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Free for All: Twenty-five free MMOs for that shiny new laptop
So there you are, reading a column from your favorite Massively writer on your shiny new laptop. You might be stuck with your parents and family because of the snow, or you might simply want to find a new MMORPG to play on the device. Perhaps you broke down and bought that cute pink netbook at Target, and now you need something to do with it besides reading your favorite writer of all time? Don't worry, because I've taken the time to compile and test 25 MMOs that will work wonderfully on your new toy! Yes, there are real MMOs out there that are not dependent on the latest graphics card or six gigs of ram. These are fully realized worlds, complete with chat windows and socializing. I will make a note if the game might have some difficulty on the oldest of hardware -- or the least powerful -- so keep an eye out for that. Otherwise, download away! For the record, this is my new toy. I got it for work, but you know the first thing I had to do was try out gaming on it. Click past the cut to see the list!
Rise and Shiny recap: Eternal Lands
Each week Rise and Shiny asks you to download and try a different free-to-play game, decided by me, Beau Hindman. Some of the games will be far out of your gaming comfort zone, and some will pleasantly surprise you. We will meet each Tuesday and Friday night at 8 PM Central time, followed by this column the Saturday after. I welcome any suggestions for games, either in the comments or at beau at massively dot com. As someone that prefers digging through old forum posts, little-read blogs and strange Twitter links to find odd independent games over downloading the latest mega-game, I have to be able to tolerate a lot of bad design. Design is everything, especially in gaming. Gameplay matters nothing if no one wants to look your way, and independent games could take a few cues on design from the mainstream. It's the same way with music and movies. As I have been playing Eternal Lands over this last week, I couldn't help but feel I was visiting some kind of weekend project, (which may indeed be the case.) I decided to use the music and movie industry as an example to highlight the issues with this very rough-around-the-edges indie MMORPG.
First Impressions: Eternal Lands
For as long as I can stand it, I'm going to commit the next batch of First Impressions to free Mac MMOs, a list of which I found on the Apple Geeks forums (thanks, DarkChronic!). We start the fun with Eternal Lands, which is very much a homebrew effort, meaning that no one's getting paid for developing this game. In fact, the home site makes a point of welcoming volunteer help and encouraging donations. Having said that, I will say that I'm impressed by what's there, even if it's not something I'll be spending any more time playing.Why won't I be going back to Eternal Lands? Call me spoiled, but even free MMOs have to compete with mindshare, and it's difficult to 'dumb down' expectation of graphical quality and user interface sophistication. I'm going to be as gentle as I can be here, given that this is a for-the-love-of-the-game effort, but some snarkiness may sneak through. Remember, kids, this is not a guide, this is not an in-depth look. It's a post about how the first hour or so of a game strikes me, with no preconceptions or foreknowledge. Pray for Mojo.%Gallery-12498%
