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Chaos Theory: The Secret World's single-server tech
Something went missing during this month's launch of The Secret World. Do you know what it was? No, snarkonauts, it wasn't "fun." The game is certainly an acquired taste, but it's nonetheless doing pretty well for itself in terms of word-of-mouth and happy early adopters. No, what was missing was a parade of lengthy launch-week queues (and QQs for that matter). I've been present for every AAA MMO kickoff since Star Wars Galaxies in 2003, and The Secret World marks the first time I've been able to log in when (and where) I wanted to log in on day one. RIFT, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Aion, Lord of the Rings Online -- all of these were "polished" launches by most accounts, and yet all of them featured horrendous launch queues that often stretched from minutes to hours. Why was The Secret World so different?
Chaos Theory: The Secret World was worth the wait
Folks, I have to be brutally honest: I'm old. I have a family, two jobs, and more time-consuming hobbies than one man should. And yet it pains me to log out of The Secret World. Last Saturday I slew demons (and Illuminati) in Funcom's new MMORPG for 10 hours straight. Actually, I took a 30-minute dinner break, so I guess it was more like nine-and-a-half. The point is that I looked up at my clock, said holy crap when it told me that the sun was about to rise, and scratched my head trying to remember the last time that happened. I've been playing MMOs since the late 1990s, and when I say that I've pretty much played them all, that's not hyperbole. Right now, TSW is running a close second to Star Wars Galaxies as the most enjoyable title I've experienced to date. And keep in mind that it's been live for two weeks.
Chaos Theory: Tornquist on The Secret World's launch, future
You know, this is probably obvious if you've read my coverage of The Secret World thus far, but I'll just go ahead and fess up: I dig the game, and watching Funcom knock the cover off the ball is gratifying in a strange sort of way. That's why I didn't get too upset when my opportunity to interview creative director Ragnar Tornquist was upstaged by the firm's huge news dump this afternoon. The company shocked gamers and industry watchers by promising monthly content updates and a whole bunch of other stuff, some of which I had asked about in a series of questions we sent Funcom earlier in the week. The resulting answers are still worth a read, though, particularly if you're pinching yourself over TSW's successful launch and its rosy future.
Chaos Theory: Early access to The Secret World
Dark days aren't just coming, folks -- they're already here. And they're glorious. As you've probably surmised, Chaos Theory is a new column all about The Secret World. What you might not realize, however, is that this addition to Massively's feature roster was a little bit last-minute. Don't get me wrong; I've been looking forward to this game for a number of years now (heck, I signed up on DarkDemonsCryGaia.com waaaaay back in May of 2007, before Massively even existed!). Up until very recently, though, we had no plans to cover the game on a recurring basis. That changed over the early release weekend as I spammed our editors with zomg-I'm-having-a-blast-and-you-should-totally-let-me-write-about-this emails. Sure, I played the press beta and largely enjoyed it for what it was, but now that I'm in the game proper, tooling around on my own characters and taking the time to soak up the stories, the lore, and the mechanics, well... let's just say that we'll have plenty to talk about for the foreseeable future.
