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The Daily Grind: Do you stay loyal to your MMO guild?
When I joined a guild in Ultima Online in 1997, I had no idea I was going to still be in a version of that guild almost 15 years later. Heck, I doubt I even realized that MMOs would still be a thing 15 years later! But from chatting with my fellow Massively staffers and you lovely readers, I've realized that my experience isn't shared by most people. Guilds implode. New games emerge. People move on. Drama develops. Real life happens. That sense of loyalty just isn't always worth the trouble. Guilds often exist to help members meet their goals in a single game, and when those goals are met, that's it -- it's over. But I'll move to (and stay in) games past their expiration dates just to hang out with guildies. What about you guys? Are you loyal to a single guild or group of gaming friends, or do you drop from a guild when you drop out of a game, knowing you'll find new mates in the next big thing? 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: Richard Garriott's haunted cache
Whenever you get really into a new hobby, it's natural to want to blab about it to anyone who drifts into your gravitational field. That's why we all talk about MMOs, right? It's also why any friends, family members, and coworkers have had to put up with excited rambling about my discovered love for Geocaching. Some of you probably know Geocaching, as it's been around for over a decade now. For those of you who haven't, it's a worldwide treasure hunt that involves over a million and a half "caches" of various sizes that are hidden and then marked with GPS coordinates. Players head to the official site or one of the open-source projects to get the coordinates and go hunting for them. There's a useful two-minute introduction to this hobby on YouTube if you're curious. I noted on our Massively Speaking podcast that Geocaching has a lot in common with MMOs: Both encourage questing and exploration, both have treasure to be found, and both plug you into a community of adventurers. Listener Terrence heard this and send in an email with an interesting revelation that ties these two hobbies even closer together, as a game developer brought his online world to a real-world location. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you Richard Garriott's haunted cache.
Ultima Online rolling out a new installment of the Awakening
Ultima Online is preparing a continuation of the game's latest global arc with tomorrow's patch. Act VI of The Awakening asks players to assist in crafting a number of alchemical preparations, with a number of rewards available for players who actively try to crack the puzzle of the correct ingredients. More information will be available from the official site as well as an in-game NPC. If you need more time to prepare, don't worry -- the quest is going active in July and lasting until mid-August. If you're not willing to wait, the new patch also sees a revamp of the Covetous Dungeon. The first floor remains largely unchanged, but levels two and three both feature a new system for the game in which players accumulate points for defeating monsters that can later be turned in for new rewards. Last but not least, vanilla plants have been added to the game's gardening system, giving players another new thing to explore when not fighting monsters or preparing for the next part of The Awakening.
Why I play Star Wars: The Old Republic
I believe I'm like most people when I say that I cling to nostalgia. I love it when parts of my adolescence are made into movies or video games. Yes, despite it being an explode-y Michael Bay movie, I loved Transformers, and I can't tell you how many times I watched Lord of the Rings when Peter Jackson adapted J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece into a blockbuster. But despite Ghostbusters' status as my favorite single movie of all time, the original Star Wars trilogy had more impact on my childhood than anything else in my life. I still get childhood chills when I think about it. From the music to the action figures, I loved them all. I still have a picture of me at six years old riding an AT-AT. Yes, even at six, I knew exactly what an AT-AT was. And although I called a lightsaber a light-saver, I grew up with Star Wars entrenched in my psyche. It was only natural that when the video games revolving around the series came out, I would take up that cause. You guys remember the crazy wireframe Death Star trench arcade? You'd better believe I was there playing that. When Star Wars entered the MMO space, I was there with bells on. But it's not just this longing to recapture my childhood that propels me to that galaxy far, far away in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The spice addiction runs quite a bit deeper.
The Game Archaeologist: Are graphical updates worth the hassle?
"I'd play this game again if the graphics were updated." "If they re-released this game with modern graphics, it would be way more popular." "The Game Archaeologist is my hero, and I will name my progeny in his honor." How many times have we heard the above statements? From my perspective as someone who tries to keep tabs on classic MMOs, I see these claims quite a lot. Such sentiments pop up in nearly every other post Massively does about older games: "This title is rock-solid except for its aging visuals. Update those, and it would recapture its former glory and then some." This has gotten me thinking whether such logic would pan out or not. With Anarchy Online's much-hyped graphics overhaul on the way, this discussion seems to crop up more often. Is the power of a graphics conversion or overhaul strong enough to pull back in previous players and fresh blood? Or is it merely slathering on new paint over a rusting hulk?
