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The Daily Grind: What was the best year for MMOs?
Some time ago I became frustrated that I couldn't find a comprehensive timeline of when MMO launches and expansions happened, so I decided to make one myself. I've always been fascinated with the overall unfolding of history across this genre, and I've also wondered one important question that comes from such examination: What was the best year for MMOs? There are definitely some years that have seen more releases than others, but maybe the answer to that question doesn't lie in sheer numbers. Perhaps it's in quality or significance. Was the best year 1997, when Ultima Online came out and really put MMOs on the map? Or was it perhaps 2004 with its incredible trio of City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, and EverQuest II? Would you say that 2009 was significant, as DDO ushered in a wave of sub-to-F2P conversions? I think there's even a good case to be made for 2012, what with its large amount of high-quality releases. But this isn't about what I think; The Daily Grind is about your opinion. If you had to pick the absolute best year for MMOs, what year would that be? 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!
Ask Massively: Trailers, emulators, and 'skill caps'
It's time for a grab bag edition of Ask Massively! A reader named Nicholas is up first: I was wondering if you could help me remember a game studio that was developing a new Korean action- MMORPG game engine (and it wasn't Bless, Blade and Soul, or ArcheAge). In the tech demo, no environment was being shown; it focused on the combat aspect of the engine. All the combat took place against a white background, and it was combo-based and reactive to hits. I remember a slow motion scene with an NPC being punched in the face and the face distorting. At the time, there were no announced games using the engine; the video was just showing what tech the game studio had developed. If it helps any, I remember the comments saying that the engine was just going to be vaporware. I think we might! Massively's Lis pegged it as NetEase's Dragon Sword trailer. +1 to Lis.
Mythic community manager bids a sorrowful farewell
It looks as if yesterday's EA layoffs are hitting MMO gamers closer to home than originally thought. In a post today on BioWare's Warhammer Online forums, Mythic's Timothy Chappell announced that he has been let go. Chappell was the community manager for Warhammer Online, Ultima Online, and Dark Age of Camelot. I am very sorry to say that I was informed that my position was no longer needed. Though I had many titles I was handling for Mythic, I grew to love and appreciate all the communities and only wish I could have had more time or resources to get more involved with them. Though I had only been in the position for a little over a year, I will miss a great many of you and hope that you keep in touch. The news is of particular concern for Warhammer, which also lost its lead developer earlier this week. Ultima Online, by contrast, assured players of its continuing operation in a producer's letter last week. [Thanks to Fozee for the tip!]
The Daily Grind: Has an MMO ever implemented your idea?
Earlier this month, Massively's MJ sat down with the City of Steam devs and discovered that you, the Massively readers, had actually influenced one of the game mechanics. Wrote MJ, There is one new feature that was put into game specifically because of Massively fans: jumping! That's right. You made it clear you wanted jumping in game, and the devs listened. Who says you don't have the power to change things? Leaving aside the implication that we spent one of our precious wishes on jumping, I thought this was really cool, and I tried to think of other examples of players coming up with amazing (or not) design ideas that were subsequently implemented in a game. I can think of certain demands that were met in classic MMOs. World of Warcraft is infamous for implementing the most popular player mods as official features, and in more recent news, there are Guild Wars 2's efforts to split reset times for different continents after much player protest. How about you? Has an MMO ever implemented your idea or the ideas of a fellow player? 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!
MMObility: Hailan Rising is a lesson in confusion and miscommunication
I was excited to try out Hailan Rising, a new PvP-centric MMO being published by GamersFirst. It looks sort of primitive but has an old-school appeal that I thought would suit my tastes. For a long time I also thought it was a browser-based game, perhaps because it was being built in Unity, but at this point I'm confused about pretty much everything connected with the title. To make matters worse, the forums are filled with similarly confused players who just want some answers. Many of them cannot log in, but I was able to. But then all I found was an empty server, literally. I did some research and read up on some of the information we posted on this site as recently as February of this year. I checked the forums and mailed off an inquiry to GamersFirst that as of press time has not been answered. So what is Hailan Rising and what has happened to it?
