MMORPGs, Are You There Yet? 163
maddugan writes "CNN recently posted a story about a company by the name There and their opening of a public beta for their 'Virtual Universe'. One of the key element is that you can buy virtual Levis and Nikes for your Avatar. " Hemos & I have been playing The Sims Online- Come visit the Slashdot Charisma Sweatshop on the absolute west edge of the Mt Fuji City and say hi. I got my real nick for once too! I love MMORPGs and 'There' looks like another wrinkle on taking Sims type games online. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.
Sim-Shag (Score:1)
Re:Sim-Shag (Score:1)
Speaking of games (Score:1)
Answer to my own question (Score:2, Interesting)
As far as The Game goes, we're on track for meeting our prototype deadlines, which makes everyone pretty buzzed. We had our second art review on Friday, and the concepts are really coming along. I don't want to go too far into that, because I don't want to ruin the anticipatory magic.
Apparently, you can get frequent updates by signing up for the mailing list [damagestudios.com].
Nice work so far, Chris.
No. Flat out. (Score:2, Insightful)
I have not started playing Everquest, Anarchy Online, There, Sims Online, EOA, or any of the others that I might have missed. I have no plans to either. I play a mud. Text. Requires reading... I know, what a pain in the ass.
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:2, Insightful)
Just my
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:2)
Were you a Finnish (Suomi) teen, you might appreciate Hotelli Kultakala [kultakala.com] (Shock Req.)
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:4, Insightful)
I played a MUD. The administrators were about as corrupt as an average politician and it was all being led by an unemployed welfare-supported hippie who wouldn't even recognize a "Bad Thing"(tm) if it hit him in the face at mach 2. Most of the players we're afraid to say anything and the few who did only droned out the words "I agree!" or something similiar to whatever ons of said administrators cried out in a fit of utter stupidity. That, and the basic idea of "You're not paying, so if you don't like it, go to hell." aren't very appealing to me. IF I would even want to play an online RPG every again, I'd either play one that's not massively multiplayer or one that is administrated by decent, unbiased folks.
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:2, Insightful)
and why exactly did you bother playing this MUD to begin with??
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:2)
--trb
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:1)
Not quite what I mean though... :P
PS, be manly (or girly... Hey, it's 2003!) and don't use AC :)
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:1)
MUDs are really in a different class as modern MMORPG, they attract a much smaller class of people. I'm sure only a small percentage of people who play a MMORPG have ever heard of MUDs, less played one, and less played one for a long time.
This is, however, a Good Thing(TM), in most cases.
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:1)
Addiction. That pretty much sums it up. About a month after "Ruins of Kunark" came out, one of my friends let me play it on his account for about 15 minutes. Hooked, reeled in, and gutted. I got my own account some time later, and was stuck there for about a year. Sheesh, do I regret that loss of time and money.
Of course, I still play online games, but nothing to the point of addiction that I had with EQ.
Kierthos
They totally miss the point (Score:3, Insightful)
We go from text chat where we can let down our social guard, be anything we want to be and let our imagination soar. SimsOnline moves us to cartoonish graphics, an OK bit of fun. The 'There' universe drags us backward to a social environment where we worry about our clothes, hair style, etc. Do I really want to manage two wardrobes?
Virtual universes will naturally evolve into a photo-realistic environment some years from now. Do we want a fake universe in which we have all of today's worries? Yes, you might say, because our virtual lives can be better than our real lives.
What does it mean when I enjoy my virtual life more than my real one?
I'll spend my time using technologies that are not geared toward spending as much time as possible with that technology. What's the point? I enjoy healthier recreation offline.
The Matrix [imdb.com] missed the point as a social commentary. Machines won't need to take over the world and enslave us. We are willingly putting on the shackles and forgetting our real lives.
Re:They totally miss the point (Score:2)
Re:They totally miss the point (Score:5, Insightful)
YOU miss the point. With a bunch of idiots living out their "lives" online in virtual worlds, that means fewer people to dick things up in the REAL world. Parks will become less crowded and polluted because a lot of the slobs will be pretending to me svelt hotties in a virtual world getting the babes, etc. They can even "enjoy" a virtual visit to a virtual park whilst you, me, and the few other sane people go to the REAL parks and see them as they used to be.
