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The Game Archaeologist and the What Ifs: Imperator Online
It's been a rollercoaster ride over these past two months bringing the maddening -- and fascinating -- topics of "what if?" MMOs to light. We've covered a wide range of promising titles that were cut down before their release, from True Fantasy Live Online to Mythica, and we've only scratched the surface. Unfortunately, the process of MMO development is rarely smooth and casualties can and do occur, which is why we now pay homage to these fallen games. While I'd love nothing more than to continue this series, I also feel that it's time to return to our normal format starting next week. So today marks the last "what if?" for now, and I've picked a mind-boggler of a game, one that not only frustrates us with its potential but one that asks a "what if?" question of its own. I'm talking about Imperator Online, the MMO from Mythic Entertainment that dared to ask "What if the Roman Empire never fell, but instead continued on to become a really radical futuristic online role-playing game setting?"
One Shots: Dressed to kill
Today's One Shots comes from Massively reader and Anarchy Online fan Jerry: The character in the black dress is Redmorgan, a level 220 Meta-Physicist. The black dress is a Halloween social clothes item earned from killing Halloween Leets near PvP Tower sites. The blue item in Redmorgan's hand is a bow weapon. The green monster behind Redmorgan is her pet, a mortig, which helps her do damage. MPs also have healing pets and mezz pets. Redmorgan is sitting down at a park in Omni Entertainment called "Checkers," so named because the park looks like a checkerboard on the map. Ready to show off your gear? Send a screenshot of your favorite items to oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a paragraph or two telling us what your items are and how you got them! Don't forget that we're also planning for pet week next week -- send us your best pet screenshots and let us know all about them. %Gallery-112285%
Anarchy Online celebrates 10 years this weekend
It seems like there's an MMO anniversary happening every other day around these parts. While it's indeed commendable for some of these games to last a year or three, Funcom's Anarchy Online has just reached the lofty summit reserved for the likes of EverQuest and Ultima Online: Yep, Rubi-Ka is 10 years old and still going strong. Funcom has issued a press release that's heavy on the innovative aspects of the world's first sci-fi MMORPG. "Instancing, massive player vs. player combat, digital download of games, in-game advertisement, virtual world radio, concerts, virtual items, and freemium business models" are just a few of the initiatives that showed up early in Anarchy Online. The release also serves to accentuate how much has changed since the game's genesis, as it notes that AO's original 1995 design document questioned the future viability of the internet and hoped for 2,500 subscribers. No 10-year anniversary would be complete without a respectable bash, and Funcom's release also outlines the festivities coming your way in the form of events and new content. The party (jointly produced by Funcom and Gridstream Productions) starts tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. EDT and will continue into the weekend. Even if you're not up for virtual dancing, you'll want to check it out for a new birthday raid, new vehicles, clothing, gear, action figures, and pets. Head to the official website to learn more.
The Perfect Ten: Shapeshifters
Because we are true geeks, last weekend my wife and I went to see X-Men: First Class. Afterward, we got into a discussion about what mutant power we'd pick for ourselves if we had the choice. I was torn between teleportation and quick healing, while my wife wanted to be able to turn into cash to pay off our mortgage. I think one of us is more grounded in the real world than the other. But the more I think about it, the more I was intrigued with the idea of a shapeshifter. To be anyone would give you unparalleled freedom -- and plenty of chances to get into mischief, too. Come to think of it, it's probably best I'm not granted that particular superpower. However, plenty of MMOs do give players the chance to shift between their normal forms and something else entirely. While there are far more than 10 examples that the brain trust over here came up with, I'm going to pick out my favorites to highlight.
The Daily Grind: What do you want from a pet class?
It's a fact of life: If an MMO has a pet class, I'll be playing it. It's simply too alluring to avoid! I love the constant virtual companionship, the feeling that I'm "cheating" by tag-teaming mobs with a solo party of two, and the customization that pet classes bring. From Lord of the Rings Online's Lore-master to Anarchy Online's Meta-Physicist, pet classes suit me like a second skin. So assuming that you have at least a passing interest in pet classes, what would you want from one? Maybe you'd like a pet to grow physically over time or to respond to a plethora of commands. Perhaps your playstyle skews more toward controlling a horde of minions at a go. Or do you like being able to hunt and tame your own unique beast from the wilds? What would make the ideal pet class? What haven't we seen in MMOs yet that could make these classes even better? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Massively Exclusive: Age of Conan's Craig Morrison on Blood and Glory, grind, and the future
Interesting times are just over the horizon for Age of Conan, and whether it's due to the Dreamworld game engine upgrade or the recently announced Blood and Glory PvP servers, Funcom's sword and sorcery epic isn't standing still as it moves toward its third anniversary in May of 2011. On the heels of the PvP ruleset announcement, we sat down with Funcom executive producer and AoC game director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison for a chat about ruleset specifics, PvP balance, grind, and what we're likely to see once Dreamworld hits the live servers. Join us after the cut for all that and more.