Ultima Online producer's letter talks vendor search, vet rewards, and more
Ultima Online producer Bonnie Armstrong has penned a new producer's letter designed to do two things. One is to disseminate some of the ideas in the pipeline for 2013, and the other is to quell any community uncertainty stemming from the recent EA layoff announcement. Some of the coming updates include a second house on Siege, more accessible veteran rewards, and vendor search functionality that should eliminate the need to use third-party script sites to find who's selling what. Read all about that stuff and more at the official UO website.
One Shots: Soggy beginnings
Dungeons and Dragons Online newcomers and veterans alike are quite familiar with the waterlogged Sahuagin and all of their wacky antics. Basically think "level 1 mermaids from hell" and you're right with the rest of us. It's a good thing that the game doesn't have smell-o-vision because the tutorial would be reeking of a fishery, that's all I'm saying. Reader Sharvis photographed his initial journey through the game and delivered this familiar image of an odd cellar. "Oh great, the Wavecrest Tavern's basement has flooded," he writes. "And who let the Sahuagin in? They're making everything look tacky again!" We'll get the sump pump working while you check out the rest of today's player-submitted screenshots!
Raph Koster is open to making another 'worldy MMO'
On his personal blog, Raph Koster announced that he has left Disney to become an unemployed game developer. The big question is, of course, what's next for the driving force behind Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies. The answer is... he doesn't know. However, Koster does indicate that he is open to working on another traditional MMO, but not one born of Kickstarter. "I suspect that those of you who want this all want me to make a worldy MMO," he writes. "I may yet make one of those in the future, but I don't think that you can raise enough money on Kickstarter to do it justice." Koster says that he might be doing some consulting, writing, and speaking, but what he wants to do most is to "simply start making games." He claims that GDC inspired him to get back into the game-making business, big-time. He also says contrary to some rumors, he is not working with Richard Garriott on Shroud of the Avatar.
Free for All: Debating the current state of classic MMORPGs
This will not be another column dedicated to deciding the true meaning of "MMORPG." We've covered that plenty on Massively, but it's safe to say that we allow a lot of different styles of multiplayer gaming to be covered on the site. Half the staff are old fuddy-duddies when it comes to these virtual worlds, but even the fogiest of the fogies sees the writing on the wall: The meaning is changing or at least becoming something different to different people. We can fight it like fighting the latest wave of musical styles, or we can search for the good in all of it and keep up a sense of humor. I tend to cover whatever I feel like covering, as long as my bosses agree that the games I am writing about do not stray too far away from the MMO core. Some of my readers see my writing as supporting games that are not MMOs, promoting developers who want to ruin true MMOs by selling power, or elevating social games that are anything but MMOs. But I believe I have covered and will continue to cover "true" MMOs. I try to recognize the current state of MMOdom, and I want to capture it all at the same time. It has to be possible.
The Daily Grind: Do you still play your first MMO?
With Brad McQuaid's return to EverQuest in the news this week, nostalgia has invaded our comment section. The most veteran of our MMO commenters mused about the days of meditating into spellbooks, losing levels on death, embarking on corpse runs, and waiting on the boat. No one even mentioned camping for jboots, begging to be put on a list for a spot in a dungeon group, or having your raid planejumped right before your eyes! I think old-schoolers know that the old days had more than their fair share of problems, which is why most of them are probably playing Guild Wars 2 or The Secret World and not Asheron's Call or Anarchy Online. Or are they? Are more people living in classic MMOs than they let on? My first was Ultima Online, and yes, I do poke my nose in once or twice a year, but it hasn't been my "main game" in a truly long time. What about you guys? Do you still play your first MMO? And if you've ever gone back, was it as you remembered? 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!
One Shots: Back in the day...
