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Games Entertainment

Massively Multiplayer Baseball 65

Posted by Zonk from the something-completely-different dept.
Next Gen is reporting on Netadmin's upcoming Ultimate Baseball title, which is designed to take the MMOG market into the sports genre for the first time. From the article: "We also looked at the MMOG landscape at the time. Everything was some variation on a fantasy theme. Kill the dragon, rescue the village and such. We were interested in the MMOG business model but looking ways to do things differently and sports just made sense..."
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Massively Multiplayer Baseball More

Massively Multiplayer Baseball

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  • Baseball! Oh boy! (Score:3, Funny)

    by ActionJesus ( 803475 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @06:28PM (#13290376)
    3 points:

    1) Geeks, as a rule, hate sport. Yes, there are exceptions.
    2) Jocks, as a rule, hate computers. Yes, they can work them.
    3) Everyone in the world, as a rule, hates baseball. Yes, there are americans.

    So how well, exactly, is this gonna do?
    • Ha! Funny. Very true though - and frankly, sports are boring. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy playing some sports, but seriously, do I want to sit in a virtual infield for a couple hours on the off chance that someone hits the ball my way? Even something like football - if you're not the quarterback or a receiver, is it really going to be fun? And what makes it massive? It's not like you're going to have 10,000 people playing one game of baseball. A simple multiplayer game with some central server for
      • Ah, but you must think outside the box, Sefert! 9 fielders, 1 batter, 4 base umpires and 9,986 people sitting in the stands watching: all for a reasonable one-time purchase cost plus monthly fee! This is bound to take off...
        • Don't be silly. All 1,000 people will be able to play at the same time, on the same field.

          "OMFG sum1 throw me teh ball now plz!!1"
          "no U play outfield!!!"

          Of course servers will max out at around 10,000 clients each.

      • Re:Baseball! Oh boy! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by jtwJGuevara ( 749094 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @07:03PM (#13290607)
        "Even something like football - if you're not the quarterback or a receiver, is it really going to be fun?"

        Short answer, yes.

        Having other positions non-ai controlled allows more actions to be taken by those positions and I would love nothing more than a football game that lets you take control of a player besides the ball handler. I'm a former football player and nothing pisses me off worse in football games than the lack of depth in the number of actions that an ai controlled position can make, generally lineman. Personally, I would love a football game that would let me take control of an offensive lineman, let me control the way I block (fighting to gain helmet position for leverage, handfighting, sealing, turning out, cutblocking, timing your punch on pass protection, etc. etc.). Of course I'm probably in an extremely small minority here. But nonetheless I personally think playing another position in a fully online football would be fun.
        • Agreed.

          If there was a MMO football game, a small minority (little kids who should just stick to Madden on their GBA SP anyways) will hate it because not everyone can be a QB or WR (and probably have to play defense. No point in having 22 people per team. Just 11 with people playing both sides of the ball).

          The rest of us will enjoy the realism and teamwork needed to have a good team. I personally would not mind playing O-Line. In fact I would enjoy the opportunity to try out every position, offense and defen
        • I agreee with you.

          Line play is probably the most important part of a football team's chances for success. Without it, you either can't stop the other team or can't allow your "skill position" players a chance to move the ball.

        • growing up, i was a geek, and shunned sports. I even thought that watching sports was even more useless than playing, because really, you're watching other people play a game, rather than playing it yourself!

          but then, i was dragged to a football game by some friends, and... I had a blast. i've grown to enjoy football, because, it turns out, its actually incredibly nerdy in its own way. sure, the people on the field are mostly musclehead jocks, but the depth of strategies involved is pretty amazing. i
      • Even something like football - if you're not the quarterback or a receiver, is it really going to be fun?

        People like playing Medics/Engineers in Battlefield; people play clerics, enchanters, and other support roles in MMOs.
        In terms of "boring" positions in football, pretty much the only ones I can think of are the O-line and maybe full back. All defensive positions offer complex gameplay. I would love to play safety or corner.
        • "In terms of "boring" positions in football, pretty much the only ones I can think of are the O-line and maybe full back. All defensive positions offer complex gameplay. "

          I'll assume you haven't played competetive football. Offensive line requires some of the most complex gameplay in the entire game of football, outdone only by QB's and arguably MLB's and Safeties (since these guys generally have to control the entire defense and be able to tell everyone else what to do). The front 7 in football (DL and L
          • That's why I put "boring" in quotes. The O-line is a complex position, but it's a support type playstyle. Therefore there isn't the same kind of feedback response that you have from other positions (eg. Tackle, interception, touchdown run, etc)

            I would liken the O-line position to the fantasy MMO "crowd control/buff" class. The position doesn't contribute directly, so often is unappreciated or considered "boring" by novices. However, experts recognize how much better the team functions with good support
      • Well, there are multiple ways to do this. For one thing, I strongly suspect that most sports MMOs will put you in the role of "manager" - you run, train, and groom the players, trade them around with other teams, try and break into the major league of your server, etc.

