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The Game Archaeologist crosses Meridian 59: A chat with Brian Green (part 2)
Welcome to the second part of our interview with former Meridian 59 developer Brian "Psychochild" Green as he reminisces about running one of the oldest graphical MMOs in history. If you missed the first part, I heartily recommend you catch up on it before continuing further. And now, for the exciting conclusion... The Game Archaeologist: What's one of your favorite stories from your experience running Meridian 59? Brian Green: One time I was at Dave & Busters restaurant one evening after a day at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC). I was chatting with Raph Koster about the conference, when from behind us someone says, "Oh my god, are you Psychochild?!?" Raph, who has always been more high profile than I am, gives a grin and leaves. Turns out they were fans of the game and bought me a drink as thanks.
The Game Archaeologist crosses Meridian 59: An interview with Brian Green (part 1)
Last week we began to examine one of the most significant MMOs in history: Meridian 59. While it never rose to the level of fame and subscriber numbers as its successors did, Meridian 59 was a daring pioneer that paved the way for all that followed. Its story is almost like a movie, with the title born from the fruits of two amateur programmers, surviving studio shutdowns and huge competition, and persevering from 1996 through today. As I'll recount over the next two episodes of The Game Archaeologist, I sat down with Brian Green, a blogger and game developer who oversaw the resurrection of Meridian 59 in the early 2000s and ran it for the better part of a decade. Green graciously agreed to participate, saying that he always loves talking about games -- and this one in particular. The Game Archaeologist: Hi! Please introduce yourself and your current position and project. Brian Green: I'm Brian "Psychochild" Green, a long-time MMO designer and programmer. I'm known for my professional blog and my work on Meridian 59. I'm currently working on the Storybricks project as the MMO Wizard. We're a startup, so that means I do whatever needs to be done at the moment.
The Game Archaeologist crosses Meridian 59: The highlights
A colony founded through a magical nexus, Meridian 59 had it all going on -- until, that is, the portal to the colony collapsed and it was left to fend for itself. Monsters swarmed over the land, politics split the community into factions, and adventurers were called to rise up and become the heroes that were desperately needed. And all it took was $10.95 a month and an internet connection. Welcome to 1996 and one of the very first -- if not the first (more on that later) -- graphical MMOs to hit the scene. Meridian 59 may not have been one of the biggest games in the genre, but it was arguably one of the most important, the John Adams to World of Warcraft's Abraham Lincoln. If you were wondering, Darkfall was Chester A. Arthur. It seems fitting to end 2011 by touching upon this significant title that, against all odds, continues to operate today. Meridian 59 weathered studio shutdowns, newbie developers in every sense of the word, and a world that wasn't quite sure what to make of these fancy-schmancy massively interactive roleplaying games. MIRGs! Oh, that would've been such a better acronym, but I digress. Let's set the wayback machine to 1978 to see how one amateur game led to another that led to the birth of an industry.
Meridian 59 dev Near Death Studios reaches death
We don't blame you if you can't remember Near Death Studios, which today announced it will be closing its doors after nine years spent trying (and failing) to make money from its early generation MMO, Meridian 59. The now-ironically named developer was started in 2001 by two of the staffers responsible for the game -- Rob Ellis and Brian Green -- who cite (among other things) a loss of players to World of Warcraft as reasons for its poor performance. Admitting that Near Death Studios has "been on life support" for several years (again, the irony is palpable), Green wrote on his blog that the "killing blow" came when the company lost its billing provider and was no longer able to process subscribers' credit card payments. Negotiations with another provider had been ongoing, Green said, but ultimately fell through, prompting the closure. We can't help but wonder if changing the company name might have helped "Near Death" earn more confidence from prospective financial partners. [Via Gamasutra]
The Daily Grind: Can you look backwards with games?
Take a look at the screenshot above from Meridian 59. It probably doesn't look like much to most of you. But for some of our readers, that screenshot represents a game that was one of the first graphical and three-dimensional MMOs ever, and it might well bring back fond memories. It all depends on whether or not you were gaming at the time and interested in the genre, and even then you might not have enjoyed the game or had a chance to pick it up and play regularly. (Cable internet was not exactly a foregone conclusion in 1996, after all.) Games are on an ever-increasing ramp of graphical complexity and depth of play, and so games that were revolutionary at one point have become much less so with time. But can you look past that and see why they were important in the first place? Do you play EverQuest and see dated graphics and gameplay models, or do you see a game that inspired interest in the genre enough to make the current market possible? Do you look back when you play a game, or do you find yourself hung up with the latest and greatest features instead?
