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Why I Play: Free Realms
Free Realms has been going really strong, as far as I can tell, since the beginning. I definitely remember the distinct buzz that came from the beta, and I remember bloggers and podcaster friends proclaiming that the game was going to go gangbusters. We MMOers often forget just what sort of impact certain titles have made on the market. As soon as these special titles are released into the world, we become used to them and often take them for granted. Free Realms has always been one of those special titles. But think about it: We hear from it regularly but often forget to notice just how packed with players it can be and how much variety in gameplay it offers. In fact, Free Realms is probably one of the least appreciated sandboxes in the world of MMOs right now because it has been so successfully integrated into the MMOsphere. Yes, I said sandbox. Yes, I'm serious. I'd go so far as to say that Free Realms is almost a perfectly designed sandbox, although some of its design is not for everyone. Like Mabinogi, another underappreciated open world of a game, Free Realms might turn off the typical sandbox aficionado, who might not like its graphics or young audience. That's unfortunate because the world of Free Realms is more vast that many of us think.
Why I Play: Mabinogi
How do you define a sandbox MMO? In my opinion, sandbox MMOs are often described in ways that are much more complicated than they deserve. To me, they are simply MMOs that allow players to play how they want by providing systems -- real, game-impacting systems -- that foster unique character growth. These systems can be represented in a lot of different ways, however. You might grow a unique city in an MMORTS or customize an avatar in a social sandbox like Second Life. The general rule is that there are no rules in a sandbox, within the limits of the particular game, of course. Even then, sandbox players can be some of the most stringent rule-makers and followers. Just ask a Darkfall or EVE Online player how to get the most DPS and she'll rattle off a series of rules, essentially providing a class cheat-sheet. In other words, sandboxes are much like their themepark cousins, only with many more choices for character development. The themepark rules might be left out of a sandbox, but the sandbox communities often fill the void with new guidelines. Mabinogi provides so many systems to grow a unique character with that it's ridiculous. I can easily log in and spend an hour just decorating my avatar, crafting goods, exploring new areas, flying around in the hopes of stumbling across trouble, or growing my character by leveling any one of the possible hundreds of skills. However you describe a sandbox, Mabinogi should be one of the first on the list of examples. Let me show you three reasons why.
Why I Play: Vindictus
I've noticed a curious trend among the Massively staff when it comes to the Why I Play column: The writers here tend to choose games you wouldn't necessarily expect them to choose. MJ Guthrie, who is the wind beneath our Wings Over Atreia, wrote about why she plays the Secret World. Patrick Mackey, our former Champions Online caped crusader and lately our League of Legends legend, wrote about why he plays Global Agenda. Shawn Schuster, our boss-in-chief, wrote about the little MMO that could, WURM Online. Jef Reahard, our stalwart sandbox supporter, wrote about Lord of the Rings Online. And Larry Everett, our Jedi master, wrote about, well, Star Wars The Old Republic, but my point is that the Why I Play column seems to be a place for us to write about the games we play when we're not "gaming." That brings me to my choice for this week: Vindictus. Each week, I express my fondness for RIFT, EverQuest II, and various kid-friendly MMOs, but about a year ago, I began to do an MMO walkabout and sampled a bunch of games, many of which I livestreamed with Massively's Jeremy Stratton. I really enjoyed most of the MMOs we played, but one that stood out for me was Vindictus. There's something about the game that makes it my favorite game away from gaming, and I'll attempt to explain why in this week's Why I Play.
Why I Play: Glitch
As I began to write this column, it struck me that there are some people who do not actually want to play Glitch by Tiny Speck. I wanted to change the usual title of this column to "Why, of course I play Glitch!" but then I thought about my editors glaring at me from across an email. I guess I should explain my love for Glitch, the type I normally reserve only for certain wonderful titles like RuneScape, Dark Age of Camelot, Mabinogi, Wurm Online, Ryzom, MilMo, or even World of Warcraft years ago. I apologize, but it's a bit hard to explain something that seems so obvious. Some people probably consider Glitch a game for younger players or for players who are not as serious about their digital lifestyle. Why Glitch would not be taken as seriously while a game like Darkfall or (ironically) World of Warcraft is considered a more serious gaming venture is beyond me. But then, I think all gaming is silly... that's why it's wonderful.
