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The Daily Grind: Do you participate in guild events?
The biggest representation of the social aspect of MMO gaming is a player's guild, clan, or kin. (Or supergroup, or linkshell, you get the idea.) Whether it be a tiny group of friends or a huge roster of players with a similar overarching goal, this is the group you can turn to first for help and company in game. Most groups will have some sort of organized event on a semi-regular basis. RIFT's Gaiscioch Family, for example, has organized a huge ongoing event. Many guilds in various games acknowledge their members' busy lives by setting aside a designated night and time to play together. Today we want to know what you think: Are these things your cup of tea, or do you prefer to jump in and out on a more spur-of-the-moment basis? 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!
Enter at Your Own Rift: A case for player housing
Earlier this week we were treated to the news that Trion Worlds is going to offer free character transfers between "select servers" once Update 1.3 hits. Now, how useful this will be is anyone's guess -- as some have noted, this may just be a clever ploy to redistribute the population from high-pop servers to low-pop ones -- but generally it's been met with applause from the community. I remain impressed as a consumer with how fast and aggressive Trion is pumping out content, and the fact that this is a free transfer once per week is really cool considering how most other subscription MMOs charge for a similar "premium" service. Whatever Trion's motive and however it'll play out, I do know this: The company needs to continue to bring the heat to the competition. It's vital that RIFT distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack in some way, whether it be polish, originality, speed, customer service, or innovation. Today I'd like to make a case for what I think should be high up on Trion's development schedule: player housing. We know it's something the devs have discussed, with some very much for and some very much against, but I'm hoping it's gone past the brainstorming phase. Why should we care about what might seem like fluff? How could housing work in RIFT? Tune in after the jump, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel to find out!
Shannon Posniewski talks about CO's plans for the summer
Not to be outdone by the recent launch of the Serpent Lantern adventure pack, Shannon "poz" Posniewski released a new State of the Game, outlining the final tweaks to the Serpent Lantern launch and what is in store for Champions Online over the summer months. The first thing on the discussion list is some big tweaks to supergroup functions, including a place to put news, a roster, and an interactive guild calendar that officers can post events on and players can leave feedback for. It's the first announcement for this new feature, and players are already excited. Poz also announced plans for redesigning the look and feel of Renaissance Center, giving the central player hub a needed facelift. Pet powers, also a major issue for many heroes, will be getting a look in the coming months as well. All in all, it looks to be a very exciting summer for heroes protecting the streets of Millenium City!
An interview with veteran supergroups in City of Heroes
Today is rather the day of City of Heroes, and with good cause -- six years old, with many changes and exciting new parts in the wings. And the game is still open to new players of all sorts, with plenty to enrapture players who've never once set foot in Paragon City. But there's also a special place for players and groupings that have been around for nearly all of the game's lifespan -- something that's quite an accomplishment for more than half a decade. We were lucky enough to have a chance to speak with two veteran supergroups as part of the anniversary celebration: ICONS and Fusion Force. To help compare and contrast responses, we asked both groups the same set of questions, and what follows is their responses. Some of them are close to one another (for instance, everyone seems to want to go into space), but others are very different, even with similar amounts of experience. Whether you're a City of Heroes veteran yourself or just curious about the game's history, jump on past the cut for our chat with some of the game's longer-running player groups.
Bill Roper explains teams and SuperGroups in new Champions trailer
While Champions Online is designed to allow players to live out their fantasy of being a lone superhero badass taking on all-comers solo, if that's what they're after, there's also content and features aimed at groups of players. A new video hosted at GameTrailers and featuring Bill Roper is focused on the things that await people who are interested in getting together with others to tackle crime and evil. The title of the video leads you to believe that it is all about SuperGroups (Champions Online's guilds), but most of Roper's comments are related to grouping in general.The reinforcement system, lairs/headquarters, group events, multiple-group content and different roles in groups all come up during the featurette. Head past the break to see how you can help save the world with a little help from your friends.
The Daily Grind: How did you find your guild?
Guilds, fellowships, corporations, group of rum-soaked adventurers; whatever your core gaming group decides to call itself, many of us have people that we tend to play with in our different MMOs. For example, I joined an EVE Online Corp last night that an old RL friend of mine is a director in. In my last game, a few friends started a loose group, we merged into a guild of like-minded folks we met in game which split, so then we reformed again. Before that I was in supergroups based on themes (TaxiBots, for example) with a small core group of MMO and RL friends in another, primary group. And so on, and so on, and so on. Most of the team here has had wide experiences from blind invites to guilds they'd never heard of, to joining up with other bloggers, to getting local RL friends to game with them.This morning we thought it would be fun to ask where you picked up your core group of people you play with? Did you happen to meet them in game? Was it several games ago and you've been together ever since? Did you meet via blogs? IRC? A particular website or forum? Or were they meatspace friends first, then you started running around in MMOs together?