Near Death Studios closes down
If 2009 hadn't claimed quite enough lives for your tastes quite yet -- in terms of companies, jobs, and games -- you might have a bit of a morbid approach to things. We're just over the border into the new year, but it looks like there was one last item on the chopping block. Near Death Studios, the team behind Meridian 59, is no longer simply "near" death, but over the line into pining for the fjords. Brian 'Psychochild' Green broke the news on his blog yesterday, announcing that while the game wouldn't be going anywhere, it would no longer be a commercial venture run by the now-defunct company. So what went wrong? As Green puts it, while Near Death Studios was able to raise the money and the operational talent to get the game running and keep it in maintenance mode, the game never really grew -- the one shot it might have had at attracting new players was unfortunately timed right around the launch of World of Warcraft. He's not bitter about the experience, however, and he's glad that he had the chance to keep Meridian 59 running for such a long time and help shape something people really enjoyed. It's a sad announcement for a venerable game, though, and we can only hope that this is the last of the fallout we see from the closing-filled year.
The Daily Grind: Are the stakes too low in modern PvP?
Player vs. Player gameplay has undergone a drastic change in recent years. Games like Meridian 59 and Ultima Online didn't pull any punches. Anyone could kill anyone anywhere, and the penalties could be quite severe. When you died In Meridian or UO, you dropped all of your gear. The person who killed you could steal whatever he or she pleased.Of course, in games like that, gear wasn't quite such a big deal. In Meridian a sword would wear out after a few of hours of use anyway. But combined with stat and skill losses, death in the games of the 90s was comparatively harsh. Now, in World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, and Warhammer Online, the stakes are lower. You have absolutely nothing to lose by dying in PvP in WoW, and AoC and WAR's designs aren't much more aggressive.But here's a question from a veteran of the oldschool: with stakes this low, does PvP really matter? Will it really get you sweating? Will you really care that much about winning or losing? Some oldschool folks will argue that PvP is boring and meaningless now that death has been de-clawed. Maybe we should go back to the barbarism of the old days. What do you think?
Vigilante Meridian 59 players wage war against pirate servers
Meridian 59 is a game with a pirate problem. A while back, the server source code leaked onto the internet and seedy players began hosting their own servers without subscription fees. Pirate servers are a problem for many MMOs, but because of M59's comparatively small scale, it has a lot more to lose to the trend.Amidst these troubles, some M59 players can be quite loyal. Case in point: the blog of game developer Patrick Rogers tells the story of two former M59 players hacking into a pirate server and mass-killing all its residents with powerful admin commands. The vigilantes hoped to make life (and death) on the pirate servers as unpleasant as possible so as to encourage the residents to migrate to the legitimate servers hosted by Near Death Studios. That's not the most amazing bit, though.
Massively's Visual History of MMORPGs, Part I
The MMORPG genre has come so far in these past few decades, it's almost difficult to believe. The journey from text MUDs to America Online-based dungeon crawlers, and all the way up to Age of Conan and Warhammer Online has been a truly impressive one. We here at Massively would like to invite you to step into the time machine with us and take a visual tour of that journey. We're taking a close look at the most important titles in online role-playing game history!What was the first MUD? Howabout the first 3D MMO? When did these games transition from niche curiosities to global, cultural phenomenons, and who's responsible? In this series, we'll tackle all those questions and more. Plus, we'll see just how far these fancy graphics have come over the years! Sound like fun? Jump into the gallery!%Gallery-19479%
Podcast looks back at Meridian 59 history
Want to work on your old-school cred? Check out Virgin Worlds' "Online Gamer's Anthology" podcast episode #5 and learn a bit about the history of arguably the first graphical MMO ever, Meridian 59.The podcast starts out with a somewhat awkward skit which pays homage to Meridian 59's gameplay, but if you skip ahead about 30 minutes you'll get straight to the meat of it -- an in-depth, tell-all interview with developer Brian "Psychochild" Green, who has worked on the game since 1998. He talks about what makes the game unique and relevant, its demise at the hands of 3DO, and its resurrection by his own company, Near Death Studios. Here's a highlight from the interview -- Green explaining why re-launching Meridian 59 was important to him:If you don't have a good sense of history it's really hard to move forward. Looking at more modern games, you have the level and class based system of EverQuest or World of Warcraft. I think a lot of times people look at only the most recent things and think, "Oh, that's the way it's always been, and that's what we have to follow." I think having a wider range of history -- the Meridian 59s, the Ultima Onlines, even those older games back into the proprietary systems -- knowing more about those can kind of give you a wider perspective.
