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Tamriel Infinium: Roleplaying in spite of The Elder Scrolls Online
From the moment I stepped into my first MMORPG ever, I was interested in playing a character, not just some avatar of myself on the screen. I followed the Ultima universe enough to create a believable character in that world, though I didn't play as long as I would have liked. However, my second MMO, Star Wars Galaxies, made roleplay really easy. With a bushel of emotes, character animations, and activities not directly based on combat, Sony's Star Wars MMO solidified my definition of what it meant to play an MMO. Of course, after that, the new MMOs -- with too few exceptions -- stopped lending themselves to quality roleplay thanks to the World of Warcraft design model. The change in scenery didn't stop roleplayers from forming amazing communities. In spite of mechanical issues and linear questlines, the Lord of the Rings Online roleplay community thrives. Rumor has it that WoW's roleplay community actually does something besides dancing on mailboxes in Goldshire. I don't think I have to tell you how difficult it is to roleplay in Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I do it anyway. My friends and I are considering jumping into The Elder Scrolls Online not just to play the game but to attempt to roleplay in it as well. It makes us wonder whether we'll be encouraged by the game to roleplay the way we like to or will have to roleplay in spite of the game.
Darkfall gets emotes, chat bubbles, deployable cannons
Either Aventurine has an impish sense of humor or there really are Darkfall players who want to do more than stick the pointy end into the other man. The game's latest patch adds chat bubbles and emotes to the open world and open PvP fantasy sandbox, along with new deployable cannons and city cannons. You can view a list of additional patch features and fixes on the official Darkfall website.
Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online's rationale for roleplay
After reading the roleplay-oriented AMA that released Monday on the official Elder Scrolls Online website, I resigned myself to the fact that I'm never again going to get to play an MMO with chat bubbles. I will miss you, my lovely communicative vesicle. I shall remember fondly the times you allowed me to easily distinguish between those who spoke right next to me and those who sat halfway across a tavern. Apparently, you are now a dated device that no longer holds importance to designers looking to make a game that revolves around player-to-player communication... I know that chat bubbles are not the only important device in the roleplayer arsenal of storytelling tools, but that doesn't mean that I don't find the irony humorous. And I am extraordinarily happy that developers took the time to answer some very important roleplay-related questions. As someone who happens to be very interested in the ability to roleplay effectively, I'd like to take a few moments to discuss the answers the developers gave. And surprisingly the discussion we had last week about the ESO community-building tools fits in quite well with the theme on the whole.
Tamriel Infinium: Immersing yourself in The Elder Scrolls Online
Throughout my time as a gamer, I have seen game designers struggle with immersion because not everyone views immersion the same way and every designer wants his game to pull you in. The more you play one designer's game, the more likely you will buy his or her next game. In the case of MMOs, the greater the immersion, the greater chance you will spend more money on subscriptions or in the cash shop. Some gamers find first-person views with in-your-face action immersing; some, like me, find rich lore and a solid storyline immersing. The Elder Scrolls Online faces perhaps the hardest task. Not only does this game strive to immerse the already existing divisions between the RPG crowd, but it also has to contend with the different platforms on which it's releasing. Our commenters on this site are heavily divided on the console-vs.-PC subject. To top it off, some have already been turned off by Bethesda's shying away from calling the game an MMO. Today, I face head-on some of game's immersion pitfalls and tackle the divisive comments from last week's Tamriel Infinium.
