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The Game Archaeologist and the Forbidden RuneScape: Words with Paul Gower
The Game Archaeologist is a lazy adventurer-slash-professor who dons his trademark cap for a weekly expedition through some of the most famous MMOs of the past few decades. Each month he chooses a different title to examine its highlights, talk with its developers, and invite its fans to share their experiences. Some of you may be old enough to remember comedian Rodney Dangerfield's classic line, "I don't get no respect!" Double negatives aside, Dangerfield's catchphrase resonated with many people -- perhaps even the team behind RuneScape. Despite being one of the most popular MMOs in the world, it's battled a perception of being "that" MMO that's not quite a full-fledged member of the Big Boy's Club. Lord knows that browser-based titles have struggled against such negativity ever since their inception, and RuneScape is no different. But as I stated last week, perhaps it's high time we get over our exclusion of RuneScape from the discussion whenever MMOs are brought up and start giving the game its due. My inbox's spent a busy week receiving all manner of testimonies about RuneScape, and I saw a common theme of fondness for what was many players' first MMO. Next week I'll let these testimonies out of Pandora's Box (if you haven't already, send me your own RuneScape story via email!), but today I've invited Paul Gower, one of RuneScape's founders, to share his perspective on making and running a gaming phenomenon. Hit the jump to level up!
The Game Archaeologist and the Nights of Old Winter
Here's a question for you: How much do you really, really have to love a game to pay $8.00 an hour to play it? Considering how much we tend to whine about a flat $15/month fee, I'm guessing the answer is, "Only if it loved me long time." And yet, in 1991 this wasn't considered crazy extortionist practices -- it was dubbed "Being a pioneer." While online RPGs were nothing new by then, nobody had tackled the jump from text-based RPGs (MUDs and BBS doors) to graphical games due to the technology (limited modem speeds and access) and funding involved. It took the efforts of a Superfriends-style team to make this happen with Neverwinter Nights: Stormfront Studios developed the game, TSR provided the Dungeons & Dragons license, SSI published it under its Gold Box series, and Aol handled the online operations. Thus, 19 years ago -- six years before Ultima Online and 13 before World of Warcraft -- the first multiplayer graphical RPG went online and helped forge a path that would lead to where we are today. With only 50 to 500 players per server, Neverwinter Nights may not have been "massively," but it deserves a spot of honor as one of the key ancestors to the modern MMO.
The Game Archaeologist and the SysOp's Sinister Stratagem
When you think of MMORPGs, I wouldn't blame you if your mind stayed rooted firmly in the past decade or so, perhaps taking a brief vacation to 1997 before returning to today's 3-D polygonal glory. But it's not like people just woke up in the late 90's, looked at each other, and said, "Hmm. Online multiplayer RPGs. Let's make it happen!" On the contrary, history had been building up to that moment for quite some time. Tabletop RPGs and computer MUDs (multi-user dungeons) were both important ancestors of modern MMOs, just as was a mostly forgotten piece of software lore: the bulletin board system, also known as the BBS. In layman's terms, BBSes were like pocket internets -- host computers that allowed anyone to dial up and use special programs remotely. While BBSes weren't (initially) tied together like the world wide web, they featured a lot of the elements that would make the WWW so popular, such as email, forums, and, yes, online games. Today's special one-shot Game Archaeologist will take a brief look at the history of the BBS, as well as a couple of its games that could be considered "MORPGs" (like the renowned website, the "Massively" part would be a while in coming). Dial up, gentle readers, and make your hissing modem noises!
Game Developers Choice Online Awards to knight Richard Bartle as a "Game Legend"
If it's cool to be officially dubbed an "Online Game Legend," then it's doubly cool to be the first person to ever receive such an award. Richard Bartle will be rocking cool two ways from Sunday this fall, as the Game Developers Choice Online Awards plans to honor the good doctor this October. The Online Game Legend Award stemmed from a pool of open nominations and was chosen by the GDC Online Awards advisory committee. They specify Bartle's co-creation of MUDs and his 2003 book Designing Virtual Worlds as the key reasons why he deserves to be named a capital-L Legend. Bartle isn't the only one due for a special award, however. Ultima Online will be inducted into their Hall of Fame as "a specific online game that has resulted in the long-term advancement of the medium, pioneering major shifts in online game development and games as a whole." The full awards ceremony will take place on October 7th, and will include a number of other categories including Best Online Game Design and Best New Online Game. You can eyeball the full details over at GDC Online Awards' website.
