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The Daily Grind: Must MMO housing be open-world to be good?

Brianna Royce — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous, Sandbox

Whenever the Great MMO Housing debate rears its head, the "of course MMOs ought to have housing" players usually drown out the curmudgeons who lack decorating skills and prefer to live out of their banks and sleep on a bedroll on the public streets (you know who you are!). And then, inevitably, the housing fans turn on each other over which type of housing is best.

Some of us are resigned to the belief that, at best, themepark MMOs willing to take a stab at housing are forever going to implement the instanced variety a la EverQuest II and Lord of the Rings Online, so we may as well get used to it. But sandbox zealots (a term I'm intending affectionately) insist that housing must be open-world, that players should be able to walk up to their own unique spaces within a game and build their abodes from foundation to rooftop. Instanced housing, they say, is just pointless when other people can't easily see what you've created.

What do you think -- is MMO housing just a waste of dev resources if it isn't open-world?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Must MMO housing be open-world to be good? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aion rewarding decorating skills with contest

MJ Guthrie — Sat, 12 May 2012 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Contests, News items, Free-to-play

As one of 3.0's most anticipated features, player housing brought a whole new facet of gaming to Aion. Along with the studios, houses, and estates, housing provided Daevas the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and decorating flair, and players have been taking full advantage of the system. Now, NCsoft wants to reward players for sprucing up their Atreian homes with a contest titled Decorate Your Space.

Think you have a pretty snazzy pad? Then show off those mad decorating skills! All Daevas over level 20 are eligible; just submit up to three unaltered screenshots of your living space via the contest thread or by email to community_aion_en@ncsoft.com by 12:59 a.m. EDT on May 19th. The top three homes judged best decorated will win special 60-day, two-drawer cabinets with an extra 18 slots of storage space.

For full rules, conditions, and the winner release form, visit the official announcement.

Aion rewarding decorating skills with contest originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 12 May 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively tours Fiesta's new Expedition to Adealia

Beau Hindman — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Expansions, Previews, Free-to-play, Hands-on

Who doesn't love checking out a game's new content? I love it, for sure. So I was more than happy to sit down and ride along with the developers of Fiesta as they showed off their new expansion, Expedition to Adealia. The tour wasn't all rainbows and kittens, that's for sure. I found myself surrounded by towering monsters, crazy children brandishing giant knives, and massive, fire-breathing boss-monsters. It was fun, but I had no idea this cute Anime title could be so hardcore!

Luckily for me, my hosts had the ability to heal or resurrect me when needed. I didn't do too shabbily, though, and I shot arrows like bullets, bringing down every mighty beast I came across. It was fun, yes, but a real slaughter. Well, for the monsters at least.

And for those of you who'd like to host your own dance party in the game, Outspark was kind enough to provide Massively with plenty of goodie bag codes to give away. To get this free item, head to the redemption page and enter the item code MassivelyFiesta. You have until the 31st of January to redeem it.

Journey on to see just what I found during my tour of the Adealia expansion!

Continue reading Massively tours Fiesta's new Expedition to Adealia

Massively tours Fiesta's new Expedition to Adealia originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pix or it didn't happen: Calling for your SWG house screenies!

Brianna Royce — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Galleries, Screenshots, Culture, Star Wars Galaxies, Massively Meta

In exactly one month, the Star Wars Galaxies servers will be shut down forever, but that doesn't mean your creations have to be sunsetted along with them. MJ Guthrie, the co-author of our biweekly sandbox column, Some Assembly Required, is hoping to immortalize the niftiest player-decorated SWG houses, but she needs your help to do it.

If you'd like to pitch in and make sure that SWG's amazing housing mechanics aren't lost to time, just email screenshots of your favorite homes and player-run cities to MJ (mj@massively.com). If you haven't got screenies, a waypoint or coordinates (and the planet and server name) will work just as well, assuming you've unlocked the building(s) for visitors. She's also open to taking a personal tour! The December 9th edition of the column will feature the highlights along with a gallery of all the submissions.

