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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[Darwinian]

As for Second Life I absolutely agree with you. As far as I can tell there is no point at all to 'being' there, apart from wandering around looking at virtual scenery.

[theVOID]

Fuck second life. I've been playing the free MMORPG Runes of Magic recently, it's fucking awesome:

http://www.runesofmagic.com/en/index.html

[Tiberius]

I'm a Second Life fan, but maybe it's because I've been so long in the game and formed a load of friendships that I wouldn't be able to keep up otherwise. I'm currently building my second house in the game.

The people who own Second Life are earning a lot of money out of it though. In order to get money in the game (other than working for it) you have to buy it through the exchange on the SL website. If you want to host a SL server you must pay them a monthly fee, and given the size of SL, there are a heck of a lot of servers out there (they don't come cheap either).

[leo-rcc]

I'd love to see a GTA MMORPG. See how a lawless civilization breaks down in days.

[theVOID]

That would be sick leo. There once existed an mmo mod for GTA3 on PC.

[Violet]

WoW is great... but maybe that's because there's a point to it. I think my biggest attraction to it is my friends though... It is meant to be a social game after all.

[dry land fish]

I work with online gamers. They come to work and talk about it all the time. They use their code words and call eachother by their gaming names. It's hilarious. I have never been able to get into gaming. Some of us at work make fun of them but we do it to their face of course. I learned something about gaming. I thought that all of the gamers basically played D&D in their parents basements and then went around dressed up as characters all day. Apparently there are different breeds of gamers. I went to school with a couple students who played Magic the Gathering and sadly we all gave them a hard time. The acronyms kill me. Everything is abbreviated in the gaming community.

[Violet]

Of course... nobody is going to say: "There is an alliance priest, hunter, and a warrior entering via tunnel"...

We abbreviate that to: "inc tun". Text messaging on steroids. > . >

[dry land fish]

Do any of you get foam swords and go outside and hit eachother with them? There is a park here where people do that. They dress up and then have battles. There may be a hundred or so people doing it. Used to a friend and myself would go and park in the parking lot and watch them while we smoked pot. It was great entertainment.