This could be great. The more addictive the better, I say, wrt these "games". I WANT to be able to go camping again and not run into a family of fatsos 10 meters away in their trailer (with TV and VCR). To hear the breeze again, hear birds chirping, water tinkling instead of boom boxes and loud drunken gatherings around the campfire in the next door campsite.
Re:They totally miss the point (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:They totally miss the point (Score:1)
Re:They totally miss the point (Score:1)
Re:They totally miss the point (Score:1)
I WANT to be able to go camping again and not run into a family of fatsos 10 meters away in their trailer (with TV and VCR).
Get real, go camping for real. if you are only willing to camp where you can drive a vehicle, expect other idiots to camp near you.
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:1)
Re:No. Flat out. (Score:1)
Online Sims can be very addictive (Score:2)
Re:Online Sims can be very addictive (Score:1)
Actually, he wound up dead.
Not to worry, I think you'd notice your sim not looking well and get him a bed and some rest.
Yay, more dupes! (Score:5, Funny)
Come on CmdrTaco, that's two dupes you've posted on today's front page... go for the hat-trick!
Re:Yay, more dupes! (Score:2)
Hat Trick! (Score:1)
He has a third one [slashdot.org] for today!
Wow! (Score:1)
As usual... (Score:2, Informative)
it'll be really interesting when (Score:2, Interesting)
After all, we don't all live in the same town but people do visit from time to time.
Neighbors (Score:2)
The Sims Online: Not There Yet (Score:3, Insightful)
Here's a short piece about the fallout in reaction to this most-touted game release: Sims Online: Be a PAYtester? [gamegirladvance.com]
Re:The Sims Online: Not There Yet (Score:3, Interesting)
I think it's great when MMOG game developers offer open public beta-tests. It puts lots of eyeballs on their game (better chance that bugs will be found) and as the release of EQ taught us, it's never a bad idea to load-test your servers in beta. Also, if their game is good on a fundamental level (even if a few bugs still have to be found)...word of mouth will do all the pre-selling they'll need.
Hopefully, There will get it right.
--K.
Re:The Sims Online: Not There Yet (Score:1)
I spent weeks swapping emails with customer service, who asked me to re-install DirectX and other assorted useless things. I eventually decided that I would be just fine with playing Dark Age of Camelot's expansion, and that really, it wasn't life or death if I didn't play TSO.
So much hassle for a game I probably would've hated anyway.
Nope (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Nope (Score:2)
I think anyone would foam at the mouth when ask to pay $70 for M$ Flight Simulator...
Re:Nope (Score:2)
Well, the whole thing is largely stupid/looney/ridiculous to begin with. Escape from your life for several hours a day (or more if you're a true major-league wacko) to...play at life again with the same crap you're "escaping" from: doing dishes, taking out trash, mowing your lawn, going to work, etc, etc. Sheesh.
If I could enter one of these silly worlds as a terrorist or mad scientist and unleash virtual plagues "blow up" virtual diners or other "gatherings" then it becomes interesting - but the virtual people have to "die", that is, the characters don't get to come back to virtual life and the "owners" of the characters have to start anew with a new/different character. It becomes interesting then. It would be amusing in its effects on those people who get overly attached to a non-real avatar/persona.
Basically, I would be interested in it if the users could turn the virtual world into some dystopian hell-hole by simply NOT being restricted in any way (by software rules/game rules). See what comes of it. Cool experiment and fun to play...and it IS only playing, and thus not worth the emotional investment too many people put into it.
Re:Nope (Score:2)
Sounds like fun. Have you tried Ultima Online [uo.com]?
Re:Nope (Score:2)
Except in my vision, instead of there being a complete free-for-all where the strongest gang of players has their random way with anyone and everyone else, there could be a virtual police force, virtual militaries, etc, for in game policing. You do your thing but may pay the consequences ingame from virtual authorities, preferably made up of other people (no AI cheating).
Of course, in standard RPGs it is possible to collect "magical" items or superweapons/armor, and character points such that your character becomes virtually invincible. Not so in my vision. Your persona is just as vulnerable as anyone else's. You never get to a point where you have some forms of magical superpowers or protections so that you are invulnerable. A lone sniper could take you out on his/her first day in the virtual world if they got lucky and knew what they were doing. Real-lifelike vulnerability is a must.
As a leader of a group/band, you could also get offed by a treacherous member of your own group.
