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Roleplaying Servers 2007-05-08 02:48:41 I’ve never played on a roleplaying server before. It isn’t because I don’t like to RP (quite the opposite) but I’m always afraid of what the reaction will be if I do. Will someone jump down my throat if I do something against lore? Are they all jerks on RP servers?
I know the story of most of the games I play. I know the lore behind most of them. But…let’s take, for instance, Lord of the Rings. I’ve read the books, though that was some time ago and I found them great for a lesson in world design and somewhat lacking elsewhere. My question is, if I pick up LOTRO and start playing on an RP server am I going to get hounded because of this? What if I don’t write with an “accent” (and that is because of a mixture of the extra time it takes to type out all those ’s and whatever else and because of a lack of exactly when to do so).
So, anyone with some experience on an RP server in any game got anything to share? Am I
Highlight of the Week 2007-05-11 01:03:06 I can’t believe it’s already Thursday…where did the week go?
Anyway I guess I should throw a Highlight
at everyone. Normally I wouldn’t highlight a post that was just asking a question but that’s what I’m going to do this week. Over on CuppyTalk there is a post on what environments should be done that haven’t been, or at least haven’t been done well.
It’s not so much the post itself that I’m highlighting, but the comments to it. There’s some funny and interesting stuff posted so check it out and leave a response.
CuppyTalk, cuppycake, mmo world, mmo gaming, mmog, environments
Confirming My Suspicions 2007-05-09 19:29:20
Leslie, from fellow 451 site Apple Reporter is the inspiration for this article.
It boils down to this, Leslie has a Mac (obviously) and wants to know what games she can run on it with the GMA 950 card that it came with. So, with that in mind, I set out to explore the depths of Apple gaming and find out exactly what games she could occupy her time with.
Well…I’d love to say it was a successful journey and I learned a lot but that simply isn’t the case. Scouring every resource I could find there was still no reassuring answer. Everywhere I went I was told, in essence “you need a dedicated graphics card.” In fact, at the Apple Support center I read several people say that there is no good way to game on a Macbook at all, it was either Pro, if you had to have the portability of the notebook, or go with a desktop to get anywhere at all with gaming on a Mac.
That’s unfortunate.
Now, there are, of course, some games that can be run, but it seems that
Getting a New Mouse 2007-05-09 01:20:31
Soon I’ll be getting a new computer. Today though, I ordered a brand new mouse. The Logitech G5 to be precise. I could have gone with the newer G7 model but, quite frankly, the cord doesn’t bother me in the least. Originally I was going to wait and just get the mouse with my computer. Then I saw that I could actually get it cheaper (by about $15) if I bought it off Amazon separately. Now, I’ll be honest, this isn’t a ton of money that I saved but what’s important is that I saved money at all. Why spend more than I have to, right?
Anyway, I’ll be updating at a later date after I’ve gotten it and had plenty of time to test it out with different games. I’ll write up a full review then.
If I don’t like it (which I don’t think will be the case) then I may check out some other offerings from the gaming mouse set. I’ll post my final new computer specs after I make the purchase too.
logitech, gaming gear, gaming mous Read more:Mouse
Got my G5 2007-05-12 02:50:47 I just got my mouse and tried it out for a few minutes (I won’t be using it a ton until I get my new computer to put it into. Anyway, I’m liking it a lot so far. I took some time and added some extra DPI pre-sets. The 2000 I’m sure will be nice for (some) games but for general browsing it is a bit too sensitive. I’ve found that I prefer between 1000 and 1600 DPI for everyday use.
The 800 DPI setting that a lot of reviewers mentioned as good for “everyday” use I found to feel very slow, the 400 is especially slow (obviously) but could be great for some applications (Photoshop for one.) I also love the cord on it and the weights. I’ll talk about those after I’ve spent more time with it though. Oh yeah, and the “back” button on the side is a great touch.
laser mouse, gaming mouse, g5, logitech g5
A Promise 2007-05-17 02:47:01 I know I promised an SOE/Sigil/McQuaid post up today but much of what I would have said has already been stated around the ‘net. I won’t throw the same words out again but I will add a few points of my own or clarify some things I’ve read elsewhere.
To start, a large cluster of the community is blaming Brad for all the ills of Vanguard. It wasn’t his fault. Seriously. Don’t get me wrong, he deserves to be blamed for a crappy game as much as anyone, but blaming him for all the problems that plagued that game is silly. There are lots of bugs in the game, Brad didn’t code the game, which means someone else screwed up too. Brad didn’t make every decision for the game and company (I don’t know very many CEOs who know of each daily decision that goes on.) There were people, aside from Brad, who made a bad game.
