Recent Comments:
Communicator offered with Star Trek Online Collector's Edition {Massively}
Dec 4th 2009 11:02AM ouch - burn
DarkFall's expansion set to launch today {Massively}
Dec 4th 2009 11:01AM I even wonder if you read me reply. No, I am very familiar with the difference between PKers and Greifers. And, I also know that the main reason open PvP worlds traditionally have so many problems with mainstream audiences are because of greifers.
Look, if we were both at Starbucks you might choose to punch me in the nose. I then have the choice to fight back, or I might call the cops. Either way, likely you are going to be banned from that Starbucks for quite some time. I could press charges and you could end up in jail for a few days or have to post bail costing you a lot of hard earned money. And you could even get injured or killed - you are taking a real risk that I might have a concealed weapon.
The point is, there are a number of reasons that you hesitate taking extreme actions. I simply propose that in order to build a thriving sandbox world, there should be tools to emulate the penalties of real life (but in game terms).
So now we are both in game, and I am definately going to backstab you dead simply for the fact that I find you annoying. I know that the local player town decreed that murder is punishable by banishment, but even known we are in city limits, I lop off your head and use it to scare of harpies. Now the player guards in the town can not only kill me, but use some banishment spell to send my character to the arctic wastes.
Of course, when I arrive in the icy tundra, I am met by some real bad-ass players who get banished here so often they have become kings of this prison and they are about to make me their bitch. This is where I learn that, even in an MMO, crime does not always pay. Lucky for me, I still have your severed character head and use it to turn them all to stone. *whew*
There is a LOT of depth that could be built into a game around the consequences of PvP actions. It does seem that the people who defend open PvP without consequences are the ones who are the greifers, the corpse campers, and the ones who run away from anything even close to a fair fight.
DarkFall's expansion set to launch today {Massively}
Dec 3rd 2009 8:03PM I beg to differ. Just arming up and killing, say, a greifer does nothing. Someone greifing people can do it all day - even after being killed themselves.
Life if PvP, yet no one in my neighborhood is going into anyone else's house, shooting the owners and taking their stuff.
Sandbox games offer all sorts of tools/systems/rules to enable players to "live" in a virtual world. If the developers are going to take the time to put in things like crafting encouraging an economy, why not develop a new system to allow those same people you say should police themselves the ability to actually enforce their law?
And I do sound like a broken record. I'll keep asking for it until someone develops something solid that both allows for both cruel player behavior (go gankers!) but also balances it with harsh penalties.
Oh, no it is not too much work for me to become a band of policemen. I have been there so many times. What sucks is that you work hard, catch the villain, kill him, only to have him spawn somewhere else and kill some other innocent crafter within minutes. It makes policing pointless. Give me a jail I can throw that jerk into for a while, and I would LOVE to be a policeman.
Hands-on with the Sith Inquisitor of Star Wars: The Old Republic {Massively}
Dec 3rd 2009 7:56PM How cool.
DarkFall's expansion set to launch today {Massively}
Dec 3rd 2009 6:51PM Wish them the best!
I would have stuck with darkfall even with the horrible interface, if only there would have been a system to enforce moral behavior. Free for all killing is fun. Although main "main" was a smith in the old UO days, I had an alt who was a Grandmaster thief and I LOVED stealing people's house keys, following them "home" and robbing them blind.
That said, I would have loved it more if, upon getting caught one day, my character could have been thrown in some prison or maybe banished to some far island of criminals for a time. As it was, there was not much risk other than the thrill on how far I could push theft with a character with exactly zero combat skills but armed to the max with ways to be sneaky and backstabbing. Even my own bags were littered with "trapped" chests that would explode upon opening and insta-kill the person unfortunate to loot my dead body. Often I had a chance to get a rez from a wandering healer before my opponent could and then I would loot us both - theft from the dead.
So developers of Darkfall - create some system for society to flourish with mutual agreed upon moral laws and a way to enforce them and I am subscribing again. As it is right now, it is just lord of the flies in there.
See what makes Fleet Actions a big deal in Star Trek Online {Massively}
Dec 3rd 2009 6:44PM We will see. I don't trust these video interviews anymore. I got all excited with all the WAR ones and then Warhammer turned out not nearly as cool as the developers pimped in their video.
I remember when, in WAR, they had a big video how there was no stupid kill X monster quests. I think he said "bears". The fact is, if you killed a bunch of bears to get to the guy who wants bears dead, he just gives you a reward. Which turned out that in each camp there was one guy who didn't like one type of mob, but you had to actually meet him first before the tally started (I think).
Yet, in WAR, there are plenty of NPCs who will send you on missions to kill X mob, never accounting for the fact that you might have just been killing those mobs less than a second ago. *sigh*
I'd love to hear a beta tester's feedback on Fleet action, but I am willing to bet with the limited beta time testing that Cryptic follows that there has been little to no testing of this particular feature.
Comcast takes control of NBC, promises not to crush Hulu {Engadget}
Dec 3rd 2009 2:18PM @Gib I was going to ask the same question?!?
The Daily Grind: Do you prefer good news or bad? {Massively}
Dec 3rd 2009 11:24AM I like the balanced news too.
There have been some great articles coming out of Massively lately. They do sometimes get buried in the copy-paste news bulletins which seem to be more like marketing drool from developers. But I always take them with a grain of salt.
The one thing is, when a game does release, it seems Massively gets overly positive, like mentioned above, and then more objective after the game has been out for a while. I am curious if the developers sway the writing staff with beta keys and special "perks". Or maybe it is just the excitement of a new game. But I get sucked up by new games too with hope...
In-wall USB charger is as cheap as it is ingenious {Engadget}
Dec 3rd 2009 10:38AM @(Unverified) +1 A wall outlet could have one of each. Although, it isn't as though super small power dongles exist.
Also, you would want to mod your wallplates so that they use some sort of green chip. Putting dongles in your wall that constantly draw power isn't great on your energy bill.
The breadth of morality in MMOs {Massively}
Dec 2nd 2009 10:19AM What is often lacking in MMOs is a consequence to your morality. Some single player RPs really make you feel part of the world by the way your choices change, at the very least, the way NPCs interact with you. But a good RP changes the story.
MMOs started off offering sandbox worlds where you could be immoral. Early MUDs and MUSHes would allow PvP - but there was some harsh penalties for murders. You could, in fact, be perma-killed in game.
I guarantee you that games like Darkfall, where almost everyone acts without morals, would be very different if your character could be permanently killed because you are a murderer. Even known it is really just a loss of time, people would think twice about random ganking.
I'd like to see MMOs develop more tools and in-game reactions to immoral behavior and then at the same time allow for the occasional immoral action to take place and even allow for the person who wants to try and be very villianous (with the risks that it entails).
For instance, maybe there could be a difference between "killing" a player and disabling them. When some jerk comes and kill steals from me or something like that in an MMO, I can try and knock the guy out in a fight. Once down, I can choose to murder and loot (and get the penalties) or I can just let him be where he will either just return to his spawn point or recover after a while. I love that feeling of having the option to do something in-game with there are jerks. Or even protect the weak.