The Game Archaeologist and the Quest for Camelot: The history
After a two-week hiatus to recover from rattlesnake bites and a bear to the face, the Game Archeologist returns to travel to England, but not the England we know today. No, this is the England-That-Could-Have-Been, the England of King Arthur, Excalibur and pointy-hatted Vikings. This is the England of fairy tales and legends and blocky 2001-era polygon models. It is the England of three realms constantly jockeying for supremacy and power. It is Dark Age of Camelot. It's a pretty awesome place to live, even though the property values are way, way down after the last 18 marauding hordes trampled through the neighborhood. This month, the Game Archaeologist is trading in his copyright-infringement fedora and whip for a sturdy suit of armor and a fiery sword as he slashes his way into Dark Age of Camelot. It doesn't matter if it's only a model -- it still inspires him to break out into song anyway.
The Daily Grind: Do you feel like you missed out on the golden days of MMOs?
Depending on who you talk to and their personal perspective, I could be considered either a MMO newbie or a seasoned veteran. While I tinkered around with Anarchy Online a bit back in 2003, I never started seriously playing MMORPGs until City of Heroes and World of Warcraft in 2004 (and haven't stopped since!). While six-plus years of gaming isn't inconsequential, there are plenty out there who cut their teeth on older titles: the EverQuests, the Dark Age of Camelots, the Ultima Onlines, and even the MUDders. To them, I'm a greenhorn and forever will be. For those of you who haven't been there since the beginning, do you feel like you missed out on the golden era of MMOs? Do you regret not hopping on board earlier, either to experience these titles in their wild youth or to gain gamer cred by being able to say "I was there back when"? While I have no delusions that those earlier days and older MMOs were as user-friendly (or even as fun) as games are today, I do wish I had hopped on board right at the beginning. Heck, if I had known about MUDs in college, you bet I would've been in one instead of spending time with girls and textbooks (oh, wait...). I would've liked to have seen those communities in action, and would've loved to seen the genre grow from the very start instead of the middle. How about you?
More about MUDs for the MMO curious
When it comes to the evolution of the MMO, you can't really deny the earliest roots of MMOs -- the MUD or Multi-User Dungeon. But as there are many who just started in with MMOs with more recent titles like World of Warcraft, the initial roots from whence the games we love rose remain shrouded in mystery for many people. Thankfully, recently Edge Online decided to not only take a very close look at the earliest creation of MUDs, but they also got a chance to sit down with Richard Bartle. Their illuminating article, simply titled "The making of: MUD" talks not only of what started the system we know, but also how the thinking behind it progressed into the MMOs we know now. Additionally, sprinkled throughout the second half of the article are some really interesting quotes from Bartle. One such example is Bartle's explanation of his current levels of involvement and why he'd rather "...focus on the health of the forest than on individual trees" in terms of the massively multi-player game market. If you're a veteran or a newcomer, the article is well worth a read if only to give a perspective on our favorite genre that you may not have had before.[Via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
MMOrigins: Dissection of a gamer
The Misty Mountains You are on a steep rocky slope and just above lies the remnants of an ancient rock slide. Far below you can see the Redhorn pass through breaks in tree canopy as well as the winding Anduin River. The sky is overcast, with a strong northerly wind raining down icy lances. The air is thin, making it difficult to breathe. *Labero the Black Numenorean* is here riding a pack horse tending his wounds. o S W C Move: Tired> Backstab $target You begin to silently move behind your victim... Oh the memories! That text-based multi-user dungeon (MUD) experience may have been the most influential on my gaming career, but it certainly wasn't the first. No, for that we'd have to travel back in time several more years; the day I unwrapped my first gaming console. It was a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the year was 1989. Follow me as I take a trip down memory lane and recount the main influencers on my MMO timeline.
The Daily Grind: What's your first MMO?
A long time ago with a computer that may or may not be far, far away, you picked up an MMO. You picked up, you played it, and you probably really, really enjoyed it. You enjoyed it so much, as a matter of fact, that you chose to keep playing them and explored more games in the genre. And that brings us to today, dear readers.It's a story that's happened to all of us, from the days of MUDs all the way up to perhaps just last week when you wrapped your hands around that new MMO game on the shelf or felt like seeing why all of your friends are addicted to World of Warcraft.So please tell us what your first game was and why you chose it. We recommend using the comment box below, as that guarantees that the entire Internets (TM) will see your message. Screaming at the screen is also an option, but you have to scream really loudly so we can hear you.
Redefining MMOs: More than lore
There's a self-created paradox in the MMO industry. This genre asks its participants to invest copious amounts of time and people do want to spend a hours and hours within a single, expansive virtual environment. The downside is that videogames tend to spin on a single mechanical axis: conflict.In the MMO realm, conflict generally means combat. The problem is endless conflict becomes excruciatingly tedious. Crafting, socialization and sometimes even mini-games have been employed to counteract this, yet it remains a substantial issue. Whereas the story and plot development -- our topics this week -- have largely taken a back seat.With professional MMO development soaring and a whole new generation of promising titles on the way, we stand on the cusp of what could be the next big evolutionary leap for online gaming. In the coming weeks and months, Massively will be examining how the MMO genre has been redefined during the current generation of games and where it's headed in the next. If you have something important to say on the topic, feel free to post a comment on page two or even write your own "Redefining MMOs" blog post and leave a comment with the URL -- we'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic.