As I said though, I’m not taking blame away from Brad, he is still very much at fault, but it wasn’t only him and I
More Tomorrow 2007-05-16 02:27:23 I’ll post my thoughts tomorrow, but for now, let me just put up the press release. For those of you who don’t know, the shit hit the fan over at Sigil and SOE told people to get the hell out because Vanguard sucked horribly. Well…maybe they didn’t use those exact words, but it was, generally speaking, the notice that was given.
Anyway, as I said, more later, but here’s the press release.
soe, sony online entertainment, sigil, brad mcquaid, vanguard
My New Computer 2007-05-14 14:19:25 So, as promised, here’s my new computer’s specs (or at least the important ones):
Power Supply: 750 Watt — Thermaltake Toughpower W0117RU Power Supply
Processor: AMD AthlonT64 X2 5600+ Dual-Core CPU (2.8 GHz)
Memory: 2048MB [1024MB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX 768MB (I can’t wait to see how this thing runs)
Hard Drive 1&2: 200 GB 7200 RPM
Monitor: LCD Monitor ViewSonic 19″ Wide (could have gone bigger but I don’t see much need. I take a very minimalist approach to the UI’s I use in game so having a ton of screen space isn’t a necessity (not that 19″ isn’t a good amount anyway))
Keyboard: Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard (I was really stuck on this option. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to get here as I don’t really need macro keys/gaming keys but this keyboard got the best reviews consistently so I decided to go with it anyway, even though it cost me a few extra dollars)
Mouse: Logite Read more:Computer
I Don’t Want to, But I Must 2007-05-14 14:01:42 So I’m thinking about picking up LOTRO. My comments about it previously haven’t been fantastic but that wasn’t ever because the game was bad. I don’t recall ever saying that. My problem was it was WoW with a new package. Well…it seems I may have been too hasty. Having talked and read various people’s comments apparently there is a lot of really good game in there stuffed between the WoW wrapping.
And, since I’ll be getting my new computer soon I should be able to run it much better than on my laptop (which I think is why I had such a major problem with it before.) We’ll see how things work out…I have a bunch of store credit on my EB Games/Gamestop card so the game will be all but free when I do pick it up (minus the subscription fee after a month) which will be nice.
I’ll post the specs of my new computer this week as well. I like it and am happy with the price as well.
computers, pc, lotro, lord of the rings, wo
Spending My Time 2007-05-19 02:02:28 I’ve been spending most of my time trying to gauge the reactions of people over Brad’s interview. The general consensus seems to be that he should just shut up and stop screwing himself over by talking. I half agree.
It is sad though, I can see where he is coming from with the things he says. About not wanting to be there to watch as his company crashed and burned, and eventually had to let go of tons of good people. That’s gotta hurt. That isn’t to say I agree with him not being there when it went down but I appreciate what he is trying to say. It’s not malicious, it’s not because he is stupid, it’s just a crappy situation that he wasn’t equipped to handle. Should he have been there? Yes, in fact, I don’t think things should have gone this way at all, but I’m not going to hound him and tell point out all the problems with what he is saying. At this point he’s limping along somewhere trying to find a place to di Read more:Spending
Highlight of the Week 2007-05-17 14:59:46 After reading it I knew it was going to be the highlight for this week. Tobold’s post on a new vision is the best post I’ve read all week (no offense to anyone else.) I don’t really need to even say that much, it nails everything dead on. I may comment on it later, as I often do, but for now just take the time to read it, if you haven’t, and you’ll see it is worth the time.
Now, where were we on the Brad McQuaid bashing?
tobold, highlight of the week, new vision, mmog, mmorpg, mmo gaming, online games
Read more:Highlight
It Has Arrived 2007-05-22 05:58:34 Well, I got my new computer yesterday, and, after a bit of fiddling around with it I was able to set everything up. Of course, in that time, I wasn’t actually able to play any games since I had to download, well…everything. I’ll post some more thoughts later, but so far I am happy with it. I can’t wait to see how some games will look using it, but that probably won’t be until Wednesday when I can get around to that.
I’ll post a bit more later.
