tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post4360184778752913731..comments2024-03-28T10:18:05.213+00:00Comments on Inventory Full: The Other Side Of The DoorBhagpusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-1921204013953834562019-10-05T02:50:14.094+01:002019-10-05T02:50:14.094+01:00Ah, Raph. I remember arguing with him on Usenet du...Ah, Raph. I remember arguing with him on Usenet during the development of Ultima Online. While time has shown I was wrong about most of my points, I was right about player behavior. That is, enough people will just be jerks instead of 'roleplaying bandits, villains, etc.' to cause serious problems. The mass migration to Trammel when they introduced that shard showed that most players didn't like non-consensual PvP.<br /><br />After that -- and it may be my confirmation bias -- it always seemed that he never quite understood the typical MMO player and what they wanted. He's always seemed to be focused on creating "Hamlet on the Holodeck" (from the book) he's so fascinated about. I wish him success as we can always use more profitable MMOs that aren't just EQ/Wow repeats, but I suspect human nature will always take its toll on his games.Pallaishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01052537793722183657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-42149806655257960782019-10-04T15:32:00.155+01:002019-10-04T15:32:00.155+01:00I don't see a major rift between "smaller...I don't see a major rift between "smaller games" and "virtual worlds". Rubies of Eventide, one of my favorite MMORPGs ever, was tiny by modern standards - you could have fitted the entire gameworld into The Barrens. There used to be quite a lot of MMORPGs like that. Endless Ages, one of the first MMOFPS titles, was very small. Crowns of Power was another one I liked that wasn't a big, sprawling world - just a few zones. I'm sure it can be done but I'm not expecting much. <br /><br />And after reading <a href="https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-10-04-playable-worlds-has-a-different-mindset-on-engagement" rel="nofollow">today's interview with Raph Koster</a> at Gamesindustry.biz I am *definitely* not expecting anything that's going to appeal to me from Playable Games. I wish the interview had been up before I wrote my post. Quotes like ""When I look at what has happened with MMOs, it feels like it's really fallen into a template, and it's a pretty old template," Koster says. "Let's party up, let's kill some monsters, we'll level up, and then rinse-repeat." and ""There's this craving for alternate worlds that are richer than just hack and slashing your way through levels," Koster says. "So that's what we're out to build." make me think he's going to make yet another "the player brings the game" empty world with little or no professionally curated content. We have far more of those than we need already.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-42128922079378001292019-10-04T13:50:16.273+01:002019-10-04T13:50:16.273+01:00A mobile MMO world would be a smaller game! *ducks...A mobile MMO world would be a smaller game! *ducks* I’ll show myself out.Jeromaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02206083433625986970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-7391042804295097152019-10-04T13:20:24.280+01:002019-10-04T13:20:24.280+01:00I wouldn't get too excited just yet. O'Bri...I wouldn't get too excited just yet. O'Brien's statement that he wants to make smaller games and the Mana Works tagline about wanting to create worlds immediately struck me as being at odds with each other.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-22498008322562542812019-10-04T13:15:50.622+01:002019-10-04T13:15:50.622+01:00I have quite a bit of sympathy with NCSoft over GW...I have quite a bit of sympathy with NCSoft over GW2. The game has been languishing in limbo for at least the last two years and it's hardly surprising they finally got fed up of watching all the effort go into putative new games that probably wouldn't see the light of day for five years, if ever, while the only product ANet have that makes money was being allowed to flounder and sink.<br /><br />That said, I very much doubt Mike O'Brien will want to get back into that bed any time soon. The question will be whether he tries to publish whatever Mana Works produces all by himself or whether he swaps NCSoft for another corporate overlord. John Smedley tried to go it alone in what seem like very similar circumstances and that didn;t work out so well. He ended up closing the studio, returning all the money he'd taken for PixelMages' only product and falling into the arms of Amazon.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-43077412265644820002019-10-04T12:30:35.503+01:002019-10-04T12:30:35.503+01:00Whaddya bet the odds are great that Mana Works won...Whaddya bet the odds are great that Mana Works <i>won't</i> work with NCSoft to publish anything? It's akin to NCSoft watching EA, Epic Games, Activision/Blizzard, and Bethesda getting tons of bad press and saying, "Hey, don't forget about us!!"<br /><br />I just shake my head at the eschewing of a long term strategy to "make money now!" that a lot of these companies have. I mean, there's a reason why Apple is such a huge company, and that's because they have a long term vision. I'm not convinced that a lot of these big game corporations have a coherent vision beyond three months out.Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.com