The Daily Grind: Most influential MMOs?
While Beckett has compiled their listing of 20 industry people they feel are the most influential across the board, we realized that, by and large, many MMO players just don't know who all the names are behind an MMO. As such, we got to thinking about what games were more or less influential than others. Would you say Meridian 59 was influential? EverQuest? Do you throw out a nod to MUDs? Would WoW make the list as a true innovator, or just as a refinement? As such, this morning, we're asking you - what do you think are some of the most influential MMOs? Which ones shaped the genre and led it in new directions? If given the chance, who would you vote for?
The Daily Grind: Once you play MMORPGs, can you ever go back to single-player RPGs?
Before MMOs came around, I used to be a pretty active single-player RPG gamer. My platform of choice was the console but I eventually got into a few PC titles as well. One of the first games I got into on the Nintendo Entertainment System was Dragon Warrior in 1989 (for reference, I was 9 years old). That eventually led to Final Fantasy, Crystalis, and a few others throughout the early 90s. I eventually upgraded to a Sony Playstation and gorged on a smattering of RPGs, chief among them Final Fantasy VII. Life was great (if somewhat geeky) and I didn't see any signs of my tastes changing any time soon.Then my friend introduced me to a PK MUD in 1996 and my tastes did change. Obviously, I was a huge fan of RPGs at this stage in my life but this was my very first taste of a multi-player RPG. I was hooked. RPG lovers are big fans of stats, strategy, and story. Online RPGs give you all that and an additional sense of community, collaboration, and competition.Whenever I try going through solo RPGs or even solo action games like God of War or Resident Evil (series) these days, I just feel like there's something missing and can barely stomach playing. For some reason, I feel like I'm wasting time, which is strange because I realize gaming is just as viable a hobby as anything else. Perhaps MMOs give me the sense that many people are wasting time so perhaps it isn't so bad? It's hard to put a finger on it.So, I'm curious; once you've played (and enjoyed) MMORPGs, can you ever go back to (and enjoy) single-player RPGs? I know I can't anymore due in large part to the three missing C's.
MUD history gets a wiki for itself
When we last talked about multi-user dungeon (MUD) history here on Massively, it wasn't for good reasons. Wikipedia had been slowly removing some of the more memorable games from its archives, causing a response from a few of the resident experts here in the multiplayer genre. Since that story was published, many readers here offered a suggestion, "Why not go put the history on your own wiki?"Well, that suggestion has recently become a reality with the creation of MUD Wiki. MUD Wiki, a Wikia gaming wiki, will be holding all of the MUD history and information that Wikipedia has been slowly losing/removing. The wiki launched on January 11th, and is slowly filling up with all kinds of information relating to MUDs, including a growing entry for the recently Wikipedia-deleted Threshold RPG MUD. If you have anything to contribute, stop by and add what you have to the new home of MUD history.
Splashing through the MUD and the MUSH
Before forum trolls complained of bad graphics or crappy voice acting, there was text-based gaming. Progressing from the success of games like Zork and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the multi-user dungeons (MUDs) and multi-user shared hallucinations (MUSHes) were our best methods of roleplaying and interacting with other people from across the globe. Without these original text-based experiences, we would not have any of the MMOs we have today.To pay homage to this fact, Kaila Hale-Stern at Gawker's io9 writes a telling narrative of the old days in MUDs and MUSHes. PernMUSH, a MUSH based on Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series was (and still is) an extremely popular online hub for roleplayers. This story tells of Kaila's experiences with PernMUSH and how magical they were "for a sixteen year-old with a 36kbps modem and a family phone line." Be sure to check out the pages of comments as well, as they each tell their own memories of the birth of online gaming and roleplaying.
MUD history dissolving into the waters of time
While many modern MMO users may never have looked at a screen of white text on a black background and typed "go north," multi-user dungeons, or MUDs, were the forerunners to modern graphical MMOs. Without their appeal and gameplay concepts, we wouldn't be playing World of Warcraft or even EverQuest. So, logically, we should make sure to preserve the histories behind the many MUDs which began our conquest of the online playing field, right?Well, it appears Wikipedia does not think the same way we do on this matter. The online encyclopedia powered by user contributions has begun cracking down and removing articles on MUDs, citing inability to provide verification along with reliable sources. Currently on the chopping block is the entry for Threshold, one of the oldest MUDs still active to this day. This isn't the first time Wikipedia has put online games under fire -- already pulling out the entries for BYOND, LegendMUD, and even removing the article on dragon kill points (DKP) for a time. The removal for the entry of LegendMUD is particularly painful, as there are other articles on Wikipedia that reference the LegendMUD entry, yet are still apparently viable on their own.