Re:Nope (Score:1)
Hrm (Score:2)
I thought this [userfriendly.org] would be a fitting UF comic, considering how Slashdot is supposed to be pro-freedom/anti-corporatism. Have fun SimPeddling your SimAss to EA for SimDollars. Go to the SimMac and have a SimHeartattack or buy a SimPentium4 with SimHyperthreading!
Re:Hrm (Score:1)
http://www.gucomics.com/d/20021111.html
Nikes (Score:3, Funny)
Does it take you two weeks to earn enough virtual money to buy the latest Nike Jordans like in real life?
And more importantly (Score:2)
Re:And more importantly (Score:2)
In the same vein, is the gun you use to murder someone's avatar for his Nike's manufactured by Glock?
Depends... (Score:2)
Kjella
lol.. (Score:1)
What a bad idea. (Score:5, Funny)
10 seconds later, at the Slashdot Charisma Sweatshop...
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|First post!|
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Re:What a bad idea. (Score:1)
My guess is that the Slashdot Charisma Sweatshop should be Slashdotted right around now.
There's beta program (Score:2)
WorldsAway from compuserve (Score:4, Interesting)
The keyword you typed at the go prompt was AWAY, so youd type GO: AWAY and be transported to a virtual world which had all the usuall compuserve anal retentive rules to keep everyone playing nice [digitalspace.com].
I've since left compuserve due to the cost of access and the mountains of rules, but I did hear that worlds away has been replaced by a thing called Dreamscape [digitalspace.com].
Everything that is old is new again.
Re:WorldsAway from compuserve (Score:2)
You might have remembered me as Tito.
Open source mmorpg? (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder if there's a way to build a mmorpg system that doesn't require central servers, but could exist on thousands of p2p machines. As pc's log on and off, the load is moved around. Sort of a combination of p2p and a distributed.net.
Instead of servers slowing down with more people logging on, the game gets faster when more pc's log in and add their computing power.
Re:Open source mmorpg? (Score:1)
Re:Open source mmorpg? (Score:1)
That's where the open-source would come in, although customer support would be tricky. It might take the form of a user forum instead of a 1-800 #.
Early adopters would be the developers and designers. New users would d/l the client/server package and could just play or learn to add their own features which may or may not be taken up by the whole community.
Re:Open source mmorpg? (Score:1)
Could do it in the same way as Linux, via pay-for distributions.
Re:Open source mmorpg? (Score:1)
Re:Open source mmorpg? (Score:1)
I had forgotten about the possiblities of cheating, since you would have a piece of the overall server.
PS: You should run a spell checker through your site!
Re:Open source mmorpg? (Score:2)
btw, is that Ragnar from Rune redrawn by one of your artists? There's an image of him looking exactly like that on one of the old promotional images from Human Head.
Re:Open source mmorpg? (Score:1)
Re:Open source mmorpg? (Score:1)
interface neutral environment? (Score:1)
That way, maybe my interface would be all text - and someone else could have this amazing 3d immersive environment, but the same events happen for us both.
Also, say I have this amazing 3d stuff going on - I might give another's client the option of having me render the stuff for them, if I have all this amazing hardware - that way I can appear to be really amazing to people who don't even have the kind of hardware to see my avatar (or landscape or whatever) the way I want it to be seen.
Read Snowcrash by Neil Stephenson. [amazon.com]
Open source games with easy editors. (Score:1)
Yes. (Score:4, Informative)
I've heard rumors that they want to implement P2P for the game media, but not for the game itself.
Re:Open source mmorpg? (Score:1)
This is exactly how the Walled City from the book Idoru was run. The idea itself is quite inspiring. Kind of a utopia in some respects. To the extent that everyone in Walled City had to care about what was going on as they're all supporting the load. Because of this, it's a place where only otaku live.
Re:Open source mmorpg? (Score:2, Informative)
I wrote a paper on p2p multiplayer games for my Masters degree, and this was the major obstacle to p2p games I identified. There are ways around it, but competitive p2p games are a whole different world to cooperative p2p applications like file sharing.
Time Commitment? (Score:5, Interesting)
My main reason for this is that it seems like the commitment is too great. It seems like one I play I have to keep playing everyday or else my previous effort isn't really useful, like I have to live a second life almost to make anything useful/fun out of the MMOG.