Why I Play: Anarchy Online
If I only had more time. If only I had all the time in the world to game to my heart's content without giving up the other aspects of my life that are precious to me. If only I could go back in time and tell myself to play Game Y instead of Game X. Ah, wishes and horses. Both are full of poop! But if wishes could be horses, I'd love to have some time to go back and play Anarchy Online hardcore. I don't know what it is about this game that keeps calling me back with its retro appeal. But every year I go through a phase when I download the client and re-enter the world of Rubi-Ka for another attempt at mastering this 11-year-old title. It doesn't stick, but the fondness and desire remains. Why do I play it? I'm going to be coy and make you work for the answer.
Why I Play: EverQuest II
EverQuest II has always been a funny beast to me. I was not raised on a steady diet of SOE MMOs like some, and when EQII rolled around in November of 2004, I decided to go with some lesser-known title from Blizzard instead. I'd heard bad things about SOE in general, and EQII looked just as inaccessible as EverQuest did on the store shelves. Plus, to put a final nail in the not-interested coffin, I hated the graphics. I still do. Hate the graphics, that is. If someone was to award MMOs for Most Blandly Generic, Plasticy Models Straight from the Uncanny Valley, EverQuest II would be a shoo-in. Yet the years wore down my mostly semantic objections to giving EverQuest II a go, and after a few false starts, I spent a few wonderful months in the game last year after it went free-to-play. While I couldn't sustain interest in this on top of all of the other titles I was playing, I'd heartily recommend EQII to anyone complaining about tapped-out content in other MMOs. EQII is the Super Walmart of MMO features and content, far eclipsing most other competitors. Here is why I played and why you might want to, too.
Why I Play: RuneScape
It's hard to explain exactly why I enjoy playing RuneScape. Heck, it can sometimes be hard enough to find gamers my age who would even give the game a try. Many are dead set on maintaining a state-of-the-art gaming machine, so why waste it on a browser-based game? Actually, there are so many reasons, I hope I could get to it all in one piece. Bear in mind that I really have no "main" game to call home. I have browser bookmarks for literally over 100 games, and I'm always on the hunt for more. If I am gaming, it's usually for the sake of writing about the game. RuneScape is one of the few titles that I find myself coming back to when I don't need to game, when I am just looking for something fun to do or a world to explore. RuneScape has it all, to the point that it can almost be too much.
Why I Play: Vanguard, Saga of Heroes
"How is Vanguard?" If there's one question that comes up time and time again, it's that one. It experienced a launch disaster, lack of content post 35+, bugs, duping, exploits, performance issues, and the sad "parking lot layoffs," yet Vanguard: Saga of Heroes always seems to generate buzz any time it comes up in conversation. There's a certain aura surrounding this game, and even though it languished with low subscription numbers for years, it always seems to attract attention when it's covered at Massively. There's something about Vanguard that kept me playing solidly well past launch and still pulls me back from time to time. With a free-to-play launch just around the corner, it seems like the perfect time to explain why I play Vanguard.
Why I Play: Global Agenda
Among the Massively staff, I'm known as the obsessive competitor who plays every game in a hardcore fashion. It's no surprise that I gravitate toward high-skill, difficult games that test skill instead of the typical MMO grinds. But it should be a bit of a surprise that I don't really like competitive shooters. Shooters take a lot of the elements I really love about competition such as mindgames and positioning and marginalize them in favor of raw aiming and twitch reflexes. I'm fond of saying "You must be this tall to ride this ride" when it comes to shooters that are very twitch-based. Global Agenda is a different beast than other shooters, though. The competitive shooter market is saturated with class-based shooters whose emphasis is more on teamwork than on aiming, and Global Agenda really takes it to eleven. Aiming is still important, but it's hardly the most important skill in the game, and every class has a way of minimizing the need for aiming skill. In fact, most of the more effective builds in GA don't require aiming. The emphasis in GA is on teamwork, mobility, and good decision-making. Even though it's a shooter, I find it really easy to spend far too much of my time playing it. It's just great fun.