The Daily Grind: Looking back on the good old days
From time to time all of us look back on "the good old days" of massively multiplayer gaming -- it's something to occupy our minds with while that annoying elf camps our corpse. At least that's what our mind always comes back to after organizing our backpack, arguing about politics in guild chat until we're threatened with being kicked, and passionately arguing the subtle advantages of a 51/5/5 build over a 54/7/0 build on the WoW forums. Ah, the good old days, when the closest you could get to what we now know as "massively multiplayer" was trading messages across a BBS or a dozen people logged on to a text-based MUD or the charming 2D graphics of Ultima Online. (Though, really, there was corpse camping back then, too, wasn't there? No doubt our minds wax nostalgic for prettily painted sprite-based graphics.) So, whether you're being corpse camped or you just happen to be stuck at the office for the next eight tedious hours, let's talk: when were your "good old days?"
Behind the Curtain: Too much information
So, just the other day I hit level 30 on my latest World of Warcraft alt – a Dwarf Priest. I hopped on the nearest Gryphon to Ironforge to train up some skills, and noticed that I had unread mail. Skipping gaily towards the nearest mailbox, I was most surprised to find a letter from Ultham Ironhorn, the Dwarven Riding Trainer, letting me know that I was now eligible to purchase a mount from his fine establishment. For those of you unfamiliar, originally in WoW, you had to wait until you'd hit level 40 before you could buy a mount. Patch 2.4.3 changed that, and lowered the level requirement for a standard mount to level 30. I hadn't read anywhere though, that, upon reaching level 30, your character would be told about it. Back in-game, I checked with my guildies to see if they knew anything about the mail. They didn't, none of them having levelled up an alt in some time, so it was news to all of us. We all agreed that Blizzard must have implemented it to point players in the direction of a mount, when they might otherwise have missed out on the early availability. It got me thinking about information and the availability of it in game.
Today the MUD and the MMO turn 30
Today marks the 30th birthday of the original MUD, created at Essex University by Roy Trubshaw in 1978. We recommend you check out what Richard Bartle -- who worked on later iterations of the project -- has to say about this event, as well as Raph Koster's words on the subject. The question at hand, as presented by Bartle, seems to be: does this matter?While he is skeptical, we would like to posit that it does matter a great deal -- or at least that it should. Graphics alone shouldn't lead to a strong distinction when the fundamentals are the same, so let's consider the modern MMO to be part of the same tradition as the MUD -- let's say that this is the MMO's 30th birthday too.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a dwarf
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the fourth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself.Imagine if you were raised in a culture who took playing in the mud very very seriously. As a young lad or lassie, your parents advised you that it would be wise of you to learn digging as your profession, and they hoped that one day you would marry a forger. Your people loved the earth so much that they built their homes and cities underground, and reached as deep as they could into the ground to see what they could find there.Then... imagine if, just a few years ago, someone discovered evidence that your people had once been made by giant Titans out of the very stone and earth you now craft with such care. Wouldn't you be pretty psyched?There's so much more to dwarves than just a Scottish accent and short stature, you see. Dwarves are the Indiana-Joneses of World of Warcraft. After eons of digging into and sculpting the earth of Azeroth, they suddenly have a clue as to where they came from and how everything came to be the way it is for them. They are now spread across distant places of the world, digging and plumbing ancient ruins in order to unravel the mystery of their existence, and discover the ultimate reason for being.
Terra Nova looks back (and forward) at the Diku legacy
EverQuest, World of Warcraft, The Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online and many other MMOs all have one important thing in common. Well, okay; they have a lot of things in common -- like about 85% or more of their gameplay mechanics. But the main thing -- indeed, the reason why they have so much in common -- is that they are all descendants of a kind of text MUD game called Diku.Acknowledging that, virtual worlds blog Terra Nova published a "State of the Diku" article for the year 2008. The article was written by Timothy Burke. It's mostly a dispassionate look at game design -- serious business. Burke starts out questioning the purpose of "vendor trash" drops (or grey items as they're generally known in many popular contemporary MMOs). Then he analyzes the public quests of Warhammer Online, viewing them as a positive variation on traditional Diku design.If you're into thnking critically about MMO design, it's worth checking out. We take for granted the fact that most of today's MMOs are based on the Diku formula; maybe that means we're clinging to old ideas that don't make a lot of sense in today's world.