The Daily Grind: Is customizable housing worth the inevitable eyesores?
Few MMOs nowadays launch with housing, and a vanishingly small number of those have fully customizable housing, the kind that lets you construct your house from foundation to tower, filling in floors, walls, and decor as you go. Ultima Online is one such MMO; it changed over its pre-fab buildings to customizable housing in the early aughts. Customizable housing in an open-world sandbox setting brings its own set of problems, however, starting with the reality that most players aren't taking time out of their professional architect day jobs to play the game. Consequently, most player homes are decked out in bold colors and tacky tchotchkes and cleverly placed roof tiles that spell "LOL." I don't know about you guys, but my real-life house doesn't have an Escher fountain and mounted fish hanging on the second-story facade (although perhaps it should). What do you think -- is customizable housing a tribute to creativity and freedom or an eyesore immersion-breaker inflicted ruthlessly on every passerby and neighbor? Is that freedom worth the pain? 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 Perfect Ten: Free-to-play holdouts
In the increasingly diminishing field of subscription-only MMOs, two distinct camps have formed. There is the Old Guard that has its established playerbase and is simply not interested in jumping on board the F2P train, and then there are the New Kids on the Block (which would make an excellent band name, by the way), who argue that their premium features and AAA content warrant a subscription in the F2P age. A few years ago, doing a list of the final few F2P holdouts would have been a ridiculous proposition, but now it's actually difficult to get to 10 of these. Each company has a different reason that it hasn't given these games more flexible payment options (FPO should replace F2P; pass it on!), and while some have addressed this publicly, others say nothing and leave us to speculate on it. For today's Perfect Ten, we're going to look at the 10 biggest current F2P holdouts in the industry and muse about what's going on behind the scenes. Will this list be impossible to do in a few years or will subscription-only titles come back in a big way? Hey, I don't predict things; I just make lists.
The Daily Grind: Would you ever pay to beta test?
You might have read the title of today's Daily Grind and found yourself laughing uproariously, startling any small children or cats in the area. "Me? Pay for beta?" you chortle. "Why, that's the most ludicrous thing I've heard all day, and I've already been to The Onion!" But I'd like you to stop and actually consider it for a moment. Historically, people have paid for beta access; back in the late '90s, players shelled out a few bucks to get a copy of the Ultima Online beta CD. Even today, many pre-purchases and pre-orders involve exchanges of funds so that a beta key might be reserved. But what if MMO studios today came right out and blatantly started charging you to be a part of the beta process? Would you do it? What game would need to be involved, and for what price would you capitulate? Let us know in the comments, and please leave all "I'm already paying for a beta; it's called [Name of Launched Game]" snark at the door! 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 Perfect Ten: MMO tributes to real-life people
When a beloved friend, family member, hero, or role model dies, we feel the pain of that loss and grieve in many different ways. Part of that grieving and healing process is often entails those left behind constructing some sort of tribute to the dearly departed. Sometimes this comes in the form of a shrine of flowers, sometimes it's the establishment of a charity, and sometimes it's creating an in-game memorial that thousands if not millions of people will see over the course of years. So while death and illness are depressing topics to dwell upon, I find the many MMO tributes that studios and even gamers have erected to be inspiring and a celebration of individual players' lives. With the help of my fellow Massively staffers, I researched 10 wonderful in-game tributes that serve to honor the lives of fellow gamers.
Leaderboard: Ultima Online vs. EverQuest vs. Asheron's Call
Back at the turn of the century, you didn't have the equivalent of cable's infinite choices when it came to MMOs. No, you pretty much had the standard Big Three of network programming: Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Asheron's Call. With the subscription model firmly in place, most players had to choose their loyalty and choose it well. For today's Leaderboard, we're going to pretend that no other MMOs exist other than those three and see how the 2012 crowd divides up between them. Would you fly your banner for Ultima Online and its enormous sandboxy world? Would you cast your lots with EverQuest, the once great and powerful king of the genre? Or would you throw in with Asheron's Call and its monthly stories? Call it a popularity contest, a trip down memory lane, or an all-out brawl between MMO senior citizens. It's a three-way title fight on this week's Leaderboard, and only one game will live to see next week!