Taking It Slow 2007-05-25 14:10:46
There is definitely something to be said for not knowing what is going on when you first start a game. For instance I don’t know what the hell I’m doing in LOTRO or EQ2 for that matter. I’m enjoying moving slowly between places and taking the time to explore areas. Sometimes it can be frustrating, obviously. Such as when the directions say to head “north-west” and you find out it is more like directly north and a step to the right, but overall it is fun to explore the world (even more so when the world looks nice.)
Of course, what I don’t like, and never will, is the annoying grinding of early levels when you want to change character class or anything like that. Which is why I’m really interested in Tabula Rasa (by the way, I’m thinking of instituting a new policy in which I must mention Tabula Rasa in every post I write until it is released, any thoughts?). The fact that I can clone myself and avoid having to grind through the sam Read more:Taking
Dungeon Runners Now Available for All 2007-05-24 19:29:13
Contrary to what a certain comment on my original thread several months ago on DungeonRunners
would have you believe, I did send out many invites. But now, I no longer have to. Dungeon Runners
is now open for everyone.
Now though, I would like to take a moment to all those who I didn’t get to send an invite out too (like my oh so rude commenter who seems to think I screwed him over). I sent out over 50 invites to people. I could only send out 4 at a time so this was quite a task, and considering each one had a two week expiration, I did the best I could. Some people I’m sure I missed, some people I couldn’t get to in a reasonable time and many of those I didn’t ever contact (some I did, but it was a lot). I was asked for well over 100 invites, much more than I ever expected to get. My fault, I doubted people’s desire to have free stuff given to them.
In the future I will try to do a better job of contacting people in a timely manner so that e-mail
That’s Impressive 2007-05-23 18:08:40 Tonight will be the first night I really get a chance to try gaming on this new computer, but I do have a couple of thoughts on it so far.
First…being able to put graphics settings to the highest point makes a huge difference in enjoyment of the game. I’m not even one of those people who cares a ton for graphics (I’ll take good gameplay over graphics any day) but I’ll be damned if EQ2 and LOTRO aren’t beautiful cranked all the way up.
Second…I love being able to put my settings that high and not experience any slowdown in game. That’s awesome.
I’m also enjoying the Logitech G15 keyboard I got. The LCD screen is nice (I use it to check up on my CPU usage and the like.) I’ll have to see what is available for other games that I have (I think Rise of Legends uses it in some way) and it will be interesting to see how it works more.
I’ll probably be writing up a review of the keyboard and the G5 mouse at some point, but for th Read more:Impressive
Seems a Bit Strange 2007-05-31 10:38:45 So, Hexedian made a post in the Kill Ten Rats forums (tied in, apparently, with this post from Hex’s blog…yes I shortened it to Hex, because I am that lazy.)
I’ll quote it below and then my response because it’s a good subject and gave me an idea (and who doesn’t love an idea.)
I’ve been thinking for while, and I’ve come to the conclusion that most MMORPGs that we see today are simply too easy. Not that the time to acquire power is too short, I don’t mind that either way, but understanding an MMORPG, and playing it to near perfection, requires next to no skills from the player.
Now, that may seem intuitive for the people who are used to being made fun of because they play a game that doesn’t require skills, but one has to understand that it doesn’t have to be that way. MMORPGs can be every bit as challenging as the next shooter or platformer, without necessarily asking the player to time rocket jumps to the perfection. Why, o Read more:Strange
How Awesome is it? 2007-05-30 20:56:08 So Awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I’m not going to talk about it yet…but holy crap is it ever going to be cool. I have so many ideas, so many great things I can do…but I won’t talk about it yet…but it’s coming. What is it? You’ll find out soon.
Much like the Logos in Tabula Rasa, I’m being cryptic (and you thought I couldn’t get it in there.)
Now We Can See Why 2007-05-29 13:28:09 Over at Broken Toys there is a Youtube video of the dances seen in World of Warcraft alongside the live versions of the dances. Quite frankly this is what makes Blizzard so good at what they do. Watch the video. Every move is nearly flawless. They need to be paying some people double because their artists and animators are dead on accurate.
Fairly funny and a good example of what all games should do as far as character animating goes (I’m talking about you LOTRO…what I’m not talking about is Tabula Rasa, which I haven’t yet seen because I don’t have a beta invite yet)
Of Podcasts 2007-05-28 20:55:26 So, I got time yesterday to listen to the first Episode of Darren and Cuppy’s new podcast “Shut up. We’re Talking”. If you have the time (and by that I mean a spare hour) it is well worth a listen. Very nicely done and fun to listen to.
