MMORPG's & Online Gaming

[Kyuuketsuki]

OK,

I've never been much of a one for online gaming ... I mean sure I like network games as much as anyone else but to me the point has been about cooperating or competing with friends, having a good old battle or some such with the occasional friendly slagging and so on. I've even played against relative strangers in a strategic PBEM game called VGA Planets which, despite the low quality graphics, I absolutely love (well V3.x at any rate) because it involves strategy, a slow build up of resources, tactics, planning and, if desired, an element of role play ... but until now I've never been in a true online game.

So having signed up for my first ever MMORPG, Second Life, and spent the grand total of maybe an hour in it I am now receiving mails from the people who run the application ... why I'm not sure, it's not like they make money out of it in any way I'm aware of.

Apparently (so I'm told), It's a big world out there" and I should check out the Second Life Showcase for ideas of what I could do next. One moment I could be sunning myself on a Thai beach, the next relaxing in an alpine forest and later perhaps partying with "the hipsters" in NYC ... sounds delightful I'm sure but to enjoy sunning myself on a Thai Beach I need to feel the sun on my face, the wind on my body, the sea when I go swimming ... to enjoy relaxing in an alpine forest I'd want to smell the pine and to party in NYC I guess I'd need to get in the groove on some such (I'd prefer a Goth club actually but that's just nitpicking).

I mean sure, I love to be entertained, music, film, books, plays ... they're all marvellous and I even like the occasional games where there is a goal, something to achieve but what's the attraction? I mean, the thing is, I don't get it ... to me it's as vapid as believing in invisible, indetectable gods, it's a pointless distraction that gets in the way of me and real life so why bother?

Maybe there are better (as in less pointless) MMORPG's out there but my first experience of one has been less than inspiring.

Kyu

p.s. if there are any VGAP 3.x fans out there (or anyone to whom the idea of a year or more long space strategy game appeals) I'd be happy to set up a game and play with or against you.

p.p.s The following short story is based on one of the characters I developed whilst playing the Robots (Cylons) in VGA Planets:

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Recall Notice
By
The Editor: UK Tech Portal (Kyuuketsuki)

Important Announcement

Due to basic design errors it has become necessary to seriously reconsider the role of the humanoid unit within the Galactic society.

Justification follows:

Introduction
Ever since its introduction into varied environments the humanoid unit has demonstrated significant flaws in several key areas. As such it's future must now be carefully considered.

Design
The basic humanoid unit is of bipedal design (a cylindrical central section with attached bifurcate limbs and a high-evolution all-aspect device - sensor array ("HEAD-SA" or "HEAD"). The units CPU, also located in the HEAD, gives a full 120 degree stereo optical capability with 360 degree sweep, rapid feedback and reaction time. The advanced Protection, Holographic & Enhanced Audio-visual Reaction system (PHEAR) is particularly acute.

Justification
The unit, originally designed to function as a serf race to its creator/s, has been found to be fragile in most conditions. In collision with the majority of objects the unit often suffers the greater degree of damage and is, in physiologically terms, an abysmal failure:

• It is incapable of surviving, unprotected, extremes of heat & cold, ocean depths or the hard vacuum of space.
  
• It is of use for little more than 50% of its woefully short life span and constitutes a burden on its fellow units for the remainder.
  
• It demonstrates a near intolerable lack of resistance, becoming contaminated by any one of a large number of diseases, such infections resulting in, at best, problems and, at worst, total cessation of function. Further it has an unfortunate tendency to cross-infect other units with diseases it may carry.
  
• At a cellular level any attempt at a sensible design concept appears to have been abandoned ... The number of steps involved in energy production at the biochemical level is, to say the least, ridiculously over-complex.

The intelligence potential of the unit is reported to be variable but the most serious problems can be seen in the units psychological profile which demonstrates an apparently infinite capacity for hatred, deceit, falsehood, avarice, jealousy, disobedience & violence.

The history of the unit has also turned up some interesting data. It seems initial problems were reported in the prototype model/s when the female breeder, following a conversation with a legless reptile and in defiance of clearly stated rules, ingested fruit from a tree she understood to be the font of all knowledge. Shortly afterwards she convinced the male prototype to do the same and, as a result, the authorities banned them from the area and denied them further use of the local amenities. Further research on education by ingestion has been carried out but the results were, well, fruitless.

Summary
It is recommended that the humanoid unit be recalled from service and replaced by one that addresses most, if not all, of these issues.

The only issue remaining to be resolved is the chosen method of removal and the new VX:N system could well be the best option. Nano-probe based sterilisation systems such as VX:N are highly target-specific and have shown very positive results in planetary scale tests.

Some of the more vocal protest groups have protested the use of VX:N on the basis that slow dissolution is highly distressing to the target and is understood to cause considerable neural damage and pain. However since these effects only last for a few weeks they are not considered to be significant.

Hell 9000
(speaking for CyberDyne Systems CPU)

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