        Alternately, don't do Baseball. Hockey, Rugby, Soccer or Basketball would do just fine with "every player is a player" - and some elite players even could be managers of teams, handling trading, paying out team-XP, etc.

        Of course, you could g
    • I just squirted beer out of my nose on reading #3, congrats.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • 1. However, Baseball is by far the most geek-infilitrated sport in the World. Some teams are run by geeks who essentially use numbers and computers to make winning teams (See: "Moneyball"). People make a living crunching statistics and making up new ones(See:Sabermatics). Players have been known to have passions for FPS (Minnesota Twins outfielder Lew Ford once took a day off to go to a LAN party, no, seriously) and anyone who has seen Greg Maddux wearing glasses knows that he must be a geek deep down insi
      • I can argue 2.

        2. The only site I ever see jocks going to (espn.com) has a promotional deal with this particular game (RTFA). Don't forget that jocks do tend to spend hours every evening playing Madden and MLB games on their consoles. It's not like they don't play video games. They just don't tend to care for non-sports titles.
    • Bah. I'm American, and I haven't given a shit about baseball since the last time those primadonnas went on strike.

      I have a lot of respect for the F.A. footballers, on reputation alone, but I have only seen a couple games, because in general I have better things to do than watch other people sport.

  • I've seen it (Score:5, Funny)

    by generic-man ( 33649 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @06:29PM (#13290384) Homepage Journal
    My brother played the beta. When you're in the field it's about as boring as you imagine it'd be, except the outfield chatter is replaced with "wtg lol" and there are about 700 fielding errors on any play. It's like watching Little League play with adults.

    For an approximation, join a weekend softball league that brings a keg to every game. :)
    • I played the beta for some time until I quit due to boredom (about a year ago it seems). I cannot be too judgmental because it was very early software. Some of the most basic things were lacking at the time. For instance you could always run faster than you could throw, so an outfielder would run the ball in to home rather than throw (they did fix that during my time, I think).

      Most disturbing was the huge difference between pitchers and the other fielders. Pitchers would get ten times the experience

  • When development just stops (Score:4, Interesting)

    by QuantumG ( 50515 ) <qg@biodome.org> on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @06:30PM (#13290388) Homepage Journal
    Ya know what annoys me. When MMOGs are "finished" being developed and players are let in, the live team basically fixes bugs and adds new content. Development just stops. Compare this with MUDs. Every week new features will be added to a MUD. Submit a good suggestion to the devs and you're almost guarenteed to see it implemented.
    • Interesting point. I know that World of Warcraft adds a new dungeon or something here and there, but for the most part any changes are slow in coming and rare. They really need more rapid development tools so they can keep it coming at a really rapid pace. Ideally, someone should make a MMOG that has a base set of rules (like physics) that can't be screwed with, and release the dev tools to their community so users can make cool interesting add-ons for the game as well.
    • Depends on the game. Puzzle Pirates [puzzlepirates.com] keeps adding new puzzles, revising old ones, changing the rules on player interaction, and adding new elements to game play.

      Incidentally, they don't fit the kill-the-dragon/rescue-the-village stereotype either.
    • Actually, they do this not just to save money, but to also not infuriate the current user base. Introduce a new feature, and many will raise a "nerf" ruckus.
    • I disagree. MMOGs, at least *good* ones, do keep developing. They don't do it as fast as MUDs, because adding new features is so much expensive, but it does happen. Look at Battlegrounds in WoW. FFXI has had lots of new features added, like Ballista, and Dynamis. FFXI also likes doing seasonal "events" like right now with the Sunbreeze Festival, where you can do goldfish catching or play a mini-game called "Azimuth Circle."