A few weeks ago I asked everyone to send me in screenshots of pre-2004 MMOs... and only Brad delivered. Seriously, people, you've been shown up by Brad. Brad gets the gold star. Brad gets the golden ticket and can come on a once-in-a-lifetime visit to see the fabled Massively word factory. Brad is my hero. Brad (if you didn't catch his name) sent us in this shot of Ultima Online: "So much fun with vendors! This is a shot of Angelica's on the Chesapeake Server -- a popular shopping spot in Felucca to grab gear on the go. It was one of the few player-owned vendor spots in a protected zone near Lord British's Castle. This would have been taken around 2002. Notice the detail of the fish tank made from stacked cloth and the flowers made with an onion and two cooked eggs!" Yes. Notice Brad's eggs, people. In them you can see the reflection of your failure. Aw, just kidding!
Richard Garriott is up to... something
Oh, Lord British, you coy and rascally devil! It seems as if Richard Garriott has unveiled a new website called LordBritishPresents.com that comes complete with its very own countdown timer. What waits on the other side? Is it another casino browser game, or could it be something of actual interest to the legions of Ultima Online fans the famed developer still trails in his spacefaring wake? We'll know in just under a week, and in the meantime we'd recommend following Garriott's Twitter feed for further teases.
The Daily Grind: Should player homes decay?
One of the issues plaguing player housing in MMOs is what to do with those houses after the player-owners have left the game or stopped paying for their subscriptions. In Ultima Online, the granddaddy of all MMO housing, your home drops to the ground if you haven't paid your sub in 90 days (and your shardmates can loot all your stuff in a grand free-for-all!). In Star Wars Galaxies, your house stayed standing until it ran out of pre-paid maintenance money, which worked pretty well to help the active players reclaim city space until maintenance was turned off for a few years in consideration for hurricane victims. Even games with instanced housing feel the space crunch. In Lord of the Rings Online, failure to pay your maintenance fees in-game leads to the eventual return of your lot to the public pool and your having to buy back all your loot from an escrow NPC. MMO developers are torn between the desire to lure back former players with the promise that their houses are still intact and the desire to keep the world, instanced or not, clear and open for paying or active players. So what do you guys think -- what should be the more dominant goal? If you step away from a game, should your character's home decay? And if it did, would you ever return to the game? 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!
See Ultima X: Odyssey in glorious action
One of 2004's most anticipated MMOs, Ultima X: Odyssey, was struck down by parent studio EA near to its completion date. The strong interest in this title coupled with the advanced state of its development has always been one of the most maddening "what if?" scenarios in the industry. While it is slightly outside of our power to restore the Ultima X project and push it out the door, the folks over at Ultima Codex unearthed a 34-minute gameplay video to at least show us how this title looked in action. Clear out a half-hour and check out what could have been with the following footage! [Thanks to John for the tip!]
MMObility: Innogames' Fabio Lo Zito on cash shops, quality, and PvP
One of the greatest parts of my job is having the ability to take a peek into the minds of some of the industry's most creative developers. If an interview goes really well, I come away from it with not only a deeper understanding of mechanics or policies but some knowledge about the creative process. For me, MMOs represent a perfect storm of writing, music, art, and math; they click my creativity into hyperdrive. I couldn't write about MMOs if I didn't love them so much. I'm not sure why I didn't notice German-based developer Innogames until relatively recently, but its lineup is more varied, challenging, and immersive than many of its rivals. It makes titles that offer a variety not only of gameplay but of accessibility. All of its titles can be played in a browser, and now a handful are available even on mobile. I sat down with Innogames' Fabio Lo Zito during a livestream earlier this week to discuss what makes it all work.
