persistent-worlds
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The Game Archaeologist: Tales from Neverwinter Nights' Arelith
Back in May, I touched on the fascinating field of Neverwinter Nights' persistent worlds (PWs). I never expected it to draw so much attention, least of all from the folks still running these communities. But it did, and I was contacted by one of the player developers of Arelith, Mark "Artos" Friebus. Artos and his colleagues wanted to share more about the history and makeup of this 12-year-old server and why, in 2014, they're still as crazy about doing it as ever. If you want an insider's point of view as to what goes on in a persistent world -- and perhaps are open to be tempted to roll a character on one of them -- then stay tuned for the fascinating tale of Arelith.
The Game Archaeologist: The persistent worlds of Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2
At the end of next month, dozens of online worlds will flicker and vanish with the flip of a switch. It's a online apocalypse the likes of which we have not seen in quite some time, although you might be forgiven for not having heard of it before now. When GameSpy Technology goes offline on May 31st, dozens of EA games that relied on the platform for multiplayer functionality will lose their online components by June 30th. Because of this, Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2 will find that their persistent player-made and -run worlds are in danger. For over a decade now, players have poured creative energies and roleplaying enthusiasm into these micro-MMOs. Could an era be about to end? Fortunately, players are already swinging into action to work around the shutdown, keeping their worlds alive and detached from GameSpy's umbilical cord. I see this event as a wake-up call for people like yours truly who are acquainted primarily with BioWare and Obsidian's single-player offerings and are ignorant of the larger Neverwinter Nights community out there. Let's take a look at this engrossing online realm and how it came to be.
The Daily Grind: Pick up and play
As soon as you log on to City of Heroes, you can look up a randomly-generated mission via the newspaper or police scanner, dart off to the location, and most likely have it cleared out in fifteen minutes. A tank in World of Warcraft can log on, set themselves up via the dungeon finder, and often be done with a dungeon run before they finish their favorite episode of The Office. It's a far cry from a Dragoon in the heyday of Final Fantasy XI sitting in Jeuno for three hours without a party invitation. Say what you will about grinds, but the barrier to accessing content has never been lower. The ability to pick up and immediately get moving in many MMOs has become quite a selling point, but there are players who feel that it rewards quantity and almost hyperactive runs through content rather than depth of play. What do you feel about systems to let players jump in as quickly as possible? Is it a major selling point you'd like to see more of, or a growing weakness that's turning persistent worlds into glorified lobbies?