I am currently playing Animal Crossing on the GCN, and while this game is ultimately experienced best if you play a little each day or for an hour or two on the weekends, Or both in my casse, I could stop playing for a while and nothing would go wrong or bad, I would be able to pick right back up. The same goes for the non MMOG Sims. From outside of MMOG it seems like I couldn't do this with those.
Am I off base with my impressions of MMOG? Are there any that exhibit play whenever you want/can better than others without degrading the experience?
Re:Time Commitment? (Score:2, Interesting)
On top of which I was listening to some talk radio and a girl called up to discuss why she enjoys Sims Online. Basically she stated she could do things she couldn't do in real life and as an example she said, "be outspoken." Really, come on, how bout just try to be outspoken in real life. Or has that become illegal?
Things you can't do in real life should be things like drive a drive a Ferrari down the wrong side of the road at 110mph. That's what video games are for, not so you can be outspoken.
Re:Time Commitment? (Score:3, Interesting)
What most people do however is give up some other activity. When I really got involved in this stuff a few years ago I stopped watching TV. First I simply watched less, then at some point I realized what a great waste of time my remaining TV watching was. Anyone who stops watching TV completely for a few months will be shocked at how awful most of it is when you tune back in.
Both TV and movies of today are creations of other people. As you watch you are consuming, nothing more. At least with virtual reality there is usually some element of creativity involved.
As far as being outspoken... if you communicate at all with people in real life as well as online (for example e-mail between you and people you actually meet in person) you will notice that the nature of the communication is different. Almost *everyone* is more outspoken online, whether it is e-mail, newsgroups, or SlashDot. People often express things in their personal web pages that they would be embarrassed to say to someone in person.
You can in fact develop what might be called an alternate personality online. I'm not sure there is any evidence however that this second personality is any less "real" than your in-person one. In fact I think it might be a good bit *more* real (for better or worse).
When it comes to work, as opposed to play, I'd *much* rather interact with people online than in person. The key element of this other than the liberating aspect of the interaction is that fact that everything is recorded. The worst managers I have ever had are the ones that go down the hall and pop into people's office or cubes for friendly little one-on-ones. These 5-minute-managers send their whole staff in different directions without knowing it.
Real life meetings usually end up being chaotic unless they are planned in advance. Again, the key is to get things in writing, to produce meeting minutes, and when it comes design, make sure that everyone is on the same "page".
I think that in the future online VR type interaction will replace many work interaction not because it is more fun, but because it works better.
Re:Time Commitment? (Score:2)
Part of what makes us different is that we allow a sort of casual play. Crafting takes significant time, hours or days, so you can queue up activities for offline work. You can monitor your character's progress by receiving email updates or by viewing a web page, and queue new actions in the same way. This means that while you may play almost every day, most days it can be by viewing a web page and queueing a few new actions, sending emails to people to bring you raw materials or tell you what they want crafted.
Your character is controlled by a scripting language, so you can set him up to do whatever you think he's smart enough to do without getting himself killed, or use our preconstructed scripts to do the basics.
Our goal is to create a complete working fantasy world... iron ore comes from the ground, not a guy on the street corner. Real crafting is done in a smithy, which player characters can own, rent out, whatever. Monsters are not your main source of experience, questing, dynamically generated or part of the storyline, is. It is often much better to avoid a monster if you can rather than fight it. Although, with our lore system, finding out how to do new things is often more important than gaining experience. You will have to learn to do new, more difficult tasks to continue advancing, and you will have to journey to someone to be trained in these new tasks.
We have player run governments, manage your lands to increase resource production. All items (except a few relics) can be crafted. You can become the best at one or a few activities (say, making horseshoes of speed or dwarven axes, or opening enchanted locks) and thus well-known in your area. Skills atrophy slightly when not in use, and many skills have a maximum, so not even the most powerful characters can match you at something that you do every day. Hang out in taverns to get new quests, publish a newspaper... we're building a complete fantasy world, not the latest Everquest clone.
Come see us. Check out the forums. Leave us a note to get back to you when we hit release time
OS requirements (Score:2, Informative)
Too bad, they follow only that track.
Re:OS requirements (Score:1)
kind of people I DON"T want to talk to.
