A very astute list of what we've learnt about Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games: check out Raph Koster's Web site
Recently in Virtual World Category
I've always been amazed by the reaction of some players of MMORPG games. As soon as the server goes down for any reason that they weren't told about before they start mouthing off that its shite and that all the developers have been working on "broken content" and not bug fixes. FOR FUCKS SAKE get a freaking grip, I'd like to see any of them keep a system that supports 22,000 people at one up and running without any issues at all.
My personal favourite was from today when Eve went down:
these guys are morons. first they don;t do anything, like reply to our petitions. but they can perform unscheduled reboots of the cluster.
if there's more problems after the new server i'm quitting this. got better things to do then worry if i died or not while their servers crash. other than that this is a wonderful game. i'm loving it. but the problems are too many.
thanx guys. maybe next 10 patches will be bugfixes instead of new broken content.
How is that even helpful? or even reasonable or for that matter HOW does performing an unscheduled reboot make ANYONE a moron? If it goes down take the opportunity to go and do something else, you know what life is don't you...that thing that happens when you're not playing Eve? I'm sure you were able to fill it up with some other activities before the Internet was invented.
And before anyone gives me crap about "I've paid for this", just stop. Yes you've paid, so have I. Be reasonable, for your £15 per month you are getting a very complicated piece of software, the infrastructure and the content. This isn't a freaking board game, if it breaks it is a "little" bit more complicated to fix.
Having played a fair number of MMORPGs, CCP is much better at listening to their players than some of the other companies out there, many of whom have teams larger than CCPs. What you have them do? Reboot the server so you can get back to playing, or answer your petitions and let the game grind to a screaming halt?
So to the Noisy Minority, PUT UP AND SHUT UP. Your game will be back at the same time as the rest of us and we can do without the asinine commentry. As for the rest of us, lets start being less of a silent majority, putting up with the whining of the Noisy Minority.
I was given a copy of "Escaping the Gilded Cage: User Created Content and Building the Metaverse"( Cory Ondrejka) at work as a reference for some of the work that we're doing in virtual worlds, and its worth a read. As a programmer involved in developing systems for teaching through simulations, and an SF geek I've always looked forward to seeing the day when the idea of the MetaVerse actually makes it in to really life. This paper gives a background to the state of play and what we should be looking out for, in terms of pitfalls and developments.
I'd still like to see an extension to SecondLife or similar MMPORGs that would allow me to have my own area on my own laptop, that when I want it to be, could be connected to the rest of the world, and have online users wander in.
