Beau

Also, I would like to point out that I much preferred the stylized look of There over Second Life. Often, Second Life and other games attempt to mirror real life and only serve to draw attention to the failing of the graphics.

I would rather have a pretty cartoony world than a slightly under-realized realism.

Beau

This is indeed sad news. I have been playing for years, and have such memories of staying up late with my wife, having political conversations with people over voice chat...hanging out at parties.

Oh well, it had a great run, and provided a lot of fun. Unfortunately I agree that adult content seems to pay the bills easier, as well as the ability to allow your players to make anything within seconds.

If you made a product in There, it took a while to get "approval" for the item. While I liked that this kept things under a bit of control, I think it was creatively a little stifling. Still, I have fond memories of getting approval on pieces of art, etc...

Thanks for the good times, There!

Beau

Joey:

It sounds like you were about as far as I was in the Game Tap days. From what I can tell, the game hasn't changed and the Cavern is just more active than I ever remember seeing it.

New Ages, I think, are eventually supposed to come from players. From what I understand, Cyan is running these servers on donations, but eventually the open-source stuff (player made ages) will be available.

So yeh, Cyan is involved but it seems like this game might be perfectly suited for a FTP/Freemium type of model. I would not be surprised if they opened up a sub, though, but kept it minimal. I would suggest doing what I did, logging back in and getting back to the point you were before it stumped ya, then trying to find some help at this party or somewhere else.

Good luck!

Beau

Pedro:

WoW is by far not the most popular game in the world. It is the largest Pay to Play game, yes, but by far not the most popular. Most of the world uses the FTP click-to-move scheme.

Also, WoW incorporates click-to-move, as well.

Khai: the game is essentially a series of puzzles that you can walk through to solve and explore. If you have ever played a Myst stand-alone game then take that experience but throw in your own player house and the ability to meet up with hundreds of other people.

You can even invite others to come into your puzzles (or "ages") with you, to help you look for clues. But, be warned: they are no easy puzzles. While there are spoilers out there, the community is generally very leery of posting a spoiler without full warning first.

It's a different game, and free. If you like it, throw them a donation! :)

Beau Turkey

Also, the most popular games in the world actually use point-to-click, not WASD movement. Just sayin'.

Beau

Bryan:

Do you know about the running? I mean, hold down shift or click the "always run" option. Running is uhm...you know...run speed. lol

Beau

Dav: I think you need to learn about the controls a bit more! :) It's just WASD movement, and clicking on items with your mouse.

There are shortcuts in game to put you in different view modes, so ask around next time in or look it up. (I am forgetting off the top of my head.) But, yeh, they're the same controls as with any standard MMO. You must have the other control scheme on right now.

Beau Turkey

It isn't always about an "unfair advantage." Understand that in some games, especially games with a younger audience, fashion can be a much more powerful force than combat ability.

Laugh if you want, but fashion makes A LOT of money. :)

Imagine...why would they want to stop people from using in game gold to buy the wings?

If you had an item that you promised to only one section of your player-base (those with cash-shop money), and they responded by BUYING the product (along with the exclusive feel of the product) and then a glitch allowed that same exclusive item to be had for anyone, would you want to fix it? Of course. Raiders know the "exclusive" feel of their items and achievements...what would happen if we sold THEIR items?

Also, the cash-shop users might have had plenty of in-game gold, but instead spent real life money on the item (because it was not designed to be paid for with in-game gold) ,only later to find out that in-game gold was being used to buy the product!

This has nothing to do with "in-game advantage." Like I said, not everyone cares about "out-performing" someone else. I would argue, in fact, that most players do not.

Now, out "looking" someone, THAT'S a different story! :)

Beau

The "exploit" was a glitch that allowed players to buy the wings using in game gold instead of cash-shop money. My wife does a very successful podcast for the game (ravenwoodradio.com) and someone on her Twitter even talked about feeling "guilty" for using the exploit.

There is a definite reason to not allow those exploits uses to go "unpunished", especially in that game. Children will take every advantage they can, and hacking/exploiting is pretty darn common in "kid's" games. Note that there are other reasons why they would want to shut down the exploit, that are far beyond corporate greed.

If you haven't played it, you should. They have a 21 day trial and the new trial island is awesome. You can try every skill tree out (but not all one trillion skills lol) and you can see the weather effects and mob AI in action.

This game has stuff like weather that actually changes and seasons, and mobs that have hunter/prey action and migration. I love it.

Beau