Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[U.S. Navy fights piracy with MMOs]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/11/u-s-navy-fights-piracy-with-mmos/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/11/u-s-navy-fights-piracy-with-mmos/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/11/u-s-navy-fights-piracy-with-mmos/#commentsFiled under: , ,

The U.S. Navy has a new tool in its war against piracy on the high seas: MMOs. Specifically, the Massive Multiplayer Online WarGame Leveraging the Internet, or "MMOWGLI" if you like your awkward acronyms. Developed over several years to bring war simulations to the next level, MMOWGLI will go online May 16th and be used by civilians and military to figure out new ways to combat Somali pirates.

This unique MMO was developed by the Office of Naval Research to be used as a flexible training platform. Under the watch of a control team, players will secure and arm ships, plan for a variety of pirate attacks, figure out hostage situations, and raid pirate camps. There's no word on whether these raids will be 10, 20, or 40-mans.

ONR's Dr. Larry Schutte looks forward to seeing if this simulator will result in better preparedness: "We hope MMOWGLI will help us to understand what happens when your insights are combined with the observations and actions of another player -- will that fusion result in a game-changing idea or solution, or will the MMOWGLI platform teach us something about our traditional thought processes?"

MassivelyU.S. Navy fights piracy with MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 May 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Larry-SchutteMassive-Multiplayer-Online-WarGame-Leveraging-the-InternetMMOWGLInavyno-johnson-you-cant-keep-the-lootoffice-of-naval-researchonrpiracypiratepiratesraidssomali-piratesus-navywar-simulatorwargamingWed, 11 May 2011 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Serve in the military and get a discount on Fallen Earth]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/09/serve-in-the-military-and-get-a-discount-on-fallen-earth/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/09/serve-in-the-military-and-get-a-discount-on-fallen-earth/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/09/serve-in-the-military-and-get-a-discount-on-fallen-earth/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


It's a hard time to be serving in the military, even if you're not stationed overseas at the moment. After all, the armed forces don't always get the luxury of having Christmas off. So it's nice to know that the gamers among the armed forces get a little bit extra if they're inspired to pick up Fallen Earth. The company has just announced that the military will receive a 20% discount on the price of the game, plus a free t-shirt with their purchase. And not one of the in-game items the game has been fond of giving out lately -- a real one.

The offer is open to members in any one of the US armed branches -- the Coast Guard, Marines, Army, Air Force, or Navy are all eligible. All that's required is a .mil e-mail address to verify that the person ordering is in the military. The one catch is that it's only applied to orders through the official Fallen Earth store, so Steam and similar venues aren't available. But it's an excellent way of compensating the men and women serving their country, so if you are eligible and haven't grabbed the game yet, head on over to pick yourself up a copy.

MassivelyServe in the military and get a discount on Fallen Earth originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>air-forcearmycoast-guarddiscountfallen-earthfallen-earth-llcfemarinesmilitarynavynews-itemsspecial-offerst-shirtWed, 09 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle, page 3]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/06/eve-evolved-the-faction-warfare-mission-debacle-page-3/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/06/eve-evolved-the-faction-warfare-mission-debacle-page-3/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/06/eve-evolved-the-faction-warfare-mission-debacle-page-3/#commentsContinue reading EVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle, page 3

MassivelyEVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle, page 3 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>amarrarmageddoncaldariccpccp-gamesDominiondominixempyrean-ageeveeve-evolvedeve-onlineexpansionexploitexposeexposedfactionfactional-warfarefleetgallentegangminmatarnavypvpscorpionstrategytyphoonwarfareSun, 06 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle, page 2]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/06/eve-evolved-the-faction-warfare-mission-debacle-page-2/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/06/eve-evolved-the-faction-warfare-mission-debacle-page-2/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/06/eve-evolved-the-faction-warfare-mission-debacle-page-2/#commentsContinue reading EVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle, page 2

MassivelyEVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle, page 2 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>amarrarmageddoncaldariccpccp-gamesDominiondominixempyrean-ageeveeve-evolvedeve-onlineexpansionexploitexposeexposedfactionfactional-warfarefleetgallentegangminmatarnavypvpscorpionstrategytyphoonwarfareSun, 06 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/06/eve-evolved-the-faction-warfare-mission-debacle/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/06/eve-evolved-the-faction-warfare-mission-debacle/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/06/eve-evolved-the-faction-warfare-mission-debacle/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , ,

When faction warfare went live with EVE Online's Empyrean Age expansion back in the summer of 2008, It was a magnificent success. It was intended as a way for newer players to get into PvP and as a stepping stone from the safe haven of empire to full-on sovereignty warfare. It wasn't long before large fleets were duking it out in low security space and for a time, it was great. Eventually, problems began to come to light that demanded developer attention. Capturing exploits and a lack of rewards were causing players to leave the war and after a year with no development, faction warfare was looking abandoned.

Rewards were eventually implemented in an attempt to revitalise the ageing faction warfare system and promote PvP. With the Dominion expansion came the most anticipated of those rewards - new tier 1 navy battleships available only from the faction warfare loyalty point store. Since the announcement that they were coming, mission-runners have been farming faction warfare missions like crazy for loyalty points. The promise of unique rewards from the missions was intended to revitalise the game and give pilots something to fight over. But did the rewards really improve faction warfare and promote PvP or was it a huge mistake?

In this three page exposé, I run down the history of faction warfare missions, from the development mistakes to the EVE corp that made almost enough ISK to build a titan. Did the mission buff revitalise faction warfare or did it put the final nail in its coffin? And just how did mission-runners make billions of ISK?

Continue reading EVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle

MassivelyEVE Evolved: The faction warfare mission debacle originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>amarrarmageddoncaldariccpccp-gamesDominiondominixempyrean-ageeveeve-evolvedeve-onlineexpansionexploitexposeexposedfactionfactional-warfarefeaturedfleetgallentegangminmatarnavypvpscorpionstrategytyphoonwarfareSun, 06 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[PotBS beta devlog: Ships of the Line]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/16/potbs-beta-devlog-ships-of-the-line/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/16/potbs-beta-devlog-ships-of-the-line/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/16/potbs-beta-devlog-ships-of-the-line/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

A new beta devlog has been posted to the Pirates of the Burning Sea site. The topic of discussion is the powerful Ships of the Line (SOLs) and some very large changes to how they will play out in the future. The initial SOL concept was to make these ships extremely difficult and costly to obtain, but in turn they would be able to turn the tide of a battle due to their immense power. In actual implementation during closed beta, only half of this was fulfilled: they were much easier to get than intended and people were churning them out.

Now that the game is in open beta, the changes that have been made to SOLs bring them back in line with the original concept. They will cost a lot more to make, and the items required to build them will vary in level, meaning that lower level players can contribute to the construction. Another change is that the difference in cost between Fourth, Third, Second, and First Rate SOLs has been increased. Because they were previously similar in cost, people would skip straight to the First Rate SOL, which really unbalanced things. Now there will be a bigger cost variance between these ranks of SOL, and the First Rate will be very expensive to fix after being damaged, making it a major decision on whether to bring one to a battle, or to stick with the less powerful but less expensive versions.

All of these changes have implications for various classes in the game. For example, the SOLs are one of the main reasons to become part of the Navy, so of course, this changes things for them in a big way. The full beta devlog has information on how the Navy will be altered with respect to the SOL updates, and how it will affect others as well.

MassivelyPotBS beta devlog: Ships of the Line originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 16 Dec 2007 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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