Rise and Shiny recap: Anarchy Online
Older MMOs are interesting creatures. If they are subscription-based, they tend to lose players until they get down to a hardcore number, and then they are eventually shut down. World of Warcraft will eventually lose most of its numbers, too. In 20 years or so I fully expect to see players still playing it, though, talking about how the controls and game mechanics are still a lot of fun. If the game is from SOE, it might go on for ever and ever, albeit without much of a development team. Anarchy Online is a great example of how a game can age very, very gracefully. Perhaps newer games should look at AO to see how to keep both their dignity and their core players as the games approach their golden years. I tried to put my finger on exactly why AO seems to have held up so well, how it can still suck in "new" players like yours truly, and how it can still thrill with its lore and setting. How do you even get away with graphics like that in an age of players who literally think that upgrading their PCs every two years is a mark of pride? Click past the cut and I'll tell you.
Choose My Adventure: Beginning my Wizard101 adventure
Well, it was an epic battle. Little did I know that, in an effort to promote a random assortment of high-quality free-to-play and indie games, I would come up with the formula for the destruction of the entire universe. Over the last few days, readers cast their votes (and their nasty comments) in the hopes that I would take a look at their favorite game for well over a month. After all, it would expose everything that is good (and bad!) about their game and might draw in many more new players. Not to brag, but a lot of eyes are drawn to our lovely little site here. Each game I chose was nestled alongside a mortal enemy. Wizard101 had MapleStory to tackle. Puzzle Pirates had Zentia. My planning only lead to mass chaos as the giant of the bunch, MapleStory, barely opened an eyelid. Then, out of nowhere, Anarchy Online swooped in and punched everyone in the eye. It looked like the 10-year-old masterpiece of sandboxy goodness would win for the oldies in the bunch! (The AO community's passion for the game inspired me to cover it in my other column, Rise and Shiny, for the week of January 16th.) Where was Shadowtale? At the time of this writing, the game boasted literally thousands of players on at one time. Yet they barely pulled in a handful of votes. Pirates of the Burning Sea seemed to give up early, as evidenced by forum posts. (I was following all the games' forums.) In the end, Wizard101 pulled it off. While I knew the game had the numbers, I wasn't sure that it could herd all of the cats together in time. It did teach me one thing, though: Don't mess with the tweens. Join me past the cut for the next vote and for some information about Wizard101.
Anarchy Online player hijacks GM account, runs amok in game
Many of us have mused from time to time what we would do if we happened to get our hands on coveted GM powers in our MMOs. While it may be tantalizing to think of slaughtering raid bosses with a single command, it's probably best that these virtual god-like powers are kept out of the public's reach. Unfortunately for the Anarchy Online team, this scenario went from hypothetical to chaotically real this past week. AO Game Director Colin Cragg labeled it an "unplanned and unwanted volunteer event" when a player managed to access a GM account and ran amok for over two hours in the game last Tuesday. Surprisingly, the player in question did try to "put on a spectacular show with special guest stars," as Cragg put it, although the event ended up causing a huge mess. Some players became unable to fight due to fear effects while others unwittingly received special items in their inventory. The team spent over 30 hours cleaning up the situation, and Funcom had to suspend over 140 accounts until these items could be removed. It is unclear if they caught the person responsible. Surprisingly, Cragg says that this wasn't the first time that someone took a GM account for a joyride in the game, due to the company's policy of trusting volunteers with this access. Even so, he had a few strong words for anyone who would do this: "If anyone is reading this who is responsible for these attacks GIVE US A BREAK. All we are trying to do here is trying to continue to develop a game we all enjoy. If you are mad about your accounts being banned, or something like that, please try to grow up and accept the fact that you very likely deserved it." You can read Cragg's full account of this event at Anarchy Online.
The Game Archaeologist and the year that was 2010
Earlier in the year when I started this column, I realized two things. First, I'd be giving myself as much as any of you a crash-course education in older MMOs, particularly with some of the more fringe titles that I'd never really explored up to this point. And second, it would be a challenge to find the right mix of elements to do these MMOs justice. So before we look back at all the games this column covered in 2010, I'd like to ask each and every one of you to take a minute and drop a comment about what you'd like to see The Game Archaeologist do next. What titles would you love to see honored in 2011? What features are the most interesting to you -- dev interviews, player interviews, history overviews, photo galleries, first impression playthroughs, or links to community fansites and blogs? What could I add to make The Game Archaeologist even better? I also want to take a minute to thank the readers, players and developers who have contributed to this column so far. While there are MMOs that get a lion's share of the press these days, we at Massively are committed to spotlighting as many of these games as possible, particularly if there's a passionate community and dev team behind them. I've loved hearing your stories and hope that in passing them along, perhaps we've opened a door or two to games that you might've never considered before. So let's hop in our hot air balloon and soar over the year that was 2010!