Hyperspace Beacon: My top five wishes for SWTOR roleplay
A few weeks back, I was nostalgically asked, "Remember those days when talking about Star Wars: The Old Republic was all about speculation?" Those days might be long gone now, but the beginning of a new year always prompts a resurgence of dreams of the year to come. And although I still love playing SWTOR, I believe there are many areas that could use some touching up. I attended a fantastic roleplay event this past Saturday on The Ebon Hawk server. It was just a social event, but there were added touches like prizes and an in-character scavenger hunt. As a member of the planning crew, I took a look back at what could make an event like this better. The execution of the event could be tightened up, but there are several potential additions to the game itself that would have improved the festivities. This prompted me to think about what improvements could make roleplay better in general. So here it is: my top five wishes for roleplay in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Hyperspace Beacon: Roleplayer's rant
I don't like to rant. Really! Usually, ranting is full of emotionally charged rhetoric, and oftentimes it's riddled with inaccurate statements. I especially don't like to rant about something that I like a lot. For instance, Star Wars: The Old Republic has, by far, exceeded my personal expectations for any MMO; however, some missteps in production have tainted its perfection. (No, I'm not going to talk about Ilum again.) Of course, we are all looking for our version of perfection in an MMO, right? Unfortunately, no MMO will live up to that expectation. In fact, if I did find my version of MMO perfection, I would probably be the only one playing it. But I do believe I have ideas that those in my community could latch on to. They are also relatively simple. Yes, yes, I know nothing is ever as simple as it seems, but indulge me for a few moments. As many of you know, I enjoy roleplaying in my MMOs -- character creation, really. I'm not one of those roleplayers who hang out in a pub all day never experiencing any gameplay. Although there's nothing wrong with that, I find it a be a waste of $15 a month. I have complied what I believe will make the experience of SWTOR more enjoyable for those who enjoy playing the game like I do, and I think that those of you who don't necessarily like to roleplay per se but do like to create unique characters in the MMO space will agree that these are a must. I did set some personal criteria when compiling the list. For instance, I didn't want to break BioWare's general vision for the game. I also wanted to use existing items in the game so that my expectations were realistic -- no guild capital ships or image design system. And all of these items have been mentioned in print someplace before, so I'm not the only one who believes these should be implemented.
Ten things to do in Star Wars Galaxies before it's gone
When SOE announced that Star Wars Galaxies would be sunsetted by the end of the year, many players despaired. They gave up. They saw their long years (eight years!) of play turn to dust. But others looked on the impending closure as incentive to do all those things they'd been putting off, all the activities they just hadn't gotten around to. There hadn't been time. The game is too big for anyone to do it all. And that's precisely why Star Wars Galaxies is a legend among sandbox fans despite the NGE disaster. It's a living museum of great MMO ideas from the past, of player-driven economies, of open-world housing, of high-end, game-supported roleplay, of roaming in a game that lets you dictate the terms of your play. It's a rare relic you should see in the flesh, today, right now, before it's gone. You can pick up a weapon and fight in any MMO (excepting A Tale in the Desert, that is), but there are so many things you can do in Star Wars Galaxies that you can't do anywhere else with the same level of immersion. And I'm going to tell you which 10 you should do first... before it's too late.
Players hath spoken, Allods hath listened: Revelations of Gipat includes several player suggestions
Some might say that Allods Online is rapidly outgrowing its pair of britches, which is probably why gPotato piled into a car for a shopping trip to the britch store. With the new Revelations of Gipat 1.1 patch, Allods is expanding in ways that should bring happiness, love and warfare to all. We've already heard about the new mounts galloping into the game, but gPotato isn't stopping there: Players will be able to level to 42, enjoy over 200 new quests, challenge three new endgame bosses (including Strina the Fierce, who makes her Massively debut up top there) and romp through the newest zone, Gipat. In addition to all of this, the developers have been hard at work coming up with new features based on player suggestions. While some of these are small, these quality-of-life features should nevertheless make players very happy. These new features include official add-on support, chat bubbles (which can be toggled on and off), a target-of-target system, additional animations, better audio, more hotkey capabilities and being able to invert your mouse. It'll truly be interesting to see how the players react to this patch, and how the modding community will explore their new playground. Revelations of Gipat is scheduled for later this summer.
New PotBS devlog reveals chat bubbles
A new official developer log over on the Pirates of the Burning Sea website gives a nice look into the new UI improvements coming down the pipeline with the 1.2 patch. We're happy to see the team take serious steps towards improving their user interface, especially with the addition of (optional) chat bubbles -- a highly requested item among the community. The other visual improvement on the agenda happens to be chat related as well -- the chat window.Sporting a new, sleeker appearance, the chat window also takes strides to reduce game-generated spam from players' main chat window. Aside from this change, there's floating names, improved tabs, spam reporting options and social window improvements. With all these changes, it's safe to say Flying Lab Software is serious about improve upon their game's weak points.[via MMORPGDOT]