Cuppy sounds almost exactly like one of the former hosts of the morning radio show at a local station, eerily so actually. At any rate, I will throw out a few comments I had about it.
It was a great show and an awesome first episode definitely, had it not said “Episode 1″ I could have easily believed that they had both been doing it for a while already. It was really well put together and they seemed to be able to converse without it seeming forced, which I’ve heard plenty of in other shows. It is a bit long though. Over an hour, as I mentioned. I’m not saying it would be better shorter, only that it would work better for me in smaller chunks, like 30ish minutes. Most times I won’t have an ho Read more:Podcasts
Good Times 2007-06-01 19:29:23 Topics like this are always funny to me. The entire premise behind them. Now, Cuppy isn’t the only one commenting on this issue (or is it non-issue?) but she happened to post it today and I like to keep things fresh. Anyway, feel free to weigh in at some point, but the whole thing is just so…beyond foolish…that I’m tempted not to say anything. That temptation won’t win out, I’m sure, but it’s there.
We’ll see how things go later tonight into tomorrow…I may be forced to post some thoughts.
Read more:Times
, Good Times
It Really Is This Easy 2007-06-06 19:57:59 So, I come to write up a post for today and I’m greeted with a new incoming link to my blog. What is the new link? Of Ice and Fire. Now, I don’t immediately recognize the user name, changling bob, but I’m sure I’m just missing this from someone’s comments at some site. So, whoever you happen to be, welcome to a free link from my blog and one new reader. Look forward to seeing what you have to say.
Now though, seriously, who are you?
link, trackback, new blog, mmorpg, mmog
What I’m Playing 2007-06-05 18:36:50 So, it’s been a while since I actually spent any time talking about what I’m playing. To be honest, I’m hopping around in between a couple of games at the moment. LoTRO has not gotten much attention. I have a few characters and I enjoy playing them, but the game just isn’t that fun for me to continue and try real hard with it when I don’t really know anyone else to play with (which would make the game much more enjoyable I imagine.)
Mainly I’ve been playing EQ2 and Space Cowboy even more recently. EQ2 is fun, but a bit slower to progress (for me, not knowing the landscape or the quests or anything of the sort) and I don’t have anyone to play with, so I’m kind of missing out (I think I need to find myself a guild or something.) Space Cowboy I’m having a lot of fun with though, mostly because it’s one of those games where I just don’t feel like I need to care (it’s free to play) about leveling or spending time.
A lolcat for Every Occasion 2007-06-04 11:06:00 Like most times when I say I won’t post about something, what I actually mean is I won’t post about it the very second I read it. Now I’m going to though.
A lot has already been said on the subject from Cuppy to Darren and the original topic from Cuppy’s old post at Virgin Worlds. Here’s my favorite though, the post from Cameron on the matter.
I have only one problem with what Cameron says in his post. I’ll quote the section below.
I apologize
Nonsense. Don’t apologize for calling an idiot an idiot. Feminism is completely ridiculous and all feminists are idiots. Anyone who thinks feminism isn’t ridiculous is also an idiot. It’s not men who are to blame for making things the way they are, it’s women. Women who manage to screw things up constantly with their bitching and moaning about every little thing.
Don’t want to be treated differently? Don’t bitch to me about your period.
Want to be treated just like a
Funny You Should Say That 2007-06-08 20:15:23 When checking out Random Battle today I saw a post by Cameron that I found interesting. Not so much interesting in an “I hadn’t thought about that” way, but more of a “well now, this seems oddly familiar” way.
Over at the Kill Ten Rats forum there is a post about Tabula Rasa in which an interesting discussion started. It began with an innocent comment by Nicodemus calling it a third person shooter. I had no real problem with this as it is technically perfectly accurate, but it just gives the wrong impression in my mind (you Halo kiddies certainly know what I’m talking about) so I had to turn it around, trying to say it wasn’t really a shooter exactly.
After my post, Nicodemus left this at the start of his next post:
role-playing games are, by definition, games that emphasize or focus on role-playing.
And that just begged to be responded to:
Absolutely, but by using that definition we find that the entire RPG genre is a misnomer don’ Read more:Funny
Good First Post 2007-06-07 19:56:50 As I mentioned yesterday, a newly started blog, Of Ice and Fire, linked to me. Now the first real post (I don’t count the introduction post) is up, and it’s a good one. Particularly the closing statement:
If a player knows what they’re doing, they should use whatever abilities they need to to do their job;
Exactly. This is one of my pet peeves in games, particularly WoW. If you are going to tell a person not to use an ability instrumental to their class than you are a crappy raid leader. You need to effectively lead people without telling each one exactly what to do. The obvious problem is you need people who know what they are doing, but assuming that is the case, you need to take general control, but you don’t need to point out every little thing each person should do or shouldn’t do. Let them do their jobs.