                Chris Mattern
  • It sounds nice but baseball is well, a sport where half - 1 of the players is basically in a line, and just because you are on the field doesn't mean the game is interesting

  • OH YEAH! I can play and have time for TV too (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gothzilla ( 676407 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @06:31PM (#13290396)
    Watch baseball on tv and tell me how often each of the outfielders actually has to move and do something, then tell me if you want to sit in front of your pc doing the same thing.
    Why in the hell would anyone want to play online baseball and spend 90% of their time sitting and waiting for something to happen?
    Maybe the dugout will be like a singles chat room or something.
    • My roommate in college did basically the same thing, only with a flight simulator. Takeoff was fun, then there were hours of boredom, then some landing. It was extremely realistic. I never understood what the fascination was.
            However, flight sims (not necessarily the dogfighting ones, but the ones where you're a commercial pilot, etc.) are doing quite well. Go figure.
      • That is a bit different. You can always speed up the flying, so most of the "real" time is spent taking off, changing course, and landing. I am sure they will do something similar for the baseball thing... i.e. run it at twice normal real-life speed, just like in many other online games (except americas army which focuses on realism)
    • Watch baseball on tv and tell me how often each of the outfielders actually has to move and do something, then tell me if you want to sit in front of your pc doing the same thing.

      Ever play a cleric/healer?

  • I dunno... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rogabean ( 741411 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @06:33PM (#13290416)
    While I don't see this becoming a major MMO player... I can see it becoming quite a niche MMO (in the way I consider COH to be a niche MMO)

    There are enough exceptions to everything...

    people assume nerds don't like sports... but I am a nerd and while I don't care for playing real sports, I quite enjoy a sports themed computer/console game. It's a break from the normal [hack/slash/shoot/quest] of the typical game. And if I'm going to pick a sport to watch (which I can imagine alot of this game turns into.. watching other people at times) baseball is my choice.

    I can't be the only one that thinks this.

    besides... it's something different! I'm gonna give them credit for that if nothing else.
  • Shot Online, a golf MMO, is the first I've heard of.
    • Even before that, we had Motor City Online. It was not an athletic sport, but it was still a sport. Car tuning and racing in a persistent online world. Buying and selling everything from parts to completely customized cars was a huge part of it, as well as point standings for racing against the clock and against other players. You made money based on your standings, not just per race.

      Don't see how a baseball or golf game could be any more MMOG than that, so I don't see how it wasn't the first.

      http://www [mobygames.com]
    • And they seem to be doing well, as they have recently (within the last month or so) introduced a pay for in-game perks (such as free/reduced green fees, faster leveling) model. I see more than a few of these paying users (they have their character names appear as gold or bronze).

      I notice that there are always new users; which is both good and frustrating at the same time.

      I, of course, am still plugging away as a free user, dutilfully playing, winning rounds, and (seemingly) constantly reparing my clubs.

  • They should have went with.... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rubberbando ( 784342 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @06:42PM (#13290469)
    sports like basketball, soccer, or hockey.

    At least in those sports, each player has a chance to get the ball/puck.

    Also, with basketball, the game is somewhat scaleable on the amount of players in a game (1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3, etc).
    • From a different point of view, they already did.

      see http://hattrick.org/ [hattrick.org] as a very good soccer MMO, or http://www.charazay.com/ [charazay.com] for a b-ball equivalent

      The most important thing is still the community: you have to give people way to interact beyond the game, else it's only a ten day love and nothing else.
      Creating bonds between players creates resident players (I've been playing hattrick for a couple of years and I NEVER thought about quitting, even after sore defeats.)
    • Basketball is the worst sport when it comes to transferring the real-life experience to a video game. There is simply no realilistic AI to simulate a basketball game.

      And you think people are going to share the ball in a MMO basketball game? Sure, the box score will show that every player got 15 shots, but what it won't show is that they were all half-court shots from the hip after they stole the ball from a teammate... ...Hey, wait a minute. That's a lot like the NBA. They may be on to something here! ;)

  • Decathlon (Score:2, Interesting)

    by chris_mahan ( 256577 )
    Now, that would be a funner mmorpg game than baseball.

    A better mmorpg would be "The Mall" where you can buy items, take them to the car, go home, get dressed in those items (mod your appearance) and go back to the mall.

    Of course, with the interesting (what, you're out of size 5?) and the obligatory foodstuff shops that make you gain weight so you have to buy more.

