in a few snarky comments about how the combat in the single-player games sucks compared to fighting "real humans."

This cycle will repeat itself many times for some people. It would be much easier for all of us if they would just come to the understanding that they found something new and exciting and were into it for a while. There's nothing wrong with that. Next time, though, it would be nice if the fickle player would remember that making a single-player experience and a world that is built to bend completely to the will of that one player is a much, much different process than building a world that needs to entertain thousands of players at once. MMOs and single-player games will always be different, at least until the day technology makes them one in the same. Until then, if you find yourself becoming obsessed with the latest, greatest, immersive single-player experience, just remember that MMOs are a different beast in many, many ways. They both have their flaws.

So there are some thoughts that popped into my head over this last week. I'll keep my yellow notepad handy for next time!

Each week, Free for All brings you ideas, news, and reviews from the world of free-to-play, indie, and import games -- a world that is often overlooked by gamers. Leave it to Beau Hindman to talk about the games you didn't know you wanted! Have an idea for a subject or a killer new game that no one has heard of? Send it to beau@massively.com!