The Daily Grind: Should new expansions include old expansions?
When Cataclysm launched, a friend of mine who hadn't played since the days of Vanilla World of Warcraft wanted to join in the fun, but when he saw the cost of catching up -- nearly full box prices for The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, on top of Cataclysm itself -- he balked and decided to stick with cheaper games. Blizzard's policy on charging for full expansions long after they were new always did seem weird to me, since I grew up on Ultima Online and EverQuest, whose earlier expansions usually came bundled for free along with the newest one. Why keep barriers to entry (or re-entry) unnecessarily high? So I'm happy to see recent sales on WoW's earlier expansions and a free Cataclysm for returning players via the new scroll of resurrection deal, but I can't help but wonder whether it's too late. How many of you have skipped over a game because of the cost of "catching up"? Do you think new expansions should always include the previous ones gratis? 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 Daily Grind: Do you miss player-written books in MMOs?
In her sandbox column a week or so ago, Massively's own MJ Guthrie brought up an MMO feature that's fallen by the wayside in recent years: player-written books. Ancient sandboxes like Ultima Online and modern classics like EverQuest II give players the ability to write their own books, which then populate player-run libraries, serve as tavern menus, explain quests, and mark the memory of friends who left the game. Later games, however, have sadly passed over the mechanic. I can't say that player-written anythings have no potential for abuse and inanity. There's a guild in UO, for example, that uses books as advertising spam, and the game's designers were forced to implement a system to lock-in text to circumvent the "Dudebro was here" graffiti that miscreants would otherwise inscribe on other players' masterpieces. But the potential for cool outweighs the potential for abuse for me, and I miss writing and reading in-game books so very much. What about you -- do you miss player-written books in MMOs? Or do you think they're a niche idea that was retired from MMO design with good cause? 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!
Ultima Online inducted into new MMO Hall of Fame
Did you know there's an(other) MMO Hall of Fame? We first heard of its launch a few months ago, but thought it was a bit of a joke, considering the Geocities-era site design and strangely familiar logo. Oh, and the owners decided to induct Ultima Online -- a game for which we have something of a soft spot. In any event, the site features an MMO timeline, a World of Warcraft timeline, and a listing of UO releases, expansions, and special editions. You can also view the site's voting committee, which includes Blizzard, Sony Online Entertainment, and Wizard101 developers as well as MMO writers and fans. [Source: MMO HoF press release]
Achievement Unlocked: A look at the Guinness world records of online gaming
We're just over a month into the new year, and already we've got plenty to look forward to: The Secret World is expected to hit in April, TERA will follow shortly in May, and Guild Wars 2 will be out... sometime this year (we hope). But before we all start looking toward the future, let's take a moment to look back at some of the gaming achievements of the past. Thanks to the handy-dandy Guinness Book of World Records 2012: Gamer's Edition, we've got a quick compendium of MMO-related records from the past year and then some, so if you're at all interested in the shortest-lived MMO to date or the longest time anyone's spent playing MMOs from inside a crate, join us as we take a stroll down memory lane to take a look at some notably (in)famous MMO achievements.
The Perfect Ten: MMO prisons
Chillin' in the clink. Spending time in stoney lonesome. Thrown into the slammer. Checking in to the big house. Doing (perfect) 10 to life in the hole. Learning the ropes in juvie. Prison: The only fun thing about it is the slang that people have come up to describe it. And while you may never actually want to spend any time in the crowbar hotel in real life, chances are you've already done so in MMOs. Jails are an ever-popular locale in online gaming, and they almost always deal with an epidemic of escaped -- yet still milling around casually -- prisoners. So in today's Perfect Ten, we talked to the warden and got you a special glimpse into pixelated pokeys, if only to scare you straight. No more exploits and bots for you, young man or woman!
The Daily Grind: What's the highest sub fee you'd pay?
