social-experience
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Enter at Your Own Rift: Getting a head start
Dateline: Thursday, February 24th, 12:55 p.m. EST. After having rushed home from work (huzzah for a half-day), I was frantically putting the kids to bed for an afternoon nap and patching up my RIFT client. Twitter was abuzz with gamers sitting at the starting gate and revving their mice. It was here. After seven betas, it was here, and we would be the first in the door. 12:59 p.m. EST. Began checking the server status list, trying to will the dull grey names to light up as they signified activity. 1:00 p.m. EST. Scott Hartsman posts a short message on Twitter: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to RIFT." Right on cue, the servers came up, and what felt like the entire population of Oregon tried to cram into the game all at once. By 1:01 p.m., when I logged in, my chosen server of Faeblight was already full and had 461 people in the queue. I was 462. It would be another 45 minutes until I was able to play the game proper.
The evolution of classes
Classes are one of those central components of our MMOs. From the early days of Dungeons & Dragons to the use of class based systems in MUDs, we've been relying on the concept of characters with unique sets of skills working together to get the job done. Andrew Vanden Bossche over at Gamasutra has recently sat down and looked at everyone's favorite FPS, Team Fortress 2, to analyze how classes have gone beyond their original roleplaying roots. While the article isn't exactly MMO-focused, it certainly does have bearing on our genre as we too begin to branch out away from the sword-and-board fantasy and into FPS territory with games like Global Agenda and Darkfall. So if you want to see how experience and bullets go together while making gameplay more social and fun, check out the full article at Gamasutra.
Earthrise lead game designer on core concepts and game mechanics
One of the independent MMOs in the works that interests Massively is Earthrise, being developed by Masthead Studios in Bulgaria. We came across an Earthrise interview at OnlineWelten by Anja Gellesch, originally in German but translated into English. Masthead's Lead Game Designer Apostol Apostolov gives a well-worded introduction to the premise of the game and its "post-post-apocalyptic" setting, but there's plenty of details to be found in the interview as well. He discusses player choice in the game, how some will opt to join a faction while other players remain neutral in the struggle between the technocratic elite Continoma, and the shadowy resistance movement Noir. Apostolov also mentions that there are 20 different zones spread across the game's island setting of Enterra.
WoW Player Stories updated: Military stories
The official World of Warcraft Community site has updated its Player Stories section with two new stories from military personnel. Both are short and easy reads, so I'm not going to spoil them here for you. They're kind of heartwarming, and help put WoW in a little bit different light. The stories definitely show another side of why some players play the game. It's pretty easy for some folks to forget that there are people on the other side of the computer. Real live human beings, who have friends and family. And, for some players, the whole reason they're sitting down at the computer in the first place is to get access to those friends and family. And, remember, even Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says one of the great things about World of Warcraft is its social experience.