Also, probably not a good idea to expound on the problems of using X or Y if you’ve never actually played that class. Most of the time Read more:First
Enough is Enough 2007-06-12 19:08:42 People need to stop. More specifically, we, MMO gamers, need to stop. The next time I see someone mention how developer X in interview Y really seems to “get it” and how to design an MMO I’m going to go crazy (more so than I am.)
They don’t “get it”. None of them. There is nothing to get. There is no hard and fast rule on how to create a good MMO or a successful one. Developers need to stop talking about how their game will be similar to World of Warcraft and how easy it is to get into. No, it won’t. I don’t want it to be. I want it to be as easy to get into as whatever the hell the name of your game is. I’m not talking about not comparing games to WoW, that’s impossible. I’m talking about making your game stand on it’s own without having to mention WoW. I’m just really frustrated by it. As if each thing you are doing needs to be specifically stated where else it has appeared.
I don’t care t Read more:Enough
Official Forums Are the Best Bad Community, Part 1 2007-06-11 18:14:17 A two parter, so you know it has to be long…not really actually, as it turns out my toe is just throbbing horribly and I don’t want to try and sit at my computer one leg propped up on my bed so that it doesn’t hurt so bad. (By the way, had an ingrown toenail removed today, thus the throbbing.) Anyway, back to the real topic, official forums.
If we are to look at what Sigil said about Vanguard not having official forums, a lot of people said this was a bad idea…and it is, sort of. Community is something I enjoy talking about. I enjoy discussing how to run a community and how to effectively use one, etc. It’s a hobby. By no means am I an expert, or for that matter overly qualified to discuss how an MMOG community forum is different from any other type of community forum. Some people, of course, applauded Sigil for this move to not include an official community. In fact, from a purely marketing standpoint it would seem to work out pretty well. If t Read more:Official
, Forums
GamingMMO.com Contest #1: What Do You Mean I Actually Have to Do Something? 2007-06-15 00:30:38 For this first contest we’ll actually be requiring some work for people that want to win something. First a little about the contest, then we get to the contest rules, and then, at the bottom, the prizes.
About the Contest
So, what exactly will you be doing? MMO games have the unique ability to truly emulate real world situations and events. As gamers we often criticize the media for not taking gaming as a serious form of entertainment or art. Compared to painting, music, movies, books and so on games are not considered to be on that same level of depth, and for good reason. The average game isn’t out there tackling tough issues or showing us flaws in the system around us. In fact, trying to make a game that has a strong lesson also fun is not an easy task. (No one wants to play “Global Warming: The Game” right?)
But with MMOs, or more specifically, virtual worlds, we are poised to get rid of this notion entirely if we tackle these issues correctly. So t Read more:Actually
LoTRO, Vanguard, and other Random Bits 2007-06-14 19:04:39 So, the LoTRO patch came out. It’s rather large and I still haven’t even begun to look at the patch notes, so I’ll have to get on that. As I’m not really playing it at the moment though I’m not all that fascinated with the changes. I will say it bodes well for the game though, glad to see Turbine is going to continue with what they normally do, keep putting out content for their game. And quality content it appears.
Oh yeah, and Vanguard
is merging servers sometime soon. I’m not saying anything else on that.
For the moment I really can’t decide what to play. Generally speaking I’m just trying to hold out a while until some of the games I really want to check out hit stores. Tabula Rasa, Warhammer, maybe even Age of Conan (though I’m really not all that into it at the moment.) I’m thinking of maybe trying out Sword of the New World. It seems like it has some interesting mechanics to it but I don’t hold out a ton Read more:Random
Coming Up on GamingMMO.com 2007-06-13 15:22:39 Aside from some other cool things which I still won’t mention, I have another announcement which I will. We are coming up on the first GamingMMO.com contest. I can’t yet say what the contest will involve but I can say that there will be some cool stuff that you can win. What exactly is that cool stuff? You’ll just have to wait until next week to find out. Come back Friday, June 15 to check out the contest and the prizes.
And remember, to enter the contest you must be willing to provide a valid e-mail address up front, and a valid shipping address if you win.
mmo gaming, gamingmmo.com, contest, prizes
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