Why I Play: City of Heroes
When I first sampled City of Heroes, I was just recovering from a nasty break-up with Star Wars Galaxies and looking for a new roleplaying paradise. What I found after a month was that I had a lot more fun planning my next character using the little booklet that came with the box than I actually did grinding my way up through the levels. That early version of the game... was not good. Fast-forward a few years to the Paragon Studios takeover and the implementation of the Mission Architect. I fell in love all over again. It took several years (and all the improved content those years enabled), but the game eventually became something I wanted to play. And I'm going to tell you why.
Steam distributes Fallen Earth, gives out crabs
Fallen Earth has a new ally in its war on boredom: Steam. The digital games distributor added the title to its MMO free-to-play library yesterday, offering its users an additional way to get into the wasteland. To encourage Steam users to sign up, GamersFirst is dishing out a few in-game goodies for those who do so. Players can nab an in-game Steam t-shirt and Gordon's Ward, two items that boost crafting and social skills. Additionally, if you previously played Fallen Earth through Steam, you'll be treated with three days of premium subscription status and a non-combat pet, Trashy the Hermit Crab. GamersFirst SVP of Marketing Rahul Sandil thinks this is a match made in heaven: "Fallen Earth's return to the Steam Network is a huge milestone for us here at GamersFirst. Reintroducing the game on Steam side-by-side with APB Reloaded further cements our commitment to offering the hard-core gaming experience to players without an entry cost." Fallen Earth is a staff favorite here at Massively, and if you're curious about the title, check out our recent Why I Play column on the game.
Why I Play: Fallen Earth
I'm going to start my Fallen Earth testimony by echoing the same sentiment that Shawn shared last week with WURM Online: I really didn't get it the first couple of times I tried it. I had heard great things about this post-apocalyptic title from Massively and elsewhere at the time, but it felt so different and kind of raw when I logged in that I didn't stay for long. In fact, it wasn't until I forced myself to sit down and devote an entire evening to Fallen Earth that I got past my initial objections and it clicked for me. It clicked hard. Since that time, I've been an ardent fan of Fallen Earth, using it as Exhibit A whenever people complain that all MMOs are too much alike and boring. Well, here you go, I say. An MMO in a contemporary setting that also happens to embrace apocalyptic themes. An MMO that revels in dark humor and edgy themes. An MMO where 95% of the gear in the game can be crafted and used by you. An MMO with free-form character growth and -- this is important -- motorcycles. An MMO with a world that's genuinely fun to explore (and might I add, huge). It's not perfect, it's not my main MMO squeeze, but it is a title I've carried a torch for since my first days in the wasteland. I've got no shortage of words when it comes to this game, especially if there's a chance that my verbosity will get you to take a closer look at Fallen Earth (which is easier than ever since its free-to-play conversion).
Why I Play: Wurm Online
The thing about MMOs is that most of them are terrible. There, I said it. Here at Massively, we're exposed to more MMOs than we could ever possibly play to the point of complete enjoyment. We play some for First Impressions articles, we play some for livestreaming, and we play some to see what all the hype is about, but these are often very different games than the ones we sit down to enjoy at the end of the day. That's why I wanted to start this series of articles called Why I Play. Just like The Soapbox articles, Why I Play will be a weekly column penned by various members of the Massively staff. We'll talk about which games we enjoy the most and what it is about these MMOs that keep us hooked so passionately. These aren't reviews; they're not guides or lists of features; and they're not based on any kind of launch-day deadline. We're not selling you anything, and we don't expect you to agree with us. These articles will simply be a personal ode to our favorite MMOs. So follow along as I kick things off with what has been my favorite MMO for probably the last 18 months: Wurm Online.
