futile torchlight

MMORPGs are morally wrong and should never have been allowed to exist.

God bless Paragon City.

this dream belongs to all of us

More thoughts on the closure of City of Heroes and why it matters more than just another game shutting down: the vast amount of player-created content at risk.

the future of ownership

So, apparently City of Heroes is shutting down. I have the sads.

It's pretty much the only MMORPG I ever really played. Sure, I've been bullied into free trials of things here and there, and I spent a brief period of time in World of Warcraft before having my account hacked and deciding it wasn't worth the hassle. In ALL of these cases someone pretty much had to buy the game for me and tell me to play it because there's no way I'll waste money on these things.

And this is why. Now the game will be gone. The game that we spent quite a lot of money on over the years... a handful of monthly fees for me, a lot more plus the box copies and then all the weird DLC crap my husband bought after it went f2p. The game that was pretty entertaining to load up just to play witht he character creator even if you didn't feel like playing. Gone.

Of course, it should also be obvious that I haven't touched the thing in who knows how long. I'm far too busy and MMORPGs don't play well with my distracted gaming style and occasional net interruptions. But as usual it is still highly irritating that the game I played (primarily as a single-player experience because I'm not social, but occasionally with my husband) will be taken away and there's not much I can do about it (other than hunt for legally dubious fan servers which probably exist somewhere, I don't know).

Insert my usual rant about DRM and MMORPGs and all that nonsense, I'm honestly getting tired of saying it. I'm tired of being asked to pay for things that will be taken away from me. I'm tired of knowing that this is apparently a better business model than actually selling stuff like I do. Sigh.

so I heard your DRM sucks

I decided a long time ago that I wasn't going to buy Diablo 3 due to the always-online stuff, and therefore quit paying any attention to it. I've simply filtered out most discussion of the subject in the same way I ignore conversations about World of Warcraft or the latest Playstation 3 title: Not Relevant.

I'm now seeing comments in forums that despite all the security, Diablo 3 has already been hacked.

So what was the point?

(However, looking at the article I was sent, it sounds more like account theft in the WOW sense than DRM cracking. Not that this is much help to the person whose account gets stolen, rendering their paid-for game even more junk than it was to begin with.)

Why would anyone even CARE?

So apparently there's some MMORPG in development that intends to try and give financial incentives to people who play characters of their own assigned sex. (You probably don't want to read the comments, they're pretty nasty.)

I just... WHY? What on earth is the point of this?

I'm trying not to invent and assign nasty motives because it's really not fair to assume without evidence, but... why should anyone, especially a game developer, care about how much the players in the game resemble their avatars?

Y'know what? I bet that guy playing the blue tiger-striped furry barbarian is not actually a blue tiger-striped furry barbarian IRL. Shock!

I know why a very small number of players would be in favor of such a thing, because the comments make it pretty clear - there be some highly unpleasant individuals who are deeply disturbed by the idea that the ludicrously-jiggly breasts the developers have implemented for them to stare at (their only purpose, in their minds) might be under the control of a RIVAL MALE. (And a few others utterly despise trans people and are specifically happy at the idea of something that upsets them.) But surely the company behind a game should be above such bizarre and petty obsessions?

They can't even trade off the notion of an environment where people are strictly locked to the "correct" sex because they aren't at all trying to implement that. I don't get it.

get loot. get more loot.

Wasted a few minutes playing BrowserQuest. Well, it's free...

Worlds In Time

I generally ignore browser games.

I have no interest in being sucked into 'free' worlds that want me to part with my sanity and eventually upgrade my experience with nickels and dimes.

But I have to say, the little preview animation for the new Doctor Who game is rather adorable.

Diablo Online

As someone pointed out, if they just called it Diablo Online there'd be absolutely nothing to whine about. From looking at the details, it appears they *do* want a more MMORPG-like experience from the game.

Which is fine for them I guess, but not what I played it for.

I tried Diablo 2 multiplayer once or twice. It was a disaster. Lag and rubber-banding were miserable. It wasn't fun. I quickly reached a 'never again' decision and went back to enjoying my game. My other half, who had nothing better to do at the time, contemplated spending years on the online games trying to obtain rare weapons to sell on ebay. I looked baffled at the idea.