    Also, demand or lack thereof on particular items would either make them hard to find, or go to the 70% off rack (in which case you don't want to b
    • I can't tell if you're trying to make fun of Second Life, or you just don't know it exists.
        • Second Life was free to sign up recently. I don't think it is anymore, and definitely wouldn't recommend paying for it. I mean, go ahead, but I wouldn't.

          Anyway, the programmers apparently haven't worked very hard on making good looking avatars. They've just worked on allowing you to build good looking avatars in Poser or whatever 3D modelling tool you've got.

          And once you've built it, you can sell it. So the entire MMORPG seems to have two aspects:
          1. IRC with avatars
          2. A giant mall so you can buy stuff to make
    • "A better mmorpg would be "The Mall" where you can buy items, take them to the car, go home, get dressed in those items (mod your appearance) and go back to the mall.
      "

      Didn't we already have this and it bombed?

      I'm referring to the SIMS Online of course.

      I was just about to post how I figured with the popularity of the Sims with women, this mall MMOG is a likely thing.

      But not so considering the massive failure that was TSO.
    • The first 18 players who get successfully connected to the server play in the field, plus two managers (the roles are assigned ramdomly... who cares)
    • The subsequent 57,545 connections plays the very important role of spectators seated in a replica of the Yankee stadium. During the game they can shout, drink beer and buy hot-dogs.

    Now, if they do an MMOG version of blernsball, I'm on it!

    • plus two managers

      Sure, I could see that working.

      MMOBaseball Console
      -------------------
      teHManAg3r argues the call with the first base umpire.
      teHManAg3r has been thrown out of the game by the first base umpire!
      (teHManAg3r disconnected.)
      (3ar1_vv3av3r joins.)
      (3ar1_vv3av3r is the visitor's new manager.)
      3ar1_vv3av3r argues the call with the first base umpire.
      3ar1_vv3av3r has been thrown out of the game by the first base umpire!
      (3ar1_vv3av3r disconnected.)
      (10uP!nn31a joins.)
  • but it's just that, a novelty.

    I agree with much of what has been said so far. Who wants to sit around in the outfield waiting for something that might not happen, or be a relief pitcher for 5-7 innings...

    The concept is novel to the MMO concept though. But I don't think MMO is really a good label for a design like this - you've got 10 people in play at any given time. Eight others, on any given inning, are waiting in line. For a majority of the inning, 3 of those 10 people will be actively involved
  • Just what we need a game where most of your time is spent sitting in the field hoping the ball comes your way so that you can catch it. Of course, every time it does the glory hog from center field comes over and knocks you down. And then we have the guy in right field who connected, got bored and left his keyboard to get a snack, now the other team is hitting in-field home-runs over there. And the short stop won't stop making bad ball jokes, and is ignoring the actual ball when it comes his way.
    Do peop
  • You could get paid millions to be the best player! Much like meat sports, the competition is fierce, and only a few are the best of the best (and make the big bucks). You could even have stadiums filled with hundreds of thousands of viewers watching from their TV's (or virtually attending the stadium online).

    This could turn out to be the business model that can finally allow all the gamers out there to tell their parents that, "See, something good DID come from me just playing in your basement!"
  • We've had 2 player Ping Pong since the 70s, what if we expanded the board, and had thousands of players. Simply imagine a polygon with X sides, where X is the number of players. And throw in maybe X/2 balls in play too. You only see your part of the screen, but can knock balls around to everyone else playing... It was a funny idea of mine a few years back... That was a child of the 'everyone shares' networking desktop, where you could drag your mouse cursor onto other people's desktops in the same room a
  • Years ago I participated in an alpha of a MMO football game. It was hard to play because of the mouse/keyboard controls, but it did work and was an interesting game.

    There also *is* a "MMO" hockey game. You can find it here:

    http://www.kiekko.tk/?lang=en [kiekko.tk]

    Some Finnish folks put it together a year or two ago, and I was quite addicted for a while. Graphics aren't very good but the gameplay was quite compelling, and after you got to know certain other players you learned which ones you could rely on for defense
  • I can't imagine how boring it would be being an outfielder, and just waiting.... and waiting... You could make it more interesting by being able to whack people with the bat or something. Which reminds me of a Stewie Quote...
    Stewie(at a baseball game): Why does that man drop his club before he runs? I would bring it with me.
  • Now a Cricket MMORPG would be more fun.

    5 Days real time.. The excitement!!

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