As MJ herself posted: "Don't miss out on being a part of this housing extravaganza! Something so great deserves to be savored for a long, long time to come."

Pix or it didn't happen: Calling for your SWG house screenies! originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ten things to do in Star Wars Galaxies before it's gone

Brianna Royce — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Opinion, Star Wars Galaxies, Roleplaying, Humor, Sandbox

When SOE announced that Star Wars Galaxies would be sunsetted by the end of the year, many players despaired. They gave up. They saw their long years (eight years!) of play turn to dust. But others looked on the impending closure as incentive to do all those things they'd been putting off, all the activities they just hadn't gotten around to. There hadn't been time. The game is too big for anyone to do it all.

And that's precisely why Star Wars Galaxies is a legend among sandbox fans despite the NGE disaster. It's a living museum of great MMO ideas from the past, of player-driven economies, of open-world housing, of high-end, game-supported roleplay, of roaming in a game that lets you dictate the terms of your play. It's a rare relic you should see in the flesh, today, right now, before it's gone. You can pick up a weapon and fight in any MMO (excepting A Tale in the Desert, that is), but there are so many things you can do in Star Wars Galaxies that you can't do anywhere else with the same level of immersion. And I'm going to tell you which 10 you should do first... before it's too late.

Continue reading Ten things to do in Star Wars Galaxies before it's gone

Ten things to do in Star Wars Galaxies before it's gone originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lost Pages of Taborea: What just happened?

Jeremy Stratton — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Free-to-play, Humor, Runes of Magic, Lost Pages of Taborea

There are always plenty of memories to make and share with others, as MMOs tend to be never-ending playgrounds for us to romp around in. And after recalling major events for Runes of Magic's second birthday, I've been stuck in fond-memory mode. Two years of playing RoM is a lot of time to build up memories, too. I've gone through many a server, guild and character since I started, and I've both made memories with friends and remembered events the game itself created.

Sometimes a developer forgets to turn off a light switch, a new bug appears, or a new patch brings unintended changes. I remember a handful of times some pretty interesting things have happened. Mysterious statues popping up, bosses appearing in houses, and other anomalies await after the break.

Continue reading Lost Pages of Taborea: What just happened?

Lost Pages of Taborea: What just happened? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Runes of Magic celebrates its second birthday

Jeremy Stratton — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Events, in-game, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic

Happy birthday, Runes of Magic! Two years have gone by, and you're growing up so fast. Anniversary celebrations are already underway in RoM. If your account has been lying dormant, you may want to wake it up, join the festivities, and get some free goodies while you're at it. For me, these two years flew by. It doesn't seem all that long ago that I wrote a look back at the first year of RoM.

In two years, RoM has seen three major updates, and a fourth is just around the corner. The first two chapters made it into the first year, and although Chapter 4 didn't quite make it into this article, chapter 3 brought a whopping amount of content and features.

If your extra ginger beer isn't cutting it anymore and you're feeling brave, move on up by grabbing a bottle of Blenhiem's old #5 and join me for a look back at the last year of RoM.

Continue reading Runes of Magic celebrates its second birthday

Runes of Magic celebrates its second birthday originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively tours EverQuest's House of Thule expansion

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Expansions, Opinion, Hands-on, Massively Hands-on

The House of Thule. Not to be confused with the Summer Cottage of Thule, or the Awkwardly-Small-Yet-Expensive Inner City Apartment of Thule. Thule's house is a scary place, and it's a place that all denizens of Norrath shall soon be intimately familiar with.

Sony Online Entertainment recently gave us a deep tour of its 17th EverQuest expansion, and it's the first time I've set foot in pre-EQII Norrath in years. Luckily I can report that Sony isn't letting EverQuest lie on its laurels. While this next expansion may not sound like much (it's just a house... or is it?), it's packed with enough content to send me through a two-and-a-half hour long developer tour. Plus, I should mention that I only got to see about half of the new zones, and none of the new raids.