It's been a long long time since Diablo2 and I'd pretty much given up on them ever releasing 3 and/or doing anything interesting with it. So I lose nothing by the realisation that their eventual release is the opposite of what I want. In the time between, I've played FATE and Titan Quest and really *should* get around to Torchlight and gosh did I never actually buy Din's Curse? I should do that!

So yeah. No real loss. :)

Realm of the Mad God

I stumbled into this by accident and know nothing about it, but without having to take any time to sign up for anything and a tutorial of, like, a minute, you can be wandering around the world blasting things.



I don't know if there's a point, but it was fun for a few minutes at least!

global virtual economy

Article on the BBC suggesting that, in a way, goldfarming is fairtrade.

this is just wrong

Why does a game about fishing need a Halloween-style sexed-up girl in its advertising??

I mean, if she'd just been in a bikini, that would potentially make sense for the setting. I don't know if people fish in bikinis, but they at least go near the water that way. The game could have been entirely about people in swimsuits. BUT NO. Fully-dressed (and bizarrely proportioned) man. Woman in wacky "Sexy Boat Captain!" costume. WHYYYYY?

ye old ball and chain

A cute article on the pros and cons of playing MMORPGs with your significant other.

(Which I'm not doing at the moment, but might again sometime.)

not cool, guys

So, I quit WoW after my account was hacked, but I still know people who play.

My husband, for one, just got back into the game with the new expansions. Unfortunately he ran smack into a big problem with the goblin quests.

Apparently to play game as a goblin you are required to murder your girlfriend/boyfriend for being a slut ("cheating on you"). You are required to literally rip his/her heart out. You cannot leave the starting zones without doing this. ("required" in the sense that the game makes you do it, not that your character is forced to do it against his/her will. It's a But Thou Must situation. Your only option, afaik, is to quit and not play the goblin race. Which, for the moment, is what he's doing. Because this is fucked up.)

Yes, it's just a game, but... what the hell?

Imagine how disturbing that would be for anyone who's actually suffered from domestic violence, or known someone who has.

It should be obvious that this COULD really upset someone, and for that reason it should not be mandatory. (Again, I'm not arguing that this should be expunged from the game and the goblins should be made into squeaky-clean nice people. But this questline should not be mandatory.)

design a starship

For EVE Online. The winner gets their ship into the game (and some other stuff besides)

Playing for high stakes

Spend five years making online roleplaying game and digging yourself into debt.

Discover that world is not set on fire by the brilliance of your creation.

Immediately implode.

giving zynga neutrals

Apparently they're shutting down one of their facebook games with all of, like, three days warning.

And while some Street Racing fans are upset over the studio's apparent indifference, even more are complaining about losing the virtual cars and modifications they've purchased in the game with real cash.

... While my snarky side thinks it was insane for anyone to spend real money on a facebook game, ESPECIALLY one by a company KNOWN to be a bit on the slimy side, my less-evil side points out that everyone should have the right to not get ripped off, even people who spend their money on things I think are silly.

On the bright side, after the initial announcement (and probably some screaming) Zynga is offering credits to anyone who spent money on the game in the past 90 days, so not so bad.

Still and again - you don't own these games, they can be taken away from you at any time, DON'T GET INVESTED IN THEM.

Edit: Since the comment mentions that would also apply to all MMORPGs, I should say that I KNOW THAT. :)

rushing to your DOOM

Servers apparently got hammered so I've made no attempt to PLAY this yet, but watching the video is rather amusing...

Old Republic MMORPG

So, I watched the flashy E3 trailer. And I found it really boring.

It's... pretty to look at. But that's not what the actual game is going to look like. And it just goes on and on with its pointless flashy stuff that doesn't MEAN anything. These are not characters that I care about. It's too long for a teaser just to spark the interest or an intro video for the real thing. It just feels like a lot of wasted time and money that could have been spent making the actual game.

cute fairy boys

Nice to see that they've made room for boys in the cute and sparkly world of Disney Fairies...

there's a rarity

Apparently a MMORPG did something incredibly stupid, and then when it was pointed out just how stupid this was, backed down and apologised.