-m
Re:OS requirements (Score:2)
My first MMORPG... (Score:1)
If somehow FFXI doesn't make it here,
--
My Moderator points just disappeared when I was using them. It says "Use them or lose them", not "Use them and lose them" *sigh*
huh? (Score:1)
Or maybe you were joking and I look like a dumbass now...
Burning Chrome? (Score:1)
gibson should've taken out a patent...
f64 : making crack remarks while on crack
Re:Burning Chrome? (Score:1)
Possibilities for Marketing over THERE (Score:1)
Hehehehe, love the use of there you got goin there.
The sheer possibilities for marketing here are amazing - I used to play a game called Diaspora run by a company called Altitude (a cloan of it can now be found at http://www.rillaspora.com). Basically a space-trading game,the company was trying to sell advert space in the online bars I believe. They failed.
You could have a virtual McDonalds, Starbucks, and then have virtual anti-capitalists to break the windows in Starbucks whilst ordering a latte.
And how long before the citizens of the virtual community have their own computers and networks? Imagine - virtual LAN parties! woohoo!
Think of the potential sponsorships... (Score:2, Interesting)
This has potential even in games like Ultma Online, where wearing Levis under your armour might convey you some mild form of magical protection. Wearing Nike's lets your character run 10% faster. Just think of the possibilities...
Re:Think of the potential sponsorships... (Score:1)
Not till its open and Customizable (Score:1)
Time for a nice Movie quote! (Score:2)
--Joe, "Joe v.s. the Volcano"
Except this way, people are actually paying. But that's the way, isn't it? Corporate evil is nothing if not efficient, (in all the 'right' places, at any rate). Render them impotent, trick them into living in bullshit misery and debt-ridden servitude, then sell them a subscription to some lame version of 'escape'.
"Oh, and Smithers, tell our engineers to make it highly addictive."
"Yes sir. The people will know what hit them, but they won't care."
-Fantastic Lad
Virtual Nikes & Levis (Score:2, Funny)
Are these items made in virtual sweatshops by virtual children for virtually nothing just like in real life?
Uh oh... (Score:1)
Great idea! (Score:1)
Post columnist asks: Will Women Go There? (Score:1)
Re:Post columnist asks: Will Women Go There? (Score:2)
I know of 'hang-out' virtual places, which to some extent don't have objectives, but in every case you have two additional factors:
(1) personas you can't have in real life. In one place, I'm an anthropomorphic cat, just to be one. If you're offering a persona a person can't be in real life that's a kind of objective.
(2) sex. (mreeeow!) *G* now that's an objective.
No freaking way will this fly, if you can't have sex, or transform into strange creative personas, or do anything besides the boring consumerism you're already expected to do in real life. It's gonna fail unless it learns this.
what happened to Alphaworld? (Score:1)
The difference betwen There and Sims (Score:1)
I'm personally hoping for this MMORPG... (Score:2)
Check out the screenshots.
And it's FREE, too.
Let's hope it turns out to be as fun to play as it looks, and that it becomes well-known enough.
Re:I'm personally hoping for this MMORPG... (Score:2)
"Support for nearly all platform (Windows 32-bit, Unix, GNU/Linux, Macintosh, Amiga, BeOS, NextStep, OpenStep, Rhapsody and OS/2)"
But it's these kind of things that become vaporware, isn't it? Sure - they have an alpha client done, but I see far too often such ambitious projects like this one stopping at alpha/beta stage.
Anyone, I visit the site now and then. One can hope they get something more to show off than what's essentially a "technology preview"
Re:I'm personally hoping for this MMORPG... (Score:1)
Slashdot Charisma Shop (Score:1)
Rabbit, wife of JackZ
JaxBuni in Alphaville
Rabbit in Blazing Falls
Rabbbit in Mt Fuji
Recursive dupeness (Score:2, Insightful)
Bad enough that it's a dupe in the first place without having to read fifty posts telling us so over and over again.
Re:Recursive dupeness (Score:1)
Re:Recursive dupeness (Score:2)
Re:Recursive dupeness (Score:1)
Hmm. If it were so simple, it seems to me that it would have happened by now. After all, I see legions of posts complaining about dupes, but still they keep on coming.
Have the ass-clowns they call "editors" earn their pay and not post duplicate articles.
And what do we do about the ass-clown readers who post duplicate comments?
Mod them down as redundant?
Well, sure, but (Score:1)
Re:Sad news ... Stephen King dead at 55 (Score:1)