The Game Archaeologist: Rubies of Eventide
I can't say that Rubies of Eventide has been on my radar, like, ever. And yet practically every time I've asked for suggestions of a game to cover in this column, it seems like someone pipes up asking that Rubies gets a little publicity. That tells me that there's some underground love for this title. There are two things that separate Rubies of Eventide from the rest of the MMO pack and make it a fascinating case study. The first is that it's one of the very few MUDs that was transformed into a graphical MMO while retaining its roots in old-school play. The second is that it had an absolutely ridiculous number of playable classes: 104, to be precise. Some days I really miss the era when game designers would aspire to reach these incredible numbers. Faced with the prospect of an early death, Rubies of Eventide miraculously survived and ran for six interesting years. Let's take a look at a MUD-turned-MMO this week, shall we?
Ultima Forever wants you to learn about yourself
Mythic Lead Designer Kate Flack has an interesting interview up on Gamasutra about her experiences with developing MUDs and how she's rejecting the industry standard when it comes to crafting Ultima Forever (legal disclaimer: This online multiplayer title is not an MMO, but hey, it's online Ultima so shh.). Flack says that because most MMOs are based on a DikuMUD standard, they all more or less play the same. She says that there's a freedom to starting from a different standard and developing from there: "It's a way of playing that doesn't necessarily have the same assumptions underlying them. It gives you a breadth of background and heritage that you can pull from. Just because it's always been done that way doesn't mean I have to do it the same way." Part of this design shift is in asking "sophisticated questions about ethics" to players, which is a vital part of the Ultima franchise. Flack says that Ultima Forever will be more nuanced and involve tough choices that will make a personal impact on gamers: "I want to make you stop, think, and go, 'Huh!' and then learn about yourself, because games can do that."
Some Assembly Required: Kick(start)ing the sandbox genre
Sandbox aficionados are known to reminisce about the "good old days." You know, that time long lost in the past when the greats of open-world play like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies (pre-NGE of course) enjoyed their heyday. Many a lamentation has also been heard about how things have never been the same, or how nothing has filled that void. Of course, the sandbox never died. In 2012 we started the year off with a guide to games sporting sandbox features to scratch a variety of virtual world itches and we ended with a look at some promising upcoming titles for 2013. With plenty of choices abounding, why are sandbox fans still decrying the lack of a home? It could be because they want one home for everyone to settle in together, basically one game to rule them all. But how realistic is that? Even with the plethora of offerings now, many folks want to play their ideal sandbox, and everyone has their own idea of what the perfect one would be (and conversely, what would kill it). Perhaps the answer, then, is to forget about a single universal home that accommodates the masses and actually create a number of niche games where people find exactly what they are looking for. Wait, that's already happening? Enter Kickstarter.
The Perfect Ten: Memorable marketing campaigns
I took only a single marketing class in college, so by no means am I an instant expert in anything but being on the receiving end of marketers' nefarious experiments to manipulate me so that I buy their stuff. I did take away the lesson that all marketers are professional liars who have no shame or dignity. Pretty much the same as a blogger, so I guess I have a backup career. Believe it or not, MMOs get off easy when it comes to notorious marketing campaigns. Anything on the following list, good or bad, is a pale shadow of what we've seen in the larger video game industry. Still, there have been plenty of attempts to promote MMOs in ways that make us either applaud or laugh at the studio (and sometimes both at once, which takes coordination). After doing some staff polling and internal polling, here are 10 memorable marketing campaigns from the era of MMORPGs. Maybe they're all winners in that they got noticed by at least one person, even if they're the most foolish notions in history. Here we go!
Ultima Online gives much love to housing
Ultima Online is well-known for being a player housing paradise, and it looks like the ability to make a comfy nest for oneself will get even better with the next game update. Producer Bonnie Armstrong posted a preview of what players should expect in the near future. The big news is that the UO team is considering allowing players to have houses on both Siege Perilous and standard shards, opening up the possibilities for multiple home ownership. Houses will also get a new theme pack that includes interactive gadgets. The art team continues to work on hi-res versions of house items, although this is "slow going" as it's a huge project. The UO team is also working on revamps to weapons and armor, the ability for players to run for ambassadorships of towns, new instruments, and a new global arc.