Anarchy Online preparing to launch an item shop
An interesting effect of older games like Anarchy Online is that it gets progressively harder to hook new players -- eventually, the established power level of existing players makes it all but impossible for novices to catch up. Funcom is taking an interesting approach to both addressing that and teaching an old dog new tricks in the venerable game with the addition of an item shop. Players can purchase a variety of items, including endgame tokens and experience-accelerating stims. While these items will certainly accelerate progress for new characters, the development team is quick to point out that none of these additions will affect existing top-end characters. There's no need for people already in the endgame to shell out cash to stay competitive, but players who need a little boost will be well-served by the update. Anarchy Online is testing most of the additions now, so players should prepare themselves for what's coming next -- and possibly start shelling out a little extra for anything they're missing.
The Daily Grind: Does game currency matter?
They say that money makes the world go 'round, and this used to always be true in RPGs. Without solid bank, your character would be swinging a cardboard sword at enemy dragons and weeping from the humiliation. But once you performed enough virtual muggings, you'd be rolling in dough and able to equip the very best gear and weapons. It struck me the other day that MMOs used to be more like this as well -- that the acquisition of gold, platinum or credits was a necessity to fund your character's gear. Older titles, like Anarchy Online, still function under this premise. However, it seems to me that with the rise of usable dropped loot, the value of money has decreased to the point where vendors are, in fact, a joke. Even stranger is the rise of alternative currencies in MMOs for decent gear that are gained through specific tasks instead of just picking it up off any old mob. So does game currency matter to you? Is it there merely for a few pricey items (i.e., money sinks like mounts) or do you feel it has more purpose? Do you see some MMOs that give more worth to currency over others? Do you focus your time on building up wealth, or is money merely for travel costs and repair bills? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Game Archaeologist and the Girdle of Anarchy: My expedition
I have a confession to make: Returning to Anarchy Online was the driving force behind starting The Game Archaeologist. Oh sure, I pretended to be all business-like when I approached my boss and said, "You know, Señor Schuster, we are doing a disservice to some of the older MMOs and their fans by not covering these games, and I think, nay, insist we remedy that immediately." But of course, what I was thinking was, "Pay me to engage in hardcore nostalgia, dude!" It worked. *cue rubbing hands together and laughing maniacally* You see, Anarchy Online was my very first MMO. It wasn't my first MMO love, mind you -- that was City of Heroes. But AO holds a special place in my heart as the game that introduced me to the wonderful world of online RPGs. It was tough, near-incomprehensible, and quite buggy at the start, but I've never lost affection for the world of Rubi-Ka. So after my looking back at Anarchy Online's history, asking you to share your stories, and talking with Funcom's devs, it was time for me to return and see if this world still holds magic... or if it has lost its way.%Gallery-102015%
The Game Archaeologist and the Girdle of Anarchy: A chat with Colin Cragg
When I declared September to be "Anarchy Online month" I had no idea how far it would go. I mean, sure, I expected an outpouring of fond memories from players and perhaps a statue erected in my honor, but for the UN to pass a resolution for a worldwide celebration of Funcom's brainchild is quite above and beyond. So really, it's been a wild ride thus far. That's what we game archaeologists prepared for when we attended MMO U (go Fightin' N00bs!) and dusted off old copies of Neverwinter Nights. Be flexible, be enthusiastic, and always be ready for an older title to sweep you off your feet -- these are the sage words of my instructors. Because of this, I didn't find myself tongue-tied when Anarchy Online's Colin Cragg agreed to an interview. I might have blushed and stared at my feet so that I wouldn't become lost in his wizened, sage eyes, but I marched forward nonetheless. So what did AO's head honcho have to say about working on a mature MMO? Click the link and wonder no longer!
The Game Archaeologist and the Girdle of Anarchy: Your stories
I have to admit that I have a particular soft spot for Anarchy Online. It was, for better and worse, my first MMO -- on launch day, no less. That experience terrified me so much that I became convinced my machine could never run an online game, and so it wasn't until Shadowlands released that I returned to Rubi-Ka for another go. Fortunately, that time things went more smoothly, and I cut my teeth on that content. Sure, it was mostly over my head, and I'm pretty sure I gimped my character by level 3, but the otherworldly atmosphere and giddy newness of MMOs in general more than made up for it. After last week's brief overview of the many years of Anarchy Online's operation, vets poured out of the grid to share their own screenshots and stories. It may not be the hip new thing these days -- more like, it needs a hip replacement -- but to hear these players tell it, AO isn't as washed up as you may think. Read on for sordid tales that would make any of the Game Archaeologist's own adventures look like a dip in the kiddie pool!