While recording the podcast last week, Rubi, Justin, and I discussed RuneScape's subscription fee, which is soon to increase to a whopping... $8. Eight bucks doesn't seem like much to me, but I remember when Ultima Online increased its monthly fee from $10 to $13 -- players were pretty upset. "How dare an old game ask for more money?" seems to be a common refrain. But if the game is good enough, why wouldn't we pay what it's worth to us, no matter its age? Consider Fallen Earth, which offers, as its highest subscription tier, a $30-per-month plan. I might pay $30 a month for a really awesome MMO (or to resurrect one I'm fond of). But what's the limit? $50? $100? What's the highest sub fee you'd pay -- and what would you expect out of the game for that price? 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!
Meet the guild that's lasted over 16 years
Guilds are a dime a dozen in MMOs today, be they small social guilds or hardcore groups that collect a few hundred players together. Most guildmates you play with will eventually leave the guild, making way for new members giving the game a try. But what if your guild could transcend the game it was formed in, creating a community that stayed together and moved from game to game? The Syndicate is one such guild, boasting a membership of 1,200 players and a 95% retention rate. The organisation celebrates its 16th anniversary this week, having been born as an online community before the release of Ultima Online. The Syndicate is currently active in Ultima Online and World of Warcraft, having previously been active in EverQuest, Shadowbane and other games. All members agree to follow a charter that forbids stealing, cheating, non-consensual player-killing, and immature behaviour. The Syndicate takes its identity so seriously that it's even trademarked its name and has worked with MMO companies to rename guilds using it. Developers have in turn taken advantage of The Syndicate's huge community size and code of conduct to beta test upcoming games. With its 16th birthday behind it, the guild predates most MMOs on the market today and is still going strong.
Ultima producer's letter teases 2012 content
Did you know that Ultima Online turns 15 this year? It surely does, and if you're not having a geriatric fit over that fact and wondering where the time has gone, well, get off our lawns. In all seriousness, UO grand poobah Jeff Skalski has favored the masses with a producer's letter, and he drops several hints about what's to come for the 2012 version of Sosaria. Publish 74 is officially live, and the dev team is already hard at work on its followup, which Skalski says will address "a handful of long overdue bugs" as well as further the game's dynamic story arcs. Skalski also tells us that the artwork for the enhanced client is still in the oven, and in fact the makeover has turned out to be "more challenging than planned." As a result, it's not quite ready for primetime, but rest assured that it is still a priority. As always, more info is available at the official UO website.
The Perfect Ten: Best MMO theme songs (part two)
The last time on the Perfect Ten, disaster struck the good ship Poseidon and the surviving readers were running out of air as they tried to escape the flipped-over vessel. Also, we were counting down the top 20 MMO themes, but that's of small consolation to the soon-to-be bereaved friends and families, don't you think? Because we play these games extensively, it's not uncommon for MMO music -- and themes -- to become vilified by the sheer number of times we've heard them. That's a little unfair to a three-minute piece of soundtrack that slaves every day to feed his wife and kids, doing the best he can in a trying situation. So perhaps we can put aside melodic oversaturation to look at these tracks anew, shall we? With half of them out of the way, it's time to look into the elite of the elite: the 10 best MMO themes of all time. According to me. A guy you don't know. You've got goosebumps, don't you?
The Daily Grind: Would you buy an advanced character?
For many years, Ultima Online has offered an advanced character microtransaction. Well, the term "microtransaction" may be stretching it -- originally priced at $30 a pop, it's more like a macrotransaction. The advanced character token allows you to boost the skills and stats of a single character according to a preset template. It won't give you a capped Bard, Treasure Hunter, or Animal Tamer overnight, but it will get you a big chunk of the way there. And for skills that are notoriously hard to train .1 by .1 all the way to 100 or 120, advanced character tokens can be a huge boon to players who've been there and done that and just want to skip the early grind. UO's not alone in this; other games, such as Dark Age of Camelot, allow players to jump past some of the early game on their alts once they've capped a toon and proven they know the ropes of the game. Of course, those games aren't charging for the pleasure. So what do you think: Would you buy an advanced character from a game company? Or do you think you're cheating yourself and those around you by not grinding up the old-fashioned way? 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!