But why should we stand outside of this lovely home when there's so much madness hidden within? Come, journey with me, and lose all sense of what is reality.

Continue reading Massively tours EverQuest's House of Thule expansion

Massively tours EverQuest's House of Thule expansion originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lost Pages of Taborea: Fun with housing

Jeremy Stratton — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic, Lost Pages of Taborea

I've briefly mentioned housing in previous articles, but I haven't done any in-depth looks into it. Plus, with the addition of new house contracts, the housekeeper system, and some creative ideas I've discovered, I thought it was about time to give housing some exposure.

For the uninitiated, Runes of Magic's housing is a feature that lets you have an instanced area for yourself to store items, earn bonuses, and decorate to your heart's content. I've seen some players refer to RoM's housing as Everquest II lite. Apart from a handful of boss furniture-recipes, you don't craft the majority of furniture. You can buy furniture from NPCs or select from a wide range of choices in the cash shop. Once inside your house, you'll have access to the housing interface. Your items of choice can be moved into the furniture slots and then placed anywhere you want. You can get a more detailed how-to guide on housing from the Runes of Magic Wiki. In this article, I want to take a look at some creative things you can do with furniture and housing.

Continue reading Lost Pages of Taborea: Fun with housing

Lost Pages of Taborea: Fun with housing originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Free Realms releases massive December patch

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Patches, Player Housing, Free-to-play, Free Realms, Kids

Like many free-to-play games, Free Realms has seen pretty notable gains with the occasional rough patch -- not exactly a surprise when you consider how the year has in no small part been a renaissance for the business model. But love it or hate it, the game is still going strong, and is ending the year with its best foot forward. A massive December update has just hit the game, with a number of changes and additions to the entire experience. There's been an extensive combat overhaul, and -- hey, where are you going?

Yes, okay, get the obvious Star Wars Galaxies joke out of your system, we can hardly blame you. But the changes here seem to be for the best, at least from the outside, with clearer labeling of stats and a more engaging experience all around. Even if you aren't enamoured of the combat changes, you can kick back in the new player housing, take part in the newly-added Fishing minigame, launch yourself into the sky or enjoy some of the many other additions in the game. Take a look at the full list for more details, and expect to clock a few extra hours in on Free Realms if you're a fan of the game.

[ Thanks to Brian for the tip! ]

Gallery: Free Realms December Patch

Free Realms releases massive December patch originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don't use public crafting stations, learn to craft from home

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Crafting, Opinion, Player Housing, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic

Last time we checked in with Saylah from Mystic Worlds, she was off enjoying the free to play MMO Runes of Magic. Her goal was to perfect her home crafting station, allowing her to turn her house into a small store to sell items to the people she met in her travels.

Well, it looks like her home crafting shop has been completed and is now ready for public consumption. As an added bonus, she's posted on her blog some good tips for how to put together your own workshop for just a couple bucks a month. Plus, if you want a closer look, you can check out her home inside of Runes of Magic and get some ideas from the things she's already put together.

Her full post is available over at her blog, Mystic Worlds, and it's a pretty good read for anyone who's interested in crafting in RoM.

Don't use public crafting stations, learn to craft from home originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Explore Richard Garriott's secret dungeons

Samuel Axon — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Culture, News items, Tabula Rasa, Ultima Online

Ever wanted to own a medieval-esque castle with secret passages and a dungeon? Produce one of the most significant gaming franchises in history and that dream could become a reality.

The HGTV show Secret Spaces was guided by gaming industry eccentric Richard Garriott, aka Lord/General British, through Garriott's Austin home. Garriott became extravagantly wealthy through his Ultima series of computer games, and has spent some of his money building a house/castle hybrid called "Britannia Manor." The manor is full of secret passageways, hidden rooms, and strange artifacts.

We have the YouTube video here for you. Unfortunately, they didn't show where he keeps his Sputnik satellite.

[Via Joystiq]

Explore Richard Garriott's secret dungeons originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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