Anarchy Online details account merges and spruces up art
In the corporate wars of the future, stealth and subtlety are a must, which is why Funcom implemented account merges last week without telling anyone until now. The company's reasoning? Better to see if there were any glaring issues before trumpeting the new feature. In any case, players may now combine any number of accounts into one Master Account for free. Funcom says that this is currently a free service, but it will probably cost money in the future. With the merge comes the option to transfer characters between the sub-accounts for a nominal fee as well. For fans of Anarchy Online eager to hear anything about the promised graphics engine overhaul, AO-Universe recently published an interview with dev "MstrBstrd," who has been hard at work remaking art assets for the game. He's pretty blunt as to some of the weaknesses of the game (such as the grid) and admits that we're probably not going to see any new classes in the foreseeable future. Just make sure that you get your item descriptions straight around MstrBstrd: "It's a Unique Horn, not a Unicorn!"
One Shots: A pleasure doing business
After a long hard day of adventuring -- or bargaining -- players in Anarchy Online can settle in for a frosty adult beverage and check out some entertainment. While the full-size of today's One Shots image does have rather a lot more UI than we'd normally pass through, we couldn't resist taking a (duck-free) look into the game in honor of its recent 9th birthday! Today's image comes to us from Axis85, who writes in: "Anarchy Online is composed of Corporations, Organizations, and Professionals. In this MMO, we conduct our business professionally. And when I do it, I treat my associates well." We would love your screenshots for One Shots! Just email them in to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. Please make sure your images are at least 1024 pixels wide, and try to hide/turn off as much of the UI as possible. Yours could be the next one we feature here on Massively. %Gallery-85937%
Anarchy Online celebrates its 9th birthday with a giant duck
Quick -- make a wish, Anarchy Online, and blow out those birthday candles so we can have some of that early-2000s cake! Might be a little old-fashioned with sharp polygons, but plenty of people are still lining up for a slice of its moist gameplay. Tortured metaphor aside, a MMO once renowned for the worst launch of all time is now a year shy of its decade anniversary. Anarchy Online was a bit of a maverick when it launched in 2001, a sci-fi MMO muscling in on fantasy's turf. By all accounts, Funcom's first MMO is still strutting strong, particularly after offering a free-to-play option a few years back and prepping a visual overhaul. Funcom has a good deal planned for Anarchy Online's ninth birthday, including several in-game events and special items. A groovy new bike, a cardboard hat, a giant walking mech and a new "super-secret" building will be available later this week. It's also the third birthday Mr. Squeaky, NipponTech's corporate mascot, and as the website reminds us, "Mr. Squeaky makes for happy fun times!" There's also a huge party for all inhabitants of Rubi-Ka, where Funcom will be throwing tons of presents to the crowd. Partygoers can catch the action at the ICC Headquarters in Andromeda on June 26th. It starts at 15:00 GMT on Atlantean, and moves over to Rimor at 21:00 GMT. Be there or be a really square duck!
Video of Anarchy Online's new engine uncovered
It's a rough cut and it's short, but this YouTube video shows something many people have been eagerly anticipating -- the updated graphics engine for Anarchy Online. Anarchy Online, Funcom's first foray into the MMO genre, is still running after 8 years of history and evolving storyline. While the game has been running on a free to play model for quite some time now, that's not stopping the team at Funcom from giving it the new graphical polish it deserves. And, trust us when we say this, they need a spit shine on this old engine. Just look at the game's graphics when we recently revisited it for ReSubbed. The graphics engine update is still without a release date, but hopefully with this video evidence being released the update won't be too far in the future. You want to see it? Well we've embedded it right after the break for you.
ReSubbed Episode 3: Anarchy Online
Tuesday's in the house and you know what that means -- it's ReSubbed time! This week on the show we're visiting the land of Rubi-Ka in Funcom's first MMO endeavor, Anarchy Online. Joining Sera on the adventure this week is Shawn Schuster (podcaster extraordinaire) and the usual flavoring of Kyle Horner (columnist superhero.) What will this intrepid trio find on the shores of the tutorial zone? Will they understand the ancient and archaic skill system? Will one of them perish to the dangerous flora of a forbidden, sci-fi planet? (Spoiler: Ohhhhhh yeah.) Well if any of this intrigues you (or you want to see what Anarchy Online looks like these days) jump on through the break and press that play button to be served with a brand new episode of ReSubbed!
